Chapter four hundred and thirteenth under the lamp
In the dark night, a Song Army cavalry galloped on its horse, stirring up billowing yellow dust on the official road. At the fourth watch, Longxi County was already in sight. The war horse finally couldn't hold on anymore and fell down, throwing the cavalry a foot away. Song
The military cavalry took a long time to get up and came to the horse. They saw that the horse was twitching all over and foaming at the mouth. It was already dying.
The cavalrymen sighed, took off their horse bags, and ran towards Longxi County in a group.
Not long after, the cavalry ran to the east city gate and shouted to the top of the city, "Please open the city gate! Please open the city gate!"
After a while, someone on the top of the city poked his head and asked, "Who are you?"
"I am Zhou Jin, a soldier of the capital, coming from Tongxi County. I have an urgent situation to report to the capital!"
The people at the top of the city went back. After a while, a general asked: "Since you are a soldier of the capital, where are your horses?"
"My horses are exhausted. Commander Hou Kai, I know you."
After a while, a basket was placed on it, and the general at the head of the city said: "Put the military card in the basket. I will take a look. Do you know what it is to open the city gate at night without permission?"
The personal soldier general card was placed in the basket, and the basket was put back. After a moment, the city gate slowly opened, the suspension bridge was lowered, and the personal soldier Zhou Jin ran into the city. The commander Hou Kai led a war horse over, "Mount the horse! I will lead you."
You go and see Du Tong."
Zhou Jin got on his horse and followed Hou Kai towards the camp.
.........
Chen Qing was woken up by the soldiers in his sleep. He turned over and sat up and asked in a deep voice: "What's the matter?"
"Zhou Jin is back. He said he needs to report an urgent situation!"
Zhou Jin is the head of Chen Qing's personal soldier who stayed in Tongxi County to help the two children bury their father. Chen Qing nodded, "Let him in!"
After a while, Zhou Jin walked into the big tent, knelt down on one knee and saluted, "See the capital!"
"Capital, a Xixia army is moving towards Longxi County quickly. It may arrive at dawn."
This was a bit beyond Chen Qing's expectation. He quickly asked: "How many people are there?"
"There were seven or eight thousand people, including infantry and cavalry. The infantry ran all the way and the march was very fast."
Chen Qing pondered for a moment. This should be the Xixia army from Dingxi County going south. They didn't know that Xia Baihu's army had been completely wiped out, so they came specially to occupy Longxi County.
"What's the situation with those two teenagers? Li Songnian and Li Songshi."
"Their father has been buried. Xiaowu and Zhang Shun sent them to Chengji County. Both of them have read a lot of books and feel that they can take part in the imperial examination."
Chen Qing nodded, "You have worked hard all the way, so go down and rest first!"
"Humble job... Humble job beat the horse and run wildly all the way. Unfortunately, the horse died of exhaustion."
"This is a special situation. You tell Yan Jun and he will arrange a new horse for you."
Zhou performed a ritual and then retreated.
Chen Qing thought for a moment and ordered: "Go quickly and tell Yang Zaixing, Gaoding, Liu Cui and Niu Gao to come see me!"
Not long after, four people arrived in a hurry. Chen Qing said slowly: "I just got the news that about seven or eight thousand Xixia troops are heading towards Longxi County. They are expected to arrive at dawn. I am considering ambushing the enemy."
"Capital, the ambush is too close to the county seat. I'm afraid it will be easily discovered by enemy spies!"
Chen Qing shook his head and smiled: "Because it is so close to the county seat, enemy spies would not expect that they would pay more attention to the situation in the county seat."
Seeing that everyone didn't understand, Chen Qing pointed to the oil lamp on the table and said with a smile: "This oil lamp is the county seat. Have you noticed what's going on under the lamp?"
"They all say it's dark under the lamp!" Everyone reacted at the same time.
Chen Qing nodded, "We are about to arrive at the county seat. Of course the enemy general sent spies to check the situation in the county seat. Who cares about the villages around the county seat?"
Everyone cheered up, "Du Tong, we have to set off now!"
Chen Qing nodded, "You should notify the army to get up immediately."
"Follow the order!"
The four people turned to leave, and Chen Qing shouted: "General Niu Gao, stay one step!"
Niu Gao stopped and Chen Qingxiao asked: "How is the recruitment situation?"
Chen Qing decided to recruit two thousand soldiers to guard Longxi County, and Niu Gao was responsible for this matter.
Niu Gao bowed and said: "We started yesterday afternoon. We recruited 1,200 people in one afternoon. It is estimated that we will complete the recruitment by today."
"Then you continue to recruit today. I will leave a thousand soldiers for you, and you will be responsible for defending the city."
"I humbly obey orders!"
...........
It was getting daylight, and the six thousand cavalrymen had been waiting for a long time. They were hidden in a forest twenty miles away from the county town. The soldiers were in high spirits, their horses were recharged, their spears were like a forest, their armor was shining, and they were waiting with high morale.
One battle.
Chen Qing put up his hand curtain and looked into the distance. He saw dust flying for seven or eight miles in the distance, covering the sky and the sun, and a large army was coming in force.
