Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Yue Fei's attack route is not a secret in Xixia, but it is easily ignored by everyone.

No one, including the locals, would go that way.

The reason is simple. Why go through three sections of desert when there is a flat road?

And it is normal for Cao Yu not to know the route. Every time he passed through this place, he would go through Keyi Gate, and his understanding of this area came from the stories of those who accompanied him.

Since the generals of Chaoshun Military Division knew that there was a gap, why didn't they garrison troops to prepare for it?

Be on guard.

Xixia built a fort on the east bank of the Yellow River ferry to prevent the Ming army from attacking behind Keyi Gate.

Hmm... I just forgot to guard against the Ming army taking Xingqing Mansion directly.

Because there is no need to guard against it.

First, if you want to attack Xingqing Mansion, you will be blocked by Dingzhou City on the way.

Second, the Xixia army at Keyimen can cut off the retreat of the attacking enemy at any time.

Under normal circumstances, Yue Fei led his troops to Dingzhou like this and turned into a lone army deep into the enemy's territory!

As long as the garrison at Keyi Gate divides its troops and crosses the river, it can catch turtles in jars and beat dogs with closed doors.

This is very similar to when the Jin soldiers went south, Wanyan Zongwang bypassed many fortified cities and went directly to Bianliang, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty. As long as the Northern Song Dynasty army is normal, it can block the Jin soldiers' retreat and completely wipe out Yan Zongwang's troops - this is what Zhang Shuye suggested. Unfortunately, the Song army is already rotten to the core.

…

"What? The enemy has fallen into Dingzhou?"

Li Renzhong was shocked: "Please quickly ask the King of Jin to lead his army to come back for reinforcements!"

After Li Renzhong got the news, he had no time to notify the Xixia leader, so he immediately sent people to invite Brother Richard back, and at the same time dispatched troops and generals to consolidate the defense of Xingqing Mansion.

Not long after, Li Renxiao also received the news and quickly summoned Li Renzhong into the palace for questioning.

Li Renxiao asked: "Did the Ming army fly over Keyi Gate?"

"I... really don't know." Like Cao Yu, Li Renzhong, as the Prime Minister of Xixia, had no idea that he could go around the desert.

Li Renxiao asked again: "How many troops are left in the city?"

Li Renzhong said: "Five thousand garrison troops and one thousand Xingqingfu city defense troops. If there are not many enemies coming, and we organize people to defend the city, we can hold it until the King of Jin leads his army back!"

"Defend to the end, then defend to the end." Li Renxiao said quickly.

Li Renzhong said: "Please ask your Majesty to climb the tower in person to defend against the enemy. The soldiers and civilians in the city will definitely fight to the death."

"Okay, I'll go right away!"

This 16-year-old little emperor, who had been on the throne for more than half a year, did not surrender in fear like Liu Chan.

Not only did he climb the tower in person, he also brought the newly-registered queen, the clan clan, with him.

Li Renzhong took the opportunity to send people everywhere to spread the word. When the soldiers and civilians of Xingqing Mansion heard that the emperor and queen had arrived in the city, their morale was greatly boosted and they followed orders to defend the city.

All the men, women, old and weak in the city were organized. The men were organized into armies with various weapons, and the women were also arranged to carry supplies everywhere.

As long as the Xixia army and people can hold on to the city, it will be Yue Fei who is in dire straits!

Because Yue Fei traveled a long distance, he did not carry much food and grass. In the Xixia territory, the first half of the journey was fortified and the fields were cleared, and the second half of the journey was also over-requisitioned. It was difficult for him to get food on the spot within the enemy's territory. Even the Dingzhou City he occupied had little food.

The main force of Xingqing Mansion's garrison is now the five thousand garrison, which was founded by Li Yuanhao.

They are also known as the "Yuyuan Liubanzhi". They were initially composed of only 500 people and gradually expanded to 5,000 people over the past hundred years. They are all composed of direct descendants of various wealthy tribes. To put it bluntly, they are the hostages used by Li Yuanhao to control various tribes.

The combat effectiveness of this "proton army" was very terrifying a hundred years ago!

Now, haha.

Their daily job is to guard the palace and royal gardens, and they are only dispatched when the Xixia leader is on an expedition.

Three hundred of them were sent by Li Renzhong to reconnoiter the enemy's situation in the north.

They wore golden armor and rode tall horses. At first glance, they looked majestic.

In fact, their armor is so thin that it is difficult to defend against even strong bows.

