Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 954 0949 [The hearts of both the army and the people can be used]

The capital of Western Liao, Hu Sihan'erduo.

The envoys from Western Xia had not arrived yet, but the envoys from Khwarezm had already arrived.

The messenger knelt on the ground and said to Yelu Dashi: "Great Jurhan, my king asks for your help and hopes that you can send troops immediately!"

Yelu Dashi asked, "He was defeated so quickly?"

The messenger explained: "The noble lords were afraid of the Seljuk Sultan, and they all defected. My king could only lead his loyal guards to temporarily avoid the Seljuk army, and now he has retreated to the grasslands of the Talas people."

"Why should I send troops to help him?" Yelu Dashi asked.

The messenger said: "As long as you can help my king regain the throne of Shah, Khwarezm will be a vassal state of the Liao Dynasty from now on."

Yelu Dashi nodded with satisfaction: "Okay, you let Ajisi wait, the Seljuk Sultan will withdraw his troops soon."

After sending away the Khwarezmian envoy, Yelu Dashi sent an official letter to the army stationed in Khujand. He ordered the cavalry to repeatedly harass the Western Karakhanid Khanate, pretending that they were about to attack Samarkand.

Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao.

Yelu Dashi, who was well-versed in Chinese history books, did not need to start a war to force the Seljuk Sultan Sanjar to withdraw his troops.

As expected, Arsalan Khan, the ruler of the Western Karakhanid Khanate, was so frightened that he frantically wrote to Sanjar for help, claiming that the Western Liao army was approaching Samarkand.

Sanjar was worried that his vassal state would be destroyed, and thought that he did not have enough troops, so he led his troops back to Mulu to gather a large army - he wanted to fight Yelu Dashi to the death!
The kings of Khorasan, including the King of Sigestan and the King of Ghor, the King of Ghazni, and the King of Mazandaran, responded to Sanjar's call and led their armies to join forces at Murug. Sanjar was still gathering troops, and the armies of more distant vassal states had not yet arrived. It would take at least half a year for the army to complete its assembly.

The decisive battle next year, with a total force of two hundred thousand troops on both sides, will determine who will be the overlord of Central Asia.

However, Sanjar withdrew his troops from Khwarezm and left his nephew Suleiman as the king of Khwarezm.

This Suleiman visited the Ming Dynasty a few years ago and lived in Kaifeng for more than a year. He left China only after the demise of the Jin Dynasty.

Suleiman became the king of Khwarezm and appointed military and political leaders and city lords in various places.

The local nobles were afraid of Sanjar, so they chose to betray Ajisi. But they never expected that the nephew left by Sanjar would actually parachute in as an official to seize the interests of the local nobles.

At this time, Ajis, who had just lost his son, returned to Khwarezm with his troops.

Those nobles who had betrayed him came back to join him.

Ajis chose to forgive, and took these nobles and troops to conquer cities and regain territory. Suleiman and the Seljuk officials were so scared that they fled with a small number of troops.

Immediately, Ajisi led his troops south to take revenge.

He captured the Western Karakhanid Khanate's city of Bukhara, killed the governor, looted the city, and demolished the city walls.

This was equivalent to directly stating that Ajisi chose to join forces with Yelu Dashi to challenge Sanjar's dominant authority in Central Asia.

……

"The Ming Dynasty sent troops to Western Xia?" Yelu Dashi finally met the Western Xia envoy.

The Xixia envoy said: "Our country has suffered from drought for many years and is in a weak state. It also happened that the holy emperor passed away. The Ming Dynasty went back on its word and disregarded the friendship between the two countries. It actually chose to send troops at this time."

Yelu Dashi asked: "How many Ming troops have arrived?"

The Xixia envoy said: "The Ming Dynasty sent tens of thousands of troops to attack the three cities of Hexi in Daxia and approached the Weifu Military Division of Daxia. They may attack from Shaanxi next year. Please, Your Majesty, send troops to rescue us and provide us with some military rations."

