Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

Xiao Siwen and Gao Xun looked at each other, seeing the surprise and joy in each other's eyes, and even saluted: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty!"

.......

"The army is overwhelmed, Shi Congyun has arrived in Youzhou, these are all very scary, but fortunately we have a wise master." Out of the hall, Gao Xun said to Xiao Siwen who was beside him.

"Maybe we can negotiate with Shi Congyun and mediate." Xiao Siwen said, he still had no confidence in his heart.

Gao Xun was displeased, "What else is there to say now!"

Chapter 516: 20 Army

"Yelü Xiezhen is gathering troops. The Imperial Army has assembled all of them except the garrison troops. Excluding those guarding the Quartet, the Imperial Tent Army, Palace Guard Cavalry, and the Sixth Army of the Southern Academy are all assembled near the Lang River and the Shali River. It will take three days."

Outside the Shang capital, Ye Luxian rode a horse to inspect the camp, while Gao Xun was reporting the situation to him behind him.

"Jiedu Envoy of the Shiping Army and Taiwei Han Kuangsi are gathering the nearby tribal armies. Brother Yeluxiu went to the northwest. He went to the grasslands to gather the various tribal armies. The people there are the most difficult to deal with."

Xiao Siwen sighed: "They are usually difficult to control. It is still a question of how many people they can bring back. It is not at ease to send others."

Many of the tribes on the grassland in the northwest surrendered temporarily because they were not the opponents of Daliao. Every year they would pay tribute to cattle, sheep and furs, especially furs, which were important materials for making armor and were very precious.

So with such a fragile relationship, when they heard that the southern army was going north, it was a question of whether they would continue to support and submit to Daliao. Because of this, the imperial court finally sent Brother Yeluxiu, who suppressed the rebellion, to call the tribal army on the grassland.

"How many of us can go south to fight against Shi Congyun?" Ye Luxian asked, he didn't care about what Gao Xun and Xiao Siwen said before, but got straight to the point.

"The tent relatives follow the emperor to defend the capital. They are the elites who prepare for war all the year round. There were 5 people in the Taizu Emperor. However, the previous three battles and the Battle of Hedong have suffered heavy losses. Although they have trained a little over the years, they have only assembled. There are more than 200 people, and many of them are elderly, and there should be about [-] who can go south." Yelusha, the prime minister of Beifu, stepped forward to report.

"The Pishi army created by Emperor Taizong has 5000 troops, but some of them have to guard the pass around the capital, and some of them are uneven. A total of more than [-] people were assembled."

"That means there are a lot of people on empty pay?" Ye Luxian's face was not good-looking. Liao Kingdom's imperial army was also established after the system of the Han people. They were all professional troops and paid a lot of military pay. Most of them were paid in kind, such as cattle and sheep. slaves etc.

The food and salaries of more than 1 people were lost at once, which shows how much officials at all levels swallowed to fill their own pockets, and the entire leather army was almost halved.

Facing Ye Luxian, who had a very bad face, Xiao Siwen stepped forward to advise: "Your Majesty, the late emperor was obsessed with shooting, hunting and drinking, and it has not been a year or two since he ignored the government affairs. Your Majesty need not be outraged.

We took the risk to make changes, and invited His Majesty from Yongxing Palace to Shangjing, just to eradicate these stubborn diseases left over from the past of our Daliao Kingdom, so that Daliao Kingdom will have a future.

For this reason, we must win the current battle and then consider other things. "

Ye Luxian's anger gradually calmed down, he nodded and said: "Xiao Xiang's words are very reasonable, you can continue."

"The Shushan army, which was selected by the empress Shulu of the Taizu, has grown from 2 to 3 over the years, and has actually assembled more than 5000 people.

The six armies of the Southern Academy, including Crane Control, Habayashi, Dragon and Tiger, Shenwu, Shence, and Shenwei, have about 5000 people, almost all of whom are Han Chinese, and are now mainly gathered on the south bank of the Shali River. "

After hearing this number, everyone present was stunned for a moment, only Gao Xun was secretly happy. This shows that with the passage of time, more and more Han people are controlling power and military power in Shangjing, which is good for him.

