Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Xiazhou.

Xiao Heda stood on the general platform, facing nearly 10,000 soldiers:

"Some people say that I have been in Xiazhou for more than ten years, embezzled military rations and exploited the people. This time I started a rebellion for my own wealth, and they also put all the blame for the famine in Xiazhou on me."

"Today, I will take out all my floating wealth and reward all the soldiers of the three armies. All the food stored in my home will be used as military rations."

"I have emptied my own mansion, and I don't want that big house anymore. I'll just burn it down!"

"Go and pass the order, burn my house!"

A horse galloped into the city, and half a quarter of an hour later, the people in the city became restless and shouted.

Xiao Heda said again: "Officers and chiefs of each department can choose 30 people to enter the city to see if my house has been set on fire!"

One after another, hundreds of people stood up and rode into the city to check the situation.

After a while, these people ran back outside the city and told their companions that Xiao Heda's mansion was indeed burning.

Xiao Heda continued, "I will also take out all my land in Xiazhou and reward the meritorious soldiers. This is the land deed, locked in a box, and kept by the generals in turn. If you want to get more rewards, follow me to defeat the enemy and snatch it from the tyrants and corrupt officials of Xixia. Kill the tyrants! Kill the corrupt officials!"

"Kill the tyrants! Kill the corrupt officials!"

The soldiers of the whole army roared, and the momentum was like a rainbow for a while.

Xiao Heda's rebellion was naturally not to save the people from suffering. He really couldn't survive in Xixia.

In history, how far did Xiao Heda go?

He first defeated the Xixia's rebellion army, and then contacted the two Khitan tribes on the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain. Then, the Eight Halls of Hedong, the Shanjin Division, the North and South Palaces, and the Khitan tribes and some Han people rose up to respond to the rebellion.

They joined forces with tens of thousands of troops, defeated the rebellion army several times, and beat the left wing troops of Xixia into a mess. Then he attacked Lingzhou, which was more than 100 miles away from the capital of Xixia. Since he could not capture the strong city of Lingzhou, he turned to capture the strategic Yanzhou.

Then, he plundered the pastures of various states and even sent light cavalry to the Helan Mountains.

At the beginning of the uprising, he spent all his family wealth and distributed the looted goods to the soldiers. Many poor people came to him spontaneously. Unfortunately, Ren Dejing sent troops to raid his nest, and then his retreat was blocked and he was defeated in Yanzhou.

Xiao Heda in this time and space would naturally not be so embarrassed, and he would not be besieged by the rebellion army.

In the early winter of last year, he suddenly launched an army to attack the iron smelting business in Xiazhou. He slaughtered all the civil officials and generals there, emptied all the craftsmen and ironware, and then repelled the rebellion army from Xiangyou Army.

Xiangyou Army and Jianing Army dispatched troops again, and Xiao Heda defended Xiazhou City to the death, forcing the enemy to retreat before the heavy snow fell.

Now that the snow has melted in spring, the army to suppress the rebellion has come again.

…

The Xixia general in charge of suppressing the rebellion was Wang Cunli, the newly appointed military supervisor of the imperial court.

As for Ren Dejing, he was still suppressing the rebellion around Xingqing Prefecture and had almost wiped out all the rebels.

“Cunli” is a good name, but adding “Wang” is funny, and together it is “Bu Cunli”.

Wang is a big Xixia surname, and Li Jiqian’s mother’s surname is Wang.

Before the snow had melted completely, Wang Cunli came to the Jianing Military Command and scolded the commander-in-chief, deputy commander-in-chief, and military supervisor. He ordered them to immediately draft troops to suppress the rebellion. Only by killing Xiao Heda, who was entrenched in Xiazhou, could they help Xiangyou Military Command and Shenyong Military Command to clear the fields.

If Xiao Heda was not eliminated, the two military commanders would not be able to withdraw even if they wanted to, and it was even more ridiculous to talk about the Ming army clearing the fields.

In villages and grasslands everywhere, the Xixia people cried and shouted.

All their houses were burned down, and everyone had to take their belongings and food and evacuate, leaving no grain for the Ming army. The old, weak, women and children evacuated directly to Yanzhou, while the young and strong served as soldiers to fight and wipe out the Xiao Heda rebels.

Of course, before Xiao Heda was destroyed, the front-line troops could not be completely evacuated, and people had to stay to defend the city against the Ming army.

In a few days, Wang Cunli gathered several thousand soldiers and withdrew 3,000 regular troops from the front line.

"Da da da da..."

A fast horse galloped over, and the rider went to see Wang Cunli with a dusty face: "Angel, Changcheng Ridge has fallen!"

Wang Cunli was shocked: "Didn't I report two days ago that the Ming army had just started to attack the village?"

The rider explained: "The Ming army used muskets and strong crossbows to cover the fire, and used hundreds of people to drag the huge cannons to the middle of the mountain to bombard the city. The wall of the village has not collapsed yet, and the soldiers guarding the village were scared and fled!"

Changcheng Ridge is a dangerous mountain in the southwest of Hongzhou, Xixia. If firearms are not used, even if tens of thousands of troops take turns to attack, the more than a thousand defenders there can at least hold out for half a month.

