Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen

At the end of June, under the scorching sun, Emperor Zhao Guangyi of the Great Song Dynasty led the elite forbidden army to set off from Zhenzhou. Six days later, they arrived in Jinrutun. They recruited a hundred people who were familiar with the terrain of Liao Kingdom as guides. They arrived in Dongyizhou the next day and crossed the Juma River. , Brazenly entered the territory of Liao. When it comes to the quality of individual soldiers, the Imperial Army of the Song Dynasty is well-equipped and well-trained, while the people of the Liao Dynasty are tough and natural fighters. Both sides have their own advantages.The main force of the Liao people is cavalry, and they are highly mobile. However, the initiative in this war is not in their hands. The Liao Kingdom has been established for more than 50 years and has entered a feudal civilized society. It has a large number of cities and settled cities. The common people have to defend the city, and the Song army forces them to abandon their strengths and become short. In terms of city offensive and defensive warfare and positional offensive and defensive warfare, the power of cavalry cannot be fully utilized. In terms of the combat power of infantry, who in the world can plunder the people of Song Dynasty? Bingfeng?

Therefore, Zhao Guangyi entered the territory of the Liao Kingdom and attacked the city and pulled out the villages all the way. Liu Yu, the governor of Yizhou in the Liao Kingdom, and Liu Houde, the judge of Zhuozhou, saw that the Song army was strong, and suddenly lost all will to fight. They offered Yizhou and Zhuozhou to the Song Dynasty one after another. It further boosted the morale of the Song army. Zhao Guangyi accepted the surrender of the Liao army and incorporated it into his own team, while continuing to march north without stopping. Ten days later, he arrived at the foot of Youzhou City and stationed at Baoguang Temple in the south of Youzhou City.

The Song Army's 300,000 troops arrived at the foot of Youzhou City in just ten days, and captured two big cities in the middle. Such a marching speed was simply appalling in that era. Everyone cheered, as if victory was within reach.No one thought that the always strong Liao people turned out to be a paper tiger, so vulnerable. The lightning tactics of the Song army also frightened the Liao people. The Liao Dynasty was stunned when they learned that it took only ten days for the Song army to reach the city of Youzhou with 300,000 troops. When he arrived, Xiao Chuo couldn't wait for the reinforcements to gather, so he ordered the troops who arrived first to rush to help Youzhou.

The guard of Youzhou is Yelu Xuegu. Seeing that the Song army is aggressive, Yelu Xuegu dare not go out to fight, relying on the fortified city to stand by and wait for help. In Youzhou City, there are nearly 20,000 elite Han troops such as Yulin Army, Shenwu Army, and Crane Army. There are tens of thousands of soldiers and horses from Qidan, Xi Bohai and other ethnic groups, and the food and grass stored in the city are enough to last for several years. As long as the city is not breached, he is still confident that he will defend it until the reinforcements arrive. The garrisons around Linhuang Mansion in Shangjing, Dading Mansion in Zhongjing, and Liaoyang Mansion in Tokyo rushed to Youzhou, Nanjing without stopping. A real contest began under the city of Youzhou...

In Xingzhou Prefecture of Xixia, when Yang Hao learned that Zhao Guangyi's troops had arrived at the city of Youzhou, he immediately decided to send troops to Xiaoguan and attack Longyou.The time has come, and unless he directly attacks Song State and wins a major victory, Zhao Guangyi will never give up the victory at his fingertips and return to the country. "Longyou Shangboqian has always looked down on me in Xixia. He accepted Yeluohe and Li Jiyun, and sent Huyan Aobo to help Li Jiyun's troops leave Xiaoguan to attack our gorge, and agitated Ganzhou Huihe and Tuoba Baibu rebellion. , is a clear proof. Shang Bo has never died for a day, and his heart of death is endless. Now Xiaoguan is in my hands. Shang Bo has launched a fierce attack day and night. On the front line of Xiao Guan, it can be seen that in Shang Boqian's heart, I, Xi Xia, is his sworn enemy.

Song Taizu had a saying: How can you allow other people to sleep soundly beside the couch? I thought so deeply, so I decided to send troops to the south to attack Shang Boqian, and guard Xingzhou with Zhongfang and Zhangpu. Yang Jiye was the former commander of the enemy. Ai Yihai, Zhang Chongwei, Tuo Ba Haofeng and Yang Yanlang were the main generals of the four armies, Li Huating was the vanguard, and Mu Yuqiao was the supervising army. They should be dispatched immediately without delay. " Yang Hao said so. Mu Yuqiao and Mu Sheren are spies of the Song Dynasty. Now that his mission has ended, the first secret order Li Huating received was to let Master Mu Yuqiao die naturally in battle!

Since he first defected to Xixia, "Flying Feather with the Wind" has checked his background clearly. Before this, there has never been a country that attaches so much importance to intelligence work and allocates a lot of money to cultivate and support such intelligence. It is a professional organization, but Yang Hao started to manage it painstakingly when he only occupied a corner of Luzhou.The hard work has paid off, and Yang Hao's intelligence organization is the best in the world in terms of efficiency. The army marched to Xiaoguan in mighty force, and Yang Hao, who claimed to be stationed in Xingzhou, quietly followed Yang Jiye's central army and marched towards Xiaoguan.

