Yuguan could not be taken for a long time, and Yelu Zongzhen fell into a very embarrassing situation.

The fact that the east and west capitals cannot be connected means that the gunpowder resources cannot be replenished.

And he couldn't send more troops to help Yuguan.

Because he can now hold Xijin Mansion, not only because of the thick walls of the city and artillery, but also because there are more people than the Song army.

Even these centaurs are very reluctant.

In the era of firearms, unless both sides have firearms, hot weapons fight cold weapons, and crowd tactics are useless.

This has been proven by the Qing army and the Eight-Nation Alliance.

Therefore, it is impossible for him to send a large group of men and horses to Yuguan, in that case, there will be a lack of soldiers and horses on the frontal battlefield, and he will have no way to stop Fan Zhongyan's attack.

And he didn't send troops, and the fleet of the Song army intercepted on Yuguan, and the soldiers, horses, and supplies of Liaoyang Mansion could not be transported.

Soldiers and horses can also make a detour to Xifengkou, what about the materials?

Countless carriages and horses were escorted from Xifengkou to the continuous mountain road, and a large number of materials were afraid to be piled up in the mountain road, and they could not pass an inch.

Therefore, in this situation, the battle between Liao and Song really became the Battle of Changping.

It's just that the difference between the Liao State is now the Zhao State, the Song State is the Qin State, and even the current Song State is far stronger than the Qin State at that time, I don't know how many times.

"So be it, I'm tired."

In the palace, Yelu Zongzhen rubbed his chest with his left hand, and waved his right hand, signaling them to retreat.

And they all bowed their hands and departed.

This time, they set a tone, that is, they will not take the initiative to talk to Song He, so they can only continue to be so hard.

Now that the Song people have cut off the Yuguan, the war cannot be delayed, so it is necessary to start a decisive battle with the Song people in the next few months, before the grain, grass and gunpowder of Xijin are exhausted.

For this reason, they must plan carefully, and must study a foolproof strategy to defeat the Song army, in order to protect the safety of his Daliao country.

After the meeting dispersed, Liu Liufu returned to his mansion.

He was a little depressed, he didn't expect that he would be dismissed so quickly, and he only put forward the correct opinion that was in line with the current situation.

Knowing that it is useless to fight with the Song army in Daliao, Yelu Zongzhen still insists on going his own way, so forget it, it's okay not to listen to his advice, so why do you want to pour your anger on him?

Liu Liufu was very unwilling, but there was nothing he could do but leave the palace and return to his home.

He asked his subordinates not to disturb, and when he arrived in the backyard, he sat in the pavilion and looked at the towering trees in the courtyard, and he didn't know what he was thinking in his head, which was quite annoying.

While he was in a state of silence, someone came in from outside.

"Didn't I let people in?"

Liu Liufu was furious.

But when he turned his head, he saw his fourth brother Liu Siduan.

"Fourth brother!"

Liu Liufu was surprised: "Why are you here?" ”

The six brothers of the Liu family, he mixed the best, and got the position of prime minister of Beifu.

You must know that the official system of the Liao State is two sets, divided into northern and southern officials, mainly managed by the northern and southern privy councils, and there are prime ministers in the north and south, and the privy envoys in the north and south are basically Khitan nobles.

Therefore, Liu Liufu's position is basically one of the highest-ranking officials that the Han people can do, unless people like Han Derang, Zhang Jian, etc. are Xu Tejin, otherwise they are already the apex of the Han people.

In addition to him, the other brothers of the Liu family are very mixed, basically all kinds of festival envoys, observation envoys and other idle positions given by the Liao State to the noble family.

Normally, they all have to serve in their respective state localities.

Liu Liufu's fourth brother Liu Siduan was the envoy of the Danzhou Festival, that is, the Miyun area of Beijing in later generations.

So being here is a strange thing in itself.

