Yan Yun, just when the Great Song Dynasty was in the midst of high-level political changes, the war in the Northeast also entered a white heat.

Di Qing, the deputy envoy of the Great Song Dynasty and the chief of the navy, led the army like a sharp knife into the hinterland of the Liao State, cutting off the center of the Liao State.

In just two days, the Song army fought five consecutive battles and repelled the Liao army that tried to recapture Yuguan.

Gaining a foothold in Yuguan, Di Qing brought a large amount of artillery and ammunition from the ship, and blocked Yuguan and the Yushui coast, so that not a single cavalry of the Liao people could pass.

In this case, the news quickly reached the ears of Yelu Zongzhen, the emperor of Liao.

In mid-October, Yeluzong was really confronting the Song army, and although the two sides had not yet officially started a large-scale battle, the scouts on both sides had already exchanged hands early.

But it's a pity that it's basically the Song army that is pressing the Liao army.

After all, the land of Youyan belongs to a part of the North China Plain, and a large area is a vast plain area, and when the scouts on both sides saw it from afar, the Song army directly began to raise their guns and shoot.

From the Liao army charging a hundred paces away to rushing into the face of the Song army, most of the soldiers have been shot dead. Even close-quarters combat doesn't take advantage of it - they still have short guns and bayonets, so what else can they do with this reconnaissance mission?

I can't do it at all.

Therefore, the scouts of the Liao army could not even appear in the field, once the two sides met in the field, it was basically a situation where the scouts of the Song army chased the scouts of the Liao army and killed, which was simply unimaginable before.

Unless the main force of the Liao army comes out, but in this case, the main force of the Song army will definitely come over.

Judging from the current situation, a field battle with the Song army directly facing the gong and the drum is something that the Liao people do not dare to try easily for the time being, which has caused the outer reconnaissance line to shrink all the time.

In the end, the Song army even went so far that it had compressed the entire reconnaissance line into the city, and the scouts in the city couldn't get out, and they would be shot when they went out.

If it weren't for the artillery in the city, the Song army would not dare to get too close, and I am afraid that the Liao army would have been wiped out long ago.

It's just that if this continues, there will be big problems for the Liao army.

Morale was low and the morale of the army was weakened. In addition, if the Song army surrounded the city and cut off the grain route, even if the city had enough food, it could be surrounded for three years and five years, then the Liao State would probably collapse on all fronts.

At this moment, in the palace of Xijin Mansion, there are many officials below.

Yelu Zongzhen walked around the hall with his hands behind his back and a very ugly face.

He found that he seemed to have underestimated the combat effectiveness of the Song army from the beginning, and in the past, the Song army used grenades at most.

But now there are more advanced weapons.

And it is not a firearm that appeared during the war with the Western Xia.

In the battle of Qingtang in the Western Xia, muskets appeared, and Yelu Zongzhen obtained some muskets through special channels.

The craftsmen of the Liao State researched and imitated a lot, and restored the firearms of the Song Kingdom one by one.

They found that although the muskets were capable of long-range fire, they were ridiculously poor in terms of rate of fire and accuracy.

To complete the fire coverage, a large number of gunners need to be assembled and arranged in a combined formation, and once the cavalry rushes into the formation from the rear or both flanks, it will be completely finished.

At the beginning, the Tangut people were defeated by the Song army's muskets, because the Song army attacked from the rear at that time, and the Weiyuan artillery, that is, the small steel cannon bombarded the rear phalanx of the Tangut people, which led to a large number of war horses out of control and chaos in the rear formation, so that the army was defeated.

In fact, after Li Yuanhao's statistics, there were very few Western Xia cavalry who were really killed by guns, and most of them were either thrown down by frightened horses and trampled to death, or were killed by artillery.

Therefore, according to these materials, Yelu Zongzhen believes that although muskets are indeed powerful in field battles, and their Liao country is limited by materials, and it is difficult to imitate them on a large scale without steel, those muskets are not completely able to suppress the Liao cavalry.

As long as the large army feigned an attack and the two flanks made a detour to raid, the Liao army could kill the Song people's musket team without leaving a piece of armor.

However, he thought so, but the reality was cruel.

In the largest conflict between Song and Liao recently, a stormtroop composed of more than 800 Liao cavalry scouts encountered more than 200 Song troops in the field, and they were defeated by the rain of bullets and bullets, and suffered heavy casualties, with a very large proportion of casualties.

Even if these Liao cavalry had cleverly chosen to bypass from both flanks, even if they were close, they actually had short-barreled firearms, which were specifically aimed at close-range attacks.

Basically, when more than 800 people approached the side, there were still dozens of people left.

