Became a feudal lord in the late Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 119 Generous Xia People

Banshi means triumphant, but the Zhenyuan Army ran as if their feet were greased. After all, they didn't really have an army of 50,000.

However, the peace talks and the covenant had become an established fact. When Liu Ling crossed the desert and returned to Yunzhong Mansion, the Xia people honored Yelu as the queen mother and the youngest son of Concubine Cao as the prince. They then assembled the troops of the six left-wing supervisors and military divisions to prepare for the east. Enter the "crusade" against rebellion.

Although Xia Lord Li Qianshun is not dead yet, he is about to die soon. After all, most people in the Xia people think that it would be better for everyone if he died.

In mid-November, there was snow in the desert, and almost everyone had horses and camels. The Zhenyuan Army arrived to the west of Yunzhong Mansion. Sentries were everywhere. Liu Ling also sent people to contact the Song Dynasty border. The new army Newspapers are being delivered continuously.

He originally thought that the four congresses of Song, Jin, Liao and Xia would blow their minds out of each other in Shuozhou, but the situation turned out to be unexpectedly harmonious:

In Ningzhou and Shuozhou, Emperor Liao and Xia general Li Liangfu were fighting fiercely on a large scale. The Jin army had very little desire to attack, and it was obvious that they wanted to wait for them to kill them.

Previously, Wang Ahai, the envoy of the Jin Kingdom, made an agreement with the Xia Lord Li Qianshun to deliver the land thousands of miles south of the old Liaoyin Mountain to the Xia Kingdom.

Why are the Jin people so generous this time?
  Because the Liao Emperor had previously been entrenched there with the remaining troops of the Liao Kingdom, the Jin people were trying to sow discord between Liao and Xia.

But now that the Liao Emperor has left the Yinshan and Jiashan areas, the Khitan and Xi tribes there have slowly expressed their attitude of submission; and if the Xia leader Li Qianshun dies at this time, or the Xia army suffers heavy casualties or is even defeated, There is no need to fully abide by this covenant.

There are many fine pastures in the land thousands of miles south of Yinshan Mountain.

This is the relationship of interest between the three kingdoms of Liao, Jin and Xia.

As for the Song Dynasty, the governors Liu Yanqing, Tong Guan and others adhered to the concept that if you don't do anything, you won't make mistakes, and stationed troops on the border. The Song army could not move out.

Li Qianshun, the leader of Xia, gave Li Liangfu most of his troops to hold off the Liao army. As for Li Qianshun himself, he was leading an army to attack Fuzhou. As long as he swallowed Fuzhou and some surrounding areas, Fengzhou City in the northwest of the Song Dynasty and The four walled cities will become isolated cities hanging outside.

At that time, Xia Kingdom will be able to open another 200 miles of territory.

Li Ganshun rode up to the front army and stared at the city wall. Qu Duan, who was covered in blood, noticed him almost instantly, grinned, and motioned for the crossbowman next to him to quickly aim at him.

"Commander, what should our army do?"

Liu Kai asked respectfully.

Xixia and his party completely impressed him physically and mentally, and he also had some other thoughts in his mind.

Liu Ling lowered his head and looked down at the map spread on the ground. He raised his feet and slowly walked from the position of Xixia Xingqing Mansion to Shuozhou and stood there.

"Zhong Yan, you have been on mission to two countries. How do you think the Liao people compare with the Jin people?"

"The people of Liao were weak and corrupt, while the people of Jin were brave."

"Where's Song?"

Liu Kai was stunned for a moment and did not answer.

At noon, several Zhenyuan Army generals and staff came to the commander's tent. Liu Ling singled out Han Shizhong and asked him to tell him how to send troops next.

Both the Liao and Xia armies were still very large in strength, not to mention that there were Jin men watching eagerly waiting to pick their heads.

But it happened that the soldiers and horses of the Three Kingdoms were still blocked on Liu Ling's only path.

Han Shizhong thought for a while and asked: "Why can't our army pass through the northern border of the Song Dynasty?"

There are soldiers and horses blocking the front, so take a detour.

Immediately, a staff member next to him coughed and said, "The people of Song Dynasty still want Yan Di."

Liu Ling and the Zhenyuan army on the expedition were completely wiped out, which meant that the Yan land had no owner. Unless the Song people were out of their minds, how could they let him pass at this time.

What's more, the Xia Lord is attacking Northern Xinjiang fiercely, and the Song people have many excuses to prevent Liu Ling from borrowing the road.

"Who is the coach of the Golden Army?"

A general replied: "Wan Yan Gao, the commander-in-chief of the Jin Army, and the former army commander Wan Yan Lou's room, have more than 30,000 troops. They should be stationed in Datong Prefecture."

Datong Mansion is almost where Yunzhong Mansion is located. It is similar to what Yanshan Mansion is to Yan Di.

After hearing these two names and military strength, Liu Ling was silent for a while.

