Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

……

Chapter 224: The Great War

After leaving Weizhou, the army continued to march northward. Shi Congyun felt that Fu Yanqing told him the method of defeating the Khitan people back then.

I have to say that Wei Qing was indeed the beginning. Since then, many generals in the Central Plains have been repeating his tactics to deal with nomads.

The army went all the way north and soon entered the territory of Beizhou.

This time is different from going to Shanxi to fight. The road is easy to walk, and there are plains everywhere. The vast and flat North China Plain provides good road conditions for the army to march. Shi Congyun estimates that they will reach the front line in only ten days, which is comparable to that at the beginning. Going to fight in Shanxi is better than walking too much.

And in Beizhou, you can already see a lot of traces of war. Tall sentry towers are built on the avenue every once in a while, and there are local young and strong guards on them. If the Khitan people go south, they can see their traces from a distance. , Inform the folks and the people to escape quickly.

On the side of the road, from time to time, there are town soldiers organized by the local government. They all look at them curiously, these imperial troops from the south, and even talk to them if they are bold.

Their armor is only thin leather armor on the chest and abdomen, or it can't be called leather armor at all, that is, the sheepskin has holes pierced and hung on the shoulders with hemp rope. Everyone carries long and short weapons and a bow. The bow is mostly a hunting bow at home.

This phenomenon is rare in the south, because the south does not have to face the threat of nomads, while Hebei has been the front line against the nomads in the north since ancient times. Farming is only one of the tasks, and they still need to prepare for war all year round.

Shi Congyun stayed in the village at night and saw some burnt ruins at the entrance of the village. People in the village told him that they were left by the Khitan people when they went south last year.

Beizhou was the southernmost place where the Khitans went south last year, and there was a big battle with Zhao Kuangyin and the others, and the Khitans had no choice but to retreat.

The elders in the village told him that they had heard about the great battle, but they were all exaggerating. The Khitan's tens of thousands of troops were defeated by the 10 generals of the dynasty.

In fact, once the number of people increases, few people can see the exact number at a glance. Shi Congyun knows the inside story. He understands that the total strength of the two sides in the war is about [-]. .

By around May [-], the army had already approached Cangzhou.

A messenger from the rear came to report to him, saying that on May [-]th, Wu Yanzuo, the envoy of Xuanhui South Court, was staying in the capital. .

Shi Congyun reacted immediately after getting the news.

Shi Congyun immediately asked Luqiu Zhongqing beside him, "Where are we now?"

Luqiu Zhongqing took out the map from his cuff and looked at it for a while and said, "I've come to Beizhou, it should be east of Jizhou, about eighty miles away from Cangzhou."

Shi Congyun looked at the sky, and then asked the scouts beside him, "Where is the nearest village and town ahead?"

"Reporting to Commander, there is a village called Nanxiakou beside the road five or six miles ahead." The scout immediately agreed.

Shi Congyun beckoned for the messenger to come over, and then ordered: "Two orders, one is to stop the army from advancing and rest on the spot, and let the commanders of all armies send all the generals to wait for me at Nanxiakou in front.

Second, go north immediately and let Cangzhou send some guides who are familiar with the situation in the north. At least ten, come and go quickly. "

"No!" The messenger agreed, and immediately set off to deliver the order.

Shi Congyun approached Wang Zhong and said, "Let the gods and fires stop as well, and rest on the spot, and follow me to Xiakou."

"Okay!" Wang Zhong agreed, and immediately ordered everyone to stop, and then rode on horseback to Xiakou Village in the north with Shi Congyun.

When he arrived, the soldier had already taken a step ahead and borrowed the spacious yard of a fellow in the village to prepare fresh water for him to arrive.

After Shi Congyun went in, he took two ladles of water and passed the gourd ladle to Wang Zhong and the others behind, asking them to fetch water to drink one by one. These days are the scorching heat.

Soon the generals from various ministries arrived one after another, and Shi Congyun said to the restless fellow next to him: "Don't worry, old man, we will leave in a day, we won't take your things, and we won't harm you. We will pay you back when the time comes." .”

The owner of the tile-roofed house was skeptical, nodded repeatedly, and sent all the children and young people to relatives' homes, leaving only an old man in his fifties and sixties guarding here.

Shi Congyun didn't stop them, and let them go. After speaking, he sat under the eaves of the yard to enjoy the cool and think about things.

Afterwards, many generals came one after another, and everyone had to fetch water as soon as they arrived. The clear water in the half-sized tile tank in the yard was quickly drunk to the bottom, and the old man took out his pole and wooden bucket to fetch water for everyone.

Shi Congyun didn't say a word, he was still wandering in the sky, thinking about things, he was the youngest among all the people present except Fu Zhaoyuan, but they didn't dare to disturb him, but stayed in the yard outside to bask in the sun Fortunately, there is a jujube tree in the corner of the old man's yard, and everyone huddled under the shadow of the tree to enjoy the shade.

