Han Hai Tang Ergui

Chapter 447 Bloody Battle in Qi City

Tianfu seventh year, 942 AD, December [-]th.

Reluctantly, Emperor Shi Chonggui of the later Jin Dynasty dismissed Jing Yanguang's bodyguard, Ma Bu, as the commander of the army, and rewarded the troops with brocade and silk from the treasury on the same day.

On December 21, Shi Chonggui named Li Shouzhen, who had won the first battle in Majiakou, as the military supervisor in front of the temple. It seemed that he gave Li Shouzhen the command of Jing Yanguang's soldiers and horses.

But in fact Li Shouzhen was still guarding against the Khitans in Bozhou near Majiakou, and it was impossible for him to come back to supervise the soldiers and horses in front of the palace. The military power was in the hands of Shi Chonggui.

Afterwards, Shi Chonggui was rewarded for his meritorious deeds, and Huangfu was granted the title of Jiedu envoy of Huazhou, Hu Cile was envoy of defense of Weizhou, Gao Xingzhou, Fu Yanqing and others were all rewarded.

The army began to be convinced, and obeyed Shi Chonggui's command, and finally did not lead to military chaos.

Three days later, Jin's [-] troops pulled out of camp, crossed the Yellow River, and marched northward to Qicheng, looking for the Khitan army for a decisive battle.

On December 27, Shi Chonggui arrived in Qicheng, because the first day of the Yuan Dynasty was about to pass, and the Jin army did not go north, so he spent the first day of the first day in Qicheng.

At this moment, Jing Yanguang has been deposed, and his loss of power has only happened recently.

San Weihan, who had been excluded from the core of power by Jing Yanguang, immediately regained his spirits.

Feng Dao, He Ning and the others were also willing to discuss with them the powerful ministers of the country, who were literati like Sang Weihan, so they recommended Sang Weihan in front of Shi Chonggui together.

And Sang Weihan did have two brushes. At this time, the Later Jin Dynasty was actually facing a severe drought in the north and south of the Yellow River, and the harvest had failed for two consecutive years.

But in this case, San Weihan still got enough supplies for the [-] troops to spend a good first day.

For a while, everyone from Shi Chonggui to the bottom generals thought that Sang Weihan was a talent and thought him well.

Shi Chonggui immediately promoted Sang Weihan as Zhongshu Ling and Privy Envoy, and began to become the de facto prime minister of the later Jin Dynasty.

After the first day of the Yuan Dynasty, it is impossible for the [-] troops of the Later Jin Dynasty to retreat in Qicheng, so Shi Chonggui took An Shenqi as the right army envoy, and led [-] troops to camp on the right side of Qicheng.

Fu Yanqing was the envoy of the left army and led an army of [-] to station on the left side of Qicheng.

After Shi Chonggui took over, 5000 people headed by the Jin Imperial Army stationed in Qicheng as the Chinese army.

In the eighth year of Tianfu in the Later Jin Dynasty, 943 A.D., on the fifth day of the first month, Emperor Yelu Deguang of the Liao Kingdom held a ceremony of shooting ghost arrows in Changle, south of Weizhou, now Nanle County, Puyang City, Henan Province.

This is the most important ceremony before the Khitan army dispatches. It captures the enemy's captives in the direction of the army, and then shoots them with random arrows, so as to pray for the army and drive away evil spirits.

However, because the Khitan army had not captured many prisoners of the Jin army before, Yelu Deguang captured more than [-] innocent residents of Changle County, shot them together with dozens of Jin army prisoners, and completed the ghost arrow shooting ceremony.

After continuous blows, the emperor of the Liao Kingdom finally lost his composure, and no longer performed his demeanor of a benevolent monarch outside the Great Wall.

Changle County is only [-] miles away from Qicheng, and the Khitan army was dispatched on the seventh day of the first lunar month, but one day, when Shi Chonggui climbed to the top of Qicheng again, the Khitan army had already appeared in his sight.

But Shi Chonggui wasn't too surprised, because he knew the Khitan army's movements long before the Khitan army held the ghost arrow shooting ceremony.

