Outlaws of the Marsh

Chapter 509 Surprise Attack on Yanjing (Please Subscribe!)
...

Xiongzhou Xuanfu Division.

Tong Guan called Cai You, Liu Yanqing, and Guo Yaoshi to have a meeting to discuss the matter of marching into Yanjing.

Guo Yaoshi was the first to speak and said: "I am familiar with the situation of Yanjing. I will briefly introduce the terrain of Yanjing to the adults... Yanjing City is divided into outer city, inner city and palace city. There are eight sides in four directions. There are two city gates, with Yingchun and Andong in the east, Xianxi and Qingjin in the west, Danfeng and Kaiyang in the south, Tongtian and Gongchen in the north. The streets in the city are vertical and horizontal, and the main roads are east-west and north-south. The city is divided into There are 26 workshops, and each workshop has a gate and a wall."

Tong Guan asked, "Where is Miyagi?"

Guo Yaoshi replied: "In the southwest, the scale is not too big, but the palace walls are very strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack."

Liu Yanqing asked: "How high is the city wall?"

Guo Yaoshi replied, "Three zhang high and one zhang five wide."

Cai You asked, "How many people live in the city?"

Guo Yaoshi replied: "No less than 30, most of them are Han people, but the most powerful ones are the Khitan and Xi people."

Liu Yanqing asked: "I heard that Xi Wang Xiaoqian is also called the King of the Fourth Army, and he is very good at using troops?"

Guo Yaoshi replied: "Yes, Xiao Qian is indeed very strategic and vicious. Empress Dowager Xiao mainly relies on him. Now he is leading the army to fortify on the north bank of the Lugou River. He is the main opponent of our army going north. A man named Yelu Dashi, people call him Dashi Linya, this man is also very good at fighting, he is now defending the Liangshan army in Juyongguan area, and some people are defending the Jin army in Gubeikou and Yuguan, but for some reason, the Jin army The army has no intention of going south."

Tong Guan said: "The Kingdom of Jin is an ally of our Song Dynasty. The reason why they have not attacked Yanjing for a long time is because they have an appointment with us."

Guo Yaoshi was startled, "It turns out that the Song Dynasty has already united with the Jurchen, no wonder the Jurchen has not gone south!"

Tong Guan told the truth: "General Guo, we now have two plans for recovering Yanjing. One is to rely on our own strength to take down Yanjing, which is the best. Second, if we cannot take Yanjing, please The Jin army entered the customs, and the two armies from the north and the south attacked Yanjing. Therefore, we are sure to win Yanjing this time, and we will be sure."

Liu Yanqing said: "It is the best plan to ask the Jin army to enter the pass and our army to attack Yanjing from the north to the south. Firstly, this can greatly reduce our army's casualties. Secondly, to be honest, the morale of our army is not very high at present, and it is also very important for the army to attack Yanjing." The cavalry of the Liao army are still a little afraid, after all we are mainly infantry, so despite our large number of people, it is actually very difficult to gain the upper hand whether it is a field battle or a siege."

Cai You said angrily: "What about the infantry? Didn't Li Yan defeat the cavalry of Liao, Xixia, and Mongolia with the same number of infantry? The army is only tens of thousands, more than a dozen times their size, so if we can't win, we will be laughed out of the world."

In order to please Cai You, Guo Yaoshi followed Cai You and said: "The Liao army is actually not that powerful. They were defeated first by the Jurchens and then by Li Yan, which is enough to show that they are not the strongest army in the world, and their strength We have fewer troops and divide our troops to defend, while our Great Song Dynasty is just the opposite, we have many troops and generals, and concentrate our attacks, so as long as we work together, we are sure to win."

Tong Guan said: "General Guo is right. Tomorrow the whole army will go north and join forces in Xiongzhou, and then act according to circumstances."

The next day, Liu Yanqing led the East Route Army to march northward, and Guo Yaoshi also followed the army northward.

Soon, Guo Yaoshi discovered that the Song army was in disarray. There are hundreds of sedan chairs and thousands of carriages, and there are hundreds of women brazenly raising in the team!
Guo Yaoshi, who saw the true face of Song Jun, regretted his rashness. He knew that Song Jun was a group of such people, and he would rather go far away and join Li Yan.

Guo Yaoshi endured it again and again, and finally couldn't help but said to Liu Yanqing: "Commander, if we don't strictly enforce military discipline, our team may not be able to fight."

Liu Yanqing smiled wryly, and said: "Those are all yamen princes who came to gild, they didn't come to defeat, they just came to make merit, let them go, they are not short of 5 or [-] horses."

Guo Yaoshi said: "The morale and discipline of other armies are not good either."

