Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 946 0941 [Ming Dynasty spies are everywhere]

When the Jin Kingdom invited the Western Xia to join forces to attack the Song Dynasty, it promised to cede three cities and eight pavilions to the Western Xia as a reward for its troops.

The three cities are in the west of the river, and the eight pavilions are in the east of the river.

The three cities that Yue Fei is attacking today, as well as the surrounding large hills and grasslands, are the three cities of Hexi.

To express it using the geographical concepts of later generations, Ordos City includes: the entire Junggar Banner, half of Dalat Banner, a small half of Ejin Horo Banner, and the entire Dongsheng District.

It was the main battle zone between Western Xia and Liao, and the two sides fought over it repeatedly for more than a hundred years.

It belonged to the Liao Kingdom for most of the time, and to Western Xia for a small part of the time. Now it has finally become the territory of the Ming Dynasty!
There is a desert belt to its north and the Mu Us Desert to its southwest.

The rapid expansion of the Maowusu Desert was related to the long-term war between the Song Dynasty, Liao Dynasty and Xia Dynasty. The Western Xia Dynasty had to guard against the Liao Dynasty and deal with the Northern Song Dynasty, and over-cultivated and overgrazed the area.

Of course, the current desert area is relatively small.

The area between Shenmu, Yulin and Wushi Banner had not yet become desertified, and was mostly lush forest-steppe. It was not until the middle of the Qing Dynasty that it began to rapidly become desertified.

Of the three cities in Hexi, two were captured by Yue Fei, and the other was captured by Yao Pingzhong's artillery.

Yao Pingzhong was originally stationed in Fugu, and he got military merits without knowing why. He organized the civilians to deliver food to Yue Fei, intending to express his gratitude, but Yue Fei had already abandoned the city and asked Yao Pingzhong to quickly send troops to garrison the city.

Yes, Yue Fei finally captured two cities and after resting for three days he just left.

When leaving, Yue Fei also ordered the local tribal chiefs to bring the young and strong men in their tribes to the north and kill all the non-local Xixia captives!

He was in a hurry and didn't want to waste time here.

Yue Fei led his troops northward along the Hantai River, passing through the forest grasslands on both sides of the river, crossing the desert belt on the south bank of the Yellow River, and crossing the Yellow River to Baotou, which was Han Shizhong's grain transport transit station, where they could replenish supplies and rest for a few days.

But they only rested for one day before rushing to Tiande Military City to join Han Shizhong who was besieging the city.

"So fast?" Han Shizhong was extremely surprised. "Have you taken all three cities in Hexi?"

Yue Fei said: "The enemy troops in Ningbianzhou City are the largest, so I bypassed them and handed them over to Yao Pingzhong in Fugu. Yao Pingzhong has infantry and artillery, so he should be able to take them easily. There are very few enemy troops in the remaining two cities. The whole army attacked without sleep and captured them without much effort."

Han Shizhong didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Here, the shelling just started yesterday."

"No field battle?" Yue Fei couldn't believe it.

Yue Fei's quick attack on the three cities in Hexi was to ensure that Han Shizhong would have no worries.

That is, the Xixia generals in the three cities were not allowed to recruit soldiers from the farmers and herdsmen. Otherwise, they could have recruited thousands of soldiers. Although most of them were unarmored herdsmen cavalry, they could cut off Han Shizhong's food supply once they marched north.

The results of the battle were perfect. The herdsmen in the three cities were still grazing on their respective pastures when Yue Fei had already captured the three cities.

Han Shizhong explained: "The enemies around Tiande Military City retreated into the city and dared not come out. Weifu Army sent tens of thousands of reinforcements. When I led my troops to attack them, they abandoned their livestock and food and fled. Maybe they wanted to feign defeat and set an ambush, or maybe they were scared. I did not continue to chase them, but came back to capture Tiande Military City first."

"It should be so. There is no need to take risks." Yue Fei affirmed.

Han Shizhong pointed to the city in the north and said, "I didn't bring any laborers with me, so I could only ask the cavalry from various grassland tribes to fill the river. So far, only one part of the moat has been filled, and a passage about 30 to 40 feet wide has been filled. At the beginning, I didn't bring any craftsmen with me, so I sent some grassland cavalry to cut trees. Yesterday, we finally brought the craftsmen and artillery here by boat, and the follow-up infantry is besieging the two obstacle cities along the way."

