After traveling through time, I became Han Zhang’s grandson?

Just southeast of Xijin Prefecture, there is a river that is so terrifying that people in the Song Dynasty shudder at the mention of it. Its name is Gaoliang River!

This is the place where Emperor Taizong of Song, Zhao Kuangyi (Zhao Guangyi, Zhao Gui), who was jokingly called the "God of Cars" by later netizens, made his debut.

Although the Battle of Gaoliang River completely nailed Emperor Taizong to the pillar of shame in history, his ambition to actively launch the Northern Expedition and expand the border should be affirmed.

Even after the Battle of Gaoliang River, Emperor Taizong did not give up the idea of ​​expanding the border, and subsequently launched the "Yongxi Northern Expedition" and the "Battle of Junziguan".

Unfortunately, the country was completely defeated by this powerful neighbor in the north and lost the favorable opportunity to expand its borders.

The Battle of Gaoliang River was an important war after the end of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It ended the Song Dynasty's pace of unification and began to put the Song Dynasty at an overall military disadvantage.

In this battle, the Liao army took advantage of its cavalry and sent reinforcements from afar, turning passivity into initiative and dealing a heavy blow to the Song army.

The Song army underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, resulting in defeat in the first battle, which had an adverse impact on subsequent wars with the Liao.

The "Yongxi Northern Expedition" was the second strategic offensive of the Song Dynasty against the Liao Dynasty during the Song-Liao War.

The success or failure of this strategic offensive not only brought about major changes in the military situation between the Song and Liao sides, but also had a significant impact on the internal affairs of the Song Dynasty.

The defeat in this battle caused the strategic relationship between Song and Liao to change from offensive to defensive, thus causing the Song Dynasty to "never recover" in its relations with Liao.

Until the signing of the Treaty of Chanyuan, Song and Liao generally maintained a peaceful situation.

The lessons of Emperor Taizong’s failure are still vivid in people’s minds, but the top leaders and rulers of the Song Dynasty now choose to turn a blind eye to them.

In their eyes, the Song Dynasty, with its powerful national strength and military might, could not fail.

Just like when Emperor Taizong roughly unified the country, he was ready to recapture Yanyun in one fell swoop with the momentum of defeating the coalition forces of Northern Han and Liao, but ended up in failure.

Emperor Shenzong was just like his ancestors. He thought that the Song army was invincible after defeating the Xia and recovering Jiaozhi. However, no one was easy to deal with.

Compared with the long-extinct 'Jingsai Iron Cavalry', the emergence of the Liao Kingdom's 'Iron Forest Army' can be said to be the last straw that broke the camel's back in this Northern Expedition.

The commander of the Tielin Army was led by His Majesty Yelu Hongji, the Liao Emperor who had not appeared for a long time. He rushed thousands of miles, hiding all the way from Shangjing, and appeared on the front line of Youzhou.

Seeing the emperor personally leading the army, the Liao army was excited and charged forward as if they were risking their lives, showing the Song army the heroic spirit of the Liao cavalry at its peak.

Looking at the Song cavalry formation that was completely broken, Guo Kui's face changed several times, knowing that the battle was over!

In order to preserve the cavalry unit that launched a surprise attack on Xijin Prefecture, Guo Kui immediately reorganized his troops and retreated, hoping to reunite with the rear army.

Unfortunately, Xiao Boyu was not an easy person to deal with. After roughly guessing Guo Kui's sneak attack plan, he immediately ignored the enemy in front of him and retreated north quickly.

Just in time for Yelu Hongji to lead the "Iron Forest Army" to strangle the Song Army. Seeing Guo Kui and others wanting to retreat south, Xiao Boyu surrounded the Song Army from south to north.

For a time, Guo Kui's army was in danger of defeat.

As for the rear troops of the Hebei East Route Army, which was left behind by Guo Kui to contain Xiao Boyu, they were ambushed by Xiao Boyu on the Gaoliang River, repeating the same mistake as before.

However, unlike Emperor Taizong who abandoned the front-line troops and performed the "donkey cart drift" alone, this time Guo Kui and his deputy general Guo Qingshi (Guo Kui's younger brother) were both capable and battle-hardened generals.

In addition, after the military reform, the Song army strictly restrained its ideology, so when facing defeat, the Song army did not panic at all. They immediately built fortifications on the spot, set up the defense line, and had a battle with the Liao army's cavalry with the sharpest spear and the strongest shield.

Seeing the Song army quickly entering a defensive posture without any signs of chaos, Yelu Hongji and Xiao Boyu were filled with murderous intent.

If the Song army continues to reform and improve, the next battle with the Song Dynasty will be even more difficult.

Who knows, the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun will really be recovered.

