Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

But now the senior officials of the two divisions, besides Li Chongjin, are the Shi family father and son, Shi Yanchao and Shi Congyun.

This made Li Jixun very jealous. At the beginning, he was dissatisfied with Shi Congyun's young age, but the officials let him take charge of the army alone, so that he was too eager to perform and was too impetuous, which led to the defeat of Shouzhou.

The defeat outside the city of Shouzhou was the worst defeat of the Zhou army in the two years of the Huainan War, and it also made him, who had a bright future, demoted from the commander of the guard infantry to become the Heyang Jiedu envoy.

After arriving in Heyang, Li Jixun was depressed and angry all the time, but he didn't think it was all his fault, and Shi Congyun, if it wasn't for him, he wouldn't be so dazzled and reckless.

Later, he may have been the one who led the Huainan army. He was originally the commander of the guards and infantry.

The more he thought about it, the more angry he became. Later, when he heard that Shi Congyun defeated the Southern Tang Kingdom, he bypassed the Shouzhou guard Liu Renshan, which made him even more dissatisfied. Liu Renshan led troops to defeat him, causing heavy losses to the Zhou army. , ruined his career prospects, and let him be demoted from the commander of the dignified guard infantry to the Heyang Jiedu envoy, which was ridiculous, but Shi Congyun easily spared him!

Later, when he heard that Liu Renshan had been prosecuted as a captain and was still living in Beijing, he hated it even more. What could be more resentful than an enemy living well in the world.

And he was in the three cities of Heyang, so he rarely had the opportunity to go to Beijing, and he had no chance to impeach or deal with Liu Renshan.

Finally, in order to deal with the Khitans this year, His Majesty only remembered him and revived. After going north this time, he will have the opportunity to return to the court again, and Li Chongjin is now the head of the bodyguard department, so he must please him no matter what.

After reading it, Li Chongjin turned around and said, "It's a letter from Marshal Shi Congyun, Hebei's recruitment envoy. He asked us to take the initiative to ambush the reinforcements of the Northern Han Dynasty."

Li Jixun was very upset, "Shuai Li, we will be our own division, and we can judge the situation by ourselves, so we don't have to listen to them." He has high seniority in the army, so he doesn't have to be cautious even when talking to Li Chongjin.

Most importantly, he knew that Li Chongjin and Shi Congyun did not get along, the relationship between the two was very bad, and it was said that they almost fought, so he felt that saying such a thing should suit Li Chongjin's wishes.

Li Chongjin glanced at him, the meaning in his eyes was unclear, "Shi Congyun is Hebei's recruitment envoy, and he is in charge of the war in the north. As long as it is for the army to attack Liao, he will dispatch it, and we are no exception."

As he spoke, he shook the envelope in his hand: "This is not a discussion, it's an order."

Li Jixun was not stupid, he immediately understood the meaning of Li Chongjin's words, and his expression was not good.

"I do have a grudge with Shi Congyun, but it is a personal grudge. Our personal grudge can be resolved by ourselves, but it is a major national event at the moment, and no one can delay it." Lead troops to the south to ambush."

"According to scout reports, the reinforcements of the Northern Han Dynasty have set out from Jinyang, passed through Mengzhou, followed the Jingxing Road to the east, and will arrive at the mountain pass in a few days.

Their purpose couldn't be more obvious, it must have been driven by their Khitan bandit father, and they were going out of Taihang Mountain to go northeast and attack Shi Congyun's main force behind the Khitan bandit army.

If that is the case, there is no need to fight this battle. The officials put us here to prevent this from happening.

If we neglect our duties and affect the overall battle, what face do we have to go back, and we will all commit suicide here. "

Li Chongjin's face was dark, he spoke mercilessly, and he fought fiercely. Because of this character, when Huainan was attacked, the Southern Tang people were frightened and frightened, and called him "the black king."

Since then, this nickname has also become popular, and many people call him the Black King, which fits his temperament very well.

