Brother Richard's excitement for power suddenly came to an end. Hearing the news that the Song Army's 200,000 troops were marching north, Brother Richard became nervous. Although it was expected, when this day came, Brother Richard still
Very worried.
After Wuyan Puluhun led his army to the east, he has not returned yet. Judging from the time, he has not reached Taiyuan yet. Even if he rushes back without stopping, it may be too late.
How long can he hold on to the city? Can he hold on until the day when Wuyan Puluhun rushes back with 30,000 reinforcements? Brother Richard has no confidence at all, but he has no choice. He can't give up on Xingqing Mansion and escape now!
Brother Richard is not afraid of death. At his age, he is afraid of his reputation behind him. Of course, he cannot give up Xingqing Mansion. Since he cannot give up, how can he keep it?
Brother Richard really regretted that when he was excluding foreigners, he should also have issued a protection order to protect some important figures. More than a hundred Han craftsmen in the Ordnance Supervision were driven out of the city because they were Han, especially the chief craftsman Jia Tong.
The army was forcibly driven out of the city by the rebels and disappeared.
The departure of more than a hundred Han craftsmen has resulted in the inability to build many large-scale defense weapons, such as large trebuchets, etc. No one cares about this matter. It was not until today that Brother Richard discovered this big problem, which made him regret it.
Out of reach.
Brother Richard sighed, turned around and got out of the car with no interest. At this time, a soldier hurriedly came to report, "Reporting to the prince, the spies found a Song army heading north outside the city!"
Brother Richard was startled and asked quickly: "How many people are there?"
"About 30,000 people, all riding northward."
They all ride horses, not necessarily cavalry, and infantry also ride horses. Brother Richard suddenly understood that this was the Song army going to attack Dingzhou.
Brother Richard has received information that the Song army is attacking Jingzhou, Huaizhou and Shunzhou, and the troops are all 30,000, so the 30,000 going north must be attacking Dingzhou.
Dingzhou is his home base. All the soldiers' family records are in Dingzhou. He still has 300,000 shi of food that he has not had time to transport from Dingzhou.
If you want to fight a protracted war, food is a must. What's more, the family members of the army are still in Dingzhou. If they are captured, morale will be seriously affected.
Thinking of this, Brother Richard immediately said: "Let Li Yanwu come to see me!"
Not long after, the commander-in-chief Li Yanwu hurried over, bowed and saluted, "See you, Your Majesty!"
"Li Dutong, I just received news that the Song Army's 30,000 troops are going north to attack Dingzhou. Dingzhou must not be lost. You can lead the 20,000 Shazhou Army to go north and annihilate this Song Army. I will order 10,000 troops to defend it.
The city's army came out of the city to assist you, 30,000 troops versus 30,000 troops, I hope you won't let me down!"
Li Yanwu led the army and immediately went to the military camp to lead the troops. They had to carry five days of food and grass. Brother Richard arranged for two thousand camels as their logistical support to carry the food and grass.
Two hours later, Li Yanwu set off with 20,000 cavalry and 2,000 camels, heading towards Dingzhou.
On a dark and midwinter night, a cavalry force of 20,000 people was rapidly heading north. They were walking to the Hetao Plain to the west. Yang Zaixing led 20,000 cavalry people to cooperate with Tang Qian's 30,000 army, and used a strategy of siege and reinforcements to annihilate Li Li.
The rescue army sent by Chago.
Of course, Yang Zaixing did not receive news of Xixia sending troops, but he recognized Dutong's judgment. He also believed that Xixia would definitely send troops to Baoding Prefecture. Killing this elite army would make it easier for them to attack Xingqing Mansion.
It only took Yang Zaixing one day and one night to reach the northernmost part of the Hetao Plain, which was only twenty miles away from Dingzhou. The army found more than a hundred small boats that had been hidden here in the reeds. These small boats were of no use for transportation.
, but can be used to build floating bridges.
The soldiers worked together, and at dawn, a pontoon bridge was built. However, Yang Zaixing did not order the soldiers to cross the Yellow River. He needed to get exact information from the scouts. If the enemy troops were ambushing beside the Yellow River, they would be attacked halfway across the river.
After waiting on the west bank of the Yellow River for nearly an hour, a group of scouts returned. They had contacted Tang Qian's army and also brought news about the Xixia Army. The Xixia Army was about thirty miles northeast of them, consisting of 20,000 soldiers.
Made up of cavalry.
Tang Qian was also thirty miles north of them, and the three armies were exactly in a triangle.
