"Is it really only 5,000 people to stay in Guannan?"

"There are more and more Liao soldiers, if 5,000 people are not enough," Zhao Xingde looked down at the small Nanshan City, in order to prevent the Liao people's shelling, important warehouses were built under the ground more than ten feet deep, and were connected to the enemy's annexed forts through tunnel trenches. "No matter how many more soldiers and horses are added, it will only be a waste of food and grass."

Seeing that he insisted on refusing to increase his troops, Wang Xuansu sighed. If it weren't for the fact that Zhao Xingde was already vaguely regarded as the soul and pillar of Nanshan City, he would definitely ask Ying to replace the one who stayed in Nanshan. He was silent for a moment and said in a low voice: "Tomorrow morning, 10,000 Jurchen cavalry and 2,000 cavalry of our army will raid the Liao army camp to the north. Then the army retreated to the outer islands. This place in the south of Suzhou depends on General Zhao. ”

Just a few days ago, Liaoyang fell, and all the southern states and counties of the Liao State Tokyo Province were occupied by the Liao army. Wang Xuansu also regretted a little, if he had listened to Zhao Xingde's suggestion, the Han army marshal's mansion was set up in Kaizhou and other places with mountains and rivers in the north, and the fortress was built earlier, the people were relocated, and the fields were reclaimed. As it is now, although the city is defended, the elite soldiers are trapped in a corner, and the people are displaced thousands of miles away, counting on the winter food of the Shuai Mansion to live. The accumulation of the Han Army's Marshal's Mansion will be more and less replenished, and it will soon bottom out. If Yelu Dashi had been in Liaodong and had not retreated, and had only harassed the Han people's crops with cavalry, I am afraid that within three years, the Han army would not be able to support it.

Before the fall of Liaoyang, the Jin army was divided, Wanyan Zonghan and other generals led hundreds of horsemen to the north to break through and fled, while Wanyan Xianye and Wanyan Zongbi led 40,000 Jin soldiers to surrender to Yelu Dashi. Wanyan Xian was also named the king of the Northern Jurchen by Yelu Dashi, and Wanyan Zongbi was named the king of the Southern Jurchen. Yelu Dashi freed his hand and personally led an army of 300,000 to Huanglong Mansion. Wanyan Xian and Wanyan Zongbi were also forcibly ordered to accompany the royal driver.

After the defeat of Liaoyang, the momentum of the Jin State plummeted, and the Jurchen tribes were faintly divided. The Han army marshal's mansion and the Jurchen tribes were deeply entangled, whether it was to resist the Liao people or to fight for power and profit internally, they were all the objects of competition from all forces. In particular, the mountain city of Guannan in Suzhou stood firm under the attack of the Liao army, which made the cooperation between the Han army and the Jurchen forces show signs of host-guest translocation. Although the Liao army's troops were mainly directed at Huanglongfu, Xiao Tachi and other generals led the Liao army's partial divisions to cleanse Kaizhou, Fengzhou, Zhengzhou, Hengzhou and other places, and everywhere they went, they were burned, killed and looted, so that the Han people and Jurchens who had not had time to evacuate were killed and wounded. In order to attract the attention of the Liao army, Zhao Xingde suggested that before the arrival of winter, some offensive should be launched from the south of Suzhou Guannan to demonstrate the threat of Han power here, forcing the Liao to transfer more troops from the north, but in this way, the pressure on Nanshan City was even heavier.

Although the Liao army suffered heavy casualties under Nanshan City, it did not resent the Nanshan defenders because of this. Zhao De's name of benevolence is also recited among the Liao people. It is known as "a hungry tiger on the battlefield, and a living Bodhisattva under the battlefield." "However, once the Liao army conquers Nanshan City and other fortresses, I am afraid that they will not leave prisoners. In less than a year after the war began, almost all of the original Tongdu Dayi were in ruins, and none of the people left remained. The new and old hatred between the Han army and the Liao State made the losers of this war have no room to surrender.

