The battle on the frontal battlefield is gradually getting white-hot, Yelu Chongyuan's left army attack is the most vigorous, his left army is the largest number, nearly 400,000 troops are lined up in the line from Bohai mouth to Bazhou Xiongzhou, of course, hundreds of miles of battle line has the main and secondary, the focus of the attack is concentrated in the area near Xiongzhou Bazhou in the west, its purpose is self-evident, it is to stick closer to Xiao Hui's right army, easy to coordinate, and at the same time after the breakthrough is closer to Bianliang, more threatening.

Fan Zhongyan expected that the focus of the attack would be on Bazhou and Xiongzhou, so he only allocated 50,000 troops to garrison Qianningbei at Bohai Sea with Xia Zhu, and the remaining main force almost all held on to more than ten cities and fortresses in the area of Xiongzhou and Bazhou.

It's more like a clash of spears against shields.

After a little temptation, at the beginning of May, Yelu Chongyuan ordered to launch a fierce attack, and the Great Song Dynasty on the Xiongzhou Bazhou area of the Waqiao Pass, Yijin Pass and Sikou Pass these three checkpoints also operated for a long time, due to the loss of the 16 states of Youyun, Xiongzhou Bazhou was originally a flat terrain without danger to defend the situation, but the Great Song Dynasty adapted measures to local conditions, the use of local lakes and rivers more, loose soil characteristics, the use of 'because of the land of Ze, the water for the plug' policy, the nine rivers in the Xu, Bao, Sha, Tang and other rivers, the formation of many water berths, the river berths are connected, It formed a peculiar north-south defense line, which effectively curbed the advance of the Liao cavalry, and the Great Song Dynasty called it the defense of Tangluo.

But this time, the Liao people obviously came prepared, and they didn't know who came up with the idea, bringing a large number of wooden planks connected into a thing called 'moving bridge', the shape is like an ancient bamboo slip book that has been magnified dozens of times, and it is carried by an ox cart to follow the army forward, and when there is a quagmire and swamp, this thing will be unfolded and connected and paved in the difficult place, forming a pontoon bridge, and people and horses step on it, and it is actually unsinkable, which is quite effective.

But even so, mobility is still greatly reduced, small swamp ponds and ditches can be crossed, large lakes such as Baiyangdian such as tidal flat terrain can not be crossed, and Waqiao Pass, Yijin Pass and Sikou Pass, these three passes are all built to hold the main road, and the final battle still comes down to the level of seizing the south.

The siege equipment of the Liao army is also very well prepared, there are new five-story rushing vehicles, which are assembled up to more than three zhang, even higher than the city wall of the defender, and the wheels below can be pushed forward, and they can also run with oxen horses, and the mobility is also very strong; Soldiers can shoot arrows directly into the city from their carts, and they can also be used to approach the walls, destroy the battlements, or directly attack the defenders on the walls.

In addition to being equipped with a variety of long weapons, the car is often loaded with heavy weapons such as crossbows and stone cannons. The only drawback is that the material is wood, and only a small amount of iron armor protection on the front seems to be not strong enough.

Others, such as ladders and ladders, crossings against moats and ditches, as well as long-range bed crossbows and catapults, were powerful siege machines.

When Fan Zhongyan fought against the Xia State, the Xia people only relied on the field strength of the cavalry blade to fight, and they could only catch the blind when attacking the city, because they didn't have these siege equipment at all, and they didn't pay attention to these; Now fighting against the Liao people, so many powerful weapons have emerged, which makes Fan Zhongyan a little at a loss.

In the first few days of fighting, the casualties of the soldiers guarding the three passes skyrocketed, and there were even incidents of being broken through the city walls, and the casualties of the defenders of the city were heavier than those of the siege, which was simply unimaginable; Fortunately, Fan Zhongyan is also a person who has experienced a hundred battles, and soon he found a loophole in the enemy's army, and the fire oil from the northwest support came in handy, and when the car approached, the soldiers in the city desperately threw more than a dozen clay pots filled with fire oil into the attack mouth, and then a torch fell up, so that he could stand by and watch the tragic situation of the Liao soldiers being burned in the car crying father and calling mother; The soldiers trapped in it are like white potatoes baked in the fire, and if they jump down, they will fall to death, and if they don't jump, they will be burned into braised pork, in short, they will not be able to escape.

After losing hundreds of rushing vehicles, Yelu Chongyuan did not dare to use this tactic again, the enemy's fire oil seemed to be very sufficient, and the Song people did not frown when they used such expensive materials, which was really incomprehensible; Yelu Chongyuan is not distressed by these soldiers, he is distressed by this cup of damaged rushing cars, rushing to manufacture labor, time-consuming and money-consuming, his left army has only 1,600 rushing vehicles in total, and more than 500 have been lost in attacking three passes, how can they attack a bigger city in the future?

