readx;

From the perspective of geographical location, the ten states of Yanyun can be divided into two parts, the seven states in front of the mountain and the state behind the mountain. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Its strategic core is the land of Qizhou south of Yanshan, which is dominated by Youzhou, as long as it controls these lands, it can hold the line of Yanshan and ensure that the original land is not invaded by grassland nomads.

The main direction of the Song army's attack was also the seven states in front of the mountain, and after the crushing defeat in Qingzhou, the situation of the Liao army was very bad. There is no strength to defend all the cities, and dividing the troops to defend will only disperse the forces, and they will eventually be broken by each one.

After thinking about it, Yelu Jun made a decision to withdraw all the troops to Youzhou. To the south of Yanshan, even if all the other states and counties fall, as long as Youzhou can be saved, it will be regarded as a major victory. As long as the Song Dynasty army withdrew, it could make a comeback.

Youzhou is the core and the strongest city, and the defense is incomparable to other cities. Just like Song Taizong's expedition to Yanyun a hundred years ago, as long as they hold Youzhou, the Song people can only reach it.

Yelujun did not return to Shangjing, but stayed in Youzhou, as the emperor, leaving at this moment undoubtedly affected the morale of the army. He must assume the responsibility of defending the territory and defending the country, commanding from the front. At the same time, he regarded Youzhou as very important, and he was not very relieved that other generals would come to guard it, and he could only rest assured if he sat in the town in person.

The most important thing is that Yelujun is a little unconvinced. Qingzhou's defeat made his self-esteem very frustrated, and he had no chance to take the initiative to defeat Zhao Zhao for the time being, but as long as he held Youzhou and let Zhao Zhao return disappointed, it could be regarded as a victory, and he could save some face.

As for Shangjing, even if he has a grudge, Xiao Guanyin is always his mother. The Empress Dowager of Liao. The Liao State also has a tradition of the Empress Dowager ruling the country. Therefore, the function of going to Beijing was handed over to his mother, Xiao Guanyin. Yelujun himself was recuperating from his wounds in Youzhou City to resist the attack of the Song army.

On August 20, when the autumn weather was crisp, after a few days of rest and recuperation, the three-way army jointly launched an attack on Yanyun Shizhou.

The first is to clean up the prefectures and counties on the periphery of Youzhou, You, Ying, Mo, Zhuo, Shun, Tan, Ji and other seven states in front of the mountain, Mozhou and Yingzhou were recovered in the early Chai Rong era, and this time took advantage of the battle of Qingzhou. The army took advantage of the situation to recover Zhuozhou, the ancestral land of the old Zhao family, and then mainly captured Shunzhou, Jizhou, Danzhou and other places.

Due to the voluntary withdrawal of the Khitan army, the cleaning process was easy, but it was completed in seven days. On August 27, more than 200,000 troops of the Song Dynasty arrived at the city of Youzhou, and the water around the city of Youzhou was blocked.

Youzhou, as the south of Liao, is economically developed and very rich, and the city is well prepared with grain and grass. Yelujun also reorganized an army of more than 100,000 troops to garrison Youzhou. Coupled with the strong men of the city, there are definitely not a few troops.

Moreover, the city wall of Youzhou is tall and strong. The moat is wide, and it is the so-called heroic city of the art of war, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Will you be able to hold Youzhou in this way? Yelujun was asking himself. Maybe he would have been absolutely sure that Zhao Guangyi, Taizong of the Song Dynasty, had verified it once a hundred years ago.

The disastrous defeat in that battle was at the Gaoliang River, and it was the Song army's infantry who blindly pursued the Liao cavalry, was ambushed by Yelu Huge, and successfully counterattacked, resulting in a rout. But in fact, before that, Zhao Guangyi's soldiers besieged Youzhou for a long time, and it was always difficult to conquer, which led to the fluctuation of military morale and demoralization.

At that time, Zhao Guangyi's formation actually surpassed Zhao Zhao today, and his troops also exceeded 300,000. But in the face of today's Zhao Zhao, especially the Song army after the Battle of Qingzhou, Yelu Jun was worried.

Especially the mysterious firearm that will explode, that thing has the effect of splitting mountains and rocks, if it can attack the city wall, will it ......

What reassured Yelujun a little was that Song Jun did not use this weapon at first. It is mainly a conventional means of warfare, three male bed crossbows, swords and arrows, and cloud ladder siege methods. Yelujun secretly guessed that maybe Zhao Zhaoshou didn't have many firearms.

Indeed, gunpowder has just been born in the Great Song Dynasty, and its texture, production efficiency, and effect are very limited. The Battle of Cheongju was just a rehearsal and experiment. And this time, firearms are more like hand grenades, using iron filings and shrapnel to hurt people.

To be used on the city wall, it must have a good blasting effect. At present, there is no such thing as cannons, and the use of catapults to throw gunpowder shells is more of a deterrent to hurt people and deter, and it is difficult to collapse a strong wall after an explosion on the surface of the wall. Unless it is possible to dig tunnels and bury a large amount of gunpowder under the city walls.

This trick, when it was sunny in later generations, was a common trick used by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but it was quite effective. However, digging tunnels itself is a common method of siege warfare in ancient times, and the defending side is guarded, and it is not easy to work.

On the one hand, Zhao Zhao demanded to strengthen the manufacture and production of gunpowder to improve its power, and at the same time dig tunnels under Youzhou City. It's a pity that the effect was not good, and it was discovered by the Khitans, and there was no progress for the time being.

The war can't drag on for a long time, but if you want to capture Youzhou, you can't do it overnight. The storming of Youzhou is only one aspect, and more important is to divide the Khitan aristocracy.

