Lanzhou.

Yang Zhi held the order of the Generalissimo's Mansion and the Ministry of War that he had just received: "Send troops at the end of the month, don't pay attention to the Western Xia peace." According to what we discussed before, General Yao went to Zhenwu City (Ancient Bone Dragon City), and I led my troops to fight the Southern Military Division. ”

Yao Gu couldn't help but ask: "There is no friendly army in the north?" ”

"It doesn't matter there!" Yang Zhi said.

The seed master instantly understood what Zhu Ming meant: "The prince is a change from the old Song Dynasty strategy to conquer Xia, and he plans to seize the Hexi Corridor first in the future." ”

The Northern Song Dynasty and the Western Xia were at war, and in the last seventy or eighty years, the core contention area has been in the direction of Hengshan.

The Northern Song Dynasty occupied there, and could rely on Hengshan's manpower and material resources to attack, and it could also build walled forts layer by layer for defense. If you lose it and want to invade the hinterland of Western Xia, you have to cross the mountains and deserts and mobilize a large number of people and grain and grass laborers for an expedition.

When the Western Xia occupied there, they could also rely on the manpower and material resources of Hengshan to attack, otherwise they would have to cross a large desert area.

And now, Zhu Ming broke the jar and broke it!

Because Xi'an Prefecture and Huaide Army were almost completely occupied by the Western Xia, the northern part of Huizhou also fell into the hands of the Western Xia, and the results of the decades of conquest of the Great Song Dynasty were destroyed.

Liu Yanqing, the generals of the border army, could barely defend the city, and it was impossible to regain the lost territory, and Zhu Ming did not have so much money and food to supply them with troops.

Then don't care about Yokoyama, just give some money and food, and let them solve the rest by themselves. The military generals in the relevant regions are all appointed as governors or commanders, and the military regime concentrates its power on one general, which is essentially equivalent to making them warlords.

These generals have become warlords, so they will naturally defend their territory with spirit, because it is their own territory!

Liu Yanqing, Zhe Keqiu, Liu Zhengyan and others were overjoyed when they received the edict of appointment, and they really racked their brains to guard against Western Xia and Jin.

Zhu Ming doesn't have high requirements for them, just don't be knocked down all at once.

After pacifying the south, and then stabilizing the front with the Jin State, you will be able to free up your hands to clean up the warlords.

The terrain on the side of Hengshan was too complicated, and Zhu Ming did not want to adopt the strategy of the Great Song Dynasty.

His idea is just as the master said, Hengshan first let the Western Xia occupy it, and the Ming border army defended the city. The main force of the Ming Dynasty went directly to the Hexi Corridor, although the road was far away, but the logistics and transportation were more convenient.

Once the Hexi Corridor is captured, the population and food resources of Western Xia will be drastically reduced, and the commercial income will also be shattered!

The ones to be captured this time are the gateways to the Hexi Corridor and the Ancient Bone Dragon City.

Especially with the Southern Military Division, which belongs to the core of the Southern Theater of Operations in Western Xia!

At the end of May, the army was sworn out.

Yang Zhi led 22,000 troops, along the Kaluo River (Zhuanglang River), and directly took the Henan Military Division of Western Xia. Among them, 18,000 were Sichuan soldiers, and 4,000 were Li Yanxian's miscellaneous cavalry. The remaining Sichuan soldiers and miscellaneous infantry stayed in Lanzhou to garrison and support the walled forts in Lanzhou at any time.

Yao Gu commanded 45,000 troops, set out from Xining, and attacked the Ancient Bone Dragon City along the Haomen River.

Yao Gu's 45,000 people are counted as auxiliary soldiers and civilians, and less than 10,000 are really combative.

Yang Zhi's 24,000 people are all capable of fighting!

Yang Zhi didn't have many people, because the target was too close. The straight-line distance between the Southern Military Division and Lanzhou City is less than 120 miles, and the actual distance is less than 160 miles, and the whole journey can be marched along the river valley.

……

Zhuo Luo and the Southern Supervision Military Division (Hongcheng Town, Yongdeng County).

Coincidentally, Li Yuchang, the minister of Western Xia, was here.

Last year, this guy also wanted to gain military merit and prestige, commanding the Western Army and the Southern Army of Western Xia, and sending troops to capture the northern part of Huizhou and the entire territory of Xi'an Prefecture.

