Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 805 The Beginning of the Disaster in Wuzhou, Liao Kingdom

Tang Xingwu said: "The success your Majesty mentioned is that the Liao bandits came to attack Hekou County?"

Ye Chen's eyes flickered coldly, and he said: "Since the Liao thieves dare to come to the hinterland of our Xiangfu country, I can't just watch them occupy Yinzhou, and then use this as a condition to blackmail me, and return safely with the stolen goods!"

Tang Xingwu said: "Your Majesty is wise." Saying this, Tang Xingwu thought that at least in Ye Chen's words, he could hear that he had full confidence in defending Hekou County for the Liao people to attack Hekou County with all their strength.

"I put the biggest piece of fat in the world in this small Hekou County. I don't believe that Xiao Dage and Shi Fat won't take the bait. Anyway, I'm worth more than Yinzhou City!"

Ye Chen walked out as he spoke, and everyone in the room laughed along with Ye Chen's joke, but the seriousness in their expressions did not weaken in the slightest, including Tang Xingwu was no exception.

Walking out of the hall, Ye Chen, Hu Sanguang, Tang Xingwu, and Lian Jicheng walked to the military council hall together: "I heard that you traveled around the world to study when you were young?"

Tang Xingwu nodded: "I left home at the age of 15, and went to Luoyang Taiyi College to study at the age of 22. It has been eight years. I have been to Liao, Dali, and the Western Regions."

"Reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles. No wonder you have such insight into the world's geography and military affairs."

"It's far less extensive than His Majesty." Tang Xingwu's compliment was sincere.After a few days, Tang Xingwu was deeply impressed by Ye Chen's knowledge of the geography of the world.It’s even unbelievable. After all, Ye Chen’s age is listed there, but the depth and breadth of knowledge Ye Chen has mastered is not what he should have at this age. The terrain can be said clearly and logically.And it's definitely not nonsense, but it's like witnessing it with your own eyes.However, Tang Xingwu was relieved when he thought of the textbooks of Xiangfu Academy written by Ye Chen himself.In the end, it can only be attributed to the fact that Ye Chen may really be a man bestowed by heaven.

Ye Chen shook his head with a smile. This matter is completely unexplainable, and in his capacity, there is no need to explain it.

The two came to the military conference hall, where the huge sand table just made according to the map was placed in the center of the hall.

There is a smaller one next to it, which is the city defense model of Hekou County.

The atmosphere in the hall was very tense, followed by a group of staff from Ye Chen's general staff, either surrounded the sand table, or sat in the ear room, and there were also soldiers holding it, running back and forth.

Hearing the movement of Ye Chen coming in, all the staff officers and soldiers with their own affairs stopped, and all turned around to salute Ye Chen.

"I've said it all, here, etiquette will be waived." Ye Chen sighed helplessly, "Let's all do things."

Looking back, when everyone was saluting, Tang Xingwu, Hu Sanguang and Lian Jicheng had already stepped aside.

When he came to the city defense model of Hekou County, Ye Chen stopped.The square and square city was completely reproduced on the four-foot-square sand table.

The city of Hekou County is ten miles and 79 steps away, and the height of the city is two feet six, which is already very large in terms of the size of the county.If it is placed in the south, the walls of many state cities do not have this height. In fact, in the south, many counties and even state cities do not even have walls, and a fence is considered a defense.But in the north, especially in the northwest where there are perennial wars, it can only be said that it is only a county after all.It's just that if it's a state city or a prefecture city, don't think about attacking the city without more than six times the strength of the defenders.

Ye Chen stood in front of the sand table with his hands behind his back.

Today, the goals of both the enemy and ours have been clear and simple, that is, the offense and defense around Hecheng County. Of course, the ultimate goal of the Liao people is Ye Chen.The news has been received that Xiao Dage, the commander of the Liao army, has led the main force to evacuate from the outside of Yinzhou City and rush to Hekou County as Ye Chen planned.

The decisive battle is imminent, and the next step is to rely on this not-so-majestic city to resist the siege and attack of the Liao army.

Ye Chen is very clear that the troops that Xiangfu Kingdom can mobilize are really limited, and even the [-] city defense troops of Xiajing City have already been mobilized.Under such circumstances, if he wanted to make a comeback and keep these Liao troops behind, Ye Chen had no other better way than using himself as bait.And the only good strategy is to implement it yourself, and no courtiers or generals dare to think about it.

In fact, he stayed in Hekou County with the respect of the emperor of Xiangfu Kingdom to lure the Liao people to attack the city, and the "Guide Book for Trapping the Enemy in the Ocean of People" is also forcing the Liao people to choose to come to Hekou County to attack the city. city.

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Standing on the top of the city of Hekou County, it seems that fireworks can be seen in the distance. Maybe it is the atrocities committed by the Liao people after looting, or maybe it is a village that is under attack, and the villagers inside are burning their hoarded fodder. and food.

Since the fall of Daxiaguan and the Liao army entered the border of Yinzhou, hundreds of thousands of robbers swept the villages and towns like locusts.

