Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 671
Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was March in the second year of Pingxia, and the war atmosphere of the Song and Liao battles became more and more intense.

Small-scale conflicts have continued one after another, but most of them are small conflicts involving hundreds of people, but the fierce battle at Yanmen Pass exceeded [-] people.

This aroused the strong attention of the court, and Fan Ning also came to Taiyuan Mansion for this reason.

Before the Chinese New Year, the Taiyuan Mansion began to mobilize. After the Chinese New Year, the people of Taiyuan Mansion withdrew to the south, and the imperial court ordered the governments in southern Shanxi to hand over the official land to the immigrants for free rent.

There is also a small number of people who do not want to move south, so they all move into Taiyuan City, making the number of people in Taiyuan City close to 50.

The city of Taiyuan is tall and broad, with a circumference of nearly [-] miles. It is the second largest city in the west of Taihang Mountain after Jingzhao City.

Accompanied by a group of generals, Fan Ning inspected the city. The defense envoy of Taiyuan City was Yang Wenguang, who was in charge of the capital. He had been stationed in Hetao, but he was not able to participate in the battle to destroy Xixia. Later, Fan Ning appointed him as the envoy of the four walls of Taiyuan as a privy envoy, and led [-] troops to strictly guard Taiyuan City.

Of course, Yang Wenguang has rich experience in defending the city, he has high prestige in the army, and the morale of his troops is high. This is the fundamental reason why Fan Ning ordered him to defend Taiyuan City.

"We got news that the strength of the Liao army in Datong Prefecture has reached 15, which shows that our expectations were correct. The Liao army abandoned the traditional route in Hebei and is preparing to attack the Song Dynasty from the east of the river. Then Taiyuan City is a hurdle they cannot bypass. The Liao Army must capture Taiyuan City, let Taiyuan City become a springboard for them to go south, hold on to Taiyuan City, and buy time for the Song Army on the Eastern Front. This is the key to defeating the Liao Army this time. Everyone, the imperial court is paying attention to you, and the people of the world are watching Follow you."

All the generals bowed together and saluted, "Defend Taiyuan to the death, and never let the Liao bandits enter the city!"

"Very good! Everyone, get busy! I will discuss the military situation with Old General Yang."

After everyone saluted and left, Fan Ning walked to the city wall, supported the battlements, looked at the sparkling Fenshui River in the distance, and said to Yang Wenguang: "There will be a navy on Fenshui River to assist you from the periphery, at least it will not let you go. You feel you are alone against the enemy."

Yang Wenguang agreed with Fan Ning's words, "It's true. Having an army of our own outside is very good for boosting morale."

"What's missing now?" Fanning asked with a smile.

Yang Wenguang pondered for a while, "I think the food is still not enough. I hope to send another 30 shi. In addition, we need some fire oil and iron fire mines."

Fan Ning nodded and said with a smile: "Taiyuan water transportation is very convenient, I will arrange it, and a fleet will deliver it in a few days."

The fleet sailed into the moat through Fenshui, and then entered the city directly from the water gate, which is indeed very convenient in terms of transportation.

Fan Ning thought for a while and then said: "When the food and supplies enter the city, some of the defenders at Yanmen Pass can also withdraw to Taiyuan."

"why?"

Fan Ning smiled slightly, "The Liao army is going south in a big way. It doesn't matter to the Liao army whether to attack Yanmen Pass or not. The Liao army will inevitably withdraw from Yanmen Pass and go to Youzhou. The Liao Kingdom wants to prevent us from attacking Youzhou by water."

Yang Wenguang couldn't help laughing. Hearing what Mr. Fan said, he wanted to drive another nail into Youzhou.

Accompanied by Yang Wenguang, Fan Ning then inspected the city defense and the situation in Taiyuan City.

On the top of the city, craftsmen are busy installing heavy-duty trebuchets and ballistas that were successfully developed last year. Not only that, but also built a super trebuchet on the inside of the four city walls in the east, west, north and south. This super trebuchet is five feet high. The pole can be thrown up to [-] feet, and the winch is rolled by the power of the steam engine, and a boulder weighing a hundred catties can be shot two miles away at a time.

This super trebuchet was put into the battlefield for the first time, and it has a great deterrent effect. What's more, this is the first time that the steam engine has been directly used in the military. In the past, most steam ships were used to transport goods.

The atmosphere in the city was also quite tense, but it was orderly, the shops were still operating as usual, there were constant pedestrians on the street, and teams of soldiers maintaining order could be seen everywhere on the street.

Fan Ning suddenly stopped his horse and asked, "Has the spy of the Liao Kingdom ever been searched in the city?"

Yang Wenguang nodded, "We have been searching and arresting. We mobilized the people to report and searched more than [-] stores opened by Khitan and Liao Han people. Three of them were suspected of being spies and had been arrested and closed. Other shops that were temporarily not suspected were also closed. Focus on surveillance, in addition, the whole city has strictly banned civilian pigeon letters and eagle letters, and has set up special observation posts, as long as there are pigeons in the city, soldiers will immediately hunt them down, and even if there are spies in the city, it is guaranteed that the information will not be sent out. "

Fan Ning was very pleased with Yang Wenguang's comprehensiveness. He pointed at the water gate with his horsewhip and said with a smile, "The water gate is also a hidden danger. Has the old general considered how to prevent it?"

Yang Wenguang smiled slightly and said, "In addition to the two layers of iron bars inside and outside, I plan to seal the gate of the water city with huge stones, so that it will be settled once and for all, and there will be no worries about the future."

Fan Ning originally wanted to say that kerosene could be used to defend the water gate, but Yang Wenguang suggested that using boulders to seal the dead water gate seemed to be more effective than kerosene defense, so he did not mention it.

