Fenghou

At this time, someone shouted: "There are cavalry coming in the distance!"

Chen Qing narrowed his eyes and looked into the distance, only to see a black line appearing in the distance.

Dong Liang suddenly became nervous, and hurriedly said: "It should be the son of Geropa, their chief tent is only thirty miles away from us!"

"So close?"

"Their traditional pastures used to be very far away, on the west bank of the West Sea, and then they got closer to us step by step, just to compete for these three salt lakes."

"I just don't understand, what's the use of them wanting to control these three salt lakes?" Chen Qing asked puzzled.

"They are greedy, and they also want to sell salt to make money. First of all, we are not allowed to own salt farms, and then they take it for granted that they control the salt and can raise the price at will to make huge profits, as if we don't know how to cook salt from the West Sea."

Seeing that the cavalry was getting closer, Chen Qing shouted: "Follow me and have a look!"

Chen Qing thought that the salt lake was fake, and his real intention was to clean up the West Sea. He led [-] troops, but now only [-] elite cavalry showed up.

Five hundred cavalry rushed all the way, and quickly met Luojiang's thousand cavalry. Dong Liang said in a low voice, "Jiedushi is Luojiang, the eldest son of Geloba!"

"I see, you hurry back to the salt field and let the salt workers hide temporarily."

Dong Liang turned his horse's head and ran towards the salt field.

Seeing that there were only 500 people on the other side, Luo Jiang felt contemptuous in his heart. He pointed at Chen Qing with his spear and said angrily, "Give you half an hour to go back to Xining Prefecture, otherwise, you will never leave alive!"

Chen Qing laughed, "I have seen a lot of Jurchens and Xixia people. I have never seen such an arrogant person like you, who dare to point a spear at me. I think you are tired of work!"

His face sank and he shouted: "Do it!"

Five hundred Song Army cavalry shouted angrily at the same time, urging their horses to kill each other.

Luo Jiang didn't expect that the other party would dare to attack first, he was furious immediately, and ordered: "Kill them!"

A thousand Tubo cavalry screamed, brandishing spears or short swords and killed them.

Chen Qing took off the Sirius Bow. This is his second bow. It was custom-made for him by two master craftsmen Xie Changzhi and Hu Zhen. It took two years to make it. Since it is a custom-made model, it is completely tailor-made. , Chen Qing is extremely comfortable to use, and the hand feel far exceeds that of the Dingyuan bow.

He liked this bow very much, so he named it Sirius Bow, which comes from Su Shi's words, "Look northwest, shoot Sirius!" '

Chen Qing pulled out a spiked arrow from his back, galloped on his horse, and shot the arrow while galloping. The speed of the arrow was incomparably fast, and it reached Luo Jiang's eyes in the blink of an eye.

Luo Jiang suddenly saw the arrow appear in front of his eyes, his face changed drastically, it was too late to dodge, 'Pfft! An arrow hit the center of the eyebrow, and the tip of the arrow protruded from the back of the head. With a scream, Luo Jiang turned over and fell off his horse to die.

The Tubo army fought against the Song army just now, but the main general was killed by the opponent with an arrow. The soldiers suddenly panicked, and the deputy general blew the horn of withdrawing troops, "Woo———"

The Tubo cavalry turned their horses and fled, leaving behind dozens of corpses and fled away in a panic. Luojiang's corpse was also taken away by them.

"Let them go!"

Chen Qing stopped the soldiers from chasing, the Tubo people would soon bring thousands of troops with them when they returned, and he had to deploy them as soon as possible.

……

The place where Luojiang was shot was only [-] miles away from Geloba's camp. At this time, his second son Danzhu had gathered [-] Tubo youths and quickly gathered in the open space in front of the chief's tent.

Geloba also came out in armor and helmet. No matter whether Chen Qing wanted to visit him or not, he must give him a serious blow and let him see the strength of Xihaibu.

