Chapter Ninety-eighth: Driving away wolf and tiger (6)
(Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, three updates today!)
Youzhou, an important southern town in the Xixia Kingdom, has been completely surrounded. The Song army's 100,000 troops are densely arrayed in camps, and banners, swords and guns stand like forests. Every day, the sound of war drums and horns resounds throughout the sky, mixed with the roaring sky.
The catapults and crossbows fired stones and arrows, and bursts of smoke rose, making it very lively.
Su Jin's big tent is located on the top of a hillside five miles away from the south gate of Youzhou. The noise outside the city has become much quieter here, and there is no tense atmosphere at all in the big tent. Su Jin is fully armed.
Sitting behind the case talking to a man who looked like a lieutenant in armor.
"Didn't the soldiers and civilians in the city evacuate a month ago? Why are they asking us to stop the bombardment again?" Su Jin asked calmly, playing with the handsome seal in his hand.
"Commander Su, the younger one stayed in Youzhou under the orders of Commander Li. You said it was a feint attack, but rocks and arrows always hit the city. There were still many people in the city, and there were many casualties. Houses
A lot of it has also been smashed. If this continues, Commander Li will be stabbed when he comes back." The deputy general muttered. [
Su Jin smacked his lips and said: "What should I say to you? I have told you to gather people to the north of the city a long time ago, but you just don't listen. The efficiency of doing things is too poor. Okay, okay, I know, but you have to do it immediately after you go back.
Gather the people to Beicheng, otherwise there will be no casualties."
The deputy general said: "Can you ask the commander not to hit the city? Just hit the open space outside the city."
Su Jin shouted with a serious face: "Don't push too far. I will immediately order General Pan to stop attacking for an hour. You go back and evacuate the people quickly. We will still attack after an hour."
The deputy general begged: "Why bother? Since it is a feint attack, why bother..."
Su Jin shouted: "Thirty breaths have passed in an hour. If you want to talk here, you can do it slowly. You can pull him out and stand in the snow and chatter slowly. I don't have time to talk to you."
Long-winded."
The deputy general had no choice but to bow his hands and say goodbye: "I will go and evacuate the people now. The commander-in-chief must not be angry. I will leave."
Su Jin waved his hands without even looking at him.
After the deputy general retreated, Li Zhong on the side suddenly laughed and said: "These guys, they have to look forward to Shu, and they don't know how to keep secrets at all, hey."
Su Jin sighed: "Yeah, I just can't explain it to them. It's all a show. The Liao people must have eyes and ears on the battlefield. Of course, they have to really throw rocks and shoot arrows into the city. It's normal to smash the houses and kill the dead people."
, otherwise how can it be realistic? Not only that, tomorrow we will organize people to charge and attack the city, climb to the top of the city and pretend to be beaten down, and then charge up and be defeated again. This can show that our Song army is fighting to the death to attack the city; I will lead
We have hired 200,000 troops to accompany them in the show, and they are still asking for conditions. It is really unreasonable."
Li Chong laughed and said: "Shuai Su is quite generous. In the past few days, dozens of homing pigeons have taken off from the hills in the southwest. It seems that the news has been sent to the Liao people."
Su Jindao: "Don't take it lightly. Let's continue the performance. Anyway, we treat it as combat training. If we are idle, we will be idle. But how are our supplies prepared? How did you do the thing I asked Brother Zhaoting to help me with?"
?”
Li Zhongdao: "Things went quite smoothly. Although it caused a lot of criticism, you made it clear before the emperor that you were doing something extraordinary, so there was no reaction from the imperial court."
Su Jin waved his hand and said: "Ignore them, how can I come up with such a huge amount of money to purchase weapons and armor? I can only issue bonds in the name of the Third Division, mobilize the Song Dynasty Prefecture to purchase, and use the imperial court's authority to
Name, using various preferential conditions as inducements, plus forced apportionment, a three-pronged approach can naturally collect this amount of money."
Li Zhongdao: "The first batch of 30,000 sets of armor, 50,000 pieces of swords and guns, 30,000 sets of bows, one million arrows, and 1.6 million stones of food have already been secretly transported to Xia Realm. The second batch of 80,000 sets of light armor,
Five thousand barrels of kerosene have been shipped, and the third batch of two million shi of grain is about to be shipped. Anyway, I won't miss your business."
Su Jin smiled and said: "Brother Zhaoting is the head of my family. Without you, I don't know what to do with these things. Brother Zhaoting, I will drag you back to the capital after the war.
Si, I also want to get you into the Sansi Yamen, and it would be good to be a salt and iron or Duzhi envoy."
Li Chong smiled and said: "I will go wherever Zicong goes and follow you."
Su Jin said: "What if I no longer serve as an official?"
Li Zhong was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "Then I will resign. It will be a pleasure to live next door to you and talk about poetry and wine every day."
Su Jin laughed loudly and said: "Okay, good friends for life!" [
Li Zhongdao: "What kind of good gay friend?"
Su Jin scratched his head and said: "Let's not mention this for now. Remember to ask Queen Mother Yeli to write the receipt. After the things are delivered, they will forget our kindness and come to settle old accounts."