Thinking about what was about to happen in the future, Yelu Hongji and Xiao Boyu immediately decided to completely strangle this Song army and destroy the determination and ambition of the Song Dynasty!

Unfortunately, everyone's abilities are not to be underestimated. Guo Kui certainly doesn't have as crazy and brilliant a record as Han, but that doesn't mean he has no skills.

As a recognized famous general of the Song Dynasty after Di Wuxianggong, Guo Kui did not want to fail in the ditch.

After forcibly breaking through the blockade of Xiao Boyu's army, Guo Kui reunited with his deputy general Guo Qingshi, and then built a defense line relying on Gaoliang River, preparing for another battle.

Unfortunately, Yelu Hongji and Xiao Boyu had no intention of delaying the war. With a crazy flanking move and a tactical demonstration that was a stroke of genius, the Tielin Army broke through the Song Army's formation for the second time.

This time, Guo Kui gathered the entire Hebei East Route Army to fight against the Liao Army. As a result, the ferocious "heavy cavalry" was like the "Tiger" heavy tank in later generations, and easily crushed the Song Army's formation.

After a few simple penetrations, the Song army finally fell into chaos. This advantage and disadvantage between infantry and cavalry was still difficult to overcome.

Why are the armies that have won great victories over cavalry in history always labeled as iron armies, strict armies, and strong armies?

That is, in the face of the crazy attack of the cavalry, they can still remain calm and implement tactics. This is something that ordinary armies cannot do.

Even after more than a decade of military reforms, the Song Dynasty still found it difficult to completely drive out people's fearful nature. Or, in other words, the Song army still lacked a great victory that would go down in history to strengthen their military spirit!

For example, the modern Chinese army, after going through the "Long March", "Anti-Japanese War", "Liberation" and the climax of the "War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea", has completely formed the "Military Soul of the Republic" that can be called invincible steel!

So much so that when talking about that era, China can always be ranked at the forefront of the world when it comes to the army.

Now the Song army needs to fight tenaciously in the face of adverse conditions, with the determination to die together with the enemy.

However, Guo Kui was also an old fox. Seeing that the overall battle situation had tilted towards the Liao army, he immediately fired all the firearms he had with him.

The purpose is not to kill or injure the enemy, but to open a way to return home to the south.

In these two battles, cavalry vs. cavalry and infantry vs. cavalry, the Song Dynasty ended in failure.

With firearms scattered everywhere, Yelu Hongji and Xiao Boyu did not want their strongest trump card to suffer losses, so they immediately made way.

Seeing this, Guo Kui did not hesitate. He immediately turned his rear army to the front army, quickly marched south, and returned to the Zhuozhou defense line.

The defeat of Guo Kui's troops triggered a series of subsequent reactions.

In particular, Gu Tingye's army, which had infiltrated north of Xijin Prefecture and south of Shunzhou, was directly surrounded by Yelu Hongji, Xiao Boyu and Yelu Asi.

When the news spread, the entire Northern Expedition army fell into panic.

Although Gu Tingye has not been fighting outside in recent years, as a member of Emperor Shenzong's inner chambers and holding the high position of Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Left Army (second rank), he is involved in a wide network of relationships.

Especially Sheng Minglan, who has now been promoted to the first-rank lady, can involve a large group of people from her mother's family.

For example, Sheng Hong was promoted to the third rank as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, and Wang Ruofu was awarded the first rank imperial edict.

There is also Sheng Changbai, who is now in charge of the Huainan Transportation Bureau, and Sheng Changfeng, who was promoted to the Secretary General.

If we include her two sisters, Molan's husband Liang Han is now in charge of the Salt and Iron Bureau and works under Wang Jiefu.

Rulan's husband, Lu Haoqing, was the most ferocious one among the younger generation. He was a doctor of Tongfeng, a scholar of Fuwen Pavilion, the prefect of Kaifeng, and a guest of the crown prince, all of whom held high positions of the third rank.

Rulan was even awarded the first-rank imperial decree, following right after Sheng Minglan.

If this big family were to expand outwards, it would not take long for all the Han party members to be pulled out.

Besides, Gu Tingye has the merit of following the emperor, and he is a close confidant of the emperor, so he cannot have any problems.

Both the Song and Liao armies were aware of the situation, and a fierce battle broke out between Shunzhou and Youzhou.

Sheng Minglan even used her own little universe to the fullest, going to the palace to cry every few days. It is said that women's tears are the most lethal weapon.

Emperor Shenzong was so frightened that he dared not show up. In the end, it was only the Empress Dowager Shen and Empress Xiang who took turns to dissuade each other.

However, the military reports from the front line remained the same every day, but in general they still said: The Song army led by Gu Tingye was besieged at Juyongguan!

Now everyone started a new round of internal disputes. How to rescue Gu Tingye and the entire Hedong Road army...