Although he didn't think that the fleeing Zhou army would pose any threat to Xiao Daxiang's forward troops, Han Kuangsi, who understood the truth that "poor people should not chase", lest the other party "be trapped and fighting" and "dogs jumping off the wall in a hurry", still kept thinking about this vanguard force that broke away from the main force of the brigade and pursued the enemy alone. Since Xiao Daxiang left, he has continuously sent scouts to inquire about the news, in case the situation is unfavorable, send troops to support.

However, to Han Kuangsi's surprise and uneasiness, except for the first two or three batches of scouts who reported that Xiao Daxiang's troops were safe and sound, and had not yet found the news of the rout of the Zhou army, the scouts sent later either could not find Xiao Daxiang's troops, or never returned, and there was no sound again. Especially as night fell, after Xiao Daxiang's department was still completely silent, Han Kuangsi's uneasiness became more and more intense and obvious, so that he couldn't sleep at night, tossing and turning on the bed in his own residence in the former Yongzhou Mansion, which was used as a temporary headquarters, and closed his eyes groggily until the end of the day -- if it weren't for the vast area of Guangping and the complicated terrain, the small troops would not have played much role, and sending the main force of the brigade at night would easily cause confusion and be easily ambushed by the enemy. I'm afraid that Han Kuangsi would have already ordered troops and horses to kill Guangpingdian to find out.

The first night of "recovering Changning City" passed calmly in Han Kuangsi's uneasiness and worry. At the beginning of the next day, as soon as the sky was dark, Han Kuangsi, who was in a state of confusion and half-asleep, was awakened by the dull thunder, the noise of people shouting and neighing horses in the camp, and the tremors coming from the ground. Before he could sit up from the bed, the lieutenant officer in charge of the watch rushed in in a panic, with a panicked face and a snorting report: "Qi Qiyu stayed behind, the big thing is not good, Changning City is surrounded by the Zhou army, and now the other party is bombarding our army's camp. ”

Han Kuangsi, who had just been woken up and was sleepy-eyed and dazed, immediately fell asleep when he heard this, he grabbed the placket of the middle officer's shirt, and asked with wide eyes: "Nonsense, the Changning garrison of the Zhou State is only 5,000, and it has been defeated by our army, how can we surround the companies and battalions within a radius of several miles of our army?" If you dare to lie about the military situation, you will stay behind and will not be spared! ”

"Everything that is said by the humble post is true, and there is no lie." The Chinese officer hurriedly explained, "It was not the thousands of Zhou defenders in Changning who surrounded our army's camp, but the main force of the Zhou army, and its strength was only no less than 100,000. ”

"The main force of the Zhou army? Didn't the main force of the Zhou army enter Changchun Prefecture a few days ago? How could it appear in Changning? Han Kuangsi asked in disbelief as he let go of the hand that was holding the placket of the Chinese officer's shirt.

Although the officer could not answer Han Kuangsi's question, listening to the sound of an explosion outside the tent and the increasingly noisy shouting of horses, the officer who had recovered from the initial panic knew that now was not the time to consider this issue, let alone to investigate the source of intelligence. So, he didn't care about the humility at this time, and hurriedly said loudly: "Stay behind adults, now that the military situation is urgent, please give an order to deal with it quickly." As for the inaccurate news about Zhou Jun, it's not too late to investigate it in the future! ”

The lieutenant's words made Han Kuangsi sober up, realize his gaffe, and quickly regain his composure. On the one hand, he asked the soldiers who entered to help him put on his armor, and at the same time ordered: "Quickly order all armies to restrain the soldiers and guard the camp to prevent the Zhou army from rushing to the village." The herald ordered the generals in the city to gather at the west gate as soon as possible, and went to the city with Ben to observe the enemy's situation and determine the enemy's strategy. ”

The Chinese officer agreed to go to deliver the order, and Han Kuangsi also led his personal guards out of the Yongzhou Mansion as his temporary headquarters after putting on his armor and heading to the West City Gate.

