Yoon-so knew that it wasn't that simple, but for the sake of the overall situation, he had to comply. Fortunately, Zhang Fangping stamped Zheng Lang's seal, so that Yin Zhu couldn't figure out the truth, he really thought it was Zheng Lang's order, if he knew Di Qing's arrangement, he might be able to break through overnight and pinch Di Qing's ears. You kid is so bold that you dare to let Lao Tzu take risks!

The tragic offensive and defensive battle of Weizhou City continued.

That's when Wei Minghuan made his first mistake.

After Ji Zhen received Di Qing's order, he divided 12,000 military horses, returned to Huating along the water, and then followed a sheep intestine path from Huating, crossed Dalong Mountain, and then ran along the Wating River to Jingbian Village, and from Jingbian Village to Cage Pole City.

Shengsheng went around in a big circle.

Wei Minghuan sent scouts to monitor the movements of this Song army. However, to the south, it enters the belly area of Jingyuan Road. The scout did not dare to go deeper, so he had to come back to report it. This gave Wei Minghuan an illusion, thinking that the Song army wanted to take advantage of the complex mountainous terrain in the south of Weizhou to secretly enter Weizhou City from the south gate of Weizhou and protect the safety of Weizhou.

So he sent more scouts to the south of Weizhou City to investigate, and notified Yuan Hao.

At this time, Yuan Hao also divided his forces and went down to Zhao Fubao.

From here, there is a trail that can enter the south of Gaoping Village, and the southwest leads to Dingchuan Village. Yuan Hao captured Zhaofubao, not to retreat from this road safely, but to make the materials from China to Dingchuan Village at a faster speed.

Zhaofu Fort was already the fourth fort captured by the Western Xia. The third fort to be breached was Dingxi Fort. These four forts were breached, and as many as 2,000 casualties were suffered by the Cheng Song army, and more than 1,000 people who had taken refuge were killed.

Yangma City, Lotus Fort, Zhaofu Fort and Dingxi Fort were broken one after another, which also made the surrounding area of Dingchuan Village truly become a place for the Xixia people to run horses. The Tanguts received very few supplies, but they met the strategic needs of the Tanguts. The eradication of the four forts can reduce the possibility of the sudden and secret arrival of the Song army.

After receiving Wei Minghuan's request, Yuan Hao thought twice.

And because of the heroic resistance of the people in Weizhou City, Wei Minghuan's troops were drastically reduced, Yuan Hao gritted his teeth and sent another 10,000 troops south.

At this time, he had an intuition in his heart that no matter whether Dingchuan Village or Weizhou City was taken, the situation of this battle would be reversed towards him. This road is besieged, trapped, and consumed, and there are many materials and few troops in the city of Weizhou, so it is the real target of the attack. It made sense, but he had a sense of unease in his heart.

Up to now, since the Battle of Pengyang City, the war has been stalemate for more than ten days, and the situation is still chaotic, at least it seems that the Song army is very unfavorable, especially Weizhou City.

The Western Xia army continued to attack, causing serious casualties to the people in the city.

At first, Yoon so gave a large number of rewards, which stimulated the morale of the army and the people, and after three or four days of fighting, the people finally had some experience, and the casualties gradually decreased. However, the number of casualties per day is decreasing, and the overall number of casualties is increasing.

In the end, more than 8,000 people died in Weizhou, and thousands more were injured in different degrees of severity, and almost every family had relatives who died in the war. The soldiers defending the city lost more than half, and six of the ten guards in Zheng Lang's family also died, and the remaining four were also injured because they were covering Cui Xian.

Guan Jian is not over the battle now, the number of casualties is huge, and seeing 10,000 Xixia people coming, all the people think of one thing, Xixia is not only these 40,000 troops, there are more troops in Dingchuan Village, I don't know how many troops they will send.

Although Yin Su allocated a large amount of money and silk for rewards, Cui Xian almost sat at the head of the city, leading the people to fight, and the morale of the people in the city gradually declined. This is the most dangerous, the people's battle ** declined, so that more Western Xia warriors climbed to the top of the city, which in turn increased the number of deaths of the people.

In fact, in the end, not a single Song Dynasty reinforcement could be seen, and the people in the city were numb, almost passively facing the battle. Then pessimistically waited for the day when the city was broken, waiting for the crazy revenge of the murderous Tanguts.

