The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Su Jin led [-] cavalry to rush forward on light cavalry. Two days later, they arrived at the northernmost mountain in the grassland. Although the mountain here is not high, it is better because the mountain is continuous and vertical, like a screen stretching east and west to block everyone.

This is already the northern part of the Liao Kingdom, and it is almost November, the northern cold current has enveloped the land, and the weather has become extremely cold; Su Jin's army entered Liao to fight in the midsummer, and it was too uncomfortable to be shirtless at that time. It was hot, so naturally I didn’t bring winter clothes. After arriving in the Liao Kingdom, there were very few clothes to keep out the cold in the looted supplies, so at this moment, the soldiers were still wearing thin jackets under their armor, and they started to run on horseback. marrow.

Su Jin knew that he couldn't delay any longer. He originally wanted to bypass this mountain to get closer to Shangjing in a more secret way. Now this plan needs to be adjusted. With this mountain as a barrier, the cold wind in the north is better. When a heavy snow falls, everything will be over, and now we can only go west along the south of the mountain at the risk of being discovered by the Liao people.

The soldiers also came up with a lot of strategies to keep out the cold. Some people recognized that there were many long grasses called 'Ula grass' growing at the foot of the mountain. These things called Ula grass have an excellent effect of keeping out the cold. The heat preservation effect is very good, so the whole army used the rest time to go up the mountain to cut grass, and then dried the half-green and half-yellow Ula grass by the campfire, stuffed them into armor and shoes, and immediately seemed to be wearing a thin cotton jacket. Much warmer.

Su Jin greatly appreciated these methods. The worst thing to do in a difficult situation is to complain, but to actively save yourself. Su Jin vigorously promoted this method of keeping out the cold, and because of this, he promoted many soldiers who came up with a solution.But Su Jin knew in his heart that this was not a long-term solution. The most urgent task was to take down Shangjing before the first heavy snowfall in winter. Shangjing was the capital of the Liao Kingdom, and there was everything there. If you occupied Shangjing, everything would be different. [

After traveling along the south side of the mountains for several days, there were many villages and towns along the way. Su Jin had to order all the people from these villages and towns to be taken with the army, because he was afraid that these people would tip off the news. Maybe there are no such means, but in order not to make mistakes, Su Jin can't take risks. In case Yelu Chongyuan divides his troops to rescue him, it only takes him four or five days to return from the grassland, and he leads his troops to walk in the uneven mountains. Tiancai arrived at Linhuang Mansion, and was targeted by Yelu Zhongyuan, and the plan was completely bankrupt.

At the beginning of November, the mountains in front turned into plains again, and Su Jin breathed a sigh of relief. After setting up camp that night, he sent scouts out overnight to investigate the situation ahead. This place was completely unfamiliar, and he had no idea which direction Shangjing was in.

At dawn, the scouts reported that there was a city fifty miles away to the north, but it was not Shangjing. People were arrested and asked, and they said that the town was called Ningzhou; It is true that we are heading west, but the direction of the mountains is northwest. In seven or eight days, we have traveled hundreds of miles to the north, and we have reached Ningzhou; this Ningzhou is more than two hundred miles southward to Wuzhou and Yikun. , to go to the south is to go to Beijing, this is called a small difference, and a thousand miles away. These days, there is no GPS positioning, and there is no road to follow. Wrong.

Pan Jiang and others suggested to take Ningzhou to rest first, and then go south to Linhuang Mansion for more than [-] miles. The hurried march is only two days away, so there is no need to worry.

Su Jin looked at the gray stratocumulus clouds rolling in the sky, and knew that a heavy snow was coming. In just two or three days, the weather would turn extremely cold. This heavy snow is trapped in the isolated city, when the snow will melt and the road will be dry before sending troops, by then, Yelu Chongyuan may have already retracted the army back to Linhuang Mansion, and he can only wait to die.

"Ningzhou can't take it, even Wuzhou and Yikun can't move, the snow is about to fall, we have only one way to survive, and that is to win Shangjing before the snow falls, otherwise everything will be lost." Su Jin said.

Jing Taidao: "The commander-in-chief is right. We will freeze to death and starve to death in the snow, and lose our mobility. Only by taking Shangjing quickly can we survive. I just don't know how the generals of the dynasty are, Yelu Zhongyuan It has been more than ten days since the 25-strong army chased after him, and the victory or defeat may have already been decided."

Su Jin looked at the gray sky outside the tent and said slowly: "The disparity in military strength is too great, and luck is more than luck. Now we have to race against time, not only to run before the heavy snow, but also to rush back to Linhuang Mansion before Yelu Chongyuan." Before."

