During the Song, Liao, Western Xia, Jin and Mongolian periods, heavy cavalry was still the main force of cavalry on the battlefield.

For example, the Jingsai Army of the Song Dynasty, the Tielin Army of the Liao Dynasty, the Tieyaozi of the Western Xia Dynasty, the Tiefutu of the Jin Dynasty, and the heavy armored cavalry of Mongolia.

However, heavy cavalry is extremely costly, and the cost of personnel training and armor equipment is very expensive. Therefore, the number of heavy cavalry deployed among countries is relatively small, and the number of light cavalry is the largest.

Therefore, if the Liao and Song dynasties went to war and met in the wild, facing the powerful number of Liao's light cavalry, the Song army's infantry phalanxes would really only be sitting ducks.

The problem is that the Song army won’t be stupid enough to start a war with you in the wild.

There are more than 30 important cities on the Hebei border alone, and hundreds of other fortresses, military camps, and blockhouses, which are so densely packed that they are countless.

There are more than ten military prefectures and cities on the border, including Zhending Prefecture, Dingzhou, Baozhou, Guangxin Army, Ansu Army, Shun'an Army, Xiongzhou, Mozhou, Baoding Army, Xin'an Army, Yongning Army, Cangzhou, and Baoding Prefecture. The number of garrisons has increased from more than 100,000 during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song to more than 200,000 now.

The Liao cavalry marched south in large numbers, and encountered the enemy's cities, military camps, fortresses, and blockhouses, all of which were tough opponents.

In the past, you could hold your ground against the enemy's city and see if you could storm it. But now, they have crossbows for long range and bows for medium and long range. When you finally reach the city, you're blown to pieces by grenades.

Therefore, when Liao Xingzong Yelu Zongzhen heard the analysis of his ministers, he felt it was very difficult.

The Song Dynasty is like a turtle. Although its counterattack ability is not strong, its defense is too strong. It is difficult for a mouse to pull the turtle. The turtle shell may have thorns and bite back, which will be troublesome.

But no matter what, although the Song Dynasty's new firearms posed no threat to the Liao Dynasty's active attack, it gave the Song Dynasty the confidence to resist the Liao Dynasty. After easily defeating the Western Xia, the Song Dynasty Emperor Zhao Zhen's self-confidence soared and he became fearless.

Yelu Zongzhen believed that even if he could not invade the Song Dynasty from the south, he could not let the Song Dynasty continue to swell its confidence, and he still had to maintain the necessary military deterrence. Therefore, after much hesitation, he finally decided to gather his troops in Nanjing and wait and see how the situation developed.

So in the second half of the second year of Baoyuan, the Liao Kingdom began to frequently gather troops. The spies and scouts on the Song border also noticed this and immediately reported the situation to the court after finding out about the Liao army's gathering.

The Constitutional Court had actually analyzed this situation a long time ago, and Zhao Zhen and his men had already made arrangements and preparations in advance. Large quantities of food, fodder, weapons and equipment began to be transported to Hebei. At the same time, a part of the imperial guards in the capital were mobilized with more than 100,000 grenades to guard the border and meet the enemy.

Historically, the Song Dynasty had been fighting in the northwest for several years, spending heavily and depleting its treasury. At this point, the Liao Dynasty again led its troops to threaten them. Zhao Zhen and his men, believing that the country's strength could no longer sustain fighting on two fronts, adopted the "Qingli Increased Currency" in exchange for the Liao Dynasty's withdrawal.

But now, historically, the Song Dynasty had already fought against the Western Xia for several years, and its national strength was severely depleted, so it could not go to war with the Liao Dynasty again. Now it was over at the beginning, and the Song Dynasty had not consumed much, so it was naturally fearless.

Secondly, after Zhao Jun came to the Song Dynasty, the national strength had grown, and industry and commerce were increasingly prosperous. Through the taxation, the national treasury was now quite full, which was more than enough to temporarily maintain the two-front war.

The third and most important point is that Zhao Zhen and his men already knew the history in advance. This means that they had been preparing for the Song-Xia War and the possible Song-Liao War in the future for more than three years, from the third year of Jingyou to the second year of Baoyuan.

The Western Xia had been preparing to attack the Song for a long time, but the Song knew that they had been preparing for a long time, so they also prepared a long time to counterattack. Inadvertently, they directly defeated the Western Xia attack.

The Liao Kingdom needed to make temporary preparations, but the Song Kingdom had already been wary of the Liao Kingdom. In this situation, the war preparations of both sides were completely on a different level.

September.

The Liao Kingdom was still raising food, fodder, and troops, but the situation in the northwest had already entered a white-hot stage.

The north wind howled on the Loess Plateau, and as early winter approached, all things were silent.

The originally green hills turned yellow, and after the green grass withered, the high slopes covered with yellow sand were exposed.

Zhang Kang led thousands of knights and slowly appeared on the hills north of Long'ansai.

Following behind were Di Qing, Zhe Jimin, Zhou Mei and other mid-level officers. All the soldiers rode two horses, one for the men and the other for the fodder.

Due to their outstanding performance in the Battle of Luoluo Village, almost all of the original junior officers became middle-level officers.

Among them, Zhang Kang was promoted the highest. He was praised by Zhao Jun and recommended by Fan Zhongyan. He was directly promoted to the deputy pacification envoy of Fuyan Road and the commander of the capital. He was already the top general of Fuyan Road.

His previous official position was not low. He was the magistrate of Yanzhou from the fifth rank, and he was also a Jinshi. It was natural for him to be promoted to the fourth rank now.

At this moment, Zhang Kang's eyes were deep as he looked towards the north and said, "Everyone, at this moment, the troops from Qingzhou, Huanzhou, Huaide Army, Zhenrong Army, Deshun Army, and Qingtang have all been dispatched. This is to create an opportunity for us to launch a surprise attack on the rear. In this battle, we must win and not lose. Do you understand?"

"yes!"

Everyone shouted.

"Walk!"

At Zhang Kang's command, he took the lead and galloped away. Tens of thousands of cavalrymen followed behind him, galloping forward, raising a cloud of dust.

Fan Zhongyan planned to counterattack the Western Xia. He not only mobilized more than 100,000 troops from Fuyan Road, Huanqing Road and Jingyuan Road, but also invited the Tibetan Zuo Silu to join the expedition.

Zuosiluo was a pro-Song regime and had always had close relations with the Song Dynasty. After Zhao Jun came to power, he proposed a plan to ally with Tubo to contain Western Xia. Zhao Zhen specially sent an envoy to Qingtang, not only to reward Zuosiluo, but also to give him many gifts.

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