Chapter 1332: The Siege of Yunzhong

In the deep autumn of beyond the northern frontier, the land was already withered and yellow everywhere. The autumn wind howled furiously, sweeping across both sides of the Great Wall, accompanied by rising beacons of war. From mid-September onward, the Liao army had launched attacks on the Han border passes, and in an instant, every Han pass along the Great Wall was flashing warnings of imminent danger.

In the northern part of Shanyang, along the line of the Great Wall, the Great Han had established a total of twenty-four garrison forts of varying sizes, distributed across the key roads and mountain passes. Each was manned by garrison troops—the large forts with two hundred soldiers, the small outposts with only twenty.

These garrison points, against the vast length of the Great Wall, could not really provide much defensive capability. Their primary function was early warning. Moreover, over the past decade or more, the Great Han's control and influence beyond the northern frontier had been growing day by day, so the construction of defensive fortifications at these garrison forts had been allowed to slow.

This time, however, with the Liao army launching a massive invasion to the south, these forts naturally could not do much to impede them. But when the alarm was raised, every garrison fort received only one order: hold fast and await reinforcements—no surrender, no retreat.

Clearly, the court's intention was obvious: through these garrison forts, they sought to block and delay the Liao army's southern invasion as much as possible, even if only by a meager contribution, they would still do their utmost.

Even the Hu and Han tribes and herders beyond the northern frontier became bait to entangle the Liao army. The clever ones, those quick to read the situation, fled back south of the frontier early, either taking refuge in walled cities or hiding deep in the mountains.

But many more became the first casualties of this war. The towns and pasturelands built by Hu and Han commoners under the direction of the Shanyang prefectural government did indeed draw the Liao army's attention.

The Liao army advanced westward, spending a full seven days sweeping through and plundering those people of beyond the northern frontier who had been too slow to react. For a Liao army driven to the brink by war, it was not just livestock, grain, tea, salt, and ironware that had plunder value—even tents and fodder were worth seizing.

And those seven days were extremely precious to the Han army as well. Because the situation had deteriorated so severely, even though the Great Han had reacted quickly enough under Emperor Liu's direction, time was still needed.

Whether it was the transmission of orders, the mobilization of troops, the gathering of military supplies, or the sheltering of civilians—all required time. The farthest mobilization order, sent to Fengzhou, would take six or seven days even with relay riders pushing their horses at full speed without rest; if one added the time needed to prepare and march east to assist, it would take even longer.

Therefore, those extra six or seven days still were not enough to quench the thirst. But for the Great Han's war preparations, even gaining half a day or a full day was a win.

At least, while the Liao army was sweeping through Monan, Fengyi Army Commander Tian Zhongjin led five thousand troops back to Yunzhong, and the nearby reinforcements from Ningyuan, Dingxiang, and Yongning also arrived one after another. The Marquis of Jiuyuan, Li Wanchao, disregarding his advanced age, rushed to Yunzhong as quickly as he could and began coordinating the various armies of Shanyang.

On the Shanyang side, while they wound up their springs and frantically prepared their response in a flurry of chaos, the Liao army did not relax either. Yelu Xian promptly issued orders to restrain the plundering Liao troops and continue the march southward.

This time, Yelu Xian's objective was perfectly clear. There was no probing, no concern for the Han army's passes and forts along the Great Wall—he drove straight for Jiaoshan Town, about a hundred li north of Yunzhong.

Jiaoshan Town was the main route from Monan into Shanyang, the principal thoroughfare. Back then, when Yelu Jing's army withdrew north from Yunzhong, this was the route they had taken. In the past, the Great Han had permanently stationed five hundred garrison troops here, but because of the northern expedition and Li Chuyun's march north to rescue Liu Tinghan, most had been drawn away, leaving only two hundred men.

Of course, Yelu Xian chose to break through at Jiaoshan Town not because he had spotted the weakness of this pass, but because he judged the road easy to travel. As the main military and commercial artery between the south and north of the frontier, the Shanyang prefectural government had undertaken repairs and widening works on it—and now, it was being put to use by the Liao army.

On the Shanyang side, lacking a central figure to take charge, their response could not keep pace. It was only after Tian Zhongjin returned to Yunzhong that he first sent a thousand troops to reinforce Jiaoshan Town—but that thousand were weary soldiers.

They arrived in time for the defense of Jiaoshan, only to face an enemy several dozen times their number. On the Liao side, driven by Yelu Xian, their resolve was immense. Cavalry were used as infantry, elite death-daredevils were selected, dismounted to assault the stockade, heedless of casualties.

In the end, the Han army held out for a full three days before Jiaoshan Town fell. The Liao army paid with over three thousand casualties, while the defending Han force of over a thousand fought to the last man, all killed in action. The several hundred civilians remaining in the town did not escape either—all perished.

At that time, after Li Wanchao had assumed his post and learned of Jiaoshan Town's peril, he urgently dispatched Tian Zhongjin with three thousand troops to march north and reinforce. But when they were barely halfway there, word arrived that Jiaoshan Town had fallen. Helpless, they turned back to Yunzhong.

