Fenghou

"Li Dutong, I just got the news that the [-] troops of the Song Army are going north, and they should attack Dingzhou. The city army is out of the city to assist you, [-] troops against [-] troops, I hope you will not let me down!"

Li Yanwu led the army and immediately went to the barracks to lead the troops. They still had to carry food and grass for five days. Brother Li Cha arranged [-] camels as their logistics support to carry the food and grass.

Two hours later, Li Yanwu set off with [-] cavalry and [-] camels, heading towards Dingzhou in a mighty way...

On a dark night, a cavalry force of 2 troops was heading northward at high speed. They were heading west to the Hetao Plain. Yang Zaixing led [-] cavalry troops to cooperate with Tang Qian's [-] troops. They used the strategy of besieging the city and annihilating Brother Li Cha A rescue army was dispatched.

Of course, Yang Zaixing did not get the news of Xixia sending troops, but he agreed with Du Tong's judgment. He also believed that Xixia would definitely send troops to Baoding Prefecture. Killing this elite army would ease their difficulty in attacking Xingqing Mansion.

It took Yang Zaixing only one day and one night to reach the northernmost part of the Hetao Plain, which is only 100 miles away from Dingzhou. The army found more than [-] small boats hidden here in the reed marshes. These small boats were useless for transportation. But it can be used to build pontoon bridges.

The soldiers worked together. At dawn, a pontoon bridge was built, but Yang Zaixing did not order the soldiers to cross the Yellow River. He needed the exact information from the scouts. If the enemy army lay in ambush by the Yellow River, they would be attacked halfway.

……

After waiting for nearly an hour on the west bank of the Yellow River, a team of scouts came back. They had already contacted Tang Qian's army and brought news of the Xixia Army. The Xixia Army was about [-] miles northeast of them. cavalry composition.

Tang Qian was also thirty miles north of them, and the three armies happened to be in a triangle.

"General Tang is building a pontoon bridge to come to the Hetao Plain. What General Tang means is that we will wipe out the enemy troops on the Hetao Plain."

Yang Zaixing immediately realized that if Tang Qian's army wanted to cross the Yellow River, then the enemy army would also have to cross the Yellow River to intercept them, and the crossing position happened to be on his side.

Then there was no need for them to cross the Yellow River. Yang Zaixing immediately ordered: "Tear down the pontoon bridge!"

The pontoon bridge had no time to be completely dismantled, only half of it was dismantled, and the other half was left to hang by the river. Yang Zaixing led the army to the depths of the Hetao Plain.

About half an hour after they left the Yellow River, Li Yanwu also led [-] cavalry and [-] city defenders to the Yellow River. Of course, he was in control of every move of Tang Qian's [-] troops.

When the other party was about to build a pontoon bridge by the Yellow River, Li Yanwu knew that the other party had found him, and they wanted to evacuate to the west.

How could Li Yanwu let the opponent escape? He immediately ordered the [-] defenders in the city to leave the city to join him, and the army rushed to the Yellow River.

"General, there is half a pontoon bridge over there!" A soldier pointed to the other side of the Yellow River and shouted.

Li Yanwu nodded. This must be the pontoon bridge built by harvesting wheat some time ago. Only half of it was demolished, so there was no need to dismantle the other half.

Li Yanwu quickly ordered: "Immediately build a pontoon bridge with leather rafts and connect it with the pontoon bridge on the other side."

With the half pontoon bridge on the opposite side, the progress of the Xixia army was much faster. Soon a pontoon bridge with half raft and half boat was built, and the army quickly crossed the Yellow River.

At the same time, Tang Qian's [-] troops also crossed the Yellow River [-] miles to the north.

Li Yanwu has always been a well-known warrior in Xixia. He led [-] troops to garrison Shazhou, and beat the yellow-headed Uighur army to the ground several times. If the Song army hadn't invaded Xixia, Brother Li Cha had to call him back. Therefore, the Yellow-headed Uighur will probably withdraw from the Hexi Corridor under Li Yanwu's heavy blow.

Li Yanwu's style is very tough, he didn't hesitate at all, and he didn't need spies to investigate. After crossing the Yellow River, he went straight to the north.

