Fenghou

Tang Qian roared in grief and anger, and led a thousand scouts into the city first. Yang Rui's death made him feel extremely painful and resentful, and his emotions exploded.

Liu Qiong waved his saber from behind, "Shoot into the city without leaving any armor behind!"

Thirty thousand cavalry suddenly mobilized and charged into the city...

The people in Yingli County were all evacuated and turned into a pure military city. All the houses were razed to the ground, and the city was quite spacious.

The soldiers of the Xixia Army were well-trained. One thousand soldiers transferred from the West City stood in formation holding crossbows and arrows. When a thousand Song Dynasty scouts rushed into the city, a thousand army crossbows were fired at the same time. The Song Army scouts raised their shields to meet them. , but dozens of people were still shot down by crossbow arrows.

While running, the scouts of the Song army threw the short steel spears in their hands at the Xixia soldiers dozens of steps away. This kind of short steel spears is a new weapon just equipped by the scout army. It is only five feet long, or about 1.6 meters. It weighs fifteen catties and is suitable for one-handed use while holding a shield in the other hand. It can also be thrown for stabbing. Within thirty steps, no shield or armor can resist it.

Although Tang Qian was filled with resentment, he did not lose his mind, nor did he destroy the previously agreed plan. He roared, "Throw a stab!"

More than 900 fine steel short spears were thrown at the Xixia crossbowmen [-] steps away. Hundreds of crossbowmen were pierced by short spears and nailed to the ground. Go, and leave the field to the cavalry behind.

Thousands of cavalry at the front swept in like a torrent, and the iron horse spears swallowed hundreds of Xixia soldiers in an instant.

This was a battle without any suspense. Although the Xixia army was very tenacious, the difference in strength was too great. Facing the elite cavalry of the Song army, the Xixia army only lasted for a quarter of an hour before the whole army collapsed. See Li Hanzhong, who is in charge of the battle The situation was not good, he found that the other party had the intention of stealing his back, and if he didn't retreat, he would die here.

Without hesitation, Li Hanzhong turned his horse's head and fled first. His retreat further led to the defeat of the Xixia army. Pierce their backs and chop their heads off.

As the sky gradually dawned, the city was filled with a bloody atmosphere. Only a few hundred people escaped from the [-] Xixia army, and the remaining [-] people were all killed, and no one survived.

This is an order given by Chen Qing. This attack on Xixia is a war to destroy the country. Unless the party members can escape Xixia in time, the party army and nobles will be slaughtered.

Tang Qian found Yang Rui's bloody corpse in the corner. He knelt in front of the corpse with tears streaming down his face. Yang Rui was his comrade and brother, and he died in the first fierce battle against Xixia.

"General Tang!"

The soldier reminded him, "Liu Tongzhi is in a hurry to find you."

Tang Qian nodded, stood up and said to the soldiers, "It was cremated for him, and we will take the bones back to his wife and children."

He wiped away his tears and walked quickly to the city wall, cupped his fists to Liu Qiong and said, "I'm a bit out of control in my humble position."

Liu Qiong nodded, "Death in battle is the home of soldiers, so we don't have to regret it."

"Thank you for your enlightenment, the humble position is fine."

Liu Qiong pointed to the west and said: "See, the beacon is lit!"

Tang Qian saw the black smoke in the distance, which was particularly eye-catching in the morning glow. He frowned and said, "That's Shatuoguan. Who did they light the beacon to notify?"

"It should be to inform the defenders along the military road. We captured Yingli County and cut off their logistics supplies. Just now Wang Sima told me that he saw the supply records. They should send supplies in the past two days, but the supply team is still there. They were captured by us without starting, and without supplies, they couldn't last long."

"Then how do they evacuate?"

"Either walk along the northern foot of Helan Mountain, then cross the Helan Mountain Pass, and reach the north of Xingqing Mansion. This road is very difficult. More than half of it is desert. Without sufficient supplies, I am afraid that more than half of them will not be able to survive. ; and the other way is to go around from the north of Yingli County, unless we don't hunt them down, they can retreat to Mingsha County to get supplies."

"How many troops will retreat?"

"There will be about 9000 people one after another."

Tang Qian asked, "What about the opinion of the ruler?"

Liu Qiong said slowly: "My current thinking is, don't worry about how the enemy retreats for the time being, and we must carry out our main task well. General Tang led [-] troops to occupy the passes along the Xiaoguan Pass, especially the steps of Tajiazhai and Reward Transfer. These two passes are the most dangerous, so we must station heavy troops, and then I will lead [-] troops to guard Yingli County, and as for the supplies, I will sort them out immediately."

