Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 956 0951 [Rebels are very useful]

Xiazhou.

Xiao Heda stood on the general platform, facing nearly ten thousand soldiers:
"Some people say that I have been in Xiazhou for more than ten years, embezzling military rations and oppressing the people. This time I started the rebellion for my own wealth and fame, and they also put all the blame for the famine in Xiazhou on me."

"Today, I will take out all my wealth and give it all to the soldiers of the three armies. All the food stored in my house will also be used as military rations."

"I have already emptied my own house. I don't want that mansion anymore. I might as well burn it down!"

"Go and pass the order to burn my house!"

A horse galloped into the city, and half a minute later, the people in the city began to shout and get agitated.

Xiao Heda added: "Officers and chiefs of each tribe can select thirty men to enter the city and see if my house has been set on fire!"

Hundreds of people came forward one after another and rode into the city on horseback to check the situation.

After a while, these people ran back out of the city and told their companions that Xiao Heda's mansion was indeed burning.

Xiao Heda continued, "I will also take out all my land in Xiazhou and give it to the meritorious soldiers. This is the land deed, locked in a box, and kept by the generals in turn. If you want to get more rewards, then follow me to defeat the enemy and snatch it from the tyrant and corrupt officials of Xixia. Kill the tyrant! Kill the corrupt officials!"

"Kill the tyrant! Kill the corrupt officials!"

All the soldiers in the army roared along, and for a moment their momentum was as high as a rainbow.

Xiao Heda's rebellion was certainly not to save the people from suffering. He simply could not survive in Western Xia.

In history, to what extent did Xiao Heda cause trouble?
He first defeated the Xixia army, then contacted two Khitan tribes in the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain. Then, the Eight Halls of Hedong, the Mountain Gold Division, the Northern Frontier of the Northern and Southern Palaces... the Khitan tribes and some Han people all rose up to respond to the rebellion.

They gathered tens of thousands of troops, defeated the rebellion army several times, and beat the left wing army of Xixia into a mess. Then they attacked Lingzhou, which was more than 100 miles away from the Xixia royal city. Since they could not capture the strong city of Lingzhou, they turned to capture the strategic location of Yanzhou.

Then, they plundered pastures in various states and even sent light cavalry to the Helan Mountains.

At the beginning of the uprising, he spent all his family wealth and distributed the looted goods to his soldiers, and many poor people came to him on their own initiative. Unfortunately, his lair was raided by the troops sent by Ren Dejing, and his retreat was blocked, so he was defeated in Yanzhou.

Xiao Heda in this time and space would naturally not be so embarrassed, and would not be surrounded by the large army of rebel suppression.

In the early winter of last year, he suddenly launched an army to attack the iron smelting business in Xiazhou, slaughtered all the civil and military officials there, took away all the craftsmen and iron tools, and then repelled the rebellion suppression army from Xiangyou Military Division.

The Xiangyou Army and the Jianing Army dispatched more troops, but Xiao Heda defended Xiazhou City to the death, forcing the enemy to retreat before the heavy snow fell.

Now that spring has arrived and the snow has melted, the army to suppress the rebellion has arrived again.

……

The Xixia general in charge of suppressing the rebellion was Wang Cunli, the newly appointed military supervisor by the imperial court.

As for Ren Dejing, he was still suppressing the rebellion in the vicinity of Xingqing Prefecture and had almost wiped out all the rebels.

"Cunli" is a good name, but adding "wang" becomes funny, and it becomes "bu cunli" when put together.

Wang was a big family in Western Xia, and Li Jiqian's biological mother's surname was Wang.

Before the snow had melted completely, Wang Cunli came to the Jianing Military Command and scolded the commander-in-chief, deputy commander-in-chief, and military supervisor. He ordered them to immediately draft troops to quell the rebellion. Only by killing Xiao Heda, who was entrenched in Xiazhou, could they help the Xiangyou Military Command and the Shenyong Military Command to defend their positions and clear the fields.

