In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

In October of the eighth year of the Qingli Period of the Song Dynasty, the north wind blew from the northwest, and the hills were covered with dense forests. Although the grass and trees were not completely withered, they were also brown and green.

The vast loess plateau was full of hills and undulating hills. Some hills were covered with trees, while others were bare.

Di Qing was standing on a hill on horseback, looking into the northwest with a telescope.

This is Tumenzhai in the northwest of Yan'an Prefecture, which is the border with Longzhou in Western Xia. The grassland under the distant mountains is Longzhou in Western Xia, which is Jingbian County in Shaanxi Province in later generations.

The towering Longzhou City stands at the foot of the nearby mountains. Herders are grazing on the distant grasslands. There are few people inside and outside the city. The Songxia market, which was originally located outside the city, is sparsely populated and very depressed.

The civil strife in Western Xia continued. Although Wei Ninglingge came to power with the support of some Western Xia ministers, Li Yuanhao's eldest son Li Ninglingge had the help of his mother's family, Yeli.

Li Yuanhao killed the Yeli brothers and made the Yeli clan rebel first. Then other tribes followed suit and broke through Xingqing Prefecture. Li Ninglingge took advantage of the chaos to escape and ran to the Yeli clan.

At first, Wei Ninglingge was still on Li Yuanhao's side, but as Li Yuanhao was deserted by his relatives, he led some people from the Weiming clan to rebel with the help of some ministers, forcing Li Yuanhao to commit suicide in the river.

So the Yeli tribe supported Li Ninglingge, and the Weiming tribe was led by Wei Ninglingge. After all, as Li Yuanhao's cousin, Wei Ninglingge himself was also a member of the Weiming tribe.

These two tribes have become the largest forces in Xixia at present.

The rest of the small and medium-sized tribes either attached themselves to them or escaped from the original Xixia army sequence and returned to their own pastures.

The huge Xixia Kingdom has been falling apart since this year, and it no longer has the glory it once had.

All this is inseparable from Li Yuanhao's militarism and self-righteousness, which led to the country's poverty and resentment, and rebellion broke out everywhere. The foundation accumulated by the Li family for three generations vanished in smoke.

The Xixia border under the civil strife was naturally severely affected.

The former Xixia border troops either fled, participated in the civil strife, or were controlled by the border city lords. Many cities were no longer guarded by troops, and all kinds of burning, killing and looting occurred one after another.

In the case of a serious decline in public security, except for a few who were not afraid of death, most Han merchants naturally did not dare to come to trade.

The once prosperous border appeared depressed and dead, and even the vitality seemed to be reduced.

"Prime Minister Di, there are fast horses coming from the back."

The guard said to Di Qing.

Di Qing had actually heard the slight sound of horse hooves from far behind.

He put down the telescope and turned his head to look behind him.

The mountains behind were green, and among the layers of mountains, there was a winding road leading to Tumen Village.

A team of cavalry approached quickly and was intercepted by Di Qing's guards at the foot of the mountain.

After a while, a knight ran up the mountain.

This hill is not high. There are few mountains over hundreds or thousands of meters on the Loess Plateau, because the altitude here is relatively high, mostly tens of meters or hundreds of meters.

Not long after, the knight reached the top of the mountain, came to Di Qing, dismounted, knelt on one knee and said, "Report, General, there is an urgent order from the court!"

"What is it?"

"I don't know yet, it's the imperial edict and the hand order of the Political System Council, and the transport envoy asked the general to go back."

"Well, I know."

Di Qing nodded.

He actually knew what was going on.

Before coming this time, Zhao Jun and Fan Zhongyan also talked to him.

Due to some special reasons, Fan Zhongyan and Zhang Kang could no longer lead troops to the expedition.

So the court planned to let him serve as the commander-in-chief of this attack on Xixia.

At that time, Di Qing was very surprised and declined quickly.

The reason he gave was that he had no experience as a commander and was not a civil servant, and Jingtai would be more suitable than him.

In fact, there was nothing wrong with what he said.

Di Qing rose from the ranks of the army, rising from a soldier all the way up, and at his highest point he served as the chief of the Eastern Navy during the Song-Liao War.

