At the end of the Mao hour and the beginning of the Chen hour, in the dark clouds and twilight, the sky and the earth slowly turned white, and from the hazy gray fog, the view became increasingly wide.
In the depths of December, there was no snow in Hebei, but the wind was howling and the weather was very cold.
The soldiers of the Song army got up early in the morning to do morning exercises to stretch their muscles. In the camps that stretched for more than ten miles, various whistles and drums were heard one after another. The sounds of training rose and fell, and the momentum was deafening.
The morale of the Song army is now high, while the morale of the Liao army is much dimmer. In addition to the fear caused by the two artillery shells, the most important thing is that they have been heading south since September, and the Liao side's material preparation was rather hasty, and the winter clothes were not complete.
The soldiers were still wearing autumn clothes, which were also very warm, but as the weather grew colder, snow began to fall on the grassland and in the north of Youzhou, and the temperature dropped lower and lower. The autumn clothes became much less effective, making it difficult for them to withstand the cold.
Yelu Zongzhen knew he couldn't delay any longer. Fan Zhongyan might not be anxious, but he was. He couldn't afford to fight the enemy with his national strength or attrition, and a drastic siege wouldn't take the city. So, he could only choose to fight the enemy to the death in the open.
As the desolate sound of the horn echoed in the Liao army camp, the Liao army camp at Jintaiyi, more than ten miles away from Baosai City, suddenly woke up from its dead silence. The sounds of war drums, mooing horns, clanging gongs and drums, and sharp whistles echoed in each camp.
Teams of fully armed soldiers emerged from behind the battlements of the rammed earth wall, with their bows strung and swords drawn.
Everywhere was filled with the rustling sounds of armored vehicles, anxious and angry urgings, uniform shouts, short and rapid commands, sharp whistles, and the thumping of footsteps, all of which made chaos on and off the village wall.
About half an hour later, groups of Liao soldiers, led by their respective leaders, left the camp and formed an army outside the camp.
These soldiers wore different uniforms and had relatively scattered formations. They were basically Liao tribal troops, Han troops from Nanjing prefectures and counties, Bohai navy troops, and other vassal states' troops. They were a complex group with many different types of troops, mainly infantry.
The most elite cavalry of the Liao Dynasty was the Imperial Guard, also known as the Pi Shi Army.
They are the main force in field battles and the rear supervisors in city battles. Once the infantry breaks through the city, the Pi Shi army will rush in and loot all the property in the city.
Yes.
This was the Liao Dynasty’s way of fighting and its logistics.
The Liao Kingdom did not rely on logistical supply lines, nor did it provide food and wages to its soldiers. Soldiers had only two sources of income - "grass and grain" and "reward money".
The former is to allow soldiers to rob, while the latter is to distribute the spoils to soldiers as rewards after victory.
Therefore, the Liao soldiers were fine in fighting and looting, but once they encountered a situation where there was a strong defense and there was nothing to rob in the wild, and they could not attack the strong city, their morale would plummet.
Liao Xingzong Yelu Zongzhen was riding on a horse at this time. He was in his twenties and strong. He looked at the vast army like an ocean at the foot of the distant hillside, without a trace of joy between his brows.
Now the food and grass prepared by the Liao Kingdom in the early stage have been almost used up, and they can no longer snatch food and property from the Song army and the people of the Song Kingdom. The soldiers of the Liao Kingdom, who were originally in high spirits and wanted to follow him to take a big bite of the fat meat of the Song Kingdom, are now extremely disappointed.
This made Yelu Zongzhen regret his decision to go south.
He could play dumb and wait for things to improve in Song. If Song continued to pay tribute, he could just pretend nothing had happened. If they stopped paying, he could accuse Song of breaking the alliance and then join forces with Li Yuanhao to march south.
But Li Yuanhao was now crippled and could not help him contain the Song army's northwest forces. Now he was obviously a bit alone. He could neither defeat the enemy nor capture the city. He was really in a dilemma.
Now all he could do was fight to the death. If he won, he could go home and continue drinking and eating, waiting for the Song State to send him money. If he lost, everything would be over, and he would basically be finished.
"Set off!"
Yelu Zongzhen was not a person who hesitated. Once he made a decision, he would carry it out to the end.
He raised the sword symbolizing the Liao emperor and shouted to the Tangqi who were delivering the message, "Tell the soldiers, if we win this battle, we can plunder Hebei as we please. If we lose, we will have no choice but to retreat to the grasslands and face the cold wind. Whether we can have a good New Year depends entirely on this battle!"
"yes!"
The Tang riders reined in their horses and headed down the mountain to deliver the message.
Then the large banner on the hillside began to wave. When the leaders of the tribes below saw it, they began to urge the soldiers of their tribe to march forward.
The rest of the Tangqi also spread the message one by one, and then to a hundred, and scattered in all directions, conveying Yelu Zongzhen's orders to the generals in various places.
The Liao army headed southwest. They were not going to the Baosai city over there. The cannons mounted on the city had already scared the Liao soldiers. If they were asked to attack Baosai now, it would undoubtedly cause the entire army to collapse.
Therefore, the Liao army's target was the Song army's unbuilt camp.
When Fan Zhongyan received the news of the Liao attack, he immediately issued a military order without any hesitation. The generals of various departments left the camps and set up their battle formations according to the previous deployment to prepare to meet the enemy.
Why didn't he guard the camp?
The reason is very simple. The camp has not been built yet and its defense is not strong. Once the camp is breached by the Liao army, the morale of the army will be weakened and the army may face a direct defeat.
Therefore, we often see in history books that when two armies are facing each other, if one side has just arrived at the battlefield and is hastily setting up camp to fight, the general often does not choose to defend in the camp that has not yet been arranged, but instead sends the army out to fight the enemy outside.
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