Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

In the spring of the fourth year of Xuanhe, the first month.

Cai You was appointed as Shaobao, and Liang Shicheng was appointed as the official of the third division of the Kaifu.

The surrender of Yelu Yujian, the capital of the Liao Kingdom, brought news that Liao's internal affairs were in chaos and defenses were lacking. Before the snow had completely melted, Wanyan Aguda ordered Wanyan Gao to lead his troops and lead Wanyan Yu, Wanyan Zonghan and others to attack Liao.

Things happened suddenly, and the Liao Kingdom was unprepared and lost its border cities one after another.

Xiao Ximo, the defender of Zhongjing (near Ningcheng) in the Liao Kingdom, did not dare to fight after learning of the situation. He actually abandoned the city and fled. The Jin soldiers occupied Zhongjing effortlessly.

Aguda received the battle report from the front line and ordered Wanyan Gao not to advance rashly, but to appease the people in Zhongjing first.

However, Wanyan Gao asked Wanyan Zonghan to lead his army to pursue him, and fled to Beian Prefecture (Xinghua). Xiao Ximo asked for surrender.

Jin general Ali led his troops to welcome the surrender. Xiao Ximo ambushed all his troops and almost killed Ali. Wanyan Zonghan led troops to rescue, defeated Xiao Ximo, and took advantage of the situation to occupy Bei'an Prefecture.

When he learned that Bei'an Prefecture had fallen, Emperor Yelu Yanxi of the Liao Kingdom was so shocked that he even gave up Nanjing (Beijing) and fled all the way from Juyongguan to Yuanyangbo (outside Zhangjiakou).

The Jin Kingdom is also very interesting. It is learned that the Lord of Liao abandoned Yanjing and did not go south to occupy the territory. Instead, he jumped out of Yanshan and pursued him from the grassland.

Yelu Yanxi, the Lord of the Liao Dynasty, fled in panic, stepped on the accelerator and rushed to Jiashan (Hohhot).

Zhang Lin, the left-behind prime minister in Yanjing of the Liao Dynasty, and Li Chuwen, the counselor and political advisor, presented red robes to the emperor's uncle Yelu Chun, staging a Liao version of "red robes plus body". Yelu Chun didn't want to be the emperor, he just wanted to catch up. The first thing he did when he ascended the throne was to seek peace with the Kingdom of Jin.

…

Tokyo, Bianliang.

The Song Dynasty was always paying attention to news from the north. The Liao lords had fled to Hohhot. How could Song Huizong not know about the defeat of the Liao Kingdom?

But the remaining reason still made Song Huizong decide to wait.

Wang Fu knelt on the ground and said sincerely: "Your Majesty, although China and the Liao Kingdom are brotherly states, there are many reasons why the other side has ignored us for more than a hundred years. And the weak and the weak are both offensive and ignorant. The good practice of martial arts is Yes. If I don't take Yanyun now, Nuzhi will be strong, and the old land of the Central Plains will no longer be mine."

Song Huizong thought about it and thought that what Wang Fu said made sense.

The Kingdom of Jin is still very weak at present. If the Song Dynasty does not take the opportunity to occupy Yanyun and let these territories be taken away by the Kingdom of Jin, it will definitely be a serious problem in the future.

Fearing that the ministers would oppose the invasion of Liao, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty established a Jingfu office to bypass the court and focus on border affairs. Wang Fu had full authority to manage the expedition to Liao.

Wang Fu calculated the number of Dingkou in each road and planned to collect 62 million guan and spread it equally among the people across the country. He also wrote a letter to Tong Guan, who was going to Hebei in advance, telling Tong Guan to just fight the war, and he would make arrangements for the rear.

Just when Wang Fu was gathering troops to collect taxes, Yelu Chun, dressed in red robes, sent an envoy to engage in diplomacy.

The envoy of the Liao State said: "Our Lord is willing to have eternal friendship with the Song State. From now on, we will waive all annual coins and the two countries will still be brothers."

There was a heated discussion among the ministers in the DPRK. One group believed that the Liao Kingdom should be preserved and they could also take the opportunity to waive the annual coins. The other group believes that the Liao Kingdom must have become weak by taking the initiative to waive the annual currency, and should seize the opportunity to regain Yanyun.

The more the Liao Kingdom took the initiative to show its goodwill, the more convinced Song Huizong was that the time had come.

They couldn't wait to continue raising funds for the war, and couldn't wait for the logistics supplies to be ready, so they directly asked Cai You to take 150,000 troops and horses to Hebei to join Tong Guan.