The troops stationed at the palace only need to look majestic, but what kind of defense is needed? How heavy is the real armor? Standing on guard would be exhausting!

The three hundred cavalry carefully left the city, and a group of thirty people dispersed, heading north to scout Yue Fei's movements.

After riding for several miles, they stopped moving and stayed in the area to wander around. Once there is any trouble, they will go back to report the news, which can be regarded as completing the task.

"The Han army is coming, the Han army is coming!"

Several Xixia people came galloping on horseback from the north.

These Xixia proton troops were so frightened that they immediately blew their horns to warn their companions who had dispersed, then turned around and fled on horseback.

When they returned to Xingqing Fucheng, Li Renzhong personally asked: "How many Ming troops have come?"

"Thousands and thousands."

"How much exactly."

"It could be a few thousand, it could be tens of thousands."

"Bastard! Have you encountered any enemies?"

"Yes. But the enemies came so fast that we didn't have time to count how many there were."

"How far away is the enemy?"

"It's probably a few miles away."

"Don't estimate, how far is it?"

"Five miles. Maybe six or seven miles."

"..."

Li Renzhong asked, almost making his lungs explode.

He can basically conclude that these guys have never seen the Ming army with their own eyes!

That afternoon, Yue Fei really came with his troops.

The generals rushed closer to observe, and suddenly had a headache, because it was impossible to defeat them.

Kaifeng's city wall has a circumference of 28.8 miles, and Xingqingfu's city wall has a circumference of 18 miles. This comparison will give you an idea of ​​how big the city is.

The width of the moat is more than 30 meters.

Moreover, the Xixia monarchs and ministers, who were determined to defend, directly demolished the bridge.

Although the main troops have been transferred to the front line, Xingqingfu is a large city with more than 200,000 people. At this moment, people were organized to defend the city, and the city was densely packed with people.

Yue Fei didn't have any siege weapons. Let alone capture the city first, he couldn't even cross the moat.

It was useless to shout to persuade them to surrender. Standing outside the moat, they were too far away from the city wall and could not hear clearly no matter what they shouted.

"What to do?" The generals looked at Yue Fei.

Yue Fei said: "Besiege the city and call for reinforcements. The Xixia Kingdom is besieged, and they will mobilize a large army to return reinforcements."

Yang Yizhong said: "But we in Dingzhou City have not received much food and grass supplies, and we will be hungry in a few days. The people of Xixia nearby were also confiscated and had no food left in their homes, and they plundered and plundered them." Less than a few grains of rice.”

Yue Fei said: "Detach the cavalry and march to the east, north and south, disperse the local people along the way, and ensure that there are few people in the area for dozens of miles, so that the enemy does not know where our main force is. At the same time, these cavalry marching on three sides must also Responsible for reconnaissance of the enemy. In order to advance and retreat as fast as possible, they take off their armor and retreat when encountering enemy troops."

"Then what?" Liu Zhengyan asked.

Yue Fei said: "Act according to the opportunity."

Xingqing Fucheng is the closest to Huaizhou City, only 40 miles away.

The Ming Dynasty's "Qingqi" who was sent to Huaizhou encountered a large group of enemy cavalry on the way, and immediately returned to the direction of Yue Fei's main force without engaging in battle.

However, Jingzhou City is fifty miles away to the south. When they came back, they reported that it was extremely empty.

Yue Fei immediately dispatched half of his troops to go south. He told Xu Qing who was performing the mission: "Attack the city at night, and attack if you can. If the enemy is on guard, lead your troops to withdraw immediately!"

"Report!!!"

"We caught a spy who was running around on horseback, which is very suspicious. He claimed to be from the Military Intelligence Department of the Ministry of War, but he couldn't produce anything to prove himself."

Before Xu Qing set out, suddenly a horse came running back.

Yue Fei was overjoyed: "What nonsense. How dare people from the Military Intelligence Department keep their badges in the enemy's country? Bring them here quickly!"

After saying that, he asked Xu Qing not to leave for the time being.

About a quarter of an hour later, a middle-aged man was brought to Yue Fei.

The man cupped his hands and said: "This general, my name is Li Cunhui. He served in the Western Army in the former Song Dynasty. He couldn't stand the exploitation of generals, so he became a horse thief in Lanzhou. Later, he followed General Li Yanxian to join the army and surrendered to the Ming Dynasty. He also followed General Li Yanxian. General Yang Zhi sent troops to defeat the Xixia and Nanjun divisions. "

"You're neglectful." Yue Fei was in awe and quickly saluted with a military salute. The person in front of him was older than him.

