"This is a rumor, this must be a rumor!" Emperor Daojun angrily threw the secret report in his hand to the ground.

His eyes swept over Bai Shizhong, Li Bangyan and the others standing in front of him, no one dared to speak at this moment, all of them lowered their heads, but there were turbulent waves in their hearts.

There was news from Shangjing that Jin Taizu Wanyan Aguta was not assassinated by Liao, but by Zhao Tan, the king of Qin in the Song Kingdom.

This news was like a boulder thrown into the lake, which immediately set off an uproar, not only the Great Song Dynasty was stunned, but even the Jin Kingdom was stunned.

Emperor Daojun looked at everyone angrily: "This is slander, this is a conspiracy, this is a false accusation!" ”

No one spoke in front of him, and Emperor Daojun gasped and said, "How could that evil obstacle go to assassinate the Emperor of the Jin Kingdom?" Where does he have the time, and where does he have the manpower? It's simply unreasonable, what did he do by assassinating the Emperor of Jin? This is a frame-up! ”

Bai Shizhong raised his head slightly, his lips moved, but he closed it again, and Emperor Daojun immediately said angrily when he saw it: "Say whatever you want, don't hesitate!" ”

Bai Shizhong took a step forward with a wry smile: "Official, Weichen remembered something. ”

"What's the matter?" Daojun Emperor said.

"Wei Chen remembers that the year Wanyan Aguta was assassinated......" Bai Shizhong pondered: "It was the time when the official family sent the King of Qin to the sea and wanted to contact the female direct alliance for the first time. ”

Emperor Daojun was stunned for a moment, and then thought for a while: "It seems to be that year, but the evil obstacle was robbed by pirates not long after it went to sea, and it didn't reach the Jin country, and it seems that he still suffered a lot, Ma Zheng and Hu Yanqing have proved it." ”

Bai Shizhong said: "Your Majesty, Weichen feels that this matter is suspicious......

He Li took a step beside him: "Bai Xianggong, it's not about whether this matter is true or false at the moment, whether the Liao State planted the blame, or there is really a trace of the possibility that King Qin did it, the main thing is how to explain to the Jin State." ”

Emperor Daojun said angrily: "It's just a matter of no need, how can you explain it?" ”

Zhang Bangchang stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, you still need to explain, whether this matter is true or not, Liao Guo has a nose and eyes, I am afraid that the Jin State will be suspicious, which is not conducive to the war ahead!" ”

Emperor Daojun sat on the dragon chair and frowned and thought, "How do you explain it?" ”

Li Bangyan said: "The minister thinks that the best explanation is to let the King of Qin confront him face to face. ”

Zhang Bangchang also said: "What Li Xianggong said is extremely true, since the emperor of the Jin Kingdom was assassinated during the autumn hunt that day, then many people must have seen it, as long as the other party identifies it, won't it be able to prove his innocence?" ”

He Li said: "Yes, the Liao State is a dog jumping over the wall in a hurry, seeing that the destruction of the country is imminent, there is no way to save it, so he came up with such a despicable and shameless method to delay, as long as the King of Qin let the Jin State take a look at it in person, the matter will be solved." ”

"But ......" Bai Shizhong suddenly spoke: "What if it's true?" ”

What if it's true? Everyone's face was difficult to look at when they heard this, although including Emperor Daojun, ninety percent of them didn't believe that it was Zhao Ta who killed Yan Agu, but where is there an absolute thing in the world, not to mention that Zhao Ta was indeed not in Tokyo when Yan Agu was killed, but went to sea, and the destination was Jinguo.

Emperor Daojun said: "Regardless of whether it was done by the evil obstacle or not, do you think he will go to confront him in front of the Jin National Array?" He's a rebel now! ”

There was silence in the hall again, and Emperor Daojun said with a gloomy face: "Go back and think of countermeasures, this matter can't be delayed for too long, otherwise the Jin Kingdom will inevitably become suspicious." ”

Everyone walked out resignedly, looking at the figure that had disappeared, Emperor Daojun sat down on the chair as if deflated, and muttered in his mouth: "This evil obstacle, this evil obstacle, I am really ......angry."

