A huge fleet of 120,000 stone steam warships sailed in the black water, the water was deep and wide, up to two miles wide, and the big ships of 10,000 stones could also sail in, and the steam engine ships emitted black smoke, and the paddle wheels rolled in the river, pushing the big ships to sail.

The convoy had been walking for three days after entering the mouth of the river, and the three large ships were running side by side in the river, the procession was several miles long, with endless dense forests on both sides, and towering mountains in the distance, and no people could be seen.

It used to be a place where the Jurchens were active, but after the Jurchens were destroyed, it became dead and silent.

Zhang Ji stood on the first big ship, looking at both sides of the strait with complicated eyes, he had been here, gave the Jurchens a lot of weapons and food, and even the Song army helped the Jurchens attack the city and plunder the village with iron fire and thunder, he didn't expect that just half a year later, the Jurchens were destroyed by the Liao State, in the final analysis, it was the Jurchens who had internal problems, and the internal strife gave the Liao State a chance.

Zhang Qi never understood why Xiao Fan Xianggong chose Shi Xian, and it turned out that it was Shi Xian's narrow-mindedness and injustice that led to discord within the Jurchen clan, and Shi Xian was not a leader worth supporting at all.

On the contrary, Zhang Ji felt that Wanyan Wugunai was a very powerful character, able to firmly control the entire Jurchen tribe in his hands, as long as there was the strong support of the Great Song Dynasty, Wanyan Wugunai could completely become a big problem for the Liao State, Zhang Qi never understood, why did Xiao Fan Xianggong have to destroy the Wanyan tribe?

Although he didn't understand it in his heart, he faithfully carried out Fanning's orders, but now he seemed to understand something?

Once the Liao State was destroyed, the Jurchens would inevitably rise, and they would also become the henchmen of the Great Song Dynasty, just like the rise of the Hui after the destruction of the Turks, and they would eventually look down on the prosperity of the Central Plains.

Zhang Qi sighed softly, he had to admire Xiao Fan Xianggong's foresight, making full use of the Jurchens to weaken the Liao State, but he couldn't let the Jurchens sit big, this was the fundamental reason why he helped Shi Xian and destroyed his face, Xiao Fan Xianggong had long seen that Shi Xian couldn't become a big deal, and they were destroyed by the Liao State, which would also do more good than disadvantage to the future of the Song Dynasty.

"Sima, a guide said that there is a Khitan settlement thirty miles to the south." Liu Kun whispered to Zhang Qi.

Zhang Qi nodded and asked, "How many people know?" ”

"About 1,000 people."

Liu Kun pointed to a tributary not far away: "You can find it by walking along this tributary for thirty miles." ”

Zhang Kai immediately ordered: "The fleet is docked!" ”

The fleet began to move towards the south bank, and Zhang Qi said to Liu Kun: "We are waiting here, you can lead five thousand cavalry to the south, looking forward to your good news." ”

"Sima rest assured, there will be no loss!"

A group of soldiers led the horses off the boat, and after a short time, 5,000 cavalry gathered on the shore, wrapped the horses' hooves with cotton, and under the leadership of Liu Kun, they ran silently to the south.

Zhang Qi returned to the cabin and spread out the map, this is a simple map drawn by the scout, some of the simple maps are marked with the Khitan Shengfan settlement, and some are not, like the first Khitan Shengfan camp encountered now, there is no mark on the map, so a guide is needed.

Zhang Ji found the place where they were now, about forty miles west of the ruined city of Cutari, he found the tributary, drew a triangle with a pen on the south side of the tributary, and put a hook on it with a red pen to indicate that it had been cleared.

There were twenty-seven settlements on the map, but the guide told them that there were at least forty, and that there were more than a dozen Xi settlements, which would also need to be uprooted.

At dusk, the cavalry returned to the fleet, escorting hundreds of weeping women and young children, in fact, in the afternoon, Zhang Qi saw black smoke in the south, I don't know whether to burn the corpses or the houses, they were waiting for the triumph of the Song army.

In addition to six or seven hundred women and children, a large number of furs, gold and silver were also seized, as well as a lot of dried fish and animal meat, which were also brought by the Song army.

At this time, Liu Kun came over with a group of soldiers, and Zhang Ji stepped forward and asked with a smile: "The results are not bad!" ”

Liu Kun smiled and nodded, "I killed more than 400 men, slightly injured four brothers, seized more than 3,000 fine furs, 50,000 taels of gold, and a few thousand taels of silver, as well as a lot of cloth and silk, but unfortunately there are no cattle and sheep." ”

Zhang Qi said with a smile: "They are a fishing and hunting people, not nomadic herders, so the spoils of war will not be cattle and sheep, but going south, there are many grazing for the Khitan to make a living." ”

"What should we do with these women and children?"

