Seeing that it has reached the end of the month of Lunar New Year and the Chinese New Year is about to come, people outside are trying to go home and reunite with their families, but Zhao Yan said goodbye to his family at this time, not only him, but also his 50,000 sailors and 30,000 army troops all bid farewell to their families at this time, and then stepped on the warship to prepare to go north.

Some time ago, the cold wave that broke out in the north made some ice-free ports also frozen, but when it came to the wax moon, the cold wave had passed, and the weather was not as cold as before, and under the influence of the warm current of the ocean, the few ice-free ports in the north were slowly melting, and it is estimated that by the time of the New Year, those ports could let the warships dock, Zhao Yan was worried about the safety of Yang Huaiyu's army, so he did not dare to delay time, so he decided to march before the year.

This rescue army is led by Zhao Yan himself, of course, this is only in name, although Zhao Yan is the governor of the military school, but if he is asked to command the army, I am afraid it is not as good as a first-year student of a military school, so the real command of the army is divided into two people, of which the water division is led by Xu Yuan, and the army is commanded by Yanqing, Zhao Yan's biggest role is only to inspire.

Regarding Zhao Yan personally going to rescue the besieged army, although Cao Ying and the others were a little worried, they didn't stop them, but they just told Zhao Yan not to take risks, and Zhao Yan patted his chest and assured them that he almost didn't have to get off the boat this time, so there was no danger at all, but Cao Ying and the others were still not at ease, after all, Zhao Yan said so last time he went to Liao, but then he still encountered danger and almost lost his life in Liao.

It is also worth mentioning that a few days before Zhao Yan left Guangzhou, Yelusi prepared a lot of gifts and a letter, saying that if Zhao Yan had a chance, she could give these things to Yelujun by the way, after all, she had not gone back for so many years. Although she did not get along well with the various brothers and sisters in the family, Yelujun had a good relationship with her, so she prepared some gifts for Yelujun.

Zhao Yan was a little crying and laughing at first about Yelusi's approach, after all, he was fighting a war rather than visiting relatives, but he soon understood Yelusi's painstaking efforts. She was worried about what danger she would encounter in Liao, so she wanted to remind Yelujun in this way, hoping that he could let him go at a critical moment. Of course, Zhao Yan also knew that Yelusi's idea was a bit naïve, after all, there was no room for any personal affection between the two countries, but this was also Yelusi's heart, so he also carefully collected Yelusi's letters and gifts.

After bidding farewell to his family, Zhao Yan led the army to leave Guangzhou quietly, without alarming anyone, after all, the soldiers were treacherous. No one knows whether the Liao State has hidden spies in the Great Song Dynasty, so some things still need to be kept secret.

Zhao Yan's army traveled north along the coastline, passing through Quanzhou, Hangzhou and other places on the way, and when he arrived in Hangzhou, Zhao Yan deliberately learned about the impact of the Manichaean rebellion. Some nearby towns are uninhabited, and even the once prosperous city of Hangzhou has become very depressed. Everywhere in the city, you can see people who have fled into the city to beg due to the war.

Hearing the tragic situation near Hangzhou, Zhao Yan also sighed helplessly, the people who were most affected in the troubled times were ordinary people, a famous and wealthy place like Hangzhou, under a war, the people became miserable, which shows the horror of the war. This also made Zhao Yan secretly swear that in the future, he must let the people of the Great Song Dynasty suffer less from the war!

After leaving Hangzhou, it would be difficult for Zhao Yan's fleet to find ports to replenish when heading north, as most of the ports in the north were still frozen. However, Zhao Yan had already prepared for this, in addition to the warships, there were also a large number of supply ships in the fleet, which was enough for their army to consume for several months.

After more than half a month of travel, Zhao Yan's fleet finally arrived at the Bohai Bay, although the Bohai Sea is very far to the north, but because of the influence of several warm currents, there are two very famous ice-free ports, such as Dalian and Qinhuangdao in later generations, especially Qinhuangdao, which is not far from the Zhongjing Dading Mansion of the Liao State, and the northeast direction is the famous Shanhaiguan in the history of later generations, but now it is called Yuguan, is the eastern starting point of the Great Wall, it can be said that the geographical location of Qinhuangdao is very important, as early as Zhao Yan in Guangzhou, This was chosen as the landing place for the Great Army.

However, the Bohai Sea is not so easy to enter, because of the previous cold wave, a considerable part of the Bohai Sea has been frozen, and later with the impact of the warm current, these ice surfaces slowly melted, but it was accompanied by countless ice floes on the sea, these ice floes are large and small, the largest of them is like an iceberg, even if the steel warship accidentally hits it, it will sink, not to mention Zhao Yan's wooden warship, so after entering the Bohai Sea, Zhao Yan and their speed of progress became very slow, Even lost a few boats, but fortunately, everyone on board was rescued, and finally reached the location of Qinhuangdao in the later generations.

