Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 883 Exceptions
Yang Jiye narrowed his eyes and said, "It seems that Liangzhou is not only taking precautions, but also very likely to make big moves."

After a pause and a moment of contemplation, Yang Jiye continued: "In order to increase the number of detection horses by three times, push out another ten miles, so that the enemy will not detect the reality of our army. In addition, let the special battalion of the special battalion dispatch capable men , secretly sneaked behind the enemy, and inquired about the military situation."

The two orderlies said yes, then saluted, and galloped away.

...

...

At a temporary rest point, Tang Xingwu unfolded the map and said to Yang Jiye and Huang Dongqiu: "Commander, please look at the entire Liangzhou, with the Qilian Mountains on the west, Tengger and Badain Jilin deserts on the east, and the so-called " Hexi Corridor". Because of the mountains in the front and the desert in the back, the famous Gulang Gorge is called the "Golden Pass and Silver Lock" of the Hexi Corridor. The narrowest part is only four or five steps wide. Living in Liangzhou is tantamount to choking the throat of the Hexi Corridor, which is known as an important place in the Western Regions that "connects the front line to the vastness and controls the throat of the five counties."

Yang Jiye nodded, and Tang Xingwu continued: "Liangzhou is rich in grains, especially wheat and rice. There is no danger of drought or flood in the year, especially in animal husbandry. Since the Han Dynasty established a county here, Liangzhou has governed seven counties. After many years of operation, it has a large population and abundant products. It is said that there are 11 households in Liangzhou. Eleven years ago, the Tubo tribe set up Xiliang Mansion in Liangzhou. The prefecture established itself as the king of Pan Luo. Now it governs the five counties of Lingguzang, Shenniao, Fanhe, Changsong and Jialin. Among them, there are 7000 Han households, [-] Tubo households, and more than [-] Qiang households. There are [-] households. There are [-] fine cavalry and [-] infantry guarding the city."

"So, with the strength of Liangzhou's troops, even if they go all out, they will not dare to fight our army. At most, they will sneak attack with a small group of cavalry, and they will never dare to fight head-on. It stands to reason that they are the most correct choice to defend the city. "

Yang Jiye pondered for a while and said: "Unless Liangzhou has foreign aid, the closest to Liangzhou is Ganzhou in the west and Qingtang in the south. Only the troops from these two places can reach Liangzhou within two or three days, so Liangzhou dispatched a large army to block the road, trying to surprise us by surprise. Unexpectedly, the Ministry of Security’s rule that every day the spies within a hundred miles ahead should have news delivered no matter whether they are busy or not, exposed their plot.”

Tang Xingwu's eyes flickered, and he said: "The commander-in-chief means that the coalition forces of Liangzhou, Qingtang and Ganzhou are probably hidden in a hidden place ahead, and they want to ambush us."

Yang Jiye nodded slightly, glanced at Tang Xingwu appreciatively, but then turned serious, and said: "But the premise of making all these judgments is that the Ministry of Security stipulates that there must be news delivered within a hundred miles of your direction every day. There will be mistakes, after all, so far, our army's spies have not found any large enemy troops."

...

...

Ten miles to the north of the main city of Liangzhou, Kou Minglu, an envoy of the Western Region Branch of the Ministry of Security, saw through a binoculars that four messengers were found by Liangzhou Jingqi, who were blocked from the road, and then besieged and killed.His face was extremely ugly. This was already the fourth group of messengers he had sent out, and all of them were robbed and killed by the Liangzhou army without exception.

In the afternoon of the day before yesterday, Jingqi in Liangzhou City suddenly mobilized and blocked all roads from Liangzhou to Shunzhou, prohibiting anyone from passing through. It would take three days to detour to the fastest war horse in Shunzhou.At the same time that the road was blocked, Qingtang in the south of Liangzhou and Ganzhou in the west each dispatched [-] cavalry, and suddenly rushed to Liangzhou.Although his spies got the news at the first time, the road leading to Shunzhou was closed. Kou Minglu sent four groups of messengers, but they failed to pass the blockade.Among them even two gold medal spies.

"My lord, we have tried our best. If Master Tang does not receive any news from us within a day, he should have some guesses. He will report to Yang Shuai again. With Yang Shuai's prudence in commanding the army, he should be vigilant." The person in charge of Liangzhou One of the spies leader, named Zhou Hu.

Kou Minglu was so gloomy that he was able to drip water, and said: "At this point, this is the only way to go. However, Yang Shuai must be vigilant in advance, and it is good that the army is not ambushed. Otherwise, we will be held accountable for the mistake of not sending the news in time. The Western Regions Branch cannot escape. If the loss is heavy, you and I will wait to be questioned by His Majesty and the Minister! At least, you and I may be punished to the end, and at worst, we will be imprisoned! "

Zhou Hu couldn't help but change his expression when he heard this, he pondered for a while, and said, "My lord, if we do something to atone for our sins... It's just that the risk is not small, and the Liangzhou Department under it will probably suffer heavy losses."

Kou Minglu's eyes flickered, he ignored Zhou Hu's risk, and said, "How can I atone for my crime?"

Zhou Hu said: "There are only [-] defenders in Liangzhou City. They are all guarding the city wall at [-] o'clock. The force in the city is actually extremely empty. We only need to..."

