Chapter 961 0956 [Breaking through Helan Mountain Que Er]
Chapter 961 0956 [Breaking through the gap in Helan Mountain·2]
There are only two piers and two to three hundred troops stationed there, so Yue Fei and Han Shizhong are naturally not afraid.
As soon as they sent troops to attack the pier, several wolf smoke rose from the mountains on both sides. The approximate locations of those wolf smoke have been drawn.
When Wang Gui sent someone back to report the specific situation, Yue Fei pointed to the several marked places with smoke and said: "The places with smoke should all be piers, used for observation and transmission of messages. The real enemy stronghold may be hidden in other places.
.”
Han Shizhong took out a map, which he made in detail and sent back to the court.
The specific person who drew the map is currently hiding in Shengwei City and cannot go north due to the war.
This thing is extremely rough and belongs to ancient travel maps.
"To the north of Keyimen City, there is a ravine that can lead to the army. It is about 20 miles long and the width is variable. The wide one is about seven or eight miles. The narrow one is about three or four miles... The wide part is crisscrossed with ravines..."
"Starting from Keyimen City, there is Luotuo Ridge three miles to the north, and there is a fort on the ridge..."
The fortress clearly marked on the map is a place on Luotuoling.
In other places, there are words such as "There is a ditch coming out of the mountain" and "No entry, or hidden in the fortress".
Judging from the map, the terrain further south is more complicated.
Moreover, there is more than one ravine, and the ravine used for the passage of merchant brigades and troops is only the flattest one among them.
This was also the reason why Cao Yu, as a supervisor, had traveled through this place many times but could not figure out the geography. He only knew that there were several fortresses on the mountains.
Before departure, Yue Fei and Han Shizhong also interrogated the prisoners, but the prisoners' statements were similar to Cao Yu's.
"Han Duhu, Yue Duhu, and Dangxiang chief led his people to vote!"
Just as the two of them continued to study the simple map based on their investigations in recent days, a soldier suddenly came to report important military information.
More than a hundred people came!
The leader claimed to be the son of the leader of the Chage Tribe, named Qi You.
Han Shizhong was extremely surprised: "Where did you come from?"
Qi You replied: "The west bank of the Yellow River."
Han Shizhong asked: "Aren't all the people there moved away?"
Qi You explained: "We hid in the desert."
Yue Fei asked: "How can you survive by hiding in the desert for many days?"
Qi You told in detail: "There is a salt lake to the west of the Yellow River, just across the ten-mile desert. There is a green space around the salt lake. Fresh water cannot support many people. Usually there are only a few hundred salt workers there to cook salt. This year, the salt workers have also been cleared away.
We moved away. We took food and drink with us, hid in the desert for a few days, and then went to the Salt Lake where there was no one there anymore."
"Then where did you live before?" Han Shizhong asked.
Qi You replied: "Our place is called Golden Beach. It is 20 miles north of here. We have farmland on both sides of the Yellow River. Last year, Brother Richard drew Ding to fight, so he took away many people from our department and recruited them randomly.
Take our food. My father also went to fight with us. There were more than 2,000 people when we set out, but when we came back, we only had more than 300 left."
Cao Yu interjected from the side: "If you can draw more than two thousand people to fight, you are a big tribe."
Qi You said: "We are the largest tribe under the jurisdiction of Chaoshun Army! We no longer herd cattle and only plow fields on both sides of the Yellow River. The number of horses in the tribe's civil war was not large, and most of them were infantry during the war, so last year's losses were particularly serious.
Even if you are defeated and run away, you will never be able to escape."
Yue Fei said: "If you can perform meritorious service, all your prisoners who are still alive will be selected and sent back home. Where is your father now?"
Qi You said: "Brother Richard ordered the walls to be fortified and the country to be cleared. My father and most of his tribe have retreated to the south of Keyimen City. Before my father left, he asked me to take more than a hundred young men to take shelter in the desert temporarily.
.”
This tribe is very lucky and very unlucky at the same time.
They live in the richest area around Keyimen, which is full of fertile soil washed out by the Yellow River. All pastures have been reclaimed to grow food, and they have completely bid farewell to the life of herding. Moreover, the regular soldiers are unwilling to raise horses for the imperial court, and gradually become
It is mainly infantry.
They were too wealthy and too close to the headquarters of the Chaoshun Military Division.
Every time there is a war, their tribe draws the most soldiers and levies the most grain.
Especially due to the famine in the past few years, the Xixia court has increased its efforts like crazy, and the entire tribe has almost been unable to bear it.