As long as Xiao Heda is not destroyed, the two military commanders will not be able to retreat even if they want to, and it is nonsense to talk about the Ming army's scorched earth and clearing the countryside.

In every village and grassland, the cries of the Xixia people shook the sky.

All their houses were burned down, and everyone had to take their belongings and food and evacuate, leaving no food for the Ming army. The old, weak, women and children were evacuated directly to Yanzhou, while the young and strong served as soldiers to fight and suppress Xiao Heda's rebels.

Of course, before Xiao Heda was destroyed, the front-line troops could not be completely evacuated, and some people had to be left behind to defend the city against the Ming army.

In just a few days, Wang Cunli gathered several thousand soldiers and withdrew three thousand regular troops from the front line.

"Da da da da..."

A horse galloped over, the rider covered in dust and dirt, and went to see Wang Cunli: "Angel, the Great Wall Ridge has been lost!"

Wang Cunli was shocked: "Didn't they report two days ago that the Ming army had just begun to attack the village?"

The rider explained: "The Ming army used muskets and powerful crossbows to cover the fire, and mobilized hundreds of people to drag the huge cannons to the middle of the mountain to bombard the fortress. The fortress wall didn't even collapse yet, and the soldiers guarding the fortress were so scared that they fled!"

Changcheng Ridge is a dangerous mountain range southwest of Hongzhou in Western Xia. If firearms are not used, even if tens of thousands of troops attack in turns, the more than a thousand defenders there can at least hold out for half a month.

Li Yanxian personally set up his commander's tent at the foot of the ridge and sent troops to capture a gentle slope halfway up the mountain. He asked craftsmen to cut wood and build a pulley system to hoist the siege guns up and build a gun platform.

Even so, the angle of the artillery fire was very problematic and could only hit an oblique angle of the city.

However, the continuous flying shells frightened the defenders in the castle.

There were only 500 garrison soldiers there, and 3,000 regular troops were temporarily transferred in. The 3,500 people guarding the castle, looking at the densely packed Ming army at the foot of the mountain, were already terrified, and they fled directly after the artillery bombardment.

Because they ran fast and the mountains were steep, the Ming army did not capture a single prisoner and had no chance to kill a single defender.

"Da da da da..."

Another horse galloped over, and the rider knelt down and cried, "Angel, the Ming army is approaching Longzhou City. The Shilijing Village south of Longzhou is also gone. The two Ming armies are estimated to have surrounded Longzhou now!"

In fact, the Helanyuan Village further southwest had also been captured, but the journey was too far and no news had yet been received.

Wang Cunli was completely panicked.

His mission was to wipe out Xiao Heda, open up the withdrawal route for Xiangyou Army and Shenyong Army, take away all the soldiers and civilians from Yinzhou, Shizhou and Xiazhou, and lure the Ming army to go deep into the city.

But before he had time to quell the rebellion, the Ming army had already captured the strongholds one after another, and the army was pressing on the two provincial capitals of Hongzhou and Longzhou.

How come the Ming army fought so fast?

There is only one reason, the Western Xia army was already too weak to be used.

Historically, Xiao Heda, a foreign military commander, was able to repel the three nearby military commanders with only the rebellion of Xiazhou. Even after Xiao Heda led his army westward, the three military commanders did not dare to send troops to raid the lair, and Ren Dejing still sent hundreds of elite soldiers to take over Xiazhou.

Although Wang Cunli commanded a large number of troops, he was defeated again and again by Xiao Heda. Finally, he hid in Lingzhou City and dared not show up.

What a useless general and army!

It turns out that the Song army during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song had a very close fight with the Western Xia, but they were just two weaklings fighting each other at the same level.

Wang Cunli was shocked and angry, and said in a timid tone: "Order the garrisons of Hongzhou and Longzhou to hold the city to delay time. Once I have destroyed Xiao Heda, we can withdraw. Remember, before withdrawing, burn all the food and grass in the city!"

Immediately afterwards, Wang Cunli asked the elderly, the weak, women and children to hurry to Yanzhou.

