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The altitude of Mabit Mountain is more than 3,000 meters, the terrain is complex, most of the year is covered by frost and snow, the climate is changeable, it is a watershed between the Tao River and the Yellow River. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Not far to the north is the city of Lanzhou on the bank of the Yellow River, and to the south is Taozhou, which is controlled by the Song army. Jing Sili led an army of 30,000 to wait here for a long time, and now Lin Zhao has arrived with 7,000 cavalry, a total of 37,000 people.

After resting for a day, the army crossed the complex terrain and extremely cold Mabit Mountain, and suddenly pounced on Lanzhou.

Since the third year of Renzong Jingyou, Lanzhou has fallen into the hands of Western Xia for almost 50 years. Over the course of fifty years, the Tanguts relied on this city to expand outward, defeat the Uighurs, suppress the Tibetans, and stabilize the rear.

In the past, when it was at odds with Tibet, there were many garrisons in Lanzhou and they were well defended. However, in recent times, Lanzhou's troops are not very sufficient. Most of the troops of Western Xia were gathered by Li Bingchang to the eastern Yanyan Road and Huanqing Road, and Liang Yibury had been tightly entangled by the Song army after taking over, and it was too late to call back, so the defense of Lanzhou was relatively empty.

Rao is so, the Tangut people did not care about this problem. After all, the direction of Lanzhou is mainly facing the Tubo people, and now they are fighting against the Song army, they are allies, and the Tubo people will not threaten Lanzhou. With the natural danger of Mabit Mountain, the Song army wanted to attack from the Taozhou area, which was even more difficult. It is precisely because of this consideration that the Western Xia side is a little light, and does not attach great importance to Lanzhou's defense.

It is true that the Tibetans will not fight them at this time, but after the Song army occupied Tibet, they turned their guns and even omitted to borrow the road. As for Mount Horsebit, the terrain is complex and rugged. It is indeed not easy for large armies to pass. This is especially true in winter. But in fact, the real obstacle is the transportation of baggage. As long as the light cavalry pays some hardship, it is not difficult to pass.

Lin Zhao's army of more than 30,000 people did travel lightly, only bringing a part of the grain and grass for temporary use, and the logistics supplies and siege equipment were detoured by sleds, and a little later you could feel the city of Lanzhou.

The Song army appeared very suddenly, and the cavalry suddenly killed under the city of Lanzhou, but the Western Xia defenders were defenseless and were directly caught off guard. Just one battle. The Western Xia troops on the periphery of Lanzhou were swept away, and the time was even faster, only two days before and after.

By the time the Tangut people reacted, there was only one lonely city left in Lanzhou. Ma Qige, the defender of Xixia Prefecture, suddenly panicked, hurriedly asked for help from the Zhuoluo Military Division north of the Yellow River, and flew to Xingqing Mansion.

The Zhuoluo Military Division was an important military town in Western Xia on the north bank of the Yellow River, and was the western barrier of Western Xia before it got Lanzhou. Now it is the horns of Lanzhou and echoes each other.

Ma Qige asked for help, hoping that reinforcements would arrive in time. can relieve the siege of Lanzhou, otherwise it will continue like this. The consequences are unimaginable.

It's just that the Song army didn't give him this opportunity at all, and Lin Zhao's purpose was only Lanzhou City, and he had no plan for the Western Xia territory on the other side of the Yellow River for the time being. As long as there is Lanzhou, it will be an excellent springboard, and in the future battle against Western Xia, the situation will completely change.

If you want to fight quickly, you naturally don't want to attract Western Xia reinforcements to arrive, and you will waste time by fighting under the city. The longer the delay, the more the Xingqing Mansion or Liang Yibury get the news, the reinforcements will arrive in time. The situation will be troublesome, and even the previous efforts will be lost.

Therefore, after clearing the troops on the periphery of Lanzhou, Lin Zhao immediately sent troops to blockade the banks of the Yellow River and quickly besieged the city. Completed the siege before the envoys of the Western Xia news crossed the Yellow River, and blocked the news south of the Yellow River.

Ma Qige looked at the dense Song army under the city, and a kind of despair arose. The call for help failed, which means that Lanzhou became an isolated city.

The defenders in the city were only 10,000 people, and some of them were old, weak, sick and disabled. The most important thing is confidence, after learning that the lonely city is under siege, even he, the main general, is a little flustered, not to mention the defenders in the city.

