Shang Dongyan was the deputy general of Cao Baozong, the commander-in-chief of the Xixia Army at that time. Due to the outbreak of Xiao Heda's rebellion, the five thousand troops he led were transferred by the court and withdrew from the war against Xihe Road in advance.
Shang Dongyan followed Brother Richard and made many military exploits, which earned him the admiration of Brother Richard. If Cao Baozong, the new Privy Councilor, had not suppressed him with a grudge, Shang Dongyan would have been promoted to the rank of general and commander-in-chief of the Western Route Army.
Now Shang Dongyan is only a general and controls the capital, but Brother Richard's importance and trust in him are real. At the most critical moment, Brother Richard appointed Shang Dongyan as the general of the left and led 15,000 troops to Ming Dynasty.
They were stationed in Sha County to contain the main force of the Song army and buy time for Brother Richard to integrate the army.
Shang Dongyan's father is from Tubo and his mother is from Dangxiang. He joined the army at the age of fifteen and has been in the army for thirty years now. He has participated in countless wars. Not only is he rich in experience, but he is also clear-headed. He eats and lives with the soldiers and is very good at it.
He was down-to-earth and looked very different in the Xixia army where the generals were gradually becoming aristocratic. In addition, he had obvious Tubo characteristics, so he was also discriminated against in the army.
Brother Richard is indeed a famous Xixia general. At the critical moment, he used this low-key and pragmatic Tubo general.
As soon as Shang Dongyan arrived in Mingsha County, he received a letter asking for help from Li Hanzhong, the second son of Richard Brother. Li Hanzhong led an army of 10,000 to prepare to return from the north of Yingli County, but was ambushed by the Song army, with more than 3,000 casualties.
He did not return to Shatuo Pass.
Now Li Hanzhong had run out of food and had to kill horses for food. He was in urgent need of rescue.
Shang Dongyan was really in a bit of a dilemma. Li Hanzhong was young and arrogant and had a strong desire for power. It was inappropriate for the King of Jin to ask him to guard Yingli County. If he withdrew to Mingsha County, he would definitely take away his military power. Maybe he would like to regain his military power.
Take back Yingli County, but he is the second son of the King of Jin. If you resist and do not hand over power, it will not be good to offend him.
After much deliberation, Shang Dongyan decided that the best way was to let him go directly back to Xingqing Mansion and not give him the chance to go to Mingsha County.
Shang Dongyan immediately left his deputy Li Ke to guard the city, and he personally led 10,000 troops to Yingli County.
Mingsha County is located on the south bank of the Yellow River, and the army marched along the south bank of the Yellow River.
There were still forty miles away from Yingli County, so Shang Dongyan built a pontoon bridge on the Yellow River, led his army across the Yellow River, and then headed west along the north bank of the Yellow River to the north of Yingli County.
Shang Dongyan had his own rescue method. He went to the north bank of the Yellow River just to attract the attention of the Song army. The rescue of Li Hanzhong's army still had to start from the south bank of the Yellow River.
Shang Dongyan sent General Ma Hongsan to lead 3,000 soldiers to continue marching along the south bank of the Yellow River. They went to Yingli County 20 miles west to build a pontoon bridge to meet Li Hanzhong's army crossing the river south.
The advantage of this is that after Li Hanzhong's army escapes from danger, they have to use the pontoon bridge to cross the river and go north. Shang Dongyan joins Shang Dongyan's army on the north bank. Shang Dongyan will directly send him to Xingqing Mansion, and Li Hanzhong will naturally not think about it again.
Go to Mingsha County.
...........
At this time, there were 20,000 troops led by Liu Qiong in Yingli County. Tang Qian led 10,000 troops and 10,000 camels back to the passes stationed along the way. Yingli County was indeed a logistics camp, with 150,000 grains stored in it.
200,000 tons of stone and fodder, as well as a large amount of other military supplies and copper coins.
Just two days ago, Liu Qiong led 10,000 cavalry to ambush 10,000 Xixia troops who attempted to escape from the northern part of the county, wiping out more than 3,700 enemies.
At this moment, Liu Qiong received news from the scouts that a Xixia army was present in the northeast of the county, with about 10,000 people. This army sent about a thousand soldiers, divided into twenty groups, each group was one mile apart, lurking in the
In the woods to the north of the city, the closest group to the city is only three miles away.
"General Liu, what does the other party mean?" Zhu Pengyun, the commander of the general, asked,
Liu Qiong sneered and said: "This is an artificial beacon. As long as we send troops, they will immediately send an alarm and notify the main force."
"I am willing to lead a thousand brothers to hunt these artificial beacons and defeat their arrogance!"
Liu Qiong nodded, "Okay!"
Zhu Pengyun led a thousand cavalry out of the city quickly and ran towards the enemy's artificial beacon. Not long after, three gunpowder arrows soared into the sky and exploded in the air. Then another gunpowder arrow shot into the sky in the distance, and another gunpowder arrow shot into the sky in the distance.
Gunpowder arrows appeared....
It is indeed an artificial beacon, but what is the point of the other party's alarm? I only need to send a little troops to interfere.
