The great hero of the Silk Road, starting from a farm farmer

The New Year's Eve of the thirteenth year of Jingli was an unforgettable festival for the people of Wazhou. On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, a grand ceremony of honoring soldiers was organized in the city. More than three thousand Anxi soldiers and horses formed a square formation and were reviewed by the Grand Governor in turn in the city gate square.

In order to show that he was a warrior on horseback, after the parade horses passed through the city gate square and lined up, the Song Dynasty Governor rode a white horse out of the city gate, saluted the soldiers in turn, and accepted their mountain calls.

For this military ceremony, the people in the city had a designated safe area to watch the ceremony, and famous dignitaries were specially invited to the viewing platform at the city gate to watch the military.

After the parade was over, the Wazhou Prefectural Government organized a lantern parade for the local people, and there was also a musical performance that night!

For the whole day, Wazhou City was filled with an atmosphere of shock and joy. After the ceremony of showing off soldiers, for several days, the power in Wazhou City still lingered.

For ordinary people, the impact brought by Yaobing will be unforgettable for a long time. They didn't know how powerful the powerful army in the distance was, but they saw the majesty of the soldiers guarding them. Especially the deafening gun salute on the day of the ceremony was extremely inspiring!

Compared with the people in Wazhou and even the entire Anxi territory, this year's festival is extremely miserable for the people of Dazheng.

The Mongol army took advantage of the winter to penetrate deep into the hinterland of the south of the Yangtze River, winning consecutive battles, forcing Emperor Zheng to take a boat and hide at sea to celebrate the New Year. The Ezhou defense line also did not stop the Mongolian army from moving south. Except for a few important cities, the Mongolian army roamed freely in the Huguang area, burning, killing and looting, as if they were in an uninhabited country. As a result, a large number of people in the entire central and southern hinterland were displaced and separated for life and death. .

At the same time, the Mongolian army's offensive on the western front also continued. As of the first month of the thirteenth year of Jingli, Shaanzhou had been besieged for about a hundred days. It is said that the Mongolian army controls the surrounding areas of Shaanzhou, and not even a flying bird can enter.

Shaanzhou was under siege, and the situation in Guanzhong and northern Shaanxi was also very serious. The Mongolian troops heading south from the Hetao area, except for a few important cities in Western Shaanxi, were not able to break through. Their guerrillas were roaming in large numbers in Western Shaanxi, suppressing them The Western Army of Dazheng was unable to move and could only sit and guard the city, watching helplessly as the people suffered.

As the Guanzhong area was invaded by the Mongolian army, more and more people fled to Anxi during this period, and the administrative department was under increasing pressure to calm the people.

The Mongolian army's new offensive against Zhengzhou, which started last winter, gives the impression that the tactics have changed. This time, they didn't seem to care about the gains and losses of one city or one place. They didn't attack big cities as they did before, but mainly focused on invading local areas and plundering wealth and people.

Of course, this may also be related to the strengthening of Dazheng's defense force and the improvement of the soldiers' fighting power and fighting spirit. The Mongolian army had a hard time attacking the big city. Didn't they have to change their target and try to gain more?

Looking at the battle between Meng and Zheng, Song Yingkui felt that the key node was the gain and loss in Shaanzhou City. Shaanzhou City is now not only a strategic place, but also a place of confidence.

If Shaanzhou can be defended, Dazheng may be able to survive the crisis of national annihilation, and the possibility of regaining lost territory and reorganizing the country is not even ruled out. If Shaanzhou City cannot hold on in the end, the little military morale Zheng Jun finally gathered will quickly dissipate, and other cities will be finished sooner or later.

Li Zhenggang has been presiding over the military affairs of Western Shaanxi for more than half a year. During these six months, he has also received financial, material and ordnance support from Anxi. However, he did nothing. It could neither provide support to the Shaanzhou defender Xu Guoqing who was close at hand, nor could it unite the various departments of Dazheng's Western Army to defend the territory of Western Shaanxi. If anyone puts a pig in this position, it will do better than him.

I heard that Dazheng Chaotang, who was hiding on the ship, was also very dissatisfied with Li Zhenggang's performance. It was rumored that he was preparing to remove him from his post and replace him with someone else.

Can the Zheng Dynasty really find a useful minister? If it was really useful, I wouldn't hide on a ship. This scene makes Song Yingkui feel like the national football team. Whenever the record is poor, everyone clamors to change the head coach, because you can't change anyone except the head coach! Li Zhenggang was defeated, but others were probably defeated even more than him. At least he could stabilize the leaders of the Western Army and let them hold on to important places. Let's not worry about the situation at Dazheng. The next few months will be extremely critical for the Anxi Army.

The first thing is to end the war in Qingfan Grassland. Starting the war requires determination and courage, and ending the war requires wisdom. The war on the Qingfan Grassland was fought on the initiative by the Anxi Army. To end the war properly requires wisdom.

Stabilizing Hexi and arranging the development of Yinzhou area this year so that Yinzhou can have considerable output this year are also things that need to be taken care of in the recent period.

Reasonable allocation of fiscal expenditures so that such a large stall opened this year can operate in an orderly manner and avoid structural imbalances is also a test that needs to be faced now.

As long as we survive safely until the second half of this year, everything in Anxi will enter a positive cycle.

The most impressive thing is that the strength and resources of soldiers will not be as stretched as they are now. No matter how the situation changes, people will not be at a loss and have no soldiers to use.

Furthermore, in the second half of this year, the conditions for Anxi to resettle refugees will be qualitatively improved compared to now. Even if there are an influx of 500,000 to 600,000 refugees all at once, Anxi will still be able to absorb them. Unlike before, I was in a dilemma because I was afraid that no one would be available, and I was afraid that too many people would come.

……

"Commander, there is an urgent report from Guanzhong. After holding on for a hundred days, the city of Shaanzhou was destroyed. General Xu Guoqing died for his country!" Just after the first month of the year, Song Yingkui received a military message that was both unexpected and not unexpected in Wazhou City.

"The city of Shaanzhou was still not defended in the end! Once Shaanzhou is broken, the Mongolian army can concentrate its forces into Shaanxi. The Mongolian army on the West Shaanxi North Road is not afraid of the Yellow River being frozen and unable to retreat north, and can also use all its strength to attack West Shaanxi. Why! The situation in Guanzhong has deteriorated extremely, which is very worrying." After listening to the report of the soldiers, Song Yingkui said a few words to the soldiers in frustration.

If Shaanzhou can hold on for a few more months, it will be much better for the Anxi Army. But how can an empty city with no reinforcements be able to hold on? Xu Guoqing was able to defend Shaanzhou City twice, which was already quite impressive. In such a huge Central Plains, we can't rely on one Xu Guoqing, right?

"Li Zhongcheng wrote a letter saying that he hopes we can provide him with some more ordnance and money. He will gather the elite of the Western Army in Guanzhong to fight the Mongolian Army!" When the soldiers reported the military situation of the fall of Shaanzhou, they also brought a letter from Li Zhenggang An urgent letter requesting help.

"With weapons and money, does he have the ability to defeat the Mongolian army in Guanzhong? At this time, if he doesn't even think about inviting our army to Shaanxi to help in the war, it is really rotten wood that cannot be carved. Forget it, let the Government Property Office prepare some ordnance Transported to Guanzhong, I hope it can play some role. In addition, send a message to General Liang Huo, asking her to find a way to strike a truce with the Western Fan within one month, and be prepared to lead the main force to Wazhou! "

(End of this chapter)