As soon as Li Muqing entered the military camp and settled down, Wu Hongwei, the magistrate, brought him several businessmen. These were the businessmen Li Muqing ordered Wu Hongwei to find, and they were also the tasks assigned to Li Muqing by Chen Qing.
The three merchants were all Han merchants. They went to the Hexi Corridor to do porcelain, cloth and tea cake business, and stayed in Didao County in the winter.
The three of them saluted Li Muqing together, "Common people, see you, General Li!"
"Three proprietors, please take a seat!"
Li Muching politely asked the three of them to sit down, and then asked the soldiers to serve tea.
"I'm looking for three people to know about the situation of the Yellow River. When can I cross the Yellow River?"
The three businessmen looked at each other and laughed, "The general has found the right person to ask us. We are also waiting for the Yellow River to completely thaw in Didao County."
"Can you tell me more about it?"
"Actually, the situation is different every year, but it is not different by a few days. Ten days ago, you could walk across the ice, but now you can't. The ice on the river has cracked, which is very dangerous. In the next few days, the ice will become thicker and thicker.
The smaller it gets, the more it flows downstream. This is called cold flood, and it is also very dangerous. It will not be until late February when the drift ice on the river completely ends, and then the ferry will not sail."
"You three mean that we have to wait at least half a month?"
"Absolutely! It's going to be cold this year, so it might be a few days later. It's estimated that we won't be able to cross the river until the end of February."
Li Muching smiled and said: "Thank you so much to the three proprietors. Can you tell me more about the situation in Hexi? My Jiedushi is also very concerned about the Hexi Corridor."
.........
Li Muqing's 3,000 troops almost entered Didao County with the front foot, and the 25,000 Xixia army entered the Tao River Valley with the rear foot.
The Tao River Valley is more than two hundred miles long and dozens of miles wide. It has a warm and humid climate, fertile land, flat terrain, and abundant sources of light and water. It has always been a famous agricultural area in history.
It was still early spring, and the endless wheat seedlings were growing lush and green, but every village was deserted, with no food and no valuables. Only mud-walled huts and some tattered furniture remained.
There was no trace of the Tubo and Qiang people on the other side of the river, not even their tents.
The Xixia army became angry and set fires all the way. Thick smoke billowed from all over the Tao River, and every village was engulfed in flames.
Xia Lian knew very well that the Song army was about a day's journey behind them. He was very cautious and placed the baggage convoy in the middle of the army to prevent a sneak attack by the Song army.
In the evening of this day, the army came to an open grassland. It was rare that thousands of acres of land were grassland without wheat fields. Xia Lian immediately ordered the army to camp on the spot. The so-called camp only meant to station dozens of large tents for the use of middle and high-level generals.
, low-level generals and ordinary soldiers can only sleep in the open.
Of course, Xixia was founded by nomadic people, so the lack of tents was not a big problem. Although the spring was cold, the army still had a way to solve the problem of cold winds at night, and that was bonfires.
Thousands of soldiers were ordered to cut down trees in the surrounding areas and prepare to light dozens of bonfires.
Xia Lian was afraid that the Song army would attack at night, so he also sent more than a hundred spies behind to monitor the movements of the main force of the Song army. In addition, Xia Lian also took great pains to place grain and grass supplies. The grain, grass, kerosene and gunpowder should not be too close to the campfire, but they should not be too close to the army.
It can’t be too far away, and it can’t be placed on the edge.
Xia Lian designed the bonfire position into a circle, with dozens of bonfires distributed on the edge of the circle, and the food and grass supplies were placed in the center of the circle, which was safer.
Several Song army scouts also kept an eye on the Xixia army's food and supplies from a distance.
There is a scout team of more than thirty people hidden in the northeast corner. The leader is Tang Qian, and the deputy commander of the second scout battalion. The second scout battalion is usually responsible for lurking in the opponent's city, but Tang Qian showed his ability as a wild scout.
His talent was deeply appreciated by Yang Zaixing and Liu Qiong.
This time he captured Cao Baozong and received a strong commendation from Chen Qing, who once again entrusted him with the important task of appointing him as the leader of the second line of scouts to track and seek opportunities to destroy the enemy's baggage.
Tang Qian carefully observed the location of the enemy's baggage. It was too difficult to complete any task, and even if he completed the task, it would not be easy to come back alive.
He pondered for a long time, drew a circle on the ground with a branch, and marked a triangle symbol in the center of the circle. He said to the scout Dutou Lin: "In fact, it is easier to get closer to the edge of the circle. The key is to get enough distance from the edge of the circle to the place where the baggage is piled.
