Tanglong Town is located in an open place in the north of the Volcanic Army. A small river flows by the bottom. The river rises and becomes wider in the rainy season, and is intermittent in the dry season. At this time, there is not much water in the river, narrow and shallow, and the water almost becomes ice, which does not affect the movement of the army. The military city is built high in the east, backed by mountains, facing the valley and river, and the terrain is extremely favorable. It can only attack from the valley, which is extremely difficult.

The heavy artillery position chosen by Yao Shouxin can overlook the entire valley on a high ground not far from the city. Hundreds of horses dragged the heavy artillery carts to the high ground, arranged them separately, and chose a suitable place to prepare flowering bullets.

Although artillery is good, the expenses are like flowing water, and small countries cannot afford them at all. These twenty-eight heavy artillery are equivalent to several cavalry battalions, and they are almost the same as thousands of cavalry, both in terms of cost and wartime expense. The equipment comes from the Iron Supervisor. I don’t think it is normal to practice it. When I arrive at the battlefield, the money I spend is shocking. All the shells are transported by railway to the Baode Army and then transported here by large trucks. The number is not large, so it is still more than enough to fight a war.

Standing on the top of the mountain, Yao Shouxin and several artillery commanders held telescopes, carefully observed the valley position, and calculated the artillery position arrangement.

Iron Supervisor made glass, made mirrors, and finally made telescopes. However, at this time, telescopes were expensive, with more artillery and fewer cavalry and infantry. They only had them at the commander and commander.

Du Zhongxiao and Liu Ji stood at the top of the city, carefully observed the terrain, compared the map, and arranged other artillery positions. With artillery as the center, protected infantry and cavalry were arranged. The south end of the valley where the army city continued were iron armored cavalry and infantry of Yang Wenguang and Zhao Zi. Dou Shunqing's infantry was arranged inside and outside the army city, and together with the surrounding 6,000 cavalrymen, they served as the central army and the general reserve team.

After the arrangement was completed, the officers were asked to go to observe the positions themselves. Du Zhongxiao said to Liu Ji: "We have so many artillery, and this valley is not suitable for the Khitans. This place is too open, and the artillery is condescending, and the battle cannot be fought. Moreover, the terrain is limited, and the 100,000 troops cannot be deployed at all. They can only be divided into several parts and take turns to attack the city."

Liu Jidao: "How can the Khitans know this? I expect that 100,000 people will come, and at least 20,000 to rob at least 20,000 to rob, and no one can escape within a hundred miles of the surrounding area. They also want to find that, in the small town of Tanglong Town, our army cannot shrink into the city, and it will inevitably fight outside the city."

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "Yes, this is based on common sense. The 30,000 army is here. It is logical that it should be safeguarded the surrounding security. Choose a few important places within 10 or 20 miles to fight with the Khitans separately. However, we came too haste and there was no time to fight to the death here. If the Khitans knew that our main position was artillery, we should start from outside, compete for one artillery position and one artillery position, and finally approach the military city. No one had ever fought like this before, and the Khitans could not know it, it depends on whether Yelu Zongzhen dared to take risks with his own life."

Before Yao Shouxin mentioned it, Du Zhongxiao did not think in this direction, and everything was inferred by military common sense. When Khitan soldiers came, they should have camped ten miles north of the north, and then competed with the Song army for the peripheral positions and seized artillery positions in nearby highlands before they dared to attack the city. Such a battle lasted for a long time, and a hundred thousand troops were dragged here, and it was likely that the subsequent Song army reinforcements would be made into dumplings.

As the monarch of a country, Yelu Zongzhen suddenly led his troops south. This is definitely not what he thought. He should have thought that if he could not conquer Tang Long Town, he would not fight to the death here. He would win a few battles and find face, and the army should leave.

When he first received the news, Du Zhongxiao was also puzzled. Why did the Khitan army suddenly come to attack again? After thinking about it all night, he finally realized that for the Khitans, it is best to get Tanglong Town, and if they don’t get it, they need to gain other gains. After a few small wins, the army turned east to cross the Yellow River, seized the relatively easy-to-fight Bidouzhai, seized the Chenjiagukou along the way, and went north to Shuozhou. Returning to Shangjing from Shuozhou was all the main roads, and the supply was convenient.

