Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

On March 23, the main force of the Qin Army's middle road broke through the defense line of Sanggan River, gathered under the city of Youzhou, and besieged Youzhou city tightly.

Different from the past, the defender of Youzhou died in battle, but the main force in Youzhou city was in the north, the city was empty, and there were not many defenders at all.

After Li Chuyun led the Chinese army to the city, the armies reported that there were more than 5000 Liao people captured, and the villages outside the city were full of prisoners, but most of them were ordinary people, without armor or without armor. After reliable training, he was temporarily caught to make up for it.

The confession of the Liao army prisoners of war also verified this statement.

Everyone asked Li Chuyun for instructions on how to deal with these captives. They felt that they were just ordinary people, and there was no need to kill them. They were also worried that Li Chuyun would kill them. After all, the commander has always been known for being cruel.

The facts are similar to what the generals said. Youzhou is empty, and the defenders only have a size of two to three thousand people. The rest are young and strong recruited after the Qin army went north, and most of them have no time to run.

Slaughtering such a group of people has no sense of accomplishment for the soldiers of the Qin army.

The most important thing is that the Qin army itself is too strong today. If it is difficult to win the battle with the Liao army, they may agree to kill the young and strong to weaken the power of the Liao state.

But facing the vulnerable Liao army, they couldn't afford to kill.

Li Chuyun didn't kill them all, but he didn't let them go easily. Instead, he asked the army to drive them to gather under the city, and asked the defenders in the city to open the city and surrender. As long as they sacrificed the city, everyone would be safe. If they didn't open the city gate within five days , everyone outside the city will be executed.

He knew that these young men had many family members and friends in the city, but the city was empty and people's hearts were unstable, which undoubtedly greatly shook the morale of the people in the city.

Moreover, Shi Congyun's massacre in the north of Sanguan more than ten years ago still made many people terrified, and they never doubted whether the Qin army would dare to do such a thing.

As a result, on the second day, the soldiers and civilians in the city really opened the city gate to welcome the Qin army into the city. The forwards of Li Jilong's troops entered the city first and took over the city gate.

Then Li Chuyun fulfilled his promise, released all the prisoners, and guaranteed the safety of the soldiers and civilians in the city.

Regarding the arrival of the Qin army, there was not much resistance in the city, because Youzhou was originally populated by Han people, and many people had the idea of ​​joining the southern court.

When entering the city, everyone was overjoyed and excited. They walked through the dark city cave and entered through the Qixia Gate.

Not long after entering the city, Li Jilong immediately rode over to report, "Commander, the Andong Gate on the side of Xianlu Temple and the Tongtian Gate on the side of Baiyun Temple have been controlled. There are hundreds of private soldiers in Xiao Siwen's private house."

As soon as Li Chuyun heard Xiao Siwen, his eyes lit up. How did he rise to the position? Wasn't it because Zhou Xian was captured in the Battle of Huainan, and sent to the officials with great discernment, and then he made his way to the top.

He had heard the officials talk a few times before, saying that Xiao Siwen had a beautiful daughter named Xiao Chuo and Yanyan, if she could be captured and sent to the officials, wouldn't he

"I'll lead the troops over there to have a look!" Li Chuyun said immediately, and then ordered Guo Jin: "General Guo, take people to control the treasury, and don't open it without orders."

Then he said to Meng Xuanzhe: "Meng Inspector, write a good report to the officials and send someone to send it south immediately."

He also told his eldest son, Li Jilong, "Li Qianfeng, send out scouts to investigate the situation around Youzhou, and at the same time send someone to contact the West Route Army to see where they have reached."

"Commander Zhang, go and check the treasury, register and make a list, and prepare the list of Liao officials."

Zhang Qixian took the command, and then Li Chuyun excitedly ordered five hundred elite soldiers to besiege Xiao Siwen's mansion.

On March 25, the Qin army completely took over Youzhou City, and Li Chuyun also led people to besiege the Xiao family's mansion.