The moon was dark and the wind was high, and a group of people quietly came out of Xining City.

10,000 rattan armor troops, four guards of light cavalry, marched in the northeast direction.

There are two sections of junction between Xihe Road and Xixia, one is longer east of the Yellow River, with Lanzhou as the head to the distance from Zhenwu Army, the terrain here is slightly flat, only the Yellow River is separated, and there are few mountains and wilderness obstacles.

The other section is in Huangzhou, this section is relatively narrow, there are mountains and stones, the path is narrow and long, the Great Song Dynasty and the Western Xia have built military forts, military cities, mountain wall villages.

As for Xining Prefecture, in fact, there is no intersection with Western Xia, because a piece of Longyou Duhufu protrudes from the north and connects with the place where Huangzhou protrudes, which is a big mountain and cannot march.

Huangzhou and Western Xia meet here, and there have been wars before, the Xihe River opened, the Hehuang Battle, and after two land expansions, they all fought with the Western Xia here.

Later, Tong Guan followed the example of Fan Wenzhenggong, implemented the push-fort system here, built a fortress every short distance, there were beacon piers every few miles, and the terrain was difficult to walk, and it took a long time to reach Dasongzhou County if you wanted to march, and the news would have been passed over to let the Western Army know the preparations, and it was not easy to retreat after the battle, so the Western Xia gradually gave up here.

However, Zhao Ta chose to attack Western Xia from here, because on the one hand, he was sure that Li Qianshun was very likely to take advantage of Song Liao's war to sneak attack Lanzhou, and on the other hand, if the other party sneaked attacked, then the nearest Zhuo Luo and the Southern Military Division outside the border would definitely be empty, and Western Xia would definitely transfer troops from Zhuo Luo and the Southern Military Division.

Then whether it was Gai Zhu City or Zhuo Luo City, where the military secretary was located, they were all in a weak state, so he took this opportunity to take these two cities.

As for the drawbacks of the long march route and the difficulty of retreating after the fight, he didn't think too much about it, because once he marched into Western Xia, he didn't think about withdrawing at all.

How can you easily give back the land in the city you get?

Liu Suiyun has asked the officials to go to the south of Xihai Lake to contact the Shengbo tribes in Tubo, and brought back a lot of people in the first two days, and some tribes have long been unable to eat.

Moreover, in Xining Prefecture, Huangzhou, Kuozhou, Jishi Army and other places, they also recruited troops on a large scale, which was higher than the military salary of fifty percent of the Great Song Dynasty, so that many Qiang, Hu, and scattered party items and Tatars came to serve as soldiers.

As for the Han people, even many Han people east of the Yellow River who wanted to eat in the army also ran to Hexi and went to Xining Prefecture to join the army.

In addition to the military salary and settling-in allowance that can be obtained immediately, the Longyou Protectorate has also promised land.

A large amount of land, as long as you make a war exploit, there is a land reward, whether it is an officer or a small soldier.

But this so-called meritorious service is not in Xihe Longyou, but in Western Xia, if you want to get land, you have to go to Western Xia to participate in the war.

The Western Xia was rich at this time, originally occupied a large area of the Hetao, and the land where the Yellow River went up from Lanzhou was all Western Xia, and since Li Qianshun succeeded to the throne, vigorously developed agriculture and pastures, and the rich areas of the Western Xia were even no less than some places in the Central Plains.

The Han Fan who came to join the army didn't care about fighting with the Western Xia at all, the population of the northwest has always been strong, and they live together, and the original war is to fight the Western Xia, fighting on the border and going to the Western Xia to fight in the country, in their hearts are the same.

