One after another, unfavorable news spread to Shangjing in Liao, the East Route Army was trapped, the West Route Army lost its troops, all the war horses were discarded, and Yi County was occupied by the Song Army.

Liao Emperor Yelu Hongji could no longer sit still, and led an army of 200,000 to Nanjing Road, and that morning, Yelu Hongji's army arrived outside Youzhou City.

The 200,000-strong army was overwhelming, the flags covered the sky and the sun, the trumpets were low, and the golden drums sounded in unison.

Nanjing Dao stayed behind Ye Lufeng and led a group of officials out of the city to welcome the arrival of the Son of Heaven.

Everyone knelt down in front of Yelu Hongji's war horse and saluted, and Yelu Hongji asked coldly, "Is there any progress in the situation?" ”

"Your Majesty, the situation is still the same, the humble post has sent someone to contact Xiao Han's slaves, or because the Song army blocked the Juma River, they can't retreat, and the Song army has implemented a strong wall and cleared the wilderness, all the trees have been cut down, and they can't get the supplement of siege weapons, and now they are helpless."

"Didn't you send them resources?"

Ye Lufeng looked puzzled: "Wechen planned to build a pontoon bridge, but it was burned by the Song warships in the middle of the construction, and Wechen threw fifty siege ladders in the Juma River, but they were all fished out by the Song warships. ”

Yelufeng was very helpless, he had thought of all the methods, but to no avail, the Song army blocked the entire Juma River, not a certain section, but in fact, there were only three sections of the river that could build pontoon bridges, and all three of them were gathered by the Song army.

Yelu Hongji snorted heavily, "What about the situation over there in Yizhou?" ”

"Yi County is still occupied by the Song army, and the Khitans in the city have been released, so Weichen is not in a hurry to attack the city, and will make a decision when His Majesty arrives."

"A bunch of useless rubbish!"

Yelu Hongji scolded fiercely, and then said to Yelu Feng: "You transfer 20,000 troops to Yelu Kunping, let him lead 50,000 troops to capture Yi County, I give him ten days, if you can't atone for your crimes, you will be beheaded together!" ”

"Wechen obeys!"

Yelu Hongji immediately ordered a large camp to be set up in the south of the city, and he entered the city with 3,000 soldiers and stationed in the palace in Nanjing.

Yelu Feng followed into the palace, and he said behind Yelu Hongji: "Weichen still has something to report." ”

"What's the matter?"

"The spies in the capital got a failed iron fire mine and sent it from Xijing."

When Yelu Hongji heard that he had obtained the Iron Fire Thunder, his spirits perked up, and he hurriedly asked, "Have you ever studied it?" ”

"Your Majesty, because there is only one, it is very precious, so Weichen asks Your Majesty to look at it and then study it."

Yelu Hongji was satisfied with his prudence, so he nodded and said, "Take it and show it to me." ”

In a moment, one of the guards picked up a wooden box, and carefully took out a swarthy black ball from the box, with a flat shape, and a wooden cup cap on it, which Yelufeng removed, revealing a cluster of fire ropes like braids.

Yelu Hongji looked back and forth for a long time and asked, "How much does this iron-shelled fire thunder weigh?" ”

"Weichen specially weighed, twenty-eight pounds."

Yelu Hongji frowned, "Isn't there information that the iron-shelled fire thunder of the Song Dynasty weighed fifty or sixty catties?" ”

"Your Majesty, the intelligence should be the latest iron fire thunder, the Song Dynasty has improved it, and the number of this iron fire thunder is high, it should be the earliest batch, the early iron fire thunder, has failed, so it must be transported back to Kunzhou to be destroyed, our spies got this one in the Kunzhou link of the canal, there is no other opportunity at all, and it is guarded extremely closely."

"It turned out to be just a failed iron-clad fire mine!"

