Chapter 897: The Great Victory at Tanzhou

On the command platform, from the moment the attack was launched, Murong Yanzhao had been standing the entire time. The Han army's soldiers might not be able to see their commander's figure, but the great banner high above never ceased snapping in the wind, growing ever more spirited, always with them.

Though he commanded the entire army, he had issued only a few orders throughout, simply standing on the platform, calmly overseeing the battle. At the front lines, officers like Zhang Qiong and Murong Yanqing directed the fighting, while great generals like Li Chongjin handled matters below, and the broader picture had been arranged clearly from front to back.

It seemed that Murong Yanzhao, as commander-in-chief, had an easy job. Of course, this was merely an illusion—as the supreme commander of an army, his duty was to rack his brains and anticipate the enemy before anyone else.

When the Han army climbed onto the walls of Miyun, all the observing generals rejoiced, but only Murong Yanzhao's expression remained unchanged, showing nothing unusual. Indeed, even after successfully scaling the walls, the Liao army did not collapse at the first blow but held out for a long while. As time passed and the fighting on the walls remained deadlocked, Murong Yanzhao maintained his composure throughout. For such bearing in Commander Murong, the generals respected him all the more.

One rider after another came galloping in, delivering reports in succession.

"Reporting to the Commander: General Zhang Qiong has seized the walls of Miyun and gravely wounded the enemy general Han Kuangmei!"

"The city gate has been broken open—General Murong Yanqing has led his troops into the city!"

"The Liao army is holding the inner city—General Zhang Qiong has broken them again!"

"Chief Commander Li has led the entire Husheng Army into the city and is now pursuing and annihilating the remnants!"

"......"

A string of battle reports came in, each more encouraging than the last, and even the ever-composed Murong Yanzhao allowed a slight smile to appear on his face. Sun Li lacked such patience and said to Murong Yanzhao, "Commander, relying on the Husheng Army alone, wiping out the remaining enemy in one stroke may prove insufficient!"

"Does General Sun wish to go into battle?" Murong Yanzhao looked at Sun Li.

Three years ago, after participating in the Jinghu campaign and returning to the Eastern Capital, Sun Li had grown a large belly and put on weight. After the Emperor mentioned it once, Sun Li had since regained a lean and sturdy build, though the flesh on his face had only grown more imposing.

In fact, since the founding of the Great Han, of the several foreign wars waged, Sun Li had participated in all of them except the one against Shu. This northern expedition against the Khitan was no exception.

At this moment, hearing Murong Yanzhao's question, Sun Li answered directly: "In a war against Liao, how could I stand aside? Since the Battle of Luancheng, the saber in my case hasn't tasted Khitan blood in eleven years. The Husheng Army got the glory of breaking the city first—it's not too much for my Xiaodi Army to claim the credit for finishing the job, is it? Commander, please give the order!"

Hearing Sun Li's words, Murong Yanzhao laughed outright.

Beside him, Lu Huaizhong said, "Commander, the Liao army in the city originally numbered forty thousand. Even subtracting the losses from the earlier skirmishes, their fighting strength can't be less than thirty-five thousand. A routed army may not be reliable, but to reduce our own casualties, we should swiftly assemble troops and enter the city to clear them out!"

"General Sun may lead the Xiaodi Army out, but there's no need to enter the city—take your troops to the north wall. If the enemy comes out, ambush and slaughter them; if they don't, attack them directly!" Murong Yanzhao instructed.

"Yes!" Sun Li said at once, then quickly realized: "Does the Commander mean the Liao army will break out and flee through the north of the city?"

"Our main force is to the south; the other three sides are only lightly held. Now that the city is breached, the Liao army likely won't defend to the death. Miyun is ringed by mountains on three sides, with water barriers to the east and west—only the north is their most suitable escape route!" Murong Yanzhao explained briefly.

"I won't let a single Liao soldier get away!" At these words, Sun Li's face lit up with excitement. He clasped his fists, then hurried off.

After Sun Li left, Army Supervisor Lu Huaizhong couldn't help saying to Murong Yanzhao, "Commander, if the Liao army breaks out, they won't necessarily go north. If they go west, light cavalry can ford the water and slip into the Yan Mountains. Desperate men cannot be taken lightly—our defenses west of the city may not hold them!"

"General Lu's consideration has merit!" Hearing this, Murong Yanzhao nodded slightly, then summoned a messenger officer and instructed: "Pass the order: Commander Shi Yande of the Hujie, lead your cavalry unit and lie in ambush west of the city! If any Liao troops break out, cut them down!"

"Yes!"

"Commander, what if the Liao army exits to the east of the city?" Lu Huaizhong asked.

At this question, Murong Yanzhao's calm tone carried thick confidence: "The north and west are near, the east is circuitous. If they flee north or west, they might have a slim chance of survival. If they go east, we can encircle and annihilate them at our leisure—they are doomed!"

