Chapter 51 fourth quarter

In April of the fourth year of Xuanhe, Tong Guan's army arrived in Xiongzhou, where he divided his troops into two groups: the previously planned front-line commander Zhong Shidao became the commander of the East Route Army, stationed in Baigou (now Baigou Town, Hebei Province) ;Xin Xingzong is the commander of the West Road Army and stationed in Fancun. However, the generals of the Northwest Army did not receive the expedition order from the coach Tong Guan. What's the big picture?Surrender first, and recover Youyun without a single soldier.Zhao Ji's best policy. Tong Guan asked Zhao Liangsi to draft a letter of persuasion, and asked Zhang Xian and Zhao Zhong, officials of the Liao Kingdom who had defected from the Liao Kingdom, to take them to see the Emperor Tianci.

Tong Guan’s persuasion letter is sincere, saying that your Liao Kingdom is in such a mess today, which is completely the end of many years of perverting and knocking on our Southern Dynasties. Now you can no longer protect the Han and Qi people in Youyun. It is our pleasure to help others. The hobby of the Northern Song Dynasty, so we brought troops here to help you maintain law and order regardless of previous suspicions. For the sake of the warm hospitality you received from the King of Qin and Jin when you were an envoy to Daliao, if you open the city and surrender, I will definitely find you a high-ranking official. , so that children and grandchildren have no worries about food and clothing.

Yeluchun was very angry when he received the letter of surrender. He originally expected his friend, the Northern Song Empire, to become a reliable political ally. In a fit of rage, Yeluchun did not hesitate to violate the common practice of not beheading envoys in exchanges between the two countries, and beheaded Zhang Xian and Zhao Zhong. Despite a bad start, Tong Guan still did not waver in his determination to regain Youyun peacefully.Eunuch Tong wondered whether Zhang and Zhao were traitors of the Liao Kingdom, and there was a big obstacle in communicating about the important events of the return, so he re-sent Ma Kuo, a young envoy who had just performed well in the negotiations between the Song and Jin Dynasties, as an envoy to Youyun to carry out Surrender activities.

After Ma Kuo arrived in Youzhou, he quickly found out the basic situation in Youzhou, and focused his firepower on Li Chuwen, the powerful minister at the time and the biggest hero who helped Yeluchun come to power.Li Chuwen was originally a Han Chinese, and he had a good friendship with Zhao Liangsi back then. When the Liao Empire was at the end of its rope, it was natural for him to desire to return. When the surrender was going smoothly, some people in the Northwest Army couldn't hold back, and a 100,000-strong army marched towards the Liao territory. Could it be that it was just to cheer up Ma Kuo and other diplomatic envoys?The soldiers of the Northwest Army have never fought such a useless battle.

Before the expedition, except for a few people such as Zhong Shidao, there was a sense of optimism pervading and growing throughout the empire, thinking that the Liao people were grasshoppers after autumn, and You Yun was the homeland of the Han people. The people in the cloud area will inevitably eat pots of milk to welcome them. It is a very simple matter to recover the lost land. Yang Keshi, the general of the East Road Military Division, was full of such silly and naive thoughts in his head. The grumpy General Yang felt that talking to the Khitan people would be foolish, and the Liao people would only have a lonely city left. Everything is solved!

Yang Keshi led thousands of troops under his tent to invade the Liao territory without authorization, and approached Youzhou. Yang Keshi was disappointed. On the land of the Liao Kingdom, he did not see the common people (there were very few) who were looking forward to the Song Army. For two hundred years, whether it is the Han people, the Khitan people, or the Bohai people, they all live on the same land, and there may be inequality and oppression among ethnic groups, but all these are insignificant compared with the fear of war. What greeted them was Yelu Dashi's troops, an army facing national annihilation.