The commander of that war was Fan Zhongyan, and he was a general of a detachment responsible for cutting off the logistics supply lines of the Liao Kingdom.

Compared to being a commander in chief and commanding the overall situation, he really had no experience in this area.

In addition, Jingtai was also very good at military affairs, and he was a Jinshi, which fully met the court's requirement that the chief military officer must be a civil servant.

But the prerequisite for all this is that Jingtai is younger.

Jingtai was a Jinshi in the third year of Tianxi, only two years younger than Fan Zhongyan, 57 years old this year, and not in good health.

Historically, he died the next year, and fell ill some time ago. The court planned to call him back to Beijing, first to recuperate, and secondly, he had made great contributions and was promoted to an important position in the Ministry of War in the central government.

Therefore, from the current situation, it is obviously difficult to find a civil servant who is a Jinshi and has military capabilities that are no less than Fan Zhongyan and Zhang Kang.

Anyway, Zhao Jun doesn't trust Han Qi very much.

Then the only choice is to choose from the military generals.

As for the military generals.

Who is more suitable than Di Qing?

So Zhao Jun and Fan Zhongyan persuaded him with reason and emotion.

Under the circumstances, Di Qing could not refuse and finally had to accept the order.

However, due to the fear that Xixia would be alert, the northwest was temporarily calm.

Di Qing also went to the northwest secretly, with only a few hundred guards, without the elite troops of Bianliang.

During this period, he had been inspecting the border between Song and Xia, observing the enemy's border defense.

Now that the court's order has arrived, it is obviously time for him to send troops.

A day later, Di Qing returned to Yan'an Prefecture.

Wang Yan, the envoy of Yongxing Military Route, was already waiting for him at his residence.

When Di Qing entered the Yanzhou Yamen, Wang Yan went out to greet him, first held his hands in his arms and said, "Prime Minister Di."

"I've met Di Xiang."

The other deputy envoys of Yongxing Military Road, Guo Quan, the military envoy of Fuyan Road, Liu Ping, the magistrate of Yanzhou, Chen Ruxi, and the general manager of troops and horses of Fuyan Road, Ren Fu, also saluted.

"Wang Shuai is polite, everyone is polite."

Di Qing hurriedly returned the greeting. Wang Yan was not so polite when he came before.

Because Wang Yan is a third-grade transfer envoy on the special side, which is one level higher than the fourth-grade transfer envoy from the mainland.

In the absence of the second-grade Shaanxi Road Transport Envoy, he is the highest officer at the same level as the Northwest and Qinfeng Road Transport Envoys.

Although Di Qing is the Deputy Privy Envoy with a rank of Cong 2nd, which is half a rank higher than him, military generals who hold official positions in the Privy Council have never had much real power.

On the other hand, Wang Yan was a Jinshi civil servant with a distinguished status, but the gap could not be erased by rank.

I didn’t expect that people would be so respectful now.

"Di Qing accepts the order."

The imperial envoy stood up and took out the edict.

Di Qing quickly knelt down on one knee and said, "I respectfully welcome your Majesty's edict."

The angel said: "Let Di Qing be the military envoy of Shaanxi Province and take charge of Shaanxi's military and political affairs!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Di Qing took the imperial edict with both hands.

"Prime Minister Di is young and promising. He is in charge of the military and political affairs in the northwest. There are many soldiers and horses on the Shaanxi Road. We, the officials above and below, must all rely on Prime Minister Di."

Wang Yan came over and complimented her, while feeling sour in his heart.

He never expected that the imperial court would let Di Qing be the head coach, and that the order issued to him by the Constitutional Yuan would be harsh.

It requires all troops and officials on the Shaanxi Road to obey Di Qing's orders. If the fighter plane is delayed due to disobedience to military orders, the court will severely punish them.

This made Wang Yan very uncomfortable.

Because he had always thought that as the top leader in Northwest and Fan Xiang at the same level, he would definitely be able to take charge.

No matter how bad the situation is, one of the central officials of the imperial court should be sent over.

Who knew it was Di Qing.

