The remnants of the Khitan army died down temporarily, but Yang Kefu did not dare to take it lightly. Because as night falls, the defects of one's own forces, which are unable to effectively block the banks of the river with a total length of more than thirty miles, will be completely exposed. After all, during the day, you can use the advantages of binoculars and artillery fire to assist the cavalry searching along the river, ensuring that the enemy will not be able to find a suitable place to cross the river in a solid way, let alone give the enemy the opportunity to build boats or rafts to force the crossing. But once nightfall, unless the enemy is stupid enough to act directly with torches, it is completely foolish to find out the movement of the enemy troops miles away with the crescent moon and the stars in the sky. Even though they could not light a torch at night, it was not an easy task for the Khitans. But if the Khitans risk their lives to find a crossing point in the dark night, or build a large number of rafts and attack from all sides to force the crossing, they will miss the opportunity to wipe out the remnants of the Khitan court. Therefore, after the remnants of the Khitan army collected their troops and returned to the camp, Yang Kefu not only did not let his subordinates rest, but ordered all departments to step up inspections and never let go of any movement.

Seeing the herald climb down the temporary watchtower to convey his orders, Yang Kefu continued to observe the movements of the remnants of the Khitan army with a telescope with the last bit of afterglow of the sunset, and asked Han Yuxuan, the chief of staff of the divisional cavalry regiment standing behind him, without looking back: "Is there a return for exploring horses in the north and south?" How far are the two battalions that are following the remnants of the Khitan army in the north from our side? Has the south been in contact with the front army of the Right Army? ”

Hearing this, Han Yuxuan hurriedly sorted out the various news he had just received in his mind as quickly as possible, and replied: "The two battalions in the north have been speeding up all the way after defeating the resistance of the remnants of the two thousand Khitan troops, and it is estimated that they will be able to join the main force in half an hour, at most, that is, at the beginning of the hour. The horse scouts who went to the direction of Liaoyang City to liaise with the forward troops of the Right Route Army only set off at the same time, and even if they ran wildly all the way regardless of horsepower, it would take more than an hour to reach the road of more than 100 miles. After receiving the news, the front army of the Central Route Army will inevitably spend a certain amount of time to dispatch troops and horses and prepare supplies. In addition, they will definitely not risk running their horses to death like our horse scouts, so even if they are a qiē shun lì, I am afraid that they will not arrive until the end of the time and the beginning of the sea at the earliest. Of course, this is based on the premise that the front army of the Central Route Army has arrived under the city of Liaoyang. If their advance is slow, and our horse scouts fail to meet them outside Liaoyang City, then I'm afraid"

Although Han Yuxuan didn't finish his words, Yang Kefu understood what he meant very clearly. If their horse scouts and cavalry failed to find the front of the Central Route Army outside Liaoyang City, then the disadvantage of their own insufficient forces could not be compensated for in a short time - even with the addition of the two battalions from the north, their own forces would not be able to completely block the riverbank with a total length of more than 30 miles. In that case, if something slips up, the remnants of the Khitan army that is blocked on the other side of the river are likely to use the cover of darkness to find a suitable place to wade across the river, or build a sufficient number of rafts to escape. At that time, no matter whether the remnants of the Khitan army dispersed or ran into Liaoyang City, they would lose the opportunity to capture or kill the remnants of the Khitan court - the other party fled into the deep mountains and old forests, and it was impossible to find this force in his own hands; The other party ran into Liaoyang City, even if he chased after him, it was impossible to capture such a strong city with the five battalions of cavalry under his command. In the end, it is still necessary to rely on the help of the right army and the front army to solve the problem. Although Zou Zhenyuan, the commander of the former army, will not take all the credit, whether it is calculated by number or firepower, the main force of the siege will be the front army of the right army, and the reward for meritorious deeds is also that the front army of the right army of the right army is in front of the "meat", and the most he is at most "drink some soup". And this is still the case that the main force of the right army has not arrived, if the main force of the right army arrives in time, I am afraid that I will not have the opportunity to participate in the siege. At that time, the most I can do is stand on the sidelines and cheer, and I can't even drink some soup. In front of this small plain called Shili River, although the remnants of the Khitan army also need the support of the front army of the Right Army, but after all, they are fighting at home, and the soldiers and horses of the Right Army who come to support are considered guest troops, and the command is still in their own hands, and they will still rank first on the merit list.