Tang Qian thought for a while and said, "What about Shatuoguan? I feel that after the Xixia army retreats, we need to occupy Shatuoguan, otherwise our army will not be able to come from Lanzhou."

Liu Qiong nodded, "I'll make arrangements, General Tang doesn't have to worry."

At this time, Sima Wangjian walked over quickly, clasped his fists in a salute and said, "You two generals, the inventory situation has been sorted out, which is very exciting. This is the inventory of the other party, which is very detailed and complete."

After finishing speaking, he handed a thick inventory to Liu Qiong. Liu Qiong was startled, "Why is it our writing?"

"There is a Chinese inventory and a Western Xia inventory, and I have compared them, and they are basically the same."

Liu Qiong took a closer look, and smiled at Tang Qian unexpectedly: "They also have [-] barrels of kerosene in stock, but they didn't use it."

"It should be too late!"

At this time, the soldier suddenly pointed to the east and shouted: "There is also wolf smoke over there!"

Liu Qiong and Tang Qian went to the battlements and looked east. There were only three puffs of smoke rising in the direction of Mingsha County. Then, the Xixia court would soon know that something happened in Yingli County.

Chapter 658

On the evening of the second day after Liu Qiong dispatched a surprise army to capture Yingli County, Chen Qing received an eagle letter from Yingli County. At this time, Chen Qing was inspecting the preparations for the battle in Lanzhou.

On the edge of the Yellow River, Chen Qing looked at the rolling water of the Yellow River, and said to everyone with a smile, "The current is too fast, so it would be unrealistic to use a leather raft to transport supplies?"

Chen Qing turned his head, Niu Gao looked worried, and said with a smile: "Niu Tongzhi, let's talk about it!"

Niu Gao said helplessly: "Report to Dutong, although it is feasible to attack Xixia from Lanzhou, but some difficulties are still difficult to overcome?"

"To be specific, what difficulties are difficult to overcome?"

"As far as I know, the military road built by Xixia is not stable. It has been washed away by mudslides many times. If the Xixia army destroys it artificially, I am afraid we will not be able to walk this road."

"Is that part of the road difficult to walk?"

"A section of Lingbo Mountain and a section of Roulang Mountain. These two sections are about 200 miles long. They are very dangerous. If a pass is built, it will be easy to defend and difficult to attack. Moreover, the current is fast, and there are cliffs on both sides. Rafts will definitely not be able to get through."

"What if we use camels to transport?" Chen Qing asked again.

"Camels are of course also available, but the premise is that the enemy does not destroy the road, and what about siege weapons and other supplies? They are too large to walk on the military road."

Chen Qing nodded, and said to Niu Gao and everyone: "Because the matter is of great importance, I have not told you some things. In fact, I never thought of marching from Lanzhou to Xixia, but in order to confuse the other party, I made a lot of deployments in Lanzhou , Assemble the army, hoard supplies and so on.

And our real attack direction is Xiaoguan Road. I have sent Liu Qiong to lead an army of [-] to attack Yingli County. As long as Xixia is confused, then Liu Qiong's army will not have any obstacles to enter Xixia from the Hulu River. After all, Xixia has limited troops. , They can't do multiple defenses. Once Liu Qiong's army takes Yingli County, Lanzhou's mission will be completed. "

Niu Gao was stunned, and assembled an army of 20 just to confuse Xi Xia?

He asked urgently: "Is Lanzhou just defensive in the end?"

"Not quite."

Chen Qing smiled slightly and said: "Lanzhou has three roles, logistics, support and defense. I don't plan to move the large amount of grain and grass materials hoarded in Lanzhou. After the Yellow River freezes in winter, I can use sleds to transport heavy materials. If the military road can Repair, then use camels to transport grain and grass.

Lanzhou's second task is to respond, mainly to respond to the Hexi Corridor. Once the Uighurs are defeated and withdraw from the Hexi Corridor, the Lanzhou army will immediately respond to keep Ganzhou and Liangzhou.

The third task of Lanzhou is to defend, not only to protect the Xihe Road, but also to keep the Hehuang Valley. Now half of our military rations come from the Hehuang Valley, so there must be no mistakes in the Hehuang Valley. "

Chen Qing looked around at the generals, and said slowly: "Lanzhou is the balance point between Hehuang, Hexi and Xihe. Its strategic position is extremely important. I hope everyone understands that although I use Lanzhou to carry out strategic deception against Xixia , does not mean that Lanzhou is not important."

At this time, a personal soldier rushed over, knelt down on one knee and clasped his fists and said, "Report to Dutong, General Liu Qiong has an urgent letter!"

