"Nonsense, transfer the living army, transfer the crossbow army, shoot them for me!" Zhang Nuoping jumped like thunder.

The next herald reported: "My lord, the Song army is fierce, and it has broken through the interception of the Bubazi and the Su guards, and has broken into the strong crossbow army, and the strong crossbow army has begun to collapse......"

Zhang Nuoping was stunned for a moment, and before he could react, another bad news came: "My lord, the two battalions of prisoners and hard labor have rebelled, and some of the captives have rebelled with them. ”

It's too late, in the era of cold weapons, the collapse of the front is like an avalanche, its turmoil is a cumulative effect, the three armies on the front line failed to block the breakthrough of the Song army, and the two battalions of hard labor and prisoners were in rebellion, and the collapse of the Tangut people was like the chain reaction of the atomic bomb, it was a little silent at first, as if everyone was shocked and inexplicable, and when they woke up, the nuclear explosion was born.

There were people fleeing everywhere, all of them had no intention of resisting, all of them expected that they would be able to outrun their comrades even if they couldn't outrun the Song army, and there were even more large surrenders, they threw down their weapons, knelt on the battlefield, and repeatedly chanted the Liangqin song with tears, put their hands on the ground, and wept bitterly while kissing the earth.

Zhang Nuoping was surrounded by a group of guards, and shouted in disbelief as he ran backwards: "I was actually defeated, my 100,000 army was defeated by Song Gou's less than 10,000 people......"

Several staff members rolled their eyes when they heard this: "What about Song Dog, you are also a Song Dog...... Oh, our family too, it's better to ...... If we can't escape the Xia people, it's better for us to ......"

"We won?!" Shuai Fan led the follow-up army to Zhao Xing's side, at this time Zhao Xing's armor could no longer be seen in its true face, it was full of red and black blood, and the red blood was just dyed. The black blood was the first to be stained, and it had coagulated and changed color. At that time, Zhao Xing had already taken off his helmet and was sitting on a meat stool made of several corpses and panting. The sturdy and somewhat perverted Tyson couldn't straighten up, he was panting with his shield and bent over, and the axe in his hand was only one axe handle.

Zhao Xing also had a bunch of widows lying on the ground, some of them were wounded, and the number was not complete, but all the living people had their waists covered with ranks, and the dripping blood made each of them look like demons coming out of hell.

"That's the power of culture!" Zhao Xing gasped. Pointing to this battlefield, he said intermittently: "Originally, our culture was superior to theirs, originally they were in awe of our culture, and the original culture should be a means of psychological warfare...... It is a pity that the ministers of the court were ignorant, they forgot our strengths, and used cowardice, selfishness, and pedantry to make the Tangut people despised, and as a result, the Xia people's reverence for our culture was weakened.

Today, we are re-injecting courage and determination into our soldiers. Infused with undying persistence, let culture join the factor of war, become a means of war, and remind this group of barbarians of the awe - we have won, and we will continue to win! Zhao Xing said this. The general reserve of the Song army, the cavalry that was lying in ambush at the mouth of the Xian Yikou, was dispatched, and they pursued the Western Xia rout, killing them, destroying them, and chasing them.

The Song and Xia confrontation is like a big chess game, and the whole is alive, and the first Zhang who received the news immediately launched a shallow attack, defeating the Western Xia people who surrounded Dingbian City with a bluff, and then joined forces with Zhao Xing to besiege Yanzhou, and then got the news that the Empress Dowager Liang was worried that the Song army blocked the back road, and fled for 300 miles overnight. Extend the road and withdraw the siege.

This time, the Empress Dowager Liang still had an insistence, she did not change her outfit, and still fled along the way in the dress of the Empress Dowager, but her chariot guard of honor was all abandoned, and it was a pity that the officers and soldiers of Yanlu did not dare to open the city to attack, and as a result, the local strongmen picked up the cheap. The Empress Dowager Liang's full chariot honor guard was seized.