Liu Yanqing said: "That's why I advocated attacking Yanjing with the Jin army. We don't have the conditions to fight at all now."

Guo Yaoshi suggested: "Why not enforce the military law?"

Liu Yanqing shook his head and said: "How to implement military law? The so-called law does not blame the public. Once a military change is triggered, the consequences will be even more unimaginable, so we can only maintain it like this."

Guo Yaoshi really couldn't figure it out, how did Liu Yanqing become the commander-in-chief?
Shouldn't the first thing you do when you become a commander be to reorganize the army? Without an army with unified orders and actions, how can you still have the face to call yourself a commander?
The facts are indeed like this, Liu Yanqing is in charge of more than 50 troops, if he carefully selects [-] of them, and then promotes the commander who dares to fight, he may be famous in history.

Guo Yaoshi was even more disappointed with Song Jun, and regretted surrendering Song even more.

At the same time, under the leadership of Liu Guangshi, the West Route Army is also advancing towards Zhuozhou.

Liu Guangshi is now at a time when he is proud of the spring breeze, because he sent troops to successfully occupy Yizhou at night, and Zhao Ji personally promoted him to be the envoy of the mighty army.

As for Feng Xuanqing (Yang Keshi's confidant general), who led the troops to Yizhou, he didn't get any credit.

Yang Keshi was indignant about this.

Tong Guan knew that Liu Guangshi and Yang Keshi had conflicts, so he specifically emphasized in the letter to Liu Guangshi that no matter who it is, it is not allowed to harm the public for personal gain.

Yang Keshi and Liu Guangshi set off with their respective armies. According to Tong Guan's order, their two armies will meet up in Gushan Town and then go north together.

But when the two armies met in Gushan Town, a fight broke out between the soldiers because of the competition for the camp.

The soldiers blamed each other, and the situation continued to expand. Yang Keshi and Liu Guangshi also blamed each other, which finally caused the West Route Army to delay in Gushan Town for a whole day.

Tong Guan was furious when he heard the news, and immediately sent his army staff officer Yu Wenxuzhong to Gushan overnight to deal with the matter.

Yu Wenxuzhong learned that the incident was caused by a conflict between soldiers, not a direct conflict between two generals, so he tried his best to persuade him to make peace—Yu Wenxuzhong did not dare to offend either side, and he could not afford to offend him. What we do is mediation, that is, the two sides persuade each other.

Later, when Yu Wenxu saw that Liu Guangshi and Yang Keshi really couldn't work together, and there was no hope of persuading peace, he let Liu Guangshi and Yang Keshi station in separate camps and ordered them to march to Zhuozhou respectively.

Soon, the Song army joined forces in Zhuozhou.

Zhen Wuchen organized tens of thousands of soldiers, civilians, monks, and Taoists from Zhuozhou to welcome them out of the city.

People beat gongs and drums, cheered and cheered, and greeted and comforted Master Wang.

Liu Yanqing went to the city to appease the officials and the people, inspected the treasury, and at the same time ordered Yang Keshi and Zhen Wuchen to switch defenses to guard Zhuozhou.

Yang Keshi only had 2000 troops and was not enough to defend Zhuozhou, so he asked Liu Yanqing for more troops.

Considering that Yang Keshi is Tong Guan's confidant and beloved general and should not be offended, Liu Yanqing appointed Yang Weizhong as Yang Keshi's deputy and added [-] troops to Yang Keshi.

At this time, Commander Liu Yanqing's troops, including Chang Sheng's army and Zhao Xu's and Zhang Guanyu's township troops, totaled no less than 50.

Every day from morning to night, outside the city of Zhuozhou, the sound of drums and drums shook the heavens and the earth. Since ancient times, the number of teachers sent out has never been greater than this.

The former general Zheng Jianxiong led his army to the south bank of the Lugou River, and a few cold arrows suddenly shot from the north bank.

Zheng Jianxiong immediately sent people back to Zhuozhou to report to Liu Yanqing, saying that the former army had fought the enemy along the bank of the Lugou River, but they did not know the reality on the other side. Would they please cross the river to fight?

The Lugou River is only [-] miles away from Yanjing, but Liu Yanqing did not order Song Jun to cross the river, he was worried that Xiao Qian would set up an ambush on the other side of the river.

Liu Yanqing ordered the former army to stop advancing, build fortifications along the river, and set up defenses on the spot.

Guo Yaoshi advised Liu Yanqing to lead the army to control Liangxiang——Liangxiang is an important town, [-] miles south of Lugou. An important defensive stronghold.

Liu Yanqing adopted it, and personally led the generals and one hundred thousand elite soldiers, left Zhuozhou, and went north to Liangxiang.

