After besieging Lingqiu for six days, the rain finally stopped. Just when Tian Chongjin was about to lead his army to attack the city, the Lingqiu garrison actually surrendered.

After taking Lingqiu without any bloodshed, Tian Chongjin was even more satisfied.

Although the armies of the Song Dynasty are still advancing vigorously, the plans of the Liao people are also slowly unfolding.

…

"Captain Cao, will our rapid advance extend the supply line of food and grass too much?" Because the East Route Army was advancing so fast, Cao Bin's generals had begun to worry about whether there would be problems with food and grass.

Already.

"Don't worry, haven't you seen that the Han people in the Liao area are secretly helping us along the way? In addition, the Khitan cavalry seems to be nothing more than that now. Our rapid advance will not cause any problems. The officials are still waiting for us.

Bring back more good news of victory."

Cao Bin did not have any worries about the questions raised by his subordinates and continued to command the army to advance.

…

"This Cao Bin really doesn't take our Daliao cavalry seriously. Look at this supply line. There are loopholes everywhere." The person speaking at this time was the first soldier of the Liao general Yelu Xiu.

Take a look at Xiao Da.

"Isn't this good? It seems that our efforts to lure the enemy deep into the country have been fully effective. It's time to give the Song Dynasty some color." Brother Yelvxiu didn't care at all about the defeat of the Liao Kingdom in the recent period. Instead, he was concerned about the defeat of the Liao Kingdom.

The Song army was very happy to march according to the script they described.

"The last general asked for orders to cut off Cao Bin's supply line." Xiao Dalan felt excited when he heard that Brother Yelvxiu finally wanted to start a counterattack.

"Okay, it's as you wish." He was also very happy to see Xiao Dalan take the initiative to ask Brother Yeluxiu to fight. "Xiao Dalan obeys the order and orders you to defeat 5,000 cavalry to cut off Cao Bin's supply line at night. If you fail,

Come and see me."

"The general will obey your orders, and I will definitely live up to Yue's trust." After saying this, Xiao Dalan turned around and left the tent to gather his troops.

"It's time to tell you to go down and tighten the reins on the horse."

That night, Xiao Dalan led five thousand cavalry out in the dark, using starlight as a guide along the way to the supply line behind the Song army.

Just before dawn, Xiao Dalan ordered a raid on the camp where the Song Army's grain transport troops were stationed, and set fire to the grain.

At dawn, when people sleep the deepest at night, the entire camp of the Song Army's grain transport troops was completely unaware of the impending attack.

Cao Min, the food guard of the Song Army, who was still sleeping soundly, was suddenly awakened from his sleep by the shouts of killing coming from outside the tent. Before he could calm down, he saw flames shooting into the sky outside the tent.

When he realized something had happened, he rushed out of the tent and saw that all the grain trucks were on fire. There were also countless Khitan cavalry wreaking havoc.

The Song soldiers were all disheveled and unarmed and were driven and slaughtered by the Khitan cavalry.

Seeing this scene, Cao Min was so frightened that he lost his mind. At this moment, a Khitan cavalry found him, and then rushed over and pierced his throat with a spear. Cao Min died on the spot.

…

On the night of the same day, thousands of miles away in the Liang Palace in the capital of Song Dynasty.

Since the country was in a state of war, Zhao Guangyi did not go to bed very early. He ordered all troops to rush their marching route back to the palace every day, and no matter how late it was, they must get it to him as soon as possible.

At this time, Cao Bin's marching route had just been presented to Zhao Guangyi.

After seeing the map, Zhao Guangyi was horrified and shouted: "What does Cao Bin want to do? His marching supply line is completely exposed to the attack range of the Khitan cavalry. Does he want to ruin the entire Northern Expedition?"

Zhao Guangyi's worries were justified, because at this time Cao Bin's troops were already facing the danger of running out of food.

…

Early the next morning, Cao Bin, who had just woken up, received a piece of news, which completely dissipated any sleepiness he still had.

"Captain Cao, our grain transport army in the rear was attacked by the Khitans. All the grain and grass were destroyed by the Khitans."

Upon hearing the news, all the generals in Cao Bin's tent were stunned.

"How many days will the army have enough food and grass to last?" Cui Yanjin, who was the first to wake up from the shock, asked the most important question at the moment.

The officer in charge of the army's food and grass next to him was obviously still under a huge blow. It took him a long time to react, and then stammered his answer: "The most, the most, the most... many, ten, ten, ten... days."

At this time, Cao Bin came back to his senses and said: "Ten days? What can you do in ten days? Who has the ability to capture Nanjing of the Liao Kingdom in ten days?"

All the generals fell silent upon hearing Cao Bin's questioning tone.

At this time, Cao Bin also regretted to the extreme, regretting that he did not listen to the words of his former generals and defend the grain road.

Just when Cao Bin was still regretting it, another scout ran in from outside the tent and reported: "Lieutenant, something bad happened. The Liao army came to attack, and the leading troops are already less than ten miles away from us."

Knowing that regretting now would be of no use, Cao Bin decided not to think about the problem of food routes for the time being. The more serious thing to do now was to withstand this wave of Liao attacks.

