In the Nanjing Imperial Palace of Xijin Mansion, Yelu Zongzhen was in a very bad mood at this time.

Because the bad news comes one after another.

"Report, there are a large number of Song army scouts outside Xijin Mansion, and our army scouts have been driven away and cannot pass."

"Report, the Song army has surrounded Liangxiang, and the messengers in the city cannot enter or leave."

"Report, the Song army is bombarding Liangxiang City!"

Two or three days after the rain stopped, the Song army ushered in a big counterattack.

When it rained and it was dark, the combat effectiveness of the Song army's firearms dropped by a little bit, and the power was much smaller.

Just like in the Battle of Humen in 1841 AD, the British could only maintain the firing rate of firearms at 5 percent because of the rain, and the firing rate of artillery was roughly 6 percent due to the protective device, and the combat effectiveness was seriously reduced.

However, even so, the corrupt and incompetent Qing government was defeated by the British, and signed the humiliating Treaty of Piercing the Nose and the subsequent Treaty of Nanjing.

So although firearms were indeed affected by the rain, the formed firearms army was still very powerful.

Now the only problem is that the current Liao State is not so depressed as compared with the Qing government in 1841, at this time the Liao State is in a period of decline, but a large number of elites left by the Liao Shengzong are still there, unlike the Qing army at the end of the Qing Dynasty, which will be shattered at the first touch.

In this case, the Liao army fought to the death, and the Liao army also had artillery, which still caused a lot of trouble to the Song army when they fought at night, so that Fan Zhongyan was quite passively beaten.

But once the rain cleared, things reversed. The Liao army can't be said to be defeated, it was also beaten to the ground, scattered and fled, and ran back to the city.

The Song army began to press on a large scale, increasing layer by layer, and more than 100,000 troops began civil engineering operations around Liangxiang, Yuhe, and Wanping.

More than 100,000 Song troops seemed to have become the reincarnation of the innate civil and engineering holy body overnight, surrounding the surrounding area of Liangxiang, facing the Yuhe River and Wanping, three layers inside and three layers outside, and they almost dug the tunnel to the palace of Yelu Zongzhen.

But I have to admit that Song Jun's move is indeed very effective.

By digging trenches, it was effective to stop the Liao army's horse charge, limiting their mobility.

At the same time, it can also be used as a cover to reduce artillery casualties, so that when the Song army besieges Liangxiang, it can avoid the artillery bombardment on Liangxiang City.

"Your Majesty, it's not a way to go on like this."

In the palace, at this time, Yelu Zongzhen only had the imperial brother Yelu Chongyuan, Wu Wang Yelu Renxian, Han Wang Zhang Jian, Tongzhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi Liu Liufu, and Xiao Ying, the Xuanhui envoy of the Southern Courtyard, and others.

The rest of Xiao Hui, Xiao Xiaoyou, Xiao Xiaomu, Yelu Zongyuan, Yelu Begut, Yelu Tu Lukun and others were leading troops outside and scattered all over Xijin Mansion to deal with the Song army.

The current situation of Song Liao is naturally not so simple, in addition to a few county towns around Xijin Mansion, a large number of Song and Liao armies are still fighting and confronting in Luxian, Guoyin, Xianghe, Wuqing and other places.

However, the overall situation was still that the Song attacked and defended Liao, and after the rainy season, the Liao army had little resistance in field encounters. Cold weapons and lighters are worse than the Qing army fighting the British army, but the Qing army still has a little arquebus to use.

Therefore, now the Liao army can be said to be losing and retreating, and after many night operations were easily resolved by Fan Zhongyan, it was difficult to organize an effective offensive against the Song army, and it was quite helpless for a while.

Liu Liufu has been promoted to the prime minister of Beifu, and persuaded Yelu Zongzhen: "We have repeatedly attacked in the heavy rain season, but they have been blocked by Fan Zhongyan, and now the soldiers are coming to the city, and I am afraid that Liangxiang will not last long, and then the Song army will definitely encroach step by step, and continue to consume, which is not good for our army." ”

Yelu Zongzhen asked, "What does Liu Xiang think, what should I do?" ”

"Amount"

Liu Liufu hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Why don't you negotiate peace with Song Guo?" ”

Peace talks?

