Yan Ji was not good at military strategy, but she also felt that what her husband said was reasonable, so she couldn't help but nodded.

Yang Peng thought for a while and said, "I want to write a letter immediately." Then he walked downstairs. Yan Ji followed.

The two of them walked towards the imperial study as they spoke. At this time, because all the imperial concubines and all the princes and princesses were in Yanjing, the harem was very quiet, and the lights in the corridor in the distance were flickering, and it was the Feifeng female guards patrolling, and there was no movement other than that. The silence of the palace contrasts sharply with the hustle and bustle of the city, as if two completely different worlds.

The two of them came to the imperial study. The lights in the study are tended to all night long.

Yang Peng walked to the back of the bookcase and sat down, and Yan Ji spread out the letter paper for Yang Peng and polished the ink. At this time, several palace maids who were waiting in the imperial study got the news and rushed over, saw Yang Peng and Yan Ji, and hurriedly bowed: "Meet Your Majesty, meet Niangniang." Those who added water to the pen wash added water to the pen wash, and the other few stood on both sides of Yang Peng.

Yang Peng wrote a letter, checked it, dried the ink, folded it, put it in an envelope, handed it to Yan Ji, and instructed: "Immediately hand it over to the Military Command Department, and ask them to hand it over to Shi Liancheng as quickly and comfortably as possible." Yan Ji continued the letter and said, "I'll go immediately." Then he hurried away.

Yang Peng showed a thoughtful look. When he came back to his senses, he saw several maids standing aside, and said with a smile: "You go down and rest, you don't need to wait here." Several palace maids blushed slightly, respectfully agreed, and exited the imperial study.

Yang Peng stood up, walked to the map hanging on the wall on one side of the study, looked at the map and thought. The map in front of me is the whole map of Dali. Yang Peng was thinking about the worst scenario: the worst scenario was that the Tianzhu people were unwilling to fail and continued to attack on a large scale, and the Bagan Emperor also raised troops to take revenge, Duan Zhichun naturally would not give up. Even if the strength of Tianzhu and Duan Zhichun remains unchanged, it will already exceed 600,000, and if the people of Bagan come to take revenge, then they will inevitably pour the strength of the whole country, presumably more than the previous 200,000 troops, and conservatively estimate that the total strength of the tripartite alliance will be close to one million.

At this thought, Yang Peng frowned, although he was confident in the combat effectiveness of his own army, but the enemy army was several times that of his own, this battle was not easy to fight, and if he didn't pay attention to it, he was afraid that it would be an irreparable end!

After thinking for a moment, Yang Peng felt that while preparing for war, he should also use diplomatic means to divide and disintegrate the enemy's alliance. Even if they can't break up their alliance, they must be disliked by each other. After thinking about it for a while, he decided to hand over this matter to Fan Yong and his subordinates in Dali.

At this time, there was a sound of footsteps at the door, Yang Peng raised his head, and when he saw Yan Ji coming back, he couldn't help but smile slightly. Yan Ji saw Yang Peng looking at herself and smiling, and couldn't help but return a beautiful smile. walked to the bookcase and said, "Husband, the letter has been sent by the Military Command Department." Then he took out a letter, presented it with both hands, and said, "This is an urgent report sent from Ningxia just now." ”

Yang Peng picked up the report, opened it, took out the stationery, and unfolded it to look at it. Yan Ji saw the expression on her husband's face move slightly, and couldn't help but secretly say: Could it be that the Xiliao side has made another move? They really don't cry when they don't see the coffin!