Xiao Heda, the Liao general on whom Li Qianshun relied on, also participated in the invasion, commanding the Eastern Army of Western Xia to discount the territory of Keqiu and others.

Yang Zhen, the guard of Jianning Village, was killed by Xiao Heda.

Yang Zhen's son, Yang Yizhong, is now making trouble every day, instigating Zhe to beg to send troops to avenge his father.

Li Yuchang almost emptied the troops in the Hexi Corridor, and because of the separation between the desert and the mountainous area, not only could he not continue the attack, but he could not even supply the army with food and grass for a long time.

Therefore, while asking the Western Legion to withdraw to its original hometown, he tried to negotiate peace with the new Ming Dynasty.

The first letter was the product of a compromise between Li Yuchang and Richard Brother. That is, to return part of the occupied territory, the Western Xia to control part of the Hengshan region, and the rest of the country as a whole to push forward a little, in exchange for the Ming Dynasty to recognize the new borders of the Western Xia.

Who knew that a few months had passed, and Daming still did not reply.

Moreover, according to the news from the merchants, the Ming Dynasty had heavy troops in Lanzhou and Xiningtun, and it was also found that grain and grass were constantly being transported to Lanzhou.

Li Yuchang and Brother Richard immediately woke up, Brother Richard stayed in Xingqing Mansion to watch the emperor, and Li Yuchang came to gather the western and southern legions with the Southern Military Division.

The Western Army of Western Xia, that is, 30,000 soldiers and horses on the Ganzhou Road in the right wing, was stationed in Ganzhou and Guazhou. The Southern Legion, stationed in Weizhou, Xishou, and Zhuoluo, numbered about 50,000 men.

If the summoning is completed, the total number of troops will reach 80,000!

Of course, these 80,000 soldiers can't all be guarded in the Henan Military Division, and some are divided to defend the Ancient Bone Dragon City.

"Did the Han soldiers really set off?" Li Yuchang asked.

A businessman dressed as a Han man knelt on the ground and said: "There are a lot of soldiers and horses, and I can't count them, I'm afraid there are 30,000 or 40,000 people, and the grass people are so frightened that they rushed to report to the minister overnight!" ”

Li Yuchang nodded approvingly: "Very good, you go and receive the reward." ”

Li Yuchang was not worried in his heart, and the Southern Military Division already had tens of thousands of troops, and he gathered nearly 10,000 people one after another, and now the number of troops in his hand exceeded 20,000.

What if 30,000 or 40,000 Han soldiers came?

Don't talk about the battle in the city, even if you stick to the city, it is enough for those Han soldiers to drink a pot.

Li Yuchang sent light cavalry to investigate, and only two hours later, a border outpost soldier came back to report: "The two outposts in front have been pulled out by the Han army!" ”

"Why didn't you hurry?" Li Yuchang asked in surprise.

The guard said: "The Han army has a kind of thunderbolt cannon, which can throw iron bullets, and the wall of the post is not strong, and it collapses after being hit two or three times. ”

Li Yuchang couldn't imagine what kind of cannon it was, but it was a powerful catapult.

He didn't have an iron harrier in his hands, and those elite troops were all in the hands of Richard.

Li Yuchang's current army of 20,000 is almost all captured and collapsing, and its combat power is about the same as that of the Western Army of the Great Song Dynasty.

There are also a few foot soldiers, but they are all recruited in Qilian Mountain, the bloodline is not authentic and not to mention, anyway, the equipment is bad enough, and it cannot be called a mountain heavy armor force at all.

You can only hold on and wait for help!

……

and the Southern Military Division, twenty miles southeast of the valley.

The two sides are mountainous, and the Kara River flows through the middle, and the flat valley is about two miles wide.

The Ming army came so quickly that it didn't give Western Xia time to set up an ambush at all.

More than 100 miles away, Li Yanxian took the cavalry as the vanguard, and in two days, he rushed to the scene and collided head-on with the reconnaissance cavalry of Western Xia.

"Kill!"

Li Yanxian took the lead, and rushed forward without saying anything.

These cavalry under his command included rangers, horse bandits, deserters, and the Western army. The equipment is even more varied, some from Sichuan, some from the Western Army, and many are built by the people.

War horses are also uneven, there are serious military horses, and there are also horses that pull carts, but fortunately, they can be ridden by one person.

