Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 405 Long Halberd 30 (4)

"The vanguard of the Liao army has not yet crossed the river, but is just poisoning Hebei." Zhao Xingde marked it on a map of the northern part of the Song Dynasty he drew. The cavalry of the Liao Army did not know whether Yelu Dashi planned to attack Daming Mansion first or cross the river directly.

"Yuanzhi, how do you see the situation of the battle?" Li Rui asked in a deep voice, "The river is dangerous, and the Liao army's previous invasions have ended here. This time it shouldn't make it through, right?" Far, since Zhao Xingde arrived in Dunhuang, he came to Zhao Xingde every day to inquire about the latest situation, and he left with confidence when he saw that the situation in Kanto had not deteriorated.Along with Li Rui came Zhang Zixian, a trade official in the Prime Minister's Office, and Chen Yuyi, who was in charge of the Relief Office. Zhang Zixian was from Xuzhou, and Chen Yuyi was from Luoyang.

Zhao Xingde shook his head and sighed: "But the defense line of the big river is too long. The big river is no better than the mountains and cliffs. As long as there are boats, you can cross the river everywhere. Even if there are 2000 troops for the river defense of six or seven hundred miles, there are less than [-] people for every ten miles. The first line of defense is the same as the Zhaibao in Hebei prefecture and county. Fortification everywhere is passive everywhere. The Liao army is mostly cavalry, while the Song army is mostly infantry. The main force of the Liao army only needs to move back and forth a few times, and the Song army will be exhausted. We need to make a breakthrough, after crossing the river, we will go to Bianliang."

"Then what should we do?" Zhang Zixian asked with a worried look on his face, "Is there no way to stop the Liao army?"

"Usually when the Liao army invaded, they would withdraw after looting for about a month, and the counties and counties would be lucky if they defended it. But this time is different. Yelu Dashi even appointed local tyrants as local officials in Hebei. This is a long-term plan. Zhao Xingde murmured, "It's just that the Liao army's strength is limited. Once the brigade crosses the river, Hebei will be empty. Hebei's camp will be suppressed, and he can copy his food roads and cut off his retreat. Unless Yelu Dashi is crazy and puts all his eggs in one basket If the Liao army wants to attack Bianliang, they must first solve their worries. Therefore, as long as the main force of the Hebei camp is still there, Bianliang will be considered stable. However, the rich and wealthy gentry near Tokyo are like a bird of fright, and they fled south with their families. .”

For the past few days, Zhao Xingde has been working hard to attack the Liao Kingdom, but he hit a wall everywhere.Yelu Dashi's appointment and removal of officials in Hebei touched some school captains, but the ensuing rebellion in Ross's hometown and the disturbance of Roma Turks in the river attracted more attention, and the Anxi Army Division was gathering a large army to prepare for an expedition.Fighting on two fronts is a taboo, and the proposal to send troops to aid Song was also suppressed.More school lieutenants would rather believe that the Liao Kingdom would not destroy the Song Kingdom so easily, and when the Xia Kingdom settled the war in the west, looking back, it happened to be the time when the two tigers bit each other and were bruised and bruised.

Zhao Xingde continued to mark on the map, and the other three didn't bother, just watching from the side.According to the Song Dynasty’s residence report, the imperial court has ordered the Xijing camp and the southeast camp to send reinforcements to Bianliang to defend against the enemy. Even the Henghaixiang Army as far away as Guangzhou was ordered to go north. There is a distance of three thousand miles from Guangzhou to Bianliang. It can be seen that How panicked the imperial court was when the army of the Liao Kingdom came under pressure.