But the place is not big, and when Shi Yanchao goes to that stop, few people pass by.

When the old man came back, he saw them standing like that, so he even went to the house to bring out a stool for them to sit on.

But how could such a small stool stand up to a tall, burly man in the army wearing a suit of armor? Wang Zhong sat down and broke the small stool with a click.

Everyone looked at him one after another, Wang Zhong could only smile awkwardly: "I will pay, I will pay..."

This happened to startle Shi Congyun, he came back from his thoughts, saw everyone basking in the sun in the yard, he said puzzled: "Come up to enjoy the cool, why are you standing outside?"

Everyone looked at each other and even walked to the cool place under the eaves.

"Is everyone here?" Shi Congyun asked.

"Shao Ji hasn't come yet. His striker is the furthest away. It's more than 20 miles away. It will take a while." Wang Zhong rushed to speak.

Shi Congyun nodded, stood up and looked at the sun in the sky: "Okay, let me just say it, don't wait for him." Shi Congyun said and sat down, and everyone had subconsciously sat around him.

As soon as he opened his mouth, all the generals who were whispering just now fell silent. The small courtyard was indeed crowded with dozens of senior generals.

"The reason why I stopped was because I was about to reach Cangzhou, and I could reach Cangzhou another [-] miles to the north. To the north of Cangzhou is the Qianning Army stationed by the Liao Kingdom to guard against us." He had already studied it carefully through the Privy Council, and the side generals of the imperial court had bribed many spies from the Khitan side.

In fact, this is not difficult, because the Khitan is different from other nomadic clans. There are a large number of Han people living in the Liao Kingdom. Some of them are willing to help the court, thinking that the Great Zhou is the orthodox.

It is also easier to buy, because there is no moral burden, and you can tell yourself in your heart that I am not selling out the country by collecting money, but to help the Central Plains orthodoxy, and the Han people are orthodox, which is the best of both worlds.

In this case, it is actually much easier to obtain information about the Liao Kingdom.

Shi Congyun went on to say, "The Liao Kingdom is different from the places we fought before. Their main force is on the grasslands, and it is still in Shangjing, north of Youzhou. In the past, the movements of the Tang Kingdom in the south of the Yangtze River were slow, so they did not send troops quickly. The Liao Kingdom The place just wants to be fast but can't get up soon.

If they want to send the main army to the south, they must gather the army from the grassland, and then go south from the north of Youzhou. I have estimated that it will take at least 20 days to send the news back and forth, add the army, and then go south!

In this battle, what we are fighting is the price of soldiers and speed, and we are fighting for this month! "

Speaking of this, it happened that Shao Ji also rushed over, drank a big ladle of water, came in and stood aside.

In fact, before dispatching troops, Shi Congyun had already thought about how to fight this grand strategy. Combining the history of later generations he knew and the information provided by the North, he had already had an overall battle concept.

In history, Guo Rong attacked the Liao Kingdom and took three prefectures and seventeen counties, but the Liao Kingdom did not move, and the army did not go south to meet it.

Some people say that it is because the sleeping emperor of the Liao Kingdom is fatuous. Others say that the Liao Kingdom has been frightened by the Zhou army thousands of miles away. Six states give away and so on.

In fact, this problem is not a problem at all. If you know a little about geography, this problem will be obvious. It takes time to assemble the army, and it takes time even more to go south.

Shangjing of the Liao Kingdom is roughly located near the Bahrain Zuo Banner in Inner Mongolia, about [-] miles away from the front line of Cangzhou, and there is a mountain road over Yanshan Mountain in the middle, so how could it be possible to fly here.

The Liao State assembled heavy troops in the north of Youzhou to prepare to go south. As a result, the Zhou Dynasty suddenly withdrew its troops (Guo Rong was seriously ill), and the Liao State did not send troops to the south for thousands of miles, acquiescing to the result of the Zhou Dynasty occupying the three states.

The fact that the Liao Kingdom did not send troops after the retreat of the Zhou army probably felt that these three states were not important, that they were too far away from them, and there was no danger to defend them, more than 1000 miles away from Shangjing.But they still assembled a heavy army, indicating that they were ready to fight, that is, once Zhou Guo attacked the Youzhou army, they would go south.

It doesn't matter if Yimapingchuan is not easy to defend in the southern states, but Youzhou is important.

But Shi Congyun firmly grasped one point, that is, it would take about a month for the Liao Kingdom to assemble a large army to go south. In this month, they only had to face the local troops of the Liao Kingdom, and these local troops could never be the Great Zhou Opponent of the Central Guards.

"I call this a blitz.

The main force stops here to prevent the enemies in the north from discovering that our army is going north.

