The loudness of the trumpets and the sound of the war drums can determine the size of the enemy's advance.
However, in order to prevent the opponent from cheating, the general in charge of the war will send lookouts and scouts to ascertain the opponent's strength before the war begins.
Kou Ji just deduced from the sound of the horn that Xiao Pidi was leading 80,000 Liao soldiers to attack the city.
However, Di Qing saw with his own eyes the 80,000 Liao soldiers pressing down in front of Yangguan Pass in a dark mass.
Eighty thousand Liao soldiers formed a neat military formation and advanced towards Yangguan step by step. They looked quite powerful.
Almost all the military strategies learned by the generals of the Liao Kingdom were derived from the Central Plains. Therefore, when the Liao soldiers set up military formations and attacked cities, they were very similar to the Song army.
The Forbidden Army officers on top of the city looked at the Liao soldiers outside the city, indifferent.
The Black Khan looked at the military formation outside the city, feeling a little frightened.
They were used to seeing swarms of sieges.
But I have never seen such a siege scene where the Liao soldiers maintained a neat military formation and advanced forward.
The Heihan people don't know whether the Liao soldiers who set up their military formations to attack the city are powerful or not.
But the neat military formation put up by the Liao soldiers looked really good, and it somewhat frightened the Black Khans on the city wall.
Di Qing stood behind the Black Khan. When he saw the Black Khan turning around frequently with fear in his eyes, he guessed that the Black Khan might have been frightened by the opponent's military formation.
"Bang the drum!"
Di Qing shouted loudly, and hundreds of large drums were beaten at the same time. The dull and heavy sound of the drums gave the Black Khan people some sense of security.
One drum is more than half.
The Forbidden Army soldiers beat their chests with the hilts of their swords, making a uniform sound of gold and iron clashing.
"Tiger!"
"Tiger!"
"Tiger!"
"..."
A high-pitched roar suddenly rang in the ears of the black man.
The roar gave off a fierce aura.
The Heihan people were shocked when they heard this.
The fear brought to them by the Liao soldiers was swept away in an instant.
Because they knew it, their slave masters sent a stronger army to stand behind them.
They will not lose this battle, and they will not necessarily die.
"oh!"
The Black Khan didn't know what his motives were, but after the soldiers of the imperial army finished shouting, they started shouting in confusion.
It seems that he is emboldening himself through roaring.
It also seemed to be responding to the shouts of the Forbidden Army soldiers and expressing their loyalty to the slave owners.
When Di Qing saw this, he couldn't laugh or cry.
The momentum that the Forbidden Army soldiers had just gathered was completely destroyed by them in an instant.
However, Di Qing could see what the Black Khans were thinking, so he couldn't blame them.
Kou Ji and Li Di didn't know when they reached the top of the city and witnessed with their own eyes the shouts of the Forbidden Army soldiers and the random shouts of the Black Khans.
Li Di frowned as he listened to the shouting of those black men, and commented in a low voice, "A bunch of rabble..."
Kou Ji did not comment on the black people, but walked towards Di Qing.
Di Qing saw Kou Ji and Li Di and hurried forward to greet them.
"Brother... Mr. Li..."
Kou Ji didn't wait for Di Qing to finish the ceremony, then waved his hand and said: "You don't have to worry about us two, just pretend that we have never appeared."
Speaking of this, Kou Ji asked: "When did you send the Tiger Character Army to the Yongxing Army?"
If Kou Ji remembers correctly, using tiger as a nickname and shouting the word tiger are the favorite things of the tiger-character army.
Di Qing smiled and said: "I have some soldiers under my command who have been following me since the reorganization of the Tiger Character Army. When they reorganize and train their troops, they like to use the tactics of the Tiger Character Army.
Over time, it became like this.”
Kou Ji nodded and said nothing more.
When the Liao soldiers officially launched their attack on Yangguan, Kou Ji and Li Di left the city wall.
The two of them ran to the top of the city and wandered around, doing it on the spur of the moment.
In order not to interfere with Di Qing's command of the battle, the two of them wisely climbed down the city wall when the battle started.
From beginning to end, neither of them gave any instructions on the military affairs on the city wall.
This was unimaginable before.
In the past, those who monitored the army or the important ministers who were in charge of the army always had to show off themselves before going to war.
Either he was dictating the military affairs, or he was pulling a few people out to kill the sacrificial flag, in order to show off his authority to the soldiers.
When Kou Ji and Li Di descended from the city, the arrows of the Liao soldiers floated up to Yangguan.
The reason why the arrow is used is because after the arrow is shot, it is affected by the wind and the accuracy is not so good.
The arrows fired by the Liao soldiers were dense and numerous.
