Chapter 356: Savage Punches and Rushes Over

At this time, the situation on Shaanxi Road is not too complicated.

To put it simply, Yuan Hao crossed the Qilian Mountains in May and captured Qingtang City and Miaochuan City in late May and early June.

The response from the Song Dynasty was very quick. Yang Kai, the Qinfeng Road transfer envoy, immediately sent troops to Lanzhou.

The imperial court immediately sent Han Qi to lead an army.

Unlike individual soldiers, large armies could reach the northwest by riding horses for several days from Kaifeng, so it took more than half a month to arrive.

Han Qi arrived at Shaanxi Road in early July. When he arrived, he did not immediately send troops, but instead found out the bilateral trends.

Otherwise, he would have rashly launched an attack on Xixia without even investigating the layout of his troops, which would be tantamount to sending the Song Dynasty's troops to their deaths.

After more than half a month of reconnaissance, Han Qi had a rough understanding of the situation between the enemy and ourselves, and therefore planned to make a decision to send troops.

He explained and analyzed the detected weaknesses in Xixia on the map, as well as the interlocking forces between the two sides, and finally decided on the strategy of the main force on the west side striving to fight Yuan Hao's main force, and the east side pretending to attack the Xixia border.

The three deputies, Yang Kai, Zhang Fangping, and Zhang Kang, had no other objections and approved Han Qi's plan. So Han Qi made a formal decision, issued documents, and started the entire overall layout of troops.

The first is the main force of Qin Feng Lu. In addition to Qin Feng Lu himself, who is about 20,000 people, plus 30,000 people brought by Han Qi from the Bianliang Forbidden Army, a total of about 50,000 people. He ordered the Deputy Privy Envoy and Shaanxi Road Zhang Kang, the commander-in-chief of troops and horses, led these 50,000 people out of Qinzhou to capture Huangzhou.

Secondly, Gao Jixuan, the deputy capital deployment and pacification envoy of Jingyuan Road, was sent to lead 20,000 troops out of Jingyuan Road to capture the Xishou Baotai Military Division of Xixia.

As for whether Qinfeng Road will be empty after 50,000 people leave, there is no need to worry, because Qinfeng Road is the area from Dingxi City to Tianshui City to Baoji City in the southeast of Lanzhou City in later generations, and its north side was called Jingyuan Road in the Song Dynasty.

In other words, Qinfeng Road is in the hinterland. If Li Yuanhao wants to go south to attack Qinfeng Road, he must break through the heavily guarded Jingyuan Road and pass Gao Jixuan.

In addition, Han Qi also summoned Zhao Zhen, who had now been promoted to the deputy capital of Huanqing Road, to lead 8,000 people to defend. He also ordered Zhong Shiheng, who had been promoted to the military commander of Huanqing Road for his merits, to go northwest to Huizhou to meet with Zhang Kang. , Jingtai, Gao Jixuan, Ge Huaimin, Wang Gui, Liu Hu and other surrounding generals launched coordinated operations.

In this way, the entire terrain of Qinfeng Road plus the deployment of some troops from other places are enough to ensure the safety of Qinfeng Road. Unless Li Yuanhao's army has wings to fly over, it is basically foolproof.

In the end, Han Qi handed over the task of feinting the east road to Ren Fu.

It's not that history has shifted to its original position, but that Ren Fu used to be the deputy commander-in-chief of the Ma Yanlu Army. During the previous war between Song and Xia, he was promoted to the deputy commander of the Fuyanlu Army due to his military exploits.

As mentioned before, the level of generals in the Song Dynasty was chaotic, and their upper and lower commands were unclear. However, generally speaking, they were divided into capital deployment (du general manager), deputy capital deployment (deputy general manager), deployment (general manager), deputy deployment (deputy general manager), general administration, custody, and There is a hierarchy like Dujian.

Under normal circumstances, only civil servants with Jinshi background can serve. Therefore, the deputy capital deployment is already the highest-ranking general along the way. If Han Qi wants to implement the eastward plan, he can naturally only leave it to Ren Fu, the highest-ranking general on the Yanyan Road.

In this way, Han Qi's plan was actually to divide his troops into three groups, but Gao Jixuan's group actually coordinated with Jingtai to attack Li Yuanhao's main force together, trying to occupy Zhuo Luo and Nan Si in Xixia.

