Zhao Yanshou took advantage of his numerical advantage and attacked frantically. The next day, Qizhou was captured. Shen Bin committed suicide and martyred his country. His wife, children, and children were all captured and escorted north.
Qizhou is located to the east of Zhenzhou and to the south of Dingzhou. The three states are arranged in a triangle. To the north of this triangle is the "S"-shaped border between Shanxi and Liao.
Ma Quanjie had already captured Taizhou before, but it was quickly recaptured by the Khitans. Now, the main force of the Later Jin Dynasty launched an all-out attack. The Taizhou governor Xiancheng appointed by the Khitan surrendered, and Qizhou was also recovered by the Later Jin Dynasty. Subsequently, the main force of the Later Jin Dynasty attacked Mancheng to the west of Taizhou and captured 2,000 Khitan soldiers. The next day, they conquered Suicheng without stopping.
Taizhou, Mancheng, and Suicheng were also closely arranged in a triangle, firmly blocking the path of the Khitan army going south.
One of Zhao Yanshou's subordinates came to surrender and revealed two important news to the Jin army. One was good news: Yelu Deguang had already led the main force of Khitan to retreat into Khitan territory. He had already reached the foot of Yanshan Mountain in the north of Youzhou and was about to return to Khitan. The hinterland; a piece of bad news: When Yelu Deguang heard that Taizhou had been lost, he immediately ordered the baggage team to return to the grassland first, and led tens of thousands of cavalry to turn around and return. By calculation, he should be able to arrive tomorrow night. You should be prepared.
"Yelu Deguang will arrive on the battlefield in five seconds, please be prepared."
Commander-in-Chief Du Chongwei exchanged views with General Political Commissar Li Shouzhen and believed that our army's food and grass had not yet arrived. We had penetrated deep into the enemy's territory alone and encountered the main force of the enemy's army. I am afraid that a head-on attack was not an option. It would be better to withdraw to Taizhou and observe the enemy's army. situation, then make a decision.
On that day (March 19), the main force of the Later Jin Dynasty retreated to Mancheng.
On March 20, the main force of the Later Jin Dynasty continued to retreat and retreated to Taizhou.
Yelu Deguang was one day late and arrived at Taizhou City on March 22.
"I heard that you have been looking for me lately? I'm here, come out!"
"You think I don't dare to come out?"
Du Chongwei immediately ordered his troops and horses, left the city from the south gate on March 23, and retreated all the way to Dingzhou in the southwest. Yelu Deguang ordered the pursuit. The main force of the Later Jin Dynasty retreated to Yangcheng (between Taizhou and Dingzhou, on the Taizhou side).
On March 24, the main force of the Khitan army pursued Yangcheng. The history books describe the arrival of the Khitan cavalry in six words - the enemy cavalry came like a wall.
The Later Jin Dynasty took the initiative to attack, forming a square formation with infantry, and selected elite cavalry to harass the guerrillas, waiting for the enemy to take a breath before attacking them head-on. This move worked. The cautious Khitan soldiers thought that Yangcheng was the ambush circle prepared by the Later Jin Dynasty, so they retreated backwards, only to be chased for more than ten miles by the Later Jin Dynasty.
After a short rest, on March 26, the main force of the Later Jin Dynasty formed a fighting formation and continued to retreat to Dingzhou.
The flexible Khitan cavalry followed them again. After finding out that this was not a lure from the Later Jin Dynasty, the Khitan cavalry confidently and boldly used their fists and kicks. On the vast North China Plain, the Khitan cavalry surrounded them from all directions, just like circling on the grassland. Crow beside a dying bison.
The main force of the Later Jin Dynasty fought and fled, and only traveled more than ten miles a day. The men were trapped and the horses were hungry, and their combat effectiveness was sharply reduced. When dusk fell, the main force of the Later Jin Dynasty came to Bai Tuanwei Village, felled trees, buried fences, and rushed to repair the fortress.