"According to the method agreed in advance, send them to Pingyi City, and then transfer them to Kunzhou, and then wait for Fan Xianggong's instructions."

Liu Kun immediately ordered the soldiers to put the women and children on a large ship and let the soldiers send them to Pingyi City.

They brought enough empty ships with them to escort the prisoners back to Pingyi City.

The Song fleet rested in place for the night, and continued to sail southwest after dawn the next day.

.........

At the same time as the battle situation on the eastern front changed drastically, the Khitan main force on the western front was attacking the south in an orderly manner according to the original plan, and two days after passing the Lou Fu Pass, Yelu Na, the king of the northern courtyard, also led 120,000 cavalry to Taiyuan.

They did not carry siege weapons, nor did they carry tents, the rain here was scarce, for the Khitan cavalry, tents were not necessary, a bonfire was lit, the soldiers wrapped themselves in blankets, and slept on the ground.

Yelu Na was also born in the Khitan aristocracy, about 30 years old, belongs to the Khitan senior generals in the young Zhuang faction, and Yelu Hongji has a very good personal relationship, is Yelu Hongji's very trusted confidant general, he was named a small general at the age of nine, 13 years old with the army, 20 years old became the deputy commander of the Su Guard Army, once led the army to quell the Chongyuan rebellion, at the beginning of the year he led an army of 100,000 to exterminate the Jurchens, in the Liao State of fame, is the Liao State is currently famous 'the flower of the famous general'.

At the beginning of this year, his father, Yelu Zhao San, the king of the Northern Courtyard, died, and Yelu Hongji asked Yelu Na to take over as the king of the Northern Courtyard and take charge of the military power of the 200,000 army, thus becoming the youngest king of the Northern Courtyard in Liao so far.

Yelu Na also has not suffered any setbacks since he was a child, nor has he suffered any defeat, he is very proud in his bones, but pride is pride, he is still more cautious, he led the main army outside the city of Taiyuan to prepare for the siege of the city, but sent the general Yelu Xinfeng to lead 10,000 cavalry to occupy Jingcheng.

According to Yelu Hongji's strategic deployment, their attack on Taiyuan was a false attack, and the real goal was to cross the Taihang Mountains and enter the hinterland of Hebei, and take the Song Dynasty by surprise.

Then the army quickly moved south, joined forces with the Liao army in Shandong under the city of Bianliang, and forced the Great Song court to sign an alliance under the city.

Yelu Hulu, the eunuch of the Imperial Prison, stepped forward and said in a low voice: "King, the dry food we carry does not allow us to stay in Taiyuan for too long, I estimate that Yelu Xinfeng has already entered the well, don't wait for his news, go south directly!" ”

The Liao army's southern invasion of the Great Song Dynasty has always been to feed the war with war, and will not bring much baggage, even if there is baggage, it is mainly siege equipment, and the food supply is by looting along the way, Fan Ning also knows the habits of the Liao army, he really adopted the tactics of fortifying the wall and clearing the wilderness, so that the Liao army's strategy of fighting to feed the war failed, and the Liao army was defeated in carrying too little grain and grass the year before last.

And this time the Liao army was a little smarter, carrying twenty days of dry rations, and the high mobility of the cavalry, which was enough to ensure that their actions in the Song Dynasty were not troubled by food.

Although Yeluhulu's suggestion made Jeruhna feel a little too cautious, he accepted it anyway.

"Alright! Early tomorrow morning, we will rush to Jingcheng. ”

.........

Early the next morning, the sound of the assembled trumpets echoed through the field, and the sound of the trumpets was very low.

The 110,000 Liao cavalry began to assemble rapidly, and half an hour later, more than 100,000 troops rushed towards the southeast.

At the head of the city, Yang Wenguang stared grimly at the galloping of thousands of horses more than ten miles away in the distance, so everyone was surprised, if the Liao army did not attack Taiyuan, where would this go? Are they going to the Valley of the Mouse Sparrow and preparing to kill Jinnan?

Yang Wenguang took out Fanning's letter from his bosom, which he had received three days earlier, in which Fanning pointed out that the Liao army's attack on Taiyuan was probably just a cover, and their real target was still Hebei.

He asked Yang Wenguang to stand still for the time being, not to leave the city without his order, or to lead the army north, and to wait for his order.

Yang Wenguang read the letter again, and he understood why Fan Ning encouraged the Son of Heaven to inspect Taiyuan, it turned out that it was also to paralyze the Liao army, so that the Liao State mistakenly thought that the Song army had put all its resources on Taiyuan City.

The soldiers are not tired of deceit, and pulling the Son of Heaven out to deceive the Liao State is probably only done by Fan Ning, but it is extremely wonderful, so that the Liao State has to believe that the Song army's defense focus is on Taiyuan.

It turned out that Fan Ning had everything arranged, and at this moment, Yang Wenguang's heart was full of confidence and expectation.