Chapter 260 Confrontation
Although the Liaoxi Corridor is very wide and large, Yelu Hongji is not a fool.

It is impossible to put all the main forces into the battlefield at once.

Instead, he hoped to find out the strength of the Song army through various attempts.

For example, when Zhao Xin had just arrived at the south bank of Liuzhou River, Yelu Hongji sent two thousand cavalrymen to cross the river from the shallow water upstream to harass him.

Relying on the advantage of horses, the Liao Dynasty’s light cavalry could come and go like the wind, while the Song Dynasty’s army could only watch them stare at them from a distance like they were staring at prey.

Zhao Xin also came to the front line and looked at the enemy troops through a telescope.

The distance should be at least seven or eight hundred meters.

If you use cavalry to chase them at this time, you will easily fall into the enemy’s trap.

Sometimes, all you can do is stare blankly, and it feels really uncomfortable.

But this is all good.

At least now, they can say that they have at least 15,000 cavalry.

If it were the previous Song army.

That war horse can only be used as a pack horse at best.

With such a huge gap, it would be impossible for the Song army to defeat the Liao cavalry.

I think I can hold out for a day or two.

Over time, the morale of the army will collapse.

After the people around him accompanied Zhao Xin to look at the situation at the front line, they also volunteered, saying, “Your Highness, do you want me to take people to drive them away?”

Zhao Xin said, “Forget it! Instead of wasting time, why not go back to the barracks and calm the soldiers down? Tell them that there is nothing to be afraid of the Liao cavalry. As the crown prince, I have gone to the front line myself and I am not afraid at all, so they don’t need to be afraid either.”

Don’t tell me yet!

In the military camp.

When they heard that the Liao cavalry had appeared, they were all a little nervous.

After all, the Song Dynasty had not fought a war with the Liao Kingdom for many years. In fact, many people say that he has been a soldier for many years and is experienced, but in fact, he is not as experienced as you think.

And the reason why they are willing to follow Zhao Xin to fight.

It’s simply because my family is poor.

If you are not poor, who will serve as the imperial guards?

Of course, there are certainly many people who hope to achieve great things.

But in the final analysis, all of this is still poverty.

Because people are afraid of being poor, they hope to achieve great things.

I hope I can live a better life in the future.

and so……

The basic attribute of the Song Dynasty’s Imperial Guards is that they can still fight when the wind is in their favor, but when the wind is against them, they will basically flee all the way.

Especially when encountering enemy cavalry, it is easy to be frightened.

Previously, Zhao Xin had basically fought battles with favorable winds, and they were quick siege battles, so he didn’t need to worry too much about the morale of the soldiers.

But next, it may be different.

Next…

It is not completely impossible that they will fight dozens of battles of varying sizes with the Liao army in the Liaoxi Corridor.

and……

The Liao army might use a variety of tactics, including but not limited to flanking, attacking from the left and right sides, and night attacks.

If the soldiers’ cowardly nature cannot be eliminated, Zhao Xin is really afraid that they will be so scared that they can’t even stand at the critical moment.

to this end……

Zhao Xin had to give them some preventive measures in advance.

I, the crown prince, am not afraid of the Liao cavalry, so why are you afraid? Besides, there is nothing to be afraid of cavalry. As long as they dare to come, we can prevent them from going back.

The night we set up camp.

The Liao light cavalry wanted to take advantage of the night to launch a sneak attack outside.

Even if the sneak attack fails, it would be a good thing if it could keep the Song army busy for a night and prevent them from getting a good rest.

only……

Zhao Xin had already figured out things like this.

Zhao Xin sent flintlock soldiers to sneak up to the place where the Liao army crossed the river and wait.

Order them to wait until they hear any movement over here.

Then just ambush by the river.

really!

That night, the Liao light cavalry came to do this.

The final result was that the Liao Kingdom suffered another heavy blow.

At least two or three hundred people were lost.

At dawn the next day, the heads of the Liao soldiers who had been eyeing them covetously yesterday were thrown directly to the ground.

Then let the soldiers watch.

so……

What are you afraid of!

The more arrogant these people are during the day, the more miserable their deaths will be at night.

When the news got back to Yelu Hongjin, he was naturally very angry about it.

But there is no way around it.

Fortunately, the Song army should not be able to discover the ambush they hid this time.

Because this time, he arranged the ambush position to be farther away from the Song army.

Just …

Yelu Hongji felt that such a small fight was not a big deal.

We have to think of a way to have a decisive battle with the Song army.

and so……

On the second day.

Yelu Hongji led his men to the north side of Liuzhou River.

Let the Jurchen infantry living on the Liaodong Peninsula, together with other tribal cavalry that have surrendered to the Liao Kingdom, fight against the Song army.

