Soldiers are fast.

Di Qing believes that in the face of a sudden attack, Guo Shengyi will not fail to ask for help.

So he guessed that the enemy's reinforcements were most likely on the way to come.

If the Song army did not pursue, then the Li Dynasty rout army might unite with the reinforcements and retreat to Thang Long.

Although Di Qing didn't think that the enemy would be able to resist their attack by retreating to Thang Long, if he could directly destroy the Li Dynasty in the wild, why not?

After all, in the future, the Great Song Dynasty still needed to rule the Red River Delta in Shenglong, and he didn't want to use cannons to fill in Shenglong unless it was absolutely necessary.

Guo Shengyi's army retreated from the Langshan Ancient Road, and there was no time to enter Liangzhou City, and the Song army behind him was like a skeleton, always trailing.

He had to flee south with the retreating army, and after a day and a night of desperate escape, they finally reached Zhiling Pass, the gateway to the Red River Delta.

At this time, it happened that Li Foma also personally arrived at Zhiling Pass with reinforcements.

Zhiling Pass has been an important pass of the Yue Dynasty since ancient times, more important than Lang Son Pass, because its terrain is more dangerous than the Lang Son Ancient Road, and after this pass is the Red River Delta, known as the capital of the Yue Dynasty Thang Long Barrier.

I saw that the mountains on the left and right sides were towering into the clouds, and the clouds and mist were shrouded in the lofty mountains, and the grass and trees below were extremely vigorous, and the forests were forested. The path seems to have been split by the gods with a giant axe, and a terrifying ravine.

The most exaggerated is the topography, the Zhiling Pass is located above the small hillside, if you want to break through the pass, you must rush upward. When you close it, you only need to prepare a bow and crossbow, and no one can break it.

Historically, the Ming army was defeated by the Vietnamese army at this pass, which was the last time that the Chinese Dynasty lost its direct command to Vietnam, and Vietnam became independent from then on.

It can be seen that it is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Li Foma rested at Zhiling Pass last night and was preparing to continue to Langzhou to reinforce Guo Shengyi.

Just as he was about to order the three armies to get up early in the morning to make a fire to cook, and continue to set off after eating, several Vietnamese scouts who had scattered and fled arrived at the pass like a fly.

"What?"

In the camp tent of Li Foma in Guanzhong, Li Foma, who learned the news, suddenly bounced up from his chair.

He never expected Guo Shengyi to be defeated, and he was defeated so badly.

The army of fifty or sixty thousand collapsed in an instant.

What's even more terrifying is that the Song army didn't even engage them in close combat, and they were able to defeat their camp directly more than ten miles away.

It's horrible.

Li Foma's face was full of shock, and then he asked anxiously, "What exactly did Song Jun use?" ”

"Your Majesty, I don't know, I just know that there was a sudden loud noise on the mountain, and then a black ball fell from the sky, and then exploded everywhere in the camp, and many people were blown apart."

The scout still had a frightened expression on his face, and they ran for a long time, not even daring to sleep, as long as they closed their eyes, they could remember the tragic situation of yesterday.

The nightmarish sound of explosions, the terrifying smoke and dust, and the corpses of their comrades.

The thoughts that filled their minds had turned into terrible nightmares.

"Firearms, they must be firearms."

Li Fengxiao, the privy envoy of the Yue Dynasty, frowned and said, "According to the northerner Shangjia, the Song State is the Western Xia and Liao Kingdom that were defeated with this firearm. ”

"Firearms are so powerful?"

Liao Jiazhen, a Chinese scholar, said: "In the past, the firearms of the Song people were like fireworks, and it was impossible to shake the pass. ”

"Maybe they've made more powerful firearms, how else would you explain that?"

Li Fengxiao argued.

Li Zaiyan, the governor of Zuo Staff, said: "Your Majesty, now is not the time to care whether the Song army has firearms, it is imperative to think about what to do?" ”

Li Foma hesitated for a moment.

He personally went out on this expedition, leaving the crown prince Li Rizun, Taibao Tao Chuzhong, and Li Zhengxian, the governor of the Right Staff, to supervise the country, and he led a large army to help, in order to block the Song army outside Langshan Pass.

The problem now is that Langzhou has been lost, and there is no point in continuing the front army. So now he has two choices, one is to continue to defend the Zhiling Pass, and the other is to retreat to Thang Long.

However, these two choices are extremely passive, facing the same situation as Guo Shengyi, and they are passively beaten. They were in the gates and in the city, and they set up firearms outside and bombed them, and the end was still a dead end.

So it seems that there is a result everywhere this guard.