Yang Kefu attaches so much importance to military merit, which does not mean that he is a person who is greedy for merit or loves vanity. The reason why he cares so much about the merits of the encirclement and annihilation of the remnants of the Khitan army this time is, on the one hand, burdened by the background of the so-called "in-laws", and hopes that through his own efforts, he will prove his strength, lest others always think that he became the deputy division commander by virtue of his sister-in-law's nepotism, and at the same time, he also does not want to embarrass his sister-in-law, especially his brother-in-law Zhang Weixin; On the other hand, it was also out of his own judgment of the current situation, hoping that before the Song King sat on the dragon chair, he would make more meritorious deeds, and when the time came, he would not fall behind in the so-called "in-law line" -- although the "Qingyuan" brothers did not express this intention in public, but the fact that the Song King took the last step and ascended to the Ninth Five-Year Plan was something that the officials and generals of the Beiping Army had long recognized. Moreover, as Zhang Weixin's brother-in-law, Yang Kefu also knows very well that his brother-in-law and the Song Wang line of the other "Qingyuan" brothers have been secretly operating this matter, and there is not much time left for him to establish meritorious deeds.

Therefore, before Han Yuxuan's voice fell, Yang Kefu had already issued a new order: "Then send a few more teams of scouts to ride south in the direction of Liaoyang City, and if you encounter the support soldiers and horses of the right army, urge them to speed up the march." If they don't meet them, disperse and search, be sure to find the right army, and let them know the situation on our side so that they can respond in time. In this way, even if Ye Luxian and those Khitan Wenchen generals are lucky enough to escape from our encirclement, they will not be able to escape the pursuit of the Right Route Army. In addition, the artillery was ordered to harass and shoot at the remnants of the Khitan army who were encamped for two to three hours, and they must not be allowed to rest and recuperate comfortably, let alone cut down trees and build rafts in a down-to-earth manner. ”

"Yes, the last general will arrange it." Han Yuxuan saluted and received the order, turned around and prepared to go down to the temporary watchtower to arrange.

At this time, Yang Kefu remembered one more thing, and hurriedly stopped him and asked: "Have the sappers who were responsible for lurking near the wooden bridge in the north and risking detonating explosives to blow up the bridge safely?" ”

"The deputy division commander can rest assured that those sappers were well concealed at that time, and they were the explosives that were detonated only after all the remnants of the Khitan soldiers crossed the bridge, and when the enemy found them, they had already withdrawn to a safe distance, and finally came back unharmed." Han Yuxuan replied confidently.

"It's good that they're all back." Yang Kefu nodded with satisfaction, "You go and write down their names and titles, and after the war is over, the deputy division commander will ask for credit for them." ”

"Yes." Han Yuxuan saluted again, and after confirming that the deputy division commander had no other orders, he climbed down the temporary watchtower to give orders.

After receiving the order to harass the enemy, Zhang Bao, deputy battalion commander of the artillery battalion of the cavalry regiment of the 4th Composite Infantry Division, who was responsible for commanding the entire pursuit cluster artillery, did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly divided his six 100mm mortars from the artillery battalion of the cavalry regiment, six 82mm mortars from two cavalry battalions, and 18 60mm mortars into six small artillery groups, and took turns to harass fire at the woods that were believed to be the largest number of remnants of the Khitan army.

Although the density of this harassing shot is very small, a pillar of incense will shoot seven or eight shots at most. However, considering that such harassment fire would take two or three hours, and that it would take more than 100 to 200 shells, it would be a small number for a pursuing group that pursued speed and did not carry a large number of shells. In addition, the purpose of harassing shooting is to harass the enemy and not to pursue the lethal effect excessively, so when choosing the type of ammunition, Zhang Bao ordered to use more incendiary bombs and less explosive bombs, so as not to run out of explosive bombs when the enemy relaunches the attack. After all, the purpose of the incendiary bomb itself is to attack the enemy camp, and now the remnants of the Khitan army are camped in the woods, and the harassment and shooting with incendiary bombs are just the best use. Moreover, since the incendiary bombs were equipped with the "Flying Dragon Army", they have not been used in battle, and they have only fired a few rounds during exercises in the past, and their real power against the enemy's barracks has never been seen before by themselves and even the entire "Flying Dragon Army".

