Chapter 248: Escorting food and grass to the frontier troops, setting fire to the iron kites in the plains
Li Yunze failed to enter Chang'an City.
The reason is very simple. The Western Army has a traditional way of pitting each other against each other and despising each other.
And if he revealed his identity and actually came from the east and west of Beijing, he would be even more disdainful.
Yang Zhi, who was originally from the Western Army, was well aware of these issues. He stood aside and looked at Li Yunze worriedly, fearing that he would get angry and cause trouble.
The Western Army cheating on their teammates is not just talk, it is real cheating.
Moreover, they are guest troops. If they clash with the Western troops outside Chang'an City, there will be no good results.
Unexpectedly, Li Yunze ignored him at all and led the team directly through Chang'an City and headed straight for Fengxiang Mansion.
Li Yunze, who has always been cautious, of course cannot just let it go.
"Xin Xingzong, right? Just wait."
Li Yunze led his army through Xianyang, passed Qishan, passed Baoji, crossed Fengxiang and entered Qinzhou.
Along the way, you can see soldiers and horses passing by, civilian men being drafted, and various queues pouring towards the north. It is obvious that a war is about to begin.
The so-called Qinzhou refers to Tianshui County in the Han and Tang Dynasties. The Qinfeng Road Transfer Envoy Office of the Song Dynasty was located here.
The transfer envoy is actually an official position responsible for the wealth and supervision along the way.
With money in one hand and supervision in the other, its power is naturally self-evident.
Qinzhou is the rear grain and salary base camp. There are so many people coming and going between soldiers and horses and transporting grain and grass, it can be said that there is an endless stream of traffic.
Li Yunze handed over a letter and paid a visit, but the transfer messenger was nowhere to be seen.
They only gave him a document and ordered him to supervise and escort a grain team to transport grain and grass to the Dingbian Army.
The transfer envoy was good friends with Liang Zhongshu, so he would naturally help Liang Zhongshu when he asked for his help, but that was all.
It's enough to arrange a job for him and get some qualifications. He has to go back after the war anyway.
Li Yunze didn't say much. He took the order document and went to find someone to do something. Then he escorted a grain team with hundreds of grain trucks to go to Xingzhou, Weizhou, Yuanzhou and enter the Yongxing Military Road.
Afterwards, he passed through Huanzhou and joined the Dingbian Army.
Along the way, there are plateau landforms unique to northern Shaanxi. They don't look very high or steep, but they stretch one after another, seemingly endlessly.
Such terrain was strange to the sergeants from Shandong at first. They looked around and even climbed up to play during their breaks.
But after half a month's journey, everyone was tired.
Tired.
After all, I have lived in the plains since I was a child, and I am really not used to this kind of place.
On the contrary, Li Yunze didn't care about this, and he was very familiar with the geographical environment here, and could even accurately calculate the time it took to get from one plateau to the next!
This really left Yang Zhi completely speechless.
"General." Yang Zhi couldn't help but ask, "Have you ever been to northern Shaanxi?"
People who have never been here, or even stayed here for a long time, will not understand this at all.
"Yeah." Li Yunze, who had maintained his attitude, nodded with a smile, "I've been here before."
Hearing this, Yang Zhi felt relieved.
He almost thought that Li Yunze was someone like Zhuge Wuhou. He could tell what the environment was like just by looking at the terrain, and he knew how to go and how long it would take.
If his intelligence is so close to that of a demon, it is really hard to accept.
They walked all the way past the ruins of the Great Wall of Qin and arrived at a valley forty miles away from Hengshan Village, where they ran into a broken army.
After stopping the defeated soldiers and asking for information, they found out that there was actually a group of Xixia iron kites coming from Shentangbao on a detour to specifically attack the Song Army's grain team.
The iron kite was in the valley across the two plateaus in front, burning the grain and grass escorted by the defeated soldiers.
Calculated based on the toes, you will arrive here in an hour at most.
"General."
Yang Zhi, who looked anxious, hurriedly stepped forward, "Why don't we retreat first."
"Retreat?" Li Yunze looked over with a stern look, "Where to retreat?"
"The Hengshan Village in front is only forty miles away, and the Tongsai Fort in the back is only sixty miles away." Yang Zhi was afraid that Li Yunze didn't know how powerful the Iron Kites were, so he explained repeatedly, "The men and horses of Dang Xiang Gou's Iron Kites are all wearing heavy armor, and they can't stab each other."
Enter, use a hook and rope to hang on the horse, and even if you die, you will not fall to the ground."
"It's no big deal, I've done it."
Li Yunze's words made Yang Zhi dumbfounded. What does it mean to have beaten?
"You also know that the front and rear forts are dozens of miles apart." Li Yunze stretched his muscles. "We may be able to run away with quick feet, but what will we do with so much food and grass?"
Hearing this, Yang Zhi was also stunned.
Yes, people can run away, but hundreds of carts of food and grass cannot run away.
He was supposed to be escorting grain and fodder, but if he abandoned the grain and fodder and ran away, the only result would be to be prosecuted by military law.
In other words, everyone is dead?
The soldiers and horses brought by Li Yunze were relatively quiet, but the men transporting grain and grass started to make a lot of noise, and some even started to run away.
‘Buzz~~~’
A sharp arrow whizzed out, accurately hitting the bun on the head of the fastest runner, and shot directly through his bun.
"Escapers!" Li Yunze, holding a bow and arrow, roared, "Behead!"
