Tianzhu District, Ashoka Dynasty, Delhi City.

The young Ashoka looked at the Huaxia battle report in his hand, and his eyes were shining, "This time, the Central Plains of China is finally going to set off a tough battle, good, very good!" ”

Based on Ashoka's understanding of the emperor and the war, the war between Great Xia and the Great Song Dynasty has reached this point, and it is impossible for the two sides to compromise, and they can only fight to the death.

And this will inevitably affect the attitudes of Qin and Tang.

"This is our chance!"

As Ouyang Shuo guessed, Ashoka was a very ambitious emperor. Three months ago, when the Tibetan Tsangpo Songtsen Gampo made contact with the Ashoka dynasty in fear, Ashoka realized that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Ashoka dynasty, and once it took the opportunity to annex Tibet, the empire's territory would be directly doubled.

No emperor can resist such a temptation.

Emperor Ashoka did not hesitate at all, and directly sent 300,000 troops to the Tibetan Dynasty in two batches and very "generously". In the process of fighting with the Great Xia Flying Bear Army, another 200,000 troops were added successively.

This means that the Ashoka Dynasty has deployed 500,000 troops in Tibet, which has exceeded the number of troops of the Tibetan Dynasty itself.

In order to alleviate the logistical burden of the Tibetan Dynasty, Ashoka even did not hesitate to mobilize grain and grass from within the country.

Emperor Ashoka spared no blood to support Tibet locally, of course, he would not have any good intentions. The so-called cooperation must be based on the equal strength of the two sides, and the army of the Ashoka Dynasty is ten times that of the Tibetan army, and the strength of the two sides is not at the same order of magnitude at all.

The huge gap in strength also means that the Tubo Dynasty is luring wolves into the house.

By the time Songtsen Gampo discovered this, it was too late, and the Ashoka army stationed in the city of Luoqi, the royal city of Tibet, had already quietly taken control of the key points of the city.

"It's easy to please God, but it's hard to send God!"

Li Jing was an experienced general, and after discovering the tiredness of the Tubo Dynasty's army, he did not rush to attack, but only set up camp on the border, closely peeking at the enemy army, and quietly probing the details of the enemy army.

Seeing this, Songtsen Gampo once mentioned to Emperor Ashoka, saying, "The crisis in Tibet has been basically resolved, thanks to the assistance of the Ashoka Dynasty, this great grace will be remembered in Tibet." ”

The subtext is that it is hoped that the Ashoka dynasty will withdraw part of the army.

In this regard, Emperor Ashoka pretended to be deaf and dumb, and continued to station in the Tubo Dynasty on the grounds that "the labor expedition needs to rest on the spot and replenish supplies". It is even said that Emperor Ashoka also sent 500,000 troops to be stationed on the border, and they could enter the territory of the Tibetan Dynasty at any time.

After getting the news, Songtsen Gampo really realized that something was wrong, but he was helpless, and the weak Tubo Dynasty was sandwiched between the two giant crocodiles of Bactria and Ashoka, and was destined to become a victim.

And the butcher's knife wielded by Ashoka was far more decisive than Songtsen Gampo expected.

On June 28, when the Honglu Temple of Daxia again sent an envoy to the Great Song Dynasty, the Ashoka Dynasty once again increased its troops to the Tubo Dynasty by 500,000 troops and directly controlled the Tubo Dynasty.

Songtsen Gampo became the de facto "puppet" of the Ashoka Dynasty.

Ashoka's plan can not be described as vicious, the reinforcements sent earlier not only controlled the city, but also took this opportunity, under the guidance of the Tubo guide, to find out the geographical information of the entire Tubo Dynasty.

Coupled with the fact that the two armies "fought side by side", the Ashoka army completed the de facto infiltration of Tibet.

The change in Tubo, because of its secretive behavior, is not noticed by the outside world for the time being, and even Ouyang Shuo does not know that at the end of June, there is already a fierce beast lurking in the western border of Great Xia.

…………

June 29, Great Song Dynasty, Xiangyang City.

Ouyang Shuo's "seven-day surrender restriction order" caused an uproar in the Song Dynasty, and the court was immediately divided into two factions, one faction for surrender and the other for the main battle, which is very "Northern Song Dynasty characteristics".

Needless to say, the main descending faction was afraid of the Great Xia soldiers and did not want to accompany the martyrdom.

This is also a helpless thing, even the Great Zhou Dynasty, which is the most resolute against Great Xia and has an army of 700,000, surrendered without a fight in the face of Great Xia's attack, let alone the weaker Great Song Dynasty.

"We also don't want the lives of the Great Song Dynasty to be miserable." So said the minister of the Lord's Commandment.

The main battle faction is dominated by military generals, and the reason is very simple, "Surrender before the start of the fight, do you still have some backbone?" Even if we surrender, Great Xia will look down on us. ”

It's a pity that in the Great Song Dynasty, the military generals are the least vocal.

