Chapter 165: The Next Goal

Fengzhou can't be left without an owner for a day, and Zhao Ta can't live for a long time, after thinking about it again and again, after several trade-offs, he made a decision to temporarily appoint the second son of the Zhi family, Zhi Yan, as the prefect, he is a Jinshi in Chongning, and the Zhe family of the Wu heirloom is considered an alternative-

Legend has it that the Fold Ji Min saw that "the number of people who have studied books in the trilogy, and they are humiliated, so that the border soldiers should live by shooting and fighting, and now they are more likely to study the number of books, and weakness is the beginning." It was only after the ancestor Ren Zhizhou that this style changed, "his children also knew books", and the atmosphere was transformed from martial arts to civil and military.

Although Zhi Yanzhi is also a descendant of the Zhi family, it is already a side branch compared with the Zhi Kexing branch, since he is a Jinshi, after reading the sage books for so many years, he must know some truths, which can make people feel a little relieved. Zhao Ta's appointment of him as the prefect fulfilled the wish of the family, and made himself feel at ease, which was the best of both worlds, and Zhao Ta followed the normal expropriation procedure, that is, it was not allowed to be hereditary, and Fengzhou was still the imperial court.

The candidate of Zhizhou was there, and Zhao Ta appointed a general of Zhizhou to stay in Fengzhou and serve as the supervisor of Fengzhou's soldiers and horses.

After dealing with this important matter, Zhao Ta began to carry out the next military operation, and in accordance with the strategic goal of 'gathering and destroying Chage and seizing Henan' formulated by him, he had to carry out four campaigns. Now that the first campaign objective of 'luring the enemy deep into and seizing Fengzhou' has been completed, the next step is to carry out the second campaign plan of 'gathering and destroying Chage'. And the success or failure of this battle depends on whether Xiazhou can be captured.

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Originally, Western Xia was only a small piece of territory in today's northern Shaanxi, and people at that time called it "Xiazhou" or "Pingxia". In the first year of Fengxiang of the Great Xia of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Xiongnu Tiefu Department Helian Bobo drove 100,000 people to build the capital of Daxia in the north of Shuofang Shuibei and the south of Heishui. "Tang Kaiyuanzhong is the general manager of the Shuofang Army and the protector of Anbei. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Tuoba Sigong Town was a state, and it was meritorious to ask for Huangchao, and the surname Li was given, and there was a land of five states in Yinxia Suiyoujing. The fifth generation of Li Renfu Yi Chao succeeded the leader of Jieyue and called the difficult army. Until the founding of the Western Xia people, the Western Xia people before Li Jiqian had always taken Xiazhou as their political center, and there is even a saying that the origin of the name of the Xia people came from Xiazhou.

In the middle of the Song Taiping's rejuvenation of the country, Li Ji came to the dynasty, and was willing to accept the territory, four in Texas, two hundred and seventy chieftains, and 50,000 tribes, and restore it to the king's land. His younger brother was seventeen years old when he moved inward, he was unhappy to migrate inward, he gathered his life, invaded the border, destroyed the old city in Chunhua, and his state soldiers moved to Xiangzhou to set up camps, and they were still called Xiazhou. Although the capital of the Western Xia Kingdom had been moved to Xingqing Mansion at this time, the status of Xiazhou had declined, and it was only a remote town in the Western Xia, but it still had an indelible status in the Western Xia in spirit. It should be noted that although it is called "Xiazhou", the area under its jurisdiction includes not only Xiazhou, but also the land of Yin, Sui, You, and Jing.

Although the northwest region of Xiazhou is a desert area, it is also the transportation artery of the northern grassland, and many merchants and tribes of the northern grassland will concentrate on the weak water (Juyanhai) and Mu Us Desert in this area at a fixed time to trade. Although the land itself does not produce anything, but the profit of the relay trade is very considerable, as the "big rear" of the northwest of Western Xia, it has both the benefits of the grassland border trade, and the vast desert is not conducive to the Song army to go deep.