Then Wang Cunli led more than 10,000 troops to the north to attack Xiao Heda. Xiangyou Army also sent more than 20,000 troops to attack Xiazhou from both north and south.

Wang Cunli marched quickly to Sanchakou Village, and the entire army stopped to set up camp and rest.

That night, a shout woke Wang Cunli from his sleep.

It was Xiao Heda with hundreds of elite troops from Xiazhou and Duo'e with hundreds of elite troops from Dingzhou who suddenly rushed over and attacked the camp at night.

Wang Cunli was not prepared at all, because the place where he sent his troops was farther away from Xiazhou. In his opinion, Xiao Heda should be fighting with the Xiangyou Army, which had more troops and was closer, and it was impossible for him to come all the way to attack him. "Angel, hurry up, many bandits are coming!"

"How many bandits are here?"

"There are probably tens of thousands of people, holding torches everywhere."

"..."

Wang Cunli was living in the castle of Sanchakou Village at the time. He climbed up the wall to check in a panic, but saw fires all over the camp outside the village. Many soldiers fled to the gate of the castle, shouting and crying, asking to enter the castle to take shelter.

"Don't open the door, to prevent enemy spies from sneaking in!" Wang Cunli shouted.

The castle of Sanchakou Village is not big and can only accommodate three to four thousand people. More than half of the troops brought by Wang Cunli are camped outside the village.

Xiao Heda and Duo E led the elite troops to light fires everywhere, shouting along the way: "Put down your weapons, surrender and you won't be killed!"

These defeated Western Xia soldiers all came from Youzhou, Hongzhou and Longzhou.

There were Ming troops outside and rebels inside. Their parents, wives and children were ordered to move away, and even their houses were burned down. They were exploited and deprived on weekdays, and now they were not allowed to enter the village to escape during the night attack. They were blocked outside the village gate and were full of resentment.

Suddenly, a defeated officer shouted angrily: "Don't work for the tyrant anymore, just surrender to General Xiao, and then follow General Xiao to surrender to the Ming Dynasty!"

The fleeing soldiers nearby did not respond immediately, but shouted towards the camp: "If you don't open the door and let us in, we will surrender to General Xiao! Open the door quickly!"

"Open the door quickly!"

"Open the door quickly!"

The shouts came one after another, and Wang Cunli did not dare to open the gate of the village. He was sure that there were spies outside the gate.

After several minutes of commotion, Xiao Heda and Duo'e brought their elite troops closer and closer.

The defeated soldiers were even more frightened and angry. Finally, someone rushed towards the rebels and said, "Don't kill me! I want to join the rebels!"

More and more defeated soldiers left the village gate, and joined the rebels with anger in their hearts.

When Wang Cunli heard the shouts of the fleeing soldiers, he was so frightened that his soul flew away. He led his elite cavalry to open another gate of the village, and killed the fleeing soldiers as soon as he saw them. He actually abandoned the village and the army and fled.

More than 10,000 troops were directly surrendered by Xiao Heda, and more than 4,000 were captured.

The next day, Xiao Heda reorganized the surrendered soldiers and promised to help them find their families who had been relocated.

Duo E asked: "Go back, or go south?"

Xiao Heda smiled and said, "Great minds think alike. Both strategies are acceptable, but it is safer to go back."

The two men returned to Xiazhou with the surrendered soldiers and seized food and fodder, which had been besieged by 20,000 troops of the Xiangyou Military Command.

When the Western Xia general saw the large army coming from the south, he thought it was Wang Cunli who had arrived, so he personally led a group of cavalry to hurriedly greet them.

Xiao Heda said with a smile: "Raise the flag of Wang Cunli."

When the "Wang" flag was raised, the Xixia generals were completely confident and even had ingratiating smiles on their faces.

Xiao Heda and Duo'e had already ordered their elite troops to mount their horses, and when the Xixia general approached, they suddenly rushed out with hundreds of cavalry.

