People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 378 Capturing Xiao Xiaomu alive

The next morning, heavy raindrops were still falling.

It was already dawn, about three quarters past one in the morning, but the sky was still as gray as the beginning of chaos.

The ships of the Song Army rippled in the rolling water, slowly lifted up, and then slowly descended.

When it rains, the water level of the river will rise. After it stops raining, it is a very normal natural phenomenon for the water level to drop after a period of time as the rainfall runs away.

But it is obviously unreasonable that the water level starts to slowly decrease while it rains.

Under normal circumstances, unless you have been aware of this for a long time, or are very sensitive to the ups and downs of the water level, few people will notice it.

However, Di Qing had already guessed the methods that the Liao army might use, so he quickly took countermeasures.

In the torrential rain, Yuguan was already in tatters. The west city gate, which was nailed with wooden boards by the Song army, slowly opened, and Di Qing, wearing a raincoat, walked out slowly on horseback.

Although there were no horses on their ships, the Liao army had many horses. These days, he killed and wounded not only 10,000 but also 78,000 Liao soldiers, and captured countless others.

There were a few people left in the village, and every household had its doors and windows closed. Some of them boldly went out to take a look, and saw a neat team heading northwest on the official road outside the village in the distance.

Several villagers looked at the rows of Song troops in the misty rain in the distance and fell into silence.

Many of them were wearing red cotton robes, bamboo hats and raincoats. With a straight knife hanging on his waist and a long spear on his back, he looked quite fierce.

Regardless of the outcome, we are in a leading position tactically.

Di Qing looked northwest and said in a deep voice: "Send my military order to march thirty miles to attack the Liao army camp!"

There are some villages outside Guangning City, but after the war started, many people have fled to other places.

If the Liao army attacks, Yuguan will be in great danger.

At this time, the Song army's strength on the west bank had reached about 8,000, while only about 1,000 people were defending on the east bank.

There were so many corpses outside the city that the Song army didn't even have time to clean them up. If it hadn't been winter, there would have been a rotting stench everywhere at this time.

"There have been loud noises in the direction of Yuguan these days, louder than firecrackers. That must be the power of firearms."

Hu Yanshouyong said: "Perhaps they think we dare not leave Yuguan to facilitate the next attack."

"No, camping in the wild."

"I heard that they no longer need to use knives, guns or other firearms."

For the Han people in Youyan land, their emotions towards the Song Dynasty were complicated.

Di Qing sneered and said: "The Liao army is really arrogant."

Although the Song Army has long since broken away from the previous era when soldiers had to carry armor and it was difficult to march long distances.

Wang Kui and Hu Yanshouyong were both shocked.

Wang Kui said.

"Are these soldiers from the Song Dynasty?"

"No matter what, the Liao army is seeking death!"

"Ah."

"Look at them. They don't even have armor on their bodies. How can they defeat our Liao army?"

He will come back later.

But fortunately, the Liao army attacked all night last night and was very tired. Moreover, in the heavy rain, the visibility was extremely poor, and they could not see the Song Army's situation at all.

"Tell me, who will win between Liao and Song?"

But this is Di Qing's death order, no matter how difficult it is, it must be carried out.

"They hid in the city?"

Di Qing asked.

This city has long been devastated, with traces everywhere.

At this moment, the Song army on the west bank was gathering in the rain, and the captured Liao army horses were not enough to equip the entire army, not to mention that they were naval troops, and many of them could not ride horses at all.

This task is by no means arduous.

But they are naval forces after all, and they spend more time training on the water than on land.

After coming out of the west city gate, Di Qing turned around and took a deep look at the city.

The soldiers walked in the mud one step at a time, and Di Qing slowly arrived at the front of the team. Hu Yanshouyong and Wang Kui had already come over.

In terms of physical training, it is obviously much worse than the army's training.

If the Liao army did not discover Di Qing's move, it would be an empty ship plan. If you find out, it means abandoning the son to attack and kill.

"Commander, we have scouted the place where the Liao army commander is stationed, in Lulong County, about thirty miles northwest of Guangning."

"Yes!"

But no matter what.

The west bank of the Yushui River is barren for hundreds of miles. As mid-winter approaches, all things are dead.

Then he came to the bank of Yushui, boarded the boat, and crossed the river to the west bank.

Later during the Southern Song Dynasty, many Han people fled to the south from the occupied areas of the Central Plains. They regarded the Song Dynasty as their mother country and the Jin Kingdom as barbarians.

But that's because their ancestors were people of the Song Dynasty for generations. From the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty to the Southern Song Dynasty, it has been 167 years, and the Han people's ideas have been deeply ingrained.

But the people of Youyan are different.

It has been a full 938 years since Emperor Shi Jingtang ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun to the Khitan in AD.

It has only been about seventy years since Baodao left China, and already many people do not agree with the motherland, let alone at this time.

