Due to the Youyan incident and poor communication, although the spread of the news was delayed, it finally reached Liu Chengyou's ears clearly. Although it can be seen from the reaction of the Liao army on the southern front that Zhao Yanshou must have made a major breakthrough in Youzhou and hit the Liao army's sore spot, the result still shocked Liu Chengyou and his aides.
Is it so easy for Youzhou City to really be captured by Zhao Yanshou? Then how much of a waste is Yelu Jieli?
There were some distortions in the transmission of the news. It may be that Zhao Yanshou's magic soldiers descended from the sky and launched an attack brazenly under Youzhou City. They were invincible and the defenders could not stop them. They captured the city in one fell swoop and won the support of the Han people in Hecheng. Heroes of Youyan, Wen In response to the news, people rushed to surrender. Zhao Yanshou had already settled in Youzhou and supported tens of thousands of people.
After excluding the useless information, one thing is certain: the most important and difficult target of this Northern Expedition, Youzhou City, was won.
Then, a question posed in front of Liu Chengyou, what should he and Long Qijun do?
The remaining generals and commanders all asked for battle again. Looking at the eager and impatient faces, Liu Chengyou felt that he had to think carefully. Most of the Longqi Army has basically been dispersed. The generals are mainly from the Third Army, and they are basically middle and lower-level officers.
The news about Youyan spread quickly. If they had been asked to travel four to five hundred miles to attack Youzhou beforehand, no one would have had confidence. However, now Zhao Yanshou led a group of troops to surrender and rebelled against the Liao army when they were prepared. , just grab it. It turns out that Youzhou is not that easy to fight, and these officers and soldiers who are so determined can't sit still, and they also want to make meritorious deeds.
Naturally, Liu Chengyou would not take things as simply as ordinary soldiers, thinking that Youzhou is really that easy to defeat. To his surprise, Guo Rong and Xiang Xun could no longer sit still, their appetites grew, and they lost their sense of normalcy. They encouraged Liu Chengyou to go north to support Zhao Yanshou and bring the land of Youyan back under the rule of the imperial court.
But this time, Liu Chengyou was extra calm as usual. For a moment, he was really tempted, but he suppressed the impulse. Immortal achievements that seem within reach are often worthy of repeated consideration and weighing.
"Your Highness, since Youzhou is here, we have a foothold in Youyan. Relying on the fortified city, we can compete with the Liao army and drive them out completely." Xiang Xun could not suppress his excitement, even if he noticed that Liu Chengyou was not interested. Gao, still couldn't help but persuade.
"With our current strength alone, can we compete with the Liao army? You must know that we have tried our best to send out troops this time, but at the expense of Chengde Zhenzhou's defense strength!" Liu Chengyou glanced at Xiang Xun and said calmly Di asked rhetorically.
Guo Rong took the initiative and said: "We can ask Zhang Du to take command and lead the first and second armies northward."
At first, Zhang Yanwei was ordered to lead 6,000 infantrymen to ride east to intercept Xiao Han's army returning from the north. He intercepted the last Liao army at the junction of the two states of Decang and the lower reaches of the Yellow River. Xiao Han's army of more than 20,000 people fought conservatively and timidly, perhaps due to the morale of the army. Zhang Yanwei and Ma Quanyi, with the cooperation of local warlords and rebels, fought fiercely for more than 20 days, and finally achieved results.
Xiao Han was alert at the end. He might not be able to wait for Youyan's support, so he led his remaining four thousand cavalry, abandoned all "encumbrances", and fled. Murong Yanzhao had been vigilant this time when he was fighting in Mozhou. With Xiao Hanjun. Zhang Yanwei seized a lot of money. After all, Xiao Han was so persistent before, but he still couldn't bear to part with the beautiful women who had spent so much time searching for it.
Zhang Yanwei's return was slow, and the large and small vehicles were still in Jizhou.
After listening to his words, Liu Chengyou said directly: "The first and second armies have been fighting fiercely for nearly a month and have returned. They will be exhausted and exhausted. It is the time to show sympathy to the soldiers. Can they go north to fight again?"
