In the seventh year of Tianfu in the Later Jin Dynasty, in October 942 AD, Yelu Deguang led an army of 80,000 from Yuanshi City, broke out of camp and headed south. At this time, the Khitan army had penetrated nearly 700 miles into the territory of the Later Jin Dynasty.
As for the assault that penetrated 700 miles, the Khitans did not attack other cities in other states of the Later Jin Dynasty except for sending troops to capture the Yuan clan.
In other words, the Khitans basically did not capture any place except the line from Yuanshi City to Beizhou.
Yelu Deguang's 80,000 troops, plus Zhao Yanshou's 50,000 troops, had almost no stable supply lines and relied only on a certain number of cavalry to transport a small amount of food and grass.
It can be said that without the support of the traitors, the Khitans would not have discovered Beizhou where the grain was stored in the Later Jin Dynasty so accurately. Yelv Deguang would not have dared to go south so directly. He is probably still gnawing at the strong city that calmed the two states.
After receiving Beizhou's 150,000 shi of food and grass, the Khitan people's supplies were immediately sufficient.
In addition to supplying the needs of the army, this abundant food and grass gave Yelu Deguang the heart to perform.
He strictly ordered the Khitan tribes, whether they were Khitans or Bohai people, not to plunder the people of Hebei.
He also treated the surrendered Beizhou Yongqing Army officers and soldiers with kindness, never killing them indiscriminately or withholding any deductions.
It can be said that from the current point of view, Yelu Deguang really has the appearance of a human master.
At this time, the Khitan and Later Jin Dynasties were facing each other across the Yellow River.
Shi Chonggui and Jing Yanguang led their troops to camp in Chanzhou on the south bank of the Yellow River.
Generals Zhang Yanze and Gao Xingzhou crossed the Yellow River, just north and northeast of Chanzhou, serving as the fulcrum of the Jin army on the north bank of the Yellow River.
After Yelu Deguang broke camp and went south, he made Beizhou his new garrison.
Zhao Yanshou, who was originally stationed in Beizhou, continued to move forward until he reached Weizhou, which was close to the Yellow River.
At the end of October, Yang Guangyuan had openly rebelled in Qingzhou for more than three months, but the later Jin Dynasty had no energy to send troops to attack him.
After being bored for a while, Yang Guangyuan realized that the Khitans had marched straight in and had reached the bank of the Yellow River.
At this time, Yelu Deguang also sent someone to invite Yang Guangyuan to send troops to attack the Later Jin army together.
Yang Guangyuan then led more than 7,000 Pinglu troops, and then took tens of thousands of men, known as 50,000, bypassing Qizhou, which was later known as Jinan, and arrived at Linyi, north of Qizhou.
They also sent forwards to explore Yucheng, which was only a few dozen miles away from the Yellow River.
When he learned that Yang Guangyuan had led his army to the north of Qizhou, Yelu Deguang immediately became energetic.
He once again led his army south from Beizhou and stationed in Weizhou, while Zhao Yanshou in Weizhou City received new orders.
Yelu Deguang ordered him to select 30,000 elite troops and join forces with Youpi Shi to secure Yelu House, a total of 60,000, to besiege Jin general Gao Xingzhou who was stationed in Qicheng.
In addition to besieging Gao Xingzhou, Yelu Deguang also allocated 30,000 tribal troops and handed them over to General Ma Da, and ordered him to go east to attack Bozhou, which later became Liaocheng, Shandong.
Bozhou also belonged to the territory of the Yongqing Army. Their home base of Beizhou was captured. Seeing tens of thousands of Khitan troops coming, the Yongqing Army with only two to three thousand men immediately collapsed, and Bozhou fell without a fight.
Ma Da plundered the city of Bozhou and killed thousands of people. Then he sent out all his troops and tried to cross the Yellow River from Majiakou in the northeast of Bozhou to join forces with Yang Guangyuan's Pinglu Army.
If this is the case, the Yellow River defense line that the later Jin Dynasty worked so hard to build will be defeated by itself.
At this time of life and death, Shi Chonggui and the Later Jin Dynasty moved very quickly.
