I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 411 Pursuit of victory
Because the Song people and the Liao people had different living habits, it was extremely difficult to send spies to the Liao Kingdom.

Although Zhao Wei had made plans in advance, the intelligence passed back to him by the spies sent to the Liao Kingdom was quite limited, and the intelligence that could touch the core of the Liao Kingdom was even less.

Based on the intelligence obtained and the analysis of everyone, Zhao Wei roughly came to a general conclusion.

The emperor of the Liao Dynasty was Emperor Shengzong of Liao. The military strength at that time should be at its peak. The standing force was about 300,000 to 400,000. If the whole country's strength was combined, the number could reach 700,000 to 800,000, nearly one million.

Of course, it is impossible for the Liao people to send out all their troops. According to Zhao Wei's guess, the Liao people can probably send out about 300,000 people in this war.

However, many of the Liao army's troops were elite, especially their cavalry, which were invincible.

Zhao Wei could despise the Liao army strategically, but he would definitely take the enemy seriously tactically.

He is now the commander-in-chief of the northern expedition against Liao. The number of troops he has gathered from all sides of the north has reached about 200,000. In addition to the nearly 100,000 people he brought from the northwest and the 100,000 imperial guards urgently dispatched by Zhao Heng, he can definitely crush the Liao people in terms of military strength.

But in terms of elite troops, there was a big gap between the Song army and the Liao army, and there were very few cavalrymen who could fight against the Liao cavalry.

In short, this battle is not easy to fight.

If it was just a matter of repelling the Liao army, Zhao Wei was 100% sure of success, unless Emperor Shengzong of Liao went crazy and let the Liao people attack recklessly.

However, if one wants to take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun from the Liao people, or even reach the capital of the Liao Kingdom, the difficulty will increase sharply.

Speaking of which, now is not the best time to declare a full-scale war with the Liao people.

Firstly, there is a strong uncertainty on the Song Dynasty side. Although Zhao Heng is supportive, no one knows whether he can hold on. After all, there is a lot of opposition in the court.

This kind of all-out war, without the full support of the court, would not have been possible to sustain for long with only the human, financial and material resources of the Prince of Han's Palace.

Furthermore, the Liao Kingdom is now at its most powerful. If we fail to strike a heavy blow to the Liao people in one go, we will inevitably be met with an all-out counterattack from the Liao Kingdom.

While everyone was discussing, the commander of the personal guards, Liu Sheng, walked in and whispered a few words to Zhao Wei.

Then, Zhao Wei announced a temporary recess and walked out of the tent.

After having lunch with Zhao Pan'er and his son, Zhao Wei took Zhao Pan'er to the provincial capital in the rear and asked Ke Zheng to help look after her. After leaving a team of personal guards, he hurried back to the camp.

"Marshal, here's the news from the Liao people."

Li Yi, dressed in black armor, walked into the commander's tent and handed the letter in his hand to Zhao Wei.

Zhao Wei took the letter and read it, and soon he frowned.

This was the information sent back by the spies he arranged to go to the Liao Kingdom, saying that the Liao Kingdom sent an army of 200,000, led by Xiao Sheng as the main general and Yelu Zongsheng as the deputy general, coming from Shangjing and heading straight for the Song-Liao border.

Zhao Wei also had some understanding of the Liao Kingdom in this world, and knew who Xiao Sheng was. He was the younger brother of the Liao Queen Mother Xiao Chuo. He was already in his fifties and was one of the most famous generals of the Liao Kingdom. His fame was no less than that of the Liao general Xiao Talina who was shot dead by an eight-ox crossbow under the city of Chanzhou a few years ago. He was extremely good at cavalry combat and had participated in many Song-Liao wars, including the battle of the Chanyuan Alliance that year.

As for Yelu Zongsheng, there is no need to say much. Although he is young, he is also a powerful figure who should not be underestimated.

