Zhang Gao really didn't expect that Yelu Ruan had such a personality. When Yelu Ruan's brother Yelu Louguo came out to plead, Zhang Gao didn't quite believe it.
Only after Yang Jiye personally brought people in and the Khitan Yelv Sixin confirmed it did Zhang Zhang believe it and enter the house.
Because Yelv Sixin was one of the personal guards who followed Yelv Bei from Dongdan Kingdom to the Later Tang Dynasty. Not only was he familiar with Yelv Ruan when he was a child, but when Yelv Ruan went to Tokyo to clean up Yelv Bei's body, he mainly relied on Yelv Sixin for help.
If he confirmed it, then there would be basically no problem.
That's fine, just forgive me, but I can't give an explanation to the people of Hebei and Henan. When the Khitans went south, I don't know how many families were destroyed. The population dropped sharply by millions in a few years. The sin is so serious that it is absolutely not easy to do so. The doctrine of forgiveness.
But if you kill him, he will still be Yelu Abli's brother. Now that he has chosen to commit suicide, it is undoubtedly the best outcome for Zhang Yan to have no blood on his hands.
This is a small house, with several squares of brightly colored blankets spread out on the rough yellow soil.
A dozen palace maids and chamberlains were kneeling in the distance, and two guards in armor were stabbed to death at the door.
On the carpet, dark red blood was still flowing. Yelu Ruan looked up at the sky, his eyes widening on his pale face.
There was also a man with fair hair curled up on the ground, still twitching slightly.
The two women crying the loudest in the room were the older ones. Not only did they appear to be charming, but they also had the melancholy temperament of a talented woman.
The young one is probably in her teens, with a slightly round face and a small cherry mouth. She does not have the wildness of the Khitan girl at all. Instead, she is like Xiaojiabiyu from Jiangnan Road. Although she is sitting on her knees, she can be seen to be extremely tall.
"Your Majesty has already died for his country, please give me some dignity, Father!"
The young woman spoke. The very smart girl knew that Zhang Hao had just glanced at her plump and slender figure, and she immediately promoted Zhang Hao to the level of her father-in-law.
However, the Khitan Queen, who is only seventeen years old this year, obviously has never thought that sometimes the identity of the world father and this kind of role-playing can arouse men's sexual interest.
"Are you Xiao Sage?" Zhang Hao asked in a low voice.
"This slave is Xiao Sage! Meet the father and the emperor!" Xiao Sage stopped crying and fell down in front of Zhang with watery and red eyes.
This Khitan Queen is really beautiful! And it’s the kind that becomes more and more interesting the more you look at it.
Of course she is very beautiful. Historically, Yelu Ruan loved the Zhen family so much, but Xiao Sage, a queen who was brought through political transactions, still gave birth to three sons and three daughters to Yelu Ruan in six years. She became pregnant almost as soon as she was just out of confinement. Without considerable beauty and wisdom, it is definitely impossible.
"You don't have to call me Shifu. Is your aunt the Shimu of a certain family?" Zhang Hao smiled indifferently and then stopped talking about this topic.
"I have never been innocent and lustful, but he is so dishonest that he cannot blame others. Now that he has committed suicide, he will be dead and his debt will be wiped out. He should still be given the dignity that should be given to him."
This Xiao Sage is actually quite senior, because she is Shulu Ping's niece, so Yelu Ruan actually married his own little cousin, and that's why Zhang Hao would say this.
But at this time, although Zhang Shengren was a little interested in this woman, of course, destroying the enemy's country and having its queen be tactful would be the greatest happiness in life.
But now was not the time to care about these things. Zhang Hao took one more look at Yelu Ruan who was dead on the ground and immediately withdrew.
"Wang Tongtong, lead a hundred people to seal this place to protect their safety, and let the Khitan servants sort out Yelu Ruan's body.
Don't let the military doctor wrap up the wound on your leg. Ask two maids to help you take care of it. "
Wang Tongtong dragged his injured leg and smiled. When he was about to kill Ye Hanerduo, he was hit by three or four arrows in the thigh and the bleeding has just stopped.
"That's alright, I'll have some saintly glory and enjoy the service of the Khitan palace maid."
After Zhang Hao finished speaking, he hurried out. Yelu Ruan's death did not mean that the war was completely over, because he was just an emperor who was pushed out and did not have much control.
The only force the Khitans can still fight now should be the six thousand men in Gaosong.
