The fire in the Xixia military camp was not completely extinguished until the next day. 20,000 tents were burned down. More than 3,000 soldiers and nearly 10,000 horses were killed in the flames. There was also a large amount of food, grass and military supplies that could not be removed in time. They were all destroyed.
Destroyed by fire.
At noon, the fire was extinguished, and the camp, which was more than ten miles long, was burned to a white ground. The surrounding camp fences were also burnt to char, some were lying down, and some were still standing darkly in the soil.
The air was filled with the stench of burnt corpses, and corpses burned to black charcoal could be seen everywhere. It was impossible to tell whether they were human beings or war horses.
In the wilderness outside the camp, groups of Xixia soldiers were dejected and escorted by the Song army to Ganquan Fort.
In a night chase last night, more than 6,000 Xixia soldiers were killed and about 8,000 were captured. This was also because the visibility was not good at night, so a large number of Xixia soldiers escaped. In addition, there were thousands of soldiers on patrol outside.
He escaped unscathed and withdrew to Baochuan County.
Despite this, most of the 70,000 troops brought by Li Liangfu were annihilated by the Song army in fierce battles. In the end, less than 20,000 Xixia soldiers were withdrawn to Baochuan County.
Of course, Chen Qing tasted the sweetness in the exchange with Wan Yanchang. These 8,000 prisoners of war were enough for him to blackmail Xixia.
.......
In Shangzhou, a 20,000-strong Jin army was moving south rapidly. The leader was none other than Marshal Wanyan Salihe of the Jin's West Route Army. His Hanzhong plan was approved by Marshal Wanyanchang and was immediately implemented.
Twenty thousand Jin soldiers have passed through Shangluo County and are heading south along another rugged and narrow official road. This side belongs to the remaining veins of Qinling Mountains and the junction with Funiu Mountain. This area is called Falcon Ridge. There are many mountains, but it is not difficult.
There are many rivers passing through the mountains, making the mountains relatively fragmented.
Although war horses can be used, it is not like the Shangluo Road where large baggage vehicles can be used. This road cannot carry heavy baggage vehicles, so 20,000 gold soldiers walked on foot, allowing the war horses and tens of thousands of mules and donkeys to carry grain, grass and other supplies.
This is actually a shortcut to the east line of Han Dynasty. Although it is difficult to walk, as long as they do not carry baggage, the 20,000 Jin soldiers can still pass through the Falcon Ridge along the Jia River and reach the Han River.
In and out of Hanzhong, there are not only the north-south Sichuan-Shaanxi Passage, but also the Qinfeng Road heading to Xihe Road in the west, which is the North Xianrenguan Passage. In addition, if you go west along the Han River from Xiangyang, you can also enter Hanzhong from the east, which is Dong
The Han River channel of the road.
This was Wanyan Sali's idea. He detoured thousands of miles and took the Han River channel to catch the Song army by surprise and entered Hanzhong.
There are several key nodes in this roundabout strategy. One is Shangjin County. By capturing Shangjin County, the gate to the Han River Channel will be opened, and they can ride horses on the flat official road towards Hanzhong and speed up.
The second key node is Xicheng County. Xicheng County is the prefecture of Jinzhou and belongs to Hanzhong. It has a lot of money and food. Capturing Xicheng County means that they can get food and grass supplies in time.
The third key node is Raofengguan. The core of Hanzhong is Nanzheng County, Xingyuan Prefecture. The logistics center of the Western Army and the Xuanfu Division Office of Sichuan and Shaanxi are all here. Raofengguan is the headquarters of Xingyuan Prefecture and Nanzheng County.
East Gate.
Once Raofeng Pass is captured, Nanzheng County will be within easy reach, so Raofeng Pass is also the most important node in Wanyan Sali's strategy of conquering Hanzhong.
Wanyan Salihe's current goal is to seize the first node, Shangjin County.
Shangjin County is just a small mountainous county, close to Jia Shui, a tributary of the Han River, with a population of only a few thousand people. In the early morning of this day, the city guards of Shangjin County opened the city gate as usual, and the farmers waiting outside the city came into the city to sell vegetables.
, the atmosphere is very peaceful, it is far away from Guanzhong, and there is no worry of war. Everyone seems to be living in a paradise.
The two soldiers who opened the city gate yawned and were about to go back and squint for a while. At this moment, there was a sudden commotion outside the city, and countless people were running away desperately.
The two soldiers looked to the north and were stunned. They saw a mighty golden army coming from the north.
.........
Wu Jie was really depressed. He thought that Zhu Shengfei urgently summoned him to Nanzheng for some big deal, but it turned out that he was sent to Bashu to suppress bandits. This made Wu Jie speechless for a while.
