Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Where is Yue Fei now?

He is debating with the monks in the temple.

Yue Fei won the debate with the knife handle, and the great monk immediately moved out food to reward the troops.

This temple is called Gaotai Temple, located fifteen miles east of Xingqing Prefecture. It is easy to find here because there are several pagodas in the temple, and the tallest one is dozens of meters high.

It was built by Li Yuanhao with great efforts. He exchanged good horses for Buddhist scriptures from Mount Wutai, and then went to Xinjiang to hire Uighur monks as translators.

It occupies a large area and has a lot of food.

Just this morning, Yue Fei evacuated Xingqing Prefecture at night. Li Yu saw the pagoda from a distance and suddenly had an idea: "Protector General, there should be a lot of food in the temple?"

"Why did I forget this!" Yue Fei slapped his head.

So Yue Fei took the army to Gaotai Temple to worship Buddha, and by the way, he asked the monks for some food.

Unfortunately, although the monks were rich, they did not have much food.

In the past few years, due to natural disasters, grain prices soared during the lean season, and Gaotai Temple took the opportunity to sell a lot of grain. This year, Xixia was short of food and grass when it sent troops, so it had to borrow grain from the temple.

Most of the food stored in Gaotai Temple was gone, and even some young monks were dragged to serve in the war.

All in all, the food stored in the temple was only enough for Yue Fei's 6,000 soldiers to eat for about ten days.

Yue Fei's mouth was crooked with laughter after picking up ten days of food and grass for free.

Then another officer came to report that when he went out for reconnaissance two days ago, he also found a big temple in the southwest of Xingqing Prefecture.

Yue Fei immediately divided 3,000 cavalrymen, each with three horses, and rushed to Chengtian Temple in Xixia.

At dusk, 6,000 horses returned with full loads of food - the monks of Chengtian Temple had all run away, because they were anxious to escape into Xingqing Prefecture, leaving a lot of food "free" to Yue Fei.

Even without Li Cunhui's suggestion, the food obtained from the two temples alone would be enough for Yue Fei's troops to eat for half a month.

The temples in Xixia were too rich, and there was still so much left after the grain was collected.

If Xixia was not in danger of extinction, it would probably not have asked the temples for grain, because Buddhism was the state religion of Xixia.

And the three major temples in Xingqing Prefecture - Gaotai Temple, Chengtian Temple, and Jietan Temple were all built by royal orders. Without the emperor's decree, no one dared to touch the things in the temple, let alone ask monks to collect military rations.

In order to obtain Buddhist scriptures for Gaotai Temple, Li Yuanhao directly took out many top war horses to exchange with the Northern Song Dynasty.

This was not because Li Yuanhao was a devout Buddhist, but to establish the legitimacy of the Xixia regime through worshipping Buddhism!

"Protector General, Li Cunhui sent a message that Wang Cunli might move the people into the city tonight. He said it would not be too late to kill them tomorrow at noon, but it would be best to arrive at dawn."

"Keep an eye on the monks in Gaotai Temple!"

Yue Fei was still very civilized and did not slaughter the monks in the temple.

He only tied up some of them, and the remaining monks cooked for the tied monks, and sent soldiers to watch them and not let them move around at will.

The food and grass of Yue Fei's army were also temporarily stored in the temple.

...

Outside Huaizhou City, it was completely dark.

Wang Cunli sent a large number of light cavalry to investigate and confirmed that there were no enemy troops within a radius of 15 miles. Only then did he open the city gate at dusk to let the people settled in the suburbs come in.

The outsiders had not arrived yet, and the local people living in the suburbs moved first.

They knew that the Ming army was heading south, and they had long wanted to hide in the city. Now they finally got the chance.

The soldiers intended to stop them, but they soon rioted. Although the civil unrest was successfully suppressed, several city gates were blocked for two hours. As foreigners entered the city one after another, local residents came to join in.

After the commotion, the city gates were blocked again!

Wang Cunli was tired of watching from the tower, and he had no choice but to order: "Let them all in."

To the east of Huaizhou City is the Yellow River, and torches were held everywhere on the west, south and north sides. People drove livestock, carried food, and rushed into the city with the elderly and children. Many families even brought cooking utensils, firewood and fodder.

Not only did they want to cook in the city, they also wanted to feed cattle and sheep in the city.

