At that time, Emperor Yelu Yanxi of Tianzuo was hunting with his entourage. He was waiting for his entourage to drive wild deer and goats to his hiding place so that he could shoot a few wild deer and goats. He saw Xiao Wuna galloping towards him on horseback.
Yelu Yanxi knew about the fact that the Jurchens raised troops to attack the city of Ningbian, and Xiao Wuna sent Xiao Daoqiang to report the news and request for help. According to Xiao Daoqiang's report, Tianzhao Emperor Yelu Yanxi had sent Bohai Navy Commander He Ne to command 3,000 troops to aid Ningbian Prefecture.
After receiving the report, Yelu Yanxi did not take the Jurchen uprising seriously at all. He thought that the Bohai Navy commander He Ne led 3,000 troops to rush to rescue Xiao Wuna. When the Jurchens saw the arrival of the imperial army, they turned into beasts. , I don’t know where to escape to! Therefore, after ordering He Ne, the commander-in-chief of the Bohai Navy, to lead troops to rescue Ningbian Prefecture, Yelu Yanxi went hunting with his entourage as usual, with peace of mind.
Yelu Yanxi, who was waiting for the goat wild deer, did not wait for the goat wild deer, but instead waited for Xiao Wuna who was trapped in the city of Ningbian.
Yelu Yanxi suddenly saw Xiao Wuna coming to the hunting ground. She thought that the Jurchens had been beaten back, and Xiao Wuna came to report the situation, and she was very happy.
At this time, Xiao Wuna had already rode his horse to where Emperor Tianzha was hiding not far away. Yelu Yanxi quickly put away her bow and arrows, dismounted her horse, jumped out of the jungle, and waved to Xiao Wuna.
Xiao Wuna, who was riding a horse, saw Yelu Yanxi waving, so he dismounted his horse hard and rode towards Yelu Yanxi.
Xiao Wuna rode his horse and came to Yelu Yanxi, jumped off his horse, knelt on the ground, performed the royal ceremony for Yelu Yanxi, and cried: "Your Majesty! The Jurchens rebelled, captured Ningjiang Prefecture, and captured the pharmacist slave alive. , your arrogance is extremely arrogant. Your Majesty, you can no longer roam around and hunt all day long. The best thing to do is to take care of the Jurchen that morning, otherwise there will be endless troubles." Yelu Yanxi, the military commander, was shocked when he heard the report. He thought that it was a sure thing that Hene would lead his troops to aid Ningbian Prefecture and defeat the Jurchens. But now, how could the Jurchens seize the city god of Ningbian Prefecture? Yelu Yanxi hurriedly asked: "Since Ningjiang Prefecture was captured, how did you get out? Didn't the Bohai Navy commander He Ne lead his troops to help?"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Wuna reported to Yelu Yanxi in detail how Ningbian Prefecture was lost and how he encountered reinforcements from the Bohai Navy on the road.
After hearing this, Emperor Tianzuo had recovered from his panic and seemed careless again. Yelu Yanxi said to Xiao Wuna in a relaxed manner: "It's a blessing for you to be able to escape. As for the Jurchen rebellion, you don't have to worry about it. I think the Jurchen is a barbarian with sparsely populated areas. How can he rebel? Why should he?" Rebellion?! Who is Daliao? I am an eagle on the grassland, an undefeated country. Even the Southern Dynasties are eager to please me. How can he count tens of thousands of Jurchens?! He still dares to rebel against me, you Just relax and see how I conquer him."
Xiao Wuna knew that Yelu Yanxi was blind, arrogant, arrogant and violent, and acted recklessly. Seeing that Yelu Yanxi was so careless, Xiao Wuna became worried, fearing that Yelu Yanxi would cause trouble.
Xiao Wuna felt very uneasy and thought to himself: Do you think the current Liao Dynasty is still a strong and invincible country in the era of Jingzong and Xiaohou? Now Daliao has been almost ruined by you. I'm afraid things may not be as you thought. With one attack of the army, the Jurchens were defeated and defeated.
It was not unreasonable for Xiao Wuna to be so worried, because he had just fought a battle with the Jurchens, and he knew how powerful the Jurchens were. Think about this dynasty again. Although it is called the Liao Dynasty, it is actually big but not strong.
