Fenghou

Chapter 661 Coupling
Shang Dongyan was the deputy general of Cao Baozong, the commander of the Xixia Army. Because of the outbreak of Xiao Heda's rebellion, the [-] troops he led were transferred away by the court, and he withdrew from the war against Xihe Road ahead of schedule.

Shang Dongyan followed Brother Li Cha to make military exploits many times, and won the appreciation of Brother Li Cha. If it wasn't for the new privy envoy Cao Baozong's revenge and suppression, Shang Dongyan should have been promoted to the general and the commander of the West Route Army long ago.

Now Shang Dongyan is still just a general and in charge of the capital, but Brother Li Cha's trust and trust in him is real. At the most critical moment, Brother Li Cha appointed Shang Dongyan as General Zuo and led [-] troops to Ming Dynasty. Stationed in Sha County to contain the main force of the Song Army and buy time for Brother Li Cha to integrate the army.

Shang Dongyan's father is from Tubo and his mother is from Dangxiang. He joined the army at the age of fifteen and has been in the army for thirty years. Down-to-earth, he is very different in the Xixia army where the generals are gradually becoming aristocratic. In addition, he has obvious characteristics of the Tubo people, so he is also discriminated against in the army.

Brother Li Cha is worthy of being a famous Xixia general, and he used this low-key and pragmatic Tubo general at the critical moment.

As soon as Shang Dongyan arrived in Mingsha County, he received a letter of distress from Li Hanzhong, the second son of Li Cha's brother. Li Hanzhong led an army of [-] to return from the northern part of Yingli County, but was ambushed by the Song Army, causing more than [-] casualties. Do not return to Shatuo Pass.

Now Li Hanzhong has run out of food and has to kill horses for food, and urgently needs rescue.

Shang Dongyan was in a bit of a dilemma. Li Hanzhong was young and arrogant, with a strong desire for power. It was inappropriate for King Jin to let him guard Yingli County. If he withdrew to Mingsha County, he would definitely seize his own military power. He was the second son of King Jin to take over Huili County. If he resisted and refused to hand over power, it would not be good to offend him.

After much deliberation, Shang Dongyan decided that the best way was to let him go north and return to Xingqing Mansion directly, without giving him the chance to go to Mingsha County.

Shang Dongyan then left Li Ke to defend the city, and he personally led [-] troops to Yingli County.

Mingsha County is located on the south bank of the Yellow River, and the army marched along the south bank of the Yellow River.

Forty miles away from Yingli County, Shang Dongyan built a pontoon bridge on the Yellow River, led his army across the Yellow River, turned west along the north bank of the Yellow River, and headed for the north of Yingli County.

Shang Dongyan had his own rescue method. He went to the north bank of the Yellow River just to attract the attention of the Song army. The rescue of Li Hanzhong's army still had to start from the south bank of the Yellow River.

Shang Dongyan sent General Ma Hongsan to lead [-] soldiers to continue marching along the south bank of the Yellow River. They went to the west of Yingli County to build a pontoon bridge to meet Li Hanzhong's army and cross the river down the river.

The advantage of doing this is that after Li Hanzhong's army is out of danger, they will use the pontoon bridge to cross the river to the north, and when the troops on the north bank of the monk Dongyan meet up, Shang Dongyan will send him directly to Xingqing Mansion, and Li Hanzhong will naturally not think about it again. Go to Mingsha County.

At this time, Yingli County was home to [-] troops led by Liu Qiong, and Tang Qian led [-] troops and [-] camels to return to the pass stationed along the way. Stone, [-] dans of fodder, and a large amount of other military supplies and copper coins.

Just two days ago, Liu Qiong led [-] cavalry to ambush [-] Xixia troops who were trying to escape from the northern part of the county, and wiped out more than [-] enemies.

At this moment, Liu Qiong got the news from the scouts that a Xixia army was present in the northeast of the county, about [-] people. This army sent about a thousand soldiers, divided into [-] groups, and each group was separated by one mile, lurking in the In the woods in the north of the city, the group closest to the city is only three miles away.

"General Liu, what does the other party mean?" Zhu Pengyun, the commander of the general, asked,

Liu Qiong sneered and said: "This is an artificial beacon. As long as we send troops, they will immediately send an alarm to notify the main force."

"Xiaozhi is willing to lead a thousand brothers to hunt these artificial beacons and defeat their arrogance!"

Liu Qiong nodded, "Yes!"

Zhu Pengyun led a thousand cavalry out of the city and ran towards the enemy's artificial beacon. Not long after, three gunpowder arrows rose into the sky and exploded in the air. Then another gunpowder arrow shot into the sky in the distance, and another gunpowder arrows appeared
Sure enough, it was an artificial beacon, but what's the point of the other party making this alarm?As long as I send out a little army, I will interfere.

