People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 375 Yelu Zong was really robbed of his home
Yan Yun, just when the Song Dynasty was undergoing high-level political changes, the war in the Northeast also entered a fever pitch.

Di Qing, deputy privy envoy and chief naval officer of the Song Dynasty, led the army like a sharp knife into the hinterland of the Liao Kingdom, cutting off the center of the Liao Kingdom.

In just two days, the Song army fought five times in a row and repelled the Liao army who tried to recapture Yuguan.

After establishing a foothold at Yuguan, Di Qing brought a large number of artillery and ammunition from the ship and blocked Yuguan and the entire Yushui coast, preventing even a single Liao cavalry from passing through.

In this case, the news quickly reached the ears of Liao Emperor Yelu Zongzhen.

In mid-October, Yelvzong was really confronting the Song army. Although the two sides had not officially started a large-scale war, the reconnaissance scouts on both sides had already taken over early.

But it is a pity that the Song army is basically suppressing the Liao army.

After all, the land of Youyan is part of the North China Plain, and a large area is a vast plain area. When the scouts on both sides saw it from a distance, the Song army started shooting directly.

From the time the Liao army charged a hundred steps away to the time they rushed into the face of the Song army, most of the soldiers had been shot to death. Even in close combat, there is no bargain—they still have short-fire muskets and bayonets, so how can they do this reconnaissance mission?
There is simply no way to do it.

Therefore, the Liao army's scouts could not even appear in the wild. Once the two sides met in the wild, it would basically be a situation where the Song army's scouts would chase and kill the Liao army's scouts. This was simply unimaginable before.

However, he thought so, but the reality was cruel.

At this moment, Zhang Jian suddenly said.

And it was not a firearm that appeared during the war with Xixia.

If it weren't for the artillery on the city, the Song army would not have dared to get too close, and the Liao army would have been completely wiped out.

But if this continues, the Liao army will have big problems.

Morale is low and military morale is dispirited. In addition, if the Song army surrounded the city and cut off the food routes, even if the city had enough food, it would last three to five years, and the Liao Kingdom would probably collapse.

But now there are more advanced weapons.

When the Xixia people were defeated by the Song army's artillery, it was because the Song army sneak attacked from the rear and used powerful cannons, that is, small steel cannons, to bombard the Xixia people's rear square formation. This caused a large number of horses to lose control and the rear formation was chaotic. As a result, the army was defeated like a mountain.

To complete the fire coverage, a large number of gunmen need to be assembled and arranged into a combined formation. Once the cavalry rushes into the formation from the rear or both wings, it will be completely finished.

They found that although these muskets had long-range shooting capabilities, their rate of fire and accuracy were ridiculously poor.

In the end, the Song army went so far that they compressed the entire reconnaissance line into the city. The scouts in the city could not get out, and they would be shot if they did.

Basically, by the time more than 800 people get closer, there will still be a few dozen people left, which is considered too many.

In fact, after Li Yuanhao's statistics, he found that very few Xixia cavalry were actually killed by gunfire. Most of them were either thrown off by frightened horses and trampled to death, or were killed by artillery bombardment.

He found that he seemed to have underestimated the Song Army's combat effectiveness from the beginning. In the past, the Song Army used grenades at most in field battles.

Not to mention, after brainstorming, they really came up with a feasible strategy. The only drawback was that it cost the lives of the front row soldiers.

Originally, the long crossbow could only be fired one by one like the long bow.

He looked sad and shook his head slightly bitterly. It’s not that he was a prophet, but that’s how the long crossbow developed.

"It may be feasible to protect the upper body with a short round shield and add heavy armor. As long as the people in front can withstand the offensive, and the front troops on both sides rush forward, so close to the front, are they still afraid of their Song troops who can only fight from a distance?"

Unless the main force of the Liao army comes out, in this case the main force of the Song army will definitely come.

The craftsmen of the Liao State studied and imitated many of them, and restored the Song Dynasty firearms one-to-one.

Qin's crossbows are unparalleled in the world, sweeping across the six kingdoms. They only need to be able to load, unload, and fire to cover the firepower, making up for the shortcomings of an elite archer who needs long training.

Yelu Zongzhen let out a long sigh and said: "I never expected that the Song people's firearms would become more and more powerful. In the past, their muskets had slow shooting speeds and poor accuracy, so there might not be any way to deal with them, but now."

Even though these Liao cavalry had wisely chosen to go around from the two wings, even if they were close, they still had short-barreled muskets, specifically designed to attack at close range.

As long as the large force pretends to attack and makes a detour on both wings to make a surprise attack, the Liao army can kill the Song musketeers without leaving any trace behind.

"Maybe this approach is feasible, but that's not what I'm most worried about."