This made the civil service group, which had always looked down upon military generals, very unhappy.

But the Constitutional Yuan's warrant is scary. If the Constitutional Yuan's wishes are not met, the Supreme Court will change it for you, and you may even be put in jail to face charges.

Therefore, even if he was dissatisfied in his heart, Wang Yan could only endure it and remain calm on the surface.

This is the strength of Zhao Jun as a political strongman. This is not the past period when civil servants could not be punished even if they made mistakes.

"Wang Sishuai is so polite."

Di Qing was not arrogant and returned the gift again, with proper etiquette.

"Please, Mr. Di."

Wang Yan immediately invited Di Qing into the mansion.

Everyone entered the mansion and asked Di Qinggao to take the main seat.

After Di Qing waited for everyone to sit down, he looked at the people in the hall and said in a deep voice: "Everyone, you must also know the reason why the imperial court appointed me as the Shaanxi Road Envoy."

He looked around and then said: "The imperial court has made up its mind to completely eliminate Xixia and regain Liangzhou, so it ordered me to come and lead the military."

"Xiang Di, give the order."

Ren Fu was the first to say: "The general has long wanted to take revenge."

"Don't be so impatient, let Di Xiang finish."

As he said this, Wang Yan looked at Di Qing.

Di Qing muttered: "The task assigned to me by the imperial court is not only to destroy Xixia."

"More than just destroying Xixia?"

Everyone looked at each other, quite puzzled.

Are there any other tasks?

"Western Region!"

A flash of light flashed in Di Qing's eyes.

This is grand strategy.

The Song Dynasty not only wanted Xixia, but also half of the Western Regions.

As for how to complete this strategic task, it is Di Qing's business.

When they heard him talking about the Western Region, everyone looked at each other.

The Western Region is not Xixia. It is too far away, four or five thousand miles away from Chang'an.

Even if it was as strong as the Han and Tang dynasties, it rarely sent troops on expeditions.

Instead, the Western Region Changshi Mansion and the Anxi Protectorate Mansion were established to cooperate with the local vassals for remote control with a small number of troops.

Now listening to Di Qing's intention, it is obvious that he wants to take back the Western Region.

The problem is that today's Western Region is no longer the Han and Tang Dynasties, where a city is a country.

Instead, it was ruled by the Xizhou Uighurs and the Black Khan Kingdom.

These two countries are nothing, but the Song Dynasty army has to travel long distances to attack them, and the pressure on logistical supplies will be very great.

Therefore, they have to re-examine this war, and cannot simply understand it as the powerful Song Dynasty destroying the now dilapidated Xixia.

"When the Han Dynasty destroyed the Xiongnu, Zhang Qian was sent as an envoy to the Western Regions. It took more than ten years before he escaped back to the Han Dynasty and reported the details of the Western Regions to Emperor Wu."

Wang Yan hesitated and said: "Later the Tang Dynasty defeated the Turks, and ordered the Houjun to gather together to defeat Gaochang, and also ordered Qiao Shiwang to establish the Anxi Protectorate. After operating in the Western Regions and the border of Liangzhou for more than ten years, we officially entered the Western Regions. I am unprepared and don’t know much about the current situation in the Western Region. Is it possible to be so reckless?”

"Um."

Di Qing nodded and said: "I know this very well. The Western Region is too far away from us. Even the nearest Gaochang is more than four thousand miles away from us. How easy is it to regain the Western Region?"

"But this is a task given by the imperial court and a fatal order from the Supreme Court."

He looked around at the crowd and said, "This is related to whether our Song Dynasty can trade with distant western countries through the Western Region Road. It is also related to the foundation of our Song Dynasty's prosperity. I hope you will do your best and don't neglect it."

"I'm afraid this is going to be a long-lasting thing."

Liu Ping sighed.

"It doesn't matter, we can send people to understand the situation in the Western Region first, and we can also talk to more businessmen in the Western Region."

Di Qing said: "After destroying the Western bandits, it is not impossible to occupy Longxi first, take back Jiayu Pass, Yumen Pass and other places, and then explore the Western Regions step by step."

"If we talk about the Western Regions."

