The war finally broke out, and the Liao State really no longer entangled the mouth of the Great Wall, but went straight to the Hebei Plain. This time, they were more abundant and more prepared, and the Empress Dowager Xiao and the Manchu Dynasty all fought with the army, marching all the way, like a bamboo.

The Song Dynasty was also ready to do so, and Wang Chao, the commander of the Dingzhou Array, first raised 50,000 soldiers and horses to meet him, blocking the Liao State at the Youyun border, and at the same time ordered Zhou Ying, the commander of Gaoyang Pass, and Sang Zan, the commander of Zhenzhou Road, to quickly move closer to him, and attack from three sides, giving the Liao army a dismount.

However, before the battle had even begun, problems arose.

Zhao Heng finally lost his previous self-confidence, and finally stopped dreaming of the eternal emperor. The Liao army is already close at hand, and rushing across the Yellow River is Kaifeng.

The urgent documents flew into the inner courtyard of the palace like snowflakes, rolled from the Zhongshu Province, and then placed on the dragon case in the upper study.

Therefore, Wang Chao decided to stay still and stick to the big array and wait for the emperor's edict.

Sure enough, as Han Derang expected, Wang Chao, as a veteran of the battlefield, thought of everything he should have thought of. The Dingzhou Great Array was made by the emperor (cāo), and he was only the executive commander of the Great Array. If you rush to follow at this moment, you will not only lose all your belongings, but also carry a black pot that disobeys the emperor's orders.

For a while, the Song army camp was in chaos, they didn't expect this result, but the result had already happened. The question at hand is what to do? To chase or not to chase?

Sure enough, another even more shocking news came: the Liao army appeared behind the big array, and at this moment it was storming in Jizhou, Beizhou, Qizhou and other places.

What does it mean to be gone? Seeing that the situation was not good, he fled back? Wang Chao was faintly excited, but felt that things (qíng) could not be so simple.

The next day, Wang Chao got up early, ready to wait for the Liao army to be sent to the door again to be killed, however, he got a shocking news: the Liao army was gone.

As soon as this statement came out, everyone's eyes lit up, and it was indeed a good idea. Empress Dowager Xiao's eyes sparkled, and she said in a deep voice: "Okay, that's it, let's set off overnight." ”

"Second, they turned back to chase us and tried to flank us with the army on the Yellow River. If that's the case, the Dingzhou Great Array will be out of shape, which is equivalent to self-defeating. Moreover, if the Song army wants to pursue, only a small number of elite cavalry can catch up with our cavalry, and they can be divided and eaten up at that time.

The formation will not move, it is still holding on to Dingzhou, if that is the case, the whole plain is ours, and we can do whatever we want. ”

It is nothing more than two (qíng) situations, first, Dingzhou is large

Everyone was at a loss, unable to imagine what would happen.

Han Derang smiled and said: "The Heshuo Plain is endless, there is no natural obstacle at all, and my Khitan are all cavalry, imagine what they can do if we go around behind him and go straight to the Yellow River?" ”

"Hiss-" Everyone gasped and looked at Han Derang in a daze, they really couldn't imagine that the battle could still be fought like this, the two armies clashed, and they could still bypass? Wouldn't that leave one's back to the enemy, and let one's belly be exposed to the enemy?

Han Derang shook his head and said: "Zhao Heng's big array is powerful, if we can't beat it, we won't fight, bypass the big array and go directly to open the seal, can't we beat Zhao Heng?" ”

"Oh? Do you want to go back if you don't fight? Empress Dowager Xiao frowned and asked.

"Why fight hard, can't you fight if you don't fight?" Han Derang on the side of Empress Dowager Xiao (shēn) smiled.

"In this case, you can only fight hard?" Empress Dowager Xiao sighed.

"This array is not easy to break, since more than ten years ago, we have been researching, but there has been no result, and now they have done transformation and upgrading, I'm afraid it will be even more difficult." The Southern Prime Minister Yelu Nuoyan replied.

Empress Dowager Xiao nodded and said, "The general is confident, that is the luck of the whole army." However, if you fight so hard, the loss is still too large, is there no good way to break the formation? ”

Coach Xiao Tzu said: "Queen Mother, this is just the beginning, the so-called dripping water through stones, even if he is a floor, Weichen will also cut a hole for him." ”

Empress Dowager Xiao frowned and said: "This Wanli Pingrong Array, we have been taught it when we were the first emperor, and now it seems that it is even more powerful than in the past." ”

At this time, the atmosphere in the Liao army's tent was solemn.

The "Wanli Pingrong Array", after the emperor's personal transformation, really became extraordinarily powerful. When the news reached the capital, the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty were overjoyed, and praised the emperor's martial arts, which was rare in ancient times. Zhao Heng is naturally complacent, waiting to establish immortality and become an emperor through the ages.

Sure enough, the Dingzhou Great Array was like an iron plate, and the Liao Army seemed to be unable to tear even a small opening in front of the big array. After a day of fierce fighting, the Liao army had no choice but to leave the corpses all over the ground and retreat.

There was a fierce battle. Wang Chao followed Zhao Heng's instructions, calmly faced the enemy, and gave full play to the advantages of the large array in an orderly manner.

After a brief rest and recuperation, the Liao army went straight to the Dingzhou array, and the two sides again

The Dingzhou Great Array is the main battlefield where Zhao Heng is preparing for a decisive battle with the Liao army.

This large array is not ordinary, it is the Taizong period of the "Wanli Pingrong Array" to transform and upgrade the evolution, Taizong period is mainly infantry, cavalry embellishment, this time Zhao Heng for the characteristics of the Liao army, the cavalry as the main force, combat effectiveness is more prominent.

Overnight, the Song army lost the first battle, and when the news reached the capital, Zhao Heng was not panicked, which seemed to be expected. He learned the previous lesson and specially issued an order to Zhou Ying, concentrating all the surrounding soldiers and horses in Dingzhou to form a large array on both sides of the Tang River.

The fighting was extremely fierce, fighting from late evening until late at night. Wang Chao felt that the situation was unfavorable to him at the moment, they had a backhand, and there was no need to spend so much. So the order went down, the whole army collected its troops, and returned to the Dingzhou base camp to guard the pass.

The Liao army poured out of the nest, and it was the first battle again, and its combat effectiveness was extremely strong. At present, the Song army was a major enemy, but it suddenly lost one-third of its troops, and first lost in morale.

In the evening, the two armies met in Wangdu County, north of Dingzhou, and the battle officially began.

There was no way, Wang Chao could only use Sang Zan as an assistant to fight a decisive battle with Xiao Tzulin, the new coach of the Liao Army.

Wang Chao, Sangzan and others were furious, and the entire front-line soldiers were furious, but they were helpless. Zhou Ying came from a huge background, and before he left Beijing, he was a high-status Xuanhui envoy, far higher than Wang Chao, and Wang Chao couldn't order him at all.

Zhou Ying, the commander of Gaoyang Pass, did not move after receiving Wang Chao's order, and only wrote a note to Wang Chao, to the effect that my task is to hold Gaoyang Pass, without the emperor's edict, you are not qualified to mobilize my soldiers and horses.

What to do? He was anxious and scared, and asked the ministers over and over again on the big (diàn), but the ministers seemed to be more afraid than him, once the Khitans broke the city into Kaifeng, their family had a great cause, where should they flee?

Yes, if you want to escape, you must act early, otherwise it will be too late to take away those gold and silver belongings, wives and concubines, old and young.

As a result, moving the capital became the only topic in the court.