Yang Peng put down the letterhead, looked at the letterhead in front of him and frowned: "The 100,000 army of the Khitans has entered Khorezm!" ”

Yan Ji was stunned, "It's a Khitan?" ”

Yang Peng nodded, and thought: "Previously, the Western Liao army unexpectedly attacked Khorezm, and Khorezm was caught off guard, and was overwhelmed by Western Liao all the way; Now the 100,000 elites of the Khitans have also invaded Khorezm, and they are also invincible. Today, Samarkand, the capital of Khorezm, and all the provinces in the southeast have been occupied by the Western Liao, and all the provinces in the northeast have been occupied by the Liao. Khorezm had already brought back the army that had invaded the Seljuk Empire and was preparing for a decisive battle with the Western Liao and the Liao Kingdom. This war may have broken out at this moment. If Khorezm can win, then Khorezm can continue, otherwise Khorezm will become history, and Western Liao and Liao will take its place. ”

Yan Ji listened to her husband's words, but she didn't have any special feelings, after all, Khorezm was too far away from her own country, if it weren't for the intelligence system that had paid attention to that aspect, Yan Ji didn't know that there was a country called Khorezm, she had only heard that there was a country called Persia in the extreme west, and the carpets and gold they produced were very famous.

Yang Peng looked at Yan Ji's expression in his eyes and said with a smile: "This Khorezm is not a small country, it is also a country that can definitely be called an empire, very powerful, and the territory is also very vast, even compared with us, there is not much difference. ”

When Yan Ji heard this, she showed surprise and said in disbelief: "That Khorezm is so big? Yang Peng smiled and nodded. Yan Ji frowned and said, "This is not good! Yang Peng didn't understand and asked, "What's wrong?" Yan Ji looked at her husband and said, "Since Khorezm is such a big country, if it is divided between Western Liao and Liao, it will definitely not be a good thing for our Ming Dynasty!" ”

Yang Peng said: "That's nothing, now our opponent is too weak, it's good to make Western Liao and Liao stronger, and then defeat them again, there will be a sense of achievement!" ”

Yan Ji's eyes showed a narrow expression, and asked, "Does the husband want to wait until the Liao Kingdom becomes stronger before fighting, or is he reluctant to fight?" ”

Yang Peng was stunned for a moment, and said angrily: "What are these words?" ”

Yan Ji said with a smile: "I already know about the husband and the Empress Dowager of Liao. ”

Yang Peng felt a little embarrassed, and then said angrily: "Which bastard is chewing the root of his tongue?!" ”

Yan Ji said angrily: "This matter has already spread all over the world, and the people say that Your Majesty has slept with the Queen Mother of Liao, which is really amazing!" ”

Although Yang Peng's face was comparable to the city wall, he couldn't help but blush when he heard this, smiled, and said, "It was an accident!" ”

Yan Ji pursed her lips and smiled, glanced at Yang Peng, and said angrily: "If you sleep, you can sleep, but you let her conceive a child!" Now the rat trap is not easy to do for Liaoguo! Yang Peng said: "I have ordered all aspects of the secret investigation. If this is true, I will find a way to get my child back. ”

Yan Ji glanced at Yang Peng and said, "In this way, isn't the child going to leave his mother?" ”

Yang Peng was stunned for a moment, he hadn't thought about this problem before, but now after listening to Yan Ji's words, he couldn't help but feel faintly uneasy. frowned, and said, "Now that the matter is now, I have to choose the lesser of two evils!" Yan Ji nodded.

The gaze turned to Dali.

Shi Liancheng gathered his troops and horses and marched to the city of Fengyu County, and immediately launched an attack. Fengyu County is located between the Diancang Mountains and mountains, the terrain is dangerous and easy to defend and difficult to attack, the Ming army is difficult to attack, and the Duan Zhichun army is in danger to hold on. The fierce fighting lasted from morning to noon, from noon to evening, and the Ming army launched a total of more than a dozen attacks, but they were all too dangerous because the terrain was too dangerous and failed to make any progress.

The Ming army stopped the offensive and returned to the camp. Seeing that the attack of the Ming army was repelled, the soldiers of Duan Zhichun's army were all excited, and there was thunder of joy on the city wall, everyone was full of confidence in holding Fengxian County, and Duan Zhichun was even more confident in holding Fengyu County.

In the big tent of the Ming Dynasty, all the generals of the Ming Dynasty looked very depressed. Today's one-day offensive did not make any progress, but lost thousands of men.