Liu Qiong always felt that something was wrong, but couldn't tell for a while.

In the evening, Liu Qiong received news from the scouts that the opponent's army retreated eastward.

For two days in a row, the scouts did not find any movement in the north. Liu Qiong was a little aware that something was wrong, and sent someone to Shatuo Pass to check the situation. There was only a mess left in Shatuo Pass, and there was not a single soldier in sight. More than [-] soldiers Xixia soldiers managed to escape.

All the generals were puzzled, the scouts didn't find out that the other side's army had arrived, so why did the army at Shatuo Pass fly away?
At this moment, Liu Qiong came to his senses. He smiled wryly at the crowd and said, "The only function of those artificial beacons is to attract our attention. If I guessed correctly, more than [-] enemy troops at Shatuoguan have already crossed the Yellow River from the other side of the river." Let's go, they should go directly to Mingsha County."

Commander Sun Xianghu was puzzled and asked: "But Mingsha County is on the south bank of the Yellow River. There is no need to go to the north bank to meet the troops. They can just pick up the troops from Shatuoguan directly from the south bank. Why bother?"

Liu Qiong shook her head, "To be honest, I can't figure out why the other party would do this, but the other party must have a purpose, but we couldn't think of it."

Marching Sima Wang Jian said with a smile: "Perhaps the humble function can guess the reason."

All the generals looked at him together, and Liu Qiong hurriedly said, "Speak, Wang Sima!"

"The current leader of Shatuoguan should be Li Hanzhong. He is the second son of Brother Li Cha, and he is in charge of all officials. If his army retreats to Mingsha County, will it be like Shatuoguan again and become the leader of Mingsha County? Commander?
Perhaps the generals who responded to him didn't want this scene to happen, so they built another pontoon bridge to the east to meet Li Hanzhong and cross the Yellow River to the north and return directly to Xingqing Mansion. "

It sounds a bit unbelievable, but when you think about it, it is reasonable. If Li Hanzhong is an arrogant general, no one will like him.

Liu Qiong immediately ordered Zhu Pengyun to lead [-] people to march westward to encircle and suppress the Xixia soldiers who were alone, and open up the southwest military route to Lanzhou.

Liu Cui led an army of [-] soldiers and marched eastward along the southwest military road. This military road was well built, about two feet wide, with rammed earth for roads, mountains and bridges. It was different from many places in Wuren Road. Wuren Road The most dangerous part is excavated from the loess, and the dangerous part of this southwest military road is dug out of the stone mountain. It cannot use gunpowder to blow up the road like Wuren Dao, and the road on the cliff is basically preserved. complete.

But this does not mean that the Xixia army will not find ways to destroy the roads. All the dangerous passes are blocked by boulders. This is not a big problem. Just use ropes to move the boulders away. It was set on fire by Xixia soldiers, and the engineering soldiers of the Song Army could only rebuild the plank road. It took eight days to repair the burned more than ten miles of plank road in Lingbo Mountain.

The army crossed Lingbo Mountain and walked for another two days before arriving at Roulang Mountain, which is also a dangerous part of the military road. Although there is no plank road in Roulang Mountain, there are bridges, and all eight bridges were burned down by the Xixia army.

Liu Cui stood in front of a cliff, the cliff was more than [-] feet wide, and the mountain stream below was tens of feet deep. In the mountain stream, the white waves rolled, the river roared, and the wreckage of a burned wooden bridge was still hanging on the mountainside. How could they survive the twenty-foot-wide cliff?
A craftsman in charge pointed to a forest on the other side of the Yellow River and said to Liu Cui: "General Liu, please look, there should be an ancient forest over there. I guess there are giant firs in it. I have seen fir trees that are twenty or thirty feet tall. , the Xixia army should have cut logs over there and transported them back to build a bridge."

Liu Cui felt dizzy for a while. They were halfway up the mountain. How to get down the mountain was a big problem. They had to cross the fast-flowing Yellow River, but the opposite bank was still a cliff.Maybe eventually, but it will take a long time.

"Other than that, is there any other way?"

The craftsman leader thought for a while and said, "Another way is to build a chain bridge with wooden planks on it. The key is how do people get across?"

At this time, Zhang Dingbian, the deputy commander of the scout army, stepped forward and clasped his fists and said, "The humble job is from a hunter's background. You can climb down the mountain, and then climb up the mountain from the opposite bank. The commander just throws the rope to the humble job with a trebuchet."

"The water below is so fast, how do you cross the river?"

Zhang Ding smiled and said: "Beizhi observed it just now. The reason for the rapid flow of water is that there are many boulders in the water, which affect the river course. Beizhi can pass over the boulders."

Liu Cui had no choice but to nod, "Then I will leave this task to you."

He turned back and shouted: "Order the whole army to rest in place!"

(End of this chapter)