Wu Jie walked out of the Xuanfu Envoy Siguan Yamen. He was a little confused. Zhu Shengfei was the Xuanfu Envoy of Sichuan and Shaanxi. He did have the power to transfer himself, but it would have been okay if he went to Bashu to suppress bandits a month or two ago. But now.
..... One hundred thousand puppet Qi troops are stationed on the south bank of the Wei River and can attack Dashan Pass at any time. At this juncture, I am redeploying myself to suppress the bandits in Bashu and letting Fu Xuan be the commander-in-chief of Dashan Pass. Is this appropriate?
What made Wu Jie even more angry was that he didn't even have a single soldier when he went to Bashu to suppress the bandits. He was allowed to go to Bashu to recruit 20,000 people. This was actually depriving him of his military power in disguise and handing it over to Fu Xuan.
Wu Jie pondered for a moment on the street, then urged his horse to go to the Xingyuan Mansion Office.
"Hey! What gust of wind brought Old Wu to my place?" Liu Ziyu, the prefect, came out with a big smile.
Wu Jie smiled bitterly and said: "This gust of wind is too strong. You are just passing by here, but you will blow me away to Bashu immediately."
Liu Ziyu was slightly startled, "Brother Jin Qing, where do you start with these words?"
"Go in and talk! I'm thirsty. Pour me a bowl of herbal tea first."
Liu Ziyu quickly invited Wu Jie into the inner hall to sit down, and asked his attendants to serve tea. After a while, two attendants came in with tea.
Wu Jie took a few sips of herbal tea, then sighed and briefly told him about his meeting with Zhu Shengfei today.
Liu Ziyu was immediately shocked. At this critical moment, Zhu Shengfei deprived Wu Jie of his military power and asked Fu Xuan to guard Dashan Pass. That bastard was suspected of passing gold!
"What is he doing? Where did you offend him?"
Wu Jie pondered for a moment and said, "It probably has something to do with the discussion about establishing a military intelligence office some time ago."
Zhu Shengfei wanted to follow Zhang Jun's example in setting up a military intelligence office, to keep abreast of military trends and direct the enemy's operations. Zhu Shengfei was a propaganda envoy, so it was understandable that he made this request, and Wu Jie fully agreed.
However, they had huge differences on the details of military power. That is, Zhu Shengfei was unwilling to delegate power. He must hold the command of the former enemy, and all deployment and combat decisions must be approved by him.
Is Zhu Shengfei's request excessive? In the Song Dynasty, this request was not excessive at all. This was what civilians held military power. Military generals were only responsible for fighting on the battlefield, but how to fight? Field battles or sieges, how many troops needed to be mobilized, etc.
It's up to the civil servants to decide.
For example, if Dashan Pass cannot be defended one day, Wu Jie is anxious to mobilize troops from Xianren Pass to support him. Sorry, Wu Jie must submit a report application first, and only after Zhu Shengfei approves can the troops from Xianren Pass be mobilized.
, if the reinforcements arrive too late and Dashan Pass has been captured, then the responsibility belongs to Wu Jie and has nothing to do with Zhu Shengfei.
Zhang Jun was like this at the beginning. The Battle of Fuping was completely decided and commanded by him, and he did not listen to the generals' persuasion at all, which led to a disastrous defeat in the end. The 200,000 troops were defeated and more than half of the casualties were lost.
It was only after Zhang Jun suffered this heavy loss that he reluctantly handed over wartime command power to Wu Jie.
And Zhu Shengfei hasn’t suffered a big loss yet! How could he give up power?
Therefore, he flatly rejected the seemingly absurd approach of handing over wartime command. He asked Wu Jie to always send people on fast horses to Nanzheng County to ask for instructions and report to him, and then he would decide how to fight the war and how to mobilize troops.
Of course Wu Jie also knew that Zhu Shengfei was not Zhang Jun, and it was impossible to follow Zhang Jun's method, so he put forward three conditions. First, he hoped that Zhu Shengfei would be in charge of Dashanguan during the war;
Second, if Zhu Shengfei really doesn't want to sit in Dashan Pass, it can be done. The military intelligence office can be located in Dashan Pass and then communicate through Xinying.
Third, please ask Zhu Shengfei to grant him certain emergency rights during wartime.
Zhu Shengfei rejected all three conditions, which also led to the establishment of a military intelligence office falling apart, which made Zhu Shengfei extremely angry.
Liu Ziyu sighed and said: "This Zhu Shengfei is famous for being narrow-minded and stubborn in the court. How can he accept your conditions? You'd better agree to him first! It's better than being deprived of military rights and going to Bashu to do nothing."
Wu Jie shook his head, "If I agree to him, I will be the sinner of losing Da San Pass. I would rather lose my job than bear this responsibility!"
At this moment, followers rushed in from outside and reported in the hall: "The Xuanfu envoy asked Magistrate Liu to go to the Xuanfu envoy's office immediately to discuss urgent matters. If Wu Dutong is here, please go too."