The Black Khans lay on the crenels, holding up their shields to resist the arrows of the Liao soldiers.
Arrows came down like rain, and before long, many arrows were inserted into the shields in the hands of the Black Khan soldiers.
Seeing this, Di Qing frowned slightly and prepared to order the Black Khans to fight back.
But before he could say anything, the Heihan man took advantage of the opportunity for the Liao soldiers to bend their bows and set up arrows to fire the second round. He controlled a hundred tigers to run together, used crossbows and heavy crossbows, and shot at the Liao soldiers.
Di Qing was slightly stunned when he saw this.
After thinking about it for a while, I understood what the Black Khans were doing.
Although the Black Khans are now reduced to prisoners of war and slaves, they were born as soldiers and have some instincts as soldiers.
There was also rain of arrows when attacking the city in the west.
Therefore, the Black Khan people knew that when the arrows rained down, they should avoid their sharp edges.
I also know that after the sharp edge has passed, I need to find the right opportunity to counterattack.
The Black Khans and Liao soldiers used bows, crossbows, crossbows and other equipment to kill each other.
The cry of killing instantly filled the entire Yangguan.
The Liao soldiers carried their crossbows and arrows to the top of the city, cut off the suspension bridge, and began to attack the city.
All kinds of siege equipment were used on Yangguan Pass.
The Liao soldiers pushed the siege chisel and beat hard on the city gate.
The city gate was smashed into wooden pits one after another.
At the gate of the city is a stone wall built with stones. The stone wall is estimated to be four feet thick.
It was simply impossible for the Liao soldiers to attack the city and break open the gate of Yangguan.
Kou Ji had already decided that he would spend a month or two with the troops of the Black Khan Dynasty and the Liao soldiers, and wait for the Liao Emperor Yelu Longxu to lead the Liao soldiers south, and wait for Qingtang to send troops before he would counterattack.
After Di Qing learned about this, he decisively ordered people to dig rocks to block the door.
Anyway, we have to stay in Yangguan and not go out to fight back. If the door is blocked, it will not have any impact on the war.
The Liao soldiers did not know that the Yangguan gate they were attacking had long been blocked by a stone wall, and they were still hammering hard.
Other Liao soldiers carried ladders and pushed siege vehicles, and climbed up to the top of the city.
Under the guidance of Song Bing, the Black Khans pushed rolling logs, stones, gold juice and other objects down the city.
Because there are enough rolling logs, stones, and gold juice.
So Black Khan people don’t have to save.
A huge number of rolling logs, stones, and gold juice descended on the city, posing a huge obstacle to the Liao soldiers' attack on the city.
The Liao soldiers launched four or five charges in a row, but failed to reach the top of the city.
Xiao Pidi had been following the battle from behind. After seeing no artillery or muskets appearing, he frowned.
Xiao Pidi recruited a private soldier and ordered the private soldier to investigate the situation.
After investigating for a long time, the soldiers came back to report.
"General, the soldiers at the front say that the enemies against them are all Black Khans. So far, no trace of Song soldiers has been seen."
After Xiao Pidi listened to the report of his soldiers, he sat on the horse and froze for a long time.
His first thought was that the Black Khan King Yu Sufu had actually formed an alliance with the Song Dynasty a long time ago. This time he agreed to form an alliance with the Liao Kingdom purely to use the power of the Liao Kingdom to destroy the Xizhou Uighurs, and then join the Song Dynasty together.
Carve up the Liao Kingdom?
After all, those black men on top of the city fell into the hands of the Song people only a few days ago.
In just a few days, the Song people domesticated them?
Unlikely.
But the Heihan people at the top of the city worked extremely hard against the Liao soldiers.
The rolling wood, stones, gold juice, and the screams of the Liao soldiers attacking the city were everywhere, and he could hear it from two miles away.
It can be seen that the Black Khan people are really doing their best for the Song Dynasty.
If they let go, the Liao soldiers would not be so miserable.
This idea swirled in Xiao Pidi's mind for a long time, and was finally thrown out of his mind.
If the Black Khan King Yu Sufu really formed an alliance with the Song Dynasty early, he would not have lost so many troops in Shazhou and Guazhou.
That's nearly 200,000 soldiers and horses, not 200,000 cattle and sheep.
Unless the Black Khan King Yu Sufu was crazy, it was impossible to dig a hole for him with the lives of 200,000 soldiers and horses.
So there must be other reasons why the Black Khans helped the Song people break the city.
Xiao Pidi had never been to the Black Khan Dynasty and did not know that the servility of the lower class people in the Black Khan Dynasty was deeply rooted in their bones. Therefore, he did not know that the Black Khan people would automatically take the role of slaves after surrendering.
