The war cavalry from both sides roared and charged, with guns drawn and knives raised, full of murderous intent. In the blink of an eye, the rumbling sounds of horse hooves were mixed together, the horses' hooves were dazzling, cold light was flying, and the knights on both sides turned on their backs. It was a good fight, but Yan Yun's army was actually at a disadvantage. The Xixia Snow Mountain Army's combat power was really unexpected.
Li Tian brandished his spear and fought hard, killing the enemy's cavalrymen and their horses, but none of them could join him. However, he was immediately surrounded by three warriors from the opponent's army and started fighting, creating a dangerous situation.
The Xueshan Army was very powerful, and they were fighting two against one. The situation of the Yan Yun Army was getting worse and worse, and they saw the soldiers of the Yan Yun Army stained with blood on the battlefield. However, the Yanyun army had no intention of retreating and still roared and fought desperately. A Yanyun cavalryman had his right arm cut off by a Snow Mountain cavalry sword. The spear in his right hand flew up together with his right arm, but he was killed red. The eye-catching Yanyun Cavalry actually roared and rushed over and threw the Snow Mountain Cavalry to the ground. The two rolled around on the ground several times, with the Yanyun Cavalry riding on the Snow Mountain Cavalry. The Snow Mountain Cavalry stretched out his hands to dig out the eyes of the Yan Yun Cavalry. The Yan Yun Cavalry pulled out the long knife from his waist with his left hand and stabbed it into the Snow Mountain Cavalry's chest. Almost at the same time, a Snow Mountain Cavalry rushed behind him. With a wave of his scimitar, the Yanyun Cavalry's head flew out.
The Yanyun Army was surrounded by the Snow Mountain Army and was about to be annihilated before their eyes. At this moment, several arrows flew in one after another. The Xueshan Army, which was intensifying its siege on Yan Yun's army, was hit by arrows in the neck one after another. They could not even scream, and their horses were knocked down. Immediately, the sound of horse hoofbeats sounded, and a Yanyun war cavalry of more than a thousand people rushed over the hills on the south side. The leading general was Li Tian's deputy general, Wan Chun, who was the one who fired a series of arrows just now.
Wanchun led more than a thousand war cavalry and rushed into the enemy's thicket. The enemy was caught off guard and suffered heavy losses, which seemed a bit chaotic. However, after a brief period of chaos, the Snow Mountain Army immediately stabilized and continued to fight with the Yan Yun Army.
Just when the two sides were fighting inextricably, large groups of troops from both sides appeared on the battlefield one after another, and the flags of both sides appeared among the surging troops and horses. The Yanyun Army relied on the hills to the south to form a military formation, while the Xueshan Army relied on the hills to the north to form a military formation. Immediately, the horns of both sides sounded in unison, and the cavalry of both sides who were fighting fiercely immediately broke away from the battle and returned to their respective armies.
Li Tian and Wan Chun rushed back to Yang Yanzhao. Wan Chun was fine, but Li Tian was covered in blood as if he had just been fished out of a blood vat, which was shocking. Yang Yanzhao asked with concern: "General Li, are you injured?" Li Tian shook his head, glanced at the Snow Mountain Army cavalry who had retreated into the military formation in the distance, frowned and said: "The Snow Mountain Army is well-deserved, and its combat power is not as good as in Liaoning. Under the country's most elite troops!" Yang Yanzhao nodded, looked into the distance, and saw a figure under the opponent's commander's banner. Although it was hard to see clearly from a distance, it was definitely a young man, and he couldn't help but murmur He murmured: "I didn't expect that the famous Commander-in-Chief of the Snow Mountain Army of Xixia would actually be such a young man!"
Wuwuwu... The long blast of the horn came from the opposite side, and immediately the infantry of the Snow Mountain Army slowly retreated, but the cavalry remained motionless.
Qiuxia said: "The enemy has retreated?" Wanchun immediately asked Yang Yanzhao: "General, are you chasing?" Yang Yanzhao shook his head, frowned at the retreating enemy, and said: "The infantry is retreating, the cavalry is behind, there are If there is no agreement, there will be no opportunity to take advantage of it." He turned to look at the very tired soldiers and ordered: "Send the order to all armies to retreat!"
The horns of the Yanyun Army also sounded, and the infantry retreated first, followed by the cavalry.
Soon after, the noisy wilderness returned to calm. Yan Yun's army retreated to Changcheng Ridge, and Yang Yanzhao immediately ordered his people to march to Hedong to win the victory, and then sent an army to move all the heavy supplies from the camp at the foot of the mountain to the mountain.
