I served as an admonisher in the Song Dynasty

Chapter 548: Youzhou City is broken, fighting spirit soars! Zhao Zhen captures Yelu Liang alive

May 6th, afternoon.

The sun hid in the clouds and the sky was dyed dark gray by the smoke.

In Youzhou City, four of the ten gates were broken.

As loud trumpets sounded, the Song Dynasty soldiers poured into the city like a tide.

"Kill!"

Wind, fire, thunder and wind, fire spears led the way, the cavalry were armed with spears and scimitars, and the infantry were wearing armor, holding a crossbow in one hand and a knife in the other.

The sound of charging and killing resounded through the sky.

Five hundred Dragon Feather Army soldiers transformed into light cavalry and rushed to the front, like a sharp dagger inserted into the belly of Youzhou City.

Due to the Liao Kingdom's conscription, there were very few young and strong men in Youzhou City, and many people had fled to the countryside.

Those who stayed behind in the city also locked their doors and windows, hid in cellars, or hid together in schools and temples.

As long as they don't show up, the Song Dynasty soldiers will not attack them.

……

On a street in the south of Youzhou City.

Yelu Liang, the Privy Councilor of Liao, had a gloomy look on his face and was giving orders.

"Order the soldiers at the northwest gate, northeast gate, southwest gate, and southeast gate to resist the Song army with all their strength. No one is allowed to retreat without receiving orders. Anyone who retreats will be executed!"

"The troops stationed in other directions should gather in Niutou Street in an orderly manner and set up fortifications!"

……

Niutou Street is a main street located in the south of Youzhou City.

It is named so because the northern end branches into two diagonal streets extending out.

This street is very wide.

Because it is close to the north gate, it is convenient for retreat, and the Liao army's stored food and weapons are also placed on this street facing north.

Yelu Liang had planned earlier that this would be the last line of defense after the Song army broke into the city.

By deploying defenses here, the Song army only has one route to attack, while the defenders have a larger space to deploy their troops.

If he still cannot hold out, Yelu Liang can escape from the north gate.

present.

There were not many Song troops stationed at the north gate, northwest gate and northeast gate, but Yelu Liang could not escape.

He currently still has tens of thousands of soldiers under his command, and there is still a possibility of turning the situation around.

If he abandons the city and flees now, he will be severely punished.

At this moment, he still didn't feel that he had reached the end of his rope.

He believed that as long as he could defend Niutou Street, it would still be possible to repel the Song army.

soon.

All Liao troops received the order: "Do not retreat before dark."

Each of them fought desperately with the Song army.

Behind each Liao army was a group of military supervisors. Anyone who feared the enemy and retreated would be shot immediately, and his family would also be sentenced to serious punishment.

This forced the Liao soldiers to stop and rush forward!

Although they did not retreat voluntarily, the Song army's offensive was far more powerful than theirs, and they were still forced to retreat continuously.

The soldiers of the Song Dynasty also received the order to "kill the enemy with all your strength, and kill those who surrender."

In this kind of battle, it's either you die or I die. Mercy is tantamount to suicide. There can be no mercy.

……

It's almost dusk.

Zhao Zhen, Han Qi and Su Liang entered the city from the south gate.

At that moment, the Song Dynasty soldiers were advancing at a speed of about 300 meters per hour, and their destination was Niutou Street, where the largest number of Liao soldiers gathered.

Lean slightly.

Zhao Zhen, Han Qi and Su Liang used a teahouse in the south of the city as a temporary central military tent.

The three of them sat around the table.

Placed on the table was the city map of Youzhou City.

Han Qi looked at the map and spoke first: "According to our current attack speed, it will probably take until tomorrow noon to reach Niutou Street. The soldiers are a little tired!"

"Your Majesty, I suggest that after midnight, 50% of the soldiers retreat to rest, and they will attack after daybreak, so that we have enough energy to attack Niutou Street."

"Okay!" Zhao Zhen nodded in approval.

Any soldier would be exhausted and have no strength left after fighting for a whole day and night in such a fierce city battle.

But I can't stop.

The Song soldiers were tired, and the Liao soldiers were even more tired.

If you take a break, your opponent will recover his strength and will be more difficult to attack.

Zhao Zhen looked at the map and said, "We don't need to station soldiers at the northwest gate, northeast gate, and north gate. If Yelu Liang wants to escape, I'm afraid we won't be able to stop him. We just need to occupy Youzhou."

