Although he had some predictions about what Yelu Hongji might do, Zhao Xi was still a little shocked after receiving the report from the front... As a king, he, Yelu Hongji, really did this.
It really feels like I won’t care about the flood after I die...
"Even if you tie up the lives of hundreds of thousands of Khitans, you still can't escape the fate of the Northern Liao Dynasty being destroyed. Why bother? It's just to increase your reputation."
"Infamy? Even if he, Yelu Hongji, does not endanger the lives of hundreds of thousands of Khitans, he will not lose his reputation to the Khitan people or the Northern Liao Dynasty. If he is destined to be infamous, why not try to gain a chance of survival?
"
Zhang Dun was telling the truth. If one day he were in Yelu Hongji's situation, he might not be able to behave like this.
"A glimmer of hope? How can there be any hope? Even if my army fails to attack, Dading Mansion will not be able to hold on for long."
"Is he waiting for Winter?"
"So what in winter? The warmth of our soldiers of the Song Dynasty is beyond the imagination of Yelu Hongji."
They were all discussing, but none of them talked about how to attack the city with a large army.
In fact, for the ministers of the Song Dynasty, they really didn't care about the lives of the Khitan people. Even if the soldiers from the front bombarded Dading City, leaving no chickens and dogs in the entire city, there would not be many Khitan people in the Song Dynasty court.
Redress injustice.
However, based on education, no one would turn a blind eye many times, let alone advocate the direct bombing of the hundreds of thousands of people in Dading Mansion...
At this time, other than condemning Yelu Hongji, there seemed to be no other option available.
Carrying the reputation of a murderous god can bring harm to future generations for countless years. Who wants to bear this reputation?
Sigh... My thinking is still rigid. Is there nothing I can do? Zhao Xi felt a little emotional.
Soldiers are crafty. I believe that all the ministers and ministers here are familiar with Sun Tzu's Art of War, but they lack unconstrained ideas in practice.
"Yelu Hongji is using the bodies of the Khitan people, so let's try to use their minds. After all, the body is controlled by thoughts. As long as these Khitan people can completely abandon Yelu Hongji mentally, we may even treat Yelu Hongji
With counter-intention, the problem will be solved."
Zhao Xi felt that Yelu Hongji was shooting himself in the foot. In this era, the so-called elites have not yet turned their attention to the people at the bottom. It is even said that in the eyes of the elites, the people at the bottom can still let them do whatever they want.
exist.
They never know that once there is no centripetal support from the bottom, what are these elites? Even the emperor is like this.
Forget it. This time, let Yelu Hongji see what the power of the people is, and let the ministers of the Song Dynasty see it...
"In the official family, Yelu Hongji was the emperor of the Northern Liao Dynasty and the leader of the Khitan clan. It is difficult for us in the Song Dynasty to make the Khitans prefer our side. It can even be said that Yelu Hongji probably led the Khitan people to hate us in the Song Dynasty.
"
Wang Anshi's considerations have some validity, and even Yelu Hongji has reason to blame the current situation of Northern Liao on the Song Dynasty.
The key is to see how the two sides compete to win public opinion.
As human beings, whether they are Han or Khitan people, or even Dangxiang people, Tubo people, etc., survival is the first need.
Especially in today's era when the concept of the country is not yet profound, Zhao Xi does not think there is no room for utilization.
"Sometimes people's thoughts are not dominated by the so-called ethnic group. Everyone has their own needs. Now what we in the Song Dynasty want to think about is how to identify the needs of the Khitan civilians in Dading City and use their
There is an urgent need to get started and try to influence their tendencies as much as possible."
"For such a thing, we first need an example. First, the imperial court must sacrifice certain benefits and benefits in the past few days to persuade the captive Khitan tribe leaders to surrender, and strive to allow them to show up in front of the battle to speak out."
"The second point is to brainstorm and consider the urgent needs of the Khitan civilians in Dading City. This need is definitely not the only one. Consider it as comprehensively as possible, and consider it according to the universality of different levels and different personalities, so that we can be targeted when taking measures.
.”
"Third, among all the prisoners, look for those who are related to Dading City, and promise various treatments and conditions, and let them persuade them in front of the battle."
"After determining the needs of the Khitan people in Dading City, we will then discuss how to take measures to utilize these needs."
At this time, Zhao Xi did not try to convince the ministers with any reason, but just told them what to do.
Therefore, although the ministers and ministers had some doubts, they still obeyed the order.
