Due to the lack of troops, the main forces of the Liao army were mainly distributed in Jinzhou, Dadingfu and Liaoyangfu, and although the troops were deployed in this way, they kept the key areas, but also abandoned most of the defense of Tokyo Province.

The Song army apparently seized the loophole of the Liao army's infantry, starting from the periphery first, and constantly encroaching on the cities and land of the Liao state.

At the same time that the Song army captured Baozhou and Xuanzhou at the mouth of the Yalu River, a fleet of 100 large ships and 10,000 Song troops set off from Pingyi City in Whale Prefecture again, sailed into the Mingtong River, that is, Heishui, and traced south to the south, launching the second purge of the Khitan Shengfan.

The main general in command of this army is still Zhang Qi, he is the governor of Kunzhou, and also serves as the deputy envoy of overseas economic strategy, in fact, the Song army has already sent troops, just ten days ago, shortly after the thaw of the Pingyi City Strait and the Mingtong River, the Song army fleet entered the Mingtong River.

It's just that this time the northern fleet is very low-key, not eye-catching, Yelu Hongji did not pay too much attention, last year the Khitan Shengfan was continuously cleared by the Song army, heavy losses, Yelu Hongji came forward to persuade the Shengfan from all over the country to move to Beijing, and there are very few Khitan Shengfan tribes left along the mixed river.

Zhang Kai also discovered this, he sent troops for ten days, and only exterminated two Khitan Shengfan tribes, and the twenty Shengfan tribes marked on the map last year were gone, and the thatched huts were still there, but the people went to the wealth.

Commander Liu Kun said to Zhang Qi: "Envoy, it should be our extermination of the Khitan Shengfan tribe last year that caused the Liao court to be vigilant, and the Liao court moved them away. ”

Zhang Qi nodded, "I think so too, but this is just an inference and needs to be proven." ”

"It's easy, just go and interrogate the caught Shengfan."

Liu Kun hurriedly went, and Zhang Qi stood in front of the map with his hands in his hands, pondering, and a bold plan gradually came to life in his heart.

After a short time, Liu Kun came back, and he smiled: "Sure enough, we guessed it, last autumn, the Liao Imperial Court transferred all the Shengfan tribes to Shangjing, and these two tribes were unwilling to leave, so we killed them." ”

Zhang Qi groaned and said: "Since we have come, we can't return in vain, I think about whether we should change our plans." ”

"What do you think?"

Zhang Qi pointed to the Huanglong Mansion on the map and said: "We are only more than two hundred miles away from the Huanglong Mansion, it is better to directly capture the Huanglong Mansion, what does General Liu think?" ”

Huanglongfu is the northernmost important town of Tokyo Province, the capture of Huanglongfu, coupled with the control of the fleet along the Tongtong River, the northern part of Tokyo Province actually fell into the hands of the Song army, Zhang Qi has long had this idea, and now he realizes that the opportunity has come.

Liu Kun patted his thigh and praised: "This is a good plan, so I will send scouts to investigate the situation in Huanglong Mansion." ”

That night, a hundred large ships set off again under the cover of night, heading for Huanglongfu, two hundred miles away.

.........

Although the Liao army defeated the Song army a few months ago, the morale of the army was high, but the victory did not change the plight of the Liao army's meager strength, after the loss of Xijing, the Liao army has been sharply reduced to less than 200,000, and the grassland tribes have openly refused to send troops, so Yelu Hongji is very helpless.

And the old allies of the Xi people have been squeezed dry by the Liao State, and the last 30,000 troops have also been incorporated into the Liao army, and now the Xi people are only left with old and weak women and children, and the Bohai people are almost exhausted and unable to recruit any more soldiers.

The only source of conscription is the people of the cities of Tokyo Province, mainly Khitan civilians, but they are now the only source of finance and taxation in Liao, and if they are forcibly conscripted, it is equivalent to completely cutting off the source of finance and taxation in Tokyo Province.

Yelu Hongji had to carefully consider this serious consequence.

But what bothered Yelu Hongji even more was that he got the news from the capital that Fanning was reactivated, and this news made him feel like he was on pins and needles, a literati like Han Jiang would not fight, but Fanning would be in trouble.

Xiao Weixin comforted Yelu Hongji and said: "Your Majesty, since Fan Ning has taken office, we have to face the reality, as long as we firmly control the Liao River valley and the Jinzhou line, and give full play to our cavalry advantages, we will not be afraid of Fan Ning's reinstatement." ”

"That's all I can think about."

