The famous book tour starting from the Red House

Chapter 452
In the wilderness to the north of Yanmen Pass, there was a huge team marching northward that day. It was Mu Xu's army and civilians who took Yunzhou directly.

Thanks to Mu Xu's continuous propaganda over the past year, everyone in the army, from the generals to the soldiers, is in high spirits.

Just because they all know that they are the first Han armed forces to set foot here since the Tanyuan alliance in the Northern Song Dynasty.And the significance of their trip is even more extraordinary, it is to regain Yunzhou, the hometown of the Central Plains Dynasty since ancient times.

Yunzhou is the name of the Han people, and the Liao people call it Xijing.But no matter how the Liao people changed their place names, they still could not change the fact that this place originally belonged to the Central Plains Dynasty.

According to historical records, this place first belonged to the State of Zhao during the Warring States Period.The Qin and Han Dynasties established Yunzhong County here, and then changed its name several times until the first year of Tang Qianyuan, when it was renamed Yunzhou.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Shi Jingtang, the founding emperor of the later Jin Dynasty, rebelled. Later Tang soldiers besieged Taiyuan. Shi Jingtang asked Khitan for help, so he ceded Youyun Sixteen Prefectures, and willingly became the "child emperor" and became a traitor.

Since then, Yunzhou has become the territory of the Liao Kingdom.

Shi Jingtang's actions caused far-reaching damage, which is beyond description. When the later Zhu Yuanzhang recovered this place, there was an interval of more than [-] years.

It is precisely because of knowing this history that, from the moment he stepped out of Yanmen Pass, Mu Xu vowed secretly in his heart that even if he paid a huge price, he would let this place return to the hands of the Han people.

With such a big fanfare in Mu Xu's side, the Liao people naturally wouldn't turn a blind eye.

However, there are some deviations in Liao people's cognition.With the continuous rise of the Jurchens in recent years, the political situation in the Liao Kingdom was unstable, resulting in little domestic attention to the Song Dynasty.

In this way, after learning that a large army has left Yanmen Pass and rushed straight to Yunzhou.The reaction of Xiao Chala and others who stayed behind in Liaoxijing was that the Song people broke the covenant between the two countries and invaded aggressively while the Liao Lord was on his own. It never occurred to them that the Song people who came this time were not from the other Song.

Due to the psychological advantages accumulated over the past hundred years, with more victories and fewer losses with the Song Dynasty, the high-level officials of the Liao Kingdom have always looked down on the Song people. Even though Yunzhou is quite empty now, they have never paid attention to the future enemies inside.

After discussing with his subordinates, Xiao Chala tried his best to resist all opinions, and did not immediately send a messenger to ask for help from Nanjing.

Instead, all the troops near Yunzhou were assembled, leaving only [-] people to defend the city, and the remaining [-] people were handed over to Yelu Foding and Yelu Jiujin to take the initiative to meet the Song army.

The Liao army marched quickly all the way, and finally intercepted the enemy's way in the Huanghuadui area.

Seeing that the Song army had set up their formation, the two Yelu Foding were not afraid at all, and ordered the whole army to rest, and then sent envoys to question the Song general.

The Liao envoy came to Mu Xu's army, and after seeing Mu Xu, he asked arrogantly,
"I've heard for a long time that the Great Song Dynasty is a state of etiquette. Why do you disregard the covenant between the two countries and invade our territory for no reason? If you know yourselves, you will leave property as an apology.

My general may show kindness and let you go to the south in peace, if not, I will let you all die! "

Hearing this, Mu Xu was taken aback for a moment, and then realized that the Liao people thought they were the Song army.

At that moment, as soon as he rolled his eyes, he took his heart into consideration, raised his hand to stop the indignant generals, and said flatly, "This guy is so rude, push me out and behead him!"

The Liao envoy turned pale with shock, and hurriedly shouted, "If the two countries are fighting each other, don't behead the envoy!"

But before it was too late, Wu Song, who had been displeased with him for a long time, took the head of the Liao envoy with a single blow and sent him on his way.

