The horses' hooves hit the ground heavily and messily, and the panting and snorting of the war horses echoed in my ears.
Yeluwansi looked at the remaining thirty or so riders beside him, and at the increasingly tight encirclement surrounding him, knowing that he had no way out.
Since discovering that he was surrounded, Yelvwansi tried every means to break out of the siege.
With their super mobility, they paid a huge price and broke through Da Zhou's encirclement many times.
However, in the face of Luo Youdu's control along the river, all the shallow river channels on the river bank were guarded by soldiers.
As long as Yelvwansi dares to cross the river, he will inevitably face a concentrated barrage of crossbows, just like an arrow target.
Yelvwansi was completely isolated to the south bank of Sanggan River.
Until dusk, they were once again surrounded by Fu Zhaoxin, Zhang Qiong, and Hu Yanzan.
Nearly 10,000 troops were constantly breaking through the encirclement. Countless ones were killed, separated, or fell behind and surrendered. Now there are only more than 30 cavalry left, everyone is injured, and there is no hope of breaking through.
The Khitan cavalry looked at the Zhou soldiers around them, with only fear on their faces.
Yelvwansi said: "You take my head and demote me. Maybe I can save my life."
Without waiting for his followers to react, the scimitar still stained with blood in his hand touched his neck this time.
Yelvwansi is not afraid of dying in battle, but is afraid of not being able to die. How can the majestic Khitan royal family be humiliated by the enemy?
Feeling the loss of blood from his body, Yeluwansi became confused, fell off the horse and fell to the ground.
The howling wind, the clean and clear blue sky, and the vast grassland.
"Ah, Dad! The child must be like Dad and become a great Khitan hero."
It seems that I heard the cry of my beloved son Yelvxiu.
Yelvwansi stretched out her hand, grabbed it from the air, and fell weakly on the grass.
This time, more than 10,000 Khitan soldiers invaded and were annihilated on the south bank of the Sangqian River for the sake of the Zhou Dynasty.
At this point in the Great Zhou Dynasty, the Khitan's war over grain and grass logistics came to an end.
In terms of overall tactics, Luo Youdu had always taken the initiative by attacking the Khitan herds by surprise. The Zhou army won the battle cleanly and achieved considerable results in the battle.
Especially for the encirclement of the Yelvwansi tribe.
Not only did he completely annihilate the Yelvwansi tribe, he also left the Khitan royal family in Hebei forever.
Early the next morning, the officials responsible for cleaning the battlefield spent the night making statistics and calculated the approximate number of Khitan soldiers killed.
At the same time, after the integration of various armies, detailed casualty statistics were transmitted.
Luo Youdu compared the casualties of the two armies.
The most brutal fight was between the Tianxiong Army and it was a life-or-death confrontation in the hills with real swords and guns.
Fu Zhaoxin beheaded a captain, and there were also headless corpses of Baiju behind the Khitan. They were killed by the Khitan war team, which shows how brutal the war was.
The Tianxiong Army alone suffered a total of 1,836 casualties, plus 1,377 seriously injured, resulting in a loss of 3,000.
You must know that excluding the cavalry, Fu Zhaoxin's right-wing army only has a total of 7,000 people.
However, the Khitan army suffered even more casualties. The veteran Yelusha tried his best to break the deadlock and attacked like crazy. There were more than 2,600 corpses of the Khitan army in the small hilly area, and they were injured and disabled in countless ways. In the end, they pursued the victory.
During that time, they killed and wounded more than 2,000 people, most of whom were disabled soldiers left behind by Yelusha.
In Yelusha's eyes, the chance of surviving these seriously injured soldiers was less than 30%, so it was better to contribute the last effort.
The situation of the central army was not as tragic as that of the right-wing army, but it was not far behind.
The main casualty came from Murong Yanzhao's five thousand cavalrymen in front of the palace. More than half of them were directly destroyed, and everyone was injured. After this battle, it was difficult for Murong Yanzhao's troops to form combat strength in the short term, followed by the Yuying Division's cavalry.
The Longxiang Army and the Longwei Army suffered a total of 3,121 casualties and 2,479 serious injuries.
But the results they achieved were brilliant. Most of the Khitan's strongest elite iron kites were lost. Counting the cover-ups during the pursuit, the Khitan central army suffered at least 7,000 battle losses...
The easiest one was the left-wing army. They faced a straw bag.
At the beginning, it was for tactical needs and friendly interaction.
After receiving the order, the three generals advanced directly together, beating Xiao A to the point where he could not find his way.
Yelujing and Yelusha retreated in a certain way.
Yelusha used the seriously injured patients to rear up, Yelujing also used a small force to harass them, but Xiao A was not really running away, and just ran away with his head down.
Because there was a fire in the direction of the military camp, Xiao Abuti did not dare to run back to the military camp and ran directly to Jizhou City.
Gao Huaide was an easy killer and killed more than 4,000 Khitan soldiers with less than 1,000 battle losses.
Including the Yelvwansi tribe that was completely wiped out, the Khitan's losses in this battle are conservatively estimated to be 25,000.
This does not include the casualties caused by Han Lingkun's surprise attack on the herd. They were pressed for time and did not have time to count the number of enemies killed. The smooth transfer of more than 400,000 cattle and sheep was a great achievement.
As for the Zhou army, all members of the Zhou army were killed in battle, plus the members who were seriously injured and lost their combat effectiveness, the total number of soldiers killed was only over 10,000.
It can be considered a remarkable achievement.
Luo Youdu commanded this kind of battle for the first time and achieved such results. He was quite satisfied.
Cao Bin strode to the Youzhou government office and reported: "Luo Tong, the scouts came to report that the Khitan military camp is empty. They must have quietly withdrawn overnight. Judging from the traces, they should have withdrawn towards Shunzhou."
