Zhang Chao has been guarding Sanchuankou for two days.

Although he has more than 10,000 soldiers and horses in his hands, except for about 3,000 personal soldiers, the remaining troops are all troops that have just been transferred from the surrounding areas of Bianliang and the south. They can hold out for two days in front of Xiao Ding's Western Army.

Zhang Chao himself felt blameless.

Both soldiers and generals are working hard.

In two days, because Zhang Chao personally supervised the battle, seven officers above the supervisor level had been killed in this unit, two commanders had been killed, and nearly two thousand soldiers had been injured or killed.

Although the camp looks extremely dilapidated, it is still in his hands.

The Western Army on the opposite side seemed to be in no hurry. Standing on the high platform, Zhang Chao could even see the opposite side making some simple siege equipment in a grand manner just outside the camp.

In the afternoon, he even saw groups of Western troops leaving the camp and heading towards Shentangbao.

Zhang Chao immediately fell into a dilemma.

Was it because Zheng Xiong who attacked Shentang Fort withdrew his troops and returned, forcing Xiao Ding to divide his troops to intercept him?

However, with the current strength and morale of both sides, Xiao Ding can launch another large-scale attack, and first take over Sanchuankou. Zhang Chao can feel the attacks in the past two days, and the opponent still has some remaining strength.

Did Xiao Ding really try to intercept Zheng Xiong, or did he set a trap waiting for him to jump into?

With the support of the camp, he could barely fight against Xiao Ding. If he fought in the field, he was afraid that he would collapse at the first touch.

After much thought, Zhang Chao finally did not lead his troops out of the camp to test the opponent's situation.

The reason is simple, he is afraid that he has guessed wrong.

One mistake and it's over.

Zhang Chao calculated the time carefully. It would take at least two days before Wang Jun could lead his troops back to Yan'an Prefecture and come to support him. In this way, he could hold on at Sanchuankou for a longer period of time.

After Lan Sixin returns to Jingzhao Mansion, he will spare no effort to urge the surrounding troops to come to rescue him. In addition, Zhang Cheng will gather the small surrounding troops. As long as he persists for a few days, everything will get better.

.

Perhaps Xiao Ding saw this, so he made an illusion to lure him to attack.

Zhang Chao had already witnessed Xiao Ding's cunning in using his troops.

This young general who was once hailed as the future mainstay of the Song Dynasty was indeed as cunning as a fox and as fierce as a tiger.

Xiao Ding has indeed left.

He was in no hurry to swallow the Song troops in front of him, although they were almost like fish meat on the felt board. In his eyes, whether it was Zheng Xiong's troops or Wang Jun's men, they were obviously better than

The fish belly in Zhang Chao's hands is much more powerful.

If Zhang Chao's oversized bait was swallowed in one gulp, Zheng Xiong and Zhang Chao would both run away.

So Xiao Ding was overjoyed when he heard that Zheng Xiong was returning with his troops and rushing towards Sanchuankou. He left Xin Jian behind, but he took three thousand iron kites to copy Zheng Xiong's retreat.

If Zheng Xiong ignored Zhang Chao and insisted on taking the Shentang Fort, even if Li Yi defended the Shentang Fort, his losses would have been extremely heavy. But Xiao Ding racked his brains and tried every means to make dangerous moves.

There is only one purpose, which is to reduce one's own losses as much as possible.

He firmly remembered an issue that Xiao Erlang and Xiao Cheng discussed with him.

Even if the Western Army won one victory after another in the war against Song or Liao, the losses were definitely unbearable by the Western Army. This is the most direct manifestation of the opponent's huge national power. Even if they were defeated again and again. , but it won’t take long for them to make up for their losses.

But the Western Army cannot.

Just like the current Song Dynasty, there are more than 50 million Dingkou in the country, and there are 20 million Dingkou in Liao Dynasty.

As for the Western Army, the land spans thousands of miles, and the territory is even larger than the Song Dynasty, but it is really vast and sparsely populated. Even though Xiao Ding and other high-level officials noticed this problem from the beginning, they kept Annexed and even robbed, but so far, there are still only three million people.

The huge gap in population base determines the gap between the two sides that cannot be bridged in terms of manpower.

Moreover, Xiao Ding must be concerned about another issue, that is, his core tribe is still Song people. But now, this problem can probably be expanded to include the Han people. When Red entered and Zheng Jihong attacked the Western Regions, he discovered Xiao Ding was overjoyed by the large number of Han people who migrated there during the Tang Dynasty.

These Han people living in foreign lands are not like the Song people now. They have to fight to survive from generation to generation, but they have maintained their strong character and warlike temperament. The Song people, on the other hand, have lived in peace and prosperity for generations. However, they developed a very soft temper. This is also the reason why there is such a big gap between the combat effectiveness of the Song Dynasty's border troops and the mainland Forbidden Army.

Even though the high-ranking Han Chinese account for a larger proportion in the Western Army and have obvious advantages, among the lower-level officers, Party members account for the majority. This is a big worry. Xiao Ding may not have I have noticed it, but it is impossible for people like Zhang Yuan not to consider it.