At this time, Zhao Guangyi was attacking Youzhou City. At the time of the most violent attack, more than a million arrows were fired in an hour. One can imagine what a spectacular scene it was. It was really arrows raining down. People only recruited women, children, old and weak to pick them up. After a while, the arrows they picked up were piled up as tall as firewood piles, but Youzhou City still stood still. To capture it, it is not enough to attack from afar. It is necessary to let the Song army set foot on its city, and it is not easy to do this. Youzhou's 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers and horses are enough to defend the entire Youzhou city into an iron wall. However, the 300,000 troops of the Song Dynasty trapped Youzhou, but they could not put all the 300,000 troops on the battlefield. Consuming the troops in the city.

At this time, Yelu Xidi, the king of the North Court of the Liao Kingdom, Yelu Sahe, the king of the second family, and Xiao Dougu, the commander of the army, had already rushed to Youzhou, but they were intercepted by Fu Qian and Kong Shouzheng, the left and right pioneers of the Song army. The main force of the Song army swarmed in, and the 100,000 Liao army was defeated by more than 200,000 tiger and wolf divisions of the Song imperial army, so they had to let their horses and flee. The Song army spread their legs and chased wildly. Fortunately, most of the Liao army were cavalry. Although they fled in a panic, they would not have the power to fight back once they were defeated. They could only be slaughtered and suffered heavy losses.

At this time, the fourth reinforcement army from the Liao Kingdom arrived, and this time it was Yelu Xiezhen who arrived. The veteran general had just arrived when he saw the reinforcements from the previous reinforcements running away desperately. The enemy, in front of the vigorous and vigorous Song army, could never bargain for cheap, so they camped at Deshengkou and set up a blue flag. All the flags in the army have their special meanings, and the green flag represents the recruitment of soldiers. The Liao army, who were running away desperately, saw the green flag erected at Deshengkou, and finally had a backbone, and they fled to Deshengkou at the same time, disrupting the formation of Yelu Xiezhen for a while. Zhao Guangyi was overjoyed at the sight, such a godsend opportunity How could I let it go, and immediately swung the army to attack. Yelu Yuzhen had already ambushed a group of soldiers and horses on the flanks. At the stalemate moment between the two sides, the flanking Liao army uttered a cry, and pierced the heart of the Song army like a sharp knife, relying on the fast horses The long sword disrupted the Song army's formation, and the Song army was forced to retreat. Yelu Xiezhen assembled the defeated soldiers from the first three reinforcements, and counterattacked with the troops of the headquarters.

