Traveling through Tianlong: Starting from the Zhenlong chess game

Chapter 654 Traitors Must Die

The course of this war was both within Zhao Mu's expectations and beyond his expectations.

As expected, the Liao army is now weak.

After nearly a hundred years of peace after the Treaty of Chanyuan.

In addition, in the past, when they went to the border to oppress civilians and forage for food, they would not encounter any organized resistance from the Song army, which also made the Liao Dynasty's regular army much less well-equipped than during the Abaoji period.

Moreover, many Khitan nobles who were once good at fighting also retired to the mountains and lived a comfortable life.

With the losses in the previous battle of Xiongzhou and the two battles of Lingzhou, the Liao Kingdom had few regular standing troops left. Most of the troops recruited were "militia" who had not been trained for a long time. They were not well disciplined, and their combat effectiveness depended on whether they were in the right situation or against the trend.

If they fought a favorable battle, these people would be like a group of tigers and wolves, and would not stop at burning, killing, raping and looting. But if they fought against an unfavorable situation, these people would instantly become defeated soldiers, and would plunder the towns under their command along the way.

Zhao Mu was not sure about the battle situation on the western front and in Yunzhou. After all, there was no wireless communication technology in this era. If there was any news, one could just make a phone call or send a telegram.

Anyway, he didn't encounter any decent resistance. If the Liao army hadn't given up the frontal resistance, then the other routes would have encountered stubborn resistance from the elite main forces.

They even gave up the flat North China Plain, which was suitable for the Liao army to launch an operation.

The Liao army did not dare to confront the Song army head-on. Even the highly mobile cavalry fled backwards at the fastest speed when facing the large infantry under Zhao Mu. After all, a few thousand light cavalry did not have much chance of winning when facing tens of thousands of powerful crossbows.

It was a bit beyond Zhao Mu's expectations that he did not encounter any decent resistance. He even began to doubt whether this was a strategy of the Liao army to lure the enemy.

Only after he waited for the army attacking Zhuo to capture the city and join forces with him did he dare to continue his march towards the vicinity of Nanjing Youzhou of the Liao Kingdom.

A few days later, Zhao Mu led 80,000 Song troops to the Liao Dynasty's Nanjing City, under Youzhou.

Today's Youzhou City is the imperial capital of later generations. Whether it is Yanjing of Jin Dynasty, Dadu of Yuan Dynasty, or Beijing of Ming and Qing Dynasties, they were all gradually built based on the foundation of this place.

Looking at the city, Zhao Mu was also somewhat excited.

After all, this was the place he was most familiar with in his previous life. He had been poor and rich here, making fortunes step by step, and then falling into decline step by step. Then he was reincarnated into another world.

Now he revisited the old place, and he was quite emotional. However, compared with the prosperous metropolises of later generations, Youzhou City at that time was far behind in both scale and prosperity.

Arriving at the foot of Youzhou City, Zhao Mu looked out at the city from afar and saw flags waving, rolling logs and stones, and numerous arrows and crossbows on the city walls.

Zhao Mu held the horsewhip in one hand and looked into the distance with the other hand on the pergola.

After reading it, Zhao Mu sighed and said, "Ah!" Hearing Zhao Mu sighing, Li Canghai asked, "What's wrong? Seeing the Liao Dynasty's Nanjing with its tall walls and tight defenses, are you planning to retreat?"

Zhao Mu replied, "Uncle Master, you are overthinking. I sighed because I had originally thought of having a field battle with the Liao army, fighting bravely and avenging the defeat at Gaoliang River. But I didn't expect that the Liao army would become cowards now. They can only hide in the city and fight a defensive battle. This kind of battle is the most boring. And the casualties among the people are also the greatest."

Seeing the Liao army retreating, Zhao Mu was a little disappointed. In Zhao Mu's original plan, the two armies would encounter each other in the wild, and then he would charge forward with his chariots, and then lead his soldiers to defeat the main force of the Liao army head-on. I don't know if it was because the Liao army was not enough now. They actually defended the city all the way.

At this time, the vanguard general rode over and asked, "Your Majesty, what should we do now? Attack the city?"

Zhao Mu replied, "No hurry. Order the three armies to find a wide area to rest. I will first go into the city to explore the situation. After we have explored the situation, we will attack the city."

Hearing this, the vanguard general quickly dissuaded him, "No! Your Majesty is worth a fortune, you can't take risks lightly."

Zhao Mu glanced at him and said, "If I don't want to go, why don't you go into the city and check it out?"

The vanguard general smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, you are making fun of me. I can go to war, but I can't do the job of a scout. Besides, now that we have a large army approaching, Youzhou City must be heavily guarded, and it will be difficult for outsiders to enter the city to investigate. Now that we are at the peak of our military power, why don't we send an order and order the troops to prepare to attack the city. There are many mountains and forests near Youzhou, and we can use local materials. Even if we use a catapult to smash it, we can break down Youzhou City."

Zhao Mu shook his head and said, "No! No way! If we do that, most of the people in the city might be killed or injured for no reason. Moreover, if we attack the city without understanding the situation, our soldiers might also suffer great losses. Pass on my order, the army should rest and guard on the spot, and cook. It's getting dark now, wait for me to go into the city to investigate the situation, and we can attack the city tomorrow."

Zhao Mu did not act like a commander during the march. After all, he was just a warrior and was an amateur in marching and fighting. In such a situation, if he acted stubbornly, it would inevitably cause losses to the troops.

Therefore, he used to give full play to "military democracy" and let his advisers, generals, and soldiers speak freely. If what they said made sense, he would give them a certain degree of reward.

Although the vanguard general still had some objections, since Zhao Mu had said so, he could not refute it, so he replied: "Yes! I will obey your order." Then he went to pass the order to the three armies.

After listening to Zhao Mu's words, Li Canghai asked, "Are you really worried about the people in the city?"

Zhao Mu said: "It's half and half. Youzhou City is heavily guarded now. If we storm it, our casualties will be huge. Besides, not all the people in the city are heinous. After the city is captured, we can find out that the only people who will die are the Han people who served as officials and soldiers in Liao. As for the other Han people, we, the Song Dynasty, came to save them from danger, so we must love them like our own children. As for the Khitans..."

Li Canghai asked: "What if it is the Khitan people?"

Zhao Mu chuckled and said, "It depends on whether they know the current situation. If they do, they can keep their lives. As for the others, they will be sent to do forced labor. After all, the Great Wall needs manpower to maintain it."

Li Canghai wanted to plead for the Han people who served the Liao Dynasty. She said, "Although there are many Han people serving as soldiers and officials in the Liao Dynasty, it is not their fault. When Shi Jingtang ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun to the Khitan, they were classified as Khitan people. Although some Han people have Han blood, they were born in the Liao Dynasty and were nurtured by the Liao Dynasty. It is understandable that they have contributed to the Liao Dynasty. Can you spare their lives, even if you send them to perform corvée labor?"

Zhao Mu shook his head and said to Li Canghai, "Uncle Master, I will agree to other things that I can agree to. But I can't agree to this one, because 'traitors must die'."

(End of this chapter)