Chapter 510: The New Dynasty's Elegant Governance: Hauling Boats Over Dry Land

Yelu Deguang was not as anxious as Zhang Zhao had imagined, because the situation at this moment was not simply favorable to Zhang Zhao's side; for Yelu Deguang, it was much the same.

After taking control of Xingyang, Gong County, and Yanshi, the Khitan had already broken through Xuanmen Pass, one of Luoyang's eight passes.

For the Yongliang Army, Luoyang's strategic terrain had completely lost its value, and the Liao army was now already inside the Luoyang basin.

Moreover, Yelu Deguang had great confidence in Gao Song's military ability. Brother Guang knew that Gao Song was one of the few fierce generals he could completely trust.

Had it been anyone else, after suffering a ten-to-one beating outside Jinyong City, they would very likely have been devoured by Murong Xinzhang. That Gao Song could still preserve the bulk of his main force—that was real ability.

Gao Song had also written a secret letter, sent down the Yellow River by small boat, and submitted it to Yelu Deguang. It was Gao Song's summary of the lessons learned from the bitter defeat beneath Jinyong City.

In the letter, Gao Song summed up three advantages of the Yongliang iron cavalry.

First was the multi-shot crossbow, which made the Yongliang cavalry's long-range striking power absolutely terrifying at the moment of first contact.

Second, the warhorses' burst speed was astonishing, especially the impact speed of the fully armored cavalry, which far exceeded that of the Khitan iron cavalry.

In a head-on clash of heavy armor, the Khitan armored cavalry would often be at a serious disadvantage in charge speed.

Third, the tactics were different from the past. The Yong army's heavy cavalry employed a wall-charge attack formation. When men and horses were densely packed, the killing power it produced was absolutely terrifying.

Gao Song also proposed a countermeasure. He advised Yelu Deguang to adopt fighting habits closer to those of the Zubu people.

That is, the wolf-pack tactics common among steppe cavalry—harassing on the move as the main approach, and not seeking to close in for melee combat on their own initiative.

Against heavy cavalry using wall charges, Gao Song advised that when encountering heavy cavalry, one must avoid direct confrontation as much as possible, and first strike the auxiliary troops around the heavy cavalry.

Take his own defeat this time, for example. Gao Song believed the key point was that the Khitan cavalry had been herded together by the Yongliang light cavalry, and then repeatedly smashed by the armored shock cavalry, causing massive losses.

Gao Song also saw the only weakness of this tactic: although the charging heavy cavalry was enormously powerful, it depended heavily on coordination among the other troop types. At least compared to traditional heavy cavalry, it required far more overall cooperation.

As for the Yongliang iron cavalry's advantage in multi-shot crossbows, Gao Song said nothing, because that was purely an equipment advantage, and basically unsolvable.

Unless Yelu Deguang could immediately produce several thousand multi-shot crossbows and have his soldiers quickly train with them.

Having received Gao Song's report, Yelu Deguang now had a rough idea in his mind, and through Gao Song's tactical analysis, he had also roughly worked out the Yongliang Army's current pattern.

That is, they wanted to lure the Liao army into the Luoyang basin where Yanshi City lay, and use the not-very-wide Luoyang basin to let their fast-accelerating, tactically advanced iron cavalry repeatedly charge and slaughter the Liao cavalry.

Uh...

It wasn't exactly wrong. Zhang Zhao did have that in mind, but it wasn't the main reason.

Yelu Deguang had gotten the right result by accident—he'd guessed the reason wrong, but the conclusion was correct.

So, apart from placing Yelu Pode's ten thousand cavalry at Yanshi City, Brother Guang kept the main army at Gong County without moving, absolutely refusing to cross Xiaoyi Bridge, and simply not entering Zhang Zhao's ambush zone.

This frustrated Zhang Zhao badly. Yelu Deguang's thinking was probably to wait until the follow-up army and supplies had all arrived before possibly advancing west—or, in other words, he wanted Zhang Zhao to come out and attack first.

But Zhang Zhao was also in a difficult spot. If he attacked first, because of the lack of reliable ports on the south bank of the Yellow River, the pressure of transporting supplies would be enormous.

The Khitan at Zhongtan City and Heyang still had more than eight thousand cavalry under Gao Song. To prevent these cavalry from raiding his rear and supply lines, Zhang Zhao would need to leave at least ten thousand cavalry behind as a garrison. No matter how he looked at it, it wasn't worth it.

Just as he was racking his brains, Zhao Hongyin and his son Zhao Kuangyin arrived together. The father and son were Luoyang locals, so Zhang Zhao had sent them out to gather military intelligence.

Zhao Hongyin's face was covered with dust from the road. Seeing Zhang Zhao, he quickly cupped his hands and said, "Great King, your humble officer has found out clearly. The Khitan have indeed kept a trick in reserve. They regularly send small boats from Zhongtan City to Gong County to report on the situation.

Also, Mengjin Pass has long since fallen into ruin and cannot block the Liao army's roving scouts. The Khitan can even pass through this pass and come right up to the great river to personally observe the situation at Zhongtan City."

Well now. So that was why Yelu Deguang had never been in a hurry—his blockade simply wasn't tight enough.

It turned out that between the Yellow River, Mount Mang, and Yanshi, the geography formed a shape like the character "three."

The Yellow River was the top horizontal stroke, Mount Mang was in the middle, and south of the mountain was Yanshi.

Between Mount Mang and the Yellow River there was also a rather narrow passage, and this was where Mengjin Pass of the Han dynasty was located.

So not only could Gao Song send reports to Yelu Deguang by small boat on the Yellow River, the Khitan scouts could also approach and reconnoiter through Mengjin Pass, verifying with their own eyes whether Zhongtan City was in danger.

