Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was March of the second year of Pingxia, and the atmosphere of war in the Battle of Song and Liao became stronger and stronger.

Skirmishes have been one after another, but most of them are skirmishes of hundreds of people, but one fierce battle at Yanmen Pass exceeded 10,000 people.

This aroused the strong attention of the imperial court, and Fanning also came to Taiyuan Mansion for this purpose.

Before the Chinese New Year, Taiyuan Prefecture began to mobilize, and after the Chinese New Year, the people of Taiyuan Mansion retreated southward, and the imperial court ordered the government offices in southern Jin to hand over the official fields to immigrants for free rent.

There was also a small number of people who did not want to move south, so they all moved into Taiyuan City, bringing the number of Taiyuan City to nearly 500,000.

Taiyuan city is tall and wide, the circumference is nearly 50 miles, it is the second largest city in the west of Taihang Mountain after Jingzhao City, the city wall is very thick, the city is as high as four zhang, there is a wide moat around, and Fenshui is connected as a whole.

Fan Ning inspected the city in the company of a group of generals, the defense envoy of Taiyuan City is the capital of Yang Wenguang, he has been stationed in the Hetao, did not participate in the battle to destroy the Western Xia, his heart is very aggrieved, looking for Fan Ning several times, and finally got his wish, Fan Ning as a privy envoy named him as the Taiyuan four walls defense envoy, led 50,000 troops to strictly defend Taiyuan City.

Of course, Yang Wenguang has rich experience in defending the city, his prestige in the army is very high, and the morale of the army under him is high, which is the fundamental reason why Fan Ning ordered him to defend Taiyuan City.

"We got the news that the Liao army in Datong Mansion has reached 150,000, which shows that our expectations are not wrong, the Liao army has abandoned the traditional route of Hebei and is ready to attack the Great Song Dynasty from the east of the river, then Taiyuan City is a hurdle that they can't bypass, the Liao army must seize Taiyuan City, let Taiyuan City become a springboard for them to go south, hold Taiyuan City to the death, and buy time for the Song army on the eastern front, which is the key to defeating the Liao army this time, everyone, the court is paying attention to you, and the people of the world are paying attention to you."

All the generals bowed down together, "Defend Taiyuan, never let a thief enter the city!" ”

"Excellent! Let's get busy! General Yang and I will discuss the military situation again. ”

Everyone left, Fan Ning walked to the city wall, held the battlements, looked at the sparkling Fenshui in the distance, and said to Yang Wenguang: "There will be a naval army on Fenshui to assist you from the periphery, at least it will not make you feel that you are fighting the enemy alone." ”

Yang Wenguang agreed with Fanning's words, "It's true, having your own army outside is very good for boosting morale." ”

"What's missing?" Fanning asked with a smile.

Yang Wenguang pondered for a moment, "I think the food is still not enough, I hope to send another 300,000 stones, and I still need some more oil and iron fire thunder." ”

Fan Ning nodded and smiled: "Taiyuan water transportation is very convenient, I will arrange it, and a fleet will send it in a few days." ”

The fleet sailed into the moat through Fenshui, and then directly entered the city through the water gate, which was indeed very convenient in transportation.

Fan Ning thought for a while and said: "When the food and materials enter the city, some of the defenders of Yanmen Pass can also withdraw to Taiyuan." ”

"Why"

Fan Ning smiled slightly, "The Liao army is moving south, whether to attack Yanmen Pass or not is meaningless to the Liao army, the Liao army will inevitably withdraw from Yanmen Pass and go to Youzhou, but the Liao State wants to prevent us from attacking Youzhou by water." ”

Yang Wenguang smiled dumbly, listening to Xiao Fan Xianggong's meaning, he wanted to insert a nail in Youzhou again.

Fan Ning, accompanied by Yang Wenguang, then inspected the city defense and the situation in Taiyuan.

At the head of the city, the craftsmen are busy installing heavy trebuchets and ballistas that have just been successfully developed last year, not only that, but also on the inside of the four city walls in the east, west, north and south, a super trebuchet has been built, this super trebuchet is as high as five zhang, and the throwing rod is up to 20 zhang, using the power of the steam engine to roll the winch, and the hundred-pound boulder can be shot two miles away at a time.

This super trebuchet was put into the battlefield for the first time, and the deterrent power was great, and what is more significant is that this was the first time that the steam engine was used directly in the military, and at most it was used to transport goods by steam ship before.

The atmosphere in the city was also tense, but it was orderly, the shops were still open as usual, the streets were constantly crowded with pedestrians, and groups of soldiers maintaining order could be seen everywhere on the streets.

Fan Ning suddenly stopped his war horse and asked, "Have you ever searched for Liao Guo's fine work in the city?"

Yang Wenguang nodded, "We have been searching, we mobilized the people to report, searched more than 20 Khitans and Liaoguo Han people to open shops, three of them are suspected of spies, have been arrested and closed shops, and other shops that are not suspected for the time being are also under key surveillance, in addition, the whole city has strictly prohibited folk pigeon letters and eagle letters, with special observation posts, as long as there are pigeons in the city, there will be soldiers to search for them immediately, even if there are spies in the city, it is also to ensure that the information cannot be sent." ”

Yang Wenguang's thoroughness made Fan Ning deeply pleased, he pointed at the Water City Gate with a whip, and said with a smile: "The Water Gate is also a hidden danger, has the old general considered how to prevent it?"

Yang Wenguang smiled slightly: "In addition to the two layers of iron fences inside and outside, I plan to use boulders to seal the water city gate, so that it will be a hundred and there will be no worries." ”

Fan Ning originally wanted to say that he could use fire oil to defend the water gate, but Yang Wenguang proposed to seal the water gate with a boulder, which seemed to be more effective than fire oil prevention, so he didn't mention it.