Tong Guan was the commander-in-chief and Cai You was the deputy commander-in-chief. They led the army to the border of Song and Liao Dynasties, where they summoned all the border troops in Hebei.

Tong Guan personally inspected the border town and soon found that the place was in a mess.

The frontier troops in Hebei didn't even have enough soldiers and armor. Tong Guan had ordered the collection of grain and grass two months in advance, but Hebei civil and military officials were still waiting for the court to provide grain.

Zhongshi Daozhi felt his scalp numb when he saw it, and said to Tong Guan: "What we are doing now is like a robber entering a neighbor's house. Instead of rescuing us, we take advantage of the fire and share the loot with the robber. How can this be done? Let's withdraw our troops."

Tong Guan ignored him and said that as soon as the heavenly soldiers arrived, Yan Yun would definitely surrender.

In private, Tong Guan wrote to the emperor and Wang Fu. It probably means that I don’t have enough food and grass here, not enough soldiers and armor, and all kinds of logistics materials are in short supply. Please bring them to me quickly!

Tong Guan sent Ma Kuo to persuade the Lord of Liao to surrender. Then issue a reward order, and those who are powerful and capable of capturing Yanjing will be granted the title of envoy.

In order to appease the soldiers, Tong Guan publicized the decline of the Liao Kingdom, and the idea of ​​underestimating the enemy spread throughout the army.

After receiving the first batch of logistical supplies, Tong Guan immediately ordered the division of troops and said to his generals: "The people of Yan are also the people of the Song Dynasty. If the king is willing to accept them, they will definitely join. As long as we build barriers for defense, the enemy will surely be there." Civil strife. You must restrain the soldiers, obey the imperial edict and the orders of the Xuanfu Division, and do not kill anyone rashly."

Zhong Shidao then led a group of soldiers and horses to station at Baigou, the boundary river between Song and Liao countries, waiting for Ma Kuo's persuasion to surrender in Yanjing.

At the same time, he implemented Tong Guan's military orders and carefully built fortifications. He only defended but did not attack, waiting for the civil strife in Liao and the surrender of Liao generals and powerful people.

Chen Ziyi has been promoted to the head of the Forbidden Army and is currently serving as a soldier under Zhongshi Dao, affiliated with Yang Keshi's vanguard force.

Yang Keshi was ordered to come to the river and put up a yellow flag for surrender, ready to receive the surrendering Liao army at any time.

"Chen Dutou, a Liao army is coming from the other side!"

"I saw it."

Chen Ziyi rode forward to report: "Tongzhi, the Liao army is coming from the other side, and there are about thousands of horses."

Yang Keshi said: "I guess he came to surrender. The emperor of the Liao Kingdom escaped, and now the emperor's uncle has usurped power. The Liao people will inevitably have civil strife. Restrict your subordinates not to kill or hurt anyone, and treat these Liao soldiers with hospitality. As the saying goes, a thousand gold buys a horse. Gu, if we treat these Liao soldiers well, more Liao people will surrender."

"yes!"

Chen Ziyi accepted the order and resigned.

Yang Keshi added: "Wait a minute, if they don't cross the river, we will shoot them over."

Chen Ziyi and several other soldiers and horses shot the surrender Huangbang across the boundary river, which immediately attracted a hail of arrows from the Liao soldiers. Moreover, those Liao cavalry were still dismounting at the river bridge, clearly planning to kill them.

Only then did Yang Keshi feel that something was wrong, and immediately sent someone back to report to Master Zhong.

Because Tong Guan has an order not to kill anyone from the Liao Kingdom...

After hearing the report, Zhong Shidao said angrily: "We are already in close combat. How can we die without restraining our hands? He who kills the enemy has merit and no fault, and he should let go and do it!"

Yang Keshi then guarded the river bridge and tried his best to resist the Liao army's attack.

After fighting for a while, the Liao soldiers retreated, and the Song soldiers cheered: "The Liao people are defeated, the Liao people are defeated!"

Yang Keshi, who had been waiting foolishly for the Liao army to surrender, finally remembered that he was not familiar with the terrain yet, and quickly called his generals: "Send out your Qingqi and go up and down the river to see where you can cross the river. If you find a ferry, come back and report it immediately!"

Soon, the Song army found the ferry a few miles upstream, and Yang Keshi quickly divided his troops to defend it.

The Liao general was called Yelu Dashi. When the Song army arrived, he had already led his army across the river and killed the Song soldiers.

Yang Keshi was furious, leaving a few troops to guard the bridge, and personally led the main force to fight with the Liao army.

