Chapter 505: You are not
Without the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyan, the Song Dynasty would have lost its natural defense against the Liao Kingdom on the Hebei Road.
In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Taizu Taizong organized the Northern Expedition, but unfortunately, all ended in failure.
From then on, the Song State acquiesced to the fact that it could not defeat the Liao State, and therefore devoted itself wholeheartedly to the Hebei Road. If there were no natural dangers, it would build fortresses, build castles, dig paddy fields, plant trees, and gather heavy troops.
Various means were used to resist the invasion of the Liao Kingdom.
After more than a hundred years of operation, it is actually very effective.
Especially when King Jing was in charge of the Hebei Road, a complete defense chain had been formed on the Hebei Road, with a defense zone hundreds of miles deep, which caused the Liao army to repeatedly run into obstacles on the Hebei Road and lose troops and generals.
During that period, the Song Army and the Liao Army formed a stalemate.
The Liao army came to raid the grass valleys on the Hebei Road, and the Song army often came to the Nanjing Road to burn, kill and loot, basically forming a balance of power.
It was during this period that a force formed within the Song Dynasty that wanted to conduct the Northern Expedition.
Because in terms of military affairs, these people found that they had been able to withstand the Liao people's attack, and in terms of economy, the Song State had a crushing advantage over the Liao State.
With such an advantageous situation, of course I wanted to make the Northern Expedition.
Not to mention complete success, it only needs to recapture the sixteen states of Youyan. From then on, in the military confrontation between Song and Liao, the Song State will have an overwhelming advantage. If it loses again with its economic advantage and destroys Liao,
It’s not impossible to think about it.
But what follows is who will take the lead in this matter.
In the view of the main war faction, King Jing is the best choice.
But King Chu didn’t think so.
That’s not what the officials thought either.
An internal fight began.
At that time, no one probably thought that this internal fight would be the beginning of the decline of the powerful Song Dynasty.
Except for the Guangrui Army, all the Hebei frontier armies that Jing Wang Zhao Zhe spent more than ten years building disappeared in just a few years.
The only exception was the Guangrui Army, which now became the Song Dynasty's most trusted enemy, the Western Army, entrenched north of Hengshan.
King Jing failed in his rebellion and burned himself in front of the imperial city.
Several years of farce not only made the Northern Expedition come to nothing, but also lost the defense zone on the Hebei border.
After Ma Xing took charge of Hebei, he brought order to the chaos, recruited a large number of scattered former frontier army officers and soldiers, and rebuilt the Hebei Forbidden Army. He finally achieved success. When the Hebei frontier army saw hope of revival, the Liao people took action again.
A piece of paper made the official family of Zhao Song feel very excited.
Hundreds of miles of territory will be returned without compensation.
At the time, it seemed that the Western Army had harassed the Liao Army so much that the Liao Army had to clear out the Western Army first before giving up this land.
As everyone knows, returning this territory to the Song Dynasty was just a trick of the Liao army to distract the Hebei frontier army.
After extensive reconstruction, the Hebei frontier army had to be redeployed, and for a while, it was dismantled to pieces.
The line of defense established by Ma Xing was dismantled by his own people in an instant.
The old line of defense has been destroyed, and the new line of defense has not yet been established.
At this juncture, the Liao people came and killed them.
This kind of fighting style, not to mention the Hebei frontier army that has not yet recovered its strength, even the elite group under King Jing's command at that time, still cannot sustain it.
The powerful elders of the Song Dynasty could never understand that the Liao people could exchange a territory hundreds of miles deep for such an opportunity to attack.
Of course, they had no way of knowing how Queen Xiao Chuo of the Liao Kingdom persuaded the Emperor Yelujun of the Liao Kingdom. This plan was also opposed by the powerful officials of the Liao Kingdom in Zhongjing at the time.
In the eyes of the powerful people of the Liao Kingdom, how could they spit out such a huge piece of fat in their mouths?
But when the emperor and empress unified their opinions, any opposition had to cease.
After that, all developments were moving forward smoothly according to Xiao Chuo's planning and prediction.
Except that Xiao Siwen was beaten by Xiao Ding in Xuanglei Village and lost his armor.
Yelumin rode slowly on his horse. He was involved in Xiao Chuo's plan from beginning to end.
Xiao Chuo proposed the strategic idea, and the rest of the tactical matters were completed by him, Wanyan Yujian, Lu Benan and others.
Xiao Chuo didn't understand the specific tactics.
