Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Lanzhou's flag did not change, so Li Yanxian came with his troops.

Zhang Ju, the governor of Lanzhou, had a coffin carried and placed directly on the Lanzhou city tower.

Li Si, the manager of the army, was ordered to go out of the city and said to Li Yanxian: "Prefect Zhang asked me to pass the message. There are only three thousand Lanzhou defenders. You can come to attack the city and seize the territory. The prefect has prepared a coffin for himself."

Li Yanxian looked helpless. He didn't want to fight Zhang Ju.

Zhang Ju, courtesy name Guocai, is from Pucheng, Fujian Province. He is over sixty years old this year.

This king used to be a royal censor in the palace. Because he opposed Tong Guan and Cai You's invasion of Liao Dynasty, he was dismissed from his post and returned home. According to the normal trajectory, he first became the governor of Qinzhou, and then went to Lizhou Road to work as a transfer envoy. Although he built plank roads and embankments on Lizhou Road, which had considerable political achievements, he offended Wang Fu and ordered him to manage Chiyang.

But Ju Ming and his son occupied Lizhou Road, so it was naturally impossible for Zhang Ju to come to Hanzhong to serve as an official, and to go around all the way to Lanzhou to be the magistrate.

This old gentleman with gray beard and hair was sitting on the tower leaning against the coffin, calmly facing Li Yanxian's thousands of rebels.

"Brother, Zhang Ju came to Lanzhou last year. He has been kind to the soldiers and civilians since he took office. He has a very high prestige in Lanzhou," Yan Ping advised. "With Zhang Ju guarding the city, Lanzhou will not be easy to capture, and even detailed operations will not be easy to use. It is better to attack the east first." There are our brothers in Guanbao and Nuzhe Valley, who can act as insiders and capture them in one fell swoop!"

Li Yanxian acted swiftly and neatly. Seeing that Lanzhou was well prepared, he immediately ordered: "Send troops to Dongguan Fort!"

More than four thousand riders turned around and left, and soon not a single person was left, as if they had never been here.

Li Yanxian conquered many states and counties and gathered more than 8,000 troops, more than half of whom were cavalry.

They were all light cavalry, with low armor coverage, but everyone carried a bow, and most of them rode inferior horses, and some even rode mules.

As for the infantry, they were arranged by Li Yanxian to defend the city.

"Prefect, prefect...father!"

Not long after Li Yanxian led his troops to leave, Zhang Ju suddenly fell into a coma and fell to the ground.

This sixty-year-old Fujian veteran was often sick when he was the governor of Qinzhou. Maybe he was not accustomed to the northwest climate. Now that he has been transferred to Lanzhou to serve as the governor, his condition has worsened. He had been struggling to hold on until now.

His son Zhang Ran was extremely sad and asked the government officials to carry him back to the state government.

Not long after, Zhang Ju woke up, opened his eyes and asked, "Are the bandits not back?"

"I haven't come back," Zhang Ran said with tears in his eyes, "Father, why are you doing this? If the thieves want to take the city, let them take it. The Song Dynasty can't be saved anyway."

Zhang Ju shook his head and said: "I have been loyal to the country all my life. Am I going to surrender to the thieves when I am about to die?"

Zhang Ran said: "Except for my father, everyone in Lanzhou wants to surrender to the thieves. It's just that my father treats them kindly and cannot bear to violate his wishes. But in the long run, someone will join forces to dedicate the city!"

Zhang Juqiang stood up with his sick body and went to inspect the city defense in person, telling the soldiers to defend the city well.

These soldiers complained that Zhang Ju was ignorant of current affairs, but seeing that he was haggard and thinking of the goodness of the prefect, they actually worked hard to defend the city, waiting for Zhang Ju to die of illness before turning to the thieves.

Two days later, news came from the east that Dongguan Fort was captured by Li Yanxian.

Zhang Ju muttered: "Lanzhou is almost gone, and there is nothing we can do to save it."

Because of its vast territory and sparsely populated area, Lanzhou has only one county, and the state city is the county seat.

But there are also large and small forts and gates to guard against the invasion of Xixia. No matter how prestigious Zhang Ju was, he could only keep the state and city intact, but those forts and gates were beyond his reach.

The soldiers in various forts and passes lived in extremely difficult conditions. The local supply of food and grass was insufficient and they often needed to be transported from the pass.

