Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 616
Unfavorable news spread to Shangjing of the Liao Kingdom one after another. The East Route Army was trapped, the West Route Army lost troops, all the horses were discarded, and Yi County was attacked and occupied by the Song Army.

Liao Emperor Yelu Hongji couldn't sit still any longer, and led an army of 20 to Nanjing Road. This morning, Yelu Hongji's army arrived outside Youzhou City.

The 20 troops covered the sky, the banners covered the sky, the horns were low, and the golden drums sounded together.

Yelufeng, who stayed behind on Nanjing Road, led a group of officials out of the city to welcome the emperor.

Everyone knelt down in front of Yelu Hongji's horse and saluted. Yelu Hongji asked coldly, "Is there any progress in the situation?"

"Your Majesty, the situation is still the same. I have sent people to contact Xiao Han's slaves. It is because the Song Army blocked the Juma River, and they were unable to retreat. However, the Song Army enforced fortified walls and cleared the fields, and all the trees were cut down. They could not get Supplementing the siege weapons is now helpless."

"Didn't the resources be sent to them?"

Yelufeng looked puzzled: "Wei Chen was planning to build a pontoon bridge, but only halfway through it was burned down by the Song Army warships, and Wei Chen threw fifty siege ladders into the Juma River, but all of them were scooped up by Song Army warships. .”

Yelufeng was very helpless. He had thought of all the methods, but none of them worked. The Song army blocked the entire Juma River instead of a certain section. But in fact, there were only three sections of the river where floating bridges could be built. These three sections They were all gathered by Song Jun.

Yelu Hongji snorted heavily, "What's the situation in Yizhou?"

"Yi County is still occupied by the Song army, and all the Khitan people in the city have been released, so I am not in a hurry to attack the city, and wait for His Majesty to arrive before making a decision."

"A bunch of useless trash!"

Yelu Hongji scolded severely, and then said to Yelu Feng: "You transfer [-] troops to Yelu Kunping, let him lead [-] troops to attack Yi County, I will give him ten days, if he can't make amends, Cut them all together!"

"The humble minister obeys the order!"

Yelu Hongji immediately ordered to set up a large camp in the south of the city, and he led [-] soldiers into the city and stationed in the Nanjing Palace.

But Yelu Feng followed into the palace, he said behind Yelu Hongji: "I have something to report."

"whats the matter?"

"The spies from the capital got an invalid Iron Fire Thunder and sent it from Xijing."

Yelu Hongji was refreshed when he heard that he had obtained Tiehuolei, and quickly asked, "Have you ever studied it?"

"Report to Your Majesty, since there is only one piece, it is very precious, so I ask Your Majesty to have a look at it before conducting further research."

Yelu Hongji was quite satisfied with his prudence, so he nodded and said, "Bring it up and show me."

A moment later, a guard brought up a wooden box, and carefully took out a dark black ball from the box. It was flat and round in shape, with a wooden cup cap on it. Yelufeng took off the cup cap, revealing a bunch of braids Same matchlock.

Yelu Hongji looked back and forth for a long while and asked, "How heavy is this iron shell?"

"Wei Chen specially weighed it, 28 catties."

Yelu Hongji frowned, "Isn't there information that the iron-shelled fire mines of the Song Dynasty weighed fifty or sixty catties?"

"Your Majesty, the intelligence said it should be the latest Iron Fire Thunder, which has been improved in the Song Dynasty, and this Iron Fire Thunder should be the earliest batch with the number at the top. The early Iron Fire Thunder has failed, so it has to be transported." Return to Kunzhou to destroy it, our spies got this one in the Kunzhou link of the canal, there is no other chance at all, and the guards are extremely tight."

"It turned out to be just a failed iron shell fire mine!"

Yelu Hongji frowned and said, "What's the point?"

"Your Majesty, we don't understand, but gunpowder makers do. Leave it to them, and they should be able to imitate the Iron Fire Thunder. If Your Majesty wants a ready-made Iron Fire Thunder, you should be able to see it when you capture Yi County."

"There will be one in Yi County?"

"Must have!"

Yelu Hongji nodded slowly, "Speaking of which, I'm really looking forward to it."

In Yixian City, Yang Wenguang accompanied Ma Wei to understand the situation in the city. According to Fan Ning's appointment, Ma Wei will be his deputy general. Gao, naturally Yang Wenguang will be the main general.

However, Ma Wei belongs to the frontier army system and has been stationed on the Hebei border for 20 years. He knows the Liao army better, so Yang Wenguang is more polite to him.

"This is the military ration depot. Currently we have 30 shi of military rations. Based on our 5000 people, an average of [-] shi per person is enough for us to eat for two years."

"How can there be so much food?"

Ma Wei was a little surprised and said: "As far as I know, Yizhou is a mountainous area, not a land of grain."

Yang Wenguang smiled slightly, "This is an important logistics area for the Liao army to attack Yanmen Pass in Dai County. They have hoarded a large amount of food and supplies. There are 40 pairs of bows and arrows alone, [-] soldiers and arrows, and tens of thousands of sets of armor and spears. Unexpected."

"In this case, can the militia also be armed?"

Yang Wenguang smiled a little forcedly, he pondered for a moment and said: "There are a total of 400 people in the city, of which 1 are elderly, weak, women and children, and the remaining 40 people, those over 2000 years old are not considered. , and then remove 40 people, there are only 5000 young and strong men under the age of 2000. To be honest, not only can I not use them as a militia, but I have to send [-] people to monitor them."

"why?"

Ma Wei was surprised: "They are all Han Chinese!"

