Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 46 The Night Banquet
The first field battle between Liao and Song armies lasted for more than half a day, each with casualties. Yelu Talie, the chief general of the Khitan army, watched the Song army's rear gradually calm down, and his face was very ugly. The plan failed, and the five thousand fine cavalry were already in danger, so after consulting Queen Xiao for instructions, they ordered people to blow the horn to withdraw the troops.

The Song army was short of cavalry, and in this situation, they couldn't take advantage of the advantage to pursue them, so they could only retreat and return to the camp for repairs.

According to the statistics of the battle results after the war, about [-] infantrymen of the Song Army died in battle, [-] cavalry were killed and injured, and nearly [-] Khitan cavalry lost.

This result sounds like a lot of Song soldiers died, but in fact, most of the dead were infantry, while the Khitan were all cavalry.What's more, the Song Army had [-] infantry and [-] Khitan cavalry.

After this battle, the Song army had about 5000 people, but the Khitan cavalry had only about 4.The mutual ratio has changed compared to the beginning, and Song Jun is considered to be in the upper hand.

In fact, the worst part of this battle was in the rear army.In order to destroy the [-] elite cavalry, the Song army almost paid the price of the same number of [-] infantry when they surrounded the opponent heavily.But it only accounted for less than one-third of the Song army's losses, but the Khitan's five thousand elite cavalry who died were half of the Khitan's losses in this battle.

Among the 200 Khitan cavalry, Ye Chen, Luo Yaoshun and others killed less than [-] people, but the role they played in leading the [-] cavalry was the most critical.Without them buying time for Cao Bin to adjust the infantry and shifting the direction of the battle formation, and without them sending someone to report, the Song army would be defeated in this battle in eight or nine out of ten cases.

In this battle, Ye Chen and Luo Yaoshun made great contributions.

In the imperial tent, Zhao Kuangyin looked at Ye Chen and Luo Yaoshun with a happy face, and after some compliments, he felt emotional in his heart, could it be that this son of Ye Chen is really a lucky star sent to me by heaven.

Next, for three days in a row, the Khitan cavalry confronted the Song infantry. There were casualties, but the Khitan cavalry was always firmly dragged in place.

On the afternoon of the third day, Pan Mei and Li Jixun, who were defending the east and west routes, each sent 2 horsemen to support them, including [-] cavalry.

At dawn on the fourth day, the Song Army's scouts discovered that the Khitan army stationed a hundred miles away had already secretly withdrawn, and the Song Army would naturally not pursue them.However, to be on the safe side, the 2 horses who had been in a hurry to support were sent back.

In the next half month, after the eastern and western Khitan armies merged with Empress Xiao's remaining 3 cavalry, they attacked the Song army's east and west defense lines several times. Although the Song army suffered slightly more casualties, the Khitan army failed to move forward.

Another seven days later, a small-scale civil strife suddenly broke out in Khitan. At the same time, the city wall of Jinyang was finally initially repaired after the people of Jinyang City rushed to repair it day and night.

Empress Xiao saw that the long battle was useless, so she led the army back in a hurry.

Zhao Kuangyin was overjoyed and ordered to rest for three days before returning to the imperial court, and held a banquet for the civil and military ministers in the original Northern Han Dynasty palace that night.

The banquet was divided into two levels, inside and outside. On the outside, the ordinary civil and military ministers, Zhao Kuangyin came forward and said a few words of praise and encouragement. After everyone had a drink together, they brought a group of civil and military officials to a beautiful banquet hall inside.

Because of Ye Chen's great achievements and being favored by Zhao Kuangyin recently, he was also fortunate to be in the same room with Zhao Kuangyin, Zhao Pu, Cao Bin, Pan Mei, Li Jixun and other bigwigs.

Although Guo Wuwei made some achievements in the attack on Jinyang City, it was extremely limited. On the contrary, he performed well in building the Jinyang City Wall and comforting the people of the Northern Han Dynasty recently. Suggesting to recruit Ye Chen to the army, but the mistake made Ye Chen and Luo Yaoshun break the Khitan cavalry sneak attack plan, thus turning the tide of the battle in one fell swoop, which can be regarded as a meritorious service.

In addition, Zhao Kuangyin intends to use the Taiping Sect behind Guo Wuwei to deal with the mysterious force that he has always regarded as a serious problem, so Guo Wuwei is also fortunate to have a banquet with Zhao Kuangyin.

Drinking and eating with old guys is the most boring thing in this world. Although Ye Chen is a legendary disciple of a master, and the next step to become a new nobleman of the Song Dynasty, it is already a sure thing.But in front of these old guys, no matter their age or status, they are still not enough.

In particular, Zhao Kuangyin was happy drinking and drinking. He felt that there were too many people waiting around him, so he only left Wang Jien behind.

So, Ye Chen and Wang Jien poured wine from a wine jar, squatted in front of a beautiful porcelain bottle, and counted the number of arrows thrown into the porcelain bottle for the old guys.

At this time, it was already midsummer, and the weather was hot. Fortunately, Guo Wuwei had great powers. In order to please Zhao Kuangyin, he got ice cubes from somewhere and put them in the wine to make everyone feel refreshed.

