Monument Yangmen

Chapter 750 The Liao Army...is out of food
After Han Derang received the military order, he quickly withdrew from Yuguan and rushed to Jizhou.

In Yuguan, Shi Shouxin, who had been trapped for more than two months, finally broke through.

After Han Derang left, he led the remaining 15 troops and headed south all the way to Zhending Mansion.

He ignored Yang Qi's plan to attack Han Derang's rear army.

After Han Derang's troops arrived in Jizhou, together with Xiao Talin's troops, they launched a fierce attack on Jizhou City.

Yang Er in Jizhou City seemed to have expected this situation a long time ago. He made arrangements early and built Jizhou City like an iron barrel.

Han Derang and Xiao Talin, with 10 troops, fought fiercely outside Jizhou City for ten days.

The city wall of Jizhou City was smashed into a sieve, and they still couldn't shake the Yang character flag erected on the city wall of Jizhou City.

Brother Yeluxiu, who learned of the battle situation in Jizhou City, directly ordered Han Derang to lead the troops to Youzhou City to help.

In an instant, nearly half of the elite soldiers of the Liao Kingdom gathered in Youzhou City.

Brother Yeluxiu was anxious to discuss matters with the generals under his command.

The City Lord's Mansion of Youzhou City.

Empress Dowager Xiao and the young emperor Yelu Longxu sat at the top seat worriedly.

Brother Yeluxiu stood first on the left, Han Derang stood first on the right, and the group beat their chests with one hand, after saluting.

Amidst the childish voice of the little emperor Yelu Longxu, they sat down one after another.

Empress Dowager Xiao glanced at the faces of Brother Yeluxiu and Han Derang, and said softly: "You two gentlemen, now nearly half of my soldiers and horses in Daliao are here, what should the next step of the war be?"

Brother Yeluxiu said sternly: "Yang Yansi set up a bureau, set up troops in Zhaocheng Wall, outside Youzhou City, Jizhou, and Tanzhou respectively, and launched a gesture of encircling our army.

So this king decided to gather half of my soldiers and horses in Daliao here, and prepare to fight Yang Yansi head-on.

As long as Yang Yansi is defeated in one fell swoop, the enemy soldiers on the other three sides will be destroyed without attack. "

Han Derang nodded and agreed: "The old minister agrees with Da Yue's opinion, and now our sixteen prefectures of Liao and Yanyun have suffered a rare military disaster in decades, all of which are caused by Yang Yansi.

Yang Yansi is also the leader of the thieves, as long as we defeat Yang Yansi in one fell swoop and kill him.

The remaining thieves are nothing to fear.

At that time, we will not only be able to take back the lost state capital, but also the four northwestern prefectures under Yang Yansi's rule.

The wealth of the four northwestern prefectures under Yang Yansi's rule is enough to make up for our losses in the battle of Daliao. "

The two most important ministers that Empress Dowager Xiao relied on both said to fight, and Empress Dowager Xiao nodded in conviction.

In the hall of the city lord's mansion, only Shi Luo, the envoy of the commanding army, had a bitter face.

Empress Dowager Xiao glanced, and inadvertently saw Shi Luo's bitter face, she frowned and said, "Shi Luo, seeing your reluctance, do you have any objection to the proposal of Da Yue and Han Qing's family? "

Seeing Brother Yeluxiu and Han De let two pairs of tiger eyes sweep over, Shi Luo stood up, beat his chest with one hand, and said with a bitter face: "I don't dare to object, I just have a question, I want to ask Da Yue and Han grown ups."

"Humph……"

Han Derang snorted coldly and turned his head away.

Brother Yeluxiu narrowed his eyes and stared at Shi Luo, the Commander's envoy, pretending to be casual and said: "You can ask..."

Commander Shi Luo couldn't afford to offend these two, seeing their displeased attitude, he hastened to apologize again.

Then he said with a bitter face: "I don't know how long it will take for Da Yue to defeat Yang Yansi?"

Brother Yeluxiu was taken aback when he heard the words, and subconsciously frowned.