Yelu Hongji frowned and said, "What's the point of this? ”

"Your Majesty, we don't understand, but the gunpowder craftsmen do, give it to them, they should be able to imitate the iron fire thunder, if Your Majesty wants a ready-made iron fire thunder, and when Yi County is captured, it should be able to see it."

"Will Yi County have?"

"There must be!"

Yelu Hongji nodded slowly, "Speaking of which, I'm looking forward to it." ”

.........

In Yixian City, Yang Wenguang accompanied Ma Wei to understand the situation in the city, according to Fan Ning's appointment, Ma Wei will be his deputy general, although both of them are generals, but Yang Wenguang is much older, and the official rank is higher than Ma Wei, naturally Yang Wenguang is the main general.

However, Ma Wei belongs to the border army system, has been stationed on the border of Hebei for 20 years, and knows the Liao army well, so Yang Wenguang is also more polite to him.

"This is the military ration depot, and at present we have 300,000 stone of military rations, according to our 15,000 people, an average of 20 stones per person, enough for us to eat for two years."

"How can there be so much food?"

Ma Wei was a little surprised: "As far as I know, Yizhou is a mountainous area, not a place where grain is produced. ”

Yang Wenguang smiled slightly, "This is the logistics center for the Liao army to attack Yanmen Pass in Dai County, and a large amount of grain and grass materials have been hoarded, including 40,000 pairs of bows and arrows alone, 400,000 arrows, and tens of thousands of sets of armor and spears, which is beyond my expectations." ”

"Is it possible to arm the militia in that case?"

Yang Wenguang smiled a little reluctantly, he muttered and said: "There are a total of 19,400 people in the city, of which 12,000 are old and weak, women and children, and the remaining 7,000 people, those over 40 years old are not considered, and then 2,000 people are removed, and there are only 5,000 young and strong men under the age of 40. ”

"Why?"

Ma Wei was surprised: "They are all Han people!" ”

"They are first of all the people of the Liao State, the Liao State has ruled here for more than a hundred years, and at least half of the people in it regard themselves as Liao people, although there are also many people who are loyal to the Great Song Dynasty, but I can't tell the difference, so the best way is not to use them, so as not to defect on the battlefield."

Speaking of this, Yang Wenguang let out a long sigh, "People's hearts are unpredictable! ”

Ma Wei was speechless, and after a moment he asked again, "What about the previous prisoners of war?" ”

"Let them go, let them go home, not from the city, let them go home, leave them behind is actually a burden, it's unrealistic to kill, then it's best to let them go."

"Humble duty understood."

At this moment, a sentry soldier hurriedly ran over and hurriedly reported: "Old General Qiqi, the Liao army is here!" ”

Yang Wenguang was suddenly in high spirits, and he finally looked forward to the arrival of the enemy army.

He immediately laughed and said, "Go!" Look at it. ”

..........

The war of counterattacking Yixian finally came, 50,000 Liao troops killed from the east, surrounded Yixian from the east, west, north and south, and the army set up a company camp, surrounded by camp fences, brightly lit, and sleepless all night.

The commander of the Liao army was Yelu Kunping, who led the army from the Tangshui River Valley to abandon his horse and flee back to Ulzhou, he happened to take 30,000 troops, and Yelu Hongji transferred him another 20,000 troops, so that his army reached 50,000 again, and the task of recapturing Yi County naturally fell on Yelu Kunping.

Yelu Kunping himself was not happy, this was not the errand he wanted, he wanted to go to Tokyo to fight the Jurchens, it is said that the Liao army had the advantage, but attacking the Song Dynasty army, Yelu Kunping did not have a little bottom in his heart, but it was a damn siege battle.

Yelu Kunping rode around the four large camps, where more than 2,000 craftsmen and thousands of soldiers were busy assembling large siege weapons, mainly ladders, nest carts, and trebuchets.

The 20,000 troops transferred from Youzhou this time were all infantry, 10,000 Han troops and 10,000 Bohai navy, and the 30,000 cavalry before him also became 30,000 infantry, which means that these 30,000 people will also be invested in siege warfare.