But then, after the Liao army knew the terrain of Yinzhou, they decisively divided the [-] troops. The reason for this was not only to attack Yinzhou City and various counties, but also to resist the reinforcements brought by Yang Jiye and Zeng Shangfei.Another reason is that this number of cavalry cannot be piled into the small Yinzhou Mountains. This is a complete waste of the cavalry's expertise, and it is extremely stupid.

Maybe those tribal armies led by tribal patriarchs with a sheepish taste have the same brains and ideas as robbers, but none of the high-level officials of the Liao Kingdom, such as Xiao Dage and Shi Fat, will be robbed. If you are dazzled by the stolen goods, you will use your troops reasonably to expect more benefits, and there will not be too much waste.

And for the preset battlefield around Hekou County, once the number of cavalry exceeds [-], there is not much difference.Even according to the analysis of the staff who followed Ye Chen, if the Liao army exceeds [-] or more, it will improve the odds of winning.

At this stage, the Liao soldiers who came to the vicinity of Hekou County are only scouts, and the largest group does not exceed [-] cavalry. The main force is constantly harassed along the way, and the marching speed is very slow. Need to rest.But Tang Xingwu also knew that as long as Ye Chen's plan was successful, he could stand on the top of the city tomorrow and watch the Liao people's flags outside the city like a sea.At that time, whether it is victory or defeat will be known within seven or eight days at the most.

On the top of the city, Tang Xingwu saw that Hu Sanguang's expression was still worried and heavy, so he couldn't help laughing and said: "Master Hu has been worried that Hekou County will not be able to defend?"

"If it wasn't for His Majesty sitting in the city, I don't think it would be possible for four thousand soldiers to hold Hekou County for more than three days."

Zeng Shangfei brought [-] reinforcements from Xiajing and was stopped in Qingshan County by the same [-] Liao troops.It is still a hundred miles away from Hekou County.

Originally there were only [-] troops in Hekou County, but now there are only less than [-] troops left. Ye Chen brought [-] black cavalry and [-] dark guards.That's nearly four thousand one hundred.In addition, there are [-] civilians, including about [-] young and strong men. Although they can't form combat power for a while, they are all pretty good logistics soldiers in real fights.

"Master Hu, don't worry. His Majesty can guard for three days without sitting in the town. Now there is no problem with His Majesty sitting in the town for at least seven days. If there are seven days, maybe the Daxia Pass is already in our hands. At that time, the Liao army will definitely panic and don't have much thought Attack Hekou County." Tang Xingwu said inexplicably, "It is enough to defend until the gate is closed."

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Since the troubled times of the Five Dynasties, there have been constant wars and thieves in the Northwest. The rural villages where they are located basically have walls to prevent thieves.Of course, such a wall would definitely not be able to stop the attack of the Liao army.Most of the villages, even if only a hundred Khitan cavalry, can easily break through.However, after Ye Chen's "Guidebook for Trapping the Enemy in the Vast Sea of ​​the People" was released publicly, at least the situation is much better than before.The same amount of food and grass forced the Liao people to dispatch more troops.

In addition, a lot of the Liao Army's food and grass were burned by Bai Canghai's special brigade. For a while, the food and grass were short, and the number of troops who went out to fight the grass and valleys was forced to increase. This meant that the overall strength of the Liao Army's army that could be used for battle was declining.War horses are not in good condition in winter. If you ride them for a long time, the number of dead will not be small.

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It is the coldest time of the year in Northwest Wuzhou in November of the lunar calendar, and there are no shepherds, cattle and sheep grazing on the grassland at all.

Several steeds galloped over, disturbing the pheasants and hares that were foraging in the withered grass. They either flew or hopped around, fleeing quickly to the depths of the grassland.

There are very few trees on the grassland, and even if there are, they don’t grow very big. A two-foot-tall wild elm has opened up a huge canopy, which is very eye-catching in the winter wasteland.

The leading knight reined in his horse, took a closer look at the tribes below the hillside, smiled coldly, and said to one of the knights: "A medium-sized tribe, about [-] tents, you take a person back to report and lead the way."

The cavalryman promised to turn his horse's head and gallop away, and the remaining three cavalrymen jumped off their horses and led their horses into the shade, not for shade, but for covering themselves.

The two took off their armor, and the other stood in the shade of a tree on guard. Looking at their attire, they knew that they were three scouts.

They had only rested for a stick of incense when a black line slowly appeared on the grassland from a distant mountain depression.

The hillside is located in the south of the foothills, with plenty of sunshine, and there are half-protruded mountain depressions on the left and right, which can block the cold wind in winter, and the thick camel and cow felt are enough for the herdsmen to resist the severe cold of this winter.

For a long time, for nomads, winter has been the time of least vigilance, not to mention that the tribes in the Wuzhou border of the Liao Kingdom have only robbed the Han and Tubo people for more than ten years, and no one has ever dared to come to the powerful Liao Dynasty. country to rob them.The relatively comfortable living environment made them less vigilant, and they didn't even send out any alert sentries.

(End of this chapter)