Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 961 095 Two]

There are only two piers and two to three hundred troops stationed there. Naturally, Yue Fei and Han Shizhong are not afraid.

As soon as they sent troops to build the pier, several wolf smoke rose from the mountains on both sides. The approximate locations of those wolf smoke have been drawn.

When Wang Gui sent someone back to report the specific situation, Yue Fei pointed to the marked places with smoke and said: "The places with smoke should all be piers, used for observation and transmission of messages. The real enemy stronghold may be hidden in other places. "

Han Shizhong took out a map, which was carefully crafted and sent back to the court.

The specific person who drew the map is currently hiding in Shengwei City and cannot go north because of the war.

This thing is extremely rough and belongs to ancient travel maps.

"To the north of Keyimen City, there is a ravine that can lead to the army. It is about 20 miles long and variable in width. The wide one is about seven or eight miles. The narrow one is about three or four miles... The wide part is lined with ravines..."

"Starting from Keyimen City, there is Luotuo Ridge three miles to the north, and there is a fort on the ridge..."

The fortress clearly marked on the map is a place on Luotuoling.

In other places, there are words such as "There is a ditch coming out of the mountain" and "No entry, or hidden in the fortress".

Judging from the map, the terrain further south is more complicated.

Moreover, there is more than one ravine, and the ravine used for the passage of merchant brigades and troops is only the flattest one among them.

This was also the reason why Cao Yu, as a supervisor, had traveled through this place many times but could not figure out the geography. He only knew that there were several fortresses on the mountains.

Before departure, Yue Fei and Han Shizhong interrogated the prisoners, but the prisoners' statements were similar to Cao Yu's.

"Han Duhu, Yue Duhu, and Chief Dangxiang led the crowd to vote!"

Just as the two of them continued to study the simple map based on their investigations in recent days, a soldier suddenly came to report a major military situation.

More than a hundred people came!

The leader claimed to be the son of the patriarch of the Chage Tribe, named Qi You.

Han Shizhong was extremely surprised: "Where did you come from?"

Qi You replied: "The west bank of the Yellow River."

Han Shizhong asked: "Aren't all the people there moved away?"

Qi You explained: "We hid in the desert."

Yue Fei asked: "Chaoshun Army Si Jianbi has been clearing the country for many days. How can you survive hiding in the desert?"

Qi You told in detail: "There is a salt lake to the west of the Yellow River, just across ten miles of desert. There is a green space around the salt lake. Fresh water cannot support many people. Usually there are only a few hundred salt workers there to cook salt. This year, the salt workers have also been cleared away. We moved away. We hid in the desert for a few days with food and drink, and then went to the salt lake where there was no one there."

"Then where did you live before?" Han Shizhong asked.

Qi You replied: "Our place is called Golden Beach. It is just 20 miles north of here. We have farmland on both sides of the Yellow River. Last year, Brother Richard took Ding to fight, so he took many people away from our tribe and recruited them randomly. Take our food. My father also went to fight. There were more than 2,000 people when we set out, but we only came back with more than 300."

Cao Yu interjected from the side: "If you can draw more than two thousand people to fight, you are a big tribe."

Qi You said: "We are the largest tribe under the jurisdiction of the Chaoshun Army! We no longer herd cattle and only farm on both sides of the Yellow River. The number of horses in the tribe's civil war was not large, and most of them were infantry during the war, so last year's losses were particularly serious. Even if you are defeated, you will never be able to escape.”

Yue Fei said: "If you can perform meritorious service, all your prisoners who are still alive will be selected and sent back home. Where is your father now?"

Qi You said: "Brother Richard ordered the walls to be fortified and the country to be cleared. My father and most of his tribe have retreated to the south of Keyimen City. Before my father left, he asked me to take more than a hundred young men to take shelter in the desert temporarily. "

This tribe is very lucky and very unlucky at the same time.

They live in the richest area around Keyimen, which is full of fertile soil washed out by the Yellow River. All the pastures were reclaimed to grow food, completely bidding farewell to the life of herding. Moreover, the regular soldiers were unwilling to raise horses for the court, and gradually became mainly infantry.

They were too wealthy and too close to the headquarters of the Chaoshun Military Division.

Every time there is a war, their tribe draws the most soldiers and levies the most grain.

Especially due to the famine in the past few years, the Xixia court has increased its troops like crazy, and the entire tribe is almost unable to bear it.

