Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 972 0967 [Recovering the Hexi Corridor]

Hexi Corridor, at the foot of Yanzhi Mountain.

The Shandan Horse Farm has been emptied out. Not only are there no horses, but even no cattle or sheep are left.

The news that Wu Jie had killed chieftains, herdsmen, and landowners in Liangzhou had spread to Gansu and Suzhou. The Xixia civil and military officials who wanted to surrender were frightened and forced to unite and fight desperately. They also told the lower-level soldiers and civilians that wherever the Ming army passed, they would definitely massacre the city, and if they wanted to survive, they had to fight to the death.

In the flat valley southeast of Yanzhi Mountain, a Ming Dynasty grain transport team was being besieged.

The enemy came from the east side of Yanzhi Mountain, where the road was closer but rugged and desolate. Wu Jie's army's route was to go through Shandan Horse Farm on the west side of Yanzhi Mountain.

There were several thousand people in this grain transport team, five hundred of whom were garrison troops, and the rest were all civilian laborers transporting grain.

They surrounded the carts and wheelbarrows as a barrier, and piled up the food carried by livestock on the periphery. They had been fighting with the enemy for two hours.

Nearly a thousand civilians were killed or wounded, most of them shot by arrows!
The Xixia cavalry also suffered heavy casualties. Not only did the 500 Ming soldiers carry bows and crossbows, but even some civilians were equipped with bows and crossbows. These civilians came from Hehuang, and many of them were exiled prisoners. They had to participate in military training during the slack season.

“Da da da da~~”

The sound of horse hooves was heard, and there was thunderous cheering on the Ming side. They had finally received reinforcements.

But there were only 200 brave cavalrymen, while the Western Xia had more than 3,000 cavalrymen.

"Kill it!"

The generals on both sides gave orders at the same time.

The general of the Western Xia was called Renduo Mingyi, who was from a great family in Liangzhou. The Renduo Spring City built by the Western Xia was named after the Renduo family.

When Wu Jie captured Liangzhou City, Ren Duo Mingyi fled with his troops.

But his brothers, the landowners and herdsmen in his clan, were beheaded by Wu Jie after they surrendered. Several clan members fled to Ganzhou to report the news, and Ren Duomingyi was so angry that he swore revenge because Wu Jie's killing of the surrendered was too unreasonable!

This guy has a deep blood feud, and so do the Ming army generals who came to support him.

Wu Jie had two generals under his command.

One was called Wang Jun, nicknamed Wang Kaishan in the army. There are wrong names, but there are no wrong nicknames. You can tell who he is by his nickname. In history, Wu Jie was afraid that Wang Jun would surrender to the Jin Kingdom, so he married his daughter, who had just come of age, to Wang Jun, who was almost 30 years old.

One of them was named Yang Zheng, an old subordinate and friend of Wu Jie.

Yang Zheng participated in all the victories won by Wu Jie in the early period, and performed the most difficult and dangerous tasks. In history, Yang Zheng fought against the Jin army and won nine battles in a row, and never lost in direct combat. It was he who led his troops to fight and made Sarihe cry.

Moreover, Yang Zheng was a versatile man in politics and military affairs, and was very good at governing the people.

Unfortunately, he was portrayed too badly in the Southern Song Dynasty fantasy novel "Yijianzhi". The book said that he was cruel and bloodthirsty, and even skinned his concubines at home.

"Western Xia barbarians, give me back your grandfather's life!" Yang Zheng took the lead with a spear in hand.

His father, Yang Zhong, was killed in the battle against Western Xia at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty. It was said that he was shot by dozens of arrows.

Yang Zheng took the initiative to stay behind, leading 2,000 cavalrymen to protect the grain route from Liangzhou to Ganzhou. He divided the 2,000 cavalrymen into ten teams, with one man riding two horses to patrol back and forth along the route, and directly charged at the Xixia when they encountered them.

This is already the third battle.

The Western Xia soldiers did not dare to engage in direct combat with the main force of the Ming army, and always sent out cavalry to attack the grain routes.

I saw two hundred brave Ming cavalrymen rushing towards more than three thousand Western Xia cavalrymen.