Li Yanxian personally set up the general's tent at the foot of the ridge, sent troops to capture a gentle slope halfway up the mountain, and asked craftsmen to cut wood to build a pulley group, and hoist the siege cannon to build a turret.

Even so, the angle of the artillery is very problematic, and it can only bombard a deflection angle of the city.

However, the constantly flying shells scared the defenders in the castle.

There were only 500 garrison soldiers there, and 3,000 regular troops were temporarily transferred. 3,500 people guarding the castle, looking at the dense Ming army below the mountain, were already frightened, and they fled directly after the artillery bombardment.

Because they ran fast and the mountains were steep, the Ming army did not capture a prisoner or have the opportunity to kill a single garrison soldier.

"Da da da da..."

Another horse galloped over, and the rider knelt down and cried: "Angel, the Ming army is approaching Longzhou City. The Shilijingzhai in the south of Longzhou is also gone, and the two Ming armies are estimated to have surrounded Longzhou now!"

In fact, the Helanyuanzhai further southwest had also been broken, but the road was far away and no news had been received.

Wang Cunli was completely panicked.

His mission was to wipe out Xiao Heda and open up the withdrawal passage for Xiangyou Army and Shenyong Army. Take away all the soldiers and civilians in Yinzhou, Shizhou and Xiazhou, clear the fields and lure the Ming army to go deeper.

But before he had time to quell the rebellion, the Ming army had already broken through the forts one after another, and the army pressed on the two state cities of Hongzhou and Longzhou.

Why did the Ming army fight so fast?

There is only one reason, the Western Xia army was already decayed and unusable.

Historically, Xiao Heda, an outsider general, was able to repel the three nearby military divisions with only the rebellion of Xiazhou. Even after Xiao Heda led his army westward, the three major military divisions did not dare to send troops to raid their nests, and Ren Dejing still sent hundreds of elite soldiers to take Xiazhou.

And Wang Cunli, who had a large army, was defeated again and again by Xiao Heda, and finally shrank in Lingzhou City and dared not show up.

What a useless general and army!

It turned out that the Song army during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty fought back and forth with the Western Xia, and they were just weaklings fighting each other at the same level.

Wang Cunli was shocked and angry, and said in a cowardly manner: "Order the garrisons of Hongzhou and Longzhou to defend the city to delay time, and I can withdraw after I kill Xiao Heda. Remember, before withdrawing, burn all the food and grass in the city!"

Then, Wang Cunli asked the elderly, the weak, women and children to hurry to Yanzhou.

Then Wang Cunli led more than 10,000 troops to the north to attack Xiao Heda. There were also more than 20,000 troops from the Xiangyou Army Division, and they wanted to attack Xiazhou from the north and south.

Wang Cunli marched quickly to Sanchakou Village, and the whole army stopped to set up camp for rest.

That night, a shout woke Wang Cunli from his sleep.

It was Xiao Heda with hundreds of elite soldiers from Xiazhou, and Duo'e with hundreds of elite soldiers from Dingzhou, who suddenly rushed over to attack the camp at night.

Wang Cunli was not prepared at all, because the place where he sent troops was farther away from Xiazhou. In his opinion, Xiao Heda should be fighting with the Xiangyou Army, which had more troops and was closer, and it was impossible for him to come all the way to attack him.

"Angel, hurry up, many bandits are coming!"

"How many bandits are there?"

"I'm afraid there are more than 10,000 people, holding torches everywhere."

"..."

Wang Cunli was living in the castle of Sanchakou Village at this time. He climbed up the wall to check in a panic, but saw that the camp outside the village was on fire everywhere. Many soldiers fled to the gate of the village, shouting and crying and asking to enter the castle to hide.

"Don't open the door, guard against enemy spies sneaking in!" Wang Cunli shouted.

The castle of Sanchakou Village is not big, it can only accommodate three or four thousand people, and more than half of the troops brought by Wang Cunli are camped outside the village.

Xiao Heda and Duo E led the elite troops to set fires everywhere, shouting along the way: "Put down your weapons, surrender and we will not kill you!"

These Xixia defeated soldiers all came from Youzhou, Hongzhou, and Longzhou.

There were Ming troops outside and rebels inside. Their parents, wives and children were ordered to move away, and even their houses were burned down. They were exploited and deducted on weekdays, and now they were not allowed to enter the village to escape during the night attack. They were blocked outside the village gate and were full of resentment.

Suddenly, a defeated soldier officer roared angrily: "Don't work for the tyrant anymore, just surrender to General Xiao, and then follow General Xiao to surrender to the Ming Dynasty!"

The defeated soldiers next to him did not respond immediately, but shouted into the village: "If you don't open the door to let us in, we will surrender to General Xiao! Open the door quickly!"

"Open the door quickly!"

"Open the door quickly!"

The shouts came one after another, and Wang Cunli did not dare to open the village gate. He was sure that there were spies outside the village gate.

After several minutes of commotion, Xiao Heda and Duo'e led their elite troops to kill closer and closer.

The defeated soldiers became more frightened and angry, and finally someone rushed towards the rebels: "Don't kill me, I want to join the rebels!"