News of the fall of Changcheng Ridge reached the Xixia court. Although the Xixia people were somewhat numbed by the continuous bad news, this news still greatly shocked the Xixia court. You must know that the Great Wall Ridge is a natural barrier on the southeastern border of Xixia. The loss of the Great Wall Ridge means that the most important defensive barrier in the southeast is lost, and Xixia's defense situation has worsened.
The palace was in chaos. Some ministers proposed peace, while others shouted to fight to the end. The emperor sitting on the dragon throne was flustered and agitated, but he didn't know what to do. At this moment, the palace officer rushed into the main hall and reported: "Your Majesty, envoy Yanyun is here!"
The noisy hall fell silent for an instant, and the change was so fast that it was very strange. The emperor hesitated for a moment and asked the two prime ministers: "What is the purpose of envoy Yanyun coming here at this time?" The right prime minister said coldly: "What else can he do? He didn't come to demonstrate against us!" He said to the emperor. With a salute, "Your Majesty, we should kill Yan Yun's envoy to show our determination to fight Yan Yun to the end!" Several ministers immediately agreed, all looking very excited.
Prime Minister Zuo immediately objected: "No! As the saying goes, if the two countries are fighting without killing the envoys, if we kill the other side's envoys, it will be of no use to us firstly, and secondly, it will be redressed, so why bother!"
The emperor felt that what Prime Minister Zuo said was reasonable, and nodded and said: "Prime Minister Zuo is right." Then he asked hesitantly: "Then should I see him?" Prime Minister Zuo said: "I might as well meet him, and Let’s see what their intentions are, so we can formulate countermeasures!” The emperor nodded and said to the palace officer: “Xuan Yanyun is the envoy!” The palace officer agreed, ran down, and soon led Yan Yun The messenger Fan Yong came in.
Fan Yong walked into the hall and nodded slightly to the emperor who was sitting high above him, "Your Majesty!" The emperor narrowed his eyes and asked in a cold voice: "Why do you want to see your envoy?" Fan Yong said: "Specially for this reason. Please bring peace to both of us!"
The right prime minister was furious and shouted: "What a peace, you Yan Yun are so treacherous and shameless. You are negotiating peace on the surface, but you are hiding dangers and plotting against us! Are you trying to deceive us again now?" Several ministers followed Fan Yong and began to yell and curse.
Fan Yong was not moved at all, and asked the emperor with a bit of ridicule: "Your Majesty, I wonder if it is your Majesty who calls the shots in your country, or the Prime Minister? Your Majesty did not speak, why did the Prime Minister shout in the hall? You screamer, this is clearly a treasonous act without a king among us!"
The Prime Minister You was shocked and angry, and wanted to curse, but he swallowed his words as soon as they reached his lips. The emperor glanced at the Prime Minister You with some displeasure, and said to Fan Yong: "Prime Minister You, he is just a little excited! Your envoy said yes What does it mean to come for peace?”
Fan Yong said: "We Yanyun have never dared to offend Xixia. We only want to regain our homeland. Now that we have recovered everything north of the Wei River, our Yanyun has fulfilled our wish and hopes to make peace with Xixia!" Prime Minister You was so excited that he almost burst into tears. The curse came out. The emperor smiled coldly, "Yan Yun wants to get out after taking advantage of such a boss? Is there such a cheap thing in the world?" The right prime minister immediately agreed, "Your Majesty is right! Yan Yun tore up the peace treaty first, but now he has I want to put the matter to rest, how can such a good thing happen!" The ministers shouted one after another, all looking excited. If their eyes were knives, Fan Yong would have been chopped into pieces by a thousand knives at this moment.
Fan Yong looked at the right prime minister, "When it comes to tearing up the peace treaty, I'm afraid it's you!" His eyes turned to the emperor's face, "Your right general was captured by us. He has already confessed everything, and he is the one who was ordered to do so." After receiving the secret order from Prime Minister Right, he led his 100,000 troops south to Yan'an Prefecture, and together with the army of Yan'an Prefecture, they attacked our army in the name of releasing the captive people! However, they failed in the end and were defeated by our army! This is the story of the entire war. beginning!"
The Prime Minister Right shouted angrily: "You are spitting blood!!" Fan Yong took out a confession, held it up with both hands, and said: "This is Li Yuanzhong's confession, please see it." The Prime Minister Right said anxiously: "This, this must be Fake!" The emperor ignored the right prime minister and winked at the eunuch beside him, who immediately went down, took the confession, and forwarded it to the emperor. The emperor picked up the confession and read it again, his face became very gloomy, and he turned to look at the right prime minister fiercely. Prime Minister Right was panicked.
