As the sun began to set, the last army, led by Aligu, emerged from the valley.

It may be that Dong Yu is not at ease, and it may be that Ali Gu increases his prestige, so Dong Yu let Ali Gu lead the army, but he didn't expect the Song army to go out of the big fight, and when he heard these four words, Dong Yu and Ali Gu's faces were blue.

People are under the eaves and have to bow their heads.

Ali Gu and a deputy general of the Song army drilled out of the valley road with a baggage, looking at the camps set up by the Song army on the snowy field, his frozen face finally relaxed, and he exhaled a long breath of cold air. It's a miracle that this line of work can come out alive and well.

But Ali Gu didn't know that for this line, just to explore the terrain of the valley road, there were more than a dozen scouts who froze to death, and the cold-proof and anti-slip materials they brought turned into copper coins, which could pave the entire Dadou Valley Road.

Guo Cheng and Wang Guangzu personally greeted them and let them enter the camp, the tent had already lit a fire with coal, knowing that Ali Gu was hostile to the Song Dynasty, but they could fight for the best, and the two did not reject it. The next series of military operations will also require Ali Gu to cooperate.

The two of them settled the last army to arrive, and took the generals to the big tent prepared for Aligu. Out of the valley, the weather is still very cold, after all, this is the wax moon, the cold is howling, and the dust and snow are flying. But compared to the valley, the wind is not as good as the valley wind, and the cold is even worse, and even within four days, the army encountered a sudden blizzard, strong winds, hail, and heavy snow came at the same time, and the big snowstorm alone caused the death of nearly 3,000 soldiers.

Though it was cold outside the valley, it was within the limits of all men.

Ali Gu roasted on the fire, drank a few sips of spirits, and finally regained his temperature. When you see the generals coming, you immediately stand up and greet them.

There were complaints on the way, but out of the valley, he also thought of military significance.

The guards roasted lamb on the side, and the generals began to discuss tomorrow's military operation. The soldiers went out to fight the valley. It was an imaginative military operation, and it was designed to achieve a surprise effect. Therefore, the army will be divided into two groups tomorrow, one will go to Liangzhou, and the other will go to Ganzhou, Suzhou, Guazhou, and Shazhou.

There is still some uncertainty ahead.

Although they are strange soldiers and have a lot of troops, they are still not many compared to the Hexi Corridor, which has dug through the entire nearly 2,000-mile road. And this strength can only be said to be the Song army, the 60,000 Song army led by Guo Wang and the others. There are forbidden soldiers, there are Tibetan soldiers, but they are all elite soldiers of the entire Hehuang, even if they are Tibetan soldiers, they also formed an army with the team and trained for more than half a year, and they are no longer the kind of Fan soldiers with loose military discipline in the past. However, Dong Yu's subordinates, how much combat effectiveness can they exert, or whether they are willing to fight to the death for the Song Dynasty. It's suspicious.

Guo Cheng and Wang Guangzu did not expect this army to be willing to fight to the death for the Song Dynasty, and brought them in, mainly because the logistics required a large number of troops and people, and at the same time lost 50,000 strong men. Dong Yu will not have other ideas. Everyone sat down and began to divide their troops.

This trip pays more attention to speed, Guo Cheng is famous for running fast, and Wang Guangzu Bashu fights. It's also known for its speed. But the two are the main generals, and they definitely can't be pioneers. The vanguard is Qu Zhen and Chong Pu, and the rear army is handed over to Li Hao and Ali Gu. But the rear army was mainly to support Wang Guangzu's westward army. After all, after capturing Liangzhou, he will be able to rendezvous with Zhang Qi's army, and he will not have to worry about material supplies. But Guo Cheng's task is heavier, although only one Liangzhou is captured, but because of the attraction of Zhang Qi, Liangzhou has more Western Xia troops stationed, and at the same time, the main army and materials have to support the west, the East Route Army has few troops, materials and weapons, and Liangzhou must be taken, otherwise 100,000 people will become a lone army, trapped in the Hexi Corridor.

Drinking wine, eating mutton, drinking, drinking, and deliberating.

Rest everyone.

As soon as it was dawn the next day, the Song army set up camp, and the rear army of Ali Gu and Li Hao did not move. Many soldiers and horses died along the way, and a lot of supplies were also damaged, and even the baggage carts were damaged and had to be left to be repaired, and the army would not be able to leave until a day late.

In the evening of the same day, Qu Zhen came to the county seat of Jie Dan first, the county seat is not big, because of the economic depression, the county town of Jie Dan is even more lifeless, this once prosperous town because of the Silk Road, has lost its former glory.

