Yelu Wuzhi led the army and did not launch an attack directly. He observed the fierce battle situation nearby and took action only after getting in touch with Yelu Cong. He left 20,000 cavalry to cooperate with the 10,000 Liao army in the east to attack the Han army's Youzhai. Then he led the remaining 50,000 cavalry to directly attack the Houzhai (South Village), destroy the corridor, and present an outflanking situation.
Originally, the surprise attack brought by the 130,000 Liao troops commanded by Yelu Cong had already caused considerable losses to the Han army. Of course, although the pressure was great, under the command of the general, they rose to the challenge and withstood it firmly. Moreover, because he was on the defensive and was the leader of the Han army, the morale and morale of the army gradually stabilized during the fierce battle.
Although the battle in the front camp was hard, the soldiers from other camps took the time to rest and provide continuous support from afar. If Yelvcong's army alone wanted to defeat the Han army in Nankou, it would be very difficult even if they had so many upper hand. Even seeing that the Liao army was unable to attack for a long time and suffered heavy casualties, An Shenqi secretly dispatched troops and concentrated elite troops to prepare for a wave of counterattack to defeat the Liao army head-on.
However, the sudden arrival of the 70,000 Liao troops at the entrance to victory was a huge blow to the Han army, especially the blow to morale. Not to mention other things, it was a powerful force in terms of numbers, more powerful than those in the Han camp. There are still more regular troops.
As fighting broke out in both the right and rear villages, the front village was still fighting fiercely. Outside the left village, more than 10,000 Liao cavalry were still encircling and suppressing the Hebei frontier cavalry. Suddenly, the Han army in Nankou was surrounded by enemies on all sides. The morale of the army was fluctuating and its morale plummeted.
It stands to reason that with the basic qualities of the Han army and the stronghold to hold on to, even in the face of a critical situation, they would not be too embarrassed to fight. But the problem is that for this battle, from top to bottom, the psychological preparation was not sufficient. I did not expect that the Liao army would attack brazenly. They had such a big appetite and wanted to devour them in one bite. Moreover, they directly attacked with all their strength with 200,000 people. It’s also very layered.
It has to be said that for this battle, the Liao army was more fully prepared, and the Han army responded passively. This can be said to be an exchange of situations with the previous battles between Han and Liao, with offense and defense swapping.
Now, the Liao army showed its trump card and directly launched the attack with thunderous momentum, intending to completely annihilate the Han army in Nankou. Under such circumstances, An Shenqi's secretly planned counterattack was aborted. At the same time, An Shenqi also knew that the time when he really needed to fight had arrived.
In order to cope with the new round of Liao army's larger and more ferocious attack, An Shenqi first gave an order to the generals of each camp to gather the officers and soldiers, not to panic, and to fight with all their strength according to the terrain and features, so that officers at all levels could , is bound to take the lead in fighting and maintain the fighting spirit of the army.
At the same time, messengers were sent to the entire army, saying that envoys asking for reinforcements had been sent out long ago, and as long as they persisted until evening, the reinforcements would surely arrive. At the same time, he encouraged soldiers at all levels to kill the enemy bravely, saying that this was an opportunity given to them by the Liao army to make achievements. If they could persist until reinforcements arrived and defeated the Liao army, the emperor would definitely give them a heavy reward.
An Shenqi understood deeply that in such a critical situation, maintaining military morale and maintaining morale was more important than anything else. According to the strong resistance of the stronghold, there is still hope, and even defeat can be turned into victory. If the morale of the army is lost, it will be doomed.
No matter what, after excluding the casualties from the half-day fighting, the remaining Han army in Nankou still has nearly 60,000 soldiers and civilians capable of fighting. As long as they maintain their will to fight, it will not be easy for the Liao army to easily eat them.
An Shenqi's measures to stabilize people's hearts have achieved good results. Due to the high level of security, morale has dropped, but it has not fallen into chaos. Under the leadership of senior officers, the shaken military morale has even gradually stabilized. down.
Ordinary soldiers may not have that understanding, but upper-level generals and experienced soldiers all know that if they form an organized resistance, they may still have a chance to persist until reinforcements arrive. Once defeated, it is likely that only the Liao army will pursue them. . They are mainly infantry and cannot run on four legs, and many officers use this to inspire their soldiers.
In order to boost morale, An Shenqi ordered his people to raise his flag high and personally beat drums to show his determination to resist to the end.
Of course, what An Shenqi ordered to release was true, and the messenger for help had already been sent. In fact, when the Liao army launched a large-scale attack, An Shenqi sent two Xinqi, one to Niulan Mountain and the other to Youzhou.
However, his original intention was not to ask for help, but to ask for troops to annihilate the Liao army. The 130,000 elite Liao troops came out together, which was a God-given opportunity. If the army gathered together and annihilated them, the damage to the Liao country would be even greater than that of the Battle of Luancheng. By then, it can basically be declared that this Northern Expedition has been a complete victory, and the Yanyun states can recover calmly, like flipping pancakes.
However, during the fierce fighting in the front village, An Shenqi noticed something was wrong, so he sent people again and flew away. This time he really asked for help.
Two lines of reinforcements, on the other side of Niulan Mountain, were the main force of the Han cavalry led by Gao Huaide, a mixture of iron cavalry, Longjie, Yan cavalry and Fan cavalry, with more than 23,000 men and horses. The reason why they were stationed at Niulan Mountain was to be in the middle and flank the two attacking Han armies, and Niulan Mountain was only about eighty miles away from the south entrance.
As for Youzhou, there are still 70,000 troops left. Although more than 20,000 people are newly recruited Yan people, they can still dispatch about 50,000 mobile troops.