Of course, the most important thing is the 200,000-strong army, nearly half of which are cavalry. Once the nearly 100,000 elite cavalry enter the battlefield, their lethality will definitely be an unstoppable torrent.

If they start charging, I'm afraid even an army of 300,000 might not be able to stop them.

Zhao Wei would not doubt the intelligence sent by the Liao Kingdom, because the Liao Kingdom's spies were selected from his five hundred Blood-Clothed Guards and would never betray him, so this intelligence was absolutely feasible.

But just because of this, he couldn't help but frown. An army of 200,000 was not scary. After all, he had experienced the fighting of 560,000. But nearly 100,000 cavalry were indeed quite difficult to deal with.

If they don't destroy this cavalry, they probably won't have much chance of winning.

In fact, the Song Dynasty had lost confidence after being beaten by the Liao people in recent years, and the soldiers were relatively weak. If it were his Blood-Clothed Army in the previous world, the number of the Blood-Clothed Army alone would be enough to make the Liao people unable to return.

However, although Zhao Wei had a headache, he was still full of confidence. After all, if he didn't even have this little confidence, how could he recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun?

"Cavalry is not invincible."

Zhao Wei had several ways to deal with cavalry in his mind, some of which were not usable, but some were usable.

Without talking about the distant past, let’s just talk about the method that General Yue will use to deal with the Jin cavalry in the future. It can be used directly. However, this method can be used to deal with heavy cavalry, but not so effective against light cavalry.

The Liao Kingdom was more based on light cavalry, so one method alone was not safe. It was also necessary to train heavy infantry and equip them with heavy weapons such as sabers. Of course, artillery and kerosene were also good ways to deal with light cavalry.

With the war approaching, Zhao Wei could only train his army and find craftsmen to make weapons in the shortest possible time.

In fact, the population of the Song Dynasty was far more than that of the Liao Dynasty, but the Song Dynasty emphasized culture over military, which led to the weak domestic military power.

The Song Dynasty had a considerable military force, but the status of its military men was not high. Since the Treaty of Chanyuan, there had been very few wars in recent years, and it was quite difficult to gain promotion through military exploits.

Over time, many military officers had no room for advancement, and naturally they lost the motivation to strive. Over time, the combat effectiveness of the Song Dynasty's army became weaker and weaker.

A few decades later, the Jin Kingdom broke into the city of Bianjing, captured the two emperors alive, and destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty.

The Jingkang Shame is definitely the most shameful event in the history of the Central Plains dynasty.

Throughout the thousands of years of Chinese history, there has never been any unified dynasty in the Central Plains as weak as the Song Dynasty.

……

……

The first year of Qianxing, late autumn.

When an army of 200,000 strong from the Liao Kingdom marched to the Song-Liao border, Zhao Wei did not defend the city but led an army of 300,000 strong to attack proactively.

He thought that the battle with the Liao army would be a difficult one, but to his surprise, in the first clash between the two sides, the Song army he led achieved an astonishing victory.

Not only did he kill thousands of Liao soldiers, he also captured thousands alive, defeating the Liao army.

This battle stunned Zhao Wei and his generals.

Wasn’t it agreed that the Liao people would be invincible?

How come he was so fragile in the first fight?
However, Zhao Wei soon realized that it was not that the Liao army was too weak, but that they were looked down upon by the Liao people.

In previous wars between the Song and Liao dynasties, the Song was no match for the Liao and had almost no victories. Although the Liao army was defeated in the last invasion, they did not think it was because of their poor fighting ability, but rather that they fell into the conspiracy of the despicable Song people.

Therefore, in this first battle with an army of 200,000, they underestimated the army led by Zhao Wei, which led to their great defeat.

Although it's weird, it's the best explanation.

After this defeat, the Liao army became much more cautious and began to use light cavalry to open the way. Even though Zhao Wei had been prepared, there was not enough time and he had no way to make adequate preparations. Facing the Liao light cavalry charge, he suffered heavy losses.

