Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 689
At the same time that the Song army occupied Juyongguan, the warships of the Laizhou navy sailed up from the Ruhe River, and the [-] Song army also occupied Lulong County.

The [-] East Army marched north along Lushui. In Lushui, hundreds of [-]-stone ships, loaded with food and various military items, followed the army.

Fan Ning walked slowly in the team on horseback. According to the Song Dynasty system, a civil servant must be the commander. Fan Ning is naturally the commander of the Northern Expedition. The specific command of the army is in charge of two deputy commanders. Er, the other is Cao Shi, the commander of the deputy capital in front of the palace and the general.

Cao Shi married Princess Yan, the daughter of Emperor Renzong, and has grown into the fourth generation of the Cao family. Although the Cao family and the Gao family developed in the South Island, it does not mean that they will give up the status and resources of the Song Dynasty. , This time Zhao Xu appointed Cao Xiu as the deputy commander of Beizheng, and actually gave him the credit for recovering Youyan.

Renzong once left a decree to Zhao Xu that the one who regained Youyan could be crowned king, and Fan Ning had already been crowned king of Wu when he destroyed Xixia, so the index of being crowned king was left to the deputy commander. Many powerful families have this opportunity He tried his best to fight for it, but only the Cao family could get this opportunity.

In addition, the veteran Zhong Er was called by Fan Ning directly, and he also got the chance to be crowned king.

This made both Cao Shi and Zhong Er extremely excited, and it took only five days for Zhong Er to lead an army of [-] to Hebei.

"Brother Cao, how is the situation in South Island?"

Fan Ning married Cao Shi's cousin Cao Xiu as his equal wife, and Cao Shi is naturally a wife-in-law relationship. In addition, the two have always had a good relationship, so they both traveled northward together.

Cao Shi smiled slightly: "The development of the South Island is not as fast as that of the North Island. I heard that the North Island can already manufacture steam engines, which is enviable!"

"What is there to be envious of? Bei Dao built a machine, wouldn't it supply you?"

"That's right, my second uncle wrote a letter saying that the population of the South Island is still too small. Brother, how many Han people in the Liao Kingdom are willing to go overseas?"

Fan Ning smiled and said: "I read from Mr. Han's report that about [-] households are willing to go overseas for development, but they are all accustomed to the cold life in Liao and don't want to go to the tropics. The population of Kunzhou is already saturated. I won’t ask for any more people, so I have to go to the Southern Continent.”

"Then the climate of our South Island and North Island is not more suitable for them?"

"I have already made this request to the Zhizhengtang. Fu Xianggong agreed to allocate [-] households to us, but Lu Xianggong objected, saying that the South Island and the North Island are private islands that are not under the jurisdiction of the imperial court. Divide between South Island and North Island."

"What's the matter with him?"

Cao Shi cursed in a low voice, and then asked Fan Ning, "What about the end?"

Fan Ning smiled slightly and said, "In the end, of course it was a vote. Mr. Fu and Mr. Ouyang and I voted in favor, Mr. Wen and Mr. Xiang abstained from voting, and Mr. Lu and Mr. Lu voted against. In the end, it was passed [-]-[-]. Resolution, of which [-] households will be given to the North Island and [-] households will be given to the South Island.”

Poetry Cao heaved a long sigh of relief, and Fan Ning said again: "Actually, Lu Xianggong's objection is justified. Our two islands are indeed taking advantage of the imperial court, but because of the acquiescence of the emperor, Zhizhengtang is lenient."

At this time, Fan Ning saw a county town in front of him, so he asked Cao Shidao, "Is Wuqing County ahead?"

Cao Shi nodded, "Exactly!"

"Let's take a look!"

He whipped his horse and ran towards the county seat at a faster speed. Cao Shi urged the horse to follow, and they quickly arrived in front of the county seat with hundreds of cavalry.

Wuqing County is a middle county, originally [-] Liao troops were stationed there, but after the war broke out, the Liao troops in the county had been withdrawn, the county was deserted, and there was not a single pedestrian on the street.

At this time, several officials came with a dozen soldiers of the Song Army. The leading official was the county magistrate who had just taken over Wuqing County in the Song Dynasty. This time, they also brought a group of young officials with the army, who were responsible for taking over the county towns along the way.

"The new county magistrate Li Wen has a meeting with Mr. Fan!"

The two officials behind also saluted, one was the county magistrate, the other was the county magistrate, the county magistrate was also an official sent by the imperial court, and the county magistrate was the original Liao official.

Fan Ning nodded, "Magistrate Li, does he understand the situation in the city?"

Li Wen hurriedly said: "I roughly understand that there were originally 300 households in the city, but now there are only more than [-] households left. Most of them are Han Chinese, and there are dozens of Khitan households. They are all poor people who grow food for a living. Just now I was telling them about the court regulations."

At this time, soldiers came with a large group of Khitan people, about 300 people from fifty or sixty households, including women, children, old and weak, and dozens of young and strong men.

