If Fan Zhongyan were to arrange another combat mission, he would have to send out scouts to continue investigating the current distribution of the Liao troops, and then arrange which positions and directions each unit should attack.
The Song army camps more than ten kilometers away from the north city of Xijin and five or six kilometers away from the south city seemed to wake up from the dead silence. All the camp gates were opened, and then a large group of Song cavalry rushed out.
"Why did the Song army suddenly launch an attack? Couldn't they have reorganized their troops before launching an attack?"
No one expected that the Song army would launch a large-scale attack at this time.
Yelu Zongzhen looked at the distant horizon with regret. After a while, when the main force of the Liao army withdrew, the rear army of the Liao army would ignite the fish paste and oil that had been arranged in the city long ago, as well as the remaining firewood for the winter, and burn Xijin.
"Um."
"Report it quickly."
Moreover, Yelu Zongzhen also deployed a large number of cavalry on the periphery, carrying grenades, and the Song army scouts could only fire a few harassing shots at most.
The easternmost camp was more than eight kilometers away from the westernmost camp, so the Song army basically didn't know what their troops were doing.
However, at this time not only the Liao army was a little panicked, but the Song army was also a little confused.
There were about 160,000 Liao troops, plus the Liao troops in Yuhe and Wanping, totaling about 200,000 troops.
It is naturally not that easy to retreat so many people.
And further away, a large number of Song army generals were looking around with telescopes.
After the Song army scouts discovered that the Liao people had left the city, they had to observe for at least half an hour to confirm that these people were not a force transporting food and fodder, but a real evacuation force.
Suddenly, they saw dust and smoke billowing in the northeast, and countless horses galloping. For a moment, the migrating Liao people were in chaos. At the same time, scouts in the city ran out and shouted, "Song people are attacking!"
Thick smoke filled the air, covering the city walls.
After Yelu Zongzhen sighed, he asked his close friends, "How is the Song army doing?"
So he wasn't worried at all.
Even though there was no gasoline in this era, the army still had fish oil and animal oil in their supplies. In addition, most of the buildings in the city were made of wood, so once a fire was ignited, they would turn into a sea of fire in an instant.
The Song army's camps were not connected together, but each was organized into armies, with each camp ranging from about 5,000 to 10,000 people.
It was surrounded by villages, farmlands, forests, and small rivers. At this time, the villages were dilapidated, the farmlands were deserted, the forests had been cut down, and only the small river was still flowing quietly.
Fan Zhongyan's main camp had 30,000 people, located about five kilometers south of Xijin City, with nearly twenty camps of different sizes connected from east to west.
Because of the siege for many days, the amount of food and grass in Xijin was running low, so the Liao army basically did not need to carry too much baggage. Except for dismantling some artillery, many people were alone.
During the Franco-Prussian War, Prussia's artillery was Krupp artillery, which used steel rifled barrels, a standard rate of fire of six rounds per minute, and an effective range of more than four kilometers.
The scouts then reported their conclusions to Fan Zhongyan. It took half an hour to run from the north gate of Xijin to the camp.
But surprisingly, the Song army seemed to have no interest in them at all. Instead, they passed them and continued heading straight north.
"Khitan warriors, follow me!"
The Song army had about 100,000 soldiers.
If the Song army pursues, they will immediately use artillery to stop them.
The deputy general beside him asked, "Sir, where are we going?"
"Report."
After the second year of the Qingli period, the Wuan Iron and Steel Plant began to produce steel cannons, and the sophistication of the Song army's weapons and equipment increased sharply, almost crushing the Liao army's bronze cannons.
However, if we could kill two birds with one stone, saving the city and defeating the Liao people at the same time, wouldn't that be the best of both worlds?
If the Song people found that something was wrong, they would definitely send a large number of scouts to investigate the situation.
But when the Song army surrounded the city, they were blinded and forced to abandon the city and try to lure the enemy deeper.
This is also one of the important reasons why the Liao people were willing to abandon the city.
Zhang Jian, standing beside him, consoled him, "Your Majesty, why worry? Defeating the Song army is our top priority. If we can severely defeat the Song army in this battle, perhaps we can also obtain a large amount of their weapons. As long as we can obtain their guns and cannons, even burning Xijin would be worth it."
"yes!"
This was within his expectations.
You have to know that at this time, only one and a half hours, or three hours, had passed since the Liao army officially left the city.
Although he was a civil servant, he had a muscular body and a fierce face. His eyes searched everywhere. He glanced at Xijin City and then looked to the east.
Therefore, it was almost impossible for the Liao army to fight in the open air. Whether it was artillery or muskets, the range advantage was too great, and they had no way to deal with the Song army. Only when defending the city could they use the range brought by the height of the city to barely suppress the enemy.
Time passed minute by minute, and it was almost the end of the Si hour. At this time, about half of the Liao army had withdrawn.
Which way to go?
Rows of Liao soldiers on war horses slowly emerged from the north gate of Xijin. At first glance, they saw a dense mass of black dots that stretched endlessly, like countless ants moving, extending northward along several official roads outside the north gate.
Standing on the high slope, you can see the mountains and rivers in the distance.
From the third quarter of Chen to the end of Si, an hour and a half had passed, and there was still a steady stream of Liao people retreating in an orderly manner.
However, the Song army galloped on horseback at a very fast speed and did not get within five kilometers of Xijin.
You should know that the circumference of Xijin City is 36 li, and one li in the Northern Song Dynasty is 530 meters, which means that the average length and width from east to west and north to south is about 4.8 kilometers.
Therefore, Fan Zhongyan simply did not assign combat missions, but directly ordered the soldiers from each camp to go out. He only needed one result: to immediately dispatch the troops and cut, disperse and disrupt the retreating Liao army.
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