Chivalrous Song Dynasty

"Don't laugh, you must remember that I am Di Lie after entering the city, otherwise don't blame me for being rude to you."

Bai Sheng could only threaten his brother-in-law, who was kept in the dark, so as not to cause any misunderstanding by his excessive actions, and once the teacher misunderstood himself, there would be bloodshed, and he didn't want bloodshed to happen here.

Although he managed to take Hangu Pass without bloodshed a few days ago, it is impossible to take Yanzhou without bloodshed, so he didn't plan to take Yanzhou at all, but planned to fight with the seed division in a certain confidential environment. road showdown.

Everything was as he expected, he really couldn't win Yanzhou without bloodshed, because Yanzhou's strength was too strong, not only in the army and civilians, but also in the generals.

From the time of Song Renzong's war with Xixia to the present, after more than 70 years of war, Yanzhou has never been lost.Even the time when Yuan Hao, the founding emperor of Xixia, invaded with all his soldiers, in the end, he just defeated the Song army by encircling the spot and fighting for aid, but he was still unable to gnaw at the hard bone of Yanzhou.

And the defenders of Yanzhou that time were Zhong Er and Di Qing.

Since Wang Anshi's reform, it has had the most significant impact on the Western Army of the Song Dynasty.

Because of the need for the Xia War, in the independent system of the Great Song and Western Army, the embarrassing situation of "soldiers don't know the generals, generals don't know the soldiers, and generals have no military power and command power" has been changed, and it has become a system in which generals dominate the frontier defense of a state.

Zhong Shi Tao guards Yanzhou, Zhe Keshi guards Huanzhou, and Zhong Shi Zhong guards Weizhou.

Within the city of a state, the guard has the greatest power, and has the right to recruit, train, raise troops, and temporarily dispose of small-scale battles.This has greatly improved the armed strength of these border towns.

In Yanzhou City, Master Zhong is the first brother who does his part. Although he has some civil servants who are similar to military supervisors, as long as Master Zhong does not rebel, these civil servants are the ears of the deaf - a display.

As a civil servant, of course someone who knew Zhao Kai, saw that one of the two enemy envoys coming down from the city was King Yun, and he suddenly cried out in surprise.

So Zhong Shidao did not choose to use force at the top of the city, but invited Toutuo and King Yun to the court of Jinglue Mansion.

In the court, Bai Sheng handed over to Mr. Zhong a "letter of introduction" that Xiao Rang had just ordered to fill out yesterday.

Zhong Shidao couldn't help being moved after seeing it, and said: "So you are Di Lie? I have heard of you for a long time!"

Today's Zhong Shidao is already a veteran who is over sixty years old, with wrinkles on his face that look like knives and axes.So people who respect him will call him "an old businessman".

And the "Xiaozhong Jinglue Xianggong" who guards Weizhou is his younger brother, not a junior.

Zhong Shidao's grandfather, Zhong Shiheng, and Di Lie's grandfather, Di Qing, can be regarded as "old colleagues". They both belonged to Fan Zhongyan's generals, but at that time, Zhong Shiheng was already a famous veteran, while Di Qing was a fledgling young player.

The second-generation leader of the Zhong family army is Zhong Er, and he has an inseparable relationship with Di Lie's father, Di Yong, and once fought side by side in the Northwest battlefield, so the Zhong and Di families can be regarded as family friends.

Even Zhong Shidao himself is familiar with Di Yong, so he can't help but have mixed feelings when he sees the famous family of "Di Lie".

Since he is a family friend and has the emperor's secret decree, and the entourage is identified as the king of Yun by the civil servants, he can no longer be treated as an enemy army, so Zhong Shidao hurriedly ordered someone to watch.

After Bai Sheng and Zhong Shidao met the ceremony, they sat in the middle of the court with Zhao Kai.

Both sides of the courtroom were full of civil servants and military generals, and only one person in the full seat stared at Bai Sheng non-stop, wondering if this Toutuo was Di Lie?Why do I look a little different?It's just that Toutuo's long hair hangs down to cover half of his face at the temples, and he can't confirm this suspicion just by looking at his mouth, nose, eyebrows and eyes.

Bai Sheng also noticed the existence of this person. He saw that he was an old man about fifty years old, with a righteous face and a beard under his jaw. He was six feet tall, with a straight body and piercing eyes. Strangers you've never met.

Simply don't look at him, and only ask after the showdown.

After the two parties were seated, Zhong Shidao asked the most important thing: "Why did Brother Di and King Yun command Tian Hu's bandit army?"

Bai Sheng stopped Zhao Kai who wanted to answer with his eyes, and replied: "This is a top-secret military plan ordered by the Holy Majesty. There are too many people in the court, General Zhong."

The meaning of these words is very famous, it is to make the teacher retreat from the left and right sides.

The martial arts handed down by Mr. Chong and his Taoist family are extraordinary, and there are many people with high martial arts skills around him. He is not afraid of any unexpected changes. Bai Sheng couldn't stop looking at the fifty-year-old man.

Zhong Shidao introduced: "These are all my trusted officers."

While speaking, he pointed to the fifty-year-old man: "This is Wang Jin, the former 80 Imperial Army instructor."