He thought for a moment and felt that it might be related to the recent rumors about the rise of the Black Khan soldiers.
Rumor has it that Koji is the envoy of the true god believed by the Black Khan people.
The envoys of the true God can naturally drive the believers of the true God.
Xiao Pidi knows how fanatical the Black Khan people are in their belief in the true god.
Because he saw many things with religious overtones in the Black Khan Army Camp.
"Yang Pass is very important to the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty did not need to take risks and send black Khan soldiers to guard the pass. If the Black Khan soldiers rebelled against the enemy, once Yang Pass was broken, everything would be smooth sailing.
Sitting in Yangguan is the rising general of the Song Dynasty, Di Qing. Although he likes to win by surprise, he will never make fun of the territory of the Song Dynasty.
Unless he led the elite of the Song Dynasty to other places, leaving some people behind to drive the Black Khan people to block our steps."
In a Song Dynasty pass city, there were no soldiers and horses from the Song Dynasty to stop the enemy, so Xiao Pidi could not help but have random thoughts.
Xiao Pidi was thinking wildly while giving an order, "Order the whole army to attack me at all costs. If the Song soldiers show their heads, we will retreat immediately. If the Song soldiers do not show their heads, then we will rush into Yangguan in one go."
Some black soldiers are no match for our Liao soldiers."
After Xiao Pidi gave the order to attack by force, the Liao soldiers rushed to the top of the city one after another. Even if they suffered heavy losses, they still climbed to the top of the city.
The Liao soldiers held back by the Heihan people on the city wall for a long time inevitably fell into exhaustion. After all, the difference in numbers was too big.
Pushing rolling logs, stones, gold juice, and controlling heavy crossbows and bed crossbows are all physical tasks.
The Liao soldiers took advantage of the weak offensive of the Black Khans and swarmed towards the city.
The Black Khans were tired of fighting the enemy and repelled some of them, but others did not stop them.
When the Liao soldiers climbed up the crenellations on the top of Yangguan City, their faces showed joy. However, the joy did not last long before it instantly turned into panic.
Because after they climbed to the top of the city, they saw the huge Song Dynasty imperial army, wearing armor and holding swords, standing quietly behind the Black Khans.
"Mom..."
The Liao soldiers were really frightened and couldn't help but uttered a sentence in Chinese.
Some people were so frightened that they fell from the ladder, and some rolled down while waiting for the siege vehicle.
In short, no one dared to rush to the city and fight closely with the Song imperial army.
It's not that they don't have the courage, it's that they are not prepared and don't want to go up and die.
After the news reached Xiao Pidi's ears, Xiao Pidi decisively ordered Ming Jin to withdraw his troops.
The Liao soldiers retreated.
Di Qing immediately ordered people to take the Black Khans down to rest, and then ordered local soldiers to climb to the top of the city to clean the battlefield.
After the local soldiers boarded the city, they immediately cleaned up the battlefield and began to replenish the city with rolling logs, stones, arrows and other items.
In the Liao army camp outside the city.
After Xiao Pidi led the Liao soldiers into the camp, he returned to the Chinese army's tent with several generals.
After sitting down, he ordered his soldiers to skin a sheep. While roasting the mutton, Xiao Pidi said to the generals: "At first, I saw the Black Khans guarding Yangguan. I thought the elite soldiers of the Song Dynasty had gone elsewhere.
Unexpectedly, they are still in Yangguan.
Although they are in Yangguan, they are unwilling to fight us personally. Instead, they rely on the help of the Black Khan people.
They probably want to weaken our military strength.
If we continue to attack by force, we will definitely not get any benefits."
"General, I humbly listen to what my officers and soldiers say. There are not many Song troops on the city wall. Maybe they are here to create suspicion?"
One of the generals said thoughtfully.
Xiao Pidi thought for a moment and nodded, "It's also possible... After all, for the current Song Dynasty, the soldiers and horses of the Black Khan Dynasty are the biggest enemy they need to face.
As long as they defeat the troops of the Black Khan Dynasty and turn against us, it will be easy."
The general asked: "If it is true as the general said, what should we do now?"
Xiao Pidi pondered: "Be prepared, send someone to the Xizhou Uighurs, and ask Anegu, who is staying in the Xizhou Uighurs, to recruit men from the territory of the Xizhou Uighurs we occupy, and then send 20,000 horses to capture those men.
Ding escorted him over.
If the Song soldiers really plan to fight a war of attrition with us, then we will use the Xizhou Uighurs to fight them.
In addition, reorganize the troops and horses, and attack Yangguan again tomorrow to explore the reality inside Yangguan.
