Chapter 260 The Duke of England's Decision
"The weather is getting colder and colder. If we keep delaying, I'm afraid we won't be able to complete the repairs of the border cities this year." The Duke of England frowned.
"That's right, those Liao guys have exactly this idea." Fang Zhou gritted his teeth.
As he was speaking, the soldier who brought the news ran up to him and saluted, saying, "Duke Yingguo and Marquis Qingyuan, Lord Yan, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, has returned with an imperial edict that needs to be read. Duke Yingguo and Marquis Qingyuan are to go to the state government office to receive it!"
"Imperial decree?"
The two were stunned when they heard this and did not dare to delay. They quickly left the city and rode to the Bazhou government office on horseback.
When the two men arrived at the yamen, an incense table had already been set up in the courtyard.
Without time for further greetings, Yan Kuan, looking tired, directly asked the two to receive his orders.
Yan Kuan had been in a lot of trouble during this period. He first went to the capital of Liao as an envoy, stayed there for two days and then returned.
After arriving in Bazhou City, he only rested for one night before setting out again for Beijing.
Just a few days after he left, an imperial edict was sent urgently from Bian Jing over a distance of 800 miles, and he was specifically asked to announce it.
He didn't dare to delay and had to turn back.
In order to save time, we even traveled overnight.
The scholar had a weak constitution to begin with, and after all this torture, he was half dead.
That is, he was not in a hurry to return, and although he walked for several days, he actually did not walk much.
If he traveled at the same speed as when he came, the return journey would probably have to double.
Duke Ying and Fang Zhou were unaware of this. They knelt in front of the incense table, waiting for Yan Kuan to announce the decree.
Yan Kuan did not delay and unfolded the imperial edict and began to read it.
Duke Yingguo and Fang Zhou, who were kneeling in front of the incense table, were stunned when they heard the contents of the imperial edict.
The government actually let one of them be the chief and the other the deputy, leading the troops to encircle and suppress the cavalry sent by the Liao Kingdom to plunder.
"You two, please accept my order!"
After Yan Kuan finished reading the imperial edict, he saw that the two did not take any action, so he reminded them.
"The minister obeys the order!"
The two men came to their senses, saluted to the imperial edict, and then stood up.
The Duke of England stepped forward and took the imperial edict.
"I have already told Marquis Qingyuan where the Liao cavalry are hiding. It is up to Duke Ying and Marquis Qingyuan to decide how to encircle and suppress them."
After Yan Kuan finished speaking, he left.
"British Duke, this..."
Fang Zhou looked at the Duke of England excitedly. He was so excited that he didn't know what to say for a moment.
Although the Duke of England was also excited, he was still calm and said, "Let's go to your house and discuss it carefully!"
"Yes!" Fang Zhou nodded.
Fang Ark has been stationed in Bazhou City for many years, so naturally he has a mansion here.
He brought the Duke of Yingguo home and into the study. He took out a map, pointed to two marked places and said, "Look, Duke of Yingguo, these two places are where Yan Kuan said the Liao cavalry were hiding."
"These two places are indeed suitable for hiding." The Duke of England nodded and said with some concern: "I'm afraid there is a trick. Although these two places are valleys, they are not big mountains. For war horses, they don't have much impact. But for infantry, the impact is great."
"I have thought about what the Duke of England said, and it is indeed possible. However, I did not receive an order from the court before, and I was afraid of alerting the enemy, so I did not dare to send anyone to investigate. Now that I have received an order, I will send people to investigate." Fang Zhou said.
"No!" Duke Ying shook his head and said, "If we send people to investigate, once they are discovered, the hidden Liao cavalry will definitely be alert and may even retreat. Now we can only take a gamble."
Fang Zhou thought it made sense and suggested, "How about sending some troops from Xiongzhou City to support us?"
"Can't move them!" Duke Ying thought carefully for a while and said, "Not only can the troops in Xiongzhou City not be moved, but the original garrison in Bazhou City can't be moved either. We can only use the 50,000 troops I brought with me. Even if there is a trap and all 50,000 troops are lost, the Song Dynasty can afford it, but Xiongzhou City and Bazhou City cannot be lost!"
Bazhou City originally had 30,000 imperial guards, plus the 50,000 he brought, there are now 80,000 soldiers.
The imperial edict stated that he would be the chief and Fang Zhou would be the deputy, but it did not give him the right to mobilize all the troops on the border. In fact, the only troops he could mobilize were these 80,000.
He couldn't and wouldn't be able to mobilize the troops in Xiongzhou City.
They were even worried that the Liao Kingdom would set a trap, so even the troops in Bazhou City could not be mobilized.
"But we only have 50,000 soldiers and there are two places where the enemy is hiding. Moreover, these two places are only dozens of miles away from the Liao city. If we can't solve the problem quickly, the Liao will send out cavalry, which will be dangerous." Fang Zhou said worriedly.
The reason why the looting cavalry of the Liao Kingdom did not return to the city was that they hid outside.
Firstly, the constant going back and forth wastes time, and secondly, frequent going in and out makes it easy to be exposed.
Although the Song Dynasty was well aware of the identities of these horse robbers.
But knowing is one thing, when you actually do it, you definitely still have to hide it.
Otherwise, why not just send troops directly? Why pretend to be horse bandits?
