Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 676
A huge fleet of 120 five-thousand-stone steam warships sails in the black water. The black water is deep and the river is two miles wide. Thousand-stone ships can also sail in. The river rolls and pushes the big ship to sail.

It has been three days since the fleet entered the river mouth. Three large ships sailed side by side in the river. The team was several miles long.

This used to be a place where the Jurchens were active, but after the Jurchens were destroyed, it became dead silent.

Zhang Yi stood on the first big ship, looking at both sides of the river with complicated eyes. He had been here before and gave the Jurchens a lot of weapons and food, and even the Song Army used iron fire thunders to help the Jurchens siege the city. He did not expect that, Just half a year later, the Jurchens were wiped out by the Liao Kingdom. In the final analysis, there was an internal problem with the Jurchens, and the infighting gave the Liao Kingdom an opportunity.

Zhang Yi still didn't understand why Mr. Fan chose Shi Xian. The facts proved that it was Shi Xian's narrow-mindedness and unfair handling that caused discord within the Jurchen clan. Shi Xian was not a leader worth supporting at all.

On the contrary, Zhang Yi felt that Wanyan Wugu was a very powerful figure who could firmly control the entire Jurchen tribe. As long as he had the great support of the Song Dynasty, Wanyan Wugu could become a confidant of the Liao Kingdom. , Zhang Wei has never understood why Mr. Fan must destroy the Wanyan tribe?

He faithfully carried out Fanning's orders even though he didn't understand, but what did he seem to understand now?
Once the Liao Kingdom is destroyed, the Jurchen will inevitably rise, and it will also become a confidant of the Song Dynasty, just like the rise of Huihe after the destruction of the Turks, and will eventually overlook the prosperity of the Central Plains.

Zhang Yi sighed softly. He had to admire Xiao Fan's foresight and foresight. He made full use of the Jurchens to weaken the Liao Kingdom, but he couldn't let the Jurchens become bigger. This is the fundamental reason why he supported Shixian and destroyed Wanyan. Mr. Fan had long seen that Shi Xian could not achieve great things. Their destruction by the Liao Kingdom would do more good than harm to the future of the Song Dynasty.

"Sima, a guide said that there is a settlement of Khitan Shengpan thirty miles to the south." Liu Kun whispered to Zhang Wei.

Zhang Wei nodded and asked, "How many people know?"

"Probably around a thousand people."

Liu Kun pointed to a tributary not far away and said, "Follow this tributary for thirty miles and you will find it."

Zhang Yi immediately ordered: "The fleet docks!"

The fleet began to approach the south bank, and Zhang Wei said to Liu Kun: "We are waiting here. You can lead [-] cavalry to go south, and look forward to your good news."

"Don't worry, Sima, there will be no mistakes!"

Groups of soldiers led their horses to disembark. Not long after, [-] cavalry assembled on the bank, wrapped the horseshoes with cotton, and ran towards the south silently under the leadership of Liu Kun.

Zhang Yi returned to the cabin and spread out the map. This is a simplified map drawn by the scouts. Some of the simplified maps are marked with Khitan Shengfan settlements, while others are not marked, like the first Khitan Shengfan camp encountered now. There is no mark on the map, so a guide is needed.

Zhang Yi found the place where they are now. About forty miles west of the abandoned city of Caiali, he found the tributary, drew a triangle with a pen on the south of the tributary, and ticked it with a red pen, indicating that clean up.

There are a total of 27 settlements on the map, but the guide told them that there are at least more than [-] settlements, and there are more than a dozen Xi settlements, which must also be pulled out.

At dusk, the cavalry returned to the fleet, escorting hundreds of weeping women and young children. In fact, in the afternoon, Zhang Yi saw black smoke rising from the south. Just waiting for the triumphant return of Song Jun.

In addition to six or seven hundred women and children, a large amount of fur, gold and silver were also seized, as well as a lot of dried fish and animal meat, which were also brought by the Song army.

At this time, Liu Kun brought a group of soldiers over, and Zhang Wei stepped forward and smiled and asked, "The result of the battle is not bad!"

Liu Kun nodded with a smile, "Killed more than 5 men, slightly injured four brothers, seized more than [-] pieces of high-quality furs, [-] taels of gold, and several thousand taels of silver, as well as a lot of cloth and satin. , Unfortunately, there are no cattle and sheep.”

Zhang Yi smiled and said: "They are a fishing and hunting people, not nomads, so the trophies will not be cattle and sheep, but going south, there are many herdsmen who make a living."

"What should we do with these women and children?"

