Poor Family 1

  Chapter 851 Hengshan West Line

  Although Li Yanqing lived in Yan'an Mansion on the east line of Hengshan, he finally decided to take Qinfeng Road on the west line to attack Xixia.

  At that time, Li Yanqing led his army to go northward on the eastern route, passing through the Tiger Xiao Gorge and attacking Yinchuan City. However, because the eastern route was more than 1,300 miles away from Xingqing Mansion and had to cross a desert in the middle, the journey was very difficult and dangerous.

  The west line of Hengshan is much closer, only more than 400 miles away from Xingqing Mansion. Once it invades the territory of Xixia, it will shake the whole Xixia.

But taking the Hengshan west line is just as difficult and dangerous, and the three major passes became the boulders blocking the way for the Song army to go north. However, Li Yanqing's decision also has a huge advantage, that is, the Xixia army garrison on the Hengshan west line not much.

At the same moment when Li Yanqing led 2,000 people to Yan'an Mansion, Liu Kai led 15,000 troops to leave Jingzhao City overnight, and secretly marched northwest to Gyeongju, preparing to fight with Wang Gui's army who arrived in Gyeongju first. Convergence, and two hundred miles northward from Gyeongju, you will arrive at the Hulushui Grand Canyon.

Under the night, the Song Army with thousands of people is rapidly heading north along the Hulushui Grand Canyon. Hulushui is also a big river, crossing Douling to form a canyon. This canyon is much wider than the Wuding River Canyon on the east line. The narrowest point There are also more than ten miles.

This time, Xixia's 100,000 troops were divided into two groups to attack the Song Dynasty. The main target was Xihe Road in the west, where as many as 80,000 troops were invested, while the other road had only 20,000 troops, and a false attack was carried out on Shaanxi Road. harassment.

But in this way, the Qinfeng Road in the middle is relatively deserted. The Xixia Army has no plan to attack Qinfeng Road from the north. It is for this reason that the Xixia Army does not have many defenders on the Hengshan West Front. There are only 8,000 people in total. There are basically no troops stationed at Shangyikou, Taguazhai and Weizhou, and many other small dangerous passes, neither the Song Army nor the Xixia Army. Great convenience.

It was the Mid-Autumn Festival in August, and the heat had gradually dissipated. There was already a chill in the Hengshan Grand Canyon sooner or later, but the leaves did not fall. There were gurgling water and dense and dark green forests everywhere. The scouts were very careful. They traveled day and night all the way. But as soon as they reached the north of the canyon, the scout army did not see any traces of people, but there were groups of antelope moving in the canyon, which gave the scout army a lot of food supplements.

At noon that day, the scouts rested in a narrow valley. This valley is a derivative valley in the Hulushui Grand Canyon, just like the capillaries attached to the arteries. It is less than ten feet long, with cliffs and peaks on both sides, and a line of sky overhead.

   A thousand soldiers of the Song Army finished their dry food and leaned on the stone wall to rest and wait. Several scouts had already gone to investigate the enemy's situation.

  Yan Qing and Zhang Shun sat in front of a large rock, studying a hand-drawn map. This map was drawn very simply, with only a few strokes, but it was very accurate and applicable. All the information needed by the army was clearly marked on it.

   "It's only three miles away from the Shangyi Pass. After passing the Shangyi Pass, you will exit the canyon. It's very strange. You didn't meet any Xixia army along the way. What do you think is going on?" Yan Qing asked with a frown.

Zhang Shun thought for a while and said: "It should be Dutong's judgment. The lack of troops in Xixia caused it. I heard that Xixia fought the Song army at the beginning. Repeated victories, killing countless enemies, caused Xixia to suffer heavy losses, Xixia was also forced to surrender to the Song Dynasty, but not long after, Xixia fought against the Jin soldiers in Datong Mansion, and more than 100,000 people were killed or injured. , I think it’s quite right, otherwise we can’t explain why we didn’t encounter the Xixia army all the way north.”

   "Perhaps you are right, but it doesn't mean that we will be easy. Xixia's military strength is insufficient, and they will inevitably concentrate their forces to guard important passes. I don't know how many troops will be stationed at the reward."

  Both were silent. Shang Yikou is notoriously easy to defend and difficult to attack. Back then Tong Guan attacked Shang Yikou and lost 30,000 troops before taking it, but the garrison of Shang Yikou was only two to three thousand at most.

  At this time, Zhang Shun smiled wryly and said, "If it is easy to attack with rewards, the Dutong will not send us here. Our advantage is to catch them by surprise."

