Song Jiu found Yang Ye.

In the last meeting, Song Jiu found that Yang Ye had a fatal flaw, that is, he was more stubborn. But Yang Ye is not a fool, he can still see the kindness shown by Song Jiu, which makes him very puzzled, where did he make this great Song Prime Minister take a fancy to him.

Song Jiu said: "General Yang, do you think this Northern Expedition can be won?" ”

"Yes."

"Why?"

"In the battle of White Horse Mountain, the officers and soldiers of the imperial court won more with less, and at this time, the number of troops was several times better than that of the other party, and it was sure to win."

It can't be called several times, at this time Youzhou gathered nearly 100,000 troops that can be mobilized, the Song army is known as 300,000 soldiers and horses, the real forbidden army is only 100,000, and the rest half are all militia, of course, compared with Guo Jin's example, he will definitely win.

But Song Jiu smiled bitterly.

"General Yang, you don't have to shy away from it, what we are talking about today is only known by God, and the law is not passed on to the second ear, you think about pessimism."

Yang Ye thought hard, and finally said: "There are three possibilities, one may be a big victory, our army takes advantage of the Khitan unpreparedness, takes Youzhou, and holds the city hostage, and the Khitan people will sigh with admiration." ”

Song Jiu nodded.

Originally, the Khitan people were not particularly good at siege, and they led by themselves, and some sharp weapons appeared, which may not be of much use in field warfare, even if they are not very effective in siege, but they are all sharp weapons in defending cities.

"With the loss of Youzhou, the Khitan lacks an important grain producing area, and it is possible that all ethnic groups within the Khitan will take the opportunity to rebel and fall apart, and our dynasty will restore the glory of the Han and Tang dynasties."

Song Jiu nodded again, it was exactly this. made Zhao Kuangyi take a big gamble.

"General Yang, do you think there will be such a possibility?"

"It's incredibly unlikely. The Khitan will not sit idly by and watch me take Youzhou. Therefore, there is a second possibility, our dynasty is to take Youzhou. The Khitans would also send large armies to fight. It is unlikely that they want to regain Youzhou City, but the three armies are short of food, and the grain and grass are transported from the rear to the front line, all in the Khitan territory, so it will be endlessly drawn, and the outcome is unknown. ”

"Is there any other possibility?"

"Yes, the last general feels that His Majesty's dispatch of troops this time is a bit blind, and the army is indeed a little tired as Song Gong said. The army did not take Youzhou, but was attacked by Liao reinforcements and the defenders in the city, and ended in a great defeat. ”

"If that's the case, how can you recover your losses?"

Yang Ye pondered for a while and said, "It's irretrievable." ”

"Guo Jin defeated the three Khitan armies, but because Yelu arrived in time, he failed to expand the results, why can't he recover it?"

"Song Gong, it was a medium-sized battle, and this conference battle. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, once defeated, it will be a real defeat. Even if the mountain falls, it is not so serious. With a little escort force in our hands and the people. How to recover? ”

Yang Ye glanced up at Song Jiu and thought, didn't you give the old man a problem. Then he added, "It's about a small possibility." ”

"You're optimistic......"

"The last general doesn't understand."

"Youzhou Guard General Han Derang!"

……

This time, the Song army moved quickly and arrived in Dingzhou three days later. The daily march reached more than sixty miles.

In Dingzhou, Zhao Kuangyi wrote a poem, "Poems of the Sorrowful Trapping of the Tibetan People". I've come to your rescue.

Five days later. Zhao Kuangyi arrived at Jintaitun, which was already the Song-Liao border, and the next day Dongyizhou (Qigou Pass) assassinated Liu Yu to surrender to the pass.

Fu Qian and Kong Shouzheng arrived in Zhuozhou as the vanguard, defeated the Liao army, captured 500 people, followed by Zhao Kuangyi's army, seeing these dense and unbounded Song troops, Zhuozhou judge Liu Yuande did not dare to resist, and also surrendered.

Zhao Kuangyi asked Zhang Huaixun to lead his troops, and with the departure, it took only three days from Qigou Pass to Youzhou, and he arrived in the south of Youzhou City and stationed in Baoguang Temple.

It is not known whether the front-line generals are tired or not, but the army marched so fast that Song Jiu was tired.

