Although Yingzhou is located in a fertile and flat river, it is not completely unreliable. Rivers and canals are rampant in the prefecture and continuous wilderness. Especially the two major rivers, Fengshui and Fengchi, located in the southwest of the prefecture, are parallel to each other, becoming a natural dividing line in the region and the origin of the name of Yingzhou Prefecture's river management.

Now, with the Khitan invading Yingzhou, the river canals and sieges on these surfaces have become places for the two sides to fight. The places where these battles occur also have different scales and intensity due to the strategic value.

Among them, Anping, Raoyang and other places located between the border between Dingzhou and Yingzhou are the areas where the fiercest battles are between them. The Tang army is mainly composed of Li Zhan's troops who had arrived in Dingzhou, and nearly 2,000 volunteer teams from nearby towns cooperate to fight.

The Khitan invested more soldiers in this regard. The main rebel army troops had already advanced to Hejian, which was not far from here. If they continued to move south, they would have to break through the obstruction of the Tang army on this line. Moreover, the more south the Hebei territory was, the richer it was, and the more essence it was, it naturally had a fatal attraction to the rebels.

There are many temporarily dug battlefield trenches near the river beach on the south bank of the Hsingshui, which is the front line of the battle between the two sides. At this time, near the river beach, the sound of drums and horns is endless, and the officers of both sides are rushing around, and soldiers are constantly injured or even killed in battle every moment.

On the Tang side, the Tang army was all old soldiers in Guanxi, and they surrendered to Li Zhan. The soldiers were well-equipped with their weapons and fighting spirit. They controlled the strings like wind and swung their swords like lightning on the battlefield. The enemy troops on the opposite side were also very strong. The Khitan soldiers were lying on their faces, looking like ghosts, and they danced their weapons and rods, coming and going quickly. They fought with the Tang army on this riverside, and they could not fall behind, making the battle a stalemate for a while.

Although the Khitan was not famous, it was also a large tribe in the Donghu. Especially after the two powers of the Eastern Turks and Goguryeo successively destroyed, the border ties in the northeast underwent earth-shaking changes. As the Donghu tribe who defected to the Tang Dynasty earlier, the Khitan had a great development in its power under the order of the Northeast restraining order of the Tang Dynasty.

Especially now, as the leader of the tribal alliance, the Dahe family obtained the powerful weapon given by the Tang Dynasty as early as the early years of Zhenguan, and actively participated in the wars of the Tang Dynasty, especially the battles that captured Goguryeo. They were a considerable combat power in the Northeast.

However, the Hulu always feared power but not virtue. As the power of the headquarters grew, the Khitan gradually lost its former obedience. As early as the Xianqing period of Emperor Gaozong, the Khitan colluded with the Xi people to rebel in the northeast.

However, the Turks had fallen at that time, and the conflict between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo did not intensify. The war against the Three Koreans had just begun. This rebellion was like hitting a stone with an egg, and it was soon suppressed and pacified. The current leader of the Khitan, Li Jinzhong, and his family, also became the new leader of the Khitan with the support of the Tang Dynasty.

After all, the real opponent of the Tang Dynasty was a big sea-eastern thing like Goguryeo, and the Khitan was in a remote and remote place. In order to quickly stabilize the Northeast and provide a foundation for the eastern expedition to Goguryeo, the Tang Dynasty did not pursue this rebellion in depth, but only eliminated the two tyrants who provoked the order of restraint.

With the defeat of Goguryeo, the Tang Dynasty's military power in the Northeast shrank, especially the war process with Tubo was not ideal, and its control over the Northeast was inevitably weaker.

Later, the remnants of the Eastern Turks restored the country and caused chaos in the southern desert. With the death of Emperor Gaozong, the Tang Dynasty fell into years of political struggle and civil strife, which also gave the Donghu tribes more room for development. This rebellion of the Khitan can be said to be a consequence of the long-term loss of governance in the Northeast's throne.

The hidden dangers in the Northeast have been accumulated for a long time, but when the Prime Minister was in power, he lacked a clear understanding of this. He believed that these Donghu tribes were still a compliant and available force, and actually tried to open a new battlefield to snipe the Turks in Youzhou. A large number of people gathered in Youzhou, and the military entrusted them to make the Khitan almost seize the materials accumulated in Youzhou.

The rebellion in Youzhou at the beginning of the year gave the Khitan precious materials, which were already ambitious due to its strength. In particular, the loss of a large number of armor and weapons made the Khitan army that made the comeback even have an armed level that was not inferior to the elite of the Tang army. This also brought great difficulties to the hasty advance northward and sniping the Khitan Tang army.

