Following the footprints left by the Khitans, Yang Kefu's department pursued it until it was dark, and did not catch up with Yelujing's ministers. Although he also knew in his heart that it was very difficult to catch up with the enemy army who had set off an hour and a half earlier than him and was running at the fastest speed in just over an hour, Yang Kefu just couldn't use this reason to face this situation in a normal mood.

It is said that Yang Kefu, as the deputy division commander of the "Flying Dragon Army", the brigadier general of the army, and the military attache of the fourth rank of the Later Zhou Dynasty, should not be so unbreathable. But the problem is that, on the one hand, Yang Kefu and Yan Shiyong, who fought hard in Yanjin City before, belong to the so-called "in-law line". As the righteous brother of Yang Xiaoyun, the wife of Zhang Weixin, the prime minister of the Later Zhou Dynasty, an important minister of the imperial court, and the main speaker of the "Qingyuan" brothers, Yang Kefu faced even more doubts and pressure from all sides than Yan Shiyong. After all, in terms of seniority, Yang Kefu is a generation older than Yan Shiyong, and if there are really any combat mistakes, he will naturally be more ruthless than Yan Shiyong, and his impact on Zhang Weixin's reputation and face will be greater than Zeng Zhilin. On the other hand, Yan Shiyong's more than 2,000 soldiers and horses dominated by the "security army" fought against the 15,000 elite of the Khitan army alone, and fought hard for half a day until his main force arrived. Therefore, unless he catches up with Yelu Jing, his impatience will not be calmed down.

It's just that things are easier said than done. First, it is not possible to catch up with a trail of dozens of miles, especially when the sky gets dark soon after the pursuit begins. Second, in order to slow down the pursuit of the Zhou army, Yelu Jing also continued to send small forces of four or five hundred people to turn back and turn back to block and harass the pursuing soldiers and horses of the Zhou army, so that the latter's speed could not be as fast as he wanted. Therefore, after chasing for a whole day and night, Yang Kefu's department still did not see any trace of Yelujing and others. Fortunately, all indications show that so far, the escape direction of Yelu Jing and the others is still Liaoyang City, not the deep mountains and old forests that Zhou Jun feared the most. Otherwise, I'm afraid that Yang Kefu really has no face to go back to Kaifeng to see his sister-in-law and brother-in-law.

In the seventh year of Jianlong (the twentieth year of the corresponding calendar), on the first day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, although he was very unwilling, in the face of his subordinates who had been pursuing him almost sleepless for a day and a night, as well as a war horse that had fallen to the ground due to fatigue, Yang Kede still had to order everyone to suspend their advance, camp on the spot and rest, and continue the pursuit at dawn the next day.

The sleepless pursuit for almost a day and a night made the generals extremely tired. Therefore, not long after the camp was set up, there were snoring sounds one after another from the tents. However, unlike his generals who fell asleep, although Yang Kefu, who was the commander of the pursuit cluster, was also very tired, he was tossing and turning while lying on the bed, unable to sleep for half a day, and his mind was full of thoughts that Yinzhou was only two hundred and fifty miles away from Liaoyang City, and if he couldn't catch up with Yelujing the next day, the latter would probably flee into Liaoyang City. At that time, the honor of capturing Yelujing alive and destroying the Khitan Kingdom is likely to fall to Zou Zhenyuan, the deputy commander of the Right Route Army, who has already forced Liaoyang City before, and the former officers and soldiers of the Right Route Army under his command, who are much higher than him in terms of troops, ranks, and official positions. If this is the case, not only will he lose face, but he is afraid that Brother Cheng, Brother Zeng, and even the entire Northern Expedition Middle Route Army will have to lose face, and he will never be able to raise his head in the Fourth Synthetic Infantry Division of the "Flying Dragon Army" in the future.

