With the arrival of a large number of military supplies in Yingzhou, the time was ripe for a decisive battle with the Liao army.

The arrival of 5,000 carts gave the Song army sufficient temporary means of transport, and the army began to march towards Datong Province.

The 160,000 Song troops dispatched included 80,000 cavalry and 80,000 infantry, but even if they were infantry, they also had war horses to walk, and in the middle of the team were 10,000 carts, full of grain and grass heading north.

Of course, the north of Datong Mansion would not start a war immediately, and the Song army needed to find a base camp and stock up on supplies, grain and grass.

If you have a ready-made city, of course, it is good, but if you don't have a city, you can only build a big camp by yourself.

Of course, the Song army will not make a temporary decision now, their scouts have already figured out the situation, there is only one Huairen County in the south of Datong City, but this county is too far away from Datong City, the distance is more than two hundred miles, and it does not meet the requirements of the Song army.

The city that the Song army wanted was about thirty or fifty miles away from Datong City, and there was obviously no ready-made city, so they could only build a slab-walled camp on the open space.

The address has been chosen, about forty miles away from Datong City, close to a small river, the terrain is slightly higher, but the water source is abundant.

Two days later, the army reached its destination, 100,000 troops began to pitch tents, tens of thousands of soldiers rammed earth and felled wood, and began to build camp walls.

The combat battalion could not be as extravagant as the Yingzhou battalion, covering an area of tens of thousands of acres.

First of all, the large combat battalion should control the area, and it is best not to occupy more than 3,000 mu, so that it is convenient for patrolling, otherwise the large battalion is too large, and there will always be defensive loopholes.

Secondly, there should not be too many camp tents, Yingzhou is twenty soldiers living in one big tent, but only fifty people can live in one big tent here on the battlefield.

After 10,000 carts unloaded grain and grass materials, they continued to transport supplies south under the escort of 20,000 cavalry, and at this time, the Song army's camp had been quickly set up.

A large camp covering an area of thousands of acres appeared in the endless wilderness, and dozens of miles away was Datong City.

The spies of the Liao army had already discovered the movements of the Song army and immediately reported to Yelu Wanshan, the commander of the Liao army.

And Jeruwansan and his generals hurried to the top of the city and looked into the distance.

Everyone's hearts are very heavy, the arrival of the Song army means that the confrontation that has lasted for nearly a year is over, and the Song army is going to start attacking Datong City.

Yelu Wanshan was really very conflicted in his heart, he received an order from Yelu Hongji, the son of heaven, to let him defend Datong City, but his heart was like a mirror, the Song army had a powerful iron fire and thunder, he couldn't hold Datong City at all, and the ending must be the same as Youzhou City.

What should he do? To play or not to play? Yelu Wanshan's heart was entangled.

"Tell me, are we defending the city or going to war?" Yelu Wanshan couldn't help but ask everyone.

Everyone looked at him in surprise, and the general Xiao Lanyu bowed down and said: "Great marshal, Youzhou City is stronger and taller than Datong City, and it was easily broken by the Song army, we will definitely not be able to hold Datong City, and we can only fight to the death with the Song army." ”

Dubro also said: "Our tribe's army never fights in street battles, only fights on horseback, if you want to defend the city, then what's the point of letting us help in the war?" ”

Nimbu and Ayik also agreed, they did not accept to defend the city, either go out of the city to fight with the Song army, or let them go back and fight in the streets, they could only be a dead end.

The generals gossiped, but the meaning was similar, they didn't want to be trapped in the city, and would rather fight with the Song army, Yelu Wanshan's deputy general Yelu Han suggested: "Actually, you can fight a decisive battle first, if you can't retreat back to defend the city, I think the Son of Heaven means to let us hold on to Datong Mansion, not to tell us how to fight, we may have misunderstood his meaning." ”

Under the persuasion of everyone, Yelu Wanshan also made up his mind, "Of course, we must give full play to our own strengths, defending the city is not our advantage, then according to your words, we will fight a decisive battle with the Song army!" ”

Everyone secretly despised in their hearts, what does it mean to 'according to your words', if you lose, can you shirk your responsibility?

Yelu Wanshan immediately wrote a war letter and asked his subordinates to send it to the camp of the Song army.

The construction of the Song army camp has been completed, dozens of guard towers are distributed around the camp, deep trenches have been dug around the camp, and the second batch of fire oil armor and other materials have also been sent to the camp.

At this time, Fanning was taking dozens of generals to visit the stainless steel ballista, and everyone was amazed by the powerful ballista, especially the ability to fire thirty-six iron arrows at a time, with a range of two hundred steps, and the penetrating power was extremely powerful, which was even more impressive.

However, Fanning found the baffle in front of the steel ballista to be very interesting, usually lying flat on the ground, ready to stand up, and the front was covered with two-foot-long wooden spikes.

