On the evening of the second day after Liu Qiong launched a surprise attack to capture Yingli County, Chen Qing received an eagle letter from Yingli County. At this time, Chen Qing was inspecting the war preparations in Lanzhou.
On the edge of the Yellow River, Chen Qing looked at the rolling Yellow River water and said to everyone with a smile: "The current is a little too fast. Wouldn't it be unrealistic to use rafts to transport supplies?"
Chen Qing turned around and saw Niu Gao with worried eyes, and smiled and said: "Niu Tongzhi, tell me about it!"
Niu Gao said helplessly: "Ask the capital, although it is feasible to attack Xixia from Lanzhou, there are still some difficulties that are difficult to overcome?"
"Tell me more specifically, what difficulties are difficult to overcome?"
"As far as I know, the military road built by Xixia is not stable and has been destroyed by mudslides many times. If the Xixia army continues to destroy it artificially, I am afraid we will not be able to walk on this road."
"Is that part of the road difficult to walk?"
"The section of Lingbo Mountain and the section of Roulang Mountain are about two hundred miles long. These two sections are very dangerous. If a pass is built, it will be easy to defend but difficult to attack. Moreover, the water flow is fast and there are cliffs on both sides. It will definitely not be possible for a raft to pass."
"What if we use camels to transport it?" Chen Qing asked again.
"Of course camels can be used, but the premise is that the enemy does not destroy the road, and what about siege weapons and other baggage? They are too big to walk on the military road."
Chen Qing nodded and said to Niu Gao and everyone: "Because the matter is so important, I didn't tell you some things. In fact, I never thought about marching from Lanzhou to Xixia, but in order to confuse the other party, I made a lot of arrangements in Lanzhou
, assembling troops, hoarding baggage, etc.
And our real direction of attack is still Xiaoguandao. I have sent Liu Qiong to lead an army of 30,000 to attack Yingli County. As long as Xixia is confused, there will be no obstacles for Liu Qiong's army to enter Xixia from Hulu River. After all, Xixia's troops are limited.
, they cannot achieve multi-pronged defense. Once Liu Qiong’s army takes Yingli County, Lanzhou’s mission will be completed.”
Niu Gao was stunned and gathered 200,000 troops just to confuse Xixia?
He asked urgently: "Is Lanzhou just defensive in the end?"
"Not quite."
Chen Qing smiled slightly and said: "Lanzhou has three functions: logistics, support and defense. I don't plan to move the large amount of grain and grass materials stored in Lanzhou. After the Yellow River freezes in winter, heavy materials can be transported by sleds. If the military road can
Repair, then use camels to transport food and grass.
Lanzhou's second task is to respond, mainly to the Hexi Corridor. Once the Uighurs are defeated and withdraw from the Hexi Corridor, the Lanzhou army will immediately respond to protect Ganzhou and Liangzhou.
The third task of Lanzhou is to defend, not only to protect the Xihe Road, but also to protect the Hehuang Valley. Now half of our military rations come from the Hehuang Valley, so there must not be any mistakes in the Hehuang Valley."
Chen Qing looked around at the generals and then said slowly: "Lanzhou is the balance point between Hehuang, Hexi and Xihe. Its strategic position is extremely important. I hope everyone understands that although I use Lanzhou to carry out strategic deception against Xixia
, does not mean that Lanzhou is not important."
At this time, a soldier rushed over, knelt down on one knee and clasped his fists and said: "I am reporting to the commander-in-chief, General Liu Qiong is sending an urgent message!"
Chen Qing took Ying Xin and read it again. He was overjoyed and loudly said to everyone: "I have good news for everyone. Liu Qiong's army has captured Yingli County."
The surrounding soldiers suddenly cheered.
Now that the surprise army had captured Yingli County, Chen Qing stopped pretending. He divided his troops into two groups and ordered Liu Cui to lead an army of 30,000 people and supplies of 10,000 camels, and march toward Xixia along the military road. He personally led an army of 100,000 people and
Ten thousand camels turned to Pingliang Mansion and took the Xiaoguan Road.
The war against Xixia officially began...
The head coach of the Xixia Army was Brother Richard, King of Jin. Although the Song Army had been preparing for war in Lanzhou a few months ago, and Xixia was also preparing for war, the preparations for Xixia were extremely difficult. The grain and grass supplies in the treasury were facing Xiao Heda.
