The topmost stretch of the "Ji" Bay of the Yellow River has always been a rich area for farming and grazing.
If the nomads occupied this place, they would have the confidence to spy on the Central Plains.
If the Central Plains Dynasty occupied this place, they would be able to cross the Yin Mountains without teaching Huma.
Most of the time, Xixia and Liao each occupied half of this area, and there were also a few times when Xixia occupied the entire area.
Regardless of whether half or all of it is occupied, the entire area is under the jurisdiction of the Black Mountain Weifu Army.
When Xixia was at its peak, the number of troops in the Weifu Army was - 70,000!
There is no way, there must be so many soldiers, otherwise if the Liao Kingdom captures this place, they can go south and directly take the capital of Xixia Kingdom.
Of course, the standing army is very small because we cannot afford to maintain many.
During normal times, they are farming or grazing, and they are not given military pay.
In times of war, they would be divided into groups to fight, and they would be given food.
Every Xixia man who reaches the age of 15 automatically becomes a male.
One person from two dings will be selected as a regular soldier. The court will give each regular soldier a war horse and a camel (or other livestock). War horses and livestock are only issued once. If they die or are lost, the soldiers will find ways to replenish them.
I usually raise my own war horses, and the Xixia government is not responsible.
The remaining men after selecting the main army will be drafted as burdens (auxiliary soldiers) during wartime.
That is to say, during the war, Xixia men over the age of 15 were either serving as regular soldiers or as burdens (menial labor).
In principle, all the people are soldiers. In practice, it depends on how much food and grass there is.
A regular soldier and a burden make up a copy.
Chao is the smallest military unit of Xixia.
…
Weifu Army Division has three chief officers, one is the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, one is the Deputy Commander-in-Chief, and one is the Supervisor of the Army.
At this moment, the deputy capital commander was surrounded by Han Shizhong in the Tiande Army City.
The governor of the capital and the supervisor of the army led reinforcements from the west.
And Xixia not only has these two cities (Ulahai City, Tiande Army City), but also a large number of barrier cities along the way. That is, there are many military fortresses. If the Liao soldiers and Jin soldiers come to kill, nearby farmers and herdsmen can quickly hide in
castle.
On his way from Baotou, Han Shizhong encountered two fortresses, both of which he bypassed.
He didn't want infantry or artillery. The purpose of Han Shizhong's hasty march was simply to prevent Xixia from gathering troops calmly.
He had achieved his goal. The area under the jurisdiction of the Xixia Weifu Army was cut into two large pieces by Han Shizhong: more than 20,000 reinforcements and about 20,000 soldiers in the city.
There were still more than a thousand people hiding in the two castles he bypassed.
Didn't it say that the total number of troops was 70,000?
That was the time when Xixia was at its peak, and now that we have gathered troops in a hurry, it is already quite good to be able to gather more than 40,000 people.
"Capital, the Ming army's reconnaissance cavalry was discovered ten miles away!"
"Explore again."
The general name of Weifu Military Division is Li Quanlu. He comes from a clan and is the nephew of Brother Richard in terms of seniority.
He can barely be considered a veteran.
He also fought with Liu Fa when he was young, and then was beaten violently by Yang Zhi. Taking advantage of the battle between Ming and Jin, he went to war with Brother Richard to steal the prairie city of the Jin Kingdom.
"We can't attack rashly, we should wait for reinforcements." Supervisor Cao Yu said.
Li Quanlu is a member of Brother Richard.
Cao Yu was Li Qianshun's man. Although Li Qianshun died of illness, Prime Minister Li Renzhong did not allow Brother Richard to change the supervisory army.
The capital commanders and military supervisors of Xixia belong to different political camps!
Li Quanlu said: "I have seen artillery. If I am too slow to save him, I am afraid Tiande City has been breached."
Cao Yu said: "The Ming army made a sudden advance and reached Tiande Army City in such a short time. We summoned all the troops to send troops in a hurry. How could the Ming army have time to transport artillery?"
"Just in case." Li Quanlu said.
Cao Yu asked: "Do you know how many Ming troops have come? Do you know who the commander-in-chief of the Ming troops is? Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you be victorious in every battle. You didn't know anything, and your troops didn't gather together, so you hurried to the rescue. What if we come back defeated?"
Li Quanlu looked unhappy and said: "You are a civil servant, what do you know about military affairs? I am not a fool, so naturally I will not fight immediately."