Persuading people to surrender has happened in all dynasties, and everyone knows the role of surrendering generals. However, there has never been a record of a surrendering and traitorous general being able to persuade people. Almost all of them were cursed and insulted by their own clansmen and clansmen.
I don’t understand why the officials do this, and the ministers and workers are even worried that such an approach will only increase the cohesion of the Khitan people...
Despite the doubts, the officials' decrees were strictly implemented. This was the environment formed by the Song Dynasty court over the years. Any opinions that were contrary to the officials' intentions were eventually proven to be wrong.
The more people enjoy wealth and honor, the more they cherish their lives. Therefore, it is not too difficult to persuade the Khitan noble generals to surrender completely, and they are all willing to contribute to the new master Song Dynasty.
…
The Song Dynasty was indeed pedantic. It always regarded itself as the orthodox dynasty of the Central Plains and followed the way of the Holy King. This human shield city defense was indeed effective against the Song Dynasty army.
Seeing that the Song army surrounded the city but did not attack, Yelu Hongji felt a little relieved.
Yelu Hongji understood that it was not that Daliao had no troops available, but that he left the battlefield early, and the Daliao cavalry who were finally defeated on Nanjing Road dispersed and fled.
It was also because of his early retreat that all forces in Daliao complained about him in the short term, but he believed that those in Daliao belonged to Daliao after all, and they would still respect him.
As long as he can contain Song's siege in Dading City, those waiting and watching forces will surely gather together again.
Xiao Huan was not the only organized army. Many people escaped from the Battle of Nanjing Road and were reorganizing their armies.
As long as he effectively resisted the Song Dynasty in Dading and contained the Song Dynasty here, Yelu Hongji believed that a situation in Dading would be formed in which the Liao Dynasty surrounded the Song Dynasty.
It's still unclear who will win and who will lose.
It does not mean that a battle can be won by being ahead in armaments. Morale is the most important thing. When the Liao army surrounded the Song army, the Song army would also be defeated.
It's just a question of how long you can carry it.
Yelu Hongji prepared for this day by collecting the people's supplies from Nanjing Road and Zhongjing Road.
All supplies were managed and soldiers were given priority. Dading could not be conquered by the Song Dynasty under siege.
As for the common people, those who stutter must continue to be human shields. The Song Dynasty will not be able to attack the city, and it will be able to drag out the war and regain the support of all forces in the Liao Dynasty...
Even for this reason, Yelu Hongji lowered his posture and sent letters to all forces.
Yelu Hongji's considerations cannot be said to be wrong. In fact, during the encirclement and suppression campaign in Hebei Province, there were indeed hundreds of thousands of Northern Liao soldiers who escaped.
The terrain is one thing, and the number of Song cavalry is another. In addition, Beiliao is more familiar with the terrain of Hebei Road than the Song army. That kind of symbolic encirclement and suppression cannot achieve total annihilation.
The demise of a dynasty does not mean the annihilation of the entire dynasty's living people, but the demise of the court that represents the dynasty.
If Zhao Xi hadn't wanted to eliminate the effective forces of the Northern Liao Dynasty and thus stabilize the northern border to a certain extent, the Song Dynasty would have destroyed the Northern Liao Dynasty long ago.
Therefore, in the battle in Hebei Province, the imperial court did not set a combat mission to annihilate a large proportion of the Northern Liao cavalry.
There are indeed scattered or large-scale forces in Beiliao today.
They are all waiting and watching, emotionally leaning towards the Northern Liao, but if the Song Dynasty finally destroys the Northern Liao, they will not be unable to accept being ruled by the Song Dynasty.
Their respective forces are unable to dominate and are always ready to rely on the stronger party.
Originally, the Northern Liao court was first established in this way...
After the destruction of Xixia, the nobles of Northern Liao were also concerned about what happened to the party nobles.
Fighting at the beginning is fighting, and there is no conflict with accepting the rule of the stronger party later.
Of course, it would be better if the Liao Dynasty won, but in the face of survival, they did not mind relying on the Song Dynasty court.
This is the reality. Some forces in Northern Liao did not have the consciousness to sacrifice their lives for the Northern Liao court.
Therefore, the battle in Dading Mansion became the focus of the Song-Liao War, and was also the key battle to determine whether the Northern Liao Dynasty would be destroyed.
Not only because the court of Bei Liao is now in Dading, but also because this battle will determine the direction of all forces in Bei Liao...~
Yelu Hongji took it on, and those swaying forces didn't mind poking the back of the Song Dynasty to get a piece of the pie.
Yelu Hongji couldn't bear it, so they had no choice but to rely on the Song Dynasty.