The Liao army who stayed on the Heqiao side saw that the main force of the Song army had left, and immediately launched a desperate charge.

Chen Ziyi was shooting arrows with the Liao cavalry when he suddenly heard the sound of fighting from behind. However, it was the Liao army that broke through the river bridge, rode across the river to fight, and attacked the Song army from both front and rear.

"Blow the trumpet!"

"Woooooooo~~~~"

Seeing that the time had come, Yelu Dashi immediately launched a frontal charge.

Yang Keshi's martial arts skills are still very strong. He killed several Liao soldiers with his own hands, and Chen Ziyi also killed two people. However, under attack from both sides, it finally collapsed, and the Song army was defeated and fled.

The Song army was defeated on both sides. Before they could cross the boundary river, they were defeated by the Liao army and counterattacked into the territory of the Song Dynasty.

The Liao State took the opportunity to send an army of 30,000 soldiers south, seemingly to fight a decisive battle with the Song Army.

Ma Kuo, who was sent as an envoy to persuade the Liao lord to surrender, was detained by the Liao Kingdom, but he tried his best to remedy the situation by fighting with the Confucian scholars. In the end, Yelu Dashi was convinced and released him and the entire envoy safely.

When Ma Kuo came back and saw Zhongshi Dao, he immediately told all the conditions in the Liao Kingdom and pointed out that the place where Zhongshi Dao was camping was wrong.

After Zhong Shidao had a detailed discussion with Ma Kuo, he quickly changed the location of the garrison and actively consolidated this line of defense.

Ma Kuo went to see Tong Guan again to discuss building an east-west defense line.

He also said that the Liao army was at the end of its war effort. As long as it defended its borders, the Liao Kingdom would inevitably be in civil strife, and then they could seize the opportunity to pursue the victory.

However, Tong Guan scolded Ma Kuo and ordered Zhong Shidao to abandon the defensive line and retreat to Xiongzhou to garrison.

Zhong Shidao quickly wrote a letter: "In the current situation, we must revitalize the morale of the army. We can only advance but not retreat. Once the enemy's army is close at hand and our army retreats, the Liao people will definitely take the opportunity to cover up and kill them, and the entire army will be defeated and irremediable."

Zhong Shidao had previously advised him to withdraw his troops, but Tong Guan insisted on advancing.

Zhong Shidao now asked for defense, but Tong Guan ordered the troops to withdraw.

Seeing that Zhong Shidao was disobeying the military order, Tong Guan sent the marching staff to go there. With a few big hats on, Zhong Shidao had no choice but to retreat.

As soon as the Song army withdrew, Yelu Dashi's entire army covered him up and killed him. Zhongshi Dao lost his troops and retreated to Xiongzhou.

Chen Ziyi and his cavalry were defeated and fled south, finally escaping into the city.

He was ordered by Tong Guan to dismount and defend the city, but he saw more Song infantry fleeing back. Just as he was waiting to open the door to admit friendly troops, he suddenly received an order from Tong Guan: "Soldiers outside the city are not allowed to enter the city. They must choose a place to gather troops to camp. Defend the city of Xiongzhou."

The city gate was closed tightly, and the Song army, who finally escaped back, gathered under the city and cried and begged.

The Song army generals who subsequently withdrew saw that Xiongzhou City could no longer enter, so they had to gather their troops and choose a place to camp.

Before the defeated troops gathered together, Yelu Dashi led his cavalry to pursue them.

Chen Ziyi just stood at the top of the city, watching helplessly as his allies were chased by Liao soldiers. The corpses of Song soldiers were everywhere outside Xiongzhou City.

This kind of situation also occurs in Mozhou, Baozhou, Zhenzhou...

What's even more ridiculous is that Yelu Dashi suddenly led the entire army to retreat, and the Liao Emperor Yelu Chun, who was dressed in red robes, died.

The Liao Kingdom was in chaos. Liu Yanqing, who had just rushed to the front line, led an army of 100,000 to the north to attack the Liao Dynasty. The Liao generals in Yizhou and Zhuozhou took the initiative to surrender to the Song Dynasty.

As long as Tong Guan does not order the entire army to retreat, and as long as he sticks to the defensive line for more than half a month, he can wait for civil strife in Liao, and this expedition to Liao is very likely to be a complete victory!

And Liu Yanqing was also a swindler. As a result, the surrendered general Guo Yaoshi was attacked from a flank, and Yanjing disappeared. He was so frightened that he burned all the baggage and fled the camp.