Because the new defense of Weizhou brought all the [-] Liangzhou horses that the tiger stabbed into place, and they rode with the Khitan's right leather pigeon army in the hundreds of miles from Changle to Qicheng. There was a fierce cavalry dog ​​fight.

In this kind of cavalry battle, which the cavalry outside the Great Wall is best at, the Hucile tribe is not at a disadvantage, because most of them are Dadan people. After the equipment is equipped, they are actually better at riding and shooting than the Khitan people.

Therefore, Shi Chonggui was able to get the Khitan army's movements in time, and waited until the eighth day of the first month, when the Khitan army arrived at the city of Qicheng.

For this southern expedition, Yelu Deguang conscripted a total of [-] troops from the Khitan headquarters, [-] from Zhao Yanshou's troops, Yanyun Han troops and Bohai troops, and [-] from Xi Renhao's chief Wei king's troops.

A total of 170,000 troops, except for the 10,000 people responsible for logistics, 160,000 people reached the front line.

It's just that there are only 120,000 people left at this moment, because the King Wei has not yet arrived after being defeated.

After arriving in Qicheng, Yelu Deguang and Shi Chonggui arranged similarly.

The Right Pishi Army Xiangwen Yeluwuzhi was the Right Army, the Left Pishi Xiangwen Yelu Pode was the Left Army, each led 60,000 soldiers and horses, and he led [-] elite people as the Central Army.

The strength of the Khitan people was exactly twice that of the Jin army.

At this moment, from Shi Chonggui's line of sight, the Khitan soldiers and horses seemed to be boundless.

Due to their large number of horses, although their number is only [-] more than that of the Jin army, in terms of visual effects, they are at least twice as many as the Jin army.

This Shi Chonggui was not very proficient in military affairs, now seeing so many Khitan people, his face turned pale.

He had some suspicions that Gao Xingzhou, Hucile and the others were fooling him?

How could this overwhelming Khitan army be easily defeated?
However, fortunately, he didn't need to be a half-baby to command the battle, because veteran generals An Shenqi, Gao Xingzhou and others were all by Shi Chonggui's side.

As mentioned earlier, Shi Chonggui has a great advantage, that is, he is still very clear at critical moments, and he also knows professional things, so he should let professional people do them.

Although this guy is greedy for money, lustful and fun-loving, and easily excited by rhetoric, he is not a fool.

If you were born in a peaceful and prosperous age, how could you be a master of pleasure like Mu Zong and Zhu Zaidi of the Ming Dynasty.

But it's a pity that he was born in the troubled times of the Five Dynasties, and it was still an emperor's dynasty that took over.

An Shenqi was a little startled when he saw Shi Chonggui, he didn't say much immediately, and directly took over the command.

Now 60,000 people of the Jin army are deployed along the line of the Yellow River, and the camps have only been planted with antlers not long ago, and they are bound to be unable to defend to the death.

Because there is the Yellow River behind them, there is no space in depth, if any point is breached if you are defending the stronghold, you will be in danger of being driven down the river immediately.

And this is the fifth generation, the soldiers will never defend the city if they can fight in the field, although the Khitan people are numerous, they have lost three games in a row, they are really not majestic, they are not afraid.

Under An Shenqi's order, the Jin army opened up their camps, pulled out their camps, and took the initiative to meet the Khitan army.

On the tower of Qicheng City, more than a dozen big drums were beating at the same time, and the messengers were like flying bees, passing the military orders to various places, and the flags of each army were continuously erected.

The officers controlled the pace of the soldiers with the beat of the drums. The front ones were all elites in iron armor. Although they couldn't walk out of the army formation like the Liang army, they were quite good.

The Liang army under Zhang Zhao's command has systematic training in the field of military formation. The Jin army can do it once every three days, which is considered hardworking, and there is no time to spend so much time practicing the formation.

At this time, Yelu Deguang was also observing the Jin army. He was not surprised to see the Jin army's strict military appearance.

Although Yelu Deguang's military is a disgrace among Emperor Taizong, it is still many times stronger than the second generation like Shi Chonggui.

The Jin army's front army is well-organized and has iron armor, but the rear is not good, and it lacks cavalry.

There will not be more than [-] cavalry in the [-] army, and they are quite scattered.

Even if the Khitan were unable to defeat such an army with many infantry, it would be no problem to retreat.

