The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

The battle is not worth mentioning at all. Under the crush of [-] cavalry, Huaizhou City is like an undefended girl who is ravaged by others. The [-] defenders have not made a symbolic resistance before they have been strangled. into corpses.

The remnant soldiers in the four cities were quickly wiped out, the streets were filled with the figures of the Song army galloping on horseback, and the people of Huaizhou hurriedly hid in their homes and closed their doors, praying in secret for the blessing of longevity, so that they would not be slaughtered by the Song people.

Of course, Su Jin would not massacre the city. In the pre-war meeting last night, Su Jin asked not to massacre civilians as much as possible, except for the soldiers of the Liao army. The enemy with weapons in their hands is a threat.

In the afternoon, more than [-] infantry and luggage arrived at Huaizhou City, but the battle had long since ended. The entire Huaizhou City had fallen into the hands of the Song Army, and the city lord Xiao Yuanshan and all his subordinates were captured. They even abandoned the city. There was no time to escape.

Su Jin's primary concern is the armory and warehouse. When he saw that the Huaizhou military warehouse was slowly full of food, Su Jin put his heart into his stomach. The 20 troops went thousands of miles away. There is food in Duncheng, but it can't be transported, so we can only adopt the strategy of fighting to support the war. The soldiers have almost eaten up the food for [-] days. After taking Huaizhou City, the food and fodder have been replenished. The following is in line with the strategy of supporting war with war. [

There is nothing useful in the armory. Huaizhou is not an important military town, and its defenses are very loose. There is no armor, weapons and equipment left at all, but there are hundreds of saddles. Su Jin naturally took it away without hesitation. Although the horses can't fight, they can still be used as riding; Su Jin thought that he would get a large number of horses when he captured Huaizhou, but in fact there were only [-] regular army horses available, and nothing else.

After a little rest, that night, Su Jin convened the generals to discuss the next target. In the hall of Xiao Yuanshan's city lord's mansion, the topographic map was built again. Point and point around the topographic map.

"Commander, our goal is to go directly to Shangjing, and the next target is suspected to be Gyeongju (ps: Gyeongju in Liao Kingdom, not Gyeongju on Huanqing Road), after passing Gyeongju, go northeast 180 miles to Shangjing, I suggest that we attack Gyeongju with all our strength." Pan Jiang stroked the gravel on the topographic map, and the bamboo pole knocked loudly on the teacup representing Gyeongju.

Su Jin thought for a while and said: "Gyeongju is indeed the gateway to Shangjing, but there is Taihang Mountain between Huaizhou and Huaizhou. Maybe there is a way to go, but it will definitely affect the speed of marching. If there is no way to go, it will be troublesome .”

Pan Jiang scratched his head and said, "That's a problem. The city lord said that going to the north for hundreds of miles is the Taihang Mountains. The problem of marching is indeed a problem. The commander-in-chief may have other ideas."

Su Jin said: "It is true that our goal is to go to Beijing, but our ultimate strategic goal is to 'force' all the Liao army to return to help, and the more 'chaotic' they stir up, the better. It is suggested to attack Raozhou in the east first, and then attack Zuzhou in the north. If Qingzhou is the southwestern gateway of Shangjing, Zuzhou is the southeastern gateway of Shangjing. This can create more momentum and avoid the disadvantages of Taihang Mountain terrain."

The generals were silent, Jingtai frowned and said: "Commander, I feel that this is not appropriate."

Su Jin said: "Tell me and listen."

Jing Taidao: "First, the news of taking Huaizhou will spread within a few days, and we will soon be closely watched by the defenders of the cities of Zhongjing Road and Shangjing Road. There must be a lot of soldiers and horses. As long as there are 6 to [-] people gathered in Raozhou to defend the city, it will take a long time for us to attack the city. This is contrary to the original intention of the commander; fortified battles are not our strong point, because We didn't bring large siege equipment, even if we captured it, the casualties would be huge, wouldn't it be a waste of strength?"

Su Jin pinched his chin and thought about it: "Continue to say, if there is one, there must be the second, what about the second?"