At this moment, there was a commotion outside, and the crowd stepped aside one after another. A few soldiers came in carrying a stretcher, and a corpse lay on the stretcher. arrow.

"The young chief is dead! The young chief is dead!" Exclaimed voices spread from all directions.

Geropa was so frightened that his liver and gallbladder were split, he rushed forward, "What's the matter? What's the matter with my son?"

He lifted the blanket, only to see an arrow stuck in the forehead of the eldest son shockingly, and the arrow actually shot through his head.

Geropa trembled all over, his legs went limp, he knelt down in front of his son, wept bitterly with sobs, and the surrounding generals bowed their heads silently.

Geropa suddenly raised his head, wiped away his tears, and fixed his eyes on the shaft of the arrow. There were four Chinese characters engraved on it, and he knew them all, 'Western Army Chen Qing! '

The extreme hatred had already made Geropa lose his mind, he gritted his teeth, stood up suddenly, and said word by word: "The whole army mounts and captures Chen Qing alive. I will skin him with my own hands!"

He got on his horse and raised his spear high, "The Han people killed my son and wanted to rob us of our land. This is the land we have lived on for generations. We will not give up an inch. Let the Han people taste our power!"

Seven thousand Tubo soldiers raised their arms and shouted loudly. Under the leadership of the leader Geloba, they marched towards the salt lake in mighty force...

Chen Qing's [-]-strong army has been deployed on the grassland. They are composed of [-] cavalry and [-] infantry. In addition to the army, Chen Qing also carried a big weapon against the grassland cavalry this time. Instead of kerosene, bed crossbows are used.

He will use [-] bed crossbows, which can shoot [-] jackdaw arrows at a time. This is an improved bed crossbow, which is operated by three people instead of four. The main reason is that three people need to lie down and step on the string at the same time. Concentrating the strength of three people forms the power of one plus two far greater than three.

Three thousand cavalry lined up neatly, and in front of them were two thousand spear soldiers. Their spears were placed on the ground, and they were holding crossbows in their hands, ready for the second round of shooting.

A thousand bed crossbows were right behind them, all of which had been wound up and fired only once, and a firing soldier squatted behind each bed crossbow.

The bevel angle of the bed crossbow is 45 degrees, which perfectly avoids the soldiers of the Song Army who are arrayed in front.

Seven thousand Tubo troops appeared in the distance. They moved forward rapidly at a high speed, spreading densely on the grassland.

Geluoba saw the [-] Song troops in front of him. Although it was a bit unexpected, his deep-rooted hatred completely blinded his reason. He didn't even stop to rectify the army. what!"

"Kill ah-"

Seven thousand Tubo soldiers roared and ran wildly, sweeping towards the Song army formation three miles away.

Chen Qing was as calm as a mountain and stood dignified. He watched the Tibetans getting closer and closer with cold eyes. He didn't want to conflict with the Tibetans at first, but at this moment he realized that without an iron fist, the Han people would never win. For the respect of foreigners, only iron and blood are the truth.

The Tubo cavalry is getting closer and closer, and they have entered [-] paces... [-] paces.

"Launch the bed crossbow!" Chen Qing gave the order to launch.

Chapter 485

"Woo—" a single horn blew.

This was the order to fire the bed crossbows. A thousand bed crossbows were fired at the same time, and suddenly the arrows rained like rain. Five thousand jackdaw iron arrows soared into the sky, shooting at the Tubo cavalry on the grassland like a storm.

The Tubo cavalry raised their shields to meet them, but they never imagined that what they encountered was the most powerful crossbow of the Song Army, which was invincible and could not be resisted by any shield or armor.

If there is no shield, perhaps many soldiers will hide under the horse's belly, but will escape with their lives.

But there is no word "if" in the world, and their fate has long been doomed in the dark. When they got the shield of the Xixia Army, it was already doomed that today will be a massacre.