Zhao Xing heard the news. He shook his head regretfully and nagged, "Why didn't Empress Dowager Liang change her clothes." Could it be that the men in Yanlu are not as good as Zhang Jingluo, and the silver-like wax gun heads make the Empress Dowager Liang look down on them? Or is Empress Dowager Liang not worried about chastity this time? ”

All the soldiers on Huanqing Road laughed wildly, Zhang touched his white beard, shook his white head, and said with fake modesty: "I have to say this, there are still men on the road, how can I not even compare with the old man." ”

There was an officer sent by Yanlu at the venue, he was a little squirming at first, and when he saw the officers on the entire Huanqing Road looking at him, there was a hint of ridicule, and he couldn't hold back: "Recruiting adults, this language is too insulting, and it is not the way of a gentleman." ”

"I've insulted you, you feel ashamed - Zi said: Shame and then courage, shame you know, where is the bravery? Our enemies are the Tangut people, and you are yelling at me, are you showing your bravery or your shamelessness" Zhao Xing replied coldly.

Zhang did not persuade Zhao Xing, because there must be a warrior on the road this time, as long as the Empress Dowager Liang is intercepted slightly, the battle situation will be different. In the face of the attack of the Tanguts, the Song army was full of insufficient troops, but only Huanqing Road dared to fight more with less, took the initiative to attack, and won the final victory.

However, this victory was not easy to come by, more than half of Zhao Xing's 3,000 scouts were killed, and the rest were wounded, and even a strong man like Tyson was tired in the end in that fierce battle, so you can imagine how difficult that bloody battle was.

This is a victory that outweighs the loss, Huanqing Road sent troops to besiege Yanzhou, because the Empress Dowager Liang's troops were withdrawn from Yanlu one after another, and Zhao Xing ran out of gunpowder here, in fact, they had lost the ability to attack the city, and the generals of the whole army gathered together to discuss the withdrawal of troops.

In the face of the large army surrounded by Western Xia, the officers and soldiers of Huanqing Road could only gather together and retreat slowly, and they had to defend against the pursuit of Western Xia cavalry along the way, which must be very difficult.

"If you can buy us three days on the Yanlu Road, no, even if it's one day", Zhao Xing raised a finger and said: "There are three days, my supplies can keep up, and I can capture Yanzhou; One day I could retreat to Luochuan one by one, but now, there is not a single day. ”

Sighing, Zhao Xing said disappointedly: "Yanzhou has been known as Lingxia's elbow and armpit since ancient times, and Huanqing has been called the throat. Having occupied Yanzhou, we looked at Xingqing Mansion in the north and Jianing Military Division in the east. The mountains and rivers behind us can hide a steady stream of reinforcements, and from then on, only we can fight others, and there will be no trouble for others to make us trouble. ”

Zhao Xing jumped up: "Occupy Yanzhou." The Western Xia is over, this country has let us put a knife on the neck, we can only let us slaughter, we will advance the war to the enemy's territory, and Yanzhou has been salt since ancient times, and I Shaanxi all the way because of the long distance, the price of transporting salt from the sea is high. The salt in Yanzhou was very cheap, and the merchants were willing to take risks to trade strategic materials with the Western Xia for the sake of this huge profit. We occupy Yanzhou, and the Tanguts no longer have an economic advantage over us, just a lamb to be slaughtered by us—and it only takes three days, three days to do all this.

But I didn't even have three days, the Xixia people attacked on all fronts, but the main force was only in Yanhe and Huanqing. Huanqing Road is the Jianing Military Division to retaliate against the army, Yanlu is the elite led by the Empress Dowager Liang herself, and the Jianing Military Division has already disabled me, as long as Yanlu helps me delay for three days, wait for me to occupy Yanzhou. Relying on the strong city to block the army of the Empress Dowager Liang, the elite of the Western Xia Manchu Kingdom can be buried under the city of Yanzhou......

Once this opportunity is lost, there will never be it again, and when the Tangut people are vigilant, we will have to pay more blood and lives if we want to set foot on this land again. Think about it, how heart-wrenching this is—you know how this victory came about, let's count it on our fingers: first, the plan of all the grass and trees made the Tangut people dare not plunder and replenish the military rations nearby; Then there is the Liaoyuan plan to create no man's land. increased the depth of supply for the Tangut people; Then there is the use of the power of faith, so that we use the courage to fight to the death; In addition, we have even used the power of culture as a means of psychological warfare......

We have tapped all the forces of this war, all of them! We have been preparing for this victory for a full year, and this war cannot be replicated, because of the methods used, it is impossible for the Tanguts not to be vigilant. Pity. We didn't keep the fruits of our victory – you kept me from fire, you kept me from anger. You put me in a happy mood to give up all this, alas......"