The main force of the Khitan surrounded them heavily, and sent elite cavalry to cut off the food and grass supply line of the main force of the Later Jin Dynasty.
This is the interesting part of the Shanxi-Liao War. It is always full of unexpected surprises, and the error tolerance rate is quite high. There are basically no tricks, only mistakes. At the strategic level, the two sides are at the same level, quite satisfactory, with few outlandish ideas. However, at the tactical level, they are just reading from the playbook and waiting to see what happens. The historical matching mechanism is really fair.
Yelu Deguang's counterattack was not planned in advance at all, but he fought so smoothly. He was impulsive and accidentally made dumplings with the main force of the later Jin Dynasty.
If the main force of the Khitan can eat the main force of the Later Jin Dynasty in Bai Tuanwei Village, then history will be rewritten, and Shi Chonggui will destroy the country this year.
History seems to be following this trick. That night, a strong northeasterly wind suddenly blew. The wind was so strong that houses collapsed and trees were broken. A well that the Later Jin army finally dug collapsed due to the strong wind.
The soldiers were so thirsty that they had to wrap the wet mud in cloth and drink the muddy water.
By daybreak the wind was stronger than at night.
Yelu Deguang saw the hope of victory. He took the "Khitan No. 1", a "big Xi car" specially built by the skilled craftsmen of the Xi tribe, and went to the front line in person. He was very pleased to do the pre-war mobilization, "This is God helping me." Yes! In front of us are all the armed forces of the Later Jin Dynasty, kill them and go south to capture Bianzhou!"
The Khitan soldiers were high-spirited and cheered.
Yelu Deguang ordered the armored cavalry (iron kites) to surround the Bai Tuanwei Village, then dismounted to demolish the deer village and resist the horses. The follow-up troops, armed with short weapons, rushed into the camp of the Later Jin Dynasty to fight, and at the same time set fire to the upper wind, creating chaos for the Later Jin Dynasty. .
The wind helps the fire, and the fire borrows the power of the wind. The fire quickly spread in the camp of the Later Jin Dynasty, and countless Khitan soldiers poured in. The main force of the Later Jin Dynasty was in danger.
However, the supreme commander of the troops of the Later Jin Dynasty, Du Chongwei, still did not organize resistance, and the troops of the Later Jin Dynasty could only allow the Khitan army to massacre.
The soldiers of the Later Jin Dynasty were angry and shouted: "Why hasn't the commander-in-chief given the order yet? Are we going to die in vain?"
The generals were willing, but Du Chongwei said: "Let's wait until the wind calms down."
Supervisor Li Shouzhen said: "The enemy has many people and we have few. Under the cover of the wind and sand, no one knows how many people the other party has. We should take advantage of this situation to fight and win. This sandstorm It is to save our lives! Once the wind decreases, we will be completely wiped out."
But Du Chongwei still refused to give the order.
Li Shouzhen directly issued the combat order, and then said to Du Chongwei: "Commander, please guard the base camp, and I will lead the people to fight the enemy to the death!"
The commander-in-chief of the cavalry, Zhang Yanze, also summoned his men to discuss countermeasures. The men said that the enemy was in the upper wind and it was best to wait for the strong wind to turn and then attack downwind. Zhang Yanze believed that what he said was reasonable, so he stood still and waited for Zhuge Liang's miracle to happen by taking advantage of the east wind.
After the cavalry general Yao Yuanfu and other generals retreated, they were left alone and said to Zhang Yanze: "Our soldiers are hungry and thirsty and have reached their limit. If we don't do anything, the whole army will be wiped out. The enemy also thinks that we will not Attack against the wind, so we have to take it by surprise and win by surprise!"
General Fu Yanqing also supported taking the initiative, saying that it was better to die for the country than to be captured without help.
So Fu Yanqing, Zhang Yanze, Yao Yuanfu, and Huangfu Yu led the elite cavalry out of the west gate to fight. Under their leadership, other generals at all levels joined in, and the Khitan army retreated hundreds of steps.
