In early December of the third year of Xining.
Zhang Yue, Wang Shao, and Gao Zunyu reviewed the five thousand Tibetan and Han soldiers in the ancient Wei village.
Among them were two thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry.
This day is when the snow melts and the sun begins to rise.
The Tibetan and Han cavalry were arranged in various formations, practicing repeated sprinting, riding and shooting, etc.
Gao Zunyu picked up the order flag and waved it. Zhang Yue and Wang Shao looked on the school platform and saw that the Tibetan cavalry was also very skilled in the Song army's formation. They arranged themselves into a crescent formation, attacked and then regrouped, and attacked again, several times in a row.
As for the infantry, they formed a half-moon formation to practice firing volleys.
The Song Army's infantry tactics have always been to fight with their backs to the city, and in the field they fight with their backs to the mountains.
Zhang Yue looked at the heavy crossbows among the Song army and asked, "Is this the divine arm bow?"
Wang Shao nodded and said: "Exactly, this was donated by Li Ding, the general of Dangxiang. Now many Western armies have the equipment."
After saying this, Wang Shao ordered someone to take it and show it to Zhang Yue. Zhang Yue put his hand on the crossbow and said, "How many are there?"
Wang Shao said: "There are more than a hundred!"
"Shan! There is such a magical weapon!"
Zhang Yue applauded on the spot.
Zhang Yue inspected and saw that the Song army under Wang Shao not only possessed divine arm bows, but also had a high rate of infantry armor. Almost every Han army had armor. Zhang Yue said to Wang Shao, "Didn't it cost a lot of money?"
Wang Shao said: "All the gains from the market transactions over the years have been put in, and the six thousand salt notes from Shi Ren have been used here."
At the mention of six thousand salt notes, Zhang Yue's heart suddenly felt like bleeding.
Zhang Yue reluctantly said: "It's very good. Even if it's 60,000 guan, it's worth using it here."
Zhang Yue gave Wang Shao a thick look. He knew that Wang Shao lived a very poor life. It was not an exaggeration to say that Wang Shao lived in common people and lived on a vegetable diet. Moreover, Wang Shao did not sell the face of Li Shizhong, Dou Shunqing, and Han Zhen. He never gave away almost a penny. Even Han Zhen was very dissatisfied with him.
There were ten commanders in the ancient Wei-Song Army, each with a full strength of 500 men. However, among the Song Army and even the Forbidden Army, even the Upper Fourth Army had only two to three hundred men under one command. The generals relied on this to make ends meet all year round. rates.
Zhang Yue looked at the brightly armored Song army, standing facing the winter sky above Qingtang, with light silver flashing from left to right.
"The armor light opens towards the golden scales of the sun."
Zhang Yue thought of Li He's poem at this moment. Seeing such a well-equipped Song army, Zhang Yue had nothing else to say to Wang Shao.
No wonder it can intimidate all the Tibetan tribes in the Qing and Tang Dynasties.
Zhang Yue said sincerely: "I'm afraid that among the Song army with four to five million pacification envoys, and even among the Forbidden Army, in terms of armored soldiers, there is no second army like this army!"
When Wang Shao heard this, he immediately had the idea of Zhang Yue, who knows me. This is indeed the case. Wang Shao made a lot of money in the northwest, almost to the point of plucking the feathers of wild geese, but he didn't spend a penny of his money on himself or on relationships, all of it was put into this elite army.
The Song army in the northwest has always placed emphasis on the Tibetan army and underestimated the Han army. Many Han soldiers had armor made of paper.
Wang Shao stood proudly on his horse. The northwestern region was so difficult that he could not build a force capable of fighting to realize his ambition of becoming a marquis and a general.
Zhang Yue praised: "Zichun is really like a famous general!"
After Wang Shao and his son heard Zhang Yue's words, they immediately bowed and said, "Thank you for the compliment!"
At this time, Gao Zunyu laughed and said: "This general is not the result of military training!"
Wang Shao and his son were a little uncomfortable hearing this.
Striving for merit is always indispensable.
Zhang Yue said with a smile: "The fighting methods of Fan and Han are different. Now that they can practice together, General Gao is very impressive."
After hearing Zhang Yue's praise, Gao Zunyu was slightly satisfied.
After finishing speaking, Zhang Yue said to Wang Shao: "Please give me a horse riding and shooting performance!"