"Where are the military strength of the Liao and Xia people?"

"The Liao army has more than 20,000 people, and there should be some grassland tribes to the north to join forces with it. Wan, this is the military report sent by the Song people."

The Song people only dared to find excuses to prevent Liu Ling's squad from returning to Yan, but they still maintained a fairly good relationship on the surface.

Liu Ling sent someone to report on his achievements in recording stones in the Helan Mountains of Western Xia. From Tong Guan to Liu Yanqing, there were official letters and documents "commending" them, and it was said that they were being hurriedly delivered to the capital for thousands of miles.

This is excellent evidence that demonstrates the "literary and martial arts" of the officials of the Song Dynasty.

If Liu Ling was blocked in the north this time, the Song Dynasty would definitely be willing to give him the title of county king.

"Where are Song's reinforcements?"

"No troops have arrived, and no horses can come out. And..." the staff member said solemnly: "The governor of Fuzhou sent an envoy to ask for help."

Including Han Shizhong, the handsome tent burst into laughter and was filled with joy.

Everyone agreed that they were from Yandi, then from the Zhenyuan Army, and also from Marshal Liu.

"Report!"

There were shouts from outside, Liu Ling nodded slightly, and a staff member lifted the curtain and shouted to the outside: "Report."

A school captain walked in quickly, bowed to Liu Ling and said:

"Baili is urgent, Fuzhou is urgent."

"read."

"The Lord of Xia, Li Qianshun, was on horseback patrolling outside the city of Fuzhou. He was shot by the Song people with a crossbow. He is now seriously injured and the morale of the army is in chaos."

Liu Ling licked his lips and asked, "You just said, how many soldiers and horses does Master Xia have?"

"More than thirty thousand."

Liu Ling silently calculated and said immediately:
  "Send envoys to the Xia army and tell them that the Xia Kingdom has established Queen Mother Yelu, and show them the Queen Mother's handwriting. Tell them that if they are willing to surrender, I can reward the three armies, reward their generals heavily, and invite them to be given titles. Anyway, I just promised them casually. That's it.

We must also tell them that if they do not surrender, their country's "counter-rebellion" troops have already set off, and not only will they die, but they will also be declared traitors by their court. "

"Here."

Liu Ling nodded, and the staff member left immediately. He sat on the main seat, discussed with everyone again for a while, and decided to eat the 30,000 Xia army first.

The soldiers and horses led by the Xia Lord himself are definitely not the "beggar"-like troops in the Xia Kingdom.

When Liu Ling entered Xingqing Mansion, he found clear military records there. Xia's capture army and kite army should all be in Xia's main army. They were a large number of cavalry and heavy cavalry, and they were the real strength of Xia's army. Where the elite is.

Xixia has many horse-producing areas, and together with the Western Regions, its own army may lack armor and weapons, but there is definitely no shortage of high-quality war horses.

In other words, it was the Xia Lord's trusted army. There was absolutely no shortage of war horses in their army, because even the Jin people would purchase war horses from Xixia, which shows their number.

If Lord Xia dies, then who should they belong to?
  Thinking of this,

His breathing couldn't help but become heavier.

　The cavalry configuration of the Central Plains dynasties in the past dynasties was usually one person and one horse. The best was generally based on the Tang Dynasty, one person and two horses. Tang border generals, such as An Lushan and others, could over-allocate cavalry, but they could also At most, it is a configuration of one war horse and two war horses, with the cavalry wearing heavy armor.

　　Gao Xianzhi of the Anxi Army of the Tang Dynasty was able to achieve "all infantry with private horses accompanying them", which exceeded the standard of six packhorses for a group (ten people) of the Tang Army, but he would never equip his cavalry with more than two horses.

　　War horses and army horses are not the same kind of horses. The latter are more of a pack horse. When Liu Ling came back from Xixia, there were a lot of horses and livestock in the army. He equipped the cavalry in the army with one man and two horses to ensure that each cavalryman had a war horse. It is already an extremely high configuration.

　　As for the Northern Song Dynasty, there were about 220,000 cavalry troops throughout the country. This number was relatively stable. By the time of Renzong, the number of army horses was estimated to be 100,000 at one time, which means that on average, two cavalrymen in the regular army could handle less than one horse.

　　In the hands of the current Zhao Guan family, the horse administration is even more decadent, and the number of war horses is extremely small.

　　Only the cavalry of the opponents Liao, Jin, and Xixia could achieve the configuration of one man and multiple horses. The standard for the regular cavalry of the Liao State was one man and three horses, while the Jin State had one soldier and two horses.

　　As for the later Yuan Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, one was to gather the strength of the whole country. The Qing Dynasty conquered Jungar on the grassland and obtained a large number of horses. However, only at its peak could they achieve five or six horses per person, and the cavalry configured in this way was actually It will not be equipped with heavy armor, which is different from the traditional cavalry usage of the Central Plains dynasties.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)