It snowed heavily all night, and at dawn, the entire Linhuang Mansion was covered in silver.
The Song army approached the city, causing great panic to the young prince Yelu Hongji who stayed behind in the capital. His father Zhang Jian, who stayed behind in the capital, quickly summoned the civil and military forces in the capital to discuss strategies to defend against the enemy. Zhang Jian was more panicked than everyone else because he knew this
Su Jin, who led the army, was the mastermind behind the Battle of Helan Mountain in Liaoxia two years ago. The tragic defeat was still vivid in his mind. How many times in his dreams could he recall the tragic situation of almost the entire army being wiped out that day.
Queen Renyi, Yelu Hongji, Zhang Jian and hundreds of civil and military officials lined up in the west building hall of the imperial capital, discussing how to defend against the Song army's siege, taking stock of the belongings in the capital, and going to the Kyoto Inspection Department.
All the 30,000 accompanying troops have accompanied Xingzong to the southern battlefield. The only ones responsible for guarding the palace are the 5,000 palace troops from the Shangjing Remaining Department, and then there are the tribal soldiers transferred from the Northeast Unified Army Department and the Tokyo Unified Army Department.
There are 50,000 retinue soldiers, plus the soldiers from the capital and the capital, the total does not exceed 60,000.
The Northeastern Tongjun Division and the Tokyo Tongjun Division originally mobilized 200,000 troops to defend Beijing, but Yelu Zhongyuan sent an order to pull 150,000 of them to join forces to annihilate Su Jin's army, so that such a large army was
There are only 60,000 garrison troops in the capital.
"The emperor's uncle is really shameless. He transferred all the soldiers and horses from the capital, but so what? The Song army still came to the city. I really don't know what his intentions were." Yelu Hongji's childish voice was filled with murderous intent.
Everyone could hear that there was something in the little prince's words, but no one dared to speak up. It was better to interrupt less in this matter. The emperor appointed Zhongyuan as the crown prince, which meant that the future throne would be passed on to Yelu Zhongyuan as the eldest son.
Yelu Hongji, the prince, will naturally have thoughts in his mind, but now is not the time to fight for this. Keeping the capital is the top priority.
Queen Renyi came out to speak: "My son, please don't hesitate to speak. There are only **0,000 Song troops outside the city, which is far from the rumored 200,000. It can be seen that the Song people must have divided their forces. His Royal Highness the Emperor's Highness is encircling and suppressing
It must be another Song army. Don’t panic now. I have enough food and grass in Beijing and the city defenses are strong. I only need to hold on for a few days. The emperor’s brother will definitely lead his troops back after hearing the news."
Zhang Jian nodded and said: "The queen's analysis is that the emperor's brother is probably on his way back to help. What we need to discuss now is the city defense. The defense of 60,000 defenders should not be a problem. However, the Song army's combat power has increased sharply recently, and
You still need to be extremely cautious when using war in a deceitful manner."
"Lord Shangfu, your worries are too unnecessary." Yelu Kanrong, deputy envoy of the North Courtyard, said: "The sentinel came to report that the Song army outside the city came from the north in light cavalry and did not carry any siege weapons with them.
We don’t carry much equipment, food and grass, and this heavy snowfall will be a disaster for the Song people. In my opinion, the Song people will collapse in less than three days. How can the Song soldiers have experienced the severe cold in our northern country?"
Everyone nodded and said, "What Lord Yelu said is that despite how arrogant the Song people were in the past few months, they may all turn into soft-legged crabs in the face of the cold winter."
"Yes, they came to fight in Daliao in the summer, but now it's severe winter. I'm afraid they don't even have cotton-padded clothes. We don't even need to fight them, and they will collapse."
"..."
Zhang Jian remained silent and said to himself: I hope what you are saying is true, but if you knew what kind of ruthless enemy general Su Jin you were facing, you would be careful about what you say and what you do.
Queen Renyi saw that Zhang Jian seemed worried, so she asked: "If Shang father has something to say, please make it clear. This is a big plan. It would be best for all of you to express your opinions directly. The emperor is on the battlefield in the south, and the safety of my mother and son depends on you."
Sir, please think more carefully."
Zhang Jian crossed his arms and saluted and said: "Empress, the adults are right, the situation is indeed favorable to me, but the Song army outside the city is not an ordinary Song army. The person leading this garrison is Su Jin.
He was the instigator of the Battle of Helan Mountain. It was he who single-handedly led to the disastrous defeat of our Daliao. The battle of that year is still before our eyes. I was deeply impressed by my personal experience of the battle. This man and machine became deceitful. When our envoy of Daliao went out
When the Song Dynasty was talking about increasing coins, it was Su Jin who disrupted the situation. You must have not forgotten that matter."
