In the big tent of the Chinese army, Fan Ning reported the current situation of the entire battle situation to several ministers of the Zhizheng Hall and the Son of Heaven Zhao Ji.

"The siege of Jingcheng has ended, I believe everyone has seen Di Shuai's battle report, the Liao army of 120,000 people were all annihilated, so far there is no survival, and the Song army suffered 8,000 casualties, including more than 3,300 killed, the Song army captured 70,000 sets of armor, 60,000 horses, but Jingcheng has become a ghost prison, in order to ensure that the epidemic does not spread, I ordered the road to be closed for three years, after three winters of cold I believe that the epidemic can be eliminated, these war reports are available."

Fan Ning paused and said: "But there are some things that are not reported in the war report, I will tell Your Majesty and all the ministers, one is the plague, and the Song army is actually infected!" ”

Everyone was taken aback, and Zhao Ji asked urgently, "Is the situation serious?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, we adopt a reporting isolation system, first of all, to eliminate the worries of the soldiers, as long as the epidemic is detected early, it can be cured, so whenever the soldiers are unwell, they are required to report immediately, and then isolate in time, treat in time, the infected soldiers are mainly in Niangzi Pass, a total of 574 people were isolated, and finally 521 people were cured, 53 people died, and a few soldiers who participated in the cleaning of corpses were also infected, there were 37 people, but all of them were cured and did not die, The soldiers who participated in the clean-up are still in isolation, but no new cases have been found. ”

Fu Bi asked again, "What is the cause of the infection?" Did you find it? ”

"The reason was found, it was at the beginning of the outbreak of the epidemic in the Liao army, the Song army had no protection, there were several soldiers on duty at night who hunted a fox, skinned the fox, and then were infected by the plague carried by the fox, fortunately the city wall of Niangziguan was relatively small, General Cao Wenjing adopted the battalion system, each battalion took turns to guard the pass, and had its own station, so the epidemic only spread in one battalion, and there was no large-scale spread, and the soldiers who were finally quarantined were all soldiers of the same battalion, and two and a half of the two thousand people were infected, and the other soldiers were not infected."

Wen Yanbo also sighed and said: "The plague is the great enemy of the army and the people, last year a temple in Mianchi County, Henan Province also broke out of the plague, as a result of a temple of 540 monks all died, in the end the county can only use the way of burning the mountain, burning the entire mountain, including the temple, no one dares to go in, this time the Jingcheng Song army only infected more than 500 people, it is really a blessing in misfortune." ”

Everyone was infected with the Song army in time to save a crisis, Fan Ning smiled and said: "I heard that Yelu Hongji gave up the rescue after hearing the news of the outbreak of the plague in the Liao army of Jingcheng, and the Liao army of Lou Fuguan withdrew to Datong Mansion.

In addition, our fleet broke out fierce battles at Liaohe and Jinzhou respectively and the Liao army in Liaoyang Prefecture, Jinzhou was a general, and completely annihilated 4,000 enemy troops, while the Liaohe warships and 5,000 Liao troops fought fiercely, the enemy lost more than 1,000 people, and we also lost two large ships, which were burned by the enemy with fire. ”

"Fan Xianggong, why are you fighting the enemy army in the Liao River?" Zhao Ji asked a little puzzled.

Fan Ning bowed slightly and said: "Your Majesty, this is Weichen's pressure strategy, to put pressure on the Liao army in Liaoyang Mansion, one reason is to contain the Liao army, so that the Kunzhou fleet in the north can smoothly withdraw to Whale Prefecture, and the other reason is also to cooperate with the 80,000 Liao army in Liaoyang Mansion to find a reason why they don't want to rescue Youzhou." ”

Only then did Zhao Ji understand, he nodded and said, "I understand, then let's talk about Youzhou!" How to break the city tonight? ”

.........

At night, the lights in the big tent of the Chinese army were bright, and the Son of Heaven wore a golden helmet and armor, sitting on the handsome seat and looking solemnly at the ten commanders and twenty commanders in front of him.

