The affairs in Liaodong were arranged, and the final candidates for pacifying Liaodong were Luo Xu and Yang Ye. This time, Luo Xu only led his own troops to Liaodong. After attacking Youzhou, the Jizhou army still had nine more troops.
Battalion. After Yang Ye's Cangzhou Army was reorganized, there were ten fully organized battalions. Liu Ling gave him another 3,000 troops from the Shenji Battalion. After ten days of preparation, the army left Youzhou and headed for Liaodong with Ji Chengyun's cronies as guides.
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Also setting off at the same time as the Jizhou Army and the Cangzhou Army was Zhaoxian's navy.
If you include the navy, the army that conquered Liaodong this time totaled 250,000 troops.
Compared with the Sui Dynasty's conquest of Liaodong, the number of soldiers and horses was much smaller. However, Liaodong at this time was not the same as that of the Sui Dynasty. Goguryeo's territory had shrunk by half. The Khitans, Mohe people, and Shiwei people were fighting.
The city was bustling with activity. Liaoyang Mansion had become an empty city, and the resistance from the Han army was not very great.
Moreover, the equipment of the Han army is not comparable to that of the Sui Dynasty soldiers. The thirty artillery pieces that the Shenji Battalion has produced in the past year have been put into use. With these artillery pieces, the city gates of Liaodong cannot stop it.
The pace of the Han army's attack.
After the affairs in Liaodong were arranged, Liu Ling set his sights on Swan City. Wang Banjin's nearly 200,000 troops were ready to attack. As long as Liu Ling gave the order, they would storm Swan City. Weiming Xiaoxiao's army had already captured Datong Prefecture.
, the defeated Khitan troops retreated all the way to the northeast, and Youzhou was captured by the Han army. The Khitan people could only continue to retreat to the Linhuang Mansion in Shangjing in the northeast. Weiming Xiaoxiao left 20,000 troops to guard Datong, and personally led nearly 300,000
Ten thousand troops attacked the Liao Kingdom and went to Beijing.
In the Battle of Datong, Wei Mingxiao annihilated more than 100,000 Liao troops, while Xixia also lost more than 100,000 troops. This shows how tragic the Xixia battle to conquer Datong Prefecture was.
The Liao army's western front was completely defeated. The defeated troops, led by Huo Xiao Linghu and Su Ge, blocked Dang Xiang's army while retreating toward Shangjing.
At this time, Linhuang Mansion in Beijing in the Liao Kingdom was also in chaos. Tiemu Qiuge led a team of 50,000 people to snatch the body of Yelu Xiongji and then hurriedly retreated north, passing through the siege of several Khitan Golden Horde generals.
They blocked the way, and when 50,000 troops arrived in Beijing, only more than 20,000 people were left. After three bloody battles with Yelu Chucai's army returning from Youzhou, only less than 10,000 people were left. Finally, they entered Linhuang Mansion and paid an audience.
Queen Xiao.
Empress Xiao, with the support of Han Zhigu, Tiemu Qiuge and others, established the four-year-old third prince as emperor.
Empress Dowager Xiao sent someone to give an order to Yelu Chucai's army surrounding the capital, asking Yelu Chucai to enter the city to meet the new emperor. Yelu Chucai saw that the third prince had ascended the throne, and the garrison in the city was ready, knowing that he had no chance to stand on his own. Moreover, Yelu Chucai was seriously injured.
Later, Yelu Chucai's ambitions also faded a lot. After receiving the order from Empress Dowager Xiao, he tied his arms and entered the city, ordering his 70,000 troops to serve the new emperor.
After Yelu Chucai entered the city, Empress Dowager Xiao did not punish him in order to win over the morale of the army. Instead, she named him King of Zhao and still led the troops. Empress Dowager Xiao ordered Yelu Chucai to lead the army to station outside Shangjing City, while the protection inside the city was
Leave it entirely to Temuqiu Ge.
Empress Dowager Xiao appointed Tiemu Qiuge as the general of the country, with the title of "weiyuanhou" and the commander-in-chief of the people in the capital.
Han Zhigu was granted the title of Grand Prime Minister, in charge of internal and external affairs, and was granted the title of Prince of the County.
Within a few days, the Khitan generals from the Golden Horde who had returned from all walks of life gathered together. After deliberation, they elected Tito to be the governor of Bojilie. They wrote to Empress Dowager Xiao requesting that the Eight Departments of Bojilie resume political affairs. Major military and state affairs were decided jointly by the Eight Departments of Bojilie after deliberation.