Li Foma couldn't help but look sad, told everyone about the situation, and finally said: "Now that it is the time of life and death for Dayue, I don't want to be the king of the dead country, and you don't want to be the ministers of the dead country, so please fight to the death." ”

"Your Majesty, rest assured, the ministers will fight to the death."

Everyone hurriedly responded.

Then Liang Maocai, the minister of Jin Wuwei, said: "Your Majesty, the minister feels that he can only defend the Zhiling Pass. ”

"Liang Qing, tell me the reason."

Li Foma said hurriedly.

Liang Maocai said: "First, the terrain of Zhilingguan is steep, and there is still a glimmer of life if you hold on. If they retreated to Huilong, there would be a smooth road outside the city, and the Song army only needed to use a catapult outside the city to throw the explosive black ball into the city, and the city would definitely suffer heavy casualties. ”

"Hmm."

Li Foma nodded slightly, Jiaozhi was too remote, and the information was not developed, they didn't even know that it was the artillery of the Song army, and thought it was a catapult or something.

Liang Maocai said again: "Second, the Song army is strong and well-equipped, we can't fight with them outside the city, and we have firearms to rely on, and defending the city will definitely be a loss for us." It would be different if you held the Zhiling Pass, the terrain here was dangerous, and it was suitable for ambushes. ”

"But isn't Taiwei Guo also stationed at a pass with dangerous terrain, but was broken by the Song people?"

Objections were raised.

"It's different."

Liang Maocai shook his head and said: "Guo Shengyi is defeated because he doesn't know how to be flexible, he only knows how to guard the pass, but he doesn't know how to change in response to the situation, and he is at the mercy of the Song people, why don't we take the initiative to attack?" ”

Take the initiative?

Everyone immediately fell into deep thought, and after a while, many people realized.

Yes.

If the Song people relied on catapults to throw the black ball into the pass and explode, it means that the Song people were already inconvenient and had very poor mobility.

Guo Shengyi himself stupidly thought that he would just stay in Guanzhong and give Song Jun enough time to assemble the catapult.

As the Tanma reciprocated.

Song Jun had been stationed outside the gate for five or six days, preparing to go up the mountain to clear the trees and transport and assemble the catapults, but he did not move at all.

Although the biggest reason for this is that Guo Shengyi didn't know that the Song army had such a sharp weapon, he wanted to fight steadily and steadily, relying on the dangerous pass to deal with the Song army, and was unwilling to give up the geographical advantage to fight with the enemy outside the pass.

But this also shows from the side that Guo Shengyi does not know the changes, and does not understand that in the preparation stage of the enemy, at least an army should be sent out to harass it, and then make a decision after seeing the situation.

And after they saw through this, they naturally had a way, and they did not have no chance of winning by crossing the Li Dynasty.

What Vietnamese soldiers are best at is hibernation in the mountains and forests.

If in the preparation stage of the Song army, they suddenly rushed out from the mountains and forests on both sides, without giving the enemy a chance to release the black ball remotely, and directly engaged the opponent in close combat, would they be able to achieve victory?

Thinking of this, everyone suddenly realized, and someone said: "Yes, the Song army only relies on the advantage of firearms, if we set up an ambush, they will definitely be defeated." ”

"The mountains and forests on both sides are dense, and during the period when our people are hiding, they can't find it at all, once the war starts, and suddenly kills, the Song army is caught off guard, and it is too late to assemble the catapult, and it will definitely be defeated for our army."

"It's just that at present, we still need to rein in the rout of the captain in front, so as not to be impacted by the pass."

"Well, that's it."

Hearing everyone's conversation, Li Foma also felt that it was very reasonable, so he issued two orders: "Defend the Zhiling Pass, and then send people out to collect the defeated soldiers." ”

"Yes!"

The crowd immediately obeyed the command.

At that moment, the Vietnamese army no longer rushed out of the pass to aid Guo Shengyi, but continued to occupy the pass.

By noon, a large number of Vietnamese soldiers were running towards Zhiling Pass one after another, and they were collected back to the pass by the people sent by Li Foma.

And there are already some Song troops faintly appearing on the periphery, but they are not Di Qing's firearms army, but minority troops.

The current situation of the pursuit was like this, Di Qing's firearms army was in the middle, Guangxi's Xiang army was at the end, and the ranks of the ethnic minorities rushed to the front, and they had captured the most defeated soldiers, reaching one or two thousand people.

No way.

The traffic road in the southwest can be said to be indescribable, Di Qing's artillery is not purely pulled by a carriage, and many times the cannon barrel has to be carried by manpower.

