Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 947 0942 [Dangxiang people also want to surrender to the Ming Dynasty]

The headquarters of the Wei Fu Army was in Wulahai City, which was more than 600 miles away from Xingqing Prefecture, the capital of the Western Xia Kingdom.

If you come across important military intelligence, you will receive it within two days at most, even if you ride your horse as fast as you can.

When the news spread in Xingqing Prefecture, the civil and military officials of Western Xia were in a panic.

This is the most vulnerable period of Western Xia!
The century-long Song-Xia war caused the economic collapse of Western Xia. Domestic corruption was rampant, natural disasters and man-made disasters continued. Even without foreign invasions, many tribes wanted to rebel. The famous general Richard was already old, and there was no general who could turn the tide.

Moreover, the new monarch has not yet consolidated his power.

The one who truly brought Western Xia into its heyday was the new emperor, Li Renxiao, who was only fifteen years old.

Historically, he outlasted Richard Ge and executed Ren Dejing, and despite the interference of two powerful ministers, he established new laws, held imperial examinations, promoted culture and education, concentrated power, changed the tax system, minted coins, encouraged agriculture and sericulture, and built water conservancy projects... and created a peaceful era for Western Xia.

But these are all stories for the future. Li Renxiao is now taking over a mess!

Li Renxiao seemed very flustered and asked, "My uncle just came back from Luoyang. What does Emperor Zhu think? Does he want to seize some territory, or does he intend to destroy Daxia?"

Cao Tuan speaks the truth:

"I really don't understand what the Ming emperor and his ministers are thinking. But the public opinion in Luoyang, especially among the scholars, is divided into two factions. One faction thinks that it is enough to subdue the four barbarians and have all nations come to pay tribute, while the other faction clamors to restore the territory of the prosperous Tang Dynasty."

"The latter are the mainstream of public opinion, and their numbers are particularly large. They even like poetry and hate lyrics, and they must learn from the Tang Dynasty when writing poetry. Some radical scholars, who have great hopes of becoming Jinshi, go to study in the military academy."

"The scholars among the people are clamoring to destroy our Great Xia!"

Prime Minister Li Renzhong said: "We should send another envoy to Luoyang to ask Emperor Zhu why he went back on his word and attacked a vassal state!"

Brother Richard sneered: "Even if the envoy scolds Emperor Zhu, can he scold the enemy troops in the north away? Now we should think about how to repel the enemy."

Li Renxiao said: "Prince Jin is a famous general of our Great Xia. Please lead the army to fight the enemy."

Brother Richard stopped talking.

He was indeed old, and he had not ridden much in the past two years, and fat had grown on his waist, abdomen and thighs. However, he had built more and more houses, and had dozens of concubines at home. As long as he was given enough money, he could help him arrange promotion.

Li Renxiao asked Ren Dejing again: "Ren, the commander of the firearms battalion, do you have any method to repel the enemy?"

Ren Dejing served in the border states of the Northern Song Dynasty for several years, and he was indeed knowledgeable about military affairs. But it was fine for him to quell a rebellion, but it was sheer nonsense to lead troops to resist the Ming army.

Ren Dejing politely declined, "The battle of the Weifu Army is mainly fought with cavalry, so the firearms battalion in my hands is of little use."

The scene cooled down.

Li Renzhong was so angry that he asked, "What will it take for the King of Jin to lead his troops to fight?"

Richard said, "I will take the Iron Harrier with me. I will allow you to draw troops from the Qiangzhen Army Division and the Chaoshun Army Division. The Zhenyan Army Division will immediately send troops to rescue Wulahai City."

Li Renxiao said quickly: "Yes, yes, as long as we can repel the enemy, everything will be up to King Jin."

Brother Richard added: "The other military commanders must not move rashly. They must prepare early and gather towards the border. Emperor Zhu will definitely invade in a big way next year!"

Li Renzhong asked, "King Jin asked the Yanzhen Army to rescue Wulahai City?"

"That's right. We can only save Wulahai City now," said Richard. "Tiande Military City is definitely beyond our reach. By the time I gather my troops and attack, Tiande Military City will be long gone."

……

Li Renxiao, the ruler of Western Xia, ordered the Qiangzhen Military Division and Chaoshun Military Division to gather their troops immediately.

The Baimaqiangzhen Military Command was stationed in the northern part of Alxa Left Banner, where there were many salt ponds for mining salt.

