Xiongzhou, which in the 21st century, became famous in the world because it became the Xiong'an New Area of the capital, in fact, in the Northern Song Dynasty, it was the forefront of the Northern Song Dynasty's fight against the Liao State.

The three passes of the Northern Song Dynasty, Xiongzhou Waqiao Pass, Bazhou Yijin Pass, and Sikou Pass, are the front line between the Liao and Song dynasties, and they are also the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty's invasion of Liao.

This is not the beginning of this era, it is the beginning of a few decades ago, when the Northern Song Dynasty was just founded.

Although Taizu was a cup of wine to release the military power and get the world, but after inheriting the Northern Zhou Dynasty, he fought all the way to the south and the north, and finally unified the Central Plains, established the Northern Song Dynasty, and made immortal feats.

Taizong's first expedition to Liao, is to go out of Xiongzhou, the 100,000 troops on the east road, with Cao Bin as the main commander, is the main force, but unfortunately this battle, but failed miserably, the famous Song army, since then lost the ability to win outward.

After that, the Liao and Song Dynasty fought constantly, and there were launched, but the vast majority of them were launched by the Liao State, until a few decades later, Song Zhenzong started a war, and suddenly stabbed the hornet's nest, and the Liao State attacked the Northern Song Dynasty in a big way, and finally, it approached the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Now, after a Jiazi, successive three emperors, the Song army once again assembled in Xiongzhou, this time, with the confidence of victory, gathered a large number of troops, and at this moment the Liao State is in the most difficult moment.

This war, the overall plan, at the beginning, was kept secret, it was opened under the leadership of Jia Chaochang, and the main adjustment and redress was also the Hebei Forbidden Army, because the Northwest Forbidden Army was not used, the action was not so big, and to a certain extent, it played a role in disguise.

The current Liao State is already quite weak, Yuan Hao's crazy fuss on the grassland, the final effect, has been shown, unceremoniously to say, the current Liao State, the number of standing armies has been reduced by 30%, this is not to say, the number of garrisons in Western Xia.

The territory of the Liao State is really too big, and there are many ethnic groups, suppressing the ethnic groups and making them part of the forces of the Liao State is a practice in itself, but after Yuan Hao's crazy killing, there are fewer tribes on the grassland, and the population has decreased on a large scale, and even the overall strength has begun to decrease.

The tribes that can be placed on the grassland and in the hinterland of the Liao State, relatively speaking, are more valued by the Liao State, or rather, more loyal, this part itself also plays a role in soldiers and others, when they are emptied, a large piece of anointed land, appears in the hinterland of the Liao State, do you think those nomads will be put in vain, and the Murowei in the north, as well as the Jurchens in the white mountains and black waters in the north, they will let go of such a territory.

How could the Liao State let such a large piece of territory be taken away by the Murwei, or the Jurchens, itself, it was quite wary of these two powerful nomads, and then there was a large piece of anointed land, and what kind of consequences would be brought to them in the end, this Liao Xingzong didn't even dare to think about it.

For this reason, Liao Xingzong greatly extracted troops from other places, including those in the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun.

Liao Xingzong didn't know that the heavy cavalry of Yuan Hao, who defeated him, was not left by Yuan Hao, but was traded from the Northern Song Dynasty.

In itself, the opportunity is quite good, the combat effectiveness of the hinterland of the Liao State has been greatly weakened, and the army that can be directly mobilized has been reduced by a lot, but the Liao State is not brainless, after all, Zhongjing and Tokyo are behind it.

Zhongjing and Tokyo in the Liao State are not far from Nanjing, almost a few days away from the cavalry, and once there is a report, it may take less than 10 days to arrive.

But now, this time has been extended infinitely, starting from the imperial expedition of Liao Xingzong, the guards around Liao Xingzong, almost 250,000 troops, except for less than 50,000 guards in Tokyo, the rest have followed the seed into the northeast, and the farthest has been 1,500 miles deep into the northeast.

Even for cavalry, 300 miles a day is already the limit, the army marches with a single horse, which is a big difference, 800 miles to expedite this speed, that is in the constant change of horses, even if it is the elite of the Liao State, one person and two horses are also the limit, really more than 600 miles a day, the horse will be wasted.