"The Forbidden Army can gather about 10 people, each tribe's army should be no less than 20, and eventually there will be more than [-] troops. As long as there is sufficient food, cattle and sheep, it is enough to deal with Shi Congyun." Gao Xun immediately stood up and gave made a rough guess.

Prime Minister Yelusha had a different opinion, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid there are not so many.

Over the years, because the first emperor ignored the government, many conflicts between tribes came to him for mediation and were shelved.

At the beginning of last year, the daughter-in-law of a tribal chief in Beishankou was snatched by the enemy. He obeyed the laws of Daliao and did not send troops to resolve the dispute privately. Instead, he reported it to the court, hoping that the court would make a ruling.

As a result, His Majesty has been hunting near the Montenegro, and only came back in winter. He didn't pay attention to this matter at all. By this year, his daughter-in-law's son can walk, but it's not his own grandson.

Since then, he cursed that if he did not obey the court and led his troops to attack, this matter would have been resolved long ago, and he said that he would never obey the orders of Shangjing again.

There have been many such things in the past few years. The first emperor failed to handle the affairs and conflicts between many tribes. It is still doubtful how many people can send troops for us now. "

"But at least we have [-] forbidden troops!" Gao Xun had a high fighting spirit.

Yelusha is still pessimistic: "Shi Congyun's strength can only be known after fighting him. He is a vicious wolf and a cunning fox. When he is cunning, he can drive people to despair. When he is fierce, he can personally lead his pack of tigers and wolves." Master, charge forward."

His words made Gao Xun, who was in charge of the battle, look bad, "I think you were frightened stupid by him, and Shi Congyun pierced your guts in Hedong!"

"Humph" Yelusha also snorted. During the Battle of Hedong, he was captured by Shi Congyun. That nightmare battle is still unforgettable to him. Every time he thinks of Shi Congyun, he is terrified.

He remembered what Shi Congyun said to him, those threats and Shi Congyun's broad-minded gaze.

In fact, in the bottom of his heart, Yelusha did not agree with an all-out war with the Qin army.

He had crossed paths with Shi Congyun. He felt that the current Liao Kingdom was by no means Shi Congyun's opponent. He felt that the best way was to exchange the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun for Qin's strike, to preserve the population and strength, and to stabilize the situation. Afterwards, domestic issues will be dealt with, and there will be opportunities for confrontation or peace talks with the Qin army in the future.

However, he also noticed that many people in the high court do not agree with this view, even His Majesty, so he simply did not say anything.

He just reminded: "Your Majesty, I personally met Shi Congyun in Hedong. His dragon flag has always been at the forefront of Qin's army, leading the charge to defeat our army. He is a fierce and cunning person."

Ye Luxian glanced at him and said directly: "No matter what kind of person he is, I will fight him to the death!

As the prime minister, you must do your duty. At the end of this month, at least 20 troops will go south to Beikou to resist the Qin army. This is my order. "

Yelusha saluted and bowed: "Follow the order!"

Ye Luxian turned around, and solemnly ordered the Prime Ministers of the Northern and Southern Mansions, the Privy Councilors and other senior officials behind him: "I don't care what you think, what kind of goals and pursuits you have, our current goals are consistent and clear, and there is no way out.

Prime Minister Yelusha said that Shi Congyun is a vicious and cunning person. I also agree that his viciousness and cunning have been passed on by countless people over the years, and everyone knows it!

But precisely because of this, we must go all out and abandon those unrealistic ideas, he will kill them all fiercely, and cunningly calculate us, unless we voluntarily give away the inheritance of our ancestors and flee to the grassland to hide.

So no matter what, we must resist desperately. By the end of this month at the latest, I want to see 20 troops go south to Beikou to resist Shi Congyun's army! "

Everyone stopped arguing and took orders at the same time.

