(Thanks to the monthly pass of the two book friends of longtu168168)

The next battle was lackluster, and although the Liao army with low morale and its depression retreated to the imperial city, it had lost the conditions for holding the imperial city, which was already in ruins, lacking food and clothing.

However, the long-awaited army of the emperor's younger brother Yelu Chongyuan has not yet arrived, and the surroundings of Linhuang Mansion have been completely controlled, and even scouts and horses cannot be dispatched, and they can't hear any news at all.

Yelu Hongji wisely chose to evacuate, the Song State's troops were not enough to besiege the imperial city, and Su Jin didn't seem to want to divide the troops to besiege the city at all, although the Song army was twice as strong as the Liao army, but they didn't want to divide the troops that would leave the Liao people with the opportunity to attack the weak links with more and less.

Yelu Hongji left 20,000 horses to defend the still strong city defense, and he himself escaped from Linhuang Mansion with 20,000 horses and horses non-stop, and went straight to the north.

Su Jin did not order the pursuit, Yelu Hongji's 20,000 horses can no longer become a climate, at present, taking Linhuang Mansion is the primary task, the soldiers urgently need to rest, most of the continuous campaign for more than half a year, although the soldiers are highly morale, but they are exhausted, the strong walls of the Imperial City of Linhuang Mansion are protected, just a good rest; Another reason is that Yelu Chongyuan's army should be almost there, and it is taboo to pursue at this time, and it is very likely to be caught by Yelu Chongyuan in the wild, without the fortified city of Linhuang Mansion as a barrier, it is not Yelu Chongyuan's opponent at all.

The battle to attack the imperial city took less than three hours, at the end of the afternoon, the imperial city was broken, 20,000 Liao troops who stayed behind were killed 6,000 and then raised their hands to surrender, the prince ran away, who was willing to be cannon fodder, in the case of food shortage, in front of the Song army that was several times his own, surrender was the only way out.

Throughout the six-month continuous campaign, Su Jin's northern expedition army traveled tens of thousands of miles, successively captured 16 Liao cities, annihilated nearly 200,000 defenders from all over the Liao army, and came and went in the territory of Liao as if no one was in a no-man's land, which restrained too much energy of the Liao people for the frontal battlefield; The Liao had to transfer troops from the front line twice to reinforce them, with a total of 150,000 troops.

The frontal battlefield was originally a one-sided offensive and defensive posture, with 700,000 Liao troops fighting against 400,000 Song defenders, but now, on the frontal battlefield, there are more than 400,000 against more than 300,000 Song troops, and the strength has gradually leveled out.

Another most important significance of taking Linhuang Mansion is that it has dealt a great blow to the other party in terms of psychology and morale, and the front is desperately advancing to the third line of defense, paying the price of more than 100,000 deaths, but the old nest in the rear has been copied, this feeling is not a bad thing to describe, the news reached the front line, Yelu Zong was really afraid that a mouthful of old blood would spurt out three feet away.

Su Jin immediately ordered all the food and materials in Seoul to be transported to the imperial city, but Seoul could not hold it, so it could only be held in the imperial city, but unfortunately the buildings in the imperial city were seriously damaged, and the people had to be driven to rebuild simple houses to live in; The Song army seized the time to rest and recuperate to meet the approaching army of Yelu Chongyuan, and at the same time the probing horses were released everywhere to find out the position of the enemy army.

There is another thing that has been hanging in Su Jin's heart, that is, the whereabouts of the dynasty, Yelu Chongyuan returned to the army to help, indicating that the Song army and the Jurchen coalition army had lost in the battle of Xinzhou, judging from the situation, Yelu Chongyuan was in a hurry to return to the army to save Linhuang Mansion, and the probability of pursuing the all-annihilating coalition army was not large, with the ability of the dynasty, even if the whole army was annihilated, he would definitely be able to escape if he wanted to, but he did not come to the Huangfu round for such a long time, which really taught people to rest assured.

Su Jin sent a hundred-man cavalry team to look in the direction where the dynasty might go, and as soon as Xinzhou was defeated, the dynasty had only two roads to go, one was to go north in the direction of Longzhou, and the other was to go south to Liaoyang, Hanzhou, which was burned in the north, but it was not without a trace; In addition, the news of the capture of Linhuang Mansion should also be sent back to the front line as soon as possible, and the front line should be urged to take advantage of the opportunity to launch a counteroffensive; Zhao Hu personally led the team and led 500 cavalry to carry Su Jin's handwritten memorabilia and letters out of Linhuang Mansion overnight and rushed to the south.