They also have no idea whether there is a difference between today's Xining Prefecture and the Great Song Dynasty, Xining Prefecture does not raise an anti-flag, and the generalissimo's surname is Zhao, who is the son of the emperor of the Song Dynasty, which is the same in their opinion, especially the people of all ethnic groups, who are like the prince in their hearts, and they have this tradition.

Therefore, Zhao Ta didn't think about retreating back this time, after all, the rear army source is not in short supply, and he can collect troops while fighting, as long as he wins the battle, whether it is the army or the ordinary people, they are all sources of soldiers.

At this moment, don't mention any loyalty or disloyalty, whether you are sincere or not, the party is changeable, only worships the strong and powerful, under the start of the war machine, how can there be so many choices, once the Xixia tree is scattered, the general trend is the trend, and the false intention has become sincere.

Zhao Ta personally led the troops this time, leaving Liu Suiyun to guard Xining, there is no doubt about this trip to cover Zhucheng, and once he breaks Zhuo Luo and the Zhuo Luo City where the Southern Military Division is located, then use Zhuo Luo City as a base, seek Xiliang in the northwest, and Xingqing in the northeast.

At this moment, it was already evening, and the army passed through the city of Zhuzong and came to Tongchuan Fort in the southeast of Huangzhou.

Tongchuan Fort is the beginning of the Tongguantui Fort system, and it is also the largest of all military forts, with more than 200 people stationed.

Zhao Tabao outside the army, these soldiers of the fort were taken in Huangzhou, they also surrendered, their ideas are the same as the governor of Kuozhou, anyway, it is your old Zhao family's own business, we don't kill each other, and when we heard that the military salary was directly raised by fifty percent, they all cheered.

Don't underestimate this fifty percent of the military salary, this extra fifty percent per month can feed two or three more people in the northwest, maybe it's nothing in the Central Plains, but it's by no means a small amount in the northwest.

After staying at Tongchuan Fort for one night, Zhao Ta gathered his troops and horses the next day and slowly moved towards the border of Western Xia.

The team is not fast, this road is more mountainous, grass and gravel, no matter the people and horses are not easy to move, and Zhao Ta also deliberately pressed the speed, every time he passed a fortress village, he went inside to check it, until the evening, there were still two or three military forts left in front of him, and he would reach the border of Western Xia.

Zhao Ta was just about to order to be stationed in place to rest, when suddenly the outpost probed the Chinese army, and several people hurriedly supported a bloody fort soldier.

Before Zhao Ta could ask, the soldier suddenly spit out a mouthful of blood, opened his mouth and said: "Wang, lord, the big thing is not good, Xixia, Xixia attacks the border......"

After saying that, his body trembled violently, and he lost his breath.

Zhao Ta's face changed dramatically when he heard this, and Xixia attacked the border?!

Could it be that they were all wrong? Western Xia didn't go to invade Lanzhou at all, but came to Huangzhou?

But that's not right! From Zhuo Luo and the Southern Military Division, through the border to Huangzhou, this road is too far away, and it is extremely difficult to travel, the fortresses are all over, it is difficult not to leak the news, and although Huangzhou is relatively prosperous, if the battle line is so long, even if it robs something, it will be difficult to withdraw, and it is impossible to directly occupy the city, which will be directly dumpling.

Zhao Ta had a calm face and ordered: "The whole army is ready for battle!" ”

In a moment, the army directly entered the combat state, and then Zhao Ta took a breath and ordered again: "The front finds the traces of the Western Xia enemy, the cavalry forward, and directly rush over!" ”

After Zhang Xian in front received the order, he immediately commanded the four guards of the cavalry of the Third Army, accelerated his speed and rushed forward, and the Fujijia Army in the rear also followed.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the sound of shouting and killing suddenly sounded in the distance, and the other side seemed to have cavalry in front.

At the moment, the road is not wide, there are artemisia grass and gravel on both sides, and the march is difficult, and the opposing army meets directly in the middle of the road, and they collide together in an instant.

In this case, in fact, any scouts have lost their effect, because Zhao Ta knew that there was an army rushing from the opposite side, so he rushed all the way over.

