Yelu Hongji stood on the high platform of the South Square and silently looked at the people who were being driven away. He couldn't help but feel pity in his heart. He didn't know what driving the people away to consume the Song Army's strength would bring to his future.
But Yelu Hongji knows one thing, that is, if his father is here, he will definitely do this. If he does this, the world may criticize him as cruel and unkind, but his father will never blame himself; going to Beijing is too important.
To ensure that we can live in Beijing, not to mention sacrificing tens of thousands of people, even if it costs more, it is still worth it.
Yelu Hongji did not have no choice. He could also choose to leave Shangjing and flee to the north to avoid disaster. Under the protection of tens of thousands of Liao troops, the Song army would not rashly pursue him in the ice and snow; but if he did, he would
It's not Yelu Hongji. His ambition is to become the future emperor of the Liao Kingdom. He must not retreat in the contest with his uncle Yelu Chongyuan. Going to Beijing is a test, whether to escape the capital or fight to the death to defend the capital. These two
The result was extremely important both to him personally and to the overall battle situation.
A gust of cold wind hit his face. Yelu Hongji subconsciously wrapped his cloak tightly and put back his messy thoughts. The square in front of him was already crowded with people. It was roughly estimated that there were 50,000 or 60,000 people. Most of the people had indifferent eyes, closed their mouths and remained silent.
The soldiers pushed and pushed them into formations, so although the square was chaotic, it was not noisy.
A group of soldiers from the northwest corner came over holding torches and escorting a dozen men with bleeding heads and faces. The dozen men were all teenagers of sixteen or seventeen years old. They were all pale-faced, staggering around as they were being pushed, and kept pleading.
Yelu Kanrong immediately sent someone to ask about the situation. It turned out that these dozen teenagers were afraid of dying and had agreed to hide in the ruins, but they were found by officers and soldiers.
Yelu Hongji slowly walked down the high platform and came to the dozen young men. Seeing that Yelu Hongji was dressed luxuriously and surrounded by many generals, the young people knew that he was no ordinary person. They all stopped begging and looked at Yelu Hongji silently.
"Are you scared?" Yelu Hongji asked.
The teenagers shut up and didn't answer, looking down at the ground.
"The eldest prince is asking you a question. Are you mute?" the bodyguard shouted loudly.
Yelu Hongji waved his hand and said: "Don't scare them, they are only sixteen or seventeen-year-old boys, and it is human nature to be afraid." After a pause, he walked forward and stretched out his hand to help a young boy in front of him remove the grass stems from his head and face.
He brushed off the dust and sighed: "I, the good man of Daliao, why did you choose to escape instead of fighting when the country was in crisis? By doing so, are you worthy of the teachings of your fathers and the kindness of the emperor?"
A young man suddenly raised his head and shouted: "Your Highness, the fourth member of my Xiao family joined the army to serve the country. My father and eldest brother died in the battle of Helan Mountain, and the second and third brothers died in the battle with Song Dynasty in the south. Only one family member is left.
There are two of us here, my mother and I. I am hiding not because of fear, but because after I die, who will take care of my old mother? How can I abandon her?"
Yelu Hongji looked at him coldly and said, "If Daliao destroys the capital and loses it, what else will you do with your family?"
The young man protested: "Is it our common people's responsibility that the Liao was destroyed? Why did the Liao attack Xia and Song? If they didn't attack other countries, how could they provoke revenge from other countries? How could the Song army come to the capital?
"
Yelu Hongji shouted angrily: "Bold, do you mean to say that the emperor is wrong?"
The young man frowned and said: "I don't know whose fault it is, but it is definitely not the fault of us people. We just want to live in peace and reunite with our parents and relatives, even if we don't have good food and clothing, even if we are
If you don’t have enough food, clothing or warmth, you can at least survive, but even such a small wish cannot come true..."
There were constant scoldings around, and Yelu Hongji's face turned livid. He had never thought of this. In his eyes, the people were private property, and they could be driven, enslaved, and even killed casually like their own animals. He had never thought that
Animals also have thoughts and can fight. This is absolutely unacceptable.
"Tie them to lampposts and shoot them to death with random arrows. Anyone who talks nonsense to deceive people's hearts and those who are cowardly to run away will be shot to death with random arrows."
Yelu Kanrong accepted the promise and immediately ordered his soldiers to tie more than a dozen teenagers to lampposts. The teenagers cried and begged for mercy, and some were so frightened that they urinated. Only the teenager bit his lower lip and his eyes were blank and remained silent. After the order,
The arrows were fired in unison, and each of the dozen young men received dozens of arrows and died tragically in front of everyone.
