Liu Liufu smiled bitterly and said, "Princess Tongchang is furious and is looking for him everywhere."
He then added, "That's good too. At least our Changping Liu family still has descendants in the Song Kingdom. If the Liao Kingdom is defeated, it's better than the Liu family's decline."
Liu Siduan said silently, "Sixth brother, do you really want to continue following the Liao Kingdom? Everyone can see the current situation. The rise of the Song Kingdom is unstoppable. Perhaps it's time for our Liu family to make a decision sooner rather than later."
Liu Liufu frowned, instinctively wanting to scold, but swallowed the words back when they reached his lips, and just said: "What do you mean, fourth brother?"
"What are your Majesty's thoughts now? Do you intend to make peace, or continue the war?"
Liu Siduan asked.
Liu Liufu's brows furrowed even deeper. Their Liu family was one of the four major families of Yan, the Changping Liu family. They had served the Liao Kingdom since the Later Jin Dynasty, for nearly a hundred years.
Obviously, what Liu Siduan meant was that perhaps he could take this opportunity to change his allegiance.
He originally wanted to say something, but after thinking about it, he felt that perhaps this was not a bad thing. At least the family's interests could be preserved.
In fact, among the four major families, the Yutian Han family was the first to prosper. Han Derang not only became the highest-ranking Prime Minister and King of Qi in the Liao Dynasty, but was also given the surname Yelu, Yelu Longyun, and was included in the imperial family, becoming the first Han Chinese to become a Khitan royal aristocrat of the Liao Dynasty.
The Changping Liu family was famous for their literature. Many of them passed the imperial examinations and served as military governors or inspectors. Among them, Liu Liufu's father, Liu Shenxing, served as prime minister of the Northern Palace and was highly regarded by Emperor Shengzong of Liao, Yelü Longxu.
Therefore, in terms of ranking, during the Liao Dynasty, the Yutian Han family was at the top, followed by the Changping Liu family, and the Yilu Ma family and the Lulong Zhao family were at the bottom. Historically, during the Jin and Yuan dynasties, the status of the four major families became even more entrenched, with generations of them being descendants of the northern nobility.
This has nothing to do with the fact that their family has produced talented people from generation to generation. It is entirely because of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. They followed the Later Jin Dynasty when it was founded, followed the Liao Dynasty when Shi Jingtang became a puppet emperor, and followed the Liao Dynasty after it gave up the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. Later, when the Jin Dynasty rose, they surrendered to the Jin Dynasty, and when the Mongols rose, they surrendered to the Yuan Dynasty. They never thought about being loyal to the emperor and patriotic.
If it were the Liao Dynasty's former glory, Liu Liufu would have certainly rebuked Liu Siduan, as this would likely bring disaster to the family. But now that the Liao Dynasty was declining and the Song Dynasty was rising, a change of family might not be impossible.
After all, they will help whoever wins, which is an unchanging truth since ancient times.
Thinking of this, Liu Liufu pondered for a moment before whispering, "Your Majesty, following the ancestral teachings, must not bow to the enemy."
"oh."
Liu Siduan understood and asked again, "What is your Majesty's plan?"
"When the time is right, Your Majesty should lure the enemy deep into our territory and engage the Song army in a decisive battle."
Liu Liufu said softly.
"Your Majesty is truly extraordinary. I believe that our Great Liao will be victorious in every battle."
Liu Siduan said this, and then he and Liu Liufu looked at each other, and the two brothers suddenly laughed.
Since this tree is already shaky, maybe it's time to get a new one.
Soon, more than ten days later, inside the Song army camp.
It was already early November and the weather was getting colder. Not long after the heavy rain, an even colder north wind began to blow.
In previous years, heavy snow sometimes fell in the Youyan area at this time. In fact, the northeast region was already covered with heavy snow. If it were not for the vast mountains blocking the cold wind from the north, perhaps Youyan would be the same at this time.
Although the snow had not yet fallen, everything was barren and silent. A vast expanse of brown and yellow covered the wilderness. The Song army surrounding Liangxiang City had become increasingly aggressive, completely surrounding the city.
Fan Zhongyan inspected several camps early in the morning. Seeing that the soldiers were following his orders and digging towards Liangxiang City like a group of gophers, he returned to his tent with satisfaction.
After all, civil engineering is a physical job. A Song soldier can't dig much soil in a day, not to mention they have to face the artillery harassment of the Liao army, so the advancement speed cannot be said to be fast, but it is not slow either.
At the current speed, Fan Zhongyan estimated that in another seven or eight days, he would be able to dig the trench to a place less than one kilometer away from Liangxiang City. At that time, he would be able to assemble cannons in the trench, and then set up the cannons in the trench to bombard the city gate of Liangxiang City.
"Husband."
After Wei Huanzhi, the Hebei Road Transport Commissioner, accompanied Fan Zhongyan on his inspection of the camp, he returned to his tent and said to Fan Zhongyan, "We are making rapid progress. I believe we will be able to capture Liangxiang in a few days."
"Um."
Fan Zhongyan nodded and said, "Seven or eight days should be enough."
Wei Huanzhi smiled bitterly and said, "I just feel that this way of fighting is too slow. It probably took us almost a month to capture Liangxiang. And with so many cities to go, it will probably take several years."
"There's no other way. If we want to reduce casualties, we can only advance steadily. This is also the best way to destroy the Liao Kingdom."
Fan Zhongyan said.
They had previously tried to secretly bring artillery to the front line in the middle of the night and attack the city.
However, the bombardment was carried out in the middle of the night, and not only could the city gates be broken down accurately, but even the number of shells that landed on the city walls was very small.
Although the Song army's artillery has always been much more accurate than the Liao army's, it is almost impossible to aim without night vision capabilities. They can only shoot blindly and try to scare the Liao army.
Once it was daytime, the artillery on Liangxiang City would counterattack them. Even with a certain range advantage, the Song army did not dare to attack under the artillery fire.
Therefore, if we want to truly reduce casualties and break through the city gate, we must dig step by step. There is no other way but to take our time and do a good job.
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