The fall of Jiaoshan Town was like a breach opening in a dike—the Liao army poured through the gap like floodwaters into Shanyang. On the seventeenth day of the ninth month, Jiaoshan Town fell; by the evening of the eighteenth, the Liao vanguard of ten thousand cavalry had already ridden south to knock at the gates.

By the twentieth day of the ninth month, nearly a hundred thousand Liao troops, personally led by the Liao Emperor Yelu Jing, arrived before the walls of Yunzhong and surrounded the city in a tight ring. At this time, within Yunzhong city, soldiers and civilians combined numbered fewer than fifty thousand, and those capable of fighting numbered only a little over twelve thousand. More reinforcements were either still on the way or still being urgently mustered and armed.

Fortunately, the Marquis of Jiuyuan, Li Wanchao, was in charge of military defense. The old general's prestige was very high, and he handled the comforting of troops, the reassurance of civilians, and the overall coordination and deployment with great competence. Yunzhong city had been rebuilt during Song Qi's tenure as governor, and its walls were very solid. Although the city held only a little over ten thousand fighting men, they were formed from several frontier army units, so their combat effectiveness was still assured. Moreover, the official granaries and storehouses were piled with large quantities of military supplies prepared for the central route army.

Military strength was somewhat weak, but grain, fodder, and weapons were all in ample supply. To make up for the shortage of defensive manpower, Li Wanchao directly organized all the able-bodied men in the city, issued them weapons, and had them assist in defending the walls. Men who made their living on the frontier prefectures and circuits had always been excellent soldier material—many were even militia. Give them a weapon and they became brave warriors, and when it came to defending against the Liao army, they were united in shared hatred, the whole city of one mind.

Perhaps sensing how tough a nut Yunzhong was to crack, although the Liao army had the city surrounded so tightly that not even water could leak through, the order to attack was slow in coming. By the twenty-first, after a day of rest, the Liao army simply made it clear they were giving up on attacking Yunzhong, choosing instead to split their forces across the countryside to attack and plunder other prefectures and counties.

Yunzhong might be as solid as iron and hard to take, but the other prefectural and county cities of Shanyang were not necessarily so. The Liao army might lack the courage to storm Yunzhong by force, but as for those small cities and towns, they clearly still had an appetite to take a bite.

And so, in the latter part of the ninth month, the vast region south and east of Yunzhong became a racetrack for the rampaging Liao army. Over forty thousand Liao troops, split into several columns, struck out in all directions—attacking cities, plundering, burning houses, and destroying fields.

Although the Shanyang prefectural government had already carried out scorched-earth measures in advance, there were always civilians who could not flee in time and property and grain that could not be gathered away—all of these became targets of the Liao army.

The most brazen Liao troops even crossed the Sanggan River to attack Jincheng County, the seat of Yingzhou. But this was, after all, a prefectural capital. The defending officers, soldiers, and civilians had hard spines and resisted tenaciously, sending the daring Liao cavalry who dared attack the city crashing into a bloody mess.

Of course, not every Han city had that kind of defensive capability. Take Huairen City, south of Yunzhong—this had been the garrison site of Fu Yanqing's northern expedition back in the day. It was besieged by over ten thousand Liao troops, and despite desperate resistance, in the end the city fell and its people perished.

Changqing County, east of Yunzhong, had been established not long ago—a young county seat newly founded in the eastern part of Yunzhong. The city was small and its population sparse. Even with some geographical advantages, it still could not withstand the Liao army's assault.

As time went on, the situation became somewhat clearer. The Liao army's massive push south this time, even resolutely breaking through the Great Wall to enter south of the frontier and raid Yunzhong—attacking Yunzhong was clearly not the main objective. Taking advantage of Shanyang's emptiness to plunder beyond the northern frontier and wreak havoc was the real goal.

Under these circumstances, constrained by insufficient strength, what the Han army could do in a short time was rather limited. Even sending reinforcements had to be done cautiously, lest the Liao army take advantage of them en route. That open scheme of besieging a city to ambush its relief force always had to be guarded against—the Han army had been adept at using it in the past, and the Liao army knew it too.

The defenders of Yunzhong had sufficient strength, but for the time being they could only huddle within the city, for outside the walls more than fifty thousand Liao troops still surrounded and watched them. If Yunzhong was in such a state, the people of the other prefectures and counties could only rely on themselves.

In defensive operations throughout history, the defending side often fell into this predicament: trapped in one city, prolonged defense inevitably leads to loss. This tested not only the commander's ability to direct and deploy, and the morale of the troops, but also required reinforcements—one had to be able to see hope of holding out.

In fact, the situation Yunzhong faced was much better. Although besieged, it could defend itself without worry, and the various relief forces were arriving under coordinated deployment. All that was needed was to coordinate with the subsequent operations.

It was just that the feeling of being besieged, watching the enemy gallop across one's borders, ravage one's territory, and harm one's homeland—that was not a pleasant sensation.