People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 385 The eve of the decisive battle
"Boom."

With a loud bang, the south gate of Liangxiang City was the first to be breached.

In mid-November, the sky was overcast with clouds.

There is a heavy snowfall in Liaodong area at this time. The cold wind from Siberia is brewing in Yanyun, and snow can fall at any time.

Another large number of winter clothes arrived from the Song Army. They wore thick cotton coats and launched a charge-like cry.

Groups of Song soldiers emerged from the trenches, holding spears in their hands and shouting slogans such as: "Charge", "Kill", "Destroy the Liao dogs", "Restore Yanjing" and other slogans.

The artillery on the city head was still firing scatteredly, but since the Song army had dug the trench outside the city, the artillery in the trench also fired at the city head.

Both sides came and went, suppressing each other, so that the Song army below quickly rushed to the city head and poured in quickly through the breached city gate.

The battle lasted less than an hour. With the surrender of a large number of Liao troops, the resistance in the city came to an end.

The month-long siege has left Liangxiang City crumbling. Except for a few stubborn resisters, most of the non-Khitan Han, Bohai, Nüzhi, and Mongol troops in the city collapsed.

Because even Lu County, Huairou and other places, the Song Army's scouts have appeared, which means that the area around Xijin is almost completely surrounded by the Song Army.

Forced by such a situation, Yelu Zongzhen also had to consider quickly completing the counterattack against the Song State. The Liao State frequently began to mobilize troops, and the two sides came and went, constantly entangled.

Zhang Jian is wearing a purple cotton robe with mink fur on the outside. This is a costume that can only be worn by the nobles of the Liao Dynasty. Purple robes used to be made of silk, but the cotton from the Song Dynasty has now spread to the north and is deeply loved by the Liao people.

Starting from yesterday, the Song Army first had a large number of scouts appear on the outskirts of the city of Xijin, clearing away the surrounding Liao army scouts who were leaving the city. Then large troops slowly followed up and stationed themselves in the wilderness outside the city far away.

Now people only need to stand on the platform behind the fence, raise their gun and jump over the fence to kill the Liao soldiers rushing over.

At that time, we will still face the bombardment of enemy artillery fire, just like a hedgehog.

This means that Liao's countermeasures are empty.

Because the way of warfare has changed, it is no longer the cold weapon warfare of the past. They only need to use ladders to climb over the fence to successfully raid.

However, Yelu Zongzhen did not dare to send a large army to take advantage of this opportunity to rush over.

Yelu Zongzhen's face was quite serious, and he was observing the entire camp layout, direction and movement trajectory of the Song Army.

At this time, the battlefield situation became such that the Song army was almost close to the Jinfu. If we look at the maps of later generations, it is that the main force of the Song Dynasty is currently stationed in Fangshan District and Fengtai District of Beijing, threatening the center of Beijing.

Yelu Zongzhen on the city wall patted the female wall and let out a sigh.

The original fields and villages were occupied by the Song army. A large number of Han people either fled or were moved away by the Song army. Then camps were built one after another with numerous walls surrounding them.

After taking Liangxiang, the Song army once again began to march and threaten. Liangxiang is already the front line of Xijin. After passing Liangxiang, you can actually attack Xijin Mansion directly, because Yuhe and Wanping are located to the west and south of Xijin.

His eyes were already a little blurry, and he could only vaguely see the continuous fortresses in the distance outside the city, like small hills, blocking the sky and the sun, with no end in sight.

The war has not officially begun, but the espionage war has already been fought on another battlefield.

He saw that the Song Army actually just cut down a large number of trees and built some fences around the perimeter. After all, although the Song Army was very good at civil engineering, he was not a god and could not repair all the camps overnight.

There is indeed no solution.

There were countless people who surrendered and scattered, but the Song army had surrounded Liangxiang on three levels and three outside. There was no place to escape if they wanted to. More than 10,000 Liao soldiers in the city were almost wiped out, and not one of them managed to escape.

Although Zhang Jian could not see clearly, his mind was still flexible and he said softly: "So as long as we have the support of Zhao Jun, it will be difficult for us to shake Fan Zhongyan's position."

Naturally, Fan Zhongyan could not make such a stupid mistake, so he did not rush to surround Xijin. Instead, he divided his troops into two groups. The main force left Liangxiang and pretended to attack Xijin. In fact, the other two groups went straight to Wanping and Yuhe to continue his attacks. Bunker and trench tactics.

With the large-scale mobilization of legions, the intelligence of both sides is also constantly being adjusted. Every day, there are unknown numbers of Song army situations on Yelu Zongzhen's desk, and there are also unknown numbers of Liao army movements on Fan Zhongyan's desk. On the case.

Once dug under the city, the Song army could use the cover of trenches to attack. Although Xijin City is much taller than Liangxiang City, the city wall is three feet high and one foot and five feet wide, with an area of ​​36 miles. It is the tallest and largest among the five capitals of Liao Dynasty. Beijing.