"Now that we have encountered the Qingqi of the Ming Army, we naturally chose a place to camp nearby. We sent the Qingqi to rush over to find out the situation of the Tiande Army City; while we waited for more reinforcements to come and join us."
"Before sending troops, I sent people to rush for help, and asked Qiangzhen Military Division and Chaoshun Military Division to also send troops to rescue!"
Cao Yu shook his head and said: "I don't know if the reinforcements from the two military divisions will arrive in the year of the monkey, horse or moon. We must go back to Wu Lahai City and wait, instead of waiting here in Tiande Military City."
We really have to wait until the year of the monkey and the month of the horse.
The reason why Li Quanlu was able to gather troops quickly was because this battle was related to the interests of the local tribe. In order to preserve the pastures and farmland, the tribal chiefs naturally sent troops quickly and followed their generals to come to the rescue.
However, the Qiangzhen Military Division and the Chaoshun Military Division are stationed west of the Hetao.
The tribal chiefs there are slow to send troops even if they are willing to do so, and they will probably take the opportunity to clamor for tax cuts.
The people responsible for gathering troops during war are actually the chiefs of each tribe!
Li Bao asked Yue Fei and Han Shizhong to kill him quickly. Han Shizhong galloped all the way without the infantry, just to prevent other military commanders from having time to rescue him.
…
North of the Yellow River and south of Wuyuan, on the grassland forty miles wide, the light cavalry of the two countries were fighting in a lively manner.
Both sides are steppe tribe cavalry.
The equipment is very rubbish, most of them have no armor, and they just shoot arrows at each other when they meet.
They fought back and forth, many were injured, but few were killed.
Those who were hit by arrows immediately retreated, not wanting to fight in close combat anyway.
The grassland is too vast and cannot be defended. A small group of Xixia cavalry even went around from the north of Wuyuan, trying to approach the besieged Tiande Army City and get in touch with the Xixia Army that was defending the city.
"Boom!"
The thunderous sound of horse hooves came from the east, and the Xixia Qingqi who were fighting were so frightened that they turned around and ran away.
Li Quanlu, who had not yet finished setting up camp, quickly received news from Qingqi: The main force of the Ming army was coming!
When I asked how many people came, I only knew that it was at least tens of thousands, maybe tens of thousands.
The supervisor Cao Yu was so frightened: "Retreat to Wu Lahaicheng quickly and defend the city to wait for reinforcements. Never fight a decisive battle with the Ming army in the wild!"
Li Quanlu became more and more irritable as he listened, and shouted: "What do you know? Have you seen the firearms of the Ming army? I have personally learned that a hundred thousand troops were destroyed in one day! To fight the Ming army, you have to fight on the open grassland. Wu La
Haicheng is in the mountains. Waiting for the Ming army to drag in the artillery, and waiting for the firecrackers to arrive, how can we still fight in the city?"
Cao Yu said: "You can't fight in the wild. Have you forgotten that when we fought with the Jin Kingdom, I had more than 30,000 soldiers in Daxia, but I was killed by more than a thousand gold cavalry and the whole army was defeated? Ming cavalry can fight head-on with the Jin cavalry.
Their cavalry are well-armored, and we don’t even have iron kites in our hands.”
"Stop arguing, let me think about it!" Li Quanlu felt unsure.
Han Shizhong arrived so quickly that the farmers and herdsmen around Tiande Army City had no time to retreat to the west to join forces, so they had no choice but to hide in the nearby Tiande Army City and defend it.
Under normal circumstances, it will be fine for a year and a half.
But the Ming army has artillery!
Li Quanlu was afraid that if he didn't rescue him, the city wall would be blown down. By then, Han Shizhong would use Tiande Military City as a base to continuously increase troops and transport food.
But how to save it?
Cao Yu is absolutely right, most of them can't be defeated in field battles.
There are only three thousand iron kites in Xixia. This is not because there are insufficient riders and war horses, but because Xixia's financial resources can only support so many.
The Iron Kites are all in the capital, and it is impossible to come here at once.
Li Quanlu's standing army was limited, only two to three thousand men, and these troops were naturally fully equipped.
The rest are all young and strong farmers and herdsmen. Some have been drafted as regular soldiers, and some have been drafted as burdens. Among these troops, those who can wear leather armor are already elites, and many regular soldiers are even equipped with fucking leather armor.
To be continued...