Qi Nian resented: "My father said that the tribe suffered too many losses last year and there was not much food left in the tribe. Next, we have to fight for the imperial court. If the war continues, the tribe will be almost gone. He asked me to hide and look for opportunities to seek refuge." Ming dynasty."

Han Shizhong asked: "Do you know the terrain of those valleys in Keyimen?"

Qi You replied: "I probably know it, but I'm not particularly sure. I heard that many ravines near Keyimen City were used for grazing, but then they gradually became deserted. There are also pastures on some high mountains, and some people fled to the high mountains. Grazing. There are low walls on the mountains on the east and west sides. I heard that they were the Great Wall built in the Tang Dynasty. "

That was not the Great Wall built by the Tang Dynasty, but the Great Wall built by the Qin Dynasty!

The mountain range stretching for more than a hundred miles is directly surrounded by three sections of the Qin Great Wall. The longest section of the Great Wall is more than 8,000 meters long and is located in Subaiyingou, where Han Shizhong and Yue Fei planned to pass.

However, those Qin Great Walls have been abandoned for thousands of years, and only some ruins remain. The Xixia Great Wall was built on the basis of the Qin Great Wall to defend against Mongolia, and only a short section of it was built.

Yue Fei said to Han Shizhong: "It seems that the mountains further south are gentler and can be used for grazing cattle, building the Great Wall, and of course building forts to garrison large armies."

Qi You said: "Two generals, Ke Yimen can go around."

"Impossible!" Cao Yu shouted.

Yue Fei and Han Shizhong's eyes lit up.

There is always such a plot in the stories of the wars of the past dynasties. When the army is facing a strong pass and cannot conquer it, suddenly the local people come and say: General, please take the small road.

Where is the small road here?

Qie squatted down and drew a simple map: "This is where we are. Go back more than ten miles to the west and cross the Yellow River. There is a protruding river beach there, and crops can be grown within a radius of five miles. From the river beach to the west, through about ten miles of desert, you can encounter a salt lake. That's where I hide. The local people have been forcibly relocated."

"Turning south from the salt lake, and then crossing about ten miles of desert, you can encounter an oasis. It is very close to the Yellow River, but the Yellow River often floods, and there is sand along the way, so crops cannot be grown. Food, and the Yellow River flooded a mess of rivers and small lakes. "

"I heard that the south of the oasis was grazing a long time ago, but now it has become a desert. The desert is about 10 to 20 miles long. You can see the mountains after crossing it. The east of the mountains can be cultivated and grazed. It is the territory of the second largest tribe of Chaoshun Army. They graze on the mountains and farm at the foot of the mountains. "

"After crossing the desert, go south for another 20 to 30 miles, cross the Yellow River to the east and you can go around to the back of Keyi Gate. "

Yue Fei and Han Shizhong carefully looked at the schematic diagram and calculated the detour.

Cross the Yellow River twice.

Cross the desert three times.

The total mileage of the desert area is 30 to 40 miles, but there are two oases in the middle that can supply fresh water.

Yue Fei asked: "After crossing all the deserts, what do you think of the places where farming and grazing are possible? Are there enemy strongholds there?"

Qie E replied: "The easiest place to cross the river is where there is a stronghold. There is a temple on the nearby mountain. I went to the temple with my father to worship Buddha."

Han Shizhong said: "We should be able to find other crossing points, right?"

Qie E smiled and said: "In fact, you don't have to cross the river. Go south along the Yellow River for 300 miles and you will reach Xingqing Prefecture, the capital of Daxia. These 300 miles are flat and smooth! Of course, there is also Dingzhou City in the middle."

Han Shizhong pulled Yue Fei aside: "Do you believe him?"

"Maybe." Yue Fei was not sure.

Han Shizhong said excitedly: "Do you dare to take a gamble?"

Yue Fei asked: "You mean, lead the cavalry to attack the capital of Xixia?"

"Yes," Han Shizhong analyzed: "Xixia is small and has few soldiers. It has to divide its troops to guard against us at Keyi Gate and defend against several large armies in Shaanxi. So how many soldiers can be left in Dingzhou City and Xingqing Prefecture? To make an inappropriate analogy, I will be Zhong Hui leading the army to confront the enemy here, and you will be Deng Ai rushing to attack the capital of Xixia."

Han Shizhong actually read "Three Kingdoms".

Yue Fei was already full of blood boiling, and nodded: "Okay!"