"Sir, this is not possible!" Su Liang suddenly said.

"It is certainly gratifying that we have occupied Youzhou, but if we fail to capture Yelu Liang, the Liao Kingdom will definitely claim that they retreated voluntarily and were not defeated. However, if we can capture Yelu Liang, our morale will be greatly boosted, which will be of great benefit to the recovery of the entire Yanyun. Yelu Liang's role is very important!"

Zhao Zhen smiled helplessly.

"How could I not know the benefits of capturing Yelu Liang!"

"However, if Yelu Liang cannot defend Niutou Street, he has three ways to escape, namely the northwest gate, northeast gate and north gate. He will lead at least 10,000 soldiers to charge the city. If we want to capture Yelu Liang, we need to deploy 60,000 people in front of these three gates at least half a day in advance to have a chance of taking him down."

"If we dispatch 60,000 men to block the three city gates in advance, how can we capture Niutou Street?"

Han Qi on the side added: "Jingming, if we can capture Youzhou, it will be a great victory. It is too difficult to capture Yelu Liang!"

Su Liang looked at the two of them.

"Sir, Deputy Commander Han, if we send out 20,000 men to intercept Yelu Liang, will we have a chance of winning?"

Zhao Zhen thought for a while.

"I think we have at least a 70% chance of winning, but the prerequisite is that we must know which of the three city gates Yelu Liang will escape from. Otherwise, if we guard one of the city gates, it will not be worth it."

Han Qi nodded in approval.

Su Liang pointed to the northwest gate and said, "After the northwest gate was bombarded by wind, fire and thunder, the city gate has collapsed. We just need to blow it up a little bit and the city gate will collapse. After it collapses, it means the gate is sealed and the Liao soldiers will not be able to pass through here."

Both Zhao Zhen and Han Qi knew this.

There are many arrow towers at the northwest city gate, and it suffered the most severe bombardment from wind, fire and thunder. The tower is shaky and in a semi-collapsed state.

"Then there are still two doors! A 50% probability is too low!" Han Qi looked at Su Liang.

Su Liang paused and continued, "Based on our combat power, we should be able to reach Niutou Street tomorrow afternoon. The battle of Niutou Street will definitely last until night. Let's fight hard and increase our firepower. Yelu Liang will definitely flee late at night. When he flees, he will definitely order people to survey in advance which city gate is the most suitable."

"I suggest that you lead 20,000 soldiers to guard the north gate, and I lead 1,000 light cavalry to guard the northeast gate. We just need to create momentum, and in the middle of the night, the enemy will not be able to tell how many soldiers there are."

Then, Su Liang looked at Zhao Zhen and Han Qi.

"Sir, Deputy Commander Han, which door would you go through if you were Yelu Liang?"

"Northeast Gate." The two of them almost blurted out.

Han Qi continued, "Jingming, the emperor is leading the army to intercept them. If we let the enemy escape, it will be a disgrace to our Song Dynasty. Yelu Liang is not stupid. He must have guessed where the emperor is. He has the most troops stationed there and is stronger. He will definitely take the route you are guarding. You can't stop them with a thousand light cavalry, and it may even be dangerous!"

Zhao Zhen nodded in approval.

Su Liang smiled slightly and said, "It is precisely because Yelu Liang is not stupid. He combined our real and fake strategies over the past month and made the decision subconsciously. He must have ruled it out."

"He will most likely guess that this is a deliberate attempt to confuse him so that he can pass through the city gate that I blocked, so he will do the opposite and go through the city gate that is blocked by the government. In his mind, the more impossible it is, the more likely it is."

"Wonderful!"

Zhao Zhen's eyes lit up, and he said, "According to Jingming's words, I think there is at least a 70% chance that we can catch Yelu Liang. Let's make the arrangements and send out 20,000 people to catch the rabbits while we're at it."

"I obey your command." Han Qi bowed.

……

At night, the Song-Liao city battle entered its climax.

There were battles in the streets, inside houses, and in the front and back yards of teahouses and taverns.

Both sides were blood-thirsty.

The Song soldiers became more and more dispersed as the battle went on. They basically acted in "du" units, coordinating offense and defense and constantly charging forward.

This time, the explosive power displayed by the Hebei Imperial Guards surprised Zhao Zhen and the other two.

