Chapter 1292: March on Liaoyang

The battle for Jinzhou ended in a complete victory for the Han army. It began in early April and concluded in mid-June, lasting over two months, for which both the Han and Liao sides paid enormous casualties.

The Liao army's initial deployment at Jinzhou numbered only slightly more than twenty thousand troops, with an additional five thousand added midway. After the battle of Yaozhou, Yelu Xiezhen sent another twenty thousand, and together with auxiliary troops and conscripted laborers, the Liao army committed nearly seventy thousand men to the defense of Jinzhou, along with vast quantities of grain, baggage, and weapons.

Yet in the end, fewer than five thousand Liao cavalry and infantry managed to break free of the Han army's pursuit under Yelu Xiuge and successfully withdraw. Of the rest, aside from a small number who scattered and went missing, the majority were killed in battle; even prisoners were few.

Apart from the earlier skirmishes and the grueling siege warfare, the heaviest casualties came on the day the city fell — for the Liao army and the Han army alike. Of course, once the Han army had fully seized control of the situation, some needless deaths and injuries occurred; many soldiers could not shake themselves free of the brutal fighting, failed to sheathe their blades in time, and killed indiscriminately without distinguishing friend from foe, until within Jinzhou city, blood flowed thick enough to float oars.

In the end, it took a full three days to clear nearly fifty thousand corpses from the city, which were piled into mounds and collectively buried or burned. The foul stench thick with killing aura polluted the air of all Jinzhou...

The Liao army was virtually annihilated, and most of the dead and wounded were elite troops of Liaodong — an ordinary army could never have held out so long against the Han army in such fierce siege combat.

Of course, the Han army's losses were equally heavy. In the battle of Jinzhou, they left behind more than sixteen thousand corpses, with over five thousand fallen on the day the city was breached. Moreover, those who fought in this battle were all elites of the imperial army and the frontier forces — the Longqi Army, the Xiaodi Army, the Husheng Army, the Pinglu Army, the Shimen Army, and others each suffered losses, especially the Pinglu Army commanded by Ma Renyu, which was badly battered.

If the scattered fighting outside Jinzhou were added, the number of fallen soldiers would be even greater. Because the siege of Jinzhou was so fierce and brutal, with an extremely high mortality rate, the casualty ratio far exceeded that of any previous war waged by the Great Han.

According to the final tally, by the time Jinzhou fell, the western Han army's casualties exceeded thirty thousand, not including the conscripted laborers and able-bodied men sent to the front. Many wounded soldiers died before they could receive treatment, and not a few succumbed to the severity of their injuries — this despite the fact that over a thousand military physicians had been drawn from field headquarters and large quantities of wound medicine had been prepared.

The cruelty of war was displayed to the fullest in Jinzhou, and the price paid by both the Han and Liao sides in the battle of Jinzhou profoundly illustrated the saying that one general's fame is built upon ten thousand bones.

However, though the price paid was great, it was worth it for the Han army — and the Liao army's losses far exceeded the Han's. Given the Great Han's scale, what did losing a few tens of thousands of men amount to? As long as they were willing, they could be replenished at any time; there was no need even to draw from the rear — among the various forces at the front alone, there was ample reserve strength to fill the gaps.

Tactically, victory had already been achieved, but the strategic value was even greater. With Jinzhou taken, everything to the east was flat and open, with no natural defenses to rely on. The distance to Liaoyang was less than two hundred li, and apart from a few rivers, there was nothing in the way. With complete control of both land and water transport advantages, the Han army's eastward advance into Liaodong was naturally an unobstructed road.

The gain or loss of Jinzhou concerned the entire Liaodong campaign, and even the success or failure of the entire northern expedition. If several hundred thousand Han troops were allowed to pour into Liaodong unopposed, the situation facing the Liao army could no longer be described merely as dire.

Liaoyang, the political, military, and economic center of Liao in the northeast, would be directly exposed to the Han army's striking power. If Liaoyang were lost, then Liao's rule over the entire northeast would be shaken.