The Khitan captured a large number of property, cattle and sheep, and the return speed was too slow, so the elite army could not wait. Yelu Zongzhen suddenly divided his troops to go south, because Yelu Chongyuan's defeat was a bit angry, but it was not a brainless attack. What is more likely was that the Khitan had decided to divide the troops, and Yelu Zongzhen came to Tanglong Town by the way. One hundred thousand to three thousand, he could always win a few battles and find face. He had something to say to Dangxiang and the small northwest country.

Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, several small countries in the northwest that had been isolated from the Central Plains for a long time quickly recognized the status of the Song Dynasty and sent envoys to pay tribute. Until the Battle of Gaolianghe, Song was defeated by the Khitan. The attitude of the northwest forces changed, with Khitan as the main force, and they were both sides surrendered. Although the defeat by the Song Dynasty was not large, the attitude towards the surrounding forces was very important, and the Khitan also had to consider it. It was the same as the Khitan attacked Dangxiang several times, but he was clearly defeated, but he reported the victory to the Song Dynasty. The battle between the two major powers was not only the affairs of both sides, but also to other forces.

In addition to Tanglong Town, there is another important place along the way, which is the entrance of Chenjiagu. Although it is a military camp, it guards the important road from Shuozhou to attack Yanmen Pass in Daizhou. Yelu Chongyuan came to Tanglong Town. His original plan was to seize Tanglong Town and occupy Chenjiagukou and return to Shuozhou after taking over Tanglong Town. Tanglong Town could not be captured, and the Khitan still had to occupy the hundreds of miles from Bietou Village to Chenjiagukou. If he occupied it, the importance of Yanmen Pass decreased.

Looking at the desolate outside the city in the cold wind and thinking about the days he was here before, Du Zhongxiao sighed inwardly. He served as an official and benefited the people. Unexpectedly, the prosperous city he built became like this in a few years.

Back at the yamen, Du Zhongxiao, Shi Quanbin and Liu Ji sat together, discussing the war in a few days.

Shi Quanbin said: "The roar came to report that the Khitan king's central army and the vanguard were always together, and there was no sign of separation. In this way, it is very likely that when the Khitan army arrived, he would come to the front of the formation-"

Liu Jidao: "If this is true, then there is no need to say how many shells there are, just hit him!"

Shi Quanbin was very excited: "I just went to urge Li Fugui to transport all the supplies Baode army had to Tanglong Town. After the previous victory, I sent back the carts, mules and horses from the civilians, and then returned them and promised to give them money. As long as this victory is the death of the Khitan king under the city, the court is willing to take out the money! Youyun dared not think about destroying the Khitan king here!"

Du Zhongxiao shook his head: "The Khitan king cannot make any idea of ​​Youyun now. The eldest son of the Khitan king, King Yan, was sentenced to Nanjing Xijin Prefecture with the Khitan military commander, and the crown prince, King Wu, Chongyuan, was sentenced to Nanjing Datong Prefecture. Before Hongji had not grown up, the Khitan king had said that the emperor was in Chongyuan behind him. Although he had obviously intention to spread it in Hongji in recent years, he had not yet established Ji as the crown prince. Yelu Chongyuan was the crown prince, and Yelu Hongji was the eldest son, but he did not establish him as the crown prince, one defended Youzhou and the other guarded Yunzhou. What would happen to the Khitan king if he killed the Khitan king under the city?"

Shi Quanbin and Liu Ji looked at each other and said in unison: "Civil strife?!"

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "That is inevitable. Even if Chongyuan and Hongji have no intention of fighting over the throne, their subordinates will fight. The Khitan has always been ruled by the royal family and the queen tribe. The queen mother was banned for many years because she wanted to establish Chongyuan to abolish Zongzhen, and Chongyuan succeeded to the throne, and then she has regained her majesty again in recent years. Yelu Chongyuan is behind the Khitan tribe, and Yelu Hongji is behind the Khitan royal family. With the empress dowager there, how could Yelu Hongji want to ascend the throne? If Yelu Chongyuan succeeds to the throne, how could the Khitan royal family agree? Finally, the father dies and sons become a system, and Chongyuan succeeds to the throne, and the clan will regain power, and how could the royal family be killed!"