It's not just the rugged roads, but also the ups and downs of the slopes, and sometimes the road is even up to four or five meters, and you need to climb to get up.

And the soldiers of the Li Dynasty are really athletic, they are not very good at fighting, they run around like monkeys, some panic and even flee directly into the deep mountains and old forests, Di Qing's firearms army and Guangxi Xiang army have no way to take them.

Only the ethnic minority soldiers on the border can catch up with them by crossing mountains and mountains like them.

This led to the fact that the Song army was actually a little disjointed, and the minority soldiers had already chased out more than 100 miles, and the main force of the Song army was still behind and was still in a hurry, and there were still thirty or forty miles away from the front.

When Li Foma learned of this situation, he sent Li Fengxiao to lead his troops to take the initiative to intercept the pursuing enemy, and quickly protected the rout and returned to the pass.

He thought about killing the enemy while he was out of touch, but the road was narrow, and it was crowded with many of their routs, and it was impossible to go around the mountains on both sides for a while, so he had to give up.

The minority soldiers who were pursuing there also discovered the main force of the Li Dynasty, so they retreated from Zhiling Pass and left in the direction of Langzhou in the rear.

At this time, Langzhou had been occupied by the Song army, and the local people were very frightened and fled in all directions.

Historically, the Ming Dynasty controlled Vietnam in the hands of Zhu Di, but since the independence of Vietnam in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Vietnam has gradually formed its own national consciousness, and the rebellion is very high, resulting in continuous uprisings, and finally soon defeated the Ming army and broke away from the control of the Central Plains Dynasty.

Now, since the establishment of the first dynasty in Vietnam in 968 A.D., the Dinh Dynasty has passed the three dynasties of the former Lê Dynasty and the Ly Dynasty, and the Vietnamese people have begun to become accustomed to no longer accept the rule of the Central Plains Dynasty.

Therefore, in the face of the Great Song Heavenly Army, the local people were mainly frightened, even if the Great Song Qiu did not commit any crimes, it could not stop the people from panicking.

Di Qing was the first to enter the city.

The city of Langzhou flourished because of the trade of the Song and Yue, but it is said to be the capital of Langzhou, but in fact it is barely about the same as a remote county in the Great Song Dynasty.

The outer city wall is no more than a foot high, old and mottled, and crawling with creepers.

The houses in the city are all rough wood, the whole street has only two horizontal and vertical streets, and because of the war, there are almost no pedestrians on the streets, and the shops are closed, and they are full of desolation and dilapidation.

Di Qing rode on horseback and looked around, and said to Zhang Yu, the deputy general beside him: "Are there any people who come to greet us when we enter the city?" ”

Zhang Yu shook his head and said, "No." ”

Di Qing thought for a moment, and then said, "You go find some local elders from the Wang clan to come and discuss with me." ”

"Yes."

Zhang Yu responded.

Di Qing then turned calm, slowly rode his horse, stepped on the cold stone slab, and slowly walked towards the Langzhou Mansion.

The full name of the Li Dynasty in Vietnam was actually called the Li Dynasty of the Great Viet Empire, and the Song people called them Jiaozhi or Annam.

Seventy-seven years ago, Annan broke away from the control of the Central Plains Dynasty, and on weekdays, they accepted the Great Song Dynasty as the king of Jiaozhi County, and actually called themselves emperor internally, known as the outer king and the inner emperor in history.

Among them, the Li Dynasty was established 35 years ago by Li Taizu Li Gongyun usurped the throne.

Therefore, among the current Ding Dynasty, the former Li Dynasty and the Li Dynasty, the Li Dynasty has been established for the longest time, and Li Taizu and Li Taizong are both good monarchs, so in the hearts of the people of the Yue Dynasty, their prestige is still very high.

Obviously, after 77 years of hard work, the people of Jiaozhi no longer regard the Central Plains Dynasty as orthodox. In the hearts of the people of Jiaozhi, they have long recognized only the Li Dynasty, the emperor.

Fortunately, the prefect had already explained that although the dispatch of troops was an actual occupation, it must not be occupied in name.

They have to play a good slogan.

Soon in the afternoon, Di Qing met some local elders in the Langzhou City Mansion.

Some of them were local chiefs, some were tribal leaders, and some were simply big merchants in the city who controlled some shops and assets.

These people essentially control the local population, property and resources of Langzhou.

Therefore, even if the Great Song Dynasty came over, they did not dare to give up Langzhou and escape, and in the face of Di Qing's call, they could only come over one by one and test cautiously.

The palace is not big, according to the Great Song Dynasty's government hall system, Di Qing sits on the main seat, and more than a dozen local leaders gather on both sides.