Most of it was consumed in the civil war, and the remaining grain and grass supplies were no longer enough to support the fight against hundreds of thousands of Song troops.
Brother Richard was really restless, but he had no choice. On the one hand, he used Yingli County as a logistics base and sent 15,000 troops to defend the Southwest Military Road. On the other hand, he also stepped up recruitment and tax collection in various parts of Xixia.
intensity.
The biggest problem of Xixia now is the insufficient number of troops. Two years of brutal civil war has reduced their standing army from 300,000 to 80,000. Among these 80,000, 20,000 of the Emperor's Guards cannot be moved, and there will be more
Leaving 10,000 troops to guard the capital, the actual available army is only 50,000.
Gu Zhen
Although Brother Richard is a famous general, it is hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice!
In the middle of the night, Brother Richard, who was sleeping in a deep sleep, was suddenly awakened by the sound of hurried footsteps. He only heard someone shouting urgently in the yard: "There is an urgent military situation, and we must report it to His Highness King Jin immediately!"
"It's midnight now, can't we wait until dawn?"
"The military situation is quite urgent. I'm afraid that His Highness King Jin will be angry if I report it at dawn."
"What's the military situation?" Brother Richard appeared at the door.
The messenger quickly bowed and saluted, "Your Highness, the beacon is lit!"
"What!"
Brother Richard was surprised. The beacons were lit, which meant that the Song army began to attack, but their preparations were not completed yet. What should they do?
"What time is it now?" Brother Richard asked urgently.
"It's already the fifth update!"
"Prepare the car, I want to enter the palace!"
The emperor has always been indecisive and has been reluctant to adopt many of his suggestions. Now it is urgent and it will be too late if he does not make a decision.
Xixia is not so poor that it cannot be revealed. Most of the wealth of Xixia is in the hands of various royal relatives. Although the treasury is empty, the treasury of these powerful people is very rich and there are a large number of slaves. However, the emperor is hesitant on this issue.
, always refusing to make his attitude clear.
The carriage arrived at the palace. Brother Richard waited for a while and was led into the inner palace by the eunuch.
The emperor Li Qianshun was wearing a white robe and was sitting in the palace drinking tea. He was not in good health and had not slept well, so he had already gotten up at this time.
Not long after, Brother Richard quickly walked up to the hall, bowed and saluted, "Brother, I have something urgent to report."
Li Qianshun waved his hands and said with a smile: "Imperial brother, sit down and talk later."
Brother Richard sat down and said: "The beacon has been lit, and the Song army has begun to attack."
Li Qianshun said after a while: "It has only been a few years, but has Chen Qing been able to counterattack us?"
"Brother Emperor, if it weren't for Xiao Heda's rebellion, Chen Qing would never have dared to think of this. A two-year civil war has completely hollowed us out. Chen Qing must have seen this, so he wanted to take the opportunity to attack Xixia.
However, his strength has indeed expanded rapidly in the past two years, especially when he took advantage of the reach of the Song Dynasty court to seize Bashu as a source of wealth, which enabled him to support an army of more than 200,000. The situation is now very unfavorable to us. If the emperor does not make up his mind again
determination......."
Li Qianshun waved his hand and interrupted him, "You have a tight deployment on the southwest military road. Do you think his army can kill him?"
Brother Richard hesitated and said: "My brother has set up thirteen dangerous passes along the military road, especially Shatuo Pass. The narrow mountain road is useless even if a hundred thousand troops come, but the Song army wants to attack us, and there are many roads. Hexi Old Road, Xiaoguan Road, Hengshan Road, Yinzhou Road and the passages from Yanzhou and Suizhou. Although Chen Qing's main army is deployed in Lanzhou, if he sends out surprise troops to attack Xixia from other passes, we will really It’s impossible to guard against it!”
"Then just deploy troops at every pass."
Why doesn't Brother Richard want to deploy heavy troops everywhere?
But this kind of deployment is not like seasoning. A little sprinkling is enough. Once it is fully deployed, it will require at least 80,000 troops. How can he get it?
Brother Richard said anxiously: "Brother Emperor, our problem now is that we don't have enough troops. Currently I only have 35,000 troops. If they are all sent out to guard the pass, as long as the Song army breaks through any pass, we will be unable to do so." The soldiers resisted, not to mention the Uighurs are still eyeing us, brother, with all due respect, we are facing the threat of annihilation of the country now!"