"Your Majesty, to the east is the path leading to the pontoon bridge. If the heavenly soldiers can occupy that place, they can bypass the Jin army and reach the Dahe pontoon bridge."

Next to Yelu Deguang, a middle-aged man with a Khitan-style leather hat on his head, but wearing a Chinese-style leather jacket, pointed to a place in the east of Qicheng and said.

This person's name is Ma Polong, a native of Qicheng, who took the initiative to seek refuge after seeing Yelu Deguang's emperor's guard of honor.

Since he is a local, he knows that there is a hidden path in the northeast of Qicheng, which can lead to the pontoon bridge behind Qicheng.

This made Yelu Deguang very excited. Although the trail was difficult, as long as he could pass through it, using hundreds of elite soldiers to control the pontoon bridge and cut off the Jin army's retreat would surely cause the Jin army to collapse directly.

So Yelu Deguang first made adjustments. He ordered the subordinate Shan army to draw out a thousand elite cavalry to attack the Jin army in the northeast corner of Qicheng first.

The Chinese army used the Dragon Army, Feng Army and Eagle Army to send out [-] armored cavalry to storm the Jin Army's middle road.

Behind Jia Qi, the Yanyun Han Army and the Bohai Navy and other infantry were arranged to advance in a row.

On the left and right wings, light cavalry came out, bypassing the former soldiers of the Jin army and outflanking the waist.

At the end of Maoshi (seven o'clock in the morning), the Khitan army first launched an attack, and a thousand cavalry from the Shan army took the lead to bypass the front of the Jin army and head northeast.

Yelu Deguang thought that the Jin army did not know this trail, but in fact, the Jin army had already prepared for it.

The [-] cavalry belonging to the Shan army had just been dispatched, and the three generals Yao Yuanfu, Hu Guang, and Murong Ye each led [-] cavalry and galloped out immediately, using Yao Yuanfu's department as the front to meet the enemy.

The subordinate Shan army shot at Yao Yuanfu's subordinates in the middle with bows and arrows. Yao Yuanfu, under the rain of arrows, rushed to the front of the subordinate Shan army at the cost of sacrificing more than ten people, and killed several enemies one after another with the iron in his hand.

The furious Shan army directly gave up Hu Guang and Murong Ye on both sides, and chose to besiege Yao Yuanfu. They easily cut Yao Yuanfu's troops into three sections.

But Yao Yuanfu was extremely brave, he dashed left and right among the Khitan cavalry, and killed several people in a row.

At this time, Hu Guang and Murong Ye had already arrived, and immediately disrupted the Shan army's formation, the Jin army with [-] cavalry even scattered a thousand fine Khitan cavalry, causing them to flee in embarrassment.

In the distance, Yelu Deguang had no choice but to order Yeluwu to dispatch hundreds of cavalry to support them, and only then did they stabilize the situation.

But at this moment, the Jin army lined up silver spears in front of the Khitan central army, and then shot the Khitan central army with bows and crossbows.

Yelu Deguang sent the iron cavalry of the Dragon Army, Feng Army, and Eagle Army to fight in an attempt to repel the Jin army.

However, the fighting power of the Jin army was very tenacious. The Chinese army withstood several Khitan cavalry charges in a row. Although the army formation was crumbling, it was not broken.

Yelu Deguang could only continue to order the Han army and the Bohai infantry to attack.

The Jin army was attacked by thousands of cavalry, and was attacked by the Liao infantry who outnumbered them. Finally, they couldn't stand it and began to retreat.

Yelu Deguang took the opportunity to reunite the iron cavalry of the Pishi army again, and this time added a thousand iron cavalry of the Xiong army.

After the exhausted Jin army resisted for a while, it collapsed directly. More than [-] Khitan cavalry rushed like sheep and plunged into the middle army of the Jin army.

Yelu Deguang was overjoyed at once, and was about to increase the stakes, but his face immediately became ugly.

Because the Jin army actually deployed thousands of strong crossbowmen in the second formation of the Chinese army. When they rushed to the distance of more than eighty steps on the Khitan iron cavalry, when they were somewhat short of horsepower, they suddenly fired ten thousand arrows.