Li Jixun thought to himself that Li Chongjin is really a fool, he is the head of the bodyguard department, and Shi Congyun is the head of the front of the palace, if Shi Congyun wins back this time, wouldn't he want to crush him, but he still did his best.

Just as he was thinking, the Black King spoke again.

"A certain person is going to lead an army to the west and ambushe the bandits in Tumen Village (near the No. [-] Middle School of Jingxing County) at Shankou. Zhending County is too small to hold on. We have to take the initiative to attack and stop them at the exit of the mountain." Li Zhongjin Undoubtedly speaking, a big black face is rigid and unwavering.

"Someone is going too!" Zhang Yongde stood up immediately, this time he did not oppose Li Chongjin.

Li Jixun didn't say anything, he really didn't want to make a wedding dress for Shi Congyun......

"It's okay for Li Jieshuai to guard Zhenzhou." Li Chongjin asked.

Speaking of this, Li Jixun knew that he had no choice. He was not the chief general, so he cupped his hands and said, "Your order is the last general."

.......

In the afternoon of the same day, Li Chongjin and Zhang Yongde led [-] riders, left Zhending County, crossed the river, went west to ambush the Northern Han reinforcements near Tumen Village.

And Li Jixun continued to garrison.

On the day when the army set out to the west, many people ran outside the city to watch, pointing and discussing. The people only heard that the bandits from the east side of the river were coming. Some people were panicked, but few people knew the meaning of this battle. .

The victory or defeat of this battle is related to the victory or defeat of another army of more than [-] troops hundreds of miles away from the northeast. If it loses here, the army of the Northern Han Dynasty will go north from the side, and the army of Shi Congyun in front will be unable to fight no matter what the situation is. If we continue to fight with the Liao army, we can only withdraw our troops.

Li Jixun didn't want Shi Congyun to be successful. Since the end of Tang Dynasty, martial arts were supreme, and the status of warriors was far beyond that of literati. Therefore, the highest military officer in the imperial court was the one who really held great power and was above ten thousand people.

Li Chongjin and Shi Congyun are juxtaposed under the official family of the current court.

But if Shi Congyun gains military merit again this time, then the chief of the palace will definitely overwhelm the chief of the guards, and by then Shi Congyun will truly be under one man and above ten thousand people.

He really didn't want to see that kind of situation...

Two days later, there was a heavy rain in the afternoon, which cleared away the dust on the avenue by the woods outside the city. After the rain, a rainbow of seven colors rose in the sky. The fortune tellers in the city said it was an auspicious omen.

Li Jixun ignored it, and after half an hour, several riders galloped into the city with red flags on their backs, bringing news from the vicinity of Tumen Village in the southwest.

Li Chongjin and Zhang Yongde led the army to set up an ambush at the mountain pass of Tumen Village. They defeated the army of the Northern Han Dynasty who had just come out of the Taihang Mountains. They beheaded more than [-] people and captured [-]. The rest broke up and fled into the Taihang Mountains. Destroyed, powerless to go east!

.......

On the ninth day of June, at the Waqiaoguan camp, after Murong Yanzhao defeated the main force of the Liao army going south, another piece of good news was delivered to Shi Congyun. Shi Congyun, who hadn't slept well for more than ten days, finally had a good night's sleep. After the news spread in the army, the soldiers talked a lot, and their morale soared!

Li Chongjin and Zhang Yongde stationed in Zhenzhou did not passively defend and waited for the reinforcements from the Northern Han Dynasty to attack the Zhenzhou government.

At this point, the army's worries about the future have been completely relieved, and they only need to think about how to confront the frontal Liao army.

And for several days in a row, Murong Yanzhao's victory, Li Chongjin's Zhang Yongde's victory, and Wang Shenqi's persistence are gradually reversing the situation, gradually dissipating the shadow of the previous defeat in Zhuozhou, and the morale of the Zhou army is getting higher and higher, and more and more people are fighting. The generals came to ask him to fight, and they wanted to go north to rescue Yijin Pass and fight the Liao army.

