"General, we can't stand it anymore!!"

Three hours, the war only started three hours, the Liao defenders of Yanmen Pass can not withstand it, you must know that they spent more than five months in order to seize Yanmen Pass, but I did not expect that after five years of seizing Yanmen Pass, in the face of the Song army that came to counterattack, they did not even hold on for three months.

"Anyway, you all give me a top, and it will take at least five days for reinforcements to reach you."

"Impossible!" In the face of the general's request, the Khitan soldiers were simply crazy, how could they withstand five days, and the troops in the city were already bombarded into slag by the Song army's artillery fire in less than five miles.

If it weren't for the fact that the Song army didn't want to destroy the Yanmen Pass, and didn't use cannons to bombard the pass, it might not even be able to withstand it for three hours.

……

In the third year after Zhao Weiji ascended the throne, due to the disaster in Shanxi, a new policy appeared on the stage of history, which was turned into a cash-for-work policy by Zhao Weiji.

In the years since he ascended the throne, in addition to the continuous establishment of private workshops, there are also many workshops invested and built by the imperial court.

After all, there are some technologies that Zhao Weiji may not be able to hand over to a private individual, these things must be monopolized by the state, and the private sector can buy from the state at most, but cannot produce it privately.

Among them, the military industry is the top priority, and now the entire military industry of the Great Song Dynasty is controlled by the state. It's just that there is a big problem that the military industry has been in a state of semi-stagnation, because there are no workers.

In order to restore people's livelihood. Basically, the workers who can be hired have been hired by the people's livelihood industry, and Zhao Weiji of the military industry is not in a hurry to advance.

However, due to the appearance of the victims, this situation changed, and Zhao Weiji proposed to the cabinet to use the form of work-for-relief to hire all the people affected by the disaster to the military industry for production.

And the Great Song Dynasty can also take this opportunity to quickly accumulate military strength, and then start a revenge plan against the Liao State, after all, it is not like the Great Song Dynasty to have an open emperor.

After the last war, the Liao State recovered much slower than the Great Song Dynasty. If you can equip a sophisticated army with a large number of hot weapons in a short period of time, you should be able to easily take back Yanyun while the Liao State is still weak. And even be able to do bigger schemes.

So it was under the impetus of this plan. In two years, Zhao Weiji armed a force of 50,000 people. Not only one rifle per man, but also three thousand cannons, as well as ample ammunition.

……

"I've decided to cut Liao." Just when the army is fully equipped. Zhao Weiji announced the decision to attack Liao at the court meeting.

Surprisingly. No one raised any objections to the decision to cut Liao. It's not because of Zhao Weiji's strength, but at this moment, everyone can already guess the result of this battle in their hearts.

Five years ago, the Battle of Bianliang gave a great shock to the entire Song Dynasty, and it turned out that the battle could still be fought like this. The final outcome of that war. With more than 100 rifles and dozens of cannons, Zhao Weiji almost wiped out the Liao army that had besieged Bianjing for five months.

This is something that has never happened in the war against Liao since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, and after this war, it was officially announced that a new form of war officially entered the stage of history, that is, artillery warfare.

Five years ago, that kind of equipment was already able to defeat the Liao State, and today, five years later, the guns have armed an army of 50,000 people, and no one has ever doubted whether this war will fail, and the ministers are only worried about how to govern after Yan Yun recovers.

When the court did not have any opinions on this battle, the generals were naturally put at the center of the discussion. Because the former number one general is already sitting on the dragon seat at this time.

The rest are only Li Jilong, Li Jiguang, and Yang Yanzhao who can be selected. However, the former famous general Li Jilong was first sent by the cabinet and was within the range of alternatives.

It's not because the people in the cabinet don't agree with him, but Li Jilong is seriously ill at this time, and it is difficult to even get out of bed, let alone lead troops to fight.

Zhao Weiji has nothing to say about the cabinet taking the lead in excluding Li Jilong, he himself hopes that Li Jilong can become the main general of this grand event, but Zhao Weiji also knows that Li Jilong will die this year in history.

originally thought that after he sat on the throne, restoring Li Jilong's military power would stimulate this famous general and enable him to live longer than in history.

It's a pity that Zhao Weiji, who has changed so much history, can't change people's longevity in the end, Li Jilong can't afford to be sick on the eve of today's spring, and Zhao Weiji learned that his limit is approaching.

Since Li Jilong can't lead the troops to the battle, then only Li Jiguang and Yang Yanzhao are left as candidates. Originally, the cabinet ministers were more inclined to Li Jiguang, in addition to his identity as an uncle, his own brilliant record is also an important weight in the balance of choice.

