In the city of Dingzhou, the people of Xixia are panicked, and rumors are everywhere like the wind, where the Khitan army of the Liao State passes is a scorched earth, the entire city will be destroyed, and everyone will be killed, and this time the general who defends the city will abandon the city and flee, isn't that all the women and children in the city sent to the enemy? Wouldn't everyone be able to survive?

Rumors spread like a plague, so the four cities of Dingzhou City opened, and there was an endless stream of people fleeing for their lives! When Xiao Ming led a large group of men and horses into the city, he saw a group of people kneeling at the gate of the city, and all of them were dressed in the official mansion of Western Xia.

Xiao Ming hurriedly helped him up, but the man couldn't hold on, kowtowed and said: "I heard that the king of the Southern Courtyard of the Great Liao Kingdom is a benevolent and righteous person, and today the army broke the city, Cao is willing to sacrifice the head of the emperor and all the family wealth to let the king spare hundreds of thousands of people in the city, don't make a vain killing, and cause misery!" ”

After he finished speaking, the group of Western Xia officials behind him also followed: "A certain person is willing to die, please let the king spare the people in the city!" ”

Xiao Ming put his hand on his hand, but he still helped the man up, he looked at the person in front of him, he was in his forties, his face was thin, he was not old but his beard was gray, so he asked, "Who are you?" ”

"Contemptible Dingzhou Mansion Yin Cao!"

"Why is Lord Cao like this, who said that my army of Da Liao would hurt the people of Dingzhou?"

"But...... But! Cao Ju was a little surprised, Xiao Ming didn't wait to speak before he continued: "The fault of the emperor of the Great Xia Kingdom is not as good as the people, if it weren't for your emperor who lost his faith, my Da Liao would not have raised an army to fight!" He said to the group of Western Xia officials behind Cao Ju: "I came here with troops, just to ask for a person, and to ask your emperor to give an explanation, it will not hurt you, please rest assured, everyone get up!" ”

He said to Cao again: "Lord Cao, are the people in this city composed of people, but there are Han people?" ”

Cao said: "If you go back to the king, eighty percent of the people in Dingzhou City are Han Chinese, and the others are party members, Uighurs, Vultures, and some Tibetans!" ”

Xiao Ming nodded and said, "Lord Cao, you are a good official, willing to die for the people in the city, such a righteous person is rare!" You're also Han, aren't you? ”

Cao Ju nodded and said: "The ancestors of the contemptible people are the Han people of Hexi, of course I am the Han people!" ”

Xiao Ming patted him on the shoulder and said: "The pacification of the people of Dingzhou City and all official affairs still depend on Lord Cao and all the adults, you can lead us into the city" Just turn Cao Ju first, and when he passed by Cao Ju, he threw down a sentence: "Actually, I am also Han!" Under Cao Ju's stunned, Shi Ran entered the city.

With the help of Cao according to a group of Western Xia officials, the people in the city were finally pacified, official notices were posted all over the city, the Liao army rose up to fight against the righteousness, counted the sins of the Western Xia emperor, and waited for the people in the city, and opened a warehouse to release grain, relief orphans, amnesty for unjust prisons, the integration of the Western Xia official army stragglers, maintain social order, Dingzhou City slowly restored calm.

Cao Yi and other Western Xia officials were very cooperative, they also knew that the Liao army was buying people's hearts, but under the knife of others, they also had to do their best, fortunately, what they did was not a bad thing, and the people in the city were still very grateful for his kindness, and they all said that Lord Cao died in exchange for the safety of the whole city, and his prestige was in full swing.

On the fifth day of Dingzhou City, Helian Tielie's army finally came, and the banners and men and horses slowly jumped out on the horizon in the distance, and the black pressure was pressing, and it was still increasing, and in the end, there was a posture that covered the sky and the sun, and the wolf flag of the Western Xia was fluttering, and this time the strength of the Western Xia army was 150,000 people!

