Although Cao Jun had expected it, hearing the news suddenly was like a bolt from the blue. He frowned and murmured: "Baishan Mountain and Datong Mansion were originally horns supporting each other. With Baishan Mountain's nail there, the Khitans could not attack the city safely. Now that Baishan Mountain has fallen, it will be difficult to defend Datong Mansion!" "Looking up at Sun Haocheng, he asked angrily: "How did Baishan Mountain fall?"
Sun Haocheng said: "The specific situation is not very clear. I only learned some information from the captured enemy officers. The Khitan army general Gan Buli led a group of soldiers and horses to climb up the mountain from the inaccessible medicinal mountain road in the back mountain. Our army Caught off guard, the entire camp was in chaos, and the enemy's main force had already been ambushing on the mountainside. As soon as they saw the chaos on the mountain, they attacked quickly! With such a two-pronged attack, our army finally couldn't resist it, and the entire army was wiped out!"
Cao Jun frowned, "Back Mountain? Didn't I ask General Li Zheng to pay attention to the warning on the back mountain and flanks? How could he let the enemy succeed?" Sun Haocheng curled his lips, "Then Li Zheng relied on himself as the Yanyun Army I'm afraid I didn't take the general's warning seriously. Huh, now I am defeated and dead, I really deserve it!"
Cao Jun shouted sternly: "Shut up, how can you say such a thing?" Sun Haocheng knew that he had made a mistake, and his heart trembled, but he obeyed. Cao Jun said sternly: "No matter how many shortcomings General Li Zheng has, he is still our brother. How can we gloat over his misfortune? I don't want to hear a word like this again in the future, otherwise he will be dealt with according to military law!" Sun Haocheng quickly agreed.
Cao Jun frowned and thought: "If Baishan Mountain is lost, the enemy's next step must be to attack Datong Mansion." If I were Yeqianhu City, I would definitely divide my troops into two groups, one to besiege Bingzhou Prefecture, and the other to attack Yanmen Pass. In this way, Datong Mansion becomes an isolated city, and the Khitan army can safely attack the city! If the Khitan army is allowed to carry out such a plan safely, its momentum will become stronger and stronger, and it will become increasingly difficult to defend Datong Mansion! We have to find a way to dampen their spirits! As soon as he thought about this, he said to Sun Haocheng: "Immediately send an order to all the war riders to gather!" Sun Haocheng rushed down as promised. The 100,000 Yanyun troops guarding Datong Mansion include a total of 5,000 light cavalry and the rest are infantry.
Soon after, Sun Haocheng ran up to the city gate tower. At this time, Cao Jun was standing on the city gate tower, leaning on the railing and looking outside the city. Tens of thousands of Khitan troops led by Han Chang were arrayed outside the city to challenge, and behind them, the main force of the Khitan army was crossing the river. Cao Jun looked very carefully, as if he wanted to see the enemy's flaws.
Sun Haocheng rushed to Cao Jun's side, clasped his fists and said, "General, five thousand war cavalry have gathered." Cao Jun nodded and said to his general Li Mu, "I will leave the city later. You must guard carefully. There must be no Mistake!" Li Mu said decisively: "General, don't worry!" Then he said: "General, let the last general's cavalry raid the enemy's formation!" Cao Jun shook his head, "I have decided, you don't need to say more!" Then he said to Sun Haocheng said: "Once I succeed, you immediately lead the army out of the city to attack frontally, without making any mistakes!" "Yes!"
Cao Jun quickly descended from the city wall, got on his horse, picked up the spear handed over by his own soldiers, and shouted to the five thousand warriors gathered at the city gate: "Brothers, the enemy attacked Baishan Mountain last night and killed our soldiers. Brothers, I will lead you to avenge them now!" The five thousand warriors couldn't help but feel the same hatred for the enemy, and shouted: "Revenge! Revenge!..." Cao Jun pulled the reins and galloped towards the north gate, and the five thousand warriors saw This scene felt strange, but I didn't dare to delay at all and hurriedly followed. At this time, tens of thousands of forwards led by Han Chang were arrayed outside the east city gate, and the main force of the Khitan army was also crossing the Yuhe River in the east. Cao Jun led his army out of the north gate, probably hoping to catch the enemy by surprise.
Sure enough, as soon as the five thousand war cavalry rushed out of Datong Mansion, they immediately turned back to the east.
