In the battle of Tongtian River, Pan Mei and Guo Jin won a complete victory, killing more than 8,000 enemies, and Yelu Sha, the prime minister of the Khitan Southern Academy, and Yelu Lie, the king of Ji, gave the head to the enemy, so that Wen Dumin and Shen Wen Tang led the army to confront Pan Mei and Guo Jin across the river, and did not dare to advance rashly.

When the news reached the emperor's camp, Zhao Kuangyin was overjoyed, immediately notified the whole army, sent an order to commend the reward, and lifted the heads of the Khitans sent back from the front line on a high pole to hit the morale of the Northern Han defenders. For a time, Zhao Da was high-spirited, and just wanted to insert the Yunling line if he could also give the enemy a heavy blow, maybe he would be defeated repeatedly, and the new Khitan emperor would be attacked by hundreds of officials.

Cheng Shixiong's first department had not yet arrived at the Yunling Ridge, and the news of the great victory spread on the Yunling Ridge, and the king of the Khitan Southern Courtyard and the King of the Northern Courtyard came together to attack the Yunling. The Song army is good at defending, and the Khitan iron cavalry is useless on this majestic ridge, and the result is Li Jixun, He Jiyun two tiger generals are defeated, a fierce battle, capture the Khitan Wuzhou assassin Wang Yanfu, behead more than 1,000, get 600 horses, and capture 300 Han soldiers in the north, 160 Khitan soldiers.

Zhao Guanjia heard the great joy, for a moment full of ambition, is thinking about whether to make Cheng Derate, Yang Hao suspend the relocation of the people, until the forcible capture of the capital of the Northern Han Dynasty, do not want him to convene the ministers has not yet discussed a countermeasure, suddenly there are a horse galloping to report, a hundred miles away in the mountain path suddenly appeared Khitan traces, the forward more than 1,000 iron cavalry is rushing here, the number of enemies, is still being explored.

Zhao Kuangyin was shocked when he heard this, and immediately dispatched the three armies, leaving the capital of the Northern Han Dynasty and setting up a battle formation to the north. Zhao Kuangyin was calm on his face, and he was secretly shocked in his heart: "Where did this Khitan team come from?" Is there a big change in the direction of Tongtian River and Yunling, or is there another secret path for the Khitans? In any case, if the Khitans broke through the danger and killed in front of them, the heavy troops they deployed in front of them would become useless, and after the Khitans and the Northern Han soldiers and horses joined forces, they would not be able to retreat calmly.

On the one hand, Zhao Kuangyin asked Cheng Dexuan to inform Cheng Dexuan, no matter how many people had been collected, to return to the Song Kingdom as soon as possible, and on the other hand, he ordered someone to notify Cheng Shixiong to lead his troops back to help. As for the first line of Yunling and Tongtianhe, he also sent people to understand the military situation, and ordered them to slowly dispatch and prepare to retreat, for fear that they would be in danger and fall into the Khitan ambush, Zhao Kuangyin granted them the right to make a special move, so that they could choose their own roads, return by separate routes, and meet again in the area of Pingcheng.

At this time, the Khitan Iron rode over the Five Monkey Mountain, out of the Flying Fox Valley, and slowly came out of the secret passage. The vanguard of 1,000 people has galloped to the capital of the Northern Han Dynasty to investigate the situation, the six cavalry brigades of the front army have set up positions outside the valley, and the Chinese army is slowly coming out of the valley with the main general.

The main general of this Khitan army wore an indigo blue narrow-sleeved robe with a disc neck, covered with fine-scale chain mail, a shiny heart guard mirror on his chest, a pure white silver fox fur on his hood and neckguard, and a long bunch of pheasant feathers fluttering on the silver helmet on his head, which lined her face like a crown of jade, red lips and white teeth, and her heroic hair was very charming and enchanting, and she was actually a young and handsome female general.

This young and beautiful female general is Xiao Xuan, the queen of the Northern Kingdom, Xiao Yanyan, looking at her bright eyes and bright teeth, a little vermilion in the center of her eyebrows, a sword under her ribs, a bow on her shoulder, and a pot of carved feathers on her back, she is charming and charming, but she does not hide her heroic posture at all.