But there have been wars in the past few years, and Guanzhong itself does not have enough food, so how can it be transported all the way to Lanzhou?

Even if it can be transported, it will be divided among multiple states and counties. Moreover, Yao Gu's direct troops had to be guaranteed first, and then distributed to the fortresses of various states. After layers of deductions, there was not much left.

Li Yanxian led his troops to Dongguan Fort, and the soldiers in the fort immediately became excited.

They all know that Li Yanxian is a hero and have heard of Li Yanxian's deeds. Li Yanxian often spent all his money on banquets to support heroes.

The soldiers' thoughts were very simple. They believed that such a man who valued righteousness over wealth would definitely not deduct their food and salary!

So, with the help of several officers, the soldiers killed the guard and his confidants, invited Li Yanxian into Dongguan Fort to make the decision, and soon divided up the guard's wealth.

It can't be said to be dividing the spoils. The soldiers only got back the food and salary they deserved, and it was far from enough to replace their previous arrears!

Li Yanxian selected one person and asked him to lead the troops to garrison Dongguan Fort, and he went to Nuzhe Valley without stopping.

The female Zhegu guard general was so frightened that she ran away, fearing that she would be killed by her soldiers if she ran too slowly.

Just like this, Li Yanxian swept through, and within five days, Li Yanxian effortlessly captured Dingyuan City, Xishizhen, Xincheng and other walled cities, taking one-third of Lanzhou's territory.

One piece of news came back to Lanzhou, and the governor Zhang Ju was so anxious that he could not sleep at night.

"Prefect, prefect..." Lu Shi joined the army and rushed into the state government office.

Zhang Ju had become mentally numb and asked: "Which castle was lost again?"

The soldier who joined the army in recording the incident was frightened and said: "The Xixia army moved south from Zhuoluosi and has already broken through Dongyuguan. The defender of Xiguan Fort fled after hearing the news. If the Xixia army breaks through Jincheng Pass again, they will kill Lanzhou City!"

Zhang Ju stood up and confirmed: "They are not bandits, but Xixia?"

"It's Xixia!" Lu Shi joined the army and affirmed.

Zhang Ju's brain was running rapidly, and he guessed many things in an instant, and he shouted loudly: "Quickly change the flag, invite Li Yanxian to Lanzhou, and let him fight against the Xixia people!"

Here in Lanzhou, it’s just a small fight.

In the northeast, the main force of Xixia has defeated Xi'an Prefecture, Tiandu Village, Huaide Army, Zhenwucheng, and Jianning Village!

This was a deal Wanyan Zonghan secretly made with the Xixia people after being unable to attack Taiyuan for a long time.

Xixia sent troops to cooperate with the attack on Guanzhong, and the Jin Kingdom ceded Tiande, Yunnei, Wuzhou, and Hedong eight halls in return.

The territory ceded to Xixia by the Jin Kingdom all belonged to the old land of the Liao Kingdom, starting from Hohhot in the east, Wuliang Suhai in the west, Daqing Mountains in the north, and Shanxi Shenchi in the south. Such a vast area was directly ceded to Xixia by Wanyan Zonghan on his own initiative in exchange for sending troops!

Only Wanyan Zonghan could do such an outrageous operation, and he didn't take the Emperor of Jin Kingdom Wu Qimai seriously at all.

Li Qianshun, the leader of the Xixia Kingdom, was so stimulated that his eyes turned red, and the whole country mobilized for war.

Of course, in history, the Jin State went back on its word and refused to hand over Tiande and Yunnei. Instead, it ceded the northern part of Shaanxi Province to Xixia as compensation. Immediately afterwards, the Jin Kingdom forcibly recaptured the Hedong Baguan (the area in the middle section of the Yellow River south of Daqing Mountain), which was a shameless move without any integrity.

Xixia could only suffer the loss of silence and continue to help the Jin State attack the Song State, and got the three bones (Ledu, Guide, and Hualong) thrown by the Jin State.

…

Wanyan Zonghan led Xixia to send troops, making the situation more complicated.

In the Henan and Hebei areas, Wanyan Zongwang was the leader. The Song and Jin Dynasties joined forces to attack Ju Ming, and the Song State ceded territory in return.

