Unable to discuss with everyone, Li Zhizong ordered to continue to go south, and the army marched southward, about eighty miles, and Lingzhou City was already seen in the distance, Li Zhizong immediately ordered that the army be stationed on the spot.

The armies of each tribe carried their own camel convoys, carrying all kinds of military supplies, and the commander gave the order, and everyone set up camp one after another, and soon, large tents appeared in the wilderness like mushrooms after the rain, and the armies were almost all in their own formations, and there was no unified standard for camping, some surrounded by fences, some surrounded by spears, some dug trenches and buried antlers, and some simply had nothing.

The army under the direct jurisdiction of Li Zhizong was only 5,000 people, and he also needed to set up a central battalion, and after thinking about it for a long time, Li Zhizong finally decided to set up the central battalion between the Tuoba Department and the Fine Seal Department.

That night, Li Zhizong was writing a letter to Li Qianshun, the Son of Heaven, in the big tent, when a soldier outside the door reported, "Qi Yu is handsome, and there is a Song army envoy outside to write a war letter!" ”

Li Zhizong hurriedly stopped his pen and asked, "Where are the people?" ”

"It's the book of arrows, and the man is gone."

"Where is the letter?"

The soldier walked into the big tent and presented a letter to Li Zhizong, Li Zhizong hurriedly opened the letter and read it for a while, it was a handwritten letter written by Li Yanqing to him, and there was a translation of the Western Xia language below, about tomorrow the two armies will fight, and each side will send 10,000 people.

Li Zhizong hurriedly asked the general Li Duo to come in, Li Duo is also a member of the Tuoba Department, his full name is Tuoba Li Duo, and he has participated in many battles with the Song army and its Jin soldiers, and has rich combat experience.

"Du Shuai is looking for a humble position?" Li Duoxing asked.

Li Zhizong handed him the battle book, "Li Yanqing just sent it, take a look!" ”

Li Duo took the battle book and read it, and said with a smile: "Is this Li Yanqing trying to test our reality?" ”

"Is that a war or no war?"

"Of course it's a battle, and we also want to know the details of the Song army."

"But..... Do you think it's better to send that army? ”

Li Duo hesitated, he was from the Tuoba Department, of course he didn't want the Tuoba Department to go, "This task will either be handed over to the Fine Seal Department!" ”

Li Zhizong also felt that it was inappropriate, this arrangement would make the fine seal department dissatisfied, he thought about it and said, "Then hang it out!" See which ministry takes the initiative to ask for help. ”

Li Zhizong immediately asked people to pass the war book to various tribes, and after a while, Tuoba Wei walked in, bowed down and said: "Du Shuai, challenge tomorrow, let us try it!" ”

Li Zhizong was overjoyed, worthy of being a young man, and he was really competitive.

"Okay, I'll lead the crowd to cheer you on!"

.........

Generally speaking, a large battle is not a battle that can be won or lost, it is often divided into countless small battles, such as Li Yanqing's proposal to the Western Xia army.

This is a bit like a swordsman fight, the two sides are clear about the location and the number of participants, generally speaking, they will not go back on their word, deliberately deceitful, there is no point in cheating, but it will not achieve the purpose of the battle.

Of course, it is not excluded that some armies want to show weakness and deliberately send weak brigades, but the consequences of this are more serious and will affect the morale of the main army.

So this needs to be weighed by the main general, but generally speaking, it is a win, and both sides send stronger troops.

Li Yanqing sent the Longxiang army, but he personally led 10,000 troops to fight, and for this purpose, he specially dispatched 3,000 heavy armored infantry.

But Li Yanqing's real purpose was to test the effect of firecrackers in actual combat, and this army was composed of 5,000 cavalry, 1,000 crossbow troops, 1,000 firecrackers, and 3,000 heavy armored infantry.

The sky emitted ten thousand rays of light, the east wind blew strongly, Li Yanqing stood at the front of the army, only to see his burly figure and majestic majesty, the crimson helmet fluttered in the wind under the shining golden helmet, the corners of his mouth stretched into a straight line, and his cold and hard face like granite was full of perseverance and fearlessness.

"Woo-" The loud and high-pitched horn sound echoed in the wilderness, this was the order of the Song army to set off, and other horns also sounded, and the rumbling drum sounded, one by one, one by one, straight into the hearts of people, urging people to forge ahead, so that the morale of the soldiers was high.

"March, march to the Tanguts!"

He shouted, the war horse jumped and flew out, behind him, the battle flag of the Jingzhao army was covered in the wind, a group of Great Song soldiers pulled up, and drove straight to the battlefield twenty miles away, Li Yanqing galloped on horseback, his white mane was flying, and the cavalry on both sides roared forward, like a raging wave running towards the coast.