From Yijin Pass in the north, news would come every half an hour, and a large number of messengers and scouts went back and forth between Yijin Pass and Waqiao Pass.

According to news, the Liao army resumed attacking the city after being frustrated in the southward march, but Wang Shenqi, Xiang Xun, and Dong Zunhui were all there. The defenders were the elite Crane Control Army, which could resist the Liao army's attack in a short time.

By mid-June, there were two more heavy rains at night, which were unfriendly to marching and fighting. Many soldiers fell ill due to the rain in the middle of the night, but Shi Congyun was very happy. He knew that his army was not suitable for it. The army will only be more inappropriate.

In the next few days, the front battle reports continued to come back, and the Liao army's siege became more and more difficult, and its actions became less and less active.

Shi Congyun has been paying close attention to it, thinking that the time for a full-scale counterattack is coming soon...

Chapter 238: North Exorcism!

The sunset at Waqiaoguan is not so poetic and picturesque. The surrounding trees are all cut down ten miles outside the city. Military fortresses usually cut down all the surrounding trees. Build siege engines.

Although Waqiaoguan is close to the big river, it is not a place with green mountains and green waters. It is surrounded by desolation and bitterness, and only to the north is a large field.

Shi Cong's life at Yunwaqiaoguan was not easy. When he first arrived at the northern front line, he often missed the three beautiful girls at home. However, the battle ahead became more and more tense, and his brain was highly active, so he didn't have time to think about those things later. up.

The camping situation of the army is also very difficult. The tents usually used are made of green mantle, with tung oil on the surface, which has a certain waterproof effect, but as long as there is a lot of rain, it will not work. The sackcloth sleeps with the quiver under its pillow, the battlefield environment is so harsh.

There have been several heavy rains in the past two days, which made this hardship even worse.

In contrast, his large tent of the Chinese army is much more comfortable, but Shi Congyun often inspects the large tents of ordinary soldiers, and he is very concerned. If the mutual understanding between the superior and the subordinate is out of touch, it is easy to cause serious troubles.

As a commander, you must understand the difficulty of the soldiers at the grassroots level, and communicating with the soldiers can also let the soldiers understand the commander's thoughts and overall ideas.

At noon, Shi Congyun joined forces with three soldiers and the Third Battalion of the Fourth Army of the Konghe First Chamber.

Their camp was by the river. Two wooden forks were used to set up a wooden stick in the middle, and a large clay pot was hung on it. Some dried meat and dried vegetables were put in it to cook together. The guards carefully took out a stick from their arms. Bao added some coarse salt, and seeing the expectant eyes of the soldiers, Shi Congyun simply said: "Add more, only with salt can we have the strength to fight."

After speaking, he did it himself and shook most of it in. Many soldiers sitting around the campfire looked at him and laughed.

It was almost cooked, and Shi Congyun took the lead to take a sip with a wooden spoon. The mixture of dried meat and dried vegetables had a special taste, of course not as good as the ones at home, but it had a unique aroma.

"It's ready to eat." More than a dozen soldiers had been waiting for a long time. As soon as he spoke, everyone hurriedly brought up bowls and chopsticks.

Shi Congyun also randomly found a notched bowl to hold a bowl of soup, and casually folded two pieces of straw from the side to use as chopsticks to eat. piece of meat.

Shi Congyun fished it out and handed it to the youngest-looking one among the dozen or so people. He was only about sixteen or seventeen years old, and the helmet on his head was obviously too big.

The boy was a little panicked.

Shi Congyun laughed and said: "The first time I fought a war, I was about the same age as you. I was so scared that I didn't know what to do, but I just did what the people around me did, and we won in the end.

The thieves of the Northern Han Dynasty and the Khitan thieves were defeated, throwing away their helmets and armor all the way. "

"I heard them say that the commander-in-chief killed more than 100 people in Hedong!" the boy said in admiration.

"Ah..." Shi Congyun was stunned for a moment, and then laughed triumphantly, "You know this kind of thing, whoever said it."