Yang Zheng did not take such a small enemy seriously. In history, he often led his infantry to charge directly at the Jin cavalry, and the entire army used axes and long swords to chop the horses' legs.

However, more than 3,000 Xixia cavalrymen took turns shooting arrows at the 200 Ming cavalrymen. They were divided into ten teams to encircle and patrol, but they did not dare to engage in close combat. They would immediately distance themselves after shooting an arrow.

Facing an enemy that was ten times his size, Yang Zheng was still leading his squad to charge forward.

Moreover, they were divided into four teams, each of which was divided into two small teams to cooperate with each other. Fifty riders rushed in one direction, and at the same time rushed in four directions, moving forward without stopping.

Invincible!
Yang Zheng led two teams of fifty men in total. He withstood the hail of arrows and fiercely bit the enemy in front of him who wanted to run after shooting arrows.

The Xixia cavalry, numbering more than 300, kept turning their heads to shoot arrows, but the arrows hit the armor of the men and horses without any killing power. Another group of enemies, numbering about 300, also shot arrows at Yang Zheng from the side, but they did not dare to rush over for a close-range attack.

Yang Zheng only had eyes for the enemy in front of him, completely ignoring the enemy on the side. He would catch up with an enemy and stab him to death with his spear.

Less than ten minutes.

More than 3,000 Xixia cavalry were defeated by these 200 elite Ming cavalry.

Ren Duo Mingyi also had armor, and even his horse was covered with leather armor. But he was running away very fast at this moment. This kind of cavalry charge was too terrifying, and the Xixia cavalry dared not stop it.

Not to mention the problem of equipment, they were completely defeated in terms of momentum.

The Xixia cavalry returned to where they came from, and galloped along the remnant of Yanzhi Mountain. But when they were about to reach the mountain pass, a river blocked their way. It was a small river flowing down from Yanzhi Mountain, irrigating a narrow and long farming belt stretching for hundreds of miles.

If it is the dry season, you can wade across on horseback.

But now it is spring, and the snow on Yanzhi Mountain has melted, causing the water level of the creek to rise sharply.

The Xixia cavalry fled in panic along the river bank. Seeing the Ming cavalry approaching, some of them jumped into the river. For those Xixia cavalry without armor, jumping into the river to escape might still save their lives, but if they kept running away, they would be doomed sooner or later.

One cavalryman after another jumped into the river, but the generals and officers did not dare to do so.

They are all wearing armor!
"The thief will die!"

Yang Zheng went straight to Ren Duo Ming Yi, because this guy had the best armor. Ren Duo Ming Yi looked back and saw Yang Zheng knocking down a man. He was so scared that he whipped his horse to speed up.

They chased all the way to the foot of Yanzhi Mountain, and after running along the gentle slope for a while, the mountain became steeper and steeper. Renduo Mingyi found that there were Ming troops blocking the way to the west, and there was a river to the east, so he had no choice but to abandon his horse and climb up the mountain.

Yang Zheng dismounted, hung up his spear, took down the iron rod, and chased after him using his hands and feet.

Jinda Mingyi also abandoned his spear and climbed the mountain, panting. He saw that Yang Zheng had separated from his soldiers and the other Ming soldiers were still far away, so he turned around and drew his sword to chop at Yang Zheng.

Yang Zheng grabbed the bushes with his left hand and swung the iron rod with his right hand, hitting the enemy general's calf hard.

"what!"

Ren Duo Mingyi screamed and his tibia was broken.

Yang Zheng swung out with the stick again, hitting Ren Duo Mingyi on the waist, and the force penetrated into him so hard that it seemed to break his intestines.

"Oh!"

There was another dull thud, and the iron rod hit his chest hard.

Ren Duo Mingyi fell down with blood spurting from his mouth. As soon as he lay down, his helmet was hit hard by a stick.

Yang Zheng just felt relaxed all over, with a particularly ferocious smile on his face.

His grandfather was killed by the Xixia people, his father was killed by the Xixia people, and his brother was also killed by the Xixia people!
Yang Zheng dragged the enemy's corpse down the mountain. When he saw some prisoners, he immediately scolded them, "I said we won't keep any of them. Why are you tying up these bastards?"