The little emperor in the court can indifferently say that the Western Xia people will eventually retire. The ministers of the court and the upper and lower places could praise the emperor's wisdom in unison for this, but in Yanlu, the officer who felt the same was speechless in shame, and for a long time, he reluctantly said: "My lord, it is not my business to stop the Western Xia army alone, Jingyuan Road, Hedong Armies, and Linzhou have not stopped the Western Xia retreat. The Xia army invaded, and the surrounding states and counties have always been like this, and the officials pay attention to the responsibility of defending the land - as long as the city is not broken, who cares about the monstrous floods outside the city, and who cares about the deep water in the neighboring counties?!

You also said just now, this year, the armies of the surrounding states and counties are all bluffing, only you and I are the main force - the place where I Yanlu encountered is also the main force among the main forces of the Xixia people, and there is the courage of Lord Zhao and the wisdom of Zhang Jingluo on the Huanqing Road, and we can't compare with the extension of the road. Therefore, I can't delay the road to resist a country in a corner.

My lord, if you want to blame, blame it, but now the rest of the roads are cowering, only I will come over to report, my lord should not just blame us, or consider the suggestion of my palace marshal - now the west has pounced on the Jingsai Military Division, the south is the Empress Dowager Liang's army, and the north is the Xiangyou Military Division, my family plans to join the Huanqing retreat with Lord Linzhou Zheke in the east, my lord, without further ado, hurry up and withdraw from the army. ”

Zhao Xing showed a reluctant look on his face, and Zhang was full of unwillingness: "Yanzhou, it's obviously a big salt warehouse, with savings for generations, gold and silver full of pits and valleys, this is all under the city of Yanzhou, how can you be willing to leave." ”

Zhang said that this should be said by Zhao Xing, in fact, he originally had the intention of leaving, but after listening to Zhao Xing's words, he felt that the turning point of the Song-Xia War was in this Yanzhou, once this opportunity was lost, and when the Xixia people built a new defense line in Yanzhou, densely covered with forts, the Song army wanted to take this treasury again, and the price that might be paid was unimaginable, so Zhang was inclined to take the risk of fighting, he said that the gold and silver were full of grain, and he wanted to provoke the soldiers to fight*.

"Leaving people, have you ever broken the record of two cities in one day, and there is no way to do this Yanzhou City? As long as we take Yanzhou, and then notify all the soldiers and horses to surround us, it is not without a fight. The Jianing Military Division has been disabled, the Empress Dowager Liang is a fleeing army, and the soldiers have no fighting spirit, as long as we enter Yanzhou City, maybe the Empress Dowager Liang does not even have the courage to go to the city, so she can only flee by detour. ”

Zhao Xing sighed decadently: "It's too late, our local army is scattered in Sixiang and looting, it will take a day just to gather them again, but the army on three sides is surrounded, and if you don't leave, you will be pursued by cavalry on this prairie." I'm afraid we won't even be able to keep the fruits of our current victory.

Boss, when you keep interrupting, you will suffer from it. Let's retreat - the Tanguts captured one of our walled cities, and we swept the Jingsai Military Division, and we didn't suffer a loss, but if the Tanguts ate our army, there would be three more years on the Huanqing Road to slow down the vitality, so let's retreat. He hesitated. ”

Zhang is also a decisive person, he is more cautious than Zhao Xing in the use of troops, otherwise he would not have launched the policy of "deep base plus shallow attack", Zhao Xing's persuasion, he has woken up, and quickly stood up and replied: "The old man is greedy this time, just according to Zhao appeased, order the whole army to be formed." Slowly retreated. ”

Zhao Xingyi arched his hand: "Boss, let me do the work of withdrawing the army, you and I are both here, there is no one in charge of Huanqing Road, please rush back to Huanzhou one step ahead of time to arrange to answer - come here." Send the old man to leave immediately. ”

Zhao Xing is taking care of Zhang, because the Xia army is coming from three sides, this time the withdrawal is not good to peel off a layer of skin, both of them are on the front line, in case of an accident, the Western Xia people can be said to have wiped out the senior generals of Huanqing Road.

