Thousands of soldiers from the Song Army quickly dispatched and soon surrounded the Ping'an Inn.
At this time, the shopkeeper and several waiters of Ping'an Inn were killed by Xixia spies. Two hundred Xixia spies occupied the inn, wearing the armor of the puppet Qi army, holding swords, spears, and bows and arrows, waiting for the signal from outside the city.
Suddenly, a soldier stumbled in and shouted, "Song troops have surrounded the inn!"
The two hundred Xixia spies sitting in the yard jumped up in shock. The leader shouted: "No chaos, break out from the front and back doors together!"
One thousand soldiers of the Song Army and 200 elite scouts surrounded the Ping'an Inn. There were 300 soldiers at the front door and the back door each, aiming their crossbows at the door.
Li Muqing judged that the opponent was most likely to break through the gate, so he deployed heavy troops in front of the gates on both sides.
The back door was smashed open, and dozens of spies rushed out with shields in hand. The Song army fired a volley of arrows, but the Xixia spies held up their shields and blocked most of the arrows.
Hu Yanlei, the general in charge of the back door, shouted, "Kill him!"
Three hundred soldiers threw down their crossbows and charged forward with spears in hand. They roared and fought fiercely with the enemy.
The same situation happened at Qianmen. Li Muching led the army and fought fiercely with the Xixia spies who broke out at Qianmen.
At this moment, three gunpowder arrows appeared in the night sky outside the West City. The signal from the Xixia army finally came. Unfortunately, the Xixia spies could no longer respond to them. They were killed by the Song army and returned to the inn. Twelve hundred Song soldiers came from all directions.
Arrows were fired inside the inn, and powerful crossbow bolts shot into the inn like a rapid rain.
The Xixia spies had no way to dodge and were hit by arrows one after another. After more than ten rounds of arrows, there was no movement in the inn.
After Hu Yanlei led two hundred scouts into the inn from the back door, dozens of Xixia spies were left fighting fiercely with the Song army. However, they were far from the opponents of the Song army's scouts. In just one stick of incense, all the remaining Xixia spies were also killed.
The army was destroyed, and the Song army only captured a few people who asked for confessions.
Not long after, Hu Yanlei found Li Muching and said to him: "Now that I have asked for the confession, raise three torches to indicate the success of seizing the city gate, then lower the drawbridge and open the city gate!"
Li Muching thought for a while, then shook his head, "Our mission is to guard the city gate, we must not take risks."
It's okay to lower the suspension bridge, but it's absolutely not possible to open the city gate. Not only was the commander-in-chief Chen Qing strict in opening the city gate, but he also didn't know how many Xixia troops were outside. They only had 3,000 people. What if the other side had 30,000 people?
Isn't he seeking death by opening the city gate? This is not called taking advantage of one's tactics, but is called stupidity.
Li Muqing was very decisive. He immediately decided to give up the idea of taking advantage of the enemy and deployed all three thousand troops to the city. All soldiers were holding bows and crossbows and were ready to fight.
Li Muching looked at a forest in the darkness in the distance. The forest was close to the official road. He estimated that the Xixia army was hiding in the forest.
The main force of the eight thousand Xixia army is indeed in the woods. The main general is called Li Ke, a member of the Xixia royal family and the deputy marshal of Xixia's southern expedition.
He led 10,000 troops south from Zhenrong Prefecture in an attempt to control Deshun Prefecture except Longgan County. As soon as he arrived in Longde County, he learned that the Song Army's cavalry had gone north and had captured Longgan County.
But Li Ke also received news at the same time that a thousand Song Army cavalry were rushing towards Longde County. He immediately made a decision and sent 2,000 people to ambush a thousand Song Army cavalry, and used the strategy of moving tigers away from the mountains to move Chen Qing's main force away from Longgan.
County, creating conditions for him to cooperate with the spies in Longqian County.
Li Ke squinted at the dark west city gate. Two quarters of an hour had passed since the signal was launched, but there was no movement at the top of the city. Even the defenders at the top of the city did not panic.
When they fire rockets, they will definitely alert the defenders in the city. It is inevitable that the defenders will increase their defense manpower. The spies in the city will use this short time difference to seize the city gate, but the time left to them will not be too long, a quarter of an hour at most.
Now two quarters of an hour has passed, and there is still no movement. There can only be one explanation: the defenders in the city failed.
Li Ke didn't waste any more time and immediately said: "Implement the second plan!"
His second plan was to ambush the retreating Song army near the West City if he failed to seize the city gate, just like he ambush the Song army in Longde County.
This move was taught to him by Chen Qing. It was easier to ambush the enemy near the city. Although he had already used it once, he believed that the Song army would suffer a second big loss.
The ten thousand troops quickly turned around and left, rushing to Huaixing Valley ten miles away. Li Ke had long discovered that Huaixing Valley was a good place for an ambush. Below was the official road, and the gentle slopes on both sides were covered with pine forests. From
The distance from the pine forest to the official road is about a hundred steps, which is the best shooting range for bows and arrows.