In order not to hurt the people inside, he mainly adopts the method of besieging but not attacking and persuading to surrender.

After a day of stalemate, knowing that all the city had fallen, the Xiao family also surrendered in despair, but the result disappointed Li Chuyun. He didn't know that Xiao Chuo was actually taken to Beijing a few days ago!

Li Chuyun was immediately annoyed, and wished he could immediately send troops to go straight to Beijing.

This is not a crazy idea. After occupying Youzhou, the Qin army completely stabilized its position, because the south was empty, and the troops of the Liao Kingdom were not enough to resist, and then immediately sent to Shunzhou, Tanzhou, Jizhou and other places in the east. scout.

Among them, the guard of Shunzhou, which is the closest to Youzhou, is also a Han. After hearing that Youzhou fell, he understood that the south was empty, and did not resist the Qin army who immediately surrendered to the city.

But Tanzhou closed its gates and stood guard, preparing to fight against the Qin army. There was no news from Jizhou in the east, and most of the surrounding counties and towns had already surrendered when they saw the arrival of the Qin army.

While the military capital of the Tang Dynasty in the northwest was Guan, the Xiongguan Pass of the Great Wall called Juyongguan in the Liao Kingdom was still guarding and refused to surrender.

On the evening of March 26, Li Chuyun convened people in the Jianing Palace in Youzhou to discuss the next direction of march.

On the one hand, they must guard against the counterattack of the Liao army in the north, and the surrounding counties must be captured as soon as possible, and the progress of the West Route Army at this time has also been sent over.

The West Route Army has also made great progress under the leadership of Xiang Gong, but they are dominated by the Hedong Army and there are not many forbidden troops, so they face the embarrassing situation of insufficient firepower, and the most important thing is that the West Route Army does not have the gunboat support of the Navy.

But the advantage is that the Liao army's fortifications in the west are more empty, and there are far fewer people in the prefectures and counties in the west than in the east.

The main force of the West Route Army was led by Xiang Gong, crossed Yanmen Pass and went north, captured Shuozhou, and was marching towards Yingzhou. The forward defeated the peripheral troops of Yingzhou, and the goal was to go north to Yunzhou.

Everyone in the DPRK knows that Yunzhou is the hometown of the Supreme Emperor, so the West Route Army is eager to make contributions and has high morale. Even without the support of naval ships and guns, the battle is extremely fast.

The other route, led by Yang Jiye, set off from Daizhou, traveled through Fanzhi County, went out of Feihukou to the northwest, captured Lingqiu (Weizhou), and marched towards Xinzhou, preparing to attack Xuanzhou after conquering Zhuozhou, and then marched towards Huailai , launched an attack with the Central Route Army from the other side of Juyongguan, and captured Juyongguan.

So far, among the sixteen prefectures, Zhuozhou (captured during the Guanbei War), Mozhou (captured during the Guanbei War), Yingzhou (captured during the Guanbei War), Yizhou (captured during the Guanbei War), Huanzhou, Shuozhou, Weizhou, Youzhou, and Shunzhou are already under the control of the Qin army.

But there is also a piece of bad news, that is, the head coach of the navy, Si Chao, is seriously ill and can hardly get out of bed, and has been resting in the big tent.

According to the report from the navy, it was because when the old general cleaned up the sunken ships of the Liao army, in order to motivate the soldiers and not delay the opportunity of the battle, he personally braved the cold river water in the late spring in the north, took the lead in the water, and finally caught up with the battle of the Sanggan River.

After that, he personally led the troops ashore, defeated the remaining defenses of the Liao army, killed several people with his hands, and was hit by an arrow that pierced his arm. After that, he had a high fever and couldn't get out of bed. Many people are worried that the old general will not last long.

The exhaustion of boats and cars, thousands of miles of travel, the army is hard, the old injury relapses, the injury and the torment of the bitter cold of the river make the veteran who is nearly [-] years old fall down. It is not good news that the leader of the army will be seriously ill at such a critical moment.