Yang Kefu, who was full of worries, didn't fall asleep in a daze until the end of the day, but not long after he fell asleep, he was woken up by a rush of footsteps outside the tent and the voice of the guard in charge of the guard who came forward to ask, and had to ask with some displeasure: "Who is making noise outside the tent?" ”

Without waiting for the guards outside the tent to answer, the person who came to break into the tent had already spoken: "Report to the deputy division commander, the scout team that went out to patrol caught two Khitans, who are said to be the Khitan soldiers who deserted. ”

As soon as he heard that he had caught two Khitan deserters, Yang Kefu immediately fell asleep, and while getting dressed, he asked, "Where are the Khitan deserters now?" ”

"The scout has escorted him back to the camp." Off-the-books replied.

"Quickly take it to the Chinese military tent, and I will interrogate him personally." Yang Kefu, who was already dressed, lifted the curtain and walked out, while instructing the battalion commander who came to report the news, and walking towards the Chinese military tent next to his sleeping tent.

There was not much time, and two men dressed in ordinary Khitan clothes and with some blood stains on their bodies were escorted into the Chinese military tent by the guards and scouts. Seeing that it was not the Khitan soldiers who came in but two ordinary Khitans, Yang Kefu couldn't help but be a little angry, thinking that the scout scout who was in charge of the front scout couldn't catch up with the defeated Khitan soldiers, so he arrested two Khitan people in a hurry to make up the numbers. However, although he was unhappy in his heart, before he got the exact evidence, Yang Kefu, who has always been rigorous, would not attack on the spot, accuse and punish his subordinates. Yes, he slightly suppressed the anger in his heart, and asked the two Khitan people kneeling in front of him in a deep voice: "What is your name?" What is the purpose of appearing around our army camp at night? ”

The two Khitan deserters did not answer when they heard this, but raised their heads cautiously, and looked at the scout who was escorting them into the tent standing by with some blankness. The scout was stunned for a moment when he saw this, and then reacted, realizing that the two Khitan deserters kneeling on the ground could not understand the meaning of the Chinese spoken by his deputy division commander at all, and hurriedly translated Yang Kefu's question into Khitan and spoke it to the two of them again, and translated the answers of the two into Chinese. One of them was raising pigs for Jerez, and the other was cooking for Jerez. I only sneaked out of the camp of the Khitan army last night, and I was bumping into the lowly scout team in a panic. ”

"Yelu Jing's cook and subordinates?" After listening to the report of the expansion of the scout, he was still doubting whether he was in the spirit of Yang Ke's re-enthronement of "catching good and risking merit", pointed to the scout, and urged: "Ask them, where are Yelujing and the defeated Khitan army now?" ”

When the scout heard this, he hurriedly asked the two deserted Khitan servants in Khitan, but after receiving the answer, he did not immediately translate for Yang Kefu, but looked surprised, and then his expression changed, and he asked in Khitan with a fierce voice. It wasn't until the two Khitan slaves pointed to the sky and swore a curse to ensure that what they said was true, that they turned their heads and said with a little hesitation to Yang Kefu, who was already waiting a little impatiently because he couldn't understand the Khitan language and couldn't understand what the two Khitan fugitive slaves said in front of him at the first time: "Report to the deputy division commander, they said that Yelujing is dead." Now, the remaining Khitans have become a mess because of this sudden change, and I believe that they will not leave the camp outside the city of Lejiao in Shenzhou, which is thirty miles away from our army's camp, in a short time. ”

"Jerejing is dead!" Yang Kefu was also surprised when he heard this, and hurriedly asked, "How did he die?" ”

"According to these two Khitan fugitive slaves, Yelu Jing was killed by the two of them, as well as six people, including the close servant brother, Hua Ge, Brother Huaren, and Jiuren Da Liege." Again, the scout threw out an unbelievable answer.