Empress Dowager Xiao can attend the meeting of eight ministries on behalf of the Yelv clan of the Dieci tribe, but she must hand over Tiemu Qiuge, the murderer of His Majesty Yelv Xiongji and Prince Yelv Deguang. Open the city gates of Shangjing and welcome the army of General Jinzhang into the city.
Empress Dowager Xiao naturally refused and sent an envoy to Tito's army, ordering Tito and other generals from the Golden Horde to enter the city to pay homage to the new emperor and hand over their military power.
Naturally, Tito and others did not agree to this. The two sides were at war with each other, and the war seemed imminent.
Wei Mingxiao's army followed the defeated Khitan army in Datong, bypassed Youzhou, and went straight to Beijing. The defeated Khitan army in Datong fought with the Dangxiang people one after another along the way. Although it blocked the march of the Xixia army northward, General Su Ge and General
Tiago died in the battle. Fire Owl Linghu and Yelu Feiyang led the remaining soldiers to fight and retreat, joined the troops of Liao General Purnu, fought a battle with Wei Mingxiao and retreated to Shangjing.
Purnu is a famous young general named Liyao Nayan, who has always had prestige in the Liao army. After Liyao Nayan went to the Western Regions, among the young and middle-aged generals of the Liao Dynasty, Purnu was the most stunning and stunning.
After discussing with Fire Lord Linghu, Yelu Feiyang and others, Purnu led his army to merge with Tito's army. For a time, Tito's army had a strength of 200,000, far exceeding the strength in Shangjing City. He was named the King of Zhao by the Empress Dowager Xiao.
Instead of sending troops outside Shangjing to resist Tito's army, Yelu Chucai withdrew his troops ten miles away and set up camp, watching from the sidelines.
Although the army brought by Fire Owl Linghu and Yelu Feiyang were defeated, they survived fighting all the way from the Han Dynasty. They are all real elites. After several or even dozens of fights with the Han Dynasty and party members, they survived
Even if there are still new soldiers, they have grown into real warriors. Purnu's 20,000 troops have never participated in a battle and are considered a new force. Tito got these more than 50,000 troops for nothing, so he was naturally very happy.
Tito also became more and more arrogant in his words towards Empress Dowager Xiao.
He wrote a personal letter to Empress Dowager Xiao, stating that the city gates of Shangjing would be opened within a limited time, otherwise 200,000 troops would enter Shangjing, and any resisters would be treated as traitors.
Empress Dowager Xiao personally climbed to the top of the city to boost the morale of the defenders, and Tiemu Qiuge asked the army to prepare for a fight.
But who would have thought that at this moment, the situation suddenly changed. On the tenth day after Huo Xiaolinghu and others arrived at Tito's army, at the dinner party that day, Yelu Feiyang suddenly burst into action and killed Tito with a knife. The same was true for Huo Xiaolinghu and Purnu.
Hiding a sharp knife, he stabbed to death two other Golden Tent generals. The remaining two of the five Golden Tent generals who were with Tito escaped from the big tent in embarrassment. Fire Owl Linghu and others ordered the soldiers who had arranged in advance to burn them down.
Tito's tent was cut down, and Tito's Dubojilie banner was just erected.
The Liao army was in chaos outside Shangjing City. Huo Xiaolinghu and others took the opportunity to lead their troops into the Liao army camp and killed the other two golden tent generals. They then sent troops to collect the remaining soldiers and called on the soldiers to be loyal to the new emperor.
The next day, Empress Dowager Xiao personally led all the officials out of the city to greet the three men, Fire Owl Linghu. Knowing that the situation was over, Yelu Chucai went to the city again to plead guilty. Only this time, Empress Dowager Xiao gave him not high-ranking officials and generous salaries, but an ambush under the tent.
The swordsman.
Empress Xiao decisively killed Yelu Chucai, and sent Tiemu Qiuge and Yelu Feiyang to lead five thousand elite troops into Yelu Chucai's army camp. When the imperial edict was read out, Yelu Feiyang suddenly attacked again and killed Yelu Chucai on the spot.
With more than ten trusted followers, he immediately surrendered the army.
At this point, the danger of going to Beijing was resolved.
Empress Dowager Xiao appointed Tiemu Qiuge, Yelv Feiyang, Huo Xiao Linghu, and Purnu to the Shangzhu Kingdom, the general of the army, and the first-class marquis. The four of them were in charge of the last twenty-five Khitans gathered near Shangjing.
The army of ten thousand was divided into four groups and firmly defended the capital of Liao Dynasty.