Pan Jiang breathed out and said, "What if Yelu Chongyuan has returned to defense when we arrive at Linhuang Mansion, what should we do?"

Su Jin looked up at the sky and said quietly: "Let's not retreat, we can only attack by force, because we have penetrated too deep for too long, cold, hunger and siege will defeat us, no matter how brave you are, you will always come back Someday, let's hope none of this happens."

The generals were silent, what Su Jin said was the truth, whether you like it or not, but it cannot be denied that it is true; a question that has been floating in people's minds for a long time became bigger and bigger, almost blurted out, and the battle began Over the past month, the army has caused such huge damage in the Liao territory, and even the Liao people have been transferred back from the southern battlefield to encircle and suppress, but why doesn't our frontal army of the Song Dynasty take the opportunity to fight back?So far there has been no news of the Song army counterattacking the advance, which has to make people wonder.

……

Yelu Chongyuan's army besieging Xinzhou launched a fierce attack the next morning after setting up camp. Nearly [-] Song troops and [-] Jurchens resisted desperately. The thin Xinzhou city defense has not been repaired for a long time, and there are loopholes everywhere. Fortunately, Yelu Chongyuan's army did not have heavy siege weapons, so they could only rely on brute force to climb to the top of the city with hooks or simple ladders, which gave too many opportunities for the defending army.

This was probably the most brutal and bloody siege battle in history. For three days in a row, the walls of the four cities were always covered with Liao soldiers who attacked the city. Throwing stones, using a bucket with a long pole, pouring boiling water down, and jumping down with arms, all methods are exhausted.

The siegemen kept using hooks to grab people off the city wall, and the archers below shot arrows at the city head day and night, regardless of whether the enemy was mixed with us or not.

A thick layer of corpses piled up under the city, and the corpses of the first day were trampled into a pulp on the second day, and then covered by the fallen corpses of the next day, the water in the moat beside the city of Xinzhou has been stained blood red "Color" has become a streamer of blood flowing around a dilapidated city.

The loss of the siege was huge, but Yelu Chongyuan didn't care. When he learned that the Song army in the city was not all, he guessed the strategic intention of the Song people. The army rushed into Xinzhou City, how could they escape, so he didn't even think about building any equipment, but simply and brutally strangled them quickly with human sea tactics, and then it was not too late to return to Linhuang Mansion to rescue them.

Things didn't go as expected. The city, which was thought to be broken in a day under the onslaught, was still stalemate in three days, with more than [-] casualties; although tens of thousands of Song soldiers guarding the city also died, the city still remained Yelu Zhongyuan was very upset that he didn't take it down, and he didn't have time to spend any more.

In the early morning of the fourth day, Yelu Chongyuan sent all the [-] elite tribal soldiers who had been hiding in the snow for several days to the battlefield. This is the elite army he brought back from the front line. Now it seems that I have to send it out in advance. [

The Song army and the Jurchen soldiers guarding the city obviously felt different. The Liao army's siege troops were much stronger than the previous few days. There are only more than 9 combatable soldiers left, and they are extremely exhausted.

When the Liao army's offensive was in full swing, Wanyanhu's selfishness brought catastrophic losses. Half of the [-] soldiers he brought with him turned out to be soldiers from Longzhou. Shui, the Song army and Jurchen soldiers around the city hacked at the top of the city, and the situation suddenly became chaotic, and the city wall of the west gate was declared to be lost.

Wan Yanhu tried his best to lead the crowd to counterattack, but he had already regained his power, and the Liao army rushed to the city of Xinzhou like a tide, and the momentum could not be stopped.

The Dynasty guarded the two northeastern city walls, and news came that the west wall was lost. The Dynasty knew that the situation was over, and he knew that he had to evacuate Xinzhou quickly; half an hour later, the Dynasty led [-] Song troops to break through the north gate. In the end, he led [-] Song troops out of the weakest North Gate to break through.

Although Yelu Zhongyuan was angry, he knew that he had no time to chase people, so he ordered all the Song soldiers and Jurchen soldiers in the city to be killed. At noon, the battle of Xinzhou came to an end. Xinzhou's 9 Song Army and [-] Wanyanhu's army were defeated; the Song Army broke through and escaped [-], Wanyanhu died fighting, [-] defenders died in battle, and [-] were captured.

Knowing that there was no delay, Yelu Zhongyuan only rested in the afternoon and one night, and led the remaining 16 troops back to Linhuang Mansion in the early morning of the next day.

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