Although Yelu Kunping was negligent for a while, allowing the Song army to take advantage of the loophole, he was not hot-headed, and let all 30,000 troops go to pursue the Song army, and he divided his troops into two routes, ordering 15,000 cavalry to go south to meet the quarrying Liao army, and the other 15,000 cavalry did not move.

The baggage and the camp were burned down, and he had no idea of paving the way, and he could directly lead the army to bypass the east of Baosai City and go to Hejian Province.

An hour later, news came from the south, the quarrying army was surrounded by the Song army, 3,000 people were almost wiped out, when the Liao cavalry rushed away, only more than 100 soldiers left in the 3,000 people broke through, and the rest of the soldiers surrendered to the Song army except for more than 1,000 killed in battle.

Yelu Kunping had no choice but to lead the army to retreat northward, and he originally wanted to take the rest of the army directly around Baosai City and go to Hejian Province, but he was strongly opposed by the generals.

The grain and grass were burned, everyone only had two days of dry food, which was not enough to eat, and there was no forage for the war horses, and more importantly, they had to cross the two big rivers of Shashui and Hutuo River, and the bridges were demolished by the Song army, how did they cross the river?

Yelu Kunping also figured this out, they really had no other way but to withdraw to Liao.

That night, 30,000 cavalry and 9,000 infantry rested in Manshui County, a small county about 50 miles from the border, and all the people in the city had moved south, leaving only a few hundred empty houses, and the slightest things of value were taken away, and the food was even more invisible, and the beams of the houses were also removed, leaving only a ruined wall.

Yelu Kunping did not dare to cross the border at night, he was afraid that the Song army would have an ambush, so he sent more than 100 spies north to investigate the situation, the army was tired and hungry, after entering the city, eat a little dry food, and feed the horses a little bean cake that they carried with them, and the soldiers fell asleep.

At the fifth watch, Yelu Kunping was suddenly awakened by a commotion, he stood up and asked urgently, "What happened?" ”

After a while, a soldier rushed to report, "General Qiyu, there is water flooding into the city." ”

Yelu Kunping was suddenly startled and asked, "To what extent?" ”

"To the knees or so!"

At this time, their own soldiers also cried out, and saw that the water had already flooded, and all the sheepskins they had laid on the ground were covered by water.

Yelu Kunping was terrified in his heart, and ordered repeatedly: "Pack up and go north immediately!" ”

30,000 cavalry mounted their horses one after another, and the infantry were even more panicked, rushing out of the city gate first, and there was already an ocean outside the city. ”

"How deep is the water to the north?"

"Probably the waist of the Qi people is still rising, and the Song army dug a deep ditch on the side of Longwei Town, which has been flooded by the river, and many of our brothers have fallen into the ditch and disappeared over there, I don't know how deep the ditch is?"

Yelu Kunping knew very well the terrain on the other side of the passage, which was low-lying, and it would definitely not be possible to get through it after being flooded, not to mention digging a ditch.

Walking west is a mountainous area, even if people can go over the mountains, but what about horses, you can't abandon all 30,000 horses, and if you go east, you can go to Hejian Province, but how to cross a few big rivers?

But the rising water did not wait for him to make a decision, and in the blink of an eye, it was flooded to his thighs, and the soldiers shouted in fear.

Yelu Kunping had no choice but to grit his teeth and order: "Evacuate to the west!" ”

30,000 cavalry and 9,000 infantry fled desperately and rushed in the direction of Dingzhou.......

A few months later, the water slowly receded, but between Song and Liao, a long and narrow lake with a width of seven miles and a length of more than 30 li was permanently formed, and the Song army called this lake a dragon's tail.

.........

Xiao Hannu, the commander of the Liao army, led 50,000 East Route Army, crossed Baigou from Bazhou, went all the way south, and went straight to Hejian Mansion.

Like Baozhou in the west, Hejian Mansion is also a fortified wilderness, with all the houses destroyed, trees cut down, and not a single human population in sight for more than 200 miles.

Although the trees in the south may not all be cut down, the people have all moved south without exception, and there are Hutuo and Yellow River defenses, plus the Song army's powerful naval army, it is believed that it is difficult for the Liao army to cross this defensive line.

The Hutuo River originates in the Taihang Mountains, flows from west to east through Zhendingfu, Dingzhou, Qizhou, and Shenzhou, turns north in Raoyang, Shenzhou, passes through Hejian Fu, Mozhou, Xiongzhou, and Bazhou to the north, and finally flows into the Juma River, showing a huge arc, which makes it impossible for the Liao Army's Western Route Army to cross the Hutuo River to Hejian Fu.

In order to make the Hutuo River a natural defense line to block the Liao army's southward movement, and also become the main line of transportation, last winter, Fanning asked the imperial court to mobilize 500,000 people, using an abandoned Xiaoliu River, to dig an artificial canal up to 50 miles long, this artificial canal was dug for three and a half months, and it was completed only ten days ago, which is of great strategic significance.

The reason for its strategic significance is that this artificial canal connects the Yellow River with the Hutuo River, which not only allows the Song army's northward Yellow River fleet to enter the Hutuo River through it, but also blocks the Liao cavalry from moving south.