Then, Mu Xu called Hua Rong, whispered a few words in a low voice, Hua Rong nodded, and carried Liao envoy's head away.

But Huarong came out of the camp, rode his horse to the front of the Liao army twenty miles away, threw the head on the ground, and said in a loud voice, "My general said that your envoy is too rude. Now I will take his head Send it back, if you want to negotiate again, please send a sensible person."

After all, before the Liao people could react, he rode back.

Seeing this situation and hearing the provocative words of the enemy general, Yelu Foding and Yelu Jiujin were furious.

Although they knew that this was just the enemy's aggressive method, but because both of them looked down on the combat power of the Song people, they didn't think much about it immediately, so they divided the army into two parts, and planned to let Yelu Foding lead [-] cavalry to charge the battle. However, Yelu Jiujin led an army behind him to hide and kill.

After the two made up their minds, the five thousand cavalry, led by Yelu Foding, lined up and moved forward slowly. When they came to a mile away from the enemy, accompanied by the sound of high-pitched horns, it was like a torrent of steel, heading towards the enemy. Song Jun bumped into them.

In the era of cold weapons, cavalry has a natural advantage over infantry, and this advantage is mainly reflected in mobility and impact.

Let's talk about mobility first. Infantry fighting cavalry can't catch up if they win, and can't run away if they lose.However, when cavalry attack infantry, they can use their speed advantage to drag down infantry.

Another more important point is that mobility can reverse the quantitative comparison between armies to a certain extent.

Besides the impact force, the weight of some large war horses can even reach more than one ton. Coupled with the blessing of the speed of the war horses, often a single encounter can smash the infantry formation.

Therefore, before the invention of firearms, when fighting on the battlefield, nomadic peoples had an inherent advantage over farming peoples.

In order to deal with the nomads who are good at cavalry, the dynasties of the Central Plains also tried their best.

Generally speaking, there are generally only two ways to deal with it.One, rely on fortresses such as the Great Wall, or infantry formations to carry out passive defense and try to kill and injure the enemy's vital forces.

Two, in a strong dynasty, train a well-equipped cavalry team, and head-to-head with the nomads. If they are defeated, they will be driven to land where water and grass are not abundant, so that they cannot pose a threat to the border.

These two methods have their pros and cons.In the former, the initiative on the battlefield has always been manipulated by the opponent, which is too passive.As for the latter, it consumes too much national power. Once the Central Plains dynasty weakens, the nomads will make a comeback.

It is precisely because of the above reasons that Yelu Foding dared to attack so rashly, without paying attention to the Han army mainly composed of infantry, thinking that with a single charge, the enemy army could be dispersed as before, and then Harvest human life.

But Yelu Foding miscalculated today, because what he was facing was not Song Jun at all.

When the Liao army was still three hundred steps away from their own side, Mu Xu gave an order, and the front army quickly retreated, revealing three rows of bed crossbows hidden in the formation.

These bed crossbows were carefully crafted by Ling Zhen, and each of them could shoot five hundred paces away. It was Mu Xu's trump card to deal with the Liao cavalry this time.

After many years of war with the Song Dynasty, Yelu Foding certainly knew how powerful the Song people's crossbows were, but he never imagined that this Song people's army would have so many bed crossbows.

But now that the arrow is on the string, he has no choice but to fire. Yelu Foding has no way to retreat, so he has to send an order, "The whole army is not allowed to retreat. After the crossbow is over, the enemy is in sight!"

Having said that, the scene that followed still made Yelufo's heart shattered, but he saw a crossbow arrow piercing through the air, shooting down a large number of Liao cavalrymen and horses to the ground from time to time.

After finally rushing a hundred paces away, the casualties of Yelufoding's troops had reached a thousand, just when he breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the enemy army would soon let him harvest.But he saw that the enemy's bed crossbows split to both sides, and a cavalry also rushed out from behind, charging towards the front of his side.

(End of this chapter)