In the narrow river valley and in the large camp, there were routs fleeing in disarray.

Yang Zhi only brought 500 cavalry over, and these cavalry became the main force of pursuit, constantly cutting and delaying large groups of routs, so that his own infantry could catch up and capture the enemy.

Occasionally, small groups of the enemy lined up to resist, and the cavalry went around directly and handed them over to the infantry to deal with.

A large number of Western Xia routs trampled on each other, and they didn't need the Ming army to kill them at all, so they trampled countless of their own people to death.

Fear!

Not only the fear of defeat and death, but also the fear of the unknown.

The reason why the defeat was so quick and so straightforward and complete was because the psychological pressure brought by firearms was too great.

If it is changed to an open battlefield, the situation should be much better for the Western Xia soldiers. At least it can mobilize troops to outflank tactically, and it can also drive the rout troops in front to both sides.

But in this valley, there is no room to play.

The Western Xia soldiers on the hills on both sides also fled along the mountain when they saw the main force collapse. After going down the mountain, he went up the mountain again, and he didn't dare to enter the river valley at all, the mountains were endless, and he was so tired that he stuck out his tongue after escaping only a few mountains, and many Western Xia soldiers took off their armor while fleeing.

After chasing six or seven miles of land, the Kara River, which originally flowed at the foot of the mountain on the west side, suddenly turned into a stream in the middle of the valley.

At this time, there were still 20,000 or 30,000 Western Xia defeated soldiers, and they spontaneously converged along the river bank one after another, blocking the half of the river valley that was only three or four hundred meters wide.

It really became a crowd of people, frantically trampling on each other, and completely losing their minds.

There were also people who jumped into the river in a panic, forgetting that they were still wearing armor. These people are also not good at water, struggling with water, and the river is full of shouts for help.

More and more Western Xia soldiers knelt on the ground and begged for mercy, even if the Ming army wanted to kill and capture them, they would admit it.

From the afternoon to the night, the various units returned one after another.

After dawn, the prisoners of war were counted, and through the difference in equipment, more than 2,000 prisoners were captured, and more than 17,000 soldiers of other ethnic groups were captured.

More than ten miles north from the battle site, there were corpses everywhere along the way. There are also many floating corpses on the river, and it is estimated that there will be more in a few days, because the sunken corpses will float up on their own after flatulence.

"There are too many captives, there is not so much food to feed, and there is a risk of riots." Li Jinyi said.

Although Yang Zhi was cautious to the point of cowardice, he was not a soft-hearted person: "Bang Linglang took it back to the land to cultivate." Then the Qiang, Tibetan, and Uighur were screened out, their armor was removed, and their corpses were cleaned up before they were released. As for the party members, they killed the well-armored people, and only left 3,000 party prisoners of war as serfs! ”

I didn't bother to screen the party officers, and whoever wore better armor would be dragged directly to kill and bury.

If no one identifies those who take off their armor and get caught, then they are lucky.

Han Chinese, Qiang, Tibetan, Uighur and other ethnic captives were responsible for helping to dig pits. A group of party prisoners were taken to the edge of the pit to be slaughtered, and after being killed, they were pushed into the pit to fill the matter.

The captives of all ethnic groups were frightened to the point that their faces were bloodless, and it was not until Yang Zhi came over to announce the policy that they finally felt a little relieved.

These are all ruled nations, oppressed by the party, and at the same time, they serve as soldiers for the party, and their hands are covered with blood.

When the party members are killed less and less, and they cannot lead them to rob the goods, or even turn to exploit them internally, these tribes will inevitably have different intentions. At the same time, they saw the strength of the Ming army, and went back to tell the myth of the invincibility of the Ming army, and the prestige of the Ming army would spread throughout the Western Regions.

In the next few years, I don't know how many tribes in the Western Xia will quietly send people to Lanzhou to contact the governor of Hehuang.

After killing the captives, Yang Zhi immediately returned with his troops, and he wanted to rush to meet Brother Richard, and by the way, he brought only 3,000 party prisoners who had been killed.

Only 1,000 infantry and 500 cavalry were left behind, responsible for supervising the disposal of the corpses of the captives of various tribes.

