Under Liaoyang Mansion in Tokyo, the autumn wind makes everything bleak and gloomy. The wilderness, which was originally full of vitality and lush vegetation, has turned into a gray color at this moment, and it seems that the land is vast and boundless, and the mountains and fields are boundless. In the lonely frost day, everything is withering and dying, and the grass and trees are like this, can people avoid it?

The 500,000 Liao army had been massing in the wilderness outside Liaoyang Province from Zhongjing Province a month ago. Yelu Zongyuan poured out almost all the troops and horses that could be mobilized in the Liao State and gathered them here. This time, his goal was to completely clean up this henchman, this Jurchen tribe that had been unable to sleep and eat since he ascended the throne. This Jurchen tribe that almost brought him to the brink of annihilation. He wanted to capture alive the leader of the Jurchen tribe, Wanyan Aguda, and he wanted to break the body of this rebel who almost drove him into a desperate situation, and his bones were scattered.

In order to ensure victory, Yelu Zongyuan did not rush to attack, he knew Wanyan Aguda's ability, he knew the combat effectiveness of the Jurchens, although the other party only had less than 200,000 soldiers and horses, but Yelu Zongyuan did not have a contempt. Yelu Zongyuan knew that he only had such a chance, and Da Liao could not afford a big defeat, and once such a desperate battle of extermination failed, he Yelu Zongyuan would completely lose everything. Don't look at the fact that the whole of Daliao seems to have the same hatred for the enemy, and it seems that the Great Zhou in the south seems to be very high-spirited and high-spirited after surrendering. But in fact, Yelu Zongyuan himself knew in his heart that under the surface was an undercurrent and an undercurrent, a reef and a dangerous shoal, and an extremely dangerous situation.

Those tribal leaders chattered endlessly about their own methods of digging dams to discharge floods to block the enemy, and the dissatisfaction they expressed behind their backs was known to Yelu Zongyuan. And even Prime Minister Han Yanshou was not on his side in the matter, and expressed his dissatisfaction with himself in front of him. The tribe's 200,000 cavalry alliance is now the main force of his own troops, how could Yelu Zongyuan not know the danger of all this? Yelu Zongyuan could only compromise with them, and in the current situation, he could only keep making promises and agreeing to their unreasonable demands in order to coax them into joining him. Yelu Zongyuan not only wanted to defeat the Jurchens, but also used this battle to severely defeat the tribal alliance and weaken their power. After exterminating the Jurchens, he wanted to start a war against the Great Zhou non-stop, and he would never give these guys who were dissatisfied with him a chance to attack, and he would consume their soldiers and horses, so that they would be powerless to resist. Once the situation is stable, it's time for him to clean up these guys one by one.

Of course, all the prerequisites are based on victory, and it is necessary to win and achieve one's ulterior goals, which is enough to make Yelu Zongyuan rack his brains and exhaust his efforts.

The 500,000-strong army was assembled one after another in early September, and on the outskirts of Liaoyang Prefecture, a company camp composed of 500,000 troops stretched for more than 20 miles, spreading a semicircular encirclement along the wilderness on both sides of the Liao River. In the wilderness with a radius of more than 20 miles, there are dense camp tents, flags covering the sky and the sun, bonfires all night long, the dust of people and horses is very noisy, and a large area of the sky has become gray.

Every day, just the food, supplies, water, firewood, and salaries consumed by so many soldiers and horses are enough for a logistics army of 3,000 carts and 2,000 pack horses to shuttle between the camps day and night to supply the army. The daily cost of consuming materials alone is as high as 250,000 taels of silver. To fight a war is to fight for silver, and this saying is not bad at all.

It was under such circumstances that in order to ensure that Liaoyang Mansion could be taken in one fell swoop, Yelu Zongyuan still did not hastily announce the siege of the city. He still gritted his teeth and waited for twenty days, waiting for the arrival of a large number of catapults, Yunxiao vehicles and other heavy siege equipment captured from the battle of Nanjing. Because of the long distance, these captured siege equipment had to be transported by chariot and horse from Xijin Province. This road is far away, and these instruments are extremely heavy, which is really an extremely difficult thing. Yelu Zongyuan wished that they would arrive in a few days, but that was impossible. Yelu Zongyuan also felt for the first time that his territory in Daliao was too vast, so vast that he hated it.

It was suggested that these siege engines should be made on the spot, and the province had brought them from far and wide from the province of Xijin. Yelu Zongyuan has not tried. However, even if you have a mold in front of you, it is not just a matter of lip service to want to imitate these siege machines. It's not as simple as sharpening a stick of the same shape, these things are meant to come in handy during a siege. In the case of catapults with relatively simple structures, it is not a simple task to make these catapults able to throw stones and reach hundreds of steps. The core components of Da Zhou's catapult are made of iron, so that they can withstand the huge impact of the projectile. It is not possible to make do with wooden shafts, and the result of shoddy construction not only cannot make the catapult made to achieve the purpose of siege, but also consumes manpower and material resources.

This is not the case with catapults, not to mention the well-made ones that are not afraid of bows and arrows and rockets. These things could not be made simply by beating wood, but two imitations were made in the army, which took thousands of people two days. However, the things created were nondescript, and after advancing more than ten zhang, they fell to the ground because of the unstable center of gravity. And obviously, without the protection of the iron shell, it is a question whether it can be completely pushed under the walls of Liaoyang City. In view of this, Yelu Zongyuan quickly decided to give up this stupid attempt, these things are naturally to be made, but they are by no means something that can be explored in a short period of time at this moment, and it is the right thing to build slowly in the future, and at this moment, he can only use a stupid method to slowly transport a large number of siege equipment captured in Xijin Mansion.

