Song Jiu found Yang Ye.

During the last meeting, Song Jiu discovered that Yang Ye had a fatal flaw, that is, he was more stubborn. But Yang Ye was not a fool, and he could still see the kindness that Song Jiu showed, which made him very puzzled. He didn't like this prime minister of the Song Dynasty.

Song Jiu said: "General Yang, do you think this Northern Expedition can win?"

"able."

“Why?”

"In the battle of Baima Mountain, the officials and soldiers of the court won the most with fewer troops, and at this time the force of the soldiers was several times better than the opponent, so they would definitely win."

It cannot be called several times. At this time, Youzhou gathered nearly 100,000 troops for mobilization. The Song army claimed to have 300,000 troops, and the real imperial guards were only about 100,000, and the rest were all militias. Of course, compared with Guo Jin's battle example, he would definitely win.

But Song Jiu smiled bitterly.

"General Yang, you don't need to avoid it. Today we only talk about heaven and earth, and the law does not spread to two ears. Think about pessimism."

Yang Ye thought hard and finally said: "There are three possibilities, one may win a great victory. Our army took advantage of the Khitan's unpreparedness to take down Youzhou and take the risk of the city hostage. The Khitans will sigh."

Song Jiu nodded.

Originally, the Khitans were not very good at siegeing cities, and with their own leadership, some sharp weapons appeared. These weapons may not play much role in field battles, and even if they are not very effective in siege, they are all powerful weapons when they are placed on guarding the city.

"With the loss of Youzhou, the Khitan lacks an important grain production area. It is possible that the various ethnic groups within the Khitan take the opportunity to rebel and split into pieces. Our dynasty will restore the glory of the Han and Tang Dynasties."

Song Jiu nodded again. It was this that made Zhao Kuangyi have a big bet.

"General Yang, do you think there is such a possibility?"

"The possibility is extremely small. The Khitan will not sit idly by and watch our dynasty take Youzhou. Therefore, there is a second possibility. Even if our dynasty takes Youzhou, the Khitans will also send large troops to fight for it. It is unlikely that they want to take back Youzhou City again, but the three armies are originally short of food. Transporting the food and grass from the rear to the front line is all within the Khitan territory, and then they will continue to be controlled, and the outcome is unknown."

“Is there any other possibility?”

"Yes, the general felt that His Majesty was a little blind to sending troops this time, and the army was indeed as Song Gong said, a little tired. Before the army took down Youzhou, it was attacked by Liao reinforcements and defenders in the city, and ended in a great defeat."

"If this is the case, how can I recover the losses?"

Yang Ye thought for a long time and said, "I can't make it back."

"Guo Jin defeated the three Khitan troops, but Yelu Xizhen arrived in time and failed to expand the results of the battle. Why can't it be saved?"

"Song Gong, that was a medium-sized battle. In this grand battle, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, once defeated, it would be a real defeat like a mountain. Even if the mountain falls, it is not as serious. With the little escort force and civilians in our hands, how can we save it?"

Yang Ye looked up at Song Jiu and thought to himself, didn't you ask me a problem, and then said, "This possibility is probably very small."

"You are optimistic..."

"I won't understand it."

"Han Derang, the governor of Youzhou!"

...

The Song army was very fast this time, and arrived in Dingzhou three days later, marching for more than 60 miles a day.

Zhao Kuangyi in Dingzhou wrote a poem "Poem of Sorrow in the Fall of the Foreign People". I am here to save you.

Five days later, Zhao Kuangyi arrived in Jintaitun. This was already the border between Song and Liao. The next day, Liu Yu, the governor of Dongyizhou (Qigou Pass), surrendered with the pass.

Fu Qian and Kong Shouzheng arrived in Zhuozhou as vanguards, defeated the Liao army and captured 500 people alive, followed by Zhao Kuangyi's army. Seeing these densely packed Song army, Liu Yuande, the judge of Zhuozhou, did not dare to resist, and surrendered.

Zhao Kuangyi asked Zhang Huaixun to lead his troops, and with the departure, it took only three days from Qigou Pass to Youzhou. He arrived at the south of Youzhou City and stationed in Baoguang Temple.