Chapter 511, Mixed Good and Bad

In late March, Emperor Shi had already arrived at the Daqing River ahead of schedule, but Emperor Luan did not cross the river, and the Xingyuan was just south of the river.

The main force has already crossed the river, led by Wang Shenqi, Fu Zhaoyuan, Liu Qingchuan, etc. will serve as the general reserve after crossing the river.

This time Emperor Shi asked Shao Ji to lead the Eastern and Western Tianzi's pro-army. As a fierce general, Shao Ji was a bit like his father Shi Yanchao.

It was Zhao Shijian's first visit to such a northern place, wrapped in a purple fox fur, and he huddled in the big tent and did not come out in the morning.

There are still a lot of paperwork for her to deal with.

This place is already very close to the front line, busy loading soldiers, a large number of horses transporting food and grass, ox carts are forming a long queue along the avenue, and the peasants recruited from all directions are shouting to go north, raising thin dust all the way, and cavalry shuttle back and forth from time to time.

Early in the morning, the air was still thick with chill. Emperor Shi rubbed his hands and watched the conscripted civilian husbands bitterly deliver supplies. Zhao Shijian just came out behind him, and took her small notebook to give him a rough report on the various items. The current position of the army is progressing.

This is already a subtle process. His clerk and the officer in charge know that the document should be given to the imperial concubine first, and then the imperial concubine will summarize and refine it before reporting to the official.

"The main force of the Chinese army has invaded Youzhou and controlled Shunzhou Zheng."

"What!" Emperor Shi was startled, "Youzhou has been captured? When did you hear the news?"

"The news came in the middle of the night. You were too sleepy to wake up." Zhao Shijian blushed slightly. The reason for his blushing was that Emperor Shi couldn't get up because he forced her to sleep in the big tent in the middle of the night. Do some physical exercise.

Emperor Shi was so excited that he screened back to the left and right, hugged Zhao Shijian around, and then shouted twice excitedly!

As long as Youzhou is stable, it will be a matter of time before Yanyun sixteen states are recaptured.

Then he whispered to Zhao Shijian: "Next time something like this happens, you must wake me up!"

Zhao Shijian nodded, shyly pushed away the big hand on his waist. Although they were old couples, there were soldiers in the distance who were pretending to be casually peeping here. She was not as thick-skinned as Emperor Shi.

"Talk about state affairs!" She continued, and then told Emperor Shi about the events in the north: "Shunzhou surrendered, General Li Chuyun has sent someone to take it over, and Tanzhou is still defending.

Xianggong on the west road has taken Shuozhou and Huanzhou, and is marching towards Yingzhou and Yunzhou. Yang Jiye has taken Lingqiu and is expected to arrive in Xinzhou in three days. "

Emperor Shi listened, and Zhao Shijian also thoughtfully took out the picture scriptures and spread them on the temporary table in front of him. He looked at them for a while, and couldn't help but said: "I thought the troops in the south would be empty, but I didn't expect the progress to be so fast! Even in Youzhou No one is Jiancheng, and the Sanggan River is still there. I didn't expect them to fight over in just a few days!

Does the battle report say how to fight? "

"The navy and army concentrated more than 400 naval guns and more than 300 field guns on the banks of the Sanggan River. They said they fought for half an hour. When the people passed by, the Liao army had no large-scale resistance, only sporadic fighting."

Emperor Shi was taken aback, and couldn't help but said, "So simple?"

"It's that simple in the battle report."

Shi Congyun was a little stunned, and couldn't help asking, "How many casualties?"

"76 people were killed and 320 were injured. These are the casualties of the Central Army."

"War can be so easy?" Emperor Shi was a little dazed, "I fought desperately to live and die." He felt a little unbalanced, although he knew that the main force of the Liao army was not in Youzhou, but they had Sanggan River and Youzhou City , it shouldn't be that simple, it can only be said that it can only be said

Even as the emperor, he did not expect that the artillery unit of the Qin army had developed to this level in the past ten years.

