The battle is not worth mentioning at all. Under the crushing force of 90,000 cavalry, Huaizhou City was ravaged like an undefended girl. The 8,000 defenders were strangled before even making a symbolic resistance.
Into corpses.
The remaining soldiers in the four cities were quickly cleared, and the streets were filled with figures of Song troops galloping on horseback. The people of Huaizhou hurriedly hid in their homes behind closed doors, secretly praying to the immortal god for protection and not to be massacred by the Song people.
Of course, Su Jin would not massacre the city. In the pre-war meeting last night, Su Jin requested that civilians be massacred as little as possible, with the exception of Liao soldiers. Enemy troops with weapons in their hands were a threat, and as long as the people did not resist, they would not be punished.
In the afternoon, more than 100,000 infantrymen and baggage arrived at Huaizhou City. However, the war had ended long ago. The entire Huaizhou City had fallen into the hands of the Song army. The city lord Xiao Yuanshan and a group of subordinate officers were also captured. They even abandoned the city.
There was no time to escape.
Su Jin's first concern was the arsenal and warehouse. When he saw that the Huaizhou arsenal was slowly filled with food, Su Jin's heart dropped into his stomach. The 200,000-strong army penetrated thousands of miles away. Although
There was food in Dun City, but it had already been shipped, so we could only adopt the strategy of supporting war with war. The soldiers were almost finished with the 15th day's food quota. After taking Huaizhou City, the food and fodder were replenished.
This is in line with the strategy of using war to support war.[
There was nothing useful in the armory. Huaizhou was not a major military town, and the defense was very loose. There were no armors, weapons, or equipment left at all. However, there were hundreds of saddles. Su Jin naturally took them away without hesitation and looted them.
Although the horses cannot fight, they can still be used as riding horses. Su Jin originally thought that he would get a large number of war horses by capturing Huaizhou, but in fact there were only 3,000 regular army war horses available, and nothing else.
After a short rest, that night, Su Jin summoned the generals to discuss the next target. In the hall of Xiao Yuanshan's city lord's palace, the topographic map was set up again. The generals were already used to this intuitive map, and they all held long poles to surround it.
Point at the topographic map.
"Commander, our goal is to go straight to Beijing. The next target is suspected to be Qingzhou (ps: Qingzhou in the Liao Kingdom, not Qingzhou on the Huanqing Road). After Qingzhou, it is 180 miles northeast.
Now that we have gone to Beijing, I suggest that we attack Gyeongju with all our strength." Pan Jiang pulled the gravel on the topographic map and banged the bamboo pole on the tea cup representing Gyeongju.
Su Jin thought for a while and said: "Qingzhou is indeed the gateway to Beijing, but there is Taihang Mountain between it and Huaizhou. There may be a road, but it will definitely affect the marching speed. If there is no road, it will be troublesome.
."
Pan Jiang scratched his head and said: "This is a problem. The city lord said that hundreds of miles to the north are the mountains of the Taihang Mountains. The issue of marching is indeed a problem. Does the commander have other ideas?"
Su Jindao: "Our goal is to go to Beijing, but our ultimate strategic goal is to force all the Liao army to come back for reinforcements and stir up chaos within them. In addition, taking into account the factors of the cavalry march, we
It is recommended to attack Raozhou to the east first, and then attack Zuzhou to the north. If Qingzhou is the southwest gateway to Beijing, Zuzhou is the southeast gateway to Beijing. This can create more momentum and avoid the disadvantages of the Taihang Mountains.
terrain."
The generals were silent, Jingtai frowned and said: "Commander, I think this is not appropriate for my humble position."
Su Jin said: "Tell me and listen."
Jingtai said: "First, the news of capturing Huaizhou will spread out in a few days. We will soon be closely watched by the defenders of the cities on Zhongjing Road and Shangjing Road. Although the Liao Kingdom has a shortage of domestic troops, the cities can gather together
There must be a lot of soldiers and horses in Raozhou. As long as there are 50,000 to 60,000 people gathered to defend the city in Raozhou, it will take a lot of time for us to attack the city. This is contrary to the original intention of the commander-in-chief; attacking tough battles is not our strength, because
We didn’t bring any large siege equipment. Even if we captured the city, the casualties would be huge. Wouldn’t it be a waste of strength?”
Su Jin held his chin and thought for a while, "Go on, if there is one, there must be another, what about the second?"
Jingtai said: "The second is the most important point. If we go east and make a detour to the north, it will inevitably delay a lot of time. During this period, the Liao people can mobilize soldiers and horses from the southwest Goryeo border and the tributary Jin Kingdom to come to the rescue.
