Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Hongzhou couldn't stand it anymore. Li Yanxian led the army to attack the city, and there were a lot of large-caliber artillery.

After bombarding for 12 days, a section of the city wall collapsed.

As the deputy commander, Li Yanxian commanded the third and fourth corps, and Zhang Xian, Yao Pingzhong, Zhong Yanchong and other generals were under his command.

Therefore, he didn't need to rush to grab the credit. After learning that Zhong Yanchong had taken Longzhou, Li Yanxian continued to bombard slowly.

Li Yanxian used infantry and a small number of cavalry to besiege the city, and a large number of cavalry were scattered between Hongzhou and Youzhou. He hoped to continue to besiege Hongzhou, force Wang Cunli to rescue, and then besiege the city to attack the reinforcements and eliminate the living forces of Xixia.

Facts have proved that Li Yanxian thought too much.

Wang Cunli didn't have the courage to rescue!

The defenders of Longzhou abandoned the city and fled. Although Zhong Yanchong led his troops to pursue, it was unclear in the middle of the night, and the Xixia army fled on horseback. After chasing for more than 20 miles, most of the Xixia soldiers still escaped, with more than 5,000 Xixia light cavalry.

More than 1,000 cavalry escaped from Yinzhou City, and more than 600 cavalry escaped from the city of Shenyong Army. They were so scared that they wanted to cross the desert directly, but found that the Ming army did not chase them, so they went south to Yanzhou around the edge of the desert.

Now, Zhang Xian, Yao Pingzhong, Zhong Yanchong, Xiao Heda and others have gathered under Shizhou City and besieged it from all sides.

They received an order from Li Yanxian to divide half of them to attack Youzhou.

As for whose troops to go, draw lots to decide!

Anyway, it doesn’t matter who goes, and drawing lots is fairer, so don’t think of saying weird things afterwards.

"How many times?"

"Once is enough, don't act like a bitch."

"Okay. To be fair, let General Duo'e write the lot."

"I can't write Chinese characters."

"Just draw a circle or a cross. The one who touches the circle goes to Youzhou, and the one who touches the cross stays to fight Shizhou."

Duo'e turned his back to everyone, cut the paper, drew a circle and a cross, and then crumpled it into a ball and put it on the table.

Yao Pingzhong took the lead in taking a ball of paper, and the others also reached out to take it.

"Haha, my luck is finally good for once!" Yao Pingzhong opened the ball of paper, and he touched the cross and stayed to continue fighting Shizhou.

Zhong Yanchong unfolded the ball of paper and saw that he was so angry that he crumpled it again and threw it to the ground to vent his anger.

He led Xiao Heda and Duo'e to besiege Shizhou for several days. The city wall had been cracked by artillery, and it would take at most two or three days to take it down.

At this time, he had to give up the credit for breaking the city and lead his troops to fight that damn Youzhou.

After Zhang Xian looked at the lot he drew, he said with a smile: "I'm willing to accept the loss. General Zhong, please go."

Zhong Yanchong left with a cold face, Xiao Heda followed him with a smile, Duo'e scratched his head and followed him out.

The three led the army and passed by Xiazhou, Xiao Heda's old nest.

The infantry of Xiao Heda and Duo'e were all in Xiazhou City. They left a small number of troops to guard the city and continued to march with Zhong Yanchong with the rest of the troops.

Duo'e led the three light cavalry of Dingzhou to speed up the front to scout the situation.

But they found that the villages along the way were deserted and the houses had been burned down long ago. They continued to move forward and soon met the scouts sent by Li Yanxian outside Youzhou City.

The gates of Youzhou City were wide open, and the defenders had all run away.

And they ran away with the people. There was no one in the city. They even burned a large area of ​​houses and forced the people who refused to move away to leave.

Two cavalry entered Youzhou City and each sent someone back to report the news.

Li Yanxian learned about the situation and accelerated the siege. The next day, he conquered Hongzhou City.

Zhong Yanchong and Xiao Heda led their troops to advance quickly and occupied the empty city of Youzhou. That night, they received Li Yanxian's military order, asking them to rest for a day and continue marching, and then led their troops to attack Yanzhou.

…

Yanzhou (Dingbian County).

Wang Cunli looked at the dilapidated city wall and had no confidence in defending it.

With such a city wall, the artillery would be destroyed in three days at most!

But Richard Brother gave a death order. If Yanzhou could not be defended, at most they would retreat to Tiemenguan or Baichicheng.

A horse galloped over and went straight into the Yanzhou government office.

