Taiyuan City, the capital of the East Song River Road, is a tall, unusually strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and is an important military fortress and barrier for the Great Song Dynasty to resist the northern nomadic peoples.

Changshan in the east, the party in the west, Jin and Jiang in the south, and Yun and Shuo in the north. Taiyuan city east, north and west are surrounded by mountains, the area is narrow, the west of the city is adjacent to the Fen River less than two miles, after the Northern Song Dynasty for a hundred years of repair and consolidation, as the capital of the North Song River East Road, the city defense is strong and abnormal.

In the first year of Jingkang, the Jin army invaded the Song Dynasty in the south, the three passes of Shiling in the north of Taiyuan City, it is the place where the clouds lead to Taiyuan, the terrain of Shiling Pass is precipitous, the ridge crosses the east and west, the road runs north and south, guards the main road of Taiyuan leading to Xin, Dai, Yun and Shuo, it is the place where the soldiers must fight, and it is also the north gate of Taiyuan City.

The Jurchen army was on the pass, and Geng Shouzhong, the leader of the Yisheng army guarding the pass, saw that the Jin army was strong, opened the door to robber, and the last barrier north of Taiyuan fell into the hands of the Jin people in a moment.

The Jin army besieged the city, Taiyuan City was isolated, and after holding on for more than 250 days, the food was cut off and finally broken. Zhang Xiaochun, the prefect of Taiyuan, was captured, and Wang Yu, the deputy governor of Hedong Road, fought hard and committed suicide.

Wanyan Zonghan was ashamed and angry, slapped his horse and trampled on Wang Yu's body, and ordered his soldiers to chop it into pulp, his methods were brutal and outrageous.

When the Jin soldiers besieged the city, Wang Song's more than 3,000 loyal and righteous troops were not far away in the pacification army, but he was weak and weak, even if he went to the rescue, it was just a moth throwing fire, a drop in the bucket, and it could not play the slightest role, and it was useless for the country and himself.

This ancient city of Taiyuan built by Pan Mei in the Northern Song Dynasty, the circumference is only ten miles, the north and south are Yunlu Street to the Houxiao River, the east and west are the west gate of Qiaotou Street to the water, and the Fenshui flows slowly from the west of the city, which is a natural barrier.

Compared with the previous dynasty, the scale of Taiyuan City in the Song Dynasty was much smaller, but the importance of its strategic position was not reduced in the slightest, and there was no other city that could replace his position. It is also for this reason that Taiyuan City has built sheep and horse walls, moats, urn cities, suspension bridges, horse faces and other urban defense facilities.

Horse face, that is, the horse face wall, is erected every 60 steps (Song system, one step is about 1.5 meters, that is, there is a horse face every 90 meters). The wall protrudes out of the city wall about two zhang (five feet in the Song system is one step, two steps are one zhang, and one zhang is about three meters), and there is no certain standard for the width and narrowness to change with the terrain, and you can see the foot of the city wall from both sides of the horse face wall. There are enemy towers built on the walls of the horses, and the city walls are protruding, precisely in order to form a crossfire with the main city and strike hard at the invading enemy.

The sheep and horse wall was built outside the city wall, inside the moat, on the river bank three zhang away from the city wall. It is eight feet high, five feet thick at the foot of the wall, and three feet thick at the top. Leave a hole on the wall at intervals to serve as a lookout hole. When the enemy soldiers approached the city, they sent small forces to be stationed in the sheep and horse walls as ambush soldiers.

When the Jin soldiers attacked Taiyuan City, most of the sheep and horse walls at the foot of the city wall had been destroyed, and even the moat had been filled, which also cleared a certain obstacle for Wang Song's army to attack Taiyuan City.

Like all traditional city walls, there are urn cities outside the four gates of Taiyuan City. The city wall is as high as the main city wall, and the gate of the city is at a right angle of 90 degrees to the gate of the main city, and you can enter and exit from the left or from the right corner. Taiyuan City is a half-moon-shaped urn city, and it is very difficult to attack through the city gate.

