Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

........

On the evening of the second day of June, the army led by Emperor Yelujing of the Liao Kingdom arrived in Youzhou and camped in the north of Youzhou City. Afterwards, the holy driver entered the palace, and Xiao Siwen led the bureaucrats of Youzhou to welcome him.

That night, a banquet was held in the city to entertain the emperor, and he reported to him the battle situation in the south. Yelvjing got drunk that night, and hardly dealt with anything the next day.

By the fourth day, Yelujing didn't let the Liao army take any action, but just said to wait and see, if the southern army withdraws by itself, then forget it.

At this time, some people thought that the emperor was timid, and some people thought that the emperor didn't care about the land in the south. No matter what kind of situation, no one dared to object.

On the night of the fifth day of June, there was another return from the direction of Gu'an, and the Southern Army went north again, and it was almost to Youzhou.

That night, patrolling soldiers in the camp outside Youzhou City found Zhou Jun, and the distance between the two sides was less than a hundred steps recently!The opponent also shot arrows at them to provoke them.

At this point in the matter, Zhou Guo obviously has no intention of retreating.

On the sixth day of the lunar new year, Yelujing called all the generals to discuss in Youzhou. Some people suggested that they should guard Youzhou and wait for the Zhou army to fight, but more people advocated going south immediately to regain the lost land and teach the arrogant Zhou army a lesson. If things go well, they can take the opportunity Go south to the Central Plains.

In the end, Yelu ordered that with Yelu Talie and Xiao Siwen as the vanguard, they would each lead 1 people to the south to recover the lost lands of Zhuozhou and Gu'an, and then join forces to capture Yijin Pass and open the passage to the south.

Then he personally led an army of [-] to go south, passed Yijin Pass and went south, regained Waqiao Pass, Yingzhou, Mozhou and other places captured by the Zhou army, and then cut off Duliukou, Yukou Pass and other places in the east from the Zhou State. contact, then they can only be forced to surrender.

This style of play was proposed by Yelv Talie.

The reason why he proposed this style of play was because he listened to Xiao Siwen's report and referred to the style of play of Zhou Jun's commander Shi Congyun.

Yelv Talie also felt that the commander of the Zhou army used his troops very well this week. He took down the key Duliukou, Yijin Pass from the side, and then cut off the connection between Yingzhou, Mozhou and other places and Youzhou, forcing them to surrender. , There is absolutely no waste of soldiers to take those places.

This time they want to recapture those places, they can also try the same method, occupy the important places, and cut off their connection with Zhou State in the remaining places, forcing them to surrender.

As for letting Xiao Siwen lead the troops, it was because he was the most familiar with the situation in the south.

........

On the morning of the seventh day of June, Yelu Talie did not stop at all, and was immediately ordered to lead a large number of cavalry straight to Gu'an.

Along the south road, after passing through the dense forest, they came out of Youzhou for more than a dozen miles. They encountered about a hundred Zhou army forwards who had pitched tents in the woods by the roadside to rest. Yelu Talie immediately ordered an attack. Get on the horse and run back in panic.

Nine were killed on the spot, seventeen were captured, and the rest ran south along the road.

Yelv Talie decisively ordered to send a hundred cavalry to continue the pursuit south.

Later, he interrogated the prisoners of war and learned that there were two thousand Zhou troops in the direction of Gu'an, camped on the other side of the Sanggan River, not in the city.

Immediately, the army was ordered to advance at a faster pace, and they would reach the other side of the river before noon, but when the densely packed army emerged from the woods and fields by the river, the Zhou army on the other side was completely panicked, and the sound of gongs and drums could be heard across the river.

Then Yeluta Lie ordered the army to cross the river and storm the Zhou army's camp. Many Zhou troops rushed to fight, and then fled south one after another, throwing away their helmets and armor, and were beaten helplessly.

At noon, Yelu Talie proudly led the Chinese army across the river and entered Gu'an County, announcing that Gu'an County had been retaken.