Although Ye Luxian is young, he has won the unanimous support and support of everyone in a short period of time, and what awaits him may be a bright future.

Chapter 517, Squeezing Out the Throat of Fate

In April, the weather in the north began to warm up, but it was still chilly. A sudden gust of cold wind hit the valley, which shocked the people who were warmed by the sun.

The road to the north was not easy at all. The large ships of the Qin army could not follow the tide to go up the river. The river became narrower and the road on land became wider.

After arriving in Tanzhou, everyone must change boats to continue northward.

This time, many cavalry on the East Bank Avenue went north along the river valley. There were many flags, and the team could not see the beginning and the end.

The cavalry passed by the side of the road, the sound of horseshoes was crisp and fast, and the infantry formation on the avenue was always very tight and orderly, and the sound of the stomach rubbing was also intimidating.

The brigade of cavalry in the valley can pass, but the speed is greatly restricted. This is why the Liao State attaches great importance to Tanzhou. As long as Tanzhou is in hand, when they go south from the north, the difficult valley from Beikou to Tanzhou can pass. ensure safety.

There are many ships in the river, and a large number of fleets go north along the narrow river, all of which are small boats. The gunboats stop near Tanzhou, while the larger troop carriers cruise in the Haihe River and the Bohai Sea, and more follow them to fight in Yingzhou Peaceful state.

The north entrance cannot accommodate so many people. The reason why a large number of people went north this time, the river and land roads are full of people, is only because Emperor Shi is also in the queue.

He decided to go to Beikou to see for himself. Although the generals tried to persuade him again and again, Emperor Shi still insisted, these people are real, what do you think he is?He is a fierce general who can be defeated by thousands of people, but he has not fought for a few years and they are so afraid that they are so hopeless.

The reason why he insisted on taking a look was because his grasp of geography was sharper and more accurate than that of all generals.

He had a premonition that the main force of the Liao Kingdom must go to the Beikou area, and this premonition was very strong.

It is not the will of man, but the choice of geography.

The boat cut through the water waves, and the birds on both sides of the bank kept singing. From the land to the water, there were several layers of guards inside and outside, and they went north along the avenue.

Shi Congyun looked at the mountains on both sides of the valley, and said to Li Chuyun who was half a step behind: "No matter how capable Ye Luxian is, he can only hold on for a while in the face of such a change.

He has no choice but to make a quick decision, and if the battle is unfavorable, his country will definitely be unstable first.

According to some official documents from Nanjing and the accounts of officials of the Liao Kingdom, they do not have strict control over the Mobei’s Zoubu and other ministries. As vassals, they only pay tribute every year. question.

The situation of Ye Luxian is very similar to that of the immortal king when he first ascended the throne..." Shi Congyun said that the immortal king was Guo Rong, because after he usurped the throne, he kept the ancestral temple of the Guo family for sacrifices, and Zheng Wang Chai Zongxun is now also in Zhengzhou Lives well, so it is no problem for him to still recognize Guo Rong as the king.

Li Chuyun didn't answer the words, Emperor Shi knew his caution and didn't care, he just emphasized again: "Yeluxian must use a big victory to stabilize his position, and Liao's control over the nomadic tribes in the northwest is not firm.

Just like when the immortal king Guo Rong came to the throne, many people were waiting and watching. If Gao Pingzhi was defeated at that time, there would be no Zhou, and there would be no Daqin today. If he is a capable person, he must want to seize this opportunity.

Bing is expensive and fast, the west of Liaoning is too far away, the mountains and roads around Juyongguan are high and dangerous, it is not suitable for large-scale cavalry to go south, his main force can only go here. "

Regarding the so-called Zoubu tribe, when Shi Congyun first asked about it from the official documents in Nanjing of the Liao Kingdom and their officials, he thought it was one of the larger nomadic tribes on the Mongolian plateau. After the scope of their activities and their general habits, Emperor Shi was very sure that [-]% of the Zubu and other tribes were the ancestors of the Mongolian tribes.