Yelu Dashi, the royal family of the Liao Kingdom, the eighth grandson of Yelu Abaoji, the Taizu of the Liao Dynasty, was eager to learn since he was a child, able to ride and shoot, and also proficient in Chinese and Khitan.In the fifth year of Tianqing (AD 1115), Dashi became a Jinshi, entered the Imperial Academy, and served as the imperial edict. Later, after Yelu Dashi transformed into a professional soldier, Liao people like to call him Yelu Lin Ya (Lin Ya is a Liao native. A nickname for Hanlin). When the Jin people invaded in an all-round way, Yelu Dashi served as the governor of the Liao Xingjun (Lulong). When the Liao people had no leader, Yelu Dashi and Li Chuwen, who had been disappointed with Emperor Tianzuo, supported Yelu Chun as emperor, and Yelu Dashi became emperor. Dashi became the highest military officer in Youyun's side.

No matter how much progress Ma Kuo's surrender activities have made in Youzhou, it will become an insurmountable obstacle when he comes to Yelu Dashi, who holds a heavy army. Facing the enemy's strength and our weakness, he just coldly said what's the big deal, the big deal One dies. Perhaps Youzhou City was indeed exhausted, and the soldiers turned golden when they talked about it, but having a coach as cold as ice and as hard as steel quickly made this army abandon its panic and restore its former glory. Facing the invasion of Yang Keshi's troops, Yelu Dashi took the initiative to lead his troops to fight, and the Liao people finally vented on the Song people the anger of being ravaged by the Jurchens on the battlefield for the past two years.

Yelu Dashi led two thousand cavalry to meet Yang Keshi's tribe and defeated Yang's tribe. The victory of Yelu Dashi gave the Liao people a shot of stimulant.Yelu Chun gave Yelu Dashi 30,000 soldiers and launched a fierce attack on the East Route Army. On the one hand, the order to open fire with the Liao people has not yet been issued (still waiting for the results of the negotiations), and on the other hand, the East Route Army commander Zhong Shidao was originally an opponent of the Liao army, so he did not order the troops to attack the Liao army. Fight back and wait for Dashuai Tong's latest instructions while passively defending.

Tong Guan didn't expect that as soon as the matter of surrender was a little bit, the two sides fought, saying that in order to avoid a greater conflict between the two armies, the troops should be withdrawn to Xiongzhou first! As soon as the Eastern Route Army withdrew, the Liao people became more energetic and chased them all the way, chasing the Eastern Route Army to the foot of Xiongzhou City. While repelling the Eastern Route Army, Liao General Xiao Qian also launched an attack on the Xin Xingzong Division of the Western Route Army in Tunfan Village. , but can only claim defeat. When the battle was defeated, someone had to be the scapegoat. The East Route Army attacked without permission and was defeated again. The coach Zhong Shidao couldn't escape the blame and was forced to retire from get out of class. The governor of Xiongzhou He Shen and other relevant people were also punished.