Li Chong chuckled and said, "You are so fussy with your mother-in-law."
Su Jin smiled and said: "My mother-in-law is not an easy person. She dares to kill her own husband. Think about it, what else can't they do? We have to save a hand."
…
As soon as it dawned, Xiao Hui's army had already set off. On the Gobi Desert as far as the eye could see, the sparse grass and rocks were covered with frozen frost flowers, and long white vapors were sprayed from the mouths of men and horses, like
They are big teapots that have been boiled one by one.
Xiao Huiming called Xiao Bise, the capable general under his tent, and ordered him to lead 10,000 cavalry to set off first, not only to explore the road but also to take on the responsibility of searching. Although the scouts heard very clearly, after the Gobi Desert spread for 60 miles, there was a mountainous area.
To the south is a small city in the Xia Kingdom called Kedun City. Although it looks like a fortress guarding an important road from the topography, judging from the garrison at the top of the city, there are less than a thousand troops stationed in the city and they are completely undefended.
, Xiao Hui didn't take this small city seriously at all.
"Lieutenant Xiao, I order you to lead 10,000 cavalry to set off immediately and capture the city of Kedun before sunset. Our subsequent supply of food and materials will be based in this city. I will lead the army to break camp and advance slowly to destroy the first enemy of Xixia.
It will be easier for you."
Xiao Bise held the wolf-toothed tree across his chest and bent down to salute: "Thank you, Your Majesty. We don't need to wait until sunset. We will meet you in the afternoon."
Xiao Hui said: "Nonsense, you may not be able to reach the place sixty miles away in the afternoon, and you are not afraid of the strong wind blowing your tongue, but this city is not a worry, so go and do it quickly."
Xiao Bise shouted loudly and took the order to go out of the tent. He led ten thousand cavalry and rolled them into the distance like a muffled thunder. They gradually turned into black spots, and the raised dust polluted half of the sky.
Xiao Hui watched the vanguard leave with a smile, and said to the left and right in a relaxed tone: "Let's not be in a hurry. We can move forward slowly. We can just arrive at Ketun City before sunset to station ourselves. If we go too early, there will be corpses everywhere."
It's disgusting, it will save trouble once they clean it up."
The two men laughed loudly and said: "Your Majesty, General Xiao is the leader. He should have done some hard work, otherwise we would be unhappy."
Xiao Hui said with a smile: "Don't be unjust. From today on, you all have the opportunity to show off your talents. All of you must pack up your belongings and break camp to march."
The generals agreed in unison and dispersed, and the whole camp suddenly became lively.
The 10,000 cavalrymen of Xiaobi Se, who were like a strong wind, arrived at the mountainous area in the early afternoon. The mountain was not high, but it was not suitable for horses to ride. The canyon between the two mountains formed a natural passage, which was the only way to go south.
.
Xiaobi Se had rich combat experience and sent two hundred-man troops into the valley to advance slowly. Although he knew that the opponent only had more than a thousand troops and it seemed that an ambush was possible, his high military quality still prompted him to act normally.
The two teams of cavalry searched until they reached the open area outside the valley. They could see the dark walls of Ketun City. They did not dare to go any further and hurried back to report.
Xiaobi Se carefully inquired about the situation in and outside the valley, and concluded that the enemy had not noticed the enemy's attack, so he waved his hand and gave the order, and the entire army slowly entered the valley.
In fact, Xiao Bither also felt that his caution was quite unnecessary. There was nothing on the slopes on both sides of the valley except black rocks. It was a completely barren land with no place to hide people. The army passed through the valley safely without any doubt.
, there is an open land in front of you, and the city of Kedun is directly ahead three or four miles away.
"Command the entire army to quickly pass through the canyon and prepare to charge." Xiaobi Se issued the order with a stern expression, and the cavalry behind him continuously poured out from the mouth of the canyon, forming a long column.
The ground shook a little, making a rumbling sound like muffled thunder. Xiao Bither thought it was the sound of his own troops lining up, but soon he realized that something was wrong. It was the sound of war horses running at full speed that shook the ground, and he
The team is moving slowly and forming a queue.[
In an instant, huge clouds of yellow dust rose up from both sides of the city where Xiao Bisei could see, sweeping in like a yellow cloud. Under the yellow cloud were several black dots jumping around, which were densely packed cavalry troops.
, I can’t tell how many people there were, I can only see the gleaming scimitar on the horse shining with a dazzling halo under the winter sun, making those who looked at it dizzy.
"That's... bad! Enemy attack!"
Xiao Bise shouted, and his heart became tense. Didn't he say that there were only a thousand defenders in Ketun City? There were tens of thousands of cavalry swarming in. Could it be that they fell from the sky?
Xiao Bise rubbed his eyes and ears. All this was not an illusion. It was indeed tens of thousands of Xixia cavalry rushing towards him.
"Meet the enemy! Meet the enemy!" Xiao Bise let out an earth-shattering cry and at the same time raised the mace in his hand high...