Dawn of the Empire

459 Chapter 86

Suddenly, several Khitan cavalry appeared. Although there were only a few cavalry, they boldly approached the Ferry of Fancheng.Most of the Song soldiers guarding the ferry were infantry, running around on the watchtower at Shuizhai Wharf to warn them.Liu Yanqing's expression darkened, and he stretched his right hand aside, Huang Zhan hurriedly handed over the binoculars.

In the sight of the binoculars, the Liao soldiers looked quite arrogant. They yelled loudly, stopped outside the arrows of the Song army on the tower, raised their fingers and shouted at the top of the city. Judging from the mouth shape, these Liao soldiers spoke Chinese. I don't know if it's Han'er.Because in the sixteen prefectures of Youyun, the Khitan people are extremely Sinicized, while the Haner are extremely Hunianized. If you don't look at the family tree of the surnames or the military records of the North Academy, it is difficult to tell the difference.Compared with before, the fur coats of the Liao soldiers were replaced by armor. Liu Yanqing recognized that it was the upper body of the infantry armor. Even the pockets were the Song army's standard, which was probably captured by the Liao army in Hebei and Bianliang.Just for the convenience of getting on and off the horse, the Liao soldiers canceled the front and rear skirts.Perhaps it was hung on the chest of the war horse.The Qingqi of the Liao army used to have almost no armor, but now they have increased the load by forty to fifty catties, and the horses can still bear it, and their flexibility has not been greatly compromised, and their ability to charge into battle has improved a lot.

"It's like a tiger with wings added." Liu Yanqing's expression became even more gloomy.

The Khitan has good horse sharp swords, and the Song people have heavy armor and strong crossbows. Both sides have their own advantages. Now it seems that there is no difference in armor.And sweeping across the east and the north of the river greatly boosted the morale of the Liao army, which can be seen from the arrogance of these Liao army blockers.At this time, outside the scope of the Song army's water village, many fleeing civilians crowded the banks of the Han River, and there were only more than 50 cavalry, and they galloped around the crowd of civilians in front of tens of thousands of Song troops in Xiangyang and Fancheng. , with a yelling sound, trying to separate some of the people from the crowd and drive them away.

"Liao soldiers!" "Liao soldiers are coming—"

The Liao soldiers' cavalry only harassed in the distance, and when the people at the ferry hadn't really seen the Liao soldiers, every time Fancheng lit up the beacon, there would be a commotion at the Hanshui Ferry.When the smoke was ignited just now, even though the people panicked, some remained calm, but at this moment there were real cavalrymen from the Liao army, and the crowded crowd suddenly became more than ten times more chaotic than before.Many people were in a panic, most of the northerners couldn't swim, many people stumbled and drowned in the Han River in the panic, and the people on the shore were still shouting for help, the scene changed into chaos for a while.

There were also many bloody people in the Song army on the city wall, and they all pointed at the Liao army and cursed.

Ding Jidao said: "Commander, the last general is willing to lead more than a hundred cavalry into battle, will he kill these spies?"

Liu Yanqing hesitated for a moment, then murmured: "Yelu Dashi is extremely cunning, be careful of falling into the trick of the Liao bandits to lure the enemy." The other generals who wanted to fight, saw that his face was slightly dark, and seemed displeased. He was overjoyed, so he dared not bring up the matter of war again.Liu Yanqing regards his business as a family business, when Southeast and Hebei changed commanders, he put in a lot of effort to suppress the disobedient generals one by one.All the generals have learned to listen to words and looks, as long as Marshal Liu is in a good mood, it doesn't matter even if he drinks and plays money.As for Han Shizhong and Yue Pengju's old confidantes of Wang Yan, they were transferred out of the southeast camp one after another.

The people on the north bank of the Han River knew that once they were plundered by the Liao army, it would be a miserable end, so no matter how the Liao army cavalry galloped and threatened them, the people only had one idea, and rushed to the south first, and the people on the bank of the river were crowded. getting denser.More than fifty Liao troops rode arrogantly for a long time, probably out of horsepower, and then fled away with their whips. At this time, hundreds of corpses had already floated on the surface of the Han River.The crying on the bank of the river was loud, and besides those who drowned, there were also many casualties due to trampling on each other.

The more than fifty Liao troops riding in Fancheng seemed to be in a no-man's land, and a hill to the east of Fancheng had a panoramic view.Brother Yelu Tie put away the binoculars, and said to himself: "Liu Yanqing is so cautious, it is troublesome." He himself is the Privy Councilor of the North Court, and Yelu Dashi entrusted him with the important task of commanding the south and west roads, so he can be called the one person above all , under ten thousand people, but the more the emperor valued it, the greater the responsibility Yelu Tiege himself felt.Beside him, many generals in full armor stood awe-inspiring, including Khitans, Jurchens, and Mierbos. Those who rode horses and fought in the north would not frown when they encountered Xiangyang City surrounded by Han River , No one can give advice to Brother Yelu Tie.

Under this low hill, the gray tents are connected together, and more than 3 Beiyuan Jingqi have been stationed. According to the prior arrangement, each team has set up three times as many tents, plus Strict patrols inside and outside, from a distance, it seems that there are [-] cavalry troops setting up tents here.Brother Yelu Tie estimated that before the day after tomorrow, the Song army scouts in Fancheng would report the situation to Xiangyang.

