In the early morning of early spring, Zhao Bufan said goodbye to Zhu Lian, refused Hu Sanniang and Fang Baihua to follow, and set out on the journey alone bathed in the morning glow.

All that accompanied him was a cold iron spear, a gorgeous sword, a double dragon bow, a pot of iron arrows, a white tiger swallowing cloud armor, a royal dragon robe, a large bag of maps and intelligence, and a BMW that he was reluctant to ride on weekdays.

The drums of war for the Northern Expedition followed.

In just ten days......

Zong Ze, the commander of the Western Route Army, led 70,000 elite soldiers, and gathered with the northern border army, box soldiers, and township soldiers of 80,000, a total of 150,000 troops marched north from Daizhou Yanmen Pass on Hedong Road, and the troops attacked Liao in three ways, and the current head of the Zhe family, Zhe Keqiu, led 50,000 people as the left flank to attack Shenwu County, Shuozhou, Liao, and Yang Weizhong, a famous general of the Western Army, led 50,000 troops to the right wing, and directly took the strategic place of Mayi in Shuozhou, while Zong Ze led 50,000 people as the Chinese army and attacked Shanyang, the seat of Shuozhou.

Liu Yanqing, the commander of the Middle Route Army, led 40,000 elite soldiers, 60,000 soldiers and horses from various departments, a total of 100,000 people marched north from the Changshan Pass of Zhending Mansion on the West Road of Hebei, and took the famous general Wang Yu of the Western Army to lead 40,000 troops as the left flank to attack Lingqiu County in Ulzhou, Liao State, and led 60,000 soldiers and horses as the right flank to attack Feihu County in Ulzhou.

Because of the loss of the earlier strategic deployment map, the Liao State had long been prepared for the direction of the Great Song Dynasty's troops, and Yelu Chun, the king of the Qin and Jin dynasties who stayed in Nanjing, was even more in full command of the war with Yelu Dashi, who was familiar with the Great Song Dynasty, which directly led to the war falling into a state of anxiety at the beginning.

As the commander of the Northern Expedition, Zhao Bufan personally led the Eastern Route Army to be taken care of by Yelu Dashi, which can be called difficult.

At the beginning, Tong Guan colluded with the Liao State for his own selfish interests, resulting in the loss of Yijin Pass, Waqiao Pass and Sikou Pass, which are extremely important in the strategic position of northern Xinjiang, although Zhao Bufan later tried his best to recapture Sikou Pass, but Yijin Pass and Waqiao Pass were still in the hands of the Liao people, so they also specially built the North Wolf Village to contain the two passes.

Now these two lost dangerous passes have become a huge obstacle to the Northern Expedition of the Eastern Route Army, which can be called endless troubles, if it is forcibly attacked, the loss is unimaginable, and it may not be able to be attacked, if it is ignored, then the defenders of these two passes can enter the Great Song Dynasty at any time to wreak havoc, and even cut off the retreat of the Eastern Route Army.

Therefore, although the Eastern Route Army had nearly 200,000 people, there were nearly 100,000 troops who did not even dare to move.

These 100,000 people were led by Li Miao, the commander of the soldiers and horses of the Hebei East Road, and Zhai Jin, the deputy commander, and were stationed outside the south gate of Yijin Pass and Waqiao Pass, without any way at all, while Zhao Bufan led the Liangshan Army, the Water Margin Army and some of the requisitioned Western troops into the Liao border from the Sikou Pass, and strongly attacked Yongqing County, which was dozens of miles north of the two passes.

Zhao Bufan is very clear that as long as Yongqing County is defeated, then the back road of the Liao army in Yijin Pass and Waqiao Pass will be cut off, and the defenders of the two passes will become a lone army, completely in a desperate situation, and at that time there is no need to attack at all to force the other party to retreat, and Yelu Dashi obviously thought of this, not only stationed 20,000 elite soldiers in Yongqing, but also set up three easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack villages on the way to the two passes in Yongqing, with 8,000 people per village, to contain at the dangerous intersection.