The emperor put down his confession and said to Fan Yong: "Both sides hold different opinions about the cause of the war, and it's hard to tell who is right..." Fan Yong smiled slightly. The emperor continued: "The peace negotiation is a national matter and I cannot make a hasty decision. Please send your envoy back and I will discuss it with my ministers."
Fan Yong didn't say much, clasped his fists and said, "Farewell." Then he left the hall. As soon as Fan Yong left, the emperor immediately said to the ministers: "Since Yanyun's army has taken the initiative to seek peace, I think we can take the opportunity to stop fighting." The right prime minister was so distracted that he seemed not to hear the emperor's words; the left prime minister said: "Your Majesty, I'm afraid we can't rush now. Make peace with Yan Yun’s army!”
The emperor asked in confusion: "Why is this? Hasn't Prime Minister Zuo always advocated peace? Why is it so unusual today?"
Prime Minister Zuo said: "Your Majesty has forgotten Tubo?" The emperor was stunned, and then frowned, "This, this..." Prime Minister Zuo said: "At this moment, we are afraid that it is difficult to withdraw! If we withdraw, we will definitely If we offend Tubo, it will be difficult to deal with in the future! Now we can fight but not make peace. We will try our best to not only defeat Yanyun, but at least we can stabilize the current front. This is an explanation to Tubo, and maybe we will. Let us seize the opportunity to defeat Yan Yun, and then go south to recapture Weibei."
Several ministers agreed. The emperor nodded thoughtfully. Fan Yong waited in the guest house all day but did not receive any news. He felt that things might not go as he wished, so he sent his men to contact the palace maid who had been bribed. That night, Fan Yong received the news that the Xixia Emperor did not intend to negotiate peace and planned to continue the war. This shocked and puzzled Fan Yong. Then Fan Yong immediately asked his men to leave the capital of Xixia in disguise and went to Hedong to report the news.
At about the same time, Yang Peng, who was on the east bank of the Yellow River, received an urgent report from Shi Jin. The Tubo army suddenly appeared and attacked Qinfeng Road. Xining Prefecture fell, Jishi and Kuozhou surrendered, and Huangzhou was in danger. Xining Prefecture is now Xining City. Jishi is to the south of Xining, and Kuozhou and Huangzhou are to the east of Xining. These four military prefectures were the four westernmost military prefectures on Qingfeng Road in the original Northern Song Dynasty. During the Northern Song Dynasty, heavy troops were stationed there. , after Jianyan crossed south, this area, together with the Shaanxi-Gansu area, fell into the hands of the Khitans, and then was handed over to Xixia by the Khitans. Not long ago, Yan Yun's army swept across Hexi, and these four military states were joined by all Like the prefectures and counties in Weibei, they all surrendered to Yanyun.
Although the military prefectures in Weibei have changed hands several times, the county officials and prefectures in various places are almost all the same people from the Northern Song Dynasty. They just watch the changes and keep changing the flags on the city walls. It can be said that they are left to their own devices. The rain and wind blow, and I feel free and happy. The great changes in the world situation seem to have no impact on them.
Yang Peng was a little surprised when he received the news from Shi Jin. Before the war, he had not expected that the Tubo people would suddenly attack him. Han Bing frowned and said: "On Qingfeng Road, Chen Jie's army has less than 60,000 troops. I'm afraid I can't resist the Tubo people!" Yang Peng said with a smile: "You are too polite to say, 'I'm afraid I can't resist'." , I think we can’t resist it at all! According to Chen Jie, Tubo sent 300,000 troops this time, it’s so aggressive!”
Han Bing nodded and said to Yang Peng: "Brother, all the troops allocated to General Yang Yanzhao should be transferred to the west immediately, and the breakthroughrs should be defeated first!"
Yang Peng thought for a moment, "The 150,000 troops transferred from Yanmen Pass and the First Army Corps transferred from Henan, plus Chen Jie's Ninth Army Corps, should be enough. I'm just worried about Yang Yanzhao and the others. What could go wrong?”
Han Bing: "Relying on Changcheng Ridge and Yinzhou, I believe we can resist the Xixia people." Han Bing's tone was not very sure, because he had just received a report not long ago that Xixia had devoted all its efforts to the south for a decisive battle, and it was estimated that it would be suppressed by then. The total strength of the Xixia Army in Changcheng Ridge and Yinzhou will reach 800,000. Facing such a huge force, Han Bing and the others are too weak. No one is sure whether they can hold on.