"According to the method agreed in advance, send them to Pingyi City, transfer them from Pingyi to Kunzhou, and wait for Fan Xianggong's instructions."

Liu Kun immediately ordered the soldiers to escort the women and children to a big boat and let the soldiers send them to Pingyi City.

They brought enough empty ships to escort the prisoners back to Pingyi City.

The Song Army fleet rested overnight, and continued to sail southwest after dawn the next day.

At the same time when the war situation on the eastern front changed dramatically, the main Khitan invasion on the western front was proceeding in an orderly manner according to the original plan. Two days after passing Loufan Pass, King Yeluna of the Northern Academy also led 12 cavalry to Taiyuan.

They did not carry siege weapons, nor did they carry tents. There was little rain here. For the Khitan cavalry, tents were unnecessary. A bonfire was lit, and the soldiers wrapped themselves in blankets and slept on the ground.

Yeluna was also born in the Khitan nobles, about thirty years old, belonged to the young and strong faction among the senior Khitan generals, had a good personal relationship with Yelu Hongji, and was Yelu Hongji's most trusted confidant general. General, he went out with the army at the age of 13, and became the deputy commander of the Suwei Army at the age of 20. He once led the army to quell the Chongyuan Rebellion. At the beginning of the year, he led an army of [-] to wipe out the Jurchen. The 'Flower of Famous Generals'.

At the beginning of this year, his season father, King Yelu Zhao San of the Northern Academy, passed away, and Yelu Hongji asked Yeluna to take over as King of the Northern Academy, taking charge of 20 troops, thus becoming the youngest King of the Northern Academy in the Liao Kingdom so far.

Yeluna has never encountered any setbacks or defeats since he was a child. He is very proud in his bones, but he is more cautious when he is proud. He also sent General Yelu Xinfeng to lead [-] cavalry to occupy Jingxing.

According to Yelu Hongji's strategic deployment, their attack on Taiyuan was a false attack, and their real goal was to cross the Taihang Mountains and enter the hinterland of Hebei, so that they could catch the Song Dynasty by surprise.

Then the army quickly went south, and joined forces with the Liao army in Shandong under the city of Bianliang, forcing the Song court to sign an alliance under the city.

Yelu Hulu, the capital supervisor, stepped forward and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, the dry rations we carry don't allow us to stay in Taiyuan for too long. I guess Yelu Xinfeng has already entered Jingxing. Don't wait for his news, just go south." !"

The Liao army's southern invasion of the Song Dynasty has always been supported by war, and will not bring much luggage. Even if there is luggage, it is mainly siege equipment, and the food supply is based on looting along the way. Fan Ning also knows the habits of the Liao army. Sure enough, the tactics of fortifying the wall and clearing the field were adopted, which made the Liao army's strategy of supporting war by fighting fail. The Liao army was defeated by carrying too little food and grass the year before last.

But this time the Liao army was a little smarter, carrying 20 days of dry food, and the high mobility of the cavalry was enough to ensure that their actions in the Song Dynasty would not be troubled by food.

Although Yeluhulu's suggestion made Yeluna feel a little too cautious, he still accepted it.

"Okay! Let's go to Jingxing early tomorrow morning."

In the early morning of the next day, the sound of the assembly horn echoed in the field, "Woo—" the sound of the horn was very low.

The 11 cavalry of the Liao Army began to gather quickly, and half an hour later, the torrent of more than [-] troops rushed to the southeast.

On the top of the city, Yang Wenguang stared sternly at the tens of thousands of horses galloping more than ten miles away, so everyone was very surprised. If the Liao army didn't attack Taiyuan, where would it go?Could it be that they are going to Shuque Valley, are they going to kill Jinnan?

Yang Wenguang took out Fan Ning's letter from his pocket, which was received three days ago. Fan Ning pointed out in the letter that the Liao army's attack on Taiyuan was probably just a cover, and their real target was Hebei.

He asked Yang Wenguang to stand still for the time being, and not to leave the city without his order, or to lead the army northward, and must wait for his order.

Yang Wenguang read the letter again, and he understood why Fan Ning wanted to encourage the emperor to inspect Taiyuan. It turned out that he wanted to paralyze the Liao army and make the Liao state mistakenly believe that the Song army put all its resources in Taiyuan city.

The soldiers are not tired of deceit, and I am afraid that only Fan Ning can pull the emperor out to deceive the Liao Kingdom, but it is so ingenious that the Liao Kingdom has to believe that the Song Army's defense focus is on Taiyuan.

It turned out that Fan Ning had everything planned. At this moment, Yang Wenguang was full of confidence and expectation.

(End of this chapter)