Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 5
Today, the Great Song Dynasty swallowed Jinghu Lake, destroyed Hou Shu, had strong soldiers and horses, sufficient food and grass, a vast territory, and dense population. It is the most prosperous period since the founding of the People's Republic of China.Especially after Hou Shu, the "Land of Abundance", was incorporated into the Central Plains, the financial and material resources of the Song Dynasty were unprecedentedly enhanced, laying a solid foundation for the further unification of the Song Dynasty.

At this time, the Song army can attack the Southern Tang or Northern Han in one go.Take advantage of the victory to expand the record.However, Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin was a great talent, he was familiar with military books since he was a child, and he was born as a famous general.He highly admired the various "using time" techniques listed in Sun Tzu's Art of War, such as "cause", "anti-jian" and "life".In addition, considering the rest of the Song army and the development of various domestic industries.So I wanted to use another method, a method that didn't bleed too much, didn't kill too many people, and used as few weapons as possible to recover the Northern Han Dynasty.

Therefore, in recent years, Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin continued to send troops to harass.In July of the first year of Qiande, Cao Bin and Chen Wanmai were sent to lead troops to attack the border areas of the Northern Han Dynasty, and many were captured and returned.Soon, Wang Quanbin was sent to conquer Leping County of the Northern Han Dynasty; at the end of the same year, Cao Bin was sent to lead an army into the territory of the Northern Han Dynasty and captured Liao and Shizhou.In the first month of the Second Emperor Qiande, Li Jixun and Kang Yanze led more than 6 cavalry to attack Liaozhou again. The Northern Han Dynasty begged [-] reinforcements from Khitan to rescue them, but they were defeated by Li Jixun and Cao Bin with [-] Song soldiers.

On the one hand, Zhao Kuangyin made the Northern Han feel the power of the Song Dynasty, and on the other hand, he sent a large number of spies to infiltrate the enemy army to collect various military intelligence.

At the same time, they carefully planned with Zhao Pu and Zhao Guangyi to dispatch Hou Barong, a Northern Han general who had completely defected to the Song Dynasty, to escape from the Song army on the surface, and returned to the Northern Han Dynasty to win over the officials of the Northern Han Dynasty. Create all kinds of public opinion, and prepare to overthrow this small northern court in one fell swoop without bloodshed.

But it never occurred to him that Guo Wuwei, the chief assistant prime minister of the Northern Han Dynasty, could see all this clearly.Not only did he design to kill Hou Barong, but he also organized elite troops to eradicate many spies from the Song Dynasty.As a result, Zhao Kuangyin's well-designed espionage war fell short, and his plan to recover the Northern Han Dynasty with a coup d'etat also came to naught.

Zhao Kuangyin was irritated. He forgot the established strategy of first going south and then going north. Regardless of repeated opposition from Zhao Pu and others, he decided to send a large army to make an urgent contribution to the Northern Han Dynasty. , Solve problems with real knives and guns.

On the eighth day of February in the second year of Kaibao, Zhao Kuangyin ordered Cao Bin, the envoy of Xuanhui South Court, and the infantry guards to command the envoy Dangjin to lead a team each, and rushed to Jinyang [now Taiyuan] in advance.

On February [-]th, Zhao Kuangyin issued an edict to personally conquer.He ordered Zhao Guangyi, Yin of Kaifeng, to stay behind in Tokyo, and Shen Yilun, the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, to deploy for the inner court and act as an agent for various affairs within the court.

On February [-]th, Zhao Kuangyin put on his helmet and armor, and personally led the army to set off from Bianjing [Kaifeng].He also appointed Gao Huaide, the veteran of the German Army, as the capital of the Hedong camp, with Li Jixun, the Zhaoyi Jiedu envoy, as his deputy, and Zhao Zan, the Jianxiong Jiedu envoy, as the Marquis of Yu, the capital of the horse infantry.

This Northern Expedition of the Great Song Dynasty was unprecedented in previous campaigns with its great momentum, grand scale, and large number of troops invested.

A storm of war sweeping the three parties is quietly brewing. After several years of peace, Yongle Border Town is about to usher in war again, but for the people of Yongle Border Town, it is already before the imminent catastrophe.

In fact, when the Great Song army was dispatched from Kaifeng, Khitan had already received military information from spies in the Great Song Dynasty before the Northern Han Dynasty sent envoys to beg for support.The Khitan army is ready to go south.

However, due to the recent political instability in Khitan, the struggle for imperial power was at a critical time, the King of Khitan Nanyuan was delayed when he received the order to send troops. The Han army was defeated in the first battle and fled watching the wind.

The cities and counties of the outer states and counties of the Northern Han Dynasty have fallen into the hands of the Song Dynasty one by one, leaving only Jinyang [now Taiyuan], the capital of the Northern Han Dynasty, an isolated city.

The capital city of Northern Han Dynasty, Jinyang.

The Song army surrounded them on all sides, and the sound of killing shook the sky.An iron barrel-like siege formed on Jinyang.

(End of this chapter)