Shanhaiguan, four huge fortresses, has been erected, the front two slightly smaller, only about 20 meters of the fortress, as early as ten days ago, has been completed, and now, the last two, is in the intense construction.

Different from the two in front, the two in the back are the full version of the fortress, the whole height is about 39 meters, not only the height has nearly doubled, but even the entire area is much larger.

This was built for the sake of pressure, and at present, basically the main structure has been completed, and some ancillary equipment is under intense construction.

Because the main body of the perimeter has been completed, and it is in the theater of operations, it is impossible to open construction, even if it is such a complete version of the fortress, it will be considered, and the perimeter defense facilities will be strengthened after they have been completed.

Therefore, at this moment, the construction personnel who cannot be seen at all, almost 1,200 workers, are working intensively inside, and all the materials and raw materials have been transported in, as long as it takes another 7 days, it will be almost completed.

Yesterday, the merchant ships from the Ding Navy brought the last batch of supplies, and also brought some top-secret news that the Northern Expedition was about to begin, and they must be ready to intercept it.

Since I received this information yesterday, the entire fortress has become nervous, and there are at least 8 groups of people, respectively at the peak of the fortress, as well as the surrounding high ground, observing everything around to prevent a sneak attack.

Such a long-term monitoring is very boring, but for a scout, it is much better than before, the ultra-high magnification telescope can shorten the space, magnify the image by 10 times, or even 20 times, and can clearly see 20, or even 40 miles away, unless it is necessary to explore, it will not send a scout horse casually.

I thought that today, it was another calm day, and the scouts who were observing on a suitable high ground in Shanhaiguan suddenly saw something different in the distance, above the official road, and it seemed that seven or eight fast horses were galloping.

With the help of telescopes, on the unobstructed plain, the height almost represents an increase in the observation range, this hill is only more than 300 meters high, the location is very good, especially for the official road, almost unobstructed, that is, you can see at least 50 miles away.

This is already a very long distance, in times of war, some precisely controlled nights, and the range of their control is also in this area, now, with only a high-powered telescope.

After repeatedly confirming with a telescope, especially from above, the obvious clothing characteristics belonging to the Liao army were identified, and the scouts quickly reported.

When there is no radio and no long-distance intercom facilities, what can be done is the signal.

Similar signals, once used on the Great Wall, but also used in the huge empire, with wolf smoke during the day, beacon at night, with the help of vision, can be transmitted in a short time, dozens of miles away, as long as there are fixed signals, can transmit some simple things, this is the ancient, the fastest way to report.

For example, if you find the attack of the nomads, one wolf smoke is 10,000 people, three wolf smoke is 30,000 people, and so on, so that the center can grasp these situations as early as possible.

When there is no telescope, such a long-distance transmission can only transmit simple messages, which must be beacon fire, wolf smoke, etc., which can be clearly distinguished at a long distance.

But with a telescope, as long as it is in the daytime, it can be teleported over long distances, and it is quite clear.

For example, now, when the investigator finds that a Liao cavalry has arrived, after carefully observing it clearly, he can inform the information officer behind him that in a specific area, the information officer will use the flag to inform the headquarters of what he has found.

The different directions and actions of the flag wave can represent a lot of information, and finally, form a relatively complete word.

When the flag waved two or three times in a row, and received a response from the other side, the informant stopped, at this time, the fast horse galloping Liao rode only a few hundred meters.

The range of 50 miles, even for the galloping of fast horses, will take a quarter of an hour or two, which is enough time for the Shanhaiguan troops who have already been prepared.

More than 1,000 longbowmen quickly reached the top of the fortress, they were all the longbowmen of the current fortress, and the only horses and reconnaissance forces were also ready at the same time.

The strength of the longbow is defensive combat, he can play a strong defensive role when the enemy attacks the fortress, but the pursuit is not very good, really when the Liao cavalry escapes the range, they can only watch.

In the whole plan, there are several other checkpoints in Shanhaiguan, and their main role is to block the pass, on both sides, these Liao cavalry don't know what they do, but only by killing them can they delay being discovered.