When the Yanyun War Cavalry appeared in the Khitan Army's field of vision from a distance, the Khitan Army officers and soldiers were not surprised at all. Lieutenant General Li Yanqi pointed at the Yanyun cavalry running out from the far corner of the city and laughed: "The Yanyun cavalry is here! They probably want to raid our military formation!" Han Chang said with a smile: "With just these few thousand cavalry, we can It is truly wishful thinking to break through our military formation!" The generals laughed. Although Han Chang said it was easy, in fact he did not dare to neglect at all. He turned to the messenger and said: "The whole army is ready to fight!"
The herald quickly issued the order, and tens of thousands of soldiers immediately prepared for the battle. The shield bearers were at the forefront, preparing to face the charge of Yan Yun's cavalry. After the shield bearers were the spearmen, who would cooperate with the shield bearers to block the cavalry. The impact of the spearmen was followed by the crossbowmen, which were the main lethal force of the infantry formation. In addition to these arms, heavy armored infantry were also deployed near the central general's flag, and at the rear of the military formation, heavy armored infantry were also deployed. Thousands of iron pagoda cavalry, these heavily armored units will launch a counterattack against the Yanyun army at the appropriate time. When defending, they are as strong as a mountain, and when they fight back, they are like a volcano erupting. This is the combat characteristic of the Khitan army.
The Khitan army set up their formation and waited for the Yanyun army to attack.
However, things went beyond the expectations of the Khitan army. The five thousand Yanyun war cavalry led by Cao Jun did not attack them. Instead, they detoured far away and swept directly towards the ferry where the Khitan army crossed the river. go! This move greatly exceeded the expectations of the Khitan army. They had no idea that the Yanyun army would be so bold and dare to go around them and raid the ferry of the large army regardless of the danger of being cut off from their retreat? !
Han Chang didn't think about it carefully and quickly led his troops to catch up. However, how could he catch up with the Yanyun light cavalry that was rushing forward like a mad rush? In the blink of an eye, the five thousand Yanyun warriors rushed into the unsuspecting ferry, swept across the river, and killed the Khitan soldiers until their bloody corpses were scattered everywhere. This was a surprise to the Khitans. As expected, the Khitan army, which was more than ten times the size of Yanyun's army, was in chaos and was unable to resist their attack.
Han Chang led tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry under his command to hurry up. Seeing Yan Yun's army wreaking havoc on the ferry, he was really angry and furious.
However, at this moment, Han Chang and others suddenly seemed to hear a loud rumbling noise coming from behind. They couldn't help but feel strange and turned their heads to look. It didn't matter if they didn't look at it, but they were startled when they saw tens of thousands of Yanyun infantry troops rushing towards them with momentum like a tide.
Han Chang was horrified and hurriedly ordered his troops to stop advancing and turn around to face the enemy. However, when tens of thousands of troops are running at full speed, how can they hear his order at once, and how can they immediately turn according to his order? Even if they hear the order, they will act sooner or later. In a moment, The tens of thousands of troops were in chaos, with people shouting and horses neighing.
At this moment, a wave of 50,000 infantry troops led by Sun Haocheng crashed heavily into Han Chang's army. Only a huge shout was heard mixed with the sound of swords slashing hard. The scene was like a stormy sea crashing on the shore! The Yan Yun army rushed into the middle of the Khitan army with all their strength, charging wildly and moving forward without hesitation. Their spears and axes raised up a rain of blood all over the sky. Under the thrilling blood color was the crazy face of the Yan Yun army and the horrified expression of the Khitan army. The Khitan army was caught off guard and frightened. After retreating continuously, the entire military formation was shaken, and the morale of the army was shaken. Han Chang shouted at the top of his voice in the middle of thousands of troops. However, who among the panicked Khitan soldiers paid attention to him? Who knows what he was shouting.
In just a moment, tens of thousands of Khitan troops began to collapse, receding quickly like an ebbing tide, while Yan Yun's army continued to pursue and kill them. Screams could be heard one after another. One by one, Khitan soldiers were cut down by the chasing Yan Yun army. On the ground, corpses were strewn all over the ground, and weapons and armor were everywhere.
