Li Yanqing led 9,000 troops all the way to the northwest, and the Song army built a special military road on Hengshan South Road, connecting Hukou Gorge and Hulushui Canyon, which was more than 700 miles apart, but closer than from Jingzhaocheng to Hulushui Canyon.

Four days later, the army arrived at Xiao Pass, Xiao Pass is an important pass for the defense of the northern nomads in the Han Dynasty and even the Sui and Tang dynasties, and it is also the northern throat pass of the Guanzhong Plain, the mountains are high and the valleys are deep, the terrain is dangerous, the Song army has been stationed here with a thousand troops, and the Song army and the Western Xia army have relied on the Grand Canyon for several years to confront each other, and the two sides do not interfere with each other, but they are also safe.

When Li Yanqing's army arrived at Xiao Pass, Wang Gui's 7,000 cavalry and Liu Qian's 15,000 infantry had already arrived at Xiao Pass a day in advance, and the vast baggage team and Li Yanqing arrived at Xiao Pass almost at the same time.

On the first day of Li Yanqing's arrival in Jingzhaocheng, he ordered the logistics battalion to transport 20,000 stone of grain and 30,000 quintals of forage to Xiaoguan, as well as firearms, weapons, fire oil and other materials.

When Li Yanqing's army arrived at Xiaoguan, it happened to encounter a baggage team coming north from another official road, each cart was pulled by two donkeys, the cart was full of heavy grain, grass and weapons, the forage was slightly better, the donkey cart that pulled grain and military supplies creaked, the two little donkeys foamed at the mouth, and dragged forward like a desperate struggle, but the man who drove the cart did not have pity, and from time to time waved his leather whip and whipped it fiercely on the donkey's back.

Li Yanqing's army entered Xiao Pass first, and Wang Gui, Liu Jian and Zhang Bao, the commander of Xiao Pass, rushed to greet Li Yanqing.

"How's the Scout Camp going?" Li Yanqing asked.

This is the news that Li Yanqing is most concerned about, if the scout camp fails, it means that the Song army will pay a heavy price.

Wang Gui said with a smile: "How can those two guys live up to the trust of the capital, and they have won both the reward and the village." ”

"It's amazing!"

Li Yanqing appreciated and asked again: "Is there any countermeasures from the Western Xia army now?" ”

Wang Gui glanced at Liu Kuan, and Liu Kuan hurriedly said: "I haven't heard of it yet, but the beacon fire has spread to Xingqing Mansion, and it is estimated that the high-level officials of Western Xia are also busy dispatching troops to reinforce Weizhou." ”

Li Yanqing smiled faintly, "Don't underestimate the Western Xia army, they should have a plan in advance, the Western Xia army is insufficient, and it is only the strength of the conventional army, Li Qianshun still has 80,000 iron harrier cavalry in his hands, that is the foundation of the Western Xia army." ”

"Does Dutong mean that Western Xia will use iron harriers?"

Li Yanqing shook his head, "Not for the time being, if we take Weizhou, we will continue to march north, and Brother Richard's army has not withdrawn in time, then the Iron Harrier will come out." ”

Speaking of this, Li Yanqing said to Wang Gui again: "Yanqing's troops are too small, I am worried that there will be a loss, you can immediately lead the cavalry to Ta Cutting Village!" ”

"Obey the order!"

Wang Gui bowed and saluted, turned around and went to mobilize the cavalry.

Li Yanqing said to Liu Jian again: "The infantry is a little late, wait until the baggage is full before setting off, I will bring 7,000 soldiers from Yan'an Mansion, as well as my own 2,000 troops, the march is more difficult, you first arrange their food and lodging." ”

Liu Jian nodded, and went out of the customs to arrange food and lodging for the army.

Li Yanqing then followed Zhang Bao to Xiao Guan Chengtou, Xiao Pass is actually a part of the Great Wall, this section of the Great Wall was built in the Sui Dynasty, after hundreds of years, lack of repair, has appeared dilapidated, to the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty implemented the fortress strategy, built countless strong fortresses, part of the Great Wall belonging to the fortress has also been repaired, Xiao Pass is one of the extremely important fortresses, it can be said that it is the bridgehead of Qinfeng Road to defend against Western Xia.

"Does General Zhang have anything to say?" Li Yanqing asked with a smile, he had just found that Zhang Bao wanted to speak several times and stopped.

Zhang Bao nodded, walked up to the city and pointed to a broken city wall two miles away in the distance and said: "Taibao, please look at that city wall, there is the outer Xiao Pass, which was originally one with the inner Xiao Pass here from us, but now it has been completely destroyed." ”

"Why is it damaged?" Li Yanqing asked.

Zhang Bao sighed, "That year, Tong Guan's whole army was destroyed, and the Song army's defense was retreated to Huaide County, three hundred miles away, and the inner and outer Xiao Pass were completely destroyed by the Western Xia Army. ”

Li Yanqing smiled slightly, "Chong Shuai deliberately left half of it for me to repair!" ”

After speaking, Li Yanqing himself couldn't help laughing, Zhang Bao was overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "Our two thousand soldiers in Xiaoguan are counting on the Taibao to take care of them." ”

"No problem, I'll fix it before the end of the year, but General Zhang still calls me Dutong! It's a bit raw to call the Taibao. ”

"Humble thanks to all the love!"

