Due to the lack of troops, the main forces of the Liao army were mainly distributed in Jinzhou, Dading Prefecture and Liaoyang Prefecture. Although this kind of troops was deployed to protect the key areas, it also gave up the defense of most Tokyo Road cities.

The Song army obviously seized the loopholes in the Liao army's infantry, started from the outside, and continued to erode the Liao city and land.

Just as the Song army captured Baozhou and Xuanzhou at the mouth of the Yalu River, a fleet of 10,000 large ships and 10,000 Song army set out from Pingyi City, Jingzhou, entered the Huntong River, which is Heishui, went south to the river and launched the second clearance of the Khitan Shengfan.

The commander of this army was still Zhang Feng. He was the governor of Kunzhou and also served as the deputy envoy of overseas strategic management. In fact, the Song army had already sent troops. Just ten days ago, shortly after the Pingyicheng Strait and Huntong River thawed, the Song army fleet entered Huntong River.

However, this time the northern fleet was very low-key and did not attract attention. Yelu Hongji did not take it too seriously. Last year, the Khitan Shengfan was continuously wiped out by the Song army and suffered heavy losses. Yelu Hongji came forward to persuade Shengfan from all over the country to move to Shangjing. There were few Khitan Shengfan tribes left along the Huntong River.

Zhang Qi also discovered this. He sent troops for ten days and only wiped out two Khitan Shengfan tribes. The twenty Shengfan tribes marked on the map that missed the net last year were gone, and the hut was still there, but people were gone and money was gone.

Commander Liu Kun said to Zhang Qi: "Empress, it should be that our extermination of the Khitan Shengfan tribe last year that attracted the vigilance of the Liao court, and the Liao court moved them away."

Zhang Ju nodded, "I think so too, but this is just an inference and needs to be proved."

"This is easy. I will know when I go to interrogate the captured child."

Liu Kun hurried away, Zhang Qing stood in front of the map with his hands behind his back and pondered, and a bold plan gradually emerged in his mind.

Soon after, Liu Kun came back, and he smiled and said, "We guessed it. Last autumn, the Liao Dynasty's court transferred all the tribes of life to Shangjing. These two tribes were unwilling to leave and were killed by us."

Zhang Qi pondered for a moment and said, "Since we have come, we cannot return without success. I think about whether we should change our plan."

"What do you think of the envoy?"

Zhang Qi pointed to Huanglong Mansion on the map and said, "We are only more than two hundred miles away from Huanglong Mansion. Why would we directly capture Huanglong Mansion? What does General Liu think?"

Huanglong Mansion is the northernmost important town on Tokyo Road. It captured Huanglong Mansion and the fleet controlled the coast of the Huntong River. The northern part of Tokyo Road actually fell into the hands of the Song army. Zhang Shi had long had this idea, and now he realized that the opportunity had come.

Liu Kun slapped his thigh and praised: "This is a good plan. I will send a scout to investigate the situation in Huanglong Mansion."

That night, hundreds of large ships set off again under the cover of night and headed towards Huanglong Mansion two hundred miles away.

Although the Liao army defeated the Song army a few months ago and the morale was high, the victory did not change the dilemma of the Liao army's meager strength. After the fall of Xijing, the Liao army had been reduced to less than 200,000, and the tribes of the grassland had publicly refused to send troops, which made Yelu Hongji very helpless.

The old ally Xi tribe had been drained by the Liao Kingdom, and in the end 30,000 troops were also incorporated into the Liao army. Now the Xi people are only elderly, weak, women and children. As for the Bohai people, almost exhausted their troops and were unable to recruit troops again.

The only source of recruitment is the people of various cities in Tokyo Road, mainly Khitan civilians, but they are now the only source of financial and taxation for the Liao Kingdom. If they are forced to enlist in the army, it will be equivalent to completely cutting off the financial and taxation source of Tokyo Road.

Yelu Hongji had to carefully consider this serious consequence.

But what bothered Yelu Hongji even more was that he received news from the capital and Fanning was re-activated. This news made him feel uncomfortable. A literati like Han Jiang would not fight, but Fanning was in trouble.

Xiao Weixin comforted Yelu Hongji and said, "Your Majesty, since Fanning has taken office, we must face the reality. As long as we firmly control the Liaohe River Basin and Jinzhou front line and give full play to our cavalry advantages, we will not be afraid of Fanning's re-elected office."

"I can only think like this."

Yelu Hongji sighed, "I just got a piece of news that Huanglong Mansion has been captured by the Song army. It is probably the Song army coming from Kunzhou, but the news is not accurate. The Privy Councilor thinks we are going to send an army north?"