Although it seems that the four people have equal official titles and Empress Dowager Xiao relies on them equally, she obviously pays more attention to Yelu Feiyang, who is from the Dieci tribe with the Yelu royal family. All the troops and horses in the inner city are under the control of Yelu Feiyang. Tiemu Qiuge
When the three of them stayed outside Shangjing City, the three of them acted as each other's horns and supported each other.
Wei Mingxiao knew that if he wanted to attack the Liao Kingdom in one fell swoop, annihilating the 250,000 people outside Shangjing City would be the hardest, toughest, and most difficult battle to fight. If he could defeat these 250,000 Khitans in the end,
With the main force, the Liao Kingdom will surely overthrow. Originally, he stood still because he was waiting for the Khitan people to fight due to their internal discord. He knew that Tito and the golden account generals all wanted to grab the highest position and bully the orphans and widows of Empress Xiao. For the sake of imperial power, the Khitan people
People are bound to fight among themselves.
But he did not expect that the battle between the Khitans would end so quickly. Huo Linghu and others took refuge in Tito and killed Tito. Empress Xiao decisively killed Yelu Chucai. The Khitans actually condensed into a
For the Dangxiang people, this is definitely not good news. The 400,000 Dangxiang elites brought by Wei Mingxiao, except for the cities he captured along the way, the troops he brought with him were not as many as the Khitan soldiers. And the soldiers
Tired and exhausted, the attack from Swan City into the territory of Liao Kingdom was thousands of miles away, and it was already at the end of the war.
But he was unable to retreat. If the large army retreated, the Khitans would pounce on them like wild wolves that smelled blood and bite them. The Xixia army had already penetrated deep into the Liao Kingdom. It would not be easy to advance or retreat.
Things that can be done.
Last autumn, when the cattle, sheep and horses were getting fat, a large number of Han spies sneaked into the Liao Kingdom and set fires everywhere. After a winter of ashes all over the fields, plus two days of heavy snow covering the ground with a foot thick, whether it was
The Khitans are still Dangxiang people, but in fact, food and grass are already in short supply.
Wei Mingxiao was riding a tiger and it was difficult to get off. If his army returned to Datong, they would not be able to go back for a month. However, the Khitan people would never watch them retreat. Even if the Khitan people did not pursue them, the army would not have enough food and grass to sustain them.
It's been a month, not even ten days is enough.
He thought that he could easily capture Linhuang Mansion in Shangjing. He thought that there must be food in Shangjing.
He really didn't expect that the Khitans would also stare at the pitiful food in his camp.
In the cold winter of March, with two heavy snowfalls and several prairie fires, the Khitan herdsmen had already begun to kill cattle and sheep. By the time the first month came, they didn’t even have the cattle and sheep to kill. They watched people freeze to death and starve to death everywhere.
The carcasses of cattle and sheep were crying without tears. Of course, the carcasses of cattle and sheep could be eaten, but not for a few months. The weather was gradually getting warmer, and the bloated carcasses of cattle and sheep might be the source of a great plague.
Wei Mingxiao had no choice but to write a letter to Liu Ling, the king of Han, trying to get Liu Ling to send troops from Youzhou to respond to the Xixia army. It would be best if he could also bring enough food to feed the 200,000 troops for a month.
No one calculates it as one kilogram per day. The daily consumption of an army of 200,000 is 200,000 kilograms of grain. This does not include the 50,000 to 60,000 auxiliary soldiers and civilians. It does not include the hundreds of thousands of war horses.
On the day the letter was sent, the Xixia people had already begun to kill horses. If Liu Ling's army did not deliver food in time, I am afraid that the Xixia people would face a disaster.
In fact, this was a very helpless choice for Weiming Xiaoxiao. The grain road from Swan City to Shangjing was more than a thousand miles long, and the consumption along the way was astronomical.
Moreover, the food route has been cut off.
"My brother, I have led a large army to besiege Beijing and will attack and destroy the Liao Kingdom in a few days. The Liao army has no food and it is difficult to resist our great Xia army. I declare that the young emperor of Liao and the Queen Mother Xiao will be captured alive within half a month.
Therefore, I would like to invite my virtuous brother to lead the army to hunt in Linhuang and celebrate the grand event together."
Liu Ling couldn't help laughing after reading the last few sentences in the letter.
"The Liao army is out of food?"
He stood up and handed the letter to Hua Ling: "My sworn brother, I'm afraid he has already started killing horses for meat. The Swan City is like an iron barrel surrounded by General Wang. Not even a grain of food can be sent out. Daqingshan is hungry.
Tens of thousands of Khitan elites have died in Hua Lachi. This time, under the city of Linhuang Mansion, I am afraid that people will starve to death all over the place." (To be continued)