On her left, a tiger general is the one who accompanied her to venture into Guangyuan to assassinate Cheng Shixiong, this person's Han name is Han Derang, and the Khitan name is Yelu Longyun, and the Khitan state knows Nanjing to stay.

On the right side of Empress Xiao, he is also a young and fierce general, star-eyed and heroic, he is a Khitan royal family, and has just been promoted to the Great Tiyin Division, in charge of the Khitan royal family's politics and religion and mediating internal disputes. He was originally a Khitan Langjun. Lang Jun is Chinese, in the Khitan language pronounced "relics", "shali", meaning warriors, is the Khitan nobles in the title of the unemployed and brave warriors, now the new emperor ascended the throne, he was entrusted with important positions, this person will be determined to serve the new emperor, his name is ...... Jeruxiugo.

Han Derang and Yelu Hugo are not qualified to lead the army alone, they are just the generals who obey the orders of Xiao Xuan, and the real commander of this army is in the six formations outside the valley, and the whole army is on standby. This person is a Khitan veteran, the chief of soldiers and horses, Yelu Tartlie, this person has clear rewards and punishments, and even wins the army and the people, and is a famous Khitan general.

The Chinese army was in an orderly manner, slowly out of the valley, and lined up a large array outside the valley, Yelu Tart Lie galloped to Xiao Xuan's side, Xiao Xuan asked: "Old General Tart Lie, how is the situation in the Northern Han Dynasty now?" ”

Yelu Tart Lie clenched his fists and said: "After Qi Yu Xiao, the Northern Han Dynasty fought hard in the city, and the Song army could not attack the city with water, and now Wang Yang has just retreated, and the capital of the Northern Han Dynasty is still in the hands of the Liu family, but it is already in danger. ”

Xiao Xuanliu's eyebrows raised slightly, and his extremely charming eyes glanced at the military array slightly, and asked again: "The king of the Southern Courtyard and the king of the Northern Courtyard attacked Yunling, and the prime minister of the Southern Courtyard, Yelusha, and the king of Ji, Yelu Enemy, attacked the Tianhe, what is the situation?" ”

Yelu Tzulie said again: "After Xiao, the king of the southern courtyard and the king of the northern courtyard attacked Yunling and suffered a small defeat, and Yelu Sha and Yelu were reckless and lost their lives, and they were ambushed in the Tongtian River, and more than half of them were injured. However, these two armies have successfully restrained Pan Mei and Li Jixun. ”

Xiao Xuan smiled slightly, just like a rose blooming, and she was charming: "Very good, and don't care about them, immediately send troops, take the Northern Han City directly, and cooperate with the Northern Han soldiers and horses, if you capture the Song Emperor, no matter how big the sacrifice is, it will be worth it." ”

"The last general obeys!" The veteran Yelu Tzulie threw his gray beard, returned to his own formation, raised the flag, raised the desolate and agitated horn, and the Khitan army began to slowly move forward.

Iron hooves trampled, a team of cavalry first slowly forward, and when the distance from the rear was widened, they galloped lightly, like a moving steel jungle, swords and guns at the same time, no one shouted, no horses neighed, solemn set off a murderous aura of rushing into the night......※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※ Song camp, the generals were talking hard to persuade the emperor.

"Shengshang, this time the Khitan lord will be the Khitan soldiers and horses chief Yelu Tartlie, this man is scheming, old and spicy, now General Pan and General Li are entangled by the Khitans and can't return for a while, the Khitan people drive straight in, and they are fighting the idea of going straight to the heart, the goal is the saint, and the saint should retreat as soon as possible."

"Shengshang, let's go north this time, the target is the Northern Han, not the Khitan. Neither ordnance nor deployment is suitable for fighting with a large force of cavalry, and it should be decided immediately and retreat immediately. ”

"Saint, stay in the green mountains, don't be afraid of no firewood......"

"Holy Lord, retreat at this time, and you can arrange it calmly. If the Khitans arrange their positions and then cut off our army's retreat with cavalry, then the only way to retreat is to choose the difficult path of the river valley and mountains, and at that time, our mountains of grain and ordnance will be thrown here, and we will not be able to bring them back......"