Therefore, many Youyan people have been under the rule of the Liao Kingdom for generations, and many people still maintain their Han identity, Han ancestry, and various cultural habits.

But in terms of identity, they have long regarded the Liao Kingdom as their motherland, not the Song Dynasty in the south.

But precisely because of this, seeing the Song army, who were also Han Chinese, defeating the Liao army and retreating steadily, indescribable emotions naturally emerged in my heart.

One side is your own country, the other side is your own nation.

It's hard to say who they would rather win.

of course.

If it were before, they would definitely hope that the Liao Kingdom would win.

But today’s Song Dynasty is no longer what it used to be.

I heard that the Liao army was having a hard time on the front line, and even the Song army attacked directly into the hinterland of Yuguan.

Then reason will tell them that they should stand on the side of national identity.

The rain was still pouring.

The marching team of the Song Army hurried forward along the muddy road.

The boots on many soldiers' feet were soaked in water, causing their feet to turn white.

But no one said a word, and no one left the team.

Everyone was in this silence, and the sky and the earth were so silent that only the vast rainstorm remained.

After about two hours, Di Qing slowly walked through a dense forest. In the distance was a stretch of undulating mountains, with hills and mountains on both sides.

There is a small mountain range in the southeast of Lulong County, which is the remnant of Yanshan Mountain. The mountain is not very high, but the trees are relatively lush.

Although it is winter, not all mountain forests are withered, and there are many evergreen plants that exude green all year round.

The scout hurried over and said to Di Qing: "Report, Commander, the Liao army camp has been spotted ahead."

"Where?"

"Just under the mountains in front."

"Are the enemies on guard?"

"Nothing."

"Take me to see it."

"Yes."

The scout immediately mounted his horse again.

Di Qing galloped on his horse, escorted by the surrounding guards, and arrived at a hill about a hundred meters away. It was already noon at this time, the sky was still gray, and the visibility was not very high.

But it can still be observed through the telescope that there are three fortresses erected in a row under the mountains in the distance. They should be newly built and do not even have any defensive facilities.

The Liao army had previously camped arrogantly outside Guangning City, but was defeated by the Song army. Now they have withdrawn to the nearest city, Lulong. They are probably waiting for reinforcements from Yingzhou, or planning to reorganize and attack Guangning again.

Di Qing had been watching near the top of the mountain for a long time. He was sure that the Liao army had no defense. In the pouring rain, there were very few patrols and sentries on the outside, only the poor guards on the camp.

"The commander knows things well. The Liao army is indeed unprepared."

Hu Yanshou came over and saw this scene, and he sincerely admired Di Qing's judgment.

"The power of our weapons is greatly reduced under the heavy rain. It is already very difficult to rely on the city to defend. The Liao army certainly did not expect that we would take the initiative to attack."

Di Qing shook his head and said: "What's more, for them, what they need is to take back Guangning and Yuguan, and re-open the roads between Liaoyang and Xijin. How can they go to such trouble to build stronghold walls and arrange so many fortifications? "

To put it simply, the Liao army is the offensive side, and time is tight. They must capture Yuguan as soon as possible to open up the baggage transportation line. They cannot spend too much time playing with Di Qing here.

Therefore, even if the Liao army was attacked by the Song army and forced to retreat dozens of miles, they still had to prepare for the next attack and could not think about defense.

It was not because Xiao Xiaomu was not cautious, but he had no choice but to do this.

"Commander, there is a mountain ridge over there that you can go around."

Wang Kui noticed that there was a hillside on the west side of the Liao army's camp. If he attacked the Liao army from there, the attack distance would be greatly reduced.

"Let the soldiers rest where they are for half an hour, and then take the opportunity to cut down some trees and build some ladders."

Di Qing said solemnly: "We must win this battle!"

"Yes."

Wang Kui and Hu Yanshou agreed and immediately went to arrange orders.

After half an hour, the soldiers were almost rested, and Di Qing immediately ordered to start again.

The Song army bypassed this wilderness with an expanded view and detoured to the west to approach the mountains.

Under the cover of numerous hills and trees, they quickly arrived at the back of the mountains, less than one mile away from the Liao army camp.

Through the field of view of the telescope, we can see that in the gray, Liao soldiers are leaning boredly on the watchtower in the corner, not even looking outside.

"go!"

Di Qing gave a gentle greeting. Instead of riding a horse, he bowed down and waved back. Then hundreds of personal guards followed him and slowly approached the Liao camp.

If it were a city, there would be people watching at any time above the city wall, and they might be discovered at some point.

But the perimeter of the Liao camp was an ordinary fence, and there was no way anyone could stand on the wood. Except for the four corner towers where people could be seen, the Liao army didn't notice anything was wrong at all.

Soon they touched the outside of the fence, and through the gaps in the fence, they could even see many tents in the Liao camp.

"Commander, this fence is quite strong and not easy to cut."

One of the guards used the heavy rain to cover up the sound and tried to chop twice with a knife, but he couldn't break it.

