Along the Wenyu River northeast of Youzhou City, the river water nourishes many trees, which have already withered at this season; but the accumulated snow hanging on the branches makes the withered trees look as if they are blooming clusters of flowers, which is extremely beautiful.
The houses in the village were also covered with snow, as if they were hidden inside.
Dong Zunhui rode his horse through the snow-covered forest road, reined in his horse and looked excitedly into the distance. A moment later, Zhou Tong, Zhang Jiankui and other generals also rode up, three horses in a row, and the big men on their mounts all stared ahead with bright eyes.
Even the war horses' front hooves were digging into the snow, as if they couldn't wait any longer.
On the road directly ahead, a long line of people and horses was crawling slowly, and among them were large carts pulled by herds of sheep, cattle and horses.
Dong Zunhui turned his head and said in a deep voice: It seems that they haven't discovered us yet.
Zhou Tongdao: I guess they thought we were one of their own.
Dong Zunhui laughed and said: We are deep behind the Liao army here, they might really recognize the wrong person.
A large group of cavalrymen also slowly approached from behind. Dong Zunhui immediately stopped smiling, raised his hand and shouted: "Pass the order, stop the drums and slowly approach."
Get the order
A large group of Zhou army cavalry came out from the forest road and slowly moved forward. The people and horses coming out from the back spread out to the left and right wings. The army gradually became larger. The open area in the middle obviously made it impossible to hide their tracks. Everyone was silent, and occasionally there was a cough and a sound from the horse's nose.
Dong Zunhui carefully pulled an arrow from his quiver and continued to move forward at a slow pace, his eyes never leaving his prey. He was like a leopard, lying on the ground and slowly approaching.
Soon, a few riders wandering out in front finally discovered something strange, and heard loud shouting in the distance. The crowd on the road suddenly panicked.
Dong Zunhui kicked his horse and shouted: Kill
The cavalry at the front immediately rushed out, and the horses behind also increased their speed. The silent army immediately shouted loudly, and the sound of horse hooves suddenly roared.
Seeing the Zhou army coming so fiercely, the Liao army cavalry was unwilling to fight and turned around and ran away. Dong Zunhui shouted, and a general led his men to chase after them, while the rest of the troops rushed madly towards the crowd on the road.
The Liao army was in chaos. Dong Zunhui drew his bow and shot an arrow at a man who had just climbed out of a carriage. Half of the man's body fell on the wooden wheel.
The sheep fled in all directions, and the Liao people also ran away. The Zhou army cavalry chased them everywhere, and there was crying and shouting all around, just like a Shura field on earth, which was no different from a massacre.
Dong Zunhui led his men to sprint further along the road toward his team. The horses did not stop. Dong Zunhui and Zhou Tong never stopped shooting arrows. There was no need to draw the bows to the full, because the Liao army and the herdsmen were not wearing armor anyway. The horses galloped along the road, the bowstrings crackled all the way, the arrows flew in the air, and the chaotic crowd on the road kept falling down, and the ground was full of corpses.
Some Liao people knelt on the ground, raised their hands and begged incoherently. The Zhou army rushed forward, and since they couldn't understand anything, they just stabbed at them with their spears. The rest of them got up and ran desperately. They put away their bows and arrows at the front Zhou cavalry, drew their sabers from their backs, and charged at the one they targeted.
Ah, the Liao man let out a desperate cry. But the warhorse was approaching quickly, and the Zhou cavalry raised their shining sabers high, waiting to rush in, and slashed with a knife, and blood immediately splattered.
A group of cavalrymen circled to the west and drove the sheep that were running in panic back. Arrows flew everywhere along the way and the sheep were slaughtered on the spot. There were also a few shepherd dogs with their tails between their legs barking. Arrows were also thrown at them and the dogs were killed. The screams of panic and fear were terrifying.
The beans and fodder on the carts were also set on fire, and smoke billowed along the winding road.
Dong Zunhui stood on the ground, wiping his saber back and forth on the clothes of a dead body, looking back around, the ground was full of corpses, covered in snowflakes, and bloodstains everywhere. The fighting had not stopped yet, a wounded man was desperately crawling in the snow with his eyes wide open, and the Zhou army soldiers chased him and stepped on his back, raised their sabers, and stabbed him several times, blood splattered all over his face, and the man lying on the ground screamed like a ghost.
Dong Zunhui put his sword back into the sheath, called five generals, pointed to a long line of mess and smoke on the snow, and said: "This road leads to Lulong Pingzhou, the gateway to the Liaoxi Corridor. We may encounter a group of people delivering food, and there may be more behind. Each of you will take a thousand cavalry and go north along the road."
Several generals clasped their fists in response.
Dong Zunhui assigned them a sequence and ordered them to kill all living things and to fight quickly without delay. He instructed them to return to the west mountain to meet up and look for the central army.
Here
Dong Zunhui turned to look at Zhou Tong, selected two thousand cavalrymen, and ordered Zhou Tong to lead the troops to the north entrance first. Something big happened on this road, and we must rush to another grain road as soon as possible to prevent the baggage from getting the news and running away.
The remaining 3,000 cavalrymen and Dong Zunhui did not even clean up the battlefield. They threw human corpses and debris into the snow, burned all the food and grass, and then each of them took one or two dead sheep and left.