Jing Tai said: "The second is the most important point. We will delay a lot of time when we go east and make a detour to go north. During this period, the Liao people can definitely mobilize soldiers and horses from the southwestern border of Koryo and the vassal state of Jin to come to the rescue. It seems very far away, but don't forget that they are all cavalry, and they will travel day and night within ten days to guard Shangjing. At that time, we will be completely passive and forced to fight with the main force of the enemy army. This is a big taboo .”

All the generals nodded one after another, Jing discussed and analyzed very reasonable, and they were all to the point.

Su Jin stretched out his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, and said with a smile, "Generals, General Jingtai's words are reasonable, but these are words of caution. Compared with the overall strategy of this battle, don't you think it's a bit out of place?"

The generals were puzzled, and Su Jin explained: "Our 20 army goes deep alone, which is a risky strategy in itself. It is doomed, so adventure is the premise of this army's expedition; in addition, what I want to say is that things are not so bad. The situation that General Jingtai said may happen, or it may not happen at all. Where is our goal? The enemy army never knew how it would be possible for them to bet on Raozhou and retreat [-] steps. If their bet was successful, wouldn't we be flexible? Within our attack range, once we are targeted, we will randomly send troops to the south to attack these undefended cities. Although we cannot destroy their troops, we can still burn food and grass and destroy cities. How can the Liao people tolerate me? The large army coming and going in its hinterland will also have the effect of decompressing the front line."

Jingtai punched his palms and sighed: "That's right, the commander-in-chief is right. We have focused our goals on Shangjing, but we have limited our actions."

Su Jin said: "Shangjing is still our first choice, because it is the first of the five capitals of the Liao Kingdom. Taking Shangjing is of great significance and can greatly dampen the morale of the Liao people, but everything depends on the situation and cannot be rigid; I think it is unlikely that the people mobilized the defenders from Jin and Koryo to guard Shangjing. Firstly, there are not many troops there. Secondly, the Liao people are not afraid that the Jin people and Korean people will take the opportunity to make trouble, so the biggest possibility is to give up attacking Song Dynasty. Come back and eat us."

Pan Jiang said: "Commander, please give me an order, where is the next target?"

Su Jin looked at the map and thought for a while: "In view of General Jingtai's reminder, we need to compress the defenders of Zhongjing Road and prevent them from betting on Raozhou. After all, Raozhou and Gyeongju choose one, the chance of winning the bet It's still quite high. I decided to go south to attack Gaozhou, "approach" Zhongjing Dading Mansion, create the illusion of attacking Dading, and lead them to mobilize other prefectures to retreat to Dading for defense, and then suddenly turn north to attack Raozhou and lose Zhongjing. Dao reinforcements are at your fingertips in Raozhou."

...[

On the third day of June, 9 cavalry raided Gaozhou City, Zhongjing Road. Because Gaozhou had received the news, it was ready to defend. The number of defenders in Nai was too small, and a mere [-] defenders could not stop the attack of [-] people. In addition, the Gaozhou city wall It was low and not strong enough to defend. After resisting for two hours, the city lord of Gaozhou led his troops to abandon the city and fled. Gaozhou was defeated before noon.

Su Jin ordered people to burn down the houses, food and grass in Gaozhou City, drove the people out of the city to flee south, and sent cavalry to attack Dading Mansion southward. Refugees poured into Dading Mansion in large numbers, and at the same time brought news that the Song Army was about to attack Dading Mansion. .

Pingzhang Yelujiyou of Zhongjing Road Prime Minister's Mansion who was stationed in Dading Mansion panicked. The 3 troops who had planned to send out to support Raozhou quickly withdrew, not to mention, they also mobilized Enzhou, Huizhou, Xingzhong Prefecture, and Yuzhou in the southeast. The defenders who waited for a few places supported Dading at full speed.

After waiting for a few days, the Song army did not arrive. Suspiciously, there was news of Raozhou's fall. It turned out that the Song army's cavalry had already turned to the northeast on the way to Dading to cooperate with the infantry who had arrived in Raozhou earlier. He took Raozhou with little effort and annihilated 1 Raozhou defenders.

In just over a dozen days, the Song army descended from the heavens like a divine soldier, and conquered three cities within the Liao Kingdom, causing a miasma of smog, and the vegetation was full of soldiers.

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