It is precisely because of the important geographical location of Xiazhou that it controls the Wuding River Valley, and in Zhao Ta's operational plan, it can not only cut off the road for the Chago army to return south, but also block the Xishou Baotai Military Division of Western Xia, Jingsai Military Division, Jianing Military Division, and Xiangyou Military Division to go north to reinforce Chage, which plays the role of connecting the previous and the next, but the capture of Xiazhou requires overcoming two problems. …,

First, when the city of Xiazhou was first built, the master craftsman who was in charge of building the city was fierce and murderous, and ordered to build the city with steaming soil, that is, to evaporate the white cement and lime with water, and then mix it with fine loess, and lay it down layer by layer with flat ramming. After the soil is dry, the soil is tested with an iron cone, and the unqualified ones are knocked down and rebuilt. Where the iron cone pierces the city and enters the wall by an inch, it is a failure to ram and kill; Whoever is able to assassinate is guilty of deliberately shielding and killing the assassin. Thousands of people were killed due to the "poor construction of the city", and it took the city six years to rise from the ground day and night.

Zhao Ta had been there when he was training there in his previous life, and this earth city submerged in the sea of sand was still there, because the soil was white and extremely strong, so it was commonly known as "White City". The materials used by the local villagers to build the wall are mostly rectangular rammed earth blocks that cannot be cut from the rammed earth layer on the city wall of Tongwancheng, and their hardness is no less than that of bricks. After more than 1,500 years, the wind blows, the sand covers, the sweat stains, the blood stains, the city shape is still there, the city wall is still not falling, it can be seen that its solidity, if you want to seize this city, there will be a fierce battle!

Second, 900 miles from Fengzhou to Xiazhou, it can be described as a long distance, and choosing an offensive route is enough to give people a headache. In the Shenzong Dynasty, the Hedong Army once participated in the Five-Way Siege of Western Xia, which was also the only expedition in which the Hedong Army directly participated, but it lost its troops and ended in failure. At that time, the target of the campaign was the Xingling region of Western Xia, and according to the idea of the famous general of the Yanyan army at that time, it was to gradually advance from Mizhi, Yinzhou, and Xiazhou to occupy Hengshan first and then go north to attack Xingling, rather than directly taking the west road to Xingling, which was equivalent to going around in a circle and increasing the supply pressure to a certain extent. The explanation for this kind of Ge is that the main force of the Western Xia Army is stationed on the East Road, and if you choose to send troops on the West Road, then the main force of the Western Xia on the East Road will inevitably detour behind the Song Army, and the Song Army may be attacked by the Western Xia Army before and after the enemy. But Emperor Shenzong did not adopt his plan.

Now Zhao Ta has basically recovered the Hengshan area, according to the unfinished plan of this kind of unfinished plan has the conditions to be implemented, but the Chage army is attacking in the grassland area, and it is simply impossible to intersperse tens of thousands of people under the nose of 100,000 people without revealing their whereabouts, and he will understand Zhao Ta's strategic intentions when he is discovered by Cha Ge, and quickly return to the army, all the achievements of Zhao Ta in front of him have been abandoned, so if you want to achieve suddenness and concealment, you can only cross the sea of thousands of miles of Mu Us sand, and crossing the sea of thousands of miles of sand is not as simple as saying.

To choose the road through the desert, you have to face the problem of no supplies on the way, at that time, Wang Zhongzheng, who was known as the emperor's inner guard army, led the Hedong army to take the road through the grassland from the north road to capture Xiazhou. Before leaving, Zhuang Gongyue, the transfer judge, sent grain to the Hedong army, and Wang Gonggong said that he only needed half a month's food, and claimed that even if it was not enough, he could eat their grain after meeting with the Yan army. Zhuang Gongyue did not listen to the persuasion, and gave an extra eight days of food.