This made Yelu Zongzhen realize that either Li Yuanhao deceived him, and Li Yuanhao deliberately reduced the proportion of musket casualties. Either the firearms of the Song people are updated and iterated again, and the muskets are more powerful than before.

And considering that Li Yuanhao's actions were harmful to others, and would only make Liaoxia deviate from Germany and finally be annexed by the Great Song Dynasty, Yelu Zongzhen thought that the latter was the most likely.

"Alas"

Yelu Zongzhen sighed and said, "I never expected that the firearms of the Song people would become more and more powerful. In the past, their muskets were slow to fire and had poor accuracy, so they may not have no way to deal with them, but now."

"Your Majesty doesn't need to panic, this time it's just their carelessness, if we have more people and attack faster from the side, maybe they won't have time to react at all."

"yes, it's just a few hundred people now. This kind of musket may only have such an effect, but if tens of thousands of people rush forward, and the people in front of them rush forward with shields and rely on human lives to rush closer, they will not be able to fight them to the death. ”

"Didn't you try to hold a shield on a horse? Even if the Song people's muskets could not penetrate the heavy iron shield, the terrifying momentum could completely push people off their horses. Even if the equestrian skills are superb, it is useless, where can people be so powerful? ”

"Cover your upper body with a short round shield, and then re-armor may do. As long as the people in front resist the attack, the flanks and the front army rush and get close to the front, are they still afraid of their Song army, which can only fight from a distance? ”

There was a lot of discussion below, and each came up with their own solutions.

Not to mention, after brainstorming, they really came up with a feasible strategy, the only drawback is that it costs a bit of the lives of the soldiers in the front row.

"Maybe it works, but that's not what worries me the most."

At this moment, Zhang Jian suddenly said.

Yelu Zong was really busy asking, "What is Father Xiang worried about?" ”

"What worries me is that the firearms of the Song people are changing with each passing day, and new weapons are coming out all the time."

Zhang Jian said: "If they continue like this, I'm afraid they will be able to make the kind of musket that can shoot continuously, like a repeater." ”

He looked sad and shook his head slightly bitterly. It's not that he's a prophet, it's that that's how the longbow developed.

Originally, the longbow could only be fired one by one, just like the longbow.

Qin's crossbow is unparalleled in the world, sweeping across the six countries, and only needs to be able to load, unload, and launch to cover the firepower, making up for the lack of an elite archer who needs to train for a long time.

After that, the Lianzhu crossbow slowly appeared, although the long crossbow was no matter how it developed, it was still inferior to the bow and arrow in range, and the bow and arrow could not be completely eliminated.

But firearms are different today.

It has a longer range than a crossbow, is more powerful than a crossbow, and has a faster rate of fire than a crossbow.

It can also be like a crossbow and does not require too long to train.

It can be said that it combines all the advantages of a crossbow and all the advantages of a bow, and it is already a king-level existence among long-range weapons.

Perhaps the only drawback today is that it can't be fired in bursts, and you need to reload it once with one shot.

But even so, it was able to eliminate the traditional bow and crossbow, and once the Song State solved the problem of continuous fire, I am afraid that artillery would not be able to prevent the Song State from completely rising and sweeping away the entire East.

So Zhang Jian was distressed.

He found that he also grossly underestimated the speed of the Song Kingdom's development.

This is an exaggeration.

There is still a way to crack the musket of a few years ago.

Now muskets can really only be filled with lives, not to mention that people not only have muskets, but also artillery, grenades, and so on.

The probability of taking your life to fill in the victory is also very small, and how many elites of the Liao army can send it like this?

"No matter what, we have to decide to fight to the death with Song Guo."

Yelu Zongzhen clenched his fists and said in a deep voice: "If we don't fight again, they will besiege the city step by step, and once the city is besieged, we really have only one way to die." ”

They originally wanted to lure the Song army to their territory to fight, and use the advantages of artillery and terrain to defeat the Song Dynasty.

But now it is found that their little advantage has been made up by the muskets of the Song army, and the gap between the two sides is getting bigger and bigger, and it is impossible to restore the former status of the Liao State.

But what to do?

They lost the battle at the beginning, and if they didn't continue to fight, then in a few years, they would not even have the ability to fight, and they could only wait for the destruction of the country.

So at this time, it is still the same sentence - it is difficult to ride a tiger.

"Your Majesty, give the order."

Xiao Ying and the others stood up one after another and bowed to Yelu Zongzhen.

"Well, let's discuss it, we must find a time to sneak attack the Song army, preferably at night."

Yelu Zongzhen returned to his desk and looked at the map of the situation around Youyan.

At this moment, the Song army and the Liao army were at odds, and the Liao army was mainly concentrated in the surrounding cities centered on Xijin Prefecture, that is, the later Beijing City.