It seems far away, but don't forget, they are all cavalry, and they will arrive in Beijing within ten days, traveling day and night. By then, we will be completely passive and forced to fight with the enemy's main force. This is a taboo.
."
The generals nodded one after another, Jing's analysis was very reasonable and all of them were pertinent.
Su Jin stretched out his hand to signal everyone to be quiet and said with a smile: "Generals, General Jingtai's words are reasonable, but they are words of caution. Compared to the overall strategy of this battle, don't you feel that they are a little out of place?"
The generals were puzzled, and Su Jin explained: "Our 200,000-strong army goes deep alone, which is a risky strategy in itself. The matter itself is the biggest risk. To say that there are many dangers, we have already decided to lead the army to go deep.
It is already doomed, so taking risks is the prerequisite for this army expedition; in addition, what I want to say is that things are not that bad. The situation mentioned by General Jingtai may happen, or it may not happen at all. Where is our goal?
, the enemy army never knew how they could bet on Raozhou and stand ten thousand steps back. If their bet was successful, wouldn't we be able to adapt to the situation in Zhongjing Road, Qianzhou, Huizhou, Xingzhongfu, and Dadingfu?
Within our attack range, once we are targeted, we will randomly send our troops south to attack these undefended cities. Although we cannot destroy their troops, we can still burn the food and grass and destroy the cities. How can the Liao people tolerate it?
Our troops moving in and out of its hinterland will also have the effect of decompressing the front line."
Jingtai clenched his fists in his palms and sighed: "Yes, the commander-in-chief is right. We have focused all our goals on going to Beijing, but on the contrary, our actions have been limited."
Su Jindao: "Shangjing is still our first choice, because it is the first of the five capitals of the Liao Kingdom. Taking Shangjing is of great significance and can greatly dampen the morale of the Liao people, but everything depends on the situation and cannot be rigid; as for the Liao you mentioned
I think it is unlikely that the Jin people mobilized the garrison troops from the Jin and Goryeo areas to guard the capital. First of all, there were not many troops there. Secondly, the Liao people were not afraid that the Jin and Goryeo people would take the opportunity to attack. So the most likely thing was to give up attacking the Song Dynasty and use the army.
Come back and eat us."
Pan Jiangdao: "Commander, please give the order, where is the next target?"
Su Jin looked at the map and thought for a while and said: "In view of General Jingtai's reminder, it is necessary for us to compress the defenders of Zhongjing Road and prevent them from betting on Raozhou. After all, choosing one of Raozhou and Qingzhou has a better chance of winning.
It was still quite high. I decided to go south to attack Gaozhou and "approach" Dading Prefecture in Zhongjing, creating the illusion of attacking Dading. When I led them to mobilize other state capitals to huddle up in Dading's defense, I suddenly turned north to attack Raozhou and lost Zhongjing.
Taoist reinforcements are at Raozhou's fingertips."
…[
On the third day of June, 90,000 cavalry raided Gaozhou City on Zhongjing Road. Because Gaozhou had received the news, they were ready to defend. However, the number of defenders was too small. A mere 10,000 defenders could not stop the attack of 90,000 people. In addition, Gaozhou City Wall
It was too low to be defended at all. After resisting for two hours, the lord of Gaozhou led his troops to abandon the city and fled. Gaozhou was defeated by noon.
Su Jin ordered people to burn down the houses and food in Gaozhou City, and drove the people out of the city to flee south. He sent cavalry to make a gesture of going south to attack Dading Prefecture. A large number of refugees poured into Dading Prefecture. At the same time, he also brought news that the Song Army was about to attack Dading.
.
Pingzhang Yelvji, who was stationed in Dading Prefecture of the Prime Minister's Office of Zhongjing Road, panicked. Not only did he quickly withdraw the 30,000 troops he originally planned to send to support Raozhou, he also mobilized Enzhou, Huizhou, Xingzhong Prefecture, and Yuzhou in the southeast.
The few defenders waiting for the ground rushed to support Dading at full speed.
After staying in strict formation for several days, no Song troops arrived. Suddenly, news of the fall of Raozhou came. It turned out that the Song cavalry had already turned to the northeast on the way to Dading to cooperate with the infantry who had arrived in Raozhou earlier.
Effortlessly, he captured Raozhou and annihilated the 12,000 defenders of Raozhou.
In just a few days, the Song army was like a divine army descending from heaven, attacking three cities in the Liao Kingdom, creating a smoky atmosphere and destroying all vegetation.