Qixian complained: "My father said that last year, the tribe suffered too many losses, and there was not much food left in the tribe. Next, we have to work hard to fight for the court. If we continue to fight, the tribe will be almost gone. He asked me to hide and look for opportunities to seek refuge."
Ming dynasty."
Han Shizhong asked: "Do you know the terrain of the valleys in Keyimen?"
Qi You replied: "I probably know it, but I don't know it very well. I heard that many valleys near Keyimen City were used for grazing, but then they gradually became deserted. There are also pastures on some high mountains, and some people fled to the high mountains.
Grazing. The mountains on the east and west sides have low walls. I heard they were the Great Wall built by the Tang Dynasty."
That was not the Great Wall built by the Tang Dynasty, but the Great Wall built by the Qin Dynasty!
The mountains stretching for more than a hundred miles are directly surrounded by three sections of the Qin Great Wall. The longest section of the Great Wall is more than 8,000 meters long and is located in the Subaiying ditch where Han Shizhong and Yue Fei planned to pass.
However, those Qin Great Walls have been abandoned for thousands of years, with only some ruins remaining. The Xixia Great Wall was built on the basis of the Qin Great Wall to defend against Mongolia, and only a short section of it was built.
Yue Fei said to Han Shizhong: "It seems that the mountains further south are gentler and can be used for grazing cattle, building the Great Wall, and of course building forts to garrison large armies."
Qi You said: "Two generals, Ke Yimen can go around it."
"Impossible!" Cao Yu shouted.
Yue Fei and Han Shizhong's eyes lit up.
There is always this kind of plot in the stories of battles in the past dynasties. When the army faced a great pass and could not conquer it, suddenly local people came and said: General, please take the trail.
Where is the trail here?
Qi You squatted down and drew a simple map: "This is where we are, go back more than ten miles to cross the Yellow River to the west. There is a prominent river beach there, and you can grow food in a radius of five miles. From the river beach to the west, we cross about ten miles
In the desert, you can encounter a salt lake, which is where I am hiding. The local people have been forcibly relocated."
"Turn south from the Salt Lake, and then cross about ten miles of desert, and you will encounter an oasis. It is very close to the Yellow River, but the Yellow River often floods, and there are sandy areas along the way, so you can't grow food, and it is flooded by the Yellow River.
Messy rivers and small lakes.”
"To the south of the oasis, I heard that cattle could be grazed a long time ago, but now it has become a desert. The desert is ten or twenty miles away, and you can see the mountains through it. The east side of the mountains can be cultivated and grazed. It is the Chaoshun Army Division.
The territory of the second largest tribe. They graze cattle in the mountains and farm below the mountains."
"After passing the desert, walk twenty or thirty miles south, cross the Yellow River eastward, and then go around to the back of Keyi Gate."
Yue Fei and Han Shizhong looked at the schematic diagram carefully and calculated the required detour.
Crossed the Yellow River twice.
Crossed the desert three times.
The total mileage of the desert area is thirty to forty miles, but there are two oases in the middle that can supply fresh water.
Yue Fei asked: "After passing through all the deserts, are there any enemy fortresses in the arable and grazing areas?"
Qi You replied: "The easiest place to cross the river is Zhaibao. There is a temple on the mountain nearby. My father and I even went to the temple to worship Buddha."
Han Shizhong said: "Should we be able to find other crossing points?"
Qi You said with a smile: "Actually, you can skip crossing the river and go three hundred miles south along the Yellow River to reach Xingqing Mansion, the capital of Daxia. These three hundred miles are flat and smooth! Of course, there is Dingzhou City in the middle.
With."
Han Shizhong pulled Yue Fei aside: "Do you believe him?"
Han Shizhong said excitedly: "Do you dare to take a gamble?"
Yue Fei asked: "You mean to lead the cavalry directly to the capital of Xixia?"
"Yes," Han Shizhong analyzed: "The Xixia Kingdom has a small army. It must divide its troops to defend us at Keyi Gate, and also divide its troops to defend several Shaanxi armies. How many troops can be left in Dingzhou City and Xingqing Mansion? It is not appropriate to fight.
Using the metaphor, I will lead my army to confront the enemy here, and you, Deng Ai, will rush to attack and take the capital of Xixia."
Han Shizhong actually also read "Three Kingdoms".
Yue Fei's blood was boiling all over, he nodded and said: "Okay!"
