Dangchuan County is located in a mountainous area, and its status in Lintao Prefecture is almost insignificant. It exists only as a small county specially established because of the need to accommodate military families. With the disappearance of the Song army in Lintao Prefecture, a large number of people in Dangchuan County also followed suit.
Go, there are only a few hundred households left, with a population of two to three thousand.
The reason why Dangchuan County became the focus of attention of the Song and Xia armies was because there was a large silver mine thirty miles northwest of Dangchuan County. Of course, it was not called the silver mine before, but was called the Dangchuan County Lead Mine. It was almost
All the local people thought it was a lead mine.
It wasn't until the Xixia people took over the mine and resumed mining and smelting that news gradually spread that it was not a lead mine, but a silver mine.
Silver mines have been mined for nearly twenty years. Previously, the output had been small due to lack of manpower. In the past two years, the Xixia Army transferred 7,000 mining slaves from Xixia at one time, causing a sudden increase in silver ore output, from an annual output of twenty
Tens of thousands of taels of silver are produced, and now the annual output is tens of thousands of kilograms of crude silver.
Although the mine is far away from the county seat, the population is much larger than that of the county seat. Seven thousand mining slaves and thousands of their families live in endless shacks around the mine.
The sources of the mine slaves are complex. Some are captured Song Army soldiers, some are captured Han slaves from the Song Dynasty, and many are Qiang and Tubo people. They were originally slaves in the salt mines. A year and a half ago, they were captured again.
Transferred to Dangchuan County.
Of the 7,000 people, 6,000 work in the mines to extract ore, and the other 1,000 are smelters responsible for smelting the ore.
When the Xixia people occupied the mines, they discovered a large amount of ore mined by the Song army without smelting. These ores were cheap to the Xixia people.
Jin of crude silver, plus the ores mined by themselves, in just over a year, the Xixia people's crude silver inventory exceeded 100,000 kilograms.
Shortly after the Battle of Gongzhou, Cao Baozong sent a thousand camels to Lintao Prefecture to transport back the 100,000 kilograms of crude silver stranded in Dangzhou County. Unexpectedly, the camel team had just arrived in Didao County and was preparing to rest for two days. The Song army
Entered Lintao Mansion.
General Xia Jin had to send a thousand troops to escort the camel team to Dangzhou County to transport coarse silver.
The silver mine temporarily stopped mining. At the foot of the mountain, in front of a warehouse made of large rocks, wooden boxes were moved out one by one. There were two thousand wooden boxes in total. Each box contained fifty kilograms of crude silver. It happened to be filled by one
Thousands of camels were transported away.
The chief steward Ren Zhongqun followed the last few wooden boxes out and said with a smile: "General Tuoba, don't you want to have a drink before leaving?"
The guard general is called Tuoba Ji, a general. He shoulders the important task of escorting the silver ingots, and he is really nervous.
Tuoba Ji shook his head and said: "The Song army has already entered Lintao. We can't waste a moment. There will be a chance in the future!"
Ren Zhongqun narrowed his eyes and said with a smile: "Okay! I wish the general a happy journey."
Thousands of Xixia cavalry guards mounted their horses one after another, and dozens of camel slaves finally checked whether the box was tied tightly.
At this moment, a low horn sound was faintly heard in the distance, and then a soldier on the mountainside shouted: "A cavalry is coming from a distance!"
Tuobaji hurriedly held up the curtain and looked into the distance. He saw yellow dust billowing on the official road in the distance. The dust was flying, and the thunderous sound of horse hooves came from a distance. It was estimated to be more than ten miles away.
Ren Zhongqun's expression changed drastically and he shouted: "General Tuoba, leave quickly, I will contain him!"
Tuoba Ji was filled with hatred and anxiety. He angrily scolded dozens of camel slaves, "Stop checking and leave!"
The camel slaves led the long camel team and set off, walking quickly towards the north along the official road. They kept whipping their whips to urge the camels to speed up. A thousand cavalry followed closely on both sides of the camel team.
Tuoba Ji was extremely anxious. He wished that the camel team would start flying. He didn't know if he could escape the Song army's pursuit this time.
It was Yang Zaixing's five thousand cavalry who were fighting in the distance. Although they were one day behind the opponent, they kept speeding up to catch up and finally caught up with the opponent.