While the Han army outside the city further adjusted its dispositions, seeking to surround and destroy the Liao forces at Tanzhou, the Liao troops inside the city were also frantically making their final struggles. Of course, this struggle was not to continue resisting the Han army, but to organize a breakout and retreat as quickly as possible.

Xiao Siwen—if you asked him to command troops in the heat of battle, he might be lacking, but in making decisions, he was decisive enough. In fact, the moment he lost the gate tower, he knew Miyun could not be held. The reason he organized troops to defend the barbican was not to put up a desperate resistance, but to urgently marshal men in the rear and prepare for a breakout.

Half of the defenders in Miyun were Han soldiers; the rest were Khitan, Xi tribe warriors, and Bohai troops—all elite soldiers of Liao.

With his own consort-clan elite cavalry, supplemented by Xi cavalry and Bohai soldiers, plus a portion of Han troops commanded by Han Kuangmei, these forces assembled together still had the strength for a fight.

In a moment of crisis, one cannot organize things perfectly. After Zhang Qiong broke through the barbican a second time, Xiao Siwen led the three thousand elite cavalry he had prepared in advance, withdrew directly and turned west, gathering and absorbing troops along the way. As for the remaining Han soldiers, he abandoned them outright, while the other Khitan troops were likewise informed to break out on their own.

That's right—Xiao Siwen chose to go west. East of the city meant death with no place for burial; the north road was easy to travel, but it would surely be the Han army's key defensive direction, with no guarantee against ambush, and it also made pursuit easy for them; the west had the Baiyu River as an obstacle, but the water was shallow enough to ford directly, and it would also catch the enemy by surprise.

This was the analysis the gravely wounded Han Kuangmei gave Xiao Siwen before losing consciousness. Xiao Siwen chose to trust him and did not abandon this loyal minister of the Great Liao, instead ordering his personal guards to bind him to their bodies and carry him along.

By the time Xiao Siwen led his men charging out of the west gate, he had gathered more than five thousand troops, mostly cavalry. He used only two sentences to boost morale—not speaking of loyalty to the Great Liao, nor mentioning winning glory and distinction, only saying that falling into Han hands meant certain death, and that they were breaking out for their own lives.

When pushed to a desperate situation, seeing hope and a direction for survival, and with someone leading the way, the men following Xiao Siwen—the backbone of the Liao army—had decent fighting quality on the whole. Driven by the will to live, their blood ran hot, they threw open the gates, and with wild shouts charged straight out.

West of the city, although Murong Yanzhao had established a camp and set up a defensive line, it was indeed not solid—only about ten thousand men, mostly laborers, with the fighting troops primarily from the Hebei regional command, their combat strength a full grade weaker.

Xiao Siwen led a band of desperate men in the assault. Though Han officers took the initiative to lead men in blocking them, they truly couldn't stop them. After scattering the opposition, Xiao Siwen didn't bother with pursuit, heading straight past the western Han camp toward the Baiyu River—but outside the Han camp, he ran into chaos, men and horses thrown into disarray.

The Han army had set up several hundred camouflaged horse-tripping pits in the open field, and countless fell into the traps. Not daring to gamble on how many pits the Han army had laid, Xiao Siwen immediately led his men around to the north (he truly didn't dare go south). However, detouring north, they were blocked by a wide, long, and deep trench—three crisscrossing lines of them, impossible to go around.

In the emergency, Xiao Siwen directly ordered horses killed to fill the pits, and finally crossed the perilous obstacle. During this process, the reorganizing Han forces from the west of the city continued to pursue and harry them.

The Han general Shi Yande, ordered to move west, also arrived with three thousand Hujie cavalry in pursuit. In truth, after the city fell, the Han army's response had been fast enough, but overall it still seemed somewhat delayed. The main reason was that even the Han commanders themselves had not expected Miyun to fall in a single day.

As for Xiao Siwen's side, driven by a strong will to survive and making decisive choices, he bought himself considerable time.

By the time the Han general Shi Yande caught up with his troops after circling around their own traps, the fleeing Liao army to the west was already halfway across the river. Without a moment's hesitation, he led the charge. Further behind, learning the Liao army's main breakout direction, the rest of the Han forces also converged for the kill.

On the banks of the Baiyu River, the fleeing Liao army lost over four thousand killed outright, with several hundred bodies sunk in the water—a stretch of the Bai River nearly dyed red. Only the Liao commander Xiao Siwen, leading fewer than four hundred men, managed to force the crossing and flee in panic.

The other Liao troops at Tanzhou, whether inside or outside the city, all failed to escape. Under the Han army's heavy encirclement, they were essentially wiped out. In this battle from start to finish, of the forty thousand Liao troops, over twelve thousand were slain, and the rest were captured. They seized more than three thousand war horses, countless banners and armor, and ninety thousand dan of grain—a complete and resounding victory.

Of course, the Han army's losses were not small either. Setting aside casualties among the soldiers, the mere consumption of weapons and manpower was enough to make the logistics officers' hearts bleed.