That is, from that day on, Kou Ji began to take the doctors and imperial doctors with the army, and after the soldiers fell asleep, he quietly entered the tents of the soldiers to check the frostbite of the soldiers.

Kou Ji and his party patrolled until late at night before returning to the Chinese army's tent.

The imperial doctor wiped the sweat stains from his forehead and said softly: "Since the antifreeze oil went down, the frostbite of the soldiers has begun to decrease. Although some people still suffer from frostbite, there is no risk of amputation. ”

The military doctor let out a sigh of relief, and said in a heavy tone: "It's already good, although there is frostbite in our army, there are no casualties." ”

"A little frostbite, can you still die?"

There was a medicine boy muttering quietly.

The military doctor snorted coldly, "When you encounter this kind of weather, you go to other military centers to take a look, and you will know if the old man is exaggerating." When I met this kind of cold weather and froze to death, it was all blessed.

Only those who do not freeze to death will suffer.

The suffering of ten thousand ants can drive people crazy. ”

The medicine boy didn't believe the words of the military doctor, but when he thought that he was suffering from frostbite, and when he was heating and thawing, the frostbite was as uncomfortable as many ants biting, so he didn't dare to question the words of the military doctor.

After Kou Ji finished speaking, he said with a solemn expression: "We have antifreeze oil in our hands, and there are still a lot of frostbite in the army, and the soldiers and horses led by Wang Kai do not have antifreeze oil in their hands, and some winter clothes are also three or four years ago, I am afraid it will be difficult to resist the cold winter." ”

As soon as Kou Ji's words came out, the faces of the military doctors and imperial doctors all changed slightly.

The Zhenbei Army led by Wang Kai was born from the Xiang Army, and after it was reorganized into a forbidden army, although it supplemented some armaments, there were still deficiencies.

When the Zhenbei Army was formed, it was a critical juncture when the Great Song Dynasty and the Liao State were in war, and most of the new armaments and winter clothes were sent to the land of Yanyun.

There were not many assigned to Wang Kai's Zhenbei Army.

Although Wang Kai also led another forbidden army, it was impossible for people to give their winter clothes to the Zhenbei army at a critical moment.

Therefore, there are not many winter clothes in the Zhenbei army.

Many of them used winter clothes that had been distributed three or four years ago.

I'm afraid it's already in tatters now.

The Great Song Dynasty was not harsh on the soldiers, but very generous.

However, the armaments and military funds went out of Bianjing City, and they were deducted layer by layer, and when they reached the hands of the soldiers, they became unseemly.

The new blades that Bianjing City issued were turned into broken copper and iron when they reached the borderlands.

The thick clothes stuffed with strips of cloth that were sent out in Bianjing City were likely to become clothes stuffed with thatch and other things when they arrived at the borderlands.

Xiang Jun, nominally a soldier.

But in fact, life is not as comfortable as ordinary people.

Some officials in the court treated them as if they were refugees.

They live like refugees.

During the reign of Kou Zhun, the army was reduced, and riots broke out in many places, because many corrupt officials were afraid that such things would be exposed.

There are also many corrupt officials and corrupt officials, who are afraid that Kou Zhun will cut off the box army and cut off their financial route.

After Kou Zhun reduced the Xiang Army, the treatment of the officers and men of the Xiang Army was indeed greatly eased.

However, if those who drink the blood of soldiers are not eradicated, similar malpractices will not be eradicated in a day.

The soldiers of the Xiang army still have to live a hard life.

Although they now have good blades, they can barely eat enough.

But other armaments, military funds, as usual.

Zhao Zhen and Kou Ji, the people sent to dispatch supplies, are still on the way.

It wasn't the two of them who gave the order late.

Instead, the people who went to dispatch the supplies, after returning to Bianjing, did not get the materials under the mutual shirk of the various yamen.

Zhao Zhen still sent Chen Lin to take people back to Bianjing City, and only then did he get the materials needed by the Northwest Frontier Army.

For this reason, Zhao Zhen added many new names to his small book.

Some of them have already been allocated, and some of them are still on the way.

Kou Ji rushed to the place where Wang Kai was this time, one was to help Wang Kai clear the remnants, and the other was to send supplies to Wang Kai.

When the imperial doctor heard Kou Ji's words, he said with a heavy face: "We must make some preparations as soon as possible, after arriving in Hue, I am afraid that there will be many frostbitten soldiers who need our treatment." ”

Kou Ji nodded slowly and said, "Making some preparations in advance can indeed reduce some casualties." You go down to prepare things, and I will send someone to rush to Wang Kai's location at night and ask for details of his army. ”

The imperial doctor nodded, and hurriedly left the Chinese army's tent with the military doctor.

Kou Ji summoned two of his own soldiers and sent them to Hue to find out the details of Wang Kai's army.