He didn't understand why Shi Luo, the envoy of the commanding army, could ask such a stupid question as a man from the army.

"Hum..."

Han Derang snorted disdainfully: "Shi Luo, you are used to being pampered and pampered in Shangjing, have you forgotten the truth that the battlefield is impermanent and ever-changing?"

Shi Luo, the commander of the army, said pitifully: "Of course the lower officials have not forgotten this matter..."

Shi Luo glanced at everyone, and said helplessly: "Perhaps everyone thinks that I asked a stupid question. But many of you don't know that this stupid thing is enough to affect the success or failure of this battle. "

A sharp light flashed in Yeluxiu's eyes, and he said coldly, "What do you mean? Those who shake the morale of the army before the battle will be punished!"

Shi Luo smiled bitterly and said, "I don't mean to shake the morale of the army. It's just that the generals have been busy fighting, but has anyone ever cared about food and grass? This time, I sent hundreds of thousands of troops to Daliao, and I added hundreds of thousands of troops before and after. After adding up, there are millions of soldiers and horses in the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun.

Our army fought fiercely with the Song army for half a year, and now it is fighting Yang Yansi for more than a month.

The grain and grass we brought, as well as the grain and grass seized from the Song army, have not been consumed much.

Now the soldiers and horses under Yang Yansi's command have occupied Tanzhou, where our army transports supplies, and cut off the transportation line for our army to supply food and grass.

We no longer have so much food and grass to support us to fight with Yang Yansi. "

The sharpness in Yeluxiu's eyes flashed away, and after listening to Shi Luo's explanation, he realized that what Shi Luo said just now was not stupid, but was wholeheartedly thinking about Daliao.

Han Derang also realized that he had wrongly blamed Shi Luo, and turned away subconsciously.

Brother Yeluxiu pondered for a moment, then asked in a low voice: "How long can our army's food and grass supply the soldiers and horses under our command?"

Shi Luo said with a bitter face: "Less than seven days..."

Brother Yeluxiu narrowed his eyes and ordered: "From tomorrow onwards, the rations of all soldiers and horses will be halved, and they should be able to last for a few more days. You can send people back along the Jizhou and Yuguan lines to collect food. Be sure to collect enough My army eats food and grass for a month."

Shi Luo's face became even more bitter, and he said sadly: "Dayue, in the Liao soil of the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun, there is no food for a long time. The army has been fighting outside for almost eight months.

We have searched for grain over and over again, and we have exhausted all the grain and grass in the Liao soil near the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun.

Those people who lost their food have turned into mobs and rushed into the hinterland of Daliao.

In places farther away, officials were killed and mobs attacked, and there was no food to collect.

Now, in the territory of Daliao, I am afraid that only the capital can have enough food and grass to support our army to continue the conquest for more than a month. "

Speaking of this, Shi Luo took a deep breath and threw a blockbuster.

"It looks like winter is coming..."

Shi Luo only said the words "winter has entered", and everyone present understood the meaning of Shi Luo's words.

For the people of the Song Dynasty, winter means snow.

People in the north hold the auspicious snow in their mouths to herald a good year, and look forward to how much snow will fall.

In order to chase the snow scene, southerners even go to the north in winter.

Although there are occasional snow disasters, they rarely cause major disasters.

But for the Liao people who live further north, the arrival of winter means the coming of disaster.

Several feet of heavy snow will block mountains and roads.

When the Liao people arrived in winter, they could only stay at home obediently.

Many cattle and sheep will be frozen to death in winter, and many old and weak women and children may not be able to survive the winter.

Although the aristocrats like Brother Yeluxiu don't need to worry about being starved to death or freezing to death in winter.

However, in the current situation of lack of food and grass, winter means that the soldiers and horses in Youzhou City do not want to get a grain of food support from Shangjing City.

For a moment, everyone present fell into silence.

Fight to the death with Yang Qi?
Spend it with Yang Qi?
The problem is that they have the strength, but not the confidence.

A discussion, in the end broke up unhappy.

After leaving the city lord's mansion, all the generals of the Liao Kingdom subconsciously began to organize manpower to hoard food as much as possible.