Wang Cunli opened the letter and was overjoyed after reading it.

The new Xixia king Li Renxiao completed his wedding, which could not only rely on marriage to win over the domestic big families, but also make the sixteen-year-old emperor appear more stable.

Wang Cunli's daughter was officially canonized as the queen!

This matter not only relied on the strength of the Wang family, but also because Wang Cunli spent money to operate it, and it was also the result of mutual compromise between Li Renzhong and Richard.

Wang Cunli was the confidant of Prime Minister Li Renzhong.

Damn, my daughter is the queen, what am I afraid of?

Retreat directly to the direction of Xingqing Prefecture, clear the fields along the way and lure the enemy deep.

Anyway, I can't fight head-on again.

The enemy is too terrible.

Wang Cunli didn't even have the confidence to defeat Xiao Heda, let alone those wolf-like Ming troops. Historically, Wang Cunli had tens of thousands of troops, and was defeated by Xiao Heda at least five times. In the end, he led his troops to retreat to Lingzhou and became a turtle.

Do it as soon as you say it!

Wang Cunli not only evacuated the army and civilians, but also sent people to destroy several large salt ponds in the local area as much as possible, so that the Ming army could not recover in a short time.

What he has now is the seven states of troops under the jurisdiction of the three major military divisions.

To be precise, it was the troops of the six states, because the troops of Xiazhou were in the hands of Xiao Heda.

Moreover, except for the troops of Yanzhou, which had not yet fought, the rest of the armies were all remnants and defeated, and fled back to Wang Cunli in a panic. Even if the burden soldiers (miscellaneous auxiliary soldiers) were counted, the total number was only more than 70,000.

There were more than 100,000 old, weak, women and children.

During the withdrawal, the sound of crying and shouting shook the sky. The elderly and the sick kept falling down and were abandoned on the semi-desert grassland.

The morale of the entire army has declined to the extreme, and the soldiers want to know the status of their families.

Many soldiers wanted to escape, but they were worried that they would not be able to take their families with them, or that they might even be executed.

Zhong Yanchong, Xiao Heda, and Duo You traveled all the way and came to Yanzhou and found that it was also an empty city. Let alone the city, not even one of the several large salt ponds can be seen.

Well, there were actually a few who hid and didn't leave. It was impossible for Neng Cunli to search every place in his hurry to retreat.

"Can Yanzhou abandon its defense?" Zhong Yanchong was shocked.

Xiao Heda pointed to the dilapidated city wall and said: "There has been no war in Yanzhou for a long time, and the city has not been repaired for decades. Let alone General Zhong with artillery, even if I bring Xiazhou soldiers, I can defeat Yanzhou in a few days." Take it."

Zhong Yanchong nodded: "That's true."

Although Bin Cunli was very timid, he really did the right thing in retreating.

Otherwise, all the 70,000 remaining soldiers in his hands will have to be handed over here. Retreating will at least preserve the vitality.

If the Ming army pursues all the way, the food road will be stretched extremely long.

Not to mention the grain roads within the Ming Dynasty, after leaving the country, there are still five to six hundred miles ahead!

And after passing Yanzhou, there are mostly semi-desert grasslands along the way. Along the long grain road, the grain transport team may be attacked at any time, and the Xixia Qingqi can come and go like the wind in this area.

…

Xingqing Mansion.

News of the frontline retreat came like snowflakes.

The monarchs and ministers of Xixia were completely panicked. They urgently recalled Brother Richard from the north to take charge, and sent Privy Councilor Wang Shu to replace Brother Richard to guard Keyi Gate - which was being attacked by Yue Fei and Han Shizhong.

Compared with the hundreds of thousands of Ming troops in Shaanxi, the partial army of Yue Fei and Han Shizhong was obviously less valued by the Xixia monarchs and ministers.

Brother Richard, who has just rushed back to Xingqing Mansion, is listening to the latest battle conditions.

"The Mu brothers rebelled and led their tribes to join the enemy in Huizhou. Several dangerous villages such as Lingbo Mountain and Weijing Mountain were all captured by the enemy. They were all mountainous areas, and many mountain tribes did not want to fortify their walls and clear the fields, so they brought food with them. If you hide in the mountains and refuse to leave, you will most likely defect to the enemy due to lack of food..."