The headquarters of the Right Wing Chaoshun Army was at Keyimen, northwest of Yinchuan City.

Brother Richard led three thousand Iron Harriers and set out to Xingzhou to urge the two major military commanders to quickly recruit soldiers.

Conscripting men and gathering soldiers is the secondary issue, but where will the food and fodder for the army come from?

Xixia implemented a system of universal military service, and military warehouses were set up in each state. Under normal circumstances, food could be obtained from the military warehouses, but the problem was that Xixia was not normal now.

Due to the famine in the past two years, we had to transfer grain from military warehouses for relief.

As a result, due to bureaucratic corruption, the victims received little relief food, and most of the money went into the pockets of corrupt officials.

Now that we are about to go to war, the military is in great shortage of food rations and can only collect food from Xingqing Prefecture and its surrounding areas.

After finally gathering enough food, Richard led tens of thousands of troops northward. Before he reached Wulahai City, a fire broke out in the backyard of Western Xia.

The first to rebel was not Xiao Heda or the Mu brothers.

But...the two Dangxiang tribes northwest of the Xixia capital!

Dingzhou was called Tianzhou in the Tang Dynasty. As the name suggests, the land there is fertile and very suitable for farming. There are also mountain grasslands and forests, which can be used for firewood collection and grazing.

The farmlands and pastures there were mostly occupied by the Dangxiang tribe.

Some Dangxiang tribes rarely graze and mainly rely on growing grain for their livelihood. It happens that they are very close to the capital and belong to the grain-producing area, so they have a share of the tax increase every time. They are also very close to the Chaoshun Military Headquarters, and this time they also levied a large amount of grain taxes so that they can transport it to Brother Richard's army nearby.

In addition, Richard and his cronies have been frantically occupying land in recent years, and the land annexation in Dingzhou and Jingzhou is particularly serious.

In order to resist the Ming Dynasty's Shaanxi army next year, Li Renxiao also ordered each state to conscript men and send them to the front line after the spring.

Due to the combination of multiple factors, the powder keg finally exploded.

There are four major Dangxiang tribes in Dingzhou, which existed before the establishment of Western Xia. They are the Mian'an tribe, the Yanlang tribe, the Fu'er tribe, and the Xiao'afuru tribe.

Now, two of the four tribes in Dingzhou have rebelled.

The Xianlang tribe and the Fuer tribe rose up directly in Dingzhou!
The Mian'an tribe was the strongest, and many officials in Dingzhou came from this tribe. They were vested interests, so they would not join the rebellion, but would take the initiative to send troops to help the court suppress the rebellion.

But the two rebellious tribes could not survive and burst out with amazing fighting power, defeating the Mian'an tribe and forcing them to hide in the state capital and dare not come out.

The two tribes looted the countryside of Dingzhou and then turned south, heading towards Xingqing Prefecture, the capital of the Western Xia Kingdom.

The fifteen-year-old Li Renxiao was completely panicked and asked anxiously: "Prince Jin is away, who in the court can quell the rebellion?"

Ren Dejing was in charge of the Firearms Battalion. He did not dare to fight the Ming army, but he was confident that he could quell the rebellion at home. He immediately stood up and said, "I am willing to share your worries!"

Li Renxiao was like a drowning man grasping at a life-saving straw: "Okay, Ren Qing will lead the troops to the battle!"

Ren Dejing felt that the firearms unit had too few soldiers, so he conscripted men from Xingqing Prefecture, Jingzhou and Huaizhou as soldiers, and barely gathered an army of 10,000 before heading north to quell the rebellion.

Firearms are firearms after all, and Ren Dejing won the battle.

The tribes of Xianlang and Fuer were defeated and fled, and they took their tribesmen to hide in the mountains and defend themselves.

Just when Ren Dejing was planning to continue his advance and wipe out all the remnants of the two tribes, another tribe in Jingzhou rebelled!
The reasons for the rebellion were similar, but the direct cause was related to Ren Dejing. Ren Dejing's previous positions were the Defense Commissioner of Jingzhou and the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Jingzhou. The Defense Commissioner was only responsible for military affairs, while the Commander-in-Chief was also responsible for some civil affairs. Ren Dejing was squeezing Jingzhou dry. This time, when he led the troops to suppress the rebellion, Ren Dejing also collected manpower and grain in Jingzhou, and the people of Jingzhou finally couldn't bear it anymore.