The reason why Yelu Zongyuan prepared so cautiously was naturally because he didn't want to fold here. The ministers and generals were extremely optimistic, believing that 500,000 men would attack the city and that it would be destroyed. Where are the siege engines needed. But Yelu Zongyuan knew the abilities of the Jurchens. The Jurchens are less than a hundred, and a hundred are invincible. These words are folk nursery rhymes that have been circulating in Liao recently, and the reason why these words appear is that in recent years, when he led the army to exterminate the Jurchens, he continued to lose, and the Jurchens won everywhere, and finally such nursery rhymes appeared. During the first battle of Liaoyang Mansion last year, the Jurchens defeated Liaoyang Mansion defended by their 200,000 soldiers and horses with less than 50,000 soldiers and horses, forcing themselves to give up Liaoyang Mansion. To this day, Yelu Zongyuan still remembers the horror of the Jurchens' combat effectiveness.

And there are 200,000 Jurchen defenders in Liaoyang Mansion in front of him, and such a huge number of Jurchen soldiers and horses, if you don't pay attention to them, it will be tantamount to killing yourself. Not only that, the Liaoyang Mansion in front of him was no longer the Liaoyang Mansion he knew, and when he first rode a horse to observe the Liaoyang Mansion on the dirt slope outside the city, he was so shocked that he almost couldn't close his mouth. After the Jurchens quickly withdrew from Zhongjing Province to Liaoyang Mansion, they began to renovate and strengthen Liaoyang Mansion. In a month's time, the entire Liaoyang Mansion has become a beast-like city with teeth and claws, which has been completely transformed by the Jurchens from beginning to end.

Not to mention the reinforcement and defense system of the city of Liaoyang Mansion itself, just looking at the periphery of the city, we can already see how much effort the Jurchens have made during this time. The area around Liaoyang Mansion was originally a flat and wide land, but now, there are three more ditches with a width of more than two zhang around Liaoyang Mansion for no reason. Liaoyang Mansion is like three more moats, wrapped in four moats, including the moat under its own city, forming a concentric circle of protection.

Although the scale of Liaoyang Mansion is not comparable to that of Xijin Mansion and Dading Mansion, it is also a large city with a length of six or seven miles. As the Great Liao Tokyo, the significance of its existence is not only as a political office in the eastern part of the Great Liao, but also as a fortress for the Liao State to strengthen its rule over the Jurchen and other tribes in the east. Through the power radiated by Liaoyang Prefecture and the surrounding cities, it can effectively perceive and suppress the movements of the eastern tribes, and through the soldiers and administrative forces stationed in Liaoyang Prefecture, it can effectively control the territory under the jurisdiction of Liaodong at any time, and exist as a base for suppressing rebellions when necessary. Because of this, Liaoyang Mansion is the largest city in Liaodong, and the scale of the city is naturally not small.

In a city of this size, the Jurchens actually dug out three outer moats, and the cost can be imagined. It seems that the Jurchens are determined to defend Liaoyang Mansion.

But in fact, just the three moats dug on the periphery seem to have little impact on the siege. This point has also been discussed within Daliao. After all, these moats were outside of the fire of the city walls, and it was obviously unwise to spend a lot of effort digging them. Once an attack is launched, the Great Liao soldiers and horses will quickly set up a passage for the attack on these ditches, which will only take a little time at most. Do the Jurchens still dare to rely on these ditches to refuse to defend it? In short, it seems that there is some confusion about the meaning of what they are doing. Yelu Zongyuan was also very puzzled by this.

However, compared to the three ditches about two zhang wide on the periphery, the reinforcement and transformation of the city itself is what Yelu Zongyuan is really worried about.

The Liaoyang Mansion in front of him is no longer the Liaoyang Mansion that Yelu Zongyuan is familiar with. Last year, when Yelu Zongyuan led an army of 200,000 troops stationed in Liaoyang Mansion and fought against Wanyan Agu, he could not have been clearer about the pattern of Liaoyang Mansion. Although the walls of the city are high, the scale is also limited. However, the current Liaoyang Mansion has changed beyond recognition, and Yelu Zongyuan almost unrecognizable it when he first saw the outline of the city.

However, the moat outside the city, which was originally three zhang wide, has now been widened to four zhang wide, and the water of the tributaries of the Liao River can be used as a moat, and now this tributary is about to catch up with the width of the Liao River itself. And because it is living water, the water is flowing, unlike the moat water of other cities, which is still and motionless. When besieging a city, this can cause no small amount of trouble. Ordinary methods are afraid that it is difficult to work. Since it has been widened, I am afraid that it has also dug a lot deeper, which is definitely a big trouble during the siege.

That's not all, the walls of the entire city seem to be taller than before. The battlements of the city wall were also raised to more than one person's height. There is a towering enemy tower every few dozen steps on the city wall, and there are many additional platforms that protrude beyond the city wall. This is tantamount to making the defense system of the entire city wall more three-dimensional. The platform allows the city wall to play a role in widening, and there can be more space for the garrison and rotation of the garrison soldiers and horses, and more materials for the other side to defend the city. And these enemy towers built can undoubtedly make the Jurchen archers strike more unscrupulously, without worrying about the threat of the strong suppressive force of the besieging side of the city.

In short, when observing the situation inside and outside the city of Liaoyang Mansion from the clairvoyant mirror, Yelu Zongyuan no longer had the slightest slackness. He knew that Wanyan Aguda was ready to defend to the death. In this battle of Liaoyang Mansion, he must be cautious and cautious, and he must not underestimate the enemy. Although he has an army of 500,000, it is more than double that of his opponent. However, if he is leading 500,000 wolves, he is 200,000 tigers, not 200,000 lambs. The slightest carelessness will be a doom.