It is unknown whether the front-line generals were tired or not, but the army marched so quickly that Song Jiu was exhausted.

The Khitans then woke up. At this time, there were only more than 18,000 Han soldiers stationed in the city, and it was difficult to defend Youzhou City. So they sent general Yelu Shougu to reinforce the city. This general was brave and strange. He was also an excellent translator poet. It was very rare in Khitan with all-round talent in civil and military talents.

However, he was unfortunate that the army had not arrived in Youzhou yet, and the Song army had long surrounded the city and could not enter the city to complete the task of defending the city.

But at this moment he heard a bad news.

Zhao Kuangyi was in the south of the city, but the Liao army had two huge troops in the north of the city, one was 80,000 troops led by Yelu Xida and Xiao Haogu, and the other was 20,000 troops led by Deshengkou 90 miles north of Youzhou City, led by Yelu Xizhen.

So Zhao Kuangyi asked Fu Qian and Kong Shouzheng to deal with Yelu Xida's army.

Fu Qian is an old man from the Zhao Kuangyi Mansion. He has mediocre abilities and is timid and afraid of things, but Zhao Kuangyi also assigned him a warrior, Kong Shouzheng, who performed very well in the first Shiling Pass battle.

The two armies met in Shahe. Although Yelu Xida and Xiao Haogu were brave, their abilities were also mediocre. Compared with Fu Qian, they were half a dozen. However, the two armies fought, but the Song army had too many troops and came from the rear in batches. Seeing that the situation was not good, they immediately ordered a retreat.

In fact, this is a great opportunity. If the Song army could eat up these 80,000 troops, the direction of the war would be another matter.

However, although Kong Shouzheng was brave, he was not the main general. Under Fu Qian's command, he only killed a thousand enemies, allowing the main force of the Liao army to escape calmly. This news was also unfavorable to the Khitans.

At this time, Yelu Xizhen sent troops. He was fighting Yelu Xida's green flag at the Deshengkou, creating the illusion of containing the defeated army. Fu Qian was indeed deceived, so he was afraid of his defeated generals, so he went north to pursue. Yelu Xizhen suddenly hid his army and rushed out, and Fu Qian was defeated.

However, when he chased Qingsha River, Yelu Xizhen was like him in Bailong Mountain, and he was very timid and stopped and did not dare to approach Youzhou City.

Facing this cunning and timid Yelu Xizhen, Zhao Kuangyi was so amused that he couldn't help but laugh. If you want to watch the battle, then stay in Qingshahe obediently and ignore him.

Song Jiuwei was on the front line, with 300,000 soldiers and civilians, and the food consumed in one day was an astonishing number. In order to ensure the supply of the front line, he was busy every day. Therefore, he stayed in Dingzhou, but the battle reports on the front line were still continuously feedback.

At present, from all aspects, the Song army has the upper hand, but Song Jiu felt uneasy in his heart, so he called Yang Ye over again.

"General Yang, look."

Yang Ye will take a closer look at the battle reports.

"General Yang, I'm always uneasy. Do you see something wrong?"

Yang Ye thought for a long time and only Yang Ye, but now he still thinks that Song Jiu is thinking too pessimistic. Maybe this is a common problem among literati. However, Song Jiu asked him to think, and he still followed Song Jiu's thoughts and finally said: "If it is wrong, then there may be problems with Yelu Xizhen's team."

"Why?" Because Guo Jin committed suicide, he did not bring back the first-hand news. Everyone despised this person. Song Jiu's golden finger only remembered Yelu Xiuge, not Yelu Xizhen.

"Duke Song, you can refer to Emperor Taizong of Tang's battle in Luoyang."

"A battle in Luoyang?" Song Jiuzai wanted to recall this history.

"The reason why Emperor Taizong of Song and Emperor Taizong of Tang took Luoyang was to clear the periphery first, and then in the Hulao Pass. Dou Jiande defeated him before he took Luoyang. Now that our army is besieging Youzhou, the Khitan will send a large army to support him. If the troops are not cleared, there may be two armies attacking him and then sending troops from the city. Our army will be steep. However, this possibility is extremely small. Khitan Hanluduo is mainly in the area of ​​Shangjing, and the news reaches Zhongjing, and then the ministers discuss it, and then the recruitment will take a long time. The last general does not think that Han Derang can still defend until then. Even if the Khitan can arrive in time, it will be a more tired army than our army, and can support the siege."

