Outside the city of Wuqing, a fast horse and arrow came to Yelu Hongji and the others, and stood suddenly. The knight on the horse turned over and dismounted, and said to Yeluhongji: "Your Majesty, the two armies of Guyin and Dielid in the south have been defeated and have retreated across the boundary river. ”

As if he hadn't heard, Yeluhonki just watched the battle ahead.

Yelu Xiantong coughed and said to the knight: "The Holy Lord asked Gu Yi to hold the boundary river and not retreat. Why are they so unhelpful? ”

The knight said: "The little one heard the news, the Song army of 200,000 people, its offensive is unstoppable. Gu Yin and Dieri couldn't hold it anymore, so they had to retreat. Now twenty miles north of the Jiehe River, waiting for the court's orders. ”

Yelu Xiantong said: "How many people are left in the two armies?" There are more than 100,000 horses in the ancient world, which is really useless. ”

The knight said: "There are still about 80,000 people in the two armies. ”

When he heard this, he waved his hand and let the knight go. Bow his hand to Yelu Hongji: "Your Majesty, the Song army is surrounded, and now is a critical time." There are still 80,000 people there in Guyin, and they must not be given up. Let's let him come back, we will join forces together, and then deal with the Song army. ”

Yelu Hongji said without changing his face: "Let the army come back." When you come back, you will kill Gu Yin! With his defeat, the 200,000 troops of the Song army in the south forced over, how can we calmly attack the city? ”

Jeremiah said yes. Tell someone to come, and let Gumin and Dielid lead their troops back to this camp.

Now Yelu Hongji is surrounded by about 200,000 Khitan elites, as well as about 150,000 signed troops, totaling about 350,000 people. With the 80,000 men brought back by Gu Yin, the total number of troops is still over 400,000. Coupled with the 50,000 or so Xi soldiers and horses who went north to rescue Xijin Mansion, these 450,000 people are the total combat strength of the Khitan. This battle was lost, and the Khitan power disappeared.

Watching the knight leave, Yelu Xiantong sighed secretly. Now the situation in the Khitan is very critical, if you can't break through Wuqing as soon as possible, it is likely that all of them will be planted here. Looking ahead, there was no progress in the offensive. The 200,000 Song troops in the south chased Gu Yin, Jia Kui in the north was about to arrive in Wuqing, and the 50,000 soldiers and horses of Jingtai in the back were also approaching quickly.

After fighting for so long, the Khitans have already understood that the Song army has reached 100,000, and even if the Khitan uses all their strength, it will be difficult to eliminate. Once it was blocked here by the Northern and Southern Song armies, and the northern Xijin Mansion fell, the general trend was gone. It's impossible to enter, and there is no way back, what should I do?

The situation was like this, and the morale of the Khitan army was becoming more and more sluggish. Yelu Hongji is just fighting spirit, and every day here, staring at his subordinates' soldiers and horses attacking the city. The places he couldn't see were already in chaos.

At the head of the city of Xijin Mansion, Yeluren first looked at the continuous Song army barracks outside the city. In a few days, there were more and more artillery pieces of the Song army outside, and they were getting bigger and bigger, and I couldn't help but feel anxious. The Khitan at the head of the city has artillery, but the range is not as good as the Song army, and the power is not as good as the Song army, so it can't suppress the siege artillery at all. Attacked by artillery every day, Yelu Renxian even had the illusion that the wall under his feet was about to collapse.

At this moment, Han Yun, a Hanlin scholar beside him, said: "Look there, the Song army has brought a new cannon again!" Ah, this cannon is so big! ”

When he looked up, he saw each cannon drawn by a dozen horses, slowly moving in front of the city. When I counted them, there were as many as sixty or seventy.

"Are these cannons the real confidence of the Song army?" Han Yun couldn't help but shake his head. "The previous cannons are a little unbearable, if this kind of cannon bombards, how can the city wall stop it?"