More than 2,000 Han Chinese prisoners of war were redistributed with weapons and armor. When they learned that not only would they not die, but they would also be able to allocate land for farming, they were still skeptical, and when they got the armor, they immediately dispelled their concerns.

These Han Chinese became very active, and automatically worked as overseers for the Ming army, directing prisoners of war of various ethnic groups to collect the dead bodies.

The corpses in the river must be scooped up, and the entire river valley is supplied with the Karo River as a source of life. Not to mention the spread of diseases and plagues, when I usually drink water, I think of countless dead bodies in the upstream river, which can make the Ming soldiers sick enough.

"After getting the body, you can go home, don't think about running away, don't think about being lazy!"

Five hundred cavalry were divided into five teams and ran back and forth along the river valley.

More than 2,000 Han captives who had obtained military armor also began to show off their might, commanding the captives of all ethnic groups to do this and that.

The Qiang, Tibetan, and Uighur people were immersed in their work, and they really didn't think about escaping.

Because the Ming cavalry was shouting repeatedly: "When you return to your respective tribes, you must tell the clansmen that the Chinese emperor of the Ming Dynasty is surnamed Zhu, and the world will belong to the Zhu family in the future." Emperor Zhu treats all ethnic groups equally, and as long as you are safe and secure, you will not be discriminated against. Go back and tell the chieftain that if he can't stand the oppression of the party, he will secretly send someone to Lanzhou and contact the governor of Hehuang there......"

Han captives, who could speak various languages, were temporarily selected to be interpreters, and ran back and forth with the Ming cavalry, so tired that they stuck out their tongues and were inexplicably excited.

The ears were full of chariot words, repeated and repeated, and the captives of all tribes were even less afraid.

If the Han soldiers wanted to kill them afterwards, why waste saliva and say so much?

……

Li Yanxian is not an immortal, with more than 3,000 cavalry, he did not delay Brother Richard for long, because the disparity in strength between the two sides is too great.

What's more, Yang Zhi asked him not to take risks, and keeping the cavalry in his hand was the first priority.

At the time of the decisive battle between Yang Zhi and Li Renyi, Li Chage's vanguard had approached Dingxi Fort (and the Southern Military Division).

When Yang Zhi led the army back, Richard's main force also arrived.

Looking at the castle with the changed flag, Richard was expressionless and sent people across the river to shout outside the city.

The caller was a Han soldier, although he was terribly scared, he still stubbornly said: "The Han soldiers inside listen, open the city and surrender immediately to avoid death, and the guard general can still be an official in the Great Xia Kingdom!" ”

"Shoot to death!" Gong Xiu, who was in charge of staying behind, was too lazy to talk nonsense.

More than a dozen arrows were shot down, and the messenger soldier, who was only wearing light armor, was instantly shot into the shape of a hedgehog, and fell to the ground and died no longer dead.

The two cities of Zimu and Zimu are full of flags.

Even the newly surrendered Han'er took up arms to defend the city.

And there were no reserves left, all of them stood at the head of the city, densely packed to reflect the large number of people, preventing Richard from guessing that the main force of the Ming army was not there.

After observing as if Richard, he really didn't dare to attack for a while, and camped and waited for Li Renyi to come from the north. At that time, the two Western Xia armies converged, and 130,000 soldiers and horses attacked from the north and south, which was enough to crush the defenders in the city.

As for Li Renyi's defeated and fled?

What are you kidding, it is more than 60,000 troops, even if it is more than 60,000 pigs, the Ming army can't catch them in a short time.

Of course, Richard wasn't stupidly waiting.

He sent people to climb mountains and cut down trees to make siege equipment, although there were mountains on both sides of the river valley, there were far more shrubs than large trees, and it was impossible to quickly collect wood to make tools.

By the time he had finished building the siege equipment, it was estimated that twenty days had passed.

Richard is not in a hurry, anyway, he has to spend time waiting for friendly troops to arrive on the battlefield.

Before the friendly army arrived, Yang Zhi returned.

The Western Xia soldiers in charge of reconnaissance saw the appearance of a large army in the north, and immediately returned to the camp in ecstasy to report the news, while leaving people in place to continue to observe the situation.

Richard soon received the news and rode over to check it out himself.

Because I couldn't see it really, I climbed up the hill and looked into the distance.

