The next day, the Song army camped on the banks of the Xihe River.
This is the lower reaches of a fork of the river. The river flows from north to south. Where the Song army is stationed, it is divided into east and west branches.
People in the Song Dynasty called this river Xihe, while Xixia people called it Liangcha River.
At that time, Li Yuanhao was hunting in the Liangcha River and secretly accompanied the Mu Zang family. It was here that the second generation of the Xixia Dynasty, Li Liangzuo, was born. Because of the homophonic pronunciation of Liangcha's name, Liangzuo.
Now the Song army has arrived here, crossing the river to the west to reach Mouhui in the south of the city, and crossing the river to the east to reach Tiandu Mountain. At the foothills of Tiandu Mountain facing north is a large tile palace, which is the Xixia Palace.
At that time, Li Yuanhao favored the Wuyi family and built this palace at the foot of Tiandu Mountain in order to win a beauty. But Li Yuanhao also ignored Queen Yeli's family because he did not move his clan.
This caused great dissatisfaction among the Yeli family. Li Yuanhao took advantage of Zhong Shiheng's counterintuitive plan and killed the two brothers of Queen Yeli's family.
After the death of Ye Li Wangrong, the brave army in the left wing also moved back to Xiazhou, and now only the Tiandu Supervisory Army Division is left.
Before dawn, the sound of fighting came from the military camp.
Zhang Yue had already gotten up in the morning, and with a little light, he read through several letters he had received from his family from beginning to end.
Then Zhang Yue stood up, polished ink and started writing a letter to his family in the light.
Seventeenth mother gave birth to another son for herself. When Zhang Yue received the letter, he was speechless for a long time. My gratitude to my wife cannot be described in words, and at the same time I am full of joy.
At this moment, Zhang Yue had a premonition that the war was imminent, so he also wrote a letter to his family. In addition to saying hello, he also said many words of longing for him.
The war rages on for three months, and letters from home are worth tens of thousands of gold.
Zhang Yue not only told Seventeenth Mother to take care of herself, but also paid special attention to her eldest son Zhang Gen's homework. Now Zhang Gen's academic progress is very fast.
After Wang Anshi's reform of the imperial examination, scholars all over the world only knew how to read the classics with their meanings in mind, and regarded the classics' meaning as their golden house.
But Zhang Yue believed that in addition to the meaning of the classics, he also advised Zhang Gen to read more historical books.
Emperors, generals and ministers of ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad, are all proficient in history.
Reading history can help people become wiser and more knowledgeable.
Zhang Yue wrote this and repeatedly warned Zhang Gen about his homework, and at the same time, he should not be utilitarian in reading...
While writing this, Zhang Yue heard the sound of military drums and had to stop writing half of the letter.
Zhang Yue walked out of the tent and saw that the Song army had already gotten up and packed up, preparing to march across the river.
At this moment, there was mist on the river, and the scene on the other side could not be seen clearly.
Wang Shao and his son who were standing next to the tent also opened the tent and came out. They had already put on their armor neatly.
Zhang Yue asked: "Cross the river now?"
Wang Hou said: "I have reported that I have explored the shoals yesterday. I plan to lead my troops across the river and stand in formation, and then a large number of troops will cross the river again."
Wang Shao said: "At least two pontoons must be built on the river to cross the river!"
"That takes a lot of work."
Wang Shao adjusted his leather gloves and said: "There is no way, but if I were the commander-in-chief of the Xixia Army, I would ambush on the other side."
Zhang Yue asked: "How does Xixia know whether we are crossing the east bank or the west bank?"
Crossing the west bank is Tiandu Mountain, crossing the east bank is the important town Nanmouhui. As usual, we should cross the east bank and attack the opponent's important town.
Wang Shao didn't answer.
At this time, the fog on the river bank gradually dissipated. A sharp-eyed soldier said: "Look at the east bank!"
Zhang Yue looked around and saw vaguely in the mist a number of tents standing on the east bank, but these tents were not there during the day yesterday.
Is this tent a ploy by Xixia, or is there really a large army here?