Yeluren didn't speak, just watched the Song army install artillery outside the city, and he couldn't say what he felt in his heart. A few days ago, he received a letter from his brother Jerod Yixian. The letter said that the Khitan had no future, and let him return to the Song Dynasty as soon as possible, and he would have a home in the future. But he is a Khitan royal family, how can he surrender at this time? If you die here, you are also loyal to the country.

remembered that many years ago, outside Tanglong Town, Yelu Zongxu, the lord of the Khitan State, was killed by a round of artillery bombardment by the Song army because he was too close to the front line. Jerod was the only one who survived, losing an arm and leaving his life behind. For so many years, Yeluyi was fine in the Song Dynasty, not a big official, and there was always a wealth and prosperity. It was also at that time that Yelu Ren took the initiative to give up Hequ Road and kept Shangjing Road for Yelu Hongji.

Unexpectedly, many years later, I saw this kind of powerful cannon again. Although Youzhou City is big, can it block this kind of artillery? Yeluren sighed secretly. He himself knows that most of them can't be stopped.

Liu Ji, Liu Jianji, and Dou Shunqing stood outside the city, watching the soldiers install artillery there. This is the largest heavy artillery, which is only available at the military level. Due to the inconvenience of transportation, after the army besieged the city for several days, it was finally delivered.

Dou Shunqing sighed: "I think back then, I followed Taiwei Du to save Tanglong Town, and the Khitan lord besieged the city with an army of 100,000. As a result, because the tent was too close to us, the captain ordered Yao to keep his word and arrange heavy artillery. After a round of artillery fire, the Khitan lord was killed, and dozens of ministers accompanied him to the funeral. A lot of things now started from that war. Speaking of which, it was many years ago. ”

Liu Jianji said: "I have only seen two test firings of this kind of heavy artillery, and the power is really amazing. I don't know if dozens of cannons can collapse the city wall of Youzhou. If it collapses, the war should be over. There are not many soldiers and horses in Youzhou, and when they capture this place, they block the return route of the Khitan. ”

Dou Shunqing said: "The power of this cannon is extremely amazing, but it is not comparable to a small cannon. One shell, more than twice as long as an ordinary cannon. If it doesn't collapse again, we have to consider the ant annex to attack the city. ”

Liu Jidao: "I asked Xie Tu, who commanded the artillery. According to him, according to the artillerymen's own tests, there were no problems with heavy artillery to collapse the city walls. It's just a big city in Youzhou, and it may have to be shot a few more times. The left and right cannons have already arrived, and we don't have to be anxious. ”

Liu Jianji said: "There are not many soldiers and horses in Youzhou, our 150,000 troops are coming to attack, and it is better to break the city as soon as possible." In the south, only Jia Kui and Jingtai blocked the Khitan army. Afraid that they would not be able to stop it, the Khitan soldiers and horses came to the rescue. ”

Liu Ji said with a smile: "Until now, it is really difficult to say how much combat power the Khitans still have. Yesterday, Jia Kui met with the Xi soldiers and horses from the Khitan north, and defeated them in a battle, according to his estimates, within two or three days, the Xi people could be forced back. ”

Hearing this, Dou Shunqing said: "Many years ago, Taiwei Du only took 30,000 battalions of Tianxiang troops to save Tanglong Town, how much military merit did he make? At that time, the Khitan had just finished conscripting the party, and hundreds of thousands of troops couldn't help us. He also killed the Khitan lord and a group of generals, forcing the Khitan army to take the initiative to withdraw from the Hequ Road and expand the land for thousands of miles. Now we have hundreds of thousands of troops, how can the Khitans be opponents? ”

Liu Jidao: "At this time and that time, the current army of hundreds of thousands is not as well-trained as the battalion field army back then. Even when Taiwei Du came to Hebei Road in person, he was still cautious and did not dare to be like back then. ”

Dou Shunqing shook her head with a smile and stopped talking. He has been in the military academy for many years and has seen many things clearly. The current Song army is indeed inferior to the Yingtianxiang army of the year, but the combat power will not be too different. The biggest problem is that it is not as good as back then, Du Zhongxiao completely controls the army. After the victory of Hequ Road, the imperial court carried out various operations to prevent Du Zhongxiao's military power from being too heavy. After so many years, there is still no army that can compare with that year.

vertex