The first defensive line of the Song army outside Lou Fan Pass has been captured by the Liao army, and then the second defensive line has also been captured by the Liao army, and the Liao army's forward is only fifty steps away from Lou Fu Pass, and the troops are under the city.

The successive victories greatly stimulated the fighting spirit and confidence of the Liao army, and the main commander Yelu Wanshan put an army of 15,000 and concentrated the army to attack Lou Fu Pass.

Close up and down arrows like rain, rolling wood and stones intensively smashed to the siege enemy, but the Liao army did not retreat, a siege ladder on the head of the city, hundreds of fierce Liao soldiers and the Song army on the top of the head of the fierce battle, constantly someone screamed and rolled down the city, behind the siege enemy, the valley was full of dense Liao soldiers, more than 15,000 people like a black tide continued to surge forward, the strong pressure seemed to crush Lou Fu Guancheng.

But the Liao soldiers never dreamed that at this time, a 300-strong Song army scout team had appeared above them, and they quickly deployed, divided into fifty points, one point every fifty steps, and 300 people were distributed on a 2,500-step long front.

This is a bold and risky plan of the defender Yang Ying, using the strategy of luring the enemy deep to attract a large number of enemy troops into the canyon, creating opportunities for the Song army scouts on the top of the canyon.

The elongated canyon is undoubtedly a potential hazard, and the fact that there is a path to the south that goes around the top of the valley but not to the north is their terrain advantage.

As the brigade commander's red flag waved, the soldiers lit the fuse of the iron fire thunder with a fire breaker, and as the flame sneered at the mouth of the pot, everyone threw a hundred iron fire thunder into the canyon........

A hundred iron fire thunderbolts exploded one after another in the crowd of fifteen thousand soldiers, flesh and blood flew sideways, limbs were shattered, the Liao soldiers were blown up and screamed and wailed, and the earth-shattering explosion echoed in the valley, as if the earth shook the mountains, and the valley was filled with gunsmoke in an instant, as if it had become a Shura field.

When the sound of the explosion stopped, the Liao soldiers who reacted rushed to the outside of the valley, trampled on each other, and suffered countless casualties.

In this battle, only a hundred iron fire thunder exploded in the crowd, killing and wounding more than 5,000 people, plus trampling on each other and the Song army chasing and killing, the Liao army killed more than 8,000 people in a battle, the main general Yelu Wanshan was killed with a chill, and led the army to retreat to dozens of miles away, not daring to attack easily, the order given to him by the Son of Heaven was not to fight to the death, but to go south to rescue Jing Cheng at the smallest cost, he was killed 8,000 people in a battle, where is the minimum price.

The battle of Lou Fu Pass was temporarily suspended, and the siege of Jingcheng was still continuing, at this time, an edict was sent from the capital, and Xuan Fanning returned to Beijing to report on his work.

............

As soon as the day dawned, an official ship of 3,000 stones slowly sailed into the capital, there were more than a dozen soldiers standing on both sides of the official ship, a triangular yellow dragon flag was inserted on the shed, and two lanterns were hung on the bow of the ship, and three big characters were written on it: 'Xianggong Fan'.

This 3,000-stone official ship was Fan Ning's boat, and he received an edict from the Son of Heaven Zhao Xuan announcing his return to Beijing, and returned to the capital directly by boat.

The boat stopped at the Jinshui Bridge pier, and it was still early, Fanning went ashore and, escorted by dozens of soldiers, rode to the palace.

From the mouth of the eunuch of Xuanzhi, it was learned that Zhang Xiaojie, the envoy of the Liao State, was negotiating with the Song Dynasty in the capital, but Fan Ning knew that the Son of Heaven announced his entry into Beijing not to negotiate, but to understand the direction of the entire war situation.

Fan Ning came all the way to the front of Ziwei Palace, and said straight to a guard on duty: "Go to the official's house quickly, and say that Fan Ning wants to see you!" ”

The guards hurried to the imperial study, and Fanning was waiting in front of the steps, when someone suddenly called him, "When will the virtuous son-in-law come back?" ”

As soon as Fan Ning turned around, there was Ouyang Xiu behind him, and he hurriedly stepped forward and saluted, "See my father-in-law!" ”

"No need to be polite, when will you be back?"

"I just arrived, and I didn't have time to go back to my home, so I came directly."

"No wonder I didn't hear Qian'er talk about you, she brought her children to visit me yesterday, saying that you might not be back until a few days later."

"Originally, I was going to do so, I was going to personally keep an eye on the battle of Jingcheng, but I received the edict of the Son of Heaven and had to rush back."