The real decision lies in the civil official group, in the Great Song Emperor Zhao Kuangyin.

Zhao Kuangyin is also very contradictory, on the one hand, he can't let go of the pride and dignity of the emperor, let alone the foundation that he has saved so hard, and he surrenders, neither willing, nor can he lower this head.

But if it does not fall, there is a danger of extinction.

Zhao Kuangyin will never doubt Emperor Xia's determination, if it is really to the point where it is inextricable, it is normal for Emperor Xia to sacrifice his Zhao Kuangyin's head to the flag.

If it were Zhao Kuangyin, he would do the same.

Zhao Kuangyin, who was in a dilemma, fell into a dilemma, and in desperation, he sent envoys to Qin and Tang to seek the opinions of Qin Shi Huang and Tang Taizong.

If it falls, then the three countries will descend together, and the face will be a little better; If they don't surrender, the two countries can't just watch from the wall and watch the Great Song Dynasty fall because they are being watched by the Great Xia army.

"There are no eggs under the nest, and please think about it carefully, the day of the fall of the Great Song Dynasty is the time of the fall of Qin and Tang. Instead of surrendering in humiliation, it is better to fight! ”

Zhao Kuangyin said that the real purpose was just to let the Qin and Tang dynasties share a little pressure on the Great Song Dynasty, and only he knew the real thoughts and calculations inside.

"I hope it helps!" Zhao Kuangyin is making the last struggle.

…………

Jingchu Province, Jingzhou County.

After reading His Majesty's military order, Xu Da, the commander of the Yulin Army, shouted: "Someone! ”

"In!"

"Gather the generals and raise the account!"

"No!"

No matter how the civil and military officials of the Great Song Dynasty quarreled, after receiving His Majesty's order to conquer the Great Song Dynasty within half a month, the Great Xia Three-Way Army quickly moved into action.

His Majesty made it very clear in the military order that the court would be rewarded for which of the three armies would conquer Xiangyang City first. Although the Yulin Army, the Xiangjiang Army and the Tiger Ben Army belong to the three major systems, no one obeys anyone.

"In the army, whether you are strong or not, you don't look at the background of the army, you only rely on your military achievements!"

For the Yulin Army, the significance of this war is even more extraordinary.

One is that this is the first major battle fought since the commander Xu Da joined the Great Xia, in the Great Xia Army, where famous generals gathered, Xu Da very much needs to pass this battle to prove that he is worthy of the rank of general and worthy of His Majesty's reuse.

Second, the Yulin Army is a new army, and it needs to pass this battle to complete the internal running-in, test the results of peacetime training, and truly knead the soldiers from various departments into a whole.

In Xu Da's words, "Ben Shuai hopes that after this battle, there will be no Jin army, Ming army, and Sui army in the army, and we have only one title - Yulin Army Soldiers." ”

The left flank of the Yulin Army was the most dangerous way, because they had to not only fight against the Song army, but also have to be on guard at any time, and the Tang army crossed the border to intercept them.

It is precisely in this way that Ouyang Shuo handed over this important task to Xu Da.

On the same day, Xu Da carried out a general mobilization of the whole army, threatening to take the lead at all costs, conquer Xiangyang, and raise the prestige of the Lin army.

Almost at the same time, the Xiangjiang Army in the middle and the Tiger Army on the right flank carried out similar mobilizations, and the 700,000 Great Xia Army was like a group of fierce tigers, fangs against the Great Song Forbidden Army.

The battle to destroy the Song Dynasty instantly entered the most fierce showdown.

…………

On July 3, the Xiangjiang Army of the Central Route Army took the lead in making meritorious contributions.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, after a day and a half of fierce battles, with the cooperation of the hidden piles in the city, and under the personal command of Zhang Xutuo, the commander of the Xiangjiang Army, the army finally conquered Danyang City, beheaded more than 30,000 people, and achieved a great victory in Danyang.

As the main city of the former territory, Danyang City is not only the second largest city in the Great Song Dynasty, but also the strongest fortress in the south of the Great Song Dynasty.

In Danyang City, the Great Song Dynasty stationed 150,000 forbidden troops, and stored a large amount of grain and grass, which was the most important bridgehead for the Song army to snipe the Great Xia army to the north.

However, Danyang City was originally the sphere of influence of Chunshenjun, and it had been in operation for nearly six years, although it was forced to be handed over to the Great Song Dynasty, Chunshenjun still had a non-negligible influence in Danyang City.

This time, the Xiangjiang army was able to successfully conquer Danyang City, which was due to the help of the internal response.

Otherwise, with the strong city defense of Danyang City and the garrison of 150,000 Great Song Forbidden Army, even with Zhang Xutuo's ability, it will take at least a week to conquer Danyang City.

The Great Xia army conquered Danyang City in only one and a half days, giving the Great Song Dynasty a head start.

When the news reached Xiangyang, the Great Song court was shaken again.