The army is camped five miles away from the city of Dingzhou, the camp is stretched and the tents stretch for more than ten miles, looking at such a military might, all the generals under Xiao Ming are silent, they all feel that this battle is a bit difficult to fight, the Liao army is now full of 50,000 horses, and the opposite is a 150,000 army, the number of people is three to one, it may be difficult to defend the city.

Yang Qizhong immediately suggested that Xiao Ming take advantage of the unstable foothold of the Western Xia army and steal the camp and rob the village at night. Yang Qizhong's idea is well-founded, at that time, the army was fighting, and there were few night battles, the reason was actually very simple, taking the Song army as an example, to feed millions of troops, the pressure on military food was extremely great, in fact, many people couldn't eat enough when they were soldiers, let alone talk about nutrition, so most of the army was malnourished!

This long-term malnutrition can cause night blindness in people, and they can't see at night, so how can they fight at night? There were very few examples of night battles in ancient times, which is the reason, but the current Xiao Ming's army is different, the army's supplies are sufficient, from training to marching, there has never been a time when there is not enough to eat, and there is even wine and meat, Xiao Ming has a lot of money in his own pocket is smashed on this, not to mention that this time he is well prepared, he has money, there are local supplies, and he can rob, that is to say, Xiao Ming's army is not short of nutrition.

Under the historical conditions at that time, no one had ever seen such a doting on the soldiers and the army, the army's food was really good, and in the autumn, all kinds of materials were sufficient, and the daily food not only had meat and vegetables, but even gave fruits to eat every three or five days, and the soldiers were happy, even if they were not paid, they were willing!

Since the nutrition can keep up, then there is no threat of night blindness, and there are conditions for night fighting, Xiao Ming thought about it and felt that it was feasible, for the sake of safety, he only sent five thousand cavalry and handed it to Yang Qizhong to let him launch a night attack from the flank of the Western Xia army, just to test the strength of the other party.

In the middle of the night, Yang Qizhong led five thousand cavalry, all wrapped the horse's hooves with fur, directly opened the city gate and rushed towards the flank of the Xixia army, the distance of the five-mile road was not long, and the cavalry soon rushed to the flank camp of the Xixia army, but Yang Qizhong looked at it but it was not good, the camp of the Xixia army was placed according to a special formation, the shape was very similar to the gourd mouth, the whole camp was hung with air death lanterns, and the torches were lit every other section, and the whole camp was like day!

Yang Qizhong saw that it was not good, and urgently ordered the troops to withdraw, but fortunately, the movement was not big, but it still alarmed the enemy soldiers, the other party immediately rang the gong, the officers and soldiers of the whole battalion began to be on alert, and the archers even covered the blind shooting in the dark outside, Yang Qizhong led the army to retreat sharply, and quickly withdrew to the city, the night attack failed, fortunately, no one lost.

After this incident, everyone did not dare to despise the Western Xia Army, Xiao Ming also looked at the general of the Western Xia Army, Helian Tielie, since the sneak attack failed, then come head-on, Xiao Ming wants to see if his army can win this battle.

He was actually on an adventure, but it was full of information, and the reason was that the ten bronze cannons that Qian Baguang had brought him, to be honest, should be twelve, because two of them were the latest steel cannons!

Early the next morning, with the sound of the Western Xia army, "Rumble!" The sound of war drums was beaten, and the other party had already set up a position to attack, and Xiao Ming also opened the city gate and greeted the Western Xia army, the two armies were less than three miles apart, and there was a rush of slaughter on the battlefield!

Xiao Ming directly took out all the 30,000 horses, and placed three phalanxes in front of him, the top one was the infantry phalanx, behind him were the archers arranged in three layers, there were ranger guards on both sides, and the real cavalry was at the rear, his cavalry was never used to hedge against the enemy, but to cut people from behind, and his subordinates were already familiar with his tactics, so there was no doubt, but this time the first test was the infantry.

The infantry will be at the forefront this time, and the test is will and fighting spirit, for which Xiao Ming also specially cheered them up before the battle, and Han Lingshou, the commander of the infantry army, swore an arrow: "Never take half a step back!" "The whole infantry, more than 10,000 people, made a loud noise with their guns and shields, which was a sign of determination.