Zhang Xian, Wang Gui, Yang Zaixing and other generals stood in front of the geographical map of mountains and rivers in the Guangzhou Henghaixiang Army Camp.Chen Dong, the prefect of Guangzhou, was also in the tent of the Chinese army. He looked worried, watching the Liao army marching straight in on the map, like a sharp knife piercing the hinterland of the Song Dynasty.He has many eyes and ears in court, and he knows the actual situation more clearly.Because there is a flat river in Hebei, which is conducive to the cavalry of the Liao army, Zhao Zhifu, the prime minister of the dynasty, advocated that instead of relying on the natural danger of the river, he would try his best to keep the capital stable and wait for the Liao army to retreat.The privy envoy, Shao Wu, was at odds with him, not only insisting on recovering the lost ground, but also hoped that the army would win a big battle, so that the Liao army would not dare to go south to plunder so recklessly.In all fairness, Chen Dong didn't want the Liao army to leave in a swaggering manner after looting.

The expedition is imminent, and the commander Yue Fei summoned the generals to arrange the march.The faces of the generals were very solemn, and Yang Zaixing scolded angrily: "Damn it, what kind of battle is going on in Hebei." The army is no more than 20 people, and the Xiaozhai Fort is only a few hundred. Fortified everywhere, passive everywhere. The cavalry of the Liao Army moved quickly, and every time they concentrated their troops to attack us, there is no reason why they could not be defeated."

Hearing the generals' comments, Chen Dong sighed: "It is true that I am chasing young horses, but do I just watch Hu Qi rampage?" He turned to Yue Fei and said: "General Yue, the Henghaixiang Army is mostly infantry. I don't know if there is any way to restrain the Liao army and save the people of Hebei from the fire and water?" The Henghaixiang army is also an infantry army, most of the generals are from the north, usually the commanders are treated like gods, and they all look at Yue Fei together when they hear the words.

Yue Fei's gaze shivered slightly, and he said in a deep voice: "The barbarian cavalry is fast, and their forces are erratic. If they divide their forces to defend, they will hit the enemy's arms. In this way, the enemy will gather and we will disperse, the enemy will be the master and we will be the guest, and the battle will not take place." Wherever you fight, you will be in control of the opponent. Therefore, if you want to control cavalry with steps, you can't just defend and not attack. Not only must you use offense instead of defense, but you must also attack and save them, forcing the Liao army to fight me head-on. Just like when the Han conquered the Xiongnu and took the royal court directly, the Xiongnu had no choice but to give up their strengths and fight the Han army head-on.” He spoke decisively without any timidity.All the generals were greatly encouraged, Yang Zaixing said with a smile: "The commander-in-chief said, let's send troops to the north and take down Shangjing." Wang Gui's eyes showed a smile, Zhang Xian shook his head secretly, and at the same time glared at him.The [-] Henghaixiang soldiers who went northward were less than a fraction of the Liao army who went southward.

Chen Dong's eyes lit up, and he praised: "General Yue is so courageous!" At this time, Yang Yanqing in Hedong was guarding Yunzhou, Wang Yan in Hebei was guarding Daming Mansion, and none of the generals in the north dared to push the front of the Liao army. , Chen Dong shook his head again.

"The army provided food and grass along the way, and Lord Chen, please take care of it." Yue Fei clasped his hands.

"General, don't worry," Chen Dong said with emotion, "everything will be arranged by Chen." Because the winter monsoon and ocean currents flow from north to south, the Henghai Xiang Army can't go north by sea boat, but by land.The three thousand miles from Guangzhou to Bianliang, in order to speed up the march, the army going north hardly carried any grain and grass. In addition to supplying the states and counties along the way, Chen Dong also sent the shopkeeper of the Yajiao shop to buy grain and grass in the market in advance and stock up on the road. It is used by the cross-sea army.Because there were too few livestock accompanying the army, Chen Dong specially conscripted more than ten thousand civilian men from the prison camp. These civilian men were also counted as Xiang soldiers in the books, but they had neither been trained in ranks nor armored weapons, and they were dedicated to carrying carts.Soldiers only need to carry firecrackers and necessary ammunition, and their marching speed will increase accordingly.

"Even if you march sixty miles a day, it will be two months before you reach Bianliang. I wonder if the Liao army will retreat by then?" Chen Dong looked at the high-spirited Henghai generals and thought to himself, "Even if the Liao army Withdrawing the army, Wang Yanlian of Hebei is quite old, and I will strongly recommend Yue Pengju to the officials and the imperial court."