These Liao cavalry were messengers sent by the Zhijin Prefecture, and their horses were faster and tighter, so they ran faster, but they did not realize that there was an enemy here in Shanhaiguan.

Because of the angle, they didn't see the tall buildings erected in front of Shanhaiguan until they were about 15 miles, but even if they did, they didn't realize that this was the enemy.

Just kidding, fighting behind enemy lines, or running behind enemy lines to build fixed fortifications, even after a few hundred years, by the time of the first industrial revolution, there were very few, not to mention the Northern Song Dynasty, even the generals who commanded the operation at the upper level did not realize this problem, not to mention these messengers at the bottom, some of them didn't even know the words.

The Song army strictly followed the discipline, all of them hid out of sight, the unique shape of the fortress, let them lie down slightly, they can cover themselves, the structure of the fortress straight up and down, coupled with the restraint, the slightest killing machine did not appear, Liao Qi actually did not stop, directly rushed over.

In Liaoqi's opinion, this seems to be four buildings, and in the middle, there is nothing to obstruct, and they can pass through quickly.

In fact, even if there is no cover, the four bastions are cleverly arranged, and if you want to pass through here, you don't need to rush out directly, but you need to go around, in this case, they will be exposed to the attack of the bastion for a longer time.

One side has a heart, the other side does not calculate, the final result is of course inevitable, even the limited cavalry was not used, it took 4 hundred people to brake, less than half a cup of tea time, a total of 9 messengers, were shot under the fortress.

Clean up the battlefield and clean up the traces, because of the existence of reconnaissance forces, they are not worried, there are Liao cavalry running closer, as long as this place is cleaned up, it can be used as a trap again.

After the opening, after that, there were Liao riders one after another, from afternoon to evening, almost forty or fifty people were killed, and at night, because there was no night imaging and night vision goggles, there was no way to see far, and they were not Ding Navy in the forbidden army, and the proportion of their night blindness was still there, and there were quite a few, so they didn't do it again.

However, on the passage between the levels, they still set up some traps, barbed wire, etc., not to mention, it really worked, the next day, they found 8 corpses in traps and barbed wire, and captured 4 alive.

Shanhaiguan, this is one of the closest roads from Zhejin Prefecture to Zhongjing, so most of the people sent out passed through here, and some passed through two other places, but without exception, all of them were killed, and none of the 100 messengers sent out passed the checkpoint, almost all of them were killed, and only a few fish slipped through the net.

They were lucky to see that those who passed, the final miserable situation, after hesitating, retreated, not choosing to pass the level, but choosing to climb the mountain.

Shanhaiguan here, in the Ming Dynasty, is the most important pass, how strong the Manchu Qing is, in the Ming Dynasty when the nine sides of the decadence, can only detour through the pass, from Shanxi into the pass, you can imagine the strength of the defense here.

After giving up the pass and choosing to climb the mountain, they will have no threat, and if they rely on their feet, the mountains will consume a lot of time.

In the end, 100 messengers arrived in Zhongjing, a total of 5 people, but the first one arrived in Zhongjing 30 days later, he was very lucky, he met a fellow villager who served in the army, only then through the channel of the army, reported level by level, and obtained a horse, the others, a little unlucky, were treated as deserters and were killed, and another, three months later, arrived.

At this moment, the Khitan nobles guarding in Zhijin Mansion did not realize at all that the more than 100 messengers he sent for insurance were blocked in the vicinity of Shanhaiguan, and almost did not cross over, and the reinforcements he hoped for were impossible at least within a month.

Under the city of Zhejin Mansion, the guards watched from afar, and the camp built in the Northern Song Dynasty almost 3 miles away from Zhejin Mansion, because of the existence of various tools and cement, the speed of building the camp was very fast, and after the basic steel formed the backbone of the camp, the rest was simple filling.

And below, a long tunnel also began to be excavated, although 3 miles are a little far, but relatively safe, at least at the beginning, it does not have to be discovered by the Liao army.