At the end of July and the beginning of August, the entire Shaanxi Road army was fully mobilized. There are enemy and enemy scouts all over the border, spying on intelligence between the Song Dynasty and Xixia.

Naturally, Li Yuanhao quickly noticed Song's actions.

He didn't take the initiative to attack anyway, because he knew that the result of taking the initiative to attack would be to go head-to-head with the Song Dynasty's dense military fortresses, fortresses, and cities and eat their artillery shells.

So he sat firmly on the Diaoyutai and waited for the Song Dynasty to take the initiative, so that he could defend and counterattack and fight a battle similar to Fan Zhongyan's back then.

After Zhang Kang led the army to the expedition, he ordered Jingtai, the commander-in-chief of Qin Feng Road's troops and horses, to be the vanguard and lead 10,000 troops to station in Lanzhou.

Jingtai, as the deputy transport envoy of Qin Feng Road, also served as the top military general of Qin Feng Road. He was a civil servant and a Jinshi. But he is actually very good at fighting. Historically, Li Yuanhao won three out of three matches, and the only big defeat was lost to him.

Leading this expedition, Jingtai led the army to Lanzhou City in early August. At this time, the military commander in the city was Qinzhou Bingma Qian, who was in charge of Jia Kui, as well as An Ziluo, the number one general under Ji Siluo.

In fact, Zusiluo himself is not in Qingtang now. After he was seriously injured, doctors in Lanzhou treated him, but the wound seemed to be infected, and he had a fever and was in a coma, which was not necessarily good.

So Han Qi arranged for him to go to Chang'an. He originally wanted to send him to Bianliang. After all, Bianliang's medical level must be the best in the country. It's just that Zuosiluo really can't withstand the bumps now, so he can only settle for the next best thing.

The situation of the Qingtang regime is very bad now.

Zusiluo was seriously injured and fell into a coma. His son Dong Xiang was separated from his father during the breakout and was captured by Li Yuanhao's people.

For a time, the people in Qingtang were distraught, and many people even surrendered to Li Yuanhao. The total army of Qingtang's various tribes totaled 780,000 or 80,000, but now they were in disarray, leaving only Lanzhou with more than 10,000 troops.

After Jingtai arrived in Lanzhou, he immediately opened a military meeting and summoned more than ten generals in the city, including An Ziluo, Si Duozhi, Ayudan, etc., generals of the Qingtang regime.

The atmosphere in the room was rather solemn at this moment. The generals of the Song Dynasty were fine, mainly the generals of the Qingtang regime, with mixed expressions.

Some had serious faces, some had their eyes rolling around, and some seemed to be thinking about something.

Nowadays, the Qingtang regime is in panic, and many small tribal leaders have left Qingtang with their headquarters and left to the southwest. Under such circumstances, it is difficult to prevent these senior generals under Gu Siluo from having dissent.

It's not that they are about to rebel or surrender to the enemy. The current strength of the Song Dynasty is here. It's just that the collapse of Qingtang is a bit like falling apart. Now it all depends on the support of the Song Dynasty.

If the Song Dynasty did not send troops this time, I am afraid they would have to pack up their bags, take their tribes' property and people, leave this land and go to other places.

"I know that since the Hexi Army Jiedushi was seriously injured, you are all worried. You are afraid that Yuan Hao's army will attack, and Qingtang cannot stop it."

Jingtai watched the meeting in a rather solemn atmosphere. He just said a few words about war analysis and no one answered him, so he said: "But what I can assure you is that as long as the Song Dynasty is here, Yuan Hao will never capture Qingtang! "

After he said this, An Ziluo forced a smile and said, "Of course we know the power of Song Dynasty, alas."

Then he sighed: "But now Zamp's life and death are unknown, and we are leaderless."

"Well"

Jingtai said in a deep voice: "You don't need to worry, Mr. Han has already requested the imperial court to send Tongzhou defense envoys."

The defense envoy of Tongzhou was Xianxiluo's eldest son, Xiangzhan. After he left Qingtang, he joined the Song Dynasty.