Qinhuangdao here now belongs to the Yingzhou boundary of Liao, Shanhaiguan is now Yuguan also belongs to Yingzhou, the two are only a dozen miles apart, when Zhao Yan's army arrived at the sea off the coast of Yingzhou, it was immediately found that the ice on the sea surface here has indeed been melted, although some ice floes loom on the sea, but it does not affect the movement of the ship, which also makes Zhao Yan surprised, commanding the army to go straight to the sea outside Yingzhou City.

Yingzhou also belongs to one of the sixteen states of Yanyun, which has been conquered by Yang Huaiyu's army, but later after they were besieged by Yelu Renxian's army, the Liao army on the back of Shanhaiguan immediately counterattacked, first occupied Shanhaiguan, and then defeated the Song army in Yingzhou City, reoccupied Yingzhou City, and prepared to counterattack Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures based on this, but unfortunately because of the arrival of winter, the Liao army in Yingzhou City also stopped some activities.

The Khitan belong to the nomadic people, and they have a natural fear of the sea, so they only pay attention to the development of the army, there is no decent sailor in the country, and even a decent warship can not be found, so Zhao Yan and their navy army were not hindered at all, and they arrived at the sea of Yingzhou City very smoothly, and then Zhao Yan did not have any stay, commanding the army to start landing immediately, but unfortunately there was not even a larger port here in Yingzhou, so Zhao Yan and they could only take a small boat to go ashore, This makes the landing a bit slow.

The Liao army in Yingzhou City didn't expect the Song army to come from the sea, and when they reacted, half of Zhao Yan's army had landed, of which the 30,000 troops led by Hu Yanping were the priority to land, and then they killed Yingzhou City if they didn't stop, which was also planned before, in order to catch the Liao army off guard.

Hu Yanping their raid did have an effect, the Liao army in Yingzhou City received the news that the Song army attacked from the sea, but did not know the exact number of the Song army, plus the Liao army generals in Yingzhou City were a little arrogant, and did not hesitate to assemble the army out of the city, ready to block the Song army that landed, but when they just left the city, they met Hu Yanqing's army, and as a result, under a ballista and grenades, the other party's nearly 10,000 Liao army was defeated, Hu Yanqing took the opportunity to rush into Yingzhou City, and Yingzhou City changed hands again after half a day, It became the territory of the Great Song Dynasty.

The Liao army that retreated from Yingzhou City saw that the Song army was strong, and immediately retreated to Shanhaiguan to wait for it, and at the same time quickly reported the news of the arrival of the army reinforcements to Yelu Jun, as for Yelu Renxian, although they also wanted to report the news, but Yingzhou is very far away from Gubeikou, and the Song army occupied the territory along the way, so they can't pass if they want to report the news.

For those Liao troops who retreated to Shanhaiguan, Zhao Yan did not rush to let people pursue, but moved the personnel and materials on the ship, and built a simple wharf on the coast of Yingzhou, which is a rare ice-free port, and there are only three along the entire northern coast, so Zhao Yan plans to build this place into a permanent port, of course, this is not something that can be completed in a day or two, so a simple wharf can only be built temporarily to facilitate the transportation of materials on the ship.

When the ship's supplies were transported and Yingzhou City became Zhao Yan's rear base, all the soldiers were also rested and could launch an attack on Liao at any time.

Speaking of which, although Yingzhou also belongs to the sixteen states of Yanyun, it is quite far away from Gubeikou, but it is closer to Zhongjing of Liao, of course, if it is only a distance, Zhao Yan can also choose to go directly to Gubeikou and attack Yelu Renxian with Yang Huaiyu's army before and after, but he did not do this, but chose to attack Zhongjing of the Liao army.

The reason why Zhao Yan chose to attack Zhongjing of Liao State is that Yingzhou is too far away from Gubeikou, and it is difficult for the army to maintain strong combat effectiveness under the long-distance journey, plus Yelu Renxian is a veteran in the army, in case he seizes the opportunity, it is likely that the gutter will capsize, and if Yelu Renxian gets the news in advance, he is likely to choose to withdraw the army, as far as Zhao Yan knows, Yelu Renxian mastered a passage over the Great Wall, and they entered Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures through this passage before, so if Yelu Renxian wanted to escape, It was difficult for Zhao Yan to leave him behind.

Zhao Yan came all the way to the Liao State, not just to rescue Yang Huaiyu's army, but to give the Liao State a heavy blow, at least so that they would not have the strength to counterattack the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun within a few years, and buy time for the Great Song Dynasty to control the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, so Yelu Renxian's army must stay, and even if possible, he also wants to kill or capture Yelu Renxian alive, which will deal a great blow to the Liao State.

It is precisely with the above plan that Zhao Yan's army immediately sent troops to Shanhaiguan after resting, as long as they take down here, Zhongjing of Liao will be exposed to their minions. (To be continued......)

PS: The old fish is about to collapse, and the power went out again this afternoon, but fortunately this chapter was written relatively quickly, only half an hour later than usual.