Yanjing City, also known as Xijin City in the Liao Kingdom, is located in the northeast of Yizhou, with the two places being about 300 miles apart. This area is the intersection of Taihang Mountain and Yanshan Mountain. The terrain is broken, the mountains are numerous, and the roads are rugged and difficult to walk.

Although there is a wide official road from Yizhou to Xijin City, this official road must pass through Fanyang County. Of course, Tong Guan could not take this road. He led his army to another small road.

Although the 50,000 troops were light troops, the road was rugged and difficult to move. The army was not fast in marching. It took a day and a night to walk less than a hundred miles. In the morning of the next day, it crossed Laishui, which was the junction between Yizhou and Xijin Prefecture. After passing Laishui, they entered the territory of Xijin Prefecture.

There were mountains that stretched for hundreds of miles in the distance, but when I thought of passing through these mountains, Xijin City, Tong Guan's heart began to become enthusiastic. He seemed to have seen the king waving to him. The Song Dynasty had never been granted a king of different surnames when his ministers were alive. Usually, they were posthumously posthumously after their death, and their descendants could not inherit him. Tong Guan would be the first king of different surnames in the Song Dynasty. The day he had been waiting for ten years was finally coming.

Although the soldiers were exhausted without resting all night, Tong Guan ignored it. He angrily said to the soldiers around him: "I am not sleepy yet as the commander. How can others be lazy and continue to march for me!"

The soldiers complained and had to walk with their lead-like legs, dozing off while walking. After another hour, the army arrived at a fork in the road. Gao Shixuan rushed over to report: "Taiwei, there are two roads ahead, and the guide doesn't know which road is closer?"

"Send someone to inquire about something useless!"

"Abide by the order!"

Gao Shixuan urged the horse to run away, and then Tong Guan ordered: "The whole army rested on the spot for half an hour!"

The three armies cheered and sat down one after another. Most of the soldiers fell to the ground and fell asleep. Although half an hour was short, it would be nice to be able to sleep for a while.

Not long after, Gao Shixuan hurried to Tong Guan with a woodcutter, "Report to the Grand Marshal, brothers only found this woodcutter who chopped wood!"

The woodcutter was so scared that he fell to his knees and kowtowed repeatedly, "Small people will meet with the general!"

Tong Guan looked at him and asked, "Are you a Han person?"

"The common people have been a Han family for generations, and they make a living by chopping wood and collecting herbs."

Tong Guan nodded, "Then I'll ask you, where is this place?"

"This place is called Dafang Mountain, which is the mountain in front of it. It is dozens of miles in a radius. The mountains are high and dense forests are dense, and there are many canyons. There are wild animals from time to time. Various medicinal materials are also abundant on the mountain. Many small villages at the foot of the mountain live on it, and so are the little people's families."

"It turns out that this is Dafangshan. There are two roads ahead. Which road is closer to Xijincheng?"

"Report to the general, the road to the north is relatively flat and easy to walk on, and the road to the south is slightly bumpy, but the road to the south is closer to Xijin City."

"How much is it?" Tong Guan asked again.

"It's about fifty miles, but it's actually half a Dafang Mountain."

"I see."

Tong Guan immediately ordered the woodcutter to reward ten taels of silver and asked him to lead the army. Tong Guan ordered: "Get up and get ready to set off!"

At this time, everyone had only slept for a quarter of an hour and was about to set off. The soldiers were in great pain and complained. Gao Shixuan asked carefully: "Taiwei, don't you know whether to go to the southern line or the northern road?"

"nonsense!"

Tong Guan glared at him fiercely, "Of course I'm going to take the southern line. Do you want to go around fifty miles more?"

Gao Shixuan was so scared that he retreated and hurriedly ran to order the front army to take the southern line. The 50,000 troops walked into the southern line under the leadership of the woodcutter and headed towards Xijin City.

The southern line of Dafang Mountain was high and dense, with rugged roads, and the march was particularly difficult. It was only noon that the army had only walked thirty miles. The soldiers were exhausted and complained, but Tong Guan was determined to fight to the Xijin Mansion before dark. Regardless of the repeated pleadings of the soldiers, they refused to allow the soldiers to rest, but instead asked them to speed up the marching.

At this time, 20,000 front troops entered a grand canyon. The canyon was more than a hundred feet wide, with towering mountains on both sides. The lush forests stretched from the top of the mountain to the foot of the mountain. Gao Shixuan looked at the woods and mountains on both sides. Their previous guide came and said to Gao Shixuan with confusion: "General, we have never walked this road, it seems that we are not going to analyze the direction of Jincheng."

Gao Shixuan was also confused and hurriedly asked the woodcutter to call him and asked him, "What is this place?"

The woodcutter smiled and said, "This place is called the Marine Gorge, which is more than ten miles long. When you walk out of the Marine Gorge, you will walk out of Dafang Mountain, and the road ahead will become flat."

"But other guides said that this is not to analyze the direction of Tianjin City!"

"General, they must have walked Laoya Ridge, but it's still a little far away there. This is the shortest road. I am a local. Wouldn't I know?"

"Okay! Go ahead and lead the way."

Gao Shixuan was half-believing and half-doubted, but he had no choice but to walk halfway through.

After walking for another five or six miles, the canyon road turned north. Even Gao Shixuan felt something was wrong. Xijin City was in the south, so how could he go north?

He quickly ordered his personal soldiers to say, "Go and call the woodcutter!"

After a moment, the personal soldiers rushed back, "General, the woodcutter is gone!"