With such a convenient way of obtaining information, Yelu Deguang could of course afford to be unhurried.

"Do any of you have good suggestions? Especially the Heyang Army and the people of Luoyang, who know the terrain well. As long as the suggestion is good, all will be richly rewarded!"

After hearing the report, Zhang Zhao asked the assembled officers of the Heyang Army, whom he was receiving, with a pleasant expression. This sort of thing was naturally what these local experts were best at.

The officers whispered among themselves for a moment, then one officer stepped forward. "If the Great King can give your servant two hundred strings of cash as a reward, your servant does have a plan!"

Zhang Zhao was not at all surprised. Five Dynasties yabing officers, no matter whether you were an emperor or a great king, spoke just that directly. With money, things got done; without money, step aside.

"Speak, then. If it is useful, never mind two hundred strings—even three hundred strings would not be too much."

The officer scratched his head and chuckled. "Your servant grew up by the great river, and there are many river boatmen in my family. Although the Khitan killed quite a few of them, some still remain.

The Heyang Army originally had several hundred water troops as well. Now we can still find a few dozen of them.

If the Great King will trust your servant, your servant can gather them together to intercept the Khitan's communication boats."

Zhang Zhao's eyes lit up. This was indeed a way, but he still had a question.

"You have the men, but the boats on the great river have long since been swept clean by the Khitan. Where will you get boats?"

"That's easy. We have many warships downriver. We can just conscript civilian laborers and drag them downstream." This was Zhao Kuangyin's suggestion.

Right! Zhang Zhao nodded. Hauling boats over dry land—wasn't that the elegant governance of the new dynasty? A very good omen.

"The Great King can also have Mengjin Pass repaired. First, it can stop Khitan roving cavalry from infiltrating. Second, even if boats slip through on the great river, we can pursue and kill them along the bank, preventing them from landing."

Zhao Kuangyin continued his suggestions, and Zhang Zhao was even more satisfied. "Then I appoint your father Zhao Hongyin as Defender of Mengjin Pass, and you as his deputy, with full authority over holding Mengjin Pass and intercepting Khitan message boats on the great river."

No sooner said than done. Zhang Zhao had Zhao Hongyin and Zhao Kuangyin seal off Mengjin Pass while also having them recruit Yellow River boatmen and fishermen.

He further conscripted more than two thousand civilian laborers to carry out the elegant governance of the new dynasty—hauling boats over dry land.

At the same time, Zhang Zhao also prepared to teach Gao Song a lesson, because there was not entirely no way to deal with Zhongtan City.

This had to start with Zhongtan City's location. The Yellow River at Luoyang was only a little over five hundred meters wide, and Zhongtan City was built on a sandbar in the water, which made the distance even shorter.

It was only a little over a hundred meters from the north bank, and the south bank was slightly wider, around a hundred seventy or eighty meters. This distance was exactly within the range of large trebuchets.

And as it happened, Zhang Zhao's Yongliang had begun researching trebuchets very early. The craftsmen of various peoples led by Liu Di, Director of the Ministry of Works, had already basically worked out the principles of the counterweight trebuchet.

Zhang Zhao immediately had Li Xiaojie summon Liu Di, then ordered him to prepare to quickly assemble at least three large trebuchets.

Since the pontoon bridge is too narrow for me to fight across, then I'll smash it with trebuchets. Let's see how many trebuchet shots that little city on the sandbar in the river can withstand.

And to create the impression that he really did intend to deal with Zhongtan City first, Zhang Zhao began sending out large numbers of cavalry from the start of the seventh month.

The Yongliang cavalry bypassed Yanshi City and began harassing the Khitan in various places, covering and relocating all the common people from east of Luoyang to Zhengzhou, while the infantry pressed ever closer to Yanshi City, putting on the appearance of preparing for a full assault.

Yelu Deguang believed it completely. He was not at all afraid of Zhang Zhao attacking Yanshi City; instead, he planned that the moment Zhang Zhao attacked, he would immediately withdraw Yelu Pode's forces eastward.

But just as Yelu Deguang was preparing to withdraw, he suddenly discovered that the signal boats from Zhongtan City, which had been coming continuously, were being intercepted on the Yellow River by a force of skilled naval troops.

The narrow mountain road at Mengjin Pass also began to show the figures of Yongliang troops, who seemed to be rebuilding Mengjin Pass.

On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the Liao army's scouting cavalry, before Mengjin Pass was completely sealed off, brought back news that terrified Yelu Deguang and all the Khitan generals.

The Yongliang army had built four catapults over six chi tall and were bombarding Zhongtan City without pause.

Although Zhongtan City was sturdy, it was too small to withstand bombardment from such large catapults.

Once Zhongtan City fell, the blockade line on the Yellow River would immediately collapse.

Although Yelu Deguang wanted to draw Zhang Zhao into battle around Gong County, that did not mean he thought he could not defeat Zhang Zhao; it was merely to increase his own side's advantage.

And now Zhongtan City had fallen into a tremendous crisis, with communications cut off. Guang-ge endured a whole night of agonizing but could not think of any good solution.

Moreover, this feeling of being able only to wait helplessly was truly unbearable torment.

In addition, since the logistics and supplies had by now basically all arrived, Yelu Deguang gathered together the several hundred conscripted laborers who had fortunately not been worked to death, performed the Shooting the Ghost Arrow ritual, and set out from Gong County after swearing the army to battle.

When Zhang Zhao received the news, he flew into a rage. He had the more than one thousand captured Khitan officers and soldiers in the eastern capital Luoyang all dragged outside Yanshi City and beheaded en masse, using Khitan blood to consecrate the banners. After that, he truly began a fierce assault on Yanshi City.

The moment of decisive battle had finally arrived.

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