Wang Cunli did not stop them, and there was no way to stop them.

Anyway, there would be insufficient fodder next time, and those herdsmen would definitely kill sheep and cattle. While making the city stink, the price of meat could also be brought down, just in time for the food-deficient city residents to buy.

Chaos! Chaos! Chaos!

It was a mess!

Many people pushed and shoved each other before they even entered the city. Some people lost their livestock, and they cried and screamed to find them everywhere, but they were squeezed into a narrow space and could not move.

Gradually, families were separated, and children could not find their mothers. They stood in the crowd and cried and screamed, and some were even trampled to death.

It was even more chaotic after entering the city.

Wang Cunli forced the residents in the city to accept a certain number of outsiders in each house. But everyone wanted to live in the house. After the owner closed the door, there were still people knocking on the door and rushing in.

Many owners did not have time to close the door, and people kept squeezing in, and then conflicts and quarrels arose.

Even fighting!

There were also people fighting on the street, saying that a certain livestock was theirs, and they were clamoring to see the officials to confirm the ownership.

How could the officials in the city take care of such things?

Soldiers had already ignored military orders and left their posts to run to the streets to look for their relatives. They had been separated from their families for many days. Although they were close, they could not see each other, and they did not even know whether their families were still alive.

On every street, soldiers were shouting their families' names. The whole city was noisy and chaotic and completely out of control.

Wang Cunli stood on the tower, looking inside and outside the city, and he was numb.

If the Ming army came at this time, he would not be able to command the troops.

"Come back!" Li Cunhui shouted.

The soldiers under his command said: "Team, let's go find our relatives. If we don't come now, when the Ming army arrives, I'm afraid our families will be trampled to death or killed."

Li Cunhui asked: "Now there are people inside and outside the city, how can you find your family? Just shout along the street? There are many people with the same name among the Dangxiang people, when will you find them? Most of the people haven't entered the city yet, your family may still be outside the city, and no one will respond even if you shout until dawn."

The soldiers stood there, not knowing what to do.

Among their group of people, only the families of Li Cunhui and his adjutant were collectively settled in the city from the beginning.

Li Cunhui continued: "Stay here and make merit with me, and finish the battle as soon as possible, so that you can find your family with peace of mind. Looking for it now is no different from looking for a needle in the desert?"

A city gate was blocked again.

Because there were too many people entering the city, the Xixia soldiers could not maintain order at all, and suddenly a large-scale stampede occurred in the city gate.

More and more people fell, and there were even many livestock blocking the way.

The people outside the city gate had no idea what was going on. They continued to squeeze in, but found that they couldn't squeeze in, so some people suspected that the city was full and the rest were not allowed to hide in the city.

This rumor was very popular, and those who were blocked outside began to shout and roar.

Gradually, anger and panic had spread outside the moat. And it evolved into various rumors, which spread farther and farther when the people communicated privately.

The Xixia soldiers responsible for maintaining order outside the city were squeezed against the city wall by the people. Not to mention drawing their swords to intimidate, they couldn't even raise their weapons.

Wang Cunli was furious: "Shoot arrows, shoot arrows!"

The Xixia soldiers on the city shot arrows outside the city gate, scaring the people there to cry and run away.

After a while, the place was finally empty.

Wang Cunli sent soldiers to clean up the bodies inside and outside the city gate and let the people in again.

This time, it was much more orderly, and no one dared to squeeze in again.

But it was still very noisy, especially in families with many livestock. Some of the livestock were disobedient and would run around when disturbed. When driving a large number of livestock into the city, it often took a long time, and the people behind were so anxious that they cursed.

The chaos continued until dawn, and only half of the more than 100,000 people entered the city.

To be precise, more than 100,000!

The people in the suburbs took the opportunity to escape into the city, and the local people in the suburbs did the same.

The Yinchuan Basin is the most densely populated area in Western Xia.

No one else.

The population density here is even catching up with Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

The young and strong people near Huaizhou City were all drawn to the front line to fight, leaving countless old, weak, women and children at home.

They also wanted to enter the city.

Not only the people of Huaizhou, but Yue Fei immediately dispatched cavalry to disperse the people when he found that he could not conquer Xingqing Prefecture. Since Huaizhou was closest to Xingqing Prefecture, at least half of the people driven away by Yue Fei fled to Huaizhou.