This war is aimed at robbing a ferry on the river beach. The water and land gathering between Raoyang and Anping is also an important canal transport node in central Hebei. This land was formerly known as Boling, which was originally a famous county on the surface of Hebei. The famous clans of the Boling Cui family and other places lived in this town for many of them.

As early as a few days ago, Li Zhan led his army to Anping, Dingzhou, and told the countryside to summon famous people from all over the city. However, due to the Luoyang coup, these surface wealthy families were very resistant to the imperial edicts, and they all defended the countryside and still had to consider the relationship.

The villagers were not in good cooperation, and the personnel were scattered among the towns and towns. As the Khitan rebels advanced to Yingzhou, they provided the rebels with the convenience of plundering the countryside. Many villages and villages were broken, and the Khitan rebels also gathered a large number of wealth and goods.

If so many materials are to be transported safely to the rear, the river channel is undoubtedly the most convenient path. Therefore, Li Zhan's troops immediately changed their combat policies and sniped the temporary storage and ferries of Khitan along the river with their powerful mobility and field capabilities.

At the beginning of the battle, because the overall combat effectiveness and armed level of the passers-by in front of the Khitan were relatively low, and the advancement along the way was unstoppable, they were not alert enough, so the Tang army succeeded one after another in sniping at the river strongholds and made great achievements.

The initial battle was relatively smooth, which also provided precious supplies for Li Zhan and his men. Their men crossed the river north in early May, and were busy extinguishing the riots in various states along the way, and marched all the way, and they were inevitably not comprehensive enough in terms of food, grass and supplies.

Previously, Li Zhan arrived in Anping and saw the families in the countryside, hoping that these local tycoons could donate a batch of money and grain to supplement the consumption of the army, but they were resisted and resisted.

If it weren't for snatching a batch of supplies from the Khitan, I'm afraid I'll be unable to continue at the moment. I had to withdraw Jizhou and wait for the imperial court's supplies to continue to go north.

Originally, it was a battle within the territory, but the result was not as good as the Khitan, the bandit army. The wealthy families in those places held their own warehouses tightly, and the official army even had to snatch supplies from the bandit army in order to gain the strength to continue fighting.

Thinking of this, the officials and the whole army were extremely depressed. But when the enemy was in front of the enemy, there was no need to delve into these details. As the main force in the anti-enemy, the Kansai Army, who believed that the imperial court and the Superintendent Yuansi of the Superintendent would definitely give them an explanation. If it weren't for this confidence, honestly, the fighting spirit of the government army was really unavailable.

On the shallow slope on the west side of the river beach, Li Zhan erected the flag here. Seeing the battle on the battlefield below, his eyes flashed anxiously. Recently, he clearly felt that the combat effectiveness of the Khitan army was getting stronger and stronger, and the armor and equipment became more and more sophisticated, which shows that the Khitans have gradually dispatched their elites to this end.

At this time, on the battlefield, the number of people participating in the war between the two sides seemed to be, and even the Khitan forces were smaller, but the official army was at a disadvantage. Several times of orders were sent to try to remove the battle and rotate, but they were tightly attached by the Khitan soldiers and could not break away from the battlefield and reorganize the formation.

The official army is so weak, on the one hand, because it is running around for days and is almost unable to rest, and its combat effectiveness has declined. On the other hand, it is because the Khitan soldiers participating in the battle this time are not weak, and they are brave and are wrapped in golden wires between their braids, and the armor and equipment distribution is even more like the front-line combat troops of the Tang army.

There is also a special name for this group of people named Yiluohe, which means athletes and heroes in Donghu language. During the war against Goguryeo in the Tang Dynasty, the Hu servants mobilized to join the city, and the Yiluohe from the Khitan and Xi tribes participated in the battle. However, there were not many people at that time, and they were only followed by a wealthy chief, without independent establishment, and there were no performance on the battlefield.

However, during this Khitan rebellion, there were more Hu troops called Yiluohe. In the initial battle, they were only the commander of the troops. However, this time nearly two thousand Yiluohe soldiers participated in the battle.

These soldiers from the river rayed the river were all big and round, brave and fierce, skillful and well-armed. Once they appeared on the battlefield, their combat effectiveness was far beyond that of ordinary soldiers.

If the Tang army entered the war this time, of course, they would not fear the victory with him. However, after fighting for several days, the state of the troops declined and they could not defeat them quickly at the beginning of the battle. As the battle time delayed, the physical disadvantages of the troops became more and more obvious.