Yelu Zongzhen smiled bitterly and said: "My father-in-law is right. I do take it for granted. The Song Dynasty today is no longer the Song Dynasty it once was. It is unrealistic to use such a simple strategy to drive away Fan Zhongyan."

On November 24, the Song army had slowly surrounded Yuhe and Wanping. The Liao army's scouting system outside was almost paralyzed and could not spread out at all, making it difficult to figure out the Song army's movements.

In many cases, they would only know where the Song army's current offensive had gone until the Liao army's peripheral defense system was attacked, which made Yelu Zongzhen very passive.

"Fan Zhongyan is really insidious and cunning. It's a pity. I didn't expect Zhao Zhen to trust him so much. Not only did he not be replaced, he even lost many of our internal agents in Kaifeng."

Therefore, attacking while the Song people were setting up camp was the most desperate act.

"Your Majesty, the sudden establishment of the Political Council of the Song Dynasty, and Fan Zhongyan's ability to command so many soldiers and horses and promote many innovations are inherently strange. There must be secrets that we cannot know, and this secret must be related to Zhao Jun. "

On the 25th, on the city wall of Xijin Mansion, Yelv Zongzhen and many ministers of the Liao Kingdom were standing beside the female wall, looking to the southwest.

If you attack the camp, they will shoot you from a distance of more than a hundred feet.

This means that the current camp of the Song Army is just an empty frame, with a wooden fence outside and tents where the soldiers live inside. There are almost no critical defensive equipment on the periphery, such as horses, traps, caltrops, and watchtowers.

If you hold on to the city, they will slowly dig trenches all the way to your city and surround the city on three levels inside and three outside.

Yelu Zongzhen frowned and said: "If we continue to defend, I am afraid that Xijin will eventually fall into the fate of Liangxiang. The Song people are constantly digging soil and building trenches outside. One day, they will dig trenches under the city."

Even if you rush forward, you still have to climb over the fence. Countless people will die on this stretch alone.

Zhang Jian comforted him: "Your Majesty, there is no need to belittle yourself. This strategy can be the best, and it doesn't matter if it doesn't work. The most important thing now is what kind of countermeasures should be thought of."

But it was not until he saw the way the Song army fought with his own eyes that Yelu Zong really understood that the Song army seemed to be a little confused.

The Emperor of the Song Dynasty issued an edict. Although he sent two supervisors, they were both Fan Zhongyan's acquaintances and Zhao Jun's confidants. Basically, they would not give him much restraint. Therefore, the actual edict was to declare to the world that the imperial court had strict control over Fan Zhongyan. of trust.

This means that the Song army can move from the southwest to the northeast, cross the Yuhe River and Wanping to attack Xijin Mansion, but this is very likely to be attacked by Yuhe from the north and Wanping from the east.

The other two groups went all the way north to attack Mentougou and Shijingshan District in later Beijing, and all the way east were attacking Daxing District and the South Fourth Ring Road. The entire surrounding area of ​​Beijing was full of flames of war.

This hedgehog not only made the Liao generals in Liangxiang City uncomfortable, but now it had actually made Yelu Zongzhen, the Liao Kingdom, feel where the trouble was.

But in this era, it is no longer an era where the height of the city wall can be used to defend the enemy well. Because people will bombard your city gate with cannons, and the city gate will be blown to pieces with one shot.

The ancient city walls were so thick, not to mention blocking cannons, even rocket launchers couldn't penetrate them or explode them. But the city gate couldn't do it. It was just a big, thick iron gate. It could hold up an ordinary siege vehicle, but it couldn't hold up against that terrifying one. Cannonballs are just fantasies.

Therefore, as long as the Song army digs trenches under the city, Xijin Mansion will also be in danger.

Zhang Jian raised his head and glanced at the sky, and said softly: "Your Majesty, have you ever felt that the weather has become colder recently?"

Yelv Zongzhen looked to the north and said, "It seems like it's going to snow."

"If it snows, can the people of Song Dynasty still dig the earth?"

"The soil will freeze, and even if we can dig it, it will probably take time and effort."

"Then it's better to wait. By then, all our troops in Dading Mansion and Liaoyang Mansion will be able to fight to the end. After all the troops are gathered, we can always think of a way."

Zhang Jian sighed and said: "Perhaps as a last resort, we should give up the city of Jijin." Give up the city of Jijin?

Yelu Zongzhen frowned even more tightly.

He thought for a moment and quickly understood what Zhang Jian meant.

"What Xiangfu wants to say is to lure the snake out of its hole?"

"Yes."

Zhang Jian said: "Maybe this is the only way to take a gamble."

Yelu Zong really fell silent.

Since he chose to stay, he naturally wanted to fight to the death.

But the problem is that Song Jun doesn't seem to want to fight them to the death.

As soon as they arrived, they set up camp and then slowly besieged the city.