  Yan Qing laughed, thinking too much. The main function of the scout army is to attack, otherwise, why would Dutong send them here.

  At this time, footsteps came from outside, and a soldier reported, "The scout is back!"

  Yan Qing was overjoyed, and rushed out to greet her, only to see two sentry soldiers walking quickly, knelt down on one knee and reported, "Report to General, the investigation of the enemy's situation ahead has been completed."

  Yan Qing asked the soldiers to drink water, and then sat down and asked, "How about rewards?"

"Reporting to General, there is a stronghold at the entrance of Shangyi. We climbed to the top of the opposite mountain to observe. There are about 2,000 troops stationed in the stronghold. It can be seen that the guards are relatively lazy. There are only a dozen people guarding the gate of the stronghold. There is also an observation tower next to it. There are no soldiers."

   "You mean, the enemy army didn't notice our arrival?"

   "I really didn't find it. Weeds were growing in front of the gate of the village, and no one came out for a long time. We observed all night and half a day, but we didn't see a group of patrolling soldiers."

  Yan Qing and Zhang Shun looked at each other, Yan Qing asked again: "Did you draw a map?"

  Tangshao handed Yan Qing a simple sketch of the cottage, Yan Qing spread out the map and looked at it for a while, then smiled at Zhang Shun: "Who will take the lead tonight?"

  Zhang Shun curled his lips, "We agreed before that I will fight the first battle. If you want to go back on your word, there is nothing I can do."

   "But I'm better at sneak attacking cottages, you have to be good at waterways."

   "You can't say that. Although I am better at water warfare, it doesn't mean that my subordinates are not good at sneak attacking cottages. I think keeping promises is more important. Now that we have made an agreement, don't change it."

   "Why don't we draw lots!"

  Yan Qing smiled and said: "I didn't expect the first battle to be a reward. If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have agreed. How about it, draw lots to decide!"

  Zhang Shun had no choice but to believe any promises made by this bastard, so he had no choice but to agree.

  Yan Qing found two grasses, one long and one short, held the lower end, and smiled at Zhang Shun: "You can go if you get the long one!"

  Zhang Shun didn't look carefully, he took out one casually, Yan Qing opened his palm helplessly, Zhang Shun burst out laughing, and patted Yan Qing's shoulder, "Why bother! It ruined my credit instead."

"go away!"

  Yan Qing sat down resentfully, picked up the kettle and turned her back to drink water, she really didn't want to see this guy's proud face.

Shangyikou is the north exit of the Hulushui Grand Canyon, and it is also the narrowest part of the Grand Canyon. The narrowest part between the two mountains is only one foot long. The narrow valley is about three miles long. The river rushes through the canyon. Of course, When it freezes in winter, you can pass through the canyon, but it is also covered with heavy snow in winter, making it difficult to walk, and the Grand Canyon in winter is also impassable.

However, the terrain at the foot of the mountain on the left side of the valley is quite special. It suddenly retracts inward at the mountainside, making a road that can go out of the canyon appear on the mountainside. It was not easy to go, so the Xixia Army built a cottage near the intersection to the south, which happened to cut off the road up the mountain.

The mountain road spirals up in a zigzag shape, which is very dangerous. The Xixia army is condescending, making this mountain pass easy to defend and difficult to attack. More than a thousand people can defend the cottage. Back then, Tong Guan led the army to storm the reward, and the Song army suffered heavy casualties. In the end, nearly 30,000 talents were lost to capture Yikou.

  A strong attack is obviously unrealistic. The only way is to sneak attack. Since the Song Army's 100,000 troops were wiped out in Xixia eight years ago, the Song Army has never appeared in the Hulushui Canyon.

Moreover, the Kingdom of Jin aggressively attacked the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty lost Hebei and Hedong successively, and was forced to move its capital to Jiangnan. No one would believe that the Song army would actually counterattack Xixia.

  So it is reasonable that the defense of the Shangyikou cottage was lax. At one o'clock, when the night was the most tiring, the gate of the cottage was brightly lit, and a few torches were burning vigorously.

There are more than a dozen guards standing guard inside the gate, and the soldiers are extremely sleepy, curled up and dozed in the dark near the gate, and the soldiers are not seen on the sentry tower next to the gate. It is not that there are no soldiers, but the soldiers are curled up in the corner Asleep, there were only two soldiers standing guard in front of the gate with all their strength.

  A few tens of steps away from the gate, the fire could no longer illuminate the mountain road, and the night insects suddenly stopped chirping, and dozens of black shadows were quietly approaching the cottage.

  (end of this chapter)