Since the alliance between Empress Dowager Xiao and Song Zhenzong in Chanzhou, there has been no war in the Liao Kingdom for 110 years, and the combat effectiveness has long been inferior to the past. The current situation is that swords and guns are stored in the warehouse, and horses are released in Nanshan. The former tiger and wolf division has long since It no longer exists, and the swords of the soldiers have long been covered with rust. Even soldiers don't know the art of war.
It can be seen how important combat readiness is. Even if there is a hundred years of peace, we should not relax our troop building.
Now, Emperor Tianzuo is still intoxicated by the myth that the Liao Kingdom was powerful and invincible during the time of Empress Dowager Xiao. He believes that it is easy to conquer and eliminate the Jurchens once the army is launched, and there is nothing to worry about.
After listening to Xiao Wuna's report and comforting Xiao Wuna, Yelu Yanxi stopped hunting and took Xiao Wuna and a group of followers back to Linhuang Mansion in Beijing to make arrangements for the crusade against the Jurchens.
Yelu Yanxi appointed Xiao Sixian as the vanguard and led 10,000 troops to Ningjiang Prefecture to attack the Jurchens.
Xiao Sixian is the younger brother of Xiao Fengxian, and his sister Xiao Duolilan is the Queen of Yelu Yanxi. In normal times, Yelu Yanxi also liked Xiao Sixian. Now, Yelu Yanxi believed that it would be easy to annihilate the Jurchen rebellion, so he gave his brother-in-law Xiao Sixian the opportunity to lead the army to the expedition, so that he could achieve military merit, and then he would be promoted and used in a justified manner.
Xiao Wuna had just been defeated by Wanyan Aguda and was about to take revenge, so he asked Ying to go there, willing to serve as Xiao Sixian's deputy general.
Yelu Yanxi thought, this is good, with the help of the veteran Xiao Wuna, Xiao Sixian will be more successful, and success is imminent! With this in mind, Yelu Yanxi ordered Xiao Wuna to go with him as a deputy vanguard.
Xiao Sixian and Xiao Wuna then gathered 10,000 troops and headed northeast to conquer Wanyan Aguda.
Xiao Sixian and Xiao Wuna actually led only ten thousand troops, but in order to frighten the Jurchens, they claimed to be one hundred thousand. During the march, Xiao Si ordered his soldiers to wave more colorful flags and gallop their horses back and forth, creating a mighty momentum.
The Liao army advanced all the way to the northeast. Within a day, they came to the Duck River and stationed themselves.
On the other side of the Duck River is the place where the Jurchens live.
Xiao Sixian planned to cross the river the next day, attack the Jurchen soldiers, and eliminate Wanyan Aguda in one fell swoop.
The Liao court sent a hundred thousand troops, with Xiao Sixian as the marshal and vanguard, and Xiao Wuna as the deputy vanguard, to conquer the Jurchens. Wanyan Aguda also learned the news, and he immediately sent investigators to investigate the actual situation of the Liao army.
Jurchen investigators then smuggled across the Songhua River as refugees and came to the Yaya River to spy on the military situation. They learned that the actual number of Liao troops was not 100,000, but 10,000.
The Jurchen investigators returned immediately and reported the situation to Wanyan Aguda.
Even if it is ten thousand men, it is not a small number, because at this time, the total number of men Wanyan Agu defeated was less than five thousand.
Faced with a situation where the enemy is strong and we are weak, Wanyan Aguda fell into deep thought.
Wanyan Aguda thought that in order to defeat the Liao cavalry of 10,000 men with less than 5,000 troops, he could only succeed in defeating the Jurchens by taking them by surprise, attacking them unprepared, and disrupting their positions and causing them to fall into chaos. They are brave enough to take advantage of the situation and win; if the two armies are arrayed and engage in serious positional warfare, the Liao people will be outnumbered and it will be difficult to win.
Wanyan Aguda further thought about specific tactics. Wanyan Aguda felt that the Liao army was tired after a long journey, so it would be necessary to station troops to rest tonight so that they could gather enough energy to launch an attack tomorrow.
