In the eighth year of Kaibao in the Han Dynasty, summer is April.
A full month has passed since Emperor Liu officially issued the order for the Northern Expedition. Within this month, the whole north was turbulent, and the originally dense war clouds had begun to rain, and it was bloody.
The Han Dynasty's almost undeclared war completely brought the north and south of China back to a magnificent war era. The Han-Liao border, which had been silent for more than ten years, also began to fall into restlessness.
The peace agreement was too fragile for both Han and Liao, and either side could easily tear it up. Under the appearance of peace and stability, the conflicts and resentments accumulated for more than ten years also took the opportunity to explode at once.
Facing another massive Northern Expedition by the Han Dynasty, the Liao Kingdom also responded proactively and did not retreat. Of course, they had no room for retreat and could only fight.
The new Emperor Yelvxian of Liao, who had recently succeeded to the throne, had to put aside his reform and rectification plan for Daliao under the pressure of powerful enemies. He had to concentrate on uniting to carry out a patriotic war.
"Half a million cavalry" is large enough and intimidating enough. It is almost one-eighth of the number of men and women under the rule of the Liao Kingdom. Just thinking about it can make people's scalp numb and their spines shiver.
However, Yelvxian was not a mortal after all. After the initial nervousness and panic, he quickly calmed down. It is a fact that the Han soldiers are powerful and well-equipped with weapons. They can intimidate people, but they cannot frighten them.
Yelvxian has the appearance of a wise leader, and more importantly, he has capable assistants who work side by side with him to tide over the difficulties. The current Liao Kingdom can also be regarded as a large number of talents, whether in the military or in politics. There are a group of Hu and Han ministers who can take on important responsibilities.
After discussions with several important ministers, facing the menacing Han army, the Liao Kingdom also quickly made a response decision. There was no other choice, just one word, fight!
Based on the analysis of Yelv Xianshi, Han Derang and others, Yelv Xian also dispelled his worries. This was a life-and-death fight. There should be no timidity, let alone any reservation.
In the eyes of the Liao kings and ministers, the Han army was indeed powerful, but the so-called half a million infantry and cavalry was an exaggeration. It was good to have an army of sixty thousand that could actually fight, and it attacked in multiple directions, causing it to be scattered.
It has to be said that the judgment of the Liao monarchs and ministers was relatively accurate. The Northern Expedition army had less than 300,000 people that could be called professional troops, and only half of them could be called elites. However, even with this number, they are powerful enough. The monarchs and ministers of the Liao Kingdom do not dare to underestimate them, but they have to persevere and not be frightened in the scene.
After a period of intense discussions, the Daliao court under the leadership of Yelvxian showed a very high efficiency that was very different from that of Yelujing's era, and quickly made targeted dispatch preparations.
It is not difficult to guess the Han army's strategy of attacking mainly on the east road and aiming its sword at Liaodong. The Liao Ting also made targeted arrangements. Yelv Xiezhen, the king of the Southern Academy, quickly returned to Liaoyang Mansion in Tokyo and was responsible for the defense of Liaodong. Yelvxian even handed over the military and political power of the entire Liaodong-Tokyo Road to him, instead of having the power to kill first and report later.
In response to the Han's actions in other directions, the Liao Kingdom also decisively adopted a shrinking defense posture. They were not afraid of the Han army going deep into the grassland. This was their home field.
Of course, the Liao Kingdom's response was actually in line with the Han army's intentions. Fighting a battle and a decisive battle in Liaodong was exactly what the Han Dynasty needed.
The key to this is that the Han army must take the land in Liaodong, and the Liao army must defend it. This is an unavoidable problem, and there is only a head-on attack and defense collision.
Yelv Xiezhen’s side used slogans to boost morale. In addition to protecting the country, they also wanted to make Liaodong the tomb of the Han army, to make the Han army follow in the footsteps of the Sui army, and to make Emperor Liu the second Sui Yang. emperor......
Obviously, there are many people in the Liao Kingdom who are familiar with Chinese history, and they can easily associate it with each other and borrow ancient instructions to the present!
While increasing troops from Shangjing to Tokyo Road, Yelvxian also issued an edict to recruit soldiers from tribes, prefectures, counties and servant tribes across the country to deal with the invasion of the Southern Dynasties. His attitude was extremely tough and his orders were unquestionable. This was also I tried my best.
