At present, Chen Qing has a total of 320,000 troops in Lingzhou Prefecture and Xiazhou Prefecture, including 220,000 Western Army and 50,000 regularized civilian regiment troops, as well as 50,000 Qiang soldiers. According to the agreement reached between Chen Qing and the Qiang people,
After the fall of Xixia, the grasslands and pastures in the Henan area of Xixia were returned to the Qiang people, and then the Uighurs in the Hetao area in the northern Heishan Mountains were returned to Ganzhou, Hexi, and the vacated Hetao area was also handed over to the Qiang people.
As support for Chen Qing, 20,000 of the 50,000 Qiang troops left to join the Western Army, while the other 30,000 Qiang troops were deployed in the Hetao area of Heishan to defend the Mobei nomads.
Originally, the Hetao area was intended to be given to the Yellow-headed Uighur, but since the Yellow-headed Uighur did not participate in the war to exterminate Xia, the land in the Hetao could not be given to him, and would instead be given to the Qiang people.
From Chen Qing's original intention, he was more willing to give to the Qiang people. The Qiang people are gentle, have no ambitions, engage in animal husbandry, and are good partners. They can guarantee them a long-term source of meat and war horses.
However, for the sake of his friendship with Cao Changchun, Chen Qing decided to hand over the Uighurs in Hetao to Cao Changchun, which could be regarded as the most benevolent and righteous act.
Chen Qing thought for a long time and decided to temporarily leave 80,000 troops to prevent and control party members internally, defend against the counterattack of Jin soldiers and Datong Prefecture Xixia army externally, and guard 50,000 Xixia prisoners of war for mining.
In fact, the Jin soldiers and the Xixia army will not be able to counterattack for at least a few years. The Jin soldiers on the Hedong Road are seriously insufficient, and it is impossible to mobilize troops from the Hedong Road. Wanyan Wushu lost 30,000 Jurchen cavalry, and he will never
Maybe if he sends more troops to attack Xixia, which has nothing to do with him, the Jin soldiers can be eliminated.
There are only 15,000 Xixia remnant troops left. The one million taels of silver they purchased from Datong Mansion was intercepted. Whether the Jin Congress will give them Datong Mansion is still a big question.
Even if you give it to them, how can they support an army of 15,000 people? The Dangxiang herdsmen are all old and weak women and children. These old and weak women and children have to be supported themselves, not to mention the army!
So the key depends on whether the Jin Kingdom is willing to devote resources to support Brother Richard to continue the Xixia Dynasty. If the top leaders of the Jin Kingdom feel that the gains are not worth the losses, it will be useless even if Wan Yanchang insists.
Once it loses the support of the Jin Kingdom, the Xixia Dynasty will inevitably disappear in the long river of history, and the 15,000 Xixia cavalry will also become the treasure of the Jin Kingdom.
In fact, when Chen Qing sent the iron kites away, he had a vague intention of driving the sheep into the tiger's mouth. Would the Kingdom of Jin not be tempted after seeing three thousand iron kites and heavy armored cavalry?
These are things for the future, and the army cannot wait any longer to move south.
Chen Qing arrived at the military camp. Inside the military camp, thousands of soldiers were busy packing and loading. They took two routes to go south this time. Heavy trebuchets, battering rams, camp fences and other baggage were still carried on large ice sleds on the ice of the Yellow River. They could only
Take this route to Lanzhou.
As for the main force of 200,000 people walking through the Baima River, they can only carry part of their belongings for the time being. Most of the belongings must wait until spring before they can be transported south.
At this time, Chen Qing saw that Liu Cui was a little depressed, so he smiled and said: "Don't worry, we won't let you miss the Hedong battle. When we attack Hedong, we also need to march from the north, and you will be the leader at that time.
"
Liu Cui's eyes lit up and he said with a smile: "Du Tong is true to his word and must not break his promise!"
Chen Qing chuckled, "Since I promised you, I won't go back on my word!"
Now Liu Cui was relieved. Ever since the commander-in-chief announced him as the military envoy of the Han Navy, Liu Cui couldn't be happy for a few days. The overall situation of Xixia has been decided, and there is basically no war. However, the prelude of the Western Army's Eastern Expedition has just begun.
As soon as he opened it, he missed it, especially the Hedong campaign next year, which really made Liu Cui very depressed.
The main general staying on Lingxia Road this time is Liu Cui, and the deputy generals are Cheng Huan and Asali. Of course, Liu Cui is the tiger general next to Chen Qing. Chen Qing will not always let him stay on Lingxia Road, he just needs him to lead the army.
Stabilizing the situation allowed Zhang Xiao to implement the Han-dominated strategy step by step.
When the situation stabilizes next year, Chen Qing will change his general and Liu Zan will be stationed at Lingxia Road.
Two days later, the 200,000-strong army set off. All the infantry and cavalry rode on horseback. Everyone returned with a full load. This time, the money collected from prisoners of war and dead enemy soldiers was rewarded to the soldiers. You must know that these Xixia soldiers looted a lot.