But the other side was not unprepared, after all, it had already entered the territory of the Great Song Dynasty, and several military forts had been destroyed, and the Western Xia army was also cautious to move forward.

But no matter how careful they were, they could not have expected to run into a cavalry head-on.

The Western Xia did not know much about the situation on the Xihe side, because Zhao Ta did not raise the anti-flag, so they did not know that Hexi had changed hands, but they knew that the Song-Jin Alliance attacked the Liao State and transferred most of the men and horses from the Western Army, and the rest was the appearance of being able to defend the city, and there were no mobile troops.

At this moment, although the Western Xia soldiers were cautious in their hearts, they were immediately a little dumbfounded when they suddenly saw a large group of cavalry appear in such a place that they would never come in normal times.

They only have 3,000 men and horses, including 1,000 cavalry and 2,000 infantry troops, but at this time, looking at the cavalry on the opposite side, it seems that there are many of them, and the shouting of killing behind them is shocking, I don't know how many there are, the first reaction is to turn around and run away.

This is not that the Western Xia army is not brave, and those who dare to cross the border to sneak attack must be thousands of elite soldiers, but since they are here to sneak attack, they must be weak when they are discovered, not to mention colliding with such a large group of soldiers and horses.

At this time, there was already a riot in the rear of the Western Xia army, and some infantry turned around and ran, hoping to run back to the border as soon as possible, and then say, the first twenty miles is Gaizhu City.

But the cavalry in front of them could not run away, and at this moment it was getting late, and the road was narrow, so where could the horse's head be turned, and finally they had to grit their teeth and rush forward.

But Zhao Ta's light cavalry is different from the ordinary, even if the Western Xia is out of the horse, and is good at forging, it has always relied on this to make up for the lack of national strength and compete with the Great Song Dynasty, but the horses and armor of Zhao Ta's cavalry are the best in the Great Song Dynasty at the moment, even if the Western Xia is good at armor and horses, this team is just ordinary equipment, and it is still slightly insufficient.

What's more, the cavalry on Zhao Ta's side are all carrying iron guns, iron guns may be useless for guerrilla, but short-handed is the supreme weapon, as long as they don't step on the heavy armor iron harriers of Western Xia, any kind of cavalry can almost win, and there are many people, just a charge, and the Western Xia soldiers on the opposite side are scattered.

Then the army crushed forward, and saw the blood rain flying, and the miserable howl continued, and the horizontal push generally chased and killed.

In just a few moments, dead bodies were piled up on the roadside, and ownerless horses were scattered among the wilderness and grass.

Shi Jin ordered people to catch two live mouths and send them to Zhao Ta of the Chinese army, and Zhao Ta immediately interrogated, only to know that this team only had 3,000 people, and the target was not Huangzhou, but Lanzhou.

He immediately understood that the Western Xia army was attacking Lanzhou in two ways, and the other party was sure that Xihe had few troops at the moment, and he might not find this team, and the current position was actually far closer to Lanzhou than Huangzhou, and it was not far south to the Yellow River, so that no matter which team smuggled the Yellow River first, it could cooperate with the other side, even if the remaining team had to rush to cross, it would be successful.

Thinking of this, Zhao Ta's mind moved slightly, and he issued two military orders in a row, the first front army sped up, blocked the border, and did not allow the Western Xia army to flee back to one person.

The other is to collect the Western Xia war horses scattered in the mountains and fields, and the armor and blades on the Western Xia soldiers.

About half an hour later, Zhao Ta came to the border, and General Zhang Xianlu was leading the army to wait here, and when he saw him, he said, "Lord Wang, are you crossing the border now?" ”

Zhao Tan squinted his eyes and glanced at the border, although it was late at the moment, there was a bright moon in the sky, and it was white.

He groaned slightly, stretched out his horsewhip and pointed forward, and said with a smile: "Will hold the bow like a full moon, look northwest, and shoot the wolf!" (End of chapter)