It’s just that they were not so powerful at that time. According to the Khitan people, their Emperor Taizu forced them to land those tribes during the Western Expeditions and made them vassals of the Liao Kingdom.

In other words, the actual control of the Liao Kingdom on the Mobei Grassland is very fragile. This is great news!

The current Zub tribes are far less powerful than the later Mongol tribes, which made Emperor Shi realize that this is an opportunity for the Liao Kingdom, and especially for him, this is a rare opportunity.

Due to internal and external difficulties, coupled with the change of imperial power, the status of the new monarch is unstable.

The women in the east have already paid tribute to the Qin State, and they continue to make troubles for the Liao State in Liaodong. What if the Zoubu tribes in Mobei in the northwest also took advantage of the chaos to rebel against the Liao State?

He found these things very difficult in the past, because once a huge empire has become a climate, it is difficult to defeat it in one blow from the outside, and the outbreak of internal conflicts is the most deadly.

Now the Liao Kingdom has given him such an opportunity.

In Youzhou, after consulting the official files in the Grand Palace of the Southern Court, and asking many officials and generals who surrendered from the Liao Kingdom, Emperor Shi came to a preliminary judgment these days.

That is, the situation in Liao Kingdom at this time is actually very bad, much worse than he thought.

I also gradually understood why people in later generations called Liao Jingzong Yeluxian the Lord of Zhongxing.

Since Yelvjing was the leader of the mutiny, coups and seizures of power have occurred frequently since he took the throne, and he spent a lot of energy to suppress the rebellion, which may have made him a little nervous, disheartened, and become slack in politics.

However, considering the frequency of coups in the Liao Kingdom these years, it is not surprising that he put his mind on preventing coups. The collapse of the lake has caused many tribes to no longer obey the orders of the central government, and become more and more alienated.

As one of the main forces of the Liao Army, there are more than 40 tribal armies that have been summoned, with more than 15 people at its peak, but it is unknown how many can be summoned now.

In addition, the tribes in Mobei were forced to submit by force by Liao Taizu at the beginning, but the fragile ecological environment of the grassland and the lack of material output doomed them to be conquered by force. In the face of survival, any threat is not worth mentioning , as long as there is an accident in the Liao Kingdom, they will most likely jump back.

The Liao Kingdom also lost a lot of manpower. In the past two battles with Emperor Shi, the Battle of Sanguan, and the Battle of Hedong, the Liao Kingdom was defeated. A large number of young and strong soldiers and many outstanding middle-level officers were killed.

It has only been more than ten years, and there must be a shortage of talents in the Liao army, especially the middle and low-level officers who have the greatest influence on the combat effectiveness of the army.

Yeluxian had just come to power, and Yelujing was assassinated strangely, it is conceivable that there will be a wave of Yelvjing's loyal subjects in the Liao Kingdom dissatisfied with him.

From this point of view, the current situation of the Liao Kingdom is the four words of internal and external troubles.

There are many internal conflicts, the situation is unstable, and just in time for a large-scale invasion of foreign enemies, the danger is at stake, and if you are not careful, you will be doomed!

This situation is almost exactly the same as when Guo Rong, the emperor Shizong of the later Zhou Dynasty who was usurped by him, succeeded to the throne!It was even more serious, because he led the army twice to inflict heavy damage on the Liao Kingdom.

At this time, after these days of careful calculation and thinking, and interrogating many civil and military personnel of the Liao Kingdom, after checking their documents and files, Emperor Shi came to a very important strategic judgment.

Once again, he stood at the crossroads of history. There is no better opportunity than now, and there will be no chance in a hundred years.

If you miss it, Yeluxian will have time to stabilize the regime and rejuvenate the Liao Kingdom.

Whether it's calculations, luck, or the accumulation of many plans and strategies in the past that lead to qualitative changes, he has just happened to be at such a historical juncture, when the Liao Kingdom was at its weakest, when internal and external troubles in this huge empire pushed forward. In the year of his peak, he took his tiger and wolf division northward.