Apart from Ye Chen and Guo Wuwei, all those sitting here are the founding heroes who started a family with Zhao Kuangyin back then. They are called monarchs and ministers with Zhao Kuangyin, but they are actually old friends.Moreover, Zhao Kuangyin has a broad mind, and has always wanted to be the eternal emperor who surpassed Tang Zong and Han Wu. , to ensure the wealth and honor of one of his family members for life.

What's more, in today's world, it is far from the point where all the rabbits and birds are dead. At least the Southern Han, Southern Tang, Northern Khitan, and the various ministries of the party still exist.If Zhao Kuangyin wanted to unify China and sit as one emperor through the ages, he would be inseparable from all kinds of elite talents under his command.

So far, the Northern Han Dynasty has been conquered, and the Song Dynasty has gained the territory of the land all the way. Zhao Kuangyin is in a good mood and fights wine with these old brothers under his command.Naturally, everyone would not spoil the emperor's interest, and the bridal sedan chair was carried together, and there was nothing to say about the good atmosphere.

On the contrary, Ye Chen and Guo Wuwei were a little uncomfortable at first.Seeing the happy and harmonious scene between the monarchs and ministers of the Great Song Dynasty, each felt deeply moved.In addition, during the whole process, Ye Chen felt that Guo Wuwei was always focusing on himself, secretly observing his every move.He is not sure about Guo Wuwei's attitude towards him now, so he can only be vigilant in his heart.

The three civil servants headed by Zhao Pu couldn't stand this kind of drinking together. Zhao Pu slapped his hand on the table and said loudly, "It's too bullying. I think we should start composing poems and drinking now!"

Veteran Li Jixun laughed and said: "Old Zhao, if you can't drink, just say what's the matter with your housekeeping skills."

Zhao Pu retorted: "The three old men are gentle scholars. You use the method of savages to drink to feed the old man. Don't you allow the old man to pay back in a gentle way. After agreeing to compose poems, each person has a poem, and those who can't compose drink."

Zhao Kuangyin sat in the main seat and watched them attack each other. He took Ye Chen's wine from the Northern Han Palace with ice cubes and slowly tasted it. , It's not a problem for him, Cao Bin can't sit still, he is also a civil and martial artist, but before joining the army in his early years, he was a scholar.

Naturally, Guo Wuwei was not afraid. Although his main occupation was cultivating Taoism, he could be considered to have excellent diction. Otherwise, how could he be the former prime minister of the Northern Han Dynasty.Poor Gao Huaide, Dang Jin, Zhao Zan, Li Jixun and others are pure military generals, without the ability to compose poems, and they are ready to be drunk with a sad face.

Li Jixun drank a little too much now, and really didn't want to be drunk again, so as not to lose his composure in front of the emperor, he looked left and right, saw Ye Chen, his eyes lit up, and said, "Boy, write poems later, my share of you I’ll do it for you, every poem, and when I return to Kaifeng, I’ll pick five veteran veterans from the army to watch over your home.”

Before Ye Chen was surprised and said something, Gao Huaide, Dang Jin, and Zhao Zan rushed to say the same thing to Ye Chen.Apparently they all knew that Ye Chen's next step to be a knight was a certainty, and he was still the kind of founding prince who had food and land, and Ye Chen had no relatives in the Song Dynasty in this era when he was a family. Friends, those are the three little cats Wang Chao, Luo Yaoshun, and Jia Xian I befriended in the army recently, and they have no foundation.

And in this era of poor law and order, if an aristocrat does not have enough guards to guard the house, one is really unsafe, and the other is also inconsistent with his status.Therefore, at this time, in the name of borrowing a poem, in front of the emperor, he proposed to show favor to Ye Chen, an upstart who could not become his enemy at present, and by the way, solve the problem of being drunk.

Ye Chen knows his own family affairs. Although he has a good memory and has some poems in his mind, if he is allowed to meditate for a long time, he can compose one or two poems, but let him improvise and compose poems on the spot. Have this ability.However, in the eyes of everyone, Ye Chen is a disciple of a master outside the world, and writing a poem should be a piece of cake.

Without waiting for Ye Chen to protest, Zhao Kuangyin suddenly slapped the table and said, "That's it, I also want to see how Ye Chen's poems and songs are?"

In the end, Zhao Kuangyin was forced to be the referee by everyone, which made him very dissatisfied and a little disappointed. He deeply felt that although he tried his best to be a corporal and wanted to get closer to the people from his heart, there was still a difference between monarchs and ministers, especially in the past. There is a gap between him and his old brothers in the past.

In fact, because Zhao Kuangyin was born as a general, he likes to compose poems at banquets to show off his talents in martial arts and martial arts, but his status is always a constraint. Every time he has a banquet, he is the judge for ten thousand years.

Zhao Kuangyin felt a little dissatisfied, so he wanted to make things difficult for others, so he opened his mouth and set the rules. Since it is a poem, it must be well-behaved, conform to the rhythm of the poem, and rhyme.I can no longer talk nonsense like the song Li Jixun read last time, "I drank a big bowl, and I diapered my pants at night!", it must have meaning.And there happened to be five civil officials and five military generals, so the poems were fought in the order of one civil official and one military general.

(End of this chapter)