In the past few years, Xiao Chuo has amazed Yelumin and others. Even Lu Ben'an, a son of an aristocratic family who always had a high opinion of himself in the past, has now become a fanatical admirer of the queen.
The Han families in the Liao Kingdom have now become the queen's possession.
As the Queen's absolute confidant, Yelumin even knew that there were some people who had not taken refuge in the Queen on the surface, and even often had trouble with the Queen. They had long been secretly subservient to the Queen, and everything they did on the surface,
It's just the queen's arrangement.
Even among the Khitan dignitaries in the North Courtyard, many have now turned to the Queen and become her loyal lackeys.
They are also preparing for a retreat.
Because Emperor Yelujun's health was getting worse and worse.
Some minor problems that seemed like nothing at first suddenly became serious in the past few years.
The emperor is seriously ill, the queen is strong, and the prince is still young.
Everyone knows that they have to choose a good escape route for themselves.
Yelumin listened intently to the roar of filial piety from Juma River, but what rang in his heart was what the queen said to him:
Shanjun is the foundation for her to settle down and live her life.
Other forces, even people like Lu Benan, will not truly and completely support her without reservation if there is any change in form.
"I will!" Yelumin took a deep breath. "Fifty thousand Shan troops will fight tooth and nail for the Queen."
Xiao Siwen's failure in Xuanglei Village was somewhat beyond the queen's expectation. She originally thought that Xiao Siwen could at least contain Xiao Ding.
Xiao Siwen's failure has both advantages and disadvantages.
The good thing is that Xiao Siwen used to like to put on airs in front of the Queen, but with this defeat, his value will plummet. From now on, he has no choice but to be dependent on the Queen.
The bad thing is that Xiao Siwen was defeated too quickly, which would allow Xiao Ding to defeat the Song army at an extremely fast speed. And with Xiao Chuo's understanding of his biological brother, maybe he would intervene in the war between Song and Liao.
During the war.
Will Xiao Ding intervene?
Maybe.
But now he needs to deal with the Song army that has passed Hengshan first.
After he completed all this, if he wanted to intervene in the Song-Liao war, he would have to pass Zhang Cheng's test first.
Will Zhang Cheng, who has a grudge against Xiao Ding for killing his father, cooperate with Xiao Ding?
Seems unlikely.
Then Xiao Ding had only one way, to go north again and attack Xijing Road and Shangjing Road.
But the time it takes to go back and forth may be enough to attack Bianliang by yourself.
Bianliang!
Yelumin sneered.
How he escaped from Bianliang like a dog, and now he has to go back in an even brighter form.
My father and those uncles,
Those brothers who died in Bianliang,
Those friends who fell to the swords of the pursuers one after another in order to cover their own escape.
They are all looking at themselves!
The sound of horse hooves could be heard, and a group of cavalrymen came galloping in front.
"The last general of the Tiger Wing Army, Lu He, has seen the commander-in-chief!" Lu He turned over and dismounted, trotted to the front of Yelu Min's horse, and beat his left breastplate and stomach with his right hand, making a clanging sound.
"You haven't taken it down yet?" Yelumin looked at Lu He with a half-smile and asked.
Lu He had a cold war. He was not familiar with Yelumin, but his cousin Lu Ben'an was very familiar with it. The person in front of him was really not a good person. In Lu Ben'an's words, when this guy was in Song Dynasty,
, I was so deeply stimulated that I feel a little perverted now.
Be ruthless to others and be ruthless to yourself.
He is the kind of person that even Galuban doesn't want to mess with.
Not to mention Lu He.
Even though Lu He was the commander-in-chief of the Tiger Wing Army, in front of Yelu Min, he was really a figure that could not be put on the table.
"The opponent is well-trained, with strong fighting will and toughness. However, there are less than half of them left now. It only takes a little more time to annihilate them all!" Lu He swallowed.
"How many people have you killed?" Yelumin said coldly.
"There are nearly a thousand casualties." Lu He lowered his head.
"Haha!" Yelumin laughed twice: "I attacked Tianmen Village, killed Anming in formation, and annihilated more than 2,000 defenders. Fifty-eight people were killed and 121 were injured!"
"How dare you compare yourself to the commander-in-chief!" Lu He's voice became even softer.
"Lead the way, I'll go see who the hero is!" Yelumin said: "A mere five hundred people actually blocked my army of tens of thousands on the north bank!"
Lu He's preparation was not sufficient.
There were only a few rafts and boats crossing the river. I originally thought that they could pass through the pontoon bridge smoothly, but then a Song army fell out of the sky, and it was a very powerful Song army, blocking them on the south bank.