"Your Highness can send troops from towns and prefectures in Hebei to come north, and then recruit warriors from Yan and Zhao." Xiang Xun's voice became softer.
Liu Chengyou couldn't help but look at him and said nothing, but his eyes were full of words. As if wondering whether this suggestion was really made by Xiang Xun. Recruiting soldiers may be useful, but after several wars, how many available men are left? Even if 10,000 or 20,000 people are recruited, will it be enough? If you want to continue investing in Youzhou, you need immediate combat power. As for the towns in Hebei, the newly attached warlords in these places are already burning incense if they can avoid rebellion and rebellion.
Thinking of this, Liu Chengyou's thinking became clearer. He shook his head gently and stretched out his hand to stop Guo Rong, who was about to say something more: "With our current strength, it is barely enough to control the Chengde states and defend the northern frontier. I strongly advocated the Northern Expedition of the Yan Army. , all the gentlemen expressed their opposition, why are there different opinions today? All because of the Youzhou City. The idea of the Northern Expedition was that if the enemy was strong, it would be advantageous to attack at a disadvantage. I dared to take the risk to do this, and the conflict over the throne in Khitan was intensified. Youzhou is empty, that is the opportunity given to us by the Khitans!"
"It is certainly gratifying that the King of Yan has won Youzhou, but how easy it is to win it will be how fierce the Liao army's counterattack will be."
"A conquest of hundreds of miles requires many soldiers and horses, how much armor and equipment, how much food and grass, how to ensure the supply of the back route, and how to make achievements. You two are not unaware of the difficulties involved. Although this time of mobilizing troops will not last long, , but our army has reached its limit, and more than half of the Xia Shuang treasury has been consumed. Next, we need to raise both soldiers and people, and we still need to prepare for emergencies. If we invest more power in Youyan, I am afraid that we will If we get stuck in it, there will be no results in Youzhou, and we ourselves will collapse..."
In fact, what Liu Chengyou said was that with the talents of Guo Rong and Xiang Xun, it was impossible to realize that the huge temptation was in front of them, which was too unbearable.
The reason why Liu Chengyou could hold back was that his expectations were not that high. Using Zhao Yanshou to mess with Youyan was his real purpose. But suddenly he realized that there seemed to be a chance to take back Youyan, and Liu Chengyou became more vigilant.
Liu Chengyou expressed his attitude so solemnly, and the two of them calmed down and looked at each other. Guo Rong said: "Your Highness, as you said, if Youzhou is lost, the Liao army will definitely counterattack with all its strength. If it weren't for us, I’m afraid it will be difficult for Zhao Yanshou to resist the support.”
At this time, Wei Renpu, who had been silent for a long time, spoke up: "Youzhou city is strong, and we only need to gather Han people to defend it. If we only rely on the remaining soldiers in Youyan at this time, it will be difficult to recapture it in a short time. However, the people who leave Lingbei If the main force of the Liao army returns south, it will be difficult to say."
"We can only hope that the Khitan internal struggle can last longer and buy Zhao Yanshou more time!" Liu Chengyou said.
After such a discussion, the tone was set. However, Xiang Xun was still a little unwilling and sighed: "What a great opportunity, what a pity!"
Liu Chengyou said with a sullen face: "Now that we have won Long, why don't we return to Shu?"
"The Liao army has reduced its troops to Youyan, so our army is not doing anything?" Xiang Xun asked.
Touching his chin and thinking for a moment, Liu Chengyou stretched out his hand and scratched the map on the case, and said: "The right to fight independently against the two armies, but one thing is that the Longqi Army is no better than Yishui!"
From beginning to end, Liu Chengyou acted very calmly.
The mood is naturally good. In fact, as long as Zhao Yanshou captures Youzhou, no matter how the situation develops, his goal of disrupting Yan will be achieved. In his opinion, with Youzhou in hand, even if he did nothing, it was absolutely impossible for the Liao army to take it back from Zhao Yanshou without paying a certain price.