It's not just the people of Weizhou who are worried.

Yuan Hao finally became worried.

began to come to Dingchuan Village, full of confidence, ready to force these tens of thousands of Song troops to a dead end, but gradually became suspicious.

In order to drag this Western Xia army back, Zheng Lang and Han Qi deliberately let the people in the city quarrel and fight with the soldiers over water, and repeatedly made the appearance of wanting to break through. At first, it was to do some work to reduce Yuan Hao's suspicions.

But once play to believe, twice to play or believe, three times or four times, who believes?

This sleepiness gradually approached for ten days.

Even if there are masters in the Song army in the city, this Yuan Hao believes that since the battle of Fulin Road, Yuan Hao does not dare to underestimate the Song people, and a brave general will emerge if he can't tell him. It can be regarded as a very good conductor of this master, and he actually let Ge Huaimin listen to him. Or count him so good that he calculates that he can cut the water source of the ditch, and prepares in advance to reserve a large amount of drinking water. But to this day, not only people have to drink water, but also horses. Why is it that only some useless livestock were slaughtered in the city, and not a single war horse was slaughtered?

Yuan Hao finally felt very uneasy, and he faintly smelled a conspiracy.

But I still can't figure it out, even if there are high-ranking people among the Song people who store water in advance, this is more than 30,000 soldiers, plus thousands of ordinary people, a large number of war horses, what do you use to store water? cylinders, bags, buckets, or others. But how many tanks and buckets do it take to meet the drinking water for so many people and horses for so many days?

The unease was finally confirmed.

Yuan Hao has not paid much attention to the southwest direction. The Western Song Dynasty did not have many troops, and they either transferred reinforcements from the blind felt. However, with blind felt, he has the courage to openly be his enemy? It's just a pathetic worm.

Even if the army is transferred, it is just right for him to fight his teeth. In fact, there were not many Song troops in the southwest, and with the strength of Qinzhou, all the troops of the surrounding villages were squeezed out, and more than 20,000 soldiers and horses were transferred. Yuan Hao of the Zhenrong army was very concerned, but because Pengyang was not lost, most of the Zhaiqi soldiers were still there, and there were not enough troops to support Dingchuan Village, but there were enough troops to send a large number of scouts. Yuan Hao sent many scouts, who were discovered and annihilated by the Song army one after another. Therefore, although many scouts were dispatched, they were never able to find out the real news.

This was the benefit of the policy of clearing the wilderness, and the mass immigration, which transferred many tribes loyal to the Western Xia to the rear, deprived Yuan Hao of his most powerful eyes and ears. The eastern front was not the focus of Yuan Hao's attention, and he had no choice but to scatter the scouts on the front line of Zhenrong Village, Kaiyuan Fort and Dibei City.

Continue to guess the riddle. The mystery is finally being revealed.

The first Song Dynasty reinforcements arrived, coming a little far, from the north, Fan Zhongyan suddenly led 25,000 Song troops, from the thin waist city, into the Tiansheng Village, and then into the Wuyan Qianxia, a Western Xia grain team, slowly entered the Gaoping Village.

But this is not the deadliest army.

The deadly army was not in the west, and no matter how Zhang Qi was mobilized, there were only about 20,000 people, which played a blocking role and prevented the Tanguts from retreating from the west. Although the roads here are rugged and difficult, there is a road that leads directly to Wuyan Gorge, and there is even a trail that leads directly to Tiandu Mountain.

The most lethal army was in the East.

In Pengyang City, Zhang Fangping was proud.

He had the merit of defending Pengyang City, and in the face of hundreds of thousands of Western Xia troops, he took the initiative to lead the army to fight twice, both of which were victorious, killing countless enemies, and burning a large number of grain and grass tents of the enemy. The idea was not his idea at all, but he was a civilian official and the supreme commander of Pengyang City, and he would undoubtedly take the first credit.

The same principle will be applied to the next battle.

In the next battle, through an interview with Di Qing, I learned that Zheng Lang handed over the temporary command to Di Qing. But he can't put it on the table, he is still the highest commander on the surface, without him, he is a civil minister, the highest-ranking civil minister in all the armies on the East Road, and nominally this army still belongs to his command. After the war, he will still take more credit than Di Qing. Don't say it's unfair, this is also the protection of Di Qing, with a military general in chief to command such a huge battle, Yan Chen has no way to take Zheng Lang, but there are n ways to suppress Di Qing.