The extremely powerful jackdaw iron arrows shot through the shield, the armor, and the body of the Tubo soldiers. Countless Tubo soldiers were shot down from their horses by the iron arrows and nailed to the ground.

Five thousand jackdaw arrows were shot, and three thousand Tubo cavalrymen were killed and wounded. This ratio was horrific, including Danzhu, the second son of Geropa, who was shot through the chest by an arrow and nailed to death on horseback.

But Geropa and other Tubo cavalry who were running ahead escaped unharmed, and the range of the jackdaw arrows surpassed them.

Once the cavalry started galloping, it was difficult to stop, especially the cavalry in front. Once they stopped, they would be bumped and trampled by the cavalry behind. Even if Geropa felt that something was wrong, he had to bite the bullet and kill.

What's more, Geropa didn't realize the great damage that the jackdaw arrows caused to his army. The thunderous hooves of the horses completely covered up the screams of the soldiers. Many horses that lost their cavalry continued to run with the cavalry. Looking at it from above, the reduction is not large, but looking underground, you will see corpses all over the place.

The cavalry advanced 150 steps, the horn blew again, and two thousand soldiers of the Song army fired the crossbow at the same time, and the two thousand powerful arrows of the crossbow roared and shot at the Tubo cavalry.

There are only two kinds of arrows that the Jurchen cavalry's iron armor can't resist. One is the bed crossbow and the other is the god arm crossbow. The god arm crossbow was invented to deal with the iron armor of the Liao army and the Xixia army. Within two hundred steps, the god arm crossbow Can shoot through Jurchen armor.

The leather armor of the Tubo people was even more unable to withstand the powerful crossbow of the Song army. The cavalry running in front were hit by arrows one after another, screaming and falling off their horses. Gelobal was a little scared. The shield can't stop the Song army from shooting with a strong crossbow.

These are ordinary herdsmen!Can they compete with regular Song Army cavalry?Geropa watched more than [-] Tibetan cavalry being shot, and he began to regret it.

In fact, he didn't see the back. If he saw the half-empty horses behind, he wouldn't fight any more.

Before they reached the front of the Song army, more than half of the Tubo cavalry had been killed or killed.

Three thousand infantry soldiers of the Song Army quickly formed a long spear formation. They squatted down and pressed the bottom of their spears against the ground. The sharp spear points formed an oblique angle of thirty degrees. The forest of spears aimed at the Tubo cavalry who were rushing towards them.

Three thousand Song Army cavalry galloped out, killing the Tubo cavalry from both sides. Arrows flew in the air, and the two Song Army cavalry slashed at each other's waist like two sharp swords.

The Tubo cavalry was getting closer and closer, completely involuntary, looking at the densely packed spear points in front of them, the front Tubo cavalry was so frightened that their faces were deformed, and they screamed.

"boom!"

The Tubo cavalry collided with the Song army's spear formation, and there were screams and horses neighing. Dozens of Song army soldiers were knocked into the air and died tragically on the spot, while more than 300 Tubo cavalry running ahead Also died by being pierced by a spear.

Geropa was not among the more than 300 Tubo cavalry who were impaled into skewers, but he was also in front. The huge impact rebounded, causing him to be thrown instantly and fell into the rolling iron hoof.

At the same time, the cavalry of the Song Army rushed into the sides of the Tubo army. Chen Qing took the lead, and Fang Tian picked up more than [-] people with a halberd. went in.

On the other side was led by Gao Ding, who was also extremely fierce, with spears flying around, picking and killing dozens of people. Three thousand Song Army cavalrymen charged forward, left, and right, and killed the Tubo cavalry to pieces. The Tubo cavalry behind were all terrified. They turned their horses and fled away.

The three thousand infantrymen of the Song army withstood the strong impact of the Tubo cavalry and began to form a counterattack.

They were originally an amateur army, and they were all herdsmen themselves. They fought with a fierce force. At this moment, the bloody smell in the air and the stumped limbs and internal organs on the ground scared them out of their wits, and the intense fear made them useless. Fighting spirit, began to run for their lives to survive.