Xiao Weixin thought for a while and said, "The role of Huanglong Mansion is mainly to facilitate the management of Khitan's birth spree, but most of the birth spree are moved to Shangjing, so Huanglong Mansion is not very effective. Besides, the population of Huanglong Mansion is less than 10,000. Weichen feels that there is no need to spend precious troops to fight for it. However, it is necessary to prevent the Song army from moving south with Huanglong Mansion as a base. Weichen suggests increasing troops to Tongzhou and guarding the northern gate of Liaoyang Mansion."

Tongzhou is today Siping, located between Huanglong Prefecture and Liaoyang Prefecture. It ties the only way to Huanglong Prefecture to go south to Liaoyang Prefecture. It is also the northern gate of Liaoyang Prefecture. Its strategic position is extremely important. Xiao Weixin's proposal is very rational and is in line with the current situation of insufficient troops in the Liao army.

"You are right. Now that we are short of troops, we really can't pay too much attention to the gains and losses of a city and a place. We must focus on the key points."

Yelu Hongji agreed with Xiao Weixin's suggestion and ordered General Yelu Su to lead 10,000 troops north to take over the defense of Tongzhou in the north.

Jinzhou is the top priority of the Liao army's defense. Currently, 20,000 Liao troops are stationed in Jinzhou, led by Liang King Yelu Hongtai. However, relying solely on 20,000 troops to defend Jinzhou is obviously not enough. There are 500,000 Song troops on the Pingzhou line.

Yelu Hongji used a flexible strategy, and 30,000 cavalry stationed in Western Liaozhou between Jinzhou and Liaoyang Prefecture. It was a one-day journey from Western Liaozhou to Jinzhou and Liaoyang Prefecture. No matter which direction the Song army attacked, the cavalry of Western Liaozhou could arrive in one day.

By the same token, the Liao army also stationed 20,000 cavalry in Jianzhou between Dading Prefecture and Jinzhou, which is also a day away from Dading Prefecture and Jinzhou. If the Song army in Dading Prefecture wants to break through, 20,000 cavalry in Jianzhou can be chased at any time. If the Song army comes out of Pingzhou, the 20,000 cavalry in Jianzhou and 30,000 cavalry in Western Liaozhou can also be killed in time, so that Jinzhou has 70,000 defenders in one day and is a cavalry. It can fully exert the powerful combat effectiveness of the cavalry in the western Liaoning Corridor and fight to the death with the main force of the Song army.

This tactic of taking both sides is also a weighing strategy adopted by the Liao army because of insufficient military strength. If the Song army attacked Liaoyang Prefecture and Jinzhou at the same time, the 30,000 cavalry in Liaoxi Prefecture would be difficult to deal with, and they could only choose to defend Liaoyang Prefecture.

Yelu Hongji also knew this very well. If the Song army attacked on both sides, he could only count on the 20,000 cavalrymen from Jianzhou to support Jinzhou.

At the first update, a huge fleet slowly arrived at Juehua Island. Juehua Island gave up because the Liao army had no naval forces. Only more than a thousand monks lived in the temples on Juehua Island.

But the Song army's target was not Juehua Island, but Anchang County to the north of Juehua Island. Anchang County is a county under Jinzhou, only twenty miles away from Yongle County, Jinzhou Prefecture. It is difficult to land on the coast of Yongle County, but Anchang County can.

One million ships of ten thousand stones landed in Anchang County with a 50,000 elite army.

After inspecting Laizhou for a month, Fanning finally took action against Jinzhou.

There is only one way to break the joint defense of Liaoxi Prefecture and Jianzhou against Jinzhou, that is, start by sending troops and take down Jinzhou within one day. When the enemy cavalry arrives, the situation in Jinzhou is gone.

However, it took three days to send troops from Pingzhou to Guanglu, and it was obvious that this important task could not be completed.

The only way to transport troops from the sea to land. Later, in the Liaochen Battle, 50,000 national troops were to evacuate from the sea.

The Song army had maritime advantages, so of course it had to make full use of them.

One of the important reasons why I chose to land at night is to gain time and delay the Liao army's request for help from Liaoxi Prefecture and Jianzhou to the greatest extent.

If it was during the day, the Jinzhou defenders could send pigeon letters and deliver the messages to both places in time. However, the pigeons could not fly at night. The other party either sent cavalry to ask for help, or waited for the letter after dawn, which bought the Song army for most of the day. In addition, the day spent on the reinforcements actually gave the Song army at least one and a half days.

The landing of 50,000 people is a necessary course for the Song army's training. The Song army has practiced many times. In addition to the 50,000 elite soldiers, there is also a material transportation team composed of 500 thousand stone cargo ships. They will enter the Xiaoling River from the Bohai Sea and arrive directly at the city of Jinzhou.

At the second update, 50,000 naval troops had landed and assembled. Leading by commander Yang Ying, he rushed to Jinzhou City twenty miles away.
Chapter completed!