In the largest conflict between Song and Liao recently, a charge force composed of more than 800 Liao cavalry scouts encountered more than 200 Song troops in the wild. They were defeated by a hail of bullets and suffered heavy casualties, with a very large casualty ratio.

"Yes, it is only a few hundred people now. This kind of musket may only be able to exert such an effect, but if tens of thousands of people rush forward, and the people in front hold shields and rush forward with their lives, it will not work. It’s possible to fight them to the death.”

Judging from the current situation, a direct field battle with the Song Army face to face is something that the Liao people dare not try easily for the time being, which has led to the shrinking of the peripheral reconnaissance lines.

Therefore, based on these information, Yelu Zongzhen believed that although muskets were indeed powerful in field battles, and the Liao Kingdom was limited by materials and it was difficult to imitate them on a large scale without steel, those muskets were not completely able to suppress the Liao cavalry.

Considering that Li Yuanhao's actions were detrimental to others and would only make Liao and Xia alienated from each other and eventually be annexed by the Song Dynasty, Yelu Zongzhen believed that the latter was the most likely possibility.

"Your Majesty, there is no need to panic. They were just careless this time. If we had more people and attacked faster from the side, they might not have time to react at all."

Zhang Jian said: "If we let them continue like this, I'm afraid they will be able to come up with a musket that can shoot continuously, like a repeating crossbow."

This made Yelu Zongzhen realize that either Li Yuanhao had deceived him, and Li Yuanhao deliberately reduced the ratio of gun casualties. Either the Song people's firearms were updated and iterated again, and the muskets were more powerful than before.

At this moment, there are many officials below in the palace of Xijin Mansion.

"Have you tried holding a shield on a horse? Even if the Song people's muskets can't penetrate the thick iron shield, the terrifying momentum can completely push the person off the horse. No matter how superb the equestrian skills are, it is useless. How can a person be so strong? ?”

"Ugh"

"What worries me is that the firearms of the Song people are changing with each passing day, and new weapons are coming out every moment."

During the Xixia invasion of Qingtang, muskets appeared, and Yelu Zongzhen obtained some muskets through special channels.

Yelu Zongzhen walked around the hall with his hands behind his back and a very ugly expression.

Yelu Zongzhen asked hurriedly: "What is Xiangfu worried about?"

Everyone below was talking about it and each came up with their own ideas.

After that, the continuous crossbow gradually appeared. Although the long crossbow developed, it was still not as good as the bow and arrow in terms of range, and it was impossible to completely eliminate the bow and arrow.

But today’s firearms are different.

It has a longer range than a crossbow, more power than a crossbow, and a faster rate of fire than a crossbow.

It also doesn’t take too long to train like a crossbow.

It can be said that it combines all the advantages of the crossbow and all the advantages of the bow. It is already a king-level existence among long-range weapons.

Perhaps the only drawback now is that it cannot fire continuously, and you need to load the bullet once every time you fire it.

But even so, it can eliminate traditional crossbows. Once the Song State solves the problem of continuous fire, I am afraid that artillery cannot prevent the Song State from completely rising and wiping out the entire east.

So Zhang Jian was troubled.

He found that he had seriously underestimated the speed of Song Dynasty's development.

This is too exaggerated. There are still ways to crack the muskets from a few years ago.

Today's muskets can only be filled with lives, not to mention that they not only have muskets, but also artillery, grenades, etc.

The probability of sacrificing life to ensure victory is very small. How many elites in the Liao army can do this?
"No matter what, we must decide to fight to the death with the Song Dynasty."

Yelu Zongzhen clenched his fists and said in a deep voice: "If we don't fight decisively, they will besiege the city step by step. Once the city is besieged, we will really have no choice but to die."

They originally wanted to lure the Song army to fight on their own territory and use their artillery and terrain advantages to defeat the Song Dynasty.

But now it is discovered that their advantage has been made up by the Song army's muskets. The gap between the two sides is getting wider and wider. It is no longer possible to restore the Liao Kingdom's previous status.

But what to do?

They lost the war at the beginning. If they don't continue to fight, in a few years they will no longer be able to fight and will have no choice but to wait for the country to be destroyed.

So at this time, it is still the same sentence - it is difficult to get off the tiger.

"Your Majesty, give me the order."

Xiao Ying and others stood up one after another and bowed their hands to Yelu Zongzhen.

"Well, let's discuss it. We must find an opportunity to sneak attack the Song army, preferably at night."

Yelu Zongzhen returned to his desk and looked at the map of the surrounding situation in Youyan.

At this moment, the Song Army and the Liao Army were at odds with each other. The Liao Army was mainly concentrated in the surrounding cities centered on Xijin Prefecture, which later became Beijing.