And then to the generals and the army.

Zheng Lang talked to him about generals and soldiers, which was quite appreciated by Zhang Fangping.

The first is will. Zheng Lang said that there are four famous generals in the northwest, Di Qing, Chong Shiheng, Zhang Kang and Wang Xin. Di Qing and Wang Xin are quite similar, but Di Qing is not very old, and the growth space is far better than Wang Xin. Chong Shiheng is good at strategy, similar to Chen Ping in the Western Han Dynasty, and Zhang Kang is an authentic Confucian general. Among the civil servants, only he had the highest military strategy. Zhang Fangping said that you are also one. Zheng Lang repeatedly denied it. In the Battle of the Northwest, Zheng Lang's performance was even more dazzling than Zhang Kang, but Zheng Lang knew in his heart that at most he was a little better than ordinary Wenchen, these military exploits could not be counted, he was a golden finger, where could his real military ability match Zhang Kang?

In front of them are the four top generals, whose command level is definitely not inferior to Yuan Hao, at least in terms of on-the-spot command ability, faintly above Yuan Hao. But Zheng Lang also did not deny Yuan Hao's other abilities, such as the overall situation, the ability to grasp the timing, and dog luck, and so on. Taken together, these five people look alike.

Zheng Lang said a very fair sentence, the four ministers of the edge should not be served by the Wenchen, but replaced by these four generals, as long as these four generals serve as the four observers of the edge and preside over the military affairs of the four routes, Yuan Hao will be quite hard. If these four generals work together, they may be able to annihilate the entire Western Xia.

It is assumed that under the strange family law of the ancestors of the Song Dynasty, Zheng Lang has the authority of Lu Yijian, and it is impossible for the imperial court to agree to let the four generals serve as the observer envoys of the four roads and preside over all the military, political and financial affairs of the four roads, which will be noisy.

The second is the first-class famous generals, Guo Zun, Zhang Qi, Wang Ji who sacrificed in Haoshuichuan, and Gao Jixuan, who died due to old age, these people's command talents are not under the Yeli brothers, and the first three are brave and invincible, and they are first-class generals.

Then there are second-rate generals, there are not many such people, such as Zhao Xun, Yang Wenguang, it is possible that Qin Fenglu Jizhi, Jingtai, Tian Fei, Zhe Jimin, Wang Kai, and Guo Kui, who performed well in the grain on Fulin Road last year. Some of the people Zheng Lang said are still unknown to the world, such as Ji Zhen, Tian Fei, and Jingtai. Even Zhang Fangping didn't understand why Wang Kai was ranked after Wang Ji, this is a cognitive problem. After Wang Kai is a famous general, he is the commander of the three armies, which is good, but it is still difficult for Wang Kai to imagine that Wang Ji has achieved miraculous military exploits.

For Guo Kui, Zhang Fangping was even more suspicious, but Zheng Lang said cautiously that this person should not be underestimated, he is still young now, and once he grows up, he will also become a peerless general like Di Qing. Zheng Lang still has one person who has not been said, it is Wang Shao, a teenager, who will be in the imperial examination in high school in more than ten years, but he will fail the examination. Now is not the time to pay attention.

After evaluating these three types of generals, Zheng Lang said that if he wants to lead a side of elite soldiers and act alone, he must be these three types of generals. If you change to other generals, you will definitely make mistakes. This is the evaluation of fourth-rate generals, more, such as Liu Ping, Shi Yuansun and the sacrificed Ren Fu and Wang Qi. At this time, Cao Ying and Xiang Jin in the army, Xu Huaide under Han Qi, and so on. There are many such generals, even Wang Zhi, Wang Yuan's brothers, Liu Hu and other generals are among them. Compared with the huge generals of the Song army, there are still very few such generals, they have their own shortcomings, or they are not good at strategy, or lack the overall situation, or they like to advance bravely, and they are easy to be used by the enemy, and they can be used as partial generals, but it is impossible to give them command, especially the command of the army.

The fifth type of generals is the mediocre generals, which is the main component of the generals of the Song army, who have no ability, no courage, and more obvious shortcomings, just being able to comply with the above orders.