Considering the current population situation of the Liao Kingdom, it is not too much to describe it as a million soldiers. However, it is unrealistic to recruit so many troops at once.
There are too many problems. Firstly, the Liao Kingdom is too vast. Although there are border army counties in Monan and Mobei, there are still a large number of tribes scattered and nomadic in various places. It is not easy to assemble and takes time;
For both of them, if they really want to mobilize millions of troops, how to support them is a critical problem. With the supply of millions of troops, it is conceivable what kind of huge logistical supply pressure there will be. It is definitely not something that the Liao Kingdom can afford, let alone It's still during this lean period.
Therefore, Yelvxian finally only recruited about 200,000 soldiers from the desert grassland, which was almost his best effort. While Yelvxian was mobilizing troops at home to fight, the collision between Han and Liao had officially begun.
On the Shanyang Road side, it can be said that it was the first to launch the attack. Han general Tian Chongjin led five thousand cavalry and left the Great Wall to the north, completely bringing the basin grassland that had been discussed between Han and Liao under the control of the Han Dynasty.
Although the nomadic Liao tribes felt the danger and got the warning, they quickly fled north. However, things happened suddenly. The Khitans dragged their families, property and livestock with them, and they could not move much faster. Faced with Tian Chongjin's attack, many of them were captured.
Tian Chongjin forged ahead with determination. After making some gains, he did not give up and continued to lead the army northward. After going hundreds of miles into the Liao territory, he encountered a large number of Liao troops.
It was the frontier army deployed by the Liao State at the southeastern foot of Yinshan Mountain. After the battle started, facing Tian Chongjin's reluctance, they gathered more than 7,000 strong and strong horsemen from the surrounding areas to fight and intercept, and cover the retreat of the troops.
This was the first large-scale battle between the Han and Liao armies after the Northern Expedition. Compared with the fierce battle between hundreds of thousands of troops, it was not a big battle, but the tit-for-tat confrontation was extremely fierce.
The Han army was well-equipped and well-trained, but the number of troops was small and they attacked over long distances. The Liao army had more troops and their morale was not low. In the end, they fought for more than two hours, and after suffering damage to each other, they withdrew from the battle circle.
The Liao army was to cover the tribe's northward retreat, preventing the Han army from continuing to kill and plunder unscrupulously. The purpose was achieved without entanglement. Tian Chongjin consciously went deep alone, and the Liao army resisted resolutely. In addition, with the strategic guidance of the imperial court, he did not dare to stay for a long time.
Of course, Tian Zhong advanced and retreated quickly. After figuring out the number of people, Han Kuangmei, Liao's southwestern recruiting envoy, had already led reinforcements. If he retreated slowly, his five thousand cavalry might not be able to escape intact.
A battle in which both sides suffered casualties of 3,000 people, officially opened the curtain of this bloody and cruel war between Han and Liao. A strong murderous intention shrouds the north and south of the desert, and only blood can wash away it...
Five days after the Shanyang army came out, Yang Ye of Yulin Road officially took action. He and Wang Shenqi, each with ten thousand cavalry, divided their troops into two groups and attacked the southwestern border of Liaoning.
Yang Ye led his army to attack the German army of Liao Tian, pulled out their stronghold, killed and captured more than a thousand Liao soldiers, and then left Heishan to the north, joining forces with Wang Shenqi at the northern foot of Yin Mountain, spanning more than 500 miles.
The scope of the activity was large enough, and it was not too close. However, it only achieved one basic goal, which was to eradicate more than a dozen garrison towns deployed by the Liao Kingdom at the foot of the Yin Mountain.
The small number of Dadan, Zhugeshi and other tribes operating in this area were quick to see the opportunity and withdrew early. Therefore, Zhenlun's gains were not big on Yang Ye and Wang Shenqi's side.
If you want to achieve greater results, you need to continue marching north, go deep into the desert, and penetrate directly into the heart. For this, Yang Ye and Wang Shenqi did not dare to rush into the army rashly.
Although the two armies of the Central and Western Routes did not make many achievements, they were still vigorous and vigorous, showing off their power across the north. In comparison, the Eastern Route Army, as the main offensive force, was somewhat silent.
On March 16, the prince, Zhao Kuangyin, and Gao Huaide led their troops to Youzhou, and the ten soldiers from all over the country under the East Route Army were basically assembled.
However, until the beginning of summer, there was still no big move, and there was no intention to even send troops to Liaodong.