In this way, Yongqing County and Yijin Pass and Waqiao Pass were connected, forming a defense system with a certain depth, and all localities supported each other, defending against danger, forming a turtle shell, making it impossible for people to start.

Zhao Bufan had no choice but to let Zhai Xing, the general of the Western Army, command 60,000 people to attack Yongqing County, while he himself commanded the Liangshan Army, the Water Margin Army and logistics personnel stationed 20 miles south of Yongqing County, responsible for containing the three Dazhai of the Liao State.

This Zhai Xing is the elder brother of the fierce general Zhai Jin, brave and familiar with the art of war, and he is also a brave general who has fought in the Western Army for many years, and his military achievements are brilliant. This time, Zhao Bufan dispatched him to the Eastern Route Army, thinking that he and Zhai Jin understood each other, and cooperation with each other might bring some unexpected surprises.

But Zhao Bufan never expected that Zhai Xing had been attacking for seven days in a row, and no good news came.

On the eighth day, Zhao Bufan frowned and checked the topographic map in the military tent, but Zhu Wu and Gongsun Sheng, the gods and commanders, hurriedly walked into the tent.

Zhao Bufan was still staring at the topographic map on the table, and asked without raising his head, "How is the situation in Yongqing County?"

Zhu Wu said worriedly: "The casualties are very large, the 20,000 people of the Liao State are extremely stubborn, the general of the unified army, Wu Yanguang, has a moderate command and is extremely well prepared, Zhai Xingdu is almost fifty years old, and this morning he was so angry that he beheaded two commanders who were afraid to move forward, and personally put on armor and rushed to the city, but he was still repulsed." ”

"How many casualties are there so far?" Zhao Bufan asked.

Zhu Wu said heavily: "As of the time we left, more than 2,700 people were killed, more than 300 people were seriously injured, and the minor injuries were not counted!"

"What about Liao?"

"It's hard to know for sure, it's about half of us!"

Zhao Bufan took a deep breath, and finally raised his head, his eyes flashing: "Fighting a small county town, more than 3,000 people were killed and injured in seven days, but there was not even the slightest result, if this hit Nanjing City in the Liao Kingdom, would I be the only one left?"

Gongsun Sheng heard the anger in his tone, sighed and continued: "Little Wangye, it's not that General Zhai Xing doesn't do his best, it's that he really can't get in, the villain and Zhu Wu have seen it personally, General Zhai has really tried his best, and he has thought of all the ways he can think of." ”

Zhao Bufan closed his lips tightly, gritted his teeth and said: "Order the commander of the artillery battalion Ling Zhen, let him and Chen Da and Yang Chun immediately take the artillery battalion of the Liangshan Army to support Yongqing County, converge the siege troops of the Western Army, and smash it for me at all costs, don't be afraid of material loss, don't be afraid of spending money, just smash it all to the head of Yongqing County as much as you want, and tell Chai Jin at Sikou Pass that the dispatch of materials should be accelerated." ”

"Yes!"

Zhu Wu and Gongsun Sheng responded in unison, and just turned around, Zhao Bufan's decisive voice came from their ears.

"Tell Zhai Xing, don't care about the loss, now that so many people have died, what loss do you still care, what siege strategy do you talk about? People exchange one life for our two lives, is it cost-effective to fight like this? You tell him directly, let him immediately launch a rush attack on the four walls of Yongqing County, day and night, regardless of casualties, regardless of cost, regardless of loss, in short, I will just say one sentence now, fuck it, Yongqing City is not broken, he Zhai Xing will not have to come back!"

"Yes!"

The breath in Zhu Wu and Gongsun Sheng's hearts was also raised, their voices were obviously much louder, and they strode out of the tent.

Zhao Bufan watched them leave, and looked at the map on the table again with a blushing face.