The Song army suddenly arrived and was caught off guard, and most of the people here were Uighurs and Tibetans, so they didn't want to resist at all, so Qu Zhen just launched a wave of attacks, and successfully climbed to the top of the city, opened the city gate, and rushed into the city. Hundreds of Xia soldiers defending the city fled to Ganzhou.

Qu Zhen left a group of soldiers to be stationed in the city of Sudan, waiting for Wang Guangzu's army, and the rest took some improvised siege equipment, regardless of the snow and cold night, and chased them out. Before the sky was clear, they came to the city of Ganzhou, and the Xia soldiers at the head of the city also discovered the arrival of this army and sounded the horn.

But it was Chinese New Year's Eve, and the weather was cold, and the garrison at the head of the city was less than a hundred, so Qu Zhen quickly took Ganzhou City again. There are still 400 miles from Ganzhou to Suzhou, 300 miles from Suzhou to Shazhou, and there are still some Xixia checkpoints on the road, Qu Zhen had to stop.

On the afternoon of the first day of the Lunar New Year, Wang Guangzu's main army entered Ganzhou City, collected some horses in the city, used them as pack horses, carried supplies, and let Quzhen go west.

The westward march was successful for the time being, but the eastern route army encountered difficulties.

The distance from Gukou to Liangzhou was a little closer than to Ganzhou, and all of them were cavalry, so at noon the next day, Chong Pu led the army to suddenly arrive at Liangzhou City. If it weren't for the heavy snow on the road, the time would have been even faster. At the beginning, it was successful, the Chongpu army suddenly arrived in the rear, and it was close to the New Year, the Western Xia soldiers hurriedly responded to the battle, and quickly let Chongpu lead his men to the top of the city, and then rushed into the city, opened the urn city and the west city gate, and the Song army entered Liangzhou City.

But at this time, many Western Xia soldiers were stationed in the city of Liangzhou, and when they saw that the Song army was small, they quickly formed a rebellion. Although the Song army was brave and outnumbered, it was gradually forced to the edge of the urn city again. However, the shouts of killing in the city also alarmed the suburbs.

The collapse of banks has brought about a series of serious consequences, such as economic depression, more than eighty percent of the city's industrial and commercial workers have gone bankrupt and unemployed, and the people have struggled to make a living. For example, when prices have risen, one horse used to be able to exchange for ten silks, but now two horses can only be exchanged for one silk. The Hexi Corridor was backed by the Uighurs, and the Song Dynasty blocked the border, while the Uighurs did not blockade it, which was relatively better, but in order to ensure the stability of the core region, the Western Xia imposed heavy taxes on the various departments of the Hexi Corridor, coupled with various previous contradictions. Hearing that the Song army was coming, there were tribes that immediately rebelled.

It's a pity that the Song Dynasty operated the Hexi Corridor too late. At this time, some tribes in Liangzhou were reformed by the Western Xia, and some party tribes have expanded over the years, some of them are disgusted with the rule of the Western Xia, and there are also tribes and nobles who are loyal to the Western Xia, otherwise there are more defections.

Fortunately, due to economic problems, some tribes had sharp contradictions with the rulers of the Tangut Dynasty, which offset the gains of the Tangut rule over the years. In addition, because of the prisoner of war issue, the Western Xia believed that they were at odds with the Song Dynasty and deliberately suppressed some tribes, causing more contradictions. Most of the tribes listened and watched. However, because of the exploitation and suppression of Western Xia, or because of other ideas, some tribes heard of the arrival of the Song army and immediately raised troops in response. With the support of these tribal warriors, Chongpu gradually stabilized his defeat on the edge of the urn city.

On Chinese New Year's Eve, the two armies were still fighting bloodily.

Until dawn, less than half of the remaining troops of Chongpu's subordinates arrived, and Guo Cheng led the Chinese army to arrive. At this time, more tribes brought strong men from afar. Coming to the outside of Liangzhou City, Zhang Qi also received news that the army crossed the Yellow River and launched an attack on Zhuo Luocheng. Restraining the forces of Western Xia.

In the afternoon, the defenders of Liangzhou saw that the general trend had gone and abandoned the city and fled.

Guo Cheng once again divided his troops to defend the city and led the army out of Liangzhou City. Rush to Jisang City.

In the evening of the same day, the city of Jisang was taken.

On the second day of the first month, the defenders of the Western Xia of Zhuo Luocheng on the front line heard that the rear was all lost. In addition, Zhuo Luo City itself gradually fell into disarray, and abandoned the city and fled to Lingbo Mountain from the trail.