Their fighting capacity was no less than that of the Northwest Imperial Guards, they just lacked experience. Now that they had accumulated some experience, they became more and more adept at it.

The Yanyun soldiers were also very excited about the killing.

Some of the Yanyun soldiers were originally from Youzhou, and provided great help to the Song Dynasty soldiers in exploring the way and searching for enemy granaries, weapons, and supplies.

Gradually, it was midnight.

Some of the Song Dynasty soldiers retreated, and with the help of the logistics soldiers, they ate some food, drank some hot soup, and then found a place nearby to rest.

The soldiers were very tired.

Some people leaned on their armor, some stood back to back with their comrades, and some lay on the ground with a stone as their pillow, curled up and closed their eyes.

Almost every time he lies down, he starts snoring loudly within ten breaths.

Later in the night.

The Song Dynasty's attack weakened a little, but it did not stop. This made the Liao soldiers dare not rest at all.

Yelu Liang and the generals around him were also very tired, and everyone had dark circles under their eyes, but they dared not rest at all.

The night passed quickly.

When the first rays of morning light appeared in the rising sun, the Song soldiers finished changing shifts. Another wave of soldiers, who had had enough sleep and food, gathered their energy and began to charge forward.

They rushed into the streets one by one, robbed the houses one by one, and seized the areas one by one.

Many Liao soldiers had to retreat towards Niutou Street.

At this moment, the west gate had collapsed, and if Yelu Liang wanted to escape, he only had two ways left.

……

Near noon.

Wave after wave of Song troops surrounded the enemy and reached Niutou Street.

Whoosh!Whoosh!Whoosh!
Less than 500 meters apart, they began to shoot arrows.

After several waves of arrows, Xu Mang raised his long sword and shouted: "The light cavalry will charge in the front, the firearms army will follow closely behind, and the infantry will encircle them from both sides..."

Street fighting broke out again, with tens of thousands of people gradually overlapping.

Hand-to-hand combat, wrestling, fire attack, hidden arrows, rolling logs, rocks...

Blood and flesh flew everywhere, and screams were heard everywhere.

The Song Dynasty soldiers armed with wind and fire guns quickly hid on the surrounding roofs and windows, specifically shooting the enemy's archers and soldiers with stronger offensive capabilities.

The other side used kerosene to burn houses and roads, forcing the Song army in the alleys to be unable to advance.

The sounds of weapons and horses neighing resounded through the sky.

……

Soon, it was night.

Yelu Liang stood on a roof, looking at the smoke ahead with an extremely gloomy expression.

He was horrified by the fighting power of the Song soldiers.

He originally thought that, apart from firearms, the Song soldiers would definitely not be a match for the Liao soldiers.

Never thought about it.

In terms of attack power and fighting spirit, the Song soldiers were far superior to the Liao soldiers.

This gap is also closely related to the current situation of the two countries.

The people of Song Dynasty were united, while the people of Liao Dynasty were demoralized due to the brutal rule of Yelu Hongji.

Some Liao soldiers even hoped that they could become Song citizens and enjoy the same treatment as the people of Song.

At this time.

One of Yelu Liang's personal soldiers quickly climbed onto the roof.

He whispered in his ear: "Prime Minister, the northwest gate has collapsed and we cannot get out. The north gate is guarded by the Emperor of Song Dynasty, and the northeast gate is guarded by Su Liang himself. It is not clear how many people they have with them."

Yelu Liang took a deep breath, thought for a moment, and murmured, "The false ones are real. I have seen through their thoughts. Let's go through the gate guarded by the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty."

He looked ahead at the Song army troops that were getting closer and closer.

"Tell my lieutenant general Yelu Fei to gather 8,000 soldiers at the north gate in half an hour, break through the gate and retreat. Also tell other subordinates to pass on my order, hold out until midnight, and then everyone withdraw."

"Zi... Zi time? Isn't it too late?" his personal soldier asked doubtfully.

Yelu Liang glared and asked, "Are you questioning me?"

"No, no, I will pass the order right away!"

Yelu Liang nodded and said, "Wait! After delivering the military order, withdraw my central army camp another 800 meters, and then pretend that I have been here all along. You will also leave the city with me."

"Yes, Prime Minister."

A smile immediately broke out on the face of this personal soldier. His one extra word bought himself a chance to survive.