Seeing that something was wrong, Yeqihu City on the east bank quickly led his 30,000 iron pagodas to cross the river, and 30,000 soldiers and horses waded through the fords to cross the Yuhe River. However, they were unable to launch a counterattack for a while, because their own troops were rushing down like a tide. The defeated army completely blocked the attack line. Yeqian Hucheng was very angry and ordered his soldiers to step forward and guide the defeated soldiers away. At this moment, a group of several hundred capable Yanyun warriors rushed towards the 30,000-strong iron pagoda in Yeqihu City. Yeqi Hucheng laughed angrily, raised his right hand and waved forward, 30,000 iron pagodas launched a charge, and in an instant they drowned the hundreds of Yanyun warriors. In a fierce fight, hundreds of Yanyun warriors The entire cavalry army was wiped out. Immediately, Ye Qian Hucheng led 30,000 iron pagodas to kill the Yanyun warriors who were raging on the ferry. The 30,000 iron armors beat the earth and the earth trembled!
Cao Jun saw the Khitan army's iron pagoda rushing towards them like a mountain. He immediately led his cavalry to break away from the battle and at the same time ordered the herald to send out signal arrows. Sun Haocheng, who was chasing Han Changjun, heard a sharp sound coming from the ferry in the distance. He immediately reined in his horses and ordered the entire army to return to the city. The officers and heralds shouted one after another, and the orders were quickly passed on. The 50,000 infantry troops turned around and ran toward the city gate.
Cao Jun led his war cavalry towards the north gate, with the purpose of diverting away the iron pagoda of Yeqianhu City. However, Ye Qian Hucheng was also a veteran on the battlefield and did not fall for his trick. He only chased him for a moment and then stopped chasing him. Instead, he turned towards the retreating Yanyun infantry. Seeing that the distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer, the situation was critical, and Yan Yun's soldiers on the city wall were extremely anxious. However, the Khitan army finally slowed down a step, and saw Yan Yun's infantry running into the city, and the city gate slammed shut.
Ye Qihu City reined in his horse and stared at the Datong Mansion in front of him. Unable to vent the anger in his heart, he shouted loudly: "Han people in the city, if you have the guts, don't be a coward, come out and fight me to the death!" Wang Fang couldn't stand the opponent's fierce generals and was about to go to war. Li Mu grabbed him and shouted: "The general has an order, no one is allowed to go to war rashly!" Wang Fang broke away from Li Mu's hand, pointed at Yeqi Hucheng outside the city and glared: "I am A dignified Han Chinese cannot be despised by these barbarians!" After saying that, he ran down to the city. Then he saw Wang Fang holding a big sword and running out of the city single-handedly. Li Mu slapped the wall angrily, turned around and shouted at the drummer, "Beat the drum!!"
The war drums on the city wall rumbled loudly. Wang Fang rode his horse to about ten steps in front of Yeqihu City. He reined in his horse, raised his sword and shouted, "Grandpa is General Wang Fang of Yanyun. He is here to take the head of a Khitan dog like you!" Yeqihu City was cold. With a cold smile, he patted his horse and rushed towards Wang Fang. Wang Fang raised his sword and shouted to meet him. The soldiers on both sides couldn't help shouting.
In the blink of an eye, the two knights collided with each other, and Wang Fang slashed hard with his sword. The sword tore through the air with a whirring sound, and it was extremely powerful! Ye Qi Hucheng flipped his wrist, and the mace hit Wang Fang's sword from one side. There was a loud bang, and the sword was knocked away. Then he saw Ye Qi Hucheng holding the stick with both hands, and the mace was wrapped around him. Turning his waist, he swept towards Wang Fang from another direction! Wang Fang's broadsword had been swung away, and he couldn't take it back for a while. Seeing the opponent's mace roaring towards him, it was already too late to dodge! Snapped! The mace hit his chest hard, and he screamed and rolled backwards, falling off his horse on all fours!
There was a sudden silence on the city wall, and Li Mu slapped the wall stacks in anger and annoyance; the Khitan army officers and soldiers shouted in unison, with momentum like a rainbow. Yeqi Hucheng continued to raise his voice to challenge. He had just killed a Yanyun warrior, and his momentum was even more impressive!
Li Mu suddenly heard the sound of hurried footsteps behind him. He couldn't help but turn his head and saw Cao Jun and others walking quickly. He couldn't help but feel happy. He quickly stepped forward to pay homage: "General!" Cao Jun nodded and walked quickly. Beside the wall, looking towards the outside of the city. Suddenly he saw the corpse of one of his generals lying outside the city. He couldn't help being shocked and asked angrily: "Who disobeyed my orders and went to war without authorization?" Li Mu said with a sad face: "It's General Wang Fang!" Then he apologized. Said: "The last general failed to dissuade General Wang Fang, which resulted in the death of General Wang Fang at the hands of the enemy. Please punish the general!"
