Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 611 Forced to give up
At this time, Xiao Han's slaves didn't know that Yelu Kunping's army had fled to the west, and he was still waiting for news from Yelu Kunping, but Xiao Han's slaves had already become suspicious. The distance between them and the West Route Army was only more than two hundred miles. Four days have passed, why didn't even a messenger come over.

Xiao Han's slave stood in front of the map for a long time without saying a word. Could it be that the messenger soldiers couldn't cross the river?Or encountered Song army scouts on the way and was killed?

After thinking about it, there are only these two reasons. He told Yelu Kunping before that no matter the outcome, after launching the siege, he must give himself a detailed report. He believed that Yelu Kunping wrote the report. I also sent someone to deliver it, but I couldn't reach my place. There was only one reason, something happened to the messenger soldier on the way.

Xiao Han's slave was a little anxious. He thought of the information he received in the morning. The sentry found a warship of the Song Army in the Hutuo River to the west. This news gave Xiao Han's slave a blow. All possibilities were considered, except that the Song army and navy would intervene.

The Liao army used skin rafts to cross the river, and then covered them with planks. This method is simple and convenient, and can be quickly built into a pontoon bridge. This is how they crossed the Juma River. However, this simple pontoon bridge also has an extreme The biggest weakness is that it is very easy to be destroyed. It would be fine without the Song Army, but once the Song Army warships appear, their leather raft pontoon bridges are not vulnerable at all, and a leather raft can be shot off with a single arrow.

If the warships of the Song Army appeared on the Hutuo River, wouldn't the West Route Army be unable to get through?
At this time, a soldier reported at the gate of the big tent: "Report to the commander-in-chief, the spies found a Song army cavalry out of the city, about [-] people, and rushed to the southwest."

Xiao Han's servant was startled, and said to the soldiers beside him without hesitation: "Quickly order Yelugan to lead [-] cavalry to chase after him, and we must wipe out this army."

"Follow the order!"

The soldiers took the command arrow and left. As soon as they reached the door of the tent, Xiao Han's servant suddenly shouted: "Wait a minute!"

The soldiers stopped in their tracks, Xiao Han's slaves thought for a moment, then waved their hands and said: "Cancel the order, let them go."

Now it was the second watch, and he was afraid that his cavalry would fall into an ambush by the Song army if they went south at night because they were not familiar with the road conditions.

However, the warship of the Song Army appeared like a cancer growing on his back, which made him restless. He immediately ordered: "Let the spies of the first battalion go to the Juma River to investigate and see if there is a warship of the Song Army on the river?"

The northern part of Dingzhou belongs to the remaining range of the Taihang Mountains. The Changshan Mountains, which stretch for hundreds of miles, lie across the plain. The mountains are steep and steep, and the famous Langya Mountain is located in it. The terrain is steep and majestic, but it is not impossible to go. There are many fault zones in the mountains, forming large and small mountain canyons. These mountain canyons are the main path for the Liao army to enter Zhending Mansion.

The same is true for the Liao army fleeing west. If they want to return to Liao, they can only go back through these mountain valleys.

But things are not that simple. In every mountain canyon, the Song army built passes at dangerous places, not only to prevent the Liao army from coming from the north, but also to prevent the Liao army from coming around from the east.

The preparations for the Song army this time also included the repair and supplementary supplies of the various passes in Dingzhou and Zhendingfu.

The Liao army on the West Road ran all the way west, and arrived at the Tangshui River Valley the next day. This is the most suitable valley for cavalry among the five valleys in Dingzhou. The other valleys require climbing a section of mountain roads, and only the Tangshui River Valley is flat.

The widest part of the Tangshui River Valley is more than ten miles, and the narrowest point is less than one mile. It is about forty miles from here to Lingqiu County, Yuzhou. the course of their lives.

There happened to be a few Han Chinese in the army who had traveled to and from the Tangshui River Valley all year round, so Yelu Kunping ordered them to be guides and lead the army northward.

It was noon at this time, and nearly [-] troops were resting in the valley. After eating their last bit of dry food, many soldiers even ran into the river to touch fish and shrimp. Many wheat fields still had wheat seedlings. It was because the farmers had just planted the seeds and then retreated south. The wheat grew by itself, and it grew lush and lush, which happened to be cheap for war horses.

Thirty thousand war horses entered the wheat field and devoured hundreds of acres of wheat seedlings in a short time.

Yelu Kunping ordered some guide soldiers to be found, and asked, "Where is the pass for the Song Army?"

"Reporting to General, it's not far ahead, at most five or six miles, and you can see it when you turn the corner."