This uprising became even bigger and even spread to the farther Weizhou, where the Dangxiang tribes such as Dabin and Maiqing rebelled one after another.

Unfortunately, the various rebel forces were scattered and each fought on its own and could not form a joint force.

Ren Dejing gave up on annihilating the remnants of the armies of Xianlang and Fuer, and hurried back south to quell the rebellion. If he hadn't returned, the rebels would have reached the capital.

Within a few months, Ren Dejing defeated three rebel forces, and Li Renxiao promoted him lavishly.

However, after Ren Dejing led his troops to withdraw, the remaining forces of the Xianlang and Fuer tribes in Dingzhou immediately revived.

And during the battle, a rebel leader emerged.

This man was called Duo'e, and was a chieftain of a small tribe of the Dangxiang people. He was young and strong, brave, and extremely intelligent, and he could win the hearts of the people.

Duo E said to the two nobles hiding in the mountains: "Winter is coming soon. If we stay in the mountains, we will only freeze to death or starve to death. If we go down the mountain and go home, we will be killed by the soldiers. Either way, we will die!"

A noble asked: "How can we survive?"

Duo E said, "I went to Xiazhou and Shizhou two years ago. The disaster victims there who fled to the Ming Dynasty were all given land and food. I also heard that Emperor Zhu was the reincarnation of a bodhisattva, who came down to earth to save people from suffering. The Tanguts and the Han people are different races. If Emperor Zhu was not the reincarnation of a bodhisattva, why would he help the Tangut disaster victims?"

"I also heard that Emperor Zhu couldn't bear to see the poor suffer, and officials who dared to embezzle a stone of rice would be beheaded. Over the years, Emperor Zhu executed hundreds of corrupt officials and exiled thousands of them. Now all the officials left in the Ming Dynasty are good officials."

"Do you want to stay here and be killed by corrupt officials, or follow me and surrender to Emperor Zhu?"

Everyone was a little unconvinced.

They are exploited by corrupt Xixia officials every year and no longer believe that there are any good officials in the world.

Moreover, the Western Xia emperor was from the Dangxiang tribe, and they were also from the Dangxiang tribe. Their fellow tribesmen were so oppressed, so how could they expect anything good if they replaced them with an emperor from another tribe?
Seeing that everyone did not believe him, Duo E said, "If you go to Emperor Zhu, you can still survive. If you stay here, you will die. If you hide in the mountains, you will die. If you go down the mountains, you will die too. Make your choice!"

Everyone started arguing and arguing, and finally realized that they had no choice but to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

But the Shaanxi border of the Ming Dynasty was too far away from Dingzhou of Western Xia, and there were large areas of desert and mountainous areas in between.

Duo E said: "Kill them all the way! Among the four tribes in Dingzhou, Xiao Afu'er's tribe is the weakest, and they dare not rebel with us. This time they also suffered, being robbed by Ren Dejing's troops. After we get down the mountain, we will immediately go to Xiao Afu'er's tribe, and force or persuade them to go together to strengthen their strength. Then we will bypass Shengwei City. If the city sends troops, we will fight. If the city does not send troops, we will leave. We will rob and rob along the way and pass through the desert!"

One of the nobles said, "The desert is not easy to travel in."

"You can go. I know two ways that can cross the desert!" Duo'e said.

In desperation, everyone was persuaded by Duo E.

They brought the elderly, the weak, women and children down the mountain and headed straight for the territory of Xiao Afu'er's tribe.

The chief of the Xiao Afuer tribe was unwilling to join the rebellion, but he shared the same hatred with the two tribes, so he took out the little remaining food to entertain them.

While they were eating, Duo'e suddenly attacked with a knife, controlled the chief of the Xiao'afu'er tribe, and forced his entire clan to rebel and join the Ming Dynasty.

Since Ren Dejing's army was in the south, they marched around Shengwei City in a swagger, looting the people of the Mian'an tribe in the villages outside the city and releasing all the slaves of the Mian'an tribe.

Some slaves were captured Han people, and some were simply looted from Western Xia.

Duo'e had already freed the slaves of his tribe. He said to the newly rescued slaves, "You can escape on your own, or you can follow me to surrender to the Ming Dynasty. Those who are willing to follow me, stand by the river."