Ouyang Xiu nodded, and asked again, "How is the battle of Jingcheng?" Everyone is very concerned, but the newspaper is vague and worrying! ”

Fan Ning sighed slightly: "It can only be described by the word 'miserable', both sides have suffered heavy casualties, but the situation is still under the control of the Song army." ”

"Can that be resolved through negotiation?"

Fanning shook his head, "It's been fought to this day, and the negotiation can't be resolved, only you live and die." ”

"Hey! Now the negotiations are also at an impasse. ”

At this time, a eunuch ran out, bowed down and said, "Fan Xianggong, the official family has summoned you!" ”

Fan Ning smiled at Ouyang Xiu and said, "That little son-in-law went in first." ”

"Go ahead! I have time to sit down at my house and have a good chat. ”

"Definitely coming back!"

Fan Ning gave Ouyang a salute, and then followed the eunuch into the side hall in a hurry.

Ouyang Xiu looked at his son-in-law's back and walked away, and sighed softly, how can there be a reason for Weng's son-in-law to be the same dynasty, someone has already questioned it a few days ago, this Ouyang Xiu knows that he will have to face it sooner or later, his son-in-law has an unlimited future, and he should resign from this phase, and he can't let people grab the handle and gossip.

Fan Ning came to the imperial study, and the eunuch went in to report, and came out after a while: "The official family invites the prime minister to go in!" ”

Fan Ning tidied up his coat and hat a little, and then walked into the imperial study, he saw that Zhao Xu, the son of heaven, was sitting in front of the imperial case to review the folds, so he hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Minister Fan Ning see Your Majesty!" ”

"Xiao Fan Xianggong is exempt from courtesy, please take a seat!"

On each side was a soft chair, a chair for the elderly minister, and Fanning sat down on the chair on the left.

"Your Majesty summoned Weichen to Beijing, is there anything urgent?"

Zhao Ji hesitated for a moment and said, "Did I summon the prime minister to Beijing affect the battle situation in Hebei?" ”

Fan Ning shook his head, "The battle of Jingcheng was commanded by Deputy Marshal Di, and Weichen just went to inspect the progress, and it did not affect the army's operations. ”

"How is the Battle of Jingcheng progressing now?"

"Both sides suffered heavy casualties, the Liao army has lost more than 30,000 people, and the Song army has suffered no less than 8,000 casualties, but the Song army has many wounded, and the actual casualties are only more than 2,400."

"It's been almost twenty days of fierce fighting between the two sides! The food of the Liao army has never run out? ”

Fan Ning smiled slightly: "Before Weichen came back, the Song army patrol captured a Liao soldier who was looking for a way out over the mountains and mountains, from his mouth we learned about the food situation of the Liao army, they brought twenty days of dry food to the south, they in order to save dry food, everywhere to peel bark, dig grass roots, and kill horses to cook soup, when Weichen came back, their dry food was only less than five days, killing more than 3,000 sick and weak horses. ”

"How long do you think they can hold on?" Zhao Ji asked worriedly.

"In terms of the number of horses, it will last at least half a year."

"Is it still half a year?" Zhao Ji exclaimed.

"It won't last half a year."

Fan Ning shook his head lightly and said: "Your Majesty, the offensive and defensive battle of Jingcheng is actually a contest of will and combat effectiveness, the combat effectiveness of the Liao army is indeed very strong, and the will is also very tenacious, in the past twenty days, the attack on Niangzi Pass has not stopped for a day, but the will and combat effectiveness of our army are even stronger, no matter how desperately the Liao army attacks, the soldiers of the Song army still firmly hold Niangzi Pass, Weichen feels that there is no suspense in the battle of Jingcheng, if the Liao army wants to break through for three months, then we will defend for three months, until all the enemy troops are annihilated." ”

"How's the situation at Lou Fuguan?"

"Your Majesty, the Liao army in Lou Fu Pass lost more than 8,000 people in a fierce battle, and the offensive has been suspended, and the Song army has also paid nearly 500 casualties."

"Eight thousand killed in the first battle?"

There was a bit of interest in Zhao Ji's eyes. "Xianggong tell me, how did this battle go?"

"Your Majesty, the lord of Lou Fuguan lured Yang Ying to the enemy, and at the same time sent a scout team of three hundred people on the top of the cliff, when the Liao army attacked, they threw down hundreds of iron fire thunder from the top of the mountain, and exploded in the dense crowd of three miles, the Liao army suffered extremely heavy casualties, and had to withdraw from the canyon overnight, not daring to attack again, after the Song army cleaned up the corpses of the dead enemy, and burned a total of 8,200 corpses, not including the soldiers who escaped from the canyon with injuries, if the total number of casualties is not less than 10,000."

"This master is amazing! has made great contributions, his surname is Yang, isn't he also the nephew of General Yang? ”

"Your Majesty is right, it is the descendant of the Yang family general."