The cavalry continued to move northwest, and encountered a village on the way. A group of people and horses passed through the village. The village was filled with the sound of horse hooves, and there were no people around. The doors and windows were closed, but there must be people because smoke was coming out of many roofs, and it had not yet been extinguished.
When the soldiers passed through the village, they threw the dead sheep into the yards inside. Each family threw a few sheep and then left.
After the rear army entered the village, the villagers seemed to have found the dead sheep sent to them, and gradually realized that the Zhou army had arrived. They opened the door one after another. A young wife was sharp-eyed and saw Dong Zunhui, a young man with a jeweled scabbard, coming up with hot noodle soup. However, she failed, and immediately a general rode up, took the noodle soup and drank it in one gulp, and even smiled and thanked him.
Dong Zunhui said loudly: "The king's army is on a tour, and we are sending some game to the villagers as New Year's goods. This is a small gift. The Emperor of Great Zhou wishes the people of Youzhou a happy New Year."
A civil servant who was accompanying the army shouted loudly: "The royal army will march north to recover the homeland, and the country will be peaceful and the people will be safe.
The soldiers and civilians were excited and shouted this sentence one after another. If no one took the lead, everyone would not know what words to shout to vent their emotions.
Dong Zunhui instructed the civil servants: Find out where the village elder is and ask him to divide the sheep evenly, and tell the villagers not to spread the news. Also, find someone to cover up the horse hoof prints we left behind when we came here, to prevent revenge from the Liao army.
The civil servant first agreed, and then said in a deep voice: We are sending sheep. The Liao army is killing indiscriminately, and the people's support is obvious. General Dong does not need to worry too much about other things.
A group of people delivered sheep everywhere. Not long after, Dong Zunhui received a report that he had found another grain team on the road from Beikou to Youzhou.
Dong Zunhui's young face showed crazy enthusiasm, and he shouted: We have found prey again. Let's go to the north entrance first, and hunt with Zhou Tong's tribe from north to south.
The soldiers shouted in a strange voice, and the cavalry seemed to be boiling. Everyone rode their horses and the horses galloped freely across the vast plain.
Bang! Yelu Jing smashed the wine bowl to the ground, his face turning ashen.
His rage immediately shocked the nobles in the big tent. Everyone kept silent for a while to avoid the Khan's anger. No one wanted to run into him.
However, the nobles of various tribes were also very unhappy at this time. The sheep and food were all transferred from their own territories. Even Liaodong was the territory of the Khitan nobles. Who could be happy about the loss of their own things
By the time the war had gotten to this point, Yelu Jing and the others knew that the tribes were unwilling to give up. In the past, wars were fought to rob things, and there was always something to gain after shedding blood. But in a war like the one to defend Youzhou, not only was nothing gained, but also the old capital had to be used up.
Now the main force of the army was consuming here, and the confrontation had lasted for a day and a night. The Liao army set up camp behind the formation and took turns to rest; the Zhou army still did the same. There was no way to attack the front and back of the Zhou army's camp, because the two wings were supported by the Zhou army's cavalry.
How long will this take? Yelu Jing turned to look at Yelu Xiu'ge. In his rage, the Khan had no good words to say.
Yelu Xiuguo said: In the current situation, the Khan should not be anxious. Over time, the Zhou army may have loopholes.
He added: The Zhou army's cavalry has penetrated deep into the north, but this group of people cannot be allowed to run wild.
The Liao Emperor asked: Who will kill them
General Yelu Xizhen said: "I am willing to go. I only need 20,000 cavalry, first go east, and then divide them into several groups to intercept and encircle the Zhou army at the north entrance."
The Liao Emperor said: The Zhou army will definitely return from the east
Yelu Xizhen said: The Liao army is in Zhuozhou in the west. I think the Zhou army is not so stupid as to charge into the enemy's territory. Cut off the retreat from the east. I am familiar with the art of hunting.
So Yelu Xizhen was ordered to lead troops to encircle and intercept them.
Unexpectedly, the next evening, it was reported that the Zhou army had crossed the upper reaches of the Sanggan River to the northwest of Youzhou City. Since the Zhou army had moved to the west, Yelu Xizhen could still catch the Liao army. The Liao army had predicted that the Zhou army would return by the east route. Yelu Xizhen's troops had left from the east, and now they were temporarily chasing westward. It would be strange if they could catch up with them at a distance of a hundred miles.
In the Liao army tent, Yelu Xiuguo could not help but scold Yelu Xizhen for being dull-minded in public, saying: "The Zhou army is seeking death if they go west. To the west of Youzhou and Zhuozhou is Xishan, where snow is everywhere. Can the Zhou cavalry go over the mountains? Where are they going west? I would like to ask an army to go north to block the Zhou army on the east side of Xishan."
Yelu Jing frowned and asked: How many troops do you need
Yelu Xiu'ge said: Don't worry, Great Khan, we only need 10,000 cavalry. Youzhou is the territory of the Liao Dynasty. The whereabouts of Zhou's army cannot be hidden and they will definitely be caught by me.
He was full of confidence. The cavalry didn't run as they pleased. As long as they could grasp the opponent's movements in time and be good at predicting the direction and estimating the opponent's horsepower, they would not be able to escape if they intercepted the opponent, unless they turned around and ran further north. However, if the Zhou cavalry was determined to hide, it would be more troublesome and the tactics would need to be faster and more flexible.