Although Taiyuan City is strong, the height of the city is three zhang three, that is, about ten meters, but the city wall is rammed earth, and there is no brick, which is also convenient for the siege party to attack to a certain extent.

The army went north from Pantuo Pass, and in less than two days, it had reached the outside of Taiyuan City. Along the way, the rangers of both sides launched a fierce battle in the counties south of Taiyuan City, and the Jin troops in various places were repulsed or defeated one by one, and both sides suffered many casualties.

At this time, the hottest season has passed, and the loyal and righteous soldiers will not be overworked, although they are traveling fifty or sixty miles a day, they are also in good spirits, and there is no sign of exhaustion.

Compared with the training on weekdays, 25 miles of cross-country weight in the morning and evening every day, so that the march of only sixty or seventy miles a day is completely under the load of the soldiers.

The towns and cities passed by the army were ruined and broken, the fertile fields were barren, the ground was full of basil, wild dogs were in groups, wandering in the wilderness, and the bones of the dead could be seen everywhere, a scene of the end of the world.

South of Pantuo Pass, you can also see a lot of people. After passing the Pantuo Pass to the north, the army never saw a few civilians again, and there was no need to ask, they had basically been slaughtered by the Jurchen army.

All the troops were in a heavy mood, and occasionally encountered the hungry and surviving Song people, everyone would be overjoyed, offer water and food, and let them go all the way to Pantuo Pass.

Yelu couldn't bear to see it, stepped forward, hugged his fists and said: "Xianggong, the villain will follow the Jurchen Khitan people on my behalf and make amends to Xianggong!"

"Brother Yelu, if you want to make amends, kill more thieves, these beasts are the culprits."

Wang Song reined in his horse, raised his whip, and pointed to Taiyuan City in the distance.

"Brother Yelu, you must know that although the Great Song Dynasty has a loss to the Great Liao, the people who conquered the city were all Jin, and the Song people did not kill the Liao people. In the coming days to pacify Liaodi, my Great Song Dynasty will not hurt any Khitan people, and will treat the Han people equally. ”

"With the words Xianggong, the villain will be content."

Yelu saluted with his fists in his fists, beat his horse and walked away.

Ouyang Che stepped forward and said softly: "Xianggong, the war is coming, there are thousands of Khitan soldiers in my loyal army, and I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse?"

Chen Dong also said in a low voice: "Xianggong, if you are not of my race, your heart will be different." The battle of Taiyuan is related to the fortune of the country, and the minister should still be cautious!"

The Khitan tribes who surrendered with Yelu Gan, plus the surrendered troops under the city of Tokyo, in addition to the consumption of several major battles, now add up to more than 4,000 people. In addition to defending Tokyo City and the surrounding area of Gyeonggi, the rest of the more than 2,000 people were in Wang Song's loyal army, and they were basically cavalry.

Feeling Ouyang Che and Chen Dong's "good intentions", Wang Song smiled slightly: "Whether it is a Khitan person, or a man in front of the mountain and behind the mountain, in the final analysis, you have to rely on your own strength to speak."

"If my Great Song Dynasty didn't have these thousands of brave and warlike tiger and wolf divisions, even if they were said to be full of grandeur and wealth, I'm afraid these Khitan men would not be willing to die on the battlefield!"

He pointed to the tens of thousands of troops in front of him and said proudly: "If Taiyuan City is captured and the thieves are killed, I am afraid that there will be more Khitan athletes and Han'er who take refuge." Could it be that they all should be killed for peace of mind? If this is the case, wherever our Great Song Dynasty officials and troops go, they will resist everywhere. This is not the work of a big country, it is really unwise!"

More than 1,000 Khitan knights in the army shouted in unison: "Justice, benevolence and righteousness!" Benevolence and righteousness!"

Wang Song was relieved and nodded slightly, and the Khitan knights instantly returned to calm.

In the Loyal and Righteous Army, the Khitan and Han soldiers are treated the same, and there is no discrimination and racial views in the army.