After inspecting the city, Fan Ning repeatedly instructed Yang Wenguang to say: "The lessons of Western Xia must be learned, the city has been besieged for a long time, you must be careful of the epidemic, I will send another thousand military doctors and a large number of medicinal materials to Taiyuan City, but this is not enough, we must develop a lot of good hygiene habits, the carcasses of livestock should be burned and isolated in time, the latrines should be cleaned regularly with quicklime, and the patients with diarrhea and vomiting should pay attention to isolation, and the people of the whole city should be mobilized to participate in prevention, this is a major event, and it cannot be taken lightly." ”

"Obey the order!"

........

At the same time that Fan Ning was inspecting Taiyuan, the Liao Emperor Yelu Hongji was also inspecting the naval base in the Yalu River, and the 120 5,000-stone warships they exchanged for pig iron were delivered a year ahead of schedule, and the ships did not dare to enter the Yellow Sea, but were sent from the Tumen River estuary in the east of Goryeo to the Liao naval base about 200 miles away from the sea.

One hundred and twenty large warships were quietly moored on the river, and Yeluhongji's eyes were extremely excited, the reason why he tore up the armistice agreement in advance was closely related to the early arrival of the warships.

Of course, the warship was his weapon to attack the Song Dynasty, and it really made him decide to start a war with the Song Dynasty, or an internal issue, at the beginning of the year, the taxes on Nanjing Road were reduced by ninety, and the taxes on Tokyo Road were also reduced by half, these two places were the most important sources of taxes in Liaodong, and as a result, the taxes dried up, which made the Liaofei support a big problem, but fortunately, at the end of last year, the Jurchens were destroyed, and the Kereh Department was subdued, and a lot of wealth was captured.

The Liao State relied on this stock of wealth to support, the officials had not paid for half a year, the worship of the major monasteries had also been halved, the imperial examination was cancelled, and all the grain and property stored in the local counties were transferred back to Shangjing.

But even so, hundreds of thousands of troops and various expenses can only be paid according to the lowest level, the army officers and soldiers complained, the people are not happy, the economy of the entire Liao State is in a state of stagnation, in order to survive, the Liao State has to exchange a part of the smelted pig iron for Goryeo grain.

But this still can't be supported for long, under the domestic and foreign difficulties, Yelu Hongji set his sights on the Great Song Dynasty, to maintain the survival of the Liao State, except for the plundering of the Great Song Dynasty, there is no second way, and waging war abroad is also the best way to divert domestic public opinion.

Yelu Hongji is also preparing to advance on the east and west fronts, the western front to attack Taiyuan, and the eastern front He is still hesitating, whether to send troops to Hebei, or use the waterway to attack the Jingdong Road of the Great Song Dynasty, that is, the Shandong Peninsula.

Gao Yuanji, the Huaihua military envoy who accompanied Yelu Hongji to inspect the warship, said on the side: "Your Majesty, since we already have warships, why don't we directly send troops to destroy the Song army base on the island off the Yalu River to relieve the troubles of our henchmen."

"No!"

Yelu Yixin, the prime minister of the Northern Courtyard, immediately objected: "One hundred and twenty warships are our secret weapons, which cannot be easily exposed, and must be used in the most important strategy. ”

The top-secret information that the Liao State obtained from the capital of the Song Dynasty, the base of the Song Dynasty on the islands off the Yalu River was too small, and the garrison was only 3,000 people, and these information were confirmed by the Goryeo State.

Yelu Ruinu, the prime minister of the Southern Courtyard, also said: "Your Majesty, Yixin Xiangguo is reasonable, in terms of naval warfare, we are not as good as the Song Dynasty, but we are the same as the Song Dynasty when it is transported by big ships, these ninety big ships are not easy for us to get, and they must be used in the most important places, and they cannot be easily exposed." ”

Gao Yuanji saw that the two Xiangguo were opposed, so he hurriedly changed his words: "Weichen didn't mean to destroy the Song Army Base now, after the implementation of the major strategy, it is not too late for us to turn around and destroy the Song Army Base!" ”

Yelu Hongji nodded slowly, and asked again: "Where is the army of the Eastern Front gathered?"

Yelu Ruinu hurriedly said: "The 20,000 troops of the Xi people have arrived in Liaoyang Mansion, the 20,000 troops of the Bohai people will arrive in two days, and the 40,000 Khitan troops are rushing from Huanglong Mansion to Liaoyang Mansion, and in ten days at the latest, the 80,000 army will be assembled." ”

At present, Liao has more than 400,000 troops, in addition to the 100,000 guards stationed in Shangjing, Xijing Datong Mansion has mobilized 150,000 troops, Liaoyang Prefecture has mobilized another 100,000 troops, and there are 80,000 troops stationed in Yanshan Mansion. ”

This attack on the Great Song Dynasty was based on the 150,000 troops of Datong Mansion in Xijing and the 100,000 troops of Liaoyang Mansion in Tokyo as the main force.

This is the plan proposed by Yelu Yixin, Hebei was cleared by the Song army, and the major rivers were blocked by the Song army, so it was difficult to go deep, so plundering the rich Shandong Peninsula was the fastest opportunity for the Liao State to replenish its financial resources.

According to Yelu Yixin's plan, with the sharp cavalry of the Liao State, he could even kill all the way to Bianliang and force the Song Dynasty to sign an alliance under the city.

The plan was very bold and attractive, and the key was to cross the sea, which was where Yeluhongki had been slow to make up his mind.

However, unable to withstand Yelu Yixin's repeated persuasion and the increasingly severe financial crisis, Liao's financial strength was on the verge of collapse, and under great pressure, Yelu Hongji finally made up his mind to take a risk.