Chapter 147: Take the princess and kiss
The meeting finally decided that Yang Zhen would set up heavy troops on the south bank of the Wuding River to form a blocking position, Yelu Xiaoju Die would attack in the rear of the Western Xia coalition army, and Xiao Ming would lead the army across the Wuding River to attack opposite the Western Xia coalition army.
The plan was well formulated, but Xiao Ming still gave Yang Zhen the most difficult task, whether he could close the encirclement and annihilate the entire Uighur and Western Xia coalition forces depended on whether Yang Zhen's Song army could block their escape route.
This time Yang Zhen can be regarded as a lone army in depth, in addition to the soldiers and horses stationed in Ganzhou, Yang Zhen only led 30,000 horses to the north, these 30,000 horses in addition to the newly formed Great Song cavalry, the rest are all infantry, but these infantry are different from the previous Song army infantry, this infantry is Yang Zhen's hard work.
In addition to the standard pikemen and sword and shield soldiers, this infantry also had special stick battalions, and the weapons in the hands of the soldiers were weapons called the large pan dragon sticks, which looked very much like nunchucks, but one end was long to hold, and the other end was wrapped in iron and copper, which was used to hit the legs of cavalry horses! It is also a weapon specially used to break the iron harrier.
The large pan dragon stick was used to fight against the Liao army, and it worked very well against the Liao army's Iron Floating Tu, but these are nothing, the real killer is that these infantry are all equipped with black god crossbows! The Great Song Dynasty had ordered 200,000 Black God Crossbows from the Taiping Iron Works in Xuzhou and the Gu Refinery in Hangzhou, and these Black God Crossbows were basically filled with the Western Army.
The black god crossbow of 20,000 infantry, when he put down the long weapon, relying on the fortifications, it will be a very lethal crowd, this is where Yang Zhen's real confidence lies, otherwise he would not dare to argue with Yelu Xiaoju Die.
The plan was to ask his cavalry to attack from behind the Uighur and Western Xia coalition forces at noon on the third day, and then Xiao Ming led the army across the river, and then formed a formation to flank the coalition army, forcing the coalition army to flee eastward, and then it would definitely fall into Yang Zhen's pocket.
On the morning of the third day after Xiao Ming had planned for them, the Uighurs and the Tangut forces suddenly split for some reason, perhaps because they had differences of opinion and could not reach an agreement, so the 50,000 soldiers and horses of the Uighurs of Western China withdrew from the allied forces and withdrew westward, while the Tangut army turned eastward with the intention of entering Xingqing.
Yelu Xiaoju Die was in a hurry and could not get in touch with Xiao Ming, and immediately ordered an attack on the Uighur army in the encirclement, and the shouts of killing rang out in the sky, and the review army that was suddenly attacked showed panic for a while, but quickly regained its calm and melee with Yelu Xiaojudie's cavalry.
The fifty or sixty thousand soldiers and horses of the left wing of the Western Xia led by Li Yanzong, the king of letters, withdrew to the southeast, and this part just collided in front of Yang Zhen, so the battle naturally began, and the Western Xia army was blocked by Yang Zhen's Song army with a black god crossbow, and also began to use cavalry to impact the Song army's defense line, and the two sides were inseparable.
After Xiao Ming learned the news, he immediately ordered the brigade to cross the river, he had to choose between the Western Xia army and the Uighur army to eat, so as to completely solve the problem of this campaign, so his 30,000 horses began to cross the river, Xiao Ming's participation in the battle was like the last straw that crushed the camel's camel, and made the already chaotic battlefield even more chaotic.
After learning that Xiao Ming's army had crossed the river, the Uighur army immediately panicked, in order to avoid being attacked by the Liao army on both sides, they actually chose to flee, but the direction of this escape was to turn to the east, directly joined the Western Xia army that was fighting fiercely in the Song army, Yang Zhen's army could have been able to withstand the impact of the Western Xia army, but once a large number of Uighur troops joined in, the Song army immediately could not bear it, and the originally tight defense line was suddenly broken open a huge opening!