After the soldiers left Kou Ji's tent, Kou Ji did not sleep, but wrote a letter to Zhao Zhen and Xiang Yan in Bianjing City, asking them to prepare more supplies.

Nothing was said all night.

Following.

Kou Ji, who had not slept all night, rubbed his face with cold water, and after getting dressed, he ordered his soldiers to shout and continue to hurry.

The soldiers got up, ate their meals, and collected their tents, and then followed Kou Ji to Hue Du.

When the group arrived at a place fifteen miles outside Hue, they met a personal soldier sent by Kou Ji to investigate the military situation.

Kou Ji summoned his soldiers to the horse and asked, "How is the situation in Wang Kai's army?" ”

The soldiers bowed their hands and said in a deep voice: "General Wang's army suffered a lot of casualties, some of which were due to frostbite, and the other part was caused by the war. ”

Kou Ji was stunned when he heard this, and asked, "Wang Kaibu suffered a defeat in Hue?" ”

The soldier said solemnly: "The war is a little unfavorable...... The number of soldiers and horses left behind in Hue by the Western Xia was not large, but they were very cunning. They took advantage of the cold and the cold to turn Hue into an ice city.

General Wang led his troops to attack several times, but failed to break through Hue.

Now General Wang led his troops and stationed them five miles outside Hue to confront the enemy. ”

Kou Ji frowned and nodded, and ordered: "You hurry up and tell Wang Kai and order him to stay still, and when I arrive, it will not be too late to attack Hue Du." ”

The soldiers surrendered again and hurried to Hue on horseback.

When Kou Ji led his troops to Hue for ten miles, it was getting late.

Kou Ji ordered his soldiers and horses to camp on the spot.

It wasn't until noon on the second day that Kou Ji and his entourage arrived at the place where Wang Kai was stationed.

Hundreds of thousands of troops, along the sand dunes, set up rows of tents.

The soldiers hid in their tents to ward off the cold wind blowing around them.

Guarding the tent was another forbidden army led by Wang Kai, who had thick leather jackets to protect against the cold winter, so they were not too afraid of the cold.

After Kou Ji arrived with his troops, he first instructed the imperial doctor and the doctor accompanying the army to check on the wounded soldiers, and he himself went to Wang Kai's tent.

When Kou Ji entered Wang Kai's tent, he saw Wang Kai lying on the bed with a blazing brazier beside him.

Wang Kai seemed to be injured, and his face was slightly pale.

Kou Ji stepped into the tent, and Wang Kai deliberately got up to salute, but was stopped by Kou Ji.

"Hurt?"

Kou Ji walked over to Wang Kai and sat down, asking in a low voice.

Wang Kai smiled bitterly and said, "Being bitten by the thief's marksman, it's not in the way." ”

Kou Ji said in a deep voice: "The thieves in Hue Ferry? ”

Wang Kai nodded slowly and said, "It's from the Xixia Helian Division." ”

"Helian?"

The Helian tribe is an ancient tribe of Western Xia, which has been traced back to the origin of Western Xia.

In 407 A.D., Helian Bobo, the head of the Xiongnu Tiefu Tribe, rebelled against Qin and stood on his own, proclaimed himself the king of heaven, and established Great Xia, and now Western Xia is under his leadership.

After the fall of Great Xia.

A part of the Helian tribe remained in the land of Western Xia.

After several changes, the Helian tribe has long lost its rule over this land and has become a minister of the Li family.

Li Deming named the name of the Western Xia country Xia, which originated from them.

Today's Helian tribe has long lost the majesty of the past, but it is still a large tribe in Western Xia.

The strength is not to be underestimated.

Of course, only in Western Xia.

In the words of the Great Song Dynasty, it is nothing.

Because the Helian Department can now muster less than 20,000 warriors who dare to fight.

And the Great Song Dynasty casually pulled out a soldier and horse, and there were 50,000 of them.

After Kou Ji knew the origin of his opponent, he asked Wang Kai, "I heard that the thieves turned the fortress of Hue into an ice city, but you can't help that ice city?" ”

Wang Kai smiled bitterly and said: "If the cold ground is frozen today, it is very easy to freeze, and the enemy will soon become a layer of soldiers if he pours water inside and outside the fortress, and the ice will become thicker as time goes by.

Heavy crossbows and other ordnance can't help the thick ice at all.

They hide inside and don't come out, and we can't do anything about it. ”

Kou Ji groaned, "Is there a way to get around?" ”

Wang Kai was stunned, "Go around?" That's not good, there are nearly 20,000 thieves in the Hue Ferry Fort. If we leave them alone, they will definitely appear behind us at a critical time and give us a look. ”

Kou Ji asked, "You just said that there is a way to get around." ”

Wang Kai hesitated for a moment and said, "After we arrived at Hue Ferry and checked carefully, we found a way around the past. It's just a three-to-five day march in the desert. ”

"Is it dangerous?"