Cao Jun said: "This matter has nothing to do with you!" He stared at Yeqi Hucheng who was shouting loudly, and said solemnly: "We will definitely avenge General Wang Fang's revenge!" Then he said sternly to the generals: "From now on, anyone who dares to go to war without authorization will be dealt with according to military law!" The generals were shocked and promised with clasped fists.
Yeqianhu City shouted outside the city for a long time. Seeing that no one from Yanyun's army went to fight anymore, he couldn't help but feel a little proud. He spat on the ground and cursed loudly: "You Han people are just a bunch of cowards without courage! "After hearing this, the officers and soldiers on the city couldn't help but burst into anger. They really wanted to rush out and fight him to death. However, with General Cao Jun's strict order, no one dared to act rashly.
Seeing that it would be in vain to stay outside the city and scolding them, Yeqianhu City was worried that Cao Jun would repeat his old trick of raiding the ferry, so he led 30,000 iron pagodas back to the ferry. Returning to the ferry, the arrogance of suppressing Yan Yun's army under the city immediately disappeared. On the ferry, corpses were strewn across the field, the ground was stained with blood, raging fire, devastation, and the losses were very heavy. Before Yeli Hucheng, he was thinking The ground was about to pursue Yan Yun's army without paying attention. Now that he noticed these situations, he was really shocked and angry.
Han Chang and other generals came to visit Yeqi Hucheng. Seeing Yeqi Hucheng's face gloomy, everyone felt uneasy in their hearts.
Yeqi Hucheng asked in a deep voice: "How much was the loss?" Da Lan swallowed and said: "More than 10,000 people were killed and more than 10,000 injured at the port. The total number of casualties exceeds 30,000. The specific number is still being counted! "After a pause, I took a peek at Yeqi Hucheng. I saw that Yeqi Hucheng's expression became more gloomy, and I felt even more uneasy. I continued: "In addition to the loss of personnel, the loss of baggage and materials was also very serious. Specifically, The number has not been calculated yet!”
Yeqi Hucheng snorted coldly, and the generals were silent, their heads lowered even lower. Ye Qi Hucheng looked at Han Chang, "How much did your army lose?" When Han Chang saw Ye Qi Hucheng looking over, his heart skipped a beat. Hearing the question, he quickly said: "Loss, more than half!" Ye Qianhu City was extremely angry and cursed: "How dare Cao Jun be so rude. After the city is destroyed, I will cut his body into thousands of pieces to relieve my hatred!" All the generals agreed and said that Cao Jun should be killed. Jun was cut into pieces with thousands of swords to relieve his hatred!
Yeqi Hucheng turned to the generals and said, "Send the order to the entire army to cross the river as soon as possible!" All the generals agreed in unison. Cao Jun saw that the Khitan army and its baggage were constantly crossing the river, while 30,000 iron pagodas and tens of thousands of war cavalry were divided into several battle formations to guard the ferry. Seeing that there was no opportunity to take advantage of it, Cao Jun gave up the plan of subsequent raids. Cao Jun inspected the city gates on all sides, gave detailed instructions to the guards, and then returned to the camp hall in the city and sat down.
Thinking back to the dangerous victory just now, I can't help but feel thrilling. Thinking about Wang Fang's death, I can't help but feel a little sad. However, this feeling only fleeting in my heart. Since I have chosen the path of joining the army and fighting on the bloody battlefield, this Life can be lost at any time. Everyone has foresight and there is no need to be too sad.
Cao Jun calmed down, stood up, walked to the map, looked at the map and began to think. He was considering the attack strategy for Datong Prefecture from the perspective of Yeli Hucheng. Various attack strategies were in Cao Jun's mind. Flashed through.
Sun Haocheng ran in from outside, clasped his fists and said: "General, I have sent a quick horse messenger to deliver the military report according to your instructions!" Cao Jun nodded and sighed, "The King of Yan has entrusted me with a heavy responsibility, but the war begins It didn't take long for Bai Shanshan to be thrown away. I am really ashamed of King Yan!"
Sun Haocheng said: "General, there is no need to blame yourself. The fall of Baishan Mountain is all the responsibility of General Li Zheng. What does it have to do with the general?" Cao Jun shook his head, "That's not what you said. Since King Yan has given me full authority to defend here, Responsible, I am responsible for the loss of Baideng Mountain! This cannot be shied away from, and it is not to blame for shirk! If I die in this battle, everything will be over, but if I am lucky enough to defend Datong Mansion, then after the war is over, I will I will plead guilty to King Yan!" Sun Haocheng felt extremely grateful after hearing Cao Jun's words.