Emperor Shi looked at the rivers and mountains in front of him, and there was a gully in his chest. This kind of control over the overall situation, the destiny of the country, and the destiny of the nation could not be understood by outsiders, even Li Chuyun, the commander he appointed. He could not understand the thoughts of the emperor.

There is a mountain pass far away from the bow of the ship, and the sun shines from the uneven mountains in the east, and the beams of light divide the mountains and rivers into two halves, bright and dark.

The river valley in front of him is the throat of the giant of the Liao Kingdom. Shi Congyun thought to himself, his iron fist has already pinched the throat of the giant of the Liao Kingdom.

"I will definitely strangle her to death." Emperor Shi said something inexplicable, and the people around looked at each other, but no one answered.

"Speed ​​up and go see Beikou. Time is running out, so don't miss this opportunity." Emperor Shi urged.

Chapter 518, The predecessors planted trees and the descendants enjoyed the shade

"The terrain here looks good." On the banks of the Gushui River, Emperor Shi led the crowd to a high ground east of the river.

Looking north from here, there are stretches of mountains with ravines. This is still part of the Yanshan Mountains. The road to the north is not easy to walk, but the mountains here are not as steep as the Daba Mountain in Shu, and the trees are not so Lush, on the avenue at the bottom of the valley, a large group of cavalry can still easily go south along the valley.

Looking to the east, there are winding Great Walls everywhere on the mountain. The high walls stretch and twist along the mountain ridge on the ridge. Some of these walls look relatively new, the bricks and stones are still blue, and the weeds are not so dense , those were built after the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

Some are very old, with dilapidated female walls, and the color has become lighter after being exposed to wind and sun. At first glance, they are city walls built during the Northern Qi Dynasty.

Looking to the west is Gushui. The Great Wall on the west has been stretching among the mountains. It is not clear how long it is. The east end extends to the edge of Gushui. There is a tower by the river.

On the east bank, there is a square and tall tower guarding the riverside avenue, but now the east tower has been abandoned. The Liao Kingdom demolished the city gate and opened it wide.

It is true that for the Liao Kingdom, the Great Wall here is useless, but will become an obstacle for them to go south. If it is not time-consuming and labor-intensive, they might want to tear down all the city walls.

This section of the Great Wall is called Beikou Great Wall. The army of the Liao Kingdom had to pass through here if they wanted to go south to Tanzhou. Since the Northern Qi Dynasty built a city wall here, their cavalry could not climb the wall and could only enter and exit through the Guancheng on the avenue.

Now the Guancheng is useless and dilapidated, and there is no military camp in the north of the Guancheng. The Tang army was stationed on a gentle slope in the southeast of the Guancheng more than a hundred years ago. Except for some ruins, there is not much left. For other traces, the surrounding shrubs are shorter than the surrounding ones.

The vicissitudes of history are buried in this barren land. Since the end of Tang Dynasty, this land has been set foot by the southern regime for the first time.

Emperor Shi looked at the terrain here for a long time, rode eastward for several miles in the morning, crossed Gushui in the afternoon, walked along the Great Wall in the west for a long time, and finally came to a conclusion that although the main part of the city walls was built during the Northern Qi Dynasty, But its role is still very large.

Such a Great Wall is not what most people imagined. It only works when a large number of people are stationed. It serves as a combat fortification, which is analogous to a city wall.

In fact, this logic is wrong. The length of the Great Wall is horrific. The Northern Qi Dynasty and the Sui and Tang Dynasties alone built this section of the Great Wall at the north entrance, which is hundreds of miles long. If you want to use the Great Wall as a city wall for a long time, this is the key In a short section, stationing a hundred people per mile requires a huge army to station, and logistics is even more terrifying.

Some important passes of the Great Wall can indeed be used as permanent combat fortifications to station large troops.

However, most of the city sections are only used as sentry towers, with a small number of people stationed there to monitor and transmit the movements of the nomads at any time.

However, its most important purpose is to change the marching route of the nomadic army and create a strategic advantage.