An officer said: "The military order is not to keep Xixia generals and officers alive. Those who were tied up are just soldiers."

"Kill them all together. I will take the blame if anything goes wrong." Yang Zheng said.

The officer hesitated for a moment, then ordered the soldiers to kill the prisoners. No one would tell anyone about this matter.

……

Ganzhou City.

"Boom boom boom!"

Wu Jie's army continued to bombard the city walls, and the remaining soldiers in the city were terrified.

Many of them escaped from Liangzhou. They rode their horses very fast and took away all the war horses and livestock from Shandan Horse Farm on the way.

There are now nearly 100,000 horses in the city, and other livestock have no fodder to eat. The soldiers kill cattle and sheep for meat every meal, and many livestock have even starved to death.

"I'm going to the Western Regions. Do you want to go with me?" Wei Mingyan asked directly.

The generals remained silent.

Wei Mingyan said angrily: "The Ming army has artillery, and the city wall will collapse sooner or later. We can't win the battle in the wild, so are we all going to stay here and wait for death? Yelu Dashi has also written to you, right? As long as we go to the Western Regions, he will give us pastures. There are only foreigners there, and they will definitely treat us well!"

A general said, "My family is all in Blackwater City. I only brought my son and nephew with me. If I flee to the Western Regions now, will I abandon my family members?"

Weiming Yanzhi said: "My family is in Ganzhou City. If we break out now, the elderly, the weak, women and children will definitely not be able to escape. I will lose my family just like you, but I can marry many foreign women in the Western Regions. You have all heard that you will be killed if you surrender. The enemy commander is a lunatic!"

The general lowered his head in thought, as if he couldn't bear to leave his wife and children.

"I would like to follow the general to the Western Regions," said another general. This man's hometown was in Suzhou, and he could take his family with him on the way to escape, and even have the opportunity to take away his property.

Several generals from Shazhou and Guazhou also agreed.

Wei Ming Yanzhi looked at one person and asked, "Where is your Zhang family?"

Zhang is a big family in the Hexi Corridor, and many common people have the surname Zhang. Although the person in front of him is not a direct descendant of Zhang Yichao, he is also a descendant of Zhang Yichao's clan.

"Let's go." The Zhang family member sighed.

As dusk approached, the Ming army stopped shelling and gradually withdrew to the camp.

The Ming army camp was divided into two locations, both located on the banks of the Heihe River, otherwise it would be difficult to obtain water.

When the Ming army returned to the camp for dinner, the gates of Ganzhou City were all opened, and countless generals and cavalry rushed out. They deceived the soldiers that the Ming army was going to massacre the city, so the civilians who could be allocated land and pastures were also deceived by them to flee to the Western Regions.

The Ming army also announced to the people in the city that ordinary soldiers could be allocated farmland, pastures, seeds and livestock, but the Xixia soldiers in the city did not dare to believe these words.

Not only were the Xixia soldiers fleeing, but also many old, weak, women and children, and anyone who could ride a horse were fleeing.

Anyway, there was no shortage of horses in the city, so the entire Shandan Horse Farm was moved here.

They ran wildly along the north bank of the Black River, setting fire to food supplies and houses before leaving.

Wu Jie sent out all his cavalry to pursue, and ordered his infantry to occupy the city and put out the fire.

The slow-fleeing Xixia soldiers and civilians were intercepted by the Ming cavalry, numbering more than 30,000 people. Most of them were old, weak, women and children, and there were also many Xixia infantrymen who were not good at riding. They could not run fast at all when they suddenly fled on horseback.

The fleeing Xixia soldiers and civilians arrived in Suzhou without stopping.

Those who had families went to pick them up, while those who had no families looted civilians, emptied Suzhou City and continued to escape.

Five thousand Ming cavalrymen came after them, but they did not dare to fight, and abandoned a large number of people and supplies, and continued to flee westward in a panic. Then, they looted and plundered in Guazhou and Shazhou, burned all the houses in the two cities, and went straight to Hami to seek refuge with Yelu Dashi.

Yelu Dashi is about to have a decisive battle with the Seljuks!
(End of this chapter)