During the Han-Liao war, the Great Han had been secretly communicating with various northeastern tribes — such as the Jurchen, the Shiwei, and even the Balhae people. Those who were dissatisfied with Liao's rule had made some moves, but they maintained a simple shrewdness and did not rashly join in. This was due both to Yelu Xiezhen's vigilance and suppression, and to the fact that the Han army had previously made no major progress.

Once the Han army actually entered Liaodong, no further action was needed — merely arriving before the walls of Liaoyang would send a signal to the many alien peoples of the northeast: Liao was finished. It could be foreseen that under such circumstances, those tribes watching the situation develop would find it hard to restrain their restless ambitions any longer.

Pull one hair and the whole body moves — firmly seizing complete initiative in the Han-Liao war situation was the greatest significance of the battle of Jinzhou.

After capturing Jinzhou, under Zhao Kuangyin's command, the Han army made no excessive moves. Neither impatient nor rash, they did not advance recklessly, nor did they press into Liaodong on the momentum of the city's fall.

Instead, they once again sought stability, just as they had when first marching north — reorganizing troops, resting the soldiers, replenishing weapons and grain, while simultaneously repairing Jinzhou city and turning it into a new base for advancing into Liaodong.

The reason for this approach was simple: after the bloody battle of Jinzhou, the soldiers genuinely needed time to rest and recover, the scorching heat of high summer also had to be taken into account, and the enormous losses suffered earlier needed replenishing.

More importantly, with Jinzhou in hand, the gate to Liaodong had been blasted open and strategic initiative was firmly grasped. All the previous pressure and anxiety dissipated into nothing, and in the use of troops, Zhao Kuangyin would be even more composed and at ease.

Thus, within the half month after taking the city, the entire eastern route northern expedition army entered a rest period. After the two great battles of Yaozhou and Jinzhou, the Liaodong war situation fell into silence.

During this period, Zhao Kuangyin only sent out several columns of cavalry east into Liaodong, the farthest reaching the Liao River, directly linking up communications with the water forces on the eastern line. With Liaodong's door thrown open, the Han army could gallop about with ease.

Compared to the Han army's composure, the Liao side was utterly miserable. The all-out gamble at Yaozhou had worked wonders, reaping the fruits of victory and alleviating the dangerous situation.

Yet this joy lasted only about twenty days before the Han army struck back mercilessly. You gambled at Yaozhou; I strike at Jinzhou — and it was a powerful, fatal blow.

Even Yelu Xiezhen could not help but grow optimistic after the battle of Yaozhou, even generously reinforcing Yelu Xiuge with twenty thousand troops. With the earlier siege of Jinzhou as precedent, many Liao nobles, officials, and generals felt reassured about holding Jinzhou, and some even thought they could plan a counterattack against the Han army.

Therefore, when news of Jinzhou's fall arrived, even Yelu Xiezhen lost his composure and knocked over his teacup, taking a long while to recover his senses.

Previously, the possibility of Jinzhou's fall had been considered — but it should not have fallen like this, nor at this time. The unexpected loss caught Yelu Xiezhen off guard and threw all his deployments for the Liaodong campaign into disarray; by comparison, the earlier victory at Yaozhou seemed dim.

While the Han army rested, Yelu Xiezhen certainly did not sit idle waiting for death. Even though the Han army was applying no further pressure, the sense of urgency was overwhelming, and he made emergency adjustments and redeployments.

All defensive focus was placed on the Eastern Capital, Liaoyang city. He knew that the time the Han army had left him was not much, and they would not give him more.

As for the defeated general of Jinzhou, Yelu Xiuge, Yelu Xiezhen did not punish him severely either — only demoting him while keeping him in post, ordering him to redeem himself through merit. On the contrary, in private he even praised his earlier performance.

When autumn arrived, after resting at Jinzhou for nearly twenty days, with the thirty thousand cavalry conscripted by the court arriving at the front, three hundred thousand infantry and cavalry marched east, advancing on Liaoyang.

The focus of the battlefield shifted to Liaoyang, marking the Liaodong campaign and the northern expedition war as having entered a new stage.