At this moment, there is no complete control of Zhejin Mansion, the follow-up troops have not arrived, and the camp has not been completed, once discovered, the Liao army can even pass through other city gates, and the mobilized cavalry will come over to destroy, which will cause unnecessary damage.

The guards were also very depressed, the Song army at the bottom was obviously preparing to fight a war of attrition with Changzhuang, what was it that gave the Song army so much confidence, why did they dare to stay in the hinterland of Liao for so long, did they go crazy?

With the advantage of the Liao State over the Northern Song Dynasty, even under the premise that the other Song army was obviously numerous, the defenders did not think about leaving, and the walls of Zhejin Mansion and the combat effectiveness of the Liao army gave him confidence.

As long as he guards Zhejin Mansion, this batch of Song troops will become his trophies, and the guard general thought so.

It is divided into two parts, with the help of various machinery, it took a day and a half for Di Qing to complete the construction of the barracks, which is completely the highest standard of the barracks, perhaps the only one that can't be compared, is the fortress, and even before, the city wall of the Northern Song Dynasty may not have this barracks strong.

Sent about 1,000 defenders to defend the camp, and then, Di Qing once again divided into two parts and continued to build the camp.

All of Di Qing's actions were placed in front of him, except for digging tunnels, the rest was not disguised, and the guards were even more depressed, making it clear that the Song army was fighting a protracted war and striving to encircle Zhejin Mansion, but why was he so confident, with the speed of the Liao cavalry, as long as Zhongjing got the news, there would definitely be a large army coming, and no matter how strong this Song army was, it would be surrounded and annihilated here.

After a few more days, the four camps were completed, almost half of the Zhejin Mansion was encircled, and then, a new camp was completed, but in the afternoon of the same day, there was a little change, and a large number of Song troops arrived.

This part of the Song army is the follow-up force that Di Qing put behind, the 50,000 people in front are elite, it is the main battle force, the popularity of their horses is quite high, almost one horse per capita, some parts, there are two or three horses, but the logistics troops are different, They only have less than 15,000 horses, such a proportion is already high in the Northern Song Dynasty army, so this part of the troops, their marching speed, also exceeds the ordinary forbidden army, but the distance of more than 200 miles is still more than 3 days behind to arrive.

100,000 troops gathered under the city of Zhejin Mansion, and also built 4 camps, which made Di Qing feel at ease, so he simply divided into 4 parts, built a camp together, and blocked all the 8 city gates and 8 directions of the entire Zhejin Mansion.

The Liao army watched as the four parts started construction at the same time, but there was nothing they could do, as far as the results of the current distant observation were concerned, there were more than 20,000 people in each part, and there were echoes of other parts.

There are 15,000 troops in Zhejin Prefecture, and nearly 20,000 strong men have been levied at present, but unfortunately this part of the strong men can still defend the city, and it is impossible to fight.

Full of calculations, the number of troops that can be used in his hands is more than 5,000, but less than 10,000, maybe before, when Di Qing's foothold was not stable, he could try to attack, but now, 100,000 troops are entrenched in Zhejin Mansion, at this time, he must be cautious in any move, once the attack fails, it will be consumed by the other party, even if it is 5,000 to kill the other party's 10,000, it is an unbearable loss for Zhejin Mansion.

The idea of sending troops was dispelled, but I was holding that breath in my heart, but I couldn't spew it out, the most important thing is, how long has it been, why hasn't there been any news at all, is it, Zhongjing and Liaoting really don't know that the Song army has been coerced to this extent.

Of course, Di Qing will not be very arrogant to divide into 4 parts and build a camp, in fact, it is divided into 4 parts, each part has about 5000 elites, and they have been waiting, once the Liao army is out of the city, they will come forward to block, and drag the Liao army, with the support of the surrounding area, to encircle and annihilate him.

It's a pity that the Liao general was too steady and didn't fall for it, which lost the opportunity to weaken the other party, but it doesn't matter, when the 8 camps are built and at least 4 tunnels are dug up, the fate of Zhejin Mansion is already doomed.