Although Yelu Kunping was negligent and allowed the Song army to take advantage of loopholes, he was not very nervous and asked all 30,000 troops to pursue the Song army. He divided his troops into two groups and ordered 15,000 cavalry to go south to pick up Caishi Liao army, while the other 15,000 cavalry remained unmoved.

The baggage and camp were burned down, and he could directly lead his army around Baosai City to go east to Hejian Mansion.

An hour later, news came from the south that Caishi's army was surrounded by the Song army, and the three thousand people were almost destroyed. When the Liao cavalry rushed there, there were only more than one hundred soldiers who broke through the siege. Except for more than a thousand people who died in battle, the rest surrendered to the Song army.

Yelu Kunping had no choice but to lead his army to retreat north. He originally wanted to take the remaining army directly around Baosai City and head to Hejian Mansion, but was strongly opposed by the generals.

The food, grass and supplies were burned, and each person had only two days of dry food, so there was not enough food at all. The war horses had no fodder. More importantly, they had to cross the two major rivers, Shashui and Hutuo River. The bridges were demolished by the Song army. How did they cross the river?

Yelu Kunping also figured this out. They had no other way except to withdraw to Liao Kingdom.

That night, 30,000 cavalry and 9,000 infantry rested in Manshui County, about fifty miles away from the border. Manshui County was a small county. All the people in the city had moved south, leaving only a few hundred empty houses, and slightly valuable things were taken away, and the grain was invisible. The beams were also taken away, leaving only a ruined wall.

Yelu Kunping did not dare to cross the border at night. He was worried that the Song army would be ambushed, so he sent more than a hundred spies to investigate the situation. The army was tired and hungry. After entering the city, he ate some dry food and fed the horses some bean cakes they carried with him. The soldiers fell to bed.

At the fifth hour, Yelu Kunping was suddenly awakened by a riot. He stood up and asked anxiously, "What happened?"

After a moment, a soldier came to report, "Report to General, the water has flooded into the city."

Yelu Kunping was shocked and asked, "How far is it drowning?"

“To the knees!”

At this time, their personal soldiers also shouted, and saw that the water had already flooded, and all the sheepskins they laid on the ground were flooded.

Yelu Kunping was frightened and kept saying, "Get out immediately and go north!"

Thirty thousand cavalrymen were on their horses one after another, and the infantry were even more panicked and rushed out of the city gate first. There was already a vast ocean outside the city. At this time, more than a dozen cavalrymen who were inquiring about information rushed back and reported urgently: "The Song army dug out the Baigou, the river water was flooded, the water was very strong, the general should retreat quickly!"

“How deep is the water in the north?”

"Perhaps Qi's waist is still rising, and the Song army dug a deep trench in Longwei Town, which has been flooded by the river. Many of our brothers are missing in the ditch there. I wonder how deep the ditch is?"

Yelu Kunping knew very well the terrain on the other side of the passage, which was low-lying and would definitely not be able to get through after being flooded, not to mention that a ditch was dug.

Walking west is a mountain. Even if people can cross the mountains, what should the horse do? You can't abandon all 30,000 horses. Walking east can you go to Hejian Mansion, but how many big rivers should you cross?

But the rising water level was not waiting for his decision, and it fell into his thighs in a blink of an eye, and the soldiers shouted in fear.

Yelu Kunping had no choice but to grit his teeth and say, "Get westward!"

Thirty thousand cavalry and nine thousand infantry fled desperately, running towards Dingzhou...

A few months later, the water gradually receded, but a narrow and long lake storm that was seven miles wide and more than thirty miles long was permanently formed between the Song and Liao dynasties. The Song army called this lake storm the Dragon Tail.

.........

The Liao army commander Xiao Hannu led 50,000 Eastern Army troops to cross Baigou from Bazhou, heading south and attacking Hejian Prefecture. He encountered almost no obstacles and directly rushed to the bottom of Hejian County.

Like Baozhou to the west, Hejian Mansion is also a strong wall and clear field. All the houses were destroyed, the trees were cut down, and there was no place for people to be seen for more than 200 miles.

This time, the Song army strengthened the walls and cleared the fields, and the boundary was bounded by the Yellow River and the Hutuo River. Although the trees on the south were not necessarily cut down, people moved south without exception. There were defenses of the Hutuo River and the Yellow River. With the powerful naval army of the Song army, it was believed that the Liao army would find it difficult for them to cross this defensive line.

The Hutuo River originates from the Taihang Mountains, flows from west to east through Zhending Prefecture, Dingzhou, Qizhou, and Shenzhou. It turns north in Raoyang in Shenzhou, and passes north through Hejian Prefecture, Mozhou, Xiongzhou, and Bazhou. Finally, it flows into the Juma River, forming a huge arc, which prevents the Liao army from crossing the Hutuo River to Hejian Prefecture.

The Hutuo River has a wide surface and can sail 5,000 stones. In order to make the Hutuo River a natural defense line that blocks the Liao army's southward movement and also becomes the main line of transportation, last winter, Fan Ning mobilized the court 500,000 civilians to use an abandoned Xiao Liu River to dig an artificial canal of 50 miles long. This artificial canal was dug for three and a half months and was completed ten days ago, which is of great strategic significance.