The palace tent army brought by this dog is the only Khitan army that has not experienced the battle of Yanshi City and has maintained a complete organization, so it is not so afraid of Zhang Zhou's army.
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Zhang Hao's guess was good. After understanding that there were not many Zhou troops to attack, Gao Song really felt like coming up to give it a try.
However, Gao Song's troops, who were separated by a shallow river, were strongly blocked by Zhang Xibao's 200 cavalry before they could cross the river.
Zhang Xibao and others used the stream to pull back and forth, constantly harassing Gao Song's troops. If there were more people, they would leave, and if there were less people, they would swarm them. Gao Song sent several waves of light cavalry, but they were unable to do anything to Zhang Xibao and others.
So Gao Song, who felt that Zhang Zhou's cavalry was difficult to deal with, simply became ruthless and left six to seven hundred cavalry to fight with Zhang Xibao and the others while he personally led the army to the Khitan main tent.
Because he knew that although the camp was on the verge of collapse, Emperor Yelu Ruan, Dachang Wen Yelu Wuzhi, Xiao Han and others would definitely find a way to break out.
It's not that Gao Song was very loyal, he was really forced to do nothing. After they supported Yelu Ruan, they had already offended Shuluping and Yelulihu miserably.
Without the banner of Yelu Ruan, he is a Bohai man and cannot suppress the Khitan soldiers under him. I am afraid that he will be tied up by his men with just a warrant from Shulu Ping.
Six thousand people walked less than three miles to the main camp. The defeated soldiers who fled in a hurry brought Gao Song the news of the death of Yelu Wuzhi and Xiao Han. Of course, some said that the emperor had died in the battle.
Gao Song immediately summoned his two brothers and a group of Bohai and Nvzhi officers to discuss the situation. Now he could not even trust the Khitan officers under his command.
As soon as the incident was reported, a group of Bohai and straight female officers who had been promoted by Gao Song clamored for Gao Song to escape immediately and take everyone back to Liaodong.
In fact, the Khitan has not yet completely consolidated the former homeland of the Bohai Kingdom. You must know that the last king of Bohai, Da Danzhuan, died a few years ago. The Bohai people were deeply oppressed by the Khitans, and they still miss the Bohai Kingdom very much in their hearts.
Due to the rapid decline in status, the means of production were seized by the Khitan people. Many Bohai people returned to the mountains in Liaodong and Jilin in later generations, and began to mix with the Nvzhi people. The two groups faced the oppression of the Khitans together, so they were relatively united.
After Gao Song returned to the Liao Kingdom, he began to deliberately absorb the Bohai and Nvzhi people, and squeezed out those who could not control the Khitans. Therefore, among the 6,000 people he currently controls, there are more than 3,000 Bohai and Nvzhi people.
When Zhang Yan did not go north, these people hoped that Gao Song would take them back to his hometown of Bohai, welcome back the royal family of Bohai, and restore the Bohai Kingdom.
"No!" Gao Song's younger brother Gao Mouzhi objected loudly.
"It's a long way to go to Liaodong, and we have to pass through Yelu Lihu's territory. We don't know what is happening in Liaodong now. It can be said that it is like a duckweed without roots. Returning eastward hastily, and there is a risk of capsizing if you are not careful! "
Gao Song had always taken a fancy to this disciple's intelligence. Hearing this, he waved his hand and said, "In your opinion, what should I do?"
Gao Mouzhi raised his hand and said, "Tongjun, please leave five hundred troops here to collect the defeated troops. Pay special attention to recruiting non-Khitan generals. Tongjun will personally lead the troops to save the emperor."
If the emperor is still alive, we will take the emperor and retreat to Zhongjing Road and Shangjing Road. From now on, whether we protect ourselves or sell it to Emperor Shaoming, it will be up to me. "
Gao Song nodded, "What if the emperor really encounters something unexpected?"
"Then let's quickly return to Youzhou, kill Zhao Yanshou, and rob the eldest prince. We will take the wealth of the Han people in Youzhou and serve the eldest prince as the master. We will also retreat to Shangjing Road and pride ourselves on rare goods."
At this time, among the three sons of Yelu Ruan in history, Liao Jingzong, Yelu Xian and Queen Zhen were born, and the tortured Yelu was not born.
Only Yelu Ruan's eldest son, who didn't even leave his name, was still there, and Zhao Yanshou was left to guard Youzhou.
Also in the original history, Yelu Ruan and Zhao Yanshou were at peace with each other for a period of time, but soon they stopped dealing with each other.
