On the vast sea of ​​whale, a huge fleet of hundreds of 5,000 stone steam warships were sailing towards the north.

The Whale Sea is today's Sea of ​​Japan, and the Liao Kingdom is called the East China Sea. The fleet has passed through the narrowest strait and headed to the north of Jingzhou. This fleet set off from Han County, Kunzhou, with a load of 20,000 Song cavalry to Pingyi City in Jingzhou.

Pingyi City is located in the northernmost part of Jingzhou, opposite the Hei Shui River estuary. It started construction in March of the previous year and was completed in October last year. It has a circumference of about twenty miles. The city is strong, tall and strong. At present, there are no people in the city, only two thousand permanent troops, storing a large amount of food and supplies.

If this logistics base was not available, even a steamer would have to travel for five or six days when it came from Kunzhou two thousand miles away, and grain supply would become a major problem.

The plan to establish a base in Jingzhou and attack the heartland of the Liao Kingdom from Hei Water was proposed more than ten years ago, and it was not until today that it finally started to implement it.

There are many conditions here that need to be gradually matured before they can be achieved, such as steamships, so that the fleet can go against the trend, and a supply base must be established in Jingzhou to ensure the army's food supply.

Now, it's all ripe.

The main general responsible for this Northern Front battle was Sima Zhangyue, the staff battalion, and Fan Ning's most trusted right-hand man. Although the Song army could not avoid the defeat of the Jurchens, the responsibility was not on Zhangyue. At that time, he prepared for the war in Kunzhou.

The Song Dynasty was the chief general of civil servants and assisted by military generals. Zhang Feng's deputy general was the commander Liu Kun, and he was also a veteran in his fifties.

Zhang Yu stood on the deck, staring at the waves in the distance, but he fell into deep thought.

At this time, Liu Kun slowly walked to him and sighed softly: "Who could have thought that we would actually enter the nest of the Liao Kingdom from the extreme north!"

Zhang Feng nodded slowly, "This will be a bloody journey!"

"Zhang Sima, the war itself is bloody."

"I know that from the day I was ordered, I know what I will face, but massacre of women and children is not what I want to do."

He turned around and looked at Liu Kun, "What do General Liu think?"

Liu Kun said lightly: "Women and children are burdens on the battlefield, not wealth. I agree with Zhang Sima's suggestion that you can kill them without killing them and killing all the men."

Zhang Feng stopped talking. At this time, a soldier pointed out from a distance and shouted: "That's the harbor, we're here!"

Zhang Qi also saw the majestic Pingyi City and couldn't help but praise: "How magnificent! The starting point of sweeping the Diyi."

The ship pulled the whistle, and a low horn sounded at the top of the Pingyi City to welcome the arrival of the fleet.

Hundreds of warships can be moored in the bay, and they will freeze here in October and will not thaw until March of the following year. Half of the year is spent in the cold and snowy world.

The military city was built on a cliff. A general walked down from the cliff with more than a dozen soldiers and went forward to salute and said, "See Sima Zhang and General Liu in my humble position!"

This general is called Wu Baisheng. He is a commander and the rotating chief general of Jingzhou this year. Pingyi City garrison has piloted the rotation system, and half of the defenses are replaced every year. Staying in the cold Jingzhou for a long time will have a great impact on the soldiers.

"General Wu, can you be the guide you mentioned in the letter of eagle?" Zhang Qing asked.

"Just in the military city, please follow me to the military city to rest!"

Twenty thousand troops and war horses disembarked and entered the military city to rest.

Zhang Qing followed Wu Baisheng to a yard in the military city. There were soldiers standing guard outside. Zhang Qing walked into the yard and saw two old men basking in the sun under a big tree in the yard.

Just last month, the Song army soldiers patrolling the mouth of Heishui River discovered more than a dozen canoes carrying a group of old, weak, women and children, about twenty or thirty people. These were a group of surviving tribes of the Baishan tribe of the Jurchen tribe. The Jurchen men were killed, and the elderly and weak were also executed. Women and children were assigned to Khitan and Xi tribes as slaves. Almost no survivors. Only a small number of old, weak, women and children in the Baishan tribe were able to escape. Some of them were discovered by the Song soldiers.

Wu Baisheng invited two old men to the room, introduced them to Zhang Ju, and a soldier was the translator for them.

"They said that all men were killed, which was too miserable. They were tied up and their heads were cut off and thrown into the black water. The old man was also executed. After the women were collectively humiliated by their army, they were sent to various Khitan tribes as slaves, and the children were sent together."

Zhang Qi said to the soldiers: "You ask them, are they familiar with the distribution of these Khitan tribes?"

The soldiers asked a few questions and said to Zhang Qi: "They said they were hunters more than ten years ago, and they were very familiar with every inch of land. They knew the gathering place of each Khitan tribe."