Liu Qiong always felt that something was wrong, but couldn't explain it for a while.
Gu Ji
In the evening, Liu Qiong received news from the scouts that the opposing army retreated eastward.
For two days in a row, the scouts did not find any movement in the north. Liu Qiong realized that something was wrong and sent people to Shatuo Pass to check the situation. Shatuo Pass was only a mess, with not a single soldier in sight, and more than 6,700 soldiers.
The Xixia soldiers actually managed to escape.
All the generals were puzzled. The scouts did not find anyone from the other side's army. Why did the army at Shatuoguan fly away?
At this time, Liu Qiong came to his senses. He smiled bitterly at everyone and said: "The only purpose of those artificial beacons is to attract our attention. If I guessed correctly, more than 6,000 enemy troops at Shatuo Pass have already crossed the Yellow River from the other side.
After leaving, they should go directly to Mingsha County."
Commander Sun Xianghu asked in confusion: "But Mingsha County is on the south bank of the Yellow River. There is no need for the troops to come to the north bank. They can just pick up the troops from Shatuo Pass from the south bank. Why bother?"
Liu Qiong shook her head, "To be honest, I can't figure out why the other party did this, but the other party must have a purpose, we just can't think of it."
Wang Jian, the commander of the marching army, laughed and said: "Maybe I can guess some of the reasons."
All the generals looked at him together, and Liu Qiong quickly said: "Wang Sima, please speak!"
"The current commander of Shatuo Pass should be Li Hanzhong. He is the second son of Brother Richard and is the governor of Mingsha County. If his army retreats to Mingsha County, will it be like Shatuo Pass and once again take over the throne and become the leader of Mingsha County?
General?
Perhaps the generals who were responding to him didn't want this scene to happen, so they built another pontoon bridge in the east to help Li Hanzhong cross the Yellow River to the north and return directly to Xingqing Mansion."
It sounds a bit unbelievable, but if you think about it carefully, it makes sense. If Li Hanzhong was an arrogant general, no one would like him.
Liu Qiong immediately ordered Zhu Pengyun to march westward with 3,000 men, encircle and suppress the lone Xixia soldiers, and open up the southwest military road to Lanzhou.
.........
Liu Cui led an army of 30,000 people to march eastward along the Southwest Military Road. This military road was well built, about two feet wide, with rammed earth to build the road, and mountains to build bridges. It was different from Wu Ren Road in many places. Wu Ren Road
The dangerous parts of this southwest military road are dug out of the loess, and the dangerous parts of this southwest military road are dug out of the stone mountain. It cannot be blown up with gunpowder like Wuren Road. The road on the cliff is basically maintained.
complete.
But this does not mean that the Xixia Army will not find ways to destroy the roads. All dangerous and important roads are blocked by boulders. This is not a big problem. Just use ropes to move the boulders away. The trouble is the plank roads. Almost all wooden plank roads are blocked.
It was set on fire by Xixia soldiers, so the Song Army engineering soldiers had no choice but to rebuild the plank road. It took eight days to repair the more than ten miles of plank road that had been burned in Lingbo Mountain.
The army passed Lingbo Mountain and walked for two more days before arriving at Roulang Mountain, which was also a dangerous section of the military road. Although Roulang Mountain did not have a plank road, there were bridges, and all eight bridges were burned down by the Xixia army.
Liu Cui stood in front of a cliff. The cliff was more than twenty feet wide, and the mountain stream below was dozens of feet deep. The white waves rolled in the mountain stream, the river roared, and the remains of a burnt wooden bridge were still hanging on the mountainside. The soldiers were stunned.
How can they survive on a cliff that is more than twenty feet wide?
A craftsman supervisor pointed to a forest on the other side of the Yellow River and said to Liu Cui: "General Liu, please take a look. There should be an ancient forest over there. I think there are giant firs in it. The kind of fir trees that are twenty or thirty feet high. I have seen them before."
, the Xixia army should have cut down the wood there and transported it back to build a bridge."
Liu Cui felt a headache. They were halfway up the mountain. How to get down the mountain was a big problem. They also had to cross the fast-flowing Yellow River, but the other side was still a cliff. How could they climb up the cliff to cut wood and transport it back? Maybe they could finally do it.
But this takes a long time.
"Besides, is there no other way?"
The leader of the craftsmen thought for a while and said: "Another way is to build an iron cable bridge and put wooden boards on it. The key is how people can cross it?"
At this time, Zhang Dingbian, the deputy commander of the scout army, stepped forward and clasped his fists and said: "Beizhi is an Orion. He can climb down the mountain and then climb up the mountain from the other side. The commander will just use a trebuchet to throw the rope to Beizhi."
"How do you cross the river when the current is so strong down there?"
Zhang Dingbian said with a smile: "I just made an observation. The reason for the rapid flow is that there are many large rocks in the water, which affects the river course. I can pass over the large rocks."
Liu Cui had no choice but to nod, "Then I'll leave this task to you."
He turned around and shouted: "Order the entire army to rest where they are!"