"Holy ......"

"Don't say anything about it." Zhao Kuangyin was walking in the tent, suddenly paused, and said in a deep voice: "I don't want to make a desperate bet, but I can't retreat now. We must contain the Khitans here, so that the armies of Pan Mei and Li Jixun can get out. At the same time, we can fight a few more battles here to give Cheng Dexuan and Yang Hao time to move the people of the Northern Han Dynasty to our Great Song Territory. For the sake of Pan Mei and Li Jixun's two-way army, I want to stay. For the sake of the tens of thousands of people of the Northern Han Dynasty, I ...... Also stay. ”

He exhaled slowly and said lightly: "Once the enemy is strong, our army will cross the mountains and mountains and return south along the river valley and mountain roads. No matter how brave the Khitan iron cavalry is, they have no place to use it when they reach that kind of place. As for the grain, grass, ordnance......"

Zhao Kuangyin smiled faintly and said, "Even if it is all left to them, how long can it help them eat?" In my heart, 10,000 households are worth more than one million grains! ”

The generals listened to what the emperor said categorically, and couldn't help but look at each other and couldn't persuade for any reason, and two civil officials on the side had already rushed forward to praise: "The saint puts the people first, and he is really a generation of benevolent lords......

The Khitans came too fast, almost no slower than the Song army's exploration horses, Zhao Kuangyin had just withdrawn the army from the Northern Han City, and set up a defensive formation according to the terrain, and the Khitan people's forward iron cavalry arrived under the Northern Han City. They beat drums and trumpets to deliver a message to the city.

Liu Jiyuan, the emperor of the Northern Han Dynasty who was looking forward to the city, had already stood on the palace and could see it clearly, and when he saw the Khitan soldiers arriving, he was so happy that he danced with his hands, and almost fell down from the upper floor.

He hurriedly ran up to the main hall, ordered the guards Duyu Marquis Liu Jiye and Feng Jinke to lead the army out of the city, led the Khitan iron cavalry to cut down the army, and ordered the privy envoy Ma Feng to quickly clean the grain bags and collect the bottom of the treasury, in order to prepare for the filial piety of the Khitan generals and the reward of the Khitan iron cavalry. Immediately ran back to the harem, groomed and dressed up, repaired his beard, prepared to beat gongs and drums in person, and led the concubines who twisted Yangge to meet the Khitan Liberation Army.

Zhao Kuangyin opened his formation, quietly waiting for the arrival of the Khitan Iron Cavalry, he knew that it would be a tough battle. If the Khitan people are entangled in the civil strife and refuse to send troops, once they send troops, it will temporarily put aside internal contradictions and unanimously go external. At this time, for the Northern Emperor Yeluxian, he also wants to seek victory at all costs.

Now the Khitan people have broken through the danger to kill in front of them, the situation that was originally beneficial to themselves suddenly became unfavorable, the two armies were tied up, the soldiers and horses in their hands came long distances, fought hard for more than a month, the division veterans were tired, and the follow-up was weak, he knew that the wisest way at this time was to withdraw the troops, and it was to withdraw the troops immediately, without hesitation.

But he has to fight a few more battles, even if these battles are lost, as long as the two roads are now deep behind the enemy to win the time to retreat, and give Cheng Dexuan and Yang Hao time to emigrate, then strategically speaking, he will also win.

However, at this time, he still didn't know much about the determination of the Khitans to go south to support and the total number of troops sent, and he didn't know that the enemy against him was not only the Khitan general of soldiers and horses, but also the one who was going to start a big war here, the emperor of the Song Kingdom, and the Khitan queen.

After receiving the news from the army, Cheng Dexuan and Yang Hao were taken aback, they didn't expect the Khitans to come so quickly, fortunately, they searched for the people of the Northern Han Dynasty this time to be the pioneers to the distance, and then searched all the way back, so as to avoid the soldiers going back and forth repeatedly wasting time on the road, and the farthest people they went were also rushing back, and they didn't need to wait too long.

The two of them immediately got ready, loaded all kinds of animal carts and rickshaws, large and small, with old and weak women and children and food, tied the carts strongly, and prepared for a long march......