More and more defeated soldiers outside the village gate left, and went to join the rebels with anger.

Wang Cunli was frightened to death when he heard the shouts of the defeated soldiers. He led the elite cavalry to open another village gate, and killed the defeated soldiers when he saw them. He actually abandoned the village and the army and ran away.

More than 10,000 troops were directly surrendered by Xiao Heda, and more than 4,000 were captured.

The next day, Xiao Heda reorganized the surrendered soldiers and promised to help the surrendered soldiers find their families who had been relocated.

Duo'e asked: "Go back or go south?"

Xiao Heda smiled: "Heroes think alike, both strategies are fine, but it is safer to go back."

The two returned to Xiazhou with the surrendered soldiers and the captured food and grass, which had been besieged by 20,000 troops of Xiangyou Army.

Seeing the army coming from the south, the Xixia general thought it was Wang Cunli, and he personally led a group of cavalry to rush to greet him.

Xiao Heda smiled and said, "Raise Wang Cunli's flag."

The Xixia general was completely convinced when the flag with the word "Wang" was raised, and even had a flattering smile on his face.

Xiao Heda and Duo E had already asked the elite to mount their horses, and when the Xixia general approached, they suddenly rushed out with hundreds of cavalry.

The Xixia general still did not realize the danger, until Xiao Heda led the army to rush more than ten steps away and ordered to deploy the battle formation, then he felt something was wrong.

"Kill!"

Hundreds of elite soldiers drew their bows and shot arrows, which directly stunned the Xixia general. He quickly crouched to avoid the arrows, and at the same time pulled the reins to turn around and run away.

Duo E was the first to rush the fastest. As soon as the Xixia general turned his horse, he chased him and stabbed him, and then swept him off his horse with his gun.

There was more than one Xixia general. In addition to the main general, there were also many officers and chieftains who came to welcome the angel "Wang Cunli".

Xiao Heda led his army to chase and kill him all the way, and at the same time sent troops to the city of Xiazhou, ordering the defenders in the city to go out of the city for a decisive battle.

After a bunch of generals were killed, the 20,000 Xixia troops quickly fled in the face of the attack.

Xiao Heda and Duo E led the army and chased all the way to the outside of Shizhou City (northern Hengshan District, Wuding River), where Xiangyou Army was stationed.

There were only a few thousand defenders in the city.

But the two were unable to attack the fortified city. They wanted to chase the fleeing soldiers into the city, but the generals who stayed behind did not let the fleeing soldiers enter the city.

After half a day of siege, Xiao Heda and Duo E asked the infantry to return to Xiazhou, and they led the cavalry to Longzhou in the south.

Outside Longzhou City.

Zhong Yanchong was bombarding the city wall, and he had been bombarding for three days. At the same time, he asked the civilians to fill the moat and let the craftsmen build siege equipment.

"General, three or four thousand cavalrymen have come from the north, claiming to be the Xixia rebel generals Xiao Heda and Duo'e!"

"Please come in quickly!"

Zhong Yanchong went to greet them personally, shook their hands and said, "The two generals are really righteous men, but unfortunately they were forced to rebel by the tyrant and treacherous ministers. In the future, my Ming Dynasty will surely be able to show its strength!"

Xiao Heda had already written a letter of surrender, so he was not surprised.

Duo'e was always very nervous, fearing that his Tangut identity would not be accepted. Now he finally put his mind at ease. Zhong Yanchong was very enthusiastic about him, thinking that he would have a place in the Ming Dynasty in the future.

Xiao Heda took out a flag: "This is the flag of Wang Cunli, who recently commanded the three major military commanders here as an imperial envoy. He has been defeated by me and retreated to Youzhou with his remaining troops."

"Good stuff!" Zhong Yanchong was overjoyed.

A moment later, Duo E personally held up a flag and rushed to the outside of Longzhou City, shouting: "Wang Cunli has been defeated and died, Hongzhou and Youzhou have been captured by the Ming army. Why don't you surrender quickly? Do you want to be buried with Wang Cunli?"

"Shoot him to death!" The Longzhou garrison was shocked.

Duo E rode a horse and raised a flag and ran around the city, shouting: "Wang Cunli is dead! Wang Cunli is dead..."

The defenders in the city were terrified and had lost their determination to defend the city.

But their families and property were moved to Yanzhou. If they surrendered to the Ming army now, they would be left alone with nothing.

No one wanted to surrender the city, but they all wanted to withdraw and go to Yanzhou to reunite with their families.

And they also understood that the city would be broken sooner or later if they defended it, and those artillery had been bombarding for three whole days!

That night, the gates of Longzhou were opened on all four sides, and countless defenders rode out of the city to escape.

Soon, the city was ablaze with flames, but it was the garrison commander who ordered the burning of food and grass.

Zhong Yanchong had already made the cavalry sleep with weapons on. He expected the garrison to escape, but he didn't know which night they would escape. He didn't expect that they would be unable to escape on the first night.

"All cavalry chase, infantry enter the city to put out the fire!"

Zhong Yanchong mounted his warhorse and led the cavalry in a wild pursuit.