On the surface, there were only about 20 people who went to the banquet, plus the accompanying guards, but with such an arrangement, Yang Huairen felt that he was neither humble nor arrogant.

The south courtyard of Xijin Mansion is on the east side of Taining Palace, and it also occupies the core position in the middle of the north city of Xijin Palace, and the gate is heavily guarded, with twice as many guards as Taining Palace.

When Yang Huairen and the others arrived by car, they found that among the guards in front of the South Courtyard, there were actually guards wearing two completely different military uniforms.

Xiao Lao'er came out and said, "The army in black armor is composed of Khitans, which the Khitans call the Eagle Army, which is directly commanded by Yelu Bawotai, the king of the Southern Courtyard, and has 150,000 people.

The four-color military uniforms are mainly composed of Han people, Xi, Bohai and other ethnic groups, called the left-behind army, which is nominally led by Deng Congbei, who stayed behind in Nanjing Province, but is actually controlled by the Southern Privy Council.

Because their clothes have four distinct colors, the local people call them the four-color army, and there are nearly 150,000 people in number, but there are only 50,000 people in Xijin Prefecture, and the rest are scattered in Yanyun and Xijing Province. ”

Yang Huairen muttered, "Is it the same distinction as our Great Song Dynasty's forbidden army and the Xiang army?" ”

Xiao Lao'er smiled and said, "It's a bit similar, but the Eagle Army is not the forbidden army of Liao, it is a standing army."

For example, under the command of the Northern Privy Council, there are 300,000 Eagle Army, which is almost entirely composed of Khitans, and not all of them are forbidden troops, of which 150,000 belong to the control of Xiao Sabi, the king of the Northern Courtyard, called the Little Eagle Army.

The other 150,000 were personally led by the Liao Emperor Yelu Hongji, known as the Great Eagle Army. Originally, the status of the northern court was higher than that of the southern court, and the emperor of Liao did this to balance the military strength of the north and south and facilitate his rule.

The Great Eagle Army is actually the forbidden army of the Emperor of Liao, but in addition, there are other forbidden troops in Liao, which belong to the official offices like the three divisions of our Great Song Dynasty, and are in charge of the Emperor of Liao's guards, with a total of 150,000 people.

In addition, there is also the left and right leather room army led by the emperor of Liao, and there are about 50,000 people in the Shan army, which is the elite of the Liao army. ”

Yang Huairen thought for a while, "In this way, the number of troops in the Liao State is actually not very large, right?" ”

Xiao Lao'er hurriedly explained, "Yang Jungong doesn't know that the Khitan people of Liao State can be said to be all soldiers, and the system of recruiting troops in peacetime implements the system of one household and one ding, that is, each Khitan household must send a male to join the army.

If it comes to wartime, the recruitment system of two households will be implemented, that is, two men will be produced in each household, and Yang Jungong will calculate it again, will the number of Liao troops immediately double? ”

Yang Huairen unconsciously gasped, this is indeed equivalent to the whole people are soldiers, and now it seems that the regular army of Liao is between 700,000 and 800,000, but as soon as the war starts, another 780,000 people can be recruited to join the army, which is not an ordinary astonishing number.

Moreover, the Khitans were already brave and good at fighting, and the quality of the newly recruited army was not much lower than that of the regular army.

On the other hand, in the Great Song Dynasty, there were a lot of nominal forbidden armies plus border armies and box armies, but the real combat effectiveness of the army here was greatly discounted, and the overall military capabilities were uneven, and it was difficult to confront the Khitans head-on if they really went to the battlefield.

Yang Huairen suddenly remembered the rise of the Jurchens more than 20 years later, and the Jurchen army could kill several times the Khitans without leaving a piece of armor, so how powerful did the Jurchens have to be?

The answer to this question does not seem to be able to be distinguished from the individual combat ability of each soldier, perhaps the arrogance of the Khitans caused them to underestimate the enemy, or perhaps the Jurchens were unprepared.

Perhaps, the Khitan army is now only a golden jade, defeated in it, just like the army of the Great Song Dynasty, it has long ceased to be brave, and after a long time of peace, the soldiers have begun to slack off their training, and gradually lost their original courage and tenacity in a comfortable life.

Yang Huairen entered the South Courtyard, but found that there was a huge contrast between the inside and outside of the South Courtyard. Looking outside the courtyard gate, the wall of the South Privy Council is high and the courtyard is deep, and it is imagined that the courtyard should be a towering hall and a forest of pavilions.

But when I actually walked in, I found that in addition to the main hall, there was a large empty grassland in the courtyard, and dozens of hemispherical tents had been set up on the grass.

Xiao Lao Qi'er explained, "Some Khitan nobles are such a habit, although many Khitan people have long been accustomed to the way of life of the agrarian society, but there are still some Khitan people who still use this way to commemorate their former lives."

Even the Khitan Emperor would return to the grasslands of Shangjing Road every summer to celebrate the Bowl Festival, relive the grassland life for two or three months, live in tents, and ride horses to hunt every day.

Therefore, these nobles also follow their example, the king of the Southern Courtyard, called Yelu Bawotai, is still the cousin of the Khitan Emperor, so he naturally has such a habit. ”

Yang Huairen smiled at the Chinese brothers, "This is not bad, let's also go to experience the tent night banquet." ”

Perhaps accustomed to seeing the style of the Mongolian yurt tent in later generations, the hemispherical tent of the Khitan people made Yang Huairen feel very fresh, and imagined that if there was such a tent on an empty grassland, it would really be a bit sci-fi.

The reception official led Yang Huairen and others to the largest hemispherical tent, Yang Huairen sighed in his heart, this tent should be the main tent of Yelu Bawotai, with a diameter of more than ten battles, the size of half a football field.

But after walking in, he found that the shortcomings of this hemispherical tent are large, and the space that can really stand people inside is actually about half, he pondered, such a design may be for the need to prevent wind on the grassland, and the space, the grassland is big, and he doesn't care about wasting that half.

Sitting in front of him on the main seat facing north and south, sat a Khitan man in his fifties, bald head and white pigtails, who thought it should be Yelu Bawotai, the king of the Southern Courtyard.

On the right hand side are the local officials of Xijin Mansion who sit alternately between the Han and Khitan people, and the first one should be Deng Congbei left behind in Nanjing, he is dressed like the official robe of the Great Song Dynasty, but the details of the official robe are a little different from the official robe of the Great Song Dynasty, and it always looks and feels weird.

Deng Congbei and Yang Huairen's imagination is a little different, they look like they are in their early forties, they are very capable, their facial features are still a little heroic, and their goatee is very neat.

Yang Huairen was really a little surprised that he could hold such a high position in Nanjing in Liao State in his early forties, and said that this Deng Congbei seemed to be very good at drilling camps and currying favor with the Khitans, maybe he was a big traitor.

Yang Huairen stepped forward and saluted Yelu Bawotai and Deng Congbei, Deng Congbei just nodded and smiled, but did not say a word, but Yelu Bawotai was surprisingly polite, said some polite words of welcome, and then smiled and motioned for Yang Huairen and others to take a seat.