In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

On the second day, the unconscious Lü Yijian finally died of illness this spring at the age of 69.

Compared with his own history, he is undoubtedly lucky now.

Not only did he live three years longer than in history, but he also took a train and witnessed a series of new changes in the Song Dynasty.

For a long time in the future, people will remember this period of history.

Not only is it an important period for the Chinese nation to transform from an agricultural feudal society to an industrial society.

It is also the first step for the Chinese nation to truly rise, from being isolated in the Central Plains in the east to stepping onto the world stage.

As a figure between the old and the new era, Lü Yijian naturally has to leave a thick ink in the history books.

Zhao Zhen was very sad to learn of Lü Yijian's death.

Lü Yijian left a suicide note, which contained his advice to Zhao Zhen and some regrets about looking forward to the future but not being able to see the future. Every word was sincere and moving.

For this reason, Zhao Zhen ordered to stop the court for three days, and all officials paid condolences. He wore mourning clothes in the back garden and set up a mourning hall to mourn for him.

But no matter what, life must go on.

In the blink of an eye, time has hurried to the end of the year. The winter wind from Hebei finally blew to Bianliang in late December, bringing a heavy snow that lasted for several days.

The court began to take the Spring Festival holiday, and the city of Bianliang was decorated with lights and colors, which was very lively.

During this period, although Kaifeng newspapers were still updating the battle situation on the front line every day, the people of Bianliang were no longer as concerned as they were at the beginning.

With the arrival of the New Year, the population of Bianliang was also declining rapidly. Factories stopped working and government offices stopped working. Many people who came to Kaifeng from other places to work dragged their families and embarked on the road home.

The population of Bianliang mainly came from the capital area. Although the train was opened, the ticket price was not affordable for ordinary people, so canal ship shipping was still the first choice for people in the surrounding areas.

Just like after the high-speed rail was opened, ordinary trains and passenger cars still had a market.

Only when they are widely popularized, the operating costs are reduced, and the ticket prices are reduced, the living space of trains and passenger cars will gradually become smaller.

So now, with only one train line, people often choose to walk or take a boat when traveling, even in counties along the train line.

However, when trains are gradually opened in various places next year and the year after next, and railways become a popular means of transportation, the situation will be different.

As the year draws to a close, there are fewer people, and the huge city of Bianliang is much emptier.

On New Year's Eve, Zhao Zhen held a grand celebration to celebrate the arrival of the New Year.

And on the first day of the New Year in the seventh year of the Qingli calendar, there was another grand sacrificial ceremony.

Zhao Jun had to continue to follow Zhao Zhen to participate in the ancestor worship.

This year's annual meeting was not as lively as last year, and there were fewer guests.

Needless to say, the Liao Kingdom is now at war with the Song Dynasty, and it is impossible to send an envoy to celebrate like in previous years.

Goryeo wanted to send people, but it couldn't get away, and the capital was surrounded by Liao people.

Although the Liao Kingdom wanted to use the invasion of Goryeo to force the Song Dynasty to end and achieve their strategic goals, even if it just sent a few troops at random, it was not something Goryeo could bear.

The Song Dynasty knew that the battlefield was not in Goryeo, and it was useless to send so many people to Goryeo, so it only sent a navy to support.

As a result, more than 30,000 people are currently besieging the capital of Goryeo, Kaijing, and even the Western Capital Pyongyang is occupied by the Liao people.

The Song army's navy is across the river, and the two sides are in a tangle.

Qingtang used to be most concerned about paying tribute and sending envoys to celebrate, but now Qingtang has been destroyed by Li Yuanhao, and the court has established Xiazhen as a puppet. Now Xiazhen is gathering the scattered tribes, so naturally there is no way to send people over.

As for Xixia.

Xixia was defeated and lost a large area of ​​territory. Obviously, it is a little unwilling. Now it is waiting for the end of the Liao-Song battlefield and will not come to celebrate.

In addition, the relationship between the Song Dynasty and Japan has become worse and worse in the past two years, and the Japanese government hates the Song Dynasty.

This situation happened in history during the Southern Song Dynasty, from the end of the Heian era to the early Kamakura shogunate. Because the Southern Song Dynasty traded frequently with Japan, the domestic currency was all Song coins, and all the gold, silver, copper and sulfur were taken away by the Song Dynasty, which made the Japanese rulers very angry.

At that time, the large influx of Song Dynasty currency caused Japanese prices to soar, and the social order was very chaotic. The ruling Taira clan once wanted to close the country and cut off trade relations with the Southern Song Dynasty, but the plan was disrupted by internal rebellion.