In four days, Lianggan and Liangzhou were recovered, and Zhang Qi asked Guo Cheng to lead a strong army to the west in a hurry to support Wang Guangzu. Then the news of the great victory will be notified to the capital by fast horse.

The news arrived in the capital on the sixth day of the first month.

At this time, the monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty were banqueting Khitan envoys in the palace.

Liao Xingzong and Liao Daozong's father and son were not evil to the Song Dynasty, although they blackmailed twice, which made Zhao Ji angry. But who made the Song Dynasty weak, people are good and will be bullied by others, the country is weak, how can other countries not want to come and take a bite. Of course, if the Song Dynasty had a tendency to annex Western Xia, then it would be difficult to say.

The Song Dynasty took the initiative to give grain seeds, as well as the rice introduced from the Japanese slave country, with the help of farmers sent by the Song Dynasty, it was also successfully planted, maybe the rice seed of the Japanese slave country was still very backward at this time, maybe the seed has not evolved, the yield is not high, and the harvest of one mu of land is only about 100 catties. However, as it evolves, the yield will increase further. It is the output of this hundred catties, which has made the Khitan monarchs very happy, the weather in the north is cold, it is not suitable for growing grain, as long as it can be planted, the land is vast and sparsely populated, and the yield is low, but how much black soil is there in Liaodong.

There are also higher-yielding and more drought-tolerant crops from the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, this time the messenger was sent and brought a large number of gifts as a token of gratitude.

In fact, it is a miscellaneous grain, and the yield is not so high, and it is the harvest of the best growing fields. Once promoted, fertilizers can't keep up, and improper planting methods will cause further declines in yields. If it is a rough type of extensive planting and thin harvesting, the yield will be less than half. And weather factors, insect pests, blasts, soil and other factors will further reduce the yield. This is also the reason why Zheng Lang is dissatisfied.

However, if you want to satisfy Zheng Lang, it is impossible to be around the time when Zheng Lang is alive, the yield in later generations is high, and even the yield of sweet potatoes per mu reaches 3,000 kilograms, which is due to a variety of factors, one is chemical fertilizer, the other is seeds, and even genetically modified organisms, both of which are impossible now.

That's what he thinks, but others don't.

Zheng Lang compares the past life, others compare the present, and now the northern summer is planted with millet and beans. Lower bean yields and higher water requirements. The yield of millet is not high, and now the husking technology is backward, half of the corn is millet husk, especially unpalatable, if the people are allowed to choose, they would rather eat sweet potatoes every day than eat corn every day. In fact, before rice was popularized, the high-end staple food in the Sui and Tang dynasties was not millet, the first was rice, and the second was beans. Even if the corn harvest of one acre is less than 200 catties and the sweet potato is less than 500 catties, it is a great contribution to the current era.

Zhao Ji's disgust with the Khitan, especially the extortion of the Khitan in the seven-year drought of Xining, made him angry in his heart, but he also knew the severity. Once the Western Xia was officially recovered, the elite of the whole country was exhausted, although there were many forbidden soldiers stationed in the north, but most of the elite soldiers were in the northwest. Once the Khitan mobilized more than 100,000 troops to surround Wei and save Zhao, not to mention the Gou He faction, even Zheng Lang was not very relieved.

The Song Dynasty invaded Xia, and it was necessary to stabilize the Khitan before destroying Xia, even if it destroyed Western Xia, if you want to govern it, you have to take at least one year, and this is more than a year. If the Khitan sent troops, it would be detrimental to the Song Dynasty. Therefore, Zhao Ji was in the palace, talking about brotherhood and friendship.

The atmosphere is pretty good.

At this moment, the eunuch quietly whispered a few words in Zhao Ji's ear.

Zhao Ji's face was overjoyed, he didn't dare to say it, and even in order to hide the news, so as not to alarm the Khitan, the news of the victory could not be seen in the newspapers. After the banquet was dispersed, Zhao Ji left the important ministers behind.

The Khitan envoys dispersed with other ministers. Zhao Ji said: "Zhuqing, Lianggan Erzhou has taken it. ”

There are not many people who know the truth, and Yu Shi Manzhong was stunned when he heard it: "So fast? ”

A few days ago, the Song army was still in a stalemate with Western Xia in Lanzhou, how could they take Lianggan and Erzhou. Moreover, Liangzhou is not another city, the city wall is tall and strong, and there is even an urn city, and only one Liangzhou can block the Song Dynasty for more than a month.

