In the night, the Song military camp tent was heavily guarded, a group of soldiers patrolled around the camp fence, and the figure of the cavalry patrol appeared from time to time within a mile of the periphery, and deep trenches were dug around the camp, scattering a lot of thistle thorns, and it was relatively safe to enter and exit only from the north and south camp gates.

The place of the camp gate is naturally the most important, there are more than 500 soldiers standing guard in front of the two city gates at night, and the sentries on the guard towers on both sides are also sharp-eyed to watch the movements around them, and they dare not relax for a moment.

The commander on duty tonight is Niu Gao, who is patrolling the north camp gate at this time, and today is the first night of the camp, especially to prevent the enemy from stealing the camp at night.

Niu Gao is relatively low-key in the Jingzhao Army, in terms of subordination, he belongs to the subordinates of Wang Gui, the deputy capital commander, although he is low-key, but he is very simple and decisive in doing things, and has repeatedly made military exploits, becoming the third general among many commanders to be promoted to the command, second only to Yan Qing and Cao Meng.

"General Niu, isn't it a bit of a fuss if the guard is so nervous, how can the defenders of Weicheng go out of the city and steal the camp?" A subordinate general whispered to Niu Gao.

Niu Gao waved his hand, "You kid have to figure it out that we are not for the army of Weicheng, but for the defense of the army in the east." ”

"But if you can loosen the outside and tighten the inside, maybe you can lure them to attack the camp, but if it's too tight, they won't dare to come."

Niu Gao sighed softly, "This suggestion was also put forward by Deputy General Wang, but Du Tong had other ideas, he didn't want the enemy army to come and steal the camp." ”

"Do you want to step on the .......?"

Before the general finished speaking, Niu Gao slapped him, "Don't talk nonsense, this matter is not something we should ask, just implement the military order well." ”

The general stuck out his tongue and didn't dare to speak, at this time, there was a rapid sound of horses' hooves outside the camp gate, and Niu Gao hurriedly urged the horse over, only to hear the sentry shouting: "Who is it?" ”

"Eastern Outer Scout!"

"Password!"

"Longevity!"

After checking the password, one of the scouts galloped to his horse, turned over and dismounted in front of his camp gate, and the gatekeeper verified his scout card again before letting him into the camp.

"But there's any information to report?" Niu Gao asked.

"General Qi Niu, I found the main force of the enemy army thirty miles away."

The main force of the enemy should be in Luocheng, which is fifty miles away, but now it has appeared in thirty miles, obviously the main force of the enemy army has moved, Niu Gao hurriedly said: "You come with me!" ”

He hurried to the Chinese tent with the scouts.

At this time, the Chinese army's tent was still brightly lit, Li Yanqing stood in front of the map and was silent, he was thinking about his next follow-up response, he received an express report early this morning, the Western Xia army stepped up the attack on the Fengxiang Mansion Dasan Pass, the Western Xia army obviously wanted to attack the pass as soon as possible, cut off their retreat from behind, the Western Xia did not withdraw from the Xihe Road, indicating that the pressure he exerted was not enough, and it did not make the Western Xia feel the crisis.

"Dutong, it's a bit strange to be humble, since the Western Xia is short of troops, why don't you mobilize the tribe to send troops?" Wang Gui next to him asked puzzled.

Li Yanqing smiled slightly, "Western Xia also has to consider the national strength to bear, Western Xia has been in war all these years, and he has largely relied on the support of the Liao State, the Liao State was destroyed, and the Jin soldiers fought for Datong Mansion and suffered a crushing defeat, it should be that the national strength of the Western Xia cannot bear it." ”

Liu Jian also added with a smile: "Dutong is right, Western Xia is not like the Great Song Dynasty is centralized, they are actually composed of various tribes, even the largest Tuoba Department is not one heart, in recent years, Western Xia has suffered heavy losses, and the tribes have not been able to get benefits, of course, they will not obediently obey the call of the court as before, Li Qianshun needs to come up with a reciprocal interest exchange, and the tribes will send troops, it is estimated that Li Qianshun is reluctant to take out the benefits before he did not mobilize the whole country." ”

Wang Gui pondered for a while and said, "Could it be that Li Qianshun would rather finally let Li mobilize the troops of various tribes than withdraw from Xihe Road?" ”

"There is this possibility, and it is very likely, our strategy itself is only forty percent sure, if the Western Xia always refuses to withdraw the army, then we can only lose the national strength of the Western Xia as much as possible."

As the three of them were talking, there was a report from a soldier outside the tent, "Qi Yu is all in charge, and the Niu Tong urgently asks to see him!" ”

"Dutong, there must be an enemy!" Liu Qi was the first to react.

Li Yanqing nodded, "Let him in!" ”

After a while, Wang Gui walked in quickly with a scout, bowed and saluted, "See Du Tong, see Liu Du Tong!" ”

"What military intelligence does General Wang have?" Li Yanqing asked with a smile.

"Enlighten the capital, this scout brother has discovered the enemy's movements!"