As for the thousands of dead and wounded soldiers in the rushing car, it is not a matter, those are all Hu Congjun, who are used as cannon fodder, and those who can survive a battle are not necessarily lucky, because they will be sent to death next time.

Yelu Chongyuan adjusted his strategy, adopting the traditional strategy of first throwing stones with trebuchets and suppressing, and then advancing the ladder car to attack, so that Fan Zhongyan breathed a sigh of relief, although this traditional style of play is strong, but it is also simple to deal with, it is nothing more than a hard work; And if Yelu Chongyuan continues to use the rushing tactics, he really can't help it, Su Jin transferred 3,000 barrels of fire oil from the northwest, and the battle of the pass has consumed 2,000 barrels, what to burn if it continues?

……

At the same time as the fierce confrontation on the frontal battlefield, Su Jin led a large army to attack the small city of Yunnei overnight, which was located on the edge of the desert southwest of Jiashan, and was the starting point of the northward road planned by Su Jin and others; Yunnei said that it was a city, but in fact it was a gathering place for herdsmen, with simple adobe sand walls and low mud houses, and the street was only one main street and two auxiliary streets, with a sandy ground of one color, potholes, and dust that could not reach the surface of the feet.

In the early hours of the morning, the inhabitants of Yunnei City were awakened by the sound of the shaking of the earth, the leader of the local herdsmen tribe was the custodian of Yunnei, and there were only a few hundred soldiers under his command, and before they could understand, they had already found that the city was full of cavalry on horses and helmets, and they were powerless to resist.

After dawn, Su Jin ordered more than 3,000 residents in Yunnei to gather on the dirt field in front of the city lord's hall, identify themselves, and warn them that they were not allowed to resist, otherwise they would be killed.

What is surprising is that these residents didn't even know that Song Liao was fighting, and if Su Jin didn't say it, they wouldn't know that there was such a thing at all; Think about it is no wonder, Yunnei is very remote, and the hinterland of Liao gathers thousands of mountains and rivers, the small tribes here gather in a small grassland to graze, living a difficult self-sufficient life, in recent years, the wind and sand invasion, the grassland has shrunk, many people have left here to find their own way to live, the residents who remain are some old, weak, sick and disabled people, take care of themselves, and who will care about the war between the two countries.

But even so, Su Jin did not dare to take it lightly, he decided to leave five hundred soldiers to occupy Yunnei City, disarm the guards in the city, and take away all the strong men in the city as strong men and guides to pull carts and unload goods, and take all the horses away.

As soon as the residents of Yunnei City saw that the army began to collect their livestock and horses, they immediately cried and shouted, and the city lord and patriarch begged for permission again and again, and Su Jin couldn't understand a word of what he said, and a common man who knew a little Chinese conveyed the patriarch's words to Su Jin, to the effect that all the residents here lived on these cattle and horses, and if they took away the livestock, it would be better to kill all the people.

Su Jin thought for a while and said, "I must take the horses with me, but I can give you some compensation, I will leave food and money, and after the war is over, you can go and buy more livestock." ”

Pan Jiang said: "Dashuai, why be polite to them, they are all Liao, and they may become the war horses of the Liao people to help the Liao people kill the enemy, even if these residents are also soldiers who attack our Great Song Dynasty." ”

Su Jin smiled and said, "Am I a little kind of woman?" ”

Pan Jiang said: "How dare you say that. ”

Su Jin waved his hand and said: "Don't say more, carry out the military order, bring the horses, leave five hundred soldiers to guard, and leave five thousand stones of food, which is enough for these thousands of people to eat for more than half a year. ”

Pan Jiang was speechless, so he had to do it, the city lord and the people of Yunnei didn't make trouble when they saw this situation, they also knew that this was already the best result; After a search of the whole city, the army had three thousand more horses and six hundred cattle, plus the thirty thousand horses plundered in front, the number was already considerable, Su Jin ordered to rest in Yunnei City until the afternoon, because the next step was to take the road to the edge of the desert, the May sun shined elsewhere is nothing, it is very different in the desert, although the rush is urgent, but it must not be dragged down by physical strength.

In this half day, the army cut down the bushes and trees inside and outside the city, and made many simple sand sleds, and more than 30,000 animals that could not be ridden were just used to put on the sand sleds, and the soldiers could sit on them without walking, which was more labor-saving and fast.