When Yue Fei led the Yue family army to Huanglong and completely wiped out the Jin people, Han Shizhong, who was born in the northern Shaanxi border area, was also launching a large-scale war to destroy the country.
If Yue Fei's lifelong enemy is the Kingdom of Jin, then Han Shizhong's mortal enemy is Xixia.
Back then, the Dangxiang people betrayed the Song Dynasty and proclaimed themselves king. This gave the Song Dynasty, which was already underdeveloped, a severe blow.
For hundreds of years, the war between the two sides never stopped.
Han Shizhong was born on the edge of Yan'an Prefecture, directly opposite the territory of the Xixia people.
He had been in the army for twenty years, and most of that time he was fighting against the Xixia people.
Moreover, the Western Army has been fighting with Xixia for hundreds of years, with losses exceeding one million, and their hatred has already reached the sky.
So when Han Shizhong was authorized and appointed to be responsible for the destruction of Xixia, his excitement was really scary.
"It's not like the Song Dynasty couldn't defeat Xixia." Before setting off to say goodbye, Li Yunze hosted a special banquet for Han Shizhong. "It's just the people who do things that are not good. I'm talking about the officials and the old princes, they have nothing to do with the Western Army, you know."
"yes."
Han Shizhong was very honest in front of Li Yunze and did not look naughty at all.
After all, he was an emperor on horseback, and his authority in the military was completely different from that of an emperor whose name was only heard in the palace.
The land area of Xixia is not small, but most of the places are either deserts or mountains and hills. The only places that are really suitable for living are Hetao and other places, which are known as the Fortress of Jiangnan.
Considering the food production of this era, a population of more than three million is the limit.
When the Song Dynasty had the largest number of soldiers and horses, the number of sergeants alone was as high as nearly two million.
In terms of true strength, Xixia was simply not qualified to compete with the Song Dynasty.
To use Han Shizhong's response, "If it were not Han Qi, Sima Guang and others who commanded the war, but Di Qing and others, Xixia would have been gone long ago."
The Song Dynasty's tradition of using culture to control military force was the root cause of the Song Dynasty's frequent weakness in wars.
This thing can be summed up in one sentence: laymen lead insiders.
In the century-old Xixia War, the Song Dynasty lost millions of soldiers and horses, but it was still powerless against Xixia.
It is definitely impossible to say that millions of Song soldiers are useless. It can only be said that the big headscarves who make decisions are really bad.
"You only have one thing to do when you go to Xixia this time."
Li Yunze, who was holding a wine flask in his hand, walked up to Han Shizhong and poured wine for him personally, "Wipe Xixia off the map!"
Han Shizhong stood up in a hurry and carefully held the wine glass to receive the drink.
After finishing the drink, he patted his chest boldly, "Don't worry, officials. Although I dare not compare myself to Mr. Di, I will definitely destroy Xixia!"
"You have to do something when you send troops from Guanzhong." Li Yunze nodded, "Bring all the rogues and scoundrels from all over Guanzhong to Xixia."
When Han Shizhong said this, his face immediately fell.
He himself was a gangster, and it was indeed a bit embarrassing for him to be singled out by officials in public.
"Yes, I understand."
"When these people arrive in Xixia, they must be arranged well. Let them be distributed in various places to replace the original party members."
Li Yunze continued to instruct, "Students who have signed up from various places have begun to gather in Chang'an City. In the places where they have conquered, they will be arranged to set up yamen, and then veterans of the military will serve as subordinate officials."
"Yes, I understand."
"There's one more thing." Li Yunze's instructions were not finished yet. "I heard that Li Yuanhao did something about growing his hair or not growing his hair?"
"yes."
Han Shizhong was naturally clear about this matter. "The people in Xixia must have the bird-like hairstyle of the Dangxiang people. Anyone who disobeys will be killed."
"XXX!"
Li Yunze cursed directly in front of many ministers and ministers, "When you get to Xixia, you can do this to me."
Han Shizhong was overjoyed and immediately responded, "Don't worry, officials. From now on, there will only be one head in Xixia. There is also the traitor Li Yuanhao. I will definitely search his grave!"
"Ahem."
Li Yunze coughed twice and waved his hands, "What are you talking about? I didn't hear anything."
Han Shizhong sent troops with massive military resources supported by Li Yunze.
The number of mighty soldiers and horses may not be much greater than in the previous general attack on Xixia. But the quality is unprecedentedly powerful.
The Song Army, which originally had a high armor coverage rate, with the support of Li Yunze, has increased its armor coverage rate to over 90%, which is an extremely terrifying level.
Even the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty in their most tyrannical period have never achieved this level.
You must know that in the cold weapon era, armor was everything.
Folks can own swords, guns, swords, halberds, and even bows and arrows, and the government won't care about them.
But once someone has armor, they will be embarrassed and will be directly punished for treason.
Nurhachi started his career with thirteen pairs of armor, which shows the importance of armor.
Because the armor has strong defensive power, attacks with swords, guns, bows and arrows are ineffective, and it has a decisive equipment advantage on the battlefield.
When the Song army, which was almost fully armored, faced off against the Xixia people, it was almost like adults bullying children.
Xixia didn't have that much armor and equipment, so it was useless to fight against the Song army. The Song army could kill them with a backhand sword.
