Chapter 1008: Liao People's Suicide Attack

The law of nature will prevail and retribution will come!
Ever since the child emperor presented the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun to the Liao people, the Liao people have taken the initiative over the Central Plains court.

As for the Song Dynasty, ever since Emperor Taizong of Song won the achievement point of 'God of Chariots of Gaoliang River', the court began to fear the Liao people like a tiger and was terrified at the mention of them.

Now, Yelu Hongji took the initiative to send people to request peace talks, and his attitude was still humble and extremely humble.

Regardless of whether the Liao Kingdom can succeed this time, the Song Dynasty court can be proud of itself.

Su Mingzhe sat on the dragon throne in the Liao emperor's palace in Yikun Prefecture and met with Zhang Lin, the Liao envoy.

After Zhang Lin carefully proposed a request for peace talks, the generals of the Song Dynasty burst into laughter.

Su Mingzhe waved his hand slightly, signaling the generals not to be rude.

When the hall quieted down, Su Mingzhe smiled and said:

"Special Envoy, four months ago, your ruler Yelu Hongji ignored the century-old friendship between our two countries and insisted on provoking a border conflict. I still remember his arrogant attitude, and I have never forgotten what he said."

"I remember that Yelu Hongji preached and asked me to accompany him to the capital of Liao. Now, I am leading the Song army to fulfill the promise, why did Yelu Hongji break the promise and not come?"

Inside the dragon tent, all the generals of the Song Dynasty felt relieved when they heard their emperor ridiculing Yelu Hongji, and they couldn't help but burst into laughter again.

Zhang Lin was embarrassed after hearing what the Southern Emperor said, but he had to explain to his own emperor:
"Your Majesty, calm down! Liao and Song have been friends for a hundred years and are brotherly countries."

"For generations, the rulers of our two countries have been distinguished by their seniority. During the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty, my ruler regarded Renzong as the 'Uncle Emperor' and respected and loved him with great respect. Later, when Emperor Yingzong ascended the throne, my ruler regarded him as the 'Brother Emperor' and respected and loved him even more. Even during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, my ruler regarded him as the 'Nephew Emperor' and maintained good relations between the two countries. When Your Majesty ascended the throne, you disregarded the generations of good relations between the two countries and attacked Li Bingchang, the ruler of Xia, a vassal of the Liao Dynasty. It can be said that you were disrespectful first, and that is why my ruler started the war later."

The special envoy Zhang Lin was also a sharp-tongued Han official of the Liao Kingdom.

Seeing that the Song emperor had no intention of negotiating, he could not help but make a bitter face and reluctantly explained Yelu Hongji's behavior.

Hearing Zhang Lin's specious words, Su Mingzhe couldn't help but laugh:
"Speaking of the Western Bandits, I still have to settle accounts with Yelu Hongji! The Western Bandits' ancestors were originally slaves of our Song Dynasty. After they defected and founded their own country, if it weren't for Yelu Hongji's protection, they would have been destroyed by our Song Dynasty long ago. Now, our Song Dynasty has eliminated the rebels, but Yelu Hongji wants to stand up for a rebel. What's the logic behind this?"

Zhang Lin did not expect that the Southern Dynasty emperor was also good at speaking. He could not help but wipe the sweat from his forehead. Then he pretended to be calm and continued to defend Yelu Hongji.

The two sides exchanged blows for several rounds.

After all, the man has his own reasons and the woman has her own reasons.

In the end, truth can only exist within gun range.

Su Mingzhe impatiently drove away the Liao envoy and ordered all the armies to withdraw their offensive and prepare to gather all the troops before continuing to approach Shangjing, the capital of Liao.

While the army was gathering, he stayed in the Liao Emperor's palace in Yikun Prefecture and enjoyed the beauties of the Liao Kingdom.

Although the beauties of Liao were more muscular than those of Song, they were more docile.

This was the result Su Mingzhe verified after accepting the beauties from Liao offered by dozens of 'chiefs' of grassland tribes.

Logically speaking, this is unscientific.

But, this is reality.