According to Liu Chengyou's script, the next best thing is for Zhao Yanshou to seize the strong city and gather the power of Youyan to confront the Khitan, fighting, and fighting day after day, year after year.
Of course, judging from Zhao Yanshou's past experience, it is probably impossible for him to fight with the Khitans. This person may have the idea of swinging between north and south, having both sides. But when it comes to a life-and-death crisis and he can no longer withstand the pressure, it is not difficult to surrender to the Khitan again, even if Liu Chengyou has already used many means to avoid this possibility.
However, Zhao Yanshou must have that opportunity.
...
As the protagonist of Liu Chengyou's discussion with his subordinates, Zhao Yanshou is making progress. After capturing Youzhou, most of the worries dropped, and I became more confident.
He ordered all the Hu soldiers in the city to be killed. When the Yan soldiers entered the city, the situation was reversed. The Han people who had been oppressed and monitored were able to stand up, but the Hu soldiers were controlled instead. Zhao Yanshou quickly mobilized tens of thousands of men from the city, and at the same time sent people to declare Tan, Ji, Zhuo, Yi and other prefectures and counties, calling on the Han people to fight against the Khitans.
Zhao Yanshou is indeed quite prestigious in the land of Youyan, and there are many old ministries serving in prefectures and counties. As expected, there are many people who respond. Although the Khitan's northern and southern bicameral system, which ruled the Han Dynasty with the Han Dynasty, had a positive effect on its development, the sequelae were exposed when the Han people rebelled.
Of course, the Han people in Youyan responded to Zhao Yanshou. In addition to his unmeasurable prestige, the decline in Khitan strength after the Battle of Luancheng and the contradiction between Hu and Han also promoted the resistance of the Han people.
Entering Youzhou, taking inventory of the treasury, gathering heroes, arming soldiers, and appeasing people's hearts, Zhao Yanshou spent all his energy.
In comparison, Yelu Jieli, who took the initiative to go south, was in an embarrassing situation. When we arrived in Gu'an, we saw that the county town was in crumbling shape and was besieged by the Liao army pursuing from the north. There was nothing to be happy about, and then the news came that the Yan army was approaching Youzhou City by water.
Anger and hatred arose from his heart. Under the shame and anger, he still had the mood to order Gu'an to be destroyed. He killed all the hundreds of Yan soldiers in the city and left a blood debt before leading the army back north.
Youzhou, Yelu Jieli must take it back, otherwise he will not only lose face but it will be a small matter, and he will not be able to explain to Yelu Ruan. Although he was Yelu Ruan's cousin in terms of seniority and blood relationship, if he really lost Youzhou, Yelu Ruan would not let him go even if he was praised for being "generous and generous".
The Liao army in Dingzhou and Mo was urgently ordered not to get entangled with the Longqi army, abandon the prefectures and counties and go northward, and then caused two groups to retreat. Dingzhou Jiedu Yelu'an was beheaded by Li Jun. Yelu Jieli gathered the Liao troops in and around the Yishui defense line and organized more than 10,000 people to return to Youzhou in the north.
However, when the troops came to the city, they realized that he no longer had the advantage in strength. For Yelu Jieli, the strength of the city was not terrible. What was terrible was that there were enough troops to garrison it. Don't think that they are just a mob. In this kind of world, the powerful men of Youyan who take up arms can teach you how to behave.
With his head burning, Yelu Jieli boldly ordered an attack, and then he was hit with a bloody head and suffered hundreds of casualties. After calming down, Yelu Jieli simply camped and stationed troops under the city, preparing to wait for reinforcements.
However, you wanted to regroup, but the Yan army in the city refused to let you go. Zhao Yanshou saw the opportunity and sent Yan cavalry out of the city to harass, making the Liao army tireless. It is impossible to fight against the nomads without cavalry. As long as there is cavalry, it will not fall into complete passivity.
