Across the Water Margin: Officials of Ximen

Page 512

Tong Guan was so angry that he hurriedly issued an order to close the four gates of Xiongzhou City, preventing the Song troops outside the city from entering the city to escape.

Tong Guan was also a soldier who had served in the Northwest for decades. He knew that if he did not stop the defeat in front of him, not to mention the [-] Liao army outside the city would be defeated, even Xiongzhou City would be taken by the Liao army. This old fate has to be paid here today.

Seeing the defeated soldiers scrambling for their lives, Tong Guan understood that only by cutting off the hope of the defeated soldiers outside the city to enter the city and putting them in a desperate situation can these troops be inspired to fight and let them fight the Liao army.

However, although Taiwei Tongguan gave the order to close the city gate, there were too many Song troops pouring in from the city gate hole, and the city gate could not be closed in a hurry.

Tong Guan was so angry that he yelled from the top of the city gate: "Where is the way of cultivating a teacher? Where is Xin Xingzong? Where is He Shen? Fight back, you wait to lead the army to fight back!"

The flags of the Song army outside the city were in disarray, and Tong Guan on the tower couldn't tell where his generals had fled.

"Taiwei! The last general Yang Keshi is here! The commander is missing, and the last general is willing to fight to the death! All the soldiers, the Sa family is the former army commander Yang Keshi. If you don't want to die uselessly, follow the Sa family to kill the enemy!"

Suddenly a general rushed out of the chaotic army outside the city, it was Tong Guan's favorite general Yang Keshi.

Yang Keshi fought and retreated, and retreated to the city of Xiongzhou.Seeing that if the chaos continues, even the base camp of Xiongzhou will be captured by the Liao army, and Taiwei Engong Tong will be in danger, so Yang Keshi rushed to the city and shouted at Tong Guan, and organized soldiers and horses to line up behind the city , launched a counterattack against the Liao army.

"Taiwei! The last general is here!"

Wang Teng was also covered in blood and joined Yang Keshi's team with a group of men and horses, facing the rushing Liao army in the north.

With two generals outside the city to host, the disintegrated Song army finally found its backbone. The Song army that could not enter the city for a while gathered around Yang Keshi and Wang Zhi, and started a scuffle with the Liao army.

"Taiwei! The last general Liu Yanqing is here!"

"The last general, Liu Guangguo, is here!"

"The last general Liu Guangshi is here!"

The Jiedu Envoy of the Baoxin Army and the Deputy Commander of the Ma Jun, Liu Yanqing, also rushed out of the chaos with their two sons, and joined the battle group blocking the Liao army outside the north gate.

Liu Yanqing is also a fierce general of the Western Xia Army. He once led troops to defeat the Xixia Chengde Army, captured the enemy chieftain alive, and forced the surrender of Xixia Prince Yima Dangzheng. trust.

Now in a critical moment, several generals of Tong Guan's confidantes were able to stand up to the Liao army without fear, which also made Tai Wei Tong Guan feel better.

However, thinking that apart from these confidant generals, other generals of the Western Army, such as Zhong Shidao, Zhong Shizhong, and Xin Xingzong, have all disappeared without a trace, leaving behind tens of thousands of Western Army sons, Taiwei Tongguan's face changed again. It was livid.

Because Yang Keshi and other generals counterattacked and started a melee with the Liao army, the Liao army was intercepted, and the speed of chasing the Song army suddenly dropped.

Taiwei Tongguan saw that the Song army outside the north gate had stabilized its position, and quickly ordered the generals of the Western Army in Xiongzhou City, Xin Qizong and Xin Yongzong, to lead their troops to reinforce Yang Keshi's army.

Both Xin Qizong and Xin Yongzong are brothers of Xin Xingzong. Their Xin family is also a generation of generals in the Western Army, and their father Xin Shuxian is also a general of the Western Army.

Xin Qizong and Xin Yongzong were worried about the safety of their elder brother Xin Xingzong in the city. After receiving the military order to fight, they immediately led the troops to fight out of the city.

Yang Keshi, Wang Zhi, Liu Yanqing, etc. will have reinforcements to join, and finally formed a formation outside the north gate, and launched a head-on confrontation with the Liao army.

On the city wall, Taiwei Tong Guan also ordered the soldiers to beat the drums to cheer, and at the same time arranged for the generals to gather the defeated soldiers in the city, reorganize the team, and prepare to fight out of the city to repel the Liao army.

However, perhaps it was Song's treachery that made God not favor Song Jun.When the two armies were fighting fiercely, the situation suddenly changed, and gusts of north wind blew up for no reason, and hailstones the size of fists poured down.The sky was covered with dark clouds, and it was as dark as night in an instant.

Although the sudden bad weather had an impact on both the Song and Liao armies, the north wind blew hail and hit the Song army facing the north head-on, which immediately made the reorganized Song army into chaos again.

Under the leadership of Xiao Qian and Yelu Dashi, the Liao army became more and more courageous as they fought. Regardless of the hail that hit their backs, they took the opportunity to launch an assault on the chaotic Song army.

Although Yang Keshi, Wang Zhi and others still wanted to fight to the death, but at this time the sky was dark, the soldiers did not know the generals, and the generals did not know the soldiers, so they could no longer effectively organize the soldiers.

Seeing that the defeat was decided, Yang Keshi and others had no choice but to fight a bloody road and head straight to the south of the city.At this time, the Liao army was chasing closely, and Yang Keshi and others did not dare to let Taiwei Tongguan open the north gate of Xiongzhou City.

However, the Liao army was even more desperate than the Song army expected.Under the dark and gloomy sky, the Liao army was not afraid of being ambushed, and still pursued the defeated Song army.

