Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Hexi Corridor, under Yanzhi Mountain.

The Shandan Horse Farm had been emptied, not to mention horses, even cattle and sheep were gone.

The news that Wu Jie killed chieftains, herdsmen, and landowners in Liangzhou had spread to Gansu and Suzhou. Those Xixia civil and military officials who wanted to surrender were frightened and forced to fight desperately. They also told the lower-level soldiers and civilians that the Ming army would massacre the city wherever it passed, and they had to fight to the end if they wanted to survive.

In the flat valley south of Yanzhi Mountain, a Ming grain transport team was being besieged.

The enemy came from the east side of Yanzhi Mountain, where the road was closer but rugged and desolate. The route of Wu Jie's army was to go to the Shandan Horse Farm on the west side of Yanzhi Mountain.

This grain transport team had thousands of people, 500 of whom were garrison troops, and the rest were all civilians transporting grain.

They surrounded the four-wheeled carts and wheelbarrows as a barrier, and the grain carried by livestock was also piled up on the periphery. They had been fighting with the enemy for two hours.

Nearly a thousand civilians were killed or wounded, most of them were shot by arrows!

The Xixia cavalry also suffered heavy casualties. Not only did the 500 Ming soldiers carry bows and crossbows, but even some civilians were equipped with bows and crossbows. These civilians came from Hehuang, and many of them were exiled prisoners. They had to participate in military training during the slack season.

"Da Da Da Da~~"

A burst of horse hooves sounded, and the Ming side cheered loudly. They finally waited for reinforcements.

But there were only 200 brave cavalrymen, while the Xixia side had more than 3,000 cavalrymen.

"Kill them!"

The generals of both sides gave orders at the same time.

The general on the Xixia side was called Ren Duo Mingyi, who came from a large family in Liangzhou. The Ren Duo Quan City built by the Xixia was named after the Ren Duo family.

When Wu Jie broke through Liangzhou City, Ren Duo Mingyi led his troops and fled.

But his brothers, the landowners and herdsmen in his family, were beheaded by Wu Jie after surrendering. Several tribesmen fled to Ganzhou to report the news, and Ren Duomingyi was so angry that he swore revenge, because Wu Jie's killing of surrendered soldiers was too unreasonable!

This guy had a deep blood feud, and the Ming army generals who came to help were the same.

Wu Jie had two generals under his command.

One was called Wang Jun, nicknamed Wang Kaishan in the army. There are wrong names, but there are no wrong nicknames. You can tell what kind of person he is by listening to his nickname. In history, Wu Jie was afraid that Wang Jun would surrender to the Jin Kingdom, so he directly married his daughter who had just come of age to Wang Jun, who was almost 30 years old.

One was called Yang Zheng, Wu Jie's old subordinate and old buddy.

Yang Zheng participated in all the victories Wu Jie won in the early and middle periods, and performed the most difficult and dangerous tasks. In history, Yang Zheng fought against the Jin soldiers, won nine battles and nine victories, and never lost in frontal battles. It was he who led his troops to cry.

Moreover, Yang Zheng was a versatile political and military talent, and he was also very good at governing the people.

Unfortunately, he was blackened too badly by the Southern Song Dynasty fantasy novel "Yijianzhi". The book said that he was cruel and bloodthirsty, and even his concubines were skinned at will.

"Xixia barbarians, give back your grandfather's life!" Yang Zheng took the lead with a spear in his hand.

His father Yang Zhong was killed in the battle with Xixia in the late Northern Song Dynasty. It is said that he was shot by dozens of arrows.

Yang Zheng took the initiative to stay and led two thousand cavalry to protect the grain road from Liangzhou to Ganzhou. He divided the two thousand cavalry into ten teams, one person patrolled back and forth along the way, and rushed directly when he met Xixia.

This was the third battle.

The Xixia soldiers did not dare to fight head-on with the main force of the Ming army, and always sent cavalry to attack the grain road.

I saw two hundred Ming cavalry rushing towards more than three thousand Xixia cavalry.

Yang Zheng did not take such a small enemy seriously. In history, he often led infantry to charge directly at the Jin cavalry, and the whole army used axes and long swords to chop the horses' legs.

