Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 470 - 88 Sincerity crowns the ancients forever - 3

These days, although the morale of the Song army has been boosted, the Liao army has not suffered much loss.Liao soldiers can be seen everywhere between Bianliang and Xiangyang.At the foot of Lumen Mountain not far southeast of Xiangyang, Liao army camps were scattered all over the camps. Khitan cavalry walked between the tents. Outside the camps, ants-like signing soldiers dug trenches and built forts under the supervision of the Liao army.It seems that the Liao army has given up its plan to quickly conquer Xiangyang, and it is easy to adopt a long-term siege strategy.In the center of the Liao camp stood the white sun and moon flag several feet long, and the flag was clearly the royal account of the Khitan emperor.

"In just half a month, there were two major defeats, and the Luoyang Song Army and the Xiangyang Song Army became more united." Yelu Dashi's eyes became a little colder, and he said coldly: "Could it be that the water and soil of the Southern Dynasty corroded the Khitan people?" Have my warriors turned into cowards?" The generals under the tent did not dare to raise their heads, and did not even dare to breathe out.His Majesty's reprimand made many people feel ashamed.

There was a moment of silence in the tent, and Brother Yelu Tie bowed and said: "Your Majesty, the repeated defeats are not because the soldiers are not brave. It is because our army is not familiar with water warfare that the Song army took advantage." He is also the commander of the Southern Expedition, so he naturally has to distinguish between his subordinates.Sure enough, the generals of Nanzheng were relieved to hear that he took the lead.

Yelu Dashi snorted, and said sharply: "Before the Southern Expedition, you were not allowed to conscript the Southern Dynasties' army and build a navy? According to the report from the Northern Court, the navy has [-] personnel. Is it so vulnerable? Looking around at the generals in the camp, his eyes fell on Yelu Baoyi, and then turned back to Yelu Tiege.

Brother Yelu Tie said without hesitation: "The people of the Southern Dynasty are weak and have different intentions. They don't want to use their lives, so they have been defeated repeatedly." : "The signing army can't fight at all. The army of the Song Dynasty has not yet come, so I can't wait to throw away my helmet and armor." Instead, the army helped the enemy to attack us." "Nanchao people are unreliable at all!" Yelu Baoyi's expression remained unchanged, as if Yelu Tiege's belittling of Nanren had nothing to do with him.

The etiquette of the Khitan court was originally lax. After Yelu Dashi came to the throne, he removed many ceremonies passed down from the Southern Dynasties on the grounds of restoring the old customs.All of a sudden, the generals in the imperial account complained and clamored loudly, and in unison they pushed the responsibility for the defeat to the signing army of the Southern Dynasty.Yelu Dashi sized up the generals coldly, his face gradually livid, and secretly said: "The arrogant soldiers will be defeated, and the signing of the army under the city of Xiangyang can be said to be weak. What about the battle of Fangzhou?"

"Your Majesty!" Amidst the sound of prevarication and blame, someone suddenly said in a deep voice, "I have a strategy to control the Southern Dynasty navy."

Yelu Dashi was slightly surprised, turned his head to look, and it was Jin Wang Yelukuang who was speaking, that is, Mr. Han Da of Liaodong.After defeating the Kingdom of Jin, in order to eradicate the remnants of the Jurchens, Han Kuang offered another strategy of harvesting crops, that is, sending cavalry in summer to destroy the crops of the wild Jurchen tribes.If one lives only by fishing and hunting, there are very few people who can support them in the mountains, forests and waters.If things go on like this, the population of the Wild Jurchen tribe will definitely decrease greatly, and they will no longer pose a threat to Khitan.Although Yelu Dashi thought so deeply and ordered Xiao Orila, the general who stayed in Huanglong Mansion, to act according to the plan, he was also secretly wary of Yelukuang, who was resourceful and well-versed in the customs of Hu and Han.This southern expedition also brought him by his side.Yelukuang seemed to have noticed that when discussing matters in the Liao camp, he just listened but didn't talk, but today's offer of advice seemed quite abrupt.

"What is King Jin's plan?" Yelu Dashi laughed, "Let's hear it?"

"The signing army of the Southern Dynasty is unbearable. Your Majesty can use the Jurchens to train the navy." Yelukuang said with a slight smile, "The Jurchens are a family of fishermen and hunters. People can't understand the language, and the customs are very different, the Jurchen navy can only serve His Majesty wholeheartedly."

Yelu Dashi looked at the Khitan generals standing in the tent with strange expressions.The enmity between the Jurchens and the Khitans is not shallow.Therefore, since the pacification of the Jin Kingdom, the Liao army recruited Jurchen soldiers to form a battalion head. There were no more than a thousand people, and all of them were dismantled and distributed among the Khitan generals.But it is also a fact that the Jurchens are better at water than the Khitans. When Yelu Dashi was in the Imperial Academy, he also saw the credentials of the Dongying Kingdom's envoys complaining that the Jurchen pirates floated to the sea to plunder the fishing village.

After pondering for a while, Yelu Dashi nodded and said: "In this way, we will select Jurchen soldiers to fill the Baihe navy camp, and the matter of training the Jurchen navy camp will be handled by King Jin." He looked deeply at Yelu Kuang Yi glanced and smiled slightly.This person is still unwilling to be lonely.

Yelukuang suppressed his joy, and said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, please rest assured. I will not disgrace the holy order." Although he was conferred the title of King of Jin, he has never held military power since returning to Liao Dynasty.Yelu Dashi's will was a bit vague, he was only asked to select troops for training, but he didn't say who would lead them in the future.Yelukuang pondered in his heart, meaning to observe the aftereffect.