Huang Xin frowned and said: "This Fengxian County is really too dangerous, sitting on the steep terrain of Cangshan Mountain, our army is like climbing a cliff!" Even if there is no guard, it is not easy to climb up, not to mention facing the enemy's ground resistance! Everyone nodded one after another, and one said: "This kind of terrain cannot be overcome by manpower, and even if the city is finally broken through in such a strong way, I am afraid that our army will pay a very heavy price!" For the sake of Your Majesty and for the sake of the Ming Dynasty, we are not afraid of death, but it is really not worth paying such a painful price for such a city! The generals whispered, and for a moment there was a buzz and whispers in the tent.

Shi Liancheng frowned and thought, what the generals were talking about was exactly what he thought, but if he gave up attacking Fengyu County, he was afraid that if the Zhu army came back, or even the king of Bagan raised an army to take revenge, his side would be in a very disadvantageous situation. If this worst-case scenario occurs, it will be difficult to hold the Dali City area if Fengyu County fails to grasp it. Dali city area is the essence of Dali, if the Dali city area is ravaged by the war, even if the future can recover Dali City, then the victory will be greatly reduced. A prosperous and rich Dali and a Dali ravaged by war into ruins, who is beneficial to the empire, even a fool can see it!

However, if the loss is too great in order to capture Fengyu County, it is also not conducive to the subsequent war, but I am afraid that Dali City will eventually be lost. If there is really no way to capture Fengyu County at a small cost, I am afraid that this road will have to be abandoned. Wu Song frowned, he was really unwilling, thinking that if he took advantage of the night to sneak attack, he might be able to succeed. As soon as he thought this, he immediately conveyed the order.

In the middle of the night, in the dead of night, the whole mountain city seemed to be asleep.

Under the cover of night, a team of Ming elites quietly headed towards the southeast of Fengyu County. That side is more remote, the terrain is more precipitous than the front, during the day, the Ming army did not attack that position, thinking that Duan Zhichun's army may think that it is very safe there and will not bother to defend, maybe you can break the enemy's defensive circle in one fell swoop.

Hundreds of Ming elites were not wearing armor, all of them were lightly armed, and only carried blades and ropes. Soon after, several hundred people came to the southeast corner of the city wall.

Hundreds of Ming elites were hidden in the shadows, and the captain of the leading army observed the situation on the city wall not far away. I saw a few torches lit on the city wall, the firelight flickered, the city wall looked very dark, a few sentries scattered all over the city wall, some chatting, some holding spears against the wall and dozing. The situation here is completely different from the situation where the city wall on the front is brightly lit and the figures are looking forward to being closely guarded, the vigilance is very negligent, it seems that Duan Zhichunjun really did not realize that this direction would be attacked by the Yanyun army. Maybe it's because during the day, the Ming army didn't appear in this position at all, and this position was strange and rocky, which was not conducive to the deployment of the army at all, so Duan Zhichun didn't think that the Ming army would raid the city from this position!

The captain saw the situation on the city wall, secretly rejoiced, and immediately made a gesture, and hundreds of elites immediately took action, relying on the cover of night to quickly come to the city wall. The defenders on the walls were unaware and kept in the dark.

The captain ordered a few soldiers to shoot the hooks near the dozing sentries, and with a few ticks, the hooks flew up to the top of the city. The dozing sentinels were still dozing, while the few chatting sentinels in the distance were still chatting, completely oblivious to the soft noises in the night.

The captain waved his hand, and immediately more than a dozen sergeants began to climb, all of them with vigorous hands, like apes quickly climbing up.

The dozen or so sergeants who were the first to ascend to the top of the city instantly eliminated the sentries on the top of the city, and one of them immediately gestured to the city. Seeing this, the captain immediately led the sergeants to climb the city wall along the rope.