If the soldiers of the Song Dynasty really lied to us about the formation, then we would break Yangguan, lure the black Khan soldiers into Yangguan, and massively attack the city and plunder the territory of the Song Dynasty."
"What if not?"
A follower will ask.
Xiao Pidi smiled softly and said: "If not, then we will fight Song Bing."
The general frowned and said, "But the longer it takes, the more detrimental it will be to the war here. After all, the Song people have the Song State behind them, and their reinforcements can come in a steady stream."
When Xiao Pidi heard this, he burst into laughter.
The general looked puzzled.
After Xiao Pidi laughed, he shook his head and said: "Then you are wrong. It doesn't matter to us whether the war here is good or bad. Because our battlefield is not to the west of the Song Dynasty, but to the northeast of the Song Dynasty.
.
Our main task is to lure the troops of the Black Khan Dynasty into the Song Dynasty, thereby attracting most of the Song Dynasty's troops here and laying the foundation for our Liao Dynasty to attack the Song Dynasty.
So it doesn't matter whether the battle here is victory or defeat.
The important thing is that we must contain the Song Dynasty's military strength before His Majesty leads his troops south.
The Black Khan King Yu Sufu prematurely led his troops into the Song Dynasty, disrupting His Majesty's strategy of attacking the Song Dynasty from both east and west.
The Black Khan King Yu Sufu was destroyed prematurely. If your Majesty wants to attack the Song Dynasty, he will probably have to face an even larger army of the Song Dynasty.
Therefore, what we really have to do now is to hold back the Song Army. The longer the delay, the better.
The more troops the Song Dynasty invests in the western border, the better.
It's best to drag him to Qingtang and take action.
Once Qingtang takes action, we can retire with success."
Hearing this, the general looked astonished and said, "We have stayed in the tent of the Black Khan King Yusufu for a long time. Under his influence, we have almost forgotten our original intention of coming here."
Another general laughed and said: "Since we are not afraid of wasting time with Song Bing, we might as well just waste it."
Xiao Pidi shook his head and said: "That won't work... If Yang Pass can be broken, we still have to break Yang Pass. After breaking Yang Pass, we can march straight in, break through Xiliang City, and enter the Yongxing Army of the Song Dynasty.
Road and other places.
When the time comes, we will break into pieces and roam around the Song Dynasty, burning, killing and looting wantonly, which will force the Song Dynasty to send more troops to the west.
This move will be more beneficial for Your Majesty to attack the Song Dynasty.
Of course, what's more important is that we can afford it, but the Black Khan King Yu Sufu can't afford it.
Although he had previously seized some grain and grass from the Song soldiers in Suoyang City, the quantity was not large.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses tightened their belts to eat, and they were fully fed in three days."
"Didn't King Yusufu of the Black Khan send people to collect grain from the Uighurs in Xizhou? After the food from the Uighurs in Xizhou was delivered to Yumen Pass, it could barely support the Black Khan soldiers for some days."
There is a way to follow the general.
Hearing this, Xiao Pidi sighed and said: "After the Black Khan King Yu Sufu conquered Gaochang, he sent a large number of gold and silver treasures, cattle, sheep and horses back to the Black Khan Dynasty.
Therefore, if he collected grain from the Uighurs in Xizhou, he would not be able to collect much grain.
Unless he sends people back to the Black Khan Dynasty to collect food.
Moreover, the Black Khan Wang Yusufu is not a person who likes to chew hard bones.
If he can't get through Yumen Pass, he will probably have other thoughts.
So we can spend it or fight it.
The key depends on our needs.”
The generals all showed doubts.
Xiao Pidi said with a smile: "We can't waste our time, we still have to send troops and horses to attack Yangguan. Since we are fighting with our allies, we have to show some appearance to our allies.
The Black Khan King Yu Sufu could not attack Yumen Pass, and seeing us fighting here, he was too embarrassed to retreat easily.
When the time comes, I will talk to him again and give him half of the cattle, sheep and grain we captured from the Xizhou Uighurs, and he will definitely continue to fight.
It's best to be cautious and dispatch some more troops from the Black Khan Dynasty to support us."
After listening to Xiao Pidi's words, the generals all praised Xiao Pidi's wisdom.
Xiao Pidi shook his head and said with a smile: "To be honest, if the Black Khan King Yu Sufu had listened to my advice from the beginning and divided his troops into three groups to attack the Song Dynasty, the war would not have ended like this.
I won't plot against him secretly.
Now that the war is like this, in order for His Majesty to dispatch troops smoothly and to lead Qingtang out, I can only plot against him behind his back."
