Zhao Xingde said in an unwilling tone: "If the Prime Minister's Mansion, Cao Shumi, and General Han can make up their minds to assemble a large army and fight a decisive battle with the Liao soldiers, and then the elite of Guanxi will raid its flank from north to south, most of these 200,000 Liao soldiers will be lost in Jingxiang." A trace of regret flashed in Zhao Xingde's eyes. If not, then the Liao army will attack the south, and the back road will be cut off, and it will inevitably lead troops back to Henan. At this time, if we don't take advantage of the situation to pursue, we will not be worthy of millions of unjust souls in the north and south of the river. ”

Lu Mingyu said: "The left army has sent seven hundred-strong troops to the north. ”

"The right army has also sent six hundred-man troops, and one more will set off tonight." Luo Xianshi also said it. His face hesitated, and he stopped talking. Pursuing the Liao soldiers by land was not only a hard work, but also an extremely dangerous operation. Although Zhao Xingde's nominally southeastern battalion was deployed, he was actually only in charge of Jiangbei soldiers and horses, and his real henchmen were no more than 20,000 people. If the pursuit of the Liao soldiers is too bad, it will not be a good thing for Zhao Xingde's generals. Luo Xianshi also reported to Zhao Xingde twice in private, it was better to hold Hanyang steadily, and after the Liao soldiers retreated, he would slowly regain the lost territory. In this way, it can not only seize the territory of Jiangbei, but also not lose its own strength. But Zhao Xingde did not accept these suggestions.

"Very good," Zhao Xingde nodded, "First contact the prefectures and counties in Jiangbei to respond to the army, and all departments should also step up the selection of elite soldiers and prepare for a long-distance pursuit of the Liao soldiers." Immediately afterwards, Yang Zaixing, Du Fujiao and other generals also successively introduced the preparation of the headquarters for the Northern Expedition.

It has been many days since the Xia and Song coalition forces regained Xiangyang, Zhao Xingde repeatedly asked for a battle with the Liao army, and more than 200,000 horses and horses of the Song State gathered in Ezhou. But Chen Dong hesitated, and the Privy Council was unable to coordinate the troops. Cao Di controlled more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, and did not move in Jiangdong. After the Zhenguo army captured Xiangyang, its movements were unknown. The Heng Navy drew up a plan to pursue westward and go up the Han River to join the Zhenguo army. However, on the eastern land route, in the direction of An, Sui, Tang, Deng and other prefectures, Han Shizhong neither arranged nor prepared to send pursuers. Under the prohibition, Zhao Xingde had to prepare to pursue the Liao army eastward alone.

Since the southern invasion of the Liao Kingdom, its perverse behavior has also aroused the fierce resistance of the Song people, and the people have been exiled in the mountains and wilderness, and the righteous have risen up. More than 300,000 troops of the Liao State sent troops from Bianliang and Yingchang and marched for more than 1,000 miles. Although the Liao State stationed Khitan soldiers and horses in important prefectures and counties, in order to facilitate the collection of grain and grass, it still retained Song Dynasty officials and officials. Many demoted officials also secretly communicated with Xiangyang and Ezhou. The Liao army outside Hanyang City is known as 300,000 people, and Zhao Xingde is still on the absolutely weak side, but it is difficult for the 300,000 Liao army to retreat completely, and the men and horses of each department are bound to be separated. This is the purpose of Zhao Xingde's insistence on leading his troops to pursue. Even if the soldiers and horses under his command were at an absolute disadvantage in numbers, Zhao Xingde was unwilling to let the Liao army withdraw comfortably, and his pursuit would bite them like mosquitoes and flies, so that as many Liao soldiers and horses as possible would fall in exhaustion and hunger. With the tide of the battle reversed, the northern rebels were ready to move. Zhao Xingde also took precautions, and constantly sent a small number of elites to the north, contacting the northern prefectures and counties and the volunteers in the mountains, so that they could prepare their cameras and move, and plan for the Song army to go north to recover the lost territory. The advance army cooperated with the volunteers of the northern prefectures and counties to build a number of strongholds as the eyes and ears of the army and a resting place.