The originally dim city suddenly lit up, and at the same time shouted loudly. The Yanyun elite at the head of the city and the Daming elite who were climbing the city suddenly saw the firelight flickering around them, and the figures were taken aback. The captain's eyes widened and he exclaimed, "Not good! There is an ambush! Before the words fell, arrows rained down in all directions, and the Ming army was under the city wall at the head of the city, with nowhere to dodge, and no shield to resist the arrows, and they were shot to the ground one after another! Although the Ming soldiers were suddenly ambushed and suffered heavy losses, they were not afraid, and they drew their swords and rushed towards the nearby enemy, extremely brave! However, the enemy army was fully prepared, and before the Ming army rushed up, the second wave of more dense arrow rain flew towards the Ming army again, and in a muffled sound, the Ming soldiers fell one after another, and no one could rush to the enemy's approach! After a few waves of arrow rain, hundreds of Ming elites all fell in a pool of blood.

At this time, the frontal Ming army launched an attack. Seeing the attacking elite being ambushed from afar, and knowing that the plan had failed, Shi Liancheng ordered the army to storm the city gates, just to prevent the hundreds of elites from retreating safely. It wasn't long before there was no movement. Shi Liancheng knew that a few hundred elites were already more than lucky, and it was useless to attack the main gate again, so he immediately ordered the army to retreat.

The army retreated to the camp, and Shi Liancheng and the others returned to the big tent.

After a while, the scout made an urgent report: "General, our hundreds of elite troops have been wiped out!" ”

Shi Liancheng frowned and asked, "Are they all dead?" The scout nodded, "They're all dead!" The enemy had been prepared for a long time, the archers were not only lying in ambush at the head of the city, but also outside the city, and when our troops were climbing the walls, they suddenly fired arrows, and our troops had nowhere to hide, and they were all killed! The scout's words smacked of grief and indignation.

There was an uproar in the big tent, and everyone was indignant, and they wanted to get rid of their hatred after the pure corpse was broken, but in the face of Fengyu County, which was sitting on a steep mountain, everyone had a feeling that there was nowhere to start in the face of the turtle that had retracted its head and limbs.

Shi Liancheng frowned, and said secretly: This is so treacherous, it is really difficult to break through Fengyu County at a small cost!

When he came back to his senses, he saw that all the generals were looking at him, and he said, "Go down, all of you." Rest well, be careful, and although the enemy army is not strong, it should not be taken lightly. The generals clenched their fists and agreed and withdrew from the big tent, leaving only Huang Xin alone.

Huang Xin said to Shi Liancheng: "General, it seems that it is difficult to take down this Fengyu County easily!" ”

Shi Liancheng stood up, walked to the door of the big tent, looked at the hazy outline of the city in the night in the distance, and said, "If you can't take Fengyu County at a small price, you have to give up." In this case, if the Tianzhu people and even the Bagan people come to attack, it will be difficult for us to keep the Dali City area! ”

Huang Xin said: "If we rely on Dali City to defend it, we don't believe that we can't stop the enemy's attack!" Although the number of enemy troops is numerous, but the combat power is far inferior to ours, we rely on Longwei Pass and Dali City to resist the enemy army, and it is difficult for the enemy to make a difference! ”

Shi Liancheng smiled: "If the enemy only storms these two places, there is nothing to worry about!" Then he frowned, "What I'm really worried about is that the enemy army will contain our army near Dali City with a part of its forces, and then divide its troops to attack north and east with other forces to cut off the connection between our army and the country," Huang Xin couldn't help but change his face when he heard this, and said: "If this is the case, it will be bad!" ”

Shi Liancheng looked at the city in the night in the distance, frowned, and said, "The enemy is not stupid!" Like tonight, we thought of sneaking up from that position, and they also thought of it, and set a trap early, causing us to lose hundreds of elites! Hmph, the hunter calculates the prey, and the prey is not calculating the hunter! He turned his head to look at Huang Xin and said, "On the battlefield, you can't expect the enemy to be stupider than yourself!" What we can think of, the enemy can often think of, to achieve victory must not be left to chance! Huang Xin bowed and promised.