You must know that Lanzhou belonged to the Song Dynasty earlier, and there were many Han people in the city, and they still had a strong sense of belonging to the Song Dynasty, so how could they be willing to fight hard?

The Song army has blocked the Yellow River, and the Zhuo Luo military division has not received any news for the time being, and when it comes later, even if the problem is discovered, it will be helpless. After all, it's already February, and the weather is relatively warm this year, and once the Yellow River freezes out, even if the reinforcements come, they can only sigh across the river.

This is true of the reinforcements, and so is the self! Ma Qige wondered if he should stick to it forever. He had a feeling that sooner or later Lanzhou would not be able to hold on. If the city is breached in the end, will they still have a way to survive? At that time, even if the breakthrough is successful, if the Yellow River thaws, there will be no chance to escape.

Do you want to abandon the city now?

Ma Qige shook his head, although his determination to resist was not firm, he also knew that Lanzhou was extremely important. If he leaves without a fight, it will definitely be a big crime, and neither the lord of the country nor the prime minister of Liang will forgive him after he goes back. Of course, you can't continue to stay in Lanzhou and wait for death.

Ma Qige decided to wait and see, maybe he could be lucky enough to hold on. Even if you can't hold it, you have to make an appearance, you have to break through the siege, preserve your strength, and give an explanation to Xingqing Mansion.

Lin Zhao didn't know that the Lanzhou Xixia guards had no intention of fighting, but they were sure that Lanzhou was determined to win.

Although it is a siege, in fact, it is only necessary to defend the banks of the Yellow River, and then concentrate on attacking a little. Lanzhou City has fallen into the hands of the Tangut people for almost 50 years, perhaps it is the nature of the nomads, they attach limited importance to the city, the city wall of Lanzhou has been damaged, they are only tinkering, and have not carried out large-scale renovation, the degree of damage can be imagined. Relying on such an extent, how easy is it to hold on and resist the attack of the Song army?

Lin Zhao first carried out a tentative attack, and watched as the soldiers bravely climbed to the top of the city, but were smashed down by the rolling wood and stones of the Tanguts, and hundreds of people were lost in the battle.

Although it was fruitless, it was not without success. The northwest is freezing cold, and even the Yellow River is frozen, not to mention the moat. With this convenience, the Song army could directly set up a cloud ladder and climb the city.

It was the first attack, and there were several times when soldiers were about to climb to the top of the city. Although in the end, it was repulsed. However, it can be seen that the defense of Western Xia was not very tight. There are even some negative feelings.

This is a good sign. Lin Zhao was a little more relaxed, and there was no difficulty in capturing Lanzhou as he imagined. It's just that after all, Western Xia has been operating here for forty or fifty years, and it also has some foundations, although the Song army has continuously launched attacks, but it has always been in vain.

It wasn't until a few days later that the bed crossbow and the improved stone throwing machine of Lin Zhao and Shen Kuo arrived, and they continued to bombard the city wall of Lanzhou. Heavy rammed earth begins to crack or even break. The Song army began to gradually gain the upper hand. That said, it is not easy to break the city.

As everyone knows, the Maqige in the city is even more flustered.

The weapons of the Song army were very powerful, stones fell from the sky, and the city walls continued to break and crack, and even collapsed more and more. The most terrible thing is the psychological deterrence of the soldiers and the people, and there are many houses that have been smashed out of holes by stones near the city wall.

The people who were carrying weapons on the city wall were suddenly pierced through the chest by the Song army's bed crossbow, and the rest of the people were shocked and frightened when they saw this. It was not clear to Ma Qige why the Song army's bed crossbow had such a long range. Is it so penetrating? watched Minfu's corpse be directly pierced by crossbow arrows, and then flew out and fell on the city tower. He knew that this was a terrible shock to the people who had never seen blood and battle, and they had no intention of fighting.

Without the support of the people, it is definitely not enough to rely on the troops in their hands, but the current state is ......

Ma Qige sighed, Lanzhou City has begun to be riddled with holes, the weather is getting warmer, and the ice on the Yellow River has begun to loosen a little, if you don't decide, you may also be full of holes, and it's too late to cry!

Lin Zhao didn't know the situation in Lanzhou City, and could only detect bits and pieces from the daily battles. There is nothing else to say other than to intensify the siege.

But I didn't expect that sometimes, happiness comes very suddenly, and it will inadvertently give people a surprise.