He pointed to a general in his thirties next to Wang Jin: "This is my closed disciple Han Shizhong."

He pointed to the two introductions opposite Wang Jin and Han Shizhong: "This is Shangguan Jiannan, the commander of my guard, and this is Yang Keshi, the number one fierce general in Yanzhou. Everyone is not an outsider. Brother Di Shi, feel free to say anything. .”

It was only then that Bai Sheng realized that the one staring at him non-stop was Shi Jin's master Wang Jin. He thought that Wang Jin probably met Di Lie in the capital, so he had doubts about me. set aside, and said:

"The [-] infantry outside were actually assembled by me in the Hangu Ancient Road. This time, I came to Yanzhou under the secret order of the official family, in order to surprise Xixia and seize Hengshan!"

As soon as he uttered these words, the faces of the few people present became ugly, not for any other reason, but because Bai Sheng's words were too outrageous.

Even Zhong Shidao said in astonishment:

"Brother Di Shi, are you joking? My Song frontier army and the Xixia enemy army have been in a stalemate for decades. During this period, there were many precedents when an army of [-] attacked Hengshan. How will the pawns capture Hengshan?"

Hengshan is north of Yanzhou.With Guqiao Mountain as the main peak, it is [-] feet above the ground, connected with Caoliang Mountain in Ningtiaoliang, and connected with the mountains of Ningxia, spanning more than a thousand miles.

The situation in Qiaoshan is dangerous, and there are many state troops scattered in the territory. The Hengshan in the population of Song Dynasty does not refer to the entire Qiaoshan area, but only refers to the northern area of ​​Qiaoshan.

The land of Hengshan is extremely important to Xixia, and the Xia people depend on it for their livelihood. Song people called it the right arm of Xixia.It is extremely important because:

First, Hengshan is suitable for farming and animal husbandry. It not only produces good horses, but is also one of the important grain producing areas in Xixia;

second.Production of iron salt.The tea mountains in the eastern part of Hengshan not only produce salt, but also produce iron, which guarantees the lifeline of Xixia's war;

Third, the Hengshan Qiang soldiers are brave and good at fighting, and they are the champions of the Western Xia armies.The famous Bubazi refers to the Qiang soldiers here.Yuan Hao once relied on this powerful army to defeat the Song Army repeatedly;

Fourth, the terrain is dangerous, easy to defend but difficult to attack.The Xixia military used the dangerous terrain in this area to build many forts. As early as the Song Renzong era, there were more than [-] forts, and now it has increased to more than a thousand!

In the past, the Song army attacked Hengshan with a force of [-]. Once they entered the control area of ​​the Xixia Fortress, they could not even see the opponent's figure, and the corpses were all over the ground, making it impossible to fight.

Later, it was Di Qing and Chong Er who carried out the strategy left by Fan Zhongyan and Zhong Shiheng - to build a military village in the south of Hengshan under the protection of tens of thousands of troops, and build villages into Hengshan one by one. Shouyu intends to gradually erode Hengshan.

Of course, the Xixia side is unwilling to allow the Song army to build houses and build cities in the mountains. Whenever the Song army is constructing, they will send the God Arm Bow Corps and Bubazi to attack and obstruct it. Every fortress in the city was built with the blood and flesh of the soldiers of both sides.

It stands to reason that if this step-by-step approach can continue, then sooner or later the Song Dynasty will be able to eat up Hengshan, but the problem is that there are too many areas in the mountains where water sources cannot be found, and cities cannot be built without water sources. It is also a dead city.

So the final outcome is that the Great Song Dynasty occupied three-tenths of Hengshan, while Xixia occupied seven-tenths of Hengshan. The two sides faced off in a stalemate in Hengshan, and the offensive and defensive battles that occurred from time to time were also in several military fortresses at the junction. It's just a seesaw.

Today you occupy a fortress of mine, and tomorrow I will take back a military stronghold. The years have passed in this stalemate for decades. The seventh Hengshan is in his hands.

It is such Hengshan, you "Di Lie" actually claimed to take [-] tent troops with little armor and armor to fight, isn't this a joke?

Everyone, including Zhong Shidao, scoffed at Bai Sheng's statement, even Zhao Kai laughed, thinking that you, Bai Sheng, are no longer talking on paper, but daydreaming.

In front of everyone's ridicule or disdainful attitude, Bai Sheng remained calm as usual, and said, "I'm not joking, just follow my plan, and Hengshan is just around the corner."

Chapter 397

When Bai Sheng said this, the crowd was even more in an uproar. If it weren't for the presence of Mr. Zhong, someone would have to ask questions immediately. What do you mean?Does it mean that people like us in Yanzhou are useless?

Zhong Shidao was already full of displeasure, but seeing that the Zhongdi family's friendship for many years was not easy to break out, he could only try his best to restrain himself and ask: "Jiang Jiangan?"

By asking this question, he is already respecting "Di Lie" to the utmost extent——If you have any clever tricks, you can tell me about it, right?If you can say it well, I'll believe you.

Bai Sheng's answer was confusing: "This is a strategy that I negotiated with the officials, so I'm sorry I can't say it outright."

This answer is too much.There is a kind of arrogance and unreasonableness of "not explaining", which immediately caused public outrage.