"Although there are risks, this is the only way. Now we can only bet that the Song Dynasty has never sent people into the buffer zone between the two countries to search for them in these years, and the hidden cavalry is very lax." The Duke of England said.
This possibility is still very high. There has been no war in the Song Dynasty for decades, and the soldiers are very relaxed.
The Liao soldiers were also human beings. The Song Dynasty was helpless in the face of their looting for so many years, and had never sent troops to search the buffer zone between the two countries.
In the eyes of the Liao people, this was a sign of weakness from the Song Dynasty, and the Liao cavalry might not have been very alert.
"But…"
"Don't worry about it. The weather is getting colder and colder. It might snow someday. There is no time to waste. Besides, I don't need the troops from Bazhou for my own reasons. Among the troops from Bazhou, there may be some who are in collusion with the Liao Kingdom.
The troops I brought with me are all from the Western Suburbs Camp. They have never been to guard the border before, so there is no need to worry about the news leaking out.
Although no one was around when the imperial edict was read out just now, the imperial edict from the court could not be concealed.
I have someone spread the news that the imperial edict is for me to return to the capital. Tomorrow morning I will lead the army back and take a detour from this side."
The Duke of England pointed to the map and told us his plan.
Although the plan he made had many loopholes, it was the best solution in a hurry.
He might be able to spend some time to develop a more detailed plan, but there must be spies from the Liao Kingdom in Bazhou.
Once the Liao Kingdom learned of the imperial edict from the court, it would inevitably become alert as it could not find out the content of the edict.
Moreover, speed is of the essence in war. Now that the weather is getting colder, who knows when the hidden Liao cavalry will retreat.
He finally had the opportunity to take the initiative to attack. If he was too cautious and caused those who were slaughtering the civilians to retreat, he would not be able to forgive himself.
"Isn't this a bit too hasty? There aren't even any supporting troops. What if this is really a trap?" Fang Zhou asked worriedly.
"If it is really a trap, then the Liao Kingdom is targeting the border cities of the Song Dynasty, and we must not arrange troops to support them. Otherwise, the defenses of the border cities will be insufficient, and we cannot afford it if we lose the cities!" said the Duke of England.
He had already made up his mind to die if he failed.
Even if there is a trap, the troops defending the border cannot be mobilized.
"Okay!" Fang Zhou gritted his teeth and said, "Then I will go crazy with the Duke of England!"
"Haha!" The Duke of England laughed and said, "Okay, let's vent our anger. If not, we'll just return home with our horses' hides wrapped around our backs. I'm old, and this may be my last chance to lead an army into battle."
Fang Zhou felt a bit complicated upon hearing this.
Since ancient times, famous generals are like beautiful women, and they are not allowed to grow old in the world.
But for the military generals, the country was bullied by foreign enemies, but they were able to live in peace until they were old. Don’t they feel aggrieved?
He had been stationed at the border for many years, and every year he heard about the Liao Kingdom raiding the grasslands and how many people had died.
He wished he could lead his troops north to fight the Liao Kingdom. Even if he died in battle, it would be better than doing nothing.
Fang Zhou still remembers when he first came to the border to garrison, he had not yet inherited the title. When he heard that horse bandits were rampant, he personally led his troops to encircle and suppress them.
It took several thousand people five or six days to encircle and suppress a group of one hundred horse bandits.
There was no other way. The enemy were all cavalry, and he only led infantry. It was only because of his familiarity with the terrain that he forced them into a desperate situation and completed the encirclement.
Although the process was arduous, he would never forget the look in the eyes of the surviving villagers when he returned to the village with the heads of the bandits.
That look was very complicated, with joy and admiration.
It was also during that encirclement and suppression that he realized that these so-called horse bandits were actually cavalry from the Liao Kingdom.
But afterwards he suffered revenge from the Liao Kingdom.
The Liao cavalry who posed as horse bandits plundered more frequently and sent out more small groups of cavalry.
In the past, they only robbed money and food and bullied women, but rarely massacred villages.
After all, the Liao people were not stupid, and they knew that they could not drain the pond to catch all the fish.
If they killed too many people and the people all ran away, they would not be able to go deep into the Song Dynasty to plunder.
But because of him, the Liao Kingdom disguised itself as bandits and plundered cavalry, slaughtering many villages in revenge.
After that incident, the imperial court also issued an edict to reprimand Fang Zhou, and from then on Fang Zhou ignored the looting by the Liao Kingdom.
Are they worried about being blamed by the government? Or are they afraid of retaliation against the people?
After a long time, Fang Zhou himself couldn't tell the difference.
The two discussed in detail for more than half an hour before leaving to prepare.
Not long after, a piece of news spread in Bazhou City.
An imperial edict came from Bian Jing, summoning Duke Ying to return to the capital.
The people of Bazhou did not care about this decree, but some people with ulterior motives did care about it very much.
…………
The next morning, Duke Ying led his army out of Bazhou City and headed towards Bian Jing.
The army did not move very fast. By evening, it had only traveled thirty miles.
After the army set up camp, the Duke of England sent out spies to patrol everywhere.
Knowing that no one was secretly watching, after the soldiers had dinner and it was dark, the Duke of England and Fang Zhou, braving the moonlight, led the army out of the camp and marched according to the planned route.
Only one air force battalion and a small number of soldiers were left to patrol to prevent being discovered.
(End of this chapter)