After that, I will divide the troops for you, and each will bring a thousand elite soldiers. You will quietly go north, and immediately go north when you reach Cangzhou. Everyone will fight separately, and fight as soon as you see the county.

Those fortified cities are reserved for the follow-up army, you must remember, don’t be afraid of war, the main force of Khitan is in Shangjing, more than 1000 miles away from here, and it will take at least 20 days to go south. The local soldiers are not our opponents.

The first 20 days of this battle must be fast and ruthless. There are many Han officials in the north. If they are willing to surrender, you will let him surrender, but after surrendering, you must take his soldiers away.

When the follow-up army goes north, we will join forces at Yijin Pass. "Shi Congyun said seriously, he tried to speak slowly and clearly, so that everyone could hear clearly and remember it in his heart.

The generals nodded, "Follow the order of the commander in chief!"

"Okay, let me order some generals, Shi Yanchao, Gao Huaide, Shao Ji, Murong Yanzhao, each of you will lead the elite cavalry of the first, second, third, and fourth armies of the left wing of the Longjie Army. Depart, go north and launch an attack immediately after reaching Cangzhou.

Shi Yanchao and Murong Yanzhao marched westward in a hurry, and attacked Yingzhou and Ningzhou within two days. If the attack was successful, they went north to attack Mozhou and Yijinguan.

Shao Ji and Gao Huaide attacked the Liaogan Ning army to the north, then to the north to attack Duliukou, then went west along the river to Yijin Pass, and then began to attack the key. "

Speaking of which, Shi Congyun turned his attention to Si Chao and Wang Huan, two naval generals, "Shao Ji's road is accessible from Cangzhou to Duliukou, and from Duliukou to Yijinguan, so when they went north, the navy sent 2000 people and [-] boats followed up to provide logistical support and coordinate operations.”

"The order of the last general!" Si Chao and Wang Huan agreed.

Shi Congyun nodded, his arrangement was actually selfish, on the surface he behaved impartially, no one was showing favoritism, and his father didn't take a second look.

But in fact, he arranged for his father to attack Ningzhou in the west, which was much safer than going north, and he was also afraid that his father would be fooled, so he asked him to attack him in the north and rushed straight to Youzhou.

"Wang Shenqi is the leader, and Dong Zunhui is the deputy. He will lead the first and second armies to follow up with five thousand infantry. If Shao Ji and Gao Huaide have difficulties in attacking the city, you will provide help. Shangjian City cannot be defeated for a while, let the follow-up infantry surround it, and the cavalry continue to fight forward."

"Promise!" Wang Shenqi and Dong Zunhui bowed their hands and accepted the order.

"Xiang Xun is the main force, Luo Yanhuan is the deputy, and leads the first and second armies of the two sides of the crane to follow up with five thousand infantry." Shi Congyun continued to order.

"Your order!" Xiang Xun and Luo Yanhuan cupped their hands.

Shi Congyun nodded, "Let me emphasize a little bit more. This time, we must fight quickly. We must try our best to take down all the states and counties in the south of Youzhou before the main force of the Liao Kingdom has time to go south. How to fight, you lead the army." Generals to decide.

I believe that you are all veterans with illustrious military exploits and know how to deal with it. Once this 20-day opportunity is missed and the Liao army goes south, we will not dare to divide our troops to fight so unscrupulously. "

"Don't worry, Marshal, you may not be able to deal with the local soldiers in some places, so you can take off this head." Dong Zunhui said swearingly, patting his chest, causing everyone to laugh.

"Your head is worthless, and it's useless for me to ask for it." Shi Congyun said, and then looked at Wang Zhong and Wang Quanbin, "You all lead the Shenhuo and the rest of the army to go with me."

The two hand over each other, a little disappointed.

Shi Congyun looked around the crowd, and his expression became serious: "The last point is also the most important point. After 20 days, no matter what the battle situation is or whether the progress is smooth, we must move closer to Yijin Pass and join my Chinese army. If there is any violation, No matter who it is, it will be done by military law!"

Seeing him suddenly serious, many generals nodded one after another.

"Twenty days later, the Liao army may also arrive. At that time, we will not be able to divide our troops. We must gather to go north to live and confront them at Yijin Pass, so as to ensure that the land that has been captured in the south will be broken if they are still scattered." Shi Explain from the cloud, let them understand the seriousness and necessity of the matter.

Xiang Xun nodded: "The commander-in-chief is brilliant, you can retract and release freely!"

Then he was a little puzzled: "Why don't we just push north to the city of Youzhou and confront them near Youzhou?"

Shi Congyun was taken aback for a moment, he really did not expect to ask such a level question to the training meeting, so he smiled and said: "I have thought about it, but I can't reveal it for the time being, just follow the order."

"No!" Everyone said in unison, the voice was neat and loud, shaking the roof to the ground, and the old man who was the owner of the house was startled.