Now this situation has been brought forward. At this time, the domestic economy of Japan is almost completely monopolized by the Song Dynasty. The Fujiwara family, which is in charge of the current Japanese regime, has always wanted to cut off ties with the Song Dynasty and try to close the country.

However, every time he had such an objection, the Song army in Falkland Island and Star Island would go to the Izumo area to stroll around and deter Japan with powerful force.

In addition, the powerful and vested interests who had trade relations with the Song Dynasty were very opposed, so this matter was considered to be abandoned.

But the result was that the official attitude of Japan, which had a general relationship with the Song Dynasty, became even colder. After the Song Dynasty defeated the Liao Dynasty a few years ago, it sent envoys several times.

But there has been no movement in the past two years.

So when there are only a few countries around, most of the envoys have been missing.

In other words, the poor guys in the Middle East still remembered the New Year of the Song Dynasty and sent envoys here.

Now the Arab countries are torn apart, without oil, and are so poor that they have to beg for food. They rely on being middlemen between the Song Dynasty and Europe to make a profit.

If we don’t please the Song Dynasty and have a good relationship with it, those poor white-robed guys in the Middle East will have to go hungry.

In this situation where the grand scene is not as good as last year, the New Year of the Sixth Year of the Qingli Period of the Song Dynasty came to an end.

The Seventh Year of the Qingli Period arrived.

The annual leave was over in early January, and the Political System Institute continued to work.

During this period, three new prime ministers were on duty in the Political System Institute. The only thing they had to do every day was to deal with the front-line war reports and send people to escort food and grass.

At present, the situation on the front line is good. Fan Zhongyan has a report of his gains every day. Although he did not defeat the Liao army on a large scale, he was able to erode step by step. The large area of ​​land south of Xijin and even east of Xijin was occupied by the Song army.

Moreover, Fan Zhongyan had already broken through Shicheng, and he and Di Qing were attacking Yingzhou and Luanzhou. I believe that it will not take long for the two Song armies to meet and start a two-sided trap against Xijin.

Therefore, at this moment, the Song Dynasty is full of vitality and everything is flourishing, and the land of Youyan is also positive and upward.

January 24th, Xijin Prefecture of Liao.

After the beginning of spring, the snow melted quickly. By the end of January, Henan, Hebei and other places were already sunny and full of spring.

The snow in the Yanyun area had melted long ago, but there was still a little cold air. The temperature was about 12 or 13 degrees during the day, and occasionally dropped below zero at night.

Today, outside Xijin City, the Song army was constantly digging the soil and slowly moving towards the city.

In fact, Fan Zhongyan had already started digging since the snow melted. The Song army's tunnels were densely packed, crisscrossed, and continued to extend to Xijin.

Although it is not within the range of artillery fire at the moment, it is estimated that it will not take long to get close.

"Report, the Liao people's north gate is open."

"Report, the Liao people are leaving Xijin City one after another."

"Report, the Yuhe and Wanping Liao people have also opened the city gates and are now preparing to break out."

Just as Fan Zhongyan was patrolling the camp every day on the high platform in the camp and looking at Xijin in the distance, suddenly a sudden piece of news disrupted his rhythm.

After learning about these things, he hurried back to his commander's tent and held a military meeting.

After the Xixia War ended, Zhang Kang was sent to Hebei again. At present, except for several chief officers of Hebei Road, all the officials in the tent were officers above the level of the general manager and deputy general manager of the army of each route and state.

Ordinary general managers, deputy general managers, and seals were not qualified to attend the meeting. The standard of the meeting was very high.

Fan Zhongyan sat in the main seat, and Zhang Kang, Wang Su, Wei Huanzhi and others sat on both sides in turn.

The generals stood below.

"The Liao people suddenly abandoned the city and fled. It seems that it is really as Liu Liufu said. This is a strategy of risking one's life."

Fan Zhongyan placed a map of Youyan on the table. He pointed to the north gate of Xijin and said, "They want to lure us to the north of Xijin, Shunzhou Huairou and other places, and fight a decisive battle with us in the wild."

"The siege has been going on for a long time. The Liao people's food and equipment were blocked by Di Qing outside Yuguan. As long as we dig trenches under the city, it is only a matter of time before the city is broken. How can the Liao people not know it?"

Wang Su said, "This move of retreating to advance is indeed a good means. Giving up the solid city seems to be extremely foolish, but it is actually a wise move, because if it continues to delay, the Liao people will definitely be defeated. It is better to reorganize the troops and finish the battle in one battle."

