Chapter 755: Hebei Township Corps, resist the Northern invaders and defend my homeland!
1101 AD, the first year of the founding of the Jingguo period in the Song Dynasty.
Emperor Tianzuo of the Liao Dynasty, Yelu Yanxi, issued a letter of credence, criticizing Zhao Ji, the leader of the Southern Song Dynasty, for being unprincipled, and tearing up the Chanyuan alliance on the grounds of revenge for his mother. Xiao Fengxian, the general of Zuojin Wuwei, was the vanguard commander with a total of 200,000 troops and went south to attack the Song Dynasty.
At the same time, Emperor Li Qianshun of the Western Xia Dynasty mobilized all the troops from across the country and went to the front line of Hengshan to launch a fierce attack. The famous generals of the Western Army, Zhe Keshi, Zhong Shidao, Liu Fa, Liu Zhongwu and others led their troops to fight.
When the news that the Western Army was unable to return to Bianjing reached Bianjing, the government and the public were shocked. Zeng Bu, Cai Bian and other important officials each recommended that Cai Jing and Gao Qiu, who were in charge of Hebei's defense, be replaced.
The officials rejected the proposal, ordered the imperial examination to be postponed, and sent troops and generals from all directions to rush north for reinforcements.
The entire world's attention is focused on Hebei.
"Report——"
"Suicheng was broken! Guangxin Army and Anshun Army were defeated... Baozhou fell!!"
"The Liao army passed through the Hulu River, crossed the southern part of the pass, and was approaching the city..."
In the city of Yingzhou, Li Zongyu was commanded by soldiers and horses like a bolt from the blue. Even though he was wearing armor, he was staggering and almost fell down: "Baozhou is gone? How is it possible? How is it possible so fast?"
I still remember that not long ago, generals from all over the country gathered together and talked loudly about the Song Dynasty's foreign wars with more victories than defeats. They were impressive and majestic. But now, he was stunned by the blow to the head.
The key is the fall of Baozhou.
This is the ancestral home of Taizu of the Song Dynasty. At first, the Baosai Army was established in Qingyuan County, which meant "defending the frontier fortress". Later, the Baosai Army was promoted to Baozhou, where it built city gates, dredged outer gates, repaired camps, built ships, transported grain, and built cities. War broke out there many times between Song and Liao.
A hundred years ago, the Liao army tried unsuccessfully to occupy Baozhou. They went to Dingzhou and encountered another setback before moving to Yingzhou, but still failed to capture it. After that, they basically gave up the idea of a tough battle and switched to heading south. We have to go straight to Bianjing.
This is also the biggest reliance of the Northern Army. The Liao Kingdom has never been good at siege warfare. A hundred years ago, when its military power was at its peak, it could not win key areas, and it is even less good now!
But now that the war between the two countries has begun less than a month ago, it will definitely not exceed ten days from the time Baozhou was attacked to the present. In this short period of time, the important military base guarding the Hebei border will be gone?
Seeing that the soldiers and horses were so out of sorts, the defenders on the left and right all lost their composure: "General... what should we do?"
Li Zongyu gritted his teeth and roared: "What else can we do? Hold on! Hold on! We only need to hold on for ten and a half days before the Liao army retreats!"
This is true. Generally speaking, if a siege battle cannot be captured within ten days, it will be extended to at most half a month and the morale of the attacking party will be difficult to maintain. If it is dragged on forcibly, it will turn into It is common for a city to be besieged and it takes a year and a half to capture a city in this way.
At that time, Empress Dowager Xiao and Liao Shengzong already had a large number of troops. They personally led an army of 200,000 to besiege Yingzhou. After ten days of fighting and being unable to defeat Yingzhou, they immediately chose to withdraw. It was really a helpless move. Although the Liao army could plunder the local area Food, but the quantity is too huge after all, cannot withstand long-term wear and tear, and cannot stay in one place for a long time.
Now Li Zongyu's hope is to repeat the battle of defending the city of Yingzhou, and after ten days, it will be a glorious external victory.
He mobilized up and down, and even used whips to mobilize all the lazy soldiers. All kinds of fallen rocks, wood, arrows, gold and juice were all available, which gave him some comfort. The scouts came to report that the Liao army had arrived thirty miles outside the city.
, are building siege equipment.
And this wait lasted for several days. When the whole city was in an atmosphere of uneasiness and the strings in their hearts were about to break, the Liao army slowly marched towards the city.
"Beilu is coming! Beilu is coming!"
Li Zongyu climbed onto the wall again, looked into the distance, and immediately understood why the soldier's title changed from Liao Dog to Beibei.
Because the Liao army, with its flags like the sea, indeed had an extremely shocking impact.
The Liao army's military appearance was unexpectedly neat. The forward army was composed of shield soldiers, archers, sword and axe-men and engineering soldiers. It was equipped with siege equipment such as building carts, ladders, and wood, which obviously came from Xijin Prefecture in Nanjing, Liao Dynasty.
Han craftsmen.