Zhao Ji said slowly: "Tonight is the moment to break the enemy, I personally command this war that the Great Song Dynasty has longed for a hundred years, since Gaozu, the recovery of the sixteen states of Youyun has become the dream of the people of the Great Song Dynasty and thousands of soldiers, and it is also the dream of the monarchs and civil and military ministers of the Great Song Dynasty, and tonight, the dream will be realized, in the hands of the generals, I will not be stingy with rewards, your blood and sweat will not be in vain, I only hope that tonight's battle will play the momentum of the Great Song Dynasty soldiers, in addition, I require strict military discipline, and it is strictly forbidden to take the opportunity to rape and loot, Anyone who dares to violate the ban will be severely punished! ”

Thirty generals knelt down on one knee together and said in unison: "Obey the order!" ”

........

At nine o'clock in the night, the Song army launched an attack on the south, east and north cities at the same time.

When the trebuchets of the Song army began to be erected, tens of thousands of Liao soldiers on the city began to retreat quickly to the city, avoiding the Song army's fierce bombardment and burning of the city, and when the first round of iron fire and thunder exploded continuously on the city, the city was already empty.

For more than a month, almost every day, but tonight it seems to be a little different, one is the explosion is violent, and the second is that there is no fire attack, even the commander of the Liao army in the city, Yelu Hujian, is also aware of this, especially today the Song army set up a new camp in the west of the city, increasing nearly 100,000 troops, so that the Song army completely surrounded Youzhou City, Yelu Yu saw that he was really worried in his heart, and he had a strong premonition that the general attack of the Song army was probably in these two days.

The Song army was indeed ready, the 200,000 troops were lined up, with a white cloth tied on their left arms, and they were waiting in line on the east, south, and north, while the 100,000 troops who followed the Son of Heaven Zhao Ji to reinforce Youzhou were responsible for blocking the perimeter of the city and preventing the Liao army from escaping from the city.

Tonight's main force is the 100,000 Western Army led by Chong Ge, the Western Army is good at night battles, and its combat effectiveness is extremely strong, they will be the first round to enter the city, followed by the 80,000 Hebei Army led by Cao Shi, they have also trained in night battles in the past two months, and their combat effectiveness is not weak, they will enter the city in the second round, and there are 20,000 troops guarding the logistics camp in Lu County, and the civil and military officials who are currently following the Northern Expedition of the Son of Heaven are currently in Lu County.

Fan Ning is the chief general of staff tonight, assisting the siege command of the Son of Heaven Zhao Ji.

Amid the explosion at the head of the city, a flotilla of twenty-four converted siege ships slowly approached from the Gaoliang River to the south.

The siege ships are all based on the building ship of 3,000 stones, the interior of the building ship has been emptied, and a wide staircase is directly installed, and there is a mobile rope bridge at the top, which is directly connected to the head of the city, and the so-called rope bridge is a wide and thick long wooden plank, and the two sides are woven into a protective net with thick ropes.

The siege ships were wrapped in raw cowhide on one side facing the city wall to resist burning with fire, and in addition to the eight boarding ships, there were also sixteen flat boats, also specially made boats, which were completely flat to facilitate the running of soldiers at maximum speed.

There are three wide planks connected between the ship and the boat, and there are special facilities on the side of the ship, which can be quickly fastened together, strong, reliable, and easy not to fall off, the Song army accurately calculated, ten zhang wide moat, three ships side by side is enough.

The fleet sailed into the moat, half to the north and half to the south, and they continued their voyage close to the outside of the moat, and by this time there were no defenders at the head of the city, and the ships were not affected in any way.

Zhao Ji watched as the fleet began to sail into the moat, turned his head and ordered: "The Western Army prepares!" ”

'Boom! Boom! Boom! ’

With the order of the Son of Heaven Zhao Ji, the war drums of the troops were beaten, and there was no shouting of killing, and the 100,000 western army quickly rushed to the moat, accompanied by the rumbling war drums, the western army was murderous, waiting for the last moment to come.

Twenty-four ships were all in place, and Zhao Ji waved his hand, "The trebuchet stops shooting!" ”

Ten rockets continued to shoot into the sky, and the three hundred trebuchets gradually stopped firing.

Yelu Hujian, who was paying attention to the movements of the Song army in the city, not only heard the long-lost war drums, but also saw ten rockets rising into the sky in a row, Yelu Hujian suddenly became nervous, this must be the Song army is about to enter the city.

He immediately ordered, "Order all armies to assemble, assemble quickly, the Song army is coming!" ”

Tens of thousands of Liao troops in the city quickly gathered from all directions.

The explosions above the city suddenly stopped, Youzhou became deathly silent, and the air became extremely oppressive, as if it was the calm before the storm.