The strategy of Xiao Qian and Yelu Dashi in this battle was to do everything possible to kill and injure the Song army. They wanted to kill the Song army in the first battle, so that the Song army's vitality would be severely injured, and the king and ministers of the Song state would be frightened, so that they would not dare to invade Yanjing of the Liao state.

The Liao army persevered in pursuit to the south of Xiongzhou City, leaving the Song Army who had fled to the south of the city no time to enter the city.

The Song army in the south of Xiongzhou City was frightened by the Liao army. Hearing the sound of the horseshoes of the Liao army cavalry, they immediately fled to Mozhou in the south and Bazhou in the east.Along the way, the Song army, who couldn't see the road clearly, trampled on each other, so that the corpses were scattered all over the field, which was terrible.

The Liao army boldly crossed the city of Xiongzhou to hunt down the Song army's rout until dark.

Xiongzhou City no longer dared to send a single soldier to intercept the Liao army.

Chapter 796

In the battle of withdrawing troops from Xiongzhou from Baigouyi, the Song army suffered heavy casualties, and countless dead bodies were piled up for dozens of miles along the way, and even in Mozhou and Bazhou, the corpses of the Song army could be seen lying on the roadside in the wilderness superior.

The food, supplies, weapons, and armor of the [-]-strong army were also thrown on the road, and all were captured by the Liao army.

What made Taiwei Tong Guan and the Western Army under his command even more ashamed was that Xiao Qian and Yelu Dashi used the captured food and supplies to set up camp outside Xiongzhou City, posing as if they were going to attack Xiongzhou and capture the Song army alive. The posture of the Supreme Commander Tong Guan.

After daybreak, Yelu Dashi sent a group of loud soldiers to the city of Xiongzhou to insult the Song army's treachery, and asked Taiwei Tongguan, Dutong Zhongshidao and others to surrender the city and cede the land, so as to express their gratitude to the Liao Dynasty. The country apologized.

The reason why Xiao Qian and Yelu Dashi are so strong is not because they really want to enter the Song Dynasty to plunder the city, but because they want to take advantage of the opportunity and force Taiwei Tongguan to sign a new peace agreement with them.

Yanjing of the Liao Kingdom is now surrounded by the Jin army in the north and the Song army in the south, and is in a dilemma of being attacked from both sides.

Even though the Song army was not powerful, the Liao army had no spare power to capture Song's land.Because the biggest enemy of the Liao army is the Jin army in the north, the strength of the Liao army in Yanjing cannot support two-front combat.

Fearing the Song Army, stabilizing the Song State, and going all out to resist the Jin Army is the real strategic layout of Xiao Qian and Yelu Dashi.

However, the [-] troops were killed and fell apart, and Taiwei Tong Guan and his staff, who now have only [-] to [-] defeated soldiers in the city, could not figure out the true meaning of the Liao army.

Taiwei Tong Guan, who had seen the powerful combat power of the Liao army, no longer dared to confront the Liao army head-on.

Even if the insults from the Liao army outside the city made Yang Keshi and other giants go into a rage, Tong Guan strictly forbade them to lead troops into battle again.

Trapped in Xiongzhou City, Taiwei Tongguan, who was worried about the Liao army attacking the city, and the staff of the Xuanfu Department's Yamen, suddenly envied Cai You, the deputy envoy of Hedong and Hebei Xuanfu appointed by the imperial court.

Cai You is the son of Prime Minister Cai Jing, and he is the newly favored minister of the Emperor Daojun. The Emperor Daojun intends to train him to be the minister of the future.

This time when the army attacked Liao, the Emperor Daojun appointed the favored Cai You as the deputy envoy of Xuanfu in Hedong and Hebei, and served as the supervisor of the army in the army. In fact, he wanted to balance the power of Taiwei Tongguan.

But Cai You is a literati who has never been in battle, how dare he come to the front line to command the army like Tong Taiwei.

After Cai You dawdled from Bianliang City, Tokyo to the Daming Mansion in Beijing, he stayed with his brother-in-law Liang Zhongshu, pretending to be in charge of logistics support for the army, and refused to go north to the border.

Now the entire Yamen of the Xuanfu Department is surrounded by the Liao Army in Xiongzhou, and only Cai You, who has a good life, is still singing and singing every night in the Daming Mansion in Beijing, enjoying himself happily.

That guy Cai You is so free and easy as an official, not only because he is the son of Cai Jing, the powerful prime minister, but also because he is romantic, and he is a friend with the same temperament and interests as the Taoist Emperor Zhao Ji.

The reason why Cai You was appointed to this position was that the Emperor Daojun believed that the campaign against Liao Dynasty would be sure, so he appointed him as deputy envoy of Xuanfu in Hedong and Hebei, and asked him to go to Yandi with the army to pick up military exploits.

When Cai You went to the palace to meet the Emperor Daojun, the emperor asked him what reward he would need after recovering the land of Yan.The guy Cai You was so bold that he pointed to the two concubines who were serving the emperor, and said that after victory, he hoped that the emperor would reward him with these two beauties.

After hearing Cai You's words, Daojun Emperor Zhao Ji was not angry but happy, and readily agreed to Cai You's request.

It can be seen from this that the two monarchs and ministers are absurd, but it also shows how congenial and sympathetic the Taoist Emperor Zhao Ji and Cai You are.

Xuanfu deputy envoy has a deep background and a strong backing, and he can hold a beauty in the rear to join the battle. In the Xuanfu department's yamen in Xiongzhou City, Taiwei Tongguan and his staff can only find ways to save themselves.