It is conceivable that even if all the Liao army leaves the city and wants to start a desperate showdown with the Song army, the Song army will probably not go out of the stronghold to fight with them face to face with gongs and drums.

After all, the Song army could have surrounded the city all the way and surrounded the Liao army to death, so why should they resort to such a confrontation between the two armies that might lead to an accident?

Then Yelu Zongzhen's plan to have a decisive battle with the Song army in the wild was completely in vain, and he could only continue to defend, and then finally watched the Song army surround the city, and finally the city was destroyed and the Liao army was defeated.

Zhang Jian's meaning is obvious. In this case, why not simply abandon the city. Luring the Song army to attack, they took the opportunity to set up an ambush, and then conducted large-scale legion operations in the wild.

But there's another problem here.

That is.

What if the Song army doesn't attack?

What if the Song army picked up Jijin Mansion for nothing and occupied the city directly?
What's the difference between that and sending Xijin Mansion away for free?
For a while.

Yelvzong realized in a daze that he seemed to have done something stupid.

If I had known earlier, I should not have agreed to Zhao Yuanhao.

Even if you agree.

We should also have peace talks with the Song Dynasty earlier, and maybe it will not be reduced to the level where the Xijin Mansion has a high probability of being taken away by the Song Army.

And just when Yelu Zongzhen was worrying about gains and losses on the gate tower of Jijin Mansion, he realized that the Song army had become so powerful.

What he didn't know was that someone was also observing his every move on a hillside about four or five kilometers southwest of Xijin Mansion City.

After the fall of Liangxiang, Fan Zhongyan went straight to the outside of Xijin Mansion and started his old operation of setting up camp and then digging trenches outside the camp.

However, he did not start digging immediately. Instead, he simply built a simple fort without any fortifications. In addition to arranging dozens of artillery positions on nearby hills.

But it is a pity that Yelu Zongzhen was obviously not fooled, which made Fan Zhongyan very regretful.

"Is the man wearing the velvet cloak on the city wall the Yelv Sect?"

Wang Su holds a telescope in his hand and looks out.

Of course, the telescope of the Song Dynasty was not made of plastic, but made of iron. It consisted of an objective lens and an eyepiece, and could magnify up to ten times.

So from a place four or five kilometers away, it looks like it is three or four hundred meters away, and you can vaguely see the people standing on the city wall.

"Probably so."

Fan Zhongyan said: "Yelu Zongzhen was quite cautious and did not leave the city."

Wang Su said: "The Liao people have probably lost the courage to fight us in the wild. After all, they have fought us many times in the wild before, but they have been defeated repeatedly."

"hehe."

Fan Zhongyan smiled and said: "Now that the Song Dynasty is strong and the Liao Dynasty is weak, I'm afraid Yelu Zong will not do such an uncertain thing."

"Then let's just do it like this?"

Wang Su said.

Fan Zhongyan said: "If we continue to waste it, the Liao people will undoubtedly be defeated. I think they will also think of a way."

"any solution?"

Wang Su scratched his head and said: "Anyway, if I were in the city and saw this formation, I would probably be helpless."

"Well"

Fan Zhongyan looked up at the sky and said, "Do you think it's going to snow?"

"It should be soon."

Wang Su saw that even in the daytime, the sky was quite gloomy.

Moreover, the climate is getting colder and colder. It seems that before the twelfth lunar month in December, or even throughout the twelfth lunar month, it will snow heavily in the Youyan area.

"This snow will help the Liao people for a while and prevent us from digging earth and rocks. But in early spring, the Liao people will have no choice but to wait for death."

Fan Zhongyan said softly: "But during the same period of time, the Liao army originally blocked by Di Qing in Liaodong will probably arrive. By then, all the troops in the Liao Kingdom will fight us to the death."

Di Qing cut off Yuguan, not only to intercept the Liao people's supplies, but also to keep their large troops out of the pass. It's just that people from the Liao Dynasty can still enter the pass through Xifengkou.

However, this does not mean that Di Qing has no use. In fact, Di Qing's existence plays a key role in determining the direction of the battlefield.

Because people can walk through Xifengkou, but supplies cannot.

This resulted in that as the Liao State's troops became more and more concentrated in Xijin Prefecture, supplies became increasingly scarce, resulting in less and less grain reserves.

At that time, Yelu Zongzhen would have no choice but to engage in a decisive battle with the Song army, otherwise he would end up running out of food and grass and his troops would starve to death.

So it can be said that Di Qing completely controlled the entire battlefield.

Otherwise, if there are enough firearms and food to defend the tall city of Xijin, even if the Song army breaks the city gate through the tactics of digging earth tunnels, they may not be able to capture the city with a large number of people and sufficient food.

Fan Zhongyan put down the telescope in his hand, put his hands behind his back, and looked to the distant northeast. His purple robe was swaying in the wind, and his eyes were full of anticipation and nervousness.

Yan Yun, who has been lost for hundreds of years, will finally return to his homeland in his hands. This is such an exciting thing.

(End of this chapter)