I served as an admonisher in the Song Dynasty

Chapter 489 Little Xixia, take it easy! I predicted your prediction
The setting sun is golden.

The sunlight stretches everyone's shadow very long.

In front of Qingtang City.

Zuo Siluo's body was wrapped in a golden velvet cloth, while Dong Zhen's body was covered with a white cloth.

Mozhanjiao was seriously injured and was taken to the city for treatment.

The soldiers and civilians in the city came out one after another to express their condolences to Zuo Siluo.

This "son of Buddha" is not only their leader, but also their spiritual belief.

No one expected that he would leave the world in this way!
With Zuosiluo's handwritten letter of abdication in his hand, Xiazhen naturally became the second-generation leader of the Zuosiluo tribe, that is, the new Buddhist.

At this time.

Xia Zhen walked up to Su Liang, who was not far away, and said in a loud voice, "Central Prime Minister Su, the Zuosiluo tribe is willing to return to the Song Dynasty. Xia Zhen requests to sign the contract of returning to the Song Dynasty immediately. This is also my father's last wish!"

"Okay." Su Liang nodded slightly.

Xiazhen performed very smartly this time.

Now is the best time for the Zuosilu tribe to return to the Song Dynasty.

If we delay any longer, some of the wealthy families and nobles in the city will most likely leave Qingtang City with their assets.

It is more difficult to control.

But once the contract to return to the Song Dynasty is signed, if those people dare to escape from Qingtang City, they will be considered as rebelling against the Song Dynasty.

No one can afford this crime.

Su Liang had already prepared the contract for the Zuosilo tribe to return to the Song Dynasty.

Zuosiluo still maintains its internal self-governance, and the Song Dynasty will not interfere with the normal lives of the people here.

However, the military power belongs to the Song Dynasty court, and they must abide by the laws of the Song Dynasty.

immediately.

Xia Zhen stood at the foot of the city gate and read out the terms of the contract of return to Song in front of many soldiers and civilians.

Then he looked around and asked loudly, "Are there any opponents?"

“Are there any opponents?”

“Are there any opponents?”

Xia Zhen asked three times in a row, his voice getting louder and louder.

There was silence all around.

This contract of return to Song changed the identity of the Zuosilo tribe, but not only did it not harm other aspects, it also helped their trade prosper.

If it was Champa from the Western Xia or Liao Dynasty, there would surely be crazy looting and killing.

"From this moment on, all the people of the Zuosilo tribe will officially become the people of the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty is mighty!" Xia Zhen said loudly.

"The Great Song Dynasty is mighty! The Great Song Dynasty is mighty! The Great Song Dynasty is mighty..." The surrounding soldiers and civilians all shouted along.

In the future, all the members of the Zuosilo tribe will be grateful to Xiazhen.

This is a wise decision.

It is enough to keep the people here away from war and lead a rich and stable life.

Immediately afterwards, Xia Zhen and Su Liang signed a contract to return to Song Dynasty.

Su Liang also gave Xia Zhen enough face.

He did not choose to lead his troops into the city, but instead prepared to lead his troops back directly.

After the great disaster that the Zuosilo tribe had gone through, Xia Zhen must have felt very sad, and he also needed to stabilize the morale of the people in the Zuosilo tribe.

Su Liang's non-participation was actually a respect for the rules of "Zuosilo autonomy".

Subsequently.

Su Liang comforted Xia Jian with a few words and then led his troops away.

The Zuosiluo tribe would send troops to fight when the Xia Dynasty was completely destroyed. As for the war on the banks of the Yellow River, there was no need for them to get involved at all.

……

September 1st, at nightfall.

Su Liang led his troops back to the military camp on the banks of the Huanghe River. He and Di Qing decided to set out for the banks of the Yellow River tomorrow.

Weiming Xude and Weiming Aji gathered more than 20,000 Western Xia soldiers and claimed to be the 80,000-strong Weiming Army.

This time, the two were quite arrogant.

Not only did they shout the slogan "Capture Su Liang alive and cut off his tongue, capture Di Qing alive and stab his face", they also threatened that if the Song Dynasty dared to attack Xia, they would turn defense into offense, march into Bian Jing, and capture Zhao Zhen.

Su Liang didn't know where the two of them got the confidence and courage this time.

However, the shameless spirit of the Xixia soldiers is still worth learning from for the Song Dynasty.

At least it can boost morale.

……

The third night of September.

Su Liang, Di Qing and others were still three days' journey from the bank of the Yellow River.