The sixth category of generals is also the general that Zheng Lang hates, he has no talent, but because of his family background, he occupies a high position and is the most likely to mislead the country. The first to bear the brunt is Ge Huaimin, as well as eunuchs and generals like Huang Dehe.

This evaluation score is Zheng Lang's employment spectrum.

Let's talk about the army again.

Don't mention the Jurchen soldiers, that is a special case, used as cannon fodder, once the country is peaceful, Zheng Lang doesn't want to bring these Jurchens to the territory, it's not a good thing, but it's easy to make trouble, and they degenerate just as quickly. I've been skipping it.

The strongest is the Folded Army.

The second is not the Hebei Army, but the Western Army, which has been tempered by war. The strongest of the Western armies were the various Tibetan armies, but these Tibetan soldiers had obvious shortcomings, lacked loyalty to the country, and were not suitable for protracted warfare. It is best to use sparingly when stalemate.

and then to the Hebei Army, because of the lack of war, the combat effectiveness of the Hebei Army is weakening, but the victory lies in the fact that Hebei people like to practice martial arts and have strong physical fitness. Zheng Lang also said one thing, the western army was used to conquer the northwest, but if you want to recover the sixteen states of Youyun, you must first temper the Hebei Hedong Army through the war, and use the Hebei and Hedong armies as the main body, and you must not use the western army as the main body. In the northwest, the Western Army was familiar with the local environment and climate, and it was a battle to defend its homeland, and its morale was high.

Zhang Fangping pretended not to hear it, recovering the sixteen states of Youyun, who doesn't want to, but think about the strength of the Khitan...... Dream!

Then there is the forbidden army in the capital, and now the forbidden army in the capital can still be used, but they are also falling.

A few Zhang Fangping disagreed, but the majority acquiesced.

Zheng Lang's so-called four super generals, three of them came to Pengyang City at this time.

According to Zheng Lang's words, each person can lead tens of thousands of soldiers and horses all the way, and there are three people. Use it, any person can be appointed with confidence. Everyone's on-the-spot command ability is above Yuan Hao, and what power the three of them will exert when they are combined is quite a wait and see for Zhang Fangping.

There are also armies, more than 1,000 Jurchen Zheng Lang were all transferred to Zhang Fangping, as well as 3,000 troops under Blind Yu, and other elite troops, and Yanzhou was also transferred to the strongest army in Yanyun Road. And most of it was cavalry.

Not only that, but also quantity.

Yanzhou's accidental 10,000 troops are not counted, after the old seed arrived in Huanzhou, he treated Zhuqiang very well, and in terms of the ability to care for Zhuqiang and Zhufan, among all the important ministers on the edge, Zheng Lang and Fan Zhongyan and Lao Chong were the first, and no one else dared to compare with these three people.

Hearing that the old seed had come out of the division, many Qiang people enthusiastically participated, and even sent some strong men to the three tribes of exterminating Tibet who had just surrendered. As soon as the slender waist city was built, these three were very hard, and seeing that the Xixia people seemed to be in decline, they said that they were very poor, and finally died in the summer, and they offered their loyalty to Fan Zhongyan. Lao Chong came all the way and added more than 7,000 soldiers from various units. Some militias from the rear of Jingzhou and Yuanzhou organized reinforcements to squeeze the villages, and the strength reached more than 54,000 people. This is unexpected by Yuan Hao, in Yuan Hao's thoughts, no matter how the three roads are squeezed, they must stay in the walled cities, and at most they can divide out ** million troops. In fact, in addition to the troops around Weizhou, the total military strength of the Song Dynasty near Dingchuan Village in this battle reached more than 130,000 people!

The strength of the army has been far above the strength of the Western Xia in Dingchuan Village.

Moreover, the Song Dynasty has never used so many troops for a general battle since the alliance of the Yuanyuan.

It's going to be an epic battle, and you're the main commander in it.

Why did Zheng Lang order the treasurer to cover those treasures, and there were more places to use the money. Because of the inconvenience of communication, Zheng Lang would have to let Yin Su no matter how dangerous it is, and the money and silk must be used sparingly.

The minister of the DPRK and China impeached Zheng Lang for not asking the court for instructions, mobilized so many troops for a general battle, and almost pulled out all the old foundations of the three roads, which one dared to ask for instructions? Han Qi knew, did he say it? Fan Zhongyan also knows, can you say it? Don't dare to say it! Hit again!