Today, the attack was launched again, and a section of the wall of the southern city collapsed, and it was easy to attack it. Lin Zhao was pleasantly surprised, and immediately sent additional troops, using this as a gap, to enter the city, and was already ready for street fighting.

But soon the soldiers of the vanguard came back to report, and there were only panicked people in the city, and most of the Western Xia soldiers were gone. What's going on? Lin Zhao was puzzled, so he received the news that the Western Xia army had come out of the north gate, broken through the siege, and headed towards the Yellow River.

Deserted the city and fled?

Lin Zhao smiled, he didn't expect that there would be such a cheapness, and the Western Xia defenders were not good, so they became cowardly deserters. It's good that I just picked up this big bargain. Lanzhou is extremely important, as long as you can get it, the way is not important, not to mention that it was given by Xixia for free.

As for the Western Xia soldiers who broke through, Lin Zhao's order was that they could pursue, but with the Yellow River as the boundary, once the Western Xia soldiers crossed the Yellow River, they would abandon the pursuit. After all, if the Western Xia army breaks through, the Zhuo Luo Military Division will receive news that the Western Xia people will join forces at that time, and it may not be possible to counterattack Lanzhou.

The top priority was to take over the city of Lanzhou, repair the city walls, and strengthen the defenses.

Lin Zhao didn't expect that when he was lucky, good things would happen one after another!

The spring of the sixth year of Xining came very early, and even the weather in the northwest was warmer than usual. Although the Yellow River has not yet thawed, the ice has begun to thin.

Riding a horse gallop could have been supported, but in the midst of the panic, 10,000 soldiers scrambled to cross the river first. Later, the Song army was chasing after him, and the Western Xia soldiers, who were already in a hurry, rushed to cross the river, and the location of crossing the river was relatively concentrated.

As a result, the weight on the ice surface of the Yellow River has increased considerably, and the ice has actually cracked. In addition, the horses and soldiers are running fast, and the shock is so great, how can the cracked ice withstand it?

Therefore, in the process of crossing by the Western Xia soldiers, many of the ice in the Yellow River broke. As you can imagine, countless people have fallen into the ice cave. For a time, the scene was miserable, the cries for help and cries were chaotic, and the already chaotic situation was even more unbearable.

Seeing someone fall into the ice cave, the temporarily safe person realized the danger, and was even more anxious to get out of the dangerous ice, running faster and shaking harder. Without an orderly organization, the scene was even more chaotic, with more broken ice, and the number of Western Xia soldiers who fell into the Yellow River increased.

Seeing this situation, Li Cheng, who was in charge of the pursuit, immediately called in all the catapults and threw large stones on the ice of the Yellow River. The shaking was more violent, and the rate at which the ice surface was breaking increased exponentially. The fragments gradually joined together, and the entire ice could no longer support it, forming floating ice cubes.

The Western Xia soldiers who were crossing the river froze to death. Countless people drowned. Less than half of them fled to the other side. Time. The water of the Yellow River was littered with the corpses of Western Xia soldiers and horses. The corpses froze in the water, some stuck to the ice and floated on the surface of the water, which was terrible to see.

The Zhuo Luo military division on the other side of the Yellow River received the news and hurriedly led the soldiers and horses to come, and the only thing he could do was to pick up those compatriots and soldiers who escaped death and climbed ashore. Want to cross the river and counterattack Lanzhou? Not to mention the number of their soldiers and horses, and how effective they are, they don't have a chance. At least not before the onset of winter.

After the Western Xia soldiers rushed to cross the river and shattered the ice surface, coupled with the gradual warming of the weather, the ice surface of the Yellow River decomposed, forming a liuling. There are large and small ice cubes floating on the surface of the water, flowing rapidly. In this case, it is not possible to cross the river by stepping on ice. The ferry boat was even more undesirable, and the Tangut people could only sigh with admiration.

The thawing side of the Yellow River is like a natural barrier, making Lanzhou City, which has just been controlled by the Song army, safe!

God really helped me, standing by the Yellow River. Lin Zhao couldn't help but sigh.

The area of ice floating on the Yellow River is decreasing and flowing faster. Western Xia can't get by. Looking across the river, you can even see their anti-angry but helpless expressions in the distance.

There is no doubt that Lanzhou has returned to the embrace of the Great Song Dynasty. At least it was safe until winter arrived, which was not enough, and Lin Zhao hoped to make Lanzhou City a strong fortress for the Great Song Dynasty to the west.