Guo Quan suddenly said.

"oh?"

Everyone looked at him.

Di Qing asked: "Deputy Commander Guo has any idea?"

Guo Quan smiled and said, "I wonder if Di Xiangting has heard of the Guiyi Army?"

"Rebel Army?"

Di Qing thought for a moment and said, "I seem to have heard something."

"They were once the military governors of the Guiyi Army of the Tang Dynasty. After the Anshi Rebellion, they were left alone in the northwest, and were later destroyed by Yuan Hao."

Guo Quan said: "When Xiaguan met Shan Yuwei Liang and became friends, he once said that Cao Xianshun, the last governor of the Guiyi Army, was in Yuanhao's army. The Cao family in Guazhou has lived in Dunhuang for a long time. Guarding between the Western Region and Ganliang, I am afraid no one knows the situation in the Western Region better than him."

"If that's the case, that would be great."

Di Qing was happy, but then hesitantly said: "It's just the civil strife in Xixia. It's still unclear whether they still exist."

"There are also many people in Xixia who are close to our Song Dynasty. Maybe we can send someone to find out."

"Well, then I'll leave this matter to Deputy Commander Guo."

"I will try my best."

Guo Quan said with cupped hands.

He initially supported Shan Yu Weiliang. After Shan Yu Weiliang entered the Song Dynasty, he became the representative of the Xixia pro-Song faction.

Later, the decline of Xixia and Li Yuanhao's stubbornness caused domestic turmoil, and many Xixia tribes came to defect to the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, it is very simple to find someone who knows the internal situation of Xixia.

After finalizing the matter of returning to the Yijun.

Di Qing looked around and said: "Then let's get down to business. It's already winter, the Western Bandits are in civil strife, and there will definitely be many tribes on the grassland who can't survive. This is a good time for us to capture Liangzhou."

As he spoke, he waved his hand, and soldiers immediately brought a board with a map of Xixia on it, marking the current administrative regions of Xixia.

"Look, everyone, these are the five major military divisions at the border between Xixia and us. I have seen them during this period. They have too much time to take care of themselves. There are almost no Xixia troops stationed on the border."

Di Qing knocked in the direction of Xingqing Mansion and said: "So my idea of ​​sending troops to Xixia is very simple. The troops are divided into four routes. They go directly to Xingqing Mansion from Jingyuan Road, Huanqing Road, and Yanyan Road, and from Xihe Road. Go north along the Qilian Mountains, take Xiliang Prefecture, Xuanhua Prefecture, Suzhou and other places, and then complete the destruction of Xixia."

"Does anyone think anything is wrong?"

After Di Qing finished speaking, he asked everyone again. Obviously he didn't mean to say anything, but to ask more for everyone's opinions.

"Well, this is a mature opinion, and it is also the most correct way."

"The main cities and population of the Western Bandits are all in this area. After our army goes out, it will be smooth sailing."

"There's nothing wrong with Xiang Di's deployment. The only thing is, can the logistics on the west route keep up?"

Everyone thought there was no big problem.

Although it looks simple, it is the terrain itself. No matter how good your tactics are, you will never be able to make a difference. No matter how famous you are, you will definitely fight like this in this situation.

Therefore, the tactical arrangement looks quite satisfactory, but it is already the best choice.

As for surprise attacks, running attacks, etc., that is the last resort.

Seeing that everyone thought there was no problem, Di Qing said: "There is no need to worry about the problem of food and grass on the West Road. The imperial court will send a large amount of food and grass over soon. Besides, there is also a large amount of food and grass accumulated on Qinfeng Road."

As he spoke, he looked at the crowd and said: "Since everyone has no objections, let's do it. Tomorrow I will issue a military order to let all parties officially start the encirclement and suppression of the Western Bandits."

"good!"

"I, Da Song, have waited too long for this day."

"I, the Song Dynasty, will feel proud."

Everyone became excited and excited.

The Song Dynasty had been humiliated for too long.

It was once oppressed by the Liao Kingdom and later attacked by the Xixia Kingdom.

This huge country is so weak and can be bullied.

And after that, it’s time to avenge your shame!