That's because Yelu Ruan wanted to use the Khitan's Nanyuan King official system to take away all the power of Zhao Yanshou in the Yanyun area and erase the Zhao family's influence in Lulong Army and Youzhou.
But in this time and space, the Khitan was so defeated in the Central Plains that neither Yelu Ruan nor Zhao Yanshou had any intention of fighting among themselves.
Sure enough, the biggest secret to maintaining internal unity lies in strong external pressure.
Precisely because of the existence of Zhang Yan, a terrifying foreign enemy, Yelu Ruan not only did not kill Zhao Yanshou, he even dared to entrust him with it. '
At this time, a group of Bohai and Nvzhi generals recalled the wealth of Youzhou. Of course, it was wealth in their eyes. They all suddenly showed expressions of satisfaction and began to agree.
Takamatsu also thought this was a good idea and had a satisfied smile on his face.
But before he could express his position, he heard the warning horn blaring outside.
Gao Song and the generals quickly went to a higher place to take a look, and saw at least six to seven hundred horsemen heading towards them, holding silver-white banners.
Gao Song's nose was so angry that he would still be a little weak if three thousand Zhou troops came, but with six to seven hundred cavalry, only one-tenth of his army dared to come up and charge. This is really insulting!
Immediately, Gao Song waved his hand and said, "Gao Mouquan, immediately lead two thousand cavalry to attack and kill these Southern Dynasty traitors!"
Gao Mouquan was also Gao Song's disciple and had always been brave. Hearing this, he immediately led two thousand cavalry and shouted loudly, running over the mountains and plains towards the Zhou army carrying silver-white banners. Gao Song turned around and prepared a way to contain the defeated troops. .
Unfortunately, before he had finished arranging the task, he heard loud horns and cries in Bohai dialect, mixed with shouts of 'defeat!' in Khitan dialect! Lost! '
A cold sweat broke out on Gao Song's forehead, and he saw that the two thousand cavalry he had sent out were already running back in panic like bereaved dogs.
Gao Song personally stepped out, grabbed a small officer who ran back and roared: "Where is Gao Mouquan? You two thousand people can't stop six or seven hundred cavalry?"
Takamatsu used block instead of defeat, which meant that he couldn't beat him. You couldn't lose so quickly, right?
The junior officer looked at Gao Song in a daze, and replied with a trembling voice: "Before we could set up our formation, a strong general rushed over from the opposite side. He was holding a hard bow and galloped in among thousands of horses. He shot the deputy commander with one arrow. died!"
"What nonsense!" Gao Song was furious and threw the young officer to the ground. "Thousands of troops shot the general from there. Do you think there are ten thousand enemies like Guan Yun Chang on the other side?"
But as soon as Gao Song finished roaring, "Guan Yunchang" came!
Li Cunhui, riding a green-maned Pegasus over the shadows, had already arrived under the protection of Murong Yanzhao and Wang Quanbin.
Li Cunhui's horse was worthy of the name of Yueying. It was extremely fast and reached Takamatsube almost instantly. He spread his wings like an eagle and shot down the rangers in front of Takamatsube.
Takamatsu was about to order his trusted cavalry to dispatch. In an instant, the sound of warning horns came from everywhere again. In this dusk when the sun had already set, at least tens of thousands of cavalry were surrounding them from all directions.
Gao Song could even feel the vibration of the horses' hooves. The enemy army was only a mile or two away from him. His expression changed, he mounted his horse and ran back, leaving thousands of troops without command.
As soon as Gao Song retreated, he didn't need any orders or arrangements. His subordinates immediately retreated to the north where the sound of horse hooves was the least.
Of course, this is not a retreat, but an orderly retreat.
In this orderly retreat of the entire army, countless horses and those with poor riding skills would fall behind and be surrounded.
Then after the main force that retreats first jumps out of the encirclement, they can choose to counter-encircle the entire team, or run away completely.
This is the most typical steppe ranger fighting style. They would not choose a decisive battle easily. It is difficult for Gao Song, a Bohai man, to study this light cavalry fighting method quite thoroughly.
However, this method did not work this time, because Zhang Gao had listed Gao Song as a key target before the war.
Whether it was Li Cunhui who came with Zhang Yan or Bai Congxin who finally arrived with the main force, his target was him. He didn't care about the stragglers and pursued Gao Song.
He can't run away!