The Liao army was the invading party, and Zhao Wei also wanted to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. Naturally, he could not just hold his defense, not to mention the Liao army's mobility. If he did not send troops to stop them, the Liao people could completely use their flexible mobility to bypass their defenses and invade the heartland of the Song Dynasty. Then the people of the Song Dynasty would suffer.

Therefore, Zhao Wei knew that the Liao cavalry could not be stopped, but in order to prevent innocent people of the Song Dynasty from being massacred by the Liao people, he had to lead his troops out of the city to block the Liao offensive.

The number of Song troops was greater than that of Liao troops, and with Zhao Wei's iron-blooded orders, no one retreated on the battlefield. Even if the Liao cavalry was strong, it could not break through the defense line on the Song-Liao border. However, as a result, the number of casualties of the Song army far exceeded that of the Liao troops.

Zhao Wei had been on the battlefield for a long time and had seen life and death. He knew that casualties were inevitable for victory, so he was still able to be ruthless.

However, his personal guard commander Liu Sheng, who had clearly wanted to go to war with the Liao people before, became a little dazed as he witnessed more and more life and death in recent days.

This is actually understandable. This war is different from the war in the northwest border. In the northwest, they almost always won overwhelming victories, especially this time they completely destroyed the Dingnan Army without spending much effort at all.

But when he went to war with the Liao people this time, he realized that the Dingnan Army and the Liao people were not on the same level at all. Although they were able to resist the Liao people every time and even continued to repel the Liao people, the casualties were far greater than in the war between them and the Dingnan Army.

The Liao army originally had only 200,000 people. At the beginning, many of them were unexpectedly killed by Zhao Wei. Later, they were besieged by Zhao Wei. Although they suffered many casualties among the Song army, they also suffered heavy casualties themselves, especially the light cavalry targeted by the Blood-Clothed Army, almost half of them were wiped out.

After more than four months, nearly half of the 200,000-strong army was lost. It was also deep winter, and due to a lack of food and insufficient logistical supplies, the Liao people had to retreat.

When the news of Zhao Wei's victory in repelling the Liao army of 200,000 reached Bian Jing, the whole court was shocked. Even those civil servants who disliked Zhao Wei breathed a sigh of relief and dared not target him anymore.

As for the people, it caused an uproar.

Zhao Wei was already a famous figure in the Song Dynasty. He became famous at a young age. He had previously destroyed the Dingnan Army and was now repelling the Liao Army.

For a time, his prestige among the people reached its peak.

Even young children knew about King Han Zhao Wei, and countless people called Zhao Wei the God of War of the Song Dynasty.

The war between Liao and Song temporarily stopped, and then a strange thing happened again. Almost eight out of ten officials in the court once again petitioned Zhao Heng to negotiate peace with the Liao Kingdom.

Zhao Wei was not surprised to hear voices for peace talks in the court. The officials in the capital did not treat the soldiers on the front line as human beings at all.

The peace talks were lost in battle, and the peace talks were won in battle.

In their eyes, the life and death of the soldiers on the front line is not important at all, and the outcome of the war is just a bargaining chip for them.

If you lose, you have to pay more tribute.

If you win, you have to pay less tribute.

Regardless of whether they win or lose, they have put the Song Dynasty in a weak position.

Of course, there is another possibility, that is, they have always regarded the Liao people as barbarians, and believed that the Liao invasion of the Central Plains was just to steal some yellow and white products and some food.

In this case, why not just give them some "reward" and send them away? There is no need to start a war.

After all, war is a very costly affair, and judging from the outcome of the Treaty of Chanyuan, even if one wins, one will still have to pay tribute in the end. In this case, it would be better not to fight at the beginning and just pay the money to be done with. Wouldn't it be nice to have peace in the world?
In addition, a more important point is that the national policy of the Song Dynasty that emphasized culture over military affairs made it impossible for scholars to accept the rise of military men.

In short, only the Song Dynasty could use money and dignity to beg the enemy to give up the war.