"Next year?" Yelu Dashi felt embarrassed.

He also didn't know when the decisive battle with the Seljuks would take place. It might be next year, or the year after. It all depended on when Sanjar would lead his troops to attack.

Anyway, within the next one or two years, Yelu Dashi had no time to look east.

The Xixia envoy asked, "Does Your Majesty the Khan know about firearms?"

Yelu Dashi nodded: "I know."

The Xixia envoy said: "The Ming Dynasty defeated the Jin Dynasty by showing its power with firearms. And we, Daxia, also know how to make firearms."

"Really?" Yelu Dashi sat up straight.

The Xixia envoy said: "As long as the Khan sends troops to help us, no matter whether we win or lose next year, our country will offer the method of making firearms in return."

Yelu Dashi said, "Let me think about it carefully, and you can leave now."

The Western Xia envoy bowed and took his leave, but Yelu Dashi was in a dilemma.

His original plan was to bring in the Western Xia and the Kerait tribes, and the three parties worked together to stop the expansion of the Ming Dynasty.

But the Kerait tribe first fought with the Mongols, and then fought with the Merkits. The northern desert was already in chaos, and they had no power to move south.

Xixia also had a new king on the throne, a young ruler and a unstable country, and suffered from natural disasters and famine year after year.

On our side, we are going to have a decisive battle with the Seljuks.

The tripartite alliance that was agreed upon can now only take care of itself, with no one having the energy to lend a helping hand.

But if he did not save Xixia, Ming Dynasty would probably destroy Xixia, and Yelu Dashi's territory would border Ming Dynasty. After much deliberation, Yelu Dashi decided not to care.

Let Western Xia be destroyed, but we must first defeat the Seljuks. This is related to the future foundation of Western Liao.

A few days later, Yelu Dashi summoned the Xixia envoy and said, "There is a great country in the west, the Seljuks, who may send hundreds of thousands of troops to attack us at any time. I don't have any troops available for the time being. Go back and tell the Xixia rulers and ministers that if the country is in danger of being destroyed, they can flee to me. Whether they are soldiers, civil servants, or monks, as long as they come, I will properly accommodate them and give them temples, houses, farmland, and pastures."

The Western Xia envoy wailed, "Great Khan, the lips and teeth are interdependent! If the Great Xia is destroyed, Emperor Zhu of the Ming Dynasty will certainly covet Gaochang. Then the Great Khan will have to guard against the Ming Dynasty day and night."

Yelu Dashi said: "I really don't have any extra troops, so you should go back to your country and report. Any Xixia official, civilian, monk or layman can escape to my Liao Dynasty and settle down. Once they come, they will be treated with special favors. All of us here are foreigners, and you are all my fellow countrymen. Whether you are Tangut or Tibetan, Han or Uighur, you are all my fellow countrymen once you enter my Liao Dynasty."

The Western Xia envoy was still begging, but Yelu Dashi got up and left.

……

When the news of Yue Fei and Han Shizhong's great victory reached Luoyang, it was already early winter and the first snow of the year had not yet fallen.

"Great victory, great victory!"

"General Han Shizhong, General Yue Fei, lead the troops to recapture the three cities in Hexi and the land outside the Taowai!"

The cavalrymen were running all over the city holding cloths, and passers-by stopped to listen. Many people also came out of shops or homes.

Officials also posted proclamations of victory everywhere inside and outside Luoyang City.

They also received temporary training to draw a simple map of the Hetao area and patiently explain the specific situation to the onlookers.

"This Jizi Bay is the Yellow River. It has been part of the Chinese territory since the Qin and Han dynasties..."

"After General Han and General Yue joined forces, they set out from here. Do you know where this place is? It was the Shanyu Protectorate during the Tang Dynasty!"

"The two generals first conquered this place. It is now called Dongsheng Prefecture (Tuoketu County), which was the Dongshoujiang City in the Tang Dynasty..."