"There are a lot of storytellers in the teahouse in the capital."

Shi Congyun nodded: "Eat more meat, you are going to grow up at your age."

As they talked, everyone gradually let go. At first, they were too nervous because of the arrival of the commander-in-chief, so they dared not speak, but now they talk more.

"Marshal, when are we going to fight the Khitan dog thieves?" someone asked.

The soldiers immediately put on a straight face, "This is a military secret, and it's something the commander-in-chief discussed with the officials. How could you, a former soldier, ask you that!"

One sentence made the faces of the dozen or so soldiers sitting around turn pale. The commander and the officials are unattainable. People who can decide their life and death with one sentence, could they be in trouble?

Shi Congyun raised his hand to stop the soldiers, "It's okay, it's not a big deal, don't be nervous.

Now the brothers from Yijin Pass are blocking the Khitan thieves for us, just waiting for them to hit their heads there, and then we will go north and clean up the Khitan dog thieves neatly. "

"Clean them up!"

"Well, we must deal with them severely this time, otherwise the brothers in Yijinguan will die in vain..."

.......

In the morning, both Hezhong Prefecture and Liaozhou sent battle reports. The Jiedu Envoy of Hezhong sent troops to the north to oppress and harass the border of the Northern Han Dynasty. Li Yun, the Jiedu Envoy of the Zhaoyi Army in Liaozhou, also sent soldiers to attack westward. After attacking their side the possibility is gone.

So far, Gu's worries have been completely relieved, and Yijin Pass has been holding on for nearly ten days. The Liao army's siege continued for six days, but they still couldn't get to the top of the city.

The damage in Yijin Pass was also quite large, with more than [-] people killed and more than [-] injured. The main reason is that the terrain in Hebei is peaceful and the city wall is too long, so it is necessary to disperse troops to garrison.

If it is a fortified city like Shouzhou or Taiyuan, an army of about [-] people is enough to defend for a year or two so that the Liao army cannot break through it, but Yijin Pass cannot.

Wang Shenqi said that he could hold on for a month, but Shi Congyun knew that it was impossible for them to hold on for a month.

In mid-June, the Liao army stationed troops at Yijin Pass. In the vast woods, fields, and villages to the south of Yijin Pass, small groups of Liao and Zhou troops encountered confrontations from time to time, and the battles between the two sides caused mutual damage.

Reporting Shi Congyun's desk is just some figures, but there is no doubt that the war is going on fiercely, especially near Yijin Pass.

Shi Congyun calculated the time in his heart, knowing that he couldn't wait too long. The characteristic of the Liao army's fighting was that it was not long-lasting, so it couldn't be judged by the Zhou army's standard.

Zhou's army was able to besiege Shouzhou and besieged the city continuously for more than a year, but it was impossible for the Liao army. If Yijin Pass could not be attacked for a long time and the road to the south was blocked, their army might retreat to Youzhou.

If they retreated to Youzhou, it would become a situation where they attacked the city and they stationed troops under the city.

So there was another heavy rain in mid-June. After the weather cleared up and the scorching sun gradually rose, Shi Congyun immediately ordered all the commanders of the troops to come to Waqiaoguan to discuss matters.

.........

That night, Shi Congyun didn't sleep well all night. Even though he had already thought about how to fight and how to deal with it, he was so excited that he couldn't fall asleep when things came to an end.

Someone once said that a strategic decisive battle is a bet on the fate of the country and the fate of the army. This word is very unpleasant, but there is no suitable word to replace it.

The current situation is like this. This is a decisive battle between the Liao Kingdom and the new Zhou Kingdom, which has just been established for only eight years.

If this game is lost, the whole country of Zhou will definitely rarely dare to speak up and go north in the future.

The fate of a country is often determined in this way. For example, in the Northern Song Dynasty, the Northern Song Dynasty also expanded abroad in the early days of the founding of the country. Zhao Kuangyin successively attacked the Kingdom of Shu, Southern Han, Nanping, Wuping, Southern Tang, and defeated the Khitan twice. The imperial army has the highest morale , the combat effectiveness is the strongest, and the whole country is most confident in fighting.