Wang Gui gave the scout escort team next to him a look, and the escort team hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Qi Yu Dutong, the humble post and his subordinates have discovered the main force of the enemy army in Baimagou!" ”

Li Yanqing immediately walked to the map and soon found Baimagou, which was located at the northern end of Ta Che Ling, about thirty miles away from the Song army camp.

Judging from this position, the goal of the Western Xia army was obviously to step on the cutting ridge, Li Yanqing and Liu Qi glanced at each other, and Li Yanqing asked again: "How many troops does the enemy have?" ”

"Between 15,000 and 20,000 men, light troops marched lightly, and they didn't carry baggage!"

It doesn't matter whether you carry a baggage or not, Ta Cutting Village is only seventy miles away from Luocheng, and it can't be attacked, and it won't affect the survival of the army if you retreat quickly, but what if Luocheng is lost?

Li Yanqing was pacing back and forth, he was thinking about how to annihilate the Western Xia army at the lowest cost, when Liu Qi asked again: "Are you sure that the other party has no baggage?" ”

"The baggage is definitely not with the army, but whether it will be sent later, I don't know for the time being."

Liu Qi waved his hand to let the scout team retreat, and at this time, Li Yanqing asked Niu Gao with a smile: "What does Lao Niu think?" ”

Niu Gao bowed down and said: "It is unwise to think that the enemy army is alone in the depths!" ”

Liu Qi smiled slightly, "General Niu is right, in the end, Li Qianshun is still a little underestimated. ”

Li Yanqing nodded, "I'm now thinking about how to annihilate this enemy army at the lowest cost?" ”

"If you want to do the least cost, you have to avoid head-on battles."

Li Yanqing sighed, "Then it depends on whether Zhang Shun can hold the Tamu Village." ”

"You might as well deploy it at both ends!"

Li Yanqing pondered for a moment and said to Niu Gao: "I will give you 3,000 troops, you must take Luocheng for me!" ”

"Humble duty will never let the capital down!"

Niu Gao took the military order, saluted and turned around.

Of course, Niu Gao will not leave immediately, he still has to go to see Wang Gui to negotiate the dispatch of troops.

Li Yanqing immediately said to Liu Qi: "Our troops are divided into two routes, you continue to keep an eye on Weicheng, and I will be responsible for the enemy army in the south!" ”

………..

The reinforcements of the Western Xia army have a total of 20,000 people, commanded by the general Gao Tingyi, this Western Xia army belongs to the Shanyu army, that is, it is composed of the Qianghu people in the frontier, good at mountain warfare, mainly infantry, and many branches of the Western Xia army belong to the lower level of the army, both equipment and training are relatively backward.

They rushed more than 700 miles from Xiazhou, Luocheng replenished the logistics and military rations, and after resting for two days, they went to Ta Cut Village.

The intention of the Western Xia army is very obvious, that is, to recapture the Ta cut village and cut off the back road of the Song army, this intention was put forward by the monarch Li Qianshun, although Gao Tingyi felt that it was a little unrealistic, but he had no choice, so he could only implement it to the letter.

The only tactic that Gao Tingyi could do was to march at night, travel lightly, lose the drag of the baggage, and march quickly under the cover of night, killing the Song army by surprise.

It's a pity that his opponent is Li Yanqing, who has long guessed the strategy of the Western Xia army and deployed powerful scouts, so that the whereabouts of the Western Xia army are completely exposed to the surveillance of the Song army.

When the day was about to dawn, 20,000 Western Xia troops arrived at the foot of Ta Che Zhai Mountain.

The north side of the village is also easy to defend and difficult to attack, the mountain road spirals up, from the foot of the mountain to the cottage in a straight line there is about three hundred steps away, if you wind up, it will take at least two miles to walk.

The Western Xia army had no time to rest, at most in half an hour, the sky was about to dawn, and after the army arrived at the foot of the mountain, Gao Tingyi immediately issued an order to attack.

The mountain army is good at mountain warfare, and also knows how to sneak attack, Gao Tingyi sent 300 elites to quickly rush to the mountain under the cover of the night.

Zhang Shun had already received the news three hours ago that the Western Xia army was about to attack the village at night, and he led three thousand defenders to wait for it.

However, after the capture of Ta Cut Village, the Song army also added a large number of special defensive weapons, mainly earth-shaking thunder and tribulus terrestris thorns, in addition, Zhang Shun extended the battle line to the mountain road, built fortifications halfway up the mountain, and sent 1,000 soldiers to ambush on the mountain road.

Although the night was dark, there were a few points of starlight, and the figures were heavy, and they were quietly touching the mountain.

The general of the Song army who guarded the mountainside was called Zhang Hua, Zhang Shun's brother, the original surname was Zhang, and he changed to the surname Zhang after worshipping, and he was Zhang Shun's most trusted confidant brother, although he was only in his twenties, but he also led thousands of people, and is currently serving as a general in the Song army.

Zhang Hua had already seen the Western Xia army who was stupidly going up the mountain, he sneered, waved his hand, and all the soldiers crouched behind the sandbags, raised their crossbows, and patiently waited for the order to shoot.