It's just that this time the selection of the coach was unexpectedly intervened by Zhao Weiji. Since the cabinet system gradually took shape, Zhao Weiji has rarely interfered in the formulation of policies by the cabinet, unless the entire cabinet cannot reach a unified opinion, he will come forward.

Unexpectedly, after the cabinet had already come up with a formed opinion, Zhao Weiji intervened, he vetoed the cabinet's choice, and forcibly appointed Yang Yanzhao as the commander of the operation.

This makes it impossible for almost everyone to understand why, because this expedition is basically a must-win situation, and in this case, the manager of this expedition must be able to make a lasting achievement.

In that case, why did Zhao Weiji take this opportunity away from Li Jiguang's men? You must know that Li Jiguang has been with him for many years and is still his brother-in-law.

On this issue, even Li Jiguang himself couldn't understand Zhao Weiji's actions, and on the night after the appointment was issued, Li Jiguang went into the palace to find Zhao Weiji and wanted to ask about it.

It's just that an hour after Li Jiguang entered the palace, he left the palace, and when he left the palace, he didn't have any anger on his face, but a happy face.

Many years later, Li Jiguang's son once asked him what the emperor said that made him have such a big change, and Li Jiguang said this to his son: "At that time, His Majesty only said two words to me, the first sentence was: 'Yanzhao has been very bitter for so many years. The second sentence is: 'Is there only Yan Yun in your eyes?' ’”

……

So after the choice of the commander was decided, the army set off. After the army set off, Yang Yanzhao did not go north by the easier Daimyo's Mansion, but set off to Yanmen Pass.

After the Battle of Lanyuan five years ago, although the Liao State gave up all the land it had previously obtained, it did not give up Yanmen Pass. And the guard before this Yanmen Pass is none other than Yang Yanzhao.

Before leaving, Zhao Weiji said this to Yang Yanzhao: "You have been holding back for so many years, it's time to vent your grievances." Go get what belongs to you back. ”

It is precisely because of this sentence that Yang Yanzhao chose to march to Yanmen Pass. As Zhao Weiji said, he, Yang Yanzhao, has really been holding back for many years.

During the Northern Expedition of Yongxi, his father and brother died tragically, but he could not do anything. Later, he couldn't wait for reuse, and even when Li Jiguang, a small soldier back then, had become the commander of one side, he was still struggling between the first- and second-line generals.

It was easy to finally return to Yanmen Pass to defend it, but at the last moment, it fell short and was taken by the Khitans.

It can be said that Yang Yanzhao, who is nearly fifty years old, has never had a stage to prove himself. But now it's different, Zhao Weiji gave him such a stage.

Although this time the Great Song Dynasty can be said to have a great divine calculation, it does not mean that a random cat or dog can lead the troops to the battle.

If this is the case, the cabinet will not have to be cautious about the choice of commander-in-chief. This also proves that this war, once won, will be full of gold.

It is precisely because of this that Yang Yanzhao made countless deductions for this battle before the army advanced to Yanmen Pass, and listed all the situations that could be thought of, just in case.

But when he arrived at Yanmen Pass, things were much simpler than he thought. The Liao people rushed out as if they had never experienced the baptism of artillery, without thinking about anything.

This made all of Yang Yanzhao's previous plans in vain.

However, because of this, Yang Yanzhao had the idea of Energizer to preserve the integrity of Yanmen Pass, and Energium avoided directly bombarding Yanmen Pass with cannons.

This also made the war last for three hours and still not end.

"Does the Liao general in the city still have no intention of surrendering?" Seeing that three hours had passed, Yang Yanzhao asked the deputy general.

"I don't think so." The lieutenant shook his head.

"That's right." Yang Yanzhao took out a pocket watch from his arms, looked at the time, and then gave an order to the deputy general: "Go again, persuade you to surrender once." If you don't abandon the city and surrender after another fifteen minutes, you will bombard the city gates. ”

After the lieutenant received the order, he found the herald and issued the order.

Fourteen minutes after the order was issued, the troops who were already preparing to open fire received the news that the defenders of Yanmen Pass had abandoned the city and surrendered.

It turned out that although the defenders still did not intend to surrender, the soldiers in the city could not bear such desperate perseverance, and after the last shout of persuasion to surrender, they made up their minds to open the city and surrender.

It's just that they didn't use the means of mutiny, but informed the guards and told him to leave quickly and return to Daliao to report the news of the Song army's attack.

When the guard saw that the soldiers had made up their minds to surrender, he no longer insisted, and he quickly found a fast horse and left Yanmen Pass from the north to report to the Liao State.

And the remaining soldiers opened the city gate just before the time limit given by Yang Yanzhao.

After returning to Yanmen Pass, Yang Yanzhao was not too happy, because he knew that the real battle had just begun. (To be continued......)