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On April 28, the second year of the Shaoming Dynasty in the Great Zhou Dynasty, Zhang Yan led his army to the north and chased the Gaosong tribe. Finally, he met Murong Nobunaga, who was encircling and intercepting, in Pingshu County, Yingzhou, which later became Dacheng County, Langfang.
More than 6,000 Takamatsu riders were completely fucked to a pulp, but was Takamatsu captured or killed somewhere? It's still unknown.
Because the sun had already set when they attacked Takamatsu. Although there were eight or nine thousand cavalry chasing after them and Murong Nobunaga intercepting them in front, it was still too late and the night gave them the best cover.
But in general, Zhang Yan's strategy of leading 23,000 cavalry to raid the Khitan was an unprecedented success.
The surprise attack on Lutai directly killed Yelu Wuzhi, the mainstay of the Khitan. Yelu Deguang's brother-in-law Xiao Han also died in the battle. Yelu Ruan, the third Khitan emperor, committed suicide in despair.
The Khitan army of 40,000 people completely collapsed, and more than 4,000 people were killed on the spot. At least another 6,000 to 7,000 horsemen died in the pursuit. Almost all the remaining elites who escaped from the last battle at Yanshi City were lost.
The prisoners have not been counted yet, but there should be at least three to four thousand riders.
There is no way that cavalry battles are like this, especially in a large plain like Hebei. It is not easy to catch a knight who just wants to escape.
At this point, the Khitan, at least to the west of Liao, completely lost any force that could compete with Zhou. Yelu Ruan could not even save his concubine, and his armor and weapons were abandoned like mountains.
In three years, Zhang Gao killed two generations of Khitan emperors in succession, and drove the Khitan Kingdom into the ground, which was on the rise.
Since the time of Yelu Abaoji, the Khitan has carefully cultivated 50,000 to 60,000 elite palace troops and more than 100,000 tribal troops for three generations, allowing Zhang Gao to give Huo Huo a clean sweep.
After Zhang Yan led his army to Pingshu County and joined Murong Nobunaga, he was not ready to go north.
Because the Liao Kingdom seems to have collapsed, it is time to return to defeat Liu Zhiyuan.
But now that the Liao Kingdom is defeated, Yan Yun cannot ignore it. If Zhang Yan doesn't care, these Liao Kingdom's defeated troops will do no harm to You, Ying, Mo and other states.
Zhang Yan immediately gathered everyone together. Originally, he was going to simply order Gao Xingzhou to take over Youzhou, but after thinking about it, it seemed inappropriate to just let Gao Xingzhou go.
The fall of the land of Yanyun to the Khitan for eleven years was the most painful thing for the Han people in the world. Such an honor would not seem so solemn if Gao Xingzhou was left alone.
Moreover, it is easy for the Gao family to grow in power in Youzhou, because they were originally the powerful people in the north and south of Yanshan, and they have been entrenched in this land for four generations.
Although Gao Xingzhou is definitely loyal, there are still some restrictions on the Gao family.
So Zhang Gao appointed Murong Nobunaga as the Commander-in-Chief of Pingyan in Pingshu County, and ordered him to lead an army of three thousand into Peiping on Zhang Gao's behalf.
Youzhou was officially changed to Beiping Prefecture, and Gao Xingzhou was appointed as the military envoy of Fan Yangjun in Beiping Prefecture, and he was asked to follow Murong Xinchang to settle the five prefectures of Yan, Yi, Mo, Ying, Tan, and Ji.
Ma Sizhong was appointed as the investigation and disposal envoy of Chongying and Mozhou, and he led the local soldiers to eliminate the defeated Khitan troops who were scattered in various places.
Then Yang Jiye, who had made great achievements in this battle, was sent to Yunzhou with 300 cavalry to report the battle situation here and urge Zhe Congyuan, his father Yang Hongxin and Wu Luan to capture Yunzhou as soon as possible.
Then he ordered the elites from Datong Town and Fugu Town to be transferred from far away to help Murong Nobunaga control the north and south of Yanshan Mountain to prevent Yelu Lihu from Liaodong from coming to harass him.
As for Cangzhou, Zhang Gao left two generals Zhao Yanjin and Wang Tongtong here, leading two thousand troops to guard the prisoners, treat the wounded soldiers, deal with the dead, and appease the various places in Cangzhou.
Zhang Yan then personally led the remaining 15,000 troops, preparing to go south at starry night to raid Liu Zhiyuan, who was stationed in Xiangzhou.