In this battle, the Zhou army was vulnerable and fled very quickly. In this battle, not many enemies were killed and not many captured. The total number was less than 80, because the Zhou army fled too fast, but it encouraged the soldiers of Liao.

Having won the first battle, Yelu Talie's confidence was greatly boosted, and he decided to rest in Gu'an for a whole day and go south to attack Yijin Pass tomorrow.

........

On the afternoon of the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the messenger reported to Shi Congyun in the Waqiaoguan camp with worried faces that the Liao army had gone south, and that Xiangxun's army in Gu'an had been defeated and more than 70 people had been lost.

When he heard the news, Shi Congyun, who had been sitting for a long time, stood up suddenly, "Is the news true?"

The messenger nodded.

Shi Congyun took a few breaths, the surface of the ancient well was calm, and his mind was already spinning rapidly.

Chapter 233: Defeat, the enemy master

In June, the night star river is bright, the night wind howls, the black tree shadows are hideous in the wind, the horseshoes rumble, and there is only moonlight on the avenue, Xiang Xun and the others dare not light a fire.

Looking at the distance, Xiang Xun was flustered. There was a wheat field in the distance of the woods, and the wheat swayed slightly in the night wind. They came here through a small road, passing through a large wheat field.

When going north, the commander-in-chief ordered that the people should not be disturbed as much as possible, that the people's fields should not be trampled on, their houses should not be burned, and their livestock should not be robbed, but at this time, they couldn't care less.

There are only about two hundred people in their group, and the forward and the Chinese army have already gone to Yijin Pass after they are in charge.

Xiang Xun was still in shock at this moment, but he was a veteran with rich experience after all, and he knew that he couldn't just flee to Yijin Pass at such a time. If the Liao army followed them, it would be troublesome, and someone needed to break the rear.

The mission after the end is very dangerous, and it is very likely that it will never return. In such a time of turmoil, only the end of the general can make the whole army feel at ease.

In the Battle of Huainan, Jiangnan general Lin Renzhao failed in a sneak attack and forced the entire army to retreat. He himself broke the rear by a boat and allowed the Chinese army to retreat safely. Such courage and ability also impressed the generals of the Zhou army.

And for this defeat, Xiang Xun felt ashamed. The task given to him by the commander was to provoke the Liao Kingdom to the north, lure the enemy deep, and retreat at any time to give up Gu'an.

So he didn't even enter the city, but camped outside the city for the convenience of retreating.

At the same time, the forwards were sent to the north, more than ten miles south of Youzhou, to investigate the movement of the Liao army. Once there was movement ahead and the Liao army went south, they shot arrows across the river to resist, then turned south immediately, and entered Yijin Pass.

But what I didn't expect was that all the sent troops were derelict in their duties, dazzled by successive victories, arrogant and didn't take the Liao people seriously, and even set up camps for convenience when they were stationed in the south of Youzhou Not far from the avenue, no scouts were dispatched at noon because of cooking.

As a result, the Liao army suddenly went south to attack them, and dozens of people were captured and killed on the spot. After that, the Liao army did not hesitate at all, and followed them all the way to Gu'an.

After the remnant soldiers from the north had just fled back to the camp and explained the general situation, a large number of Liao soldiers had appeared in the woods and fields on the other side of the river. They were everywhere along the long river bank for several miles. The number of people was hard to estimate, but they must be redundant. .

So without even thinking about it, he immediately ordered the entire army to withdraw to the south, and he led the troops to cut off the rear.

At the same time, he immediately sent someone to contact Murong Yanzhao in Zhuozhou in the west, because he guessed that once the Liao Kingdom attacked, it was likely that the troops would divide into two groups and attack Gu'an and Zhuozhou at the front respectively. If Gu'an fell into the enemy's hands, then Murong Yanzhao It's also dangerous.

