Guo Kuitie blushed, constantly mobilizing troops to fill the loopholes dug by the Liao, and the crossbowmen kept rotating step by step to maintain the physical strength of the shooters.

At this time, Xiao Liangyu, the Jiyi text of Li Buqi's subordinates, said to Li Buqi in his ear: "The Liao people set fire to the side van. ”

When Li Buqi looked back, there was already thick smoke billowing behind him. Although Li Buqi knew that the car was covered with raw cowhide and it was not easy to catch fire, he still said to Xiao Liangyu when he saw this situation: "You go and see what the situation is." When I came back, I had to shout that the Liao people were helpless against me. Do you understand? ”

Xiao Liangyu was stunned for a moment, then understood, and immediately gave up his hand and took the order. Guo Kui glanced at Xiao Liangyu and didn't say anything, then turned around and continued to command the battle.

After a while, Xiao Liangyu came back. He let the cavalry who followed him shout that the van was fire-resistant, and the Liao people were helpless, and the soldiers who saw the smoke billowing from the rear just now immediately looked much better.

Returning to Li Buqi's side, Xiao Liangyu reported in a low voice: "The Liao people set fire to the car with oil and torches, and the sergeant used felt wet with snow water to extinguish the fire, so it was fine." Only seven or eight vehicles were damaged, and half of them could be repaired. ”

Li Buqi nodded. This was not unexpected, so he paid attention to arson and fire extinguishing when designing the side van, and the soldiers were educated in this area. Now there is a lot of snow on the ground, and it is very convenient to use local materials to extinguish the fire. What if the Liao people could burn a few partial vans? He brought out 600 side vans, and losing a few would not hurt his muscles and bones.

In the fierce collision for more than half an hour, the large array of the Song army was like a reef hit by a wild wave, and the Liao people were already covered with corpses in front of the Song army's array. The infantry of the Liao army was the first to be unable to support it and began to flinch, and the cavalry also lost its fierce momentum, and more and more people began to avoid direct impact, some retreated, and some were unwilling to throw feather arrows around the Song army's military formation.

Li Buqi sighed and said to himself: "Hehe, it's also a wave." ”

At this time, the Yanchang Palace of the Liao State made Yelu Gao's slave frown and asked Xia Xingmei: "It's all deployed, it's better to withdraw the army." The Song people's cars are really weird, and if they continue to fight, they are only afraid of increasing casualties. ”

Xia Xingmei hesitated: "But if you can eat these Song soldiers, Baozhou will be like a bag." No matter how great the loss is, it is better than attacking a city. ”

Gao Jianu said: "Even if you don't take Baozhou, there is nothing." This Song army is difficult to fight, and I think it is because Li does not abandon here. There were not many strong armies in the Southern Dynasties, and it was impossible for such a strong army to be stationed in every state and county. Let's look at Baozhou, and attack elsewhere. As long as you can force the Southern Dynasty to pay tribute to food, why bother to fight hard and there will be many casualties. ”

The other generals also nodded. Unlike the Liao State during the Jingde period of Song Zhenzong, which planned to defeat the Song Dynasty, so the whole country mobilized to prepare for a death war, and the casualties were more psychologically bearable. It was originally for robbery, and it was not worth it to fight hard, so seeing that this battle was fought so fiercely, and there was no sign of immediately defeating the Song army, these Liao army generals didn't want to fill in the private soldiers they brought, so they all retreated.

Xia Xingmei saw that all the generals under him meant this, and she was even more embarrassed. To be honest, he was very unwilling, but as a Han man, he was not easy to insist on when the nobles of the Liao State were unanimous. After thinking about it, he had to compromise: "So be it." continued to besiege the Song people, and immediately sent people to report the battle situation here to the capital eunuch (Ye Luyi was the twelve line correction capital eunuch first). ”

Before anyone was sent here, the messenger over there reported: "The Song people have moved north again!" ”

Xia Xingmei hurriedly ordered: "Continue to entangle the Song people." Before the order of the capital eunuch is returned, the Song army is not allowed to return to Baozhou! ”

Xia Xingmei's order was immediately executed, but it was not carried out thoroughly. The attack just now had already frightened the Liao people, and more importantly, now that the last bit of luck was gone, all the Liao people understood that it was impossible to leave these Song troops without paying a huge price. Since everyone understands this, thinking that others may have grabbed a lot of money, but they may fight hard here, the morale of the Liao people has plummeted, and everyone no longer has the heart to fight.