"Last year, Dabin rebelled in Weizhou. Although the chaos was successfully quelled, the remnants of Dabin fled into Leshan, and Weizhou was short of food and grass because of the quelling of the rebellion. The Jingsai Army Division did not have enough food, and the soldiers there could only Abandon the city and retreat. But the people are unwilling to leave. Their food supplies were severely confiscated last year. There were even two tribes that did not rebel last year but went to the Ming Dynasty this year."

Brother Richard was extremely shocked: "That's the shortest route for the Ming army to kill, and it's also the main area to clear the country. Did they all fail to clear the country?"

Li Renzhong nodded: "The commander-in-chief, deputy commander-in-chief, supervisor of the army in Jingsai, as well as the magistrate of Weizhou should all be killed. These bastards work together to exploit the people. They have to send more troops in the year of drought. Last year, a tribe was killed Forced to rebel. Although the other tribes did not rebel, they were still estranged from the imperial court. How could they be willing to move their tribes and clear the country? "

"When employing people, you can't kill the generals at will." Brother Richard said.

Except for the supervisor and the magistrate, they are all the confidants of Brother Richard. How can Li Renzhong be killed?

Li Renzhong said: "The soldiers and tribesmen who withdrew, especially the chiefs, are clamoring to kill corrupt officials before fighting. These people must be given an explanation, otherwise there will be no more fighting. They are very likely to Rebellion and surrender to the enemy.”

Brother Richard said: "Then take the supervisors and magistrates back to Xingqing Mansion first, and temporarily take them into custody. This can also be considered as an explanation to the soldiers and the people. At the same time, we must also appease the capital and deputy capital to prevent them from becoming too frightened. think."

Li Renzhong did not dare to kill everyone, so he could only agree to this method: "The one who captured Weizhou was Deng Chun, the commander-in-chief of the Ming army. This man was an old member of Emperor Zhu's army. He became Emperor Zhu's entourage before the army started. He was known as He has not lost a single battle in the south and north. He has continued to attack Pule City, and is now probably besieging Yaode City, which is only more than three hundred miles away from Xingqing Mansion!"

Brother Richard quickly said: "Hold on, we must hold on. The water volume of the Yellow River is not large now, we must wait until the water rises before digging the embankment!"

Li Renzhong showed a bitter look on his face: "I can't hold off. The Ming army is not the Song army, and the attack speed is too fast. Our Daxia soldiers are not as brave and fearless as before, and many tribal soldiers passively avoid fighting."

"And we caught Xi Zuo. There were Ming troops from all walks of life to persuade the tribal chiefs to defect to Xia and join the Ming Dynasty. The chiefs did not dare to defect directly, but they gave themselves a way to retreat to preserve their strength."

"Take Mengjing Village as an example. The Ming army was still a few miles away, but the soldiers guarding the village fled. After the guard escaped, he was beheaded and executed. As a result, the chief of his tribe defected with his tribe..."

Brother Richard was speechless.

People's hearts are scattered!

The reason why the Xixia army in the direction of the Jingsai Army Division collapsed at the first touch and fled was not entirely because the Ming army was too powerful.

The real reason is successive years of disasters and excessive exploitation.

The Ming army has not yet arrived, but there was a tribal rebellion last year. When suppressing the uprising, food supplies were collected nearby, which forced the local tribes to become resentful.

If Da Mingxiao goes to instigate rebellion again, many tribal chiefs are wavering. How can they risk their lives to help the Xixia court fight the war?

A eunuch stood outside the palace and said anxiously: "There is urgent news from the front."

Li Renxiao said: "Bring it in."

The urgent report was sent by Zong Cunli, telling him that he had given up Yanzhou and retreated.

Li Renzhong was furious: "This guy is so brave. He has been defeated and yet he dares to withdraw his troops without permission!"

Brother Richard said: "He did the right thing. We underestimated the Ming army and overestimated our own combat power. The three armies of the left wing were defeated too quickly. Not to mention fighting in the field, they couldn't even defend the city. If Wang Cunli stayed in Yanzhou to defend, his tens of thousands of soldiers would be wiped out. It would be better to retreat all the way to stretch the Ming army's supply line."

"What should we do next?" Li Renzhong asked.

Brother Richard said: "Let Ren Dejing defend Lingzhou to the death, and wait until the Yellow River rises and then dig the embankment to flood the Ming army's food and retreat routes. On Wang Cunli's side, the Ming army's food route will be very long, and I will personally lead the cavalry to attack the Ming army's food transport team. On Wang Shu's side, the Keyi Gate is high and deep, with well-trained soldiers and sufficient food. It should be difficult for Han Shizhong and Yue Fei to break through."