Zhang Dian said: "It is not that the Song army has won the merit in the direction of Lanzhou, but that Zhang Qi secretly sent Guo Cheng and Wang Guangzu to sneak from the Great Dou Bagu to the rear of Liangzhou. ”

It turns out that if you talk about the big fight, maybe there are ministers who don't know where it is. However, this time the Song Dynasty was in turmoil, and most of the ministers paid attention to the northwest. Hearing these four words, many people gasped.

Man Zhongxing muttered: "Our Great Song army is so strong. ”

Zheng Lang sneered in his heart, it was Song Jun at this time. It is not as strong as the Han and Tang dynasties, and it can only be said that it is a little better than the Song army of the Zhenzong Renzong Dynasty. The reason why he successfully won the two states of Ganliang was because of the wisdom of Zhang Qi's people, as well as the morale and confidence accumulated by Zheng Lang in the past by using the golden hand index to win a great victory. Well prepared, more advanced weapons, proper appointment of generals. and Zheng Lang's decades-long plan, if the target is the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, it will not be so smooth.

Of course, this article does not need to be said.

Overall, the Song Dynasty's Gou and faction still have a slight upper hand, and if they don't have confidence, they don't dare to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, but they are so eager for the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun. Do you have to join forces with the Jurchens to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun? Nine times out of ten, it will be sad again.

But Zheng Lang also breathed a sigh of relief. For the ancient people, the Great Dou Tu Valley was a moat, but because of the barrier between the Great Snow Mountain (Qilian Mountain) and the Liuling Mountains (East Qilian Mountain, that is, the Lenglong Mountains), people now have to regard the Great Dou Tu Valley as an important passage between the two places. The plan was formulated by Zhang Qi and fed back to the imperial court, only a few people knew, and Zheng Lang also agreed. But the whole march was fraught with many uncertainties.

If you are unlucky, if you encounter that kind of idiopathic disaster weather, the Song army may be wiped out in this valley road. Of course, it worked, and the effect was incomparably significant.

When the New Year came, Zheng Lang also knew that the Song army had begun to set off, and he had been worried about the tens of thousands of troops in this line. It wasn't until the good news came out that he let go of his heart.

Those who remain are elites.

When the picture of poverty appeared, they all understood the strategic intentions of the imperial court, and dared to love the Song army's Chen soldiers in the three routes, all of which were under the guise of a disguise, and the real goal was to cut off the right arm of Western Xia in the four states of the Hexi Corridor.

Some people also understood why Zheng Lang said that he would resign from the phase.

After taking the Hexi Corridor, the Western Xia was complained about the Liang family's imprisonment of the emperor, and there was a big economic trouble, could the Song Dynasty not recover the Western Xia? As long as the Western Xia is recovered, Zheng Lang will inevitably lead the army, get the Western Xia, Zheng Lang's achievements will be covered in the world, can he return to Dongfu as the prime minister?

Most of the ministers were happy and melancholy.

Zhang Qi watched a plum plant bloom in the cold wind outside the hall, and muttered, "Gong Zheng, it's a plum." ”

He wanted to shoot Zheng Lang's sycophant, the economy of the Song Dynasty has become better now, coupled with the emergence of various grains, few dynasties can pass in terms of cultural governance, and the difference is martial arts. If the Western Xia is destroyed, without the containment of the Western Xia and Tubo, even if the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun cannot be obtained, the Song Dynasty can be on an equal footing with the Khitan, and even if it is unhappy, it can directly refuse the humiliated year. So although it is not as strong as the martial arts in the prosperous era of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, it is inferior to the Han Wu at least in martial arts, and it is higher than the Han Wu in terms of cultural governance, and even higher than the rule of Wenjing, and higher than Wenjing in martial arts. Isn't this the advent of prosperity?

But when the prosperous era came, Zheng Lang was going to resign and go home.

This kind of virtue is undoubtedly like this plum, when the snow invades the remnants, it blooms in the wind alone, adding a fragrance to this cold winter, and the spring when the flowers bloom, the plum begins to wither silently.

It was kind, but Wang Anshi glared at him fiercely.

can't think about it, thinking about this sentence is easy to cause misunderstanding, although Zhang Qi is kind.

Zheng Lang said: "Jiefu, it's okay, but it's not the old man who is really Lamei, but the soldier who spills his blood on the front line." ”

The Song army captured Ganliang Erzhou extremely quickly, and the Song Dynasty monarchs and ministers were overjoyed, but on the Western Xia side, almost everyone who got the news was stunned. But this was only the first step, but before the target was exposed, the Song dynasty began to fight. (To be continued......)