Li Yanqing sat in the northwest this time and was given a series of official positions, including two officials with real power, the envoy of the three roads was the highest administrative officer of the three roads in the northwest, and the other commander of the Western Army was the highest military commander of the Northwest Army.

Although Zhang Bao is only a commander, he has deep qualifications, he has been in the frontier for twenty years, he has a lot of experience, and he is only forty years old now, and he belongs to the general that Li Yanqing is going to promote.

As for Zhang Jun, although he was one of the four generals of Zhongxing in the Southern Song Dynasty, his stay on Shaanxi Road would become a constraint for him, and at the same time, he would be suppressed by himself and unable to give full play to his talents, and it was in the interests of both parties to transfer him to Hedong or the Central Plains.

．．．．．．．

Li Yanqing's counter-defensive offensive that did not follow common sense did disrupt the strategic deployment of Western Xia, and when the beacon fire in the direction of Weizhou reached Xingqing Mansion, Li Qianshun hardly slept all night.

When the Western Xia was the strongest, it was known as an army of 500,000, of course, there was a lot of water in it, the Western Xia was a soldier for the whole people, and the imperial court only provided a small number of weapons to the soldiers, and the rest of the armor and bows had to be prepared by themselves, and they had to bring their own rations to fight on the front line, not to mention what they had to do.

Once a big war breaks out, the whole people must be mobilized, of course, it is easy to gather 500,000 troops, but the actual standing army will not exceed 200,000, otherwise, even if the Western Xia has the land of Hetao, it will be difficult to support so many troops.

The year before last, the Western Xia and the Jin State competed for the Xijing of the Liao State, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides, which finally ended in the crushing defeat of the Western Xia, and the Western Xia army lost nearly 100,000 people and was forced to surrender to the Jin State.

The vitality has not yet recovered, and the Western Xia saw the opportunity of the Song Dynasty to retreat one after another, so Li Gan sent 80,000 troops to attack Xihe Road, and sent 20,000 troops to contain Shaanxi Road.

At present, in addition to the 80,000 Iron Harrier Guards of Gongwei Xingqing Mansion, the Standing Army of Western Xia only has 20,000 troops scattered in various military divisions, and Li Qianshun really has no army to assist Weizhou.

As soon as the morning dawned, Li Qian urgently summoned important ministers to come to Xingqing Palace to discuss countermeasures.

The Western Xia official system was a model Tang and Song dynasties, and at the same time there was a set of party clan official positions, and many ministers often held two positions, such as Shangshu Ling Cao Price, who was the prime minister of the Western Xia, and also served as the ancestor of the party Xiang clan, second only to Ning Ling and Mo Ningling, Ning Ling was the emperor of Western Xia, and Mo Ning Ling was the royal king.

However, Li Qianshun advocated Han culture, and under his rule, the Tang and Song official positions had been turned into real power, while the party official positions had become fictitious.

"Your Majesty, Wechen heard that Li Yanqing was appointed as the envoy of the Northwest Third Road, Li Yanqing was eager to break the situation, this county is obviously his means of defending and attacking, although Wechen has to admit that this hand is very clever, but there are also weaknesses."

The first to speak was Shang Shuling Cao Price, Li Qianshun was in good spirits, and hurriedly asked, "What weakness?" ”

"The weakness of the Song army is also the lack of troops, as long as we capture Fengxiang Mansion from the west, we can cut off Li Yanqing's retreat, if he doesn't want the whole army to be destroyed, he must withdraw immediately, so that the Song army retreats without a fight."

"Well said!"

Li Qianshun approved, and said to Li Renzhong, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites: "Renzhong, you can talk about it." ”

Li Renzhong is also a member of the royal family, he was named King Pu, and he was appointed as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and he was Li Qianshun's confidant, he got up and saluted: "Wechen basically agrees with Cao Xiangguo's opinion, but Wechen is worried that Weizhou is over, Chaka only has 4,000 troops, can he hold Weizhou?" If Weizhou was lost and Xipingzhou's defense was empty, Li Yanqing went all the way north. ”

Li Renzhong's worry is also Li Qianshun's worry, Li Qianshun sighed and said: "I also want to increase the army in Weizhou, but there is no extra army in my hand, unless I am temporarily recruited, but the injury is too great, or I will use the guards, but it seems that it is not that step, which makes me very embarrassed!" ”

"Then transfer the 20,000 troops from Xiazhou to Weizhou!" Cao Price obviously already has a plan.

"What about Shaanxi Road? Will the Song army go north to Xiazhou from the side of Shaanxi Road again? Li Qianshun pointed to the core issue.

Cao Price smiled slightly, "Has Your Majesty forgotten the Jin Kingdom?" At this time, Wan Yan Xian will never stand idly by, and will definitely intervene, Wei Chen believes that the Song army on Shaanxi Road will go all out to defend against the Jin soldiers, and will not dare to go north. ”

Li Qianshun suddenly came to his senses, he no longer hesitated, and immediately ordered: "According to Xiangguo's suggestion, immediately transfer the Xiazhou army to support Weizhou, and at the same time order Li Chage to attack Fengxiang Mansion with all his might!" ”