The enemy's scouts and spies had already rushed towards the county seat to inquire about the situation in the county seat. The main army behind them did not even think that there would be an ambush near the county seat.
Chen Qing's eyes were cold and stern as he watched the enemy troops appear three miles away. Six thousand cavalry were gearing up behind him, waiting for the final order to attack.
The Xixia army was getting closer and closer. The Song army had already seen the appearance of the enemy in the flying dust. They were less than 300 steps away from them. Chen Qing saw that the enemy soldiers were exhausted, and he made an instant decision.
He decided not to intercept the opponent this time, but to attack head-on.
Chen Qing raised his Fangtian painted halberd and shouted to the six thousand soldiers: "We once defeated a hundred thousand Xixia army, but that was a city defense battle. Today we will use cavalry to attack them head-on. Brothers, let the Xixia Tatars taste it."
Let’s have a taste of the power of the Song Dynasty’s cavalry!”
Six thousand cavalry raised their spears and shouted.
"Kill--" Chen Qing roared.
"Kill -" the six thousand cavalry roared together, like ten thousand horses galloping, charging towards the Xixia army 200 steps away.
The Xixia army never dreamed that the Song army would be ambushing them here. The Xixia army suddenly panicked and the trumpets kept sounding to remind the soldiers in the army.
This Xixia army consisted of 8,000 people, including 5,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry. They indeed went south from Dingxi County to take over Longxi County. The leader of the army was called Li Qixia. He did not know that the Song army had captured Longxi County in advance.
I didn't know that Xia Hu's army had been completely wiped out.
It was only then that he suddenly realized that Longxi County had been occupied by the Song Army. Where was Xia Hu's army?
They marched for two hundred miles without sleeping for almost a day and a night, while the enemy waited for work. Can they defeat the enemy?
He had no answers to all his questions, and whether he wanted to or not, he had no choice.
The Song army's cavalry collided with the Xixia soldiers, killing the Xixia army by surprise. Many Xixia soldiers did not even react before the Song army's spears took their lives.
Chen Qing personally led an army into the hinterland of the Xixia Army, killing the Xixia soldiers with blood and flesh scattered everywhere. Thousands of Xixia soldiers were howling like ghosts and wolves, with no fighting spirit, and stumbled away for their lives.
In fact, the Xixia soldiers who had been marching for a day and night no longer had the physical strength to fight the Song army. The well-trained Song army cavalry was divided into six thousand-man teams, and the six thousand-man teams were split into sixty hundred-man teams, defeating the eight thousand Xixia army.
They were torn to pieces, and there was no decisive battle at all. They were defeated after a little resistance.
Li Qixia encountered Song Army General Gao Ding. The two fought fiercely for less than three rounds. Li Qixia was shot three times in a row and almost stabbed through the throat on the spot. If his own soldiers had not desperately rescued him, Li Qixia would have been beheaded by Gao Ding.
Li Qixia was so frightened that he didn't even bother to bandage his wounds. He turned his horse's head and fled north.
Although the Xixia soldiers were famous for their tenacity, they could not prevent the defeat of their own army. A dozen generals of the Xixia rear army who originally wanted to resist lost their fighting spirit when they saw their general running away, and fled northward with their soldiers. For a time
The Xixia army was defeated like a mountain.
The Song Army's cavalry pursued them for more than 30 miles. They killed everyone they encountered and took no prisoners. They killed more than 6,000 Xixia soldiers. Only more than 1,600 cavalry escaped the Song Army's pursuit and fled north in panic.
.
This battle was the "Longxi Ambush" that was later included in the textbook of the Northwest Army Exercise Hall. It described the importance of early intelligence. However, because the early intelligence was not done well, it was not known that the Song Army had occupied Longxi County.
The Xixia army marched desperately and without rest for a day and a night. As a result, the Song army waited for work and was attacked head-on and collapsed.
However, insufficient early intelligence was not entirely the main reason for the defeat of the Xixia Army. The main reason for the Xixia Army's ambush was tactical problems.
The key is the choice of the Song Army's ambush location. Although the Xixia Army also sent spies, because it was too close to the county seat, the Xixia spies habitually went to investigate the situation in the county seat, but ignored the dangers surrounding the county seat. This is a typical case under the lamp.
As a black war example, the county seat is too conspicuous, and its surroundings become blind spots.
This battle also forced the Xixia army to give up their plan to capture Gongzhou, began to shift from offensive to defensive, and began to consolidate their existing occupied areas on Xihe Road.
Among the prefectures on Xihe Road, Lanzhou, Huizhou, Huangzhou, Kuozhou, Xining Prefecture, Hezhou, and Lintao Prefecture, these six prefectures and one prefecture are currently in the hands of the Xixia people, while Taozhou, Minzhou, and the Jishi Army are in Tubo
in human hands.
Strictly speaking, the Gongzhou and Qinzhou currently controlled by Chen Qing do not belong to Xihe Road. His title as the Jiedushi of Xihe Road is still a title in name only.