"General Han led his troops westward and first captured this place (Baotou). This was the seat of the Anbei Protectorate during the Tang Dynasty, also known as Zhongshoujiang City..."

"General Yue led his army southwards, rushing westwards, and captured two cities in three days, leaving one city to the friendly forces, and taking all three cities in Hexi. This place is very serious, Xixia and Liao have been fighting for a hundred years..."

"This place was the Xishoujiang City in the Tang Dynasty, but it became the garrison of the Western Xia's Wei Fu Army. They called it Wulahai City. Now, it has been recaptured by the two generals, and the defenders of Wulahai City surrendered without a fight!"

"Why surrender without a fight? Because our Ming soldiers just won a great victory!"

"There are only over 10,000 cavalrymen in the Ming Dynasty, and the remaining 20,000 are all cavalrymen from various grassland tribes. But the Western Xia Jin Wang Richard has an army of 300,000! The four generals Yang Yizhong, Yang Jin, Li Yu, and Liu Zhengyan each led 1,500 cavalrymen and rushed towards the 50,000 Western Xia soldiers..."

"At that time, General Han was in charge of the deployment. General Yue, General Xu Qing, General Wang Gui, and General Li Shifu led only two or three thousand cavalrymen to charge directly at the 100,000-strong Xixia army. There were 8,000 Iron Harriers alone..."

It sounded reliable at first, but later it turned into bragging.

This was instructed by Zhu Ming himself. It was promoted not only in Luoyang, but also in other provincial capitals.

Although the people of the Ming Dynasty were in high spirits, the Western Xia was an old rival after all, and the hundred-year war between the Song and the Xia had caused great suffering to the people. Various rumors were spreading among the people, and even some officials were worried about accidents, and they urgently needed a hearty victory to appease the people.

Men and women of all ages, young and old, young girls and wives from inside and outside the city of Luoyang gathered more and more at the various Notice posting points, listening to the bragging of the officials with smiles on their faces.

Many people cannot understand simple maps and cannot figure out geographical locations.

They only knew that the Ming soldiers had won another victory, one great victory after another, and the Western Xia army was defeated and suffered countless casualties.

"Long live the Ming Dynasty!"

After the officer finished bragging, he suddenly raised his arms and shouted.

The common people were stunned at first, and a scholar followed suit, and then everyone cheered: "Long live the Ming Dynasty!"

The officer shouted again: "Long live His Majesty!"

"Long live His Majesty!" The people's shouts became louder and louder.

After all, Luoyang is too far away from the front line, and the whole city of Lanzhou is already in a frenzy.

As long as Western Xia is destroyed, Lanzhou can be transformed from the front line to the rear, and the lives of the people will improve countless times.

Especially the businessmen, who celebrated spontaneously and invited a music band to play music.

Fifty thousand troops have been assembled outside Lanzhou City, and there are also tens of thousands of troops in the surrounding castles. There are one hundred thousand troops in Lanzhou Prefecture alone waiting to go into battle next year.

One notice after another was sent to various military camps and announced by officers to the soldiers, but this time there was not much exaggeration.

In a series of battles between Yue Fei and Han Shizhong, including that decisive battle, they surrendered more than 30,000 enemy troops and captured more than 60,000 enemy troops. They captured seven state-run cities (one of which was taken by Yao Pingzhong) and 21 fortresses and barrier cities.

The chief general of Lanzhou was Wu Jie. After reading the battle report in detail, he smiled and said, "You all know that Ming war reports cannot be falsified. Even if someone falsifies, they dare not go too far. The Wei Fu Army Headquarters of Western Xia was indeed breached. In the next war, Western Xia will have to reserve enough troops to defend the Keyi Gate. The number of enemy troops we have to face will certainly be greatly reduced. Do you have the confidence to follow me to conquer the Hexi Corridor?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Shouts came one after another, and the morale of the Ming army in Lanzhou was already high.

(End of this chapter)