People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 358 Goryeo Calls Father
At the beginning of August, the new wind was howling, the northwest was vast, and amidst the smoke and fire, the Song army was as powerful as a broken bamboo.

On the 6th, the front army of the Song Dynasty arrived in Lanzhou City.

On the same day, the former army commander Jingtai sent the vanguard Jia Kui to break through the river mouth, and made successive raids, capturing eleven camps and thirty-three fortresses of the Xia army, defeating more than 10,000 enemy soldiers, and capturing countless baggage.

Many Xixia defenders suffered heavy losses, with only about 6,000 remaining from more than 10,000 people. They either fled north to Zhuoluo City or west to Miaochuan Village.

After the Song army occupied the river mouth, they camped on the spot, living in the tents of the Xixia people, using their supplies, and even the north bank was occupied by them, controlling the junction of the Zhuanglang River and the Yellow River.

It can be said that the Song army was extremely arrogant.

On the seventh day, the Song Dynasty's front army where Jingtai was located arrived at the mouth of the river.

The main force led by Zhang Kang also entered Lanzhou, and the Song Army's actions were not hindered at all. The arrangements arranged by Li Yuanhao to block the Song Army's footsteps had no effect at all.

But Li Yuanhao did not expect that the Xixia army at the mouth of the river could hold off the Song army for how long. What he never expected was that it would only take half a day.

In his plan, he should have been blocked for three or four days.

As a general, Yeli Wangrong naturally understood this truth and calmed down to express his understanding.

Don't forget they have artillery too.

Logically speaking, Yeli Wangrong is also a veteran, so it is impossible not to know this.

Therefore, Yeli Wangrong believed that there was no need to inflict fearless casualties and it was better to concentrate his forces in the city.

Unlike the Liao Kingdom, Xixia had already begun to study muskets. They had not yet fully understood the artillery, let alone firearms.

Even if it's not a large artillery, it's a small steel cannon weighing more than 200 kilograms.

Li Yuanhao said calmly: "Hold on for a month, and then withdraw from Miaochuan and go to Qingtang. Do you know?"

In other words, it should be that the Song Army underestimated the progress of developing firearms.

But the other party didn't use artillery at all. They completely suppressed the Xixia soldiers with the kind of muskets he had seen before, which greatly exceeded his expectations.

Li Yuanhao pondered for a moment and said: "Let all the remnants of the retreating troops go to defend the Beishan stronghold, and then concentrate half of the city's artillery on the north wall."

This will definitely delay a lot of time.

But his heart was already in turmoil.

"Your Majesty, we have deployed so many soldiers and horses at the mouth of the river in the hope of blocking the Song army's offensive first, at least for a few days, and then blocking it below the city, but now it seems that we are afraid."

It is even likely to be quickly wiped out by the Song army.

But it is different if there is an army outside the city. In order to prevent being attacked by the enemy, the Song army will inevitably remove the nails outside the city before attacking the city.

This made Yeli Wangrong hesitate.

Miaochuan City in Huangzhou was actually the Ledu District of Haidong City in later generations. The terrain here is relatively flat, and the mountains on the north and south sides are more than ten kilometers apart. Even if the Song army deployed artillery on the mountains, they could not penetrate the city.

Because in Li Yuanhao's understanding, no matter how powerful the Song army was, they still had to bring artillery.

With only 3,000 men, and even the main force of the front army at the rear of the Song army had not arrived, the more than 10,000 people he deployed at the mouth of the river were defeated.

But this means that the troops outside the city have become abandoned, and there will be almost no possibility of survival by then.

Yeli Wangrong immediately understood what he meant.

Although they have seen the power of muskets, they also know that the Song Army has such a thing.

Although they have artillery in the city, the number and performance are vastly different from those of the Song Army.

There is only a small hilly area in the north, which is located almost near Beimen Road in the north of Laodu District, about one kilometer away from the city.

In Miaochuan City, Li Yuanhao listened expressionlessly to the report of the situation by the scouts who had escaped first. There didn't seem to be any emotion on his face.

As for whether the Song army would occupy this hill and bomb the city.

This speed was far beyond his imagination.

Seeing his hesitation, Li Yuanhao sent out his soul and asked: "Compassion does not control soldiers. This is a truth that the Han people understood thousands of years ago. Don't you still understand?"

So in this situation, Li Yuanhao didn't realize how vulnerable his arrangement was.

However, Xixia's national power was only so large and it did not have the ability to understand the muskets in depth, so Li Yuanhao greatly underestimated the combat effectiveness of the muskets.

"This"

But he understood that with the posture shown by the Song Army in the field battle, it was very likely that this military stronghold would not be able to play its role at all.

