Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 959 0954 [Retreat Again and Again]

Hongzhou couldn't hold on any longer, as Li Yanxian personally led his troops to attack the city, with a particularly large number of large-caliber artillery.

After twelve days of bombardment, a section of the city wall collapsed and a gap appeared.

As the deputy commander, Li Yanxian commanded the Third and Fourth Corps, and generals such as Zhang Xian, Yao Pingzhong, and Zhong Yanchong were all under his command.

Therefore, there was no need for him to rush to grab the credit. After learning that Zhong Yanchong had taken Longzhou, Li Yanxian continued to bombard it at a leisurely pace.

Li Yanxian used infantry and a small number of cavalry to besiege the city, with a large number of cavalry scattered between Hongzhou and Youzhou. He hoped to continue besieging Hongzhou, forcing Wang Cunli to come to the rescue, and then besiege the city and attack the reinforcements to eliminate the effective forces of Xixia.

As it turned out, Li Yanxian thought too much.

Wang Cunli didn't even have the courage to come to the rescue!

The Longzhou defenders abandoned the city and fled. Although Zhong Yanchong led his troops to pursue them, it was difficult to see clearly in the middle of the night, and the Xixia army fled on horseback. After chasing for more than 20 miles, most of the Xixia soldiers still escaped, with more than 5,000 Xixia light cavalry escaping.

More than 1,000 cavalry escaped from Yinzhou City, and more than 600 cavalry escaped from the Shenyong Army Sicheng. They were so frightened that they wanted to cross the desert directly, but found that the Ming army did not pursue them, so they went around the edge of the desert and went south to Yanzhou.

Now, Zhang Xian, Yao Pingzhong, Zhong Yanchong, Xiao Heda and others have gathered at the foot of Shizhou City and are besieging it from all sides.

They received an order from Li Yanxian to send half of their troops to attack Youzhou.

As for whose troops to be assigned, you can decide by drawing lots!
It doesn't matter who goes anyway, and drawing lots is fairer. Don't even think of saying anything weird afterwards.

“How many times?”

"Once is enough. Don't act like a bitch."

"Okay. To be fair, let General Duo'e write the lot."

“I can’t write Chinese characters.”

"Draw a circle and a cross. The one who touches the circle goes to fight Yuzhou, and the one who touches the cross stays to fight Seokju."

Duo E turned his back to everyone, cut the paper, drew circles and crosses on it, then crumpled it into a ball and put it on the table.

Yao Pingzhong took the first step and took a piece of paper, and others also reached out to take it.

"Haha, my luck finally turns good!" Yao Pingzhong opened the paper ball, he touched the cross, and stayed to continue playing Shizhou.

Zhong Yanchong unfolded the paper ball and took a look. He was so angry that he crumpled it up again and threw it to the ground to vent his anger.

He led Xiao Heda and Duo'e to besiege Shizhou for several days. The city walls had already been cracked by artillery fire, and it would take two or three days at most to take it down.

At a time like this, we have to give up the achievement of breaking the city and lead our troops to attack that damn Youzhou.

Zhang Xian looked at the lot he drew and said with a smile, "I accept defeat. General Zhong, please go ahead."

Zhong Yanchong walked away with a cold face, Xiao Heda followed him, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, and Duo E also followed him out, scratching his head.

The three of them led their army and passed by Xiao Heda’s old nest, Xiazhou.

The infantry of Xiao Heda and Duo'e were all in Xiazhou City. They left a small number of troops to guard the city and took the rest of the troops to continue their advance with Zhong Yanchong.

Duo E led the three light cavalry units of Dingzhou and sped up the front to scout the situation.

However, they found that the villages along the way were deserted and the houses had been burned down long ago. They continued to move forward and soon met the scouts sent by Li Yanxian outside Youzhou City.

The gates of Youzhou were wide open and the defenders had all fled.

Moreover, they fled with the people, leaving no one in the city. They even burned down a large number of houses and forced the people who refused to move away to leave.

Two groups of cavalry entered Youzhou City and each sent someone back to report the news.

When Li Yanxian learned of the situation, he accelerated the siege and captured Hongzhou City the next day.

Zhong Yanchong and Xiao Heda led their troops to advance rapidly and occupied the empty city of Youzhou. That night, they received an order from Li Yanxian, asking them to rest for a day and then continue their march, and then lead their troops to attack in the direction of Yanzhou.

……

Yanzhou (Dingbian County).

Wang Cunli looked at the dilapidated city wall and had no confidence in defending the place.