After hearing this, the generals nodded.
People are extremely selfish.
It is not surprising that Xiao and others are on par with the Liao generals.
They care more about the interests of the Liao Kingdom.
If they can successfully contain the Song army, they can provide favorable conditions for Liao Emperor Yelu Longxu to attack the Song Dynasty.
Then they are the great heroes of the Liao Kingdom.
The more cities Emperor Yelu Longxu of the Liao Dynasty captured in the Song Dynasty, the greater their contribution.
If they could not successfully contain the Song army, Emperor Yelu Longxu of the Liao Dynasty would fail in his southern attack on the Song Dynasty.
Once the Song Dynasty regains its strength and counterattacks the Liao Kingdom, the Liao Kingdom is likely to lose a lot.
It is very likely that they will become the criminals of the Liao Kingdom.
Therefore, they violated morality and plotted against their allies, without any sense of shame in their hearts.
As long as the Liao Kingdom can take advantage of this, they will not feel the slightest sense of shame even if they personally guillotine all the allies.
Emphasis on love, righteousness and trust, that is what the tough guys selected by the various ministries care about most.
Those of them who were already in the Liao court, and even sat in high positions above the court, didn't care about those things at all.
The sinicization of the Liao people can certainly better digest the Song people of the Liao State, and can better absorb and utilize the talents who defected from the Song State.
But similarly, after the Liao people became Sinicized, under the influence of the Song people who defected, they became more profit-oriented and more fame-oriented.
The entire upper class of the Liao Kingdom is becoming more and more like the group of civil and military ministers from the Song Kingdom.
If it were not for the eight Khitan tribes, there are still some people who insist on the wild nature and the way of life that the Khitan people should have.
I am afraid that the entire upper class of the Liao Kingdom has been completely Sinicized long ago.
There are always many things from the outside that are suitable for you, and many that are not suitable for you.
There are not many countries that can take the essence and discard the dross.
If you choose to swallow all foreign culture into your stomach, you will get diarrhea.
While Xiao Pidi and his subordinates were discussing the plot against the Black Khan King Yu Sufu, Di Qing was leading people to confer official titles on the Black Khan.
He is not considered an official because he has no official title and has not even been released from prisoner status.
Di Qing selected some brave warriors from among the Black Khans who fought during the day, and promoted them to be small leaders among the prisoners.
The largest boss can manage hundreds of people, and the smallest boss can manage ten people.
But there were no more than a hundred people.
The leaders of more than 250 people are almost all Song people carefully selected by Di Qing.
Di Qing not only used the Black Khan people to treat the Black Khan people, but also knew how to add sand into them.
He learned this trick from the evil-minded local officials when he was in Dali to stabilize the people.
Di Qing made arrangements for the Black Khan, but he was not in a good mood. After returning to his residence, he went straight to the yard where Kou Ji was.
When he saw Kou Ji, he didn't say anything, and just sat there in silence.
Kou Ji saw that Di Qing was in a bad mood and asked, "What happened?"
Di Qing hesitated for a long time and said in a deep voice: "Can status really make people forget their surname and bloodline?"
When Kou Ji heard this, he was slightly startled, "Have you gone to seal the leader of those Black Khans?"
Di Qing nodded slowly.
Kou Ji asked again, "Have you seen how cruelly they treat other tribesmen in order to show their loyalty to you?"
Di Qing nodded again.
Kou Ji asked curiously: "You haven't seen anything like this in Dali?"
Di Qing slowly shook his head.
Kou Ji thought for a moment and muttered: "I asked the wrong question, you shouldn't see it in Dali. The tribesmen in Dali are still very united and will not easily kill their own tribesmen to show their loyalty. Sometimes they
They are far more united than us Song people, so it is easy to conquer Dali, but difficult to digest Dali."
After muttering for a while, Kou Ji stared at Di Qing and said: "Actually, it is not uncommon for one to have surgery on oneself in order to show loyalty to someone in power. In our country, the Song Dynasty, similar things abound.
You are often in the military, so you probably can’t see me, but you can always hear me, right?
This matter is nothing new to you, so why are you so depressed?"
Di Qing hesitated for a moment and said, "I've heard of it, but when I saw it for the first time, I felt a little uncomfortable. More importantly, I was a little worried."
"What are you worried about? Are you worried that our people will become like that?"
Kou Ji asked back.
Di Qing nodded slowly.
Kou Ji was silent for a moment and said to Di Qing: "Benevolence, justice, propriety, wisdom and trust are the virtues passed down to us by our ancestors. As long as our virtues are not lost, our people will not become like that.
Even if there are, they are in the minority.
Most people will always have good thoughts in their hearts.”