Most of the Liao soldiers were cavalry, and most of the Song troops were foot soldiers. In order to reduce the gap between the two legs and the six legs, the armies abandoned all the cumbersome things except for the elite, and it was the end of summer, the weather was not yet cold, and the soldiers were only wearing single clothes. All the original iron armor of the troops in the southeast camp remained in Hanyang, and they were replaced with 20,000 pairs of light paper armor taken from the arsenal, and only iron pieces were hung on the front chest and back. Each soldier carried seven days' rations, antlers, muskets, ammunition, and shovels. Cattle and carts only carried artillery, and in order to reduce the weight of the baggage, they did not even carry tents for camping, and the soldiers had to sleep in the fields at night.

In fact, because of the narrowness of Hanyang, the lack of barracks, and the hot weather, the Baoyi army that entered Hanyang later also slept in the streets and alleys of the city. On both sides of Phoenix Lane, soldiers with white leggings come and go, which is particularly eye-catching. This is Zhao Xingde's tooth barracks, and it is also known as the White Wrap Soldier in the city. Some of the soldiers had just finished their leggings, and they were still stepping on the spot repeatedly, to see if the fight was solid. Liu Wengu sat on the bluestone slab and wrapped strips of white linen cloth from bottom to top to knees. "Insult Sven, insult Sven!" He bared his teeth and complained, "Is this thing for a husband?" It's like a woman's footwrap. ”

"Of course." Ma Yuan clasped his hands in front of his chest and said with a smile, "Lu Meng of the Three Kingdoms heard about Sun Quan's business, and he paid for his soldiers to make silk clothes. This "line" is the leg wrapping thing, also known as the "evil amplitude" in the Book of Poetry, "Xiaoya" so-called "red Fu in the stock, evil amplitude in the bottom" is also. He looked at Liu Wengu and quipped, "Don't be sad, it's a 'white wrapped soldier' in the dignified Chinese army, it's glorious." As he spoke, he stretched his leg forward, and the black linen strip was wrapped from the foot condyle to the knee, which contrasted with the white linen that Liu Wengu was wrapping. In the Battle of Shuzhou, Liu Wengu's position was broken through by the Khitan cavalry, and he suffered heavy casualties, he was one of the few people who survived, and after recovering from his wounds, he was selected as the centurion of the tooth barracks. And Ma Yuan was promoted to the history of the five-rank assassin because of his military merits, and he still commanded a battalion of firefighters.

Leggings were originally only popular among the southeast water thieves, only because the south was overgrown with grass and trees, among which there were many poisonous insects. In order to facilitate the march, Lu Mingyu suggested that Zhao Xingde implement leggings throughout the army. Zhao Xingde readily agreed, not only that, but he also wore leggings in and out, and hit it all the way to his knees. Originally, some officers and northerners thought that the leg wrapping was ugly and did not want to wrap the legs, but Zhao Xingde had to follow the cat and the tiger under the example of the cat, and also set the military rule that the leg wrapping must exceed the knee. Because of the black dirt-resistant, the leggings issued by the battalions are all made of black linen, and only the Chinese army tooth barracks under the jurisdiction of the tooth general Du Blowjiao are wrapped in white linen.

"You came here, didn't you make a special trip to laugh at me?" Liu Wengu said stupidly.

"Where, where." Ma Yuan smiled and said, "I'm here to leave." ”

"Resignation?" Liu Wengu raised his head in surprise, "Where are you going?" ”

"Northside." Ma Yuan looked up into the distance and didn't say anything specific. In Phoenix Lane, the white-wrapped soldiers of the tooth barracks raised their legs and kicked their feet in twos and threes. In addition to preparing for the expedition in the past few days, Zhao Xingde also ordered the battalions to take turns to train for long distances, and after several trainings, the soldiers were accustomed to legging, and sometimes they had to walk nearly a hundred miles from morning to night, and the long distance of the march made the horse aid who was familiar with the history of the military book staggered.

