nycdaug Chapter 390 Turbulence
Chapter 390 Turbulence
In the second year of Yuanyou in the Song Dynasty and the end of September in the third year of Da'an in the Liao Dynasty, after three months of fierce fighting, the strategic situation between Song and Liao finally underwent earth-shaking changes.
At the end of September, the Ningxia Corps, mainly composed of the Zhe family army, successively conquered Dongsheng Prefecture and Yunnei Prefecture, and marched on the border to besiege Fengzhou City, the seat of the Liao Kingdom's Southwest Recruiting Office.
In early October, under the leadership of Zhong Yan, the Yunying Legion swept across the Inner Great Wall area with a devastating force and successively recovered the three states of Weizhou, Xinzhou and Wuzhou.
At the beginning of the same month, Yao Xiong's troops broke out of the Qifeng and Baimashan line and rushed north to capture Guizhou and besiege Ruzhou.
For a time, the entire Liaoxijing Road was caught in the overwhelming and fierce attack of the Song army, and there was a trend that the entire Xijing Road would be recaptured by the Song army.
At the same time, in the Liaonan Road, the Xiongzhou Legion, which had been suppressed for a long time by the Liao army led by Xiao Boyu, also experienced an outbreak.
At the end of September, after a slight retreat at Zhuoshui, Guo Kui finally demonstrated his style as the best commander in the army.
On the one hand, he feinted an attack on Zhuozhou City, and on the other hand, he went around to the rear, cutting off the connection between Zhuozhou and Xijin Prefecture, and then surrounded Zhuozhou City with a large army.
At the same time, rumors were spread in Zhuozhou City, falsely claiming that Xijin Prefecture had been captured by the Song army, and Yelu Hongji had also been captured by the Song army and was now being taken to the Song Dynasty.
As a result, the people of Zhuozhou City were in panic, and the Liao army was in a state of morale collapse.
In particular, Xiao Boyu sent people to the north to contact Guo Kui several times, but was stopped by Guo Kui.
Without information, even Xiao Boyu, who was known to have the "Han Xin's style", was unable to suppress the Liao army.
Guo Kui seized the opportunity and used his artillery to shock the people and bombarded the four gates of Zhuozhou.
For a moment, smoke filled the air, and huge gaps were dug out in the city gates and part of the city walls under the fierce artillery fire that was a breakthrough in the era.
Afterwards, the Song army, led by generals such as Shen Congxing, rushed towards the enemy's defense line. After only one round of attack, the gates of Zhuozhou City were wide open and the Song army could no longer be stopped.
Seeing the Song army, which had been suppressed for nearly a month, raising their sharp butcher knives, Xiao Boyu was not going to be easy to deal with. He immediately started a brutal street battle with Guo Kui and others.
The Battle of Zhuozhou was arguably the battle with the heaviest casualties since the Song army entered the Liao Dynasty.
Perhaps it was because they knew that the Liao army was defeated that Xiao Boyu and the entire Zhuozhou army became ferocious and madly engaged in a fight with the Song army.
The blood and flesh all over the ground tell the story of the cruelty of this battle. The Song and Liao armies are not gods. As long as they are human, they will have the weakness of death.
The Battle of Zhuozhou also announced to the world that the Liao army that once swept across the world still existed and still had terrifying killing power.
"General Guo, the entire Zhuozhou City has become a meat grinder. Our army has suffered heavy losses. Should we continue this battle?!"
Shen Congxing, the "Terracotta Warrior"-like general, retreated from the front line covered in blood, followed by General Zheng and General Zheng, whose faces were also covered in blood.
"Our army suffered heavy casualties, but are the Liao army's casualties also heavy?!"
"Did we only learn about the brutality of street fighting today?!"
"If we can't take Zhuozhou City, how many heads will you and I have to answer to General Han and the court?!"
Guo Kui did not get angry. At this moment, he seemed to be possessed by Han Ming. His expression was extremely cold, and his eyes were fixed on Shen Congxing and others.
"Besides, the two armies have already started a real fight. Trying to stop it will only result in defeat."
"Send a message to Generals Duan Chengqian, Duan Chengyong, and Geng Jiechuan. I don't want any casualties, I only want Zhuozhou City!!!"
Guo Kui's fierce tone made Shen Congxing and others tremble, and then they clenched their right fists and hit the breastplate.
"The general will get the order!"
Guo Kui glanced at the three of them and said in a gloomy tone, "The past and the future are still vivid in my mind... The blood debt of the Yuanfeng Northern Expedition has not yet been eliminated..."
Upon hearing this, Shen Congxing and the other two knew that the upcoming battle of Zhuozhou would likely get out of control.
But so what? They came to fight, not to help the poor. As long as the Liao army does not surrender, they are enemies and need to be killed!