"It turns out it's him, this cunning thief, and the Song people's plan to betray their trust was also his. It's great that it was delivered to the door. This time the new and old accounts will be settled together." Yelu Kanrong said angrily.
Zhang Jian said: "Because it is him, we must not be careless. I suggested recruiting villagers in the city to help defend the city. The biggest problem at present is that Hancheng in the south is the weakest place for defense. Due to regulatory constraints, Hanchen does not have enemy towers and so on."
For defensive measures, the city wall is nearly ten feet shorter than the imperial city. If the Song army attacks Seoul, it may not be able to stop it. Naturally, most of the troops will be stationed in the imperial city, and the defense of Seoul can only rely on a small number of regular troops and recruited peasants."
Queen Renyi frowned and nodded: "Shang's father is right. It would be a good idea to recruit villagers to help. In addition, we should send people to the east quickly to report to the emperor's brother, asking him to speed up his return to defense. The longer he can hold on,
, the more beneficial it is to me."
Everyone reached a consensus and immediately launched an operation to recruit villagers.
The northern imperial city of Linhuang Prefecture is where the Khitan people live, and the southern Han city is where the Han people gather. Ethnicity determines status. The Han people are second-class citizens in the Liao Kingdom and are also under warning. Therefore, the walls of Han City are not at all based on defense.
It was built according to the national standard, with a height of only two feet, and no defense facilities such as watchtowers and stacks. Unexpectedly, it has become a hidden danger today.
…
The Song army's camp was set up on the northern slope of the city. Due to the need for light equipment, the army carried very little supplies. Seven or eight people were squeezed into a military tent. Even so, the severe cold showed his strength on the first night of the camp.
It was so powerful that when we woke up in the morning, the dripping water turned into ice. The soldiers' clothes, boots and armor were all covered with ice. Thin clothes could not block the biting cold air at all.
Su Jin knew that he could not delay any longer. Every day of delay would lower morale and the number of people dying of frostbite would increase day by day. The only option now was to attack the city immediately.
However, the problem is obvious. There are no siege equipment. Secondly, the city wall of Laihuang Mansion is more than three feet high. The city defense is strong and there are many arrow towers. I simply don’t know how to start. Even if I want to attack by force, there is no condition for a force attack.
After getting up early, Su Jin took hundreds of cavalry and several generals to circle Linhuang Mansion in the snow, looking for loopholes in the city. After returning at noon, Su Jin immediately held a pre-war meeting to discuss how to attack the city.
For the first time, a pot of kerosene was lit in the big tent. Su Jin ordered people to take mud and build a model of Linhuang Mansion on the ground inside the tent. Pan Jiang held a dead branch in his hand and pointed at the model, telling everyone the results of his personal inspection in the morning.
Explain one by one.
"Everyone, please see, the Liao capital is different from our Song city. It is also divided into two parts. In our Song Dynasty, the inner and outer cities were built, while in the Liao people, the two cities were connected with a shared city wall in the middle. Let me call them the north and south.
City; judging from the height of the city wall and the tightness of the defense, it is obvious that the wall of the North City we are facing is high and thick, with more than a hundred watchtowers on the city, and the defense is extremely tight; while the South City has a wall that is only two feet high, and the defense is also loose.
Based on this, it can be inferred that the North City is where the imperial palace of the Liao people is located, while the South City is just a construction equivalent to the outer city of our Song Dynasty city."
A general said: "I have a brother from my family who came here on business. According to him, the northern city is called the Imperial City, and the southern city is called Hancheng. This means that the Khitan people and the Han people separated the city."
Su Jin nodded and said: "That's it. It seems that the Liao people are trying to guard against the Han people. However, this shows that Linhuang Mansion's weakness is in Seoul in the south. We can only start from Seoul."
Jingtai said: "Commander, since the Liao people have arranged the situation like this, I estimate that even if Seoul is captured, they may not be able to directly enter the imperial city. Taking Seoul is equivalent to not taking Linhuang Mansion."
Su Jindao: "That's true, but after capturing Seoul, the situation will be more favorable to me. At least we have a foothold and won't have to camp in the snow. Moreover, we can also search for a lot of useful materials in Seoul. It's always better.
It’s better to freeze in the wild with nothing.”
Everyone nodded and said, "That's true. It's a good place to stay."
Su Jin smiled and said: "The disadvantage is that capturing Beicheng is equivalent to capturing Shangjing, and capturing Seoul does not mean that Shangjing is defeated. Moreover, we have seen their weaknesses. How could they not know that although Seoul's defense is weak, we
There may still be a huge price to pay, so we have to weigh whether the price is worth it; if it takes me tens of thousands of troops to capture Seoul, then I might as well go all out and attack the imperial city directly."
Jingtai said: "The commander-in-chief is right, but we need to consider how to capture Seoul at the least cost and settle down."