The chief Geropa disappeared, but he did not escape, but was overturned by the horses and fell to the ground, and was trampled to death by countless horses. His whole body was bloody and bloody.

The number of Tubo cavalry was less than 500, and the entire army was defeated. The Song army cavalry chased and killed them all the way. They chased for more than ten miles in one breath, and shot and killed more than half of the enemy troops before letting go of the remaining [-] Tubo cavalry. .

This battle has been passed down from generation to generation by Hehuang Tubo people. Geloba led his army to a decisive battle with Chen Qing's Song army, but suffered a disastrous defeat. Geloba and his son died in the battle. In the end, only more than [-] people survived the massacre by the Song army. Most of the young and strong men in the West Sea lost more than half, and the remaining women and children were finally divided and annexed by other parts.

Under the surveillance of the Song Army, the remaining tens of thousands of old and weak women and children in the West Sea began to migrate to the traditional pastures on the west bank of the West Sea. There were only two thousand young and strong men left in the whole tribe. What they fear now is not the Song Army, but other Tubo tribes , and even the yellow-headed Uighurs, the leaders of the Xihai tribe were arrogant and arrogant, which made them pay an extremely heavy price.

Half of the property in the West Sea became the spoils of the Song army, including tens of thousands of horses, 20 sheep, [-] cows, and more than [-] sheepskins. At the same time, they lost the land in the east.

This battle expanded the frontier of Xining Prefecture by 250 miles to the west and 150 miles to the south, bringing all three salt lakes into the territory of Xining Prefecture.

Three years later, a county was built here, called Yanhu County, which became the westernmost county in the Song Dynasty. A thousand soldiers were stationed here to defend the three salt lakes.

……

Gao Ding led the army and the spoils back to Xining City, while Chen Qing led [-] cavalry to go south to Jishi Prefecture. The arrival of the Song army meant that Jishi Prefecture returned to Xihe Road again.

The four prefectures of Jishi Prefecture, Taozhou, Hezhou and Kuozhou are similar in nature. They belong to the Han people who govern the prefectures, and the Qiang and Tibetans guard the wilderness. They are all animal husbandry states with animal husbandry as their main industry. The Han people live in the county town and within ten miles of the county town, and make a living by farming.

This morning, Chen Qing arrived in Jishi County. At this time, it was a small county with a circumference of more than ten miles. There were more than 1 households and more than [-] people living in the city, mainly Han people.

The county seat was not devastated by the war, and the city was very quiet, and the people were simple and honest, just like a paradise.

The county magistrate is called Yu Xiuming, in his thirties, from Bianliang, and was a student of the Tokyo Imperial College. Later, he brought his parents, wife and children to this paradise-like county town, and opened a school. The people elected him as the county magistrate.

Yu Xiuming brought a group of squires to welcome Chen Qing outside the city.

Chen Qing ordered the army to station outside the city, and he only brought dozens of people into the city.

The city is clean and tidy, there is no noise and noise, it is very quiet, and the air is very fresh, which Chen Qing likes very much.

"Is there only one official from Yuzhi County in the county?" Chen Qingxiao asked.

Yu Xiuming said with some embarrassment: "Our Jishi County has actually been forgotten by the court for many years. The magistrate died of illness for three years and no new official was appointed. Other officials left one after another, so the people in the city unanimously elected me as magistrate. I also govern by doing nothing, usually only responsible for mediating some neighborhood conflicts and the like, and then I continue to teach, my county magistrate is very unqualified, so it’s not necessary.”

"I feel that you have done a good job. You are able to maintain the county seat. This is the greatest credit. I will officially appoint you as the magistrate of Jishi County. Later, I will send two officials to you as assistants. Your salary will be paid by me. There is no need to teach."

"Thank you Jiedu Envoy for your love!"