Since they only knew that Yelu Deguang had divided his troops, but did not know where exactly they were divided, the later Jin Dynasty could only order the Yunzhou Tianping Army and the Yanzhou Taining Army to rush northward for reinforcements.
He Chongjin, An Yanwei, Bai Zairong and other generals guarded the Yellow River from Heyang to Yangliu Yiyi to prevent being broken through everywhere.
As for Majiakou, where the Khitans were most likely to break through, Shi Chonggui ordered Li Shouzhen, the commander of the bodyguard and horse army, and Huangfu Yu, the commander of the right Shenwu army, each leading ten thousand people, hundreds of warships, and thousands of mules and horses to march along the Yellow River on land and water.
and go forward to defend.
It seems that Shi Chonggui also knew the consequences if the Khitans entered Qi, Qing and other states.
Because if that really happens, the entire Shandong Peninsula will be finished, and the natural danger of the Yellow River will become an empty talk.
The hundreds of warships and thousands of mules and horses in the hands of Li Shouzhen and Huangfu Yu were almost the most important mobile forces in Shi Chonggui's hands.
And it turns out, it's worth it.
In early November, when Li Shouzhen and Huangfu encountered Damajiakou, the Khitan people had already set up a pontoon bridge, and more than 10,000 soldiers had crossed the Yellow River in the vanguard. They were building forts at Majiakou to assist the subsequent Khitan soldiers and horses to cross the river.
Upon seeing this, Li Shouzhen gathered more than a hundred warships at the head of the fleet, selected extremely powerful sergeants, and held a spear more than two feet long at the bow.
The large ship sailed down the river and broke the Khitan pontoon bridge in an instant. The Khitan people used small boats to cross the river to drive them away, and the Jin soldiers responded with spears, bows and crossbows.
Although most of the so-called hundred warships of the Jin army at this time were very small ships, the first few ships were still quite large.
Large ships were far more stable than small ones, and they took advantage of the distance of weapons. The navy trained by the Khitans on the Liao River was unable to adapt to the still abundant Yellow River flow at that time, and was immediately defeated.
The tens of thousands of Khitan soldiers who had already crossed the Yellow River saw that most of the pontoon bridge was destroyed, and their morale was immediately shaken.
Huangfu Yu took the lead in his hand, holding a large pole. The Jin soldiers cheered loudly and followed Huangfu Yu regardless of fatigue to attack the unfinished camp of the Khitans.
The Khitans are not good at attacking cities, and naturally they are not good at defending them either.
Moreover, in order to get through the soldiers as quickly as possible to repair the camp, Ma Da only allowed people to pass through in the early stage and not horses. The more than 10,000 tribal troops who were supposed to be cavalry could only dismount and fight on foot.
What does it mean to use one's shortcomings to attack the enemy's strong points?
That’s it!
The Khitans were not only defending the city, but also dismounted and turned into infantry. How could they be the opponent of the later Jin army if they acted like this?
At first, the Jin army was a little timid because of the reputation of the Khitans and the impression created by Shi Jingtang's groveling.
As a result, upon contact, these Khitan troops were far weaker than they thought, so their morale was greatly boosted, and they all rushed over.
Huangfu Yu defeated the Khitan army with 10,000 men and defeated more than ten camps in less than an hour.
The Khitan people were so defeated that they could only flee downstream, crying and howling.
Some panicked and jumped directly into the Yellow River. Countless people drowned.
Ma Da, who stayed on the west bank, had no choice but to watch helplessly as more than 10,000 people on the east bank were defeated.
Almost all the Khitans on the west bank and the east bank came from the same tribes. At this moment, seeing their relatives and brothers being killed, the two sides of the Yellow River burst into tears.
The more Huangfu encountered, the more courageous he became in killing them. He led his army in pursuit downstream for more than ten miles before withdrawing his troops.
However, according to his original intention, Huangfu Yu wanted to kill all these tens of thousands of Khitan soldiers.
But at this moment, Yang Guangyuan, who was stationed in the north of Qizhou, heard that the Khitan people and the Jin army were fighting, so he quickly broke out of camp and led more than 10,000 people to come to help the Khitan army in the battle.