The only thing to worry about is winter, in winter the river freezes, and the Hutuo River and the Yellow River lose their defensive role, but from the Hutuo River to Baigou are three hundred miles apart, and the cavalry needs supplies along the way, so in history, whether the Khitans or the Jurchens go south, they need a big city as a logistics hub.

This is why the Liao army first captured Baosai City, with Baosai City as a logistical supply, and then whether it is to attack Hejian City or continue to go south, it will be much more calm.

Of course, Yelu Hongji's strategy was to seize Hejian Province and use Hejian Province as a logistics center for the Liao army to move south.

If according to the size of the county, Hejian County is slightly inferior to Zhending County, but when it comes to population size, it is the second largest county in Hebei Road after Daming County, with a population of more than 300,000, the circumference of the county seat is more than 40 miles, the city wall is as high as three zhang, tall and strong, the city wall is wide, the city gate is thick, and it is known as the first strong city in the north of Hebei.

At present, there are 30,000 garrisons and 50,000 militia in Hejian County, and it is also the location of the Hebei Xuanfu Administration, the Liao Army and the Hebei Logistics Military Battalion.

The Liao army not only wanted to capture the thief and capture the king first and capture Fanning, but also the county town of Hejian had 800,000 stone of grain alone, countless military assets and armor, as well as hundreds of thousands of troops and 10 million taels of silver.

On this morning, Fanning stood at the head of the city in the far north of the Liao military camp, three days ago, the Liao army also carried out a tentative attack on Hejian City, after losing more than 3,000 people, it stopped the attack, the Song army did not use iron fire and thunder in the battle, but burned more than 200 siege ladders with fierce oil, forcing the Liao army to withdraw its troops.

In the past three days, the Liao army has not launched an offensive against the Song army, but Fanning knows very well that the other party is waiting for news from the Baozhou side.

Thinking of Baozhou, a sneer appeared at the corner of Fanning's mouth, the Liao army on the Baozhou side couldn't come, he wanted to see, how did this East Route Army withdraw?

The Great Song naval army had already blockaded Baigou, the pontoon bridge had been burned, and the logistical supply had been cut off, and unless they could capture a fortified city and get supplies, they would only be able to hold it for two months at most.

The Liao army still used traditional combat methods to deal with the Song army, but their opponent was Fan Ning, who discarded the traditional combat methods, Fanning made full use of the powerful naval advantages of Song City, and used the method of fortifying the walls and clearing the wilderness to make the Liao army unable to obtain supplies in the Song Dynasty, which was the Liao army's southern invasion gradually evolved into a battle of trapped beasts.

The Liao army was not aware of this at this time, they were facing the Hutuo River in the west, the Yellow River and the artificial Hutuo River in the south, the Yellow River in the east, and Baigou in the north, they were actually surrounded by a land of about 5,000 square kilometers, and only the four fortified cities of Hejian County, Renqiu County, Baxian County and Qingshui County had population and food, but the Song army garrisoned 100,000 people, and there were 15,000 sailors and 800 Qianshi warships controlling several important rivers.

At this time, Yang Wenguang walked quickly to Fan Ning's side and said, "I have a bold idea for the humble position, please refer to Xiao Fan Xianggong." ”

"Old general, please speak!"

Yang Wenguang said: "At present, there are only 3,000 garrisons in Yi County, and I suggest that I send surprise troops to capture Yi County and completely disrupt the deployment of the Liao State." ”

The reason why Yang Wenguang proposed this plan was because they received a message from Yang Gui in the morning, and the main forces of the Liao army were deployed on the front line of Pingzhou to deal with the threat of the Great Song Dynasty naval army, while the Yixian garrison in the west was only 3,000 people, and it was mainly the Han army.

Fan Ning smiled slightly: "The capture of Yi County will inevitably lead to a large-scale counterattack by the Liao State, we have to consider whether we can hold on?" ”

Yang Wenguang hurriedly said: "Yi County is located in the mountainous area, the county itself is built on a high place, built with huge stones, extremely strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, the vast majority of the people in the county are Han people, living in poverty, as long as we distribute the wealth and grain of the Liao nobles to them, I believe they will support the Song army, once we occupy Yi County, we can transport grain to Yi County through Yi Shui, as long as we keep enough grain for one year, I believe that Liao will not be able to recover Yizhou." ”

Yang Wenguang saw that Fan Ning was a little moved, and immediately said: "As long as the prime minister agrees, I am willing to lead my 10,000 troops north to capture Yi County." ”

Fan Ning pondered for a moment, since the Liao army in Baozhou could not come, it would be enough for his 20,000 troops to defend the city, and if he could take advantage of the situation to win Yi County, it would be a good move.

Of course, there is also a lot of risk in this, and if the 10,000 army will be wiped out, Fanning weighed it for a long time and finally nodded.

"Alright! I can accept your proposal. ”

After a pause, Fan Ning smiled slightly: "I suggest that you bring more than a dozen door-making craftsmen to Yizhou together." ”