Chen Qing asked again with a smile: "How do the Tibetans from the Jishi tribe get along?"

"We get along pretty well. Basically, well water doesn't interfere with river water. They also need to come to the county to buy daily necessities. We also need their sheepskin and meat. Everyone gets what they need."

Just as he was talking, a soldier ran over, "Qi Dutong, there is a team of Tibetans outside the city, the leader is the leader of the Jishi tribe, named Asang, and I am here to kowtow to Dutong!"

Chen Qing suddenly had an intuition that the other party must know that the Song army was at war with Xihaibu.

Chapter 486 The Village

Chen Qing was still very wary of the Tubo people. He accepted Ah Sang's long kneeling bow, but flatly rejected the invitation to hold a bonfire banquet.

But this seemingly rude refusal of the invitation not only did not make the other party angry, but made them even more awed. After all, the Song Army was especially murderous, and even the most powerful Xihaibu was vulnerable to the Song Army, let alone them. .

Song Jun's powerful fist conquered them, Ah Sang offered to send his son to study in Chengji County, and Chen Qing readily agreed.

From the beginning to the end, Chen Qing did not show brotherly friendship, but looked down on Ah Sang and his entourage with a ruler's attitude. He did not come to visit the Jishi Department, but to inspect his own territory.

In the afternoon of the same day, Chen Qing formally appointed Asang as the training envoy of the Jishi Prefecture regiment on Xihe Road and General Fuyuan, and appointed Yu Xiuming as the general judge of Jishi Prefecture and the county magistrate of Jishi County.

Chen Qing didn't stay in Jishi County for long, and early the next morning, he led two thousand cavalry to leave Jishi County and return to Xining Prefecture.

The most important purpose of Chen Qing's seizure of Huangzhou and Xining Prefecture was to obtain the Hehuang Valley, so that his military rations could be completely guaranteed. The [-] catties of rough silver in Huangzhou back then was also the military expenditure he was determined to obtain.

Since this year, the Sichuan-Shaanxi Xuanfu Division's military salary has stopped being allocated. He doesn't know the reason, but he must plan ahead to prevent the imperial court from using the military salary to get stuck on his neck. He doesn't want to be the second Wu Jie , was almost suffocated by the civil servants.

Compared with the one-day trip to Jishi Prefecture, Chen Qing spends a lot of time in the Hehuang Valley.

The Hehuang Valley is formed by the alluvial deposits of three big rivers, the Tonghe River in the north, the Huangshui River in the middle and the Yellow River in the south, covering an area of ​​tens of thousands of square kilometers. The valley has an extremely important strategic position both in military and agricultural aspects.

Although the West Sea is surrounded by a vast area, it is a saltwater lake that cannot irrigate farmland, nor is it suitable for humans and animals to drink. To the west is a plateau and mountainous area. Life is difficult. People of all ethnic groups yearn for the Hehuang area with fresh water and aquatic plants.

It can be said that whoever controls the Hehuang area will control the various ethnic groups in the surrounding area and make them submit and obey.

Therefore, since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Central Plains Dynasty and Tubo have fiercely competed for the Hehuang Valley, and the large-scale war has continued throughout the Tang Dynasty.

The so-called continuous alliance is actually to use this method to force the other party to admit their legal status of controlling Hehuang.

Although the Song Dynasty was weak, it did not mean that it had no strategic vision. After the War of Wuyue, Tubo split, the weakness of the Qingtang Dynasty and the pro-Song Dynasty made the Song Dynasty see an opportunity. An important part of Wang Anshi's reform was to expand the frontier to the west , Control the Hehuang Valley, and form huge strategic pressure on Xixia from the west.

Chen Qing was undoubtedly lucky. After he defeated Xixia, he faced Hehuang Xiqiang and Tubo forces at the weakest moment in a thousand years. He adopted the method of killing one to warn others, using the salt lake dispute to massacre the Xihai tribe. Other tribes in the Hehuang area.