Xiang Xun led the people to retreat slowly on the avenue, fearful all the way, beware of pursuers from behind, dare not light a fire at night, can only walk by the moonlight and stars.

In the middle of the night, when people were tired and horses were exhausted, Xiang Xun was finally sure that the Liao army was not chasing him, and ordered everyone to retreat at full speed in the direction of Yijin Pass.

At dawn, the tired and sleepy people finally arrived at the city of Yijinguan. After verifying their identities and entering the city, they all fell to the ground and fell asleep. Even Xiang Xun fell asleep leaning against the haystack beside the stable.

........

That night, Shi Congyun stayed up in Waqiaoguan, tens of miles behind, waiting for news from Xiang Xun.

In the middle of the night, the soldiers also rushed to report to him in the middle of the night, and most of the training department had returned to Yijin Pass, and Gu'an was once again occupied by the Liao army.

After he breathed a sigh of relief, he immediately called the messenger: "Go to Zhuozhou from the west immediately, don't go to Gu'an, tell Murong Yanzhao to retreat from the west to Waqiao Pass, and don't go to Yijin Pass from Gu'an.

Remember, you must be quick. The Liao army has already occupied Gu'an. If they don't know and retreat to Gu'an, it will be over. The life and death of Murong Yanzhao's army depends entirely on you. "

Several messengers solemnly said: "Commander direction, we will send the news overnight even if we die."

Shi Congyun patted the shoulders of several people: "Go, come back early."

........

After dealing with these matters, he didn't go to bed to sleep, but put on his overcoat and squinted in the military tent for a while, Fu Zhaoyuan and Pan Mei accompanied him.

When the sky was getting dark, another messenger came, they came from Zhenzhou in Sidehou, and they told him the big news that the Northern Han Dynasty had indeed sent troops!

According to Li Chongjin's scout report, the army of the Northern Han Dynasty has assembled in Mengzhou and can enter the battlefield from behind them at any time.

The Liao Kingdom, which had been quiet for a month, made a big move when it moved. The Northern Han Dynasty was ordered to march from the east. They led their troops to march south from the north, trying to pinch the Zhou army from two directions.

At this time, Shi Congyun can't control Zhenzhou. Zhenzhou (near Shijiazhuang in later generations) is about [-] miles away from the front line. With such a large space span, it is too late for him to deploy troops to support him. He can only trust Li Chongjin, Zhang Yongde, and Li Jixun. Waiting for others, at the same time, we must pay close attention to the situation over there.

Once Zhenzhou falls, the Northern Han army can attack them from the side and rear, so there is no need to fight, they must retreat across the board, and they may not even be able to defend the three passes they have beaten.

This kind of war is like this, the battle line is close to thousands of miles, and the strategy can only be achieved by the cooperation of various corps. It is impossible to rely on anyone alone, and it will not be possible without anyone, so don't be afraid of god-like opponents, but be afraid of pig-like teammates. It is common throughout the ages.

Afterwards, the scout battalion sent by Shi Cong Yunjia began to wait for the movement of the Liao army intensively. He selected and trained a large number of scouts and saw initial results. In the area south of Youzhou where many scouts are densely populated, the movement of the Liao army is almost every quarter of an hour. It will be reported to his desk.

It feels good that the battlefield is becoming more transparent, but soon he discovered the problem. He does not have a dedicated staff department. A lot of information is good, but too much information may also confuse people. There is no dedicated staff department to give him information. After sorting out the information and extracting useful main content, he was dizzy alone.

Luqiu Zhongqing was in charge of this work before, but now Luqiu Zhongqing went to help him raise food and grass.

So I had to temporarily let Pan Mei, the military supervisor, help with these matters. Although he was not as skilled as Luqiu Zhongqing, he was still competent for the time being, and Guo Tingwei also joined in later.

With the help of Pan Mei and Guo Tingzhi, he finally felt a lot easier, and he also paid close attention to the movements of the Liao army.