Liangxiang is only [-] miles away from Zhuozhou, and there is a flat river, but it is such a short distance, Liu Yanqing actually led the army to walk for two full days-he asked for [-] miles a day to set up a camp, bury pots for cooking, and build ditches Fortress.

In short, Liu Yanqing's ideological principle is to take every step at a time and fight steadily.

After the army came to Liangxiang, Liu Yanqing and others discovered that Liangxiang had become an empty city.

Liu Yanqing was puzzled by this, and asked Guo Yaoshi: "General Guo, what is the purpose of Xiao Qian's abandonment of the city? Could it be to lure the enemy to go deeper?"

Guo Yaoshi replied: "It's not surprising. Xiao Qian's troops are insufficient. He withdrew from Liangxiang, probably to shrink the line of defense. I guess, he may have concentrated his troops on the banks of the Lugou River, hoping to use the river to block the attack." ...In my opinion, our army can cross the river directly, fight him decisively, and then come to the city, take Yanjing with one go."

Liu Yanqing shook his head and said: "Xiao Qian's formation by the river is obviously trying to lure me to cross the river, trying to attack me halfway through. I can't be fooled by it, it's better to be safe."

Liu Yanqing led his generals to the city wall of Liangxiang.

This city wall is very distinctive. It is completely piled up with mud. It is two feet high and three feet thick.

Liu Yanqing saw a small hill in the northeast direction outside the city, rising abruptly from the ground, and a tall tower on the hill was very eye-catching.

Liu Yanqing asked: "What kind of tower is that?"

Guo Yaoshi replied: "That hill is called Liaoshi Hill, and the pagoda on the hill is a hollow pagoda, which can also be used as a lookout for the military situation. Standing on it, you can look at Yanjing in the north and Zhuolu in the south. The military situation is tens of miles around, and it is in front of you."

Liu Yanqing pointed to the pagoda and said, "It's an important military site, so troops should be sent to guard it."

Liu Guangshi, who was standing beside him, replied: "There have been arrangements, please rest assured."

Liu Yanqing then led his generals to gallop to the Lugou River to inspect the military situation.

At this time, it was the setting sun, and the surface of the Lugou River was shining with golden light and sparkling waves, while a row of weeping willows on the bank were reflected in the river water like an ink painting.

Liu Yanqing pointed at the river with his horsewhip and said, "What a beautiful view, it's an excellent place for fishing."

Liu Guangshi said: "Yes, fishing in Lugou is very beautiful, but I don't know if there are any fish in this river?"

The other generals were silent.

Guo Yaoshi thought to himself: "As the commander of the capital and the deputy commander of the capital, it is really wrong to talk about fishing in Lugou without planning how to fight with the generals. Besides, the battle is imminent, and there is still something in their hearts. It’s unbelievable how casual and elegant it is.”

Liu Yanqing asked again: "Is the river deep?"

Zheng Jianxiong replied: "Some are deep and some are shallow. The deep ones are as deep as the roof, and the shallow ones are only up to the waist."

Liu Yanqing looked around at the generals very seriously, and ordered: "The enemy's situation is unknown now, so we can't rush into battle. We need to dig more trenches, dig more trenches, and fortify the walls to wait for the opportunity."

In the evening, two scouts ran back and reported to Zheng Jianxiong that there was a large forest on the north bank of the river, stretching for tens of miles from east to west, and the main force of the Liao army was hiding in the forest, ready to fight.

Zheng Jianxiong asked: "Approximately how many soldiers and horses do they have?"

The scout replied: "I can't see it clearly, but there is a large horse farm in the east, which has thousands of war horses. According to the horses, there should be no less than 5000 of them."

Zheng Jianxiong decided to go to Liangxiang in person and report the situation to Liu Yanqing.

So Zheng Jianxiong took a dozen of his own soldiers and rode towards Liangxiang on horseback.

Zheng Jianxiong was originally a literati, but he abandoned his pen and became a general in the army. From northwest to southeast, he followed Liu Yanqing for a long time in the southern and northern wars, and his military exploits were outstanding.

When Zheng Jianxiong walked to the vicinity of Liaoshigang in the northeast of Liangxiang, he suddenly found a large group of cavalry quietly bypassing Liaoshigang and heading straight for Liangxiang.

Zheng Jianxiong judged that this must be the Liao army who came to attack.

Zheng Jianxiong guessed right, this is a Liao army cavalry led by Xiao Qian himself, and they attempted to attack the Song army's granary on the south side of Liangxiang.

Zheng Jianxiong immediately sent a few soldiers to report to Liangxiang, while he led the rest of the soldiers to shoot at the Liao army.

When the Liao army was attacked, they immediately turned their horses and rushed towards Zheng Jianxiong.