Han Bing thought: "Perhaps Xixia will agree to peace talks with us. In that case, there is no need to worry about the northern front!"
Han Bing shook his head, "I'm afraid that won't be the case!" He glanced at Yang Peng, "Even if the Xixia people are willing to negotiate, once they know that the Tubo people have invaded Qinfeng Road, their attitude will definitely change immediately! Can they win the final victory? , we have to rely on our own army!"
Yang Peng nodded, "You're right!" After a pause, "I want to go to Qinfeng Road in person!" Han Bing smiled and said, "I expected it a long time ago!" Yang Peng held Han Bing's delicate hand and smiled: "That's why we became husband and wife!" Han Bing smiled sweetly, with tenderness in her beautiful eyes.
Yang Peng thought for a while, "At present, there are several directions of war, and someone needs to sit in the Chinese army to coordinate." He looked at Han Bing and smiled, "No one is more suitable than Han Bing!" Han Bing couldn't help but feel very happy when he heard this. Happy, "As long as you trust me, I will take on this burden. Don't worry!" Yang Peng smiled and said: "You can send an order to the Xuanwei envoys of Shanxi and Henan to assemble the army immediately as a The strategic reserve team is ready to reinforce in all directions." Han Bing nodded.
Later that day, Yang Peng left Hedong Ferry and rushed to Fengxiang Mansion. At the same time, more than a dozen messengers rushed to all parties carrying Yang Peng's latest order.
After receiving the order, the 150,000 direct army regiments that had crossed the Yellow River half a day ago immediately turned around and headed towards Qinfeng Road in the west. About a day later, the First Army Corps, which was heading north, also received the order, so they turned around and headed towards Qinfeng Road.
Yang Peng and his party traveled day and night and arrived in Qishan two days later, where they received urgent military information from the front. Chen Jie led 30,000 soldiers and horses to support Huangzhou, but was intercepted and killed by a 100,000-strong Tibetan army. The two sides fought five fierce battles. The Yanyun army won two and suffered heavy losses and was forced to retreat. Huangzhou was captured by the Tibetan army that night. Now the Tubo army is swarming towards the east, divided into two groups, attacking Hezhou and Lanzhou respectively. Chen Jie has led the remaining army to retreat into Lanzhou, while Hezhou only has 5,000 Yanyun troops and 5,000 local soldiers. The defense, whether it is Hezhou or Lanzhou, will be difficult to defend against the 300,000 Tibetan army.
Yang Peng felt that the situation was urgent and hurried on. He entered Fengxiang Mansion at midnight that day. Deng Jia, who was staying at Fengxiang Mansion, heard that King Yan was coming. He was overjoyed and went out to greet Yang Peng. He hurriedly paid homage: "My subordinates pay homage to the leader!" Yuan Jue was also from the Ming Cult system. Therefore, although Yang Peng is called the leader, the generals in the Mingjiao system call Yang Peng the leader. This is also one of their characteristics.
Yang Peng walked into the hall quickly, followed closely by Yuan Jue and others. Yang Peng walked straight to the map and his eyes fell on Fengxiang Mansion. Fengxiang Mansion is now Fengxiang, Shaanxi Province. It was called Yong during the Qin Dynasty. It is the birthplace of Zhou and Qin Dynasties. It has a rich historical and cultural heritage and is also an important town in Weibei. A battleground for military strategists; Fengxiang Mansion belonged to Qinfeng Road during the Northern Song Dynasty, close to Yongxing Military Road and Henan area.
"What is the defensive arrangement of your Ninth Army?" Yang Peng asked.
Yuan Jue hurriedly stepped forward and pointed at Huangzhou, "General Chen Jiejin led 30,000 soldiers and horses to rush to Huangzhou before, but failed and lost 10,000 people. Now the remaining soldiers have retreated to Lanzhou. Lanzhou originally consisted of 5,000 troops from our Ninth Army. The total strength of the soldiers, including General Chen Jiejin's retreated army, is 25,000, and there are also 6,000 local soldiers, but I'm afraid these soldiers will not be of much use." The finger then moved down and fell on the river Above the prefecture, "Hezhou has 5,000 generals and soldiers of our army and 5,000 local soldiers." The finger then moved to Xizhou, which is now Lintao, "Xizhou has 20,000 generals and soldiers of our army and 3,000 local soldiers, and the remaining Thousands of soldiers and horses are here in Fengxiang Mansion."