Xiao Ming stayed on a mountain bag behind the battle formation this time, and erected a big flag, not that he was afraid of death, but that this was his artillery position, and that night Qian Baguang led people to dig a position here, and arranged artillery, there is a way to operate artillery in the high and low shooting world, and he really has to let him do it.

The horn of the Liao army "Woo! "Puffy!" As soon as the war drums stopped, the heavy infantry in front of the battle formation smashed the big round iron shield to the ground, and the spear stretched out from the gap of the half-crescent above the round shield, at a 45-degree angle, and the gun handle was stepped on with his feet, and everyone looked at the opposite side nervously, after all, it was the first time to face such a battle, and some people couldn't help but "slam" the shaking sound of the chain armor!

Zhao Yanwen, the deputy commander of the infantry army, directly whipped it over and shouted: "Don't be embarrassed here!" Those who can stand in front are heroes, if you really can't do it, go to the back and take a sip, be brave, and when Lao Tzu dies, you are rushing up to fill the gap! The young soldier blushed and said nothing, half-crouched with a firm gaze, and remained motionless.

The formation of the Western Xia army this time is a ten cavalry formation, the rangers running around the mountains and fields, the arrangement of troops is very old-fashioned, the distribution of the left and right Chinese troops is excellent, the wolf flag in front of the Chinese army is fluttering, and the current tiger general is Helian Tielie, Xiao Ming stood from a distance and couldn't see clearly, only saw that the other party was extremely tall and wearing black armor.

Before the war, the battlefield was quiet, and an officer rushed out of the middle army of the Western Xia army, riding a horse alone and only wanting the Liao army to run, stopping at a stone's throw and shouting loudly in Khitan dialect, to the effect that the Liao army should either surrender or withdraw its troops, otherwise it would be nothing more than death without a place to bury and the like.

Xiao Ming waved his horsewhip, and a crossbow arrow from a tiger guard in the formation shot out, directly shooting the Western Xia officer off the horse, he didn't expect the other party's crossbow arrows to shoot so far, and in the archer camp, Xiao Ming released eight hundred tiger guards inside, and only two hundred guards were left by his side.

Helian Tielie was furious, and he didn't care about the battle formation, and directly waved the whip, and the war drum "Rumble!" He wanted to rely on the wave of charges to crush the fighting spirit of the Liao army and directly defeat the camp of the Liao army.

Helian Tielie is a very famous general in Western Xia, his troops are very flexible, often unexpected, the team he brought into the army is basically all cavalry, the Western Xia army is also a cavalry-based army, but they lack heavy cavalry, the only heavy cavalry was also brought by him, that is the famous Iron Harrier of Western Xia!

The Western Xia Iron Harrier is the same heavy armored cavalry as the Liao Army's Tiefutu and the Jin Soldier's Kidnapping Horse, and the basic form is the same, the difference is in the number of horses connected by iron chains, the Iron Float and the Kidnapping Horse are both fifty, while the Iron Harrier is a typical number of thirty-nine, and it is not fixed, at most nine horses and at least three horses.

In today's battle, no one expected that Helian Tielie would use 10,000 iron harriers in the second wave of cavalry charges at the beginning, which was not enjoyable, he waved his whip and the third 10,000-person cavalry formation pressed up again, and thousands of horses galloped on the battlefield, and the whole earth trembled under the horses' hooves.

Using so many people to attack his infantry phalanx of more than 20,000 people, Xiao Ming shook his head and said, "This guy's heart is really black!" He turned his head and shouted, "The money is gone!" Ready to get started? ”

"Haha, my old money has already been ready, and this time it's a special cannonball for him!" Qian said shirtless.

"Well, I've seen it almost, haven't I already aimed at it? This is your first time using a cannon, so don't mess it up with me! ”

"Don't worry, my lord, my old money dares to vouch for my head, I can't be wrong this time!"

"So what are you waiting for? Shoot me——! ”

……

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