Zhang understood this, the military situation was urgent, and he, the old man, had no intention of fighting for land with the young man, so he hurriedly got up. Said: "Leave people, although the city wall in front of the reward transfer is broken, but it is enough to rest temporarily, I will first go to the cutting village, renovate the city wall there, and then order the reward transfer to arrange the response, you just need to retreat to the cutting village." The old man will definitely take you back to Huanzhou. ”

The Yanlu officer hurriedly interjected: "My lord." The army we received was in the east, how could the boss let Zhao Anfu go west. The situation of the Xishou Baotai Military Division in the west is unknown, and the Jingsai Military Division has been pressed from the west, and it is only three hundred miles away from here, and the adults do not ...... to the east."

Zhao Xing cut off the other party's words: "The old man is right, you forgot the fire in Xixia last winter, there was no human population for hundreds of miles to the west, and the Jingsai military division that pressed over was exhausted, and it was waiting for the Empress Dowager Liang's army, and he didn't dare to face our victorious division alone, so he only advanced twenty miles a day, and his action was slow."

But we are different, we just grabbed a lot of money from Yanzhou City, big bags and small bags, all the way to kill, the road is more familiar than them. And go west, facing the Jingsai Military Division, since I Huanqing Road can defeat a Jianing Military Division with the strength of the way, the strength of the Jingsai Military Division is not as good as the Jianing Military Division, and the soldiers have a psychological advantage when facing them, so it is the best choice to turn around and face them.

The Empress Dowager Liang in the south led the main force of the Western Xia, they retreated quickly, the degree of marching is incalculable, once they are entangled, plus a military division of unknown strength Xiangyou, that is we may not be able to get out if we want to go. ”

Zhao Xing's analysis, Zhang nodded with satisfaction: "I can rest assured that people understand my thoughts, I will take a step first and wait for you under the village." ”

The last time Zhao Xing captured the Xiangyikou, he slightly swept the village of Cutta, and after the grassland fire was extinguished, the Western Xia people reoccupied the village. After Zhao Xing defeated Zhang Nuoping in Wuyan Gorge, Zhang Nuoping led the remnants of the army into the Cutting Village, and Zhao Xing, who was in pursuit, did not even breathe a sigh of relief, and immediately set up a whirlwind cannon, and bombarded the Cutting Village with gunpowder. He ran fast, but in order to relieve him, Zhao Xing threw out all the remaining gunpowder when he attacked the village, which caused him to pursue to the city of Yanzhou, but there was no siege weapon.

Originally, Zhao Xing thought that as long as there were three days and logistics supplies came up, the earthen fortress wall of Yanzhou would be easily conquered by gunpowder, but now the Song army Zhulu did not even give him three days.

Zhang left, Yanlu officers also left, according to the agreement, although Zhao Xing did not retreat to the east, but Yanlu and Linzhou two "Zheke" still had to blempty on the east road, making a gesture of response, and when the room was quiet, Zhao Xing looked at the generals who were listening quietly with bated breath in the house, and said with a wry smile: "It's hard to support alone, the fighting of the soldiers all the way around Qinglu can't save the overall situation, how can it not make people sigh." ”

The officers of Huanqing Road were full of helplessness and sadness about the battle situation, some of them complained in a low voice, some shouted insults, and some looked depressed, Zhao Xing turned around in the room for two ***, waved his hand, and reprimanded loudly: "What are you arguing about, others can complain, how can you complain, have we lost this victory?" ”

The officers laughed meaningfully.

They certainly did not disappoint this victory. The pursuit along the way allowed them to capture a lot of slaves, and since entering Yanzhou, they have plundered everywhere - no. It should be said that to rectify the "vulgar" style of the Tangut people, everything they think leads to the "vulgarity" of the Tangut people, such as gold and silver, fine porcelain, and a circle full of cattle and sheep, they are all drawn into their own pockets, and now every soldier is followed by at least one cart full of loads. Seven or eight good horses. Therefore, this war is a benefit for them, and now it is time to think about how to preserve the fruits of victory.

Zhao Xing waved his hand to call the clerk of the army and ordered him to write a proclamation, and the officers surrounded him curiously, but saw that the clerk was writing a law - "Heavenly Sacred Order".