"When I came here, I saw the city being attacked. One of the obstacle walls has been captured," Yue Fei asked. "How many enemy troops are there in this city?"

Han Shizhong shook his head: "I'm not sure. If we bring in the elderly, the weak, women and children to defend the city, there will probably be tens of thousands of people. It depends on whether the people here are united."

Yue Fei laughed and said, "I'm afraid they won't be united."

Tiande Military City was very important to the Liao Kingdom. It was the frontier node of the Liao Kingdom’s grassland Silk Road and also the bridgehead for the confrontation between the Liao Kingdom and the Western Xia.

Therefore, the proportion of Khitan herdsmen here is very high, and there are even many Han people who have been sinicized and make a living by growing rice.

Western Xia occupied this area for several years and did not reduce taxes and levies. Could it have won the hearts of the Khitans and the Han people who were sinicized by the Hu people?

Yue Fei asked: "Have you tried to persuade them to surrender? Persuade them to surrender and divide the non-Dangxiang people in the city."

"We have been trying to persuade them to surrender, and it should have worked." Han Shizhong grinned.

"Boom boom boom!"

After two more rounds of artillery fire, more than a dozen cavalrymen from various ethnic groups under Han Shizhong's command, all wearing armor, rushed across the moat.

They dodged the rain of arrows fired from the city walls and shouted:
"The land of Liao has been incorporated into the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Emperor is very kind and treats Han and Khitan people equally. I am a Khitan from Fengzhou. I live a good life. You should surrender quickly. Those who make contributions will be rewarded handsomely!"

"Khitan, Tangut, and Tibetan tribes, stop working for Xixia! Kill the Dangxiang and surrender to the Ming!"

"..."

The Tanggu tribe has already said that it was formed by the long-term coexistence of slaves of various ethnic groups in the Liao Dynasty.

The Tubo tribe were mostly Han Chinese who had been sinicized, and no one knew when they migrated here, but they had been growing rice here for one or two hundred years.

At this moment, the soldiers and civilians of all ethnic groups other than the Dangxiang had already come up with various ideas.

When the Jin Dynasty ruled here, it was too brutal and the exploitation became more and more severe. Therefore, the Western Xia army came to attack, and they helped the Western Xia drive away the Jin soldiers. The rule of the Western Xia was slightly better than that of the Jin Dynasty.

Just a little bit better has made all ethnic groups choose to surrender - who would want to rebel if they can survive?
But it is just not a rebellion.

Do you want them to help Xixia defend the city with all their might?
Stop talking nonsense.

There has been no internal strife or defection among the tribes in the city so far, simply because they are afraid of being unable to defeat the Western Xia defenders.

Ye Lidegui sent people to ride horses in the city, shouting along the way: "Don't believe the lies of the Han people. The Ming army is more vicious than the Jin army. If the city is captured, they will massacre everyone in the city. Your wives, children and the elderly will all be killed. Just follow me to defend the city and wait for reinforcements, and we will win!"

Inside and outside the city, everyone was shouting their opinions, launching a propaganda war.

"Boom boom boom!"

There was another sound of cannon fire outside the city.

Another day of shelling ended, and the city walls actually held up.

The city here was built by the Jiedushi of the Tang Dynasty, and then expanded and reinforced by the Liao Dynasty. After the Western Xia drove away the Jin soldiers, it was reinforced again, and artillery could not destroy it in a short time.

……

Xiao Lufen led his tribesmen back to the rest area and ate rice porridge and mutton in silence.

There were too many livestock and not enough fodder, so sheep were slaughtered in the city. Not only could the chiefs of each tribe eat mutton, but even ordinary herdsmen could get the internal organs and drink a bowl of mutton fat soup.

Xiao Lufen was not a descendant of the Khitan people, but just an ordinary tribal chief.

In the middle and late period of the Liao Dynasty, since most Khitans had no surnames, Khitan civilians also took the surnames Yelu and Xiao.