During this time, in order to attract the attention of the Liao army, it was not allowed to divide its troops to attack the Han'er, who was migrating north. Li Sihai and Zhang Liuge led the sailors to attack and harass Liaoguo County. Each sea ship carries dozens of cavalry, and when it encounters a large group of Liao troops, it temporarily avoids its front, and when it encounters a prefecture and county village that cannot be prepared, it will wantonly loot it, if the Han slaves can be saved, they will be saved, if it is the Khitan and Xi people, they will be captured or killed, and then the village will be burned and the horses will be gone.

These places were originally all on the mainland of Liaoning, and they were no better than Nanjing Dao, Xijing Dao, and other places where forts were lined up and heavily garrisoned. was harassed by the Han army with a naval division, and they all complained to the Liao court. Fuzhou, Ningzhou, Chenzhou and other places near the south of Suzhou Guannan, the original Han people have fled, and now the Khitan and Bohai people do not dare to live, and within 20 miles of the sea, there is almost no one to live. Yaozhou, Jinzhou, Anchang, Xingcheng, Haibin, Laizhou and other places far away from Suzhou have not seen sword soldiers for hundreds of years, and they are extremely empty. Although these coastal prefectures and counties in the hinterland of the Liao State did not produce much grain, they had large salt farms and many large slave workshops. The Khitan nobles received a large amount of silver money every year, and now they were suddenly harassed by the Han army, and the Liao court was full of complaints. Especially after Jinzhou, where brocade workshops were most densely distributed, was attacked by the Han army and thousands of weavers were taken away, the complaints of the Khitan nobles reached a climax.

Since the rise of the Han army, tens of thousands of Khitans fell into the hands of the Han army, and the Liao court sent people to the Han army to discuss the exchange of Han slaves for Khitan prisoners. In order to demonstrate to the Liao State, the Han army actually imitated the story of the Lumei Kingdom, stabbed 30,000 Khitan people blind, leaving only one person in one eye for every 100 people, and the blind man behind was connected together with ropes, led by the one-eyed one, and put back from the south of Suzhou. This made Yelu Dashi furious, and immediately ordered all the Han prisoners to be beheaded, and at the same time told the whole army that the villages encountered along the way to the march, whether they were people or animals, would not be left alive. The rewards for the important generals of the Han army were also greatly improved, such as Han Ningshuang, Zhao De, Wang Hengzhi, and Zhang Liuge, whether they were captured alive or beheaded, they were all promoted to two ranks, rewarded 200 slaves, and paid 200,000 yuan.

The sailors of the Liao State also tried to intercept the Han army's sea ships, but they were led to the open sea, where they were bombarded by gunboats, and almost all the troops were annihilated. Although the North Courtyard had already given an order, the Navy Commander immediately imitated the artillery and sea ships. However, the sea ships could not be built in a hurry, and after the defeat of the Liao naval division, the coastal waters were harassed by the Han army's naval divisions, and all the residents within 20 miles of the coast had to go inland. The fierce generals Xiao Tachi and Xiao Yixue led 50,000 elite Liao troops and monitored the 30,000 Jurchen troops. The army rushed to repair the road that could accommodate 40,000 catties of iron barrels and huge cannons along the way, and rushed to the city of Nanshan day and night.

At the same time, Yelu Yanshan, the capital of the southern camp, was rebuked by Yelu Dashi and ordered him to step up the attack on the Han army marshal's mansion in Guannan, Suzhou. However, Nanshan City is stuck in the narrowest part of the isthmus of the Liaodong Peninsula, the city is small, the front is only two miles, and there are naval warships on both sides to help them fire cannons on the sea. During the siege, only a few thousand people could be placed on the front, and no matter how dense it was, it would only increase casualties.

In the past few days, the Liao army besieging the city has filled in the two trenches on the periphery of Nanshan City. Because Nanshan City was low, Yeluyan Mountain also tried to pile up soil outside the city to form a mountain, so that the cavalry could rush directly to the head of Nanshan City along the earth mountain, but finally gave up because of the fierce artillery fire at the head of the city and the heavy casualties of the Liao army carrying the earth and stones.