The army from the north was getting closer and closer, but the smile on Richard's face completely disappeared.

That's not a Western Xia soldier!

The Ming army came from the north, so where did the soldiers of the Gansu Military Division go?

Yang Zhi divided his troops into the two cities of Zimu, and Gong Xiu, Li Yanxian and others greeted them at the north gate of the mother city.

Gong Xiu smiled and said, "Congratulations to General Yang, tens of thousands of enemy troops have really been defeated by you!" ”

Yang Zhi said modestly: "It occupies the convenience of the terrain and relies on the power of firearms." ”

"Anyway, after all, you will win the war, and this time your military rank will be greatly promoted," Gong Xiu said enviously, "In the future, I am afraid that you will be able to be the founding prince, and I will be satisfied as a marquis." The sons didn't study much, so they could only lead the troops to fight, and I let my grandchildren go to study and become civil officials. ”

Yang Zhi spoke calmly: "As long as you fight bravely to kill the enemy, Your Majesty and the crown prince will have their own rewards, not only you and me, but also the generals of each army and the princes." ”

The two talked and laughed and entered the city, Yang Zhi asked about the situation of the enemy army, and then asked his own soldiers to take out something: "Get a wooden pole and erect it outside the city." ”

That's the Great Commander of the Western Xia Gansu Military Division!

Li Renyi and Ding Zhongyi were in a hurry to flee for their lives, and they didn't even have time to collect it.

Some soldiers saw this from a distance and hurriedly ran to report to Richard.

Brother Richard personally rode forward, and fearing that the Ming army had a divine cannon, stopped two miles away from the city, and sent a few personal soldiers to get closer to check.

"You haven't fired a gun, have you?" Yang Zhi asked.

Gong Xiu said: "I didn't fire a single shot, and I was afraid of scaring the enemy generals away." ”

Yang Zhi didn't know Brother Richard, but he could see clearly with a telescope that there was a Western Xia general approaching with a small force of troops. He instructed Deng Xia: "All the artillery in the city is aimed at the general." If you hit, it's the best, but if you don't hit, you should give him a greeting gift. ”

Cast iron cannons and wrought iron field cannons were all placed in the two cities.

Due to the angle, only six guns could be aimed at Richard.

Deng Chun sent people across the river to Zicheng, and after the artillery of both cities was aimed, he watched him order to fire together.

The soldiers watched the arrows across the river for a while, and then went back to report to Brother Richard: "Your Highness, that is indeed the great commander of the Gansu Military Division. ”

"Do you really see it?" Richard confirmed.

The soldier replied, "You can see it clearly." ”

Brother Richard was silent, he really couldn't understand how the more than 60,000 troops of the Gansu Military Division could be confused and even gone.

Soon he understood!

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Six artillery guns fired in a salvo, the nearest about two miles, and the sub-city side was about two and a half miles.

Four of the shells completely missed.

A cannonball broke the calf of a soldier and then a horse's leg as it rolled and bounced.

A cannonball passed past Richard, shattering the head of the soldier on horseback, and then landed on the ground and bounced and rolled away.

Brother Richard looked at the corpse that fell to the ground in a daze, his head was completely missing, and it exploded like a watermelon, and even Brother Richard was splashed with flesh and brains.

The war horse under his crotch stood up in shock, and Brother Richard had a great fear in his heart, and immediately whipped the war horse and fled.

Riding straight out of the field, Richard dared to look back, looking in the direction of the castle and falling into deep thought.

The friendly forces in the north have been defeated, and he is equivalent to being blocked by the army alone, and the defenders in the city have such sharp weapons.

How should this battle be fought?

Or rather, how to break through?

Breaking through to the north, although there are only defenders in front of you, it is almost a dead end.

Breaking through to the south, Taniguchi left 10,000 men behind, who could be taken out to meet him. But outside the valley, there are a kind of master Dao, Liu Xi, Liu Qi led troops to block, and on the way back, there are two Ming army castles on the south bank of the Yellow River. The passage on the north bank was extremely narrow, and the breakout troops had to pull into a long snake.

Brother Richard hurried back to the camp and ordered completely based on battlefield intuition: "All units should prepare early, and the whole army will retreat south tonight!" ”

(End of chapter)