As the time gradually reached two o'clock, Chen Qing's army finally returned from the north. Li Ke got the news that the enemy was very slow, but it was already more than ten miles away and heading towards Huaixing Valley.
"The whole army is ready!"
Li Ke had just given the order when suddenly there was a commotion behind him. When Li Ke turned around, he was stunned and saw thick smoke billowing on the hillside behind him, flames rising into the sky, and a fire igniting in the pine forest, which was spreading rapidly to this side.
Immediately afterwards, a fire also started on the opposite hillside. This was originally a mountain pass, and the wind was stronger at night. The fire took advantage of the wind and the grease of the pine trees, and dozens of trees were ignited in an instant.
Li Keqing knew that he had been tricked and immediately ordered: "Retreat south immediately!"
'Woo--Woo--'
The retreat horn sounded quickly, and in the darkness a large number of Xixia soldiers rushed out of the forest towards the official road, and then gathered in a mighty force to retreat towards the city. However, many Xixia soldiers were still surrounded by fire and had no way to escape. In the end,
Buried in the sea of fire.
.........
Chen Qing's leader was now ten miles north of Huaixing Valley. He looked at the thick smoke billowing in the distance and the flames soaring into the sky. This was Zhao Xiaoyi's scout battalion's successful lighting of the fire.
At this time, the sound of horns came from far away, indicating that the Xixia army should retreat.
Chen Qing pondered for a moment and asked the scout: "Can we take a shortcut to the west here?"
The scout clasped his fists and said, "Reporting to the capital, there is a valley that can be bypassed. It is five miles away to the west."
Chen Qing looked at the night sky again. The moon was bright and the stars were sparse. The bright moonlight coated the earth with a layer of silver light, and the conditions on the ground were clearly visible.
Cavalry operations are greatly affected by the weather, especially at night. If it is cloudy and rainy, the cavalry will basically be unable to move. The war horses cannot see the ground clearly, and it is easy to step on the ground or step on gravel and injure the horses' hooves.
This is also the reason why Qin Zhidao has very strict flatness requirements, making it easier for the cavalry to march quickly at night.
But if the moonlight is very good at night, there will be no problem. For example, tonight, the moonlight is extremely bright, and the gravel and potholes on the ground are clearly visible, and the war horses can completely avoid them, giving the cavalry the best chance to launch a night battle.
Not long after, five thousand Song Army cavalry entered the valley. The valley was not wide, but the road was very smooth, running from northeast to southwest.
Chen Qing led the cavalry to speed up and rush towards the southwest.
.......
Li Ke's army retreated in a panic, as if they were being discovered as thieves. They rushed out of Huaixing Valley and retreated quickly to the west. They had to retreat thirty miles away before they could enter a safe zone.
After running about twenty miles, Li Ke ordered the army to stop advancing. He was preparing to reorganize the army. This area was full of hills and valleys, and he felt a dangerous atmosphere.
His team was too long, covering seven or eight miles, and could easily be ambushed, but whatever he was afraid of would happen. As soon as he had this idea, the army behind him was in chaos.
Li Ke also faintly saw that a cavalry force of several thousand people came from the side valley and cut the Xixia army into two sections...
Under the bright moonlight, the cavalry ran quickly, their swords gleaming with cold light, killing Xixia soldiers with heads rolling and blood flowing like rivers.
The Xixia soldiers were so frightened that they shouted and fled in all directions. Fortunately, this area was not a plain, but low hills and mountains. Many Xixia soldiers fled to the hills. This was the only way to escape the pursuit of the cavalry.
Under the moonlight, Li Ke saw the general of the Song Army holding Fang Tian's painted halberd. This should be the enemy general Chen Qing. He had killed Wanyan Loushi before. The enemy seemed to have discovered him and led his army to kill him.
Li Ke was very frightened and did not dare to fight the Song army. He ran wildly with hundreds of soldiers and gradually escaped the Song army's pursuit...
At dawn, Li Ke fled forty miles away, with only a dozen people following him. By noon, more than two thousand soldiers fled one after another. He did not dare to wait any longer and evacuated northward with the remaining soldiers.
The battle between Longxi County and Longgan County caused the Xixia Army to lose on both the east and west fronts. Gongzhou and Deshun Prefecture, which were originally in the pocket, were taken away by the Song army, with the loss of more than 10,000 soldiers.
Only then did the Xixia court realize the seriousness of the problem. Emperor Li Qianshun of Xixia issued an order to mobilize 50,000 elite troops from five military divisions including Jingsai Military Division, Jianing Military Division, and Zuoxiang Shenyong Military Division to Lanzhou, and from Xingqing
The government mobilized 100,000 civilians and transported 300,000 shi of grain and a large amount of military supplies to Lanzhou.
Li Qianshun also dismissed two royal family members, Li Xingchao and Li Ku, from their posts as deputy marshals of Zhengnan, and appointed General Cao Baozong as marshal of Zhengnan to command an army of 70,000, preparing to compete with Chen Qing for Xihe Road.