Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

In addition, he was not a person who knew how to fight. He was unable to stay in Shangjing because he was not good at military affairs, so he was appointed to stay in Nanjing. When the Zhou people attacked Yangzhou (Southern Tang Dynasty) a few years ago, he was dispatched Afterwards, Zhan Shu didn't dare to enter, so he only returned to the edge of the city and gave Shangjing an explanation.

And Zhou Guo's commander-in-chief Shi Congyun has been victorious in all these years and has a great reputation in the south of Yanshan Mountain. He has heard of it for a long time.

The last point is that there are not as many soldiers and horses near Youzhou City as Zhou Jun, and if he divides his troops out, he is afraid that Zhou Jun will not be able to defend the city, so he just sits still and doesn't send troops no matter what everyone says. People come to attack the city.

At the same time, he sent envoys one after another eight hundred li to rush northward, complaining that the border situation was serious, and the Zhou army's attack on the city was unstoppable, and he asked His Majesty for help, but so far there was no result, and he hadn't slept well for several days.

Xiao Siwen had a lot of things on his mind, his mind was messed up, and he was very uneasy.

In panic and fear, he ordered: "Send people, and immediately gather all the soldiers and horses of the Sixth Army of the surrounding South Courtyard into Youzhou City. The place in the south is no longer needed. Let the people of Zhou take it. We will do our best to collect it." Just defend Youzhou."

Many generals looked bad, probably thinking that he was too weak and hesitant.

Xiao Siwen became angry immediately, and shouted loudly: "Hurry up!"

The generals then went to do so.

The little girl next to him was taken aback and looked at him timidly. Xiao Siwen was a little helpless. The father didn't want his children to see such an ugly situation, so he could only touch his daughter's head to comfort him: "Yanyan, don't be afraid, it's okay. , I was talking to my uncles."

The daughter nodded obediently, took his big hand and stopped asking, as if she understood something.

Seeing his lovely and sensible daughter, Xiao Siwen's heart was full of turmoil. No matter what, Shi Congyun could not be allowed to invade Youzhou, otherwise what would happen to their family, wives and children!

So he hurried back to the mansion, then wrote a letter asking for help, and made the situation in the south more critical, emphasizing that Youzhou might not be safe!

......

Xiao Siwen is a direct descendant of the Xiao family, destined to be of great power, and he is also a son-in-law.

So he was sent to serve in the Liao Army from the very beginning, but he likes scholars and trims his appearance. He has always disliked the vulgar style of the Liao people. As a result, all the assistants around the Holy Majesty said that he was not a general.

So he was found to stay in Nanjing.

He felt that those bureaucrats were ignorant and only slanderers. The Emperor Taizu still used the Han people to build the country. decline.

So after he ruled Nanjing, the prosperity of Youzhou has long surpassed that of Shangjing. He has written several times to ask His Majesty to come to Youzhou to have a look. When the time comes, he will receive His Majesty well and let him see the prosperity of Youzhou. He will naturally understand that what he did is right. Yes, it can still be his merit.

But although the current Holy Majesty does not like beauty, he is obsessed with hunting and drinking, and likes to kill people. He does not go out in Shangjing, and has no intention of coming south at all, and Xiao Siwen has no choice.

Compared with the previous king of Daliao, the current emperor is less enterprising.

Their Emperor Taizong, Yelu Deguang, crossed the Yellow River and invaded Daliang 13 years ago. He destroyed the Jin Kingdom and proclaimed himself emperor in Daliang. The weather in the south died of illness halfway, and then there were changes in the army.

Although the later Emperor Sejong was lustful and greedy for wine, he also used troops in the Central Plains several times.

Today, the Holy Majesty is completely different. Your Majesty is not good at beauty, good at hunting, and has no enterprising heart.

A few years ago, when Zhou's army invaded the south of Tang, Tang sent envoys from the sea to ask for help. When they got the news, many ministers in the court thought that they should take the opportunity to attack Zhou and seize the land north of the Yellow River.

As a result, His Majesty only asked him to lead Youzhou troops to take the land of Zhou State from the north, and had no intention of sending the army of the Northern Academy at all.

