Chapter 263 Kill!

Only after conquering Dongjing Liaoyang Prefecture did Zhao Xin realize that the Liao Kingdom was truly huge.

The population is really large.

In Liaoyang Prefecture alone, according to city officials, there are more than 14,000 Han households. Even if we calculate that there are five people in each household, there are nearly 70,000 Han people in Liaoyang Prefecture, Tokyo.

Of course, the places with the largest Han population are actually Nanjing Xijin Prefecture and Xijing Datong Prefecture, which Zhao Xin had conquered long ago.

After capturing Tokyo Liaoyang Prefecture, Zhao Xin obtained a lot of information that the Song Dynasty had never thought of before.

For example, the number of prefectures and cities, the number of households, and even a more accurate picture of the Liao Kingdom’s military strength.

The total population of the Liao Kingdom was probably at least seven or eight million.

Back then, Goguryeo only had three or four million people, yet it made it so difficult for the Tang Dynasty to defeat it.

Now that the Liao Kingdom is so powerful, Zhao Xin couldn’t help but feel worried.

after all……

It must be very difficult to rule such a large area of ​​land.

If there is a little rebellion anywhere, you will have a headache.

In addition…

Zhao Xin also learned some information about the tribes controlled by the Liao Kingdom, such as the Jurchens and the Zhubu.

The methods used by the Liao Dynasty to control the Jurchen and Zhubu tribes were basically no different from those used by the Tang Dynasty.

and……

In fact, the Liao Kingdom sometimes also had to suppress rebellions.

For example, Zubu often rebelled.

After obtaining this information, Zhao Xin wrote to Yelu Hongji again.

“I need to choose someone on the grassland who can speak for me. Aren’t you that person? Why don’t you surrender quickly?”

“I am from the Central Plains and have no interest in the grasslands. Your hobbies are riding horses and hunting. You can guard the northern border for me, and then we can marry our children to each other. This will be a happy thing for everyone. You should consider it carefully.”

however……

Yelu Hongji has already gathered 700,000 troops again, and they are coming towards Zhao Xin in batches. How could Yelu Hongji listen to Zhao Xin obediently?

Yes!

This time it’s really an army of 700,000!
Although perhaps 600,000 of them don’t even have enough armor.

As for the remaining 100,000, only about 20,000 can be truly called elite, and the rest can only be said to be capable of fighting.

But…even so!
Even if there were 600,000 pigs, it would take Zhao Xin half a year to slaughter them.

With 700,000 men, Yelu Hongji had an army of less than 30,000 against Zhao Xin’s. The advantage was clearly on Yelu Hongji’s side.

In the view of Yelu Hongji and other ministers, since Zhao Xin had arrived in Tokyo Liaoyang Prefecture, there was absolutely no possibility of letting him go back.

Yelu Hongji had already planned to trap Zhao Xin here and there was no possibility of letting him go back.

It was the third day when Zhao Xin captured Tokyo Liaoyang Prefecture.

Immediately afterwards…

Zhao Xin could see that Yelu Hongji’s main force seemed to have arrived.

Because these days, the most they could see were some cavalry.

However, scenes like today, where you can see a straight line on the horizon, are relatively rare.

“Your Highness, the enemy’s army seems to be heading towards us.”

Zhao Xin climbed to a high place and took a look, and didn’t find it strange.

After all, they are now an isolated city, and it would be abnormal if the enemies did not gather together.

Zhao Xin said, “It’s time to fight back! If we don’t leave now, we’ll probably be surrounded next.”

That night.

Zhao Xin first sent two thousand Li Yuan troops and two thousand flintlock dragoons to launch a surprise attack on the enemy camp.

Yelu Hongji’s idea is actually very good.

There are 700,000 people. Even if Zhao Xin kills them one by one, all of his arrows will be wasted.

but……

Yelu Hongji still didn’t understand.

If you want to set up camp, you can’t be too close to Zhao Xin.

Because as soon as Zhao Xin’s hot air balloon takes off, he can see clearly the approximate location of your camp and where the big tent is.

This is not!

It was clearly night time and they were still ten miles away, but the Liao soldiers themselves felt that their camping location was very safe.

At least from the ground, you can’t see that far.

But that night, he was ambushed by Zhao Xin.

Ten thousand forward.

Still elite.

After being ambushed by Zhao Xin, they directly lost more than 7,000 people.

