Snowflakes fall all over the world, dotting the official road of Toyosu into a snow-white sky

In the camp of the Song army near Liulibao, Zhao Lei is hiding from the cold of winter in his tent, and the heat emitted by the four coal stoves makes the tent warm as spring, which is in stark contrast to the cold outside the tent. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.infoqΒ5. c0m

Zhao Lei had just finished approving the heavy official documents, and was sitting on the Taishi chair with his eyes closed, Xiao Ruoruo stood behind Zhao Lei and gently pinched his shoulders.

"Whew!"

The tent door was opened, and the howling north wind suddenly poured into the tent, and began to rage wildly with the slightest snowflakes.

Zhao Lei, who closed his eyes and recuperated, couldn't help but shudder, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Ou Xifan walking in.

"On this day, it's really cold!" Ou Xifan walked straight to the stove, shook off the snowflakes and rubbed his hands and said.

Seeing that it was Ou Xifan who came in, Zhao Lei closed his eyes again to recuperate, but asked indifferently: "The news is confirmed?" ”

"Hmmm! There was news from Fuzhou that Yuan Hao had indeed retreated, and three days ago, he crossed the Great Wall but did not return to Xingqing Mansion, so he should have returned to Xiping Mansion. Ou Xifan rubbed his hands and replied.

"Strange! What exactly is Yuan Hao thinking? Conquered our six lines of defense in three days, lost nearly 40,000 soldiers and horses, and then retreated overnight, which doesn't seem to be in line with Yuan Hao's character? Zhao Lei said to himself in a puzzled tone.

"The loss of 40,000 soldiers and horses, plus the 20,000 cavalry killed in the battle in Sanzhou, and the 20,000 Xixia infantry soldiers we defeated in conquering Liulibao, Yuan Hao's losses in this attack are no less than the last attack on Yan'an Mansion, Yuan Hao must have seen that the road to the south was blocked by us, so he withdrew his troops and returned to Xiping Mansion to wait for the opportunity." Ou Xifan said to Zhao Lei after a while.

Zhao Lei did not answer Ou Xifan's words, and reviewed all the details of the battle of Song and Xia, and finally thought of a reason for the sudden retreat of Western Xia.

"There must have been something happening that we don't know about. Otherwise, even if Yuan Hao retreated, he would not let go of the hundreds of thousands of forbidden troops led by Wang Deji, but Yuan Hao retreated overnight after joining Yang Shousu, and he didn't give Wang Deji a lesson to them. Zhao Lei didn't have enough information in his hands, so he could only guess and say with a headache.

"Whew!"

Another gust of cold wind blew into the tent, and after the smiling Su Xun walked briskly into the tent, he also began to walk to a coal stove and began to rub his hands.

"Why did Brother Mingyun come back, the battlefield has been cleared." Ou Xifan watched Su Xun return to the camp and asked very strangely.

"The six lines of defense that have been conquered by the Western Xia have been cleared. All kinds of corpses and materials have been disposed of, but the back nine lines of defense are very troublesome, there is heavy snow outside, the minefield is buried by heavy snow, it is very troublesome to clean up, so many days to clean up two, if the snow continues to fall, it will take at least a month for the seven lines of defense to be cleared. Su Xun explained with a smile.

"How's the result?" Zhao Lei already understood that Su Xun was here to repay his merits this time, so he immediately followed Su Xun's words and asked.

"Very nice! The Western Xia cavalry broke through our six lines of defense, leaving behind more than 12,000 corpses. There were also many corpses that were taken away by the Western Xia army, and the final number of enemies killed was around 38,000 to 9,000. There are not many seizures, most of them were taken away by the Xixia people, only some scattered things, but there are many seizures in Liulibao, Zhang Wei did not react at all when Liulibao was conquered, and he didn't have time to burn the materials at all, I counted it, and the seizure of Liulibao was converted into 180,000 taels of silver, which is good. Su Xun said carefully to Zhao Lei.

180,000 taels! The corners of Zhao Lei's mouth were a little crooked, and with some sadness, he picked up a battle report in his hand and handed it to Su Xun.

"It was sent by Pomber. Let's see how much we've consumed this month! Zhao Lei said very simply.

The numbers on the battle report were very shocking, Su Xun was in a cold sweat when he saw it, and Ou Xifan, who was curious about it, was even more cold after reading the battle report.

"Is this really a month's military expense on the Yongxing Military Road?" Su Xundi spoke with a lot of questions. In his opinion, there may be too much moisture in the numbers in the report in his hand.

"10,000 mines were planted in one minefield, 12 taels of silver for one mine, and 720,000 taels of silver for six positions. The grenade cost 50,000 pieces, a 10 taels of silver, a total of 600,000 taels, 670,000 rockets, bows and arrows, and crossbow arrows, which cost 100,000 taels together, plus the pension of the soldiers who died in the war, and the rewards of the soldiers. This month is estimated to cost four million taels of silver, and now the entire Great Song Dynasty is paying attention to the war here, the money and food of the entire army are transported here, the cost on the road, the exploitation of officials, in the eyes of others, we won an easy victory this time, but who knows that this easy victory is based on real money! Zhao Lei shook his head and sighed with emotion.

Four million taels of silver! This number is indeed amazing, you must know that the annual military expenditure of the entire Great Song Dynasty is only 20 million taels, and the Yongxing Military Road costs four million a month, and the military expenditure of the Great Song Dynasty is only enough for the Yongxing Military Road for five months.

"But then again, if four million taels can buy the lives of eighty thousand Western Xia cavalrymen, our officials in the Great Song Dynasty will definitely be sure

Spend more than 10 million taels to buy all the remaining elites of the remaining 300,000 elites in Western Xia Xun and Ou Xifan began to be nervous, and Zhao Lei immediately joked.