Xiao Siwen is not stupid either. Youzhou has limited troops and unscrupulous generals. He dared not fight without sending troops from the North Court, so he symbolically went south to capture some border cities of Zhou Kingdom, and then used the weather as an excuse to stop fighting. Go south, then report the results to the north.

At first, he was worried that he would be blamed for his ineffectiveness, but His Majesty didn't care at all, and even issued an order to reward him.

From then on, he understood that the current Holy Majesty was greedy for pleasure and comfort, and had no ambition to go south at all.

This is also what he is most afraid of, because of this His Majesty will not bother to pay attention to him. Last time His Majesty said in his reply, "When the enemy comes, join forces with the commanding army to reject it; "Obviously he didn't take it too seriously, which made him panic.

........

To the south of Shangjing, the sky is high and the clouds are light on the prairie. The lush green trees on the low mountains in the distance are swaying with the wind. Thousands of riders with various flags surrounded the whole mountain from the foot of the mountain.

There are also a large number of armored cavalry in the periphery, more than ten cavalry patrolling as a team. The herdsmen and ordinary people in the periphery are not allowed to approach, and the idlers ten miles away are all eliminated.

This situation is exactly where the palace of Emperor Yelujing of the Great Liao Kingdom is located. Yelujing is obsessed with hunting, and has been hunting here for more than ten days. He doesn't ask about the government, and the accompanying ministers dare not ask too much.

Because a cook was killed yesterday because he was late roasting a leg of lamb, the accompanying eunuchs and supply officials were silent.

Early in the morning, Yelujing changed into a military uniform and was in high spirits. He was about to go hunting in the mountains when someone hurried over on horseback and brought a letter from Xiao Siwen.

Yelvjing was a little impatient: "Didn't I let him deal with it by himself?"

After speaking, he opened the letter and read it. After reading it for a while, his face gradually became serious. Yelu Talie, the king of the Southern Court who was accompanying the emperor, knew that something serious might happen.

Yelu Talie is about 58 this year and is a veteran of the Liao Kingdom.

During his governance of the Southern Academy, he balanced taxation and labor, encouraged agricultural production, and a large number of tribal people were naturalized, and the number of household registrations increased a lot, which contributed a lot to the Daliao Kingdom.

A few years ago, when the Zhou people attacked the Northern Han and besieged Taiyuan, it was he who led his troops to the south and confronted the Zhou army near Xinkou, and then repelled the Zhou people and continued south. Withdrew from Taiyuan and burned a large amount of food and grass, which was very embarrassing.

Later, because he was old, His Majesty let him go back to Beijing to rest when he was free, and handed over some affairs of the South Courtyard to Xiao Siwen, who was left behind in menopause in Nanjing.

Looking at His Majesty's expression, as a veteran, he knew that the matter might be serious. Before Xiao Siwen wrote a letter saying that the Zhou people were plundering land in Hebei, His Majesty didn't bother to take care of it at all, and only let him handle it by himself.

This time, he looked serious, as if something important had happened, so he asked, "Your Majesty, what happened to the south? Do you need the old minister to go back immediately?"

His Majesty didn't speak, just handed the letter to him, Yelu Talie took it and immediately looked at it, the wind was blowing on the prairie, his eyes were a little dazzled, he seemed to be struggling, after reading it he didn't even think about it and said directly: "Your Majesty, Nanjing can't be lost! If His Majesty allows me, I am willing to lead an army south to stop Zhou Jun!

This person named Shi Congyun, Xiao Siwen, spoke very badly about him, but he was just a doll in front of the veterans. Xiao Siwen was not good at military affairs, so he couldn't believe everything he said. "

His Majesty didn't speak, which made Yelu Talie feel very nervous. What he feared most was that His Majesty was still addicted to shooting, hunting and drinking, and he didn't even care about Youzhou. Yelu Talie must not treat a place that has worked so hard to fall into the hands of the enemy.

After a long while, Emperor Yelvjing finally said, "We won't be hunting today.

I immediately issued an edict to summon all the Khitan troops to the north of Youzhou. When the troops are ready, I will personally lead the troops to the south to rescue Youzhou. "

Yelu Talie breathed a sigh of relief. Yelujing was the eldest son of Emperor Taizong Yelu Deguang, who came to power after a mutiny. At that time, Emperor Sejong went to the south for years, wasting the people and wasting money, which caused the chaos. Today, Emperor Taizong suffocated his blood, so he was supported to take the throne. , now he feels that maybe the original decision was wrong...