Suddenly, a strange mutation regenerated on the battlefield. A fierce Hu general, hand-dreamed Dazhui, broke the obstruction of several Tang soldiers on the battlefield one after another, and rushed straight towards the Tang army's back formation alone.

"Some Songmo Mansion He A-Xiao, the vanguard in front of the Supreme Khan's tent, can the Tang general on the slope come to fight?"

After breaking through the obstacles, the Hu general became more arrogant and arrogant. He rode his horse to the line and wandered along the military formation and shouted, waving his arms and waving and calling out for battle: "There are no courageous rats, you dare to fight!"

Seeing this scene, Li Zhan's face turned pale. He raised his hand and pointed, and he divided a team of ten people under his command and rushed straight towards the Hu General. Seeing this, Hu General laughed and left, and then entered the battle formation and the army continued to fight.

Li Zhan was naturally unwilling to bear this provocation. He looked back at the river protection water grid that the civilians had just set up on the river surface since they were busy the day before yesterday. This was also the target of the Khitan thief army's attempt to capture and destroy this battle.

"I'll let all the people cross the river without waiting for the official army anymore! The remaining arrows in the army were sent to the shooting masters, give up the ferry and kill the thieves with me!"

After struggling and weighing the pros and cons, Li Zhan began to dismount his horse and said in a deep voice. The reason for making such a decision was not only because Hu General humiliated and agitated generals in front of the formation, but also because of the situation on the battlefield, he no longer had the confidence to defend the ferry here.

After all, except for the narrow river channel, there is almost no danger to guard along the river. Forced stay here and continue fighting will only make the soldiers even more tired, and there will be a danger of the entire army being destroyed.

Hearing the order from the Lord General, the soldiers who had not participated in the war along the river were all silently dressed up. Seeing this, the people were all sad, but they could not win. It would be useless to force them, and it would only bring greater losses. So they jumped into the river one after another and swam across the driftwood to the opposite side.

But among the people, there were still dozens of young and strong men who were reluctant to leave. Some even rushed into the army with anger and shouted: "Xiangyi is brave and powerful, and I am willing to fight with the general to kill the thief! If you die, you will die. I will never bear to see the thief harming my hometown but escape against the way!"

"Distribute the spare equipment and horses to them."

After hearing this, Li Zhan said casually, waved his hand and then turned over with the help of the soldiers. He glanced at the village warriors who were excited to fight, and said again: "The official army has its own formation skills. If you can kill, you will kill. If you can go, you will go. Don't mess with my formation!"

After saying this, Li Zhan pinched the horse's belly, and the horse's spear was standing in front, and rushed towards the battlefield down the slope first. At the same time, he shouted: "Don't be crazy, the Tang family is loyal and brave, you will take your life!"

Hundreds of Tang troops on the shallow slope also had their battle formations at this time. Dozens of elite cavalry and the main generals in front of them formed a front formation. In the back, dozens of sledge-controlling strings were used to lead the bow and point their fingers. Following the spear-head, the arrows broke off the strings and entered the bandit formation first, and instantly shot a conspicuous gap in the enemy formation.

Li Zhan and others rushed into the enemy's formation with spears and continued to tear the gap apart. The swordsmen in the back were slashed and shook the enemy's formation. Therefore, the joining of the new forces along the way, the entire battlefield was subjected to this impact and caused great changes.

The pressure from the soldiers who were trapped in the battle formation for a long time was sharply reduced, and finally there was room for a gap to move to the outside of the battlefield, and tried to catch up with the rear army's end of the formation and strangle the enemy forcefully.

"Stop the reunion of the Tang army!"

The Hu general He Axiao, who had been scolding for the battle before the battle, ignored Li Zhan, who had joined the battle. Instead, he led his troops to avoid the edge, intending to pull the Tang army, who was about to leave the battle, back into the battle circle. It can be seen that the Hu general was not brave but had no strategy, but full of viciousness and cunning.

As all the Tang army entered the war, the Khitan army began to continue to send more troops to the battlefield.

Although the Khitans did not invest as much as the Tang army in the initial battle, the Khitan forces were still the most in the entire battlefield. In addition to nearly 2,000 Yiluohe elite soldiers, there were also two thousand infantrymen and thousands of chariot soldiers. Previously, only 1,500 Yiluohe participated in the battle, and more than 500 people were waiting for battle with the rear army.

Now that all the forces of the Tang army were finally squeezed out, the Khitan bandit army naturally had no need to hold back. Among them, the five hundred Yiluohe soldiers also threw themselves straight to the battlefield like the Tang army. The other infantry and chariot soldiers quickly passed along the outer edge of the battlefield, and wanted to snatch the ferry that the Tang army had previously left behind.