Wanyan Aguda thought to himself, since this is the case, I will not give him time to rest. I will attack all night and break into the Liao army camp before dawn tomorrow. I will catch him by surprise while he is still sleeping. He didn't dare to underestimate me, a Jurchen, so I took the opportunity to boost his morale and then fight with him to seize his country and country.
After thinking about it, Wanyan Aguda immediately sent an order for all the people in his department to gather under the tent.
At that time, it was winter, the sky was covered with thick clouds, the wind was strong, and there was a murderous atmosphere between the sky and the earth.
The men and horses from Wanyan Aguda's headquarters were ordered to come over. They were all shivering from the cold and standing under the lanterns, with resentful expressions on their faces. In addition, these people have heard the news that the Liao army is 100,000 strong. With just a few thousand of us going to fight 100,000 horses, we are not throwing ourselves into a trap and asking for failure. Therefore, everyone is terrified. It's hard to calm down.
Wanyan Aguda also saw everyone's mentality. Fortunately, he himself was a shaman, that is, a Han Chinese wizard, and the Jurchens believed most in the shamanistic theory of dream divination. Therefore, Wanyan Aguda fell into a state of fascination, as if possessed by a god, and said mysteriously: "The Lord God hinted to me that the Jurchens will dominate the world from now on. The current strategy is to raise troops overnight and attack directly. The formation of the Liao soldiers will achieve a complete victory, otherwise there will be disaster, property will be robbed, and women will be owned by others."
When the Jurchens heard that this was God's order, and they were afraid that their property and women would be robbed by others, they suddenly became excited.
After seeing that his troops were being mobilized, Wanyan Aguda was shaking all over, and returned to normal after being possessed by the spirit. Facing his troops, he said loudly: "Since God has hinted that he will protect us Jurchens, I will lead you now." Go attack the Liao people and rob them of their people, livestock, chariots and horses, and soldiers and armor, and everything they have will be ours."
Wanyan Aguda's troops applauded in unison.
Immediately, Wanyan Aguda led more than 2,000 cavalry in his headquarters, riding the wind and snow, and rushed all night to the south bank of the Duck River.
Let’s talk about the Liao army camp on the south bank of the Duck River. Standing outside the tent, Xiao Wuna saw a sudden strong wind, a cold wind, dust covering the sky, thick fog, and a gloomy atmosphere. He felt uneasy, fearing that the Jurchens would attack overnight.
Xiao Wuna had this premonition, so he walked into the Chinese army's tent and said to Xiao Sixian, who was about to sleep: "Marshal, according to my observation of the sky, the yin energy is too strong, which may not be a good sign. Beware of Jurchens coming to steal camp."
Xiao Si first heard the words and said with a smile: "Senior, you are overthinking. My army, which is said to be one hundred thousand, is so vast and vast, with its banners covering the sun, it can scare the Jurchens to death. How dare they come to steal the camp? At this moment, The Jurchen has become a frightened bird. He doesn't know where he has fled. I will have to spend a lot of time and effort searching for him tomorrow. Old man, don't worry, just go to sleep peacefully. When tomorrow dawns, we will send troops. He, round up and suppress the Jurchens, even if they run to the horizon, they will be captured, so that they can avenge the Ningbian Prefecture for the old man."
Xiao Wuna was a veteran of the two dynasties, and Xiao Sixian still respected him, so he persuaded Xiao Wuna to just rest in peace.
Xiao Wuna returned to his tent worriedly. He was so worried that he couldn't sleep for a long time.
Xiao Wuna thought to himself that Xiao Sixian was Yelu Yanxi's brother-in-law and was being favored. The key is that Xiao Sixian had never led an army into a war. At most, he had shot a few deer in the paddock. Facing the fierce and bellicose Jurchens, it was probably not a disaster to be so reckless on the eve of the war. However, Xiao Wuna thought again that although he was a veteran of two dynasties and the predecessor of Xiao Si, he was the coach and I was the deputy coach. In addition, I had just lost a game in Ningbian Prefecture, so it was not easy to fight him now. If you don't resist, you can only listen to him.
In this case, Xiao Wuna had no choice but to pray in his heart, praying that the Jurchen would never come to rob the stronghold in the middle of the night.