Everyone heard that it was the commander of the Song Army, and they all stepped forward and knelt down. Fan Ning looked at them, and there was no difference except that their clothes were slightly different from those of the Han people. These were all Khitan people who had turned to farming, and their degree of Sinicization was relatively deep. .

Fan Ning waved his hand and said to everyone: "The Song army is an army of benevolence and righteousness, and will not commit violent killings. The Great Song Dynasty is also a tolerant dynasty. There are many people from all ethnic groups. As long as everyone can live and work in peace and contentment, so will you They will become citizens of the Great Song Dynasty and continue to live on this land."

The county magistrate said beside him: "This is Xiangguo's promise to everyone, so please feel at ease!"

Everyone was overjoyed and thanked one after another. Fan Ning asked the county magistrate to take away a group of Khitan people, and asked the magistrate with a smile, "Are you a Han from the Liao Kingdom?"

The county lieutenant quickly bowed and said: "Xu Jiang, the villain, is the third generation of Liao Han people. He passed the Jinshi examination the year before last and was awarded the county lieutenant of Wuqing."

"Both the county magistrate and the county magistrate fled with their seals, why don't you leave?"

Xu Jiang smiled wryly and said: "Reporting to my lord, the county magistrate is from Khitan, so of course he wants to escape. Although the county magistrate is Han, his family is in Liaoyang mansion, so he wants to go back to Liaoyang mansion, and the villain is a local. The children are all here, the villain has nowhere to escape, and the villain is the county captain, responsible for maintaining order, let alone just walk away."

Fan Ning nodded, "That's very good. From now on, you will continue to serve as the county captain, but you will be the county captain of Dasong, and the Ministry of Officials will go through the formalities for you."

Xu Jiang was overjoyed, and hurriedly bowed and said, "Thank you, Mr. Fan, for your kindness!"

Cao Shi next to him asked: "Lieutenant Xu, the situation in Yanshan Prefecture is similar to Wuqing, or is Wuqing County special?"

Seeing that Cao Shi was wearing a golden helmet, Xu Jiang didn't dare to be negligent, and quickly said respectfully: "Returning to the general, Yanshan Mansion has been in chaos since the year before last. The Liao army kept driving Han people to Liaoyang Mansion for mining. The entire Yanshan Mansion, except Outside of Youzhou, most of the Han people in other counties were forcibly driven to Liaoyang Mansion, and their properties were plundered. Now the situation in all counties is similar to that in Wuqing County, with only a few hundred households. I heard that there are 30 households in Lulong County. The county with the largest population, of course, cannot compare with Youzhou City, which has at least [-] people, and it is still the second largest city in Liao Kingdom, second only to Tokyo City in Liaoyang Prefecture, and has a larger population than Shangjing."

Fan Ning asked some more about the situation, and then he and Cao Shi left Wuqing County and continued northward along the Lushui River to Lu County.

The main general of the Liao Army in Youzhou City was Yelu Hujian who was left behind in Nanjing, and he was also a general who was good at fighting. The Liao army was short of troops and had to shrink the defense line. The emperor Yelu Hongji entrusted the most important Youzhou City in Nanjing Road to him. he.

There are still [-] elite soldiers staying in Youzhou City to guard the city. Of course, Yelu Hongji does not want to give up Youzhou City. He hopes that Yelu Hujian can give full play to his military talents, and that the [-] elite soldiers can bravely fight the enemy and defend Youzhou City more than half a year, waiting for the opportunity to change.

It is not unreasonable for Yelu Hongji to expect this. Youzhou City has been the core city in the north since the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The city is tall and strong, and the moat is more than ten long and two feet deep. In the outer city, there are four city gates in the east, west, north, and south. There are also urn cities, and there is a water gate in each of the north and south.

The head of the city is very wide, which can accommodate three ox carts in parallel, and 120 heavy-duty catapults are installed on the head of the city.

This is only the defensive ability of Youzhou City, and its enduring ability.

Hundreds of warehouses were built in the inner city of Youzhou City, which contained 40 shi of grain, 20 dan of forage, and a large amount of military supplies such as kerosene, soldiers, arrows, and firearms, as well as armor.

In addition, there are 30 people living in the outer city of Youzhou, and the folks also store a large amount of food. In addition, a militia group of more than 5 people can be organized at any time from the hundreds of thousands of people to help defend the city as a logistics.

Youzhou has gathered all the advantages of city defense. In the long history of war, such a city is difficult to break through. In the end, the method of besieging the city is adopted. After the food in the city is exhausted, it will be broken without attacking. But once the city is besieged, it means A long time, as short as half a year, as long as one or two years.

Yelu Hongji knew this very well, so he pinned his hopes on the long-term defense of the Liao army in Youzhou.

This morning, the beacon fire thirty miles away was finally lit, and the three pillars of smoke shot straight into the sky, which meant that the Song army had finally arrived.

(End of this chapter)