Because he was trapped in a predicament of being besieged, An Shenqi was unable to send out the third wave of envoys asking for help, but someone did it for him. It was Han Hui who was stationed in Changping City and was responsible for military supplies and logistics.
When the war broke out in the north, the entire county was on alert. Han Hui personally wore armor and saber and sent people to the camp to ask An Shenqi for instructions. An Shenqi's reply was to let him hold on to the city and protect the military supplies in the city from being taken advantage of by the Liao army.
There are more than 15,000 people in Changping City. Except for 3,000 auxiliary soldiers and Hebei Prefecture soldiers, the rest are civilians. The fighting ability of these people cannot be overestimated.
However, Han Hui was a very knowledgeable man and had concerns about the large-scale deployment of the Liao army. When he learned that Yelu Wuzhi had led a large army to surround the south entrance, he knew that the south entrance was in danger.
Without any hesitation, he sent messengers to two places to report the critical situation. At the same time, Han Hui did not stop in Changping City and took some positive measures.
While sending warriors to inquire about the fighting situation at Nankou, they also gathered the civilians in Changping City, provided each with weapons, and organized them into a camp. Although the combat power is difficult to guarantee, these people also undergo some training every year in their hometown. There are 15,000 people. At critical moments, they may be able to play a big role.
Not to mention the progress of the reinforcements, after Yelvuzhi led the army and launched the attack, even if the generals insisted on resisting unwaveringly, they would still inevitably fall into a critical situation.
From the beginning of the confrontation, the Liao army did not give the Han army much chance to breathe. The fierce battle continued until noon, and the Han army was already very exhausted. The first thing that could not be stopped was the cavalry battle outside Zuo Village. The Hebei frontier cavalry were not unheroic, but they also fought hard and held down more than 10,000 Liao cavalry. However, they were ultimately outnumbered and were eventually dispersed, with only a thousand left. Some of them were driven back to Hanzhai, and some were driven to Changping.
After defeating the Han cavalry that was in the way, Yelvcong mobilized his troops again, added 20,000 people to Zuozhai, and launched an attack directly on Zuozhai. In fact, Yelvcong and Yeluwuzhi originally planned to attack Sanque and Yi, and Zuozhai to the west was the "escape" gap left for the Han army.
However, the Han army showed no signs of retreating. Sensing its firm will to resist, Yelucong did not spare any effort and simply besieged the Han army on all sides and crushed the Han army. At this point, the Liao army that directly participated in the siege of the Han stronghold totaled 130,000 from all sides, twice as many as the Han army.
Yes, the Liao army also left a lot of reserve troops, especially the most elite Pishi army, in order to guard against reinforcements from the Han army. For this encirclement and annihilation battle, the Liao army's preparations in all aspects were indeed in place.
Soon, the battle at Nankou progressed to the most exciting and cruel stage. The autumn wind howled and murderous intent boiled. The killing sounds of Han and Liao soldiers shook the mountains and forests, frightened birds and animals, and the thin clouds in the sky were almost shaken away.
The Liao army's attack followed the concept of not sparing casualties. It seemed that the Han army's camp could no longer scare them. The Liao army attacked frantically, and the Han army defended tenaciously. In the life-and-death struggle, rationality, fear, and other emotions were all abandoned, leaving only the instinct to kill.
The first one to be unable to withstand it was Nanzhai. Under the supervision of Yelu Wuzhi, it was breached. The Han army in Nanzhai, mainly Yan soldiers and some auxiliary soldiers, plus most of the civilians in the camp, were placed in Nanzhai.
Under the attack of the elite Liao army, they finally failed. As far as the Han army was concerned, the destruction of the southern stronghold was more dangerous than the previous stronghold. The Liao army surged forward and the Han army collapsed in disarray.
An Shenqi was prepared for this. When the front village was in crisis, Liu Tinghan and Wang Yin stepped forward to turn the tide. The fall of Nanzhai was even more dangerous, and the one who stood up was Luo Yanxuan.
As soon as the Liao army broke through the stronghold, they led the Shun'an army to meet them and fought to the death generously. An Shenqi also followed the previous example and personally led his men to collect the defeated troops in Nanzhai, reorganize their formations, and deploy defenses. The bloody battle of the Shun'an army also aroused the bloody spirit of some Yan troops.
The fall of Nanzhai was also related to the Yan army's lack of determination in fighting. The person who stood up was the Yan general Gao Yanhui, who completely gave up all thoughts of preserving strength for the King of Yan. In this case, life and death were the same. The Han army had already done this. How could the generous and tragic people of Yan and Zhao... Not infected.
Gao Yanhui took the initiative to collect the defeated soldiers and Minzhuang, and led his people back into the battle to meet Luo Yanxuan, who was struggling to support and buy time. In order to stop the Liao army's advance in Nanzhai, An Shenqi set off another fire. There was a lot of fodder and wood in Nanzhai, and most of the grain transferred to the camp from Changping was also stored in it.
Therefore, the fire burned very vigorously, and many people were burned to death on both sides of the Han and Liao Dynasties. However, it did play a role in cutting off the Liao army.
Seeing that the front stronghold was in danger, the southern stronghold was destroyed. Although the left and right strongholds held firm, Shi Shouxin and Dong Zunyi also fell into a bitter battle. Under such a situation, An Shenqi once again ordered the abandonment of the outer camps, and the entire army moved closer to the central army, shrinking its forces to defend.
This was also done out of desperation. Under the attack of the Liao army, they were unable to maintain the defense of such a large camp, so shrinking was a necessary choice. Similarly, the result is that the melee fighting between the offense and defense becomes more intense.
The remaining Han army was gradually compressed into a small area of three or four miles around the central army.
The Han army at Nankou is really in danger!