According to the current attack capability of the Song army, they can almost occupy the entire Youzhou city before midnight.

Those who do not retreat will only die.

Yelu Liang had his considerations for letting the remaining soldiers die here.

He estimated that at least half of the 8,000 soldiers would suffer casualties when they marched out of the north gate.

He fled with three or four thousand soldiers, which could be considered as leaving the city in defeat. If he had described the situation more tragically and the Song army's firearms as more powerful, Yelu Hongji would most likely not have punished him severely.

If he fled with 10,000 or 20,000 soldiers, it would be considered fleeing out of fear of fighting, and he would be severely punished and become the scapegoat for the loss of Youzhou.

……

Half an hour later.

Yelu Liang changed his clothes and disguised himself as an ordinary Liao soldier. He hid among the 8,000 soldiers and attacked towards the north gate.

Outside the north gate, Zhao Zhen had already set up a tight net.

As long as Yelu Liang passed through this door, he was confident that he could capture him.

Just then, a sentry came to report.

"Your Majesty, thousands of Liao soldiers rushed out from the north gate, including the Liao general Yelu Fei, but Yelu Liang has not been found yet."

Zhao Zhen smiled faintly.

"Yelü Fei is the person Yelü Liang trusts the most. If he abandons the city and flees, then Yelü Liang must be hiding among the crowd."

"Stop them with all your strength and don't let anyone escape. As the fighting continues, we will be able to find where Yelu Liang is."

"Yes, official."

Although Yelu Liang was disguised, if he rushed out, he must be protected by someone. Once someone protected him, the soldiers who had seen his portrait would be able to find him quickly.

After a while.

As soon as Yelu Liang and others left the city, a rain of arrows suddenly flew over.

"Raise your shields! Take cover!" Yelu Fei shouted loudly.

Whoosh!Whoosh!Whoosh!
Arrows rained down like rain, dense and numerous, and in the blink of an eye, hundreds of Liao soldiers were hit.

at the same time.

The soldiers of the Upper Four Armies quickly deployed and surrounded the 8,000 Liao soldiers.

Now it was too late for them to retreat back into the city.

If they dared to turn their backs to the Song Dynasty soldiers, the casualties would be even greater.

Now they can only fight hard.

Yelu Liang looked at the Song Dynasty soldiers coming from all directions like a tide and felt a little overwhelmed.

"Why are there so many Song soldiers? Could it be that they guessed that I would go through this door?"

Afterwards, Yelu Liang whispered a few words to his followers.

The latter immediately took out a military flag and shouted: "The soldiers who successfully broke through the siege will be promoted three levels and rewarded with 100 gold!"

With 20,000 people besieging 8,000 people, the Song Dynasty has an absolute chance of winning.

Less than half an hour.

The Liao army could no longer hold on and scattered everywhere.

At this moment, a sharp-eyed Song soldier discovered Yelu Liang's figure.

"Yelüliang is there!"

Following a soldier's loud shout, groups of Song Dynasty soldiers rushed towards the direction where Yelu Liang was.

And this moment.

Some soldiers went around to the city gate and surrounded them.

Yelu Liang was so sad that he wanted to cry but he had no tears. He took a long knife and started to break out.

At this time, Su Liang learned the news that Yelu Liang was surrounded.

He was very excited and immediately said to his personal soldiers: "Immediately let the Liao soldiers in the city know that Yelu Liang abandoned the city and fled, and has been captured alive by our army."

By the time this news reached the ears of the Liao people, Yelu Liang had basically been captured.

Half an hour later, the news that Yelu Liang had abandoned the city and fled reached the ears of the Liao soldiers.

at the same time.

Yelu Liang was also tied up and sent to Zhao Zhen.

If he abandoned the city and fled with 20,000 soldiers, it would be difficult to capture him alive.

pity.

He risked his life for the reputation of "retreating after defeat rather than abandoning the city and fleeing".

After the capture of the Liao Dynasty's Privy Councilor Yelu Liang, the next war became easier to fight.

……

The ninth day of May, near noon.

Zhao Zhen announced the end of the Battle of Youzhou.

He also ordered people to convey the good news to the Western Army, the Central Army and the city of Bianliang.

Except for more than 10,000 Liao soldiers who escaped and retreated, the rest of the Liao soldiers were killed by the Song soldiers, and everything in the city was under the control of the Song army.

(End of this chapter)