The answer given by the scouts, while astonishing, is true. Speaking of which, Yelujing's death was also his own self-inflicted and karmic retribution. As the saying goes, "Heaven does evil, it is still violated; and thou shalt not live. "He was a tyrannical and drunken tyrant, and in the past, out of anger or anger, he ordered murder and even did it himself. Yesterday evening, because Xin Gu, Tun Nu and others were a little slow to serve dinner, they were severely reprimanded by Yelu Jing, who was already drunk. Even more severely, the latter also claimed that they would be dismembered the next day. Even though he was drunk, it is likely that he woke up the next day and had forgotten what he had said the night before. But for Xin Gu, Tunnu and others, these words were like a thunderbolt from the sky, a life-urging charm, and several people immediately looked like ashes and completely despaired. After all, there were countless servants and slaves who had been killed by Yelujing's order in the past, and even if he forgot what he had said the night before the next day, a few people could escape, and who could guarantee that they would be able to escape the next time. Despair for the future, coupled with the fact that almost all of their relatives or friends had died at the hands of Yelujing, made the two sides bitter enemies. Yes, the six decided to strike first and fight to the death.

So, after some deliberation, four of them entered the tent under the pretext of delivering dinner, and when Yelujing was so drunk that he lost the ability to resist, they rushed up to him and hacked him to death with the sharp blades he had smuggled into the tent. The other two stole a few good horses in case they could escape.

The killing of kings and stealing horses went very smoothly, but just as Xin Gu, Xiao Ge, Hua Ge and others were leading the stolen horses and planning to sneak out of the Khitan army's camp outside the city of Lejiao in Shenzhou, an accident occurred. They were first questioned by the patrol guards because of their suspicious behavior, and then they were alerted by the incorrect answers, and they could not get out for a while. Immediately afterwards, the news of the murder of the Son of Heaven came out of the camp, which made the patrol guards even more suspicious of them. As a result, one side wants to leave, but the other side does not allow it, and conflicts between the two sides are inevitable.

Six chamberlains and servants played against thirty elites of the leather room palace tent army, which was originally a confrontation without any suspense. But as soon as they came, the place where the six of them were found was already on the edge of the Khitan army camp, and there were no other soldiers and horses to stop them except for the patrol guards in front of them. Second, the camp was in chaos because of the murder of Yelujing, and the sound of trumpets and drums from all sides came and went, which also made the patrol guards who intercepted them uneasy and unable to fully concentrate on the battle in front of them. After paying the tragic price of the killing of Little Brother, Hua Ge, and Hua Ge, and the capture of Lie Ge, Tun Nu and Xin Gu relied on the good horses of the BMW that stepped down, or got rid of the pursuing soldiers, fled north, and were finally captured by the scouts of the Zhou army.

Although he did not want to believe that the dignified Khitan Emperor did not die in battle, but died at the hands of a few lowly and lowly slaves, thus depriving himself of the opportunity to establish the greatest credit for the Northern Expedition. Seeing that the two Khitan slaves kneeling on the ground were bluffed by the scout, there was only fear on their faces, but there was no trace of the weak look of the liar when he was pressed into questioning, even if Yang Kefu was unwilling, he had already believed what they said, and at the same time, a sense of disappointment also arose. However, disappointment to disappointment, Yang Kefu did not forget his duties and tasks because Yelujing was probably dead. In his opinion, Yelu Jing is dead, and it seems that he has not appointed an heir during his lifetime, and with the character of the Khitans, he will definitely quarrel and conflict over that dragon chair. And until the heir problem is resolved, it is thought that they will not leave the existing camp, which is a great opportunity to intercept and annihilate it.

So, Yang Kefu, who was originally a little regretful because Yelujing was probably dead, cheered up again. On the one hand, he ordered people to take the two Khitan fugitive slaves down to take care of them, and then dispose of them after seeing the two main generals, Zeng and Cheng; On the one hand, he ordered the whole army to immediately open and rush to the city of Lejiao in Shenzhou as quickly as possible, and no matter what, he could not let the defeated Khitan army run away. At the same time, Yang Kefu also sent a fast horse to send the relevant news to his boss Cheng Fei, who was still resting in Yanjin City, Yinzhou, and reported this important situation to Zeng Zhilin, the chief general of the Middle Route Army, the Northern Expedition Army, and even his brother-in-law Zhang Weixin and Wang Kunjun, the king of Song, in Kaifeng City.