"Yeah."

Fan Zhongyan nodded slightly in agreement.

Zhang Kang frowned and said, "If our army chases, the artillery may not be able to keep up, but they can calmly arrange artillery positions?"

"That's right."

Fan Zhongyan pointed at the mountains and rivers on the map and said, "This is why the Liao people chose to abandon the city."

Wei Huanzhi smiled and said, "Since the Liao people are so generous, why should we chase them? They gave up Xijin, so there is no need for us to rush to chase them. We can occupy the city and continue to move north slowly. We will surely force the Liao people to retreat outside the pass step by step."

"I'm afraid that the Liao people will burn themselves to death."

Fan Zhongyan sighed and said, "If I were a Liao person, I would definitely find a way to force us to chase them."

"Burn Xijin."

Zhang Kang squeezed out a few words from his teeth.

There are two advantages to burning Xijin.

First, if the Song army chooses to occupy Xijin and does not pursue them, then under the fire, they will not be able to occupy the city and can only chase them.

Second, if the Song army still did not pursue, but put out the fire on the spot, then the army would inevitably be in chaos and busy with firefighting, and the Liao army could take the opportunity to strike back.

So this is an open plot. Whether the Song army pursues or not, it will fall into the trap of the Liao people who are eager for a head-on decisive battle.

"The Liao people are really willing to spend money."

"Aren't they forced by Mr. Fan to do nothing?"

"Mr. Fan is really a god. The Liao people are so miserable."

The generals below were surprised when they heard the analysis of several civil servants, and then they all admired Fan Zhongyan's resourcefulness.

Forcing the once arrogant Liao people into this situation, I am afraid that more than ten years ago, no one could have imagined the current situation.

"Mr., what should we do?"

When Wang Su heard that the Liao people might burn Xijin, he couldn't help but say in surprise: "If so, won't Xijin be destroyed?"

Fan Zhongyan narrowed his eyes and thought.

In fact, a lot of intelligence has been leaking out from Xijin Prefecture recently. Among the chaotic intelligence, he has already noticed the movements of the Liao people.

Because there are still a group of Liao dignitaries like Liu Liufu who are willing to sincerely surrender to the Song Dynasty and pass on the real news.

The truth of the news can be judged through a series of actions of the Liao people.

Now the Liao people are indeed as the intelligence said, which undoubtedly proves the accuracy of the intelligence and verifies his conjecture.

The current situation is that the Liao army is helpless with Fan Zhongyan's tactics of building a strong camp and fighting a stupid battle, and is not sure of a decisive battle with the Song army.

If they defend the city, the Song army will slowly dig trenches, at least they can attack the city by siege or hiding cannons in trenches.

If they go out of the city for a decisive battle, there are trenches everywhere, which restrict the horses.

So the Liao people's move of abandoning the city is actually to lure the Song army to an open area. Without the restraint of trenches, the Song army cannot bring heavy artillery when chasing, which makes them lose a lot of advantages, thereby increasing the Liao army's winning rate.

If it is not unexpected, the Liao army has already arranged artillery positions in Shunzhou and Huairou, and is now waiting for the Song Dynasty to fall into the trap.

So is the Song Dynasty afraid of fighting a field battle with the Liao army?

Of course not.

Even if the Liao army has many arrangements, the gap between firearms and cold weapons is difficult to make up through such tactical arrangements.

Therefore, the Song Dynasty may fall into this trap and give it a try.

The prerequisite is that the command must be proper.

Otherwise, if the armies are in chaos during the pursuit, it is possible that the Liao people will use artillery to catch the Song army off guard.

But if the order of the army is to be guaranteed, then the Song army must advance steadily, and Xijin will be completely destroyed.

"Since the Liao people want to achieve their goal in one battle, I will not be afraid, and I just happen to have this intention."

Fan Zhongyan seemed to have made up his mind, and then said his analysis: "The Liao people have evil intentions and are very likely to burn Xijin. If we want to save Xijin, we have to march immediately."

"March immediately?"

Everyone looked at each other.

"Sir, should we discuss it again? If we march immediately, then don't we have to abandon all the baggage and advance lightly?"

Wang Zhongbao, deputy general manager of Chanzhou, said hurriedly.

Those who have traveled back to ancient times and fought in wars know that not only do you need to prepare food and grass before the troops move, but you also need to arrange the troops and set up the battle formation.

The battle formation was well arranged, like Han Xin in the Battle of Jingxing, with 30,000 troops arranged in battle formation, facing the 200,000 Zhao troops chasing in a disorderly manner, and a charge made the Zhao army throw away their armor and armor and return in defeat.