The Khitan's descendants have always been strong. In recent generations, the father died and the son inherited as a system, and the royal family truly had the advantage. In the past, if the emperor died early, it was not a common practice for the father to die. The empress dowager had great power over the successor, but in fact the descendants and royal family took turns to take power. The current empress dowager Xiao Nojin was once banned because he wanted to abolish Zong Zhen and establish Chongyuan as the emperor and conspired to chaos. Zong Zhen suddenly disappeared. The empress dowager who occupied Shangjing, Yelu Hongji, Youzhou, and Yelu Chongyuan, Yunzhou, is hard to say which side has the advantage.

The Khitan was different from the Central Plains. The empress and queen mother of the Central Plains did not come from a fixed family, but the Khitan was a royal family, Yelu, and his status was incomparable. When the emperor was young, Empress Dowager Liu was the one who claimed to be the rule, and the two countries were somewhat similar. The envoys of the two countries were sent by the empress dowager and the emperor, and the status was not high or low. When Empress Dowager Liu died, the Khitan still had two groups of envoys, and the Song envoys Khitan was also two groups of envoys, congratulating the emperor and the empress dowager.

The Chanzhou alliance was a country of brotherhood. In fact, there were rituals of relatives among the state rites. Empress Dowager Liu was particularly obvious when he was in power. What is interesting is that the Empress Dowager of the Song Dynasty was surnamed Liu, and the Han surname of the Yelu clan of the Khitan royal family was also Liu. The Liu surname was not often used, but they chose it themselves.

If Yelu Zongzhen is killed, how could the Khitan not have civil strife? Yelu Hongji has the support of the royal family, and Yelu Chongyuan will definitely get the support of the queen mother. They don’t want to fight, and the people below must fight.

After hearing Du Zhongxiao's words, Liu Ji and Shi Quanbin nodded silently, their hearts thumped. They originally thought that killing the Khitan emperor would be of great military achievements, but they did not expect that the involvement would be so wide. If the Khitan was in a civil turmoil, the Song Dynasty would have been much more advantageous.

Du Zhongxiao said: "I just don't know what soldiers and horses the Khitan king brought here. He must have brought Oluduo's personal guards, but he didn't know which palaces it was, and whether it was the royal family or the post tribe. This battle brought a major blow, which later directly affected the Khitan royal family and the royal family's troops."

Oludo is the most basic military and political system of the Khitan, and it belongs to the emperor's military and political integration group. Every time he personally fights, he escorts the left and right. Yelu Zong must have brought elite troops, but which of them are royal palace tents and which are the Hou family palace tents, and the cavalry cannot detect them. If the power of the royal family is greatly reduced and the empress dowager is in Shangjing, Yelu Chongyuan will have the advantage.

After listening to Du Zhongxiao's analysis, Liu Ji said: "When we wait for the control, we just need to kill the Khitan king and let the Khitan soldiers leave?"

Du Zhongxiao shook his head: "How can this be? The enemy's army comes, how can it be easily let go if it wins? If it can really kill the Khitan king and the enemy collapses, then the entire army will attack and kill as much as it catches up. Just remember, don't attack Yunzhou to avoid accidents."

Shi Quanbin said: "Then where will we chase? The Khitan soldiers either fled east or returned north."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Hequ several states! As we wish, then don't care about everything. The whole army attacks and seizes the land of Hequ! After he seizes Hequ, the army arrives under Yinshan. Whether it is Khitan or Dangxiang, it will become the fish on our chopping board!"

Hequ is part of the Hetao mentioned in later generations. Its scope is slightly different, mainly the "Ji"-shaped range formed by the large bend of the Yellow River. Several states in this area are embedded between the Khitan and Dangxiang. If it occupy this place, it is isolated from the Khitan and Dangxiang, and the two countries are no longer bordered. For Dangxiang, along the Yellow River, you can circumvent Helan Mountain and approach the capital Xingyuan Prefecture. For Khitan, you threaten Xijing Datong Prefecture to the south and border the Tatar tribes to the north.

It was originally a dangerous place to be attacked from three sides. But now the railway was built to the Baode Army and it was not difficult to extend north to Dongshengzhou. With the support of strong national strength, it became a place where you can attack from three sides. With military strength and national strength, the dangerous place was not dangerous, but became a key place to counter all parties.
Chapter completed!