"General Yang. Think about it in the bad direction."

"To the bad side, this army is not easy to deal with. If there are fewer troops, they cannot defeat them. If there are too many troops, our army has to transfer soldiers. The speed is not as fast as them, so they can have time to escape calmly. But to be on guard, Mr. Song can write a memorial and ask His Majesty to expel the army and return to Deshengkou. Deshengkou is more than 80 miles away from Youzhou, and most of them are mountain roads, which will not pose a direct threat to our army.

Even if we send troops in the future, our army will have time to arrange it. The distance is too short now, and Qingsha River is only twenty miles away from Youzhou City. It would be even better if we could win the Victory Gate and drive the Khitan out of the Great Wall."

So Song Jiu wrote a memorial, in which he asked Zhao Kuangyi to expel Yelu Xizhen outside the ancient Great Wall, to take the Deshengkou, Juyongguan and Gubeikou. Even if he won the Deshengkou, it was not appropriate to win the Deshengkou, and it was not far from Youzhou City. If he couldn't take it, he would at least drive Yelu Xizhen back to the Deshengkou. Then he chose a dangerous place to build a village halfway. Anyway, the Song army now sent a group of troops to supervise the Khitan army. This move did not reduce the troops available for siege.

Then Song Jiu was still not relieved and wrote a letter to Pan Mei, asking Pan Mei to persuade Zhao Kuangyi.

At the same time, he also strides northward and moves to Qigou Pass.

However, the situation seemed to be increasingly beneficial to the Song Dynasty. Seeing the Song army's strength, Li Xun, the Bohai School of Xizhen, and other sixteen prefectures led more than 300 cavalrymen to surrender, and Li Zhalucun, the commander of the Khitan Tielin, surrendered with more than 100 subordinates.

There is also a person who attracted Song Jiu's attention, Yuping's father, who was in Youzhou City after Song Jiu found out.

The Song army continued to attack the city from all sides, Song Wei attacked the Nancheng, Cui Yan attacked the Beicheng, Liu Yu attacked the Dongcheng, Meng Xuanzhe attacked the Xicheng, and Pan Mei served as the Youzhou Prefecture and assisted Zhao Kuangyi in command.

If Song Cui and Liu were still understandable, Song Jiu was not a first-class general, but could be shown. However, Meng Xuanzhe could be able to take on the offensive and defensive position in Xicheng. Could it be that he was even more powerful than many of the famous generals under his rank at this time? If that were the case, he would not have made a huge joke when Wang Quanbin attacked Shu.

The news reached Zhongjing. Emperor Jingzong of Liao was just hunting. After hearing this, he was shocked. Many ministers suggested abandoning Yanji and Ji and using their troops to guard Songting and Hubeikou.

At this time, Yelu Xiuge, the Khitan Dati Yinsi, stood up and said, "Whether retreat or rescue, they have to fight with the Song army. So why should they retreat? They have to fight and fight under Youzhou City."

Emperor Jingzong of Liao thought about it over and over again and finally agreed to him to send out a 100,000 Hanludo army.

This is a battle to bet on national fortunes. If you win, Youzhou will be saved. If you lose, not only will Youzhou not be saved, but the Song army can even be unable to survive. They will take advantage of the great victory and go north to Zhongjing, Yingzhou, and the Khitan will be in danger since then.

There is also a prerequisite. When Yelu Xiuge's army arrived, Han Derang had the ability to defend Youzhou City, otherwise he would not have to go through major events.

Tens of thousands of Khitan cavalry emerged from the vast grassland, and the Song army could not have learned the news.

There are constant good news on the front line, and more than a hundred people from Jizhou County rewarded the king's army with cattle wine. Zhao Kuangyi was very happy. This is a battle that won the hearts of the people.

Then more than 100 people from the magistrates of the Youzhou county and villagers came to surrender.

Liu Yansu, the governor of Jianxiong of Khitan, and his subordinates surrendered.

Liu Shousi, the governor of Jizhou of Khitan, came to surrender.
Chapter completed!