Fenghou

Chapter 470
The Xixia army was once again facing a shortage of food, but it was a little better than last time. They still had some mutton, and slaughtered hundreds of cattle pulling the carts. In addition, the soldiers still had two days of dry food, which could barely support them. sky.

Xia Lian, the leader of the Xixia Army, had already received the news that Didao County had been seized by the Song Army, which was also within his expectation. Without hesitation, Xia Lian led the army to rush out of Lintao Mansion and into the boundary of Lanzhou for a day and a night.

The army looted hundreds of cattle and thousands of sheep belonging to the herdsmen of Dangxiang, slightly alleviating the plight of food shortage.

The army continued to march for another three days, and Lanzhou was getting closer and closer. On this day, they were still fifty miles away from Lanzhou City, but only thirty miles away from the Yellow River. The army was resting in a pine forest, and five army leaders gathered together to discuss nervously. Encountering a big trouble, it is impossible to cross the Yellow River now, which no one thought of beforehand.

Tuoba Chengqing said anxiously: "You can try it, how will you know if you don't try? Maybe you can cross the Yellow River?"

Xia Lian sighed and said: "The spies have already tried it. Eight leather rafts were launched into the water, three of which were torn apart, and five were knocked over by ice floes. Now the Yellow River has just entered the ice flood season, and it is impossible to cross the Yellow River at all."

Everyone looked at each other, dumbfounded, and Ma Yaowu asked, "What countermeasures does the commanding army have?"

Xia Lian said slowly: "Chen Qing has been leading the army to follow us, and he has not done anything for a long time. I guess he is waiting for our food to run out, either waiting for us to surrender without a fight, or waiting for us to collapse without a fight. I thought repeatedly, We have only two ways now, either go west to the plateau area, where the Yellow River may still be frozen, and we can cross the river there, or we can go to Lanzhou City and wait until the Yellow River is completely thawed before crossing the river."

Tuoba Chengqing asked; "If you go west, how risky is it?"

"The risk is very high. Not only will Chen Qing's army pursue him, but he will also be blocked by Ren Dejing's army. At the same time, he will also face the threat of food shortage and harsh environment. Even if he returns to Xixia, I estimate that there will only be two or three out of ten."

Since Xia Lian said so, everyone understood what he meant and went to Lanzhou City to wait. Everyone agreed to go to Lanzhou City.

Xia Lian said to everyone: "I estimated that we still have two days of food, so we can't stay any longer, we must rush to Lanzhou in one go."

The army set off after lunch. The [-] Xixia army had a glimmer of hope, their morale was boosted, and they all rushed to Lanzhou City
At this time, Chen Qing led an army of [-] and followed behind. They kept a distance of one day from the Xixia Army. Chen Qing had already received the news from Yang Zaixing that the hunting ground had been set up, and they were waiting for the prey to enter.

Twenty thousand Song troops also spent the night in a forest. In a small marching tent, Chen Qing was still concentrating on deducing the sand table, considering various possibilities of the Xixia army.

At this time, Niu Gao's voice came from outside, "Has Dutong not rested yet?"

"The governor is still considering military affairs."

"Please inform me that I have something urgent to report!"

Chen Qing put down his pen and said with a smile, "Come in!"

Niu Gao walked in, cupped his fists and said apologetically, "I'm here so late, I won't bother you!"

"What's the hurry?"

"Just received the bulletin sent by Li Muqing. Ren Dejing sent troops to occupy Hezhou, and Ren Zhongqun led another thousand troops back to the silver mine in Dangchuan County, and disbanded the miners' self-government association and self-government militia."

"Is the messenger still there?"

"It's still there, they won't leave until dawn, do you all want to see them?"

Chen Qing shook his head, he wrote a warrant and handed it to Niu Gao, "Request Li Muqing to stick to Didao County, and ignore everything else for now!"

"Humble job understands!"

As soon as Niu Gao was about to leave, Chen Qing smiled again: "General Niu came just in time, help me to go over it, I have a difficulty here."

Niu Gao asked with a smile: "Is Dutong embarrassing the people of Agan County?"

"How do you know?" Chen Qing was a little stunned, Niu Gao was obviously right.

Niu Gao smiled wryly and said: "Beizhi is also worried about this issue, but after knowing the situation in Agan County in detail, I feel that the worst scenario will not happen."

"why?"

