Li Qingxia walked to the huge map hanging on the side of the hall, with civil and military officials standing behind it. Li Qingxia's eyes paused for a moment on the huge pocket southeast of Tiemenguan and east of Yanzhou, and she couldn't help feeling excited. Then his eyes moved westward and landed on Xiliang Mansion east of the Snow Mountain. This Xiliang Mansion was Wuwei in the Han Dynasty. Liangzhou in the Tang Dynasty is now the most important city in western Xixia. It is not only the economy of western Xixia The political center is also a strategic point that military strategists must compete for. Li Qingxia frowned slightly and murmured: "What I am most concerned about now is not the Yanyun Army, but the Tubo Army! I wonder what the situation is like with the Generalissimo?"
Prime Minister Zuo Li Tongren said: "Since heaven has blessed us with successfully pocketing the Yanyun Army, it will also bless us to defeat Tubo! Now that God's will is on our side, our army will win!" Everyone agreed, and Li Qingxia nodded. .
At this time, a herald rushed in, came behind Li Qingxia and others, knelt on the ground, raised a letter with both hands and reported: "Your Majesty, the Generalissimo has received military information!"
Everyone immediately turned around. Li Qingxia stepped forward to take the letter, hurriedly opened it, took out the letter paper, unfolded it and read it quickly. Her originally nervous face suddenly showed a look of great surprise, and she said excitedly: "That's great. Great! Great! Heaven bless you, the Generalissimo has lived up to my great trust!" Everyone was very curious after hearing this. Li Tongren hurriedly asked: "Your Majesty, has there been any good news about the Generalissimo?"
Li Qingxia raised her head and said with great excitement: "Not only is this good news, I want to tell you that our army successfully ambushed the Tibetan army in Xiliang Mansion. The Tibetan army of 200,000 was defeated by our army at Xiliang Mansion, and the remaining troops have fled back. Now, the Generalissimo has led the army to regain the Snowy Mountains, and the threat of Tibet has been eliminated!" Everyone did not expect that the threat of Tibet was resolved in an instant, and they all felt unbelievable. The scene was completely silent, and then everyone burst into enthusiastic cheers They hugged each other, shouted to each other, everyone was carried away, the atmosphere was very warm, the mood that had been suppressed for a long time was completely released at this moment, everyone was so happy!
Li Tongren said to Li Qingxia with a look of reverence: "It's all thanks to your majesty's strategic planning that we are able to defeat the powerful enemy!" The scene fell silent, and everyone looked at Li Qingxia with reverence and worshiped together: "Your majesty is wise!"
Li Qingxia secretly wiped away the tears from her eyes, turned around, and said with a smile: "If the soldiers had not sacrificed their lives, my strategy would not have succeeded no matter how brilliant it was! The first thing we should be grateful to should be the soldiers fighting on the front line. , according to my decree, all the soldiers who participated in the Battle of Xiliang will be rewarded with one thousand coins, one catty of wine, and two catties of meat. All officers above the captain level will be promoted to one level, and Li Zongdao will be given gold armor and purple belt. I will praise and worship him. Confess the King of Xiliang!"
Everyone bowed in unison: "Your Majesty is wise!"
Li Qingxia said again: "Send messengers and horses to spread the word about this great victory!" The general beside Li Qingxia, Gao Feng, agreed and ran down.
Li Qingxia said to the herald who was still kneeling in front of her: "Go back and tell the Grand Marshal that after arranging the defenses of the snowy mountains, he will immediately lead his troops to support. The war is tense here and his support is needed!" The herald said: "Reporting to your Majesty, when the villain left, the Generalissimo had already arranged the defenses of Xueshan and Xiliang Mansion, and had led the main force of 80,000 troops towards this side. It must have almost reached the west bank of the Yellow River at this moment!" Everyone was pleasantly surprised! Incessantly. The herald said: "Your Majesty, if you don't have any other orders, I will go back and resume my duties!" Li Qingxia said: "The Grand Marshal is old and strong. I have nothing to order, so you can go ahead." The herald agreed. With a cry, he bowed again, stood up, stepped out, then turned around and hurried away.