Yang Zhen immediately ordered the Song cavalry as a reserve to enter the battle, trying to plug the gap, but this was too difficult, and when Xiao Ming and Yelu Xiaoju Die's men and horses caught up, the Song army struggled to surround a small part of the enemy soldiers, and the Liao army that closed the net took advantage of the situation to annihilate the remaining 20,000 allied forces. The main forces of the coalition forces fled eastward.
Xiao Ming ordered Yelu Xiaoju Die to continue the pursuit, and then he began to clean up the battlefield, Yang Zhen was a little disgraced this time, he was very ashamed after seeing Xiao Ming, he couldn't emphasize the excuse, it was that he didn't block the enemy, he couldn't achieve the purpose of the battle, what else was there to say.
Xiao Ming comforted him with kind words: "You can't be blamed for this matter, the form of the battlefield has changed, fortunately, your losses are not big, this battle of Wudinghe in Xiazhou is not a failure, we still won, now the enemy has fled into Xingqing Mansion, trapped beasts are still fighting, I want to consider negotiating to solve the problem."
Yang Zhen still felt that his face was gloomy, the battle was not fought well but he needed to negotiate, so he might not be able to obtain what he wanted to obtain on the battlefield, Xiao Ming said to him: "That's not necessarily, sometimes, you can get things that you can't get on the battlefield at the negotiation table, I will give you 100,000 loads of grain and grass here, you will go back to Ganzhou now, be sure to capture all Ganzhou, and prepare for the next step to capture Liangzhou."
Yang Zhen felt reasonable, so he took someone to say goodbye and left, he returned to Ganzhou to seize the entire territory of Ganzhou, but here Xiao Ming returned to Xiazhou, this city has become an ownerless city, how can you leave without looting, Xiao Ming does not want to let go of any Western Xia city at all.
Xiao Ming searched everywhere in Xiazhou, counting hundreds of thousands of taels of gold and silver, he was still very principled in this kind of looting, basically did not harass the people, but the treasury of the Western Xia government and the local wealthy families were unlucky, and many local tycoons who refused to pay the money would be arrested by the Liao army and soon executed, which was actually a reshuffle for the local forces.
At the same time, appeasement and arrangement of local capable and reputable officials to continue to stay in charge of the people, and at the same time announced tax exemption, this set of combination punches down, Xiazhou was basically pacified, everything entered the normal order, and then Xiao Ming arranged for Yelu Xiaoju Die to be stationed in Xiazhou, and the reader Xingqing Mansion was the gateway to the west, and he led his troops back to Dingzhou.
The current Dingzhou Mansion is very different from when Xiao Ming left, the city guard Cao will manage Dingzhou in an orderly manner, and Dingzhou Mansion is currently like a big mining area, Xiao Ming after getting tens of thousands of Western Xia prisoners, he began a large-scale mining project, and the originally small coal mine and iron ore were expanded several times!
The mineral deposits found in Ruqigou and Dafeng to the west of Dingzhou turned out to be open-pit mines, and produced very high-quality anthracite, so this became a large mining area, tens of thousands of captives were brought here to mine, although the prisoners did such physical work, but they were not abused, food and treatment were not bad, as long as you do not escape, generally speaking, you will not worry about the danger of your life, sick and injured will be treated.
There is another point that the captives can work here with peace of mind, that is, Xiao Ming promised them that as long as they work for two years, they can be free, but if they run away or slack off, it will lengthen the labor reform period, Xiao Ming called this labor reform, and those who have completed the reform do not need to be soldiers anymore, they can still continue to work in the mines, but at this time they will be paid.
Xiao Ming's gold mine in Wuliang Haicheng and the coal mine in Dingzhou respectively adopted two methods: military reclamation and labor labor, which naturally brought him enough income, which was not enough, he also began to look for and mine other minerals in a large area, such as saltpeter ore, lime ore, copper ore, lead ore, tin ore, silver ore, etc., and he did not let go of all metal minerals.
Recently, I heard that a large silver mine and sulfur mine were found in the Yongning area, so Xiao Ming was ready to send troops to Yongning again, and the soldiers under his command heard that the king was going to war again, so they all smiled, that is another opportunity to make a fortune, and the silver brought home by someone along the way is as much as several hundred taels, and it is best to make another sum this time.
