At the same time that the Song army occupied Juyong Pass, the warships of the Laizhou Navy went north from the Ru River, and the 5,000 Song troops also occupied Lulong County.

The 100,000 East Road army marched north along the Lushui road, and in Lushui, hundreds of 3,000-stone ships loaded with food and various military supplies followed the army.

Fan Ning rode slowly in the ranks, according to the Song Dynasty system, must be a civilian commander in chief, Fan Ning is naturally the commander of the Northern Expedition, the specific command of the army is in charge of two deputy marshals, one is the chief general of the Western Route Army, Taiwei Chong Ge, the other is the deputy commander of the palace, the general Cao Shi.

Cao Shi married the daughter of Emperor Renzong, Princess Yanguo, and has now grown into the fourth generation of the Cao family, although the Cao family and the Gao family developed in the South Island, it does not mean that they will give up the status and resources of the Song Dynasty.

Renzong once left a will to Zhao Ji, and those who recover Youyan can be crowned kings, and Fanning has been crowned king of Wu when he destroyed Western Xia, so the index of sealing the king is also left to the deputy marshal, this opportunity Many powerful families are trying their best to fight for this opportunity, but only the Cao family can get this opportunity.

In addition, the veteran Chong Ge was directly named by Fanning, and he also got the opportunity to be crowned king.

This made Cao Shi and Chong Ge extremely excited, and Chong Ge even led an army of 100,000 to Hebei in only five days.

"Brother Cao, how is the situation in the South Island?"

Fan Ning married Cao Shi's cousin Cao Xiu as his wife, and Cao Shi is naturally also a wife-uncle relationship, plus the relationship between the two has always been good, so the two of them went north all the way.

Cao Shi smiled slightly: "The South Island is not as fast as the North Island, I heard that the North Island can already make steam engines, which is enviable!" ”

"What is there to envy, the North Island has built a machine, won't it supply you?"

"That's right, the second uncle wrote a letter, saying that the population of Nandao is still too small, brother Xian, how many people in the Liao country are willing to go overseas?"

Fan Ning smiled and said: "I read Han Xianggong's report that there are about 10,000 households willing to go overseas for development, but they are all used to the cold life of Liao and are unwilling to go to the tropics. ”

"Isn't the climate of our South and North Islands more suitable for them?"

"I have already made this request to the Governor's Hall, and Fu Xianggong agreed to divide the population of 3,000 households to us, but Lu Xianggong objected, saying that Nandao and Beidao are private islands and are not under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, and the imperial court should not divide the population between Nandao and Beidao."

"What's the matter with him?"

Cao Shi scolded in a low voice, and asked Fan Ning again: "What about the end?" ”

Fan Ning smiled slightly: "In the end, of course, it was a vote, I voted in favor with Fu Xianggong and Ouyang Xiang, Wen Xianggong abstained, Lu Xianggong and Lu Xianggong voted against, and finally passed the resolution three to two, of which 2,000 households were given to North Island and 1,000 households were given to South Island." ”

Cao Shi breathed a long sigh of relief, and Fan Ning said again: "Actually, Lu Xianggong's opposition is also reasonable, our two islands are indeed rubbing the oil of the imperial court, but because of the acquiescence of the Son of Heaven, the Zhizheng Hall is open." ”

At this time, Fan Ning saw a county town in front of him, so he asked Cao Shidao: "Is Wuqing County ahead?" ”

Cao Shi nodded, "Exactly!" ”

"Let's see!"

He whipped his horse and sped up to run towards the county seat in front of him, Cao Shi urged the horse to follow, and they quickly came to the county seat with hundreds of cavalry.

Wuqing County is a central county, originally stationed 500 Liao troops, but after the outbreak of the war, the Liao army in the county has been withdrawn, the county town is deserted, there is not a single pedestrian on the street.

At this time, several officials came running with more than a dozen Song soldiers, led by the county order that the Song Dynasty had just taken over Wuqing County, and this time the army also brought a group of young officials, who were responsible for taking over the county seat along the way.

"The new county commander Li Wen will see Fan Xianggong!"

The two officials in the back also saluted, one was the county magistrate, and the other was the county lieutenant, the county magistrate was also an official sent by the imperial court, and the county lieutenant was the original Liao official.

Fan Ning nodded, "Does County Commander Li know about the situation in the city?" ”

Li Wen hurriedly said: "I have a general understanding, there were originally 2,000 households in the city, but now there are only more than 300 households left, most of them are Han Chinese, and there are dozens of Khitan families, all of whom are poor people who grow grain for a living. ”

At this time, the soldiers came with a large group of Khitan people, about fifty or sixty households, two or three hundred people, women, children, old and weak, and dozens of young and strong men.

When everyone heard that it was the commander of the Song army, they all stepped forward and knelt down, Fan Ning looked at them, except for the slight difference between the clothing and the Han people, there was no difference in others, these were all Khitan people who had turned to farming, and the degree of sinicization was relatively deep.