The intelligence soldier at the front suddenly got a piece of news.

Weiming Xude and Weiming Aji secretly recruited men from surrounding tribes at night on the banks of the Yellow River. All of them, ranging from ten years old to sixty years old, were forced into their military camp.

According to incomplete statistics.

Five days ago, at least five thousand laborers had been conscripted.

However, these civilians did not build fortifications on the banks of the Yellow River, but hid in the military camps and never appeared.

"This is weird! Why would they recruit civilians from the surrounding areas? And why would they do it at night?"

"The reinforcements from Zhuolao City have clearly arrived, and they can be deployed. These civilians have no fighting power at all, so what's the use of having so many people? They will only waste military rations!" Di Qing asked in confusion.

Ordinary civilians have no fighting power at all and can easily disrupt military morale and hinder their troops.

Di Qing was a little confused.

Su Liang also felt that this matter was a bit strange.

The other party first created a huge momentum, and then conscripted civilians at night. There must be something fishy going on.

"Weiming Xude is a man of deep thoughts, and Weiming Aji is not a reckless man either. There must be a reason why the two of them did this. We will investigate once we reach the bank of the Yellow River."

"Yeah." Di Qing nodded.

……

On the north bank of the Yellow River.

The side of a rocky dam.

Several craftsmen stepped on the ladder and painted red paint on the line of large characters carved on it.

This line of large characters was written by Wei Mingxude himself.

More than ten craftsmen spent seven days on rubbing and carving.

The specific content is "Capture Su Liang alive and cut off his tongue, capture Di Qing alive and tattoo his face" in fourteen large characters.

Each character is nearly two meters high.

The Yellow River in this area is basically about two to three hundred meters wide. Standing on the low place on the opposite bank of the Yellow River, you can just see this line of words clearly.

And this moment.

Weiming Xude and Weiming Aji stood on the side of the dam, looking at the line of words that were about to take shape, and were very happy.

During this period, the two brothers were mainly busy with three things.

First, the supervisor engraved the words.

Second, conscript civilians at night.

Third, write memorials.

The two men kept expressing to the court that they would fight the Song army to the death here and would never allow a single Song soldier to cross the Yellow River.

Weiming Aji looked at the words on the side of the dam and said with a smile: "Brother, if this plan succeeds, not only will it be a great achievement for the Weiming family, but we won't have to guard the border anymore in the future!"

"Yes, as long as we can cause a crushing defeat in this battle, we will be successful!"

……

September 6th, afternoon.

Su Liang and Di Qing led the army to the military camp on the south bank of the Yellow River.

present.

There are nearly 40,000 soldiers stationed in this military camp, so it is no problem for them to defeat the more than 20,000 Xixia soldiers on the other side.

That night.

Di Qing and Su Liang began to read the intelligence about the other side in the central military tent.

At present, Weiming Xude and Weiming Aji have a total of more than 20,000 soldiers, plus about 8,000 civilian laborers, a total of more than 30,000 people.

These more than 30,000 people were all stationed on the north bank of the Yellow River.

The city of Zhuolao was under the jurisdiction of Mo Zang Duohu of the Mo Zang family. There were about 60,000 soldiers in the city, all of whom were elite soldiers transferred from Xingqing Prefecture.

For the Song army, crossing the Yellow River was not a difficult task.

The width of the Yellow River in this area was only 200 to 300 meters, and the current was not turbulent. Di Qing had already ordered his men to gather boats, ropes, planks, etc. As long as there were enough long-range weapons, the entire army could cross the river within three days.

After reading the intelligence from the other side of the strait in recent days, Su Liang was a little confused.

First, why didn’t Western Xia send more troops since it was on the north bank of the Yellow River?

The soldiers in Zhuola City refused to leave. Judging from the situation, Western Xia was preparing to defend Zhuola City after the Weiming army led by Weiming Xude and Weiming Aji was defeated.

It is really strange that one of the two armies on the Western Xia border was so powerful that they wanted to attack Bian Jing, while the other part was defending the city.

Secondly, Weiming Xude and Weiming Aji were a little too ostentatious, and their actions were mostly loud but ineffective.

Not only did the two men declare that they would "capture Su Liang alive and cut off his tongue, and capture Di Qing alive and stab his face", they also expressed their determination to "fight the Song army to the death and not let a single Song soldier cross the Yellow River" in a memorial submitted to the Western Xia court.

But on the other side, they only set up two crossbow platforms and stone platforms.