Li Qingxia walked to the gate and looked at the sky. She felt that the sky and the earth suddenly became empty and clear. She couldn't help but murmured: "As long as we can annihilate Yang Yanzhao and Gao Hu's army, our army will be sure of victory!" Li Qingxia's previous plan was to first attack the Tibetan army, then Yang Yanzhao and Gao Hu's army, and finally concentrate on dealing with Yang Peng in the north. At the beginning of the war, the situation could be said to be extremely unfavorable for Li Qingxia. Firstly, Tibet invaded in a large scale, and secondly, Yanyun unexpectedly launched an attack almost a year in advance. Faced with such a critical situation, Li Qingxia had no choice but to make a dangerous move. Against Yang Yanzhao's troops, she adopted a strategy of clearing out the countryside and luring the enemy in. For Yang Peng, she sent troops to block the attack. At the same time, she deliberately abandoned the snow-capped mountains to give the illusion that the army was defeated. To lure the enemy deeper. As expected, the Tubo side fell into the trap. They were overjoyed when they saw the snow-capped mountains defense line easily fell. They thought that Xixia's will to fight had still collapsed. In order to occupy Xingqing Mansion before Yanyun's army captured Xingqing Mansion, General Zan Butai led his troops to advance rapidly. Drive directly to Xiliang Prefecture, preparing to capture Xiliang Prefecture in one go, and then return to the northeast to capture Xingqing Prefecture.
However, Zanbutai's army fell into the trap carefully designed by Li Qingxia. Just when they were full of joy and thought that capturing Xiliang Mansion was just like picking out a bag, they were suddenly attacked by a hundred thousand Xixia troops led by Li Zongdao and Li Fenglong. The fierce attack caught the Tubo army off guard, while the Xixia army, stimulated by the crisis of national subjugation, burst out with amazing fighting power against the same enemy. Each one of them was one against ten, and they killed the Tibetan army corpses all over the field and blood flowed into rivers. The Tubo army collapsed. After thousands of miles, they rushed back to the country in one breath, and the Xixia army recaptured the Snowy Mountains in one fell swoop.
Xixia won a complete victory in this battle, completing the first step of the three-step strategic goal formulated by Li Qingxia. Now it is time to proceed to the second step. The situation is very favorable for Li Qingxia. She seems to have taken seven or eight of them. It's a good win.
His attention turned to Yang Peng.
Yang Peng led an army of 220,000 people to march along the Yellow River by land and water, and first attacked the Xixia Army fortress in Chena Mountain. Chena Mountain is located on the north bank of the Yellow River, also known as Wu La Cui Mountain. The terrain is dangerous and it is the first dangerous pass for the army to enter the hinterland of Xixia. Xixia stationed three thousand troops here to control the water and land routes. Don't think that there are only three thousand guards here. It is easy for the army to capture. The mountains here are steep, with thousands of walls cut into them. The rocks on the mountains are rugged and barren of grass. The castle is located on the top of the mountain. Even hiking on the mountain is very difficult. You can imagine how difficult it would be to capture the fortress from the top. Since it is difficult to attack, can we go around it? This is also difficult. The location of the fortress is just right. The Xixia sergeants can block the southern passage using weapons such as bows, crossbows, and slingshots. It is even easier to block the land passage to the north. The passage is actually a The valley is at the foot of the mountain where the fortress is located. If the Yanyun Army walked from here, the Xixia people would only have to throw stones down the mountain to make the Yanyun Army suffer heavy casualties and be unable to advance. However, there is nothing else on the mountain, but there are so many stones. . To sum up, if Yan Yun's army wants to continue to advance, the only way is to break through the fortress.
Yang Peng was not in a hurry to launch an attack, but ordered the army to set up camp on the flat land more than ten miles away from the fortress.
The Xixia army on the mountain looked down at the Yanyun army camp at the bottom of the mountain. They saw that the camp stretched for more than ten miles, the camp was like a mountain, and the troops were in good order. They couldn't help but feel frightened. Xixia general Weiming Shouzhong, who was in charge of guarding the fortress, encouraged the soldiers and said: "Don't be afraid, everyone! Our camp is located on the top of a dangerous peak. One man can guard the gate and no one can open it! Three thousand of us can resist their millions of troops. What's more, they only came with about 200,000 soldiers and horses! Ours is a gate that reaches the sky, and it is impossible for human armies to conquer it!"
After hearing this, the soldiers' worries calmed down a lot. They felt that the general was right. Although Yanyun's soldiers were numerous and powerful, they still couldn't break through such a dangerous barrier!