Shi Liancheng's face was thoughtful, he knew that his consideration was based on the worst-case scenario, the development of the war might not be so unfavorable to his side, maybe the Tianzhu and Bagan people would not dare to invade again, or even if they did, they would not think of cutting off their own retreat, but the decisive victory on the battlefield should not be pinned on the enemy's stupidity, but should consider the worst-case scenario. If you consider the worst-case scenario, it will not be easy for your side to win, and you may even be taken advantage of by the enemy and suffer a big defeat! Shi Liancheng thought of the difficulties, but he was not afraid at all, but his heart was full of blood and excitement. It's no wonder that for heroes like Shi Liancheng, there is really nothing to be happy about defeating a weak enemy, only by defeating a strong enemy, and even turning defeat into victory in a dangerous situation, that is the real hero, a good man! Of course, in this case, no one can win with certainty, but even if you die in battle, it is a glorious thing! Life is in the world, but if you want to be vigorous, you will live up to this life!

At this time, Shi Liancheng actually did not expect the Tianzhu and Bagan people to retreat, but expected both to attack, so that there would be a vigorous battle.

For several days in a row, Shi Liancheng led his troops and horses to attack continuously, but he was never able to break through, and the terrain of Fengyu County was too dangerous, and it seemed impossible to rely on manpower to break through. The Duan Zhichun army defending the city, in the face of the attack of the Ming army, was originally very frightened, but in the past few days, the Ming army was trapped in an extremely unfavorable terrain, and could not break through, but the loss was not small, the fear of the Duan Zhichun army soldiers gradually went, and slowly became arrogant and arrogant, and the sound of Duan Zhichun army soldiers insulting and mocking continued to come from the city, which made the Ming soldiers angry, and wanted to pounce on the enemy army to pieces, but was blocked by the same terrain in front of him, and could not do it at all. Every time he sacrificed his life, he only received casualties of his fellow brothers.

Seeing that he could not break through, and that the army's strong attack was only a sacrifice in vain, Shi Liancheng ordered the army to suspend the attack. The fighting between the two sides was suspended, and the two sides entered a state of quiet confrontation, but the sound of Duan Zhichun's soldiers laughing and insulting continued to be heard on the city wall. The soldiers of the Ming army were holding their breath and wanted to fight the enemy desperately, but without the general's order, they could only stay in the camp. Time passes slowly under such circumstances.

The sight turns to the capital city of Bagan, the city of Bagan. The situation in Bagan is somewhat similar to that of Dali, where the name of the country is the same as the name of the capital. Bagan City is now Bagan in north-central Myanmar, located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, and is the most developed city in Myanmar in this era; The city is not small, and the most striking buildings are the many stupas and temples, many of which will be handed down millennia from now as relics of a world-famous civilization.

After years of warfare, Bagan has unified almost all of present-day Burma and most of Thailand, and has recently marched north in an attempt to annex the southern part of Dali. The whole country was inexplicably excited, and when the army set out for the day, thousands of people in Bagan saw off their warriors. After that, the Bagan army was like a bamboo, and successively captured many cities and counties in Dali, and the news spread to the country, and there were jubilant people everywhere, and people spontaneously came to bow down outside the palace all the time! The emperor's prestige can be said to have risen to its peak at this time! However, soon after, the bad news came, the 200,000 army was wiped out in an instant, and it was the Central Plains who attacked! The people of Bagan could not believe it, but felt as if they had fallen from heaven to hell all at once, and the emotions of fear, anger, and worry spread throughout Bagan, and all kinds of rumors spread all over the sky, and the streets and alleys that were originally full of joy were now crying from time to time.

The palace hall was in chaos, and the ministers of Bagan were arguing. One faction believes that the annihilation of the army has shaken the foundation of the country, and if the Ming army takes advantage of the situation to go south, the consequences will be unimaginable, so they advocate immediately sending envoys to sue for peace with the Ming people, and this faction is mainly civilian officials; However, the other group of people who are mainly military generals strongly advocate revenge in the north, they believe that if the Ming army relies on real ability, it is impossible to compete with the Bagan army, it must be a conspiracy, so their own side is sure to turn defeat into victory, and at the same time think that it is too much to send people to seek peace after losing a battle, which is detrimental to dignity and will make people despise, and advocates immediately mobilizing the whole country to go north for revenge, one to take revenge, and the other to take advantage of the situation to seize Dali.

After all, what happens next, let's see how it will be broken down next time.