Ouyang Che and Chen Dong bowed together on the horse and said: "Xianggong is far-sighted, we are ashamed!"

The army of the Loyal and Righteous Army was stationed ten miles outside the Kaiyuan Gate in the south of Taiyuan City, while Yang Jin's front army was less than five miles away from the city wall.

Such an important military town and fortress that cut off the traffic between the southeast and north of the river, due to the destruction of Taiyuan City, there is no Taiyuan people in the city now, and it has become a complete military town.

Wanyan Zonghan sent the little god of war of the Jin people, Wanyan Yinshu, to sit in Taiyuan, and there were not only more than 20,000 Jurchen elite soldiers under his command, but also more than 10,000 Hedong Yisheng troops under Geng Shouzhong. More than 30,000 troops were stationed, which can be described as strong and vigorous.

Wanyan Yinshu could have a solemn face, surrounded by a bunch of Jin army generals, standing on the tower of the south gate and looking down.

I saw that the entire south of Taiyuan City was densely packed with the camp tents of the Song army. These tents were all well-behaved and neat, and horses, wooden fences, trenches and earthen walls were constantly set up on the periphery. More than 3,000 cavalry cruised around the perimeter.

The Song soldiers had a well-organized lineup and well-trained soldiers, and it seemed that they were by no means good at it.

Those knights of the Song army shouted and scolded outside the city one by one, showing off their might, many of them were Khitan men, and they also used Khitan dialect, and the Jurchen warriors in the city all heard it clearly, and everyone was indignant and angry.

After finishing Yan Yinkeshu, his face remained unchanged, and he continued to look at the Song army camp opposite.

It seems that the front of the Song army is the weakest, with only one layer of horse protection, but who can guarantee that this is not a plan of the Song soldiers to lure the enemy?

If it were other Song soldiers, Wanyan Yinshu might have already rushed out of the city with the Jurchen army and slaughtered them in a big way. In view of the defeat of Pantuo Pass and the field casualties of more than 1,500 cavalry in Shaguzhi, Wanyan Yinshu frowned, and it was rare that he did not go out of the city to fight with the Song army.

If it is a field battle, it can give full play to the advantages of the Jurchen cavalry, but the casualties will definitely be not small. If the city is defended, there are Han'er foot soldiers in front, only to wait for the Song army to suffer heavy casualties, and the cavalry will swarm out.......

After finishing the silver technique, he continued to look at the Song camp, and when he saw a place, he couldn't help but feel a shock in his heart, and the horsewhip in his hand almost fell to the ground.

Where the flag flutters, several large flags are unfurled in the wind, and the words "Loyal and Righteous Army" and "King" on it are clearly visible.

"Wang Song, sure enough, Wang Song's loyal army is here!"

Wanyan Yinshu was stunned, and muttered to himself, the original idea of sending Jurchen cavalry to sneak attack disappeared all at once.

"Yinshu, these Song dogs are really arrogant, and it is really unreasonable to push the front army so close!"

The fierce general Beilu said angrily: "Yinshuke, you give a military order, I will take people down to kill him, and I have to cut off some Song Gou's head back!"

"General, Song Dog deceived people too much, and he dared to call a war outside the city! You order, the villain will go and destroy these dog thieves now!"

The golden soldiers and generals on the city tower all had red eyes, and they really wanted to go down and fight.

The Song soldiers were so arrogant and domineering, not to mention the insults outside the city, they actually pushed the front army to such a close distance from the city wall, and did not look at the Jurchen warriors who dominated the world at all.

Especially the war horses under the crotches of the other party's cavalry, they could see at a glance that they were the mounts of their dead comrades, but now they have become the capital of the Song army to show off.

What's more, in the open space of the front army of the Song army, two Song soldiers carried out a small table and put a wine pot for drinks, and then two Song army generals walked up, sat down on the stool, and began to drink, completely ignoring the group of Jin soldiers and generals watching on the city wall.

It's tolerable, it's unbearable!