The red sun gradually rose, slanting down through the top of the mountain ridge, and the dark scenery in the forest gradually became clearer. The war horses around them seemed to smell something, and began to stir uneasily.
Li Ningming ordered softly: "Calm down the horses. The Song army is coming. If anyone leaks his whereabouts, I will kill his entire family."
The Xia Army cavalry quickly patted their heads to appease the horses. These were war horses that had experienced hundreds of battles. They could feel the coming fight, so their agitation was due to the urge to charge. The owner's comfort allowed them to temporarily recover.
calm.
"Your Highness, the scouts have come to report that the Song army has left Yingzui Cliff and is still eight miles away from here." Lieutenant General Ye Li Xianzong quietly came to Li Ningming and reported back.
Li Ningming nodded, staring at the official road without blinking, and said quietly: "Tell General Wu Zang to stay calm and wait until the Song Army brigade crosses my ambush baseline before attacking. Cut off its escape route and make a decisive move."
We cannot let them escape back to the valley."
Yeli Xianzong accepted the promise and went to deliver the order.
Half an hour later, smoke and dust were rising on the official road, and a group of Song troops could be seen slowly coming from the south. At the head were more than a hundred horsemen, followed by a long convoy of chariots and horses, and seven or eight hundred infantry platoons.
They formed two columns to protect along both sides of the convoy. At the end, there were two to three hundred horse troops guarding several luxurious carts. The people in the cars must be the escort officers for this material transport.
As the convoy approached little by little, Li Ningming became more and more excited. As long as the convoy passed through his ambushed army, the two lieutenants Yeli Xianzong and Mu Zangming would lead 1,500 cavalry to immediately intercept its retreat, and
He led 1,500 cavalry straight into the opponent's convoy.
In the center, cut it into two sections, and first capture or kill the officials behind it. Once the enemy general is dead, the rest is to simply hunt and kill the enemy soldiers; in such a plain area, these Song infantry are more powerful than when hunting.
Rabbits are easy to shoot, no difficulty at all.
The more than 100 cavalrymen at the forefront of the Song Army were only a few miles away from the ambush. Li Ningming waved his hand gently and gave the order. He first slowly drew out his sharp scimitar. This sword, which can cut iron as much as mud, has been hanging on his waist.
As an accessory, he will be used today to drink up the blood of the Song army. The soldiers under his command also mounted their horses one after another, each with their swords drawn. They waited for the commander to wave his sword, then they clapped their horses and charged out.
Suddenly, Li Ningming froze. He seemed not to believe his eyes, because he seemed to see a Song Army cavalry soldier raising his right hand and making a fist. It was a common gesture in the army to stop advancing. Sure enough, the Song Army team slowed down.
He slowly stopped a mile away. Li Ningming held his breath and took a closer look. He saw the handsome leader of the Ma Army pointing at the people around him and saying something, and pointing his knife at both sides from time to time.
of dense forest.
Li Ningming was shocked. Could it be that the soldiers of the Song Army were so careful? Do they suspect there was an ambush in the forest? Or did Yeli Xianzong and Wu Zangming not hide well enough and were noticed by the enemy?
Li Ningming's mind went blank. He watched helplessly as the Ma Army soldier sent two cavalrymen to slowly descend the official road and slowly approach the woods 300 steps away, where the army was hiding.
There will definitely be traces of the ambush cavalry.
Li Ning knew clearly that his wishful thinking of cutting off his retreat was probably going to come to nothing. He made a decisive decision and shouted: "Kill!" The horse rushed out of the forest first, with the green horse galloping up to the official road;
Thousands and five hundred cavalry also swarmed out and rushed towards the Song army.
Li Ning clearly understands that if he rushes over unprepared, the enemy general may escape, but the supplies cannot escape. If he is lucky, he can bring back hundreds of heads if he pursues them in tandem. If he waits for the enemy to find out, he will kill him immediately.
Form a formation or turn around and run away immediately. Materials can be grabbed, but heads may not be harvested. Li Ningming is very worried. This time he not only wants materials, food and grass, but also wants to kill all the more than a thousand soldiers escorted.
Only then can we cover up Li Ning's achievements.
With no other choice at this moment, Li Ningming's decision was correct. As soon as he attacked, the two lieutenants who were ambushing in the forest immediately rushed out with their troops. The soldiers of the Song Army were in chaos. They could hear each other from a distance.
The leader of the horse army yelled and yelled loudly. The Xixia army was approaching fiercely, and any scolding had no effect. The soldiers of the Song army turned around and ran back. The vehicles loaded with supplies also turned around quickly, as if it was a drill.