"No, if we withdraw the troops outside the city, then we will only have the city to rely on, which is not good for us."

After all, when muskets first appeared, the muskets at that time were not as well designed as they are now, and their range and power were also smaller than they are now.

It would have been of little value in the past, but in the artillery era, if the Song army deployed artillery on the mountain, it would be a great threat to the city. Therefore, Li Yuanhao deployed the military stronghold here early to achieve mutual restraint with the city.

The general Yeli Wangrong next to him hesitated: "Should we withdraw the military strongholds placed in the mountains and concentrate them all in the city?"

It's too ridiculous.

"I'll leave this place to you. The mission I give you is one month."

"Yes."

In the city, you can first use artillery to attack the Song army's troops attacking the military stronghold outside the city.

If there were no defenders outside the city, the Song army would directly surround Miaochuan City and fight.

"Yes, I will never retreat even if I die. I will never give in even if I die."

Yeli Wangrong nodded firmly.

He knew that the king was going to do something big now.

The Song Dynasty was too powerful.

They had no way and could not attack south to get the Song Dynasty's homeland.

Therefore, we can only choose to make false claims in the east and attack in the west, avoiding the reality and focusing on the fictitious.

And for this plan, even if it means making sacrifices, it is inevitable.

Otherwise, one day, the powerful Song State will easily overwhelm Xixia and take the land they rely on for survival as their own.

In the afternoon, Li Yuanhao left Miaochuan City with only a few hundred Qingqi, heading north through the Qilian Mountains to return to Xixia.

There has been a trail here since ancient times. Historically, in the Battle of Gezong River in the first year of Jingyou's reign, Li Yuanhao led his army across the mountains in this area, almost destroying Qingtang, and found an opportunity for Xisiluo to be defeated.

In later generations, this trail became the Zhanian Highway, connecting the G341 National Highway, that is, the Gangqing Highway directly to Tianzhu County.

Li Yuanhao would later return to Xixia through this trail, and then head to the east, leading his main army to engage in a decisive battle with the Song Army's feint attack force.

Even if it’s just a small victory.

As long as he breaks the military myth that the Song army has become increasingly powerful in recent years, he can still inspire the morale of the Xia army and cooperate with the Liao Kingdom in a desperate battle with the Song Dynasty on the border.

"Yelu Zongzhen should have already started taking action at this time. If he is not stupid, he should understand that this is the last chance."

"The Song Kingdom has become more and more powerful. When there were conflicts on the border in the past, Daxia always had the upper hand. Our clan only had dozens of warriors and could chase hundreds of Song troops."

"Now they only have two to three thousand people, and they can kill more than ten thousand warriors of our clan to pieces."

"Before that, even the originally powerful Liao Kingdom had been defeated. If this stalemate continues, sooner or later the Song Dynasty will annex all of us, Liao and Xia."

"So we all understand that we have to fight to the death, this year!"

Li Yuanhao was riding on a horse, with his white cloak fluttering behind him, standing on a hilly hillside. He turned back to look at the distant Miaochuan City to the south, his expression dull, then he turned his horse's head and headed north.

Whether Xixia lives or dies depends on this battle.

And just when Li Yuanhao was implementing his plan step by step.

At this moment, far in the northeast, on the land of Liao Kingdom, Yelv Zongzhen was also mobilizing an army.

Unlike the Xixia army, which was mainly composed of Dangxiang people, the Liao Kingdom used the Khitan people as the backbone, and then coerced a large number of other ethnic groups to form a vanguard army to serve as cannon fodder.

The Jurchens of the Jin Dynasty and the Mongols of Mongolia were originally subordinate tribes of the Liao Kingdom, and they only emerged as masters after they became powerful.

This tactic is still used today.

After Yelu Zongzhen arrived at Liaoyang Mansion in Tokyo, the first thing he did was to shock Liaodong.

He recruited Wanyan Wugunai, Wanyan Aguda's grandfather, and used the strategies he provided to get rid of Wanyan Shixian, the opposition leader of the Jurchen tribe, and quelled possible Jurchen civil strife.

Moreover, he also found that Wanyan Wugunai's strategy was very effective, so he used the same method to force the leaders of the Bohai, Shiwei, Haoqi, Mohe and other tribes to appear in court.

There are hundreds or even thousands of tribes of various ethnic groups. The Liao State adopted the method of controlling the large tribes of each ethnic group, and then controlled the small and medium-sized tribes through the large tribes.

Many leaders of large tribes were forced to go to Liaoyang Mansion. Faced with the power of the Liao Kingdom, they finally had to choose to surrender.

In this way, Yelu Zong really effortlessly suppressed the Northeastern region that was initially ready to move and had slight dissatisfaction and rebellion against the Liao Kingdom.

