Fenghou

Chapter 656 Raiders
At night, a force of [-] cavalry was speeding across the open loess plateau. In addition to the [-] cavalry, [-] camels loaded with supplies followed.

This army was commanded by Liu Qiong and Lieutenant General Tang Qian. They originally consisted of [-] people. They set out from Chang'an to the east. According to the military report of the Xuanfu envoy, the destination of this army was Yanzhou, Yefushi County. For logistics support, they are stationed on the west bank of the Yellow River. Their task is to contain the golden soldiers on Hexi Road to aid Xixia.

But in fact, the [-] army split into two groups two days after going east, and continued to go northward along the Luoshui Road with great fanfare, pretending to be the momentum of the [-] army, while the main force of the [-] army on the other side turned back and returned silently. Enter Jingyuan Road.

The [-] men who entered Jingyuan Road were the [-] cavalry led by Liu Qiong and Tang Qian. They carried out Chen Qing's first-stage layout, entered Xixia from the Hulu River, and captured Yingli County.

They are the strange soldiers under Chen Qing. In order to cover their success, Chen Qing did not hesitate to deploy [-] troops and countless food and supplies in Lanzhou thousands of miles away. The capital believed that he would attack Xixia from Lanzhou.

But in fact, Chen Qing would still send surprise troops northward from the traditional route.

Go north from Jingyuan Road, reach Pingliang Mansion, continue northward, enter Zhenrong Prefecture, then go north along the Hulu River in Zhenrong Prefecture, arrive at Xiaoguan, and enter Xixia territory through Xiaoguan. This road Since ancient times, it has been an important passage for the nomadic cavalry from the northern part of the Great Wall to enter the Guanzhong. In the Qin Dynasty, the famous Qin Zhidao was built in order to attack the Huns in the north.

The [-] cavalry led by Liu Qiong walked along the Qin Zhidao. At dawn, they arrived at Xiaoguan. The troops, Xiaoguan's army was also transferred back to Xingqing Mansion. Before leaving, they completely destroyed Xiaoguan's city wall pass. At present, there is no army stationed, and it is covered with weeds as tall as a person. The Hulu River is on the left side. In the deep ditch, the turmoil flows northward, and the roar can be heard for miles.

The Song army did not stop at Xiaoguan. After passing through Xiaoguan, they continued to go north, and passed through more than a dozen dangerous passes in Xixia. Chen Qing had done enough homework before, and these dangerous passes had been abandoned for more than a dozen times. In [-], especially after Jingkang, Shaanxi Road fell, and Xixia's power expanded southward. These dangerous passes had lost their defensive significance. Except for Xiaoguan, the rest of the passes were abandoned.

Three days later, an army of [-] troops entered the Ningxia Plain. The terrain suddenly became flat, and large forests and grasslands could be seen in the distance. around.

The team settled down in a forest, and Tang Qian sent his scout commander Yang Rui to lead [-] scout cavalry to Yingli County to investigate the situation.

To the south of Yingli County is Jiudu of the Yellow River. The Yellow River here is very wide, up to ten miles wide, and the water flow is very gentle. A person and a horse can be transported across the Yellow River with a medium-sized sheepskin raft.

Yang Rui led his men to walk along the gourd water for a day until they came to the Yellow River. Although there were lush pastures along the way, they couldn't see a herdsman or a sheep. After walking for tens of miles, they were all deserted.

Of course, Yang Rui didn't know that this area was originally the territory of the Qiang people. During the confrontation between Xiao Heda and the court, the Qiang people chose to support Xiao Heda, which made the court furious and sent troops to rob the Qiang people of their cattle and sheep. A large number of Qiang people fled to the west, and the southern pastoral areas formed a large no-man's land. It was normal for the Song army's scouts to not see any herdsmen or sheep.

Yang Rui made a decision to leave [-] soldiers to guard the horses. He led [-] scouts to cross the Yellow River on a leather raft under the cover of night.

The north bank of the Yellow River is another scene. There is no grassland, only Gobi and desert. In the distance is a majestic mountain range, which extends to the north. That is the Helan Mountains. desert.

In the desert, a flat military road goes all the way to the east.

At this time, it was already the third watch, and it was a coincidence that as soon as they arrived at the side of the military road, there was a rush of horseshoes from the west. Yang Rui was overjoyed, and immediately ordered: "Everyone get down, use the horse ropes!"

The scouts were experienced, and they immediately set up a road tripping rope, leaving only about [-] people on both sides of the military road, and the rest lay on their stomachs far away to prevent being discovered by the opponent.

Not long after, two Xixia messenger cavalry appeared in the distance. They rode their horses and galloped fast. In the night, it was difficult to see the tripping rope on the ground. The horse in front was caught off guard and tripped by the tripping rope. He fell to the ground, and the cavalry behind him were taken aback. He was very good at riding, and even jumped three tripping ropes. Suddenly, a black shadow jumped up from the ground, and threw the cavalry off the horse. The surrounding Song soldiers rushed forward and killed the two horsemen. The Xixia soldiers fell to the ground, tied them up with ropes, gagged their mouths, and covered their heads with black bags.

The people led the two horses and quickly left the military road, and quickly disappeared into the night.
At dawn, two Xixia cavalrymen were tortured to death, but Song Jun also got the information they wanted. These two cavalrymen sent letters from Yingli County to Xingqing Mansion to report to the imperial court that Chen Qing had arrived in Lanzhou. In addition to the cavalry sending letters by land, there are also eagle letters sent at the same time, which ensures that the information is foolproof.

Song Jun didn't care about the information they wanted to send. What he needed was information from Yingli County. Yang Rui immediately sent two soldiers back to the army station to report, while he led the rest of the scouts to Yingli County.

At dawn, Liu Qiong got information from Yingli County, and he said to Tang Qian in a deep voice, "There are six thousand Xixia troops in Yingli County, and there are six thousand more in Shatuoguan, thirty miles to the west. It is the main force that spent all its money to defend Lanzhou."

Tang Qian is the commander of the scouts. He is Liu Qiong's old partner, and it is also the first time he has set off as a lieutenant. Chen Qing considered that this surprise attack is actually a large-scale scout operation, so he let Tang Qian, who is more scout-minded, As the deputy general, he followed Liu Qiong to the expedition.

Tang Qian thought for a while and said, "Our biggest advantage is that the enemy doesn't know we exist. I don't think it's a big problem to win Yingli County, but I think it's more important to defend the city and the passage."

"General Tang means that we need to reserve some troops to guard the passes along the Calabash River?"

Tang Qian nodded, "We don't know the situation along the way from Lanzhou. If the road is destroyed, just like we destroyed Wuren, then our main force will still have to go through Xiaoguan, so we must guard the passage of Huluhe Valley. "

Liu Qiong pondered for a while and said: "General Tang's worry is very likely, so let's take Yingli County first, and then we will divide the troops to see how much food and supplies they have."

(End of this chapter)