Hearing Liu Liufu's words, Yelu Zongzhen frowned.

He suffered two losses in this battle, one was that he didn't expect the Song Army's firearms to iterate so quickly, and the rate of fire and power were much worse before, but now they have improved so much.

The second is that I didn't expect Fan Zhongyan's turtle tactics to be so powerful with a musket, they were like facing a thorny turtle.

And this turtle is not an ordinary turtle, but a basalt turtle, not only can you fight him, but you can't beat it, you can't prevent being shot and stabbed, and even bite back and tear off a piece of meat.

How else can this be done?

But if you directly say that you can't beat it, it obviously hurts morale.

What's more, in the past, it was the Great Song Dynasty who took the initiative to ask for peace talks with them, and even last time, the two sides signed an equal treaty.

This time, he took the initiative to ask for peace talks when he was in an embarrassment, what if Song Guo made unreasonable demands?

And most importantly, Yelu Zongzhen did not feel that he had fallen into a desperate situation of inevitable defeat.

At present, the Liao State is in the process of general mobilization, in addition to the two or three hundred thousand horses in Nanjing, he has already subdued the northeastern tribes such as Bohai, Nuzhi, and Murowei in Tokyo.

The Mengwu tribes on the grasslands of the southern desert and the north of the desert have also been recruited a long time ago, and now they have all been ordered to send powerful warriors to follow the Liao people to fight.

If the whole country is mobilized, Yelu Zong is really confident that he will be able to get at least five or six hundred thousand horses out.

And the reason why he has this self-confidence is not only that the Liao State has gained a lot of benefits from trading with the Song people in the short seven or eight years, which has improved its national strength, but also because the tribes under the jurisdiction of the Liao State are nomadic or fishing and hunting peoples.

The characteristic of these peoples is that all people are soldiers.

If it is extreme, it is not impossible for the Liao State to have a population of more than 9 million, and it is not impossible to explode more than one million soldiers.

Therefore, Jerod did not feel that he was in a desperate situation.

As long as the King of Qi destroys Di Qing, allows the gunpowder, supplies, and reinforcements from Tokyo to arrive, and then adds the men and horses of the rest of the tribes, then everything will be fine. ’

Yeluzong really thought of this, so he scolded Liu Liufu and said, "What does Liu Xiang mean is that one million soldiers in the Great Liao cannot reach more than a hundred thousand horses in the Song Kingdom? What does Liu Xiang mean that I should take the initiative to bend the knee to Zhao Zhen for peace? Where is my face? What is the face of Da Liao? ”

"The minister has no such intention."

Liu Liufu was taken aback, and hurriedly said: "The minister also feels that now is not the time for a decisive battle with the Great Song Dynasty. ”

"Needless to say, let Liu Liufu be the envoy of the Changning Army!"

Yelu Zongzhen reprimanded angrily: "Such a cowardly person, can An be the prime minister of my Great Liaobei Mansion? If it weren't for your father's meritorious service in assisting the first emperor back then, you would have died a long time ago! ”

"Your Majesty."

Liu Liufu was shocked, he never expected Yelu Zongzhen to have such a big temper, and he actually stroked him directly.

"Humph!"

Yelu Sect really snorted coldly, and was about to let Liu Liufu go out.

It was Zhang Jian who said: "Your Majesty, at this time, it is time to employ people, although Liu Xiang's words are inappropriate, but he does not mean to, and please be magnanimous." ”

Hearing Zhang Jian's words, Yelu Zongzhen frowned slightly, Zhang Jian's words still had weight, after all, Yelu Zongzhen had always treated him like a father in history and obeyed him.

