Seven days later, the floating ice on the Yellow River became smaller and smaller. Although it was not all gone, it was already possible to sail.
Chen Qing requisitioned all fifty large ferries nearby to carry troops across the Yellow River. Each ferry was loaded with soldiers, horses, and supplies and sailed to the other side.
Before that, Chen Qing sent three soldiers who were skilled in water to swim across the Yellow River to explore the situation of the Xixia Army on the other side. They found that all 20,000 Xixia troops had withdrawn, leaving only an empty camp.
But the opponent was the experienced Shang Dongyan who was good at making clever plans. Chen Qing did not dare to be careless in the slightest, so he ordered a group of scouts to risk their lives by swimming across the Yellow River. They were divided into two groups to explore within a hundred miles, but still no trace of the army was found. Only then did Chen Qing become convinced that the other party had completely evacuated.
But Chen Qing couldn't figure out the reason why the other party withdrew its troops. Logically speaking, the other party should not know the news that the Agan County army had been wiped out.
Unexpectedly, Chen Qing stopped thinking about it and ordered the entire army to cross the river.
It took three days and three nights for the army to cross the Yellow River. It took 20,000 troops, 3,000 camels, and a large amount of grain and grass supplies to be transported across the Yellow River.
On the north bank of the Yellow River, the Song army used the camp left by the Xixia army to set up thousands of large tents. Chen Qing ordered the entire army to rest for a day before continuing to march eastward.
On the official road about eighty miles northeast of the camp, several Xixia cavalry were urging their horses to run quickly. They were not going to the Yellow River, but were going to Liangzhou via the fork in front.
All around them was the desolate and uninhabited Gobi Desert, dotted with piles of rubble.
At this moment, dozens of crossbow arrows were shot from a pile of rocks dozens of steps away from the roadside. Several Xixia cavalrymen were unable to dodge and fell off their horses one after another. Their horses were also hit by arrows and fell to the side of the road.
Dozens of Song army scout cavalry rushed out from behind the rocks. The leader was none other than Tang Qian, who had just been promoted to scout commander.
Tang Qian and his men were the first group to cross the Yellow River. According to Chen Qing's plan, they immediately divided up to guard in all directions to prevent the Xixia army from attacking halfway across the river. Tang Qian was the farthest scout team, reaching Hundreds of miles away.
They encountered these scout cavalry when they were about to go back. Tang Qian immediately ordered to intercept the Xixia cavalry with bows and arrows.
Four of the five Xixia cavalry were shot and killed, leaving one alive, but he was also injured. His leg was broken and he lay on the ground groaning in pain.
Tang Qian stepped forward to check the situation of the Xixia cavalry. When the Xixia cavalry saw that they were Song army scouts, before Tang Qian could get closer, the Xixia cavalry's eyes showed a fierce look. He screamed twice, pulled out a dagger and stabbed himself in the chest.
Tang Qian couldn't stop him in time and watched helplessly as the opponent was killed. He was so angry that he kicked him twice, "This bastard is quite capable of doing this!"
He ordered: "Search carefully and see what you can find?"
Everyone quickly found a volume of Xixia official documents, and a subordinate who knew a little about Xixia said: "It seems to be an official document from the Xixia Privy Council, and there is an urgent seal on it."
Apart from this official document, there were no other clues. They dug a deep pit and buried the bodies of five Xixia cavalry. As for their horses, there was no need to worry about them. Naturally, the wolves from the Gobi Desert would come to enjoy them.
Everyone got on their horses and accelerated towards the military camp in the southwest.
In the middle of the night, Chen Qing was woken up by his own soldiers, "Capital Commander, the scouts have reported important information to Tang Qian."
"Bring him in!"
After a moment, Tang Qian quickly walked into the tent, knelt down on one knee and saluted, "For your humble position, please see the commander-in-chief!"
"General Tang, please wake up. Do you have any information?"
Tang Qian then reported to Chen Qing how they met a group of Xixia cavalry delivering messages, and finally took out the official document and presented it.
When Chen Qing heard that it was an official document from the Xixia Privy Council, he immediately sent someone to find a translator. On this expedition, Chen Qing brought more than a dozen civil servants from Jiedu Mansion, two of whom were translators who were proficient in Xixia script.