More than 3,000 Xixia cavalrymen took turns shooting arrows at 200 Ming cavalrymen. They were divided into ten teams to encircle and patrol, but they did not dare to engage in close combat. They would immediately distance themselves after shooting an arrow.

Yang Zheng was facing an enemy that was more than ten times his number, but he was still charging in teams.

Moreover, he was divided into four teams, and each team was divided into two small teams to cooperate with each other. Fifty cavalrymen rushed in one direction and rushed in four directions at the same time, moving forward without stopping.

Invincible!

Yang Zheng personally led only two small teams with a total of fifty people. He endured a rain of arrows and bit the enemy in front who wanted to run after shooting arrows.

There were more than 300 Xixia cavalrymen, who kept turning their heads to shoot arrows, but the arrows fell on the armor and horse armor without any lethality. Another enemy group of about 300 cavalrymen also shot arrows at Yang Zheng from the side, but they did not dare to rush over for close combat.

Yang Zheng only had the enemy in front of him in his eyes, and he did not care about the enemy on the side at all. He would kill an enemy with a spear if he caught up with him.

Less than ten minutes.

More than 3,000 Xixia cavalry were defeated by these 200 Ming Dynasty cavalry.

Ren Duomingyi also had armor, and even his warhorse was covered with leather armor. But he was running fast at this moment. This kind of cavalry charge was too terrible, and it was not something that Xixia cavalry dared to stop.

Not to mention the problem of equipment, the momentum was completely defeated.

The Xixia cavalry went back to where they came from, and ran all the way along the remnants of Yanzhi Mountain. But when they were about to reach the mountain pass, a river blocked the way in front. It was a small river flowing down from Yanzhi Mountain, irrigating a narrow and long farming belt stretching for hundreds of miles.

If it was the dry season, you could wade through it on horseback.

But now it is spring, and the snow on Yanzhi Mountain has melted, causing the water level of this small river to rise sharply.

The Xixia cavalry fled in panic along the river bank. Seeing the Ming Dynasty cavalry approaching, some cavalry actually jumped into the river. For those Xixia cavalry without iron armor, jumping into the river to escape might still save their lives, but if they kept running away, they would be doomed sooner or later.

One after another, the cavalrymen jumped into the river, but the generals and officers did not dare.

They were all wearing armor!

"The thief general will die!"

Yang Zheng went straight to Renduo Mingyi, because this guy had the best armor.

Renduo Mingyi looked back and saw Yang Zheng challenging someone. He was so frightened that he whipped his horse to speed up.

After catching up to the foothills of Yanzhi Mountain, we ran along the gentle slope for a while, and the mountain became increasingly steep. Renduo Mingyi found that the Ming army was blocking the way to the west, and there was a river to the east, so he could only abandon his horse and climb up the mountain.

Yang Zheng got off his horse, hung up his spear, took off the iron rod, and used his hands and feet to catch up.

Nendo Mingyi also gave up his spear and was out of breath climbing the mountain. Seeing that Yang Zheng was separated from his soldiers and that the other Ming soldiers were still far away, he turned around and slashed at Yang Zheng with his sword.

Yang Zheng grabbed the bush with his left hand and swung the iron rod with his right hand, hitting the enemy general's calf hard.

"ah!"

Ren Duo Mingyi screamed, and his tibia was directly smashed and fractured.

Yang Zheng struck out with the stick again, hitting Ren Duo Mingyi's waist with such force that it seemed like it could break his intestines.

"Bang!"

There was another muffled sound, and the iron rod hit his chest hard.

Renduo Mingyi fell down with blood spurting from his mouth. As soon as he lay down, he received another severe blow on his helmet.

Yang Zheng felt comfortable all over, and the smile on his face was particularly ferocious.

His grandfather was killed by the Xixia people, his father was killed by the Xixia people, and his brother was also killed by the Xixia people!

Yang Zheng dragged the corpse of the enemy general down the mountain. When he saw a prisoner on the way, he immediately scolded: "I said I wouldn't keep any of them, why are you tying up these scraps?"