At this time, everyone had dozens of taels of property, and in the end they all benefited the Song soldiers.
Each Song soldier was rewarded with at least twenty or thirty taels of silver as spoils of war. Chen Qing also rewarded each of the soldiers with five pieces of cloth and one piece of silk, making everyone satisfied and went south.
At the back of the team, 30,000 camels were carrying food, grass, money and supplies, following the mighty army as they headed south.
Lin'an Prefecture, the Song army captured Xingqing Prefecture, and the news of Xixia's demise made the entire Lin'an Prefecture boil. The Song Dynasty experienced too many hardships and failures, and finally had an exciting victory and eliminated a centuries-old enemy.
Although Prime Minister Qin Hui ordered not to allow official celebrations, the people still organized spontaneously. Hundreds of thousands of Lin'an people held lanterns and torches in their hands, sang and danced in the procession, venting their inner depression and celebrating the rare victory.
Many officials also ran out and joined the people's carnival in a private capacity to celebrate the victory of the Song Army.
For several days, the entire city of Lin'an was immersed in the joy of victory. All restaurants, teahouses and other public places were talking about this victory. This was the destruction of the country, and it was more exciting than an accidental victory.
In front of the window on the second floor of Wenqing Restaurant, Deputy Prime Minister Zhao Dingzheng and Minister of Household Affairs Lu Qingshan were having a drink. They were wearing casual clothes. To outsiders, they were just two ordinary old men.
At this time, several people not far away started arguing, "What does the destruction of Xixia have to do with the imperial court? It was all the result of the bloody battle led by Chen Qing. Where are the imperial troops?"
"Brother Wen Huan, you can't say that. Across thousands of mountains and rivers, the imperial court will definitely not be able to send troops, but didn't they also give them money and food? Besides, isn't Chen Qing's Western Army not the imperial army?"
"But you can't be so shameless. What do you mean, with the efforts of the imperial court, the Western Army lived up to the great trust of the imperial court? Did the imperial court work hard? Did the imperial court trust it? There is nothing at all. If you have to take the main credit on yourself, you can't
Isn't it better to say that with the support of the Chinese people, the Western Army lived up to the expectations of the people of the Song Dynasty?"
"Cai Wenhuan, you don't understand anything. You are talking nonsense here. Why are you still a court official? But you don't speak from the court's standpoint."
"Shhh"
Someone suddenly saw Zhao Ding and said quickly: "Please keep your voice down, Mr. Zhao is over there!"
Everyone turned around and saw Zhao Ding and Lu Qingshan, and they didn't dare to say anything.
Zhao Ding held the wine glass and said with a smile: "If I remember correctly, this Cai Wenhuan was the third most successful person in the imperial examination last year!"
Lu Qingshan nodded, "Yes, that's him. In the past two years, he has been in charge of the Yushitai. He hates evil and is unkind and has offended too many people. A few days ago, he impeached Qin Hui for using official weapons for personal use and promoted his nephew Wang Bowei in an unusual way.
I guess Qin Hui is going to take care of Wailang, a member of the Criminal Department."
"What is the background of Cai Wenhuan?" Zhao Ding asked again.
"No background. He is from Fuzhou. It is said that his family is very poor, but I guess he may be from the Cai family?"
"Cai Jing?"
"It's just speculation."
After a pause, Lu Qingshan smiled again and said: "This time Chen Qing destroyed Xixia. According to the previous agreement, he should be crowned king!"
Zhao Ding nodded, "The Emperor has issued a decree to confer Chen Qing as the King of Lingwu County."
"I thought the Queen Mother and Qin Hui would firmly oppose it!"
Zhao Ding sneered, "How could they not object? The Queen Mother burst into tears and said that she had broken the ancestral rules. We can all see that the officials were also extremely reluctant. They were originally going to be canonized as Fufeng County Prince, but they were temporarily changed to Lingwu County.
King, I guess the officials feel that Lingwu County is not the territory of the Song Dynasty, and the title is a foreign county king. Do you think this kind of thinking makes sense? Doesn’t the court recognize that Lingwu Shuofang does not belong to the Song Dynasty?"
"Since the officials are unwilling, why should they forcefully confer the title?"
"Didn't you sign a letter of commitment before? If Xixia is destroyed and Chen Qing is made king, besides, it is better to be canonized by the court than Chen Qing to proclaim himself King of Qin!
Lu Qingshan chuckled, "The last sentence is the key!"
"Who says otherwise? Now Chen Qing's power is so great that it reaches the grasslands in the north, Yunnan in the south, the Han River in the east, and the Hexi Corridor in the west. If he no longer recognizes the imperial court, there is nothing the imperial court can do against him."
Having said this, Zhao Ding let out a long sigh, "I don't know why the Queen Mother and Qin Hui are so hostile to Chen Qing. Do they want to force him to separate and stand on his own?"