Weiming Shouzhong continued: "After the war, we will all enjoy great achievements. Our ancestors will be honored and we will be granted the title of wife. Good times are yet to come!" The soldiers laughed and the atmosphere became more relaxed. Some soldiers asked loudly "General, I don't have a wife anymore. I have made great contributions, will your majesty reward me with a wife?" Weiming Shouzhong said loudly: "I dare not say whether your majesty will reward you, but I will definitely reward you with a woman." ! And she’s a beautiful woman!” The soldier thanked him with great joy. The other soldiers were envious and asked Wei Ming Shouzhong if he wanted a woman. Wei Ming Shouzhong would not refuse anyone who came and agreed to it. Finally, he said loudly: “Beautiful. What women like are brave men. As long as you act like a man, I will not reward you with women. There will be women crying and shouting to marry you! But if you are a coward, I will reward you with women. If I give you a woman, you definitely won’t be able to keep it. If I reward you today, I’m afraid she will run away with someone tomorrow!”
All the soldiers laughed, and then shouted: "Don't worry, general, we will defend the fortress to the death!" "I will live and die with the fortress, and I will never lose the face of the party men!" The scene was noisy and the crowd was excited.
Night has fallen. The dark clouds have covered the stars and the moon today, and the earth is extremely dark. It can be said that you can’t even see your fingers, and no one can be seen even a few steps away.
However, in such a dark night, Yan Yun's army quietly left the military camp, picked up the bells from their horses, and quietly marched towards the enemy's fortress. Since it was difficult to see in the dark, people and horses were connected with ropes to prevent them from getting separated. Although it was impossible to see in the dark night, the outline of the majestic mountain could still be seen, so the army would not have gone in the wrong general direction.
Almost half an hour later, the army arrived at the foot of the mountain and stopped. Tens of thousands of troops are hidden in the darkness and cannot be detected even if they are very close.
Wang Kai groped and ran to Yang Peng, clasped his fists and whispered: "Master, Zhang Daniu and the others are ready!" Yang Peng nodded, "Tell them to be careful and take action!" Wang Kai responded, groping and ran again. He went back and came to the five hundred secret guards who were waiting for orders. He didn't see Zhang Daniu, so he asked in a low voice: "Where is Commander Zhang?" Yin Sha in front of him pointed to the side. It turned out that Zhang Daniu was next to him. Kai didn't even see it.
Zhang Daniu asked: "Master gave the order?"
Wang Kai looked at the vague outline and said: "The master has given an order, asking you to act immediately and be careful." "Don't worry!" Then Zhang Daniu patted the shoulders of the shadow killers next to him, and several secret guards followed. He patted the shoulders of the secret guards below and passed it on like this. This was to convey the order, because if you want to sneak attack on the enemy camp in the quiet night, you can't give the order loudly. Wouldn't that tell the enemy?
In just a moment, the order was passed to each secret guard. Each one untied a package on his back, opened it, and took out a large piece of gray asbestos cloth. The light was too dark at this time, so the asbestos cloth could not be seen. Of color, only a vague outline can be seen. The secret guards put on asbestos cloth and slowly climbed up the mountain.
Weiming Shouzhong climbed up the fortress wall and looked down the mountain. He saw nothing but darkness and could not see anything at all. The torches on the wall could only illuminate the surroundings for a few feet, and there was darkness a few feet away. Weiming Shouzhong could not help but feel a sense of fear in his heart. He frowned and said, "It's too dark. Even if the enemy is in front of you, he might not notice it yet!" He immediately turned to an officer beside him and said, "Give me the order. Order the sergeant to fire rockets outside!" The officer agreed and ran down. After a while, hundreds of Xixia troops were seen lighting up rockets, bending their bows and shooting arrows out of the city wall. Hundreds of rockets flew out like a swarm of fireflies and landed on the hillside at various distances. They were dotted with stars, lighting up some of the scenery on the hillside. It was reflected, although it was very unclear, but it was completely different from before!
Seeing that there was nothing unusual on the hillside, Weiming Shouzhong felt relieved and ordered to the officer beside him: "Set a wave of rockets every quarter of an hour!" The officer bowed and agreed.
Weiming Shouzhong made a tour and saw that there was nothing unusual, so he went back to sleep.
The wave of rockets fired just now gradually extinguished, and the hillside turned into darkness again, and nothing could be seen. The officer ordered the soldiers to fire more rockets. Hundreds of rockets flew out of the city wall and landed on the hillside, illuminating the hillside again. A soldier said strangely: "Hey, it seems that there are many more big rocks on the hillside?" The soldier next to him laughed. He said, "There are already a lot of rocks here, so what's the fuss?" The soldier who spoke earlier felt the same way, so he threw the idea behind him.
