The battle lasted until dark in the morning, and Wang Xin's troops were already exhausted.
The most important thing is that all the military rations he brought have been eaten up, and now the soldiers are fighting hungry.
The strength was unable to exert 60% of its usual strength. After a day's breakout, the army suffered heavy losses.
There were still 20,000 people in the morning, but now, only 15,000 are left.
Those who followed Wang Xin out of the city were elite members of the Northern Army.
Wang Xin felt heartbroken every time a person died. Now a full five thousand people had been killed in the battle, but looking back at the Liao people they killed, there were only more than a thousand and less than two thousand people.
Such a result made Wang Xin unable to reconcile even if he died.
After dark, Wang Xin still wanted to use the cover of night to disperse and break out. But the Liao army seemed to have been prepared. Originally, there were only 30,000 people surrounding them. At night, the remaining 10,000 Liao troops also appeared on the outside to reinforce the enemy.
Line of defense.
The Liao people seemed to have known that Wang Xin had no food in his hands. At this moment, they were only besieging but not attacking, so they were leaving Wang Xin and the others to their own devices.
Every time Wang Xin issued an order to break out, he had to face the Liao army's archers. After finally breaking through, when they rushed in front of the Liao army, they were unable to kill many enemies due to insufficient strength and excessive physical exertion.
, had to retreat again.
Every attack would cost a lot of troops. In the end, the Liao army would not be hurt much. This kind of attack made Wang Xinxin bleed.
These are all good men in the north, many of them are elites in hundreds of battles. Wang Xin can even name many of them.
Normally, it would be nothing more than a casual thing for these men to kill two or three Liao soldiers on the battlefield.
But now, one by one died on the way to charge, without even seeing the shadow of the enemy, and they died like this on the battlefield.
When soldiers go to the battlefield, those who really stand out are often those who are not afraid of death.
Because you are not afraid of death, it is possible to keep killing enemies in order to survive. On the contrary, people who are afraid of death do not dare to fight, but just want to escape and hide. In the end, you will not even have a chance to draw a knife.
, will be killed.
But it's one thing not to be afraid of death, but it's another thing entirely to die under such a useless attack.
Like this, not even giving yourself a chance to fight, just dying under the bow and arrow, dying from exhaustion of strength, that is the outcome that every warrior who dares to fight does not want.
But now, they have no choice.
At midnight, Wang Xin's army, which had charged four times, not only failed to find a direction to break through, but also killed more than a thousand people. At this moment, everyone's fighting spirit seemed to be exhausted.
After breaking through several times, the military tent materials were lost without knowing where they were, so they just found a pile of dirt and Wang Xin sat down.
On his left and right were two deputies, General Xia Yuan and General Fang Jiugui.
The three of them sat back to back, looking up at the stars, silent for a long time.
Some people say that after death, a person will become one of the stars in the sky and continue to shine on the earth.
The three of them didn't know whether there would be many more stars in the sky tomorrow night, and whether they would be among them.
"General, have we been abandoned?"
I don't know how much time passed, but Fang Jiugui suddenly said something that seemed to have no beginning or end.
he
Have they been abandoned?
Ever since the three tribes invaded the border, they have almost been fighting alone.
This does not mean that reinforcements have not come, such as the Su Family Army led by Su Shi, or the Western Army led by Di Qing.
It's just that these reinforcements did not join them in the end.
After that, the imperial court had no reinforcements.
Fang Jiugui's phrase, "Have we been abandoned," refers to whether the imperial court will no longer send reinforcements.
"No, the imperial court still needs us to defend the northern border and will not abandon us. As long as we persist, reinforcements will definitely come." Wang Xin knew what Fang Jiugui meant, although he didn't think it would happen soon.
, the imperial court will send new reinforcements, but at this time, he still has to comfort his generals with words.
For no other reason than that he was Wang Xin, the commander of the Hebei Route Army who was personally appointed by the officials and the imperial court.
He was the highest military general in the Northern Territory of the Song Dynasty.
"Will you?" Fang Jiugui chuckled.
This smile, I don't know, is laughing at those short-sighted court gentlemen.
Still laughing at my own wishful thinking.
Some people in later generations juxtaposed the habits of Tang Zong and Song Zu, and classified the old Zhao family into the powerful column.
But is this really the case?
It was actually not the Zhao family but Chai Jin who ended the chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Zhao Kuangyin just took advantage.
In fact, at that time, when the Song Dynasty was first established, the military strength was still there, and there were also some generals who had fought many battles.
But with the release of military power over a glass of wine, the military status of the Song Dynasty has always been in a weak position, and it has never really raised its head again.
Apart from anything else, the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun have never been recovered, which is enough to show that the Song Dynasty army
of weakness.
For soldiers, living in the Song Dynasty was originally a kind of sadness.