Everyone headed towards the river.

The chief of the Mian'an tribe stood on the top of the city wall, looking at the rebels outside the city with great anger.

Suddenly a merchant came to ask for an audience. He was brought to the chief of the Mian'an tribe and said, "General, I have some friendship with the bandit chief. Perhaps I can persuade him to surrender."

The chief of the Mian'an tribe shook his head: "There is no way he will surrender."

The merchant laughed and said, "We can trick him into saying that there is food and grass in a certain place, and then lead the army to set up an ambush there."

"That's a good idea," the Mian'an chief asked. "Where are you from, merchant? Which tribe do you belong to?"

The merchant replied, "My ancestral home is in Baichi City. I have moved to Yanzhou City for two generations. I do not belong to any tribe now. The Longzhou Dutongjun sent people to transport cloth and tea to Yanzhou. I can eat some Ming country products and transport them to Dingzhou to make a little money. I just transported a batch of them this year and sold them, but I encountered a rebellion by the two tribes in Dingzhou, and I didn't have time to bring the money back to Yanzhou."

The chief of the Mian'an tribe sent people to inquire, and found out that they were indeed engaged in long-distance trade, and had even rented houses for a long time to store goods and money.

After some discussion, the chief of the Mian'an tribe seized the merchant's money.

The merchant, with only a few trusted men, quietly caught up with Duo'e's troops, but was soon tied up as a spy.

When he saw Duo'e, the merchant immediately revealed his identity: "A few years ago, I took a Chinese name called Zhu Baicheng, the same surname as the Ming Emperor. I am of the Tibetan ethnic group, but my ancestors were actually Han Chinese. The Ming Emperor said that people like us should recognize our ancestors and return to our roots. My wife and children are all in Lanzhou, where there is a Shaanxi Intelligence Office under the jurisdiction of the Ming Military Department. Do you understand what I mean, Chief?"

Duo E asked suspiciously, "Are you Emperor Zhu's man?"

Zhu Baicheng said, "I only took my trusted people out of the city. The men and money in the city were seized by the Dingzhou governor. He set up an ambush at Luotuo Port and asked me to lead you there. You should not wander around. You should bypass Luotuo Port and cross the desert and mountains to Xiazhou. Xiao Heda of Xiazhou has secretly surrendered to the Ming Dynasty. He will welcome you to join forces with him."

Duo'e was a little hesitant.

Zhu Baicheng said: "I will stay with the leader. If I lie or cheat, the leader will kill me with a single blow."

Duo E suddenly put on a smiling face and opened his arms to hug: "Why would I doubt you? I was going to surrender to the Ming Dynasty anyway!"

The next day, Duo'e sent a group of cavalry to burn, kill and loot in the direction of Luotuo Port, but the real main force went in the opposite direction.

They did not stop until they reached the edge of the desert to wait for the cavalry to return, and then plunged into the desert.

After crossing the desert, they raided Huangyangping on the edge of the desert, robbed livestock, freed slaves, and headed northeast with great fanfare, but hurried to the southwest at night.

Then they raided Anqingze (Wushen Banner) and came to Wangting Town with the spoils.

"Don't burn, kill or loot here. This is Xiao Heda's territory!" Zhu Baicheng reminded.

Outside Xiazhou City, Xiao Heda came out to greet them personally, smiling and saying, "Good boy, you actually brought so many people here from the desert."

The core of Duo'e's army consisted of the three tribesmen, the slaves rescued along the way, and some scattered herdsmen. Including the elderly, the weak, women and children, there were more than 10,000 people.

Zhu Baicheng said: "General Xiao, the Ming Dynasty has already sent troops to the Weifu Military Division, and a war will start in Hengshan in the spring. You only need to raise troops to hold on this winter, and in the spring you can join forces with the Ming Dynasty troops to attack the Xiangyou Military Division."

"What are we guarding? We must take the initiative to send troops to seize the Xiazhou Iron and Steel Industry!" Xiao Heda said with a ferocious look.

He has suffered enough resentment over the years and can't wait to defect.

Xiazhou Iron Smelting Company is the largest iron smelting organization in Western Xia. It was previously under the jurisdiction of Xiao Heda, but was taken away by Richard's cronies a few years ago.

If we capture the Xiazhou Iron Smelter, we can get a lot of weapons and armor!

(End of this chapter)