With a city wall like this, it would be destroyed by artillery fire in three days at most!
But Brother Richard gave a death order that if Yanzhou could not be defended, they could only retreat to Tiemen Pass or Baichi City at most.

A rider on a fast horse came and went straight into the Yanzhou government office.

Wang Cunli opened the letter and was overjoyed after reading it.

The wedding of Li Renxiao, the new king of Western Xia, was completed, which allowed him to win over the powerful families in the country through marriage and make the sixteen-year-old emperor appear more stable.

Wang Cunli's daughter was officially enthroned as queen!

This matter was made possible by the strength of the Wang family, the money spent by Wang Cunli, and the result of a compromise between Li Renzhong and Richard.

Wang Cunli was the confidant of Prime Minister Li Renzhong.

Damn it, my daughter is the queen, what am I afraid of?
Retreat directly towards Xingqing Prefecture, build fortified walls and clear the fields along the way, and lure the enemy into deeper territory.

Anyway, I can't fight a head-on battle again.

The enemy is so terrible.

Wang Cunli didn't even have the confidence to defeat Xiao Heda, let alone the fierce Ming army. Historically, Wang Cunli, who had tens of thousands of troops, was defeated by Xiao Heda at least five times, and finally led his troops to retreat to Lingzhou like a turtle.

Just do it!

Wang Cunli not only led the army and civilians to evacuate, but also sent people to destroy several large salt ponds in the area as much as possible, making it impossible for the Ming army to recover in a short time. What he now has in his hands are the troops of seven states under the jurisdiction of the three major military divisions.

To be precise, it was the troops from the six states, because the troops from Xia state were in the hands of Xiao Heda.

Moreover, except for the troops of Yanzhou who had not yet fought, the rest of the armies were all defeated and fled back to Wang Cunli in a panic. Even if the burden soldiers (miscellaneous auxiliary soldiers) were counted, the total number was only about 70,000.

There are more than 100,000 elderly, weak, women and children.

During the withdrawal, there were cries and shouts all the way, and the elderly and the sick kept falling down and being abandoned on the semi-desert grassland.

The morale of the entire army had dropped to its lowest point, and the soldiers all wanted to know the situation of their families.

Many soldiers wanted to escape, but were worried that they would not be able to take their families with them, or even that their families would be executed.

Zhong Yanchong, Xiao Heda and Duo E traveled all the way to Yanzhou and found that it was also an empty city. Not to mention the city, even the several large salt ponds were deserted.

Well, actually there were a few who hid and did not leave. Wang Cunli was in a hurry to retreat and it was impossible for him to search every place.

"Can Yanzhou be abandoned?" Zhong Yanchong was greatly shocked.

Xiao Heda pointed at the dilapidated city wall and said, "Yanzhou has not seen any war for a long time, and the city has not been properly repaired for decades. Let alone General Zhong with his artillery, even if I bring the Xiazhou soldiers, I can take Yanzhou in a few days."

Zhong Yanshou nodded: "Indeed."

Although Wang Cunli was very cowardly, he did the right thing by retreating.

Otherwise, all the 70,000 remaining soldiers in his hands would have to die here. Retreat could at least preserve the manpower.

If the Ming army pursued all the way, the food route would be stretched to an extremely long length.

Not to mention the grain routes within the Ming Dynasty, after leaving the border, there are still another five or six hundred miles to go!
Moreover, after passing Yanzhou, most of the road was semi-desert grassland. On the long grain road, the grain transport team could be attacked at any time, and the Xixia light cavalry could come and go like the wind in this area.

……

Xingqing Mansion.

News of the defeat at the front came in like snowflakes.

The ruler and his ministers of Western Xia were completely panicked. They urgently recalled Richard Ge from the north to take charge and sent Privy Councilor Wang Shu to replace Richard Ge to guard Keyi Gate, which was being attacked by Yue Fei and Han Shizhong.

Compared with the hundreds of thousands of Ming troops in Shaanxi, Yue Fei and Han Shizhong's small army was obviously not valued by the Xixia monarch and his ministers.

Brother Richard, who had just rushed back to Xingqing Prefecture, was listening to the latest battle situation.

"The Mu brothers rebelled and took their people to join the enemy in Huizhou. Several dangerous strongholds such as Lingbo Mountain and Weijing Mountain were all captured by the enemy. It's all mountainous over there, and many tribes in the mountains are unwilling to fortify their walls and clear the fields. They hide in the mountains with food and refuse to leave. It is very likely that they surrendered to the enemy because of lack of food..."