If the Dangxiang tribe is really allowed to become guest-dominated by then, wouldn't it be a joke?

Xiao Ding must win and preserve his own strength as much as possible. This is a contradictory proposition.

It's not that Xiao Ding doesn't want to be pushed horizontally and vertically with his majestic master, but his strength doesn't allow it.

This kind of battle may be safer. Even if you don't win, you won't be defeated.

But for Xiao Ding's Western Army, it was a chronic poison.

Xiao Ding could only take risks and walk on the edge of the cliff again and again.

It's like this ongoing life-and-death war.

If there is a problem in that link, the entire Western Army may have a chain of adverse reactions, eventually completely destroying them.

Fortunately, so far, relying on the powerful combat effectiveness and unparalleled mobility of the Western Army, everything is still under control.

And after winning the war against Zhang Chao, they defeated the hundreds of thousands of troops that the Song Dynasty had finally put together again, and then turned around to deal with the Liao people.

Only when the two giants of Song and Liao jointly defeated this siege and suppression at the same time could the Western Army truly gain a breathing space.

In Zhang Yuan's words, once Yelujun ascends the throne of the Liao Kingdom, he will inevitably set his sights on the grand goal of unifying the world. This Khitan man was deeply influenced by Sinology and had the desire to become the emperor of a unified empire engraved in his bones. Persistence.

If it really gets to this point, the Western Army will become a hot potato, and whoever it favors will have a huge advantage.

Of course, for the Western Army, it is natural to help whoever is weak.

This is the way for the Western Army to survive.

If the Liao or Song Dynasty were to truly unite the world, would the Western Army be able to survive alone?

How can you allow others to sleep soundly next to your bed?

This sentence applies to every hero or hero.

Zheng Xiong met the interception force arranged by Xiao Ding before on the bank of Luoshui River.

The two military villages of Jintang City and Dejing Village did not have too many soldiers and horses, but they firmly blocked Zheng Xiong's ferry crossing Luoshui. Zheng Xiong wanted to rush to Sanchuankou as quickly as possible. This was him

A place that cannot be bypassed.

Zheng Xiong forcibly crossed the Luoshui River.

Two pontoon bridges erected overnight and countless simple rafts raced toward the opposite side.

The number of Western troops in Jintangchang and Dejingzhai was not large. There were only a thousand people in both places. Zheng Xiong took advantage of this and came to full bloom. With your manpower, you must be focusing on the head and not the bottom.

Pay attention to the east and not to the west.

Zheng Xiong withdrew about 30,000 troops this time.

But it was such a huge bet that Zheng Xiong lost almost everything.

When half of the troops and horses had just crossed the Luoshui River, they encountered the galloping iron kites led by Xiao Ding himself.

In other words, Xiao Ding is hiding somewhere, waiting for this moment to come out and strike.

The iron kite on the river bank was like a razor, killing the Song army horribly.

The Song troops on rafts in the river turned around in panic and drove back, while the soldiers who crossed the river from the pontoon bridge panicked and did not know how many people fell into the river.

Seeing a group of iron kites rushing onto the pontoon bridge, the Song army on the other side of the bridge had to cut off the pontoon bridge. The floating bridge cut off the iron kites' path to attack them, but also cut off those who had already crossed the river.

way of life.

Zheng Xiong couldn't bear to look at the wailing Song troops on the other side.

The Song army, which had no way to go to heaven and no way to reach the ground, wanted to survive. The only way was to surrender.

And once they surrender, they will inevitably be taken captive to the north of Hengshan. In this life, there is not much hope of coming back.

As Zheng Xiong expected, the Song army on the other side laid down their weapons and surrendered under the double attack of the butcher's knife and the raging river water.

A large flag with the word Xiao in black characters on a white background stands on the bank of the river, and Xiao Ding stands on horseback with a horizontal sword.

Across the river, Zheng Xiong's Chinese army flag was also fluttering in the river breeze.

The commanders-in-chief of the two armies faced each other across the river.

The last time they met was when Xiao Ding was returning to Beijing from Hebei and passed by Huazhou, where Zheng Xiong was in power. That time, Xiao Ding went to meet Zheng Xiong as a junior, and Zheng Xiong also did not hesitate to teach Xiao Dingyan and Xiao Ding because of their relationship as a senior.

Many words of respect for oneself,

I never imagined that when we met again, it would be such a life and death struggle.

Zheng Xiong held the waist knife, with veins on his hands clearly visible.

On the other side, Xiao Ding got off his horse, took off his helmet, and bowed to the other side.

Fighting to the death is a business matter.

Bowing and saluting is a personal relationship.

Zheng Xiong snorted, reined in his horse, turned around, and walked towards the distance.

After this battle, he lost his troops. Thirty thousand troops were lost under the Shentang Fort and on the edge of the Luoshui River. At this moment, only one-third was left. His morale dropped to the bottom, and he saw that the logistics supply was also about to be exhausted.

It's a big problem. Sanchuankou has become a battlefield, but I can no longer enjoy the logistical materials accumulated in Yan'an Prefecture.
To be continued...