This battle is bound to be lost.

of course!

It would be even better if we could win.

only……

Since these are line fillers, you can’t expect too much from them.

A Song official suggested to Yelu Hongji: “Your Majesty, we can lure the Song army out, and when they are out of the attack range of the weapon and cross the river to chase us, we can strike back and avoid the attack of the weapon, right?”

Yelu Hongji decisively adopted the other party’s suggestion.

This is not!

On the second day.

Around noon.

Yelu Hongji ordered the Liaodong Jurchen infantry and the tribal cavalry on both wings to cross the river, and then advance in unison to attack the Song army’s camp.

The Jurchen infantry were reinforcements drawn from Tokyo Liaoyang Prefecture. They had never seen artillery before, so there was no need to worry that they would not dare to move forward because of fear of artillery, or that their acting skills were not good enough to deceive the Song army.

Because next, once the Song army really uses artillery, their rout will definitely not be an act, and the Song army will definitely not be able to detect any clues.

Zhao Xin didn’t expect…

The Liao army was so upright.

But in fact, Zhao Xin could also see that these were just a ragtag army, and the main force of the Liao Kingdom must be elsewhere.

Since the other party has put the heads into his mouth.

It’s not good if you don’t eat it yourself.

Zhao Xin directly asked everyone to bring these people closer and fight them.

When he fought against Western Xia and Liao before, he would open fire when he was at least 150 steps away.

But this time, Zhao Xin directly ordered the soldiers to wait until they were fifty steps away before fighting.

Yelu Hongji also made many calculations.

I never expected that Zhao Xin would put someone so close.

And… since it was just a fill-in-the-blade, no one told the Jurchens how terrifying the Song Dynasty’s weapons were.

This also leads to.

Their infantry line at this time was basically still a traditional dense formation.

“Boom boom boom boom!”

Following a round of artillery fire.

A large number of Jurchen soldiers were beaten to the ground before they could even react.

After a round of solid bullets, Zhao Xin immediately ordered people to switch to shotgun shells.

Then thousands of Jurchen infantrymen were confused and suffered at least a thousand casualties.

On the battlefield…

There were so many broken limbs and arms that even the Liao people themselves felt a little bit uncomfortable looking at them.

When Xiao De, the Northern Court Privy Councilor, saw this, he reined in his horse and said angrily, “Even if they are trying to lure the enemy, I have never seen such a lure. Why not use these excellent soldiers to kill the enemy?”

But there is no point in saying these words now.

After Zhao Xin fired one round of solid cannon and three rounds of shotgun shells.

The subsequent Jurchen soldiers had already reacted, and Zhao Xin had already used the cavalry on the left wing to drive them away.

As the cavalry on Zhao Xin’s side moved.

Naturally, those Jurchen soldiers ran faster.

Yelu Hongji originally wanted to put on a show and struggle.

But basically, because the collapse was so quick, he wasn’t given much time to act.

In a short while, all the Liao soldiers fled to the north bank of Liuzhou River.

The Song army, on the other hand, chased the enemy to the south bank of Liuzhou River and then stopped pursuing.

This made Yelu Hongji and his ministers almost vomit blood in anger!

“Your Majesty! How about I take some people up there to fight?”

Yelu Hongji found that it seemed that everything he said to his subordinates was wrong.

Then he said, “It’s already been a while, people have already reacted!”

Yelu Asi, a close attendant, also said, “Your Majesty, I see that the Song army does not seem to have any particular intention of fighting us.”

Yelu Hongji asked, “What do you mean by that?”

The attendant, Yelu Asi, said, “They don’t seem to be in a hurry to fight us.”

Another guard said, “Perhaps the cavalry we ambushed the first time were discovered by the enemy, so they thought we must have ambushed on the north bank as well, so they didn’t chase us?”

Xiao De, the Privy Councilor of the Northern Court, also said: “These Song troops are well-trained, Your Majesty, we cannot underestimate them.”

Yelu Hongji asked, “Then tell me, how should we fight?”

They all looked at each other.

They have weapons like that, no matter how hard you fight, you won’t be able to defeat them.

But if such words were said, it would disrupt the morale of the army.

Xiao De, the Privy Councilor of the Northern Court, had no choice but to say, “It is really disadvantageous for us during the day, and we can only fight at night.”

Yelu Hongji: “But our night attack has been repelled by the enemy.”

Xiao De, the Privy Councilor of the Northern Court, said, “They are just the vanguard, and their numbers are few. If we rush forward at night, the enemy will not be able to react. Moreover… we can try to cut off their food supply. Maybe there are not many people guarding the southern pass at this time, and we can directly break into the pass. By then, their retreat will be cut off, and they may be in chaos.”