However, what Zhao Wei did not expect was that there would be so many court officials advocating peace this time. Even the extremely tough pro-war faction in the court were petitioning Zhao Heng for peace talks.

Just when Zhao Wei was puzzled, Yang Wenguang walked in.

"Commander."

Zhao Wei nodded and said with a smile, "Have you recovered from your injury?"

Yang Wenguang was seriously injured in the first battle with the Liao army. He used the tactic of exchanging injury for life to save Xiao Moduo's life.

This Xiao Moduo was also a famous general in the Liao Kingdom. It is worth mentioning that he was also the son of King Shun of the Liao Kingdom, Xiao Talina, who died under the city of Chanzhou.

The feud between Xiao Talina and the Yang family can be traced back to the period of Emperor Taizong. His second uncle died at the hands of Xiao Talina, and his grandfather, Old Man Yang, was captured alive by Xiao Talina. In the end, Old Man Yang refused to surrender and died from an arrow wound after fasting for three days.

Now that Xiao Talina has been dead for many years, Yang Wenguang has no way to seek revenge on him, but he unexpectedly meets his son Xiao Moduo. Naturally, the two enemies become extremely jealous when they meet, and he fights to the death to kill Xiao Moduo.

"Thank you for your concern, Marshal. I am almost fully recovered now." Yang Wenguang smiled and asked solemnly, "Marshal, should we call a truce with the Liao people?"

Hearing this, Zhao Wei frowned instantly.

"Why, you don't want to fight anymore?"

Yang Wenguang shook his head, his tone full of hatred: "I wish to kill all the Liao people for revenge, how could I not want to fight? I just heard that Mr. Ke wrote to the government, hoping that the government would send envoys to negotiate with the Liao people, I..."

"and many more."

Zhao Wei interrupted, "Who did you say wrote to the emperor to ask for peace?"

"Ke Gong."

"My teacher Ke Zheng?!"

Yang Wenguang nodded: "Well, he still wants to join forces with General Zhe, but General Zhe did not agree, so General Zhe asked me to ask the Marshal whether we should fight or make peace."

"Why did Ke Zheng submit a petition for peace?"

Zhao Wei's tone was cold and he didn't even call him teacher. In his opinion, Ke Zheng's petition for peace was a stab in the back.

Sensing Zhao Wei's uncontrollable anger, Yang Wenguang replied cautiously: "From what General Zhe said, Mr. Ke felt that we lost too many lives in this battle. Now that the Liao army has withdrawn, it is a good time for peace talks."

"I see. That's why I was wondering why so many ministers in the court wrote letters to ask for peace. It turns out it was Ke Zheng."

Although Ke Zheng is far away at the border, his prestige in the court is still very high. His memorial will naturally mobilize many people. Coupled with the original peace-seeking faction in the court, Zhao Wei can only say... I hope his father can withstand the pressure.

However, based on his understanding of Zhao Heng, Zhao Heng might not be able to hold on, so he still has to rely on him.

"Marshal, are we still going to fight the Liao people?"

Zhao Wei could understand Ke Zheng. After all, even the commander of his personal guards was a little dazed by this war, not to mention that as a civil servant, it was reasonable for Ke Zheng to want to end the war through peace talks.

However, Ke Zheng wrote a letter to Zhao Heng without even saying hello, bypassing him, the top military and political leader, which made him quite dissatisfied.

Zhao Wei looked towards Yang Wenguang, his tone was indescribably complicated.

"Liu Lang, do you think we won or lost?"

"Of course we won. In all these years, our Song Dynasty has never defeated the Liao people so easily." Yang Wenguang blurted out without thinking.

"Since we have won, we must press on to win."

"The Marshal wants us to continue fighting? But Mr. Ke..."

Zhao Wei interrupted him directly and said in a cold voice: "Don't mention Ke Zheng, even if the emperor comes in person, I will make up my mind."

(End of this chapter)