Before leaving, Shi Congyun asked his soldiers to deliver a bag of rice to the old man's family, and gave them two pieces of dried meat. The old man sent them away gratefully.

All the deployments have been done in this small village, and the big battle will start when the army heads north again.....

Chapter 225, Successive Victories

On May [-]th, the sky began to rain heavily, and it was another midsummer year.

The scorching heat in the air was washed away by the heavy rain, and the water curtain was connected between the sky and the earth. A large amount of rain poured down, and the sound of the crashing rain alternated between far and near, covering all the sounds between the sky and the earth.

The little girl was kneeling on the red and gold soft blanket, lying on the bed with her little head resting on her arms, staring blankly at the water splashes in the courtyard with her big curious eyes open, and the swing she usually played under the old pear tree in the distance was empty in the wind. Swaying lightly, the grass in the cracks between the masonry swayed in the heavy rain.

"Yanyan, go inside, be careful of catching a cold." Xiao Siwen smiled and pulled up his smart little daughter and let her go inside.

The girl stood up and asked curiously, "Daddy, why is it raining?"

"Because there are clouds in the sky."

"Why are there clouds?" the girl asked curiously, tilting her head.

"Because...... because the flow of qi is blocked by the mountain, it is said in the ancient book......"

"What is that gas?"

"Ahem, please help daddy go to the kitchen first, and ask them when the mutton will be roasted." Xiao Siwen quickly changed the subject and prevaricated the matter. With a sigh of relief, I almost made a fool of myself.

Then he shook his head and laughed. He was in a good mood these two days. Since he came to the south to serve as the left behind in Nanjing, he has always wanted to make some achievements.

The last time their Khitan army went south across the Yellow River to occupy Daliang, the capital of the Central Plains, was only ten years ago. Now how can these younger generations humiliate their ancestors.

He also has selfish intentions, he wants to use his military exploits to climb the ranks, the Liao State has two courts, the North and the South, the north court is in Shangjing, and the south court is in Youzhou, Nanjing.

He knew that the North Court was in charge of the affairs of the Khitan clan, and the South Court was in charge of the affairs of all ethnic groups. Although the South Court was important, the North Court was the political center.

The Liao Dynasty selected officials to study the Central Plains examination, which followed the Tang system. The imperial examinations included Ci Fu as the main subject, and the law as miscellaneous subjects (later changed to Ci Fu and Jing Yi). In the previous Emperor Taizu, he was so thirsty for talents that he almost every now and then. There are imperial examinations, and then gradually changed to once a year, but the frequency is still higher than that in the Central Plains;

Most of the imperial examination referees in the Great Liao Kingdom were Han and Bohai people, which resulted in many Han Chinese among the middle and low-level officials of the Liao Kingdom, but the highest level was always dominated by the Yelu family and the Xiao family, the two Khitan empress families.

There are also Han Chinese among the high-level officials in the Liao Kingdom, but they are in the minority.

As a descendant of the Xiao family, the nephew of Prime Minister Xiao Dilu, and the son-in-law of the eldest princess of the Liaoyan Kingdom, Xiao Siwen was born noble and destined to be extraordinary. He also has great ambitions. He is not willing to stay in Nanjing, he also wants to return Go to Shangjing and return to the political center.

Of course, if he is allowed to stay in Youzhou, it is absolutely necessary. The South Court also plays an important role in the Liao Kingdom. A large number of middle-level officials in the Liao Kingdom are Han and Bohai people. At least he should stay in Nanjing as the king of the South Courtyard.

This time, Xiao Siwen found a good opportunity. Taking advantage of the emptiness of the border of Zhou State, he unexpectedly captured a border county on the other side, which would become his capital to ask for credit.

Xiao Siwen knew in his heart that the Liao Kingdom and the Central Plains had fought back and forth for decades, and capturing a county on the border was not a great achievement. After all, they entered Daliang City 13 years ago.

But the credit is the same, it also depends on who made it. If an ordinary general makes such a credit, at most he will be rewarded, but he is a descendant of the Xiao family, a son-in-law, and the nephew of the prime minister. Beijing can also make waves.

This is his plan, so Xiao Siwen is in a good mood these days.

Xiao Siwen thinks he is very smart, he is ready to claim credit, but also knows how to grasp the scale. He knows well that he can't fight Zhou Guo. He knows all the great things that Zhou Guo has done in the south these years. Zhou Guo's general Shi Congyun defeated Shu Zhou Guo, Tang Guo, Nanping, and Wuping have great reputations, and he doesn't want to start a big war with Zhou Guo.

Liao’s elite army is all in the north, and he is not Zhou’s opponent in a full-scale war, so he only captured one county. This kind of small fight often happens on the border between the two countries. To the south of Zhou’s army are Tang, Shu, and Nanhan. , Wu Yue and so on.