BATTLE OF SALSU

The 'Battle of Salsu' was an enormous battle that occurred in the year 612, during the second Goguryeo-Sui War, between Goguryeo and Sui Dynasty. Goguryeo cavalry forces, although outnumbered, overwhelmed the Chinese troops in combat and eventually emerged victorious.
In 612, the Sui Emperor Yangdi invaded Goguryeo with a million men. However, at this time, Goguryeo General Eulji Mundeok defended fortresses against the Sui army and navy for several months and destroyed the Sui troops in retreat. An ambush at Salsu (Chongchon River) caused massive Sui casualties, leading to an overall campaign loss of all but 2,700 Sui troops out of 305,000 men.^[1]
Sui committed about 305,000 men in the campaign, and it is unclear how many participated in the Battle of Salsu -- although one off-cuff comment made by Yu Zhongwen (于仲文) to Yuwen Shu suggested that perhaps 100,000 Sui soldiers fought at the battle.''Zizhi Tongjian'', .''Samguk Sagi'', vol. 20[2].
When the Sui army had reached Salsu, the water level was shallow. Eulji Mundeok had already cut off the flow of water with a dam. When the Sui army had half crossed the river, Eulji opened the dam, and the onslaught of water left many thousands of Sui soldiers dead. The Goguryeo cavalry then charged the remaining Sui force. The surviving Sui forces were forced to retreat to Liaodong Peninsula to avoid being killed.
With the victory over Sui dynasty in Salsu, Goguryeo eventually became the victor of the war itself, while the Sui Dynasty started to crumble from within and was finally brought down by internal strife.
One of the annual Combined Forces Command Exercise between South Korea and the United States is called Ulchi Focus Lens (UFL) in honor of Eulji Mundeok. Ulchi Focus Lens is a Command Post Exercise (CPX) with the tactical situation portrayed through the use of computer simulation models and master scenario events list. Ulchi Focus Lens is the world's largest computerized command and control exercise. The exercise focuses on how U.S. and South Korean forces would defend against a North Korean attack.

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References

References

★ http://rki.kbs.co.kr/english/korea/korea_history_con22.htm

★ http://kokuryo.com/goguryeo_war.html

★ http://www.asianresearch.org/articles/1613.html
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