After a while, Wen Huanzhang hurriedly walked into the camp again, and before the people arrived, he hurriedly said: "Little prince, you can't attack Yongqing so strongly, if you fight according to the order you just made, even if you defeat 20,000 people in Liao, but our casualties are less than 30,000 yuan, it's not worth it, it's better to think about it in the long run, we can take it slowly, step by step." ”

Zhao Bufan raised his head, looked at him deeply, and thought secretly in his heart.

Huanzhang is a pure scholar, stubborn and arrogant, if he is forced to force him, it will definitely backfire, it seems that he still has to explain it to him.

Thinking of this, he slowed down his face slightly, smiled and said, "Huan Zhang, I understand what you mean, it's nothing more than temporarily avoiding its front and finding another countermeasure, so that Zhai Xing can postpone the attack first and re-plan before speaking, isn't it?"

Wen Huanzhang was slightly stunned, and then nodded: "The little prince is right, as the saying goes, go to the army to plan, then to fight the enemy, then to attack the army, and the last is to attack the city." For now, we should try to break the defensive front of the Liao State first, and then try to take Yongqing. ”

"I understand all this!"

Zhao Bufan nodded lightly, frowned at Wen Huanzhang, and said earnestly: "But have you thought about it, what is our temporary retreat in the eyes of the Great Song Dynasty soldiers? That is, we still can't beat it, or we still have to avoid it, right?"

For more than 160 years, we will never be able to fight, we will never dare to confront the Liao State head-on, we can only rely on occasional tactics or solid defense to deal with it, we will never dare to fight the Liao State head-on, and our soldiers will always be cowardly in the face of the Liao soldiers!

I haven't seen the front-line soldiers now, I don't know their status, but look at Zhu Wu and Gongsun Sheng who came back from the front line, the two of them are also brave people, but when they go, they are still in good spirits, and after watching the siege for a long time, they are frosted eggplants, and the whole thing is wilted.

If the soldiers on the front line had the ambition to win, what would they be?

If Zhai Xing had the will to win on the front line, would the two of them come back with this emotion?

What is the best effort?

What's out of the question?

The two armies are at war, and you are telling me this in a life-and-death situation?

This is the attitude of admitting defeat before the fight is over!!

This Northern Expedition has just begun, and the fierce battle has not yet broken out?

Then what are we going to do on the Northern Expedition? Then we can only wait for the country to collapse and beg for mercy on our knees?

If this will spreads throughout the army, then we will never succeed, even if we use our soldiers like gods? If the soldiers do not have the belief that they will win, if they do not have enough faith, if they do not have a strong will, how can we win the final victory?

In this battle of Yongqing, we not only have to win, but more importantly, we must tell the whole army that we can defeat the Liao people, our Song people have always been very strong, the blood in our Song people's bones is also hot, our ancestors have also galloped the world, we are not cowards, not lambs slaughtered, we are a great race, a group full of tolerance, but never afraid of any oppression.

In this Northern Expedition, we not only want to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun for the Great Song Dynasty, but also to awaken the pride and dignity in the bones of the Song people, don't feel that you are inferior to the Liao people, and don't retreat when you see the Liao people, understand?"

These heartfelt words made Huanzhang's heart surge, and he couldn't come back to his senses for a long time.

When he understood what these words contained, he bowed deeply to Zhao Bufan.

"The student has been taught, although the student is a scholar, but he is also willing to die for the prince's grand wish, and sacrifice his life for my Great Song Dynasty, if our death can awaken the dignity of the Song people's bones, why should the student die!"

At this time, there was a sudden sound of rapid breathing outside the tent, and the person who came seemed to be very excited.

Zhao Bufan instantly stared intently.

"Who's out of the tent?"

After a while, Cai Jing's third son, Cai Zhen, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, slowly walked into the tent, and his emotions were extremely excited.

He bowed heavily, and before Zhao Bufan could react, he had already turned around and walked out of the tent again.

"What the little prince said just now should really let everyone in the court listen to it, I think this prison army is not necessary at all, the little prince can just rest assured of the Northern Expedition, and the prison army that came under the order is waiting for you to return victoriously in the Daimyo's mansion!!"