Ma Kuo's persuasion to surrender has made some progress, but the military victory of the Liao side has made Ma Kuo's progress in recruiting surrender in vain.Yelu Dashi even said arrogantly, saying that you southerners fight if you want to fight, and make peace if you want to make peace. What is it like to say that more than 100,000 soldiers are cowering at the border? It's so hot, don't let your brothers suffer. The war was unfavorable and the surrender failed. Tong Guancai realized that annexing and recovering Youyun was not as simple as he imagined, and because of the recent small defeat, the voices opposing the conquest of Youyun became more and more fierce. The class teacher. Tong Guan led his troops back to Hejian Mansion, ending the first expedition against Liao in a disgraceful manner. In Hejian Mansion, Tong Guan's buttocks were still hot, when he heard the great news from Youyun - Yeluchun died of illness, he didn't even have a son, and Youyun was only controlled by Yeluchun's concubine Xiaofei Agent of state affairs. The great changes in the Liao side once again tempted the monarchs and ministers of the Northern Song Empire, and the prime minister Wang Fu began to repeatedly lobby in front of Zhao Ji, which moved Zhao Ji again. The Northern Song Empire once again organized an army of 200,000 to attack Liao again. This time, the empire also carefully made three preparations, first-hand to continue to win the insider Li Chuwen and others to lure the Liao people to surrender (this plan soon failed, and Li Chuwen was soon beheaded by the Empress Dowager Xiao who had just come to power because of Tong Song) ;The second hand is to fight for it by force; in the end, the Northern Song Dynasty people have another trick, asking their allies Jurchen to help. For this reason, the Northern Song Dynasty once again sent Zhao Liangsi, Ma Zheng, and Ma Kuo's father and son to the Kingdom of Jin to discuss matters related to the joint attack of Youyun by the two countries. This time there were even more voices of opposition. In addition to the old-fashioned objection that the Liao-Song alliance was indefeasible, some more pragmatic objections also surfaced.Ma Kuo, who was in charge of the mission to the Kingdom of Jin, expressed his dissent when he saw the letter of credence written by Zhao Ji to the Kingdom of Jin. Ma Kuo said that the original covenant was that the Jin people attacked Xijing and we attacked Yanjing. Now we cannot go on conquering and ask the Jin people for help. Not only violated the original oath, but also let the Jin people look down on us; if you can’t take You Yun with soldiers, it’s better to let the Jin people take it away. Leave a big problem. It's a pity that only Ma Kuo, who has been sent to Jinliao many times and has a full understanding of the situation in the three parties, has such a sense of urgency. However, Ma Kuo was young and humble, and his voice could not reach Zhao Ji's ears. For the second expedition to Liao, Tong Guan and Cai You will still serve as the chief and deputy envoys. The former Zhong Shidao and Xin Xingzong will be replaced, and Tong Guan's confidant general Liu Yanqing will serve as the front-line commander-in-chief. Liu Yanqing was born in a family of generals in the Northwest Army, and made many military exploits in the Northwest. Later, he followed Tong Guan to pacify Fangla, became the general manager of Fuyan Road, and the deputy commander of the Ma Jun. He was Tong Guan's most important general. The newly rising young generals of the army. Although Liu Yanqing had a lot of military exploits before, and his son Liu Guangshi was also one of the four famous generals of the Southern Song Dynasty, the performance of the Liu family and his son in Youzhou was catastrophic. When the 200,000 troops gathered in Xiongzhou again, the situation of the Youyun Liao army became more serious. First, the group of dragons had no head and a woman was in charge of the house; Song Jun. Everything was developing in a favorable direction, and the Northern Song Dynasty quickly received news that the defenders in Yi and Zhuozhou had surrendered. Guo Yaoshi was originally a Han Chinese in Tiezhou, Bohai Sea, and was the leader of the resentful army at that time.The Resentment Army was an irregular army temporarily formed by the Liao Empire after the Jurchens invaded the Liao territory. Most of the members were those who lost their brothers and fathers in the war. Ever Victorious Army).Guo Yaoshi fought bravely and soon became the leader of the resentment army.Afterwards, the empire lost steadily, and the resentful army also retreated to Youyun and stationed in Zhuozhou. Guo Yaoshi saw that the situation of the Liao people was gone, and he was unwilling to take refuge in the Jurchens, so he first thought of taking refuge in the "motherland". After the two prefectures of Yi and Zhuo were lost, the Empress Dowager Xiao knew that she was alone and hopeless, so she