Emphasis on literature and restraint on military affairs prevents truly capable people from choosing to join the army. A few outstanding military figures, such as Di Qing, were frightened to death in history.
Yue Fei was even more harmed by an adulterer. He was recalled and killed in the Fengbo Pavilion with twelve gold medals.
As early as the Song Dynasty, civil servants could not see the generals being strong or rising.
Whenever such a person appears, they will do everything possible to get rid of him, even at the cost of killing him.
Tang Dynasty talks about relying on powerful force to win the worship of all nations.
In the Ming Dynasty, the king died in the country, and the emperor guarded the country.
As for the Song Dynasty, not to mention the smallest territory, even if they finally won the battle, they would still pay money to the enemy.
The generals who were born in this era of Song Dynasty are nothing but sad.
Fang Jiugui didn't know what he was thinking of, so he asked about reinforcements out of emotion.
Wang Xin spoke to comfort him, but the other general Xia Yuan said nothing. Perhaps he did not think that there would be reinforcements to rescue him. But he was used to being suppressed by civil servants for a long time, and he would no longer resist, and would only use the imperial court to
The command is from .
Even if they know it is the wrong decision, they will still obey it.
Speaking of which, Xia Yuancai better represents the thoughts of most military generals in the Song Dynasty. They were used to obeying orders and were used to being foolish and loyal.
I always think that the gentlemen in the court are the smartest, and they will definitely not watch the Song Dynasty collapse.
But they have no idea that those gentlemen only have themselves and their own interests in their eyes, and other people, including the national destiny of the Song Dynasty, will never be in their eyes.
Just like the Renzong Dynasty, some historians say
, many famous ministers appeared in this era, that is, many famous civil servants.
But in fact, it was just that Renzong didn't have any decent opponents.
Once a powerful hero really appears, haha, I'm afraid the Song Dynasty will just be the Song Dynasty, and there will be no such thing as the Southern Song Dynasty.
The three generals stood back to back. Although they were next to each other, they had their own thoughts in their hearts.
As time passed, Wang Xin seemed to have given up the plan of continuing to break out of the siege, thinking of waiting until dawn to look for opportunities. Or he would eventually be surrounded by Liao soldiers and die.
Just when they had basically given up the idea of breaking out, they suddenly heard waves of commotion.
"There is movement."
Relying on his youth, Fang Jiugui stood up first and looked towards the east.
Wang Xin and Xia Yuan also stood up and looked east together, and then Wang Xin's eyes gradually became angry.
"It's reinforcements. Someone came to save us."
This time, Wang Xin spoke with great certainty.
He said before that reinforcements would come, but they were just words of comfort. In fact, even he himself would not believe it.
But this time, he believed it because he saw the chaotic Liao army camp in the distance.
"Gather the troops and fight to the east, quickly!"
Although they don't know who is coming, since reinforcements are coming, they must seize this opportunity.
For them who have run out of food, this may be their last and only chance.
Liao army camp.
The besieged Wang Xin's troops seemed to have given up on breaking out, which made the Liao army heave a sigh of relief.
Finally they could take a good rest for a few hours. After dawn, they would
Will tentatively launch an attack on Wang Xin's headquarters.
If it were normal times, they might be able to surround without attacking, but now, Su Shi appeared, which made Xiao Xiaoyou less confident. He decided to deal with Wang Xin's men first. In this way, they had
More energy to spare.
At that time, we can unite with the Xixia Army and have a good fight with Su Shi.
In preparation for the war after dawn, the Liao army had just rested when suddenly news came from scouts outside their camp that a cavalry force of over 10,000 people had suddenly attacked their camp.
The eastern guard of the Liao army was Han Anbai, a member of the Han family among the seven surnames of the Liao army.
Han Anbai, who had just fallen asleep, was woken up by his own soldiers and learned that unknown enemy troops were coming.
After getting up, putting on his armor, and picking up the hammer in his hand, Han Anbai left the camp and began to assemble the army.
"kill!"
On the outskirts of the camp, Ji Zhu led eight hundred black cavalry in the lead, forming an arrow formation, coming like a broken bamboo.
This time, Ji Zhu did not hold back his hands. He leaned on the horse, increased the speed to the maximum, held eight consecutive rounds in his hand, and fired fiercely at the Liao soldiers within sight from time to time.
This battle is all about speed.
Otherwise, the Liao army reacted. Once the large army pressed forward and the troops were not dominant, it would become a joke to quickly rescue Wang Xin's troops. If he did not do it right, he would be dragged here by the Liao soldiers, and he would not be able to save others.
, oneself will become dangerous.
Taking the lead, Ji Zhu, who became the vanguard, came first. On both sides of them were the second brigade and the temporary third brigade, guarding the safety of the two wings of the black cavalry.
After Ji Zhu, he was the leader of the Western Army Di Qing
Seven thousand men and horses.
Di Qing has always been very confident in his horsemanship.