Each of the left and right flanking armies has 2,000 men. They are all heavily armored cavalry. They are the elite Pishi army of the Khitan.
The central army is a mixture of cavalry and infantry, and the formations are equally neat. There are still two troops in the rear, which can not only defend the rear route, but also serve as reinforcements.
The overall number is not large, less than 30,000, but the troops are neat and disciplined. Just as the sun rises in the sky, it shines on the earth, making the weapons shine brightly, adding to the murderous atmosphere, it is overwhelming.
The defenders at the head of Zhoucheng couldn't breathe.
The commander of this army was none other than Xiao Wuna, King of Lanling of the Liao Kingdom. As the tutor of Emperor Tianzuo, he was not willing to easily go to war with the Song Dynasty, but seeing that the young emperor who had just ascended the throne was determined to fight, then he
He also went all out to attack the city and seize the territory.
"Drum roll!!"
At this time, the veteran gave an order, and the enthusiastic war drums beat. Nearly a hundred vertical carts designed to block arrows took the lead, with twenty archers hidden behind each cart, followed by five huge carts.
It pushed forward like tall towers towards Yingzhou City.
"If Baozhou had not fallen, how could these siege engines appear here? The two armies guarding Baozhou are useless!"
Li Zongyu's mouth was full of bitterness and he couldn't help but curse.
The threat of the building chariot is too great. It is as high as the top of the wall. The archers on it can easily cover the entire city within the range of arrows. When close to the city wall, the enemy can also directly step on the top of the wall and attack.
Within the city.
Of course, at this stage, there is still a moat to protect the city. The greater role of these carriages is to deter. Xiao Wuna has seen through previous confrontations with the Northern Army that these Song generals only have a defensive mind and have no offensive courage. Then
Just focus on attacking the opponent's mind and constantly attack the opponent's defensive will.
Sure enough, when the Liao army, which was not good at siege, launched various siege equipment, it invisibly gave the Song army a heavy blow. When the horn sounded loudly, Li Zongyu almost subconsciously shouted: "Throw stones! Fire arrows!"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Amidst the shouts, the trebuchets scattered in the city bounced up stones and threw countless powerful arrows at the enemy like raindrops. For a moment, the cars were overturned and people were turned over, which was extremely tragic.
Especially the huge rocks, whirling rapidly across the arc, hit the truck in the middle with a bang, breaking the truck into two pieces and falling to the ground, injuring and killing countless people.
This was just the beginning. Then the wood rolled down and the golden juice was splashed. The first wave of offensive was quickly repelled, leaving only miserable corpses.
The cheers of the Song army came from the Yingzhou city tower, but Xiao Wuna had no expression on his face and didn't even blink. He waited for the first batch of soldiers who tentatively attacked the city to die before giving the order: "Fill the moat.
Two thousand watts move first!"
The attire of Wari is obviously different and looks rather scattered. They are sin slaves of Khitan. Their personal names have been lost and they are collectively called "Wali".
But when the war drums shook the sky, the fighting will of these slave soldiers was more powerful than that of the elite soldiers. They launched wave after wave of attacks from all directions, shouting to kill the sky.
The source of the moat had been temporarily cut off. The Liao army began to fill a large section of the moat outside the main city gate with sand and gravel, and then pushed the carts again.
Li Zongyu roared at the top of his voice, and dropped arrows like raindrops again, crushing the Liao offensive again. Then under the command of Xiao Wuna, the Liao army reorganized their positions as quickly as possible and pressed forward again.
Compared to the time when Empress Dowager Xiao and the mother and son of Liao Shengzong were beating drums and cheering under the city, Xiao Wuna obviously had a different style. When the sun set, he had already ordered the troops to retreat, and then confidently said to his left and right: "
The Hebei army of the Song Dynasty is much weaker than I expected. If the information obtained by the spies is good, they can attack this important city tonight!"
"Don't talk about half a month...ten days! Can I keep it for ten days?"
Li Zongyu on the city wall was held up by his guards, otherwise he would have to sit down on the ground. He also wanted to maintain his dignity, but he almost collapsed. From afternoon to evening, just a few hours felt like a long time.
For dozens of days, he couldn't imagine how such a fierce confrontation would last for ten days, how he could persevere.
"The Liao army will not attack the city at night, I have to go and rest quickly..."
Li Zongyu shook a few times and was about to recharge his batteries, but then he was almost crushed by a piece of news: "What did you say? A section of the city wall collapsed?"
This sounds like a magical thing, but in Hebei, which has forgotten the war, it is really not a rare thing. Due to hundreds of years without war, many cities in Hebei are in disrepair. The city wall in Yingzhou collapsed due to rain.
Several paragraphs.
When they heard that the Liao army was about to move south, they began to rush to repair it. It turned out that the repair craftsmen were not in place, so there is still a large section of the city wall that has collapsed.
Fortunately, the moat outside that section is still there and has not been filled in. The direction is exactly opposite the Liao army, so it can still support it.