The rockets gradually extinguished, and darkness returned outside the city wall. A soldier vaguely seemed to hear a rustling sound, but he didn't take it to heart. After a while, the officer shouted again: "Fire the arrows! Get up and fire the arrows!" It turned out that at this moment many soldiers could not help but doze off while sitting on the wall. When they heard the officer's shouts, they all woke up. , stood up quickly, picked up the rocket wrapped in oilcloth and lit it on the torch.
Immediately, hundreds of soldiers bent their bows and fired arrows outside the city. Hundreds of rockets flew out. The light flashed across the thick night sky, illuminating the hillside under the city wall. The Xixia Army officers on the city wall suddenly saw that the city wall Countless officers of the Yanyun Army in black clothes and armor with fierce expressions appeared on the hillside below. The officers and soldiers of the Xixia Army couldn't help but be horrified when they thought of such a scene. Some people couldn't help but exclaimed: "The enemy..." However, the sound It suddenly stopped as soon as it sounded, and there was a whistling sound in the air. Hundreds of sharp arrows flew up the city wall and shot down most of the unsuspecting Xixia army soldiers. The screams rang in the night sky, making people shudder.
Immediately, half of the secret guards continued to shoot arrows at the city wall, while the other half threw the lock hook onto the city wall and began to climb the city. The soldiers of the Xixia Army on the city wall never dreamed that the Yanyun Army would suddenly come to the city wall like ghosts and launch a fierce attack. They were so panicked that they were at a loss. Some of the timid ones even threw away their weapons and fled down the city wall.
In the first batch, dozens of secret guards climbed onto the city wall first, drew out their horizontal knives and charged into the panicked Xixia soldiers. The brave shadow kill was like a tiger entering a flock of sheep. The sharp horizontal knives raised blood wantonly, and screams came one after another. , the Xixia army was chopped up and staggered back, feeling extremely horrified; the officer shouted and urged his soldiers to fight, but a secret guard rushed towards him and chopped off his head with a knife, making the scene even more chaotic.
Weiming Shouzhong, who had just fallen asleep, was awakened by the sudden killing sounds and screams. He got up and ran out of the military tent. Following the sound, I saw the east wall facing the enemy with flickering lights and figures moving around. It was obvious that the enemy had already attacked the wall. Weiming Shouzhong was shocked and felt unbelievable.
At this moment, an officer stumbled and ran over in despair, knelt down with a plop, and shouted: "Oh no, General, the enemy, the enemy has invaded!!"
Weiming Shouzhong frowned, pulled out his scimitar, and shouted: "Why are you panicking! Order all soldiers and horses to follow me to counterattack!" Then he led hundreds of soldiers and ran towards the east city gate. At the same time, The messenger ordered all the armies in the fortress to assemble and join the battle. At this time, all the soldiers who were resting had woken up and felt overwhelmed by the sudden change. The whole fortress was in chaos.
Weiming Shouzhong led hundreds of soldiers to the city gate. At this time, he discovered that the battle situation on the city wall was extremely bad. His own soldiers were retreating in succession, and Yan Yun's army was about to take control of the city wall. Weiming Shouzhong was shocked and prepared to lead his soldiers to the city wall to counterattack. However, at this moment, there was a sudden earth-shaking loud noise at the city gate, boom! At the same time, flames shot into the sky and gravel flew into the sky, and the mountain shook violently, as if it was about to collapse!
The soldiers of the Xixia Army were horrified, and then they were horrified to see that the gate no longer existed and a huge gap was blown open, and countless Yanyun warriors were rushing in, shouting. The soldiers of the Xixia army subconsciously wanted to escape, but Weiming Shouzhong raised his scimitar and shouted sternly: "Come with me!" Shouting bento, they rushed towards the Yanyun army first. The Xixia soldiers didn't know where they came from. With a surge of courage, he followed Wei Ming Shouzhong to meet the rushing Yanyun War Cavalry.
The two sides collided violently, with horses' hooves trampling them, and cold light flashing. The Xixia army soldiers were killed until their bodies were covered in blood, and they were rushed to pieces in an instant. The handsome Shouzhong escaped and was killed by Zhongzhong. Protected by his own soldiers, they escaped from the hellish killing field and fled towards the south gate.