After temporarily pacifying Liaodong, Yelu Zongzhen began to organize an army to go south to invade Goryeo.

He ordered the armies composed of Jurchen, Haoqian, Bohai and other ministries to be the vanguard and began to attack Goryeo. He led the main army and set off from the rear with food, grass and baggage.

In mid-August, Xiao Ying, the general of the Liao Kingdom who stayed behind in Liaoyang Prefecture in Tokyo, led a motley crew of various tribes to arrive in Baozhou, which was the Sinuiju area of ​​​​later North Korea.

Because the border between Liao and Goryeo during the Song Dynasty was not bounded by the Yalu River, but from Sinuiju eastward to North Korea's Anju City, Hamhung City and other places, Goryeo naturally lost a barrier.

However, it is precisely because of this that Goryeo built the Great Wall on the border over the years. While sending envoys to Liao to pay tribute, Goryeo secretly took precautions. So when the Liao army moved south, fierce fighting broke out between the two sides in Danwan, Yanzhou and other places on the border.

At first, Goryeo reluctantly repelled several tentative attacks by the Liao Kingdom. However, as the fighting expanded and a large number of border troops poured in, the border defenders began to be unable to resist and slowly retreated to Guizhou.

The terrain of Guizhou is complicated and the city walls are thick. In the early years of the Liao Dynasty's expedition to Goryeo, the Goryeo army won a great victory in Guizhou under the command of Jiang Hanzan, the commander of the camp in the northwest, and severely damaged the Khitan army. Therefore, Jiang Hanzan was also regarded as a member of the Goryeo nationality. hero.

But it is a pity that Jiang Hanzan died of illness fifteen years ago. At this time, Goryeo was in a very embarrassing period.

Since the last war with the Liao Kingdom was twenty-eight years ago, Goryeo was at peace for so long that the combat effectiveness of the army was low.

In addition, the country happened to encounter the death of King Jingzong of Goryeo, Wang Heng, and the new King of Goryeo, later King Wenzong of Goryeo, succeeded to the throne less than three months ago, which was a time when the regime was in a state of ups and downs.

Although Wang Hui was the leader of the Ming Dynasty, he created a period of peace and prosperity in Goryeo.

But after all, he had just succeeded to the throne and lacked prestige. There were still many people in the country who wanted to be closer to the Liao and farther away from the Song Dynasty, so the internal political situation was still quite turbulent for a while.

However, Wang Hui was not a young master, but the younger brother of the previous king. He was twenty-seven years old this year and still had some courage. He decided to defy all opinions and personally lead the army to the north to meet the invading enemy.

In this way, he can also establish his prestige and get rid of the dilemma of insufficient prestige just after he succeeded to the throne.

Guzhou, Yeonju, and Weizhou were almost the area around Gucheng, Pyochon City, and Yongbyon County of Pyongan North Road in North Korea in later generations. This was already the only passage between Goryeo and Liao.

If the Liao Kingdom invades south, it must go here.

After Wang Hui arrived in Weizhou, he sent his generals Cui Zunjian, Li Yi and Jin Xuanyong to march north in three groups to provide assistance to Guizhou, Yinshan and Guozhou.

In late August, although Xiao Ying led a large army to launch a fierce attack, and the rest of the troops also moved south separately, they were stubbornly blocked by the Korean army, which continued to use the terrain to harass and surprise them.

Soon, with the help of the right time, place and people, the former Liao army suffered defeats and retreated to Danwan, Yanzhou and other places.

Wang Hui was very happy to hear the news. He came to Guizhou in early September. While rewarding the three armies, he stood on the top of the city and looked into the distance.

On September 2nd, it was the late autumn season, and Wang Hui's utensils stood majestically on the city.

After he heard that the enemy had suffered a defeat, he retreated, reorganized his troops, and began to attack Guizhou again.

Ministers Cui Zhonggong, Li Ziyuan, Pu Qiyan, Xu Weijie, Jin Yuanchong and others on the top of the city followed.

"Your Majesty, the Northerners are here again. It would be best for Wang Jia to leave Guizhou first."

Li Ziyuan advised.

"It's okay, it's a minor problem, no need to worry."

Wang Hui said with a smile, then turned to look at several ministers and said: "If the Liao people want to beat me, they should be prepared to be attacked by me, otherwise they will think that I am easy to bully."

Until now, Wang Hui thought that this was because the Liao Kingdom was dissatisfied with Goryeo's increasingly pro-Song attitude over the years, and wanted to take advantage of Goryeo's change of kings to beat him.

It's not that they are stupid, but it's really hard to imagine that the Liao Kingdom would go south in a large scale.