In the Shanxi region of Shaanxi, Wanyan Zonghan was the leader, and Jin Xia joined forces to attack the Song Dynasty, and the Jin Dynasty ceded territory in return.

News that the Xixia army had taken advantage of the situation quickly spread to the Guanzhong battlefield.

Liu Yanqing, who led his troops to retreat to Weinan, was suddenly shocked and angry, because he was passing through Huanqing Road, and next door was the Huaide Army captured by Xixia!

Moreover, Huaide's army and Yan Yan's army, which were attacked by Xixia, were nominally under Liu Yanqing's control. Many of the soldiers there were taken away by Liu Yanqing, otherwise Xixia would not have taken advantage of it.

Once the Xixia army advances eastward, Liu Yanqing's territory will be gone!

"The Jin people are really abominable," Liu Yanqing was furious. "They helped the Song Dynasty to wipe out the Zhu bandits, but they instigated Xixia to send troops to occupy the borders of our country!"

Liu Guangguo said: "Maybe the Xixia army came by themselves and has nothing to do with the Jin people."

"Xixia has surrendered to the Jin Kingdom. How could they dare to send troops without the Jin people's orders?" Liu Yanqing asked.

"This..." Liu Guangguo couldn't explain.

Liu Guangshi said: "We must withdraw our troops quickly, otherwise the Huanqing Road will not be protected."

Liu Yanqing shook his head: "If the Liu family can't defend it alone, we must first write a letter to Tokyo and ask what the Jin people want to do. Second, we must write a letter to the traitor general Yang Zhi, explaining that we intend to surrender, but we must withdraw our troops first. Guard Huanqing Road, the Liu Jiajun will not fight again here in Guanzhong!"

Liu Yanqing sent a messenger to contact the two sides, while he led his troops to flee quickly and directly exited the Guanzhong battlefield.

When he learned that Liu Yanqing had completely run away and that Xixia was attacking the Shaanxi border, Zhong Shidao had no idea how to respond.

Where's the deal with Lianjin to eliminate the thieves?

Before the red thief could harm a hair, Xixia came to kill him.

"Father, Thief Yang sent an envoy and has taken him outside the house." Zhong Xi came in to report.

In the past, Zhong Shidao would not have received him at all, but now he was ready to meet him.

The envoy sent by Yang Zhi was called Liu Hong. When he met, he asked: "Zhong Jinglue, do you know the Huayi defense? Do you want to abandon the entire Shaanxi to suppress the bandits? Xixia has already entered. If you don't go to fight against the Yi and Di, But they are fighting to the death against us in Chang'an! Brothers are fighting outside the wall to resist their aggression, what is Zhong Jinglue going to do next?"

Zhong Shidao said: "The two armies have a truce for the time being and let's figure things out."

Liu Hong said: "I'm going to Tokyo. Please ask Zhong Jingluo to let the Tongguan garrison pass!"

"Okay." Zhong Shidao also wanted to send his son to Tokyo.

The two sides said it was a truce, but Yang Zhi continued to occupy prefectures and counties, sending thousands of partial troops to capture Jingzhou, Weizhou, Longzhou, and Yuanzhou.

In particular, the prefects of Weizhou and Yuanzhou were afraid that the Xixia army would go south and Yang Zhi's partial divisions would kill them, so they immediately surrendered and handed over the city to the rebels for defense.

But it was said that Liu Hong and Zhong Xi went to Tokyo together, traveling quickly by boat and car.

The two of them took the news to Kaifeng. Ju Ming and the kings and ministers of the Song Dynasty all had heads as big as heads.

Zhao Huan sent someone to question Wanyan Zongwang, but Wanyan Zongwang looked confused. He had no idea what Wanyan Zonghan was doing.

Shi Liai came up with an idea and said: "You can reply to the kings and ministers of the Song Dynasty. The Xixia army is here to help the Song Dynasty exterminate the red thieves."

"Would the people of the Song Dynasty believe it?" Wanyan Zongwang expressed doubts.

Shi Liai said: "The people of the Song Dynasty have to believe it even if they don't believe it. The imperial edict of joining the Jin Dynasty to suppress thieves was issued, and the emperor of the Song Dynasty was already riding a tiger and was unable to get off."

(PS: Sorry, I had something to do during the day and came back very late.)