Taking advantage of the safety time of nearly a year, it was necessary to strengthen the city, and this time the damage of Lanzhou City was too serious, and the city wall had to be renovated and reinforced.

In addition, to stabilize the rule of the Great Song Dynasty here, the situation of the residents in Lanzhou was very complicated, including the Han Chinese, the Dangxiang people, the Qiang people, the Uighurs, the Tubo people, and the people in other parts of the Western Regions, which was quite complicated.

Lin Zhao clearly ordered that all ethnic groups should be treated equally, and that the imperial court would be in Tuntian near Lanzhou. At the same time, the trade routes will be restored, and the prosperity of the past will gradually be restored, so that the people here can live and work in peace and contentment. After the Song army entered the city, the military discipline was also strict, and the autumn did not commit any crimes.

Lin Zhao is relatively tolerant of the people here, after all, it has been occupied by the Western Xia for fifty years, and the people's sense of belonging and identity is difficult to say, and it needs to be slowly changed and improved.

Of course, complete tolerance is not possible, and the strategy of sticks and sweetened sugar is more obvious at any time.

Even if the policies of the Song Dynasty were so relaxed, and most of them sought the well-being of the people, they were always excellent and stubborn people. For several days in a row, there were people in the city who were making trouble with bad intentions.

Lin Zhao was unceremonious, and immediately ordered to be hanged!

Therefore, for several nights, the people of Lanzhou, who did not dare to go out behind closed doors, heard the sounds of fighting and screams outside, one after another. In the early morning of the second day, the blood stains on the streets were still there, and they had not yet been cleaned up. Hundreds of heads were hung in front of the city gate, and I shuddered at a glance, which played a particularly good deterrent role.

Lanzhou City quickly settled down, order gradually returned to normal, and gradually reintegrated into the Great Song Dynasty.

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The news of the Song army's capture of Lanzhou spread, and Qingyi finally understood what Lin Zhao's real intention was to end the war with Tubo in a hurry to negotiate peace.

I didn't expect him to have such a big arm, and he took Lanzhou City in an instant, which was really unexpected. The situation in Western Xia will also get worse and worse, and perhaps one day, their situation may not be as good as that of Tibet.

Dong Yu had a kind of helpless rejoicing, the Song army was too terrible, Lin Zhao was too terrible, and it was probably right to end the war with the Song Dynasty earlier. After Lanzhou fell into the hands of the Song army, the sky in the west should be spoken by the Song Dynasty, and Lin Zhao was the master.

As for making a comeback and retaking Qingtang City? Dong Yu shook his head gently, Lanzhou remote control Qingtang, there will never be a chance in the future. Maybe Lin Zhao is right, we should look at it from a different angle and in a different direction, at least the future direction of Tubo is not the east, nor the north!

Ali Gu is the most painful, and this move is tantamount to completely cutting off the possibility of his revenge and comeback. The oath he made when he left Qingtang City was destined to become an eternal regret, and he could never go back. This fact was somewhat painful, almost difficult for him to accept.

As for Lin Qibi, who returned from Dongxia, he was already home, but he never gave up his obsession with the position of the crown prince of Tubo. Although Tibet is no longer the same as in the past, there is still half of the country, and all of this is because of him. Lin blamed himself, but he did not reflect thoroughly.

He knew that if he still had a chance, he could only rely on his wife's mother's family, the Xixia Kingdom. However, Lanzhou was lost, and the situation in Western Xia was also deteriorating, and Lin Qibi suddenly felt that the future was bleak.

The biggest blow is definitely not the Tubo people, but the Tangut people!

Xingqing Mansion, Li Bingchang was shocked when he received the news, and fell directly from the throne. The defeat of Yan Yan Road and Huanqing Road made him worried, and he felt very uncomfortable. When he suffered a blow, there was such a heavy blow, how could he bear it at a young age, and he fell ill directly.

Liang Yi buried it in his heart, he always felt that something was wrong, and now he finally knew the answer. It's a pity that it's too late, Lanzhou has fallen into the hands of the Song Dynasty, with this springboard, the balance of the future Song and Xia battles will continue to tilt, the Western Xia has no cheap at all, and the future is even more confused, even precarious!

Although spring has arrived, Liang Yi is buried in the cold, even more chilly than winter! (To be continued.) )