If the artillery unit at the beginning could only be used as a surprise soldier, today's artillery unit can completely determine the outcome of the battlefield and become a winning force.

Regarding this change, Shi Congyun himself did not notice it. The improvement of the organizational structure and technological progress of the artillery unit was a slow process, which was accumulated little by little for more than ten years, so he did not notice it, but after more than ten years After slowly accumulating, quantitative changes finally led to qualitative changes, and they completely broke out in this battle.

Unconsciously, the firearms troops he had cultivated for more than ten years already possessed the ability to dominate the battlefield!

In addition to being shocked, I felt more gratified and a sense of accomplishment in my heart.

At this moment, Zhao Shijian interrupted him: "There is also bad news."

His heart skipped a beat, and he asked calmly, "What bad news?"

"Old General Si Chao fell ill. The Liao army scuttled boats to block the river. He took the lead in going into the water to clean up the wreckage. Later, he was the first to go ashore to chase after him. He was injured and can't get out of bed now. The letter said that he might not last long. Please ask the officials to re- Appoint the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Route Army."

Emperor Shi was in a trance for a while, and stretched out his hand, Zhao Shijian grabbed him with a tacit understanding.

Although he is considered a cold-blooded person, Si Chao was the first batch of veterans to follow and support him. Since the Huainan Battle, Si Chao has always been his confidant and beloved general. For this extremely important Northern Expedition, Emperor Shi immediately thought of Si Chao as the commander of the navy.

It's just that I didn't expect that the world is impermanent and the years are wasted.

"The old general must also want to wrap his body in horse leather instead of leaving on the bed. This is his wish, so don't feel sad for him." Zhao Shijian comforted.

Emperor Shi didn't speak, just looked at the map for a long time, and didn't mention Si Chao's matter again, "Li Chuyun thinks that Juyongguan should be taken first, but there is still an important place." He pointed with his finger, "It's here, Yuguan .”

Emperor Shi pointed his finger at the top right of Youzhou on the map, and Zhao Shijian carefully recorded his words, Yuguan, which is Shanhaiguan in later generations.

"Yuguan is surrounded by seas on three sides, and it is connected to the Liaoxi Passage in the north. At the end of Tang Dynasty, from the north of Yuguan to Jinniukou, a heavily armed fortress was built and soldiers were recruited to defend it. The Khitan dared not enter lightly.

As long as we win here and stick to it, our occupation of Youzhou will be stable, and the Khitan people will not dare to go south.

It is necessary for them to advance quickly in Yunzhou. The defense in the west must be weaker than that in the east. Don't delay. When the western front is about the same, the troops must be concentrated from the Juyongguan area to the east. "

"Strictly order all armies to prepare for battle at any time to prevent the Liao army from counterattacking. There will inevitably be a big battle waiting later. Only by defeating the main force of the Liao army can our control over the sixteen states be stabilized.

In particular, tell Yang Jiye and Li Chuyun that if the Liao army counterattacks, it is most likely to go to Juyongguan or Tanzhou (Miyun), and more scouts must be sent. "

After saying this, he ordered: "Get ready, I'm going to Youzhou in advance."

Zhao Shijian was stunned: "The situation in the north is not stable enough."

"Yuguan and Juyongguan are both important places. The Chinese army and the navy are not strong enough. I will take people to Youzhou. The commander of the navy should discuss it face to face." Shi Congyun said.

"General Wang Shenqi can lead an army there, not to mention that it's not too far from Youzhou. As long as the officials open their mouths, no one would dare to disobey them." Zhao Shijian interrupted him repeatedly, wanting to prevent him from going north to take risks.

"Military matters, I must dictate."

"Seven hundred li rush is only half a day!"