Liu Siduan came over and said: "Dading Mansion has a batch of soldiers and horses ordnance sent to Bei'anzhou, I will go to the border between Danzhou and Bei'an Prefecture to hand over these horses and horses. ”

Saying that, he sat down beside Liu Liufu and said, "But I just heard about it."

"Yes, I was dismissed from my official position by His Majesty."

Liu Liufu smiled bitterly.

Liu Siduan was silent for a while, and said, "Liulang, do you say that now my Da Liao can defeat the Song Kingdom?" ”

Liu Liufu looked at him in surprise and said, "What does the fourth brother mean?" ”

"People are panicking right now."

Liu Siduan sighed.

Liu Liufu fell silent.

After a while, he said: "The general trend of the country, it is still unknown who will kill the deer." ”

Liu Siduan said noncommittally: "Maybe." ”

"Did the fourth brother come to me to talk to me about these words?"

Liu Liufu said.

Liu Siduan hesitated for a moment, but still asked in a low voice: "I just want to ask you, do you want your third brother?" ”

Third brother?

Liu Liufu's face changed greatly, and he said, "Is he in Xijin? ”

"Nope."

Liu Siduan shook his head.

"And where is he?"

"Song Guo."

"He ran away to the Song Kingdom?"

Liu Liufu was surprised, and then his face changed slightly: "Did he ask you to come to me?" ”

Liu Siduan said: "I just sent someone to send a letter to my family, to ask how the situation is at home, and to ask if our brother is living well." ”

Liu Liufu was silent for a moment and said, "What happened to the third brother in the Song Kingdom?" ”

"It's okay, after he fled to the south, he also went to meet the prime minister of the Political Yuan, and was arranged to be an idle official in Taichang Temple."

Liu Siduan replied: "The heir he had with his concubine also landed safely and was named Sijia." ”

Liu Liufu smiled bitterly and said, "Princess Tongchang is furious and is looking for him everywhere." ”

He said and said: "It's also good, at least our Changping Liu family still has descendants in the Song Kingdom, if the Liao State is defeated, it is better than the decline of the Liu family." ”

Liu Siduan said silently: "Sixth brother, do you really want to follow the Liao Kingdom all the time?" Everyone can see the current situation, the rise of the Song Kingdom is unstoppable, and I, the Liu family, may also make a decision early. ”

Liu Liufu frowned, instinctively wanting to scold, but when the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back, and just said, "What does the fourth brother mean?" ”

"What is Your Majesty's thoughts now? Are you going to make peace, or do you want to keep fighting? ”

Liu Siduan asked.

Liu Liufu's brows furrowed even deeper, their Liu family is one of the four major families of Yan, the Changping Liu family, and has been working for the Liao State since the Later Jin Dynasty for nearly a hundred years.

Obviously, Liu Siduan means that maybe he can take this opportunity to change the court.

He originally wanted to say something, but after thinking about it, he felt that maybe this didn't seem to be a bad thing, at least the interests of the family could be preserved.

In fact, among the four major families, the Yutian Han family was the first to develop. Han Derang not only became the prime minister with the highest political status in Liao and the king of Qi, but also was given the surname Yelu Longyun, which was included in the imperial register, becoming the first Han to become the Khitan royal nobles of Liao.

The Changping Liu family is famous for its literature, mostly from the imperial examination, the official to the festival envoy or the observer envoy, etc., among which Liu Liufu's father Liu Shenxing served as the prime minister of the Northern Mansion, and was deeply respected by the Liao Shengzong Yelu Longxu.

Therefore, in the Liao period, the Yutian Han family was the leader, followed by the Changping Liu family, and the Yilu Ma family and the Lulong Zhao family were the last. In history, during the Jin and Yuan dynasties, the status of the four major families was more entrenched, and they were all the sons of powerful people in the north for generations.