But what happened later was that Zhao Kuangyin died inexplicably when he was preparing for the Northern Expedition to destroy the Northern Han Dynasty. After Zhao Guangyi succeeded to the throne, he lost to Khitan in a strategic decisive battle. All are gone, the Song Dynasty changed from strategic offense to strategic defense, and the fate of a country also changed accordingly.

And the Ming Dynasty is similar. Before a civil fortress, the national policy of the Ming Dynasty was completely changed. If the Ming Dynasty before the civil fortress was a strategic offensive at the national level, then after the civil fortress change, it will completely become a strategic defense. It looks more and more like Da Song.

A strategic decisive battle can determine the fate of the country, and the new country must face it.

For example, the Xiongnu in the early Han Dynasty, the Turks in the early Tang Dynasty, and now it is Khitan for the Great Zhou Dynasty. If the Liao Kingdom can be completely defeated, just like the Han Dynasty did to the Xiongnu and the Tang Dynasty did to the Turks, then in the future, the newborn The country is the avenue of sunshine.

If not, it will slowly fall into the C-shaped encirclement of the Mongolian Plateau, the Western Regions, and the Qinghai-Tibet Grassland like the Song Dynasty and the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and it is destined to be a big country locked in the farming area.

The more far-sighted this kind of pressure is, the greater it is. If you can't see this layer, you won't be so nervous.

But because of his long-term perspective, he absolutely does not want to lose. If a country wants to go long-term and become bigger and stronger, it must have the determination and determination to fight with one punch in the early and middle stages of the founding of the country, so as to avoid a hundred punches. Courage, like the Han Dynasty's war against the Huns, established the spirit of a country, otherwise it would definitely end up like the Song Dynasty.

On the same day, after many generals were summoned to the Waqiaoguan camp, Shi Congyun changed into a suit of armor. This time he decided to go on the field in person. He put on the armor to see the crowd to let them understand the importance of this battle.

At noon, Shi Congyun didn't prepare lunch, and directly summoned the generals to discuss matters.

All the generals sat together in the big tent, Shi Congyun was at the front, and two maps were hung on the wooden frame, one was the general situation around the Sanguan.

The other is a detailed map of the vicinity of Yijin Pass drawn by Wang Shenqi and others.

"Over the past few days, in the direction of Zhenzhou behind us, Li Chongjin and Zhang Yongde have already defeated the rebel soldiers of the Northern Han Dynasty. Worry about the future is completely lifted.

A few days ago, General Murong Yanzhao defeated thousands of Liao troops between Waqiao Pass and Yijin Pass. Wang Shenqi was still holding on to the north. The Liao Kingdom hoarded troops for more than ten days and was unable to attack for a long time. Frustrated.

The time for a decisive battle has come. "Shi Congyun made a judgment directly without giving everyone a chance to refute or express their opinions. This is completely different from his previous style, and it also made everyone realize that this time is extraordinary.

"The army of the Liao Kingdom is about 6 people, slightly more than ours, but their morale is low and they are not acclimatized, so there is nothing to fear." Shi Congyun said confidently, as if he was not the one who was so anxious that he couldn't sleep last night.

"A certain order, the armies of Waqiaoguan, Wen'an County, Dacheng County, Yukou Pass, and Duliukou, according to the previous arrangement, will immediately gather at Yijin Pass tomorrow morning to launch a full-scale attack!"

"No!" The crowd responded in unison.

After finishing speaking, Shi Congyun looked at Zhao Kuangyin, who was standing in the front two rows with a very dark face: "General Zhao, you still follow the plan to go north and detour to Gu'an to block the rear of the bandits."

"The order of the last general!" Zhao Kuangyin cupped his hands.

Then Shi Congyun took the detailed map of the vicinity of Yijinguan to it.