War horses, especially the war horses of the heavy cavalry, even if they arrive in the Liao State, it is not that they can be seen everywhere, plus the heavy cavalry is all clothed, they are most suitable for short-distance sprints and battles, rather than long-distance marches.

That is to say, even if you get the news, from the moment you get the news, from the location of the Liao army to the current Youzhou, it will take more than 5 days, and on the whole, there will be at least more than 15 days, not to mention that the Song army set up a fortress at a checkpoint like Shanhaiguan.

According to the least optimistic estimate of the Northern Song Dynasty, when the Northern Song Dynasty sent troops, it was discovered by the Liao army at the first time, and the Liao army also asked for assistance from the main force of the Liao State at the first time, and after that, the main force did not stay, and it would take 20 days under the premise of direct support.

This 20 days is the time that the Northern Song Dynasty can use to attack Youzhou.

In the peak time of the Liao State, in the sixteen states of Youyun, there are nearly 300,000 troops, and almost the elite of the entire Liao State will gather on the border and Nanjing.

Now, there are only 50,000 left, and some of the weaker cities have been directly abandoned, and most of the troops are concentrated in Youzhou and the border.

For the Northern Song Dynasty, the key to the current consideration is that near Sanguan, there are nearly 30,000 troops, and these troops are divided into 4 camps, which are almost 50 miles away from Sanguan.

Responsible for the main attack, is the Central Forbidden Army, this part, although it is the follow-up of the troops, but there was also a fine tradition, the farthest time, can be traced back to the Taizong era before Yijiazi.

Among all the armies, the lightest responsibility is Di Qing to lead a step, 250,000 to 30,000, this is the power of the rabbit, all the troops gathered in the three passes, including the army of the three passes, will go out together, Di Qing led 100,000 troops, from the west, the original three passes of nearly 70,000 troops from the east, they will from two aspects, quickly outflank, cut off the back of the Liao army, and strive not to let go of any of the Liao army, to the full encirclement, 80,000 original Beijing forbidden army, will be the main force, frontal outflanking Liao army camp.

This plan was set by Han Qi himself, in order to reduce Di Qing's consumption, for the Liao army on the border, Han Qi was only ready to use 3 days, and after 3 days, no matter what the final result of these Liao troops was, Di Qing would lead the army to attack Youzhou.

The three passes are the focus of the defense of the Northern Song Dynasty, because after the three passes, it is the land of Hebei, and then thousands of miles forward, it is the hinterland of Gyeonggi of the Northern Song Dynasty.

But for the Liao State, it is equally important, taking Xiongzhou as an example, after the troops leave Xiongzhou, only about 250 miles away, you can reach Zhejin Mansion, that is, Nanjing, one of the five capitals of the Liao State.

Among the more than 60,000 garrisons in the entire Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, 30,000 of them are stationed on the border of the Liao-Song Dynasty, and the garrison of Zhejin Prefecture does not exceed 20,000.

Nanjing is also once Zhuo County, in history, are famous military towns, is the Tang Dynasty An Lushan starting place, although, not to the Yuan Dynasty time, become the capital of development, but has always been a military town in the north.

The Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, from nearly a hundred years ago, were incorporated into the Liao State, but Zhuojun is still a key point, even if it has not been systematically repaired, it is also a huge city no less than Xingqing Mansion, this city, it is almost impossible to be breached, but now, with the combination of longbow and explosives, it is possible to capture him.

At this moment, the most important thing for Di Qing is to outflank it in place, which is very easy for the army led by Di Qing at present.

Di Qing's own subordinates are the Hebei Forbidden Army, which has already begun to be strengthened as early as when Jia Chaochang was leading, with a new longbow and a new training method, including a large number of armor.

The entire Northern Song Dynasty forbidden army, without that time, was as strengthened as it is now, and the longbow essentially changed the attack power of the Northern Song Dynasty.

From the Spring and Autumn Period to the results of the war, although it has undergone a series of reforms, it has reached its peak in the Warring States Period, and the four strong armies are Qi Striker, Zhao Knight, Wei Wushu and Qin Ruishi.

Qi Raiders and Wei Wushu have different emphasis, but they are basically infantry, the former is a light infantry familiar with various means, the latter is a heavy infantry, Zhao Knight is a cavalry, as for Qin Ruishi, it is a representative of the soldiers of the Qin State who began to appear from the Shang Dynasty reform, and are brave and forward. But what really made Qin Shi Huang unify the six countries was Qin Ruishi, who was dominated by Qin crossbows.