Yelujun's southern expedition did not receive the support of the Khitan nobles, and the opposition rose higher and higher. After Cheongju suffered a defeat, the opposition was even louder, and turmoil in Shangjing had already begun.

But Yelujun himself stayed in Youzhou, and now he is trapped in the city, and he is powerless to suppress it. Zhao Zhao realized that this was an opportunity and could be taken advantage of.

"Li Cheng, what's the situation in Beijing?"

"The official family can rest assured, and the action has begun!"

"Well, in order to cooperate with the action, Youzhou also needs to make a big noise!" Zhao Zhao asked, "What happened to the gunpowder?" ”

Li Chengdao: "A batch has been shipped, but the quality is relatively poor. Lord Shen Kuo re-made a batch in the Daimyo's Mansion, and it is said that the power has increased. I was afraid that the gunpowder would get wet, so I didn't take the waterway, and it was transported from the dry road, and the time was slightly longer. ”

"Okay, let's make use of the inventory first, use the three-male bed crossbow to help with gunpowder, and make some noise on the city wall of Youzhou."

"Yes!"

Zhao Zhao said: "Speed up a little bit on the Shangjing side, and the Jurchen side, although it was defeated by Yelujun, its strength is still there." I heard that the loss of the Wanyan Department was relatively small, so he sent someone to take Aguda to Liaodong through Goryeo, he should have been the young master of the Wanyan Department, and persuaded the Jurchens with his identity to make an incident with a lot of profits. However, there is one thing, after the war is over, Ah Gu must be beaten back to Bianliang and let him study hard! ”

"Yes!" Li Cheng only said that Zhao Zhao had raised Yan Agu for many years, and he already had feelings, so he asked to be kept by his side.

But I don't know what Zhao Zhao is more worried about is that if there is a fatal trajectory in history, the consequences will be unimaginable. The Jurchens can exist just to contain the Khitans, and they must not be allowed to rise up and become another wolf on the grassland. It's okay for them to bite each other, but they definitely can't threaten the Great Song.

"Also, tell the king of Goryeo and let him do everything in his power to attack Liaodong for me." Zhao Zhao said: "Otherwise, the Great Song Sailor will set off, and there will be no Goryeo Kingdom in the future." ”

The taste of being an emperor is good, Zhao Zhao couldn't help but sigh, the feeling of issuing orders is cool, domineering! No wonder so many people desperately want to be the emperor, life and death, and the taste of dominating the country is really cool!

Zhao Zhao has such feelings, and Yelu Tart also has such thoughts.

He was the king of the Song Dynasty of Liao, and he was greater than the Yue Yeluren first. His father's status and power in the Liao State is very great, when he pacified the rebellion of Yelu Chongyuan, he made great contributions, and was called the father of the Liao Daozong Yelu Hongji, and successively served as the privy envoy of the Southern Court and the king of the Northern Court, and his authority and prestige were very heavy. It is precisely because of his existence that although Yelu Yixin was powerful and ambitious in the early stage, he never dared to be too arrogant.

It was not until two years earlier that he was ordered to fight against the Tatar rebellion in the northwest, and he died shortly after his advanced age, coupled with a long expedition. Since then, Yelu Yixin felt that there was less suppression, so he began to expand more and more, doing whatever he wanted, becoming a minister of power, and finally had irreconcilable contradictions with Yelu Jun, and was defeated and killed.

After Yeluren died first, his Yelu tart did not also inherit the title, as well as some related powers. In quelling the rebellion of Yelu Yixin, it can be regarded as a lot of contributions.

However, after Yelujun ascended the throne, the Khitan nobles who had heavy troops were afraid of them and refused to reuse them. On the contrary, he cultivated a low-born, quite talented Yelujie. It's a pity that in the first battle of Cheongju, in order to cover his escape, he died on the battlefield with honor.

Yelujun's behavior made Yelujun quite dissatisfied, thinking that the emperor deliberately snubbed and suppressed. This person is more arrogant because of his better family, after all, his father is the second person to be greater than Yue after a hundred years from Yelu Hugo.

Yelu Tart, who has no one in his eyes, sometimes doesn't even pay attention to the emperor, but this person is not stupid and knows how to hide his ambitions, so he has never been suspicious.

This time, Yelu Jun hurriedly led troops to crusade against the Song Dynasty, and he did not agree with the same attitude as most of the Khitan nobles. But Yelujun insisted on going his own way, and they were helpless.

As a result, the front line was defeated, and it was besieged in Youzhou by the Song Dynasty's counterattack. When the news came back to Shangjing, there was an uproar. Most of the Khitan nobles were disappointed and angry, the Khitan was so powerful, how could there have been such a failure? It's a shame. Not to mention the defeat, even Youzhou is now in danger. The young and vigorous emperor made a mistake, and did not listen to the advice, which offended the anger of the people.

Here, the Khitan nobles are discussing, gathering soldiers and horses, and going south to rescue Youzhou. But Yelu Tart didn't also move other thoughts, Yelu Jun has made mistakes repeatedly, is he a qualified emperor? If not, is it possible to consider a replacement?

In recent years, the Liao State has a tradition of rebellion, and most of the Khitan nobles have a heart that is ready to move, especially when the emperor is not there and Shangjing is empty, that heart is even more restless! (To be continued.) )

PS: Didn't update yesterday, apologize to all paid subscription readers, sorry! As for some friends who watch piracy, it's just a matter of complaining. You didn't spend money to read, I have no obligation to you, and you don't have the right to scold, please respect yourself!