Only then did the Khitan people wake up to the fact that at this time there were only more than 18,000 Han soldiers stationed in the city, and it was difficult to hold Youzhou City. So he sent the general Yelu Shougu to reinforce the city, this general fought bravely, and very eccentric, and was also an excellent translator and poet, in the Khitan such a literary and military all-round person is very rare.

However, he was unfortunate that the army had not yet reached Youzhou, and the Song army had already surrounded the city, so he could not enter the city to complete the task of defending the city.

Just then he heard bad news.

Zhao Kuangyi was in the south of the city, but the Liao army still had two huge armies in the north of the city, one was 80,000 soldiers and horses led by Yelu Xida and Xiao Qigu, and the other was 20,000 soldiers and horses at the victory mouth ninety miles north of Youzhou City, which was led by Yelu Xian.

So Zhao Kuangyi asked Fu Qian and Kong Shouzheng to deal with Yelu Xida's army.

Fu Qian is an old man from Zhao Kuangyi's palace, with mediocre ability and timidity, but Zhao Kuangyi also assigned him a warrior, Kong Shouzheng, who performed very eye-catching in the first Battle of Shiling Pass.

The two armies met at Shahe, and although Yelu Xida and Xiao Qigu were brave, their abilities were equally mediocre, and compared with Fu Qian, they were half a catty and eight taels. The two armies fought, but the Song army had too many soldiers and horses, and groups of people came from the rear, and the two saw that the situation was not good, and immediately ordered a retreat.

In fact, this is a great opportunity, if the Song army can eat these 80,000 soldiers and horses, the direction of the war is another matter.

However, although Kong Shouzheng was brave, he was not the main general, and under the command of Fu Qian, he only killed 1,000 enemies, allowing the main force of the Liao army to escape calmly. This news was also bad for the Khitans.

At this time, Jerod sent out his army, and he waved the green banner of Jeruhida at the mouth of victory, creating the illusion of containing the defeated army. Fu Qian was really fooled, and his subordinates were defeated, so they went north to pursue. Yelu suddenly ambushed the army, and Fu Qian was defeated.

However, when he chased to the Qingsha River, Yelu was the same as him in Bailong Mountain, behaving very timidly, and stopped, not daring to approach Youzhou City.

Facing this cunning and timid Yelu slanted, Zhao Kuangyi couldn't cry or laugh, if you want to watch the battle, then stay in Qingshahe obediently and ignore him.

Song Jiuwei was not on the front line, 300,000 soldiers and horses plus people, the amount of grain and grass consumed in a day was an astonishing number, and in order to ensure the supply of the front line, he was busy every day. So stay in Dingzhou. But the battle reports from the front line are still coming back in a steady stream.

At present, from all aspects, the Song army has the upper hand. However, Song Jiu felt faintly uneasy in his heart, so he called Yang Ye over again.

"General Yang. You see. ”

Yang Ye took a closer look at the battle reports one by one.

"General Yang, I'm always uneasy in my heart, do you see what's wrong?"

Yang Ye thought about it for a long time, it was Yang Ye, and now he still thinks that Song Jiu is too pessimistic. Perhaps this is a common problem among literati. However, Song Jiu made him think, he still followed Song Jiu's train of thought and thought down, and finally said: "If it is not right, then there may be a problem with this team of Yelu Xian. ”

"For what?" Because Guo Jin committed suicide, he did not bring back the first-hand news. Everyone despises this person. Song Jiu's golden finger only remembered Yelu Xiuge, not Yelu obliquely.

"Duke Song, you can refer to the battle of Luoyang of Tang Taizong."

"The Battle of Luoyang?" Song Jiuzai wanted to recall this history.

"Duke Song, Tang Taizong took Luoyang, but he first emptied the periphery, and then defeated Dou Jiande in the battle of Tiger Prison Pass, and then took Luoyang. Now that our army is besieging Youzhou, the Khitan will send a large army to help. If this army is not emptied, there may be a flank attack by the two armies, and then the troops will be sent from the city, and our army will be dangerous. However, this is extremely unlikely. The Khitan Hanluduo was mainly in the area of Zhongjing and Shangjing, and the news reached Zhongjing, and then the ministers discussed. Then to the solicitation, it will take a long time. The last general didn't think that Han Derang would be able to hold on until then. Even if the Khitan can arrive in time, it will be a more tired army than our army. You can help to fight the siege. ”

"General Yang, think on the bad side."

