Spring has arrived, but the mornings in Shangjing are still cold. Yang Gun opened the thick sheepskin curtain, and a gust of cold wind blew in his face, suffocating him. Having just gotten off the warm kang, the cold seemed even more unbearable than usual.
He suddenly found a roll of paper tied to the door, and hurriedly untied it and looked around. It was just dawn, the wind was dry and cold, and there was no one in the tent camp, so he found nothing.
Yang Gun walked into the tent with the paper, took a piece of charcoal to light the oil lamp, and looked under the lamp. It said: The King of Yue will rebel.
Yang Gun hurriedly hid the things in his arms, packed up and left the tent.
When they arrived at the residence of Yelu Xizhen, the Privy Councilor of the Northern Court, they saw Xiao Siwen and Yelu Huer already in the hall. When Yelu Xizhen saw Yang Gun, he said: "The Yang residence should immediately arrange some people to go to the Yalu River Jurchen King's Palace."
Yang Gun asked: What happened
Yelu Xizhen said: The envoys sent by the court to the Shengnuzhen wrote to the emperor, saying that the local Jurchen tribes used the excuse of reduced pearl production to reduce the number of pearls they offered. We need to know whether the Shengnuzhen people have begun to despise the prestige of the Great Khitan.
He thought for a moment and said in a deep voice, I also doubt whether the Koreans had any dealings with the Jurchen tribes.
Xiao Siwen said fiercely: If we don't teach those savages a lesson every once in a while, they will forget their obedience.
Yang Gun listened for a while, and finally took out the secret letter from his bosom and handed it over with both hands: This is a letter that someone secretly put outside my tent. I don't quite believe it, but I dare not keep it privately. The King of Yue has always been humble, and this letter may be someone's private grievances to slander him.
When several people saw that the King of Yue would definitely rebel, they looked at each other in bewilderment.
The King of Yue was named Yelü Bishe, the fifth son of Emperor Taizong of Liao and the younger brother of the tyrant Yelü Jing. However, Yelü Bishe's mother was of a lower status and was always humble. She often advised her brother Yelü Jing not to drink and kill people indiscriminately, and saved many people, so she had a good reputation.
After Yelu Xian succeeded to the throne, he did not make things difficult for him and even made him the King of Yue.
Xiao Siwen frowned and said: The King of Yue doesn't seem to be an ambitious person.
Yelu Xizhen said: What if some people instigated him
Yang Gun said: The Khan will move his camp to Dongdan, so we must be extra cautious on this trip.
The capital of the Liao Dynasty was Shangjing, but the center of power was not necessarily in Shangjing at all times. Wherever the royal camp moved, that place would be the center for controlling the vast grassland.
Just half a month later, Xu Jun's three troops had gathered and were heading north.
On the plains on the north bank of the Yellow River, the fields were already green. Smoke rose everywhere, not from the cooking of the villages, but from the cooking of manure.
Last year, there was a bumper harvest in the Yellow River and Yangtze River. Grain ships were constantly coming and going on the Caohe River from autumn to winter. On a small hill, Guo Shao, riding his black horse northward, could not help but say happily: This year is another bumper harvest.
He held his sword and looked back. The dust filled with dark crowds of people and horses on the roads across the wilderness made the brand new green spring seem even heavier.
Cavalrymen in shining armor surged quickly on one road, while on other roads, they moved slowly in long lines. Infantrymen carrying firearms walked slowly in columns along the side of the road, while in the middle of the road were all kinds of vehicles, including donkey carts, horse carts, and wheelbarrows.
The heavy copper cannons on the carts occasionally revealed their ferocious metallic luster under the felt covering them. Food, fodder, tents, gunpowder and arrows were all transported with the infantry.
The central army had dozens of officials who formed the Liaoxi Army Front Camp Military Office to help Guo Shao manage the army's grain roads and warehouses. There was no danger for tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry to move around in Hebei. Guo Shao then led his personal guards on horseback to leave the Liaoxi Army and headed straight to Shandong for an inspection.
A few days later, he arrived at Dengzhou Port. Han Tong, the commander of the Jiaolong Army, went out to meet him one mile outside the port and took Guo Shao and others to inspect the other two armies.
There were already tents in the camps inside and outside Dengzhou Port, and the Tiezhou Army and Suzhou Army were waiting at the port. In the past few days, Guo Shao witnessed another large-scale military mobilization in this era, and the scene was very spectacular.
Several huge Mulan warships were moored at the dock, their masts towering like tall trees. Teams of soldiers carrying packages on their backs were walking onto the dock through the wooden corridors on the coast. They climbed up the tall decks of the Mulan warships using rope ladders.
Many small boats were shuttling around the dock, and the soldiers clinging to the larger ships were like ants. The people on the dock spotted the emperor's flag, and at some point, shouts of "Long live the emperor" began to rise.
This would be the first time that the Daxu Dynasty launched a large-scale attack on the Liao mainland, but the method of war was completely different from previous dynasties.
On the southern coast of the Liaodong Peninsula, the area around Suzhou City of the Liao Dynasty is sparsely populated. The center of this area is in Fuzhou Fuxian, a few hundred miles away, where the Southern Jurchen King's Palace and the Southern Jurchen Tanghesi are located; Suzhou City is just a run-down small town.
Several small wooden boats were floating on the seashore. The Jurchens, wearing animal skins, were throwing a fishing net into the water with force, staring at the sea with a harpoon in their hands.
The sea breeze and the sound of the waves remained unchanged. It was a quiet morning, and a thin mist was rolling on the sea like smoke. Just then, a burst of chirping shouts suddenly came.