Han Shizhong said: "You take 6,000 cavalry, each with three horses. The 6,000 cavalry will be half your soldiers and half mine. How about we share this overwhelming military achievement equally?"

"It's a deal!" Yue Fei said with a fist.

He did it as soon as he said it.

Han Shizhong gave all his best war horses to Yue Fei, more than 18,000 in total, and some of the tribal chiefs' good horses were also borrowed.

As for Han Shizhong himself, he led the army to confront the enemy of Keyimen, and from time to time he would go up the mountain to attack the tower.

Yue Fei took Qie as a guide, retreated more than ten miles at night, and rested until dawn to cross the Yellow River.

Each cavalryman was equipped with three horses, one horse to carry people, one horse to carry armor, and one horse to carry food and drinking water.

The place where Yue Fei crossed the river was exactly the Binhe Avenue in the urban area of ​​Wuhai in later generations.

The river beach after crossing the Yellow River was actually full of paddy fields, which were usually used to grow rice. But due to the strong defense and clearing the fields, there was no one there, even the houses were burned, not to mention sowing and raising seedlings.

After a short rest and filling the water bag, they crossed the desert to the oasis and came to a salt lake that was more than 4 miles long and more than 2 miles wide.

There were grasslands around the salt lake, so the horses were fed with grass, concentrate and salt, and the soldiers sat down to eat and rest.

That afternoon, they crossed the desert again and came to the second oasis.

There was a smaller lake here, and it was a freshwater lake. Because the terrain was flat, once the Yellow River flooded, the flood could directly flood here, and even in the dry season, there were half-dried rivers connecting the Yellow River.

After filling the water bag, Yue Fei rested for a night and continued on his way.

The six thousand soldiers were extremely excited, and they already knew what they were going to do.

The next morning, Yue Fei led his troops through the last desert area and found that there was no clearing of the fields ahead. Near the Yellow River, farmers were plowing the fields with oxen. Far away from the Yellow River, there were herdsmen grazing.

Perhaps all the men were drawn to fight, and most of the farmers and herders were old people and women.

"The Han army is coming! The Han army is coming!"

An old man who was grazing sheep was so scared that he ran away on horseback, shouting to pass on the message along the way.

Yue Fei didn't care. Under Qie's guidance, he ran at full speed through the half-farming and half-grazing belt of more than 30 miles.

When they ran through two-thirds of the area, they could still see the smoke rising from the fort on the other side of the Yellow River.

Qie pointed to the front and said: "There are many mountains in the front dozens of miles. They are not very high, but they are relatively barren. Some places need to be detoured. After that area, it will be all flat land."

The straight-line distance is only more than ten miles, but it takes dozens or hundreds of miles to go around.

Yue Fei's army disappeared in the hilly area, and the Xixia fort on the other side of the Yellow River was frightened and in chaos.

They thought Yue Fei was going to choose a place to cross the river and attack the stronghold, set up a stake behind Keyimen City, and then attack Keyimen from the front and back. So while guarding the stronghold, they sent people to Keyimen to report the news and invited a large number of cavalry to explore along the river.

Another day later, Yue Fei had passed through the hilly area and was galloping on a flat road.

To his west was the Helan Mountains, to his east was the Yellow River, and he was already in the Yinchuan Basin.

This is the real breakthrough of the Helan Mountain gap!

This is the core ruling area of ​​Xixia, so it is naturally impossible to fortify the walls and clear the fields. There are farmers everywhere who are farming. But they are still mainly old people and women, and all the young and strong have been drawn to fight.

The Xixia farmers fled in panic. Those who didn't have time to escape far hid in the house and dared not come out. Some people rode horses to Dingzhou City to report the news.

Yue Fei didn't care and led his army down at a rapid speed.

Last winter, the three tribes of Dingzhou rebelled and messed up the place. The few standing troops and young men left were all withdrawn to defend Lingzhou, leaving only 500 rubbish troops in Dingzhou.

When the garrison received the news, Yue Fei had led his troops to four miles outside the city.

The garrison looked at his 500 old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers and ordered them to guard the city gate, then he went home to pack up his belongings and ran away with his wife and children.

When Yue Fei's troops arrived at the city, the 500 defenders scattered.

A merchant stood up and said to his shop assistant: "I am the emperor Zhu's man, you all follow me to open the city gate!"

Yue Fei rested in the city for a night, made some supplies and continued to move south.

Xingqingfu, the capital of the Western Xia Kingdom, was less than a hundred miles ahead!