What you need to know——

The best way for Western Xia to prevent Song soldiers from crossing the Yellow River was to use long-range weapons.

Their most commonly used weapons were crossbows, catapults and bows.

Among them, the crossbow and catapult have the greatest destructive power and require the joint efforts of multiple people, and the crossbow platform and stone platform need to be installed in advance.

However, the arrangements made by Weiming Xude and Weiming Aji on the other side of the river were very sloppy and did not seem like those of a military family at all.

Third, why do we have to conscript civilians at night?

This was also what Su Liang was most puzzled about. Even if they were temporarily conscripting able-bodied men for the purpose of fighting, it was difficult to understand why they were conscripted secretly and then hidden in the military camp.

……

The next day, it was nearly noon.

Di Qing and Su Liang appeared together on the south bank of the Yellow River.

When they raised their eyes, they saw the bright red words on the other side of the river: Capture Su Liang alive and cut off his tongue; capture Di Qing alive and stab his face.

The two were not angry about this, as the other party was just talking nonsense.

Su Liang looked across the Yellow River.

The enemy's fortifications were extremely simple, and most of them were built haphazardly, like children playing house.

Sloppy.

It's really sloppy.

Even if we picked up more gravel from the riverside and cut down some trees nearby, this wouldn't have happened.

This has nothing to do with being rich or poor or having tools; it doesn't matter at all.

At this time.

Di Qing smiled and said, "Jingming, it's only been two years, and Xixia's military power has become so weak?"

"If any of my lieutenants dare to arrange fortifications like this, they will be punished with at least 20 strokes of the cane. They are desperate, but why are they shouting slogans so loudly?"

Su Liang frowned slightly, feeling something was wrong.

Western Xia has always been a country that is good at everything except military.

They seize power or invade through force!

The Xixia horses, Xixia armor, and Xixia soldiers were never weak at any time.

At this time.

A bold idea suddenly popped up in Su Liang's mind.

He looked at Di Qing.

"Brother Hanchen, is it possible that they don't want to win, but are only seeking a miserable defeat?"

"What? Asking for a miserable defeat? Are they sick?" Di Qing looked puzzled.

"Let's go back to the tent and talk about it. I might have guessed right!" Su Liang suddenly became excited.

……

Two quarters of an hour later.

There were only Su Liang and Di Qing in the central military tent.

Su Liang first poured himself a glass of water, drank it all, and then slowly opened his mouth.

"Brother Hanchen, if you were the Western Xia Prime Minister, Mo Zang Epang, and knew that we wanted to occupy the entire Hehuang area, would you defend Zhuolao City or lead your troops to station troops on the banks of the Yellow River to block us?"

Di Qing said: "Of course we should station troops along the Yellow River. First, we can delay our reinforcements. Second, if we can hold the land north of the Yellow River, it will be like Zhuolao City has two lines of defense, which can be used for both attack and defense."

"In addition, it can also prove that Xixia is not afraid of us and has maintained the dignity of the country. If we occupy the entire Hehuang, it would be equivalent to attacking Xixia at its doorstep, and the Tangut nobles would probably not be able to sleep well!"

Su Liang nodded.

"Yes! Mo Zang Epang must have thought so. He had to do this regardless of whether he could hold on or not. He must have given a death order to Weiming Xude and Weiming Aji, telling them not to retreat even if they died in battle."

"If you were Weiming Xude, would you have a chance of winning?" Su Liang asked again.

Di Qing put himself in Wei Mingxude's shoes, thought for a moment and said, "There is definitely no chance of winning. Wei Mingxude knows the combat effectiveness of our Western soldiers, and he also knows how strong his men are."

"From the moment he left Zhuolao City, he was destined to either die, be captured by us, or be defeated and severely punished by Mo Zang Epang as a scapegoat. Those two brothers are definitely finished!"

"Yes, that was their fate. But Weiming Xude and Weiming Aji came up with another way, which not only saved their lives but also made contributions to the Xixia court!"

"What method?" Di Qing was very confused.

"A miserable defeat, or rather a pretended miserable defeat!"

Di Qing frowned and said, "Whether he was defeated for real or fake, he can't defend the banks of the Yellow River, so how can he achieve merit?"

Su Liang smiled slightly.

"This has to start with the court system of Western Xia."

"Although the power of Western Xia is currently in the hands of the Mo Zang brothers and sisters, the Tangut nobles are also tribes, with money, food, and soldiers. Their combined strength is no less than that of the Western Xia court. For a period of time, they were even able to completely influence the policies issued by the Western Xia court."