Yang Zaixing led the army to the mine. He reined in his horse and looked around. He saw an army on the mine from a distance, but the army was halfway up the mountain. Where were the camels?
Yang Zaixing saw that the army was the guard army of the mine, and it was also a thousand soldiers. They were responsible for supervising the mining and smelting of the mine slaves. They could dominate the mine slaves, but in the face of 5,000 Song Army cavalry and 1,000 guards
The army was timid.
They did not dare to fight the Song army head-on, so they fled halfway up the mountainside to attract the Song army's attention and try to buy time for the camel transport team.
Yang Zaixing took a glance and saw a dozen barefoot children hiding behind a big rock on the roadside. Their clothes were in tatters and they were covered in filth. They were probably the children of the mining slaves.
Yang Zaixing grabbed a lot of money and asked, "Have you seen a camel team? There are about a thousand camels."
A dozen children pointed to the north and shouted: "The camels are going over there, there are so many camels!"
"Follow me!"
Yang Zaixing threw the copper coins to the child, turned around and shouted, and the large group of cavalry rushed north and rushed up a gentle hillside. Yang Zaixing saw a camel team several miles away. Each camel was carrying two wooden boxes.
A troop of more than a thousand Xixia cavalry looked back nervously from time to time.
"Brothers, except camels, everyone else will be killed without mercy!"
After the order was issued, the Song Army cavalry drew their swords, waved their spears, and roared towards the camel team several miles away.
When Tuoba Ji saw the Song army chasing them, he raised his sword in despair and shouted: "Brothers, fight with the Song army!"
Thousands of Xixia cavalry shouted and quickly formed a formation in the fields on both sides of the official road.
The Song cavalry arrived in an instant and violently collided with a thousand Xixia cavalry. The cavalry from both sides were quickly swamped together.
This was a battle without any suspense. Both sides were well-trained, but the Song Army had an overwhelming advantage in strength. With five fighting to one, the Xixia Army was completely unable to resist it. It only lasted less than half an hour, and the Xixia Army's cavalry was exhausted.
More than half of them were killed, and the remaining four hundred soldiers turned their horses and fled without their lives.
They passed by the camel caravan like a gust of wind, but did not stop. They ran away and soon ran away.
Yang Zaixing waved his hand to stop the army's pursuit, and the army immediately took control of the camel team.
"Open the box and take a look!" Yang Zaixing ordered the soldiers.
The soldiers unloaded more than a dozen wooden boxes and pried open the first box. Everyone looked at each other in surprise. Inside was a heavy stone slab with a rough texture, but everyone could recognize that it was a piece of rock from the mountain.
Yang Zaixing was shocked and ordered urgently: "Open the box again. They opened more than 300 wooden boxes in a row, and they were all filled with stone slabs, without exception.
"General, couldn't it be that the cavalry just changed the box temporarily?"
Yang Zaixing has calmed down from his anger. If the cavalry just knew that it was a slate box, they would not have fought against him. They should have been deceived as well.
"Back to the mines!"
Yang Zaixing gave an order, and the soldiers of the Song Army led the camels and turned back to the mine. A thousand guarding soldiers disappeared.
The Song army searched everywhere and soon caught a Han steward and brought him to Yang Zaixing.
The steward was so frightened that he knelt down and kowtowed, begging for mercy. "General, I'm just a steward in the warehouse. I didn't do any evil. Please forgive me, General!"
"I won't kill you. Get up and tell me where the army I saw halfway up the mountain went?"
"The chief steward took them and fled westward."
"Where are you going to the west?"
"This is very close to Hezhou. Walk 30 miles west to Hezhou Dingxi Walled City, and then walk 30 miles further to Ninghe County. You can reach it after climbing over two mountains."
"I ask you again, where did the silver go? How could there be a slate in the box?"
"The villain doesn't know"
Before he finished speaking, Yang Zaixing's sharp sword was pressed against his neck. Yang Zaixing said coldly: "If you dare to say you don't know again, I will cut off your head and ask someone else."
Song Jun captured another warehouse steward. The little steward in front of him collapsed. He collapsed on the ground and cried: "All the money was taken away by the big steward Ren. He was replaced a few months ago. I really don't know where he hid it."