Hedong is a little far from the battlefield, so it arrives late. According to the plan, the Hedong Army and the Yan Army joined the Yan Army, and then besieged Lingzhou, and most of the recruits who had just been recruited from the mainland followed this road. After the Hedong army came out of the fortress, it encountered heavy fog, Wang Zhongzheng claimed to be cautious, stationed in place, and consumed nine days of grain and grass. After the fog cleared, he went to chase the Yanjun army along the Wuding River, and accidentally walked into the swamp, killing many people and delaying a lot of time. In fact, the seeds opened the way in front, and the Xixia people had long since run away, but when the prince first entered the battlefield, he was very nervous, afraid that the fireworks would attract enemy attacks, and he was not allowed to make a fire to cook, and the soldiers ate raw food, and a large number of people fell ill.

The Hedong Army delayed a lot of time on the grassland, and according to the original plan, the Hedong Army and the Yan Army should meet at the foot of Hengshan, but the commander received an edict to march independently and take Xiazhou directly, and the generals who transported grain in the rear could not find Wang Zhongzheng's position and could not supply him with food, and the recruits began to flee. The prince was furious and said, "I will go forward with all my might, and I will die!" "Leading the army to attack the defenders has long since run out of Youzhou. After Wang Zhongzheng entered the city, he killed the good and risked his merits, robbing cattle and sheep to fill the army food. Fortunately, Shen Kuo in the rear sent Jing Siyi to respond, and the Hedong army finally had a full meal before having the strength to retreat to Hedong. …,

At that time, most of the Hedong army were foot soldiers, and the supply pressure was still small, and Zhao Ta's loyal and brave army was all cavalry, and they had to choose to march in the desert. In addition, the troops attacking Xiazhou were lone troops deep behind enemy lines, and they had to persist in fighting after occupying Xiazhou, and the weapons used by the loyal and brave troops were all firearms, and they could not replenish ammunition behind enemy lines, and they also had to rely on their own supply to ensure supply, and the logistical pressure could be imagined.

"Lord Wang, I have carefully calculated, our loyal and brave army is ready to dispatch eight battalions of dragoons, plus the attached baggage battalion, scout battalion, machine gun battalion and command organ to participate in the battle of Xiazhou, the number will reach 7,000 people, 15,000 horses, according to six liters of grain per person per day, ten catties of forage per day for war horses, fight for a month, the amount of grain and grass required is the amount of days, even if each person carries ten days of grain and grass, it is difficult to guarantee the need for a baggage battalion, please consider it!" At the pre-war meeting, Zhao Zhi, the head of logistics, got up and said that he was still a conservative estimate, there was a shortage of water in the desert, and he had not counted the water.

"Lord Wang, Xiazhou is mostly a desert, the land is barren, and the production is less, once the war is delayed and the supplies are exhausted, the mistakes of the past will be repeated, and if you don't get it right, the whole army will be wiped out, please think twice!" Zhao Ren also had doubts about the prince's plan, the combat effectiveness of the loyal and brave army had been tested many times, and a battalion of soldiers could be used as a general of the Song army, and there was no problem in taking Xiazhou, but without food, grass and ammunition, it would eventually fail.

"Wang Heng, if your desert battalion crosses the desert, how long will it take to reach Xiazhou?" Zhao Ta nodded after hearing this, and pointed to Wang Heng, the commander of the fourth battalion of the tiger general, and asked.

"Report to the prince, if the road is familiar and the weather is good, it will take up to fifteen days!" Wang Heng got up and reported.

"Okay, so how much supplies do you carry?" Zhao asked again.

"Lord, the mounts of my battalion are all camels, and the camels can last five to seven days in the desert without eating, and the weight can reach five hundred catties, as long as there are one or two oases on the way, they can eat by themselves, do not consume supplies, and only need to carry soldiers' weapons, ammunition, food and drinking water!" Wang Heng looked at everyone and said proudly.

"Yes, then the problem of replenishment on the way can be solved!" Zhao Ta said with a smile.

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