Li Zongyu was furious: "Then why are you still standing here? Go and repair it quickly! No one is allowed to rest until it is repaired!"
Then he returned to his mansion, tossing and turning at first, but eventually he couldn't bear the exhaustion and began to fall asleep.
But that night, Li Zongyu was still woken up. First he heard a noise, then an increasingly louder cry of killing, and finally raging flames printed on the window.
He rushed out in a hurry, and what he saw was that half of the city was shrouded in flames, Yingzhou City was filled with thick blood, and in his ears he heard the screams of the guards: "General, the Liao people have entered the city, and Zhizhou has been captured.
, many soldiers have surrendered to the enemy, Yingzhou City... Yingzhou City is going to be lost!"
Li Zongyu froze for a moment, then suddenly pulled out his sword, placed it across his neck, and was about to commit suicide.
Then as expected, he was hugged by the guards: "General, please don't do anything stupid!"
Li Zongyu put down his sword dejectedly, knelt on the ground, and cried loudly: "I have failed both the imperial court and the holy grace! Leave quickly, leave the green hills behind, and don't worry about having no firewood!"
…
"It took me seven days to conquer Baozhou City, and the losses were heavy. King Lanling really has a sword that is still young, but he actually conquered Yingzhou City in one day?"
An hour later, Xiao Fengxian, the leader of the Pioneer Command, appeared next to Xiao Wuna and praised him with a strange tone.
Xiao Wuna looked down upon this relative who rose to power by relying on his sister's favor. He also knew that the other party must regard him as a thorn in his side. The Khitan people prefer to make conflicts public, so he also said proudly: "This is the life of the three armies.
If Xiao Dutong is envious of his ability to advance intelligence, he might as well win Dingzhou!"
Xiao Fengxian said: "Now, King Lanling doesn't have to worry about it. It's not my turn to win Dingzhou. Your Majesty will do the work himself!"
Xiao Wuna's expression changed slightly: "What did you say?"
Xiao Fengxian said: "Your Majesty has led Oruduo southward and is preparing to conquer in person!"
Xiao Wuna suddenly changed his color: "Nonsense!!"
Back then, Empress Dowager Xiao and the Emperor Shengzong of the Liao Dynasty went on a personal expedition and almost lost their lives in the Chanyuan River. The Liao Kingdom was also very frightened. Emperor Tianzuo declared war on the Song Dynasty. Many people in the court were envious of the Song Dynasty's wealth, and many people agreed.
But if he said he would lead the troops himself, no one would support him.
It's a pity that this emperor is also a top-notch emperor. He was unanimously opposed by everyone before and could not insist on his own way. Now when he saw that the situation of the Liao army was improving, he immediately led his army and couldn't stop him.
Xiao Wuna's heart was already covered with a layer of gloom, and she fell silent.
But Xiao Fengxian, who suppressed this important minister for the first time, couldn't help laughing. Then he looked at the Yingzhou City that was burning with flames. He clenched his fists and raised them high: "Your Majesty is here in person to encourage the three armies.
This battle will surely reach Kaifeng with great momentum, and from now on this rich Southern Dynasty will be our world!"
…
"The general has ordered us to collect grain and grass from all counties in Cangzhou and hunt to our heart's content!"
"Hahaha!"
"Your Majesty has an order to attack Chaijiazhuang and present the iron certificate of the Alchemy Book of Taizu of the Southern Dynasty!"
"Roar!!"
When Yingzhou City fell one day, the news that shocked the world had just spread, and groups of cavalry also headed for Cangzhou.
The number is not large, and it is obviously not the main force. As Wu Yong said, Cangzhou is close to the Bohai Sea and is surrounded by depressions and lakes, which is not suitable for cavalry to move around. A small number is fine, but once there are too many, it will be easy to be surrounded and suppressed.
Even so, when a team of five hundred cavalry and four thousand servants rushed towards Chaijiazhuang, they were determined to win.
With such a scale, even if Chaijiazhuang is a fortress, it will be destroyed without elite guards. With so many servants specially driven by the cavalry, they are also trying to rob, transport food and grass, and rob women and slaves.
Obviously, when Baozhou and Yingzhou were defeated one after another, and the Liao army successively seized important military areas, they had already determined that they would win this battle. Looking at the Song people in the Southern Dynasties, it seemed as if they were galloping on the grassland, selecting each other's prey, and competing to kill it.
However, this group of Liao people who poured into Cangzhou in a mighty manner did not know that a team with support from all parties and experienced rapid training had been waiting for a long time.
The leader, Li Yan, was riding on the lion. Chai Jin, who had a lot of weather on his face, was beside him. Lu Junyi, Suo Chao, Hua Rong, Xu Ning, Zhang Qing, Zhang Shun, Zhang Heng and others were all there, and then there were
Country soldiers.
Seeing the unscrupulous figures of the Liao people, everyone's eyes were filled with flames.
The Northern Army has been defeated one after another. Now, those who protect Hebei can only rely on themselves.
Hebei Volunteer Township Corps, resist the Northern invaders and defend our homeland!