Fan Ning waved his hand and said to everyone: "The Song army is a benevolent and righteous army, and will not commit fierce killings, and the Great Song Dynasty is also a tolerant dynasty, and there are many people of all ethnic groups, as long as everyone can live and work in peace and contentment, and do not cause trouble, you will also become the people of the Great Song Dynasty and continue to live in this land." ”

The county magistrate said next to him: "This is Xiangguo's promise to everyone, everyone can rest assured!" ”

Everyone was overjoyed and thanked one after another, Fan Ning asked the county Cheng to take a group of Khitans away, and asked the county lieutenant with a smile: "Are you a Han from Liao?" ”

The county lieutenant hurriedly bowed down and said: "The villain Xu Jiang, a third-generation Han from Liao, was admitted to the Jinshi the year before last and was awarded the county lieutenant of Wuqing. ”

"The county order and the county official both hung up their seals and fled, why don't you leave?"

Xu Jiang smiled bitterly and said: "Back to the Xianggong, the county order is a Khitan, of course he wants to escape, although the county is Han, but his family is in Liaoyang Mansion, he wants to go back to Liaoyang Mansion, and the villain is a local, his parents, wife and children are here, the villain has nowhere to escape, and the villain is a county lieutenant, responsible for maintaining order, and he can't just leave." ”

Fan Ning nodded, "Very well-said, from now on, you will continue to serve as the county lieutenant, but you will be the county lieutenant of the Great Song Dynasty, and the officials will make up the formalities for you." ”

Xu Jiang was overjoyed, and hurriedly bowed down and said, "Thank you Fan Xianggong for your love!" ”

Next to him, Cao Shi asked: "Captain Xu, the situation in all states of Yanshan Prefecture is similar to that of Wuqing, or is Wuqing County a little special?" ”

Xu Jiang saw that Cao Shi was wearing a golden helmet, he didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly said respectfully: "Back to the general's words, Yanshan Mansion has been chaotic since the year before last, the Liao army continues to drive the Han people to Liaoyang Mansion for mining, the entire Yanshan Mansion, except for Youzhou, most of the Han people in other counties have been forcibly driven to Liaoyang Mansion, and the property has been plundered, and now the situation in each county is similar to that of Wuqing County, there are only a few hundred households, I heard that there are 2,000 households in Lulong County, which is the most populous county, of course, it cannot be compared with Youzhou City, there are at least more than 300,000 people in Youzhou City, It is still the second largest city in Liao, second only to Tokyo City in Liaoyang Prefecture, and has more population than Shangjing. ”

Fan Ning asked some more information, and then he and Cao Shi left Wuqing County and continued to go north along Lushui to Lu County.

..........

The Liao army commander of Youzhou City is Yelu Hujian, who stayed in Nanjing, and is also a general who can fight well, the Liao army is insufficient, and has to shrink the defense line, and the Son of Heaven Yelu Hongji entrusted the most important Youzhou City in Nanjing Province to him.

There are 30,000 elite soldiers who stayed in Youzhou City to guard the city together, Yelu Hongji certainly didn't want to give up Youzhou City, he hoped that Yelu Hujian could give full play to his military talents, and hoped that 30,000 elite soldiers could fight bravely to kill the enemy, hold Youzhou City for more than half a year, and wait for the opportunity to change.

Yelu Hongji is not unreasonable to expect this, Youzhou City is the core city of the north since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the city is tall and strong, the moat is more than ten lengths wide, two zhang deep, the circumference of the whole city is as long as fifty miles, divided into the inner city and the outer city, the four city gates of the east, west, south and north are also built with urn cities, and there is a water gate in the north and south.

The head of the city was wide enough to accommodate three ox carts, and one hundred and twenty heavy trebuchets were installed on the top of the city.

This is just Youzhou City's defensive capabilities, as well as its long-lasting ability.

Hundreds of warehouses were built in the inner city of Youzhou City, which contained 400,000 stones of grain, 200,000 quintals of forage, and a large number of military materials and armor such as fire oil, arrows, and firearms.

In addition, there are 300,000 people living in the outer city of Youzhou, and the people also store a large amount of grain, in addition, a militia group of more than 50,000 people can be organized from hundreds of thousands of people at any time to assist in defending the city as logistics.

Youzhou has gathered all the advantages of the city defense, in the long history of war, such a city is difficult to break, in the end are the method of besieging the city, after the city is exhausted, it will not be attacked, but once the siege of the city, it means a long time, as short as half a year, as long as one or two years.

Yelu Hongji knew this very well, so he pinned his hopes on the long-term defense of the Liao army in Youzhou.

On this morning, the beacon fire thirty miles away was finally lit, and the three-pillar wolf smoke rushed straight into the sky, which meant that the Song army had finally arrived.

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