The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

In the eighth year of Qingli in the Great Song Dynasty and April 17th in the 27th year of Liao Chongxi, Liao Xingzong Yeluzong was appointed as the Grand Marshal of the Tianxia Army, with Xiao Hui, the Privy Councilor of the North Academy, as the commander of the army on the right, and Yelu Chongyuan, the eldest brother of the emperor, as the commander of the army on the left. The commander-in-chief of the army mobilized a total of more than 70 palace tent troops, tribal troops, and retinue troops to launch a fierce attack on the Hedong Road on the border of Song and Liao, and the East and West Roads of Hebei.

The Song Dynasty appointed Fan Zhongyan as the commander-in-chief, Han Qi and Xia Song as the deputy commanders, mobilized 30 forbidden troops from the capital to march eastward, and joined the 40 troops from the border roads, a total of [-] to meet the enemy. This opened the prelude to the life-and-death battle between Song and Liao. , All of a sudden, wars raged on the hundreds of miles long front from Ganning Bohaikou in the east to Fengzhou in the west. The Northeast Third Road of the Song Dynasty suddenly became a hell on earth, and the people were displaced and fled southward one after another.

The country of the Song Dynasty has entered a state of full combat readiness. Although the four national roads have not been completed, they have played a huge role. Food and materials have been collected from the states along these four major arteries and sent to the battlefield.

Prime Minister Yan Shuzou asked Zhao Zhen to agree to use Hebei refugees as civilian husbands to strengthen the fortifications of the state capitals north of Bianliang, as the second line of defense, and implement the strategy of delaying the time and letting the Su Jin army go straight into the Liao army.

At the same time, Su Jin, the deputy prime minister and deputy envoy of the Privy Council, led the Northwest Army 20 troops into the Xia territory in the name of the Great General Zhenbei, and quickly went north along the Xia-Liao border line to obtain the horses borrowed by the Xia Kingdom in Longzhou before delaying. After more than ten days of rapid march, they arrived at Kedun City, an important town in the northeast of Xia Kingdom. [

After the army rested for a day, with Pan Jiang as the commander and Ma Han as the deputy commander, the [-] cavalry of the vanguard galloped out of the canyon in the north of the city and came to the Mobei wasteland.

Su Jin led 11 cavalry to follow up for the Chinese army, and the remaining [-] were infantry, escorting supplies such as food and grass to keep up.

On May [-]th, the vanguard army arrived at the Helan Pass. After crossing the Helan Pass, the border of the Liao Kingdom was reached. Due to the transfer of the main forces of the Liao Kingdom to the south, there were only [-] soldiers guarding the Dasan Pass at the pass, except for [-] regular troops. , the other [-] were rookies in the newly recruited retinue army; that night, taking advantage of the cover of night, the Dynasty led [-] cavalry to make a surprise attack, and only paid more than a hundred casualties before annihilating the sleeping Dasan Pass defenders. This opened up a smooth road to the country of Liao.

At three o'clock that night, Su Jin led his army to Dasan Pass. Taking advantage of the bright moonlight, he looked east of the mountain pass and saw a vast expanse of white land. It was the prairie in the moonlight. Surrounded by winding Helan Mountains, it forms a rich grassland.

Su Jin returned to the main hall and convened the generals to discuss the direction of attack. After preparations in advance, the information in Liao Kingdom was compiled into a map. There was a military sketch, but it was not very intuitive. Set up lamps as a city, and copied a three-dimensional topographic map on the ground of the hall of the defenders of Dasanguan. The generals stood around with long branches to point out and discuss.

To the east of Dashan Pass is the grassland, but if you follow the grassland to the east, you will enter the territory of Datong Prefecture on the Xijing Road of the Liao Kingdom, and the south of the Xijing Road is the battlefield where Song and Liao fought. It's a way, Xiao Hui's 25 army is facing Han Qi's 18 West Route Army, plus his own 20 army, it should be able to break; It is very likely that they will be exposed immediately, perhaps before reaching the battlefield hundreds of miles to the south, they will be discovered by Xiao Hui, and they will retreat into the city, or they will mobilize the left army to join forces to encircle and suppress, then it will be bad.

After analyzing the pros and cons, Su Jin decided to raid Shangjing according to the original plan, but the problem is that Shangjing is thousands of miles away, and he only has [-] cavalry, and the rest are infantry. The time to arrive in Shangjing is a problem, and it will be kept secret Sexuality is also a problem. If it takes too long, the pressure on the main battlefield in the south will inevitably be tight. Once the defense line is broken to the Tokyo area, the Liao people will not be able to pull back even nine bulls.