So after thinking about it for a while, Yelu Zongzhen didn't call anyone, but he didn't restore Liu Liufu's position, but said: "What does Father Xiang think, what should I do?" ”

"At this time, the battle with the Song State will probably become a battle like the Battle of Changping, it depends on whether Your Majesty intends to complete the battle in one battle, or choose to temporarily retreat and negotiate peace with the Song."

Zhang Jian analyzed: "It is not good for us to drag it down, the grain and grass in the rear come over a little, even if Xiao Xiaomu defeats Di Qing, the Song State will inevitably increase its troops one after another, and I don't know how many naval troops they have, so there are only two results, war or peace!" ”

This seems to be nonsense, but in fact, it is now from the strategic analysis to talk about the final outcome of this battle between them and the Great Song Dynasty, that is, whether to fight or to make peace, after all, whether in terms of equipment or tactical play, they have actually fallen behind.

After lacking the ability to fight in the field, then the Liao State must consider fighting to the death to the end, or negotiate peace with the Great Song Dynasty, otherwise if it continues to drag on, it will be a matter of inevitable defeat, and there is basically no possibility of victory.

Yelu Zongzhen naturally understood, so he asked, "In my father's opinion, if we fight, what are our chances of winning?" ”

"What does Your Majesty think?"

Zhang Jian asked rhetorically.

Yeluzong really thought for a while and said: "I still have a million troops, and when the soldiers and horses in the rear are ready, I will fight to the death with the Song State!" I don't believe it, if you gather all your troops and horses and launch a surprise attack at night, will the Song army really be able to resist it? ”

Zhang Jian smiled bitterly: "Let's not talk about the so many ditches dug in the three layers of Fan Zhongyanli, just saying that night combat is not good for the Song army, how can it not be a bad thing for my Great Liao?" ”

Why were wars fought in ancient times basically during the day, and very few battles at night?

Like the Battle of Changping, would it be better if Zhao Kuo chose to break through at night while the soldiers of the Qin State were sleeping?

If anyone has such doubts, they are very wrong.

Because in ancient times, night lighting basically relied on the moon or torches, and even if there was a moon and torches, the visibility was very low, and it was easy to hurt teammates when fighting at night, so the ancients tried to avoid night battles.

At the same time, it is not easy to command at night, and the slightest mistake in the army may become a mess, turning like a headless fly, and then the enemy will seize the opportunity to crush it in one fell swoop.

In addition, in ancient times, there was no positioning, there was no smart phone, and it was all up to you to find the direction, such as looking at the sun, moon or the Big Dipper.

But when the war is so tense and exciting, you may not notice these things if you are not careful.

Once a war starts, the scale of a few thousand people is fine, but if it is a war on the scale of tens of thousands of people, it is often a small group army of a few or dozens of people who cut each other.

The moon and the Big Dipper are not visible at night, and night blindness is a common problem in ancient times. If you accidentally run in the wrong place, or if you don't know the direction well, you can only rush hard, and there may be all kinds of messy oolong incidents.

Therefore, in ancient times, night battles were often avoided, and even when attacking the enemy camp at night, they often only sent a small force of troops, and even if they died, it would not hurt.

Including the Liao army that has attacked and harassed the Song camp these days, although the scale is very large, the number of troops dispatched is as high as more than 50,000 or 60,000. But in fact, the troops were scattered on the land of Youyan and fought, and when they really fought, hundreds or even dozens of people attacked and harassed the camps of the Song army.

Under such a premise, attacking the Song army, which had a large number of firearms at night and a large number of horse pits and trenches on the periphery, was actually not much less difficult to fight than during the day, and the probability of defeat might even be greater than that during the day.

So hearing Zhang Jian's words, Yelu Zongzhen was also silent for a while.

Why didn't he understand, if he continued to divide his troops and harass them like this, with Fan Zhongyan's defensive ability, how could he give them a chance?

Unless Fan Zhongyan is replaced.

Yelu Zongzhen suddenly turned his head and glanced around: "I heard that the Emperor of the Song State has always been afraid of foreign ministers leading troops, if we spread rumors that Fan Zhongyan will rebel and force him to be transferred, will this plan be successful?" ”

As long as Fan Zhongyan is replaced, then it is not good that the new generals will not adopt such turtle tactics.

