Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 340 Affecting the Account (5)

"A [-] army, the power belongs to one person... I can't fall... I can't sleep..."

As if he was in an iron house filled with black mist, Yelu Yanshan forcefully opened his eyes, only seeing Guo Baoyi's face in a haze. "Fortunately, Deputy Commander Guo is resourceful and resourceful. He has always been cautious in using troops. With him around, the army will be safe..." He tried hard to force a smile, but this face seemed to be his own, with only some saliva running down the corners of his mouth .

"Master Dutong is awake!"

When Yelu Yanshan's eyelids moved slightly, the soldiers notified Guo Baoyi. At first, he was overjoyed. Seeing that Yelu Yanshan had woken up again, he still couldn't see things, and his heart was filled with melancholy. Seeing Yelu Yanshan's eyes Lost, as if he was about to fall into a deep sleep again, Guo Baoyi hurriedly said in a deep voice: "Yelu Dutong, cheer up for now, let me briefly report the military affairs."

Yelu Yanshan's mind was like a mess, and he was drowsy. Hearing this, he cheered up, encouraged him to open his eyes, and stared at Guo Baoyi in a daze. He wanted to entrust the military affairs of the army to Guo Baoyi, but the corners of his mouth moved , but couldn't say a word.

Seeing this, Guo Baoyi hurriedly said: "Yeludu is seriously injured and can't speak. Guo has made some arrangements for you. If the people of Yelvda think it's appropriate, they can close their eyes once. If they think it's not appropriate, they can close their eyes twice. What do you think?" The three armies cannot live without a commander, at this time, all the important generals in the Liao army camp have arrived, and they have to listen to Du Tong to arrange military affairs.

"Deputy Governor Guo is really resourceful, it's hard for him to come up with such a solution," Yelu Yanshan felt relieved, his eyes softened, he closed his eyes slightly, and then opened them again.Guo Baoyi looked happy, turned around and said to the generals in the account: "Everyone has seen that, although General Yelu is seriously injured and can't speak, his mind is still in good condition." They calmed down, and looked at Yelu Yanshan on the sickbed together.

"Your Excellency Yelu is seriously ill. The three armies cannot be left alone for a day. Although the last general is in the deputy capital, as a Han, he is always difficult to convince the people," Guo Baoyi said in a deep voice. What he said was natural. The 'color' is also the same as usual, as if these words are justified.

Yelu Yanshan was extremely depressed and angry, except for Guo Baoyi, all the generals in the Southern Expedition camp were of similar status, he did not shoulder this burden, and no one could convince them.Besides, although Guo Baoyi was a Han Chinese, he was a confidant who followed Yelu Dashi at first.Although His Majesty was an offshoot of the royal family of the Liao Kingdom back then, due to the downfall of his family, he became even more impoverished in his grandfather's generation. There was only one slave family in the family, and this slave family was surnamed Guo.When Yelu Dashi was not yet an official, Guo Baoyi was a book boy who practiced writing. He polished ink and picked books for him, and practiced martial arts. Guo Baoyi was a family general who accompanied him to practice martial arts.Guo Baoyi also learned both civil and military skills because of this. If he had a single round of literary and martial arts, he would not lose to any officials under Yelu Dashi's tent.Because of this, although Yelu Dashi vigorously supported Khitan heroes, excluded Han officials, and revoked the establishment of the Han army, he only trusted Guo Baoyi, otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to be the deputy capital of the [-] Southern Expedition Army.

However, no matter how angry Yelu Yanshan was in his heart, he couldn't speak. He could only stare at Guo Baoyi viciously, and heard him continue: "General Xiao Tachi is leading an army of [-] to help. General Xiao is His Majesty's son-in-law. Honorable. The final general intends to take charge of military affairs temporarily, while guarding the camp, while flying horses to ask His Majesty for orders. When General Xiao arrives, he will hand over the military affairs here to him. The final general will still be in the vice capital, and General Yixue assisted Xiao Dutong and besieged Suzhou while the winter was frozen."

Although Xiao Tachi is from the Mierbo tribe, since he changed his surname to Xiao and is His Majesty's son-in-law, even though he is not yet married, there is Empress Xiao's full support behind him.During this Northern Expedition, although Xiao Tachi did not fight a big battle, he led his troops to cleanse the Jurchen tribe, destroying thousands of barbarian villages and beheading over [-].From Shenzhou to the north for hundreds of miles, the Jurchens are almost extinct, which is also an important reason why the Jurchen army in Liaoyang and Shenzhou fell into heavy siege by the Liao army.Therefore, Yelu Dashi also admired him very much.

Therefore, Guo Baoyi thought about it and took advantage of this opportunity to give up the position of the commander of the army to Xiao Tachi, which can be regarded as selling favors.The other generals of the Liao army were inferior to Guo Baoyi in status, so it was difficult to compete with them, and they would not be so stupid as to oppose the son-in-law Xiaota Chizhang army.He felt that the arrangement was very appropriate, and after he finished speaking, he looked at Yelu Yanshan, waiting for him to close his eyes and agree.

Seeing that all the generals were nodding their heads frequently, it was obvious that Guo Baoyi had persuaded everyone, and he could only nod the sick ones. Although Yelu Yanshan was dissatisfied, given his current situation, he could no longer insist on his own opinion, so he could only endure the resentment in his heart , closed his eyes, then closed them again, never opening them again.But his ears couldn't be blocked, he only heard Guo Baoyi's loud voice: "Everyone has seen it, Mr. Tong Tong is seriously ill, before General Xiao arrives, I trouble you all to guard the camp, and don't let the bandits take advantage of the bluff to attack the camp."

