Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Imperial meeting.

Ju Ming asked: "Brothers of the Xixia Mu family sent someone to contact them about the surrender. What is the background of these two people?"

Before the meeting, Shi Yuangong carefully checked the files:

"The Mu family was originally the Murong family. In the early years of the former Song Dynasty, they were still members of the Song Dynasty, but they rebelled with the Li family of Xixia."

"When Fan Wenzhenggong was the commander-in-chief of the northwest, he personally recruited Mu En, the chief of the Mu family. From then on, the Mu family became the hereditary commander of Huanqing, and brought his people back to the Song Dynasty to become a powerful family in Huanzhou."

"When the Jin army went south, the Mu family did not serve the king and stayed in Huanzhou to garrison the fortress. When the Xixia soldiers came to kill them, the Mu family abandoned the city and fled. He did not go to Xixia. He once served as our Ming Dynasty border general at Shangshu. But they Most of his tribesmen were plundered by Xixia. The Mu family was not as good as before in Huanzhou, and was squeezed out by the two generals of Miao and Liu. "

"When the Ming Dynasty took back the military power of the northwest frontier generals, both Miao and Liu were willing to obey the orders, but the Mu brothers were unwilling to be transferred and took the remaining tribesmen to Xixia."

"Now, it is probably because they are not living well in Xixia that the Mu brothers want to defect again. This wealthy family can be used, but it must never be reused. It has defected countless times over the past hundred years."

Ju Ming finally figured it out: "It turned out to be the former Song and Ming border generals who defected to Xixia. If you can use it, use it. If you can't use it, just cut it down!"

Zhang Bor said: "If we send troops to Xixia, it would be better after the beginning of next spring. There are many fortresses on the border between the two countries, and they must be removed one by one. The fight does not happen overnight. If we send troops this year, we will have to stop and truce until winter, especially It is difficult to transport food and grass in the Hengshan area in winter.”

Li Bao suggested: "Han Shizhong's side can send troops to the grassland in autumn. The autumn air is crisp outside the Great Wall, and the war horses are fat and strong. They can quickly capture the pastures and cities at the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain. After defeating them, it will be almost winter, and the Xixia army will soon It’s hard to fight back in the snow to take back the land!”

Zhang Guangdao said: "The three pillars of Mobei are fighting each other lively, and it is impossible to go south within a few years. Yue Fei can also lead thousands of elite cavalry to join forces with Han Shizhong and go to war together."

Wang Yuan said: "The Forbidden Army should set off this year and arrive at the border of Shaanxi before winter. When the snow melts next year, the army will rush out immediately."

Ma Kuo reminded: "Don't forget the Yellow-headed Uighurs. You can have them cross the Qilian Mountains to harass Shazhou (Dunhuang) and Guazhou. If the Yellow-headed Uighurs dare not send troops, they will be taught a lesson afterwards!"

Ju Ming said: "The Privy Council, together with the Ministry of War, will give a detailed strategy."

Li Bao said: "The grassland can't wait for a strategy. Let Yue Fei join Han Shizhong as soon as possible and eat Xixia's Black Mountain Weifu Army. Eliminating Weifu Army is equivalent to cutting off an arm of Xixia."

Liu Yao asked: "What is the name of the division that will attack Xia this time?"

"I'll write a petition to discuss Xia!" Huan Guo took over the job.

Ju Ming also said: "The cabinet, together with the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Industry, must ensure that food, grass, equipment, and civilian workers are fully prepared before the spring of next year. If something goes wrong, it will affect the frontline war. In the least, it will be dismissed from office and returned home, or in the most serious. Go to jail and face justice!”

"yes!"

Everyone looked serious and stood up to bow.

…

Yue Fei's station was far away from Yinshan Mountain, so he didn't bring many troops there.

He only brought two thousand brave cavalry and three thousand light cavalry, totaling more than five thousand people.

Among them, most of the three thousand light cavalry are Khitan, Tanggu, and Jurchen tribe cavalry. The chiefs of each tribe must mobilize elites, ranging from dozens to hundreds, to follow Yue Fei to fight.