Today the weather is clear, with a few light clouds floating in the sky, and the wind is turning to a westerly wind, and the wind speed is increasing.

10,000 Western Xia troops stood quietly on a wide hill, and at the highest point of the hill, the Western Xia lord Tuoba Wei on high horses stared into the distance.

Suddenly, he saw a wriggling black line appear about five miles away, slowly moving towards this side, becoming more and more clear, the flag became a cloud, the armor was cold and bright, 'Five thousand cavalry! He had a maximum of five thousand cavalry. A sense of pride rose in Tuobawei's heart, and he was sure to win this battle.

The Song army stopped three miles away, and a thousand crossbowmen quickly took their positions, and behind the crossbowmen were a thousand firecrackers.

The integrated phalanx of 3,000 heavy armored infantry was in the middle, standing in two rows, like two thick iron walls, and at the back of the team were 5,000 light horsemen, holding spears in their hands, saddles and horizontal knives, and their horses had already sensed the impending murderous aura, and were bowing their heads and roaring, ready for battle at any time.

The two armies are facing each other, both sides are accumulating strength, waiting to go, this 10,000-strong Western Xia cavalry is the chain mail army of the Tuoba Department, and it is also the most elite army that the Tuoba Department has maintained for nearly a hundred years, almost all of them are passed down from father to son, and they will not be easily taken out.

This time, Western Xia faced life and death, and the great chief Tuoba Wanli handed over this century-old chain mail army to his son Tuoba Wei.

The strength of this army lies in the armor, they are not like the Iron Harrier army with iron plate armor, but most of them wear chain mail, which is exquisite and finely worked, and it is difficult for ordinary swords to cut into.

In addition, the Western Xia also had a high sword-forging technique, so the main equipment of this army was long swords and spears, but this army also had a weakness, that is, it was not very flexible, and it was relatively weak in horse archery, and they mainly relied on strong shocks and fierce battles to defeat the enemy.

The cavalry of the Song army is different, well-equipped, riding crossbows, iron armor and spears are the three magic weapons of the Song army, especially the Northwest Army of the Song Dynasty, brave and good at fighting, tall and mighty, equipped with sharp firearms, has always been the main force of the Song Dynasty and foreign warfare.

A gust of wind blew across the empty battlefield, and the flying sand and dust dyed the sky smoky gray, but the two armies still did not move, and the main general of the Western Xia, Tuoba Wei, was waiting, waiting for the Song cavalry to go out first and weaken the power of the Song army's crossbow arrows.

Li Yanqing, the chief general of the Song army, was also waiting, waiting with the same patience of the ancient times, and the Western Xia army went out first, and used crossbows and firecrackers to weaken the enemy's living force.

Time passed little by little, moment by moment, half an hour passed, Li Yanqing's pupils had become a straight line, but there was no expression on his rock-hard face, his expression was grim, and no one in the Song army was allowed to move without an order.

Tuoba Wei finally shook a little, he seemed to faintly hear the ridicule of Hokuhin Beya, as if he was laughing at his lack of courage, youth is his advantage, he can be brave and fearless, but youth is also his weakness, not deep enough, and in the end he still can't hold his breath.

Finally, his sword was slowly raised, and three words popped out of his tense lips: 'Strike!' ’

The Western Xia army, which had the advantage of cavalry, finally attacked first, 'Boom! The sound of the leather drum sounded, shocking, the cavalry of the Western Xia army of two hundred people slowly started, forming a phalanx of fifty rows, filled with a monstrous murderous aura, each soldier's eyes were dead gray, holding a shield in his left hand and a spear in his right hand, urging the horse to drive towards the Song army step by step, walking faster and faster, the long sword was raised high, flashing with a cold cold light in the sun.

At this moment, the rapid sound of war drums sounded, and the cavalry began to run, faster and faster, and the ranks began to disperse, turning into a huge phalanx, but not completely scattered.

This cavalry team fought with a battalion of 200 men, so even if the speed was fast, the formation would not be chaotic, and only in this way could the cavalry fight in a group after entering the enemy formation.

This is also the speed that Li Yanqing is looking forward to, the other party maintains the formation, it happens to be their live target, Li Yanqing silently calculates the range of the firecracker, the Western Xia army has reached two hundred and fifty steps, and is about to enter the range of the Song army's firearms, Li Yanqing raised his arms and shouted: "Shoot ready!" ”

The commander's order was immediately answered, and a thousand muskets were raised, and the soldiers were half-kneeling on the ground, aiming at the rushing enemy cavalry.

At the same time, a thousand crossbowmen also raised their crossbows, waiting for the order to shoot.