"I am not here to sow happiness, I am here to sow hatred and disagreement, and I will pass on the order to print tens of thousands of copies of this "Heavenly Sacred Decree". Post it to all the townships and villages in Yanzhou, and tell them that it is forbidden to domesticate slaves in my Great Song Dynasty, whether he is a Song person or not, as long as he steps into the territory of my Great Song Dynasty, from the moment he sets foot on that land. He is no longer a slave, he is free, he is free to breathe the air, he is free to move, he is free to set up stalls to earn money to support his family—to tell them that there is no city management in our country, and that they stand in the sun without fear of being driven away, beaten, or verbally abused.

Tell them, tell all the slaves, that my Great Song is a free land, and anyone who is willing to go with us. He could take a portion of his master's property as he paid for his slavery for several years. Follow us, as long as you can return to Huanqing alive, I will give them a certificate of freedom in the capacity of asking for appeasement, help them settle their household registration, go, and tell all those who do not want to be slaves. Come with us. Walking to Huanqing is victory and freedom. ”

The second written order of the Registrar. At the beginning, Song Taizu issued the "pile sealing order", Zhao Xing explained the pile sealing order, and clearly announced: "In the past, I Huanqing was repeatedly harassed by the Jianing Military Division and the Jingsai Military Division, and now I Huanqing Yuanbian recruited Zhao Xing to appease Zhao Xing, with Taizu's edict as evidence, wanted Jingsai Military Division, Jianing Military Division soldiers, where someone cuts the soldier level of the two military divisions, the bounty is more than five to ten times, and the reward method is as follows: ......"

As soon as the two orders were issued, it is conceivable that everyone in the Western Xia was in danger. Because Zhao Xing did not say how to distinguish between the soldiers of the two major military divisions, this means that as long as the head is lifted to Huanqing, he can exchange for a bounty of more than five times, so that the Xixia people must be vigilant even in their sleep to prevent their heads from being stolen by the slaves around them...... After the clerk finished writing the notice, he hurried away with two notices, he hurried to print, and then Zhao Xing ordered the army to be reined in, ready to retreat, and when he finished arranging all this, it was already noon that day, and the sergeant came to report: "My lord, the female copyists do not listen to the order, they are taking Master An Sida around to search the temple and burn the lama monastery, saying that they want to rescue the sisters." When the villain went to report, Master An said that they might not be able to make it tonight. ”

Zhao Xing smiled wryly.

The party members have a special custom: "Where there is a woman, first recommend the national teacher, and then dare to be suitable." And the so-called national teacher is the presiding officer of the Lamaist temple. According to the national tradition of the party, after the party girl has a child, her parents will send it to the lama temple for those lamas to humiliate the lamas, and then dare to marry. Women who have not been ** by the national teacher are embarrassed to meet people when they go out, and party men are resolutely not married to such women.

Of course, most parents and women do this kind of thing with a religious heart and provide lamas with this kind of entertainment, but there are also women who are not willing to bear this fate, or such insults.

After the victory of Wuyan Gorge, An Sida suddenly had many believers in the army, after the war he cleaned the battlefield and rescued the wounded, which made him enjoy a high reputation in the army, after entering the territory of Western Xia, his religious fanaticism was committed, and at the instigation of those hateful women, he immediately began to search for lamas everywhere and burn down the temple.

Most of them were descendants of the Song people who were plundered to the Western Xia and received the influence of Song culture, so they were particularly disgusted with the customs practiced by the lamas. Zhao Xing was also full of resentment when he heard this ugly behavior of using religion to deceive women's bodies and minds, so he turned a blind eye, but he didn't expect them to become more and more obsessed the more they worked.

"There's no time, you go and tell Master An again that the enemy army is surrounded by three directions, we will withdraw tonight, and we will not wait for anyone. In addition, tell the master that Lamaism is the state religion of Western Xia, those monks were made national teachers, and Master An burned so many monasteries, and when he retreated, please be careful along the way. ”

All the withdrawal actions of Zhao Xing were carried out under the noses of the Yanzhou defenders, without the slightest intention to conceal it, that night, the Minfu team retreated first, they blatantly lit torches, led the cart behind them swaggered towards Huanzhou, the winding fire dragon converged into a river to stretch to the end of the horizon, the Yanzhou guards saw this strange phenomenon and hurriedly reported to the Yanzhou city guard, the city guard climbed the wall, and now this huge sea of lights is uncertain.

Left and right suggested: "My lord, the Song army is about to withdraw, let's go out of the city and make a surprise attack, maybe we can kill this Song army." ”