Kou Ji asked.

Wang Kai said frankly: "The danger is naturally there, but it is not big. ”

Kou Ji nodded slowly, "Since that's the case, then you can take someone around." ”

Wang Kai looked at Kou Ji in amazement.

Kou Ji said indifferently: "My errand is to help you clear the remnants." The Tanguts in Hue Du, you can treat them as remnants and throw them to me. ”

Wang Kai was slightly stunned, and wondered: "Do you have a way to defeat them?" ”

Kou Ji nodded slowly, "Yes!" What I'm best at dealing with this kind of ice city. ”

Wang Kai was skeptical, but Kou Ji didn't explain much.

Wang Kai was injured, and the sheep was able to move freely for two days.

Two days later.

Wang Kai took the soldiers and escorted their original military supplies, as well as the military supplies sent by Kou Ji, into the desert.

Kou Ji stayed in Hue with his people.

After Wang Kai led his troops away, Kou Ji immediately sent soldiers and horses to besiege Hue Du.

Koji besieged but did not attack.

He just instructed the soldiers to use trebuchets to help the Tanguts in Hue to sprinkle water on the city.

The Tangut people in Hue did not understand the intention of Kou Ji's move at all.

They didn't act rashly either, and continued to watch Kou Ji's actions.

After a thick layer of ice had been formed over the fort at the Hue Ferry, Ko Ji instructed his soldiers to abandon the act of sprinkling water.

He instructed his soldiers to form a shield wall outside Hue and began to dig a deep and wide ditch outside Hue Du.

When the Tangut people in Hue saw the deep ditch that Kou Ji had dug deeply, they finally understood what Kou Ji was going to do.

Kou Ji helped them build the city with ice, and dug a very deep and wide ditch outside the city, the purpose of which was to block them.

Let them stay in the fortress of Hue and not take a single step.

If Kou Ji's actions were placed in the Great Song Dynasty, the soldiers defending the city in the Great Song Dynasty would probably be indifferent and let Kou Ji toss blindly.

But in Hue, Western Xia, it was different.

The Western Xia was a combination of pastoral and farming forces.

Most of them took refuge in the Western Xia, or were plundered by the Western Xia to the territory of the Song people, who were responsible for farming.

The rest of the tribes live by herding.

The Great Song Dynasty plundered the territory of the Western Xia twice, and the places that could be cultivated in the Western Xia were occupied by the Great Song Dynasty except for the Xingqing Mansion generation.

Before the autumn harvest, Kou Ji had already taken Xiazhou and other places.

In addition to Xingqingfu, Huaizhou and other places in Western Xia, there was no food available in other places.

The only thing we can rely on is cattle, sheep and horses.

The Helian tribe in Hue is not one of the party tribes, and although its strength is not weak, it still belongs to the group that is occasionally oppressed.

Therefore, Ko Ji dared to conclude that they did not have many cattle, sheep and horses in their hands.

Ko Ji blocked the people of the Helian tribe in the Hue Fortress and besieged them without attacking, blocking all the ways they could break through, just to starve them to death, or starve them to surrender.

The strategy used by Kou Ji is not a new one.

It is the set that Li Yuanhao used on the Song army when he attacked Shazhou City.

Koji has now copied it and used it on the Helian tribesmen.

The difference is that Kou Ji's situation is far better than Li Yuanhao's time.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses of the Great Song Dynasty poured into the Western Xia, attacking cities and plundering land in the territory of the Western Xia, and now it has reached the final decisive stage.

Within the territory of Western Xia.

In addition to Xingqing Mansion, Huaizhou, Dingzhou, as well as Keyimen, Danliangcheng, and Provincial Weicheng, almost all other places have been conquered by the Great Song Dynasty.

Hue is not a city.

At present, the Great Song army is approaching Xingqing Mansion and other places in all directions, and Kou Ji does not need to worry that Western Xia can still send soldiers and horses to rescue the people of Hue under the siege of hundreds of thousands of troops.

Kou Ji was in front of the Hue Crossing Fort for several days.

The people of the Helian tribe in Hue were a little flustered, but there was no other superfluous reaction.

Presumably it is the cattle and sheep in Hue Du, and it can also support the people of the Helian tribe to eat for a while.

But the Tangut people in the Kayi Gate, hundreds of miles south of Hue, didn't have time to waste.

Wang Kai led the soldiers and horses, crossed the desert, and joined the soldiers and horses of Zhu Neng's department outside the Keyi Gate.

The two raised an army of 250,000 and forced Keyimen.

The Western Xia general Yeli Yuqi led the soldiers and horses of the Yeli tribe and the soldiers and horses of the Chaoshun Military Division of the Right Wing of the Western Xia garrisoned in the Keyi Gate, totaling 80,000 people, to resist the army led by Wang Kai and Zhu Neng.