As for Xixia's other advantage in resisting the Song army, the continuous fortresses built with the help of the Hengshan Mountains were no longer an obstacle at this time.
In the past, if the Song Army wanted to seize these cities, they could only fill them up little by little with human lives. Now, Han Shizhong brought a large amount of C4.
This thing is so powerful that as long as it is sent to the city and then detonated, no matter how strong the city is, it cannot stop it.
Han Shizhong did not take a shortcut to pingxia city, but chose the most traditional attack route, directly taking the Hengshan Mountains.
As long as you can cross here, you will be the core area of Xixia.
In the past, the Song army was always unable to defeat them. In addition to the complex terrain, there were too many fortresses stretching across the mountains and it was difficult to defeat them. They often had to retreat after losing tens of thousands of people.
It was different now. Explosives were fired into the city and soldiers poured into it like a tide. However, the Xixia people suffered heavy losses under the head-on attack.
Their standing army was stationed in the walled city. After being surrounded and breached, they could not escape.
As for several field battles, he was beaten by Han Shizhong until he cried for his father and mother.
If he can be as famous as Yue Fei, how can Han Shizhong be a person who has gained a reputation in vain?
After Han Shizhong's troops severely damaged the Xixia field troops and truly broke through the Hengshan Mountains, many nearby tribes defected to join the army. After straightening their hair, they immediately transformed and became the auxiliary soldiers of the Song Army.
Xixia originally belonged to the Tang Dynasty. After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the chaos in various places gave the once inconspicuous party members a chance to come forward. In addition, the scholar-officials of the Song Dynasty were indeed extremely incompetent, which led to the rise of Li Yuanhao.
When the Central Plains Dynasty sorted out its internal chaos and finally went all out to face each other seriously, they couldn't make any trouble.
Han Shizhong fought steadily, conquering the city and territory all the way, and finally reached the front line of Xingqing Prefecture in Lingzhou.
This is the real core of Xixia. Losing it would be the same as ruining the country.
The Xixia people, who were forced into a desperate situation, mobilized all the forces in the country that could be mobilized, and even women were pushed onto the battlefield.
He assembled a huge army of more than 300,000 people and fought a decisive battle with the Song army under Lingzhou City.
Back then, they had defeated the Song army that came from Pingxia City and almost destroyed Xixia here. It was obvious that they wanted to repeat the past this time.
It's just that the Song Army now is different from the Song Army at that time.
Taking advantage of his calmness, Han Shizhong commanded the Song army, which was not as numerous as Xixia, and crushed the Xixia people bit by bit.
In particular, the attack targets the elites like Tie Yao Zi, Bu Ba Zi, and Po Xijun.
When the core of these regular armies was defeated, the remaining Xixia soldiers were also defeated.
The 300,000-strong army seems to be strong, but this is not the Warring States period, so its combat effectiveness cannot be compared with the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period, when all the people are soldiers.
After defeating the last main force of the Xixia people, Han Shizhong's troops easily captured Lingzhou and Xingqing Mansion, but failed to capture the Xixia leader and his sons.
It is said that he ran away to regroup.
Han Shizhong's regret was not that he failed to capture the Xixia leader, but that he failed to capture the Xixia princess.
Because when he was drinking and chatting with Li Yunze, he once heard Li Yunze talking about Lingjiu Palace, Princess Xixia and so on.
Compared with the serious Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, who was born as a rogue, is much more flexible.
The Princess of Xixia, who can make the official family miss her dearly, if she can catch her and send her to her.
What a pity.
He actually thought about finding a party noblewoman to pretend to be her, but gave up as soon as the idea changed.
Officials are not people who can be fooled easily. Once exposed, the outcome will probably be tragic.
After capturing Lingzhou Xingqing Mansion and other places, Xixia was basically subjugated, but the battle was not over yet.
Han Shizhong's troops will continue to send troops to sweep both sides of the Helan Mountains, go north to the Mongolian grasslands, and go west to make contact with the Liao Kingdom at Yelu Dashi.
The Song Dynasty was once ridiculed as not being an orthodox Central Plains dynasty because it lost too many places.
Now Li Yunze is filling in all these missing areas bit by bit.
After the Jin Kingdom and Xixia were destroyed one after another, there were no decent strong forces around.
To the north is the Mongol that has not yet risen. A hundred years later, the Mongol cavalry will indeed be very powerful, sweeping across the World Island.
But right now, it's not a climate yet.
Li Yunze will not give them a chance to become successful.
Han Shizhong will always stay in the old Xixia land, and his next main task will be to continuously put pressure on the Mongols until they completely fall apart.
To the east are Goryeo and Fusang, which are traditional countries in East Asia.
When Yue Fei stabilizes the Northland, he will take action to deal with them.
Li Yunze doesn't do anything like paying tribute to the emperor. No matter how much he pays, he will occupy all the territory he can occupy.
Didn't it mean that the Song Dynasty had a small land area, so let's conquer a larger country.
As for Dali and Annan, the recovery of the Western Regions and so on are all on the plan, just take it step by step slowly.
Li Yunze looks at the map and sometimes feels very emotional.
Because such a huge territory has been recovered now, there is still a huge area that has not been recovered. But even if they are all added together, it is not as huge as the territory during the heyday of the Han and Tang Dynasties.
"The prosperous period of the Han and Tang Dynasties is really exciting. If nothing else happens, I should also have the opportunity to ride in it."