At this time, the Tang army soldiers were all trapped in a fierce battle. Even when they saw the Khitan army having such intentions, they had no time to stop them.

The joining of Li Zhan and others has brought certain changes to the situation on the front battlefield.

The hundreds of troops left behind the formation were barely considered a new force. The bandit army on the battlefield was also exhausted by a fierce battle, and the clutch response was inevitably a little slow. Under the impact of Li Zhan and others' left and right, the battle formation gradually began to become scattered.

But one thing is a pity that because the Tang army was mainly lightly equipped and equipped, there were not many heavy equipment specializing in armor-breaking. The Yiluohe Army, who participated in the battle, had excellent armor defense, which directly caused the Tang army to lack lethality, which led to the enemy's chaos but not collapse, and he was about to fall into the previous battle rhythm again.

Especially as hundreds of enemy troops were inserted into the battlefield from the flanks, the attempt to converge from the front and rear Tang troops to the front and rear failed. The Tang soldiers in the battle formation were forced to leave the core of the battlefield by the Khitan troops who were chasing behind. The two men fought on their own and failed to achieve an effective cooperation.

But when Li Zhan decided to give up the ferry water fence, this disadvantage on the battlefield was no longer fatal. After all, the Tang army was mainly a mobile clutch army. Previously, it could not break the formation or escape the battle, so it was trapped in the battlefield and could not advance or retreat.

But now that the target of protection has been abandoned, the Tang army has made every effort to escape the war, and it is not the Khitan bandit army that can stop it for a while. After all, with the Khitan army's efforts being put into operation, the Khitan cavalry on the battlefield must also support and protect the infantry moving rapidly towards the ferry. If they cannot pursue it with all their strength, the pressure the Tang army has been under sharply reduced.

"Transfer to the southwest and fight again!"

After rescuing the soldiers on the battlefield, Li Zhan did not try to continue to attack and entangle, but led his troops to move to the south.

The ferry here does not mean that the war in this area is over. As long as you preserve your current strength, the activities of the Khitan thieves will always be restricted and you cannot unscrupulously transfer the money, grain and materials you plunder to the rear.

"The soldiers surrounded the ferry and quickly cleared the water barriers of the river!"

Seeing that the Tang army had left the war one after another, Khitan general He Axiao no longer ordered to continue pursuing. After all, he had already penetrated into the territory of Tang. He did not know the geography, reality and reality. It is very likely that he would be extremely happy and sad to pursue it rashly, and it is safest to consolidate the current results.

The battle that took place on the banks of the Shui River ended with the defeat of the Tang army. The Khitan soldiers naturally felt cheering, and they felt that the Tang army was just like this and their fighting spirit was even higher.

As the Khitan's Yiluo River soldiers looked around the river, the Khitan army, who were originally scattered around the river, began to gather on both sides of the Fengshui River and quickly transported the previously plundered materials to the direction of Hejian.

The Khitan camp located in Hejian, Yingzhou, has a camp for dozens of miles, and it is almost impossible to see the edge at a glance. The Khitans fished and hunted to make a living, and their customs are similar to those of the Turks. Although they captured the big city, they did not live in the city, and only set up felt tents around the city. As for the city, the Tang people they had captured and a large amount of wealth and goods were imprisoned.

In this camp, there is a big camp flag that is high and very eye-catching. It is the tent of Khitan leader Li Jinzhong Khan. However, among the cultural relics inside and outside this tent, the most conspicuous flags, drums and ritual vessels given by the Tang Dynasty are still the most conspicuous, revealing a sense of irony and embarrassment. This is true for the Tang Dynasty and the Khitan.

This is also impossible. The Khitan tribe origin did not last long. It was not until the reciprocity of Sui and Tang Dynasties that a tribal alliance led by the Dahe clan was gradually formed, and there was no unique ethnic rule system.

For many years, Li Jinzhong was only in charge of the various tribes as the governor of Songmo Prefecture, which was enthroned by the Tang Dynasty. Although he is now called Khan, he is still worried that his Khan is not powerful enough. In addition, the Xi people who were in rebellion this time, the troops of the Xi people and the Marceli tribes had no clear ruling relationship with him before, so he still retained the ritual instruments and chariots given by the Tang Dynasty to strengthen his power.