The long-range troops naturally have an advantage over the melee troops, and Qin Ruishi unified the six countries, needless to say, this is a long-range victory.

During the Three Kingdoms period, a large number of fighting generals, this may be an exaggeration of the Three Kingdoms, but the lack of long-range troops is the key, to the Tang Dynasty, and then to the Song Dynasty, the role of personal force has gradually decreased, similar to one enemy and ten fierce generals, fewer and fewer, replaced by wise generals, for no other reason, there are more and more long-range troops, even if there is Xiang Yu's bravery, in the face of a large concentration of divine arms and crossbows, it is inevitable to hate the spot.

However, since the Tang and Song dynasties, no military branch has been dominated by long-range, and all kinds of weaknesses, especially in the face of heavy cavalry, the weakness of long-range arms is undoubtedly obvious.

The longbow may not be an all-round soldier, but the powerful long-range attack, especially the appearance of the armor-piercing arrow, can break the vest of the heavy cavalry dozens of steps away, coupled with the speed of more than four or five times the ordinary long-range, the terrible lethality, although it is said that the continuous combat ability, there is no great enhancement, but the strong attack power, so that no class of troops, can resist the outbreak of the longbow, and also make the longbow become the new main force of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Now, except for a short field battle in the northwest, the longbow soldiers have not made many appearances, and this time in the Northern Expedition, the longbow is definitely the main force, destined to shock the world.

An army of 100,000 has 70,000 horses, the most elite of which is 50,000, and they can guarantee one horse per capita, whether it is heavy cavalry or longbowmen, they can be ridden and maneuvered, and they can be quickly outflanked in place.

The 50,000 troops, who left Sanguan from the west, flanked for 100 miles, will operate to the rear of the Liao army camp, and the other 70,000 or more Sanguan troops will also be outflanked at the same time.

An army of 170,000 may not be able to stop everyone, but there is no problem in stopping the army.

The Liao army didn't realize at all that in just such a day, the Northern Song Dynasty had started, and even on this day, a few cavalry came out to reconnoitre, and the army did not leave the camp.

For these cavalry who came out to investigate, the Northern Song Dynasty's approach was very simple, kill them directly, and not give them a chance to escape, binoculars plus sneak attacks, coupled with the ultra-long range of the longbow, under the premise of mental arithmetic and unintentional, almost none of them ran.

The Northern Song Dynasty was an undeclared war, and the Liao State did not realize that the Northern Song Dynasty would launch an attack, even if it was the loss of more than a dozen reconnaissance troops, it was not very large, adding up to a few hundred people, in front of the Liao State's more than 30,000 troops, it was nothing at all, not to mention, these scouts, their discipline was not good, there were many times, and they went deep into the territory of the Northern Song Dynasty to fight the grass valley record, and it was normal not to come back for three or four days.

With mental calculations or not, coupled with the higher strength of the Northern Song Dynasty, in just one day, the encirclement was completed, and the next day, when the team responsible for the main attack arrived in front of the camp of the Liao army, the Liao army did not realize that the war was coming.

It turned out that in Han Qi's plan, in 3 days, the main attack was only the last day, and the second day was mainly to clean up the surrounding troops and concentrate in front of the Liao army camp.

Now it reached a day in advance, 240,000 troops, began to move forward gradually, to the position of 15 miles in front of the Liao army, combined into a whole, and then began to gradually press, in the middle, the original three passes of the force became dominant, because of the smaller encirclement, the use of troops is less, to the siege to the Liao camp near, for example, a place or two miles, Di Qing's army will be withdrawn.

This is an army of 30,000, or the more elite kind in the Liao army, no matter how arrogant Han Qi is, it is impossible to be arrogant enough to solve the problem in 3 days, 3 days is for encirclement.

The army of 150,000 encircled more than 30,000 is still in a small camp, even if it can't solve the problem in a short time, it can be besieged, and Di Qing's who has his hands free can drive straight in.

3 days of work, it took less than 2 days, it was solved, when the encirclement was reduced to 10 miles, the 50,000 main force was vacant, Di Qing rested for a while, stayed in place to bury the pot and cook, and then waited for an hour or two, after getting the exact military order, he immediately set off to the north.