"If you talk again, I'll spank your ass!" Emperor Shi became furious. Zhao Shijian raised his delicate chin not to be outdone, but finally compromised. She understood what Emperor Shi was thinking, and she understood it as soon as she opened her mouth. She just didn't want him to be in danger. It was won, but the main force of the Liao army is still in the north.

He wants to go to Youzhou to meet Si Chao, and while he is still there, it might be a farewell when he withdraws

Emperor Shi stretched out his hand and pinched her nose, "Don't worry, I have experienced scenes thousands of times more dangerous than this, and it's not bad, not to mention the tens of thousands of elite soldiers led by Wang Shenqi followed."

"I'll go with you." She said without thinking.

"You first write the edict and convey what I just said to all the troops."

Chapter 511, Changing Coaches

At the beginning of April, people and horses were in a hurry in Youzhou City. At this time, the whole city was under martial law, and soldiers of the Qin Army were everywhere. People were not allowed to go out at will and entered a state of preparation for war.

A hundred days were slanting to the west, when the sky was dark, dozens of riders passed through the village road outside the city, and then there was the sound of rumbling horseshoes on the ground. army.

The garrison who set up a card outside the city was startled. Seeing the flags of the Qin Army, they were relieved a little. They were about to send someone over to check the password, but they saw behind many colorful flags that the emperor's banner was slowly rising from the horizon.

The sentinels were taken aback for a moment, and then they didn't dare to delay, and shouted: "Quick, go to the city and tell the commander-in-chief that a certain person is going to face the saint!"

The sent soldiers were dissatisfied, and he also wanted to face the saint, but he had no choice but to obey the order of the capital, and reluctantly rode into the city to report that the emperor's army had arrived outside the city.

In fact, as early as daytime, there were forward scouts going north to report to them the news that the officials were about to lead the army north to Youzhou. For this reason, Li Chuyun and the others made arrangements to send more soldiers to set up checkpoints and increase the defenders in the direction of Shunzhou and Tanzhou. To ensure the safety of Shengjia.

This morning, there was also news from Jizhou that the guard of Jizhou had surrendered in Kaesong, and the Qin army sent there had successfully entered the city.

In this way, Shunzhou and Jizhou in the east of Youzhou have all fallen into the hands of the Qin army, and Youzhou City is safer.

It's just that Tanzhou, an important passage in the north, is still holding on, which makes Li Chuyun very worried. If the main force of the Liao army goes south, Tanzhou is a very important passage.

He sent his eldest son, Li Jilong, to lead the troops northward and defend in the northeast valley of Youzhou, and ordered him to block the main force of the Liao army no matter how many people came to the south for more than two days if he encountered the main force of the Liao army going southward, and to inform the south as soon as possible so that Youzhou could Quick response.

When Emperor Shi arrived outside the city on horseback, Li Chuyun had led all the civil and military troops out of the city to greet him.

The army was arranged by Wang Shenqi and camped on the banks of the Sanggan River, and Li Chuyun also sent officers to take over.

Emperor Shi got off his horse, dressed in travel and dust, handed the whip to Gao Da Shao Ji who was accompanying him, and then raised his hand, "Everyone get up, where is Si Chao, take me there."

Everyone looked at each other, got up immediately, and walked into the city with the anxious emperor without a word.

Emperor Shi was so worried that the joy of entering the ancient city of Youzhou was diluted. He didn't feel dazed until he passed through the dark city cave. This is Youzhou.

Unknowingly, this ancient city of Xiongguan has been trampled under his feet. At least without him, it would be hundreds of years before the South wants to take it back. From this point of view, Guan has contributed to the promotion of the historical process , Emperor Shi thought so.

Soon, Li Chuyun led him through the Yanjiao Tower and Guang'an Gate, then turned to the east, walked along the long bluestone brick avenue, stepped on some slippery dark green moss, turned around for a mile, turned north, and entered a The vermilion lacquered pear wood gate, and the old locust trees on both sides are just green, which can't cover the setting sun in the distance.