"General Tang is building a pontoon bridge. Come to the Hetao Plain. General Tang means that we will annihilate the enemy on the Hetao Plain."
Yang Zaixing immediately realized that if Tang Qian's army wanted to cross the Yellow River, the enemy army would also have to cross the Yellow River to intercept them, and the crossing location happened to be on his side.
Then there was no need for them to cross the Yellow River. Yang Zaixing immediately ordered: "Demolish the pontoon bridge!"
There was no time to completely dismantle the pontoon bridge, only half of it was dismantled, and the other half was left to hang by the river. Yang Zaixing led the army and rushed towards the depths of the Hetao Plain.
About half an hour after they left the Yellow River, Li Yanwu also led 20,000 cavalry and 10,000 city defenders to the Yellow River. Of course, he was in charge of every move of Tang Qian's 30,000-strong army.
When the other party was preparing to build a pontoon bridge on the Yellow River, Li Yanwu knew that the other party had discovered him, and they yearned to evacuate to the west.
How could Li Yanwu let the opponent escape? He immediately ordered the 10,000 defenders in the city to leave the city and join him. The army rushed to the Yellow River. He crossed the Yellow River before the opponent retreated south, cutting off the opponent's retreat.
"General, there is half a pontoon bridge over there!" a soldier pointed to the other side of the Yellow River and shouted.
Li Yanwu nodded. This must be a pontoon built to harvest wheat some time ago. Only half of it was demolished, so there was no need to dismantle the other half. This was good, and it was easier for them.
Li Yanwu quickly ordered: "Immediately build a pontoon bridge with rafts and connect it to the pontoon bridge on the other side."
With half a pontoon bridge on the opposite side, the Xixia army made much faster progress. Soon they built a pontoon bridge that was half a raft and half a boat, and the army quickly crossed the Yellow River.
At the same time, Tang Qian's 30,000 troops also crossed the Yellow River thirty miles away to the north.
Li Yanwu has always been a famous general in Xixia. He led 20,000 troops to garrison in Shazhou and defeated the Yellow-headed Uighur army several times. If the Song army had not invaded Xixia in large numbers, Brother Richard would have had to transfer him back.
, the Yellow-headed Uighur will probably withdraw from the Hexi Corridor under Li Yanwu’s severe attack.
Li Yanwu's style was very tough. He did not hesitate at all and did not need spies to investigate. After crossing the Yellow River, he went directly to the north.
This was beyond Yang Zaixing's expectation. After receiving the information, he immediately led his cavalry to pursue them. After running for more than ten miles, he heard shouts of killing from the front. The Xixia Army was already fighting fiercely with the Song Army.
The Xixia cavalry were extremely brave and their attack power was very sharp. In just a quarter of an hour, the Song army suffered hundreds of casualties.
Yang Zaixing was furious and shouted, "Brothers, kill them!"
"Woo"
The horn of the Song Army sounded, and 20,000 Song Army cavalry attacked the Xixia Army from behind.
The 20,000 men led by Yang Zaixing were also elite, and 10,000 of them were tiger and horse cavalry. They were also brave and good at fighting. They tore a large hole in the enemy's formation in an instant and killed them in.
Li Yanwu did not expect that the Song army would attack from behind, and he was caught off guard. Forced to do so, he could only divide his troops into two groups and order 10,000 Shazhou troops to fight against the 20,000 Song army cavalry who came from behind. He continued to lead 20,000
The army fought fiercely with 30,000 Song troops.
The battle lasted from morning to midnight, and both sides suffered heavy casualties. The first to be annihilated was the 10,000 Xixia city defenders, with most of the army killed, and more than 8,000 people from the 10,000 troops killed.
At this time, Li Yanwu's 20,000 Shazhou Army only had more than 4,000 people left. Seeing that the entire army was about to be destroyed, Li Yanwu led the last few thousand cavalry to break through the encirclement and escape south. The Song Army pursued them and killed them all the way. In the end, Li Yanwu only
He led more than 1,400 cavalrymen to escape across the Yellow River and fled towards Xingqing Mansion.
This battle was extremely brutal. More than 28,600 Xixia troops were killed, while the 50,000 Song troops also suffered 15,000 casualties, of which more than 10,000 were killed.
The Song army immediately crossed the Yellow River and occupied Dingzhou. Tang Qian led 8,000 soldiers to guard Dingzhou and healed the wounded soldiers. Yang Zaixing led the remaining 27,000 soldiers back to Lingzhou.