This made the Liao Kingdom, which was not wealthy to begin with, even less wealthy.

Early the next morning.

Zhao Xin also returned with the entire army and the spoils.

Since Yelu Hongji’s 700,000 troops had not arrived yet, they could only defend themselves first.

He also continued to send out cavalry in an attempt to prevent Zhao Xin from retreating.

Zhao Xin naturally couldn’t indulge the other party.

They also sent out cavalry to drive them away, but did not pursue them further.

The two sides kept pulling each other back and forth.

If it were an army with less discipline, they might have been destabilized by the enemy’s frequent harassment.

But the good thing is…

Zhao Xin is in the army.

Zhao Xin taught them an Arabic numeral every day in the army to distract them and dispel their fear of the Liao army.

at last……

On the sixth day.

Zhao Xin and Yelu Hongji were inevitably going to face a big battle.

The time is night.

In order to avoid the artillery attack, Yelu Hongji had to choose a night attack.

of course!

Night raids are not that easy to carry out.

Because the Song army’s camps were built very solidly. Although not as solid as the city, you can’t just enter if you want to. If you want to attack it, it naturally takes a lot of effort.

Taking into account that the Song army had already detected their movements in advance, Yelu Hongji decided to attack the Song army at night, starting from fifty miles away.

In this case, no matter how good the Song army’s reconnaissance was, it would be impossible to know their movements in advance from such a long distance, and in the middle of the night.

Moreover, if the night attack was sudden, the Song army might not even have time to put on their armor.

By the time……

They will surely win a great victory.

can only say……

Yelu Hongji’s idea was indeed a good one.

But the problem is…

What if Zhao Xin had asked everyone to stay awake that night and wait for the enemy’s night attack?
It’s not that Zhao Xin has any information, it’s just…

Judging from the distances to the prefecture cities where he could rest, if the Liao Kingdom did not seize this opportunity, Zhao Xin would have to return to Jinzhou City in a few days.

This meant that the Liao Kingdom could only watch him kill his enemies seven times in and seven times out.

Naturally, the Liao Kingdom would not miss such an opportunity.

really!

The Liao Kingdom was fooled that night.

In fact, the Song army did not rest at all that night.

Instead, they are all on the alert for battle.

Although the Liao Kingdom surrounded the camp on three sides.

But what greeted them was not the easy annihilation of the Song army as they had imagined.

Instead, they were repelled wave after wave by the Song army.

To the extent that the generals of the Liao Kingdom gradually found it difficult to accept such a casualty ratio.

Because this is actually no different from just giving away your life. The key point is…

If Han soldiers, or soldiers from the Jurchens and other tribes were used to consume the enemy’s resources, these Han soldiers and soldiers from the Jurchen tribes would also have opinions.

If these people were forced to rebel at that time, it would be bad for them.

Yelu Hongji had no choice but to listen to the advice of his generals and stopped the attack in the second half of the night.

But letting Zhao Xin go like this is not a good idea.

Soon, different opinions arose between the Liao king and his ministers as to whether or not to retreat.

In fact…

The generals of the Liao Dynasty still supported Yelu Hongji.

But the problem is…

Now they have been fighting for a whole night, and the soldiers have also been standing outside for a whole night. Don’t forget that they have run fifty miles to get here.

As for the Song army, they could wait for the enemy to tire themselves out in their camps.

Their soldiers have been standing outside for a whole night.

If it were you, wearing armor and standing outside all night, you would also be tired.

Therefore, the Liao generals meant that the enemy was well-rested and their soldiers were already very tired, so they might as well just give up this time.

But Yelu Hongji could not bear such humiliation.

If he just let Zhao Xin get away like this, wouldn’t everything he had done before be in vain?

The generals of the Liao Kingdom had no choice but to plead, “Your Majesty! As long as our foundation remains, we will not be afraid of not being able to make a comeback in the future.”

“That’s right! If we really kill all our men in this battle, there will be no chance of recovery.”

“I hope your Majesty will think twice!”

Yelu Hongji looked unwilling, “But we have an army of 700,000. Can we still be afraid of the 20,000 or 30,000 troops of the Southern Dynasty?”

However, the generals knew much more clearly than Yelu Hongji how much combat power these 700,000 troops had.