The Liao army, which came over in rafts and boats, could only resort to refueling tactics. Casualties gradually increased, but the gap did not open.
In the end, it became a matter of life for life.
Maybe if another three to five hundred people die, this Song army can be completely wiped out.
Yelumin no longer cares about how many people died in the Tiger Wing Army, but what he cares about is why this Song army is so powerful!
If there is still such an army in the future, then he needs to be more careful in deducing the battle situation.
Because he knows that the Tiger Wing Army is actually the Lu family's private army, and its combat effectiveness is really not bad.
At the bridgehead, the Song Army's defensive position shrank by a large circle, and a circle of corpses appeared around them.
Most of them are from the Tiger Wing Army, and a small part are from the Song Army.
"Ren Zhong? I've never heard of it!" Looking at the waving flag, Yelumin thought about it in his mind for a long time, but he didn't remember who this person was!
"Crush them!" Yelumin did not intend to waste time.
The tiger-winged army could not reach the river, and the Liao army's three-winged army was missing one wing.
The key point of this battle is the word "quick".
The large-scale penetration, encirclement, and cutting did not give the Song army any time to assemble their troops, nor did they have the slightest chance to retreat to those large cities with strong city defenses.
It took a lot of effort to get them out, but if they were allowed to retract, wouldn't all the previous preparations have been wasted?
Therefore, even one day's delay will have an impact on the battle situation.
Otherwise, with his current status, how could he personally come to see what the situation is like in Zhouzhuang?
A little-known general,
A troop I have never heard of,
In fact, we encountered many such things before when we were in the Song Dynasty.
Many such talents end up being buried.
The Shan army cavalry who followed Yelumin launched a charge.
When Ren Zhong saw the flag of the Shushan Army, he despaired.
Because Shan's army came from the direction of Tianmen Village.
Tianmen Village fell.
Joining him in despair were the soldiers who were fighting desperately.
Once despair sets in, resistance becomes meaningless.
Once charged by the cavalry, the entire team collapsed instantly.
Ren Zhong, who raised his sword to wipe his neck, was knocked to the ground by a Shan army cavalryman with the back of his sword. Then the two dismounted and held Ren Zhong firmly.
The commander-in-chief said that he wanted to capture this Song general alive and find out who he was.
Ren Zhong was dragged to Yelumin and pushed to his knees on the ground.
He raised his head stubbornly, trying to get a clear look at the big shot of the Liao army in front of him.
He stared at Yelumin, and an extremely familiar feeling suddenly surged into his heart.
He felt that he must have been dazzled,
He shook his head vigorously and opened his eyes wider.
Although five or six years have passed, and although Yelumin now has a beard, as a former subordinate of Yelumin and a soldier who respected him greatly, that face has long been burned into his mind.
.
"General Xiao Qin!" Ren Zhong was dumbfounded and said involuntarily.
There was a loud bang in Yelumin's head,
General Xiao Qin!
How familiar, yet such a distant title.
Only the brothers of Guangxinjun would call him that!
Yelumin got off his horse, walked up to Ren Zhong, and stared at him.
"Brothers from the Guangxin Army? Which battalion are you from?"
Ren Zhong stared at the man in front of him, his eyes gradually filled with tears, "Is this really General Xiao Qin?"
Yelumin nodded.
"I am Qin Min!"
Ren Zhong's tears suddenly flowed out, and he howled loudly.
"Ren Zhong of the 7th Team of the 2nd Battalion of the Guangxin Army!"
He roared at the top of his lungs.
Qin Min's eyes were red and she reached out to help him up.
However, Ren Zhong twisted his body desperately, causing him to fall to the ground. He looked at Qin Min with an expression of disbelief, but he was twisting on the ground like a snake, as if he wanted to stay away from Qin Min.
"Ren Zhong, I am Qin Min!"
Qin Min took a step forward.
The Second Battalion of the Guangxin Army was the unit that Qin Min personally commanded back then.
The first battalion is the personal army of his father, Qin Kuan.
"No, you are not General Xiao Qin, you are not!" Ren Zhong yelled, watching Qin Min approaching him, he was avoiding a snake and a scorpion: "Liao Dog, you are Liao Dog, kill me, kill me quickly!
"
Yelumin suddenly froze there. He stretched out his hand and did not retract it for a long time.
There was a loud sound of pro-army knives being unsheathed all around.
Yelumin took a deep breath, turned around and walked towards his horse.
"Let him go, and no one will make things difficult for him!"
Get on your horse and ride away.
Chapter completed!