Faced with the threat of Chi Guoguo, no one dared to escape anymore. Even the defeated soldiers came to their senses and did not dare to continue running away.
The result of their running away is also a dead end.
Li Yunze on horseback looked around at the terrain, wet his saliva with his fingers and raised them up, feeling the direction of the wind. Finally, his eyes fell on the hundreds of grain trucks.
"Yang Zhi."
"General?"
"Is there any kerosene among the military supplies we transported?"
"ah?"
More than an hour later, the sun turned westward.
The dull and dense sound of horse hooves resounded throughout the plateau, and a group of about three hundred Xixia iron kites rumbled into the valley.
"General, there is a Song people's food team ahead!"
"Don't shout." Wei Mingli looked at the Song people Ding Zhuang and the sergeant who fled in the distance, and sneered, "I saw it."
Wei Mingli is the son of Wei Mingyi, the general of Xixia Tieyaozi. He is less than twenty years old this year.
He had been serving as a guard for the Xixia Emperor Li Qianshun before. In this war with the Song Dynasty, he also followed his father to the front line to gild his qualifications.
During these days, he tried his best to convince his father to give him a chance to send troops.
Finally, his father went to Yanzhou not long ago. Wei Mingli seized the opportunity and immediately took his own team of Iron Harriers and went straight to the front line regardless of dissuasion.
Fortunately, he was not stupid. He did not rush straight to the Song Army's heavily guarded defense line, but chose to take a detour to raid the Song Army's grain team.
In the past few days, he had raided several Song army's grain teams and made a lot of gains.
He also knew that this was the hinterland of the Song Army. Once the Song Army reacted to such a dangerous place, it would definitely be very dangerous.
So I have made a decision and will wait until early tomorrow morning to return.
Now, the obviously frightened Song Army grain team in front of him was his last battle of this sortie.
I'm going home tomorrow.
Because of the successive easy victories, the young Wei Mingli quickly became swollen and had forgotten that the most important thing on the battlefield is to observe calmly.
He rode forward without hesitation, planning to burn the food team and then find a place to rest.
Behind him were hundreds of kites, naturally following closely.
The Iron Harriers are the elite of Xixia. They are composed of the descendants and cronies of Dangxiang Qiang aristocrats and chieftains. They are all well-known brave men.
This cavalry is well-equipped and moves quickly. It is equipped with the best horses and the finest armor. There are also fine iron protective gears on the vital parts of the horses. During battle, the knights are tied to the horses with iron ropes. Even if they die in battle, they will not fall off the saddle.
.
Their fighting will is resolute and their fighting ability is extremely strong. The only drawback is that their numbers are too small.
The entire Iron Harrier Army only has a total of 3,000 troops, divided into ten teams of 300 each.
If Wei Mingli's father had not been the iron kite general Wei Mingyi, he would not have been able to command a team of iron kites at such a young age.
The Xixia cavalry rushed into the queue of grain carts, dismounted casually, and prepared fire starters to burn the Song people's grain and grass.
"General!"
Some shrewd Xixia cavalry noticed something was wrong and said, "There is something wrong with the placement of these grain carts!"
Hundreds of grain trucks were arranged in a U shape, with a depression large enough to accommodate all the kites.
"General!" Someone rushed over and shouted, "The grain truck has been doused with kerosene!"
To transport grain and grass, there is naturally a lot of grain, but there is also a large amount of fodder, which is used to feed the livestock of the army.
Apart from that, almost everything is needed in the army.
From pens, inks, paper and inkstones to wood tools, from medicinal materials for tents to oil materials for cloth and silk.
Nearly half of the grain team escorted by Li Yunze was fodder, and there were many other miscellaneous items.
Wei Mingli also noticed something was wrong and hurriedly ordered, "Get on the horse quickly!"
When there was a panic, shouts came from the plateaus on both sides, and a large number of Song troops poured out from the top of the mountain.
As soon as they came up, hundreds of grain trucks were pushed off the grain trucks, rolling and falling, blocking the U-shaped entrance.
Immediately following were the rockets released by the crossbowmen.
"Come out, rush out!" Wei Mingli, who finally got on his horse, shouted loudly and waved his arms to greet his subordinates, "Come out with me!"
In the gradually churning flames, Wei Mingli, who was wearing beautiful armor, stood out very conspicuously.
Li Yunze stepped down and saw him at a glance.
Take a step, draw your bow, nock an arrow, aim, and let go.
‘Whoosh~~~’
Amidst the sharp sound of piercing the air, Li Yunze's sharp arrow hit Wei Mingli's face with great accuracy!
Wei Mingli was wearing strong armor all over his body, but he did not put down his visor at this time.
‘Ah~~~’
The young General Dangxiang screamed, his body fell limply and he fell from his horse.
He can never go home again.
The Iron Kites, who lost their leader, suddenly became more chaotic.
Among the grain teams escorted by Li Yunze, there were also several carts of medicinal materials.
These medicinal materials were evenly distributed on the forage cart. After being ignited, black smoke rose up and followed the wind, covering their heads and covering the iron kites in armor.
Song troops with their faces covered with wet cloths swarmed forward. The crossbowmen were in the back room, and others were in front across the grain carts, using spears and sticks to prevent the party members from rushing out of the ring of fire.
People screamed, horses neighed, swords flashed, and flames burned the sky!
After shooting all the sharp arrows in the arrow pot, Li Yunze stood on the slope of the plateau, looking calmly at the party members who were gradually engulfed by the flames.