The commander of the Liao army did not seem to expect that the Song army would rush to the fort all at once. The Liao army holding the fort was almost completely cut down, and when the rest surrendered on their knees, the Liao army neither bombarded the fort with hidden artillery, nor launched a powerful counterattack.

"Good guys!" At this time, the officers of the Song Army who were watching the battle began to be overjoyed, "Take them down, kill them all!" ”

Zhang Xian also realized that something had gone wrong with the Liao army, not a trap or something.

"Drums! Help our army! He immediately ordered to urge the front gunners to speed up their advance, and dispatched five gunners to protect more than 100 gunners to quickly rush towards the Liao army's artillery forts, while other Song gunners concentrated their guns to bombard the rear of the Liao army's central forts. The smoke of gunpowder shrouded in the sky over the Song army barracks, the artillery bombarded and fired non-stop, many artillery commanders gave the order of double charges, and the black round iron shells swept in an arc from the Liao army artillery fortress and fell behind the fort, which was the place where Li Ruoxu's eyesight could not reach, he imagined that if the Liao army wanted to recapture the fort from the rear, under the Song army's artillery shells, the Liao army would definitely suffer heavy casualties. However, there are now less than 2,000 cavalry of the Song army on the Liao army's artillery fort, and if the Liao army commander wants to recapture the fort at the expense of casualties, the cavalry will not be able to stop it.

As the Song Army's Gun Battalion got closer and closer to the Liao Army's barracks, the officers around Zhang Xian fell into unanimous silence.

"Hurry up, hurry up!" Li Ruoxu seemed to hear someone chattering.

He looked left and right, everyone was closed, and the sound seemed to come from his own imagination.

There is nothing more frustrating than a victory slipping out of your hands after paying a heavy casualty. All the officers stared at the Liao army's forts, because of nervousness, some kept smoothing the folds that did not exist on the military robes, some kept tightening and tightening the bands of the military robes, some rubbing the sweaty palms, and some picked up the soil from the ground and crushed it, and picked it up again. The artillery on the other Liao camps had already begun to fire at the central camp and the Song army's artillery battalion, but these scattered shells could not stop the advance of the artillery battalion.

Shells whirred over the heads of the Song army, and the gunners ran through the smoke and the corpses of their comrades towards the Liao fortification. "Well done!" "I didn't embarrass Yue Shuai!" Zhang Xian beside the staff officers sounded a sound of praise, at this time, the front team that had just retired had returned to the main formation, some people were covered with blood, the front team will have four thousand firecrackers when they go out, and less than two thousand have withdrawn at this moment, this group of firecrackers are all pale, with their heads bowed, some people are carrying injured companions, many people are tired, some people seem to have lost their souls, and some people are still ashamed of the rout just now. The tragic situation of the front team made the officers temporarily stop cheering and admiring, some people cast strange eyes on these defeated soldiers, and some people looked at Zhang Xian, not knowing what he would do.

"General Zhang, General Zhang Zhi of the infantry battalion died in battle, please surrender your guilt." A battalion commander knelt in front of Zhang Xian and said.

"Get up, Zhang Zhi is a good man," Zhang Xian looked at him, his face was gloomy, Zhang Zhi was his kindred, and he had followed Zhang Xian for more than ten years, but he didn't expect to die here. He picked up the officer who pleaded guilty, and said in a deep voice, "The sons and daughters under Zhang Zhi are all good. Go back and tell them that I, Zhang Xian, will ask for credit for them! Those who are killed or wounded in battle will also be generously compensated. As he spoke, Zhang Xian kept watching the battle for the artillery fort ahead, and the second wave of the fire battalion was already very close to the Liao army's fortification. The guilty officer stood up, his face slowed slightly, the battle ahead was in full swing, he didn't dare to delay Zhang Xian's time more, and he still confessed. The infantry vanguard team lost nearly half of its strength and could no longer fight. Zhang Xian comforted the surviving soldiers with this officer, and the hearts of the people who survived were a little calmer.

Zhang Xian not only did not blame the firecrackers of the battle front team, but wanted to ask for credit for them, and Li Ruoxu also breathed a sigh of relief.

The vanguard team is not brave, but after all, they are defeated, whether they are deserters or victorious soldiers depends on the attitude of the battlefield commander.

Zhang Xian raised the clairvoyant mirror again and set his eyes on the central artillery fortress of the Liao army in front of the battlefield.

At this time, the second wave of 5,000 musketeers almost boarded the fort, some of them inspected the artillery, used the Liao army's camp to erect the muskets on all sides, and the other part was divided into phalanxes in the open space, in the smoke of gunpowder, each musketeer looked very nervous, in the gap between the firecrackers' phalanx, from time to time there were Liao army figures, banners, and sometimes the cavalry of the two armies staggered. The situation on the battlefield has been reversed, the Song artillery continued to fire shells at the rear of the opposite artillery base, a large number of well-organized Liao army foot soldiers rushed up from the rear, and were embarrassed by the Song army to shoot back, when the third wave of Song army gunners reinforced the fort, 3,000 cavalry detoured back to the flank of the Liao army's defense line, and broke the phalanx of about 3,000 Liao army foot soldiers, the Song army artillery turned the gun that the Liao army had not had time to smash, and fired a round of shotguns, in the face of the Song army that was waiting for the battle, the Liao army could only give up the effort to recapture the fort.

"Lord Xiao, the artillery fortress is lost, and the crime of Erti must be cured!"