Inside the Bianliang City Gate, the Crane Army in front of the Five Hundred Halls escorted Yu Shi Zhongcheng Qin Hui to the Daming Mansion to proclaim the decree, but was blocked at the Fengqiu Gate in the north of the city.Although the imperial army stepped forward to rush to clear the way, hundreds of fully loaded carts crowded the road in a haphazard manner, and they couldn't get out of the way for a while.Li Ruoxu rode a horse, and he looked dignified among the emissary's officials, seeing this scene, he couldn't help frowning, and asked in a low voice, "Which family is the one in front?"

"It's the family of Cai Xianggong's mansion." The military academy replied.Although Cai Jing retired and returned to his hometown, in the eyes of ordinary people, he is still a powerful veteran of the three dynasties. Although he lives in seclusion in Hangzhou, he still has many properties and family members in Bianliang.The Liao army invaded Hebei, and before they crossed the river, the rich and powerful family members and rich merchants in Bianliang City left to avoid disaster. The market became deserted, and Cai Jing's family also moved south to avoid disaster.

Li Ruoxu thought to himself: "Those people who worry about the sky, my dynasty still has more than [-] troops in Hebei, and the capital has more than [-] forbidden troops. The Xijing camp, the southeast camp, and even the soldiers and horses from all over the world are going to help day and night. Come here. Let the Liao army cross the river. Once they cross the river, they will not be able to come and go. Pay for my life for the people of the Song Dynasty!" At this time, the imperial army had cleared the gate of the city, and the team moved forward slowly. Li Ruoxu took a long breath With a sigh of relief, he lifted the reins lightly, and followed the envoy's chariot out of Fengqiu Gate.

The sun shone into the carriage through the gaps in the bamboo curtains, and Qin Hui's face was cloudy and cloudy. "Should the rat run away first when disaster strikes?" There was a mocking smile on the corner of his mouth, but there was a haze in his heart.Although there is a more garrison system in this dynasty, as the camps of the border towns become more and more self-contained, there are fewer and fewer opportunities for the imperial guards to go out to guard the border. The Privy Council arranged to be stationed in the densely populated state capital, and do some long-distance trafficking by the way.Just look at the Liao army's iron cavalry in Hebei, if they cross the river and soldiers approach the city, they usually only know how to practice, how can the imperial guards of the capital who are not used to fighting resist?

The envoy's chariots and horses headed north, turned eastward after seeing the Yellow River, and prepared to cross the river by the Liyangjin floating bridge.Li Ruoxu found it strange that there were not a few forbidden soldiers on the embankment along the way. The imperial court had already sent [-] forbidden soldiers from the capital to station on the south bank of the river to prevent the Liao army from crossing the river.The embankment to the north of Bianliang was heavily defended.He inquired with the military academy, only to find out that patrolling the embankment is a hard job. Only a very small number of imperial guards are on duty on the embankment. Le, only when the Liao army is found will they go out to form a battalion.

Liyangjin is the gateway to the north of Bianliang. It is uniquely endowed with three hills, Dalong, Fenghuang and Zijin, lined up on the broad river. The imperial court used these three hills as piers to build a pontoon bridge. At that time, the most important channel for the north-to-north traffic of the Dahe River was also the gateway to the north of Bianliang.The camp of Zhang Shuye, the general manager of the Henan Horse Infantry Army, was set up in Liyangjin. Zhang Shuye personally led [-] soldiers and horses to set up camp at the head of the bridge in Hebei to prevent the golden soldiers from seizing the bridge.

"With such careful precautions, why not destroy the pontoon bridge?" Li Ruoxu asked, the military academies of the Crane Army looked at each other, and no one could answer.At this time, Meng Yuan, another civil servant who accompanied the declaration of the decree, coughed and said awkwardly: "My dear brother, this bridge is a thoroughfare from north to south. Seven thousand eight hundred, it took half a year to build it. I’m afraid it’s easy to destroy, but difficult to rebuild.”