"General, the villain is Li Yuanyi, the leader of the Lizhu tribe in Langzhou."

"General, the villain is Nguyen Minh, the leader of the Wuning tribe in Langzhou."

"The villain is"

Many chiefs, patriarchs, and landlords introduced themselves one after another.

Di Qing greeted with a smile, and when he saw that the people below were uneasy under the gaze of the guards, he immediately said, "Everyone, the imperial court does not want to occupy Annan. ”

As soon as these words came out, they didn't make everyone feel at ease, and they all continued to look at Di Qing, as if they were waiting for the following.

No one is a fool, and it is impossible for them to believe whatever Di Qing says.

Di Qing naturally knew it, so he continued: "Presumably everyone also knows that the Li family is arrogant and rude, and often sneers at the top of our Heavenly Empire, which is rude and insults the neighbors, but they will die. ”

"But the Great Song Dynasty did not have the intention of embezzling Annan, but the Li family must be punished to show that our Great Song Dynasty cannot be humiliated."

"So when I came out of this trip, His Majesty the Son of Heaven had already told me that it was enough to only destroy the Li clan, not to encroach on its country, but if the country was destroyed, what should I do if the Great Song Dynasty retreated?"

As he spoke, he spread his hands and looked at the crowd: "What do you think Annan should do after the Li clan is destroyed?" ”

Everyone looked at each other.

This has not yet come to an end, let them take a stand, so what should they do?

In case Song Guo loses, and they surrender here, it is strange that Li Foma will let them go.

So one by one, they didn't dare to speak, and they couldn't speak.

Di Qing said with a smile: "You don't need to worry, the court has its own decision." It's just that what I want to tell you is that Annan will be destroyed this time, and as for what happens after that, I'll talk about it later. For the affairs of the city, please appease the people first, and I will post a notice to inform the people of Annan that the Great Song Dynasty has no intention of encroachment. ”

After saying this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

I didn't force them to take sides.

At that moment, one by one immediately said: "The general is benevolent and righteous, and he does not anger the people, and he is really the heavenly army of the state." ”

"Great Song Tianwei, the villain is also in awe."

"We will obey the general's orders, and we will make it known to the people so that everyone can rest assured."

Everyone assured.

Di Qing didn't ramble anymore, just pass on his meaning.

He had already given the Langzhou clan a chance, and if they didn't grasp it themselves, it wouldn't be anyone's fault.

Before coming to the court, he said that after the collapse of the Li Dynasty, in order to prevent the Li Dynasty from winning the hearts of the people and establishing the country again, the descendants of the Li Dynasty or the Ding Dynasty could be appointed as puppet emperors.

The Great Song Dynasty would garrison troops in Thang Long and the seaside to support the pro-Song ministers in the country to ascend to the throne, so as to indirectly control the Vietnamese government.

If you take refuge in the Song army at this time, you will naturally get the support of the Song army in the future.

It's a pity that these people are short-sighted and don't know how to change their doors in time, and they missed an opportunity to act as lackeys of the Great Song Dynasty.

But for now, just stabilize these Langzhou scholars and don't let them lag behind.

If they have the goal of eliminating Annan and embezzling Annan, if they can't say it well, they will jump over the wall in a hurry, and organize militias to constantly harass their baggage, which will not outweigh the losses.

So it's good now.

After the destruction of the Li Dynasty, the general trend was the general trend, and most of the Annan Shi people came to take refuge.

At that moment, Di Qing left a thousand Nong Zhigao in Langzhou City, and he was preparing to lead the firearms army to continue to pursue Guo Shengyi.

But as soon as he left the city, there was a scout who visited the Malay newspaper: "Report! ”

Tanma galloped over, knelt down on one knee and said, "The enemy's reinforcements have already laid out heavy troops at Zhiling Pass, and General Huang, General Nong, and General Zhao in front have already led their headquarters to withdraw first. ”

"Oh?"

Di Qing immediately asked, "Can you find out how many troops the enemy has, and who are the people?" ”

Tanma said: "We saw from a distance that the flag with the word "Li" was planted on the gate, and looking at the color, it seemed to be the royal family of Annam, maybe their emperor or prince, the specific number is not known. ”

The Annam royal family?

Di Qing looked at the south with a calm gaze, little Annan, dare to establish himself as the emperor?

Today.

I will tell you to change the dynasty in Annan!

Think about it.

He ordered: "Let the soldiers in front gather first, do not continue the pursuit, and attack when I arrive." ”

"Yes!"

Tanma immediately went to deliver the military order.

(End of chapter)