The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

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This kind of ceaseless air raid finally made the Liao army in the imperial city unbearable. Empress Renyi Xiao Tali had to summon the ministers to discuss countermeasures in the underground secret room. The ministers in front of them were all disheveled. Burning didn't dare to stay inside, and they could only spend the long cold night in tents, each with pale faces and sneezing.

"My lords, the imperial city has been burned down by the people of the Song Dynasty, so we must come up with a solution. Now that the houses are completely destroyed, and the soldiers and civilians are exposed to the severe cold, what should we do?" Empress Xiao said with a pale face.

"Qi Zou Empress, not only the houses were destroyed, but also more than half of the food, grass and military equipment were burned. The imperial city can no longer be defended. I suggest that the empress and the prince immediately evacuate Shangjing and go to Gudalu for a while." Zhang Jian's hair and eyebrows were burned. His body was burnt yellow, tremblingly said.

"However, the emperor's younger brother's army will arrive soon, and they can fight back against the Song army in two more days. It is really unwilling to withdraw at this time." Yelu Kanrong gritted his teeth. [

Zhang Jian said: "General Yelu, can you hold on for two days? The Song people kept attacking from the air. Thousands of soldiers were killed every day, tens of thousands of people were displaced, and food and supplies were burned. What can we do with the Song army?" Fight? I’m afraid the army of His Royal Highness has not arrived yet, and I will all freeze to death. I don’t regret waiting to die, but how can the queen and the prince be in danger? General Yelu should escort the queen and the prince out of the city as soon as possible to avoid disaster. good."

Yelu Hongji clenched his fists and said, "No, Father is fighting bloody battles on the front line, and I'm waiting in the rear, even a small group of 9 to [-] Song soldiers can't deal with it. How can we justify it? Originally, we wanted to wait for the emperor Uncle's army has arrived, but it seems unlikely now that the Song army only dared to use despicable means to attack, but did not dare to attack directly. I think they are actually not strong. I think we want someone to save us. It is better to save ourselves. There are hundreds of thousands of people in the city, plus [-] defenders, we can put all our eggs in one basket and attack. The Han people in Seoul are also my Daliao people. As long as we attack, I believe that the people of Seoul will also respond in droves, and the Song Dynasty will be defeated. People are wiped out in one fell swoop."

Everyone said that the little prince was so whimsical that he actually wanted to drive away the Khitan people as cannon fodder to directly attack the Song army, regardless of whether it was feasible or not, his hard-heartedness was eye-catching.

Empress Xiao hurriedly said: "How can that be? Wouldn't it be good to drive the people to attack and send them to their deaths?"

Yelu Hongji said: "My queen, if the people of Song Dynasty break down the imperial city, wouldn't these hundreds of thousands of people still become slaughterers? Why not give them a chance to be loyal to Daliao instead of being enslaved to death? Have you ever thought about it, once the imperial city is broken and the world shakes, what will father and king Xiao think on the southern front? What will the border soldiers think? This is not a problem of a city, but a matter of the overall situation of the country; father Why did the emperor send troops back from the front line to defend Shangjing? It is because the meaning of Shangjing is not only a city, but also a symbol of our Daliao."

Zhang Jian nodded slowly and said: "The prince is right. The old minister was confused and forgot this section. The imperial city cannot be lost. When the emperor's younger brother mobilized the army to leave, the old minister felt that something was wrong. He didn't think about it at the time. Thinking about it now, it was really reckless.”

Yelu Hongji sneered and said: "How does the emperor understand this? He only needs to have a large army under his command who can gain military merit and reputation by fighting more or less. He doesn't care whether the capital can be kept; but how can we think so? I suggest After sending 1000 troops to see off my mother overnight, I left the city to avoid disaster, and my lords and I immediately organized a manpower attack on Seoul, this is the capital of our Daliao Kingdom, and the people of Song Dynasty cannot do anything alone, so there is nothing to be afraid of."

Yelu Kanrong looked at Zhang Jian and asked for Zhang Jian's opinion, Zhang Jian said: "The prince is leaving too, how can the queen be accompanied."

Yelu Hongji said angrily: "Do you want me to be a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death?"

Empress Xiao reprimanded: "Emperor!"

Yelu Hongji waved his hand and said: "When the country is in crisis, my father ordered me to stay in the capital. If I abandon the city and flee, how can I explain to my father? Don't mention this matter again. Lord Yelu, pass on my orders. The men in the city must be over sixteen. All under [-] gathered in the South Square, and if they disobeyed and escaped, they would be killed immediately. The deputy commander of the imperial guards, Long Ge, escorted the queen and all the concubines and princesses out of the north gate to take refuge in Dagulu, and Mr. Zhang Jian and all the veterans escorted Luanjia; This matter is so settled, no one is allowed to talk too much."