"Do you want to go first?" Liu Wengu put down the strip of cloth in his hand, stood up, and looked at Ma Yuan with a complicated expression. Sending out in advance is a military affair of nine deaths. Not only may the cavalry of the Liao army be intercepted and killed halfway, but those officials in the northern prefectures and counties may be treacherous, and many of the so-called "volunteers" are former mountain bandits and giants, and they may also use the heads of the imperial court soldiers and horses to ask for rewards from the Liao State and Bianliang. "In that case," Liu Wengu didn't know what to say, and put a hand on Ma Yuan's shoulder, "Take care." He hesitated for a moment, "This Northern Expedition, it would be good if Bianliang could be recovered." ”

"If you can work together...... Ma Yuan said in a low voice, "Unfortunately, not necessarily. I look at Mr. Zhao's arrangement, this Northern Expedition is only to kill and injure more soldiers and horses of the Liao thieves, not to let them calmly retreat, and to consume more vitality. He looked up, and a smile appeared on his face again, "Regain Bianliang, next time." He took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Liu Wengu, "If there is any case, please transfer this to my family." He paled slightly, patted Liu Wengu's shoulder, didn't linger any longer and turned to leave.

Liu Wengu looked at Ma Yuan's back, put the letter in his arms, and muttered, "There will be a period later." ”

When Hanyang City was in full swing, dozens of miles to the west, in the imperial account of the Liao Emperor, the atmosphere was extremely dull.

Yelu Dashi sat on the white tiger skin chair, looked at the generals condescendingly, and did not say a word. After Xiao Lili lost Xiangyang and retreated to Yingchang Mansion, Pegasus immediately sent a recital of the guilty plea. Xia sent troops, and the news that Xiangyang was recaptured by the Song-Xia coalition army spread far and wide, and the army was in turmoil these days, and it was very difficult for the troops to attack Hanyang, and now they have lost their sharpness, and the Jurchen sailors are even more likely to deal with the errands. Yelu Tiege, the privy envoy of the Northern Court, had no time to take care of these, and frowned all day long. The Khitan and Xi people of the Liao State add up to only more than 2 million, and the men on the military registration of the North Courtyard are only more than 700,000, and all parties have to divide their troops to defend it. It doesn't matter if the Han army and the Jurchen army are lost, if these more than 100,000 Khitan elites are lost, the Liao State will inevitably be greatly damaged. However, it is absolutely impossible to use the Han army and the Jurchen army to break off, otherwise, nine times out of ten, as soon as the front of the imperial camp left, the Song people descended behind.

What worries Yelu Tiege even more is the military rations. Since the fall of Xiangyang, the grain ships in the upper reaches of the Han River have been cut off. The grain and grass transported by land in Yingchang Mansion and Dengzhou were far from keeping up with the help of the army. 300,000 horses invaded the south, except for those who guarded the states and counties, nearly 200,000 horses were in the imperial camp, and the people ate and chewed horses, and consumed tens of thousands of stones of grain and grass every day. Not only do you need grain and grass for the army, but also for the garrison, and even for the retreating troops. The fortified city in front is difficult to overcome, and the grain road behind has been cut off, and if it continues like this, Yelu Tiege is only afraid that the army will run out of food. However, the army's spirit can not be vented, and His Majesty does not mention the word "retreat", including Yelu Tiege, none of the generals dares to take the initiative to mention it.

Author: Finally reverted to the update. A few days ago, Kaven was so badly that he seemed to see the soldiers of the Baoyi Army playing white leggings and kicking their feet, but he just couldn't write it. I'm really sorry everyone. In the future, I will strive to adhere to the stable update, and I hope that all book friends will continue to support this book. Thank you for your support.