I don't know whether it was unwilling to accidentally injure the people in the city or unwilling to destroy the buildings in the city, although the Zhou army's artillery bombardment of the Liao army became more and more fierce, not a single shell fell into Changning City. Therefore, both Han Kuangsi and other high-ranking Khitan generals who lived in the city arrived at the west gate unharmed, and climbed the city wall to observe the situation outside.

As the saying goes, "I don't know if I don't see it, and I'm startled when I see it", under the look around, including Han Kuangsi, all the Khitan soldiers who climbed the city wall were taken aback and gasped. I saw that the surroundings of the Liao army camp were densely packed with the banners of the Zhou army, and I was afraid that its size would be more than 100,000 troops estimated by the Chinese officers. What made Han Kuangsi and the Liao generals present even more shocked was that under the fierce bombardment of the Zhou army's artillery fire, the camp of the Zuo Army stationed in the west of the city had turned into a sea of fire, full of wreckage of people and horses, broken tents, vehicles and all kinds of military goods, and everywhere were frightened war horses and wounded and fallen to the ground.

However, unlike the situation of the left army camp in the west of the city, which is like purgatory on earth, although the Liao army camp in the north, east, and south directions was also heavily bombarded at the beginning of the shelling and suffered considerable losses, and now there are still a few violent explosions and a few thick puffs of black smoke from time to time, but compared with the tragic situation of the left army camp in the west of the city, it is far from the tragic situation and cannot be compared with it at all. Although the soldiers in the battalion were a little confused at the beginning of the bombardment, and are still terrified and panicked, under the restraint and pressure of the generals of each battalion, order has basically been restored, and they are gradually taking their own positions to prepare for the fortress to defend against the enemy or take the initiative to attack. In other words, the Zhou army's artillery bombardment was focused on the main target of the left army camp in the west of the city. As for its purpose, on the one hand, it is naturally to eliminate the living force of the Liao army, and on the other hand, it is only to show strength and show off force, so as to deter the Liao army generals. In this way, no matter whether it is a hard-fought battle to the death or persuasion to surrender, it will get twice the result with half the effort -- judging from the previous appearance of the Zhou army in Gaozhou, Songshan Prefecture, and Yongzhou, I am afraid that the latter purpose will be the main one.

Although he did not think that he could repel the Zhou army with his own strength, it was impossible for Han Kuangsi and the Khitan generals to disarm and surrender without even seeing the enemy. On the one hand, those Khitan generals who had limited knowledge of the Zhou army, especially the "Flying Dragon Army", fantasized that they could rely on their own cavalry and archery skills and their "superiority" in mobility to break through the encirclement of the Zhou army and fight their way out. On the other hand, in their view, even if they cannot break out of the encirclement, an army that fights hard and is captured by exhaustion is far more dignified and backbone than an army that surrenders without a fight, and can also be more respected by the enemy. Therefore, after observing for a while, Han Kuangsi, who thought that he had found the weak point of the Zhou army, ordered the right army stationed in the east of the city to take the initiative to attack, and his 10,000 cavalry charged in two teams in front and rear, striving to break through the encirclement of the Zhou army and create a bloody way for the whole army to get out of trouble.

The art of war is cloudy "knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent, and being invincible in a hundred battles", and Khitan generals like Han Kuangsi and his subordinates, who have never directly fought with the Zhou army, especially the "Flying Dragon Army", and can only understand the situation of the "Flying Dragon Army" through limited rumors, naturally have nothing to do with this wise saying. In this way, it is impossible for them to know that the defensive formation of the Zhou army, which is much weaker in their opinion than in other directions, although the number of soldiers is smaller than that in other directions, it is precisely the "Flying Dragon Army" that is the main one, and it is the most fierce and powerful firepower in the Zhou army's encirclement. Although the Zhou army on the north and south sides seemed to be large in number and dense in formation, it was dominated by the "security army", but it was the weakest place in the Zhou army.