As long as the Song army is no longer so exaggerated to build camps all the way and dig trenches all the way, even at night, the Liao army can raid all the way into the Song army camp, just like Cao Cao's surprise attack on the black nest at night.

"This plan may be a try, but the old minister thinks that it is unlikely."

Zhang Jian shook his head.

"Why?"

Yelu Zongzhen asked.

"Because the minister thinks that there are people behind Fan Zhongyan who are supporting."

"Who? Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty? ”

"It's not."

Zhang Jian looked at the outside of the hall with a faint gaze and said, "I'm afraid it's the governor of the Constitutional Yuan." ”

Yelu Zongzhen was silent for a moment.

In fact, he and Li Yuanhao only figured it out after the fact.

After all, as the monarch of the enemy country, they will definitely pay attention to the political situation of the Song State, so as to understand the situation and make corresponding judgments.

However, not long after Zhao Jun took the throne, he traveled all over the country, and the state affairs were basically run by Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng.

After the Song-Xia War and the Song-Liao War started one after another, Fan Zhongyan soared like a shining star, so bright that people couldn't take their eyes off it.

When the war ended, Fan Zhongyan took over the Qingli New Deal again, as if he was the leader of the reformers, but Zhao Jun hid behind the scenes.

In addition, Zhao Zhen has been purely engaged in scientific research over the years and has made many new inventions, in terms of folk prestige and fame, Zhao Zhen and Fan Zhongyan are obviously much more famous than Zhao Jun.

Therefore, in addition to Zhao Jun's highest status within the Constitutional Yuan, he was actually covered up a lot by Zhao Zhen and Fan Zhongyan outside.

If it weren't for his decisiveness, he made a big deal in dealing with the underworld forces, corrupt officials, generals, landlords and gentry, and killed people all over the place, I'm afraid that the people of the world might have known that someone was a prefect, but they didn't know who it was.

Only Yelu Zongzhen and Li Yuanhao have discovered the clues in recent years, and they understand that the changes of Zhao Zhen and Fan Zhongyan and even many prime ministers in the Constitutional Yuan are all done by one person behind the scenes and acting as a black hand.

If Zhao Jun fully supports Fan Zhongyan, with the political program that the Constitutional Yuan is saying now, and there has never been a situation where Zhao Zhen opposes the policies of the Constitutional Yuan, perhaps even if they use counter-tactics to make Zhao Zhen suspicious, as long as the Constitutional Yuan insists, Zhao Zhen may not necessarily replace Fan Zhongyan.

"Either way, let's give it a try."

Yelu Zongzhen sighed and said, "When the first emperor handed over the country to me, how strong was Da Liao at that time? Song Ren'an dares to tease my big Liao tiger beard? In just a few decades, although the Great Liao has not declined, the country's situation has been turned upside down, so what face do I have to meet the first emperor? ”

Saying that, he shook his head, closed his eyes and said, "Anyway, I won't take the initiative to ask for peace talks, and who knows what harsh conditions the Song people will put forward at that time?" They cut off the ten counties of Guanbei back then, and now it may be Xijin or Datong if it is not good. The sixteen states of Yanyun were won by the struggle of our ancestors, and I must not be taken away from my territory again! ”

"Alas"

Zhang Jian also sighed slightly, how could he not know that the current situation of the Liao Kingdom was difficult?

really fought with the Great Song Dynasty to the end, and the chances of victory were very slim.

But Yelu Zongzhen was also right.

In the past, the Liao State was like a wild wolf, constantly encroaching on the territory of the Great Song Dynasty.

But one day suddenly changed, and the Great Song Dynasty changed from the original lamb to a tiger, and began to encroach on the Liao State.

In such a situation, once Da Liao takes a step back, it is a step backwards.