Yelu Hongji sighed, "I just got a piece of news, it is rumored that Huanglong Mansion has been captured by the Song army, it is estimated that it is the Song army from Kunzhou, but the news is not yet accurate, does the privy envoy think we are going to send an army north?" ”

Xiao Weixin thought for a while and said: "The role of Huanglong Mansion is mainly to facilitate the management of Khitan Shengfan, but most of the Shengfan have been moved to Shangjing, and the role of Huanglong Mansion is not large, and the population of Huanglong Mansion is less than 10,000, Wechen feels that there is no need to spend precious troops to fight, but to prevent the Song army from using Huanglongfu as a base to go south, Wechen suggested that Tongzhou should increase troops to guard the north gate of Liaoyang Mansion." ”

Tongzhou is today's Siping, located between Huanglong Mansion and Liaoyang Mansion, choking the only way for Huanglong Mansion to go south to Liaoyang Mansion, and it is also the north gate of Liaoyang Mansion, the strategic location is extremely important, Xiao Weixin's proposal is very rational, and it is also in line with the current situation of insufficient strength of the Liao army.

"Aiqing is right, now that we are short of troops, we really can't care too much about the gains and losses of one city and one place, and we must focus on the key points."

Yelu Hongji agreed with Xiao Weixin's suggestion and ordered the general Yelu Su to lead 10,000 troops north to take over the defense of Tongzhou in the north.

Jinzhou is the top priority of the Liao army's defense, at present there are 20,000 Liao troops stationed in Jinzhou, led by the Liang king Yelu Hongtai, but only 20,000 troops to defend Jinzhou is obviously not enough, Pingzhou line is 500,000 Song troops.

Yelu Hongji used a workaround, stationed 30,000 cavalry in Western Liaozhou between Jinzhou and Liaoyang Prefecture, and it was a day's journey from Western Liaozhou to Jinzhou and Liaoyang Prefecture, no matter which direction the Song army attacked, the cavalry of Western Liaozhou could arrive within a day.

In the same way, the Liao army also stationed 20,000 cavalry in Jianzhou between Dadingfu and Jinzhou, and it is also a day's journey from Dadingfu and Jinzhou, if the Song army in Dadingfu wants to break through, 20,000 cavalry in Jianzhou can be pursued and killed at any time, if the Song army kills from Pingzhou, 20,000 cavalry in Jianzhou and 30,000 cavalry in Western Liaozhou can also be killed in time, so that Jinzhou has 70,000 defenders in one day, and it is cavalry, which can fully exert the strong combat effectiveness of cavalry in the western corridor of Liaoning, and fight to the death with the main force of the Song army.

If the Song army attacked Liaoyang Mansion and Jinzhou at the same time, the 30,000 cavalry in Liaoxi Prefecture would be unable to take care of both ends and could only choose to defend Liaoyang Mansion.

Yelu Hongji also knew this well, if the Song army really attacked on two fronts, he could only count on the 20,000 cavalry of Jianzhou to support Jinzhou.

At the end of the watch, a large fleet of ships slowly arrived at Juehua Island, which was abandoned because the Liao army had no naval army, and only more than 1,000 monks lived in the monasteries of Juehua Island.

However, the target of the Song army was not Juehua Island, but Anchang County to the north of Juehua Island, Anchang County is a subordinate county of Jinzhou, only twenty miles away from Yongle County, Jinzhou Prefecture, and the coast of Yongle County is difficult to land, but Anchang County can.

One hundred ships of 10,000 stones loaded with 50,000 elite troops landed in Anchang County.

After a month of inspecting Laizhou, Fanning finally attacked Jinzhou.

There is only one way to break the joint defense of Liaoxi Prefecture and Jianzhou against Jinzhou, that is, to start with sending troops, take Jinzhou within one day, and when the enemy cavalry arrives, Jinzhou is already gone.

However, it took three days to send troops from Pingzhou alone, and it was obviously impossible to complete this important task.

The only way was to transport troops to land from the sea, and in the later Liaoshen Campaign, the 50,000 national troops were evacuated from the sea.

The Song army had a sea advantage, and of course it had to make full use of it.

A very important reason why the landing was chosen at night was to gain time and delay the Liao army's request for help from Liaoxi Prefecture and Jianzhou to the greatest extent.

If it was daytime, the defenders of Jinzhou could send pigeon letters to deliver the news to the two places in time, and at night the pigeons could not fly, and the other party either sent cavalry to ask for help, or waited until dawn to send the letter, which bought the Song army more than half a day, plus the day spent on the way to the reinforcements, in fact, it gave the Song army at least a day and a half.

In addition to the 50,000 elite soldiers, there is also a material transport team composed of 500 thousand-stone cargo ships, which will enter the Xiaoling River from the Bohai Sea and directly reach the city of Jinzhou.

At the second watch, the 50,000 naval army had landed and assembled, led by the commander Yang Ying, and rushed to Jinzhou City, 20 miles away.

Yang Ying is Yang Wenguang's nephew, the new generation of leaders of the Yang family, less than 30 years old, but wise and brave, bold and careful, the bigger the scene, the calmer, in the battle of capturing Lou Fu Pass and defending Lou Fu Pass, he made great achievements, deeply appreciated by Fan Ning, he specially transferred Yang Ying from Datong Mansion, made him the main general, led an army of 50,000 to seize Jinzhou.