However, Yang Qi was watching covetously outside the city, so they could only search for the people of Youzhou City inside the city.

Han Derang watched them search the people in Youzhou City with one eye closed.

After searching Youzhou City, the food they got was only a drop in the bucket.

The largest landlord in Youzhou City is Han Derang, and Han Derang has lived in Shangjing for a long time, so the grain stored in previous years, etc., has basically been transported to Shangjing City, and there is not much grain stored in Youzhou City.

After Yang Qi helped Da Song break Youzhou City before, Cao Bin searched the Han family's property.

So there is nothing left for the Liao army.

The few times when the harvest was the biggest, there were soldiers of the Liao army who dared to be disrespectful and stormed the temple, and sent troops to grab food, and searched a large amount of stored food from the temple.

However, even so, compared with the Liao army of hundreds of thousands, it is still a drop in the bucket.

As the saying goes, a house leak happens to rain all night.

Brother Yeluxiu acquiesced when the soldiers under his command were searching for food in Youzhou City.

Yelu Xiezhen from Yanzhou and Xiao Talin from Jizhou wrote to tell Brother Yeluxiu that food was in short supply, and asked Brother Yeluxiu to send someone to deliver food and grass.

"Bang~"

Brother Yeluxiu threw the letters of the two on the ground with all his strength, and ordered someone to pick them up after a while.

"Convene the generals to discuss."

The generals of the Liao Kingdom in Youzhou City once again gathered in the City Lord's Mansion.

Brother Yeluxiu unceremoniously threw the letters from Xiao Talin and Yelu Xiezhen to them, "You all have a look..."

After the generals finished watching, they all froze in place.

Brother Yeluxiu frowned tightly, and said in a deep voice, "Tell me, what should we do now?"

Everyone, look at me, and I look at you.

After a while, someone said in a low voice: "In my opinion, we seem to have no choice but to retreat."

Many people recognized his words, but no one echoed them.

Brother Yeluxiu stared and roared angrily: "Retreat? After months of fierce fighting, the end result is retreat? If so, this king would have retreated long ago. Why wait until now?

Moreover, I am waiting for hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses to sit in Youzhou City. If the Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures are handed over to Yang Yansi, what face will we have in the world in the future? "

The general who spoke was stunned and stunned, unable to speak a word.

"Then... what about the peace talks?"

Someone whispered a suggestion.

Brother Yeluxiu was even more annoyed when he heard the words, "Peace talks? Yang Yansi wants Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures by name. Unless my Daliao is willing to cede Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, he will never negotiate. How is this different from withdrawing troops?"

The Liao generals subconsciously shrank their necks with this in mind.

Han Derang, who had been silent at the side, raised his eyebrows and said: "Da Yue... the old man thinks what he said is reasonable."

Brother Yeluxiu frowned, and asked in doubt, "What do you mean by that?"

Han Derang is by no means an aimless person.

Since he spoke, he must have a plan.

And it's a plan different from others.

That's why Brother Yeluxiu asked this question.

Han Derang said quietly: "Now our army is short of food and grass, even if we win the battle with Yang Yansi, we can't get much money. Yang Yansi's troops outside the city are less than [-]. If we win them, the food and grass captured At most, it allows our army to respond to emergencies, but it cannot solve the fundamental problem.

Even if we take the opportunity to send troops southward and invade the Song Dynasty to plunder, it will be difficult to plunder more food.

The old man thought that it would be better to have a false peace talk with him, and then secretly send people to attack Tanzhou and the city walls of the ancient Zhao Kingdom. Taking Tanzhou back, we would open up the road to the rear.

At that time, we will be in charge of advancing and retreating, and Yang Yansi will have nothing to do with us.

Occupying the city walls of the ancient Zhao State, we can take the opportunity to invade the state capitals of Yun, Ying, Wei, and Huan.

The old man heard that in order to appease the people in these places, Yang Qi gave them a lot of food.

As long as we loot them, we can easily obtain a lot of food, which will be enough to support our army to fight Yang Yansi. "

Han Derang's words were generous, even a little bragging.