The Song army was infiltrating, and the main force had surrounded Liangxiang, the front fortress of the Liao army, which was almost an area between Fangshan District and Daxing District in Beijing in later generations.

Their next step was most likely to go deep into Yuhe and Wanping, which would later become the Fengtai District and South Fourth Ring Road of Beijing, cutting off the connection between Liangxiang and the north, and thus besieging the city.

Yelu Zongzhen pondered deeply and decided to deploy arrangements for the surrounding Song troops. Although they didn't know what the situation was like there due to the lack of daytime investigation, they could also use the night to sneak in and conduct investigation.

The place is so big, can the Song army arrange sentinels on every inch of land?

That's not realistic.

"Xiao Xiaoyou, please send me."

Just when Yelu Zongzhen was preparing to ask Xiao Xiaoyou to send a death squad to investigate outside Song Camp tonight.

Suddenly a guard came in and knelt down on one knee and said: "Report, urgent report at Yuguan!"

"Yuguan?"

Yelu Zong was really stunned, and then said: "Let people come in."

Zhang Jian frowned below, feeling that something bad had happened.

After a while, the messenger hurried in and said anxiously: "Report, Your Majesty, the Song Dynasty sent a large fleet to raid Yuguan, and now they have occupied the pass and cut off our rear troops."

"what?"

Yelu Zongzhen stood up from his seat all of a sudden, his eyes showing horror.

Yuguan is not only the connecting channel between Nanjing and Tokyo in the Liao Kingdom, but also the only way for his current main force to pass.

Although nearly half of his main force has already arrived due to advance arrangements, Tokyo is still rushing here one after another.

In addition, there are a large amount of supplies, food, grass, and equipment.

You must know that the current gunpowder production base of the Liao Kingdom is in Liaoyang Prefecture, Tokyo. It is not that Yelu Zong is really unwilling to move to Zhongjing, but because of geographical factors.

The Liao Kingdom does not produce sulfur. Their main source of sulfur is imported from Japan. The closest point for sea transportation is Liaoyang. Other places such as Xijin and Donghai are very far away, which will greatly increase transportation costs.

Therefore, the gunpowder production area of ​​the Liao Kingdom can only be located in Liaoyang. This is an inevitable thing caused by geography and has nothing to do with anything else.

Once Yuguan is cut off, it will not only be a problem of soldiers and horses, but also their firearms and supplies. As long as the Song army besieges the city for more than three months, Yelu Zong can really imagine what will happen with his toes.

Therefore, Yuguan can be said to be a life transportation line.

"We must not let Yuguan be cut off. We must take Yuguan back immediately!"

Yelu Zongzhen gritted his teeth and said.

Then he asked the messenger: "How many enemies are there exactly?"

"About tens of thousands."

"Who is the general?"

“The flag has the word Di written on it.”

"It's Di Qing!"

Yelu Zongzhen said coldly.

This general in the Song Dynasty who has become famous recently seems to be only vaguely ranked behind Fan Zhongyan and Zhang Kang in terms of military exploits and strength.

I'm afraid this person will be difficult to deal with!

"I am willing to lead the troops immediately to kill Yuguan and take the head from Di Qing's neck!"

Xiao Xiaomu, the Privy Councilor of the North Courtyard, said immediately.

"Okay, I will order you to lead ten thousand troops, and then mobilize the local and Tokyo troops that have not yet arrived to jointly encircle and suppress them."

Yelu Zongzhen said immediately.

It's not that he was stingy and only gave this few soldiers, but now he couldn't fight back with a large force.

Once he retreated, the Song army pressed forward step by step, and Yan Yun gave in.

Yanyun is a very strategic location for the Han people, as well as for the northern ethnic minorities.

Exiting Yuguan and Xifengkou is Tokyo, the Liao Kingdom. Exiting Juyong Pass and Zijin Pass is the central capital of the Liao Kingdom. Exiting Pingxing Pass and Yanmen Pass is Xijing of the Liao Kingdom.

Therefore, if Yan Yun is lost, with the current strength of the Song Dynasty, the Liao Kingdom will quickly lose its strategic location, thus changing its offensive and defensive position. The original position of Liao attacking Song Dynasty will suddenly become Song attacking Liao Dynasty.

Under such circumstances, how could Yelu Zong really not be anxious?
Fortunately, although he did not provide many soldiers, there were still some soldiers and horses from the rear who had not yet arrived. Coupled with the soldiers and horses deployed near Pingzhou, it should not be a big problem to gather 50,000 to 60,000 people.

Even though Di Qing has more than 10,000 troops and artillery, he still has a large number of firearms in the rear that have not yet been transported, so perhaps there is no chance of destroying the opponent.

(End of this chapter)