After Di Qing thought for a moment, he said: "Blow it up with a grenade."

"Is there too much movement?"

"We're not afraid of movement. What we want is a gap that they can't plug."

"Yes."

The guards responded, and then everyone moved away.

Some of the guards collected more than thirty grenades, pulled them and smoked them, and threw them towards the fence.

Rainy days will definitely increase the chance of a dud. After all, the inside of the grenade is made of gunpowder plus iron sheets and oiled paper. Although the oiled paper is waterproof, the lead is not.

If the small Sui stone inside does not produce sparks to ignite the fuse after being pulled, or the fuse becomes wet with water, it will become a dud.

But there were too many grenades, and at least twenty of them were able to detonate. After they emitted smoke, they were thrown directly against the fence.

The explosion sound of "bang bang bang bang" was heard. In an instant, wood chips were flying, and a huge gap was blown out of the fence.

"what sound?"

At this moment, in the camp, Xiao Xiaomu was writing official documents on the desk.

He planned to ask Yelu Zongzhen to send more reinforcements.

There are many people on the east side of Yuguan because there are still some Liao troops who have not arrived from Shenyang Prefecture.

As the firearms manufacturing base of the Liao Kingdom, Shenyang Prefecture required a large number of rear Liao troops for escort.

To the west of Yuguan is Nanjing of the Liao Kingdom. At this time, almost all the troops of the Xijin Mansion were fighting with Fan Zhongyan's main force of the Song Army, and they could not draw out many troops.

The Song army also cut off the Yu River, preventing the troops from the east from crossing the river to join him, so he now only had about 10,000 troops on hand.

This small force will definitely not be able to capture Guangning.

However, they still have 60,000 guards in Dading Mansion in Zhongjing. After the war started, Yelu Zongzhen was already mobilizing these troops.

In this way, the Liao army in the entire Nanjing Road could reach nearly 300,000.

Coupled with the Liao army from the direction of Shenyang Prefecture and the direction of attacking Goryeo, it can be said that the entire Liao Kingdom has been mobilized, with nearly 4.5 million troops in the country fighting against the Song Dynasty.

I believe that when the Su Wei army from Dading Prefecture arrives in a few days, they will have enough troops and it will be easy to destroy the Song army in Yuguan.

However, at this pass, several muffled sounds suddenly came from outside.

Xiao Xiaomu raised his head in surprise.

A general said: "Your Majesty, it must be the sound of thunder."

"Ah."

Although Xiao Xiaomu was still surprised why the thunder seemed to be too dense, he didn't take it seriously considering the weather outside.

But after a while, there were chaotic sounds outside Dongying, including calls to kill, screams, and sharp whistles.

"Enemy attack!"

In an instant, Xiao Xiaomu stood up from the chair.

The whistle was already foreshadowing something.

At this moment, the camp was in chaos, and a large number of Song troops were entering through the gap outside.

Di Qing led the personal guards to fight all the way towards the central camp.

Hu Yanshou held a gun in his left hand and a knife in his right hand. He used the knife to block the attack of a Liao soldier, and shot the enemy with a short blunderbuss in his left hand.

Then he pointed his knife at the tent not far away and said: "Commander, that should be the Chinese army tent that the prisoner mentioned just now!"

"Kill it!"

Di Qing also fought bloody battles. His troops were too few and he had to go into battle to kill the enemy himself.

But his martial arts skills surprised many Song soldiers.

Because wherever he went, no matter how fierce the Liao army was, they were not as good as his generals, and they were easily picked and killed by him without any hindrance.

The rain was mixed with blood, and the surrounding area was in chaos. Liao soldiers kept running out of the tent, and were subsequently attacked and killed by the Song army ambushing outside the tent.

Di Qing and others did not get too entangled with ordinary soldiers. They captured several Liao soldiers when they first entered the camp. They forced them to reveal the tent of General Xiao Xiaomu and then ran all the way.

At this moment, a group of people in Xiao Xiaomu's tent had just stood up when a Liao soldier broke in outside and shouted: "Your Majesty, the Song Army is attacking!"

"Reorganize your troops and go out immediately!"

Xiao Xiaomu gritted his teeth and said, "The weapons of the Song Dynasty are not easy to use in this heavy rain. If we fight them in close quarters, we don't believe we will lose."

"Yes."

Several generals in the tent quickly went out, preparing to return to their camps to gather their troops.

But almost at this moment, several grenades were thrown over, just outside the tent.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Several loud explosions were heard, and several generals were killed on the spot.

Immediately afterwards, in the smoke of gunpowder, Di Qing and other hundreds of vanguard death squads rushed through numerous obstacles and reached the edge of the big tent.

At this time, most of the tent had collapsed. Xiao Xiaomu struggled to climb out of the tent, but as soon as he came out, someone grabbed him and pinned him to the ground.

He vaguely raised his head and saw a grinning face.

(End of this chapter)