Historically, he only led his tribe to live in Yulin County, southeast of Lanzhou, and was awarded the training envoy of Dengzhou Regiment, not far from Lanzhou. It was not until his son Mu Zheng (Zhao Sizhong) that he completely surrendered and was given the surname Zhao.

However, Xinzhen paid tribute to the imperial court at the beginning of this year, expressing his complete attachment to the imperial court. He is willing to lead his tribe into the Song Dynasty and become its people.

Zhao Zhen was very happy at the time and gave him the surname Zhao, named Zhao Youlu, and was granted the title of Defense Envoy of Tongzhou.

This was a routine operation of the Song Dynasty on the leaders of the minority ethnic groups attached to it. For example, Li Yuanhao's great-uncle Li Jipeng was named Zhao Baoji, and was awarded the title of governor of Xiazhou and envoy to resolve difficulties.

Zhao Baoji's descendants also entered the third class of yamen and became noble children.

Therefore, the ethnic minorities who are willing to join the Song Dynasty will generally not be treated badly. In addition to being monitored by the eunuchs and supervisors sent by the Song Dynasty at most, they have no worries about food, clothing, housing and transportation on weekdays, and their lives are still very free and unrestrained.

However, when everyone heard Jingtai's words, their expressions changed slightly.

This time, a big change suddenly occurred in the Xisiluo regime. Xiangzhan surrendered to the Song Dynasty court. He had already lost the inheritance rights of Qingtang, and now he suddenly came back. This.

Could it be that Qingtang is going to change in the future?

Seeing everyone's reaction, Jingtai smiled and did not reveal too much in this regard. Instead, he said, "Okay, let's talk about business first."

"Yuan Hao's southern invasion this time is an act of provoking the Song Dynasty. Our Song Dynasty and Qingtang have long been one, sharing weal and woe. Attacking Qingtang is an attack on the Song Dynasty. Our Song Dynasty's Heavenly Army will not sit idly by."

As he spoke, he continued: "After Yuan Hao seized Qingtang City and Miaochuan City, he built a fort at the mouth of the river and built a fort. To the north of Zhuolu City, there were also large armies moving south. It seemed that there were two groups outflanking Lanzhou. Mr. Zhang ordered me to go first, not to settle in Lanzhou, but to march into the village. What do you think?"

Jia Kui immediately said: "Deputy Commander, I think that being a soldier requires speed."

"Tell me why."

"Their scouts must have informed them of our actions, but they must think that we will wait for the main force to arrive, and then slowly arrive outside their stronghold, and the two armies will fight against each other. If we attack suddenly, we may be able to fight They were caught off guard."

"No."

Another general, Deshun Army Supervisor Zhong Baocai, said: "This is too reckless. If they set up an ambush on the way, or had already responded, wouldn't there be an accident?"

"I don't think so."

Jia Kui said.

"You come and talk."

Jingtai said.

Jia Kui then analyzed: "Deputy Commander, this is what the general thinks. First of all, our weapons are very different from those of the enemy. They have to fight at close range, but we can attack from a distance. It is even more difficult to ambush us."

"Um."

Jingtai nodded slightly, this is indeed the truth.

In recent years, the national army has completed a complete change of equipment, replacing all the original cold weapons with firearms.

Regardless of the fact that the firearms of this era still cannot compare with the firearms of later generations in terms of rate of fire and power.

But anyone who has watched the movie about cold weapon warfare knows that cold weapon warfare is actually about gathering together, forming a formation and then rushing forward in a swarm.

If he can maintain a relatively intact formation during the charge, then this general can basically be regarded as a famous general.

If the formation is stable, the army will not fall. During the charge, the enemy's formation will be broken, so that the side with a tighter formation will have the advantage. Once the enemy's formation is broken, it will be a crushing defeat.

Therefore, when fighting with cold weapons, we basically stick together as a team.

The advantage of firearms is long-range shooting, and with three-stage training, they can provide unlimited fire coverage. Basically, if six thousand people form a formation, it won't be a problem to stop tens of thousands of people.

If it is a mountainous area, there may still be the risk of being ambushed, but the northwest is vast and many areas are vast grassland areas. Even if there are mountains, they are mostly hills with more grass and fewer trees.

In this case, it is still very difficult for Leng Weapon to ambush an army of firearms.