Han Shizhong said: "You bring six thousand knights over there, each equipped with three horses. Of the six thousand knights, half are your soldiers and half are mine. How about we share this incredible battle achievement equally?"
"It's a deal!" Yue Fei said, clenching his fists.
Just do it.
Han Shizhong gave all of his best war horses to Yue Fei, more than 18,000 of them. Some good horses from tribal chiefs were also borrowed.
As for Han Shizhong himself, he led a large army to confront the enemies of Keyimen, and from time to time he would go up the mountain to attack the piers.
Yue Fei took Qi You as his guide and retreated more than ten miles at night, resting until dawn to cross the Yellow River.
Each knight is equipped with three horses, one horse carries people, one horse carries armor, and one horse carries grain, grass and drinking water.
The place where Yue Fei crossed the river was the Binhe Avenue in Wuhai City in later generations.
The riverbank after crossing the Yellow River is actually full of paddy fields, which are usually used to grow rice. However, due to the strong walls and clear fields, there is no one there. Even the houses have been burned, let alone sowing and raising seedlings.
After taking a short rest and filling up the water bag, we crossed the desert to the oasis and came to a salt lake that was more than 4 miles long and 2 miles wide.
There is grassland around the salt lake, where the horses can graze on the grass, feed them with concentrate and salt, and the soldiers also sit down to eat and rest.
That afternoon, we crossed the desert again and came to the second oasis.
There is a smaller lake here, and it is also a freshwater lake. Due to the flat terrain, once the Yellow River floods, the floods can directly flood here. Even in the dry season, there are semi-dry rivers connected to the Yellow River.
After filling the water bag, Yue Fei rested overnight and continued on his way.
The six thousand soldiers were extremely excited. They already knew what they were going to do.
On the morning of the next day, Yue Fei led his troops through the last desert area and found that there was no clearing of the wilderness ahead. Near the Yellow River, there were farmers plowing the fields with oxen. Farther away from the Yellow River, there were herdsmen grazing.
Perhaps all the men were sent to fight, and most of the plowers and herders were old people and women.
"The Han army is coming to kill! The Han army is coming to kill!"
An old man who was tending sheep was so frightened that he ran away on horseback, shouting and delivering messages along the way.
Yue Fei ignored it, and under the guidance of Qi You, he crossed the half-cultivated and half-pastoral belt at full speed, which was more than thirty miles long.
When they ran through two-thirds of the area, they could still see smoke rising from the fortress on the other side of the Yellow River.
Qi You pointed ahead and said: "There are many mountains for dozens of miles ahead. They are not very high, but they are relatively desolate. Some places need to be detoured. After that area, it is all flat land."
The straight-line distance is only more than ten miles, but it takes dozens or hundreds of miles to go around.
Yue Fei's army disappeared in the hilly areas, but the Xixia Fort on the other side of the Yellow River was frightened into chaos.
They thought that Yue Fei was going to choose a place to cross the river to attack the stronghold, drive nails into the back of Keyimen City, and then attack Keyimen from both front and rear. So while guarding the stronghold, they sent people to report the news to Keyimen and invited a large number of cavalry.
Explore along the river.
Another day later, Yue Fei had passed through the hilly area and was running on a smooth road.
To the west is Helan Mountain, to the east is the Yellow River, and it is already in the Yinchuan Basin.
This is the real breakthrough in Helan Mountain!
This is the core ruling area of Xixia. Naturally, it is impossible to keep the walls clear. There are farmers farming everywhere. But they are still mainly old people and women, and all the young and strong people have been sent to fight.
The farmers in Xixia fled in fear. Some of them had no time to escape, so they hid in their houses and did not dare to come out. Some also rode horses to Dingzhou City to report the news.
Yue Fei ignored him and led his army down at a gallop.
Last winter, the three troops in Dingzhou rebelled and made the place a mess. The few remaining standing armies and young men were all sent to defend Lingzhou, leaving only 500 rubbish troops in Dingzhou city.
When the guard received the news, Yue Fei had already led his troops four miles outside the city.
The guard general looked at his five hundred old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers and ordered them to guard the city gate. Then he went home, packed up his belongings, and ran away with his wife, children, and children.
Yue Fei's troops came to the city, and the five hundred defenders dispersed in a hurry.
A merchant stood up and said to his shop assistant: "I am Emperor Zhu's man. Follow me and open the city gate!"
Yue Fei rested in the city for a night, took some supplies and continued south.
Xingqingfu, the capital of Xixia, is less than a hundred miles ahead!