Yang Peng looked at the map and thought for a moment, then ordered: "Immediately order the defenders of Lanzhou and Hezhou to abandon the two places and retreat to Xizhou, and order the defenders of Xizhou not to move rashly!" Yuan Jue said with some worry: "In this case, if If the Tubo army marches from the north to the east, wouldn't it be like entering an uninhabited land?" Yang Peng looked at the vast land east of Lanzhou and said, "Hundreds of miles to the east of Lanzhou are wastelands. Inconvenient, logistical supplies are even more difficult, and there is not much oil and water. The Tubo people are interested in wealth, so how can they send their troops into the wilderness? If they really enter the wasteland, it would be better. When our army's backup troops come up, they will cut them off in one fell swoop. If I find their retreat, and then use the cavalry to intercept and harass them, I want to see if they can go to the sky or the ground!" Yuan Jue suddenly felt that his eyes suddenly became brighter, and his eyes lit up.
Yang Peng turned his head and glanced at Yuan Jue, "Go with the order!" Yuan Jue quickly agreed, then called the order officer, and conveyed the order according to Yang Peng's instructions. The order officer agreed and hurried down.
When Lanzhou and Hezhou received orders from Yang Peng, the Tubo army was already besieging the city. Although Yan Yun's army fought bravely and fought hard to defend, the situation was not good when facing the Tubo army with an absolute advantage in strength. After receiving Yang Peng's order to retreat to Xizhou, the Lanzhou garrison immediately organized a breakout at night. The Tubo people did not expect that the Yanyun Army, which had always been tough in style, would break out of the encirclement after holding for such a short time. Without taking precautions, the Yanyun Army broke out. When the Tubo people reacted, they became angry and immediately dispatched cavalry to pursue them. In order to get rid of the Tubo people, Chen Jie had no choice but to order a thousand soldiers to stop the rear to buy time for the large army to retreat.
The soldiers at the rear relied on the woods and fought bloody battles with the Tibetan cavalry for a whole day until they were all killed. Their sacrifices bought time for the large army to retreat. Two days later, the large army successfully retreated into Xizhou. At the same time, the soldiers and horses retreating from Hezhou also arrived, but most of them were lost in the process of breaking through.
Half a day later, the Tibetan vanguard arrived in Xizhou. There were more than 20,000 war cavalry. They lined up under the city, laughed and cursed loudly and showed off their power. The formation was loose and scattered. It was obvious that they did not take the Yanyun army in the city seriously.
At this moment, the Xizhou city gate suddenly opened, and six thousand warriors led by Chen Jie poured out of the city and rushed toward the Tubo warriors, with a rainbow-like momentum and murderous intent! The Tubo people did not expect that Yan Yunjun would dare to take the initiative to fight, and they were stunned for a moment. It wasn't until Yan Yun's cavalry crashed into the army that he finally woke up and ran around in panic. The Yanyun war cavalry rushed forward, struggling to swing the weapons in their hands. In the cold light, only flesh and blood were seen flying, and the horses were turned over. In an instant, more than 20,000 Tubo war cavalry were unexpectedly charged by Shi Jin's 6,000 Yanyun war cavalry. The army was completely defeated; the leading Tibetan general saw such a scene and did not know what to do. Seeing Shi Jin roaring and killing, he immediately braved the head and faced him.
Chen Jie rushed to the Tubo general, roared angrily, and thrust the spear in his hand like lightning. The Tubo general was taken by Shi Jinshi and was startled. There was a click, and the spear actually pierced his chest from the front! Shi Jin pushed hard, and the huge body of the Tubo general flew up and fell heavily. Seeing this situation, the Tubo army became even more chaotic. All fighting spirit disappeared and they just wanted to escape.
Chen Jie led his troops in pursuit for a while. Seeing that the opponent's cavalry was running further and further away, it was difficult to catch up, so he immediately led his cavalry back into the city. The soldiers in the city were shouting and their morale was like a rainbow.
When the Tibetan general Zanbutai learned that the vanguard had failed and that the vanguard general had been beheaded, he was shocked and angry. He roared angrily: "What a Chen Jie, you don't know what is good! When I conquer Xizhou, I will kill the men, women, old and young pigs of Xizhou." Kill all the horses, cattle and dogs!" Then he ordered the army to accelerate their march.
Before sunset that day, the Tubo army appeared at the foot of Xizhou City. Looking from the city wall, I saw an endless wave approaching the city! Mountain rain is coming and the city is about to be destroyed!
What happened after all? Let’s see the breakdown next time.