Xiao Tachi sat on a bench covered with tiger skins, looking down at Yelushu with an angry face.

Xiao Tachi didn't care about the content of Yelushu's complaint, and the Murbo people returned blood for blood, which was not a big mistake in Xiao Tachi's opinion, but the reckless man of Erti chose the wrong time. If it was someone else, he would have killed him, but Yelu Shu was one of the few Khitan officers who was proficient in artillery, and even Yelu Dashi remembered his name. Xiao Tachi stared at his face, his gaze was very sharp, Yelushu unconsciously lowered his head, avoiding his gaze, the artillery fortress was lost, and at the same time, more than half of the heavy artillery and artillery of the Liao army in Hejian were lost, and it was impossible for no one to take responsibility. He had no choice but to sue Erti for it.

After an hour of hard fighting, the central artillery fort was lost, and the Liao army's painstakingly managed camp defense outside Hejian City was broken, and in addition to the Mlb cavalry, the infantry and artillery battalions suffered heavy losses. Most of the infantry of the Liao army in Hejian were surrendered by Xi and Song, and their will to fight was very weak. During the counterattack on the fortification, the Liao army's infantry collapsed in groups, and the scimitars of the military law team could not prevent them from escaping. The Song army consolidated the defensive line and set up heavy artillery on the artillery barriers, and the walls between the rivers could not be stopped for long. Today's battle can be said to have decided the victory or defeat of the entire battle between the rivers. Judging from the situation on the battlefield, if the Erbo cavalry was not invested to forcibly storm the fortification, it would be hopeless for the Liao infantry to recapture the central fortification.

"Urtier is reckless, and I will whip him."

Xiao Tachi stood up, patted Yelushu on the shoulder, and comforted him. Yelushu's body stiffened, looking at his nervous appearance, a contemptuous smile appeared on the corner of Xiao Tachi's mouth, and he turned back to the other Liao army generals and said: "We guarded the river for half a month, and fought several bloody battles with the Song people, nearly half of the artillery and soldiers were damaged, and the Song army was menacing. For His Majesty the Emperor, warriors are more important than land. He grabbed Yelushu's shoulders without any guilt and looked at the crowd, "The rivers here are vertical and horizontal, the land is soft, which is not conducive to the galloping of the cavalry, and the decisive battle with the Song army's vanguard in the river is to use our shortcomings to touch the strengths of the Song army, so I think that instead of defending the river, it is better to take advantage of the Song army's unstable foothold and retreat to Xiongzhou to make plans, what do you think?"

Yelushu raised his head and looked at Xiao Tachi in surprise.

It is good that the Liao army in Hejian lost nearly half of it, but the main force of the Liao army in Hejian, 10,000 Erbo cavalry, was almost undamaged, and it was not without the strength to fight against the Song army. Yelushu's throat moved, he lowered his head and did not speak, and the other Liao generals did not object.

Xiao Tachi is the beloved son-in-law of Empress Xiao, and he is deeply valued by Yelu Dashi, when the North Courtyard put him on the front line of the river, Xiao Tachi came honestly, and put a deep ditch barrier outside the river city, all the generals thought that he was going to defend the river city, until now it suddenly dawned on him, Xiao Tachi never wanted to be trapped in the river city at all. It was precisely because he was unwilling to be besieged by the Song army that he focused his defense on the fortifications built outside the city by virtue of the terrain, and as soon as the defense line outside the city was lost, Xiao Tachi did not hesitate to prepare to retreat.

"Whoever wants to oppose it will stay and guard this lonely city." Xiao Tachi looked at the Liao army generals under his tent calmly.

No one objected, and Xiao Tachi's majesty had penetrated deeply into the hearts of every general of the Liao Army in Hejian.

Even if he clearly preserved the strength of the Murb cavalry, no one dared to raise an objection in the river.

No one among the generals doubted that Xiao Tachi could definitely say that he had done a lot. They can only try to avoid their own losses. At this time, some generals even breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts, Xiao Tachi made a decision, and everyone didn't have to fight to the death with the Song people in the river. The Khitan and Xi people did not like to passively defend the city, and the Song generals had no determination to fight to the death, so the withdrawal of the army was decided.

In order to hide people's eyes and ears, and in order not to anger the Song army, the Liao army quietly retreated at night and did not set fire. It wasn't until dawn the next day, when the scouts tried to approach the second camp of the Liao army, they found that the opposite side was empty, the gate of the river was wide open, and the surviving people saw the Song cavalry entering the city, and they all greeted each other happily.

"Lord Zhang, the Liaogou people have withdrawn!" The scout looked surprised, and his voice trembled a little and asked, "Do you want to pursue?" ”

"Chase?" Zhang Xian looked up and looked around, and lowered his eyelids again.

After capturing the Liao army's fortification, in order to prevent the Liao army's counterattack, the Song army mobilized men and horses overnight to strengthen this fort. Behind the forts, carts, horses, and tents were crowded everywhere, while medical tents for the wounded were temporarily erected a little further back, and many bloodstained wounded were sitting or lying, groaning and wailing all night. On the battlefield farther away, thousands of corpses that were too late to collect were all over the field, human corpses, horse corpses, corpses of the Song army, corpses of the Liao army, it is difficult to calculate how many Song army lives were exchanged for several Liao army. The crows in the sky kept circling, they smelled blood, and they screamed impatiently.

"There's no need to chase it." Zhang Xian lowered his head and took off his helmet, shook his head, and said, "Strengthen the camp and report to Yue Shuai." ”