For a moment, the Khitan iron cavalry fell to the ground like dumplings, and the people behind saw that the situation was not good and hurried back.

Gao Xingzhou and his son Gao Huaide were leading hundreds of fine cavalry to hide in the infantry formation, when they suddenly rushed out from the left and right.

The Khitan iron cavalry who had been hit suddenly lost their ability to resist completely. Yelu Deguang, whose face was livid, had to push up the reserve troops in his hand again, and then withstood the Jin army's attack.

Gao Xingzhou also suffered a little because of this. His horse was shot and he was shot into a hedgehog.

If it wasn't for the left and right guards who rushed quickly, they were almost stabbed to death by the Khitan cavalry who rushed over, so they had no choice but to retreat the whole team.

Since then, the two sides have been in the middle army, and the offensive and defensive momentum has been reversed several times, and the blood flowed into rivers.

At the same time, on the left wing, the Khitans were surrounded and attacked by Yao Yuanfu, Hu Guang and others. It was only because of Yelu Wuzhi's proper command that they did not collapse.

On the right wing, it was Fu Yanqing who was suppressed and beaten by Yelv Pode.

Fu Yanqing's cavalry was insufficient, so he could only defend passively, and the Khitan army was twice his size, so the fight was extremely difficult.

The two sides fought fiercely from the end of the Mao Dynasty to the end of the Shen Dynasty. They fought for more than five hours. Both the Liao Army and the Jin Army suffered heavy casualties, and no one could do anything.

But from a formal point of view, the Liao army is more dangerous, because they besieged the Jin army with 120,000 people with 60,000 troops, but they only got a tie.

This shows that the combat effectiveness and determination of the Jin army is far stronger than that of the Liao army.

Furthermore, there are many cavalry in the Liao army. This is an advantage, but it is also a disadvantage, because the endurance of horses is far inferior to that of humans.

Today, the Khitan cavalry charged repeatedly, and most of them almost exhausted the horsepower of their second horses. If they continued to fight, their combat effectiveness would definitely become weaker and weaker.

The most important thing is that the 150,000 shi of grain that Yelu Deguang obtained in Beizhou is about to be eaten up, and if the hunting continues, the grain will also become a problem.

So Yelude, who was not reconciled, thought of a poisonous strategy, which was also a common tactic used by the northern nomadic fishing and hunting peoples like the Khitan people.

He withdrew more than ten miles overnight, pretending to flee north in embarrassment, and ambushed soldiers on the road from Qicheng to Changle, trying to trap and kill the Jin army.

The next day, when the Jin army got up, they found that the Khitan army had already retreated. All the generals thought that the Khitan people were afraid of them, and they were all very excited and demanded to pursue them.

But God blessed Shi Chonggui. At this time, it was raining heavily, and the rain continued for five or six days at a time. The road was muddy, and the Jin army's pursuit could not stop.

This made Yelude miserable, not to mention the failure of the ambush, and the Khitan army was still in the field for several days in the rain.

On the [-]th of the first month, Yelu Deguang, who was not reconciled, led his army to approach Qicheng again. Only then did the Jin army know that the Khitans had lured the enemy last time, and the two sides fought again under Qicheng.

After three hours of fierce fighting, Yelude lost more than [-] soldiers. He couldn't stand it anymore, so he took advantage of the night to throw away his luggage, and the army directly pulled out of the camp and returned north.

The Jin army thought that the Liao army was trying to lure the enemy, so they stayed in Qicheng until ten days later, when they confirmed that the Khitan army had returned to the north, they came out to recover the states and counties along the way.

The first battle between Liao and Jin came to an end.

Yelude went south proudly, but ended up with a full head and lost almost [-] soldiers, of which the Pishi army lost more than [-], and in the end they didn't even get a single hair.

But fortunately, the most serious losses were the more than [-] people of King Xi Renwei, and the losses in the heart were not too big.

But the Later Jin did not win much. More than [-] of their soldiers died in battle, and tens of thousands were injured.

In particular, the Daming Mansion in Weizhou, with a radius of tens of miles, has almost become a white land.

However, Shi Chonggui's reputation has risen since then, and he has secured the position under his buttocks.

(End of this chapter)