Li Cunhui said:

"When the official became the crown prince, he personally went to Hebei. I went with him. I was injured and rested for half a year. After I recovered from my injury, I joined the Military Intelligence Department. At first, I traveled between the two countries' borders, smuggling green and white salt from Xixia salt dealers to Huanzhou Xiabao Village. . The imperial court found an excuse to crack down on smuggling, so I took the opportunity to escape to Yanzhou with my injuries."

"The magistrate of Yanzhou in Xixia has been using his cronies to smuggle blue and white salt. I claimed to have a way around Huanzhou, so he sent someone to inquire about my details. After finding out my fabricated identity, he no longer suspected. I helped him smuggle for three years. Qingbaiyan, that guy took me with him when he was transferred to Youzhou, and even acted as a matchmaker for me to marry the daughter of an officer in Youzhou. "

"In the past few years, I have been in Youzhou, and I have also served as a detachment officer under the inspection envoy of Youzhou. If the two countries do not go to war again, I still want to spend money to bribe Shangguan to handle the account of the inspection envoy of Youzhou. Will."

After saying these words, all the generals were dumbfounded.

The man in front of me not only successfully sneaked into Xixia, he actually became an officer in Xixia.

Yue Fei asked: "Since you are an officer in Youzhou, why are you here?"

Li Cunhui said with a smile: "The Xixia coach in Youzhou is the head of the Xixia Kingdom, Zeng Cunli. That guy is a pure idiot. He hurriedly led his troops to fight Xiao Heda, but was attacked by a night attack on the way and ran away in panic. I was there at the time In the camp outside the stronghold, when Xiao Heda came to kill him, he led his troops and fled back to Youzhou without thinking. "

"I originally wanted to return to Youzhou and look for an opportunity to help seize the city, but Nag Cunli was frightened. He learned that Longzhou had been lost and Shizhou was besieged, and he actually brought tens of thousands of troops and more than 100,000 people with him. Withdraw. They didn’t stop when they reached Yanzhou, but they also abandoned Yanzhou.”

Yue Fei asked: "Where have the tens of thousands of soldiers from Ng Cunli retreated to now?"

Li Cunhui said: "More than 100,000 people have retreated to resettlement outside Huaizhou City. Only the families of military officers can enter the city. My wife and children from Xixia are resettled in the city. At present, there are 50,000 troops in Huaizhou City, but they are all small The remaining soldiers are defeated, and Zong Cunli will lead these soldiers to defend the city. "

"Brother Richard was urgently transferred by the Xixia Kingdom to select 20,000 cavalry who can still fight. I don't know where he went. According to my guess, he should have sneaked into the depths of the grassland in order to cut off the food routes of the Ming soldiers."

"When Bin Cunli received news in Huaizhou that the general was attacking Xingqing Mansion, he was too frightened to act rashly and sent the remaining cavalry out to investigate."

"I am an officer of one of the cavalry groups. I met the cavalry sent by the general before and took the opportunity to abandon the troops and pursue them all the way."

"General Yue, if you don't find a way to break the situation, you will most likely be blocked by tens of thousands of troops!"

Yue Fei said: "I am not afraid of facing tens of thousands of enemy troops, but I am afraid that the enemy troops will be huddled in the city and unable to get out, and the food and grass in my hands will not last long. Before we conquered Dingzhou City, there was no food and grass there. If there is really no food, I will We can only go back to Dingzhou City to force food from door to door and snatch the surplus food from the people to survive. "

Li Cunhui said: "There is food in Huaizhou City. Wang Cunli has fortified the city and cleared the fields. All the looted food is there. However, there are 50,000 troops guarding the city, and the general has no siege equipment. I am afraid that he can only lure Wang Cunli out. But this man is too timid. Even if Xingqing Prefecture is surrounded, he dare not easily send troops."

Yue Fei said: "You have lived in Xixia for many years and followed Wang Cunli all the way here. Can you think of any way to capture the city?"

Li Cunhui said: "Huaizhou City is not big. With 50,000 troops stationed, it cannot accommodate more than 100,000 civilians. These civilians are either the families of the soldiers guarding the city or the clans of the soldiers guarding the city. They are placed outside the city. If the general can capture a large number of civilians, the soldiers guarding the city will inevitably be in chaos! Using civilians as hostages to force the defenders in the city to surrender, even if it fails, it can cause chaos in the city. I will go back to the city and take the opportunity to instigate some chiefs to defect, which may help the general capture the city in one fell swoop!"