Li Yun looked at it for a moment, remembering the unfinished conversation with his brother just now.
He asked tentatively: "Commander Jie, I think the number of Khitan people is about 20,000. Our army has come from afar and has a limited force. We fought a battle the night before, and many people were lost. We also consumed a lot of arrows and weapons."
.We will defend the city for a while, and I'm afraid there will be a fierce battle. Should we also mobilize the soldiers and horses from Fuzhou to the city? In addition, the civil servants in the city must also be mobilized."
When Guo Ning came from Fuzhou, he brought with him 2,500 men and horses. There were 2,000 people from Heshi Liehuanduan's old army in the city. In addition to the surrendered troops and prisoners gathered today, there are now about 6,000 people in total. We will urgently transfer them.
The city's civil servants can raise tens of thousands of people without any problem.
Of course, the surrendered troops that have not been reorganized are definitely unreliable, and the civilians have no fighting ability at all, and can only be used as cannon fodder to defend the city. But in wars, especially the offense and defense of cities, occasional tricks can be used, and most of them are not just relying on
A pile of lives?
Following Guo Ning to the north this time, Li Ting's headquarters accounted for 1,500 people, all of whom were elites who could fight hard. Come to think of it, Li Ting was reluctant to sacrifice his men's lives to pick up grain from the fire for He Shi Liehuan. Therefore, Li Yun said
The meaning behind the words is to encourage He Shi Liehuanduan to play some role.
"Those things are already being done." Guo Ning said: "He Shilie's army and various departments of our army are already being expanded, and the materials collected in the armory in the city are also being distributed. Those belonging to Li Erlang
That part will be sent to the city soon. Ayun, you and your subordinates can also pick up some soldiers and armor to take with you. But..."
"But what?"
Guo Ning looked around at the soldiers at the top of the city, and saw that the soldiers on both sides were lined up neatly, holding guns and swords. Everyone was high-spirited and heavily guarded. He smiled and nodded to the soldiers, turned around and said, "However,
Don't worry, the Khitans won't attack the city. They want to eat meat, but they won't chew hard bones."
Li Yun was a little suspicious: "Jie Shuai means that the Khitans will ignore Xianping Mansion? Then what are they here for?"
"Of course they eat meat!" Li Ting put his elbows on the battlements and said easily: "They just passed by Xianping Mansion. Over in Hanzhou, Pu Xianwannu's troops and horses are what the Khitans want to eat.
meat."
"This..." Li Yun was a little confused: "I don't understand. Xianping Mansion has just changed hands at this time, and the people in the city are floating. Isn't this a good opportunity to take advantage of the situation and seize the city? Isn't that what we do?"
"The reason why we were able to gain the city was because Pu Xian Wan Nu's generals did not fight back. The enemies on both sides were unknown, and the soldiers and civilians in the city did not know the reason, so we rarely fought to the death. It seemed like we were taking risks, but we actually hit Pu Xian Wan Nu.
Weaknesses outside the plan deserve victory. But looking at it now, the city's defenders are sufficient and heavily guarded. If you were Brother Yeluliu, how would you estimate the size of the city's defenders? Would he be willing to storm a fortified city?"
"But this is Xianping Mansion after all?"
"Just as you, Ayun, have calculated before, Brother Yelvliu will also calculate. He also has to think clearly about how much power it will consume to directly attack the city; compared with defeating Pu Xianwannu's troops in the field, which one
Easier."
When Guo Ning said this, all the generals laughed. In the past few years, Pu Xianwannu has gained a foothold in the Northeast, relying on the method of winning over the hearts of the tribes, which is not a heroic style.
"The situation here in Liaodong is very different from that in the Central Plains and Hebei. For example, the military commanders like Heshi Liedutong or Wendihan Prefecture are already in the minority who sign military conscription according to the imperial system. The remaining forces rely on almost no military force.
They all come from their own tribe. For example, the core force of Pu Xianwannu is the many tribes along the Yanshui River on the Haolan Road; and Brother Yeluliu relies only on the descendants of the Khitan people who were moved to the interior by the imperial court.
One of the tribe's soldiers is dead, but we can't waste it on attacking the city."
Speaking of this, Guo Ning smiled and said: "Li Erlang's arrangement at the top of the city is very good. With this majestic momentum, Brother Yeluliu will not dare to act rashly... He will choose a more advantageous path.
"
Li Yun nodded slowly and said: "No, no, if the Khitans go to Hanzhou and defeat Pu Xianwannu's headquarters, won't they become more powerful? Commander Jie, didn't you say that outsiders should be stopped?
Are they served to diners rashly? If they are full, we will also be in trouble."
After all, Li Yun had not been involved in military affairs for a while, and now he was obviously confused.
Guo Ning patted Li Yun on the shoulder: "Ayun, please relax, the Khitans must be like this, and we should also be like this."
Having said this, he turned to look outside the city and continued to look out, praising: "The Khitan army is quite impressive!"
Everyone will continue to watch for now.
Sure enough, as Guo Ning said, the Khitan army marched along the road west of the city. Except for a few cavalrymen who set up a vigilant posture two or three miles outside the city, the large army did not stop at all, rolling like thick clouds, heading north.
went.
Brother Yelvliu himself was among those cavalry groups.
Wherever the army passed, scouts and cavalry were running around, and some people had already asked questions. Several people outside the city said that there was a chaos in Xianping Mansion, and there were blazing fires. It seemed that there was internal strife among the defenders. Yelu
Brother Liu was a little happy when he heard the news at first, and thought that maybe he could try to take Xianping first.
However, after he personally visited it, he felt that there was no trouble in this big city.
He looked at the city for a long time and asked around him: "Is there any special clue on the city?"
The left and right said: "We have gone around the city and seen that there are sufficient troops everywhere and the security is extremely tight. And... King Liao, look, the flags on the city are continuously raised high, and there is no panic or wavering. Apparently, the people stationed on the city are...
They are well-trained soldiers, not civilians, and the morale of the soldiers is also very stable."
Brother Yeluliu nodded: "I heard that the person who was ordered to stay in Xianping Mansion was Pu Xianwannu's adopted son Pu Xian. It seems that this person is a good soldier."
A man with sharp eyes was paying attention to the tallest tower in the south of the city from a distance. He saw many generals gathered on the tower, as if they were looking towards themselves.
He quickly said: "King Liao, the city guard is also watching us! Do you want to send a group of soldiers to show off your power and scare them?"
"No need... let's march quickly. The whole army must move quickly! We can finally catch the old fox Pu Xianwannu. All we have to do is chop off his head and the entire Xianping Prefecture will naturally take over!" Brother Yelvliu ordered in a deep voice.
.
At this moment, the probing horse galloped back, and the knight on the horse shouted: "King of Liao! King of Liao! Pu Xianwannu's troops are rushing back to Xianping Prefecture... They are almost to Huanglonggang in the north!"
"
Brother Yeluliu was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but look up to the sky and laugh: "Okay! Great! Doesn't this save trouble?"