After all, their scouts outside only found out that the tribes sent to attack were all tribes affiliated with the Liao Kingdom in the north. None of the Liao Kingdom's own troops came, so they had nothing to fear.

"Your Majesty, in my opinion, we should still write a letter to reconcile with the Liao Kingdom."

Cui Zhonggong said: "Although the Song Dynasty is powerful, it is separated by the sea after all. And your Majesty, don't forget that it was the Song people who abandoned us in the first place."

"Well, I naturally know that after repelling the invading enemies, I will naturally send a letter to the Liao Kingdom."

Wang Hui waved his hand.

What can be done then?

Don’t small countries have to swing between big countries?

Once you choose a side, you are doomed.

Although swinging is not good, the two major powers are worried about pushing them to the other side, so they will not push too hard.

This is also the way for small countries to survive.

"Your Majesty, no luck, the enemy is here again!"

At this moment, the city guard general Kang Chengzhi hurriedly came to report.

"Humph!"

Wang Hui snorted coldly: "It doesn't hurt to let him come."

It was noon, the autumn wind was howling, and the sound of countless galloping horses could be heard outside the city.

On the vast plain to the north of the city, a large number of dense black spots appeared.

They moved quickly and approached several miles away. They seemed to begin to form troops and had no intention of setting up camp or besieging the city.

"strangeness."

Everyone on the top of the city looked outside the city, very puzzled.

The enemy came from afar and planned to attack the city directly. Didn't they stop to rest for a few days, cut down trees, make siege equipment, and then attack the city when they were fully prepared?

But in the afternoon, the movements of the Liao army outside the city gave them the answer.

I saw a large number of baggage carriages appearing behind these Liao troops. These carriages struggled to pull heavy cargo and were then dragged to the front of the formation.

Before the battle, Liao craftsmen began to assemble.

Because the distance was too far, it was impossible to see clearly from the top of the city. We could only see some small black dots that seemed to be busy with something, which made people confused.

"What are they doing?"

"I do not know."

"Your Majesty, the enemy came in a hurry and must be tired. Do you want to take the opportunity to launch a surprise attack?"

"Let's take a look first and then talk."

"Yes."

Everyone on the top of the city looked on.

About half an hour later, the artillery line of the Liao Kingdom in the distance was finally assembled.

To be honest, it was only 200 kilometers from Liaoyang Prefecture in Tokyo, Liao Kingdom, to Guizhou in Korea, but almost all of this month was spent on the cannon truck.

The artillery was heavy and cumbersome. Coupled with the rugged terrain and roads, including swamps, mountains, rivers, and many obstacles, the artillery troops could only march more than ten miles a day. It was already very difficult to reach the city.

However, Yelvzong really felt that everything was worth it.

Because the power of the cannon is enough to make his expectations come true and will not disappoint any of his expectations.

At this time, Yelu Zongzhen was riding on horseback, standing on a small hill, with his cloak fluttering in the autumn wind behind him, looking at the Guizhou City a few miles away to the south.

It was here that his father fell into disgrace. During the southern expedition to Goryeo, he suffered a disastrous defeat and finally retreated, giving up his intention to annex Goryeo and acknowledging that Goryeo still occupied the status of the Three Korean Peninsula.

But at this moment, it's time to avenge his past humiliation and clear his father's name.

"Your Majesty, the artillery is ready!"

The lookout reported to him.

"fire!"

"fire!"

"fire!"

The watchman roared loudly.

Shouts were quickly passed down.

Then a sharp whistle sounded from the artillery position.

"Beep beep beep beep!"

This is an order for the Liao artillery army to fire.

After receiving the order, all the gunners took action.

They quickly stuffed the gunpowder, advanced the shell, and then lit the fuse with the fire breakers they carried.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Hundreds of heavy lead bullets drew an arc in the air, and suddenly fell into Guizhou City under the stunned eyes of the Korean monarchs and soldiers.

In an instant, there was a roar, and some heavy lead bullets hit the city wall, causing the wall to dent. Some of them hit the towers, causing the huge towers to collapse, while others actually hit a few unlucky ones, causing flesh and blood to fly everywhere in an instant and torn apart.

"Your Majesty, leave quickly!"

The ministers around Wang Hui had quick eyesight and quick hands, and hurriedly pulled him towards the city.

There was chaos on top of the city.

Dust was everywhere, and all kinds of frightened howls continued.

Outside the city, there were continuous shouts, and the shouts reaching the sky swept over like waves.

"Hurry up and ask the Great Song Dynasty to send troops!"

Before Wang Hui fled Guizhou, he turned his head and looked at the smoke and dust in the city, and let out a panicked cry.

(End of this chapter)