Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Aksuhe took a boat and changed his horse, and ran quickly to catch up with the Ming army.

The person who took him there was Du Jushi, the interpreter of Honglu Temple and editor of Hanlin Academy.

Du Jushi was originally from Suining, Sichuan.

When Ju Ming occupied Sichuan, the Du family still chose to wait and see, and only sent two disciples of the small sect to join the army.

They didn't react until the founding of the Ming Dynasty, but it was obviously a bit late. It was not easy for Du Jushi to be admitted to the third Ming Dynasty Jinshi, but this man preferred to study literature and history, and directly applied to the Hanlin Academy during his internship.

Gold shines wherever it is.

Du Jushi got on well with several foreign envoys, learned Persian and Turkic, and translated Persian and Seljuk works in the Hanlin Academy for a long time. At the same time, he was seconded to Honglu Temple as an interpreter.

Aksukh, the Eastern Roman envoy, was proficient in Latin, Greek, Turkic and Arabic.

They hurriedly and slowly caught up with Zhong Yanchong in Liangzhou.

"A messenger to watch the battle?" Zhong Yanchong was confused.

Du Jushi explained carefully, and Zhong Yanchong finally understood. He was busy with military affairs and was too lazy to entertain the envoys. He simply exchanged greetings and asked Aksukh not to run around.

Zhong Yanchong was able to serve as the deputy commander of the Western Expedition. In addition to his own outstanding abilities, the main reason was to balance the factions in the army.

Zhang Boring, Zhang Guangdao, Li Bao, Yang Zhi and others have held important positions in the central government for a long time, and they promoted many generals of their respective factions.

Ever since Yao Pingzhong was deprived of his military power, Ju Ming wanted to support the Shaanxi faction.

And Zhong Yanchong was the representative of the Shaanxi faction he elected. At the same time, Zhong Yanchong was from Luoyang, a general of the Zhong family, and had a younger sister who was married to the emperor as a concubine. Although his ability is only above average, his status and qualifications are enough to convince everyone.

It is perfectly fine for a person from Luoyang to be a representative of the Shaanxi faction.

As for Li Yanxian, although he is from Shaanxi, he does not belong to the Shaanxi school.

Li Yanxian served as a soldier in the Western Army of the former Song Dynasty, and initially made his fortune as a Shaanxi hero and horse bandit. But he was transferred around, and his direct lineage had long been broken up and integrated into the cavalry units of various armies.

And Li Yanxian defected relatively early and didn't strive for much credit. He led the cavalry and cooperated with many big bosses, so he had a good relationship with various factions. In the middle period, he was stationed in Hebei, and most of his subordinates were Hebei soldiers. In the later period, he often stayed in Shanxi. It was not until the battle to destroy Xixia that he was transferred back to Shaanxi to command the army for two years.

With Li Yanxian as the coach, all factions are willing to give face.

"Where is that place? There are troops stationed there, and there are many people coming in and out repeatedly." Aksukh asked.

The military escort sent by Zhong Yanchong said: "That is Liangzhou Cangcheng, which is specially used for hoarding and transferring military rations."

Aksuhe asked again: "Are there many such military warehouse castles in the Ming Dynasty?"

The military escort laughed.

Naturally, military secrets cannot be disclosed casually.

Aksukh was not allowed to climb the city wall, and there was no high ground suitable for observation nearby. He mingled with the crowd and looked around, only to find that it was very orderly, with countless soldiers and civilians coming and going without any chaos.

He asked several questions in succession, but the military escort only answered one, and all other questions were answered with laughter.

After staying here for half a day, I asked all the questions I could and asked all the questions I couldn't. Aksukh asked to catch up with the troops further ahead.

Accompanied by Honglu Temple and military personnel, he changed horses and ran wildly, catching up with Li Yanxian's second main force at Xingxing Gorge.

The rocks are jagged and the mountain road is rugged, making it difficult to get up even if you want to.

Aksukh could only follow the troops forward obediently, walking slowly in the canyons and mountain roads.

"The terrain here is steep. We only need to build a fortress and send a small number of troops to effectively defend it." Aksukh commented.