Yelu Kunping pointed to a relatively low hillside not far away and asked, "Crossing that hillside, is it possible to bypass the Song Army's pass?"

He had to consider a lot of realities. Although there are many trees on the mountain that can be used to make siege ladders, hundreds of their craftsmen have been killed by the Song army, and they don't have many necessary tools. They can only do some of the simplest siege ladders. Weapons, and more importantly, they have run out of food. If they can't reach Lingqiu County before dark, their morale and morale may be lost.

Yelu Kunping didn't want to attack cities anymore, the strong shock brought to him by the Song Army's iron fire thunder still hasn't faded away.

He looked at the guides expectantly, could this gentle slope be bypassed without the siege pass?
A guide said: "This side looks very low, but the north side is very steep. People can climb down with a rope, but horses can't go."

"The characteristic of the mountains here is that one side looks slow, but the other side is steep." Another soldier next to him said.

Yelv Kunping was a little annoyed, and he immediately sent a group of soldiers over the ridge to confirm the words of the guides. He had to confirm this before he could believe it.

After resting for more than half an hour, Yelu Kunping saw that he had almost rested, so he got up and ordered: "It is almost time to rest, the whole army is assembled and ready to go!"

'Woo——' the horn sounded, nearly [-] troops began to assemble, and soon marched north along the west bank of the river.

After bypassing a large bay, the canyon suddenly became narrower, and a few miles ahead, a tall and solid pass appeared in front of their eyes.

This kind of pass is actually two, one in the north and one in the south, with soldiers' houses and camps in the middle, and cliffs on both sides.

There is a crescent-shaped opening at the bottom of the pass, and the river flows from below. To prevent people from crawling through, iron fences as thick as arms are installed inside. There should be a small city gate next to it, but it has been blocked by huge stones.

In short, even if the Liao army conquered this pass, they would still have to take a ladder to climb up this forty-foot-high pass.

The top of the pass was densely packed with Song troops, more than a thousand people, all holding bows and arrows, looking at the Liao army coldly.

Yelu Kunping could see clearly that there were three trebuchets on the top of the city, and he shivered suddenly. In such a narrow valley, the Liao army rushed up together. If the iron fire thunder exploded among the crowd, none of the siege soldiers would survive. .

"General, this pass is not easy to attack!"

A general said in a low voice: "There is no city gate, and the city wall is too high. Siege ladders will not work. We must use ladders, but we don't have any ladders."

It’s not that there are no fir or pine logs as high as four feet. Even if there is no, two ladders can be tied together to use. The problem is not the ladders, but the wall is too high, and the soldiers have not climbed halfway. The fuel tank fell down.

At this time, a group of soldiers rushed back and said: "General Qi, we have explored the north side of the mountain ridge, and it is indeed relatively steep. People can go down, but horses can't."

"Where is it after going down?" Yelu Kunping asked again.

"In the valley to the north of the pass, about ten miles away from the pass."

Yelu Kunping bowed his head in thought for a moment, he could only sigh, and said to several generals: "We don't have siege weapons, even if we have siege weapons, it is difficult to withstand the iron fire and thunder of the Song army. Everyone has seen with their own eyes that our food has been exhausted." Cut off, everyone will go hungry at night, in order to successfully break through, I consider giving up the horses, the army can cross the pass of the Song army from the mountain ridge, what do you think?"

All the generals looked at each other, and a veteran said: "The general is right, the most important thing is to preserve the strength of the troops. As for the horses, let the Song Dynasty double the compensation in the future."

Everyone agreed, but from the beginning to the end, no one proposed to kill the horse. The Liao people valued the horse very much, just like their relatives. Even if they had to give up, they could not kill the horse, just as the Khitan veteran , the Song Dynasty will double the repayment in the future.

After the military order was passed down, all the cavalry had to bid farewell to the horses with tears in their eyes. The [-] army left the valley. They passed through a forest and climbed towards the low and gentle mountains in the distance.

At this time, the Song army discovered the Liao army's attempt. They were very surprised, but they did not dare to take it lightly. It was not until dusk that the leader of the battalion received news that the Liao army had appeared in the valley more than ten miles to the north. Only then did they believe that the Liao army had really abandoned After leaving, he immediately ordered the five men: "Go to Tang County quickly and tell General Zhang that there are tens of thousands of war horses here, and ask him to lead the army to take care of the horses immediately."

Five soldiers climbed down the city wall with ropes, got on their horses, and rushed towards Tang County dozens of miles away.

Early the next morning, Zhang Meng, the guard of Tang County, led [-] Song troops to the Tangshui River Valley. Soon, cheers resounded throughout the valley. They actually captured [-] war horses in the valley. This was an unprecedented spoil of war in the Song Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)