The reason why it is of great strategic significance is that this artificial canal connects the Yellow River and the Hutuo River, which not only allows the Yellow River fleet from the Song army to go north to enter the Hutuo River through it, but also prevents the Liao army's cavalry from moving south.

The only thing I worry about is that in winter, the river water freezes, and the Hutuo River and the Yellow River lose their defensive effect. However, the cavalry needs supplies along the way from the Hutuo River to Baigou. Therefore, in history, whether the Khitans or the Jurchens went south, they needed a big city as a logistics center.

This is why the Liao army first captured Baosai City. With Baosai City as logistics supply, it will be much more relaxed whether it is attacking Hejian City or continuing to move south.

Of course, Yelu Hongji set a strategy to seize Hejian Prefecture and use Hejian Prefecture as a logistics center for the Liao army to move south.

If we follow the size of the county town, Hejian County is slightly inferior to Zhending County, but when it comes to population size, it is the second largest county in Hebei Road, second only to Daming County, with a population of more than 300,000. The county town is more than 40 miles in circumference, and the city wall is as high as three meters high. It is tall and solid, with a wide wall and a heavy city gate. It is known as the most solid city in northern Hebei.

There are currently 30,000 troops and 50,000 militiamen in Hejian County. It is also the location of the Hebei Propaganda and Fu Office, the Liao Army's Office and the Hebei Logistics Military Investment Camp. The commander Fan Ning is currently in Hejian County.

Not only did the Liao army want to capture the thief and capture Fan Ning first, but the food in Hejian County was 800,000 stones alone, and there were countless military funds and armor, as well as hundreds of thousands of troops and ten million taels of silver. How could the Liao Kingdom not let them salivate through spies in the city?

That morning, Fan Ning stood in the Liao army camp in the far north above the city. Three days ago, the Liao army also launched a tentative attack on Hejian City. After losing more than 3,000 people, it stopped the attack. The Song army did not use iron fire and thunder in the battle, but burned more than 200 siege ladders with fierce oil, forcing the Liao army to withdraw its troops.

For three days, the Liao army never launched an offensive against the Song army again, but Fan Ning knew very well that the other party was waiting for news from Baozhou.

Thinking of Baozhou, Fan Ning showed a sneer on his lips. The Liao army in Baozhou could not get through. He wanted to see how this Eastern Army retreated?

The Song Dynasty naval army had blocked the Baigou, the floating bridge was burned, and the logistics supply was cut off. Unless they could capture a strong city and obtain supplies, they could only last for two months at most.

The Liao army still used traditional combat methods to deal with the Song army, but their opponents abandoned the traditional tactics of Fan Ning. Fan Ning made full use of the powerful naval advantages of Songcheng and used the method of strengthening the walls and clearing the fields to prevent the Liao army from obtaining supplies within the Song Dynasty. This was the Liao army's southern invasion gradually evolved into a battle of trapped beasts.

The Liao army did not realize this at this time. They were the Hutuo River to the west, the Yellow River and the Artificial Hutuo River to the south, the Yellow River to the east, and the Baigou to the north. They were actually surrounded by a land of about 5,000 square kilometers. There were only four cities of Hejian County, Renqiu County, Ba County and Qingshui County. However, the Song army stationed 100,000 troops, and there were 15,000 navy troops and 800 thousand stone warships to control several important rivers.

At this time, Yang Wenguang quickly walked to Fan Ning and said, "I have a bold idea, please refer to Mr. Fan."

"Please say the old general!"

Yang Wenguang said: "At present, there are only 3,000 troops in Yi County. It is recommended that you use surprise troops to capture Yi County and completely disrupt the deployment of the Liao Kingdom."

The reason why Yang Wenguang proposed this plan was because they received a message from Yang Gui in the morning that the main forces of the Liao army were deployed on the Pingzhou line to deal with the threat of the Song Dynasty naval army. There were only 3,000 troops garrisoned in Yi County on the west, and the Han army was the main one.

Fan Ning smiled and said, "Captaining Yi County will inevitably lead to a large-scale counterattack from the Liao Kingdom. We must consider whether we can hold on?"

Yang Wenguang hurriedly said: "Yi County is located in a mountainous area. The county town itself is built on a high place. It is made of huge stones. It is extremely strong and easy to defend and difficult to attack. The vast majority of the people in the county are Han people and live in poverty. As long as we distribute the wealth and grain of the Liao nobles to them, we believe that they will support the Song army. Once we occupy Yi County, we can transport grain to Yi County through Yishui. As long as we leave enough food for a year, I believe that the Liao Kingdom will not be able to collect Yizhou."

Seeing that Fan Ning was a little moved, Yang Wenguang immediately said: "As long as my husband agrees, I am willing to lead 10,000 troops from his subordinates to the north to capture Yi County."

Fan Ning pondered for a moment. Since the Liao army in Baozhou could not come, it would be enough for him to defend the city by 20,000 troops. If he could take advantage of the situation, it would be a good move.

Of course, there is also a great risk here. Maybe ten thousand troops will be destroyed. Fan Ning weighed the pros and cons, and finally nodded.

"Okay! I can accept your plan."
Chapter completed!