"The next stage is mainly to get Murong Yanzhao's troops back to Waqiao Pass..." Shi Congyun muttered to himself.

......

Tens of miles away from Juma River in the outskirts of Zhuozhou, the morning glow is overwhelming, the sun is just rising, and the long shadows of trees are densely packed. Murong Yanzhao is pacing on the riverside, and a long shadow is drawn behind him. He nervously looks at the densely packed Liao military.

The Liao army reached the other side of the river last night, but did not cross the river.

It seemed that there were a lot of people, so he immediately led people to guard several ferries and bridgeheads.

The North Juma River is a large river in the north. The width of most parts of the river is more than 40 meters, and it is difficult for the Liao army to cross it quickly.

Murong Yanzhao led people to confront the Liao army by the river, and found that there were more and more Liao troops assembled on the other side, at least twice as many as last night, and he immediately judged that the opposite was the Liao army.

However, he did not back down. The mission given to him by the commander was to lure the enemy southward and pass through Yijin Pass. The enemy did not cross the river, and probably would not leave at the Juma River. He decided to block the Liao army at the ferry and bridgehead for a while to anger them.

When the sun rose completely, Murong Yanzhao gasped as he looked at the shimmering Shizhang River facing the bank. Behind the woods on the distant river bank, more people, horses and tents emerged from the mist, and they could be seen more clearly. .

Many cavalry behind the woods ran and rolled up dust all over the sky, sweeping across the city and covering the sky on the shore.

Last night, he thought that the opponent had only 4000 or [-] troops, but now he saw that the Liao Kingdom had at least [-] troops!

I was a little puzzled in my heart, why did the opposing general dare not attack with such a huge force advantage?

Without thinking about it, he immediately ordered people to cut down trees and block the ferry and bridgeheads. Then the whole army prepared to retreat in the direction of Gu'an, and he personally led 500 people to cut off the rear.

But it didn't take long before I encountered a messenger from the rear, bringing the news that Gu'an was occupied.

The moment Murong Yanzhao heard the news, he said coldly, "Gu'an is forty or fifty miles to the east of us, and the cavalry will arrive in a few hours. Xiang Xun will definitely send someone to call the police on us."

The lieutenant also reacted: "But now it's been a night, and no one has come..."

"Quickly retreat! The whole army runs south, tell the whole army to be careful not to be ambushed!" Xiang Xun said in a hurry, and immediately led his men to the south.

Not long after leaving the city, a bloodstained soldier came across the road and cried to him: "General, we have been ambushed. The Khitans ambushed us at Wuxing Village, twenty miles south of the city, and they came from the east."

Murong Yanzhao's face darkened, his beard trembled, "It's still too late!"

Many hands panicked, "What should the general do? Should we bypass Nan......"

Murong Yanzhao hesitated for a moment, and immediately became firm: "No, there are only two avenues, and one can't go to the east. Gu'an has been occupied by the Liao army. The south one must be rushed over. We can't run away by taking the trail. Sooner or later he will be caught up!

Brothers, if you want to live, go south and make a way out, otherwise there will be bandits on the north and east, and we will be besieged to death sooner or later. "

Seeing what the Lord General said, everyone gradually began to calm down.

"Immediately go south to help." Then he personally led the team and galloped south.

......

On the road in the distance, a lot of dust rose into the sky, and the shouts of killing could be clearly heard from a long distance away. The northern exit of the village was a flat land surrounded by a large number of wheat fields.

A large number of Liao cavalry has surrounded the Zhou army in the middle of the wheat field, and the shouts of killing can be heard from a long distance away. A large number of cavalry on the outside are shooting arrows around the Zhou army in the middle, and there are many Liao cavalry and infantry regiments inside. The regiment surrounded Zhou Jun.

Many Khitans are shouting to besiege the Zhou army. The weakly equipped rangers are on the periphery, forming a huge two-tiered circular formation. The middle circle of infantry and heavy cavalry hardly moves, blocking the Zhou army inside. Keep moving and shooting arrows.