If these people really went to the battlefield and did not run away as soon as the fighting started, they would be considered loyal to the emperor.

can only say……

The Liao Dynasty’s rulers and ministers discussed the issue for half the night but were unable to come up with an answer that satisfied both sides.

at this time……

Coincidentally, the Liao Kingdom’s subsequent reinforcements also arrived little by little.

This also made Yelu Hongji even more unwilling to let Zhao Xin go.

of course!

In fact, Zhao Xin didn’t want to let Yelu Hongji go.

can only say……

Both parties thought of the same thing.

Zhao Xin climbed to a high place and looked at the Liao army surrounding him through a telescope.

Their faces all looked pale and blue, they must not have gotten enough rest.

If they don’t attack now, what are they waiting for?

Zhao Xin immediately ordered his men to assemble their troops and wait for his orders.

This time, we must not let Yelu Hongji escape.

As the gate of the military camp slowly opened.

This time, the Song army actually took the initiative to line up and fight.

Suddenly…

Countless elite cavalry and soldiers walked out of the military camp.

Faced with this sudden situation, Yelu Hongji was somewhat happy at first.

Because this means that they will no longer have to face camps that are not very strong but are difficult to attack.

Without the protection of the camp, the two sides fought one-on-one in the wild.

This is fair to both sides!
But Yelu Hongji could only say that it was too early to be happy.

Although there is no camp, it is indeed fair to both sides.

But the problem is…

The Song army still had the advantage of artillery and muskets.

This is not!

Wait until the Song army has formed their battle formation.

In the first round of fighting between the two sides, the artillery gained an overwhelming advantage in just a few moments.

Yelu Hongji thought he had an army of 700,000, so he was not afraid of Zhao Xin at all.

But the actual situation is that the 700,000-strong army saw the true power of artillery.

These 700,000-strong army simply couldn’t hold their ground.

After all, how much monthly salary did Yelu Hongji give them?

Standing there in vain and being bombarded by the enemy is not something a person with a normal brain can do.

Not to mention those ragtag troops that were hastily put together.

With bombardment like this, even Yelu Hongji’s personal guards would have to run away if they were hit.

In fact, in an ideal situation, if one direction is bombarded, then friendly forces in other directions can take the opportunity to attack.

But the actual situation was that when one direction was bombarded, the people in that direction quickly collapsed, and then the friendly forces in other remaining directions also ran away.

Yes!

What follows perfectly illustrates this point.

First, the personal guards in front of Yelu Hongji were bombarded, and then they could not hold on and began to be on the verge of collapse.

Then, before the enemies from other directions could approach, some of the personal guards could no longer hold on.

He started running away immediately.

This is mainly because Yelu Hongji cannot be on the front line like Zhao Xin.

If Yelu Hongji had stood in the front line and encouraged the soldiers, saying, “I’m standing here and I’m not afraid, so what are you afraid of?” then perhaps the morale of the Liao soldiers might have been higher.

But the current situation is that the personal guards are in front, while Yelu Hongji is standing far behind.

The soldier will naturally be timid.

It is understandable that he then started to run away.

This is actually a replica of Youzhou City, but…

The last time he was in Youzhou City, Yelu Hongji did not have as many as 700,000.

Since they didn’t have 700,000 yuan, they would run away as soon as they felt something was wrong.

But now, precisely because he believed that he had 700,000 yuan, and that 700,000 yuan was not enough to beat Zhao Xin’s 30,000 yuan, he did not leave.

And it was precisely because he was reluctant to leave.

Next…

A bigger failure also appeared before his eyes.

“Boom boom boom boom!”

After several rounds of artillery attacks.

A large number of personal guards were killed or injured as a result.

When the ratio of casualties reached one to ten, they were personal guards after all, so this ratio was still acceptable.

But when the ratio of casualties immediately reached one to five… then it was no longer a question of whether it was acceptable or not.

Rather, the question is whether it will be your turn next.

Yelu Hongji still asked them to charge at this time.

Ok!

After one charge, the same situation under Youzhou City was repeated.

As the sounds of ‘bang bang bang bang’ were heard, half of the guards fell down.

then……

Zhao Xin ordered the cavalry to charge.

at this time……

The Liao Dynasty’s personal guards had no choice but to escape.

As for what you said about not using the personal guards at the beginning and using others, I guess when the ratio was 1 to 5, these people would have already started running away.

“kill!”

Zhao Xin gave orders directly and ordered the cavalry to go straight to Yelu Hongji.

(End of this chapter)