Chapter 1324: A Desperate Future

"Immediately circulate this victory report to the entire army and the whole city, and send copies to Xian'an, Rong, and Han prefectures! Attach another copy and send someone to catch up with Xiao Siwen at full speed, telling him to present the victory report to the Son of Heaven on our behalf!"

"Can't catch up? If you have to chase all the way to the Supreme Capital, to the imperial palace tents, then present it directly to Your Majesty!"

Yelu Xiezhen rarely lost his composure. It took him a while to calm the surging waves in his heart before he said: "Do you see? We are far from being at the end of our rope! Huanglong Prefecture has been pacified, so the other rebellions can be too!

With Huanglong Prefecture, we still have room to retreat, and still have the chance to continue maneuvering against the Han army. The Eastern Capital Circuit is still our blessed land. Every step the Han army advances adds another burden to them; every step we retreat accumulates a measure of advantage for us. Drag it out, drag it into winter—the bitter cold, the fierce winds, the frozen wasteland—that will be the Han army's greatest enemy and our greatest ally.

Even a million of their troops cannot withstand the mighty power of heaven and earth. As long as the Han army dares to continue marching north, they will be destroyed here just like the Sui army's eastern expedition over four hundred years ago. The corpses of the Han army will become the finest fertilizer for the soil of our Great Liao..."

As Yelu Xiezhen spoke, his hands couldn't help but wave about, his demeanor growing even more spirited. Unfortunately, the only ones receiving his speech at this moment were Xiao Talin, the subordinate who had brought the report, and a few guards.

Yelu Xiezhen had repeated similar words countless times before, but the development of the situation was vastly different from what he described. They were retreating, abandoning, failing—yet the Han army remained unhurried and composed, and the pressure they brought was still suffocating.

What others thought was unknown, but Yelu Xiezhen himself, asking his own conscience, how much of what he said was actually credible?

But regardless, Yelu Xiuge's victory at Huanglong Prefecture was good news. The past experiences had already been the worst; perhaps even worse situations still lay ahead, but at least for now this was a small piece of good news worth publicizing, to boost the morale of the Liao army's officers and men, and to ease some of the tense contradictions...

"Also issue a commendation order! Send an envoy to tell Xunning that whatever requests or plans he has, I will agree to and support them all! Tell him that I am deploying defenses in Tongzhou to hold back the Han army and buy him time. As for pacifying the rebellions in the rear, I entrust it entirely to him—he may make decisions on the spot and act at his own discretion!" Yelu Xiezhen continued giving orders.

Although somewhat surprised at Yelu Xiezhen's almost unreserved trust in Yelu Xiuge, the staff officers quickly recorded everything and acknowledged the orders.

Yelu Xiuge was young and had received much criticism for his previous failures, but those who truly understood knew he was a military prodigy among the imperial clan. Even setting aside past performance, among the several armies Yelu Xiezhen had sent to suppress the rebellions this time, only Yelu Xiuge had achieved results.

Yelu Xiuge's battle report also mentioned that after recovering the cities under Huanglong Prefecture, he would continue to relentlessly pursue and attack the Jurchen tribes that had participated in the rebellion. The primary objective was to purge the Jurchen within the territory, especially those of Huanglong Prefecture, mainly through forcing surrender and subjugation—those who would not submit would die.

After clearing the area south of the Second Huntong River, he would then advance north to pacify and destroy the Wanyan tribe, cutting down the Songmo Governor banner they had raised, and crushing the ambitions of the surrounding tribes.

As for the Dalugu tribe, the approach would still focus on appeasement. If things went smoothly, with a combination of pressure and persuasion, the threat from the two major tribes could be completely resolved, and the remaining small tribes could be induced to surrender. In this way, the Jurchen and Shiwei tribes causing trouble on the Songliao Plain could be thoroughly pacified.

On this basis, he would advance north to attack the Shiwei rebels led primarily by the Tulubu Shiwei, while also contacting and organizing the remaining pacification forces and garrison troops in the old Bohai territories, to completely put down the great northeastern rebellion...

Yelu Xiuge's plan, after the victory at Huanglong Prefecture, now had a possibility of being realized. But there was only one problem: the lack of time to accomplish it. At the shortest, three or four months; at the longest, a year or more—and time was precisely what they lacked...

Yelu Xiezhen could naturally see this as well, which was why he had said that he would hold the line at Tongzhou while letting Yelu Xiuge suppress the rebellions in the rear.

Although neither Yelu Xiuge's pacification plan nor Yelu Xiezhen's defense plan seemed highly likely to succeed, just like a drowning man, as long as one can still gasp another breath, one must thrash and struggle a few more times.