This was beyond Yang Zaixing's expectation. After receiving the information, he immediately led his cavalry to chase after him. After running for more than ten miles, he heard the shouts of killing ahead. The Xixia army had already fought fiercely with the Song army.

The Xixia cavalry was extremely brave and their attack power was very sharp. In just a quarter of an hour, the Song army suffered hundreds of casualties.

Yang Zaixing was furious and shouted, "Brothers, kill them!"

"Ugh-"

The horn of the Song Army blew, and [-] Song Army cavalry rushed to the Xixia Army from behind...

The 2 people led by Yang Zaixing were also elite, and 1 of them were tiger and cardinal cavalry. They were also brave and good at fighting.

Li Yanwu did not expect that the Song army would come from behind, and he was caught off guard. Forced to do so, he could only divide his troops into two groups and ordered [-] Shazhou troops to fight against the [-] Song army cavalry who came from behind. He continued to lead [-] cavalry. The army fought fiercely with [-] Song troops.

The battle lasted from morning to midnight, and both sides suffered heavy casualties. The first to be annihilated was the 8000 Xixia city defenders, most of whom were killed, and more than [-] of the [-] troops were killed.

At this time, Li Yanwu's [-] Shazhou Army had only about [-] soldiers left. Seeing that the entire army was about to be wiped out, Li Yanwu led the last few thousand cavalry to escape from the encirclement and fled to the south. He led more than [-] cavalry to escape across the Yellow River and fled to Xingqing Mansion.

This battle was extremely tragic. More than 5000 people from the Xixia Army were killed in battle, and the 1 Song Army also paid the price of [-] casualties, of which more than [-] were killed.

The Song army immediately crossed the Yellow River and occupied Dingzhou. Tang Qian led [-] soldiers to guard Dingzhou and healed the wounded soldiers. Yang Zaixing led the remaining [-] soldiers back to Lingzhou.

Chapter 700 Decisive Battle ([-])

The battles in the other three cities ended on the first day. The battle was far less tragic than Dingzhou. Even the defenders in Jingzhou surrendered without a fight. After killing more than [-] people, the remaining soldiers all surrendered.

Shunzhou City was captured by the Song army with a siege ladder. The two sides fought fiercely in the city. 5000 Xixia soldiers defending the city were beheaded, the main general was killed, and the remaining 5000 surrendered to the Song army under the leadership of the deputy general.

After solving the four cities, Chen Qing immediately led an army of more than [-] to continue northward. That night, the army arrived at Xingqing Mansion and began to camp overnight.

Brother Li Cha stood at the top of the city anxiously, looking at the overwhelming torches outside the city, forming a magnificent sea of ​​flames.

In the early morning of the next day, the outside of the city seemed to be covered with big mushrooms overnight, and 20 troops surrounded Xingqing Mansion. The heavy army is about three miles away from the city wall.

In the city, after losing Li Yanwu's [-] troops, there were only more than [-] troops left, including [-] Xixia troops, [-] Xixia troops, and [-] Jurchen cavalry. Wannvzhen Cavalry put three thousand coins in Xingqing Mansion.

At dawn, Chen Qing, surrounded by dozens of generals, came to inspect Xingqing City.

As expected of the capital, Xingqing City is completely different from other Xixia cities. It is made of all big blue bricks. The city wall is as high as three feet, which is extremely strong. There is a moat around the city. Easy, even if they invaded the city, the street fighting would be extremely bloody.

In order to conquer Xixia, his army has paid a cumulative price of 5 deaths. This is unprecedented. The final battle of the capital city will also have to pay a painful price, and there is no way to avoid it.

Chen Qing pointed at Xingqing City with a whip, and asked loudly: "General Cao, does Xingqing City have any weaknesses?"

Cao Baozong said lightly: "There was no weakness in the first place, but Li Kan was too stupid to forcibly create a weakness."

Chen Qing was overjoyed and said: "I would like to hear the details!"

"My father was the Prime Minister of Xixia. When I was studying the art of war, I asked my father why the Xingqing Mansion didn't build a moat? I accused the court of not understanding military affairs, and my father said that I was just talking about war on paper!"