As for donkey dung, it is purely a transliteration.

The Han people in the north got used to calling it "donkey dung", and it is commonly called "donkey dung" among the people.

Some Khitan nobles thought it was indecent and translated it as "lufen" when writing.

Xiao Lufen was still eating mutton when a herdsman came over with a bow and arrow.

The herdsman whispered, "Has the donkey dung leader not made up his mind yet? Your neighbor has agreed to switch sides."

Xiao Lvfen used his fingernails to pick at the meat scraps between his teeth: "When are we going to start?"

The herdsman said, "Wait until one part of the wall collapses, and then we'll start that night."

"No," Xiao Lufen shook his head and said, "Let's do it the next morning. I brought many of my tribesmen here, including the elderly, the weak, women and children. It would be too chaotic to kill them at night."

"That's fine. I'll go and notify other tribes." The herdsman said with a smile.

The herdsman's name was Guo Sichang, and his Khitan name was Xiao Gougou.

He himself didn't know which ethnic group he belonged to, but since his great-grandfather, he had been engaged in half farming and half herding in Dezhou (Liangcheng County) of the Liao Dynasty.

His father died in the Liao-Jin War.

In the Ming-Jin War, his brother died and he himself was captured by the Ming army.

Because he could speak Chinese, Guo Sichang was selected from the Shanxi prisoner camp and released back to the grassland to provide various intelligence to the Ming Dynasty.

After defeating the Jin, Guo Sichang settled in Yunnei Prefecture and followed merchants to Dongsheng Prefecture for trade. After getting acquainted with the leader of Dongsheng Prefecture, he frequently went to Tiande Military City to hang out.

When Yue Fei and Han Shizhong arrived in Dongsheng Prefecture, why did the chieftains there choose to surrender to the Ming Dynasty instead of fleeing westward? In addition to fearing the might of the Ming Dynasty, the chieftains there also wanted to continue doing business with Ming Dynasty merchants to make money!

Iron pots, tea leaves and salt, these three commodities completely won over the chiefs of Dongsheng Prefecture!
It was a transit point for trade in the northern part of the Hetao region. The chiefs of various tribes made huge profits and even got used to using Ming copper coins.

It was getting dark, and Guo Sichang walked towards the defense zone of another tribe.

"Chief Erlitu, Xiao Lufen has also agreed, what are you still hesitating about?" Guo Sichang said.

Yelu Erlitu handed Guo Sichang a bowl of mare's milk and whispered, "The Xixia garrison is well-armored, and only two or three of my people are wearing armor. We dare not use iron arrows too often, and usually use bone arrows and stone arrows for archery. If we act rashly, I'm afraid my people will be killed before the Ming army enters the city."

Guo Sichang smiled and said, "The Xixia garrison in Tiande City only has more than a thousand people. The rest are Tangut herdsmen, with less than 10,000 soldiers. We, the Khitan, Tubo, and Tanggu tribes, have more than 10,000 young and strong men. We have more people than the Tanguts, and there are Ming soldiers outside the city. What is there to be afraid of?"

Yelu Erlitu shook his head: "The Tangut soldiers in the city can be commanded in a unified way. But there is no one to command the warriors of each tribe. If chaos breaks out, they may even kill each other."

"Then wait for the Ming army to rush into the city and kill you all?" Guo Sichang asked threateningly.

Yelu Erlitu was hesitant. In fact, he didn't want to help anyone. He was afraid of both the Ming army outside the city and the Western Xia Wei Fu Army.

This tribe was quite strong, so Guo Sichang began to tempt them: "If you defect, I will give you 50 iron pots, 200 kilograms of tea, and 200 kilograms of salt. If you make meritorious service, there will be another reward: if you capture a city gate, you will be rewarded with 30 iron pots, 300 kilograms of tea, and 300 kilograms of salt. If you can kill a Xixia general, you will be rewarded according to your military rank. If you can capture the Xixia vice governor, you will be rewarded with 2000 kilograms of tea, 3000 kilograms of salt, and pieces of silk and pieces of brocade."

"So much?" Yelu Erlitu's eyes lit up when he heard it, and he immediately patted his chest and said, "I did it!"

(End of this chapter)