"I always feel that there are too many soldiers and horses on the Yongxing Military Road, and the Lord led 30,000 soldiers and horses to block the 100,000 cavalry of the Western Xia almost without injury, if grenades, mines and rocket vehicles are popularized, the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses on the Yongxing Military Road are really wasted." After pondering for a long time, Ou Xifan said cautiously to Zhao Lei.

"Yes! Not counting the 200,000 forbidden troops reinforced by Bianjing, Yongxing Military Road has more than 160,000 troops, which may have been an indispensable force for the defense of Western Xia in the past, but now, it is somewhat redundant, and after the production of grenades, mines and rocket vehicles increases, large-scale disarmament is imperative. Su Xun also saw a clue from the terrifying figures, and said in support of Ou Xifan's idea.

"Not only the border army of Yongxing Military Road, the forbidden army of Bianjing, and the armies of all roads of the Great Song Dynasty need to be reduced, but this is a matter of the future, at least it will take three years to plan, three years to train, and another three years to slowly implement." Zhao Lei smiled and said slowly to Ou Xifan and Su Xun.

After Zhao Lei, Ou Xifan, and Su Xun looked at each other and smiled, they remembered the cold weather outside the tent, and suddenly asked, "Brother Mingyun!" Are those mines really that difficult to clean up! There are still more than 100,000 forbidden troops trapped in the north in Sanzhou and can't get by, and our supplies are getting slower and slower because of the heavy snow. ”

"The snow is too big, and it takes a lot of time to get out of the buried mines, but I can let the soldiers clear a safe road for the army to pass through, and the roads on both sides can be cleaned up slowly, as for the Western Xia Yuanhao, now the Songxia border is snowing heavily, and I have a thick wall in the Song Dynasty, I think he Yuanhao will not be so stupid This weather jokes about the lives of the Xixia cavalry, and with Yuan Hao going south to no avail, there must be a lot of discussion within the Western Xia, and Yuan Hao wants to organize the army to go south, but I am afraid that it is impossible." Su Xun said confidently and affirmatively.

"Brother Ming Yun is always so confident, but who suggested that the adults send troops back to Yan'an Mansion to strengthen the defense!" Ou Xifan looked at the confident Su Xun and said jokingly.

"Okay, don't be kidding, the hundreds of thousands of forbidden troops in the north are still waiting to return to Yan'an Mansion! Brother Ming Yun hurry up and let them clean up the avenue, Brother Xi Fan will go to Yan'an Mansion to see if there is the latest news delivered, this kind of ghost weather, even the carrier pigeons in Bianjing will get lost, it seems that they can only wait for the report of the imperial court. After Zhao Lei complained about the weather, he instructed Su Xun and Ou Xifan.

With the departure of Ou Xifan and Su Xun, the tent became calm again, and Zhao Lei began to close his eyes again.

………………………………

On February 20 of the second year of Kangding, the Song army dug trenches on Fengzhou Avenue to block the Western Xia army, and Yuan Hao of the Western Xia attacked for three days, and the heavy snow fell suddenly, and Yuan Hao returned to Xiping Mansion with the collection of troops.

On February 22, after the Song army learned the news of Yuan Hao's retreat, Zhao Lei led the army to storm Liulibao, and one day, Zhang Wei, the defender of Liulibao, was killed, and the Song army beheaded 3,000 and captured 14,000 people.

At the end of February, the Song army cleared 15 positions, and the hundreds of thousands of forbidden troops trapped in the three states moved south into Yan'an Prefecture.

………………………………

In the blink of an eye, it has been three days since Zhao Lei returned to Yan'an Mansion, but these days Zhao Lei still has no clue about Yuan Hao's sudden withdrawal of troops, and the news channel on the Western Xia side was completely paralyzed because of the appearance of the eagle breeder, and the news sent by Bianjing could not give Zhao Lei any help, so Zhao Lei, who was confused, was waiting to fight against the Western Xia army on the frontier.

Time passed slowly in holding and waiting, and the puzzled Zhao Lei finally waited for a good news.

"What? You said Lord Han is back? After that, have you already returned to Yan'an Mansion? Zhao Lei, who was dealing with official business in the study, suddenly heard the long-awaited news from Su Xun, who arrived in a hurry, and hurriedly asked in surprise.

"Nope! Lord Han sent the news after passing through the Hengduan Mountain Range, and it is estimated that he is still in the territory of Western Xia, and it will take at least fifteen days to see Lord Han. Su Xun replied carefully.

"Why is it so long, the journey from the Hengduan Mountains to Yan'an Mansion is only eight days at most?" Zhao Lei asked suspiciously.

"The adults have defeated Yuan Hao twice, many ethnic minority tribes in Western Xia have lost confidence in Yuan Hao in Western Xia, and the three small tribes of thousands of people in the Hengduan Mountains want to return to my Great Song Dynasty, and have returned to Yan'an Mansion with Lord Han, the three small tribes are not only old and weak, but also have a lot of animal husbandry, so the itinerary is a little slower." Su Xun was very excited and explained to Zhao Lei.

"Good! It seems that Yuan Hao's prestige has been greatly reduced, otherwise the three tribes of the Hengduan Mountains will not submit to my Great Song Dynasty, it seems that our guess is true, Yuan Hao really can't control the domestic situation, and there is no way to gather a large army to invade the south, so immediately inform Lord Fan of the good news. Zhao Lei also said excitedly to Su Xun.

There will be the first tribe to submit, there will be the second and third, as long as it slowly eats away at those minority tribes in the Western Xia frontier, the Western Xia will sooner or later become the meat of the mouth of the Great Song Dynasty. Zhao Lei looked at the back of Su Xun leaving, and thought excitedly.

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