Under this situation, the morale of Youyan's Liao army was extremely low, and they even stopped obeying the command. The Liao army who stayed behind at Youyan did not have many warriors from the Khitan tribes, but more of them were miscellaneous soldiers such as Xi Ren, Shi Wei, and Bohai. Yelv Jieli, on the other hand, was not very popular on weekdays and was headstrong. His several wrong judgments led to the corruption of Youyan's situation.
In this situation, Yelv Jieli lost control of the army and almost collapsed under the city. Even Zhao Yanshou noticed something was wrong until Xiao Han led the remaining soldiers from the north of Tokyo. The two of them can be said to be inseparable brothers. When they came together, Xiao Han directly seized power. Regardless of official position, status, or qualifications, Xiao Han is better than Yelu Jieli. Although Yelu Jieli was angry on the surface, he was actually relieved in his heart. He was not just stupid.
After some discussion, I realized that the soldiers under the city alone were not enough to counterattack Youzhou. If I stayed too long, I would be easily taken advantage of. Therefore, everyone voted to retreat north to rest and make plans again.
Before retreating, a group of Hu people made a plan to deal with the remaining Yan generals, such as Yang An, who had previously guarded Mozhou. However, Yang An was not the master of letting mermaids be eaten. He learned the news in advance and decisively led the crowd to rebel. He rushed out of the Liao camp, surrendered to Zhao Yanshou, and reported the Liao army's true and false claims. At this time, Xiao Han and Yelu Jieli retreated very decisively with their men. They ran so fast that they finally did not give Zhao Yanshou a chance.
Although Youzhou's treasury is not full, there is still a lot of surplus, especially food. The retreat of the Liao army eased the tension in the city and gave Zhao Yanshou more time to prepare and respond.
He pulled out his weapon and pierced a sack, and a lot of the newly harvested summer grain flowed out. He grabbed a handful and held it in his hand. A smile bloomed at the corner of Zhao Yanshou's mouth.
But soon, his smile solidified. A burst of killing sounds suddenly broke out from Youzhou City, and spread at an extremely fast speed. His face changed drastically. You must know that the city has been under martial law under his order, so why was there a sudden killing sound.
"What's the situation? What happened?" asked angrily. Taking the guards with him, he left the treasury.
Soon, a general under his command hurriedly came to report: "King Yan, the soldiers in the city are killing barbarians..."
"What!" Zhao Yanshou's face turned green this time: "Nonsense, who told them to do this?"
"The soldiers shouted for revenge." Seeing Zhao Yanshou's anger, General Yan explained: "King Yan, there are nearly a hundred thousand barbarians in the city. Keeping these people is also a hidden danger and is not good for the defense of the city. Furthermore, food is used on them. , It’s such a waste. Especially those Khitan people have a lot of surplus at home. If they can use it for military purposes..."
After listening to General Yan’s statement, why is it so reasonable? However, Zhao Yanshou always felt that something was wrong, and angrily said: "Why do you act without authorization? After passing Gu's order, all the armies immediately stopped and the generals were given to Gu to restrain the soldiers."
However, Zhao Yanshou's order did not have much effect at this time. The city was completely in chaos. Not only the Yan army, but also the Han people in the city joined them, killing their people, occupying their houses, and seizing their food... Seeing that he could not disobey the situation, Zhao Yanshou simply led his troops Troops were deployed in Beicheng to prepare for emergencies.
When Youzhou City calmed down again, the city walls were stained with blood, as if in response to the tragedy of Xiangzhou.
Zhao Yanshou was exhausted both physically and mentally, arranging the aftermath, cleaning up and burning the corpses, and sorting out the seizures. No matter how unhappy he feels, one thing is certain, the wealth of the barbarians in the city is enough to defend Youzhou for more than half a year...
After everything was handled, Zhao Yanshou investigated the matter with a cold face, and found that the matter was led by several Yan generals and acted together.
As for the reason, Zhao Yanshou couldn't help but cast his gaze to the south and sighed in his heart: "How cruel!"
If something like this happens, Zhao Yanshou basically has no second choice...