Not only beauties, but also ordinary people are like this.

As long as the local officials and chiefs surrendered, the local people would regard the Song army as their rulers, respectfully offer their loyalty, and become the vanguard of the Song army.

With these loyal grassland tribal warriors, the Song Dynasty army is unstoppable!

The Liao army fought desperately, but ultimately only delayed the Song army for two months.

end of August.

Su Mingzhe followed the assembled army and came to Shangjing, the capital of Liao.

Emperor Yelu Hongji of Liao knew that the city of Shangjing could not withstand the artillery fire of the Song people. If he defended the city, he would be trapped. So he simply sent envoys to make an agreement with the Song people that the two sides would have a decisive battle on the vast grassland west of Shangjing.

Su Mingzhe could naturally guess what Yelu Hongji was planning.

However, he was prepared to give Yelu Hongji a chance to fight.

Early September.

On the grassland in the western suburbs of Shangjing, Su Mingzhe met Yelu Hongji again.

Compared with the high-spirited Yelu Hongji half a year ago, he is now gray-haired and old. When he gets on the horse, he has to use someone as a stool before he can climb onto the horse's back.

When the Liao generals saw this, they all looked sad.

This was the first time in more than a hundred years since the Liao Dynasty was founded that it was attacked at its doorstep.

Seeing that they would fail again today, they would either have to leave their homes and Shangjing, or their country would be destroyed.

At this time, the morale of the Liao people was actually slowly rising.

This is the military strategy of 'the army that mourns will win'.

Among the generals of the Song army, someone reminded Su Mingzhe to avoid the Liao people's peak morale.

"The damn army of the underdog will win!"

Su Mingzhe believes in his own cannons more than any military strategy that believes the enemy will win if they are defeated.

"fire!"

Three thousand cannons had already been arranged in three rows.

As the order was given, artillery fire instantly covered the Northern Liao army in front.

"Push it to me!"

After several months of experience summary and field drills, the Liao people summed up some lessons in the face of the Song artillery bombardment.

The cannon was heavy and unwieldy, and once in position it was not easy to move the muzzle.

In this way, if we attack from the side, we will definitely fail!
Yelu Hongji believed that he had mastered the winning technique, and immediately ordered 300,000 Liao cavalrymen, leaving 100,000 death warriors in the front to attract the attention of the artillery fire, and another 100,000 troops each to attack the left and right flanks of the Song army.

"This Yelu Hongji is really a clever guy. He doesn't think that the two wings of the Song Dynasty are really unprepared, right?"

Seeing how helpful the Liao people were, Su Mingzhe felt embarrassed not to accept all their offers.

He just waved his hand, and as the command flag was conveyed, the musketeers who had been prepared long ago loaded their rifles.

The Song Dynasty's musketeers were equipped with long spears and short spears.

The effective killing range of a spear is two hundred steps, and the effective killing range of a pistol is eighty steps.

The Liao cavalry was about to rush to the flank of the Song army, when suddenly there was a series of bangs and the smell of sulfur immediately filled the battlefield.

It’s still a three-stage attack tactic.

At a distance of two hundred steps, the Song army instantly wiped out more than 20,000 Liao cavalry.

Coupled with the frontal artillery attack, the Liao army lost 50,000 troops before they could even touch the Song army.

If it were a normal ancient army, this casualty rate would have caused the army to collapse.

However, the Liao army is now a "pitiful army" with a strong fighting spirit. Even though the casualty rate is close to 20%, they still maintain a high momentum.

Seeing that the two armies were about to engage in hand-to-hand combat, the musketeers began to retreat, but the Song Dynasty's infantry had already made preparations.

Within fifty steps, the Song Dynasty infantry used crossbows to kill another group of Liao troops.

Seeing that the casualty rate exceeded 20%, 70,000 elite troops were wiped out in just half an hour.

The Liao people could only beat the drums desperately to make the army rush forward recklessly.

At this point, it's too late to retreat!

All Liao generals knew one fact in their hearts: if they failed today, they would die.

(End of this chapter)