Empress Xiao opened her mouth, swallowed the words with a sigh, her son has grown up, and already has the fierce look of hungry wolves on the grassland in his eyes, he is no longer that submissive little prince, Yelu's family should be decided by Yelu and his son.

The people of Liao didn't know that Su Jin's air raid plan could not go on any longer. Firstly, the hot air balloon had a series of accidents, and more than half of them crashed. There is no more kerosene to use, is it possible to fly into the sky and smash rocks at the risk of falling?

How much the main targets of the Liao people were burned is really difficult to assess. Su Jin’s plan is to place important places such as barracks, palaces, and granaries and material warehouses, but after all, there is no specific location to follow. In the end, it turned into a big bombing of the whole city. , All the places where there were houses were thrown and burned to be burned, so that the number of people was accidentally injured, and the whole city was in a mess.

Su Jin has no other choice. It is hard to avoid the casualties of the people when things are at this point today, but he does not know the outcome of the battle, so he can't proceed with the next plan. Su Jin originally made a strong attack plan. After supplies, a strong attack is absolutely feasible. Without arrows and no food and drink, no matter how high the city defense is, no matter how strong the enemy tower is, what good is it?

Su Jin hoped to judge whether he had achieved his goal based on the reaction of the Liao people, so he ordered people to monitor the reactions of the Liao people day and night. He hoped that the best result would be that the Liao people completely withdraw from the imperial city, and then he could rely on the powerful forces of the imperial city. Guarding the defensive facilities, even if Yelu Zhongyuan came, he couldn't move a single hair of himself.

In the middle of the night, Zhao Hu woke up Su Jin and told him that a scout had come to report that there was movement from the Liao army, and it seemed that an army had been sent outside the north gate.

Su Jin hurriedly put on his horse and braved the cold wind and went around to the wilderness outside the north gate of the imperial city. Ma Han had been waiting here with [-] cavalry for a long time.

"What's going on?" Su Jin asked. [

"My lord, my subordinates were investigating outside the city and found that another group of people left the city and headed north an hour ago."

"how many people?"

"I didn't see how many, but the number of people seems to be small."

Su Jin nodded, sent troops an hour ago, and now the city gates are closed, it is obviously a small army, otherwise it would not be so fast, Su Jin led people holding torches to investigate along the route of the enemy army, Su Jin walked a few steps and squatted Looking closely at the traces, he nodded and said, "I understand."

Ma Han asked, "What's wrong?"

"Look, there are ruts in the middle of the snowy avenue, and horseshoe marks on both sides. It is obvious that the cavalry escorted the convoy out of the city. At this time, the city is definitely not sending any supplies, but definitely escorting someone out of the city."

Ma Han said: "Escort someone."

Su Jin smiled and said: "Ma Han, your chance to make meritorious service has come, and I ordered you and Zhao Hu to lead the army to pursue immediately. If I guessed correctly, the escorts must be the Liao Lord's wife, children, concubines and others. Only they to be treated like this.”

Ma Han patted his thigh and said, "Isn't that right, this is the capital city."

Su Jin said: "Then what are you waiting for? Why don't you hurry up and chase after you? After you catch it, make a detour, and don't go back the same way, in case the news spreads back to the city, the Liao army will send troops to support you and make dumplings."

Ma Han lifted the reins and said, "Don't worry, my lord, I'll bring you some beautiful princesses and concubines to be your concubines."

Su Jinyu waved his hands and said: "Don't talk nonsense, treat each other with courtesy, don't do anything foolish, they are still very useful."

Ma Han laughed, and galloped northward with Zhao Hu and three thousand cavalry.

……

It was destined to be a restless night. Before Su Jin could sit down in Seoul, Jing Tai and Pan Jiang came hand in hand. Their cold armor was covered with icicles, and their swords made clinking sounds when they touched the armor.

"Marshal, the Liao people don't know what the hell is going on. We didn't harass them, but they themselves kept arguing. The brothers from Beichengwang said that there is chaos in the imperial city. Is there a civil strife?"

Su Jin quickly put on his armor again and got up and said, "Go, let's have a look."

The three of them quickly came to a tall watchtower newly built in Beicheng. Su Jin stared into the imperial city. As Jingtai and others said, there was a sound of crying in the city, as if there were soldiers in armor walking back and forth in the city. Running around, I don't know what tricks I'm doing.

Su Jin looked at it carefully for a while, then turned around and said, "You two, I'm afraid we are going to prepare to meet the enemy."

Jing Tai said: "What? Liao people dare to fight us?"

Su Jin pointed to the surging crowd in the imperial city and said: "Look, the people who were driven here should be ordinary people. They are not civil strife, but they are in the city. I am willing to give up, so La Minfu must be sent to the army as a last-ditch effort."

Pan Jiang and Jingtai looked closely, and both clicked their tongues: "If that's the case, this is tricky."