"Think on the bad side...... This army is not easy to deal with, if there are fewer troops, they cannot be defeated, and if there are more troops, our army has to transfer soldiers, and the speed is not as good as theirs, so that they can have time to escape calmly. However, just in case, Song Gong can write a memora, asking His Majesty to expel this army and horses from Lu and drive back to the victory. The victory pass is more than 80 miles away from Youzhou, and most of them are mountain roads, which will not pose a direct threat to our army

, even if troops are sent in the future, our army will have time to arrange. Now the distance is too short, Qingsha River is only twenty miles away from Youzhou City. It would be even better if they could win the victory and expel the Khitan army from the Great Wall. ”

So Song Jiu wrote a memo, in which he asked Zhao Kuangyi to expel Yelu obliquely outside the ancient Great Wall and take the victory pass, Juyongguan and Gubeikou in the north. It's not quite appropriate to win the victory, and it's still not far from Youzhou City. If you can't take it, at least you have to drive Jerod back to the mouth of victory. Then choose a sinister place halfway to build an important village. Anyway, the Song army is now also sending a group of soldiers and horses to monitor this Khitan army. This did not reduce the number of troops available for siege.

Then Song Jiu was still not very relieved, and wrote a letter to Pan Mei, asking Pan Mei to advise Zhao Kuangyi.

At the same time, he also strode northward and moved to Qigou Pass.

However, the situation seemed to be more and more favorable to the Song Dynasty, seeing that the Song army was strong, Li Xun, a small colonel of Bohai under the oblique subordinates, led more than 300 people to surrender with more than 300 horses, and the Khitan Tielin commanded Li Zhalu Cun to surrender with more than 100 subordinates.

There is also a figure that makes Song Jiu pay attention, Yuping's father, who is in Youzhou City at this time after Song Jiu's inquiry.

The Song army continued to attack the city from all sides, Song Wei attacked the southern city, Cui Yan attacked the northern city, Liu Yu attacked the eastern city, Meng Xuanzhe attacked the western city, and Pan Mei assisted Zhao Kuangyi in commanding the affairs of Youzhou.

If Song Cui and Liu are the three of them, Song Jiu can still understand, although he is not a first-class famous general, he can get it, but Meng Xuanzhe may be able to serve as the offensive and defensive position of Xicheng, is he more powerful than many famous generals under his account at this time? If that's the case, it won't make a big joke when Wang Quanbin attacks Shu.

When the news reached Zhongjing, Liao Jingzong was just hunting, and he was shocked when he heard it, and many ministers suggested abandoning the swallow thistle and guarding Songting and Hubeikou with soldiers.

At this time, the Khitan Da Tiyin Si Yelu Hugo stood up and said, no matter whether you retreat or rescue, you have to fight with the Song army, so why should you retreat, if you want to fight, you have to fight under Youzhou City.

Liao Jingzong thought about it again and again, and finally agreed that he would send out an army of 100,000 Hanluduo.

This is a battle to gamble on the fortune of the country, if you win Youzhou, you will be saved, if you lose, not only Youzhou can not be saved, the Song army can even be difficult to fill, take advantage of the power of the big victory, go north to Yingzhou Zhongjing, Khitan has been in danger since then.

At the same time, there is also a premise, when Yelu Huge's army arrives, Han Derang must have the ability to defend Youzhou City, otherwise the major events will also be suspended.

Tens of thousands of Khitan iron horsemen fought out from the vast grassland, and it was impossible for the Song army to learn the news.

The good news on the front line continues, more than 100 people in Jizhou County treat the king with cow wine, Zhao Kuangyi is overjoyed, we are a battle to win the hearts of the people.

Then more than 100 people from the counties and villagers of Youzhou came to surrender.

The Khitan Jianxiong Festival made Liu Yansu and more than a dozen officials surrender.

Khitan Jizhou Zhizhou Liu Shousi came to surrender.

Song Jiu's recitals and letters also arrived at the front line. (To be continued......)