The generals agreed to retreat, Guo Baoyi then sat down, looked at Yelu Yanshan who was sleeping with his eyes closed, and said in a low voice: "General Yelu, the bandits burned yesterday's luggage, and the army's three-month food and grass were burned. I carry a large amount of food and grass, and I am afraid that it will run out of food in a short time." After the Han army retreated, Guo Baoyi immediately ordered the palace tent army to extinguish the fire, and he personally counted the losses.There is only less than a month's grain and grass news left, and only a few people know it now.

In Guannan, Suzhou, before the Han army had time to celebrate, the army began to retreat. Tens of thousands of soldiers gathered at the foot of Laotieshan and boarded the ships one by one. When it was sent to various places, in addition to the ships of the navy, the Han army also hired many merchant ships from the Song Dynasty to transport the Han army, and there were even boats from the Dengzhou navy who earned extra money to travel by sea.

There were [-] defenders left outside Nanshan City, and [-] defenders in Laotieshan Fortress.After the army withdrew, the Liao army would enter Suzhou Guannan along the ice road, and the defenders of these two fortresses would be alone. Under the full attack of the Liao army, which was [-] times their own, they had to support them for more than three months.Then, when the sea ice melted, the artillery fire of Nanshan City would cut off the Liao army's supply channels, while the brigade of troops and people would use the ports all over Guannan to return one after another.

No matter how heroic the words were, at this time, except for a very small number of people, those who stayed behind were feeling a little depressed.Zhao Xingde patrolled Nanshan City with his sword, seeing this situation, he could only pat his subordinates on the shoulders, and didn't say anything more.Perhaps sacrifice is necessary, but he will not force everyone to let go of everything and face loneliness and death calmly.

"More than 100 days, can we hold this city?" Many soldiers will ask silly questions when they are depressed.

"As long as we want to defend the city, two hundred days is fine." Zhao Xingde said in a calm tone, "If we are afraid, one day is enough!" He patted a smile and asked, "Are you afraid?"

"With General Zhao here, the villain is not afraid!" Wang Zhang mustered up his courage and said, but he couldn't hide his guilt.Zhao Xingde smiled slightly, did not expose him, just patted him on the shoulder lightly, and said with a smile: "We are not afraid of the enemy, so the enemy should be afraid of us." Just after saying this, he suddenly frowned, To the southwest, dozens of horse-drawn carriages ran in the opposite direction from the evacuated soldiers and civilians, heading straight for Nanshan City.

"How is this going?"

Zhao Xingde ordered the whole city to be on alert, while watching the convoy slowly approaching with binoculars, he could clearly see that it was Li Sihai riding in front of the convoy.Li Sihai seemed to have noticed, raised his head and waved his hands towards the city, showing his white teeth.Zhao Xingde's brows were frowned even tighter, and he murmured secretly: "The navy is busy transporting people to evacuate, what is he doing here?" He ordered that except for Li Sihai, no one else and the carriage should approach Nanshan City.

"Brother Zhao led the brothers to guard the isolated city. Although there is enough food and fodder, it is too poor." After a while, Li Sihai went to the city and said with a smile, "The fourth battalion has been floating on the sea all year round. I have experienced the pain. The deepest. The army is about to evacuate, and the thirty prostitutes from Linhailou will be sent here for the brothers guarding the city to talk about their loneliness."

"What?" Zhao Xingde was greatly surprised. Following Li Sihai's gestures, he saw many women in long skirts get off the car and parked outside the moat of Nanshan City. But obviously at this time, it is impossible for anyone to voluntarily stay in a city that is about to be heavily besieged by the Liao army.

"No!" He resolutely refused, "The war is dangerous, and women cannot be accommodated here."

The soldiers of the Han army were secretly looking at those prostitutes. Hearing that General Zhao refused, many people had disappointed looks on their faces.Li Sihai smiled and said: "Captain Zhao keeps himself clean, but you don't have to let the brothers abide by these rules and precepts." He paused and said slowly, "Zhang Zhongcheng guards Suiyang, kills concubines to feed the soldiers, and then kills the women in the city. 'People satisfy their hunger, so it can be seen that there were women in Suiyang City back then."

Zhang Xun was a loyal minister during the chaos of Anshi.He guarded Suiyang so that the Anshi rebels could not go deep into Jianghuai.Jianghuai was the tax source of the Tang Dynasty, and the Jianghuai was stable, so the army of the Tang Dynasty did not lack food and pay.Zhang Xun has made great contributions to the fact that the world will not perish due to the Anshi rebels.Therefore, when talking about him, Li Sihai's expression straightened.

Unexpectedly, Li Sihai carried out Zhang Xun, Zhao Xingde was also taken aback.Zhang Xun was a famous general in the previous dynasty, he was granted titles in successive dynasties, and he was highly respected in the army.Zhao Xingde was silent for a moment, before he said: "My way of governing the army is that there is no distinction between high and low. There are three thousand soldiers in the city, but there are only thirty women. They are different. If the soldiers want to enjoy it, they have to divide their luck. Some people want to show off their desires for a while, while others are unwilling. As the saying goes, don’t worry about shortages but worry about unevenness. Instead of increasing disputes, it is better to simply cut off these desires It’s only a hundred days during the freezing season, and it’s no big deal if you don’t see women in the city?” The reason for this objection is not entirely out of morality, but out of the consideration of stabilizing the morale of the army.