The official road next to the small hill was crowded with horse-drawn carts and carts, and the signing army and civilian husbands were sending a large amount of grain and grass from Yingchang Mansion to the front line of Fancheng. The Song people's habit is to go ahead with the soldiers and horses before moving the grain and grass, but the Khitan's habit is Bing is expensive and fast, and the grass valley is replenished with military supplies.This time was no exception. The 20 cavalry led by Brother Yelu Tie rushed ahead, and nearly [-] signed troops, food, grass, supplies, iron barrels and guns of the firearms battalion all fell behind.

A general asked to fight: "Master Dutong, the Song army is so vulnerable, we can take down Fancheng first."

Brother Yelu Tie praised: "Okay, courage is commendable." But he shook his head and said, "The walls of Fancheng are strong, and we are all cavalry. It is not worthwhile to attack the city to death. Fancheng." For some reason, after rushing here, Brother Yelu Tie seemed to be in no hurry. According to the system of the Liao Army, the higher the official rank, the more rewards will be given to victories.The subordinates in Brother Yelu Tie's tent are all generals who command thousands of horses.Therefore, in the just-concluded battle of Hebei and Henan, they all gained a lot of benefits. At this moment, when the soldiers approached Fancheng, they were refrained from entering, and they were as anxious as eagles being held in a cage.

Brother Yelu Tie nodded inwardly, but still said with a sombre face: "Before leaving the capital, His Majesty personally told me not to be careless in attacking Xiangfan, which will damage the reputation of our army. We will secure the camp and build artillery fortifications for the artillery battalion. After the artillery and siege equipment are ready, we can attack Fancheng. We are not familiar with water cities like Xiangyang. If we attack rashly, not only will we not be able to take down the city, but we will also lose troops for nothing. Let’s see how to conquer the reality of Xiangyang.” The generals heard that it was the emperor’s personal order. Although they no longer objected, their faces were filled with disappointment. Brother Yelu Tie said again: “Fangzhou is a small prefect. If you dare to kill my Khitan envoy, if you don’t punish him, the Song people will become more and more rampant.” He looked around at the generals, and asked, “Whoever goes to Fangzhou first and cuts down Gao Zhen’s Show your head to the people of Song Dynasty!"

Before he finished speaking, General Yelu Xianzhen of the Northern Academy said loudly: "I would like to go to war!" What he hated the most was building strongholds, building artillery fortifications, and building rafts and sailors. The army is responsible, but the general also has the responsibility of supervision.In contrast, Yelu Xianzhen would rather lead his army to attack Fangzhou.The other Khitan generals were preempted by him, and only then secretly regretted that Fangzhou hadn't been cleaned up much. Although people in Song Dynasty said that the land was barren and the people were poor, there was always a lot of money.

Brother Yelu Tie immediately nodded in agreement, and ordered Yelu Xianzhen to lead his troops to Fangzhou to punish the Song people.After Yelu Xianzhen retreated, not long after, the horns below the hill blew, and about 5000 northern cavalrymen rolled up their tents and left the camp, leaving those tents in place. The number of Liao soldiers has not been reduced much.

After more than a month, the army of the Liao army slowly gathered together. Brother Yelu Tie was not in a hurry to attack the two cities of Xiangfan. The wooden stakes were used in an attempt to cut off the grain road of the Song army in Xiangfan.During this period, the Song Army tentatively attacked the Liao Army several times, but did not try its best to stop the Liao Army's actions.Not long after, the road on the shore was controlled by the cavalry of the Liao army, and the waterway was also in jeopardy. Then the southeast camp became tense and sent a fast boat to contact Ezhou. and the water gate between Ezhou.

............

After meeting the envoys from Xiangyang, Yue Fei, the commander of the Suppression Army, immediately summoned all the generals to discuss how to deal with Liu Yanqing's proposal.Yue Fei seemed to want to take this opportunity to fight the Liao army, but most of the generals were unwilling to sacrifice their strength for nothing to help the southeast camp open the food road.

Wang Gui was displeased and said, "What did you do with a hundred thousand troops marching southeast?"

Yang Zaixing also said: "They sat and watched the Liao army stand on their feet, but now they want to attack their camp, the casualties will be several times."

Since the formation of the army, the generals have not opposed the commander's decision so much.Yue Fei's face was as deep as water, he couldn't see any emotion, he was thinking about it, and suddenly outsiders came to Tong Bing, Chen Dong and Zhao Xingde came together to discuss the rescue of Xiangyang, Yue Fei's face couldn't help but slightly changed Shen, he didn't say much, he just ordered the soldiers to watch the seats for the two of them.

The civil and military affairs in Ezhou are headed by Chen Dong and Yue Fei. If the system of the Great Song Dynasty is based on civil and military affairs, Chen Dong's status will be slightly higher than Yue Fei, but the barracks are not allowed to enter the barracks. Just now Chen Dong and Zhao Xingde were put in.Chen Dong didn't take it seriously either, Zhao Xingde stepped into the commander's tent and cupped his hands and said: "Chen invited Zhao to come up to discuss the matter of Xiangyang's food and roads."

Chen Dongxian said: "General Yue, Chen feels that the troops in Ezhou are meager and their self-defense is not enough. If we want to divide our troops to open the food roads for Xiangyang, it might be a bit inappropriate." Looking at each other, everyone looked strange, and they all chose to remain silent.