Chen Qing took the Ying letter and read it again. He was overjoyed and said loudly to everyone: "I tell you a piece of good news. Liu Qiong's army has captured Yingli County."

The surrounding soldiers immediately cheered.

Now that the strange soldiers had captured Yingli County, Chen Qing stopped pretending. He divided his troops into two groups and ordered Liu Cui to lead [-] troops and [-] camels to supply supplies and march towards Xixia along the military road. He personally led [-] troops and Ten thousand camels turned to Pingliang Mansion and took Xiaoguan Road.

The war against Xixia has officially begun...

The head coach of the Xixia Army is King Li Cha of Jin. Although the Song Army had been preparing for the battle in Lanzhou a few months ago, and Xixia was also preparing for the battle, the preparations for the Xixia Army were extremely difficult. Most of it was consumed in the civil war, and the remaining food, grass and materials were no longer enough to support the confrontation with hundreds of thousands of Song troops.

Brother Li Cha was really restless, but there was nothing he could do about it. On the one hand, he used Yingli County as a logistics base and sent [-] troops to defend the Southwest Military Road. strength.

Now Xixia’s biggest problem is the lack of troops. The two-year brutal civil war has reduced their standing army from 30 to 8. Of the 8, 5 of the emperor’s guards cannot move. With [-] guards in the capital, only [-] troops can actually be mobilized.

Although Brother Li Cha is a famous general of the generation, it is hard for a clever woman to cook without rice!

In the middle of the night, Brother Li Cha, who was sleeping soundly, was suddenly awakened by the sound of hurried footsteps, only to hear someone shouting urgently in the yard: "There is an urgent military situation, and you must report it to His Royal Highness King Jin immediately!"

"It's midnight now, can't we just wait until dawn?"

"The military situation is more urgent, and I am afraid that His Royal Highness King Jin will be angry when he reports it at dawn."

"What military situation?" Brother Li Cha appeared at the door.

The messenger hurriedly bowed and saluted, "His Royal Highness, the beacon is lit!"

"what!"

Brother Li Cha was taken aback, the beacon was lit, which meant that the Song army had begun to attack, but their preparations for the battle had not yet been completed, how could this be good?

"What time is it now?" Brother Li Cha asked anxiously.

"It's five o'clock!"

"Prepare the car, I want to enter the palace!"

The Son of Heaven has always been indecisive, and he has been reluctant to adopt many of his suggestions. Now the fire is imminent, and it will be too late if he doesn't make a decision.

It’s not that Xixia is too poor to get rid of the pot. Most of Xixia’s wealth is in the hands of the emperor’s relatives. Although the treasury is empty, the treasury of these dignitaries is very rich, and there are still a large number of slaves, but the emperor hesitated on this issue. , has always refused to make a clear attitude.

The carriage came to the palace, Brother Li Cha waited for a while, and then was led into the inner palace by the eunuch.

Emperor Li Ganshun was wearing a white robe and was sitting in the hall drinking tea. He was not in good health and was weak in sleep, so he got up at this time.

Not long after, Brother Li Cha quickly walked up to the hall, bowed and saluted, "Brother Emperor, I have something urgent to report."

Li Qianshun waved his hands and said with a smile: "Imperial Brother, sit down and talk about it."

Brother Li Cha sat down and said: "The beacon has been lit, and the Song army has begun to attack."

Li Qianshun said for a while: "It's only been a few years, is Chen Qing capable of counterattacking us?"

"Brother Huang, if it wasn't for Xiao Heda's rebellion, Chen Qing would never have dared to have such an idea. A two-year civil war has completely wiped us out. Presumably Chen Qing also saw this, so he wanted to take the opportunity to attack Xixia.

However, in the past two years, his strength has indeed expanded rapidly, especially when he seized Bashu as a source of income while the Song Dynasty court was beyond his reach, so that he can support more than [-] troops. Now the situation is very unfavorable to us. If the emperor does not make up his mind determination……"

Li Qianshun waved his hand and interrupted him, "You have a tight deployment on the Southwest Military Road, do you think his army can kill it?"

Brother Li Cha hesitated for a moment and said: "My brother has set up thirteen dangerous passes along the military road, especially Shatuo Pass. The narrow mountain road is useless even if an army of [-] comes, but the Song army wants to attack us. There are many roads. Hexi Old Road, Xiaoguan Road, Hengshan Road, Yinzhou Road, and the passages on Yanzhou and Suizhou. Although Chen Qing's main force is deployed in Lanzhou, if he sends out surprise troops and enters Xixia from other passes, we will really It's impossible to guard against!"

"Then just deploy troops at every pass."