Four thousand miscellaneous cavalry rushed forward, and several hundred Western Xia scouts were so frightened that they turned around and ran.

chased all the way to the vicinity of Henanjun Sicheng, and killed dozens of horsemen one after another, Li Yanxian ordered to stop the pursuit.

This place is about five miles away from the city, there is a valley in the mountains on the east side, and the future Lianhuo Expressway is built along the valley.

Li Yanxian has come here many times to observe the terrain and know where to hide troops and where to ambush.

He divided hundreds of horses and hid them in the ravine, then fed the horses water and salt, and rested for a while before continuing on his way.

Soon approached the city of Henan Junsi, where the river valley was flat, and the width had reached four miles.

Li Yuchang, the minister of Western Xia, personally led his troops out of the city, wanting to frustrate the spirit of the vanguard of the Han army.

After the 10,000 Western Xia troops lined up, Li Yanxian led the cavalry to call the formation, and as soon as the enemy began to advance, he immediately retreated.

Thousands of miscellaneous cavalry with complex compositions are actually used like fingers, and they are not at all worried that the feint retreat will turn into a rout.

Li Yuchang is also a head iron, or self-confidence.

He knew that Li Yanxian was luring the enemy, so he threw down a large force of infantry and personally led 5,000 cavalry to pursue.

This guy is the prime minister of Western Xia!

The two sides chased and fled, gradually approaching the Tibetan ravine.

"Blow the trumpet, stop the pursuit!" Li Yuchang shouted.

A horn sounded, and the Western Xia cavalry began to slow down, and Li Yanxian also stopped with the cavalry.

The two sides faced each other four or five hundred paces apart, and on the east side of the middle was the ravine where the soldiers were hidden.

The situation is already laid out, there is an ambush in the ravine, and they are very clear to each other.

After Li Yuchang stopped, he sent someone back to give an order, so that 10,000 infantry would follow. He himself confronted each other here, and after the infantry came to converge, the infantry went into the ravine to search the mountains and fight.

"How? Do you want to kill directly? Yan Ping asked.

Li Yanxian said: "There are more cavalry in Western Xia, and our army is behind, and now is not the time to fight hard." Call out the brothers who are hiding in the ravine, and try to lead them to the back, as long as the party members dare to follow, we will find an opportunity to rob the camp at night. If they do not follow, they retreat to the narrow part of the valley and wait for the army to converge. ”

said that he was not desperate, but Li Yanxian led his troops to charge, and shot Li Yuchang directly with a strong bow halfway.

Riding and shooting immediately, a distance of seventy paces, far beyond the range of an ordinary horse bow, Li Yanxian's arrow is full of power.

Li Yuchang ducked short, and the arrow hit another war horse behind him.

The Western Xia cavalry was frightened, and Li Yuchang, who was almost hit by an arrow, was sweating in his vest, and hurriedly ordered his cavalry to shoot back.

When the two sides exchanged fires, the cavalry hidden in the ravine had already rushed out to the flat valley one after another.

"Withdraw!"

Successfully receiving the ambush and converging, Li Yanxian immediately ordered a retreat.

Li Yuchang was so frightened by an arrow that his heart palpitated, and he actually stopped chasing it, and honestly returned to the city to wait for help.

Two days later, Yang Zhi arrived with a large army and camped five or six miles away from the city, which was exactly where Li Yanxian set up an ambush.

This broken terrain, 200 miles before and after are river valleys, there is no place to choose, honestly camp by the river.

Of course, the mountains on both sides must also be garrisoned to prevent the Xixia people from crossing the mountains and mountains to kill.

On the second day of setting up the camp, Yang Zhi led his troops to call for battle, intending to fight against the Western Xia army in the field.

There is no tactic here, the valley is four miles wide, and the narrow place is even only three miles. There is also a river running through it, and the banks are only a mile or two wide on each side.

What can two miles wide do?

There are too many troops to line up at all, and the cavalry has little room to play, so they can only fight in formation honestly.

The Sichuan soldiers brought by Yang Zhi are the most afraid of the battle, this terrain is too suitable for the Mandarin Duck Formation!

Li Yuchang couldn't hold on, he had a strong city to rely on, and there were reinforcements coming behind him, why did he want to fight with the Han army?

The continuous shouting had no effect, and Yang Zhi shouted: "The artillery has been dragged out, and the city wall has collapsed!" ”

(End of chapter)