And as the highest military and political commander of Liao in the northeastern region, Yelu Xiezhen's understanding and judgment of the situation were naturally quite profound. Therefore, once the rare surge of fervor passed, pressure and helplessness pressed in from all directions once again.

In the final analysis, without external support, the Liao army's ultimate fate in the northeast was doomed to be hopeless. The remaining military strength of the Eastern Capital Circuit alone was simply unable to sustain the ever-deteriorating situation. But what needed to be done still had to be done, and the support that needed to be expressed could not be ambiguous.

But where would the external force capable of breaking the deadlock come from?

Night fell, the autumn chill grew colder, and even the lamplight indoors seemed tinged with frost. Yelu Xiezhen stood before a somewhat crude map, looking at the military situation map of Han and Liao forces. Beneath his silent, stern face, his mind raced wildly, contemplating strategies to save the realm from peril.

So far, he had barely managed to construct a defense line at Tongzhou, centered on Tongyuan City with Liuhe City as support. Both cities were situated within the fork of the river, mutually supporting each other like horns.

As for Guihua and Xianping to the south, they were too exposed, unfavorable for defense, and there weren't enough troops to spread out further. If the Han army launched a large-scale advance north, those cities would be directly abandoned, burned to the ground.

However, the previous arrangements had been made with the intention of sharing the fate of the cities, leaving no retreat whatsoever. Although Tongyuan and Liuhe were positioned within the river fork, with the two waterways to the north and south limiting the Han army's deployment space, they also cut off any possibility of retreat. Once besieged, barring unexpected developments, the only outcome would truly be to share the fate of the cities.

But now the situation had changed again. With the rebellion at Huanglong Prefecture pacified, that meant there was still the possibility of continued retreat and defense. Retreating further north would mean another three hundred li—three hundred li of primitive roads, compounded by inevitably harsh weather. The pressure that would bring upon the Han army could well be imagined.

Thinking of this, the defense strategy at Tongzhou could seemingly be appropriately adjusted—leaving sufficient room for retreat, and absolutely not allowing themselves to be besieged.

But Huanglong Prefecture had not yet been completely pacified, and how long it would take to fully settle was uncertain. And he needed to hold back the Han army to buy Yelu Xiuge enough time. A dilemma presented itself—how to balance the two?

Perhaps the only hope was that the Han army would rest for even longer. He had heard they were settling the people in Liaodong, intending to pacify the region. The disturbances and bandit uprisings he had sent people to incite, seduce, and organize were nearly suppressed, and it would be difficult to stir up much more trouble.

But more than a month had passed. No matter how one calculated it, the Han army had rested long enough; they could not delay any longer. There was still one late autumn period that could be exploited.

At the same time, even if the Han army advanced north to attack and he managed to extricate himself smoothly and retreat to Huanglong Prefecture, there would still be a problem. What if, after taking Tongzhou, the Han army sought stability and did not continue north, but instead simply stayed put to rest and consolidate, waiting out the winter?

If that were the case, the so-called luring the enemy deep would become a joke again. The Han army was absolutely capable of doing this, and with their abundant national strength, they could sustain it. For their own side, however, surviving this winter would be very difficult.

And to achieve victory over the Han army, they needed to make use of the frozen wasteland, needed the Han army to advance deep, needed their supply lines stretched, needed sufficient strength, needed the rear to be pacified, needed...

There were too many conditions required—both the help of objective factors and the cooperation of Han army mistakes. How could it be so easy? And the more he thought, the more his head ached and the more irritable Yelu Xiezhen became, like walking through a maze with roads leading everywhere, yet every path was a dead end.

"Great King, our spies in the south have sent a piece of news!" A guard officer hurried in and reported.

"What new news is there?"

"It seems the Southern Dynasty has come into conflict with Goryeo. The Han army is pulling troops toward the southeast of Liaodong. Several tens of thousands of Goryeo troops have already crossed the Yalu River and are approaching Laiyuan City!" the officer reported.

"Oh!" Upon hearing this, a strange gleam immediately flashed in Yelu Xiezhen's eyes: "Is the news reliable?"

"It should be reliable!" the guard officer said. "According to reports, the Goryeo army has been massed at the Yalu River for a long time now, with the intention of advancing into Liaodong!"

"Goryeo! Heh heh!" Yelu Xiezhen sneered twice. "A bunch of fence-sitting snakes and rats! They didn't act early, and now at this time, they actually dare to offend the Han Dynasty and tear face to start a war with them?"

"If it's like this, with Han and Goryeo at war, the Han army fighting on two fronts, north and south, that would somewhat relieve my predicament!" After pondering for a moment, Yelu Xiezhen murmured again: "But still, it's not enough..."

"Great King, a report from Xianping—Ma Renyu's army from Yinzhou has marched north..." Before long, another military report arrived.