In this way, one is to make rational use of the grassland tribes, and the other is to prevent tribes from taking the opportunity to rebel.

After all, Yue Fei left with the main force, and the Han soldiers on the grassland there were empty, and there might be trouble among some tribes.

Among the tribal cavalry, not all are light cavalry.

Especially those Khitan cavalry who cooperated with Yue Fei in the decisive battle and picked up a lot of armor from Wanyan Zonghan!

More than five thousand cavalry set out from Linhuang Mansion, one person and four horses advancing rapidly.

They didn't bring much food and grass, so tribes along the way had to provide food. Theirs was not in vain, no matter how much livestock and grain they had eaten, these tribes could take the vouchers and go to the nearest Ming Dynasty government office to receive compensation.

In early autumn, Yue Fei and Han Shizhong joined forces.

Han Shizhong already had plenty of food and grass there, including a lot of military rations shipped from Shanxi.

There are many methods for making military rations, which are recorded in the Northern Song Dynasty's "Wu Jing Zong Yao". One method is to cook rice and expose it to the sun, remove impurities and steam it repeatedly ten times. 120 kilograms of rice can be compressed into 20 kilograms. When marching and fighting, there was no time to make food, so I broke off a piece and soaked it in water and drank it directly. It can be understood as the military compressed biscuit of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Under the improvement of the great Dean Zhu, this compressed biscuit is mixed with dehydrated vegetables, rice flour and bean flour and compressed together.

In this way, Ming's improved version of compressed military rations has added vitamins and protein.

When marching and fighting on the grasslands, they would also bring a large amount of dried meat.

Yue Fei and Han Shizhong were stationed in the grassland, so they would naturally absorb the strengths of the grassland cavalry.

After the two joined forces, the number of cavalry was about 18,000.

More than 60% are not Han cavalry, but come from various tribes in the grasslands. Including the prairie princes who were generously rewarded by Ju Ming, they all brought their tribes to help fight the war.

Who dares not to come?

Then don't rush to fight Xixia, deal with the disobedient tribe first!

Eighteen thousand cavalrymen, with more than 50,000 horses, an average of three horses per person, went straight to Dongsheng Prefecture (Tuoketuo County).

The Xixia garrison in this city only has 800 people.

The surrounding tribes are mostly Dangxiang and Tanggu tribes.

Tanggu is a grassland tribe formed by slaves of various ethnic groups living together in Liao. In the past, they tended to be Khitanized, but now they began to learn Han or Dangxiang customs according to the specific rulers.

The Dangxiang and Tanggu tribes in Dongsheng Prefecture recruited all the young and strong as cavalry, about two or three thousand.

Yue Fei and Han Shizhong came very quickly, so how could they have time to recruit young and strong for the Xixia garrison?

The Xixia garrison took 800 garrisons and their families and fled to Baotou quickly, and ordered the Dangxiang herdsmen in the jurisdiction to flee together.

The Dangxiang herdsmen here have been ruled by the Liao Kingdom, and later by the Jin Kingdom. They have been ruled by Xixia for less than ten years.

Seeing that the Ming Dynasty had a strong military force, the Dangxiang tribes were unwilling to accompany Xixia to die.

Even the Dangxiang chiefs took their young and strong and took the initiative to come to Yue Fei and Han Shizhong!

"I am a guest army, so I just need to go to the south this time." Yue Fei carried forward his style and did not compete with Han Shizhong for credit.

Han Shizhong was immediately delighted and said, "Good man! I will only attack the Tiande Army City of Xixia, and wait for you to join me there, and then we will attack the Weifu Army Headquarters together."

Yue Fei said seriously, "Do not delay the military opportunity. If Han Duhu succeeds, you should go straight to the thieves' nest, and don't wait for me to go there."

"Okay, I'll prepare a banquet at the Weifu Army Headquarters, and wait for you to come over to drink and eat meat." Han Shizhong liked Yue Fei more and more.

Who would not like a friendly army that does not steal credit?