Li Shouzhen also completed the demolition of the pontoon bridge at this time, and the two men combined their forces to have 20,000 people.
Although Huangfu's soldiers were exhausted from fighting for two hours, they had just won the battle and their morale was high.
So the two simply left only a thousand soldiers to guard the warship, and the remaining 15,000 to 15,000 soldiers lined up eastward to meet Yang Guangyuan.
Yang Guangyuan and his son rushed from the north of Qizhou in a hurry, without even taking a breath, and without seeing the Khitan heavenly soldiers in their imagination, they directly bumped into Li Shouzhen and Huangfu Yu who were coming east.
The two sides met in Qihe Town, east of Qizhou. Yang Guangyuan personally put on armor and went into battle. He wanted to teach Li Shouzhen, a junior, a lesson. As a result, Li Shouzhen let hundreds of his cavalry fly out of the formation.
But instead of attacking Yang Guangyuan's army, they threw hundreds of sets of Khitan armor at Yang Guangyuan's Pinglu army, and made people shout that the Khitan army had collapsed.
When Yang Guangyuan heard this, he saw hundreds of sets of Khitan armor on the ground. He thought it was real, so he quickly took off the armor he had just put on and did not go on stage himself.
When Pinglu Jun saw Yang Guangyuan like this, his heart suddenly went cold.
As soon as the two sides engaged in battle, the Pinglu Army was beaten and retreated continuously. There were nearly 20,000 people fighting and retreating. The two sides fought until dusk. The Pinglu Army soldiers were exhausted and suffered more than a thousand casualties. It was hard to continue the fight.
Seeing this situation, Yang Guangyuan knew that nothing could be done, so he, Yang Chengzuo and his son led hundreds of fine cavalry, turned around and ran away, and the Pinglu army collapsed in response.
Within one day of their encounter, Li Shouzhen and Huangfu defeated the Khitan and Ping Lu armies one after another, and their reputation became great.
After that, the pressure in the eastern part of the Later Jin Dynasty disappeared immediately.
Khitan general Ma Da took advantage of Li Shouzhen and others to besiege Yang Guangyuan and built a pontoon bridge downstream to lead more than 4,000 Khitan people who were still in shock to the west bank.
Later, they did not dare to cross the river again, but burned the pontoon bridge and retreated to Beizhou.
Yang Guangyuan's army of more than 10,000 people was completely wiped out. The father and son fled back to Qingzhou with only a few hundred cavalry. The Pinglu army suffered all losses and fell into a state of waiting for death behind closed doors.
At the same time, the Khitan West Route Army and King Xi Renhao led more than 40,000 Khitan tribal troops to besiege Xiurong, the city of Xingzhou, which was also the city of Xingzhou in Shanxi.
Liu Zhiyuan quickly recruited 10,000 fine cavalry from Tuyuhun Bai Chengfu Division, plus 15,000 Hedong infantry cavalry, for a total of 25,000 men to go north to relieve the siege.
The two sides fought a battle outside Xiurong City. Bai Chengfu and other Tuyuhun and Turk tribes were deeply oppressed by the Khitans. This time they had an opportunity. They took action with hatred and were extremely brave.
King Wei's left army could not withstand the pressure at first and was defeated by Bai Chengfu's thousands of cavalry.
Then the defenders in Xiurong City also sent archers and crossbowmen out of the city to assist in the battle.
Liu Zhiyuan sent Guo Wei and Guo Rong with more than a thousand fine cavalry to get behind the Khitans and suddenly attack them.
The battle lasted from early morning to noon. King Wei's army was defeated and lost, leaving behind more than 3,000 corpses. They ran all the way from Xiangzhou to Crowing Valley, more than 200 miles away. Only then did they stabilize their position and gather the remaining troops, leaving 40,000 corpses behind.
There were only more than 10,000 people left in the army.
King Wei had no choice but to lead his remaining troops along the Mianman River (Taohe River in Yangquan, Shanxi Province) to the east to join the main force of the Khitan.
At this point in the battle, Yelu Deguang divided his troops into two groups, both of which were defeated, leaving only the main force of the Chinese army led by himself.