This has nothing to do with the fact that their family has talents from generation to generation, it is completely because of the beginning of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the founding of the Later Jin Dynasty followed the Later Jin Dynasty, Shi Jingjiao became the emperor, and the sixteen states of Yanyun followed the Liao State, and later the Jin State surrendered to the Jin State when it rose, and the Meng Yuan surrendered to the Meng Yuan when it rose, and never thought of being loyal to the monarch and patriotic.

If it was when the Liao State was strong in the past, Liu Liufu would definitely scold Liu Siduan, because it was likely to bring disaster to the family. But now that the rivers of the Liao State are declining and the Song State is rising, it may not be impossible to change the court.

After all, whoever wins, they will help whoever wins, which is an unchanging truth since ancient times.

Thinking of this, Liu Liufu pondered for a moment before he whispered: "Your Majesty follows the ancestral teachings, and you can't bow down to the enemy. ”

"Oh."

Liu Si was stunned, and then asked again: "Then Your Majesty is planning?" ”

"When the time is ripe, Your Majesty should lure the enemy deep and fight to the death with the Song army."

Liu Liufu said softly.

"Your Majesty is really extraordinary, I think my Daliao can win a hundred battles."

Liu Siduan said a word, and then he and Liu Liufu glanced at each other, and the two brothers suddenly laughed.

Now that the tree is crumbling, maybe it's time for another one.

Soon, more than ten days later, the Song army camp tent.

It's already early November, and the weather is getting colder, and it doesn't take long after the heavy rain to start blowing a colder north wind.

In the past, it sometimes snowed heavily at this time of year, but in fact, the northeast region was already covered by heavy snow at this time, and if it weren't for the Mangmang Mountains blocking the cold wind in the north, perhaps the same would have been true for Youyan at this time.

The snow has not fallen, but everything is silent. The vast expanse of the wilderness was brown and yellow, and the Song army around the city of Liangxiang had become more and more excessive, directly surrounding the entire city.

Fan Zhongyan inspected several camps early in the morning, and saw that the soldiers were constantly digging to Liangxiang City like a group of gophers according to his instructions, so he returned to his commander's tent with satisfaction.

After all, civil engineering is a manual work, and a Song soldier can't dig much soil in a day, not to mention that they have to face the artillery harassment of the Liao army, so the speed of advance is not fast, but it is also not slow.

According to the current speed, Fan Zhongyan estimated that in another seven or eight days, he would be able to dig the trench less than a kilometer away from Liangxiang City, and then he would be able to assemble artillery in the trench, and then set up cannons in the trench to bombard the gates of Liangxiang City.

"Xianggong."

After Wei Huanzhi, the transfer envoy of Hebei Road, followed Fan Zhongyan to inspect the camp, returned to the camp tent, and said to Fan Zhongyan: "Our progress is still very fast, I believe that we will be able to capture Liangxiang in a few days." ”

"Hmm."

Fan Zhongyan nodded and said, "It should be enough in seven or eight days." ”

Wei Huanzhi smiled bitterly: "I just feel that this style of play is too slow, I'm afraid it will take us almost a month to fight a good township, and there will be so many cities after that, I'm afraid it will take a few years to fight." ”

"There is no way, if you want to reduce casualties, you can only advance steadily, and this is also the best way to destroy the Liao State."

Fan Zhongyan said.

They had also tried to sneak artillery in front of the battle in the middle of the night to attack the city.

However, the bombardment of the third watch in the middle of the night, not to mention the accurate breaking of the city gate, even the number of cannonballs that fell on the city wall was only a handful.

Although the artillery of the Song army has always been much stronger than that of the Liao army, without night vision, it is almost impossible to aim, and it is just a blind fight, scaring and scaring the Liao army.

And once it was daylight, the artillery on the city of Liangxiang would counterattack them. With a certain range advantage, the Song army did not dare to attack under artillery fire.

Therefore, in order to truly reduce casualties and break the city gate, it is necessary to excavate step by step, slow work and meticulous work, and there is no way to do it.