After a moment, an employee hurried over. This man was Liu Tao, who was about thirty years old and a native of Gyeongju. He had studied Western Xia at Gyeongju Prefecture. The Western Army had entrusted Gyeongju Prefecture to train a group of people who were proficient in Western Xia.
There were about forty students. Basically, what they learned was not used in the army, but was hired by many big businessmen.
Last year, Jiedu Mansion was recruiting translators who were proficient in Xixia script. A total of three people successfully applied, and Liu Tao was the leader among them.
"Please give me your orders, Jiedushi!" Liu Tao entered the tent and saluted.
Chen Qing handed him the official document, "Look at what's on it!"
Liu Tao read the contents of the official document and said to Chen Qing: "Please give me a quarter of an hour, and I will translate it sentence by sentence with my pen."
Chen Qing smiled and said, "Can you tell me what it means?"
"This is an emergency troop deployment order, ordering Liangzhou's 10,000 troops to immediately rush to Xingqing Mansion to join forces. It seems that Xiazhou has rebelled."
Chen Qing suddenly understood that Xiazhou's rebellion was caused by Xiao Heda's rebellion, wasn't it?
A series of doubts were immediately solved. Shang Dongyan's withdrawal had nothing to do with the war situation in Longxi County. It was Xiao Heda's rebellion, and Li Qianshun urgently mobilized troops from all parties to deal with it.
This information came too timely, otherwise Chen Qing would not have dared to launch a large-scale expedition to the west.
Chen Qing walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, and said happily to Tang Qian: "You and your men will mark your great achievements once, and each of you will be rewarded with ten taels of silver!"
Tang Qian was overjoyed and knelt down on one knee again to salute, "Thank you for the reward!"
At dawn, an army of 20,000 troops marched towards Huangzhou in a mighty manner.
Huangzhou County is Shanshan County where the Longyou Jiedu Prefecture of the Tang Dynasty was located. Because Huangzhou City is located at the core of the famous Hehuang Valley and is rich in grain, it has been a gathering place with a large population since ancient times.
The entire Huangzhou currently has more than 30,000 households and a population of nearly 200,000, half of which are people who fled from all over Shaanxi Road to avoid the war. Huangzhou has indeed not been devastated by the war, and the Jin soldiers also need this grain-producing land.
Huangzhou is currently managed by the puppet Qi State. Ren Dejing was appreciated by the puppet Qi State and was appointed as the general manager of Hehuang. He was also given a large amount of military supplies, allowing Ren Dejing to organize a military force in a short period of time.
An army of 20,000 people firmly controlled Huangzhou, Xi'an and Kuozhou, and the Xixia people did not dare to attack him easily.
To a certain extent, Ren Dejing is the local emperor of the three states of Hehuang. They will not pay attention to any orders from the puppet state of Qi. In the three states of Hehuang, he is the emperor.
Ren Dejing has a half-brother, Ren Zhongqun, and two other brothers. He also has two sons and three nephews. The family is prosperous, so he naturally has a strong ability to control the army and government affairs.
.
Ren Dejing was about forty years old, tall and handsome, but he was very cunning, despicable and shameless. At that time, he knelt on the ground, pointed a dagger at his chest and swore to Liu Ziyu, the military commander of Xihe Road, that as long as the gold
As soon as the soldiers entered Huangzhou City, he died for his country.
But just as Liu Ziyu led his army to Guanzhong, he sent his brothers to Guanzhong and secretly surrendered to the Jin Kingdom.
But Ren Dejing is not ashamed, but praises himself as a hero who knows the current affairs.
He had been watching the battle between Xixia and Chen Qing over Xihe Road. In addition to arranging for his brother Ren Zhongqun to transport 100,000 catties of crude silver back to Huangzhou, he also took advantage of Chen Qing's army's withdrawal from Hezhou and sent troops to occupy it.
Hezhou, expanded his control area to four states, and his brother Ren Zhongqun also led his army to occupy the Guichuan Silver Mine.
Since the Yellow River cannot be crossed, he still does not know the battle situation between the Xixia Army and the Song Army, which makes him very anxious. He is very worried about the failure of the Xixia Army. If the Song Army defeats the Xixia Army, then Chen Qing will definitely attack Huangzhou or He
state.
For several days, Ren Dejing spent his time anxiously waiting for news from Lanzhou.