Of course, he only dared to flash such a dangerous thought in his mind.

Yelu Talie immediately said: "Your Majesty, it will take time to assemble elite soldiers from various ministries, and a lot of scheduling is required, and it will also take time to go south. If Youzhou can't support it within this period, it will be a big disaster.

It is better to directly assemble the imperial tent's pro-army and go south.

The old minister felt that while gathering a large army, he could send people to Jinyang as soon as possible, and demanded that the Lord of the Northern Han Dynasty immediately send troops to attack the Zhou army's side to disperse the pressure on Nanjing. "

Hearing what he said, His Majesty nodded in agreement: "You are right, I immediately sent people eight hundred li to rush south, and asked the Lord of the Northern Han Dynasty to send troops to the east to attack the Zhou army's rear."

In the afternoon of the same day, the emperor of Daliao Kingdom, who had been hunting on the grassland for more than ten days, suddenly drove to the south and issued two edicts at the same time, which were issued through the Privy Council of the North Court and Zaifu.

One was for his son, the Lord of the Northern Han Dynasty, and asked him to send troops from Jinyang immediately to relieve the pressure on Youzhou after attacking the Zhou army.

Another edict called for the immediate assembly of the imperial tent pro-army and preparations to go south.

Liao has a population of more than 1000 million, and there are four main types of troops.

Similar to the Central Forbidden Army of the Central Plains Dynasty.

tribal army.

Local township.

Dependent army.

The Central Forbidden Army of the Liao Kingdom is a professional army, dedicated to fighting all their lives. There are both Khitan and Han Chinese. They are elite warriors selected from all over the country. This is also what distinguishes the Liao Kingdom from other nomadic regimes.

The forces similar to the Central Forbidden Army are divided into three parts, the Imperial Tent Army, the Palace Guard Cavalry, and the Sixth Army of the Southern Court.

The imperial tent pro-army - is the emperor's guard guarding the capital, preparing for war all the year round, with 5 imperial troops.

One is the [-] "Pi Shi Army" founded by Liao Taizong, which is divided into five armies: Nan Pi Shi, Bei Pi Shi, Zuo Pi Shi, Right Pi Shi, and Huang Pi Shi.

The second is the [-] "Shushan Army" selected by the Empress Shulu of the Taizu who selected the elite soldiers of the Han Dynasty.

Palace guard cavalry - is the pro-army guarding the palace of the emperors of the Liao Dynasty. The elite guards left behind after the death of the emperor. They are responsible for guarding the tomb after the death of the emperor. They can be dispatched immediately in a war. They are the elite of the elite. There are 1 soldiers. many people.

The Sixth Army of the South Campus—mainly composed of Han people, imitated the names of the banned troops of the Tang and Five Dynasties, such as Konghe, Yulin, Dragon and Tiger, Shenwu, Shence, and Shenwei. The number is about 8000, and they are mainly stationed near Youzhou. , is also a professional army, but the Sixth Army composed of Han people is not valued by the Liao Dynasty.

Excluding the [-] professional troops standing in the central government, the next main force is the tribal army.

The tribal army of the Liao Kingdom is based on tribes, mainly composed of the Khitan tribe, and the armies of the Xi, Bohai, Shiwei, Jurchen, Wugu, Dilie and other peoples who belonged to each other.

These tribes divided the land for animal husbandry, and their armies divided the important areas.The tasks of the tribal armies are to "divide the town's border circle" and "guard the four sides" in peacetime, and to recruit and fight in wartime.

There are a total of 49 tribal armies in the Liao Kingdom. The tribes are different in size, including the Jurchen in the east, and all the tribes on the Mongolian grassland in the west are under the rule of the Liao Kingdom. , with a total force of about 15.

But this part of the force is not an elite combat force, and there must be warnings in advance during the war, and it will take time for the tribes to lead troops from all over the place.

There are even more local townspeople, and the people composed of people, also known as the Jingzhou Army, are local armed forces in the nature of township soldiers.