The generals next to him all laughed. His father was right. Cao Baozong was just talking about war on paper, and was finally defeated by the Song army, and he himself became a prisoner of war.

Chen Qingxiao asked: "I am very interested, why can't the moat be repaired?"

"My father said that because the land under Xingqing Mansion is sandy and afraid of water, the moat will be built for a long time, and the sand below will be slowly hollowed out, and finally the city wall will collapse."

Chen Qing shook his head, "It will take a year or two to wait for it to be emptied, and we can't afford to wait."

Cao Baozong hurriedly said: "The humble position means that the soil below is soft and the foundation is not solid at all. Now that it has been soaked in water, the foundation is even more unstable, so don't look at it as if it is strong. It is only on the surface, and the inside may have been destroyed. If it is torn apart, since Dutong has brought a heavy trebuchet, it might as well give it a try and attack the city wall."

Cao Baozong's suggestion was very valuable, and it was indeed worth a try. Chen Qing asked again: "Is there a trebuchet in the city?"

Cao Baozong shook his head with a smile, "The people who can build trebuchets are all in the refugee camp behind Ghota Village. Brother Li Cha didn't think carefully and cleared out the foreign races from the city. As a result, hundreds of Han craftsmen were also driven out of the city. It was too late when I realized it, Li Kan cursed Brother Li Cha every day, I guess Brother Li Cha has come to his senses now."

"Aren't there any blueprints in the Military Weapons Supervision?" Chen Qing asked again.

"Li Kan searched for it, but he couldn't find the blueprint. The blueprint should be in Xiazhou, and the imperial court has no spare blueprint."

"Why?"

"We all don't know. Xixia is different from Song Dynasty. Xixia paper is very expensive. It is unrealistic for Xixia to store a large number of documents, so unlike Song Dynasty, there are spare blueprints. Xixia only has one set of all weapon blueprints. Some are in Xingqing Mansion, and some are In Xiazhou, generally large-scale weapons are made in Xiazhou, and the blueprints are also placed in Xiazhou.

Eliminating Xiao Heda, the Xixia army who entered Xiazhou City was overly excited. After looting their property, they burned Xiao Heda’s fake palace in Xiazhou, and a large number of documents were also burned. The drawings of large weapons such as trebuchets all in it. "

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, did such a thing happen?

Cao Baozong smiled wryly and said: "Li Qianshun was fine in his early years. He worked hard to govern and greatly improved the national strength of Xixia. Declining, there is no money to build various large-scale defensive weapons, officials are extremely corrupt, even if money is allocated, they will be corrupted by various means.

So there are no large defensive weapons in the city at all, only bows and arrows, rolling logs and rocks, no gunpowder, no kerosene, the stocks are exhausted, and there is no money to replenish them. I am a privy envoy, and I know very well what is going on in the city. "

Chen Qing nodded and said with a smile: "Now we know what to do, first assemble the heavy trebuchet."

"What about the battering ram?"

"I don't know if it will be unusable in the end, let's assemble them together!"

Chen Qing stopped patrolling and turned his horse's head back to the camp.

On the top of the city, Brother Li Cha looked at Chen Qing and his generals from a distance. He faintly recognized Cao Baozong. His humble appearance really made Brother Li Cha grit his teeth. This bastard actually surrendered to the Song army.

Needless to say, the tall general surrounded by everyone should be Chen Qing, the Xuanfu envoy of Sichuan and Shaanxi, the commander who attacked Xixia, and the biggest enemy since the founding of Xixia.

Of course, when Xixia was strong a few decades ago, it was not up to local small warlords like Chen Qing to dictate to Xixia. It was only because Xixia's national strength had declined sharply in the past two years and its military resources were scarce that Chen Qing was so rampant.

If Brother Li Cha knew that even Xiao Heda's rebellion was provoked by Chen Qing, how would he feel?

At this time, Li Yanwu stepped forward and said in a low voice: "My lord, I have an idea!"

Brother Li Cha attached great importance to Li Yanwu, although this time Li Yanwu fell into the trick and nearly wiped out his entire army, Brother Li Cha did not blame him, but excused him, which really touched Li Yanwu, and he was willing to die for Brother Li Cha.