submitted letters of surrender to both the Song and Jin states.After asking Zhao Ji for instructions, the reply from the Northern Song Dynasty was that we want the land and hand over Youyun Sixteen Prefectures, everything is easy to talk about. Militaryly, the Song army continued to approach, and Liu Yanqing led an army of 100,000 (known as 500,000) to approach Youzhou and stationed in Lugou River, Liangxiang County. There is no hope of claiming the vassal, and the Liao army in Youzhou has only one last fight. The two commanders of the Liao army, Xiao Qian and Yelu Dashi, led 20,000 elites with almost all their belongings to confront the Song army across the river. The previous bravery of the Liao army made Liu Yanqing have no confidence when facing this army, and he did not dare to cross the river to fight. The two sides confronted each other peacefully for several days. Guo Yaoshi, who had just surrendered, was not afraid of tigers when he was a newborn calf. He offered a good strategy to Liu Yanqing, saying that the main force of the Liao army is on the other side of the Lugou River, and Youzhou must be empty. If we send an army to attack Youzhou, we will succeed. When Xiao Qian and Yelu Dashi learned that the backyard was on fire, they would not be able to look after each other head to tail, and they would be able to defeat the Liao army in one go. Liu Yanqing adopted Guo Yaoshi's strategy, and sent Guo Yaoshi, Yang Keshi and other generals to lead 7,000 troops to attack Youzhou, and told Guo and Yang that as long as you take down Youyun, the follow-up reinforcements of the three generals (Liu Guangshi) will follow. kill. As expected by Guo Yaoshi, Youzhou was really empty. The Song Army broke through Youzhou City without much effort, but the inner city was always controlled by Queen Mother Xiao. Also send reinforcements. The vanguard troops of Guo and Yang, the Liao army and reinforcements in the city fought fiercely in Youzhou City for three days. The 7,000 Song army fought hard and only 400 were left. Guo Yaoshi and Yang Keshi barely saved their lives and rushed out. The city is coming. However, during the most critical three days, Liu Yanqing and his son who were stationed at the Lugou River did nothing. They waited and watched from across the river. This is the best time to go out of the river to meet the Liao people. In the end, Xiao Qian and Yelu Dashi, who managed to save Youyun, showed Liu Yanqing the armored mounts of Guo Yaoshi and Yang Keshi, saying that we had killed all the people you sent. Liu Yanqing's feet were already weak, and he had no will to fight. When the miraculous Liao army rescued Youzhou City, they had time to do another thing, which was to send troops to rob the Song army's food delivery troops. Not only that, but Xiao Qian and Yelu Dashi also staged the "Heroes Meeting Jiang Gan Zhongji" performed by Zhou Yu in Chibi that year. They spread the Liao army in the army with three times the strength of the Song army. One escaped and reported to Liu Yanqing. Liu Yanqing's first reaction after receiving the news was to retreat, although his subordinates reminded him that if he retreated at this time, the Song army would surely repeat the fate of last time, perhaps even worse. But when Liu Yanqing saw the flames on the other side, he still couldn't control his legs, so he led his troops to flee at night. This is how the last military offensive of the Northern Song Empire ended with black humor.The 100,000 troops faced more than 10,000 remnants of the Liao Kingdom, but chose to flee. The Khitans pursued them and held their last feast on the land of the Central Plains.War, peace, glory, decline, the Khitan people have left their own unique colors on the stage of Chinese history, and their curtain call is also amazing and legendary. The Liao army has been chasing and killing for nearly a hundred miles until Baigou.Of course, there may be more Song soldiers who were trampled to death than those killed by the Liao people, and all the luggage and storage of the Song army were lost. The defeat at Lugouhe was indeed tragic, but the army of the Northern Expedition still had 100,000 troops stationed in Xiongzhou, and the Liao people were actually at the end of their battles. Tong Guan might just need to exert his strength again at this time, and the Liao people would no longer be able to resist. But his heart was already in a mess. Zhao Ji's trust in him was limited, so he placed an eyeliner around him. After the defeat of Lugouhe, the emperor's eyeliner quickly sent the information of the defeat to the emperor.Disappointed and angry, Zhao Ji passed a small note in the tone of a primary school student to Tong Guan, saying, Eunuch Tong, you let me down so much, and I will never believe you again. Tong Guan no longer had the confidence to bet with the Liao people for the last time with the remaining hole cards. To regain Youyun, there is no last resort - ask the Jurchens for help!