Zhang Yue knew that Wang Shao was good at riding and shooting, but Zhang Yue was the nominal commander, so it was difficult for Wang Shao to show off his skills.
Zhang Yue gave his bow to Wang Shao. Wang Shao rode his horse to the front of the formation and shot seven arrows at the arrow stack fifty steps away. The arrows hit the target. Even the Tibetan people on horseback admired this shooting skill. Incessantly.
Wang Shao raised his bow and raised it, and the three armies shouted in unison.
Zhang Yue saw Wang Shao's archery skills and immediately gave up his intention to practice riding and archery.
Then Gao Zunyu raised his flag.
Two thousand Song troops drew their bows and set arrows.
"shoot!"
Suddenly thousands of arrows were fired!
A few days later, all the grain and baggage shipped by Han Zhen from Qinzhou arrived.
In addition to grain, grass and fodder, there are also hundreds of armors, five hundred swords and guns, tens of thousands of arrows, and some money and drinks.
Wang Shao was shocked when he saw this scene. Did Han Zhen empty out the armory in Qinzhou and move it here for himself?
When Zhang Yue found out, he immediately gave these to the ancient Wei and Song troops. He also exchanged the last twenty ultimatums given to him by Han Jiang for salt notes and ordered them to be sent to Han Zhen.
Thirty-five hundred Song troops went from the ancient Wei Village to Weiyuan Fort. Zhang Yue, Wang Shao, Wang Hou, Gao Zunyu, Liu Xishi, and Zhiyuan were all traveling with them.
In order to confuse the Xixia people, Wang Shao also sent hundreds of Tibetan cavalry from Tongwei Village north to attack Huizhou.
After Zhang Yue arrived at Weiyuan Fort, he saw that it was much smaller than the ancient Wei Village. The perimeter of the city was only more than 200 steps, and there were 300 Tibetan troops and 200 Han soldiers stationed inside. However, it was not completed yet, with only the west and north sides. Brick walls were built, but the east and south sides were just wooden walls and a sheep and horse wall.
After Zhang Yue was stationed here, he waited for the troops from various tribes to come to join him.
According to Wang Shao, the number of Tibetan tribes attached to the Song Dynasty in Gu Wei was approximately more than 60,000, with a population of 300,000 or 400,000, which was twice as large as when he first established his foothold in Gu Wei.
This is also the origin of Wang Shao's "One Hundred Thousand Fan Cavalry" report to the official family.
One hundred thousand Fan cavalry is an imaginary number, but it is not an imaginary number. If all the men in the Fan tribe are included in the age range from sixty-five to fifteen years old, it will be more than that.
So there is no need to guess what the combat effectiveness is.
When the Qing Tang and Tibetan tribes went out on an expedition, they were quite powerful, but only ten thousand of them could actually go into battle, and there were still a patchwork of different tribes.
But Dong Fei was different. He had tens of thousands of capable cavalry under his command.
It was freezing outside, and Zhang Yue was warming himself by the fire in his tent, when Wang Shao and Master Zhiyuan walked in together.
"Sheren, Dong Xiang refuses to send troops!"
Zhang Yue's expression changed when he heard this.
Master Zhiyuan handed the letter to Zhang Yue. Zhang Yue saw Dong Fei's letter saying that he was ill and could not send troops, so he expressed his guilt for the Song emperor's kindness.
"The imperial court rewards Dong Fei every year, but this thief doesn't listen to orders!"
The ones who spoke were Han Jiang and two Yuan followers. They went to Qingtang City to negotiate and deliver a message, but they came back without even seeing Dong Zang's face.
Zhang Yue paced.
His original plan was to send troops with Dong Xiang to jointly attack Lanzhou, but now Dong Xiang refused to send troops, and he was really alone in the attack.
"Do you have a reply from Jie Wu Chila?" Zhang Yue asked.
Zhiyuan shook his head.
Two Yuan Sui from Han Jiang said: "We must go to Qingtang City again and meet Dong Fei."
"No need." Zhang Yue shook his head. There were only three days left before dispatching troops, and it was too late to go back.
What's more, even if they meet, even if they kneel there to beg, Dong Zhan may not be willing to send troops.
The charcoal fire in the brazier sounded softly, and the whole tent fell into silence.
Wang Shao stopped talking, and after a while he said: "If Dong Xiang refuses to send troops, it is better to sweep a few castles around Lanzhou without going deep into Xixia territory."