Du Li saw that Fan Ning was very interested in the baffle, so he explained: "This is a horse baffle, which can drag the cavalry impact and protect the retreat of the steel ballista at a critical moment." ”

"Stand up and I'll see!"

Du Li hurriedly greeted, dozens of craftsmen stepped forward, the two of them lifted the plank, and the bottom was supported by a bracket, and the spikes on the plank were naturally erected, and the plank was seven feet high, which was very practical and convenient.

All the generals are people who know the goods, and they applauded one after another, the strength of the cavalry lies in the first wave of impact, if the first wave is forcibly blocked, the impact on the cavalry will have a great impact.

Fanning asked again, "How is it fixed on the ground?" ”

Du Li took four one-foot-long iron nails and said with a smile: "Xianggong, please see, these four long iron nails are used to fix them on the ground, which is very firm." ”

Fanning nodded, this idea is very good, but unfortunately due to resource limitations, the iron plate cannot be used, otherwise it will be bad news for the cavalry, from this point of view, it cannot but be a pity.

At this time, a soldier ran in, knelt down on one knee and said, "Qi Qi Privy Envoy, the Liao army sent someone to issue a war letter." ”

"Where are the people?"

"Wait outside the tent of the Chinese army!"

Fanning left the warehouse camp and returned to the Chinese army's big tent.

At the gate of the big tent, Fanning met Yang Wenguang and Chong Ge, and the Liao army envoy was taken down.

Yang Wenguang stepped forward and handed the battle book to Fan Ning and said: "The Liao army has asked for a decisive battle with us in the wilderness, and the time and place will be determined by us. ”

Fanning looked at the war book and asked, "Could there be fraud in it?" ”

Chong Ge said with a smile on the side: "If it is a verbal agreement, there may be fraud, but this kind of written war book generally does not have fraud, and the Khitan is still more disciplined in this regard, unlike the Western Xia people." ”

Fanning pondered and said, "How about the decisive battle in three days?" ”

"Yes, you should be well prepared."

"What about the old general?" Fanning asked again.

"The lowly also agreed to a decisive battle in the morning in three days."

"The location was chosen in Tatsunohara, right in the middle of the camps of the two sides,"

Fan Ning randomly returned to the big tent, approved the war letter, and ordered someone to send it to the Liao army envoy.

He immediately asked Yang Wenguang and Chong Ge to discuss the strategy of the decisive battle, Fan Ning did not have much experience in the decisive battle of the Grand Army, but Chong Ge and Yang Wenguang had a lot of experience, and they were able to plan an extremely safe plan.

.........

Three days later, in the early morning, Fanning left 10,000 troops to defend the barracks, and he personally led 150,000 troops out of the barracks and drove towards the Tatsuno Plain, twenty miles away.

The terrain of Tatsuno Plain is flat, most of it is loess, and only some wild grasses grow sparsely.

The scouts of the Song army had already explored this place and regarded it as the most ideal place for a decisive battle between the two sides.

When the Song army arrived at Tatsunohara, Fan Ning saw a black line from a distance, and with a wave of his hand, he ordered: "Put down the battlefield on the spot!" ”

The Song army was divided into five armies, including 40,000 in the front, in the rear, and on both wings, except for 10,000 crossbowmen, the remaining 30,000 were all pikemen.

Three hundred and sixty steel ballistae also belonged to the crossbow army.

With 25,000 cavalry on each flank, they were tasked with protecting the center and the front from both sides.

Then there was the 50,000 Chinese Army, which consisted of 30,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry, whose task was to stabilize the large formation and support the armies at the same time.

The rear army is 10,000 people, and the role of the rear army is to prevent the enemy from attacking from behind and protect the back of the large array.

Fan Ning personally sat in charge of the Chinese army, Yang Wenguang was in charge of the front army, Chong Ge was in charge of the two wings, and the rear army was led by Zhang Yan, the commander of the capital.

The Song army quickly set up a formation, and hundreds of soldiers knocked the iron nails of the horse guard into the soil, and the baffle was temporarily lying flat, and three hundred and sixty stainless steel ballistas were deployed in the middle of the crossbow army.

Fan Ning looked coldly at the Liao army in the distance, the Liao army was slowly walking towards the Song army, more than half of the Liao army were cavalry, under normal circumstances, they should take the initiative to attack, in order to give full play to the advantages of the cavalry, from the various intelligence collected by the intelligence department to analyze, 30,000 mature women are really the 'stepping stone' forcibly recruited by Yelu Hongji, they want to create conditions for the Khitan army and the cavalry on both wings to attack.

Fan Ning looked at the two wings of the Liao army and thought secretly: "I don't know if the grassland tribe's wish should be true or false?" ’

The war is about to break out, the battlefield is deadly, a gust of wind blows, and the sky is full of sand and rocks.