After inspecting the city, Fan Ning told Yang Wenguang again and again: "We must learn from Xixia's lessons. Beware of epidemics after a long period of siege, I will send another thousand military doctors and a large number of medicinal materials to Taiyuan City, but this is not enough. Many good hygienic habits must be developed. Livestock carcasses must be incinerated and isolated in time, toilets must be cleaned with quicklime regularly, and patients with diarrhea and vomiting should be isolated carefully. The whole city must be mobilized to participate in prevention. This is a major event that cannot be taken lightly.”

"Humble post obeys orders!"

At the same time when Fan Ning was inspecting Taiyuan, Emperor Yelu Hongji of the Liao Kingdom was also inspecting the navy base in the Yalu River. The 120 five-thousand-stone warships they exchanged for pig iron were delivered one year in advance, and the ships did not dare to enter the Yellow Sea. Instead, it was sent from the Tumen River Estuary in the east of Koryo to the Liao State Naval Base about [-] miles away from the sea estuary by pulling fibers.

120 huge warships moored quietly on the river, Yelu Hongji was extremely excited. The reason why he tore up the armistice agreement in advance was closely related to the early arrival of the warships.

Of course, warships were his weapons to attack the Song Dynasty. What really made him decide to go to war with the Song Dynasty was still an internal affairs issue. At the beginning of the year, the tax on Nanjing Road was cut by [-]%, and the tax on Tokyo Road was also cut by half. The most important source of taxation, the result was that the taxation dried up, which caused a big problem in supporting the military expenditure of the Liao Kingdom. Fortunately, at the end of last year, the Jurchen was destroyed, the Kret tribe was surrendered, and a large amount of wealth was obtained.

The Liao Kingdom is supported by this stock of wealth. The officials have not paid their salaries for half a year, the offerings of major monasteries have been halved, the imperial examinations have been cancelled, and all the food and property stored in the local counties have been transferred back to Beijing.

But even so, the military salaries and various expenses of the hundreds of thousands of troops can only be paid according to the lowest level. The country had to exchange part of the smelted pig iron for the grain of Korea.

But this will not last long. Under internal and external difficulties, Yelu Hongji turned his attention to the Great Song Dynasty. To maintain the survival of the Liao Kingdom, there is no other way except to loot the Great Song Dynasty. Moreover, launching a war abroad is also a way to divert domestic public opinion. best way.

Yelu Hongji is also preparing to advance on both east and west fronts, attack Taiyuan on the west front, and he is still hesitating on the east front, whether to send troops to Hebei, or use water to attack the Song Dynasty's Jingdong Road, which is the Shandong Peninsula.

Gao Yuanji, the Jiedu envoy of the Huaihua Army who accompanied Yelu Hongji to inspect the warships, said, "Your Majesty, since we already have warships, why don't we just send troops to destroy the Song army bases on the islands outside the Yalu River? To relieve our worries? "

"No!"

Yelu Yixin, the Prime Minister of the Northern Academy, immediately objected: "The 120 warships are our secret weapons. They must not be exposed easily. They must be used in the most important strategy. The base on the island is only a few thousand people. This is the taboo of military strategists."

Liao State obtained top-secret information from the capital of the Song Dynasty. The base of the Song Dynasty on the islands outside the Yalu River was too small, and the garrison only had 3000 people. This information was confirmed by the Koryo State. , unable to garrison a large number of troops, which made the pressure on the Liao Kingdom much less.

Yelu Ruinu, the Prime Minister of the Southern Academy, also said: "Your Majesty, Xiangguo Yixin is right. We are not as good as the Song Dynasty when it comes to naval warfare, but we are the same as the Song Dynasty when we use large ships. We have won these ninety large ships. , should be used in the most important place, and should not be easily exposed.”

Seeing that the two Prime Ministers objected, Gao Yuanji quickly changed his words: "I am not saying that we should destroy the Song Army base now, but after implementing a major strategy, it will not be too late for us to turn around and destroy the Song Army base!"

Yelu Hongji nodded slowly, and asked again: "How far has the Eastern Front army assembled?"

Yelu Ruinu hurriedly said: "Xi people's [-] troops have arrived in Liaoyang Mansion, Bohai people's [-] troops will arrive in two days, and [-] Khitan troops are rushing from Huanglong Mansion to Liaoyang Mansion. In ten days at the latest, [-] troops will arrive. The army will be assembled."

At present, the Liao State has more than 15 troops. In addition to the [-] guards stationed in Shangjing, Xijing Datong Mansion has mobilized [-] troops, Liaoyang Mansion has mobilized another [-] troops, and another [-] troops are stationed in Yanshan Mansion. "

This attack on the Song Dynasty was based on the 15 troops of Datong Prefecture in Xijing and the [-] troops of Liaoyang Prefecture in Tokyo as the main force.

This is the plan proposed by Yelu Yixin. Hebei was cleared by the Song army, and the major rivers were blocked by the Song army's navy, making it difficult to penetrate. Then plundering the rich Shandong Peninsula is the fastest opportunity for Liao to replenish its financial resources.

According to Yelu Yixin's plan, with the sharp cavalry of the Liao Kingdom, they could even fight all the way to Bianliang, forcing the Song Dynasty to sign an alliance under the city.

This plan is very bold and attractive, and the key lies in crossing the sea, which is where Yelu Hongji has been hesitant to make up his mind.

But unable to withstand Yelu Yixin's repeated persuasion and the increasingly severe financial crisis, Liao's financial resources were on the verge of collapse. Under tremendous pressure, Yelu Hongji finally made up his mind to take a risk.

(End of this chapter)