Kou Minglu nodded, with a flash of determination in his eyes, he said, "Very well, then let's start preparing! This officer will strengthen you with four more masters."

Zhou Hu respectfully said yes.

...

...

Groups of horse scouts didn't find anything unusual from the beginning to the end, but Yang Jiye's expression became more dignified and solemn. The more he looked like this, the more it showed that his previous guess with Tang Xingwu and Huang Dongqiu was correct.What's more, a group of spies sent out by the special warfare battalion have not returned yet.

However, when it was almost noon, bad news suddenly came from the explorer in front of him. .But what is strange is that no ambush was found nearby.

Yang Jiye immediately stopped the army and asked Tang Xingwu to take out a map with a group of marching staff to analyze it. It was a headache. The destroyed road was the only way to go. If you want to detour, you have to walk more than 30 miles .

Yang Jiye hesitated.

"Are you sure you didn't notice the enemy's ambush?" Huang Dongqiu asked Tanma.

"Reporting to the head of the army, the humble officials have carefully checked the area within two miles of the valley road, and indeed they have not found any enemy troops." Tan Ma felt a little dissatisfied in his heart, but he didn't show it in his answer.Those who can be sent out to be scouts are all at least first-class non-commissioned officers, and all of them are very capable.Huang Dongqiu's obvious distrust, even if he is a low-ranking person, he will feel a little unhappy.

"Understood. Let's explore again!"

"Yes." Tanma saluted Yang Jiye and Huang Dongqiu, turned around and rode away.

Huang Dongqiu turned around and said to Yang Jiye: "Commander, this is probably the enemy's tactic to stagnate the enemy. Otherwise, how can the road be damaged without ambushes? Our army doesn't care about it, just use the vanguard to clear the way."

"If this is the case, what's the use of the enemy's delaying our army?" Yang Jiye asked back.

Huang Dongqiu thought for a while and said: "If there is no ambush, it is to prepare for more time to defend the city. If there is an ambush, it is probably to control our marching speed through this method, so that we can appear in the ambush they booked within a certain period of time. Place."

Before Huang Dongqiu surrendered to Chengxiang Fu Kingdom, he was already the commander of the Northwest Frontier Army of the Song Dynasty. From a senior general of the third rank, he had commanded tens of thousands of troops for many years.Strictly speaking, apart from Yang Jiye, Huang Dongqiu was the one who commanded tens of thousands of troops and had the most experience in large-scale battles among Ye Chen's generals.His judgment at this time has to be said to be very convincing.Yang Jiye remained silent, and turned to look at Tang Xingwu and the marching staff around him. Tang Xingwu and the staff judged that Huang Dongqiu was similar, but no one suggested a detour.Apparently, the generals and academies of Xiangfu Kingdom's Western Expeditionary Army generally hold a contemptuous attitude towards the small Liangzhou army, and think that it is not worth detouring thirty miles for this little trick.Even Yang Jiye is no exception to this mentality, but he is more cautious in his heart.

"The whole army will move forward slowly for the time being, and wait for the spies from the special warfare battalion to come back before making a decision." Yang Jiye finally said.The spies of the special brigade have a very strong reconnaissance ability to sneak into the depths of the enemy on the battlefield. This has been fully proved in the battle with the Liao State years ago.

The Hexi Corridor starts from Wushaoling in the east and ends at Yumen Pass in the west. It is between Nanshan and Beishan in the north and south. It is about 800 miles long and several miles to nearly a hundred miles wide. It is a narrow and long flat land running from northwest to southeast, shaped like a corridor. , because it is located to the west of the Yellow River, it is called the Hexi Corridor.From east to west are Lanzhou, Liangzhou, Ganzhou, Suzhou, Guazhou, and Shazhou.

Most of Liangzhou is located in the eastern part of the Hexi Corridor. Because it is in the Qilian Mountains, although the Gobi grassland in the corridor is suitable for cavalry, the situation on both sides is high, and the beam-shaped mountains covered by loess have wide ridges and deep and steep valleys.There are thousands of miles of barren and desolate wind and sand grasslands, and the earthy hills and Berlins with valleys and forests. The valleys are connected, but it is very suitable for Tibetan soldiers, and it is not difficult to find a place that can hide tens of thousands of troops.

Tang Xingwu personally came to check the valley road that was full of rocks, trees and many wooden nails. The spies had a good eye, the length was indeed about one mile, and the valley road was neither too dangerous nor an ambush benefits.The hills on both sides of the valley road are bare, except for some strange rocks, there are only a few sparse tree stumps on the loess everywhere. When you climb up and look at it, you can see it for miles around.

Tang Xingwu naturally guessed that Yang Jiye specially ordered him to observe the enemy's situation.Therefore, he couldn't help but be more careful, and ordered his subordinates to search carefully, and he dared not let go of every suspicious place.After tossing like this for a quarter of an hour, I still got nothing.

Tang Xingwu faintly felt something unusual in his heart, so he didn't dare to delay, so he hurried back and reported the truth to Yang Jiye.

Yang Jiye finally felt relieved after hearing Tang Xingwu's report.Fearing that the delay would be too long, he ordered the whole army to rest on the spot, drink water and eat dry food, and at the same time specially transferred a battalion to assist the forward troops to clear the way.

(End of this chapter)