At this time, Yanyun's army had already invaded the castle, and the Xixia army suffered heavy casualties. The remaining Xixia army was defeated and in a state of complete defeat. …
In the early morning of the next day, the dark clouds dispersed and the early morning sunshine shone on the mountain tops. The battle was already over. There was a busy scene in the fortress. The Yanyun Army officers and soldiers were cleaning the battlefield. At the same time, on the Yellow River in the south, a long fleet of boats carrying grain, grass and troops was moving upstream past the fortress, while in the valley to the north, a long marching team was also heading west.
Weiming Shouzhong led a few remaining defeated generals and ran wildly toward the west, as panicked as a bereaved dog and as anxious as a fish that slipped through the net. At this moment, Weiming Shouzhong was still in a dream. He couldn't believe that the fortress was lost like this! ?
Weiming Shouzhong and others ran all the way and arrived at Wulahai City in the evening. The Yellow River is in the Hetao area. At the top of the big character, it divides into north and south two branches. After flowing for more than 300 miles, it merges into one stream. Nawu Lacuishan Fortress is located more than a hundred miles downstream of the confluence, while Wulahai City is Between those two rivers, to the southeast of Langshan Mountain, is a more important strategic point than the Wulacuishan Fortress. It can be said to be the most important barrier to the north of Xingqing Mansion, the capital of Xixia. Because of the important strategic significance of this place, the Xixia people founded the country. At the beginning, Wulahai City was built here, and the Langshan Weifu Military Division was set up to control this strategic point. Weiming Xiuge, the general of Langshan Weifu Army Division, is also a famous general in Xixia, second only to Generalissimo Li Zongdao.
Wei Ming Shouzhong rushed into the General's Mansion and saw Wei Ming Xiu brother. He knelt down with a plop and said with shame on his face: "Brother, the younger brother is incompetent and lost Wu La Cui Mountain!!" Wei Ming Shouzhong is Wei Ming. Brother Xiu's younger brother, so he is called so.
Brother Wei Mingxiu was taken aback, "Wula Cui Mountain is so dangerous that one man can guard it against ten thousand others! How did you lose it?"
Weiming Shouzhong said with anger and fear; "It's those secret guards under Yang Peng! They, they are just like a group of demons from hell! My younger brother has been very careful to defend, but they still suddenly and silently Appeared under the city wall and launched a surprise attack on us! Our army was caught off guard, and they attacked the city wall. At this time, they used gunpowder to blow open the city gate, and the army surged in. Our army was finally defeated and lost the fortress!..."
The generals standing on both sides whispered to each other, and everyone looked very worried. Brother Wei Mingxiu frowned and said: "I have long heard that the Yanyun Army is brave and good at fighting, and it is indeed well-deserved!" Then he smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, although Wulacui Mountain is lost, there is still Wulahai City, which the Yanyun Army can defeat. Wu La Cui Mountain, but Wulahai City cannot be captured!" Turning to face the majestic general wearing a bearskin cloak on the right, he said: "Tiger and Xiong, you immediately lead your troops to reinforce the ferry to prevent The enemy is rushing to cross the Yellow River, please report the situation at any time!" This mighty and majestic general is named Weiming Huxiong, and he is also the younger brother of Weiming Xiu. He is a warrior as famous as Li Chongshan in Xixia. He has courage that no man can match. In the past, He repeatedly made military exploits in the war with the Liao Kingdom.
Weiming Huxiong bowed his head and accepted the promise and hurried down.
The slightly elegant general standing on the right side asked Brother Weimingxiu: "General, do you need to report the military situation here to Your Majesty?" Brother Weimingxiu thought for a while and shook his head, "No! Wula Cuishan The loss of defense is not a big deal, there is no need to interfere with His Majesty's determination because of this incident!!" General Wenya felt that Brother Weimingxiu was right and nodded. This general with a rather elegant temperament was named Zhang Jiang, a Han nationality. He was the most knowledgeable general under brother Weimingxiu, and brother Weimingxiu also relied heavily on him. Brother Wei Mingxiu is a party member and is proficient in military strategy, but not good at managing politics. However, as the general of Langshan Weifu Military Division, he is in charge of all military and political affairs in Wulahai City and its surrounding areas. It is not okay to be bad at managing politics. However, Zhang Jiang was well-read in poetry and books and was very good at internal affairs, so Brother Weiming Xiu entrusted him with all government affairs.
What happened after all, let’s see what happens next.