Tens of thousands of people were silent. There was neither fear nor anger in their eyes, but a look of deathly gray. Just like Yelu Hongji expected, they were just a group of walking zombies.
In the early morning, more than 60,000 strong men took the lead, and 40,000 Liao soldiers came to the rear. They formed a formation and began to attack Seoul. The two iron gates connecting the two cities were rolled up by nooses, crossing more than 20 feet between the two cities.
The wide giant covered bridge became smooth, and the first group of death squads composed of a thousand people stepped onto the end of the covered bridge. They held simple weapons such as wooden sticks and iron forks in their hands, like a group of dead souls heading towards Seoul indifferently.
Come.
Due to the crossbows on the enemy tower and the suppressed firepower of the Liao army on the city wall, the Song army was unable to immediately block the charging Liao people. They could only set up a simple defense line outside the shooting range, more than a hundred steps away from the city wall.
In this way, during the entire process of the Liao people passing through the covered bridge, they would not be able to deliver the most effective blow at the most favorable time.
But all this was helpless. Su Jin would never let his soldiers be exposed to the firepower of the Liao people and attacked the strong men in the front row of the Liao people. It was not that Su Jin couldn't bear to attack the people, but to reduce his own casualties.
.
In fact, the Liao people's strong team cannot play a decisive role. The outcome of the real duel cannot be changed by adding tens of thousands of civilians, but it can be used to strengthen the momentum or break up the formation.
Psychologically, it will bring a certain deterrence to the Song army, and if there are many wolves, they will kill the elephant. Even if they exchange five for one, these strong men will consume ten or twenty thousand of their own troops, which will be extremely detrimental to the subsequent real combat. Su Jin wants to
What you want to avoid is having your soldiers engage in direct combat with these worthless civilians.
What Su Jin also needs to guard against is the defection of the people in Seoul. Although these people are Han, they are all natives of the Liao country. They have no feelings for the Song Dynasty in their minds. Su Jin will not fantasize about the national consciousness of these people.
It was a great privilege not to disturb them on a large scale due to their sudden awakening, but when the war came, they had to dedicate part of their troops to prevent the backyard from catching fire.
Group after group of strong Liao soldiers crossed the covered bridge and entered Seoul. They gathered in a large open space in the north city and prepared to attack the temporary simple fortifications built by the Song people. Su Jin did not expect that the Liao people would bring so many soldiers.
The strong men, seeing that the open space was densely packed with people, were about to launch their first rush. In the narrow terrain, they would inevitably have to fight with them head-on, so they immediately ordered to retreat five hundred steps and defend with the help of houses and walls.
All intersections leading to Beicheng.
Yelu Hongji saw that the people of Song Dynasty did not want to waste their energy on the strong men. This was exactly what he wanted to see. The more this happened, the more he wanted to take advantage of this, so he immediately ordered the people in the imperial city to
The order to disrupt the Song people's defense line was driven by all men, women, old and young, which was a bit crazy.
At dawn, the number of Liao people who invaded Seoul has exceeded 120,000. Except for the main force of 40,000, the rest are all ordinary people who were forced to stand in front. The Liao people are really beasts, with white-haired old men and young children.
, there are many
What a panic-stricken woman. Each of these people had frightened faces. They were driven forward by the Liao soldiers in the formation. The Song army cursed angrily. In the face of so many unarmed people, it was really not easy to kill them.
Easy thing.
Su Jin rubbed his hands anxiously and kept pacing on the tall building where he could have an overview of the whole situation. He didn't want to be the executioner with innocent blood on his hands again, but he also didn't want the Liao people to succeed. Once these people broke into the defense line, the damage would be huge.
, the Liao soldiers hid
As long as the people in the rear entered the shooting range, they could fire arrows unscrupulously. Coupled with the harassment of these people, it was almost a sure defeat. Su Jin made up his mind. Once the Liao people came into the shooting range, he had to order a massacre to save himself.
First place.
The stairs creaked, and Mahan's loud voice rang out: "Master, I'm back."
Su Jin was overjoyed and rushed to the stairs, shouting: "Did you succeed?"
Ma Han wiped a handful of ice and snow from his beard and said: "Why don't we capture them easily? Even the queen, princess and dozens of ministers didn't escape. We also killed more than a thousand Liao troops who were accompanying us to protect them."
Su Jin clapped his hands and said, "Okay, well done. I wonder how the Liao people will behave this time?"