This battle is very crucial, but Yelu Hongji understands the weaknesses of the Song Dynasty court very well...~
Let alone a court official, even Zhao Xi could not give the order to fire on the people. He understood the role of people's support best.
…
The army of the Song Dynasty had indeed attacked the city, and gunpowder bombs were fired that covered the sky and the sun. The scene was frightening. Now the people on the walls of Dading, let alone resistance, even their legs were trembling.
At that moment, Yelu Hongji thought it was going to be completely over...
However, when all the gunpowder bombs fell, none of them exploded on the city wall. They all hit under the city wall or outside the city wall.
The city walls of Dading Prefecture are already crumbling. It seems that if this happens again, the entire city walls of Dading Prefecture will collapse, burying the people who are acting as human shields on the city walls...~
However, the next day, the Song State stopped firing gunpowder bombs, and instead pushed the chariots that could not be penetrated by arrows fifty steps forward...~ They were already close to the moat.
Could it be that they were approaching and firing gunpowder bombs into the city?
The people on the city wall who were human shields became even more nervous. They only had enough rations to survive, but they had to bear the responsibility of resisting the artillery of the Song Dynasty... I'm afraid! I'm really afraid!
As a result, the Song army did not attack again.
This...~The Song army actually advanced all the Huotou troops from the general camp and arranged them at the forefront of the army, right behind the chariot closest to the Dading city wall.
Then, the Song army surrounding the entire city wall of Dading Prefecture unified the world and started cooking.
Don't worry about the direction of the wind, because the entire Dading Mansion is surrounded by people. Any wind direction can let the fragrance of the food of the Song Dynasty army float into the Dading Mansion...
For this reason, Zhao Xi specially asked the fourth prince to transport a large amount of rice with a particularly distinctive fragrance from Nanyang.
At the same time, there are also all the spices available on the market, especially those that become more intense after heating.
Let the entire Huotou Army start cooking at the same time, right in front of the hungry Northern Liao people on the wall of Dadingfu who used their bellies as human shields.
Not only let them see it, but also let them smell it...~
"Anyway, idle time is idle. You have to cook, and the army has to cook. It's just a change of place."
"The arrows of Beiliao cannot penetrate the defense of the chariots, but the aroma of the food can ignore the city walls."
"A group of hungry people, seeing and smelling that they can't eat, are more effective than gunpowder bombs."
This was what the officials said when they formulated this tactic.
It seems like child's play, but I have to admit that in such a situation, this tactic is very effective.
The soldiers who guarded the human shields on the walls of Dading Mansion were shooting a few scattered arrows, and then they kept scolding the drooling and salivating people.
Later, they were also tempted by the fragrance under the city wall, watching and smelling the Song army preparing dinner under the city wall...
How long has it been? Ever since the civil strife in Yelvyixin, the soldiers of the Northern Liao Dynasty have never had sweet food.
What's more, the cooking method that has just become popular in the Song Dynasty...
The sight of hundreds of thousands of people eating together was something that the civilian soldiers of Northern Liao could not withstand in a state of hunger...
The next day...~
Still the same, when the Song Dynasty started cooking, no soldiers from the Northern Liao Dynasty were shooting arrows.
It doesn't work. The key is to let the people on the city wall who are human shields who have been hungry for a long time shoot arrows at all!
There are disputes over even the front position. Who would agree to influence the cooking of Song Dynasty?
If you can't eat it, you can always smell it.
What is that? There are actually Khitans...~
Looking at the prisoners who seemed to be unattended, that is, the Khitan people captured by the Song Dynasty, they lined up one by one, holding the unique military rice bowls of the Song Dynasty, receiving their meals in an orderly manner in front of the pots and stoves, and even getting angry with the Song Dynasty.
The army was talking and laughing...
Even if I were captured, I would be able to eat such delicious food... I am definitely not the only one who has this idea.
It turns out that the prisoners in the Song Dynasty also had such good food!
Attacking its weak points is the core of combat. Fighting is not just about bombardment. Sometimes food can also be used as a weapon.
What is most lacking in Dading City now? Materials! Maybe Bei Liao will guarantee the rations of the soldiers, but for those people who are human shields, even if Yelu Hongji is willing, the material reserves in Dading City cannot satisfy hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians.
.
When Yelu Hongji gathered these common people to make human shields, he indeed made the Song army use rat weapons, but he also caused trouble for himself...
Originally, the Northern Liao Dynasty was not good at urban governance, and Dading City was already in chaos. The unexpected approach of the Song Dynasty started the chaos in Dading City...