Guo Kui's military order was passed to the front line, and the entire Song army completely entered the "crazy slaughter" mode and fought against the Liao army.
The battle of Zhuozhou City lasted for two days and nights. Both sides were killing each other like crazy. The soldiers who were able to walk out of the city safely were the best soldiers on both sides.
"General, we have fulfilled our mission and captured Zhuozhou City!"
Zhong Dayou and Liu Zhengjie entered the tent with murderous intent and looked at Guo Kui who was looking at the map with his hands behind his back.
"How many Liao soldiers are left?!"
Guo Kui didn't turn around, but just asked casually.
"A thousand cavalrymen, led by Xiao Boyu, forcibly broke through our army's obstruction and fled north to Youzhou."
"There are currently less than 4,000 remnants of the defeated army left in the city, and they have all surrendered."
Zhong Dayou said with a fist clasped.
"Buried them all, this commander needs no prisoners."
Guo Kui's expression remained unchanged as he uttered an extremely cold remark.
"Also, remember, the Xiongzhou Legion has only one mission this time, and that is to capture Youzhou City. Everything else is irrelevant."
Kill the prisoners!!!
Shen Congxing and the others looked at each other, then nodded heavily: "I understand!"
The fall of Zhuozhou City announced that the last line of defense south of Xijin Prefecture (Youzhou) had been completely eliminated.
Next, there will be no military force south of Xijin Prefecture that can stop the Song army from advancing northward.
. . . . . .
At the end of October, facing the Liao army that had long intended to withdraw troops for support, Di Liang's Bazhou Legion still failed to catch up with the scheduled time. After forcibly taking Shunzhou, it did not seize the last Danzhou (Miyun).
This gave the Liao army a transit point to enter and exit the Great Wall defense line. With Danzhou as the center, the last batch of troops from Liao Shangjing Road, Zhongjing Road and Dongjing Road entered the Yanyun area for garrison.
Yao Xiong's troops, who had originally captured Guizhou and Ruzhou and cut off Nanjing Road's support for Xijing Road, suddenly faced unprecedented pressure.
Yao Si, who was confronting Yelu Asi, also launched a counterattack as soon as he received the news.
Three consecutive days and nights of attacks caused the defense line built by Yelu Asi, which was already at its limit, to completely collapse.
After the Song army took advantage of the terrain of Qifeng and Baimashan and widely carried out guerrilla tactics, the Liao army was simply unable to keep up with the Song army's well-planned advance and retreat style.
Yelu Asi's defeat freed up Yao Si, who, along with Yao Lin, led the remaining troops of the Yizhou Legion north to reinforce.
Yelu Cong, the commander of the Liao army in Danzhou, also understood the crisis that Xijin Prefecture was facing and planned to adopt the tactic of "encircling Wei to save Zhao" to ease the pressure on the front line.
He then allocated one-third of his troops to march westward to attack Ruzhou, in an attempt to open a route to reinforce Xijing Road, lure the Song army westward, and lift the siege of Xijin Prefecture.
The Song and Liao armies once again entered into a race against time. The Yizhou Legion led by the brothers Yao Si and Yao Lin and the Liao army reinforcements led by Yelu Cong started a confrontation on another battlefield.
. . . . . .
"General Han, military intelligence from the front line!"
"Di Liang's Bazhou Corps failed to capture Tanzhou as planned, and the Liao army's reinforcements have all entered the Yanyun area!"
Cheng Lan rushed into the tent, exhausted, and handed a military report to Han, who was chatting with Li Xian.
Han Ming took the military newspaper and read it carefully. Li Xian beside him also leaned over to take a look, and his expression changed instantly, looking a little ugly.
"With an army of 100,000, is Yelu Hongji going to spend all his family's wealth right now?!"
Li Xian looked at Han with a serious expression.
"Including the 140,000 troops deployed in the early stage, the Liao army has dispatched a total of 24 armies, which is more than our army."
Upon hearing this, Cheng Lan and some soldiers in the commander's tent who were mapping the front-line terrain and providing intelligence analysis fell into deep silence.
Only Han Ming raised his eyebrows and a smile of confidence appeared on the corner of his mouth.
"Oh, this Yelu Hongji has really given me such a great gift."
Hearing Han Ming's careless words, everyone present looked sideways.
"Han Shuai, are you sure this is a great gift?"
Li Xian was a little confused about Han Ming's train of thought. The Liao army was good at defeating the larger force with a smaller one, and now its strength was almost the same as that of the Song army.
In this situation, the situation is probably deadlocked, so how could the Duke of Wei still laugh?
"He has a plan, but I have a ladder."
"This battle is a sure win..."
Han Ming stuffed the military newspaper into Li Xian's hand with a smile, and leisurely walked out of the general's tent with his hands behind his back.