"Xianggong, good news."

Han Fang, the commander of the Imperial History Division of Hebei Road, walked in, holding a stack of official documents and said with a smile: "The news from Nigukou is the reward of Di Xianggong." ”

Di Qing is also a privy deputy envoy now, because the practice of the Great Song Dynasty is that both the privy envoy and the privy deputy envoy have the title of cardinal minister and deputy privy minister, so now you can say Di Xianggong to Di Qing.

"Oh?"

Hearing the news that it was Di Qing, Fan Zhongyan hurriedly asked, "What is the happy event of Hanchen?" ”

Han Fang put the official document on Fan Zhongyan's table and said: "Di Xiang cut off the Yuguan Pass, so that nearly 100,000 Liao troops could not pass, and a large number of Liao baggage, grain, grass, and gunpowder were piled up outside the pass. ”

"Thick Thick Thick"

Fan Zhongyan let out a hearty smile, took the official document and glanced at it, nodded with satisfaction: "It seems that we don't have to wait for several years, at most next year we will be able to let the Liao State defeat Yanyun and escape outside the pass." ”

Wei Huanzhi said with a smile: "If Xianggong takes advantage of the victory to pursue, won't he be able to destroy the Liao Kingdom?" ”

Fan Zhongyan's face changed slightly, and he didn't pay attention to his words.

Seeing Fan Zhongyan's appearance, Wei Huanzhi suddenly realized that he had said the wrong thing.

The main reason is that the Song army was submissive in the past, but now it is suddenly so strong that they are a little unaccustomed to it.

For a while, such a big thing was said.

But he forgot that Fan Zhongyan was already a very popular minister, serving as the chief assistant of the Constitutional Yuan.

At the same time, after this battle is over, it is definitely very possible to recover Yanyun.

If the Liao State is destroyed again, what reward should His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty give him?

The Lord of high merit is bound to cause trouble.

So Wei Huanzhi hurriedly wanted to make up for it, so he said: "Of course, now that the Liao State is strong, it will not happen overnight if you want to perish. ”

"Hmm."

Fan Zhongyan softened his tone and nodded slightly.

At this moment, a herald from outside hurriedly came in and said, "Report, the angel has arrived outside the door." ”

"Oh? Coming so soon? ”

Fan Zhongyan had already heard the imperial court messenger Pegasus come over and tell him that he would send Qin to send guards.

It's just that it stands to reason that Qin Cha only set off a few days ago, but he didn't expect it to come so quickly.

He hurriedly got up, tidied up his clothes a little, and then got out of the tent and led some civil officials and military generals from Hebei Road out to greet him.

By the time he reached the outside of the camp, he had already seen the arrival of the Chincha guard.

The person who came is none other than Wang Su, the doctor of the Left Counsellor, who is currently the second-in-command of the Counsellor and the main force of the reformers.

After Wang Su got out of the carriage, he saw Fan Zhongyan, and saluted him first: "Xia Guan has seen Fan Xianggong. ”

"Hmm."

Fan Zhongyan nodded slightly.

Then Wang Sucai took out Zhao Zhen's edict and read it.

Fan Zhongyan bowed his hand and maintained this posture during Wang Su's reading of the edict.

The content of the edict is actually very simple, that is, to encourage Fan Zhongyan and encourage him to continue to work hard and strive to defeat the Liao State as soon as possible.

The edict was read out in front of the camp, and many soldiers around watched it, which can be said to be very high-profile.

After the edict was read, Fan Zhongyan took the edict and said: "Thank you, Your Majesty, with the emperor's grace, the minister will never give up." ”

"Fan Xianggong, Your Majesty and the Prefect have high hopes for you, and let them not be disappointed."

Wang Su handed the edict to Fan Zhongyan.

"That's nature."

Fan Zhongyan responded, and then said, "Angel, please enter the camp." ”

Immediately, the Chin Guard entered the camp.

(End of chapter)