The main generals gathered.

The old man looked at Wang Yuan and Wang Zhi, hehe, he was happy, and said: "Wang Zhi, Wang Yuan, did a good job, and did not insult the prestige of Zheng Xianggong." ”

He is an elder and has this qualification.

Wang Zhi and Wang Yuan just smirked, and Wang Zhi asked again, "When will you do it?" ”

The army finally came, and the Wang brothers were very happy. But I was a little anxious in my heart, although Weizhou City mobilized all the people, it was still in danger. It is said that the troops will be dispatched as soon as possible, and the crisis in Weizhou City can be overcome. The brothers didn't think much about the loss of Weizhou City, but they had their main mother and Zheng Lang's two daughters in the city.

Seeing the thoughts of the two brothers, Chong Shiheng laughed again, and said: "You are loyal, soon, we are here to discuss the matter of attacking Dingchuan Village. With so many troops concentrated here, the news could not be concealed for long, and they did not dare to stay here for long. ”

The generals sat down in order to deliberate. The main ones are Zhang Fangping, Wang Xin, Di Qing, and Chong Shiheng, and others dare not intervene.

But looking at Di Qing together, he is in Zhenrong Village, which is the closest to Dingchuan Village, and he also knows the situation of Dingchuan Village best.

Whether it is Chong Shiheng or Wang Xin, they all understand the important surname of knowing oneself and knowing one's other.

Di Qing did not shirk, he was originally granted the real power of Zheng Lang to be in charge of the three armies, glanced at everyone, and said: "This is the distribution map of the enemy forces in Dingchuan Village that was discovered by spying. ”

He took out a large map from his bosom and laid it out on the table.

Dozens of people immediately stuck their heads out to watch.

This will be the most useful first-hand information.

Di Qing said again: "Originally, the enemy had a strong army, because he divided his troops to attack Weizhou, and three days ago he divided 10,000 troops again, went to Weizhou, and wanted to besiege Dingchuan Village, in case our army broke through. ”

This message would not have worked for most people, but the old man's eyes lit up as he stared at the map.

Di Qing looked at Chong Shiheng's expression and was speechless. Chong Shiheng is far inferior to him in battle, but he has the ability to plan in the rear, and he will definitely not be able to catch up with Chong Shiheng at the moment. It is precisely because of this person's counter-plot that the Yeli brothers were killed, otherwise with the ability of the Yeli brothers, they personally led the army to attack Weizhou, then Weizhou City would be even more dangerous. Without selling it, he continued: "Ladies and gentlemen, the enemy's greatest weakness is grain and grass. Haokou also knew his shortcomings, so the grain and grass were not set up in a separate camp, but stored in the middle of the army. Whether it is in Weizhou or Dingchuan Village, the places where grain and grass are stored are heavily fenced and strictly guarded. ”

Zhang Fangping began to understand and said, "General Di, your idea is to fight the enemy's grain and grass first. ”

"Exactly, last time Weizhou was besieged, I made two plans, in order to seek confirmation from Zheng Xianggong, Zeng personally led a thousand soldiers, personally went to Dingchuan Village, fortunately the village responded quickly, sent heavy troops to cooperate, the two armies met, I sent Xin Ping'an into the village, and successfully withdrew. At that time, I saw that the enemy's forces were thin, including the low hill where the grain and grass were stored, although it was thick, but it was only relatively thick, and in fact, as long as the troops were sufficient, it was still very thin. In this battle, the first step is to burn the enemy's grain and grass! ”

"Good idea, this is Zhou Yafu's strategy to break Wu Wangbi, and Cao Mengde to break Yuan Shao."

"Zhang Zhizhou, who is Zhou Yafu? Who is Yuan Shao? Di Qing asked puzzled. He was looking at the Spring and Autumn Period, but there was no record in the Spring and Autumn Period. At this time, there was no Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and the history of the Three Kingdoms was almost the same as the historical status of the Northern and Southern Dynasties for the Song people. Di Qing didn't hear about it in the two battles.

"......" Zhang Fangping almost choked to death.

I have read history books a lot, but when I am fighting in the army, my eyes are blank, and I have only read a few books, but I understand it!