Then it turned out to be Xiao De.

After all, he is an old and respected minister.

Since he had followed his father before, Yelu Hongji had no choice but to listen to him again.

The width of the Liaoxi Corridor is relatively wide, especially on the Liuzhou River side, where the width of the corridor is more than 30 miles.

The key is that the water in Liuzhou River is not too deep. In some places, you can wade across it directly.

The human vision can basically only see about 1,500 steps away.

No matter how far away the place is, it is difficult to see and prevent it.

They can use small groups of troops to go directly behind the enemy.

it’s over…

That night.

The Liao Kingdom then selected another 1,500 cavalrymen, divided them into several locations, and sent them across the river.

Then go directly to the outside of Shanhaiguan.

But let me be frank!

These 1,500 cavalrymen, just cavalry, without even any siege equipment, are actually of no use. At most, they can only confuse Zhao Xin’s mind and disgust him.

and……

When these cavalrymen arrived outside Shanhaiguan for the first time, they had already been observed by Zhao Xin in the hot air balloon at Shanhaiguan.

While the enemy stopped and let their horses eat grass and rest, Shanhaiguan took advantage of their vision and sent out cavalry to surround them.

However, this also made the other party aware of the existence of the hot air balloon.

I always feel that it’s a bit abnormal that thing, how should I put it, would float above Shanhaiguan.

But what on earth is that thing? With their limited knowledge, they can’t really explain it.

Is it a lantern?
Or something?
Anyway…

That thing is definitely not normal.

However, before their commander could figure out what that thing was, the group was surrounded by the Song army.

A fight.

It can only be said that the cavalry of the Song Dynasty is still slightly inferior.

Although a lot of Liao cavalry were killed, their own side also suffered a lot of casualties.

Riding on horseback and shooting arrows with bows, the cavalry of the Song Dynasty was obviously still inferior to the enemy.

But this is understandable.

The Liao cavalrymen learned to ride horses at a very young age, at the age of six, or maybe seven.

On the other hand, the Song Dynasty can be seen as a nouveau riche, having only trained seriously for two or three years. Before that, many cavalrymen were nominally cavalrymen, but the army could not even get enough horses. They were naturally incomparable to those who had been practicing since childhood and often accompanied the emperor on hunting trips.

Fortunately, the Song Dynasty had more people and the enemy was a bit hasty, otherwise, they might not have been able to win.

The news reached Zhao Xin.

Zhao Xin was not surprised at all.

after all……

He had actually already anticipated what tactics the Liao Kingdom would use.

then……

Zhao Xin then wrote another letter to Yelu Hongji, saying: “We, the Han people and the Khitan people, have been able to enjoy 56 years of peace since the Treaty of Chanyuan. It is not easy. You and I should cherish it. Why can’t you surrender earlier? If you can surrender, I will be the Khan of the day and you will be the Khan of the Khitan. We can also marry our children and rule the Central Plains and the grasslands together. Isn’t it wonderful? I hope you will think carefully.”

After reading the contents of the letter, Xiao De said to Yelu Hongji: “Your Majesty, please do not believe what the other party says.”

Yelu Hongji was not stupid, so of course he would not believe what the other party said.

The essential……

You didn’t even tell me how much benefit you would give me. If you said you would give me an additional one million pieces of silk every year, then maybe he would agree.

of course!

This was just a joke. After all, if he really agreed with Zhao Xin’s words, he, the emperor of Liao, would feel very humiliated.

Even if he agrees, his tribesmen may not agree.

Maybe he would betray him on the spot and establish another emperor.

Although the Liao Kingdom was a country, it was not impossible for someone to want to establish another emperor.

After all, there are many people with the surname Yelu like him.

Yelu Hongji touched his forehead with a sad look on his face. This prince of the Southern Dynasty was too shameless!

Since you have said that the 56 years of peace were hard-won, why do you want to break this peace?

I didn’t want to fight with you, but you were just too aggressive.

Then he wrote back: “Return the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun to us, otherwise the Liao Kingdom and the Song Kingdom will fight to the death.”

Previously, they referred to each other as the Southern and Northern Dynasties, but now the terms have become unfamiliar and they just use the Song Dynasty instead.

Zhao Xin also saw the other party’s unfriendly attitude, but he still wrote to the other party: “Your Zhongjing garrison commander Yelu Tiebu has surrendered to us, so why do you have to struggle so hard?”

It would have been fine if he hadn’t mentioned this. As soon as he mentioned this, Yelu Hongji wanted to kill all of Yelu Tiebu’s family members.

After all, in Yelu Hongji’s view, no matter what his uncle was like, he could not surrender to the Song Dynasty, which would simply bring shame to their Yelu family.

(End of this chapter)