Wang Shao’s words represent the aspirations of most people.
Zhang Yue knew that Wang Shao was reluctant to risk the elite soldiers he had trained so hard. But Zhang Yue glanced at Liu Xishi and realized that the farming issue was now in doubt. If this battle failed to succeed, both himself and Wang Shao would suffer.
Even the raids on a few forts outside Xixia could not be done casually and the strategic purpose could not be achieved.
In terms of military advice, Wang Shao's decision was right. He could not risk his hard-earned soldiers, but the purpose of military affairs has always been to serve politics.
What's more, the plan to attack from the side of Hehuang and help the main force of the Song army capture Hengshan was dedicated to the officials and Han Jiang.
Zhang Yue said: "Since Dong Zhan is not coming, he will never come again. We can go to Lanzhou by ourselves, but we still have to drink from the Yellow River!"
When Zhang Yue said this, he didn't have the confidence, but he had to do it in front of everyone.
Wang Shao led the army, Gao Zunyu trained the army, and Liu Xishu supervised the army, but Zhang Yue was the commander-in-chief of the Song army along the way. He seemed useless, but at the critical moment, he had to make the decision himself.
After Zhang Yue finished speaking, Wang Shao, Wang Hou and his son were in a bad mood and were speechless after clasping their fists.
Gao Zunyu moved his lips but said nothing.
Along the way to Weiyuan, Wang Shao himself had been urging him to capture Hehuang and Lintao first, and then collect the local Tibetan army before sending his troops to the north to invade Xixia.
There was silence in the tent at the moment.
In history, there are many examples of emperors, powerful ministers supervising the army, etc., forcing generals to fight, and in the end the entire army was annihilated.
In another time and space history, Tong Guan forced Liu Fa, a famous general of the Song Army, to send troops to unify Ancheng, and finally the entire army of more than 100,000 people was annihilated.
This is also Song Xia's last decisive battle.
If the Song Dynasty could destroy Xixia in advance and use the elite of the Western Army to confront the Jin Kingdom...
Liu Xishi walked up to Zhang Yue and pulled his sleeve, signaling him to go outside the tent.
Zhang Yue agreed.
Liu Xishi said outside the tent: "Zhang Sheren, Wang Fugou is indeed a true general. In my opinion, our family can report the matter to the officials at our discretion regarding the farming in the Weishui River Valley. You see, without Dong Xiang's cooperation, just relying on our How can we cross the Yellow River north if we count our troops all the way? It is too dangerous."
Zhang Yue was moved after hearing Liu Xishi's words. When he was hesitating, he looked up and saw Han Tong staring at him and Liu Xishi not far away.
At this moment, a strong wind blew, and suddenly several cavalrymen came straight to the camp gate. After being stopped by the sergeant, they dismounted and were led to Zhang Yue.
When the other party saw Zhang Yue, he immediately bowed down and wrote a letter saying: "Han Xuanhuai has decided to send troops from Suide City to capture Lawu City. Please ask Zhang Sheren to immediately send troops to Lanzhou and cross the Yellow River to flank the hinterland of Xixia to help our army seize Hengshan from the front. Disobeying the order. Those who do so will be punished by military law!"
Wang Shao and Gao Zunyu came out of the tent and happened to see this scene.
"May I have your name?"
The messenger said: "In the name of Commander-in-Chief Xuan, I am walking beside Shiren."
Zhang Yue asked casually: "I heard your accent is from Lantian. How do you call Wei Zhong (Lu Dafang)?"
The messenger claimed to be Lu Dafang's nephew, and he was indeed working in the Xuanfu Department under Han Jiang's tent.
Zhang Yue read the letter and confirmed that it was Han Jiang's monogram and the large seal of the Xuanfu Department. He asked a few seemingly irrelevant questions before confirming his identity. Then he helped the other person stand up and said, "Thank you for your hard work."
Zhang Yue immediately rewarded the other party with wine and meat. It is self-evident why Han Tong and Lu Guang were sent to his side by Han Jiang.
Wang Shao, Wang Hou, Gao Zunyu, and Liu Xishi also had nothing to say at this moment.
If it was Zhang Yue's intention before, Han Jiang, the Xuanfu envoy, also gave the order, so now he has no choice but to comply.
…
Three days later, 100,000 Tibetan and Song coalition troops sent troops northward from Weiyuan Fort.
(End of chapter)