These days, the sea has shown signs of freezing, and the offensive of the Liao army has been slightly loosened, waiting for the sea to freeze, not only the sea ice near the shore can be used by the Liao army and horses, but also the ice floes on the sea will drive the Han gunboats far away. At that time, the Liao army could easily penetrate deep into the hinterland of Suzhou Guannan.

Every day as soon as the sun rises, Guo Baoyi, the deputy commander, personally checks the freezing of the sea ice, and whenever he returns to the Chinese military tent, the commander Yelu Yanshan will eagerly ask: "Is the sea water frozen thick enough?" How long will it take to get through? This year's freezing time won't be delayed, right? ”

For more than a month, the Liao army had a general grasp of the shape of Nanshan City, and in view of the strength of the Han army's defense, Yelu Yanshan was assigned, and after the sea froze, the generals attacked the city walls separately to maximize the superiority of troops. At the same time, carts and carts of grain were also transported from Liaoyang to Nanshan City to support the army's winter operations. In recent days, the Liao army's offensive against Nanshan City does not seem to be as fierce as before, however, in the Liao army camp north of Suzhou, all Liao soldiers and horses are building various siege equipment, and they are ready to go. Once the heavy artillery of the Liaoyang side was transported to Nanshan City, they began to storm Nanshan City.

"Lord Dutong don't have to worry," Guo Baoyi said with a smile, "This year is much colder than usual, and the sea water near the shore is already several feet, but the scope of the ice is not large enough to expel the Han army sailors." As he spoke, he took off his fur and hung it in the tent of the Chinese army, and said, "If this continues, the last general estimates that in another month, I am afraid that the sea ice will be three or four feet thick, and heavy artillery will be able to pass through the ice." ”

"That's good, that's good," Yelu Yanshan said with a smile, personally poured a glass of spirits, and brought it to Guo Baoyi, "Vice President Guo has worked hard, come, warm up." Guo Baoyi took the green horn cup, confessed and drank it all. Although Guo Baoyi is a Han Chinese, he is one of Yelu Dashi's earliest henchmen, who not only does his best for the Liao court, but also has a way to be an official, so he gets along quite well with Yelu Yanshan and other Khitan generals. Although Liao has a rule prohibiting drinking in wartime, the north is bitterly cold, and many of the soldiers who go out on the expedition are addicted to alcohol. Generals like Yelu Yanshan and Guo Baoyi can drink at will.

Yelu Yanshan said in a deep voice: "When the army captures Nanshan City, eradicate all the rebellions, and build a Xiongcheng of my Daliao." ”

Yelu Yanshan poured himself a cup, took a big sip, felt a warm current rising from his stomach, and felt his spirit lifted, he stood up and looked at the low southern city outside the tent, the winter sky was full of haze, and the dark clouds overlapped, as if they were thousands of zhang high. The small, lonely city in the wilderness ice field seemed extremely small. This city stopped the Liao army for a month, and the city of Liaoyang fell, but it still stands.

Zhao Xingde and Wang Xuansu also stood at the head of Nanshan City and looked at the Liao army. Looking at the continuous Liao army camp tent in the north, Zhao Xingde muttered: "Since the Liao army besieged Nanshan City, there have been hundreds of battles of all sizes, and we have only defended but not attacked, at most we have bluffed. The Liao people should also be lax. He raised his right hand slightly, and sighed at the iron bracer, and the water vapor quickly condensed into a thin layer of frost. But in the past few days, the north wind has been blowing tightly, and the cotton jacket is as cold as iron, and the cold air has invaded people's hearts.

A hint of awe flashed in Wang Xuansu's eyes, and he sneered, "Yelu Yanshan counts the days and looks forward to the sea freezing every day, but he didn't expect that we would use this ice road first. "In the hinterland of Guannan, near the old Tieshan Fort, there are hundreds of continuous tents. Among the Jurchen troops who were invited, there were not only subordinates who did not lose their faces, but also people from the Jurchen tribe of the Yalu River. More than 10,000 cavalry is the largest strength that the Liaodong Han army and the Jurchen troops can concentrate. But this is a needle, a steel needle that can kill people if it is inserted into it according to the soft point.