The Jurchens on the boat looked up, then suddenly stared blankly at the shaking deck with their eyes wide open.
Three huge ships first came into view, their huge sails covering the sea like clouds, and the yellow dragon flags on the ships fluttering in the wind. After a while, more ships appeared on the sea, and the three columns looked like a flock of geese on the sea.
The Jurchen fishermen hurriedly rowed their boats to escape to the seaside, as if they had seen a monster.
The Xu army fleet gradually approached the seashore, where there was a dilapidated fishing village. Behind the fishing village, a cloud of dust was flying, and a group of Liao army cavalry had left the city and were approaching the seashore.
At this moment, a dark shadow in the mist suddenly flashed like lightning, and a thunderous sound was heard. The wild fishermen in the fishing village were frightened and ran out in a panic.
Soon, patches of bright lights flashed and thunder roared. The cannons on the side of the three large ships fired at the same time, and ten-pound iron balls whizzed into the air. The houses in the fishing village suddenly collapsed in patches, and earth, rocks and thatch flew everywhere.
A large number of Xu's light boats also approached the seashore, and cannons of all sizes roared. The Liao cavalry on the seashore held bows and arrows, waved iron spears and iron bones, and shouted. At this time, an iron ball whistled over, hit the soil on the seashore and bounced up, and the war horses nearby were frightened, neighing, and turned around and ran away.
Boom boom boom, lead bullets from the mother-and-child guns flew over their heads. The Liao soldiers screamed and fell off their horses. A general raised his iron sword and swung it, and everyone turned their horses around and ran north, away from the iron balls and lead bullets.
There were several rounds of cannon fire on the sea, and then many sand boats appeared on the seashore. The people on the boats rowed the sand boats towards the seashore, and then soldiers jumped off the sand boats and landed on the seashore almost without any resistance.
Seeing that the artillery on the large ship could hit the seashore, the Liao army generals dared not move forward again. They gave an order and led their troops back to the city.
Xu's army landed on the beach without losing a single soldier, and set up camp fortifications. Seeing that the Liao army was losing more and more, they sent fast horses to Fuzhou to ask for help.
Fuzhou immediately sent an emergency message to Liaoyang Prefecture, the capital of Dongdan State.
But at this time, Liaoyang Prefecture was already in a panic, because the military camp in Tiezhou Liaoxi Corridor had also sent people to report the emergency. The Khan's tent would soon arrive in Liaoyang Prefecture, and the various government offices of Dongdan State were in a state of panic.
The emperor and his ministers in Yelu Xian's tent at the Liao camp gradually learned about Xu Jun's movements from the news from Liaoyang: Xu Jun had advanced by land and sea from three routes, from the Liaoxi Corridor, Tiezhou, and Liaodong Peninsula, and invaded in large numbers.
Some nobles advised that Liaoyang was no longer safe and that migration to Liaoyang should be stopped.
Xiao Siwen said: The fields around Liaoyang are flat and open, which is perfect for the Liao cavalry to gallop. Xu's army is still mainly composed of infantry, so there is no need to be afraid.
Yelu Xian, who was 19 years old this year, asked directly: Is there any strategy to repel the enemy
Xiao Siwen unfolded a map, pointed at the city and mountain drawn on it, and said: "The two routes of Xu's army in the east have a total of several thousand people, and the main force is tens of thousands in the Liaoxi Corridor. Our army is waiting for the enemy to tire in the hinterland of Liaoxi. We will send light cavalry from Bazhou to Chaoyang across Songling to cut off Xu's army's food supply, leaving them in a dilemma."
Yelu Xizhen remained calm and said: Even if the land route can cut off Xu Jun's food supply, Xu Jun will transport food and fodder to Liaoxi Fort by sea.
Xiao Siwen was suddenly speechless.
A year ago, the Xu people suddenly built Liaoxi Fort in Longshan, and the isolated city stood there. Now the purpose of the fortress has finally been determined.
The Great Khan Yelu Xian, sitting on a large chair covered with tiger skin, held the scepter tightly in his hand and sat there without saying a word. In the rough royal tent, all the ministers and nobles were silent. Yelu Xizhen was thinking about something, and Xiao Siwen guessed that the Northern Court Privy Councilor wanted to negotiate peace.
Xiao Siwen stood up first, bowed to the superior and said: Since the founding of the country by Taizu, the nomadic tribes in the western grasslands and the Mohe fishing and hunting tribes in the east have all submitted to the Great Khitan. We are the kings of the grasslands and the tigers in the jungle. If the tigers bow their heads to the sheep in the sheepfold, they will no longer be feared by the world.
Yelu Xizhen couldn't help but say: Southerners are not like people in the sheepfold. Xiao Gong also said before that the former Xiongnu Khanate was destroyed by the southerners and no longer exists.
Xiao Siwen said excitedly: You have seen many southern slaves. They are weak and cowardly. Are you willing to admit defeat to such people
Finally, some nobles started to shout in shame. Someone said loudly: The vast grassland and the boundless Konoha Mountain will be the graveyard of the southerners.
Xiao Siwen took the opportunity to bow and said: Great Khan, the Dongdan government can be moved from Liaoyang and rebuilt in the ancient capital of Bohai Kingdom, Huhan City. The Liao Dynasty avoided the attack of Xu Jun and waited for an opportunity to counterattack.
Yelu Xizhen and other officials of the Northern Court did not comment. Yelu Xizhen only said: The court cannot survive by relying solely on grassland output. After the Liao Dynasty lost Youyun, the Dongdan Kingdom cannot afford any mistakes.