So Cao Bin quickly ordered the entire army to prepare for war and formed a formation to meet the Khitan troops.

After all, Cao Bin was a famous general in hundreds of battles. Although he made fatal mistakes, he handled the war at hand very appropriately.

First of all, he ordered that the news that the food road was cut off should be concealed from the soldiers, so that ordinary soldiers could devote themselves wholeheartedly to the battle situation at hand.

Afterwards, he quickly organized an effective defense line and quickly blocked the offensive pace of the Khitan vanguard.

Brother Yelu Xiu, who then led the army, saw that Cao Bin quickly organized an effective defense and couldn't help but have some respect for this opponent.

"This Cao Bin is worthy of being a famous general in hundreds of battles. It seems that he concealed the fact that the food route was cut off from ordinary soldiers. At this moment, the morale of the Song army has not declined. It seems that he has not been affected by the danger of food shortage."

"What should we do? With the current defense of the Song Army, it is not easy for us to directly defeat the Song Army." The general on the side asked Brother Yeluxiu.

Indeed, the Khitan vanguard at this time felt as if they had bitten on a hard bone, almost breaking their teeth.

But the soldiers of the Song Army here also feel uncomfortable. They feel that the Khitan people today seem to be different from those they encountered before. Why are they so fierce?

Just when the two sides were in a stalemate, Brother Yelusiu decisively withdrew his troops.

"Why is Yu Yue doing this? Although the Song army is still strong, we are not without a chance." Seeing Brother Yelvxiu ordering the withdrawal of troops, the Khitan generals on the side were a little anxious.

"Although we can defeat the Song Army today, our losses will definitely not be small. I predict that Cao Bin will not be able to hide the news about the food shortage for a few days. Once the Song Army's food reserves are exhausted, they will definitely retreat. Then we will pursue them.

Then we can defeat the Song army at a very small cost."

Sure enough, as Brother Yeluxiu expected, within three days, rumors that the food route had been cut off began to spread within the Song army.

The soldiers of the Song Army were not fools. The Liao Army came to harass them every day, which made them feel very strange. The Liao Army had always closed the city and stood firm.

In addition, it has been a long time since the last time the food transport troops came for supplies, and the new food transport troops have not been seen.

This was not only a headache for Cao Bin, but also the fact that all the Han people from Liao who had been secretly helping his army disappeared.

Supplies to the rear were cut off, and local support disappeared. Cao Bin seemed to have no choice but to withdraw his troops, because there was really not much food left.

Cao Bin, who was determined to retreat, still had the only concern in his mind about what would happen if the Khitan came to pursue him.

Cao Bin, who was hesitant, decided to summon all the main generals of the army for discussion.

"Now that everyone knows about our situation, we probably can no longer hide the robbery of the grain road. Instead of waiting until the grain and grass are exhausted and being directly blamed by the Khitan people, it is better for us to take the initiative to withdraw our troops."

None of the generals below had any different opinions, because everyone knew that this battle could not continue.

"Since everyone has no objection, let's retreat. But in order to prevent the Liao Kingdom from pursuing us, I need a general to lead the troops to break up the rear. Who is willing to go?"

When the generals heard this, they all fell silent, because this breakup was basically a matter of narrow escape.

Just when everyone was silent, a voice came from a corner: "If you don't give up, the general will be willing to lead his troops to cut off the rear."

"May I ask the general's name?"

"I am in Huyanzan, Xia Bingzhou."

This general who was willing to lead his army to cut off the rear was the later famous Hu Yanzan. However, although he had some military exploits, he was not too famous among the Song army.

"Okay, since the general is willing to cut off the queen, I will hand over this matter to the general."

"We will definitely live up to our trust and cover the safe retreat of the army."

In this way, Cao Bin's army began to retreat towards Xiongzhou under the cover of Hu Yanzan and 5,000 men.

The expected Khitan pursuit did not come, and Cao Bin led the army to retreat to Xiongzhou calmly.

…

It's not that Brother Yelvxiu doesn't want to pursue, but something happened on another battlefield.

After Mi Xin captured the new city, he continued to advance northward without making any repairs.

On the other hand, Tian Chongjin's troops advanced much faster than Brother Yelvxiu imagined.

Just when Cao Bin retreated and Brother Yelvxiu was about to pursue him, he got the news that Yuzhou had failed.

It turned out that Tian Chongjin secretly contacted Li Cunzhang and Xu Yanqin, the Han Chinese who were guarding the left and right guards in Yuzhou City. The two men immediately assassinated Xiao Moli, the governor of Yuzhou City, imprisoned the envoy Geng Shaozhong, and threw the city into surrender.

The sudden loss of Weizhou and Mi Xin's rapid march really caught Brother Yelvxiu off guard, so he had to give up his plan to pursue Cao Bin and deploy troops to increase the number of troops on this battlefield.

…

Cao Bin's army actually retreated to Xiongzhou without any pursuit. Although they were reprimanded by Taizong, there was no substantial punishment.

Cao Bin's army gradually put the heavy losses they suffered behind them, and reports of success came from other battlefields one after another. Cao Bin's sergeants gradually began to feel restless.
Chapter completed!