The military personnel shook their heads and said: "It's useless. The most it can do is delay the attacker's time. This place is not adjacent to both sides, and there is not even a river. You can only rely on two bitter springs for drinking water. It is too difficult to supply food and grass. If you really want to defend this place, , both sides have to continue to increase their troops, and the final victory depends on which side has more food and faster transportation. Does Xiliao dare to compete with Daming? "

After finally crossing Xingxingxia, Li Yanxian personally took up residence in Xingxingxia Town in later generations.

This place has been turned into a temporary military camp. Hundreds of miles before and after (the actual marching distance) are rugged and desolate land, so the area in front of us is relatively open and flat.

Even so, there aren't many people around.

The population of Xingxingxia Town increased, and roads were built during the Republic of China. The trees there were planted by the town cadres of New China, and the drinking water comes from reservoirs far away.

Nowadays, there are only a dozen families living in this area of ​​several miles, and there are not a single decent tree. To drink water every day, you have to ask the garrison to open a bitter spring.

Aksukh commented: "This is not suitable for survival, let alone marching."

Two bitter springs cannot supply the army.

Li Yanxian's main force has been drinking the water he brought since he entered Xingxing Gorge.

All the troops were marching quickly, Wu Jie's vanguard was clearing the way, and there was no possibility of enemies nearby - as long as the Ming army guarded the springs along the way, no matter how many troops from Western Liao attacked and ambush, they would die of thirst. Because of the long journey over mountains and ridges, it was impossible to bring much drinking water, and there were deserted areas along the way.

The sooner the Ming army passes here, the better. If they delay for a long time, the water may be cut off.

But if you want to go fast, you can't go fast. The troops can move quickly with light equipment, but the baggage must be transported slowly.

The four-wheel sidecar was completely dismantled, and it would take a while before it could be reassembled and dragged by mules and horses.

As for heavy artillery, transport was even more difficult. He was thrown directly outside Xingxing Gorge by Li Yanxian so as not to block the passage of the army and affect the overall marching speed.

Aksuhe went to pay a visit to Li Yanxian.

Li Yanxian's reaction was similar to that of Zhong Yanchong. He threw a civilian officer to accompany him and was too lazy to care about this foreign envoy.

There was nothing to see in this broken place. Troops came out of the canyon one after another, and then set up camp and waited to move on.

If you want to march, you have to queue up!

Aksuhe set off with a troop, and not far away, there was another mountain canyon. And there was still no water source. The mountains were bare, and many places were even barren.

The Qing Dynasty set up several post stations along the way and liked to exile prisoners to serve as postmen.

Even if life was difficult, those prisoners and postmen did not dare to run. Because the springs were guarded by soldiers, they would die wherever they fled, and they died of thirst in the no-man's land!

There was a fort in front of them, and a small Jingguan was built outside the fort.

Human heads were piled up in the shape of a pyramid, and they were almost dried up by the dry climate.

That was left by Wu Jie's vanguard troops. They cut off the heads of the defenders of Xingxingxia Village and piled them up here to intimidate the enemy troops guarding the village.

The effect was very obvious!

The Ming army broke through Xingxingxia Village so quickly that none of the defenders there escaped. The heads were piled here, and the defenders here had no fighting spirit. Facing the artillery and musket fire, the defenders were scared to abandon the village and fled before the siege troops even touched the village wall.

Some people even surrendered to Wu Jie and said they were willing to be guides for the Ming army.

Aksuhe finally crossed the mountainous canyon area and thought it would be easy to walk ahead. What happened? It was either a desert or a Gobi!

"Is this the place where Taohuashi was? That's crazy!" Aksuhe couldn't help but complain.

He thought of the Eastern Roman army. If they continued to march long distances through the barren land, their morale would probably be almost exhausted before the battle.

Du Jushi smiled and said, "This is all Chinese territory. An ancient Chinese general once said that those who openly offend the mighty Han will be punished no matter how far away they are. He said this thousands of miles to the west (three thousand miles in a straight line)."

Aksuhe was silent.

