Guo Ning smiled easily, but the crowd was inevitably surprised.
Several people immediately asked: "You came so quickly! Did the Mongolian army leave Xianping Mansion alone?"
Guo Ning handed the military report to Chu Cai, waved his hand and said: "Zhebie left ten thousand soldiers to monitor Xianping Prefecture, and led five thousand light cavalry to the south quickly, setting fire to Shenzhou and Liaoyang Prefecture along the way." They passed through Chengzhou a few days ago and should be in Gaizhou by now."
Everyone was in an uproar.
A general said angrily: "With just a few thousand light cavalry, you really dare to tease us! These black Tatars are really too big!"
Some people immediately said: "That Zhebie is not a trivial matter, we must arrange support quickly, we must not ignore it!"
During the commotion, Guo Ning asked in a low voice: "Have the weapons and armor stomachs for Liaodong been shipped?"
Yi La Chucai responded: "It started yesterday, and Li Yunhui is responsible for the distribution; General Manager Han has also begun to gather his troops."
Guo Ning nodded and said slowly: "It is difficult for the Mongolian light cavalry to attack the city. After all, we have been operating for several months and several cities are reliable. They can at most harass us and it should be no big deal."
After a pause, he added, "It's just that I'm afraid that the tribal people scattered in the wild will inevitably be killed or injured. There are a lot of Khitans among them. Do we need to arrange a fleet..."
"No need, the fleet has its uses."
Yi La Chucai lowered his eyes and looked at the ground: "In this world, the ordinary people of Guizhou and Li are just like weeds. It is natural to kill others yesterday and to be killed today. Envoy, we only look at the overall situation!"
Guo Ning patted Chu Cai's arm.
As the situation becomes more and more chaotic, Yizai Chucai is no longer the scholar he used to be, and his heart is getting harder and harder. Guo Ning wanted to praise him, but didn't know what to say. Seeing that the generals were still making plans, he coughed twice and stood up.
Even if there is sea communication between Liaodong and Shandong, the news will always be delayed by a day or two.
When Guo Ning received the military report, Han Xuan was standing on Gaizhou City, looking far and near.
As far as he could see, newly built villages were burned down one after another, with blazing fireworks and black smoke rising like huge pillars into the sky.
The terrain of Gaizhou is high in the east and low in the west. There are low mountains and hills in the east and southeast, and winding rivers; while the northwest line is mostly plains. Therefore, the distribution of cities is mostly along the northwest plains, stretching from north to south.
Most of these cities emerged in the Han Dynasty. After the Han and Jin Dynasties, they passed through the Xianbei, Yan, Goryeo, Bohai, Liao, and Jin regimes. There have always been many fights for balance.
For example, the northernmost Tangchi County guarding Qingshiling is where Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty conquered Goryeo and where Xue Rengui ascended the city in white. Jian'an County, the administrative seat of Gaizhou, was where General Zhang Jian garrisoned at that time. Further south, cities such as Xiuyan and Xiongyue had the military-state Jiedu system until the Liao Dynasty and were regarded as key points.
These many cities originally had Dinghai troops stationed there to suppress the riots of the surrounding tribesmen. But after the Mongolian army entered Liaodong, Han Xuan immediately retracted his troops back to Jian'an County. He also sent people to inform the many tribes scattered here, asking them to either go to the mountains for temporary refuge, or go south to Fuzhou to wait for Ding Haijun's response from Shandong.
However, perhaps because after being attached to Ding Haijun, as long as he worked hard every day, he would have a handful of grains to eat. This treatment was really good. Many Huli Gai people or wild Jurchens are reluctant to leave.
Going deep into the mountains in this cold winter is indeed extremely difficult and dangerous. Many Khitan people are Yelvliu Ge's old tribe. They have been farming for a long time and have no ability to eat in the mountains and wild fields, let alone go to the mountains to die.
So no matter how the Dinghai navy officers drove them away, many people still stayed where they were.
Now, these people were either killed, or they were driven by the Mongols to be used as human shields for the siege, and died in the battle to attack the next village.
Suddenly, the wind blew; and in the leaden air, fine snow particles fell. The wind slapped snow particles on Han Xuan's face, which was biting and cold.
Just now he was inspecting the city defense and took off his fur robe to a soldier. At this moment, half of the city was detoured, and it was freezing. However, this bit of chill is nothing compared to the early days when I was rolling around in snowdrifts in northern Xinjiang. Han Xuan has been on the battlefield for a long time and has long been indifferent to these physical hardships.
Not far from him, a bonfire was lit, and several officers were stretching their hands to warm themselves. One general warmed his hands, stood upright on the battlement, stretched out his hands to indicate the distance, and calculated the position of the rising smoke column.
Because of the strong wind, the smoke column was blown away a lot. He thought about it for a while and then said to Han Xuan: "The six villages of A and B, as well as the first to fourth villages of C, have all been burned. . Estimating the time, it was the sixth village of A that was broken first, and after two hours, it was the turn of B and C. The Mongols were the first to attack the sixth village of A, and then took the Khitan people in the sixth village. Burn and kill them all the way."
This is the difficulty of facing the Mongols.
If you send troops to fight in the field, you will easily suffer losses; if you defend the city, you will have to sit back and watch the Mongols attack the villages and towns one by one, and then continue to take people hostage and take their lives to conquer more villages and towns.
In the end, when all the surrounding areas were cleared, all the living people in the entire area were gathered under the city by the Mongols. The only way for these people to survive is to break into the city and exchange the lives of the people in the city for their own lives.
"It will be dark in half an hour at most."
Han Xuan looked at the sky: "The fifth village of C is very large and relatively strong. Unfortunately, if it cannot withstand the Mongols, it will definitely be broken before dark. However, the sixth village of C and the sixth village behind it are There should be no problem in the village. The Khitan people have always obeyed, and they still need to be rescued. Tell the brothers to take the time to rest and recuperate."
All the generals should be like this.
Han Xuan's judgment was correct. Near the fifth village of C, the war was in full swing.
Amidst the drifting snow, hundreds of people fought hard, slashing or beating each other with swords or wooden sticks. Outside the earthen wall surrounding the village, there were people covered in blood, screaming and screaming. Some people cowered back, covering their faces with their hands and crying loudly. Then they were shot in the back of the head by an arrow that flew far away, killing them immediately.
However, none of the people fighting on the field were Mongolian generals, they were all Khitans.
Both sides shouted in the same accent.
The so-called success is the king and the defeat is the enemy. After the fall of the Liao Dynasty, a large number of Khitan people were forced to move into the northeastern hinterland. They were supervised by the local Jurchens and suffered for decades. When they followed Yelvliu Ge to raise an army, they once created considerable momentum, and then quickly failed.
After the death of brother Yelvliu, the Khitan people no longer had any morale. Among them, even the more discerning ones don’t know where their future, or even that of the Khitan clan, lies.
They were tools of the Mongols, slaves of the Jurchens, and Han'er... Maybe Han'er treated them better, but they were just prisoners. After working hard day by day, what you get in return is just a mouthful of rice, so what else can you do?
They were numb and desperate, so they stopped thinking about it.
When the fighting suddenly broke out, some people rushed to kill under the intimidation of the Mongols, while others subconsciously gathered behind the settlement's earthen walls and resisted in despair. Because neither side had any weapons at hand, the battle was not fierce, but it was very miserable. Under Jebe's gaze, some people fought with the enemy with bare hands, and even cried and bit the opponent's throat, spitting out the broken flesh and blood on the ground. .