When the defenders in the city saw the flags of the reinforcements fluttering in the distance, their morale was determined, and the city was defended more firmly. At this time, the reinforcements from the Liao Kingdom were still flowing. The army was stationed in the city of Youzhou and attacked day and night. As for the reinforcements of the Liao people, if you don't come to fight, I don't care about you. If you come to fight, just let the horse come. It is not unreasonable for Zhao Guangyi to do this. His soldiers are mainly infantry. If he does not do this, he will be led by the nose by the enemy. In the end, the 300,000 army may be dragged down, and Youzhou is the enemy must save If he has mastered this point, he will be able to attract the enemy to take the initiative to attack. The problem is that he did not block the pass near Youzhou to prevent the gathering of Liao reinforcements, which is a bit exaggerated.To be precise, due to the overwhelming victories all the way to the north, he underestimated the enemy a little, thinking that after frequent civil strife, the Liao Kingdom was ruled by orphans and widowed mothers, and its national strength had already declined, making it vulnerable to a single blow. And the "Pingrong Wanquan Formation" created by him with all his heart and soul has been brilliant in successive battles, which also gave him greater confidence.Although soldiers are impermanent, once the enemy is here and you have to fight head-on with yourself, the means you can use are limited. There are only a few strategies and tactics, and the fight is nothing more than military strength and combat effectiveness. This is the real reason why Zhao Guangyi does not pay attention to the increasing number of reinforcements from the Liao Kingdom. At this time, the sky prison in Bianliang, Tokyo, in the Song Dynasty ushered in another small sedan chair. There are still four small yellow gates beside the sedan chair, holding dust whisks in their hands, with a proud expression.Chu Yunxiu, who was in charge of the sky prison, stood at the gate of the sky prison and looked at the small sedan chair with a wry smile. The person in the sedan chair is still the present prince, just like when he came last time, what he wanted to see was the criminal who disguised himself as a woman and assassinated the emperor, but the last time the Imperial City Secretary Zhen Chuge Zhen and the servants all knew Gu Ruo Master Li Gu "invited" him back, this time he is the supervisor of the country, and the entire Tokyo Bianliang City respects him, who else can stop him? "Chu Yunxiu, do you still want to stop me?" Zhao Yuanzuo was sitting in the sedan chair, the curtain of the sedan chair was high, his face was as deep as water, and his tone was serious. Chu Yasi knew that if he said no again, his head would be lost.He had already sent someone to secretly inform Lord Zhen and Lord Gu, but these two people seemed to have disappeared without showing up at all. It seemed that they also knew that there was no way to stop the prince this time, so they simply avoided showing up.If he obstructed it, he, someone from Chu, would have to bear the charge of deceiving the emperor and resisting the decree. If he succumbed, the emperor would return to Beijing in the future, and he would still be the one to be held accountable for the crime. Chu Yunxiu smiled bitterly, but between dying in the future and dying immediately, he had no choice. He could only smile bitterly and leaned down, and said helplessly, "Your... How dare you disobey the order, Prince... please come in!" !" Bisu has been imprisoned in the sky prison as a repeat offender. It stands to reason that a repeat offender like this assassin should have been executed. The problem is that Zhao Guangyi still has a lot to do with keeping him alive. He needs Bisu's confession. He found another reason for killing his younger brother. Later, Zhao Guangmei was assassinated in Chang'an before returning to Beijing. Zhao Guangyi seized the opportunity and began to cleanse the courtiers. He had long forgotten about this little shrimp. And the important ministers in the court have been purged. I don’t know how many people have been dismissed, how many people have been promoted, and the personnel changes are too frequent. Those who have been dismissed can’t take care of themselves.The only one who really cared about him was Zhao Yuanzuo, Prince of the East Palace. Entering the sky prison, every door card was guarded by heavy soldiers. After walking for a long time, he arrived at the cell where Bisu was being held. After being imprisoned in this dark prison for so long, Bi Su's long beard reaches his chest, his hair is disheveled, his cheeks are skinny to the bone, his body is covered in dirt, his nails are long, he looks like a savage, completely different from his handsome appearance at the beginning. people.As a repeat offender, he still wears shackles and heavy shackles. Even in prison, no one removes him. He is alone and has no one to take care of him. If he is not tortured every day, it is preferential treatment. Who will pity him? There is only a palm-width gap between the iron fences as thick as an arm, and there is only a one-foot-square hole near the ground. A rice bowl is placed there, as dirty as a dog food bowl, and the door is fastened. With a thick iron chain, the lock was about the size of a brick. Yasi Chu unlocked it with his own hands, and walked in with Zhao Yuanzuo. When Zhao Yuanzuo saw Bisu, he couldn't help frowning, and turned to Chu Yunxiu and said, "This People... is that assassin who pretended to be a nun? Gu looks at...why doesn't it look like that?" Chu Yunxiu said: "I dare not lie to the crown prince. This man is the murderer. The years in the prison are like years. It is really unusual." Zhao Yuanzuo saw that the small cell was small, and it was darker in broad daylight than at dusk. The skylight was only the size of a fist, and only a ray of light came in. The prison was filthy and smelled bad, so he nodded unconsciously: "Well, it makes sense. You Go out, I have something to say, I want to ask him personally." When Chu Yunxiu heard this, he said in embarrassment: "This..." Zhao Yuanzuo said angrily: "Why, do you dare not listen to what I say?" Chu Yunxiu hurriedly said: "I don't dare, it's just... this beast is fierce and stubborn, and I'm worried about the safety of His Royal Highness, so..." Zhao Yuanzuo sneered and said, "He is wearing a heavy shackle, what can he do to me? Get out!" Chu Yunxiu had no choice but to bow his hands and back away. Zhao Yuanzuo let out a sigh, and said to the four little yellow men: "You also go out, go far away, if you can hear a word, I will cut off your ears." When the four little yellow gates heard this, they hurriedly agreed, and retreated in a panic. Zhao Yuanzuo took two steps slowly, and asked in a deep voice, "I'm here to ask you, did you assassinate the emperor that day, but was it ordered by King Qi?" Since he entered the cell, Bi Su has been sitting cross-legged on the ground, with long hair draped over his shoulders, motionless, like a stone carving and wood sculpture, until he heard the cell boss respectfully address him as prince, his ears twitched inconspicuously twice Next, but he still closed his eyes and meditated, like an old monk in meditation, until then he slowly opened his eyes. After being locked in prison for so long, he was already in shape, not human, but this time he opened his eyes , but like two cold electricity, bright and energetic, this is the sign that the internal kung fu has reached a very high level, the years in prison, although not without damage, but the training of him is obviously also very effective. Zhao Yuanzuo took another step forward and said sharply, "I asked you, why didn't you answer?" Bi Su narrowed his eyes slightly, and asked back: "Are you the current prince?" "It's the lonely family!" Bi Su giggled, and suddenly stood up, with one arm retracted, and the heavy shackle fell to the ground with a crash, and his shot was like lightning, and he had already strangled Zhao Yuanzuo by the throat. Injured both the emperor and the prince in front of many guards, everyone knows that he is a world-renowned assassin, but who knows that he is also a famous thief in the north with "all hands"?This nickname is not for nothing, after years of hard work, "all hands" finally got the chance to get out of trouble...