It’s a mile long and full of patrol sentries, so it’s a very difficult pass.”
Lin Tao thought for a moment and said, "I have an idea, but how can the commander get close to the edge of the circle?"
"It's very simple. I'll also chop wood. I can speak a few party slang and I can pretend to be a party member."
Tang Qianchang was from Gyeongju. He had dark skin and a big beard. He really looked like a barbarian. He had already figured out how to sneak into the enemy army.
"What good idea do you have?" Tang Qian asked again.
Lin Tao scratched his head and said: "I saw that Xixia soldiers used war horses to drag branches, so I thought that if the war horses were frightened, they would rush in directly and the people would hide under the horses' bellies."
Lin Tao's method has loopholes. The frightened horse can easily be intercepted by the enemy. However, this direction is correct and can be optimized, such as the time when the frightened horse attacks, etc.
Tang Qian rolled his eyes and thought of an optimization method, but he needed the cooperation of a soldier.
.........
Xixia soldiers carried the chopped wood back one after another. Many soldiers cut down a whole tree and then dragged it back with their war horses.
Tang Qian was one of them. He wore Xixia army armor and transformed into a small Xixia leader who was annihilated in Xinxia City. He also had a waistband hanging on his body. He looked like a burly low-level Xixia general.
Choosing the right time was the most important thing. Even though it was good at night, he couldn't use the war horses. He couldn't get through the distance of one mile and the dense sentries.
Horses are used when people chop and transport wood, so this is the best opportunity to take advantage of the frightened horses.
He carried a bow and arrow on his back, pulled a horse, and dragged a big tree to a bonfire. Several soldiers were lighting the fire, but they couldn't light it. Someone complained: "Obviously there is kerosene over there.
I wanted to borrow it, but I just refused to agree."
"Are you crazy?"
The general next to him angrily yelled: "There is an order from above. If you enter that circle, you will be shot. If you want to die, go and do it yourself!"
At this moment, someone not far behind Tang Qian shouted, "The horse is frightened! The horse is frightened!"
Everyone turned around and saw a majestic war horse galloping towards this side.
"Get out of the way!"
Tang Qian shouted in Dangxiang dialect: "Everyone, get out of the way and let me subdue it!"
The soldiers ducked away one after another, but Tang Qian stepped forward to meet them. He pulled the rope and jumped onto the horse, but his body hung on the side of the horse.
This horse was the charcoal horse of the enemy general Cao Baozong. It was an extremely powerful war horse with a flexible body and fast speed. Chen Qing rewarded it to Tang Qian.
Tang Qian was already very good at controlling the horse, but he pretended to be unable to control it and shouted to the patrolling soldiers in the circle, "The horse is frightened, get out of the way!"
More than a dozen soldiers on patrol saw Tang Qian flying on his horse in the middle of the journey in an attempt to control the horse. This gave them the illusion that Tang Qian had nothing to do with the horse, and that the other party acted bravely to subdue the frightened horse.
They hesitated for a moment and did not intercept each other. Tang Qian and Jingma galloped past them.
In the distance, the general Xia Lian was sitting on a big rock drinking tea. He suddenly saw a horse galloping in the restricted area he had marked. He immediately realized that something was wrong. This must be the Song army who was about to attack the baggage, but his men
No reaction came.
He stood up and shouted: "Shoot him! Shoot the horse!"
He was too far away from the horse, and the soldiers hundreds of steps away did not hear his shouts. He was so anxious that he drew his sword and ran away.
Tang Qian did not rush directly into the baggage area, but ran along the edge while shouting: "Get out of the way, the war horse is frightened!"
The patrol soldiers raised their bows and arrows, but they were a little hesitant and failed to shoot. At this moment, Tang Qian suddenly turned his horse around, and the horse rushed straight into the baggage area. In an instant, he rushed through the two patrol soldiers. He was only a few meters away from the baggage pile.
Three hundred steps down.
The Xixia soldiers finally realized that this was not a frightened war horse, but a strategy of the Song army.
They drew their bows and arrows and shot at the running horses and Tang Qian.
The war horses were extremely agile, running left and right, dodging arrows shot from all directions.
Tang Qian was only a hundred steps away from the baggage pile. In front of him were five hundred spear soldiers, forming a spear formation, forming the last long contradiction in the baggage area.
While running at high speed, Tang Qian ignited a fire stick coated with sulfur, which would not go out even if he ran against the wind. He then lit a gunpowder arrow.
The match rope was sizzling and smoke was coming out. He threw away the match rope, quickly took off his riding bow, controlled the horse with his legs, opened the bow and nocked an arrow, and shot an arrow while galloping.