"In recent years, Mo Zang Epang has been trying to squeeze money and soldiers from the Tangut nobles, but he hasn't been able to squeeze out much."

"But this time, if we can cross the Yellow River and defeat the Xixia army and reach Zhuolao City, or even attack Zhuolao City, the Tangut nobles will be panicked and will certainly provide money, food, and manpower."

"I suspect that Weiming Xude, Weiming Aji and Mozang Epang have planned a disastrous defeat on the banks of the Yellow River in order to plunder the wealth of the Tangut nobles."

“If we attack, the main participants will be the conscripted civilians, and the real Weiming Army will definitely follow Weiming Xude and Weiming Aji and flee without a fight. Mo Zang Duohu who is guarding Zhuolao City should be following the orders of Mo Zang Epang and providing cover for him so that his soldiers can hide better.

"In this way, we won a great victory, and the Xixia army was defeated, with countless casualties."

"Earlier, Weiming Xude threatened to fight us to the death, and even carved the words 'Capture Su Liang alive and cut off his tongue, capture Di Qing alive and stab his face', not to intimidate us, but to let the Tangut nobles of Xixia know that they would fight with all their might, and then increase their panic after they were defeated."

"In this way, although Weiming Xude and Weiming Aji were defeated, they can help Mo Zang Epang obtain a large amount of property and soldiers. Mo Zang Epang will definitely protect them. Not only will they not die or be severely punished, but they may also enjoy endless wealth and glory in the future."

"Western Xia will definitely lose the battle on the Yellow River. Since we started to expand our border, neither the Zuosiluo tribe nor the Liao Kingdom dared to help them. We are doomed to lose!"

"A crushing defeat is obviously the best outcome. Afterwards, the Xixia soldiers will certainly hold on to Zhuolao City. If we attack with all our strength, and they are unable to defeat us, I'm afraid they will start the strategy of clearing the countryside, prolonging the war with us and consuming our strength..."

After listening to this, Di Qing thought for a long time before he finally understood.

In short.

The Western Xia knew that they would inevitably lose the battle on the Yellow River, so they designed a fake disastrous defeat to make it worthwhile and meaningful.

The Song Dynasty suddenly became the knife used by the Western Xia court to reap the Dangxiang nobles.

This is the most cost-effective strategy of the Western Xia court at the moment.

The loss changed from the initial "losing the buffer zone of Hehuang" to "losing the Hehuang land, but being able to plunder the wealth of the Dangxiang nobles into the pocket of the Western Xia court". In addition, Weiming Xude and Weiming Aji could also rely on this achievement to be exempted from punishment and gain merit.

The only miserable people are the people living along the Yellow River.

Without knowing anything, they would be blasted to the front of the battlefield by the Xixia soldiers, where they would fight a bloody battle with the Song soldiers, and then die on both sides of the river that nurtured them.

In war, the people at the bottom of society always suffer the greatest casualties.

"If so, then everything that Weiming Xude and Weiming Aji did on the river bank is natural! If we didn't know about it beforehand and accidentally killed thousands of civilians, it would be a big crime!" Di Qing said with emotion.

Wait for the Song army to cross the Yellow River.

Without knowing that the people wearing Xixia armor on the opposite side were civilians, they would surely launch wave after wave of long-range attacks.

Under the pressure of the Xixia soldiers behind them, these civilians could only hold their weapons and rush forward.

There is simply no other choice.

Until then.

The Song soldiers may have killed all these civilians without knowing that they were civilians.

And when so many people died, Weiming Xude and Weiming Aji achieved their purpose of making the Xixia nobles terrified.

They will certainly publicize the bloodlust and brutality of the Song soldiers.

This strategy is really sinister.

Di Qing and Su Liang were also plotted against.

And the biggest beneficiary became Mo Zang Epang.

Not only could he obtain the property of the Dangxiang nobles, he could also bring the Weiming Army under his control, and make the Western Xia court even more centralized.

As for whether the Song Dynasty would launch a full-scale campaign to destroy the Xia Dynasty, that was another matter in Mo Zang Epang's eyes.

"Jingming, how do we resolve this situation?" Di Qing looked at Su Liang.

Di Qing was good at deploying troops and launching surprise attacks, but he was not very good at court strategies.

Besides, with Su Liang, the super brain, around, he didn't want to think about it.

Su Liang smiled confidently and said, "Since we already know about this plan, we must definitely ruin it!"

(End of this chapter)