As the saying goes, "one general is incompetent, and the three armies are exhausted", although Han Kuangsi is not a straw bag general, his order to take the initiative to attack is tantamount to a "life talisman" for the first echelon of 5,000 soldiers and horses in charge of charging the battle of the right army battalion in the east of the city. After the 5,000 soldiers and horses rushed out of their own camp, they were first intercepted and fired by the Zhou army's artillery fire, which adjusted the direction of their shooting in time, and the Khitan cavalry, who had finally broken out of the death blockade line, encountered the obstruction of two trenches about two zhang apart from the Zhou army's formation two hundred paces away, and had to slow down their horses to cross. When they climbed up from the bottom of the second, though not deep, but very wide trench, with great difficulty, they were swept down in pieces like wheat harvesting by a rain of bullets fired from rifles, machine guns, and small-caliber mortars of the "Wyverns" on the opposite side. In the end, only four or five hundred of the 5,000 Khitan cavalry of the first echelon were able to escape back to their own camp -- fortunately, the commander of the right army had a flexible brain, and when he saw that the situation was not good, he immediately ordered the second echelon to give up the attack and return to the camp to hold on, otherwise he, the commander of 10,000 troops, was afraid that he would become a commander of 1,000 troops.

On this side, Han Kuangsi and his generals had not yet recovered from the defeat of the right army, and after the Liao army camp, especially the left army camp in the west of the city, carried out a fierce bombardment for about half an hour, almost completely destroyed the left army camp in the west of the city, and easily repelled the impact of the 5,000 cavalry in the right army camp in the east of the Liao army, the Zhou army stopped the bombardment and sent messengers to persuade the Liao army to surrender.

Facts have proved that Zhou Jun's strategy of "killing chickens and setting an example for monkeys" is very useful. Although he was quite resentful of being calculated by the enemy in the first battle of the division and suffered heavy casualties, but as the so-called "shape is stronger than people", in the face of the Zhou army, which has an advantage or even an absolute advantage in terms of numbers and weapons, looking at the left army camp under the city, and looking at the corpses of the right army in the distance, even if Han Kuangsi and his generals are unwilling and unwilling in their hearts, for the sake of the lives of the more than 30,000 soldiers who remain, they can only bow their heads and admit defeat. Accept the unconditional surrender of the Zhou army, lay down the weapons in his hands and become a prisoner.

Seeing that the Zhou army persuaded the envoy to surrender to put the surrender letter written by himself into his arms, he was arrogantly ready to turn around and leave, and Han Kuangsi, who was still worried about Xiao Daxiang, who had not returned overnight, and his 5,000 soldiers and horses, who were alive and dead, hurriedly stepped forward to salute, stopped the other party, and asked cautiously tentatively: "Last night, Xiao Daxiang, the vanguard officer of our former army, led the army to pursue and defend the city, and the Zhou army did not return all night, presumably because of an ambush by your army. Can your envoy know whether General Xiao is alive or dead, and how many of his 5,000 soldiers and horses are alive? ”

The envoy of the Zhou army couldn't help but smile when he heard this, and said proudly: "Originally, this matter should not have been told by me to stay in Han, but should have been explained to you by the marshal of my family." However, since Han stayed behind and asked each other politely, it didn't hurt for the envoy to tell you.

General Xiao and his 5,000 soldiers and horses were not only safe and sound, but also because they had taken the initiative to serve our Great Zhou, and first successfully persuaded Han to stay in Beijing to go to Changchun Prefecture to rescue the driver with false news, and then lured the Khitan 50,000 army to Yongzhou as the first attack target, so that our army was able to surround the regiments under the city of Changning, and made great contributions to the Northern Expedition of our Great Zhou. Wait for the envoy to return with good news. ”

After speaking, the envoys of the Zhou army turned around and left, leaving only a group of Khitan generals who were stunned, stunned, angry, frustrated, or helpless, and Han Kuangsi, who had only woken up from a dream until this time, looked at each other and was speechless.