"First of all, they are the people of the Liao Kingdom. The Liao Kingdom has ruled here for more than 100 years. At least half of them regard themselves as Liao people. Although there are many people who love the Song Dynasty, I can't tell the difference, so the best way is not to use them. , to avoid defection on the battlefield.”

Speaking of this, Yang Wenguang heaved a long sigh, "People's hearts are unpredictable!"

Ma Wei was speechless, and after a while he asked again: "Where are the former prisoners of war?"

"Let them all be released. Let them go home if they are from the city. If they are not from the city, let them go out of the city and go home. It is actually a burden to keep them. It is unrealistic to kill them. The best thing is to let them go."

"I understand it."

At this moment, a sentry soldier hurried over and reported in a hurry: "Report to the old general, the Liao army is here!"

Yang Wenguang was immediately refreshed, he finally looked forward to the arrival of the enemy army.

He immediately smiled and said, "Go! Take a look."

The war to counterattack Yi County finally came. Fifty thousand Liao troops came from the east and surrounded Yi County from east, west, north, south, four directions.

The commander of the Liao army was Yelu Kunping who fled back to Weizhou from the Tangshui River Valley. He happened to bring [-] troops with him. The task of Yi County naturally fell on Yelv Kunping.

Yelu Kunping himself was not happy, this was not the job he wanted, he wanted to go to Dongdong Road to fight the Jurchens, it is said that the Liao army had the upper hand, but to attack the Song Dynasty army, Yelu Kunping had no idea, but it was damned siege warfare.

Yelu Kunping rode a horse to inspect the four camps. More than 2000 craftsmen and thousands of soldiers were busy assembling large-scale siege weapons, mainly ladders, nest carts and trebuchets.

The 3 troops transferred from Youzhou this time are all infantry, [-] Han troops and [-] Bohai navy troops. His previous [-] cavalry soldiers have also become [-] infantry soldiers, which means that these [-] troops will also be invested. to siege warfare.

Yelu Kunping stopped his horses and looked at Yi County several miles away. Yi County is high-lying. First of all, soldiers charging is a kind of upward attack, and large siege machines are even more difficult to walk. The taboo of urban warfare.

If he had no time limit, he would have used the siege method to trap the Song army in the city for two years, what a pity!The emperor only gave himself ten days, Yelu Kunping felt that the burden was extremely heavy, he sighed a long time, turned and went back to the big tent.
Under the cover of night, several spies from the Liao army outside the city were observing the terrain and determining the direction of attack. The shadows were rushing, and the soldiers were running in the wilderness continuously.

At this time, there are soldiers 'ah! With a scream, several soldiers nearby rushed up, only to see the soldier stepped into a pit, and a bamboo stick pierced his instep.

'Stuck in a horse pit! 'Several soldiers looked at each other, and they suddenly became cautious when they stepped down.

Another soldier cried out in pain. He fell to the ground and was taking off his boots. Through the moonlight, everyone could clearly see something nailed to the sole of the shoe, thistles.

In the big tent, Yelu Kunping was staring at the map in a daze. The Liao Kingdom knew Yi County very well, and even had its structural map, but what's the use?The structural diagram will only tell them that Yi County is made of big stones, which are extremely strong. The city gates are also covered with thick wood with iron sheets. There are eight iron door bolts. Unless you use a large battering ram, you cannot hit open.

At this time, a general hurried in and said to Yelu Kunping, "General, the spies have important information!"

"Let him come in and report!"

Not long after, a leader of the spies walked into the big tent quickly, and knelt down on one knee to report: "General Qi, our spies who were checking the terrain outside the city found barbed wire and horse traps. A brother stepped into the trap and was injured. .”

After speaking, he presented a wooden box. Yelu Kunping was startled, and quickly took the wooden box to examine it carefully.

Inside the wooden box is a four-needle thorn thorn, with an iron lump in the middle, surrounded by four thorns about an inch long, no matter how you throw it, one of the thorns will always face upwards, and the thorns are faintly blue, which is obviously poisonous. .

"Did you find just one?" Yelu Kunping asked.

"I found this one so far. It was found around the [-]-step line, and it was also in the horse pit!"

Yelu Kunping only felt dizzy for a while. This thorn thorn was definitely not left from the past. It was obviously just deployed. Only one was found, which does not mean that only one was deployed. It must have been scattered in large quantities, but they did not find That's all.

"What about this?"

The lieutenant next to him, Xiao Qiwang, said in a low voice: "If this matter gets out, it will affect the morale of the army. Why don't you say anything, and try to attack the city tomorrow. If the problem is really serious, it won't be too late to find a way to deal with it!"

This is the only way to deal with it. Yelu Kunping thought that the emperor only gave him ten days. How could he have time to slowly check the ground for caltrops and horse traps? Give the emperor a firm and clear attitude, maybe the emperor will let him go this time because of his positive attitude towards attacking the city.

"No one is allowed to say anything about this!"

He explained to the generals around him, and then ordered: "Tomorrow, [-] Han troops will attack Dongcheng!"

This is inevitable. The hardest, most tiring and most dangerous thing is that the Han army goes first, then the Bohai people and other ethnic groups, then the Xi people, and finally the Khitan people. Ethnic discrimination has become a common practice in the Liao Kingdom.

In the early morning of the next day, the war drums were beating rumblingly, and the gates of the Dongdaying camp were opened wide. Ten thousand Han soldiers came out of the barracks in a row, with low horns, and people kept shouting slogans. Pulling, there are five nest cars, and the huge wheels are rumbling forward.

After all, this is within the territory of the Liao Kingdom, and various resources of the Liao Kingdom are easy to mobilize. Nanjing Road has a large amount of strategic reserves, which gave great support to the Liao Army who attacked Yizhou this time.

The battle to capture Yizhou has finally begun.

(End of this chapter)