Gao Shixuan was shocked. He immediately knew that the situation was not good and ordered his left and right to go, "Get back quickly!"

It was too late. At this moment, a continuous explosion occurred at the foot of the army. The firearm thunderbolt cannon exploded. Although it was not as powerful as the thunderbolt, hundreds of thunderbolt cannons exploded in succession. Small poisoned iron sheets in the paper cannon splashed everywhere. Countless people were hit, and there were wailing everywhere. Thick smoke filled the entire canyon and soldiers were in chaos.

The sound of clappers on both sides sounded, and thousands of crossbows were fired at the Song soldiers on the gorge. The soldiers were shot down one after another. At the same time, countless wooden barrels filled with tinder oil rolled down from the tops of the mountains on both sides, fell into the valley and smashed them. The tinder oil overflowed, and more than a thousand rockets shot out again, and the canyon suddenly turned into a sea of ​​fire.

The Song soldiers were panicked and rushed to escape. They trampled on each other, and the wailing and crying sounded throughout the valley. Five thousand Liao troops came from the mountain, and many Song soldiers who fled into the woods were killed one after another. Gao Shixuan shouted: "Break through with me! Break through with me!"

At this moment, hundreds of crossbow arrows shot at him together. Gao Shixuan could not dodge and was shot like a hedgehog and died tragically on the spot.

In fact, there were only 5,000 Liao soldiers in the valley. They took advantage of the terrain to give full play to the power of gunpowder and tinder oil, and killed 20,000 Song army front troops, leaving corpses everywhere, and cried and shouted.

The 30,000 rear troops led by Tong Guan had not yet entered the valley, and were in another branch not far away. Yelu Dashi led 15,000 troops quietly waiting for the opportunity. Yelu Dashi was on the war horse and staring coldly at the Song army in the distance.

Although he firmly opposed the Queen Mother's regent and demanded to return the government to Yelu Yanxi, which intensified the conflict between him and Xiao Gan and was eventually demoted to guard Juyongguan, when the Liao Kingdom was in danger of life and death, he resolutely took office as the commander general of the West Road, leading 20,000 troops to block Tong Guan's army.

At this time, a series of explosions came from the valley in the distance, and Tong Guan's rear army was slightly confused. Yelu Dashi raised his hand and forbidden the army to launch. It was not the best time for the raid.

He pricked up his ears and listened to the crying of the soldiers in the valley, getting closer and closer. At this time, Tong Guan's rear army also began to shout in panic, and the morale of the Song army was shaken.

Yelu Dashi shouted loudly: "Kill me!"

Five thousand Liao troops came out of the small path and rushed towards the Song army, whose formation was already in chaos.

Tong Guan knew he was trapped, so he was so scared that he turned around and fled. Under the escort of hundreds of personal soldiers, Tong Guan ran all the way and quickly left the battlefield.

Seeing the main general fleeing first, other Song army generals fled one after another. The 50,000 Song army was so scared that they were all broken and were defeated like a mountain. This was almost a one-sided massacre without any suspense. The Liao soldiers chased and killed them all the way. The Song army was piled up with corpses, and the 50,000 troops were eventually destroyed. Only more than a thousand people escaped from Dafangshan.

Yelu Dashi did not stop and led 20,000 Liao troops to continue chasing Yizhou.

Just as Tong Guan's army was ambushing in Dafang Mountain, the 30,000 troops led by Zhong Shizhong and Li Yanqing also arrived in Liangxiang County. Liangxiang County is the last barrier to the south of Xijin City and the gate to the south of Xijin City.

However, Zhong Shizhong and Li Yanqing were not as eager to seize the Yanjing city as Tong Guan. The senior leaders of the Eastern Route Army had reached an agreement. Now that the negotiations between the Song and Liao dynasties have not been finalized, they can put pressure on the Liao Kingdom, but they cannot seize the city in a hurry. If the Liao Kingdom did surrender sincerely, Empress Dowager Xiao would naturally send people to contact him. If the Liao Kingdom's surrender was just a delaying strategy, then they should not be anxious, so as not to be ambushed by the Liao army.

Therefore, when Li Yanqing and Zhong Shizhong entered Liangxiang County, they not only did not continue to move forward, but instead built a large camp on a slightly higher field. At the same time, Li Yanqing sent ten cavalry scouts to the front to inquire about the enemy situation.

Yan Qing led twenty scout cavalry to circle the north of Liangxiang County. This area was a very low hill, dense forest, and numerous birds and beasts. It was the hunting ground for the former Emperor of Liao during his southern tour, and it was nearly a hundred miles in radius. At this time, Yan Qing climbed the tallest thousand-year-old tree and looked towards Liangxiang County. The county town could be clearly seen on the top of the tree.

Liangxiang County is not big, it is just a small county town, even smaller than Yongqing City. The city circumference is only seven or eight miles long. It is actually not a county town, but a military city, responsible for protecting the Liao Kingdom's Nanjing City.

This military city can only station three or five thousand troops at most, and with family members, there will be no more than eight thousand people, which is the limit that this small county town can accommodate.

Yan Qing immediately ruled out the possibility of a large army stationed in the county town, and looked around the county town, and the surroundings were empty and there was no sign of garrison.

"Mr. Yu, there is news from the governor."

"I got it, I'll come down now."

Just as Yan Qing was about to come down from the top of the tree, his eyes accidentally fell into another forest more than ten miles west, and Yan Qing's eyes suddenly solidified.
Chapter completed!