The Khitan also divided into Shengfan and Shengfan. Shengfan lived in the four capital cities and was greatly influenced by the Chineseization. Shengfan was still a traditional tribe, adhering to tradition and making a living by fishing and hunting. Many fierce Khitan infantry were requisitioned from Shengfan tribe.

An old man said carefully: "We are willing to lead the way. I wonder when we will set out?"

Zhang Feng smiled and said, "Let's go one month later. I am also waiting for the order to send troops. Let's wait patiently."

While the Song Dynasty was actively preparing for combat, the Liao Dynasty's combat readiness was also accelerating. The large amount of wealth obtained from royal relatives solved the urgent need for the Liao Dynasty's financial affairs. However, Yelu Hongji knew very well that the money would not last long. To restore the former prosperity of Liao, it would have to rely on the annual annual monies of the Song Dynasty to maintain it.

The amount of annual currency he was looking forward to in his heart changed again and again. The request he made to the Song Dynasty the year before was one million taels of silver and one million pieces of silk, and two hundred thousand tans of tea cakes, but now it is not. The annual currency he was looking forward to was three million taels of silver and three million pieces of silk and five hundred thousand tans of tea cakes.

But annual monies are just one of the dividends of this war. They also have to plunder the wealth and population of the Song Dynasty, and obtain more land. These are all wealth that needs to be obtained through war.

In the room, Yelu Hongji listened to the report of Xiao Jiuge, the Privy Councilor of the North Court. The Emperor of Song Dynasty inspected the war preparations in Taiyuan. Yelu Hongji looked at Taiyuan City on the map, and he narrowed his eyes and smiled.

He was very clear about the Song Dynasty's combat preparations in Taiyuan. Millions of stones of food were transported into the city. At least 70,000 to 80,000 troops were garrisoned in the city, and hundreds of thousands of people moved south. Like Hebei, the Song Dynasty implemented a strong wall and clearing the fields in Taiyuan Prefecture. This was Fan Ning's method. Yelu Hongji was very familiar with it. Unfortunately, Fan Ning was still a little too young. After experiencing the heavy lessons of the last time, how could the Liao army consume a large amount of troops on the siege?

Only when troops approach the city of Bianliang is the best attack, forcing the Song Dynasty to sign the alliance under the city.

After pondering for a long time, Yelu Hongji turned around and said to a group of important officials: "Send troops in ten days!"

In the second year of Pingxia of the Song Dynasty, in the seventh year of Xianyong of the Liao Dynasty, on the seventh day of the fifth month, the Liao Dynasty invested 200,000 troops to launch a full-scale attack by the Song army.

The Liao army was divided into two lines, east and west. The king of the north courtyard of the western front also served as the western recruitment envoy, leading 120,000 cavalry to the south from Datong Prefecture and headed straight to Taiyuan.

Zhao Xu, the emperor of the Song Dynasty who was patrolling the war preparations in Taiyuan, had already left Taiyuan by boat five days ago and was on his way back to the capital. Three days later, a 120,000 army broke through Loufan Pass and rushed towards Taiyuan. The entire northern part of Taiyuan Prefecture was completely shrouded in an endless murderous intent.

On the eastern front, Xiao Weixin, the Privy Councilor of the Southern Court, was the head coach, and Gao Yuanji, the governor of the Huaihua Army, was the vanguard general, and led an army of 80,000 across the sea to attack Dengzhou.

The navy located in the central Yalu River has 150 large ships of 5,000 stone purchased from Japan, enough to carry 80,000 troops and a large number of siege equipment.

The war horses were preparing for the second batch of transport. The Liao army's first mission was to capture Dengzhou and make Dengzhou the Liao Kingdom's foothold on the Shandong Peninsula.

Yelu Hongji was also very aware that this was an extremely risky military operation, so he strictly adhered to this combat plan. As the highest secret of the Liao Kingdom, only a dozen important officials knew about it.

The base of the Song Dynasty navy was in Laizhou, about two hundred miles away from Dengzhou. When the Song army discovered a large number of Liao warships appeared outside the sea, it was too late to intercept them.

Yelu Hongji's deduction was not good. If the Song Dynasty had not known the Liao army's plan in advance, it would have been a time difference by the Liao Kingdom and landed successfully.

It’s a pity that Yelu Hongji never thought that the two important officials around him had secretly betrayed him and leaked the top-secret information to the Song Dynasty.

In the early morning, the wind was strong by the Yalu River, and the north wind was blowing, which was very suitable for the fleet to move south. Eighty thousand troops were lined up on board, including 30,000 Khitan troops, 30,000 Xi troops and 20,000 Bohai troops. The soldiers only carried dry food for ten days. In fact, they would arrive in Dengzhou early tomorrow morning.

There were more than twenty boatmen on each large ship responsible for sailing and steering. Soon, all 80,000 troops were lined up on the ship. The first group of commander Xiao Weixin did not follow the ship, but led 80,000 troops across the sea by Gao Yuanji.

Xiao Weixin gave an order, "Set out!"
Chapter completed!