The Xixia generals still did not realize the danger until Xiao Heda led his troops to rush more than ten steps away and ordered them to deploy into battle formation, only then did they feel something was wrong.

"kill!"

Hundreds of elite soldiers drew their bows and shot arrows, which stunned the Xixia generals. They quickly crouched down to avoid the arrows, and at the same time pulled the reins and turned around to run away.

Duo'e was the first to charge forward, and as soon as the Xixia general turned his horse around, he caught up with him and stabbed him with a gun, then swung his gun and knocked the general off his horse.

There was more than one Xixia general. In addition to the main general, there were also many officers and chiefs who came specifically to welcome the angel "Wang Cunli".

Xiao Heda led his troops in pursuit and at the same time sent troops to the city of Xiazhou, ordering the defenders in the city to go out for a decisive battle.

After a number of their generals were killed, these 20,000 Western Xia troops quickly fled in panic when faced with the attack.

Xiao Heda and Duo E led a large army and pursued the enemy all the way to the outside of Shizhou City (the northern part of Hengshan District, beside the Wuding River), where the Xiangyou Military Command was stationed.

There were only a few thousand defenders in the city.

But the two men were unable to attack the fortified city. They wanted to chase the fleeing soldiers and kill them inside, but the generals who stayed behind would not let them enter the city.

After besieging the city for half a day, Xiao Heda and Duo'e ordered the infantry to return to Xiazhou, and they led the cavalry straight to Longzhou in the south.

Outside Longzhou City.

Zhong Yanchong was bombarding the city wall for three days. At the same time, he ordered the laborers to fill the moat and the craftsmen to build siege equipment.

"General, three or four thousand cavalrymen have arrived from the north, claiming to be the Xixia rebel generals Xiao Heda and Duo'e!"

"Please come quickly!"

Zhong Yanchong went to greet them personally, shook their hands and said, "You two generals are truly righteous men, but it's a pity that you were forced to rebel by your tyrant ruler and treacherous ministers. From now on, my Great Ming will surely be able to show its might!"

Xiao Heda had already written a letter of surrender, so he was not surprised.

Duo E was always very worried, fearing that his Tangut identity would not be accepted. Now he finally felt relieved, Zhong Yanchong was very enthusiastic about him, and thought that he would have a place in the Ming Dynasty in the future.

Xiao Heda took out a flag and said, "This is Wang Cunli's flag. He has recently been in charge of the three major military divisions here as an imperial envoy. I have defeated him and he has retreated to Youzhou with his remaining troops."

"Good stuff!" Zhong Yanchong was overjoyed.

A moment later, Duo E personally held up the flag and rushed to the outside of Longzhou City, shouting: "Wang Cunli has been defeated and killed, Hongzhou and Youzhou have been captured by the Ming Dynasty soldiers. Why don't you surrender quickly? Do you want to be buried with Wang Cunli?"

"Shoot him to death!" The Longzhou defender was shocked.

Duo E rode his horse and raised his flag, galloping around the city shouting, "Wang Cunli is dead! Wang Cunli is dead..."

The defenders in the city were terrified and had lost their determination to hold out.

But their families and properties had all been moved to Yanzhou. If they surrendered to the Ming army now, they would be left alone with nothing.

No one wanted to surrender the city, but everyone wanted to withdraw and go to Yanzhou to reunite with their families.

Moreover, they understood that the city would fall sooner or later even if they held on, as those artillery shells had already been bombarding for three whole days!
That night, the gates of Longzhou were opened on all four sides, and countless defenders fled out of the city on horseback.

Soon, a huge fire broke out in the city, and it turned out that the defending general had ordered the burning of food and fodder.

Zhong Yanchong had already ordered his cavalry to sleep with their weapons ready. He expected the defenders to escape, but he didn't know which night they would escape. Unexpectedly, they couldn't help themselves on the first night.

"All cavalrymen pursue, and infantrymen go into the city to put out the fire!"

Zhong Yanchong mounted his warhorse and led the cavalry in pursuit.

(End of this chapter)