The Song army was infiltrating, and the main army had already surrounded the Liao army's forward fortress, Chengchiliang Township, which was almost an area between Fangshan District and Daxing District in Beijing in later generations.

Their next step is likely to be to continue deep into the Yuhe River and Wanping, that is, the Fengtai District and the South Fourth Ring Road of Beijing in later history, cutting the connection between Liangxiang and the north, so as to besiege the city.

Yelu Zongzhen groaned and decided to arrange the surrounding Song army, although due to the lack of daytime reconnaissance, they did not know what the situation was over there, but they themselves could also use the night to sneak in the past to investigate.

The place is so big, can the Song army arrange sentries for every inch of land?

That's not realistic.

"Xiao Xiaoyou, you send."

Just when Yelu Zongzhen was preparing to ask Xiao Xiaoyou to send a death squad to investigate outside the Song camp tonight.

Suddenly, a guard outside came in and knelt down on one knee and said, "Report, Yuguan is urgent!" ”

"Yuguan?"

Yelu Zongzhen was stunned for a moment, and then said, "Let people in." ”

Zhang Jian frowned below, he felt that something bad had happened.

A moment later, the messenger hurriedly came in and said anxiously: "Report, Your Majesty, the Song people sent a large fleet to raid Yuguan, and now occupy the pass, cutting off the rear troops of our army. ”

"What?"

Yelu Zongzhen suddenly stood up from his seat again, his eyes revealing a look of horror.

Yuguan is not only the connecting passage between Nanjing and Tokyo in the Liao Kingdom, but also the only way for his main force at present.

Although nearly half of his main force had already arrived due to the advance arrangement, the Tokyo side was still rushing to this side one after another.

In addition, there are a large number of materials, grain, grass, and equipment.

You must know that the current gunpowder production base of Liaoguo is in Liaoyang Prefecture, Tokyo, not that Yelu Zong is really unwilling to move to Zhongjing, but because of geographical factors.

Liao does not produce sulfur, their main source of sulfur is imported from Japan, and the nearest point of sea transportation is in Liaoyang, and other places such as Xijin, East China Sea and other places are very far away, which will greatly increase the cost of transportation.

Therefore, the gunpowder production area of Liao can only be placed in Liaoyang, which is an inevitable matter caused by geography and has nothing to do with anything else.

Once Yuguan is cut off, it will not only be a matter of soldiers and horses, their firearms and materials will be cut off, as long as the Song army besieges the city for more than three months, what will happen at that time, Yelu Zongzhen can think of it with his toes.

Therefore, Yuguan can be said to be a life transportation line.

"Yuguan must not be cut off, and Yuguan must be taken back immediately!"

Yelu Zong really gritted his teeth and said.

Then he asked the messenger: "How many enemies are there?" ”

"About 10,000."

"Who will the Lord be?"

"The flag has the word Di written on it."

"It's Di Qing!"

Yelu Zongzhen said coldly.

This general, who has recently gained fame in the Song Kingdom, seems to be only faintly ranked below Fan Zhongyan and Zhang Kang in terms of military exploits and strength.

I'm afraid this person is not easy to deal with!

"The minister is willing to lead the troops immediately, kill Ben Yuguan, and take the head of Di Qing!"

Xiao Xiaomu, the privy envoy of the Northern Court, said immediately.

"Okay, let you lead 10,000 troops, and then mobilize the local and Tokyo troops who have not yet come over, and jointly encircle and suppress."

Yelu Zongzhen said immediately.

It's not that he's stingy and only gives this little bit of troops, but now he can't fight back with a large force.

Once he retreated, the Song army was pressing forward step by step, and Yan Yun would give up.

Yanyun is a very strategic place for the Han people, and it is also for the ethnic minorities in the north.

Out of Yuguan and Xifengkou, it is the Liaoguo Tokyo. Out of Juyong Pass and Bauhinia Pass, it is the Zhongjing of Liaoguo. Out of the Pingxing Pass, Yanmen Pass, is the Xijing of Liaoguo.

Therefore, the loss of Yanyun, with the strength of the Song State now, then the Liao State will quickly lose strategic points, so as to attack and defend the Yi type, from the original Liao attack on Song Shou's position, suddenly become Song attack on Liao.

Under such circumstances, how could Yelu Sect not be in a hurry?

However, fortunately, although he did not give many soldiers, there were still some soldiers and horses in the rear who had not yet arrived, and with the soldiers and horses deployed near Pingzhou, it should not be a big problem to gather 50,000 or 60,000 people.

Even if Di Qing has more than 10,000 men and horses and artillery, he still has a large number of firearms in the rear that have not yet been transported, maybe it is not that there is no chance to destroy the other party.

(End of chapter)