Many times, the Song army's escape speed was not slow.
The infantry could not keep up with the cavalry, nor could they keep up with the carts pulled by the mules. Some people suddenly climbed onto the carts and fled with them. This move immediately caused others to imitate, and they all climbed onto the carts.
, more than a hundred carts were crowded at one time.
Li Ningming charged and cursed with a smile: "Can these Song pigs, mules and horses carry so many people? Aren't they waiting for us to slaughter them?"
Just as Li Ningming expected, the carts loaded with soldiers and supplies suddenly struggled. Each cart could have at least one or at most two animals. How could it pull thousands of kilograms of supplies plus the weight of five or six soldiers?
, no matter how much the driver cracks his whip, the speed of the cart is not much faster than walking.
The weird screams and roars of the Xixia Army scared the soldiers of the Song Army out of fear. Some people suddenly thought of throwing down the supplies in the cart, including sacks of grain and soybeans, bundles of firearms and armor, and others got on them one by one.
The locked big iron box was suddenly thrown all over the floor.
The weight of these things accounted for most of the weight. The cart that had emptied the supplies suddenly became lighter and faster, and the speed gradually increased. Although the distance between the two sides became smaller and smaller, after all, they started charging more than a mile apart, retreating and advancing.
It's hard to catch up.
In addition, abandoned supplies were everywhere on the official road, which seriously hindered the speed of the cavalry's pursuit. What's more, when the cavalry rode over these supplies, their eyes were stung by the dazzling objects scattered on the ground, and several of them took a bite.
The big box cracked open when it was thrown down, and piles of copper coins and ingots of silver spilled all over the floor.
Someone quickly reined in the horse's head, jumped off the horse and started stuffing money into his clothes. When the other soldiers saw this, they didn't have the intention to chase. They got off their horses one by one and started looting. Seeing the Song Army's brigade gradually disappearing, they finally joined the Song soldiers.
Not a single hair on his body was touched.
Li Ningming yelled loudly, but the soldiers who were happily looting could not listen. Some of them even drew their swords and started fighting for the money on the ground. Li Ningming was furious and ordered to arrest all the hundreds of soldiers who participated in the looting.
Hundreds of soldiers had their armors skewed, their swords thrown aside, and their arms bulging with money and items.
A good pursuit opportunity was lost. The supplies on the ground were at most 20 to 30% of the supplies escorted by the Song army. The rest was actually retreated by the Song army. How could Li Ningming not be annoyed? This was his first time leading troops.
There was a situation of disrespect for orders. Although these soldiers were used to plundering on daily basis, every time they went deep into the Song Dynasty to raid, the generals tacitly allowed the soldiers to burn, kill and loot, as long as the bulk was turned over and some benefits were left for them.
In order to improve the enthusiasm of soldiers.
But how could Li Ningming tolerate it? In his mind, Daxia soldiers must have strict discipline and prohibitions. Such robbery of property was far beyond his tolerance.
Yeli Xianzong and Mu Zangming led their men to wave their whips and beat all these hundreds of people severely, and then they came to Li Ningming, who was cursing and looking ashen-faced.
"Your Highness, the general has punished these robbing wild dogs. Please calm down."
"Is this punishment? Is it possible that these dogs are so contemptuous of the military orders of our Great Xia Cavalry?"
"Well... Your Highness, calm down, they are really outrageous, but... there is no need to go to war. Even if the commander takes the lead, it is just a small punishment. After all, they are all sons and daughters who have been through life and death..."
"Shut up! Military law is just for show, isn't it? It's obvious that all the credit was given, but now it has ended like this. Who will bear the responsibility? Are you two responsible? Look at these supplies. The food is only ten thousand shi, and the weapons and armor are insufficient.
Hundreds of sets, a few pitiful boxes of belongings less than tens of thousands of pounds, how do you expect me to bring such a small amount back for business?"
Yeli Xianzong and Mei Zangming scratched their heads and said nothing, thinking: What can we do? There is no reason to succeed every time.
Li Ningming slowly stepped forward with his sword in hand, walking slowly along the queue of hundreds of soldiers who were looting money and supplies. His face was clouded, and he said in a cold voice: "You are so used to being undisciplined that you ignore military orders. You must accept more severe punishment."
Punishment, whoever is the first to steal the money should stand up."
All the soldiers bowed their heads and were speechless.
"Okay, don't you want to say yes? Then we'll all sit down together, and someone will come and dig a hole for all these bitches and bury them alive. No one is allowed to be left alive."