Although Zhang Bao only decided to use incendiary bombs for harassment shooting mainly out of the consideration of saving explosive shells, sharing them as much as possible, and observing the actual combat use. But the actual effect greatly exceeded his expectations. On the one hand, it has been hot and rainless in recent days, and except for places near the river bank, the trees and weeds in the rest of the place are actually in a dry and flammable state. On the other hand, shortly after the harassing shooting began, a force 5 or 6 southeast wind blew in the area and lasted for most of the night. As a result, as the first wave of incendiary bombs exploded, the surrounding trees and weeds were quickly ignited, and then the fire took advantage of the wind to burn bigger and bigger, and in the blink of an eye, it was already connected into pieces.

Seeing that only three or four incendiary bombs caused a raging fire, Zhang Bao immediately realized the beauty of using incendiary bombs in the current climate and terrain conditions. So, while ordering the change from harassing shooting to substantive shelling, he personally ran to report his new tactics to Yang Kefu, the deputy division commander who was still observing from the watchtower.

Yang Kefu on the watchtower observed the situation more clearly and comprehensively than Zhang Bao on the ground, and naturally captured the fighters in it. Therefore, the latter's request to change tactics and carry out a fire attack was immediately approved--because the Shili River was surrounded by water on all sides, the Zhou army did not have to worry about the fire burning on their heads.

As a result, in less than half a column of incense, the six small artillery groups equipped with 100mm and 82mm mortars of incendiary shells poured all the nearly 100 incendiary shells they carried onto the heads of the Khitan remnants. Not only were the few woods that were considered to be the most hidden enemy forces being "taken care of", but even the small trees that were small and could not hide many people were not spared.

The fire is fueled by the wind and the wind, and the dry woodland without rain for many days, coupled with the incendiary bombs of the "Flying Dragon Army" using yellow phosphorus as the main incendiary agent, can be used wherever and wherever they are, and the conventional extinguishing methods cannot be extinguished at all. Therefore, the fire point quickly changed from a point to a line, from a line to a surface, and finally connected into a piece, and the woods, grasslands, and the Khitan remnant camp hiding in it were almost all ignited. The sound of the wind, the sound of fire, and the yellow phosphorus on his body could not be extinguished no matter how he slapped or watered, and he could only watch the flames burn his flesh layer by layer, until the desperate shouts of the Khitan soldiers who exposed their bones, begging their companions to stab themselves were endless.

Such a tragic scene not only stunned the soldiers of the Zhou army who were watching the battle across the river, but even Zhang Bao, who used incendiary bombs to conduct harassing shots, and Yang Kefu, who approved his promotion, were full of shock and stunned, they really did not expect that dozens of small incendiary bombs would cause such severe damage. Although the Zhou generals all hope to annihilate the remnants of the Khitan army in front of them here and achieve their own merits. The use of such harsh means to cause the enemy to die in extreme pain was something that the vast majority of Zhou generals, including Yang Kefu and Zhang Bao, commanders at all levels, were unwilling to see or take. Therefore, when the fire spread rapidly, hundreds of "fire men" wailed, screamed and ran wildly, and finally were either shot to death by friendly soldiers, or committed suicide by throwing themselves into the river, or even burned alive, even Yang Kefu, who had the thickest nerves and was accustomed to seeing blood and life and death, couldn't stand it, so he had to put down the binoculars in his hand, turn around and leave the temporary watchtower, and go back to his Chinese military tent to rest, so as to be out of sight.

As for Zhang Bao, deputy commander of the artillery battalion, who personally carried out the incendiary bomb attack, regretted that he had made a "bad idea" and secretly vowed not to take the initiative to use incendiary bombs in the future unless ordered by the superiors, he began to make up for his mistakes with practical actions -- he ordered his artillery groups to switch to explosive shells, and carried out three rounds of covering fire in several areas where the Khitan soldiers were relatively dense and the fire was relatively fierce. First, use the shock wave of the shell explosion to weaken the fire; Second, it is also hoped that the Khitan soldiers who are on fire will be able to die happily and avoid the torment of the fire.