Yelu Kunping stopped his horse and looked at Yi County a few miles away, Yi County is a high terrain, first of all, the soldier charge is a kind of back attack, and the large siege machine is even more difficult to walk, and it has always been a taboo in siege warfare to attack high with low.

If he didn't have a time limit, he would use the siege method to trap the Song army in the city for two years, but it's a pity! The Son of Heaven only gave himself ten days, and Yelu Kunping felt that the burden was extremely heavy, so he let out a long sigh and turned around and went back to the big tent.........

Under the cover of night, several Liao army spies outside the city were observing the terrain and determining the direction of the attack, the black shadows were hurrying, and the soldiers were constantly running in the wilderness.

At this time, there were soldiers, 'Ah! With a miserable shout, several soldiers next to him hurriedly ran up, only to see the soldier stepping into a pit and a bamboo stick piercing his instep.

'Trapped! Several of the soldiers looked at each other, and they suddenly became cautious in their feet.

Another soldier cried out in pain, and saw him fall to the ground, taking off his boots, and by the moonlight everyone could clearly see something nailed to the soles of them, thistles.

..........

In the big tent, Yelu Kunping was looking at the map in a daze, the Liao State knew Yi County very well, and even had its structural map, but what was the use? The structural diagram will only tell them that Yixian is made of large stones, which is unusually strong, and the city gate is also wrapped with iron sheets of thick wood, and there are eight iron bolts alone, unless you use a large battering ram, don't want to break it open.

At this time, a general hurriedly walked in and said to Yelu Kunping: "General, the spies have important information!" ”

"Let him come in and report!"

After a short time, a spy leader walked into the big tent quickly, knelt down on one knee and reported: "General Qiyu, our spies who checked the terrain outside the city found thistles and horse traps, and some brothers stepped into the horse trap and were injured. ”

After speaking, he presented a wooden box, Yelu Kunping was shocked, and hurriedly took the wooden box to take a closer look.

Inside the wooden box was a four-needle tribulus terrestris, with an iron lump in the middle, surrounded by four thorns about an inch long, no matter how you threw it, there would be a thorn facing upwards, and the thorns were faintly blue, obviously quenched with poison.

"Did you find one?" Yelu Kunping asked.

"This one has been found so far, it was found at about 300 steps, and so is the trap pit!"

Yelu Kunping only felt that his head was big for a while, this thistle thorn would never be left from before, obviously it had just been deployed, and only one was found, it didn't mean that only one was deployed, it must have been scattered in large quantities, but they didn't find it.

"What should I do?"

Xiao Qiwang, the deputy general next to him, said in a low voice: "This matter will affect the morale of the army, it's better not to say anything, try to attack the city tomorrow, the problem is really serious, and it's not too late to find a way to deal with it!" ”

It can only be dealt with in this way, Yelu Kunping thought that the Son of Heaven only gave him ten days, where would he have time to slowly check the thistles and traps on the ground, at most increase the casualties, attack first, and then say, he must give a firm and clear attitude to the Son of Heaven, maybe the Son of Heaven will see his positive attitude towards the siege of the city, and let him go this time.

"No one is allowed to say anything about this!"

He explained to the surrounding generals, and then ordered: "Tomorrow 10,000 Han troops will attack Dongcheng!" ”

This is inevitable, the most bitter, tiring and dangerous thing, the Han army went first, then the Bohai people and other ethnic groups, then the Xi people, and finally the Khitan people, and ethnic discrimination has become a common practice in the Liao State.

.........

Early the next morning, the war drums rumbled, the door of the Dongdaying camp was opened, and 10,000 Han troops marched out of the barracks, the horns were low, and people kept shouting slogans.

After all, this is the territory of Liao, and all kinds of resources of Liaoguo are easy to call, and Nanjing Dao has a large number of strategic reserve materials, which gave great support to the Liao army attacking Yizhou this time.

The battle to capture Yizhou has finally begun.