The Liao Kingdom implemented a military service system in which all citizens were soldiers. Most of the time, males over the age of 15 and under the age of 50 were enrolled in the military. Most of the Khitan natives were incorporated into the Palace Guard Army and the Tribal Army. Therefore, the Wujing Prefecture Army was composed of young men from other ethnic groups. composition.The amount of Wujing Xiangding is huge, with a total of about 110 million.

This is also the source of the millions of armors that the Liao Kingdom later boasted about. There are indeed millions, but the more than 100 million troops are not the main force, nor are they effective in combat power. Most of the time, they are only responsible for the logistics support of the army and local security.

The last is the subordinate national army, which is the army of the vassal tribes and countries outside the Liao Dynasty. There is no customization and no permanent quota.

There are about forty or fifty vassal states in the Liao Dynasty. They are distributed over a vast area and their tribute is impermanent.Therefore, "if there is something to do, send envoys to recruit soldiers, or issue an edict to recruit soldiers; those who do not follow will ask for it." But "the number of helpers, each according to his own convenience", there can be about 5 to [-] people, but it is not the core combat force.

The core combat power of the Liao Kingdom is obvious. The top ones are the imperial tent troops and palace guard cavalry in Shangjing. These [-] cavalry are the top combat power of the Liao Kingdom.

This was followed by 8000 troops from the Sixth Army of the Southern Academy near Youzhou and 15 tribal troops.

But at this critical juncture, Youzhou was at stake, and it was too late to assemble the tribal army. Emperor Yelujing urgently mobilized the imperial tent troops, and even the palace guard cavalry guarding the tomb had no time to call back.

Of course, he also sent envoys to request that the 49 tribal armies that were closer to each other immediately send troops to move closer to Youzhou after receiving the order.

All of a sudden, the biggest military operation in the entire Daliao Kingdom since Yelvjing ascended the throne began...

Chapter 231: Go North, Continue Going North!

To the north of Youzhou, the elite army of the Liao Kingdom is busy gathering. It has been many years since the large-scale deployment of the Daliao imperial tent pro-army, especially since the current emperor ascended the throne, so there is also a lot of discussion in Beijing. I don’t know what happened in the south thing.

Some people said that His Majesty wanted to go south to the Central Plains in accordance with the last emperor's behest, and many people began to worry about this.

During the reign of Emperor Sejong, the people of all ethnic groups and the Khitan tribe had lingering fears when they went south for years. Later, Emperor Sejong was assassinated because the whole country could not bear the loss of his continuous military deployment without making much progress.

Emperor Taizong also sent troops year after year, but at that time the Liao army could often go deep into the hinterland of the Central Plains, looting a lot of goods, food and grass, and even crossed the Yellow River, so people didn't have so many complaints.

Seeing that His Majesty, who had been silent before, suddenly gathered an army, many people began to worry whether they would follow the old path of Emperor Sejong.

Moreover, although Shangjing is next to the grassland, it is not all grassland. It is surrounded by mountains and hills, and there is a lot of cultivated land.

This is because the predecessor of Shangjing was Hancheng, a city built by the Emperor Taizu who settled the Han people and asked them to farm around. It was the foundation of the Liao Kingdom and later became the capital of the Liao Kingdom. , one of which is the Han Jingqi as the main group.

Today, there are already a lot of cultivated land around Shangjing, which has led to the fact that the Liao Kingdom is no longer a pure nomadic empire. From Shangjing (near the Bahrain Left Banner in Inner Mongolia today) to Nanjing Youzhou, and then to Liaoyang, Tokyo, there are many cultivated lands distributed, even passing through With the development of several generations of emperors, especially the management of Nanyuan King Yelv Talie and others, the farming population of Liao Kingdom has surpassed the nomadic population.

Many of the Khitan's own population has also gradually turned to farming, which has brought about a huge problem, that is, they are becoming more and more war-weary.

The fertility rate of nomadic peoples is much higher than that of farming peoples, but the total population is much smaller than that of farming peoples.

The reason is that the nomads are affected and restricted by the living environment and social technology, and have no concept of chastity and birth control measures, so that while the birth rate is high, the death rate is also high, the average life expectancy is short, and the production and life are most affected by natural disasters. It is impossible to obtain long-term stable survival guarantee like farming people, and it cannot support too many people.