First Zhuozhou was taken away, and then the borders were forced to open. Now that I want to talk about peace, I am afraid that only Youzhou or Yunzhou or even the entire land of Yanyun can satisfy the appetite of the Great Song Dynasty.

Don't say anything, it's obvious that the Liao State started the war first.

There is already an existential problem between the two countries themselves, and it is only a matter of time before there is such a war.

What's more, the Liao State did not take the initiative to attack the Song State, but attacked the allies of the Song State, and the Song State found an excuse to attack it.

Therefore, whether they take the initiative to attack or not, as long as people want to hit them, they will always find a reason.

Therefore, there are actually two choices left for Yelu Zongzhen, one is to admit cowardice and be forced to sign a treaty with the Great Song Dynasty to lose power and humiliate the country.

The second is to fight to the death, just like the battle of Lanzhou in the Song Kingdom, fighting for a glimmer of life.

As long as they can win, send the Great Song back, and let the Song people know that the Liao people can still defeat them, then the Song State will not take the initiative to invade again.

Then the Liao State will also be able to win a valuable period of development to see if it can continue to study gunpowder technology and improve to the power of firearms like the Song State.

"In that case, let's fight to the death."

Zhang Jian spat out a turbid breath and said softly: "Your Majesty, in the opinion of the ministers, you can't delay, it's best to fight quickly!" And don't think about another night attack, the best way is actually to lure the main force of the Song army to the field to set up an ambush, and use artillery to cover the surprise attack of our cavalry, as long as you enter the Song people's military formation, there is no possibility of victory! ”

"What do you think?"

Jeruzong really looked at the others.

Yelu Chongyuan said: "Brother Huang, I think what Taishi said is not unreasonable, you and I have both led troops to fight, and we naturally know how dangerous night battles are. It is fine to disperse dozens or hundreds of people on a small scale at a time, but once they are concentrated, they will be rushed by the enemy's artillery fire, and I am afraid that the troops will be defeated in an instant. ”

Xiao Ying also said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks this is indeed the case. During the day, we may be able to prepare a large number of iron shields in front of the battle, or roll out ironwood mantle carts to block the enemy's musket fire. As long as my army is close, the Song people are just lambs to the slaughter! ”

"That's it. When the rear army arrived, I withdrew the forces of Yuhe and Wanping and gathered them together to attract the Song army to invade Xijin Mansion. ”

Yelu Zongzhen thought about it and said: "As long as the Song army arrives and does not give them the opportunity to set up camp and dig a ditch, our army will immediately set up a position and fight to the death with the Song people, which is bound to make them pay a heavy price!" ”

"Maybe you can plan it out in detail then."

Zhang Jian said.

"Hmm"

Yelu Zongzhen nodded slightly.

It's strategic.

The specific tactical style of play still depends on the actual situation.

At this moment, a messenger suddenly came in in a hurry, crying and mourning: "Report, Your Majesty! Something big is wrong. ”

"What's so alarming?"

Yelu Zongzhen has been frightened by the bad news for the past few days, and his face is very ugly.

The messenger said: "Di Qing raided the camp of the king of Qi and captured the king of Qi alive. The king of Lanling County finally broke through the Yuguan Pass, released the flood and flooded the fleet of the Song people on the Yushui, and was about to cross the river to annihilate the Song army, when the Song army reinforcements arrived and cut off the Yushui again! ”

"What?"

Yelu Zongzhen felt that he couldn't spit out the breath in his chest at this time, and he couldn't swallow it, and after a few seconds, he spurted out a mouthful of blood.

"Poof!"

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"

Blood sprayed on the table, shocking the surrounding courtiers.

Only Yelu Zongzhen felt a little more comfortable after vomiting blood, supported the table with his right hand, and waved his left hand and said, "I'm fine." ”

Saying that, he looked at Zhang Jian, his eyes were already full of sorrow, and said with difficulty: "Father, I, what should I do!" ”

Zhang Jian let out a long sigh, and said with a sad face: "Perhaps, we can only fight the Song people as soon as possible." ”

(End of chapter)