Some even fled from Dingzhou.

These farmers from Xingqing Prefecture were even more miserable. Because they fled in a hurry, they didn't even have food, so they could only beg in the suburbs of Huaizhou.

Wang Cunli thought that he let more than 100,000 people into the city, but in fact, there were more than 200,000.

The entire Western Xia had only more than one million people.

If the people and soldiers in the city are counted, one-fifth of the population of Western Xia is here - the other one-fifth is in the capital of Western Xia, Xingqing Prefecture.

Do you think it's outrageous?

It's normal!

Wang Cunli built a strong defense and cleared the fields, and brought soldiers and civilians from several states with him.

Those states, in the eyes of Ming officials, were very poor, but they were the "rich areas" of Western Xia second only to the Yinchuan Basin and the land outside the Tao. Because there were many people and they were on the front line, there were the most military commanders there, and the border of Western Xia was supported by those states.

Even if the Ming army was defeated in this battle, it would be miserable for Western Xia to barely hold on.

The land of brilliance was ravaged, and the grain this year could only be replanted. Next year, there will be famine and rebellion everywhere. Even if the rebellion is quelled, the population will be drastically reduced, and it will take at least 20 to 30 years to recover.

"Woo~~~Woo~~~Woo~~Woo~~"

To the west of Huaizhou City, the sound of horns came from far and near. It was the warning of the Xixia light cavalry sent out of the city to investigate.

Yue Fei is coming.

Wang Cunli stood on the tower and shouted: "Close the city gate!"

The people, who had gradually become orderly after many rectifications, panicked when they saw that the soldiers were going to close the city.

They didn't even want their property, food, and livestock, and those who hadn't entered the city rushed in.

The people in the city gate hole squeezed forward with all their might, and the soldiers couldn't close the door at all.

Outside the city gate, a rain of arrows fell, trying to shoot back the people who rushed in later. As long as the people who followed retreated, the people in the city gate hole went in, and the city gate could be closed quickly.

"The Han army is coming, rush over!"

The rain of arrows couldn't shoot back the people, and they rushed in desperately through the rain of arrows, holding the felt used to set up tents.

Li Cunhui and his cavalry mounted their horses. He and his deputy led 15 men each and rushed to the streets from different directions, shouting along the way: "Han troops have sneaked into the city! Han troops have sneaked into the city..."

At this moment, Wang Cunli was blowing the horn to gather the soldiers, asking the soldiers scattered in the city to gather quickly.

Li Cunhui and his men killed any lone soldiers they met on the street. After killing them, they immediately rushed forward and continued to shout that the Han troops had entered the city.

The streets were full of people and livestock, as well as running soldiers.

When the people heard the shouting, they thought that Li Cunhui and his men were the Ming army and were driven to flee in panic.

More and more people ran around randomly, causing widespread panic in the city.

The people who had just entered the city had experienced several hours of chaos. After finally entering the city, they had not rested for a while on the street. What would their reaction be when they suddenly heard that the Ming army had entered the city?

People ran around aimlessly, their minds were blank, their bodies and minds were shrouded in fear, and they had lost the ability to think.

Those who climbed over the wall and hid in the houses were considered rational, but some people actually fled towards the city gate, as if the Ming army was in the city and they would be safe if they left the city gate.

In the end, Li Cunhui did not need to create chaos at all, the Xixia people themselves were creating chaos.

The Xixia soldiers were influenced by the people and had no idea how many enemies there were in the city. They really thought that a large number of Ming troops had mixed in.

At this time, the morning light was dim and the visibility was less than ten meters.

Wang Cunli looked at the increasingly chaotic city and heard the rumbling of horse hooves from far away outside the city. His commander was also completely panicked. He actually followed the horse path on the city wall and led several personal soldiers on horseback to the city, and then rushed to the east city gate with hacks and kills along the way.

"Open the city gate!" Wang Cunli shouted in horror.

He didn't need to give orders at all, as soldiers and civilians had already opened the East Gate.

Outside the gate was the Yellow River, so they would not be intercepted by the Ming army, and therefore some rational soldiers and civilians chose to flee from here.

Wang Cunli, the father-in-law of the Western Xia and the commander-in-chief of the army, abandoned more than 200,000 soldiers and civilians and ran away.

He left behind one-fifth of the population of Western Xia!