As a large number of military funds arrived in Yingzhou, the time for a decisive battle with the Liao army was ripe.

The arrival of five thousand large trucks gave the Song army sufficient temporary transportation tools, and the army began to march towards Datong Prefecture.

The 160,000 Song troops dispatched included 80,000 cavalry and 80,000 infantry, but even infantry, there were war horses for transportation. In the middle of the team were 10,000 large chariots, full of food and grass, traveling northward.

Of course, when going north to Datong Prefecture, there would be no war immediately. The Song army needed to find a base camp and stockpile materials.

It is of course good if there is a ready-made city. If there is no city, you can only build a camp by yourself.

Of course, the Song army would not make a temporary decision now. Their scouts had already figured out the situation. There was only one Huairen County to the south of Datong City, but this county was too far from Datong City, more than two hundred miles away, which did not meet the requirements of the Song army.

The city the Song army wanted was about thirty or fifty miles away from Datong City, and there was obviously no ready-made city, so they could only build a wall-like camp on the open space.

The address has been selected, about forty miles away from Datong City, close to a small river. The terrain is slightly higher, but the water source is sufficient.

Two days later, the army arrived at its destination. A hundred thousand troops began to lay down tents, tens of thousands of soldiers rammed earth and logged wood, and began to build a camp wall.

The combat camp cannot be as luxurious as the Yingzhou camp, covering an area of ​​tens of thousands of acres.

The combat camp must first control the area, and it is best not to occupy more than 3,000 acres of land, so as to facilitate patrol. Otherwise, the camp will be too large and there will always be defense loopholes.

Secondly, there should not be too many tents. There were twenty soldiers in Yingzhou who lived in a large tent, but only fifty people could live in a large tent on the battlefield.

After ten thousand trucks unloaded the food and supplies, they went south under the escort of 20,000 cavalry to continue transporting supplies. At this time, the large camp of the Song army had been quickly built.

A camp covering an area of ​​thousands of acres appeared in the vast wilderness, and Datong City dozens of miles away was.

The Liao army spies had long discovered the movements of the Song army and immediately reported to the Liao army commander Yelu Wanshan.

Yelu Wanshan led all the generals to the top of the city and looked into the distance.

Everyone was very heavy in their hearts. The arrival of the Song army meant that the confrontation that had lasted for nearly a year was over and the Song army was about to start attacking Datong City.

Yelu Wanshan was really conflicted. He received an order from Emperor Yelu Hongji to defend Datong City to the death, but his heart was as clear as a mirror. The Song army had powerful iron fire thunder, and he could not defend Datong City at all. The ending must be the same as Youzhou City.

What should he do? Should he go to fight or not? Yelu Wanshan was very confused.

"Everyone tells me, should we defend the city or go to war?" Yelu Wanshan couldn't help but ask everyone.

Everyone looked at him in surprise, and general Xiao Lanyu bowed and said, "Master General, Youzhou City is stronger and taller than Datong City, and it is also easily captured by the Song army. We will definitely not be able to defend Datong City and can only fight to the death with the Song army."

Dubrou also said: "Our tribe army never fights street battles, but only fights on horseback. If we want to defend the city, what's the point of letting us help with the war?"

Ningbu and Ayik also expressed their agreement. They did not accept defending the city, either going out to fight the Song army, or letting them go back and fight street battles, and they could only die.

The generals talked all the same, but their meanings were almost the same. They were unwilling to trap the city and would rather fight with the Song army. Yelu Wanshan's deputy general Yelu Han suggested: "In fact, you can fight first. If it doesn't work, then retreat to defend the city. I think the emperor's intention is to let us stick to Datong Mansion, not to guide us on how to fight. We may have misunderstood his meaning."

Under the persuasion of everyone, Yelu Wanshan also made up his mind, "Of course we must give full play to our strengths. Defending the city is not our advantage, so we will fight the Song army as we say!"

Everyone secretly despised him, what does it mean to "according to your words"? If you lose, will it be easy to shirk responsibility?

Yelu Wanshan immediately wrote a letter of war and asked his subordinates to send it to the Song army camp.

The Song army camp has been constructed, and dozens of sentry towers are distributed around the camp. Deep trenches have been dug around the camp. The second batch of turret soldiers and other supplies have also been sent to the camp.

At this time, Fan Ning was taking dozens of generals to visit the steel crossbows. Everyone was amazed at the powerful crossbows, especially at a time, which could fire thirty-six iron arrows with a range of 200 steps and an extremely powerful penetration, which was even more impressive.

However, Fanning found that the baffle in front of the steel crossbow was very interesting. It was usually lying flat on the ground and could be supported at any time. The front was covered with two feet long wooden thorns.