An officer said: "The military order is not to keep the Xixia generals and officers. These tied up are just soldiers."

"Kill them all together. If something goes wrong, I will accept the punishment." Yang Zheng said.

The officer hesitated for a moment, then called on the soldiers to kill the prisoners. This was something that everyone would not talk about until they died in their stomachs.

…

Ganzhou City.

"Boom boom boom!"

Wu Jie's army continued to bombard the city wall, and the remaining defeated generals in the city were frightened.

Many of them had escaped from Liangzhou, and they all ran very fast on horseback, taking away all the horses and livestock from Xedan Racecourse along the way.

Now there are nearly 100,000 horses in the city, and other livestock have no fodder at all. Soldiers kill cattle and sheep for meat, and many livestock have even starved to death.

"I'm going to the Western Region, will you leave?" Wei Mingyan asked directly.

The generals were silent.

Wei Mingyan said angrily: "The Ming army has artillery, and the city wall will collapse sooner or later. We can't fight in the open field, so we all stay here and wait to die? Yelu Dashi also wrote a letter to you, right? As long as he goes to the Western Regions, he will be divided Give it to the pasture. They are full of foreigners and they will definitely treat us well!"

A general said: "My family members are all in Blackwater City. I only brought my son and nephew here. If I are to flee to the Western Regions now, will I leave my family behind?"

Wei Mingyan said directly: "My family members are in Ganzhou City. If we break out now, the old, weak, women and children will definitely not be able to escape. Like you, I will lose my family, but I can marry many foreign women when I go to the Western Regions. You have all already I heard that even if you surrender, you will be killed. The enemy general is a madman!"

The general lowered his head and thought, seemingly reluctant to leave his wife and children.

"I am willing to follow the general to the Western Regions." Another general said. This person's hometown is in Suzhou. On the way to escape, he could pick up his family and even take away his belongings.

Several more generals from Shazhou and Guazhou agreed.

Wei Mingyan looked straight at one person and asked, "Where is your Zhang family?"

Zhang is a common surname in the Hexi Corridor, and many common people have the surname Zhang. Although the person in front of me is not a direct descendant of Zhang Yichao, he is also a descendant of Zhang Yichao's clan.

"Let's go." This Zhang family member sighed.

Near dusk, the Ming army stopped shelling and retreated to the camp one after another.

The Ming army camp was divided into two places, both of which were set up by the Black River, otherwise it would be difficult to obtain water.

Just when the Ming army returned to camp for dinner, all the gates of Ganzhou City were opened, and countless generals rushed out with their cavalry. They deceived the soldiers and said that the army was going to massacre the city, so that the civilians who could be allocated land and pastures were also deceived by them and fled to the Western Regions together.

The Ming army also announced to the city that ordinary soldiers could be allocated farmland, pastures, seeds and livestock, but the Xixia soldiers in the city could not believe these words.

Not only the Xixia soldiers were fleeing, but also many old, weak, women and children, as long as they could ride a horse, were fleeing.

Anyway, there is no shortage of horses in the city, and the entire Xiedan Racecourse has been moved here.

They ran wildly along the north bank of the Black River, setting fire to grain, grass and houses before leaving.

Wu Jie sent out all his cavalry to pursue him, and sent his infantry to occupy the city and put out the fire.

The Xixia soldiers and civilians who fled slowly were intercepted by more than 30,000 Ming cavalry. Most of them were old and weak, women and children, and there were also many Xixia infantrymen who were not good at riding. They could not run fast at all when they suddenly fled on horseback.

The escaped Xixia soldiers and civilians came to Suzhou without stopping.

Those with family members went to pick them up, while those without family members robbed civilians, ransacked Suzhou City and continued to flee.

Five thousand Ming Dynasty knights came after them, but those guys did not dare to fight, abandoned a large number of people and supplies, and continued to flee westward in panic. Then, they looted and plundered Guazhou and Shazhou, burned all the houses in the two cities, and went straight to Hami to seek refuge with Yelu Dashi.

Yelu Dashi is about to have a decisive battle with Seljuk!