Guo Ning smiled easily, but the crowd was inevitably surprised.
Several people immediately asked: "You came so quickly! Did the Mongolian army leave Xianping Prefecture alone?"
Guo Ning handed the military report to Chu Cai, waved his hand and said: "Then Zhebie left ten thousand soldiers to monitor Xianping Prefecture, and led five thousand light cavalry to rush south, setting fire to Shenzhou and Liaoyang Prefecture along the way." They passed through Chengzhou a few days ago and should be in Gaizhou by now."
Everyone was in an uproar.
A general said angrily: "With only a few thousand light cavalry, you really dare to tease us! These black Tatars are really too rich!"
Some people immediately said: "That Zhebie is not a trivial matter, we must arrange support quickly, we must not ignore it!"
During the commotion, Guo Ning asked in a low voice: "Have the weapons and armor for Liaodong been shipped?"
Yi La Chucai responded: "It started yesterday, and Li Yunhui is responsible for the distribution; General Manager Han has also begun to gather his troops."
Guo Ning nodded and said slowly: "It is difficult for the Mongolian light cavalry to attack the city. After all, we have been operating for several months and several cities are reliable. They can at most harass us and it should be no big deal."
After a pause, he continued, "It's just that I'm afraid that the tribal people scattered in the wild will inevitably be killed or injured. There are a lot of Khitans among them. Do we need to arrange a fleet..."
"No need, the fleet has its uses."
Yi La Chucai lowered his eyes and looked at the ground: "In this world, the ordinary people of Guizhou and Li are just like weeds. It is natural to kill others yesterday and to be killed today. Envoy, we only look at the overall situation!"
Guo Ning patted Chu Cai's arm.
As the situation became more and more chaotic, Yi Chucai no longer had the same scholarly temperament as before, and his heart became harder and harder. Guo Ning wanted to praise him a few words, but didn't know how to say it. Seeing that the generals were still making plans, he He coughed twice and stood up.
Even if there is sea communication between Liaodong and Shandong, news will always be delayed by a day or two.
When Guo Ning received the military report, Han Xuan was standing on Gaizhou City, looking far and near.
As far as he could see, newly built villages were burned down one after another, with blazing fireworks and black smoke rising like huge pillars into the sky.
The terrain of Gaizhou is high in the east and low in the west. There are many low hills and hills in the east and southeast, and winding rivers; while the northwest line is mostly plains. Therefore, the distribution of cities is mostly along the northwest plains, stretching from north to south.
Most of these cities emerged in the Han Dynasty. After the Han and Jin Dynasties, they were transferred to the Xianbei, Yan, Goryeo, Bohai, Liao and Jin regimes. There have always been many fights for balance.
For example, the northernmost Tangchi County guarding Qingshiling is where Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty conquered Goryeo and where Xue Rengui ascended the city in white. Jian'an County, the seat of Gaizhou, is where General Zhang Jian garrisoned at that time. Further south is Xiu Cities such as Yanyan and Xiongyue had the organizational system of Junzhou Jiedu until the Liao Dynasty and were regarded as key points.
In these many cities, there were originally Dinghai troops stationed to suppress the riots of the surrounding tribesmen. But after the Mongolian army entered Liaodong, Han Xuan immediately retracted the troops back to Jian'an County. He also sent Xiaoyu to distribute them here. The many tribes in the army were asked to either go to the mountains for temporary refuge, or go south to Fuzhou to wait for Ding Haijun's response from Shandong.
However, perhaps because after joining the Ding Navy, as long as they worked hard every day, they would get a handful of grains to eat. This treatment was really good. Many Huli Gai people or wild Jurchens could not bear to leave.
Going deep into the mountains in this cold winter is indeed extremely difficult and dangerous. Many Khitan people are Yelvliu Ge's old tribe. They have been farming for a long time and have no ability to eat in the mountains and wild fields, let alone die in the mountains.
So no matter how hard the Dinghai navy officers drove them away, many people still stayed where they were.
Now, these people were either killed or driven by the Mongols to use as human shields for the siege and died in the battle to attack the next village.
Suddenly, a wind blew, and in the leaden air, fine snow particles fell. The wind slapped the snow particles on Han Xuan's face, which was biting and cold.
Just now he was inspecting the city defenses and took off his leather robe to a soldier. Now he was walking around half of the city and was very cold. However, this chill was worse than when he was rolling in the snowdrifts in northern Xinjiang in his early years.
It's really nothing. Han Xuan has been on the battlefield for a long time, and he no longer cares about these physical hardships.
Not far from him, a bonfire was lit, and several officers were stretching their hands to warm themselves. One general warmed his hands, stood upright on the battlement, stretched out his hands to indicate the distance, and calculated the position of the rising smoke column.
Because of the strong wind, the smoke column was blown away a lot. He thought about it for a while and then said to Han Xuan: "The six villages of A and B, as well as the first to fourth villages of C, have all been burned."
Estimating the time, it was the Sixth Village A that was destroyed first, and after two hours, it was the turn of B and C. The Mongols were the first to attack the Sixth Village A, and then took the Khitan people in the Sixth Village A.
Burn and kill them all the way."
This is the difficulty of facing the Mongols.
If you send troops to fight in the field, you will easily suffer losses; if you defend the city, you will have to sit back and watch the Mongols attack the villages and towns one by one, and then continue to take people hostage and risk their lives to conquer more villages and towns.
In the end, when all the surrounding areas were cleared and the Mongols gathered under the city, they were all the living people in the entire area. The only way for these people to survive was to break through the city and exchange the lives of the people in the city for their own lives.
.
"It will be dark in half an hour at most."
Han Xuan looked at the sky: "The fifth village of C is very large and relatively strong. Unfortunately, if it cannot withstand the Mongols, it will definitely be broken before dark. However, the sixth village of C and the sixth village behind it are D.
There should be no problem in the village. The Khitan people have always obeyed, and they still need to be rescued. Tell the brothers to take the time to rest and recuperate."
All generals should be like this.
Han Xuan's judgment was correct. Near the fifth village of C, the war was in full swing.
Among the falling snow particles, hundreds of people fought hard, using swords or wooden sticks to chop or beat each other. Outside the earthen wall surrounding the village, some people were covered in blood and screamed while climbing; some cowered back.
, covering his face with his hands and crying loudly, he was immediately hit in the back of the head by an arrow flying from a distance, killing him immediately.
However, none of the people fighting on the field were Mongolian generals, they were all Khitans.
Both sides shouted in the same accent.
This is the so-called success of the king and defeat of the bandits. After the fall of the Liao Dynasty, a large number of Khitan people were forced to move into the northeastern hinterland. They were supervised by the local Jurchens and suffered for decades. When they followed Yelvliu Ge and raised an army, they once
It created considerable momentum and then failed quickly.
After the death of Brother Yelvliu, the Khitan people have lost their spirits. Even the more discerning among them do not know where their future, or even that of the Khitan people, lies.
They are tools of the Mongols, slaves of the Jurchens, and Han'er... Maybe Han'er treats them better, but they are just prisoners. After working hard day by day, they only get a mouthful of food.
How?
They were numb and desperate, so they stopped thinking about it.
When the fighting suddenly broke out, some people rushed to kill under the intimidation of the Mongols, while others subconsciously gathered behind the settlement's earthen walls and resisted in despair. Because neither side had any weapons at hand, the fighting was not fierce, but it was very miserable.
Under Jebe's gaze, some people were fighting with the enemy with bare hands, even crying, biting the opponent's throat, and spitting the broken flesh and blood on the ground.