Zheng Jianxiong hurried into the watchtower and joined the guards in the tower.

Seeing this, Xiao Qian changed his plan and concentrated a large force to attack the watchtower.

Zheng Jianxiong and the guards in the tower were all martyred because they were outnumbered.

When Yang Keshi led the reinforcements to Liaoshigang, the Liao army had already withdrawn from the battle, and the Song army chased to the Lugou River without catching up with the Liao army.

Yang Keshi wanted to cross the river to pursue him, but was severely reprimanded by Liu Yanqing.

Looking at the surging river, Yang Keshi was unwilling and helpless.

When the former soldiers heard that Zheng Jianxiong had died for the country, they all asked for a fight, and strongly demanded to kill the Lugou River to avenge General Zheng.

But Liu Yanqing strictly ordered: "No one is allowed to cross the river without authorization."

In fact, Liu Yanqing has feelings for Zheng Jianxiong. He said to the left and right: "Jianxiong has followed me for many years, chasing Xixia, conquering Tianhu, Wang Qing, and Fang La. He is a pioneer everywhere. I didn't expect him to die tonight. Gang. I have the best relationship with Jianxiong. I am more heartbroken than anyone else for his heroic martyrdom. However, at this time, we must calm down. We must be rational and not impulsive. All armies must strictly guard their positions, especially strengthen river defenses. Always be on guard against another sneak attack by the Liao army."

Liu Yanqing's idea is that as long as our army maintains a high-pressure situation on the banks of the Lugou River, the Liao army will not last long, and it will collapse without fighting. Now is the time to compare strength and psychological endurance. Let's see who can last till the end.

For several days in a row, the two armies faced each other across the river and confronted each other. No one dared to advance, and no one was willing to retreat.

Xiao Qian attacked Liaoshigang at night, and lost a lot of soldiers and horses, but didn't make much money.

For the first time, Xiao Qian felt that the combat effectiveness of the Song Army was not that bad.

Therefore, Xiao Qian was also hesitating. He had been planning to sneak attack Song Jun Liangzhai, hoping to force Song Jun to retreat, but seeing the situation of Song Jun waiting in front of him, he did not dare to act rashly.

Tong Guan was also very sad to learn that Zheng Jianxiong died for his country in Liangxiang.

At the same time, Tong Guan was very dissatisfied with Liu Yanqing's confrontation with the Liao army on the south bank of the Lugou River for many days without taking the initiative to fight across the river.

Therefore, Tong Guan sent someone to issue a marching letter to Liu Yanqing: "What is the reason for the army not advancing for days after arriving in Liangxiang? Can we find a way to win by surprise? Our army is dozens of times larger than the enemy army, and the balance of strength is very important." advantage, I hope the army can advance bravely and reach Yanjing City..."

After Liu Yanqing received the letter of appeal, he immediately called a meeting of generals in Liangxiang to discuss.

Guo Yaoshi suggested: "At present, Xiao Qian is placing the main force on the north bank of the river to stop us. The city of Yanjing will be empty. We can take advantage of this opportunity to sneak in. I suggest that we send a light cavalry to go east quietly, from Gu'an Cross the river to Anci, and then go straight to Yanjing. If the Han people in Yanjing know that Wang Shi is coming, they must respond internally, so Yanjing can be obtained."

Liu Yanqing asked: "Are you familiar with this route?"

Pharmacist Guo said, "It's like walking in your own courtyard."

Liu Yanqing was a little hesitant: "In the area around Gu'an and Anci, can Xiao Qian not defend himself?"

Guo Yaoshi replied: "Go east from Zhuozhou to Gu'an for eighty miles, and from Gu'an go northeast for more than 130 miles before you can reach Anci. Xiao Qian has limited troops, and his defense line cannot be so long."

Liu Yanqing asked the generals again, and all the generals thought this was a wonderful strategy to win by surprise.

Therefore, Liu Yanqing approved the plan to surprise Yanjing.

Guo Yaoshi asked Liu Yanqing to let Liu Guangshi lead the army to Yanjing to meet him.

Guo Yaoshi looked at the more than 50 Song troops, and finally found that, except for a few western troops that were excluded by Liu Yanqing, only Liu Guangshi's troops had some combat power, so he wanted Liu Guangshi to support them.

Liu Yanqing fully agreed.

Guo Yaoshi led 1000 victorious troops as the vanguard, and Zhao Heshou, Gao Shixuan, Yang Keshi, and Yang Kebi led a total of [-] troops as the main force.

On the night of October 23rd in the fourth year of Xuanhe, 6000 troops set off quietly—these 6000 troops were all light cavalry. They wore horses with titles, wrapped their flags in armor, and galloped eastward from Liangxiang...

……

(End of this chapter)