At this time, a grand banquet was being held in the tent. Most of the Donghu masters from the Supreme Khan Li Jinzhong attended this place to celebrate the defeat of the Tang army south of the Qianshui general He Axiaoyu and successfully brought back the materials and soldiers stranded in the territory.

Li Jinzhong is over 60 years old. Although he is the leader of the Khitan Alliance, he lives in the bitter and cold land of Liao border for many years. He is already in a cold and old state. However, he is still energetic. When he is drunk, he is holding his arms around the table and looks at his subordinates in the tent and is so happy that he can't stop talking. He is full of enthusiasm, and he holds the golden cup over his head and laughs: "In previous years, when he is lying in the ice cave, he is full of cold wind, dare you imagine that you can enjoy this day?"

After Li Jinzhong finished his bold words, he looked around, but few people in the tent responded. The generals of the rich chiefs were either playing with girls or drinking drunkenly, and almost no one focused on them.

Li Jinzhong's golden cup was still held in the air for a while before someone finally noticed this. He hurriedly left the table and danced to congratulate him. So more people stood up and danced. For a moment, the demons danced in the big tent, but many people didn't know why the dance was danced. He A-Xiao, who was also drunk and confused, knelt in front of the desk and shouted: "I will thank the governor! No, no... I thank Khan for the reward!"

"A stupid thing!"

Li Jinzhong was already a little unhappy, but after seeing the clumsy attitude, he couldn't help but feel happy and threw the golden cup in his hand to He A-Xiao.

Although the rituals were messy, the scene of excessive fun in the tent was restrained. Before everyone could turn elsewhere, Li Jinzhong continued to say: "Tang State has always been slaves to my northeastern tribes. Now I obey the order of heaven and gather all the warriors to resist the Tang State. Since the uprising, there have been great gains, but Tang State is large in its large size and must not relax because of everything at the moment! All tribes still need to obey my orders to resist the attack and prosecution of the Tang State!"

This time everyone was tactful and responded. Li Jinzhong then looked at a young man in the tent and said, "When the victory of the Fengshui River, it can be seen that the Tang Dynasty's official army is not worth worrying. The kings and princes of the kings and princes have no spare energy to control Hebei. The rumor told your brother that he sent more chariots and horses, and the army continued to fight south. I want to lead the army to the Yellow River, repeat the story of Jie Li, and force the young king to build an alliance with me!"

The young man's name is Li Lusu, and his hairstyle looks different from the Khitans. He does not belong to Li Jinzhong's subordinates, but the brother of Xi chief Li Daqiu.

The Xi people and the Khitan were also the rest of the Xianbei Yuwen family. Although they were of the same origin, they had a lot of conflicts in the competition between fishing and hunting in the mountains and forests, and their relationship was not good. However, as the two powerful tribes of the Donghu tribes, they were also entangled in love and killing each other. They had previously had many experiences of plotting to rebel in the Northeast. This time, Li Jinzhong raised the anti-bank, and the Xi people were also the first to incite to invade the incident.

However, after conquering Yingzhou, Li Jinzhong made his own name as Khan, and he regarded himself as the leader of the Donghu. This made Li Daqi, the chief of Xi who was awarded the title of Tang State and thought he was on par with Li Jinzhong, was quite angry. Therefore, when he continued to come south in Youzhou, Li Daqi refused to follow and stayed behind the back.

At this time, when Li Jinzhong heard Li Jinzhong's domineering tone, Li Lusu was also a little unhappy, and stood up and raised his hand and said, "Your army is strong, and the Tang army is vulnerable. Our army has few people and weak people. It is really difficult to continue to increase the army. We can only stay in the back road for the Khan..."

"The dog thief dares to offend me!"

When Li Jinzhong heard this, his face suddenly sank, stood up from the middle of the mat, pointed at Li Lusu and cursed: "Even if you don't have a counselor in your clan, my tribe will be able to accomplish something! I have been a slave of the Tang Dynasty for a long time and needed to relieve your resentment before joining your brothers in the matter. Since the journey south, I have been ruthless. Now my army has won again. I will use my feet to force you to reject me! People come to kill this beast for me, but it is nothing more than a large army to return to the army and kill the Dali clan!"

"I will kill this defeated thief for Khan!"

Hearing Li Jinzhong's anger, He A-xiao, who had just returned from victory, was also raising his hair and rushing towards Li Lusu, pressing him to the side of the mat, and responding to the old fists.

Seeing that He A-Xiao beat Li Lusu, the Khitan chiefs and generals in the tent were applauding, but the other Hu tribes present looked a little unnatural, but they were still angry and dared not speak out when they were in the Khitan army camp.
To be continued...