"Secondly, I think this offensive is to make Yuan Hao think we are reckless. Only in this way will he dare to fight us. Otherwise, if he hides in the city, it will be difficult for us to break through easily."

Jia Kui gave another reason.

Jingtai thought it made sense and agreed: "Yes, it makes sense. If we rush to send troops like this, there will only be two results. One is that Yuan Hao has concerns and is afraid of our strategy, so he hides in the city. The other is that he underestimates us and leads his troops to fight us. These two results do not seem to be a defeat for us."

Thinking of this, he decided: "Okay, let's do it this way. Zhang Xiang asked me to be the vanguard, and we should go straight to Huangzhou. The main force is behind us, and we don't need to worry. Where is Jia Kui?"

"I'm here!"

Jia Kui was delighted and stood up.

"I'll let you lead 3,000 as the vanguard, set off today, and head straight to the river mouth!"

"Yes."

"Where is Zhou Yaowu?"

"I'm here."

"I'll let you lead 1,000 people to support Jia Kui."

"Yes."

"Where is Zhong Baocai?"

Jingtai arranged the military tactics in an orderly manner.

Han Qi arranged the strategy.

Dividing the troops into two routes, one for the main attack and the other for the feint attack, was to complete the strategic task given by the court to take Qingtang and Zhuoluo and Nan.

And Jingtai had to arrange the tactics.

Zhang Kang led the main force of 50,000 troops, and he led 10,000 people, plus the 3,000 people in Lanzhou City, which belonged to the vanguard of the main army.

The vanguard also had a vanguard, so the whole army formed a well-organized process of front and back connection.

But the actual operation still depends on the arrangement of the main general, otherwise once the distance between the front and back is too far, there is no time to rush to help, it will be a disconnection between the front and back, which is a taboo in military strategy.

After that, Jingtai arranged the soldiers and horses of the Qingtang regime to take charge of logistics work. Their troops served as the guards for food and grass supplies, and cooperated with the main force in the rear to transport food and grass for the front army in front.

After the tactical arrangement was completed, Jia Kui left Lanzhou City and answered the military camp outside his city. With a command, he officially started his journey and marched westward.

The soldiers were all on horseback. Now the Song Dynasty is no longer short of horses. The price of ordinary war horses has even fallen to 90 to 120 strings of money per horse, which is nearly half cheaper than the Jingyou period.

There is no way.

At the beginning, the Liao Kingdom and the Western Xia both imposed a war horse ban on the Song Dynasty, and the only source of war horses for the Song Dynasty was Qingtang.

Now the Liao Kingdom and the Western Xia were forced to open their doors and let the domestic war horses go out. In addition, the Song Dynasty also set up many horse farms in Shaanxi Road. The supply of war horses exceeded the demand, and naturally the price began to fall sharply.

In the past, there were more than 200,000 troops in Shaanxi Road, and only 20,000 to 30,000 cavalry. Later, Fan Zhongyan went to the northwest for several years to increase the number of elite cavalry to 50,000.

But now, the more than 100,000 troops in Shaanxi Road have almost achieved freedom of war horses, and everyone can gallop on horseback.

Countless Northwest men carry long spears on their backs, with ring-headed swords hanging on their waists. There are bags on both sides of the horses' bellies. One bag contains fixed ammunition. Another bag contains some coarse cakes, water bottles and other utensils.

Three thousand light cavalry left the city and arrived at the river mouth in the distance in less than two hours. This place is the ancient town of Hekou on the west side of Lanzhou in the future, about 35 kilometers away from Lanzhou City.

Jia Kui looked up and saw hundreds of tents densely packed on the south bank of the river mouth in the distance. According to the scouts, Li Yuanhao stationed more than 10,000 troops here, and the rest of the Xixia army was in Miaochuan City in the west and Zhuolao City in the north.

In the wilderness in the distance, dozens of Xixia cavalrymen watched them from a distance on the hills and hills. One of them blew the horn, and the desolate sound of the horn spread throughout the wilderness.

"Kill!"

Jia Kui drew the knife from his waist and pointed it at the Xixia camp on the south bank of the river mouth in the distance.

Thousands of riders rolled across the plain behind him, and dust and smoke rose up in all directions!