For example, the grain and grass in Yang Qi's hands are for their emergency use.

If they were really sure about overthrowing Yang Qi at once, they would still be able to write ink here.

He sent troops out early, overthrew Yang Qi, robbed Yang Qi of food and grass, and carried Yang Qi's head to praise his achievements.

The artillery's deterrent effect on them was enormous. Even though they had six times more troops than Yang Qi, they still had no confidence in defeating Yang Qi in a single battle.

This is also the key to why after Shi Luo, the envoy of the commanding army, said that food and grass were in short supply, they tacitly agreed not to mention the matter of attacking Yang Qi.

It is precisely because they are not sure that Yang Qi will be defeated in the first battle, and there is no extra food and grass to support them to spend with Yang Qi, so they can only think of other ways.

Han Derang's suggestion, at present, can be regarded as a highly feasible suggestion.

After thinking about it carefully, Brother Yeluxiu went to discuss the matter with Empress Dowager Xiao.

Although in the army, Brother Yeluxiu monopolizes the power, but when it comes to peace talks, it is a political matter and requires the nod and cooperation of Empress Dowager Xiao.

Empress Dowager Xiao is also in a state of desperation now, and when she learned of this plan of sneak attack in the open and in the open, she immediately nodded in agreement.

Empress Dowager Xiao, Brother Yeluxiu, and Han Derang, all three of them approved this proposal.

Then Brother Yeluxiu immediately started the arrangement.

And Yang Yanhui, who escaped with his life in Luofengpo, once again became the envoy to Yang Qiying for peace talks.

Outside Youzhou City.

Chinese army tent.

Yang Qi, Yang Wu, Peng Pai and others are eating hot pot together, a pot of bone soup, which is filled with fresh and tender mutton slices and beef slices.

Other than that, nothing else.

Cattle were forbidden to be slaughtered in the Song Dynasty.

So beef is a rare item in the Song Dynasty, even rarer than venison.

This law obviously cannot control the group of people in the tent.

During this battle, many cattle and sheep were seized from the Liao people, Yang Qi can be said to be slaughtering dozens of them a day.

If it weren't for the difficulty of cooking hot pot, Yang Qi even thought of letting his soldiers cook hot pot together.

Several people were sitting together, sweating profusely from eating.

Seeing a scarecrow, he hurried into the tent of the Chinese army, bowed and said, "Master, the Liao people opened the city gate and sent envoys to the gate."

"messenger?"

Yang Qi was taken aback, put down his chopsticks, groped for the short beard protruding from his chin, squinted his eyes and said with a smile: "The people of Liao want peace talks?"

Yang Wu raised his head to look at Yang Qi, sighed helplessly, and continued to eat with sullen head.

Peng Pai cheerfully raised his head, gave Yang Qi a thumbs up, and exclaimed: "Master is really good at predicting things!"

Yang Qi glanced at Peng Pai, and said: "Send people to Jizhou, Tanzhou, the city walls of the ancient Zhao Kingdom, and Confucian Prefecture to pass orders, telling them to strictly guard against death, and never let a grain of food flow into the hands of the Liao people.

At the same time, tell Yang Yanping to quickly divide his troops into three groups and send them all the way to Yang Yanzhao's department to cooperate with Yang Yanzhao to compress the living circle of the Liao people.

The other route was dispatched to Tanzhou to cooperate with Yang Yanguang's department, and went south to the junction of Shunzhou and Tanzhou to block the Liao people at the mountain pass, and they must not be allowed to enter the mountain.

The soldiers and horses of the last route stayed in Gubeikou, and by the way, Yang Yanguang's artillery was transferred there to guard Gubeikou. "

After giving the order, Yang Qi stood up and said proudly: "Finally, when the Liao people ran out of ammunition and food, it's time for us to counterattack."

Everything about the Liao people could not be hidden from Yang Qi's eyes.

Brother Yeluxiu was completely unaware of this matter.

And how did Yang Qi clearly understand the problem of food and grass in the Liao army?

(End of this chapter)