Therefore, although the Liao people still harassed the moving Song army as usual, it was more like dealing with official business, just shouting from afar, shooting a few arrows, and once they entered the effective range of the crossbow arrows, they immediately broke away, and the effect of harassment was greatly reduced.

And the Song army is now fighting to save its life, and it has just repelled the large-scale attack of the Liao people without danger, and it is the high morale that constantly forces the Liao people who are in front of it to retreat. Seeing that the front is Baozhou City, it seems that the fire at the head of the city can be seen in the gradually darkening sky, and the soldiers are like arrows, if anyone dares to stop them, they will definitely be flattened. The morale of the two sides is obviously different.

Li Buqi can also clearly feel this difference in morale, but there are things that fall short, and he doesn't dare to take it lightly now. Guo Kui was also very careful, and before ordering the troops to move forward, he strictly ordered no one to cut off the heads of the Liao people and pick up the spoils of war without permission. This order was passed down, and when the procession passed through the area covered with the corpses of the Liao, there was no confusion at all, and the Liaons were not given any chance to take advantage of it.

Xia Xingmei watched the Song army in front of her slowly move south in the deepening twilight with a crushing momentum, and her eyes were almost on fire. But he knew that his subordinates were no longer determined to keep the Song army, so he could only silently comfort himself in his heart: it was impossible for all the Song troops to be so difficult to fight, and there was always a chance to make contributions.

It was already dark, and the Song army finally returned to Baozhou City. Seeing the candlelight at the head of Baozhou City, it is estimated that these soldiers have never felt so cordial, and immediately the cheers of "Wansheng" spread throughout the entire team.

Li Buqi and Guo Kui took more than 20,000 people out, only 2,000 forbidden troops were left in Baozhou City, and most of the people defending the city were now van troops, bow and arrow clubs and strong bravery.

Li Buqi originally wanted to set up a village outside the city, so that he could attack and retreat. However, today's battle was too fierce, and it was estimated that each crossbowman fired a dozen arrows, and walked twenty kilometers in heavy armor, almost to the limit, so he agreed to Guo Kui's arrangement to return to the city to rest. The north gate of Baozhou City was opened, and the Song army slowly entered the city.

The Liao army also tried to take advantage of the chaos that might occur when the Song army entered the city, but after several attempts, they were all repulsed, and instead left one or two hundred corpses, so they had to watch from a distance as the Song army gradually entered Baozhou in an orderly manner.

Standing on the city tower, Guo Kui looked at the star-like torches on the dark field outside the city and exhaled a long breath, saying, "Today's big victory is all thanks to the design of the patrol." ”

Li Buqi said casually and modestly: "Where, where." I thought it was all due to the correct command of the deployment and the use of the lives of the soldiers. ”

Guo Kui said very seriously: "The lower officials are not lying. If there were no vans to guard the rear, how could it be possible to calmly cope with the onslaught of so many cavalry? If there were no small things like belt hooks made by ordnance supervision, and steel crossbows, how could crossbows be fired so quickly? The weather is cold today, and if there is no half-cut glove pioneered by patrolling, the sons and daughters will be so cold that they can't even open their bows, let alone win, and their lives will be worried. It's a pity that those people in the Privy Council don't know the goods, otherwise they would have prepared more side vans, and the Hebei war situation would have been different. ”

Guo Kui said this, Li is not abandoned, but he is not modest. He only said: "Since the partial van is easy to use, then it must be reported to the imperial court immediately." Di Hanchen also has a batch of partial vans there, which can also come in handy. What I mean is to send a messenger to the court as soon as possible to explain the experience of this battle, so that Di Hanchen can be more targeted when using the side van. Guo deployed people to quickly count the results of the battle to report the victory, and I also sent the messenger out together. ”