"Agan County is too small to accommodate [-] people. Unless the Xixia Army loves the people like children and voluntarily sleeps on the street and the city, otherwise the people in the city will be driven away. Besides, Xia Lian is a relatively shady person. Song army scouts, the best way is to clear the city."

Chen Qing nodded, Niu Gao thought exactly the same as him, but this was only the best ending, but he had to plan for the worst.

At dawn, the [-] Xixia army came to the city of Lanzhou with great hardships, but what greeted the Xixia army was a flurry of arrows, and dozens of people who were sent to call the door were shot and killed on the spot. The remaining few soldiers fled back in a panic with arrow wounds.

This result made it difficult for Xia Lian and all the generals to accept. They were faintly worried before, would Lanzhou City have been occupied by the Song army?
But this was their only hope. No one wanted their last hope to be snuffed out, but the reality was cruel. The Song army still ruined their last hope, leaving the whole army in a kind of despair.

The main general Xia Lian seems to have fallen into an ice cave. There is only one day left of food, and the surroundings are barren mountains and wild mountains. What should he do?
The consequences are so serious, but he has nothing to do, is he going to order to kill horses for food again?
This was the last thing Xia Lian wanted to do. Killing a horse was a dirty thing that Cao Baozong could do. The generals despised him for a long time and made him as incompetent as Cao Baozong. How could he accept it?

"Otherwise, let's fight Chen Qing!"

Commander Li Huang gritted his teeth and said, "We have [-] people, and he only has [-]. If we fight with our backs, we may not be defeated!"

Several generals cast strange glances at Li Huang, Cao Baozong thought so too at the beginning.

Xia Lian sighed and said: "Chen Qing wants to fight us. He has already started the war. He didn't plan to fight us at all. He was just waiting for us to collapse. Now I understand that Chen Qing is a wolf. Follow us all the way, just waiting to eat our corpses!"

"Wouldn't it be just what he wants when we run out of food?"

Everyone was silent, and Tuoba Chengqing said coldly: "Can a living person be suffocated to death by urine? There are still several counties in Lanzhou! As far as I know, there are Dingyuan County, Kangu County, and Egan County. There are still so many villages, if you can't do it, just rob and kill, I don't believe you can't grab ten days' worth of food?"

Everyone agreed, "General Tuoba is right, now either you die or I live, I can't control that much."

Xia Lian also nodded. This is the last resort. Unfortunately, they don't have a map of Lanzhou in their hands. He immediately ordered: "Go and ask, and see who is familiar with the situation in Lanzhou's counties."

As soon as Xia Lian finished speaking, a general stumbled over, "General Xia, all generals, we are saved, we are saved!"

Everyone stood up, Xia Lian asked in a deep voice: "Speak clearly, what can help?"

The general turned around and waved: "You come up and say it!"

A general of the Xixia Army stepped forward and knelt down on one knee and said, "I would like to report to the Xia Tongjun. The humble officer is Tuobawang, the garrison of Egan County, who led [-] brothers to station in Agan County. The humble officer knows that Lanzhou has been captured by the Song army. I am here to invite you." The army stopped at Egan County for the time being."

"Agan County?"

All the generals were generals drawn from various military divisions, and they were not familiar with Lanzhou. Although Tuoba Chengqing knew that there was Agan County in Lanzhou, he didn't know where Agan County was?
Xia Lian hurriedly asked, "Is there any food in Agan County?"

"Yes! There are three thousand stones in storage!"

This news made everyone cheer, they were overjoyed. Just when they were most desperate, God gave them another way of life.

Xia Lian couldn't hold back the excitement in his heart and asked, "Where is Egan County?"

"The county seat is relatively remote, fifty miles to the southwest."

"Didn't Song Jun find you?" Xia Lian asked again with some doubts.

"The Song Army only occupied Lanzhou three days ago, and they haven't found us yet, but I heard that several other counties have been patronized by the Song Army. I am very worried, so I hope that the army will station in Egan County."

Although Xia Lian still doesn't believe it, he can't take care of it too much now, and he rushes to the doctor in a hurry. They will run out of food tomorrow morning, and he must get food now.

"Order the army to pull out and go to Agan County immediately!"

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【New Year is coming, Lao Gao is going to the temple today to burn paper for the ancestors, there is no guarantee that it will be updated at noon, and it will be updated normally in the afternoon, please forgive me! 】

(End of this chapter)