Holding the spear in his hand, Murong Yanzhao said loudly: "Brothers, there is still a way to survive, go!"

Then they rushed directly to the opponent's formation with hundreds of people, and the well-armored heavy cavalry rushed to the surrounding Liao army's light cavalry from a hundred steps away.

All of a sudden, the horses neighed and the dust flew up. Murong Yanzhao pinched the horse's belly and continued to speed up. The wind howled in his ears, the horse's hooves rumbled, and a spear pierced through the opponent's chest directly through inertia. The terrified Liao cavalry screamed and was stabbed off the horse, and smashed backward with a bang.

Immediately, he shouted angrily, shook his spear, and slapped another person off the horse. The horse's hoof quickly trampled on it mercilessly, and the wailing and screaming were instantly drowned in the sound of the horse's hoof.

The peripheral Liao army was unprepared for their appearance, and was caught off guard in chaos. The cavalry following Murong Yanzhao rushed in one after another, and the Liao army Qingqi cavalry who were unable to react in the future fell off their horses, screaming again and again.

In the northeast corner of the encirclement circle of the Liao army, people turned their backs on their backs and became a mess.

Murong Yanzhao rushed out dozens of steps, immediately turned his horse's head and led the crowd to rush back, the outer light cavalry had been killed and opened a gap, this time directly charged towards the heavy cavalry and infantry inside.

These Liao heavy cavalry and infantry were besieging the Zhou army in the middle of the defense. They were suddenly attacked from behind, unable to react for a while, and were killed by surprise.

Murong Yanzhao easily pierced through the armor of a Liao soldier with his fast horse, inserted the spear into his throat, and then let go immediately to prevent himself from being knocked off the horse by the huge force. The back of the head of a Liao infantryman.

"Brothers! The reinforcements are here, rush out, this way!" Murong Yanzhao yelled loudly as he and the crowd went forward to kill.

The Zhou army trapped in the large formation heard the sound and saw the reinforcements, and their hearts were shocked. They fought desperately and attacked from both sides. Sauce was squeezed, and thick blood flowed out from the crevices like water. The soldiers in the middle wailed for help, but to no avail, they were quickly cut down and chopped to death.

The northwest corner, which was attacked from both sides, became a hell like a meat grinder.

Soon, the Zhou army inside was covered in blood and hurriedly climbed over the corpse wall, and the surrounding Liao army was killed so that they retreated temporarily and did not dare to step forward.

Murong Yanzhao immediately ordered people to get off the horse and clear the pile of corpses to make way for the people inside.

It took only a quarter of an hour before the general of the Liao Kingdom sitting in the rear had already reacted, and the soldiers on the periphery shouted anxiously: "General, hurry up! Liao reinforcements are here!"

Murong Yanzhao looked up and saw the dusty sky in the northeast, the ground shaking under his feet was getting bigger and bigger, and saw that there were still two or three hundred people who hadn't rushed out from the encircled formation of the Liao army, he gritted his teeth and said, "Go! Withdraw south immediately! "

A large number of Zhou army soldiers fled south one after another, giving up contact with the Liao Kingdom, and soon hundreds of Liao cavalry rushed over from the wheat fields in the north, blocking the gap in the army formation.

Far away, Murong Yanzhao heard some soldiers crying and telling him not to give up on them. He felt very uncomfortable, but there was nothing he could do. He could only watch helplessly as the Liao cavalry who came to reinforce them from the northeast blocked the gap again. superior.

He didn't even have to think about what would happen to those who didn't escape and were surrounded by the Liao army...

As he charged forward, he was farther and farther away from the village, and his vision gradually widened. Murong Yanzhao saw a large number of flags flying on the hillside outside the village in the distance, and the Liao army standing there, who could not see the side, seemed to be looking at them sarcastically. Fleeing in embarrassment......