Why doesn't Brother Li Cha want to deploy heavy troops everywhere?

But this kind of deployment is not like seasoning, a little sprinkling is enough. Once it is fully deployed, at least more than [-] troops are needed. How can he get it.

Brother Li Cha said anxiously; "Brother Emperor, our problem now is that we don't have enough troops. At present, I only have [-] troops. If they are all sent out to guard the pass, as long as the Song army breaks through any pass, we will have no trouble." The soldiers resisted, not to mention the Uighurs are still eyeing us, brother emperor, forgive me, now we are facing the threat of annihilation of the country!"

Chapter 659 Strong Recruitment

Historically, Li Qianshun died two years later. He died after a terminal illness. This serious illness lasted for a year or two. At this time, his body was very weak, and his energy and physical strength could no longer support his control of Xixia.

Li Qianshun is also very aware of the internal and external troubles Xixia is facing. Over the years, they have failed to conquer Xihe Road several times, and they have been unfavorable in suppressing the rebellion and civil strife, which has led to a serious weakening of Xixia's national power. The royal family of Xixia is very dissatisfied with him. He even got news that some The royal family has been in secret contact, ready to support the new emperor.

Under such circumstances, how dare Li Qianshun reach out to ask the royal relatives for money and people, and he must provoke them.

Li Qianshun sighed and asked, "Aside from reaching out to the powerful, is there any other way?"

Brother Li Cha was very disappointed. He didn't expect that the emperor still couldn't make up his mind at this critical moment. He had no choice but to say: "There are still a few ways to solve this problem."

Li Qianshun lifted his spirits, and quickly said: "Is there any other good way?"

"The first is to abandon Shazhou and order Li Yanwu, the governor of the capital, to return to Xixia immediately with [-] troops; the second is to release [-] Khitan slaves and arm them; the third is to ask for help from the Kingdom of Jin; We buy food and supplies, the key to these four points is Jin Guo, if they are willing to support, we still have hope."

The Khitan slaves mentioned in the second point are Xiao Heda’s defeated soldiers. A total of more than [-] people surrendered to the court. Li Qianshun ordered the defeated soldiers and their families to be converted into slaves, called Khitan slaves, and escorted to mines to mine salt. In fact, they They are not Khitan people, basically they are Dangxiang people and Qiang people.

Liberate the 5000 troops, add the [-] troops from Shazhou and [-] of your own, and you will have a [-] army. Li Qianshun feels somewhat at ease.

Moreover, there are still 120 million taels of silver in the small treasury, which cannot be used unless it is absolutely necessary.

Since the relatives of the royal family are unwilling to take out food, grass and supplies, then use silver to buy them from them, so it will be okay!

In fact, Brother Licha is looking forward to the assistance of Jin Guo the most. He does not believe that Jin Guohui will watch Xixia destroy the country, and even the Liao Kingdom will die to protect Xixia, let alone Jin Guo.

"Brother Huang, is there any news from the Kingdom of Jin?" Brother Li Cha asked.

Li Qianshun shook his head, "There is no latest news. It is still the same as last time. They promised to support Xixia, but the method of support is still under discussion."

Brother Li Cha said bitterly: "They promised to give 30 shi of grain, but up to now, they haven't seen a single grain."

Li Qianshun sighed, "The Kingdom of Jin always pays lip service. We can't pin our hopes on them. I agree with all the points you just said, and we can implement them at dawn."

Brother Li Cha walked out of the palace, couldn't help but sighed up to the sky, "Could it be that Xixia is really going to destroy the country?"

……

At dusk, Brother Li Cha received a message from his son Li Hanzhong's Flying Eagle. A tens of thousands of Song troops of unknown origin captured Yingli County, and the [-] defenders were almost wiped out.

This news was a slap in the face, brother Li Cha was so dazed that he couldn't say a word while sitting in the study.

What he was most worried about finally happened. The Song Army must have gone north from Xiaoguan Road and attacked Yingli County.

He had actually considered this possibility. As an experienced veteran, Brother Li Cha also knew that it was not wise for Chen Qing to attack Xixia from Lanzhou. It was simply unrealistic to use the Yellow River to transport supplies. It is possible to transport materials.

In just a few months, Chen Qing stationed 20 troops in Lanzhou, 50 shi of grain, and countless military supplies. Even the military headquarters temporarily moved to Lanzhou, and Chen Qing himself was also in Lanzhou.

Brother Li Cha also believed that Chen Qing must have attacked Xixia from Lanzhou so that he could join forces with the Uyghurs. If he hadn't taken the new military road, he would have taken the old Hexi road. The surprise soldiers captured Yingli County, so all his previous deployments were useless.