He was really convinced. Such an expeditionary operation was not something that the Eastern Roman Empire could do, at least not at that time.

It was too much of a test of the army's organization and logistics and transportation capabilities!

…

At this moment, Wu Jie's vanguard troops were only 140 miles away from Yizhou City (Hami).

It was probably north of Hami Yandun Station in later generations.

There was a large fortress next to the river, and the wall was built to more than five meters high, with at least three thousand defenders gathered inside.

Wu Jie's artillery shells were not consumed much, and he could pick them up after winning the battle.

However, the consumption of gunpowder and food was very large.

He even stayed for a few days on the way, waiting for the follow-up troops to send supplies, and by the way, he left the wounded to be treated.

Along the way, Wu Jie destroyed six enemy camps, and suffered more than 200 casualties - 57 killed, 82 seriously injured, and 134 slightly injured.

Most of the seriously injured were scalded and smashed, all caused by the strong attack on the camp. Especially when they were splashed with gold juice, the purulent infection was difficult to treat. Some of them died, and it is estimated that many more will be infected and die.

With only small cannons and flying ladders, Wu Jie could not attack the big camp in front of him.

He could only remove the tower on the south side of the camp, set up camp near the river with the tower as the center, and then wait for the main force to come to reinforce.

The first batch of thousands of main forces were marching with civilians and food and grass.

It was called a forced march, but in fact it all depended on how fast the camels walked. A lot of food and equipment were carried by camels.

Aksuhe took advantage of every opportunity. As long as the road was slightly wider, he would surpass the existing troops and run to catch up with the troops ahead.

Finally, he caught up with the first batch of reinforcements.

After leaving the mountain pass, the front is mostly desert Gobi, and the vegetation begins to increase as we walk.

The reinforcement general Sang Zhong sent out light cavalry to explore the way, and soon the scouts came back: "There is a large group of enemy cavalry blocking the way ahead, and General Wu's vanguard may have been surrounded by heavy troops!"

"Let's retreat and defend the fort at the mountain pass to protect the subsequent army's passage out of the mountain." Sang Zhong immediately ordered.

"Don't save General Wu?"

"If he had been prepared, he wouldn't need our rescue. If he was unprepared, it would be useless to rescue him. He stopped the army for supply once before, and the food and grass can last for a few days. At most, we can slaughter mules and horses. Our chariots and artillery are still behind, and we don't have many cavalry, so we don't have the ability to save him for the time being."

Sang Zhong was a general left by Zhong Shidao. Historically, he first joined Wang Yan to fight against the Jin in Hebei, and then joined Du Chong to defend Kaifeng, but was resentful of Du Chong. He also had a disagreement with Cheng Qianqiu, the governor of Jingxi, and rebelled in Xiangyang in anger, occupying Hubei with more than 100,000 troops. He was eventually killed by his old boss Wang Yan.

The civil servant named Cheng Qianqiu not only forced Sang Zhong to rebel, but also forced the generals responsible for conquering Sang Zhong to rebel.

In this time and space, Sang Zhong was reorganized with the Zhong family army, and then he fought and won meritorious service and was promoted step by step.

When he heard that Wu Jie's vanguard troops were surrounded, he had no intention of rescuing them, and honestly retreated to the mountain pass stronghold to prevent the follow-up army from being blocked between the mountains.

The mountain pass stronghold was also captured by Wu Jie, and some auxiliary soldiers and civilians were left to garrison.

Sang Zhong retreated to the mountain pass for about an hour, and the scout cavalry kept coming back to report: "The enemy scout cavalry is increasing, our cavalry is not enough, and has been pushed back to within five miles!"

"The cavalry should move closer," Sang Zhong ordered, "It will be a great achievement to hold this place, and wait for the follow-up reinforcements from friendly forces."

Wu Jie rushed too fast!

He trained a heavy assault brigade and didn't take the Western Liao army seriously.

With a hammer in hand, he was looking for a nail to knock.

(Recommend Da Luoluo's new book "The End of the Qing Dynasty". This guy writes really fast. I write one book, and he can write several.)