The strategic goal of the grassland troops in this battle was to destroy the Weifu Army Headquarters of Xixia.

Yue Fei gave the main attack target of this battle to Han Shizhong, who had more troops, and led 5,000 cavalry south to eliminate the secondary targets.

...

However, Han Shizhong led his troops to Baotou, but still came up empty-handed, and the Xixia army had already fled with the herdsmen.

The Xixia army retreated all the way west to Tiande Army City (Wulansuhai), where there was a strong city built by the Liao Kingdom. Moreover, the desertification nearby is not serious, and there are a large population of farmers and herders, so they can rely on the strong city to defend for a long time.

In order to save time, Han Shizhong did not bring siege artillery, and the artillery is still on the way.

While his army was besieging the city, he sent people to cut trees and build siege equipment.

There are two hundred miles of Muna Mountain (Wula Mountain) here, and the trees are inexhaustible.

At the same time, Han Shizhong sent light cavalry to the west to find out the traces of reinforcements from the Wei Fu Army of Western Xia - the Wei Fu Army is stationed at the foot of Yinshan Mountain.

There is no rush to attack the city for the time being, and Han Shizhong's mind is to besiege the city and fight the reinforcements.

A Ming officer who understood Tangut language rushed to Tiande City to persuade them to surrender: "General in the city, why don't you surrender quickly? We are just the vanguard, and 100,000 Ming soldiers will arrive soon. The Jin Kingdom had hundreds of thousands of soldiers, but they were all destroyed by the Ming Dynasty. Can you defend Tiande City with just a few people?"

The Xixia garrison did not dare to shoot the person who persuaded them to surrender, but stood on the top of the city and questioned: "Daxia is a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and we have agreed to be a father-son country forever. Why did the Ming Dynasty go back on its word and suddenly send troops to attack the vassal state? Where is the Ming Dynasty's credibility? How do other vassal states view the Ming Dynasty?"

The Ming officer said: "The land of Xixia was originally Chinese territory, but it was divided and occupied by villains. The Li family was originally a barbarian, and was given a surname by the Tang Dynasty. They were subjects of the Song Dynasty but did not know how to be loyal to the emperor and serve the country. Their founding of the country was not right! As a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, the Xixia monarch and ministers Without knowing how to implement benevolent policies, the people in the country are living in poverty. Every year, countless hungry people flee to the Ming Dynasty to beg for food. Xixia also does not abide by the way of vassalage, secretly colluding with Western Liao to cut off the Ming Dynasty's business travel, which is a rebellious act. "

"Whether it is to punish the people or to eliminate the vassal who are not loyal, my Ming Dynasty has a legitimate reason this time! If you know what's good for you, open the city and surrender quickly!"

The Xixia garrison argued: "Nonsense, it was the tribal bandits in Hexi who cut off the Ming Dynasty's business travel. My Great Xia emperor has punished those tribes and has already given an explanation to the Ming Dynasty. You are just looking up excuses for the past!"

The Ming Dynasty officer said: "It was the tribe that did it once, but is it the same every time? If it is the same every time, the Xixia emperor can't even control the tribes in his country, how can he be qualified to be the king of a country?"

It really can't be controlled!

Due to the frequent disasters in Xixia, corruption in the officialdom, and the inability to rob the Ming Dynasty to make money, many Xixia tribes are so poor that they are hungry.

The tribes on the other side of the Hexi Corridor have been robbing merchants more and more frequently, and they have not given face to the Xixia emperor at all.

In the past two years, there have been fewer and fewer merchants in the Hexi Corridor, and they have turned to bypass the territory of the Yellow-headed Uighurs. The more this happens, the less commercial taxes Xixia collects, and the more it exploits the tribes and the people, which has formed a vicious cycle.

Sending troops because of repeated robberies of merchants is a very legitimate reason, not an excuse for sending troops made up by the Ming emperor and his ministers.

"Da Da Da Da!"

Several riders ran back from the west and ran to report to Han Shizhong: "Protector, a large number of Xixia cavalry were found 20 miles away. It should be the reinforcements of the Xixia Wei Fu Army Division!"