Brother Li Cha nodded, "Say, what is your suggestion?"

"Beizhi is willing to lead an army to attack the Song army at night and set them on fire. Even if they cannot be defeated, their morale will be severely damaged."

Brother Li Cha narrowed his eyes and said, "What kind of troops do you want to bring to attack the barracks at night?"

Li Yanwu said in a deep voice: "The humble official wants to bring the iron kite to fight, if he brings three thousand Jurchen cavalry, then he will be more confident."

Brother Li Cha pondered for a moment. He used the iron kite and the Jurchen cavalry to break out of the siege. Of course he would not live with Xingqing Mansion. Once Xingqing Mansion fell, he would definitely retreat to Datong Mansion, so the iron kite was heavily armored The cavalry and the three thousand Jurchen cavalry were used by him to break through the encirclement of the Song army.

Unexpectedly, Li Yanwu took their idea, which made Brother Li Cha feel a little unhappy.

Brother Li Cha's heart suddenly moved, it couldn't be that Li Yanwu wanted to break out of the siege himself!Using the night attack on the Song camp as an excuse, Brother Li Cha knew very well that the iron kite is a very popular army wherever he goes. Once he surrenders to the Kingdom of Jin, Li Yanwu will be reused, especially if he brings the Jurchen cavalry to break through. value him.

With doubts in his heart, brother Li Cha would not hand over these two armies to Li Yanwu, he smiled and said: "Don't be in a hurry, let me think about it!"

Li Yanwu heard that Brother Li Cha was not willing, he was anxious, and quickly said: "The iron kite can't exert its power in street fighting in the city, it is more suitable for assaulting the camp, the prince should hand them over to the humble officials! Let the inferior officials ruthlessly raid the big camp camp."

Brother Li Cha thought for a while and said, "I have special uses for iron kites and Jurchen cavalry, how about this! I will give you five thousand guard cavalry, which are equally elite, and you will take them to destroy the morale of the Song army tonight."

Li Yanwu was stunned for a while, really disappointed in his heart, helpless, he could only bow down and say: "The humble job must not disappoint the trust of the prince!"

Chapter 7 Chapter [-]: The Final Battle ([-])

Under the night, the West City Gate quietly opened, the suspension bridge was lowered slowly, and a cavalry force poured out from the city. Li Yanwu ran at the front of the team with a broadsword in his hand, staring at the Song Army camp three miles away with wolf-like eyes.

It was the first watch at this time, and there was silence in the Song Army camp, and five thousand cavalry slid towards the Song Army camp under the cover of night like snakes.

The dark clouds in the sky drift away, and a full moon hangs in the dark blue sky. The cold moonlight reflects on the white snow. The black troops marching on the white snow are particularly eye-catching, not to mention that preventing the enemy from sneaking at night has always been the top priority of the camp's defense. Importantly, the Song army not only had sentry towers for monitoring, but also patrols along the battalion fence, and there were also peripheral scouts, implementing triple monitoring.

Two miles away, they were discovered by the Song army scouts on the periphery, and a gunpowder arrow 'whoosh! The ground shot into the sky, and the bright red flames swept across the night sky, alerting the camp.

On the top of the wall, Brother Li Cha's heart sank. He knew that Li Yanwu had made the problem simple. How could the Song army's camp stretching for [-] miles be easily attacked by people?

'when!when!when! The alarm bell on the sentry tower rang, and the alarm sounded loudly in the camp. The soldiers of the Song army were all sleeping in armor. After waking up, they rushed out of the big tent. Many soldiers quickly dismantled the big tent. The tent fell down.

Ten thousand soldiers on duty rushed to the barracks with bows and crossbows from all directions, and stood ready with bows and arrows. Chen Qing was also awakened by the sound of the alarm bell. Like all the soldiers, he fell asleep wearing armor.

He put on his leather boots, walked out of the big tent quickly with Fang Tian's painting halberd in his hand, and the soldiers immediately put down the tent.