Everyone was shocked, and some people were so frightened that they fainted on the spot. Yeli Xianzong and Mei Zangming hurriedly came forward to plead for mercy, saying that they were in enemy territory and needed to lead their troops to evacuate the Song Dynasty quickly. They would wait until they returned home to discuss any punishment.
Li Ningming refused to listen at all and shook his head and said: "Then I will give you one last chance. If you point out the first ten people who robbed, you will be exempted from the death penalty. I will give you ten breaths. If there is no result after ten breaths, I will be buried alive on the spot.
"
Only then did everyone understand that Li Ningming was serious. Once the situation came to a life-or-death moment, the brothers would turn against each other. Ten breaths was still too long for them. In less than five breaths, ten Xia soldiers were accused.
When they came out, these ten people were ashen-faced. They didn't expect that such a big bad thing happened today. Things that were commonplace on weekdays were made such a fuss in the hands of this prince.
"Go on the road with peace of mind. Your family members will be compensated, and the ten of you will be considered dead fighting the enemy." Li Ningming said coldly.
"Your Highness, please spare your life, we don't dare to do it anymore." Ten Xia soldiers knelt down and kowtowed for mercy, crying endlessly.
Li Ningming shouted to Yeli Xianzong and Mu Zangming: "Why don't you drag them down for execution? Do you want me to do it myself?"
Yeli Xianzong and Mu Zangming looked at each other, neither of them willing to take a step forward. Li Ningming jumped angrily and gritted his teeth and said: "Okay, I will do it myself. You two are openly disobeying me. Go back and wait for me."
In desperation, Yeli Xianzong and Mu Zangming quickly ordered their guards to drag the ten people into the grass beside the official road. They heard screams and ten bloody heads were thrown in front of everyone.
Everyone was silent. His Highness the Crown Prince was cruel and cruel, which was unexpected. It was an ordinary raid, but I don't know why His Highness the Crown Prince took it so seriously.
"Although you people can avoid the death penalty, you will also be punished. If you want to wash away the shame on your body, you need to fight bravely to make up for your mistakes. Later, you will attack the Song army in Eagle Beak Cliff. You need to be the first echelon to charge.
If you can survive, I will exempt you from all punishments and give you heavy rewards, do you understand?"
Li Ningming's words stunned Yeli Xianzong and Mu Zangming. Are you crazy? He actually led his cavalry to pursue them deep into the valley. This is a big taboo.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince, I'm sorry to say too much, but we can't advance into the valley. Once our cavalry troops enter the valley, they will have no room for maneuver and all their advantages will be lost." Wu Zangming hurriedly stepped forward and said.
Li Ningming said: "Do you think I don't know this is a big taboo? Do you know the situation at the bottom of the valley under Yingzui Cliff? It is a wide valley, and thousands of cavalry can move freely in the valley. What are you worried about? Besides,
Okay, look at this batch of supplies. It is obvious that in addition to grain, grass, weapons and ordinary supplies, there is also a large amount of copper coins, gold and silver. This is a huge harvest. If you rob these, at least I will ensure that the Jianing Army in the left wing does not need to reach out for a year.
Asking the emperor for military pay and supplies is a great achievement, don’t you want to make this great contribution and become famous in Great Xia?”
"But...what if..."
"There is no such thing as a chance. There is a saying in the Song Dynasty that 'wealth and wealth can be obtained in danger'. If you don't enter the tiger's den, you can't catch the tiger's cub. At this moment, the morale of the Song army is low, and they are mainly infantry. As long as they are not allowed to retreat to the depths of the cliff valley,
In a narrow area, we can definitely win."
"But what should we do if the enemy troops come for reinforcements and block the way back?"
"Quickly decide the battle before the enemy gets the news and reinforces. I have already thought about the way back. Instead of going north from the official road, we will go directly west to Qinfeng Road in the Song Dynasty, then turn north, from
The Song army's defense transfer point between Qingzhou and Jingzhou went north and let them defeat them. This battle is destined to become famous all over the world."
"But……"
"Stop being coy, quickly unite the army and march towards Yingzui Cliff. This has delayed the opportunity to fight. If the Song army is allowed to retreat to the mountain road, I will take advantage of you."
Yeli Xianzong and Wu Zangming did not dare to say anything anymore. Although Li Jiqian, the commander of the Jianing Army, had warned them not to let Li Ningming do whatever he wanted before they came, they were powerless under the current situation;
Of course, the two of them still admired the strategic prospects and retreat route described by Li Ningming. Now that the arrow was on the line, they could only take a chance and take a chance.