……

When Yelu Chongyuan led an army of 160,000 to the east of Linhuang Mansion more than 100 miles, he had already learned the news of the capture of Linhuang Mansion in the north, and the angry Yelu Chongyuan scolded Yelu Hongji for being stupid, and there were 50,000 troops guarding the imperial city of Linhuang Mansion, even a fool could last ten days and half a month, and Yelu Hongji actually lost the city in six days.

On this way, Yelu Chongyuan was already marching rapidly, after the victory in Xinzhou, he didn't even do any rest, dragging the exhausted army to rush back, God is not beautiful, it snowed heavily on the way, Yelu Chongyuan had to slow down, but he thought it would be in time, he didn't believe that the Song army would take Linhuang Mansion so quickly, because the Song army did not have siege equipment and baggage at all, but the fact was a solid slap in the face.

As soon as the dawn appeared, Yelu Chongyuan had already put on his tent, stood on the high platform of the camp and looked out at the city, and the scout captain beside him bowed down to report the latest news.

"Your Royal Highness, the Song army took Seoul four days ago, and then launched an attack on the imperial city with Seoul as a battalion, and took the imperial city from time to time yesterday, and the eldest prince led 20,000 people to retreat north to Ningzhou, and I don't know if I should talk about it."

"Huh?" Yelu Chongyuan felt that the scout captain's expression was a little strange: "Why don't you say it soon?" What do you do? ”

"Yes, the villain said, my team heard an amazing news, I don't know if it's true or not, yesterday during the siege battle, the Song army captured Empress Renyi and the second prince and two princesses, the Song people may have wanted to use them as hostages to force the prince to surrender, the result is ...... Results ......"

"What was the result? If you swallow and spit it out again, you will cut out your tongue and teach you to be unable to speak for the rest of your life. Yelu Chongyuan faintly felt that something was wrong, and shouted in a low voice.

"The result...... The eldest prince lied before the battle that he wanted to see the queen and asked the queen to show him, but unexpectedly...... When the eldest prince met, he drew his knife and gave the queen and the second prince all the two little princesses...... Kill. ”

"What?" Yelu Chongyuan's eyes widened, and he looked at the captain in disbelief.

The scout captain was frightened, the imperial brother's reaction was completely inconsistent with his imagination, he thought that Yelu Chongyuan would be angry, but at this moment, his eyes seemed to be excited, and it seemed to have a trace of joy, and the scout captain thought that he was dazzled.

Yelu Chongyuan returned to his normal reaction, and scolded angrily: "This little brute, he is so ruthless, even the queen dares to kill, he must be under the banner of the safety of Linhuang Mansion and refuse the coercion of the Song people." ”

"Yes, it is said that this is exactly the case, the eldest prince said that Linhuang Mansion is more important than anything else, and he is willing to bear the name of killing his mother, and he also wants to keep Linhuang Mansion and protect the country."

Yelu Chongyuan sneered: "What is the result? Isn't Linhuang Mansion lost? Okay, okay, my nephew is a big man, is there anything else? Does the Song army have any other movements? ”

The scout captain hurriedly said: "Except for the Song army's heavy guards, there is no movement. ”

Yelu Chongyuan nodded and said, "Let's investigate and report again, let's go down." The scout captain saluted and retreated, Yelu Chongyuan fell into deep thought, and Wang Han, a close confidant who followed him, stepped forward and arched his hand: "Congratulations to Your Highness, Congratulations to Your Highness." ”

Yelu Chongyuan said: "The situation has been eroded so far, why should I be happy? ”

Wang Han looked at the people around him, and said softly: "Your Highness doesn't need to worry about the throne falling, although the emperor has set up His Royal Highness as the emperor's younger brother, but anyone with a discerning eye can see that he just wants to pass the throne to the eldest prince, and now the eldest prince is perverse, not only killing the queen but also losing Shangjing, and the emperor's blood and bones were also killed by him himself, so he has no qualifications to take over, so who else can take over the throne?" The villain congratulated me in advance. ”

Yelu Chongyuan's eyebrows moved, and his breathing became heavy, but he instantly regained his composure, and pretended to reprimand: "What are you talking about at this time, it is imperative to recapture Shangjing with the same enemy, although the throne is important, compared to the national disaster, what is it?" ”

Wang Han hurriedly said: "His Royal Highness has a broad heart, the villain admires it so much, the villain thinks that at this moment, he needs to immediately recruit the prince's soldiers and horses to turn back and join the army, doesn't he have 20,000 soldiers and horses?" The imperial city is fortified, and the more soldiers and horses, the better. ”

Yelu Chongyuan looked at Wang Han and said, "Call him back?" My 160,000 army can't capture the imperial city? ”

Wang Han smiled and said: "Naturally, he can attack it, but the eldest prince has lost Linhuang, and this head is naturally for him to fight." ”

Yelu Chongyuan's face changed, and he looked at Wang Han's smiling face, dumbfounded.