When night fell that day, Cao Jun did not bother to eat, but went to patrol the city wall to cheer up the soldiers. Cao Jun and his party came to the east wall and saw several soldiers gathering together to talk. When they saw Cao Jun, they quickly stood up straight. Cao Jun walked up to the soldiers and asked with a smile: "Are you afraid of being trapped in the isolated city?" The soldiers shouted together without even thinking: "Not afraid!" Cao Jun was stunned and asked again: "Why not Afraid?" One of the soldiers shouted loudly: "As a man, dying in battle is the most glorious thing! After death, you can enter the Hall of Loyal Soul and be worshiped by the people for thousands of years. There is nothing more glorious than this!" Another soldier said: "My father and mother are taken care of by King Yan. I have nothing to be afraid of!" The third soldier looked left and right and said loudly: "They have finished what I said. I think so too." of!"
Cao Jun couldn't help feeling a little emotional. He felt that the Yanyun Army and the Song Army were really two completely different armies. The Yanyun Army was eager to fight and was not afraid of sacrifice. It regarded being a soldier and dying on the battlefield as the most proud thing, while the Song Army regarded it as the most proud thing. Joining the army and going to jail are treated equally. Soldiers have no dignity at all. They look forward and backward on the battlefield and are greedy for life and fear of death. They simply don't have the spirit of Yan Yunjun to regard death as home. Cao Jun originally didn't have much confidence in guarding Datong Mansion, but after seeing the behavior of his soldiers, he couldn't help but gain a lot of confidence.
Cao Jun nodded appreciatively, patted the shoulders of the three soldiers, and continued to patrol ahead. As I walked, I was thinking: 'Actually, King Yan has organized my original army into the directly affiliated legion, which really flatters us. Their fighting will is still quite far from the real direct army soldiers! This battle to defend the city must be very cruel and difficult. I must save the soldiers directly under me as much as possible and only use them at the most critical time! Perhaps we can also use them to launch a counterattack at a favorable opportunity, which may have a miraculous effect in turning the tide! '
He stopped and turned to look outside the city, only to see that the Khitan army had set up a huge camp outside the city with its back on the Yu River. It stretched for more than ten miles along the river, with tight barriers and fierce momentum. Cao Jun couldn't help but frown slightly. Based on the momentum emanating from the Khitan army camp, he could see that his recent raid on the Khitan army did not dampen their fighting spirit. Cao Jun couldn't help but murmured: "I'm afraid this battle will be more difficult and cruel than I imagined!"
At the same time, Ye Qian Hucheng's mood was actually no better than his. Yeqi Hucheng stood in front of the map in the tent and frowned. He was thinking about a strategy to defeat Datong Mansion, but his thoughts couldn't help but turn to the previous battle on Baishan Mountain. In that battle, he used a small road to raid the mountain. The Yanyun Army was caught off guard and eventually the entire army was annihilated. However, the victory of the Khitan army in that battle was not easy at all. Even in the desperate situation, the Yanyun army continued to fight back like crazy. Both sides killed the mountains with corpses and blood flowed into streams. The 30,000 Yanyun army was eventually wiped out. However, the Khitan army The price paid was no less than that of the Yanyun Army. What shocked Yeli Hucheng even more was that except for a few seriously injured and unconscious, none of the 30,000 Yanyun Army on the mountain surrendered to them. And those few The Yanyun Army prisoners who were seriously injured and unconscious committed suicide without hesitation after waking up. Therefore, at the end of that fierce battle, the Khitan Army did not capture even a single prisoner. They would rather die than surrender, and would die if they lost. This is Ye Qihu This was something that Cheng Cheng had never encountered since joining the army. Although Ye Qian Hucheng said nothing, his heart was full of awe for Yan Yun's army.
Ye Qianhu City's thoughts returned to Datong Mansion, and he couldn't help but think: "We have lost so many soldiers and horses even if we hit Baishan Mountain or succeeded in a sneak attack. If we want to break through this Datong Mansion with its tall city walls, we will have to sacrifice more." How many soldiers are there? Yeqian Hucheng couldn't help but feel palpitations. He felt that if this battle was won, his own side would also suffer unbearable huge losses!
Ye Qian Hucheng took a deep breath, put these thoughts behind his mind, and his eyes became hardened. In the middle of the night, Yeli Hucheng, who had fallen asleep, was suddenly awakened by a burst of killing and exclamations, and he got up quickly.
After all, what happened next will be explained later.