His side is ready to raise troops to enter Yongning, open the entrance to the Hetao Plain, and plunder the silver and sulfur mines at the same time, but the Xixia court of Xingqing Mansion is very panicked, and now the gateway to the west is blocked by Yelu Xiaoju Butterfly, Xiao Ming's every move in the north has received great attention, if Xiao Ming is ready to attack Xingqing Mansion, how can they stop it.
Earlier, Xiao Ming had sent someone to the Western Xia Emperor Li Qianshun to send a message, hoping that the other party could negotiate the surrender, and the Western Xia court held many court meetings for this, but there was no way to come up with a way.
The Western Xia Kingdom came to negotiate peace this time was the king of the West Sea, Ling Gong Gaode, with 200 gold beads and 200 beautiful jade to Xiao Ming, Xiao Ming set up a banquet to entertain Ling Gong Gaode, and did not talk about the collegiate matter at all, Ling Gong Gaode was so anxious that he was sweating, and finally couldn't help but ask Xiao Ming if he was willing to accept the peace?
Xiao Ming smiled silently, and then left under the pretext of leaving Gonggaode, feeling that the matter of this collegial discussion must be slim, and the Western Xia was not far away, so he sent someone to send a letter to Chongzong Li Qianshun, asking him to prepare for moving the capital.
The next day, Xiao Ming summoned Ling Gong Gaode and asked him to take out the collegial conditions of the Western Xia side to see, and then talk about it, so Ling Gong Gaode came up with several conditions, the first one, the Western Xia to the Great Liao State to become a vassal country is not a fanbang, pay tribute to the Liao State seven times a year, the second article, I am willing to send the princess of the clan to make peace with the king of the Southern Courtyard, and forever marry the good of Qin and Jin! The third is to offer 200,000 taels of silver, and 100,000 cattle, sheep, horses, and camels.
The above three, if the Liao State is willing to withdraw the army, the third article will be properly prepared and sent to the Liao State within a month, and the first and second articles, Ling Gong Gaode not only brought the letter of the Xixia Emperor, but also brought the princess of the clan, and notified the following to let the Xixia princess Li Bingbing enter the account!
"Poof!" Xiao Ming almost choked on saliva, "Li Bingbing!" I'm going to it! Make no mistake! Looking up, I saw a beautiful woman in palace clothes coming in, covered with dark clouds and hairpins, with tears in her eyes, but her expression was sluggish, I really felt pitiful, Xiao Ming sighed, I didn't know what to say.
Xiao Ming asked people to send the princess of Western Xia, Li Bingbing, to rest, and then began to negotiate with Yu Linggong Gaode: "First of all, the reason why Liaoxia started the war was because Xixia sent people to assassinate the emperor of the Great Liao State, in a vain attempt to subvert the Liao State, and the original Great Liao State Teacher Bana Tieju was the main messenger of the conspiracy, and now he is still hidden by the Western Xia State, if you want to collegiate, you must hand this person over first."
Ling Gong Gaode said: "That Bana Tieju is currently in the Western Xia Kingdom, but this person is a Uighur, and is the queen's brother, the two have a close relationship, Empress Yuchi has a deep influence on the emperor, and all the policies of the Liao State are obeyed by Empress Yuchi, which is the meaning of Bana Tieju."
In fact, there were many people in the Western Xia court who opposed the Western Xia to deal with the Liao State, but the Empress Weichi had a close relationship with the Gaochang Uighurs in Xizhou, and was willing to lend troops to the Western Xia.
After Ling Gong Gaode said this, it meant that Xiao Ming wanted to kill Bana Tieju, and it was still a bit difficult, not only because of the resistance in Western Xia, but also in the face of the entire Gaochang Uighur State in Xizhou, and that Empress Yuchi was obviously a member of the Uighur royal family, otherwise she would not have such great influence.
Xiao Ming didn't care about this, he said to Ling Gong Gaode: "If you don't hand over the Bana Tieju, there is no need to talk about the rest, I can represent His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Liao Kingdom, you have also seen the red and yellow banner outside my tent, first hand over the Bana Tieju for collegiality, and other conditions will not be accepted by this king."
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