"Zhao Qi made a false decree to establish Xiangyang as a place of action." Brother Yelu Tie said again, "Xiangyang itself is easy to defend and difficult to attack. In my opinion, it is better to send another army to bypass Xiangyang and attack the south of Xiangyang. Ezhou, cut off Xiangyang’s food and wages. In this way, Xiangyang will be destroyed without attack.” The “outsider” Yelu Kuang suddenly got an important job, and his confidantes such as Brother Yelu Tie were a little strange.Yelu Dashi scanned the tent for a week and saw it all. What he wanted was this kind of effect, using Yelukuang, an outsider, to stimulate the proud soldier who was getting a little complacent.

Yelu Dashi thought for a moment, then shook his head and said: "Ezhou is also a fortified city, the defenders will win, and the army is not weak. If you bypass Xiangyang to attack Ezhou, you will easily be attacked by the enemy." His face is a bit complicated.Fangzhou is a tiny place, originally it was insignificant.Brother Yelu Tie sent troops to attack Fangzhou, mainly to punish the Song people, but he suffered a big loss.A total of [-] iron cavalry, plus [-] signing troops, were eaten up by thousands of signing troops in the Southern Dynasty, leaving no scum left. "Five thousand real Khitan people, thinking of this festival, Yelu Dashi felt his heart twitching. If the lone army goes deep, and if he gets caught in some "traitor" trick, the loss will be even more serious. Yelu Dashi's current plan is to use The heavy troops will attract the main force of the Song Army to the Jingxiang area, so that the Song Army's southeast roads will be empty, and Yelubijie and Tiemuge can calmly annex the land of wealth in the southeast. Self collapsed.

Seeing this, Yelukuang's heart moved slightly, and he offered another plan: "If Your Majesty is concerned about Yue Fei and Zhao Xingde, I have a plan to make the people of Song Dynasty cut off their own arms."

"Oh?" Yelu Dashi raised his head and said with a smile, "King Jin is resourceful and resourceful. He is really the wisest of the Khitan people. Is it a countermeasure to make the people of Song Dynasty cut off their arms?"

"That's right," Yelukuang saw that His Majesty's eyes seemed to be smiling, and he even explained his plan in a single word. His heart was terrified, and he didn't dare to betray himself. He bowed and said, "As the saying goes, the sky cannot be without sun. But this Zhao Ke is in the hands of our court, and in fact all major matters are decided by Chen Dong and Yue Fei. I think that the people of the Southern Dynasty love to intrigue, and there is no room for two tigers in one mountain. Sooner or later, Yue and Chen will be at odds. However, Yue Fei's temperament is passive, It is said that this time he opened up the waterway in Xiangyang because of his own will. Although he did not receive the official position and reward from Zhao Qi, but he was far away, and it was considered a secret connection. If you don't believe me, Chen Dong doesn't have any guesses about him in his heart. If we Send secret agents to infiltrate Ezhou, spread some rumors, and add fuel to the flames..."

Yelu Dashi frowned slightly, and asked: "What about Zhao Xingde?" Zhao Xingde of the Southern Dynasty often made amazing moves, and there was a faint balance and buffer between Yue and Chen. Therefore, if Zhao Xingde can be removed, Chen Yue will be separated again. The two became more confident.

Yelukuang smiled slightly, looked around, the Khitan generals whispered, they don't read much, not only can't think of this kind of strategy, even it sounds incredible.

"As far as I know, Zhao Xingde is capable of commanding the crowd, powerful in martial arts, and deeply humbled. If it wasn't for his subordinates' harassment, according to the scholars of the Southern Dynasty, he would indeed be an impeccable and perfect man." Yelu Kuang smiled slightly, "But his surname shouldn't be Zhao."

"Oh?" Yelu Dashi's eyes lit up, and he leaned forward slightly, "What do you mean by that?"

"When the post case was exposed ten years ago, the court of the Southern Dynasty charged Zhao Xingde with the crime of 'pretending to be the clan'. We can start from this." Yelukuang has made up his mind today, and if he doesn't say anything, it will be a blockbuster. Even though Yelu Dashi had scruples in his heart, he had no choice but to use him.

"Pretending to be the clan?" Yelu Dashi was slightly taken aback, and said in a deep voice, "But this person's background is innocent, and everyone in the world knows that pretending to be the clan is just a traitorous party," he glanced at the side Tong Guan said, "It's just the crime he was accused of. People like Chen Dong will never believe it."

"I think that we just need to follow the trend. We are not trying to spread the news that Zhao Xingde pretends to be the clan, but let Xizuo spread the news that Zhao Xingde is the clan." Yelukuang smiled and said, "This person is capable of writing and martial arts, and he is also the clan. Now the Song Dynasty There is only Zhao Qi in the clan, Lishe Chen Dong and the others falsely claim that they 'respect the Son of Heaven and do not obey 'chaos' orders', in my opinion, if Zhao Xingde suddenly becomes a clan, I'm afraid Chen Dong won't be able to guard against him."

Yelu Dashi thought about it for a moment, then nodded and let Yelu Tiege and Yelu Kuang, the privy envoys of the North Court, handle it together.Anyway, it was just spreading some rumors, even if it was unsuccessful, there would be no loss to the Liao Dynasty.

After the generals retired, Yelu Dashi stopped Tong Guan and asked, "King Zheng, how feasible do you think King Jin's strategy is?"

Since Bianliang fell and Zhao Ke was captured.Yelu Dashi granted Tongguan the title of King Zheng according to the agreement. However, this king was specially awarded to other races. If he did not enter the genealogy, he was similar to the title of "King So-and-so" among Bohai people and Jurchens, and completely different from the Khitan king. Differently, the Khitan generals would naturally not be jealous of him, at most they felt that His Majesty had an extra courtier from the Southern Dynasty.