Su Jin's brows were frowned into a knot. He would naturally think of these problems in advance, but he didn't have so much time to prepare for them. The lack of horses could not be solved in a short while.

The commander of the rear army is Jingtai, who was newly transferred to the Northwest Qinfeng Road. He proposed a method: "Commander, can you divide the troops and advance, the cavalry will advance, and the infantry will coordinate at the rear. The destructive power of [-] cavalry is not small. It's all over."

Su Jin shook his head and said: "Going deep into the enemy's rear, dividing troops is a taboo for military strategists. At present, what we need to solve is mobility, and then there is also secrecy. 20 people seem to be a lot, but the Liao people are soldiers with swords. Khitan men and women can fight, once we step into Liao Kingdom, we will be surrounded by heavy enemies, if we divide our troops, we will die."

Jingtai nodded, he had no other choice, he didn't know the big taboo of dividing troops, looked at the topographic map, Jingtai said again: "Secrecy is not difficult, please look, Commander, go down Helan Mountain Pass and go north It is a long and narrow desert. Jiashan and Tanshan are surrounded by desert from the south to the north. Originally, there should be grasslands under the two mountains. Years of wind and sand have engulfed the two mountains in the desert. The north of the desert is a large area of ​​people, and two hundred miles north of the Tanshan Mountain is Huaizhou on the Shangjing Road. This road should be hard for the Liao people to find."

Su Jin looked in the direction of his finger. Marching in the desert is not difficult, but it is not impossible. Just walk along the edge of the desert and avoid densely populated places.

"It's feasible, it's this road, from Yunnei to the north, if it goes well, it can be reached in ten days, but before that, we have to do one thing."

"Commander orders." Everyone stood in silence to listen to the order.

"Look at this grassland. It's right under our noses. There's no reason for Baoshan to return empty-handed. Tomorrow, let's borrow some horses and livestock from the Liao people. Although they are not war horses, what we want is the strength of our feet." Su Jin smiled. road.

"That's right, the grassland is right in front of our noses, so how can he be worthy of Yelu Zongzhen if he doesn't snatch tens of thousands of horses?" Ma Han yelled.

"But Marshal, won't our whereabouts be exposed in this way? Doesn't this tell the Liao people that we have detoured into their territory?" Pan Jiang said without worry.

"It has been exposed after taking the Dashan Pass. The defenders of the Dashan Pass explained that the replenishment will arrive on the [-]th. Today is only two days away from the replenishment day of the Dashan Pass. Even if we don't do anything, the Liao people will know after two days. Send me an order, tomorrow the vanguard will go down to Dasan Pass and go east to snatch horses, not to approach the city, try not to hurt the people, I will give you half a day, and you must come back at Shenshi in the afternoon, because we will set off at night."

The vanguard generals such as Ma Han of the Panjiang Dynasty stood upright with their chests and stomachs folded to receive the order. [

In the early morning of the next day, horseshoes rumbled outside Dashan Pass. Pan Jiang led fifty thousand vanguard troops down the mountain pass like wolves and tigers and galloped eastward into the grassland. Su Jin stood on the tower of Dashan Pass, watching the grassland rise and rise. Puff after puff of thick smoke, there is no apology in my heart, I am no longer as compassionate as before, living in this era, killing or being killed are two must-choice choices, although the people are innocent, but Su Jinyi is sentimental, Su Jin can't shake all this. He can't lose the lives of himself and his relatives because he can't bear it. This is the fact. Whether it's selfishness or cruelty, it's the best weight to survive in this era.

At the end of the day, the vanguard came back with a large number of horses in a gust of wind, and everyone's faces were excited. Su Jin observed that there was blood on the armor of the soldiers, and faintly sensed what happened.

"Marshal, I got more than [-] horses, but they don't have saddles, so I don't know if they can be ridden." Pan Jiang reported excitedly.

Su Jin stared at his bloody scabbard and asked lightly, "Did you kill someone?"

Pan Jiang whispered as if he had done something wrong: "Brothers can't control it as soon as they go, and it's hard to stop when they see the blood. Besides, those Liao people are really tough, they come riding on horses and holding knives. Desperate, if we don't kill them, we will be killed by them."

Su Jin sighed and said, "Forget it, it's a good thing to see some blood. Maybe some of these 20 people will be able to go back alive. It's hard to make a big deal if you're not fierce, but you have to remember that you can kill but not indiscriminately. Otherwise, you will be punished by God.”

Pan Jiang breathed a sigh of relief: "The humble official knows."

Su Jin waved his hand and said, "Allocate the horses, and immediately organize the army, and the soldiers will be sent to Yunnei in an hour."