Seeing that Fanning was very interested in the baffle, Du Qi explained: "This is a baffle. In critical moments, it can hold back the cavalry's impact and protect the steel barbarians from retreating."

"Put it up and I'll take a look!"

Du Qi quickly greeted him, and dozens of craftsmen stepped forward. The two raised the wooden board and held it with a bracket below. The spikes on the wooden board naturally stood up. The wooden board was as high as seven feet high, which was very practical and convenient.

All the generals were all people who knew the goods and applauded. The strength of the cavalry lies in the first wave of the impact. If the first wave is forcibly blocked, the impact on the cavalry will have a great impact.

Fanning asked again: "How to fix it on the ground?"

Du Qi took four one-foot-long iron nails and smiled: "My husband, please look, these four long iron nails are used to fix them to the ground, which is very firm."

Fanning nodded. This idea is very good. Unfortunately, due to resource restrictions, he cannot use iron plates, otherwise it will be even more bad news for the cavalry. From this point of view, it cannot be a pity.

At this time, a soldier ran in and knelt down on one knee and said, "Report to the Privy Councilor, the Liao army sent people to issue a letter of war."

"Where are people?"

"Waiting outside the Central Army's tent!"

Fanning left the warehouse area camp and returned to the central army's tent.

At the entrance of the big tent, Fan Ning met Yang Wenguang and Zhong Yan, and the Liao army envoy was taken down.

Yang Wenguang stepped forward and handed the letter of war to Fan Ning and said, "The Liao army demanded a decisive battle with us in the wilderness, and the time and place shall be determined by us."

Fanning looked at the Zhan Shu and asked, "Will there be any fraud?"

Zhong Yan smiled and said, "If it is a verbal agreement, there may be fraud, but such written war letters generally do not. The Khitan is still relatively disciplined in this regard, unlike the Xixia people."

Fan Ning pondered for a moment and said, "How about the decisive battle in three days?"

"Yes, you should be well prepared."

"Where is the old general Zhong?" Fan Ning asked Zhong Er again.

"I also agreed to a decisive battle in the morning three days later."

"The location was chosen in Ryunohara, which was right between the camps of both sides."

Fan Ning randomly returned to the tent, approved the letter of war, and ordered people to send it to the Liao army envoy.

He immediately asked Yang Wenguang and Zhong Yan to discuss the decisive battle plan. Fan Ning didn't have much experience in the decisive battle of the army, but Zhong Yan and Yang Wenguang were rich in experience. They could plan an extremely safe plan.

Three days later, Fan Ning left 10,000 troops to guard the barracks. He personally led 150,000 troops out of the barracks and drove to Longyeyuan twenty miles away.

Longye is flat in the terrain, mostly in yellow land, with only some wild grass growing sparsely.

The Song army scouts had long explored the place and regarded it as the ideal place for the decisive battle between the two sides.

When the Song army arrived at Longyeyuan, Fan Ning saw a black line from afar. He waved his hand and ordered: "Set the battlefield on the spot!"

The Song army was divided into five armies in front, middle and back and two wings, including 40,000 front troops. Except for 10,000 crossbowmen, the remaining 30,000 were spear infantry.

Three hundred and sixty steel crossbows also belong to the crossbow army.

There are 25,000 cavalry on each wing, and their mission is to protect the central and front troops from both sides.

Then there is the 50,000 central army, which is composed of 30,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry. Their mission is to stabilize the formation and support the various armies at the same time.

The rear army had 10,000 people. The function of the rear army was to prevent the enemy from attacking from behind and protect the back of the formation.

Fan Ning personally took charge of the central army, Yang Wenguang was in charge of the front army, Zhong Yan was in charge of the two wings, and the rear army was led by the commander-in-chief Zhang Yan.

The Song army quickly formed a formation, and hundreds of soldiers knocked the iron nails on the horse blocking plate into the soil. The baffle was temporarily lying flat, and 360 steel crossbows were deployed in the middle of the crossbow army.

Fan Ning looked at the Liao army in the distance coldly. The Liao army was slowly walking towards the Song army. More than half of the Liao army were cavalry. Under normal circumstances, they should take the initiative to attack to exert the advantages of the cavalry. According to the various intelligence collected by the Intelligence Department, the 30,000 mature Jurchens were the "stepping stones" forced by Yelu Hongji. They wanted to create conditions for the attack of the Khitan army and the two-wing cavalry.

Fan Ning looked at the Liao army's wings and thought to himself: "Don't you know if the grassland tribe is willing to be a supporter for the inside?"
Chapter completed!