"Last year, the Dabin tribe rebelled in Weizhou. Although the rebellion was successfully suppressed, the remnants of the Dabin tribe fled to Leshan, and Weizhou was short of food and grass because of the suppression of the rebellion. The soldiers of Jingsai Military Command were short of food, so the soldiers there had to abandon the city and retreat. But the people were unwilling to leave, and their food...was severely levied during the suppression of the rebellion last year. There were even two tribes that did not rebel last year, but this year they surrendered to the Ming Dynasty."

Brother Richard was extremely shocked: "That is the shortest route for the Ming army to attack, and it is also the main area for the Ming army to clear the countryside. Did they all fail?"

Li Renzhong nodded: "The commander-in-chief, deputy commander-in-chief, military supervisor of Jingsai Military Command, and the governor of Weizhou should all be executed. These bastards have joined forces to exploit the people. In a year of severe drought, they have to impose additional taxes. Last year, they forced a tribe to revolt. Although the other tribes did not rebel, they are also alienated from the court. How could they be willing to relocate their tribes and clear the countryside?"

"When employing people, you cannot kill the generals at will." Brother Richard said.

Except for the military supervisor and the prefect, all of them are Richard's confidants. How could Li Renzhong kill them?
Li Renzhong said: "The soldiers and tribesmen who have withdrawn, especially the chieftains, are clamoring to kill the corrupt officials before they are willing to fight. We must give these people an explanation, otherwise we will not fight anymore. They are very likely to rebel and surrender to the enemy."

Richard said, "Then first take the military supervisor and the prefect back to Xingqing Prefecture and temporarily detain them. This will also be an explanation to the soldiers and the people. At the same time, we must appease the governor and the deputy governor, so that they will not be frightened and think too much."

Li Renzhong didn't dare to kill them all, so he could only agree to this method: "The one who captured Weizhou was the commander of the Ming army, Deng Chun. He was an old subordinate of Emperor Zhu, and he became his follower before he started the army. He is known for his conquests in the south and the north without a single defeat. He has continued to advance and capture Pule City, and is now estimated to be besieging Yaode City. It is only more than 300 miles away from Xingqing Prefecture!"

Brother Richard said quickly: "Hold it, you must hold it. The water level in the Yellow River is not high right now, we must hold it until the water level rises before we can dig the embankment!"

Li Renzhong looked bitter: "We can't hold them off. The Ming army is not the Song army, and they attack the city too fast. Our Great Xia soldiers are not as brave and fearless as before, and many tribal soldiers are passive and avoid fighting."

"And they caught spies. There were Ming spies in every route, persuading the tribal chiefs to defect to the Ming. The chiefs did not dare to defect directly, but left themselves a way out to preserve their strength."

"Take Mengjing Village for example. The soldiers guarding the village fled when the Ming army was still several miles away. The guard was beheaded after he fled back, and as a result, the chief of his tribe defected with his people..."

Brother Richard was speechless.

People's hearts are scattered!

The reason why the Western Xia army in the direction of Jingsai Military Command collapsed and fled at the first touch was not entirely because the Ming army was too powerful.

The real reason is successive disasters and excessive exploitation.

The Ming army hadn't arrived yet, but last year a tribe had rebelled. When suppressing the uprising, they also collected food supplies from nearby, which made the local tribes resentful.

If the Ming Dynasty's spies go and instigate rebellion again, many tribal chiefs will be wavering. How could they risk their lives to help the Western Xia court fight?

A eunuch standing outside the palace said anxiously, "There is urgent news from the front line."

Li Renxiao said, "Bring it in."

The urgent report was sent by Wang Cunli, stating that he had abandoned Yanzhou and retreated.

Li Renzhong was furious: "This guy is so bold, he has suffered defeats and yet he dares to withdraw his troops without authorization!"

Brother Richard said, "He did the right thing. We underestimated the Ming army and overestimated our own combat power. The three armies of the left wing were defeated too quickly. Not to mention fighting in the field, they couldn't even defend the city. If Wang Cunli stayed in Yanzhou to defend it, his tens of thousands of soldiers would be wiped out. It would be better for him to retreat all the way to stretch the Ming army's supply line."

"How should we fight next?" Li Renzhong asked.

Brother Richard said: "Let Ren Dejing defend Lingzhou to the death, and wait until the Yellow River rises before digging the dike to flood the Ming army's food supply and retreat routes. On Wang Cunli's side, the Ming army's food supply route will be very long, and I will personally lead the cavalry to attack the Ming army's food transport team. On Wang Shu's side, the Keyi Gate is high and the moat is deep, the soldiers are well-trained and the food is sufficient. It should be difficult for Han Shizhong and Yue Fei to break through."

(End of this chapter)