Similarly, in the Battle of Feishui, Fu Jian did not attack the enemy halfway across the river, but let the Jin army cross the river calmly, set up the battle formation, and a charge caused chaos in the Former Qin army, and the 800,000 troops suffered heavy casualties.

Therefore, the arrangement of troops was extremely important in ancient times.

Obviously, the Liao people also understood this, and knew that Fan Zhongyan had a steady character, so they had no scruples and calmly abandoned the city.

By the time the Song army discovered that they were evacuating, more than 200,000 Song soldiers had reorganized their troops, arranged the battle formation, and launched a pursuit from their camp, I am afraid that the Liao people had already left smoothly and set fire to the city.

Seeing that the city had been burned down, the Song army would fall into the Liao people's trap whether they pursued or not.

If they pursued, the Liao people would set an ambush and the two sides would fight bloody battles.

If they did not pursue, the Song army would surely put out the fire, and the Liao people would turn around and shoot, and might even defeat the Song people.

This strategy was already very clever.

So what would happen if Fan Zhongyan did not reorganize the troops and horses, nor did he arrange the battle formation, but directly let the army charge?

More than 200,000 troops would inevitably be in a mess, and they could not arrange the battle formation. If the Liao people were prepared, the Song army would most likely be defeated.

Obviously this was a bad strategy.

However, Fan Zhongyan said, "Yes, it was the pursuit of the light cavalry."

"Sir, this is too risky, please think twice."

Liu He, the general manager of Dingzhou, said hurriedly, "At the very least, we must send out the vanguard and wait until the front army is reorganized before fighting again."

"Then Xijin cannot be saved."

Fan Zhongyan shook his head, and then said, "I think you have always been stuck in the old tactics and have not broken away from them. Now that the times have changed, we should not follow the old tactics."

"Uh"

Everyone looked at each other in surprise when they heard him.

Wang Gui, the general manager of Zhending Prefecture, asked, "Please help me, Sir."

Fan Zhongyan said, "With the appearance of muskets, we should not have gathered a large number of troops to fight like this. Facing firearms, arranging troops and arraying them is to seek death. Therefore, it is the true meaning to give full play to the advantages of firearms, attack everywhere, and fight together."

This made people confused.

Only a few people such as Zhang Kang woke up and showed an expression of sudden enlightenment on their faces.

Sir is right.

The emergence of firearms has changed the war from close combat to long-range firefights.

So why do we need to form a battle formation?

If the musketeers form a battle formation, it will be difficult for the army behind to shoot.

Even if it is a three-stage battle, a few thousand people are enough. An army of more than 200,000 people will be even more crowded, making the musketeers behind useless.

If the army is a unit, every 5,000 people will go into the wilderness, roam around in the wild, and fight with the retreating Liao army.

Then you can attack them while you are at it.

When you encounter the Liao people, you can shoot at a distance. When you encounter the Liao army's artillery or large troops, you can harass them and retreat at any time.

Fighting everywhere is the correct way to use firearms.

"Yes, what you said is very true."

Zhang Kang was immediately excited and said, "Yes, that's the truth. We should attack with light cavalry, harass the Liao people's retreating team, disrupt their formation, and annihilate them everywhere. This is the best strategy."

"That's right, I also think this plan is great."

Wang Su also voiced his support.

But the generals and soldiers below still didn't quite understand.

Zhang Kang explained it a little, and then said: "Sir, please give the order."

"Well, in that case, I will order all the generals to attack with the whole army and kill the enemy with light cavalry!"

Fan Zhongyan didn't hesitate too much. If it was any later, the Liao people would burn the city. Then he stood up, put his hands behind his back and said: "People think that I, Fan Zhongyan, only know how to set up camp and slow down the plan, but they don't know the art of war, which is slow like a forest and urgent like a fire. There are slow and urgent, fast and slow, which is the right way. The Liao people think that I can only slow down, but they don't know that once I find a good opportunity, I will definitely kill the enemy with a thundering attack. Generals and soldiers, it's time for you to show your fighting talents, don't let me down!"

For this battle, he designated the strategy of the whole army attacking and fighting everywhere.

And the specific command power, how to fight after encountering the enemy, is the responsibility of the generals below.

"I will not fail in my mission!"

The generals and soldiers below responded in unison.

Then Fan Zhongyan waved his hand and said: "Send out the troops! Each camp should make their own arrangements, the sooner the better!"

"Yes."

Everyone bowed and filed out, each leading their troops back to the camp without making any arrangements, and went straight into battle.