In this case, life is not easy anyway, and death is always with me like the wind, so it is better to fight and go all out to grab it, so the nomads have high enthusiasm for combat and low war exhaustion.

However, as the entire Liao Kingdom gradually transformed into farming, the degree of war weariness immediately increased. Farming can obtain stable survival resources, and more and more people are unwilling to work hard. What farming needs most is stability, and farming must be coordinated. When the weather is different, if you often fight, it is easy to miss the opportunity to cultivate.

Some members of the Yelu family and the Xiao family of the emperor and empress knew about this change in the Liao Kingdom, and they followed the trend.

But there are also many people who don't understand that the Liao Kingdom paid a high price for this.

The last emperor of the Liao Kingdom, Liao Shizong, still had an old nomadic mindset, constantly launching wars to the south, trying to gain profits through plundering. As a result, this move mobilized the army and cost the people money. No matter the Khitan clan, the Han people, the Xi people, etc. were dissatisfied with him, Rebellions broke out frequently, and in the end he himself was assassinated and killed during the Southern Expedition.

So when Shangjing began to deploy troops on a large scale, people in the Liao Kingdom were divided, causing varying degrees of panic, because although the current Emperor Yelujing of the Liao Kingdom did not waste money and people like Sejong, he ignored political affairs, had no intention of making progress, and did nothing.

If the emperor of the Liao Kingdom can clearly understand this general trend, follow the trend, continue to vigorously promote Sinicization, and completely build the Liao Kingdom into an empire with farming as the main economic structure and nomadic supplementation, it will definitely make the Liao Kingdom in the previous era. steps, but obviously Yelvjing is not that kind of person.

These things need future generations to do.

By the beginning of June, 5 people from the Pishi Army and the Shanshan Army near Shangjing had assembled. This is a quick-response force that has been stationed near Shangjing. It does not need to be recruited temporarily for fighting, and the response speed is very fast.

Pishi means "King Kong" in Khitan, and Shan means "treasure of coral". In just a few days, [-] troops were ready to go. As the vanguard, Ta Lie set off from the south of Shangjing to aid Youzhou.

At the same time, eighteen of the 49 tribal armies that are closest to Youzhou have been recruited, and the troops will be assembled and marched towards Youzhou. If all the troops are in place, the number of troops will reach about [-]. However, it takes time for the tribal armies to assemble and recruit, and it will take about a month. In order to reach Youzhou as many as possible.

In addition to the 8000 members of the Sixth Army of the Southern Academy composed of Han Chinese in Youzhou, the total strength of Youzhou will reach about 11 by then.

It has been a long time since such a large-scale dispatch of troops, the last large-scale dispatch of troops was the [-] reinforcements when Zhou Guo attacked the Northern Han Dynasty five years ago, but it is completely incomparable with this time.

All of a sudden, the entire Liao Kingdom began to operate. Naturally, news of such a huge troop dispatch spread quickly.

However, the people of the Liao Kingdom only cared about their own country's affairs. For the south, they only knew that the Southern Army was coming and was going to attack Nanjing, so the imperial court sent a large army.

As for who Nan Mian is and what the situation is, there are not many people who are worried.

As for fighting, most people are not so worried. Since Emperor Taizu, Liao has sent troops to the south many times in the past few decades. Most of the time, if you can’t fight, you can still make a fortune. You can always make a fortune by robbing food, money, people and livestock. .

But there are also bad times, such as the worst time when Emperor Taizong's [-] troops marched south, and almost the entire army was wiped out.

But regardless of winning or losing, the common people are far less worried than the people in the Central Plains. The reason is very simple. Whether they win or lose in a war, they go to other people's territory to fight. The war destroys the enemy's country and affects their own production and life. Not that big.

Just like why the Huns were so afraid of the Han Dynasty at the beginning, because after the Han Dynasty's self-defense battle of Qinglong City, no matter whether they won or lost the war, they had to rush to the Huns' territory to fight. , Those who can surrender surrender, and those who do not surrender also pack up and leave.

In such an atmosphere, the army of the Liao Kingdom went south, and the news spread that the southern army was going north, but the people of the Liao Kingdom were not so panicked, but rather calm.

........