A soldier rushed forward to report: "Qi Dutong is a cavalry force in the city, about 6000 people. They came out of the east city and have not yet reached the camp."

"Order the three armies to assemble, remove the tents, and order Liu Qiong to lead [-] troops to protect the military craftsman's workshop."

"Follow the order!"

Several messenger soldiers rushed away. What Chen Qing was most worried about was the military craftsman's workshop, which was located in the northeast corner, and Liu Qiong's [-] subordinates were stationed nearby.

Chen Qing got on his horse and galloped towards the camp gate to the west...

Li Yanwu's army had already reached the gate of the camp. Thousands of arrows were fired from the barracks. The sharp and powerful crossbow arrows shot at the enemy cavalry like a storm. Although the cavalry were all holding shields, the horses could not cover them. As soon as the fallen soldier stood up, he was shot like a hedgehog.

Li Yanwu didn't expect the enemy's defense to be so fierce, and he secretly regretted it, but he couldn't turn his head back, so he had to bite the bullet and shout, "Rush in! Break into the barracks!"

Thousands of Xixia cavalry held their shields high and charged towards the barracks. The cavalry in front held ropes and were about to use them to pull open the gate of the barracks.

At this time, thousands of spear-throwers from the camp of the Song army rushed to support them. They took turns throwing short steel spears outside the camp. The cavalrymen and their horses were nailed to the ground.

The cavalry in the back was so frightened that they hurriedly reined in their horses and turned their heads in panic, but exposed their backs to the crossbowmen and throwers. Another round of intensive crossbow bolts was fired, and thousands of short spears with cold light fell from the sky. All the cavalry inside fell off their horses and died tragically.

The sharpness of the Song army's defense made Li Yanwu terrified. They had suffered more than 3000 casualties before reaching the camp gate. "Retreat! Retreat!"

Li Yanwu shouted loudly, at this moment, a wolf-toothed arrow shot at lightning speed, so fast that Li Yanwu had no time to react, 'Puff! The head was pierced by an arrow, the arrow tip entered from the temple, and protruded from the back of the ear on the other side. The blood mixed with the brain sprayed together. Li Yanwu let out a muffled cry and fell to the ground.

In the distance, Chen Qing put away his bow and arrows, and said coldly: "Open the gate of the camp and kill!"

The gate of the camp opened, thousands of Song Army cavalry rushed out, and like a tide, they rushed towards nearly two thousand Xixia cavalry hundreds of steps away. The Xixia cavalry saw the death of the main general, and they had no desire to fight. Seeing the Song Army cavalry coming out, they hurriedly turned around run away.

Brother Li Cha could see clearly from the top of the city, and shouted: "Close the city gate!"

The suspension bridge was pulled up, the city gate was quickly closed, two thousand Xixia cavalry were chased all the way, and some people were shot and fell off their horses. The remaining [-] people rushed to the moat, waved and shouted, but no one responded from the top of the city. , The Song Army cavalry chased after them, firing arrows at a distance of a hundred steps, and more than a hundred cavalrymen fell off their horses in response.

The cavalry yelled at the top of the city and had to run in all directions, but the cavalry of the Song Army continued to chase and kill them. No soldiers shot arrows at the top of the city, because even arrows could not reach them.

The soldiers guarding the city stared blankly at the shocking scene below the city. The Xixia soldiers were chased and killed by the Song Army cavalry.

The strong pursuit of the Song army made every Xixia soldier guarding the city feel chills, as if they had seen their own fate soon.

……

The order in the camp was quickly restored, and the large tents were erected again. Although it was still early, many soldiers could not sleep, and they were lying in the large tents to chat about tonight's sneak attack.

Chen Qing came to the Military Artisan Workshop, which was a separate large camp surrounded by troops under strict guard. The camp was brightly lit, and thousands of craftsmen were busy assembling trebuchets. The chief master craftsman, Song Jun recruited him into the army in Jingzhao.

Bao Wenyun introduced to Chen Qing: "According to the arrangement of the capital, we have to assemble [-] heavy trebuchets before dawn, and the battering ram can only be started later."

Chen Qing nodded, "It depends on the situation! If the trebuchet works well, there is no need to install the battering ram."