Luo Youdu stood up suddenly and said: "Quick, you immediately lead Zhang Qiong, Dang Jin, Liu Fu, Kang Zaiyu, Kang Baoyi and his son, and lead the Royal Camp Division to Dawang Town to appease the townspeople, take over all the guards in the town, and monitor closely
Shunzhou, Jizhou, and Tanzhou are the trends of Khitan in these three states."
He looked at Cao Bin solemnly and said: "Remember, you must not be careless. If you let these officials from the three states coerce the people into the grassland, I will directly blame you."
When Cao Bin heard about "coercing the people", he immediately understood the seriousness of the matter, made a promise and left quickly.
Dawang Town was the Pinggu District of the capital in later generations, and it was one of the seven towns in the north during the Tang Dynasty.
Although it is a border town, its defense facilities are not bad and it has always been the line of defense against the northern grasslands.
However, after the land of Yanyou was returned to the Khitans, there were no external enemies to defend it, so it was naturally abandoned.
After tidying it up, it can still be used normally.
Dawang Town is located east of Shunzhou, west of Jizhou, south of Tanzhou, and in the middle of the three states. It can pay attention to the trends of the three states and be the first to respond.
Yelujing wanted to withdraw, but Luo Youdu did not intend to stay, but he wanted to take the people away with him, so he would not obey.
Even if they try hard to fight another war, they cannot let the Khitan take away the people of any state.
**********
Shunzhou government office.
This defeat had a great impact on the morale of the Khitans.
As the forbidden army of the Khitan, the Pishi Army was invincible in the northeast and Mobei, and its morale was high. Now it suffered repeated setbacks, lost troops and generals, and even the Khitan royal family of Yeluwansi's level died in front of the battle. The whole army was pessimistic.
In particular, the daily diet lacked the customary cow's milk, goat's milk, mare's milk, and gnawed dry corn. The contrast made the whole army miss the life of the grassland people, and everyone wanted to quit.
To these soldiers, Youyan was originally from the Central Plains.
Just pay it back, what does it have to do with them?
Yelujing stopped hiding and directly summoned his confidants in front of the tent and said: "I dreamed of Taizu last night, and Emperor Taizong reprimanded me for disrespecting the gods. It suddenly dawned on me that this time I went south, I missed the ceremony of offering sacrifices to the gods. , no wonder everything doesn’t go well.”
Yelujing fled to Shunzhou overnight and drank wine all night. Taizu and Taizong asked him in his dream?
In wine?
Gao Xun, Yelu Xiyin, Yelusha, Xiao Qian, Xiao Siwen, Han Kuangsi and others secretly complained, but no one dared to point it out.
The boss has said that defeat is not his problem, but a punishment from God.
what to do?
Go back and worship the gods!
The implication is just like Sima Zhao's heart.
Xiao Siwen pretended not to know and catered: "God is the most merciful. As long as your majesty worships sincerely, you will definitely gain the understanding of the god. In your opinion, your majesty should return to the grassland and sacrifice three animals to the god again, which will ensure the prosperity of the Liao Dynasty." . ”
Although Yelujing hated Xiao Siwen for losing Youzhou, now that he could stand up and cater to her, the unhappiness deep in his heart dissipated.
I thought that after all, he was still a relative of his own. Although he was not very capable, he was loyal and reliable. I couldn't bring him any more soldiers, so let's keep him by his side as a deputy prime minister.
This weird emperor hires people as he pleases.
Yelujing looked around and said, "What do you mean?"
Everyone was in dead silence at first.
It was Han Kuangsi who stood up. Seeing that Yelujing had made up his mind to return to the grassland, he no longer wanted to turn defeat into a victory strategy. He said: "Given the current situation, returning to the grassland is indeed a way to stop losses. However, I think that even if I have to leave, I will not be able to win." We cannot take advantage of the Central Plains. Once your Majesty retreats, Shunzhou, Jizhou, and Tanzhou will definitely not be able to defend themselves."
Yelujing's eyes showed an expression of interest and said, "Tell me about it!"
Han Kuangsi said: "Before our army retreats, we must make two preparations. First, send heavy troops to reoccupy Yuguan. Yuguan must not fall into the hands of the enemy."
Yelujing slapped his head and exclaimed: "Thanks to Han Xiangwen's reminder, I almost ignored this."
Yuguan is located 20 miles east of Funing. It is surrounded by Chongshan Mountain to the north and the sea to the south. It is only a few miles apart and is extremely dangerous.
In later generations, he had a name called Shanhaiguan.
Yuguan is a pass connecting Liaodong, and its status is equivalent to Gubeikou.
As long as an army is sent to guard it, you can ensure that nothing happens to Youyan Dongfang.
After the Khitans took over the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun, Yuguan became useless. However, due to its important geographical location, there was still an army stationed there all year round.
Gubeikou is closed to the outside world and not to the inside. There is no danger to defend it, so it can only be given to the Central Plains.
Yuguan is different. Everything in Yuguan can be defended.
As long as they hold Yuguan in their hands, even if the Gubei Pass is lost, they can still pass through Yuguan from Liaodong and enter the land of Yanyou to harvest grass and valleys.
It's just not as convenient as Gubeikou.
Yelujing said: "I will send more troops to Yuguan to ensure a complete strategy."
He looked at Han Kuangsi and secretly sighed that when it came to thinking and strategy, he had to look at the Han people and asked: "What next!"
Han Kuangsi hesitated for a while, and then said word for word: "Burn the three cities of Shunzhou, Jizhou, and Tanzhou, and move all the people northward. No one or one place will be left in the Central Plains!!!"