At this time, it was getting brighter, but I saw smoke actually burning at the top of Nanmouhui City in the distance on the east bank.
"It seems that the Dangxiang people burned their own city and retreated in a hurry." Wang Hou said excitedly.
When Wang Shao heard this, he got on his horse and galloped to the river. Zhang Yue and Wang Hou also followed. Here we can see more clearly. There is indeed a fire on the top of the city, and it is not small.
If it was a party plan to lure the enemy, the price would be too high.
Wang Shao looked left and right. The terrain on the east bank of the river was open, making it difficult for the Xixia people to ambush.
"That being the case, there's no reason not to check it out!"
Wang Shao gave an order: "Build two pontoon bridges to cross the river!"
The sergeants were a little commotion when they heard this. Several Tibetan army leaders were afraid that all the Xixia people would escape because they had not made any military exploits due to their new affiliation, and because they were greedy for the wealth in Nanmohui, so they all volunteered to be the vanguard.
When Wang Shao saw this, he immediately agreed: "I will choose you to cross the river first."
These people are all happy.
Wang Hou originally thought that his father would send him across the river to chase the party members, but he became a little unhappy after hearing this.
At this moment, the Song army had begun to build a pontoon bridge.
The river is not deep, and you can swim across it in some places. However, carriages and mules with heavy baggage must cross the river via pontoon bridges.
At this time, Wang Shao said to the west bank: "We will also build a pontoon bridge here later!"
"Why?"
Wang Shao said: "If there is no invincible army in Nanmou Hui, then we can cross the river from here to Tiandu Mountain!"
Wang Hou speculated: "Dad, I think Dangxiang's strategy on the east bank is just to set up suspicious troops. In fact, their main force is ambushing on the west bank. Will they wait until our army reaches the east bank and pounce on them?"
Wang Shao said: "There is no way to know, so we can only take one step at a time."
Zhang Yue wondered whether the Xixia people had some clever calculations and knew in advance that the Song army would definitely cross the river to the east or cross the river to the west?
Therefore, ambush on the east bank or west bank in advance. Nothing like this makes sense.
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw that the first pontoon bridge had been set up, and the Tibetan army was eager to cross the river, and then set up a formation by the river to prevent the party members from attacking them halfway across the river.
However, Zhang Yue looked around and saw that the east bank was always quiet.
Zhang Yue chatted with Wang Shao and said, "I heard that the Dangxiang people only send troops on Zhi day, and today happens to be Zhi day."
Wang Shao nodded and said, "Not bad."
Zhang Yue said: "I have done some research, and the Dangxiang people never fight in the dark. It seems superstitious at first glance, but it makes sense when you look closely."
"There is no moon on dark nights. If the two armies fight at night, the risk will be extremely high. That's why we say this."
Wang Shao was stunned for a moment and then smiled and said: "What Sheren said is absolutely true."
The two chatted, and Zhang Yue also sensed the oppressive feeling in the air about the impending war, and he also tried to relieve his emotions by talking to Wang Shao.
No matter what, he was still a powerless civil servant. It was the first time he encountered a war and it was hard to calm down.
Thinking of this, Zhang Yue couldn't help but touch the half-written letter in his arms. If there is really... something, then the words in the letter...
By this time, when the second pontoon bridge was built, thousands of Tibetan troops had gathered on the river bank.
With the two pontoon bridges erected together, the Song army could now cross the river faster.
When the Fan army first crossed the river, they were always worried about a sneak attack by the Party troops. However, as more and more people crossed the river, there was no attack from the Party troops, so they were a little slack.
When there were three thousand Tibetan cavalry crossing the river, Wang Hou said: "Dad, let's cross the river too!"
The Song army had 15,000 cavalry, but the real soldiers were only 7,000 cavalry. The rest were similar to party members, assistants and burdens, serving as support or miscellaneous tasks.
The three thousand cavalry who crossed the river were all regular troops. After seeing that they were enough to deal with it, they sent a detachment of two hundred cavalry to check the camp set up by the party members.
The camp was set up more than three miles away from the river bank, so even the cavalry would need some effort.
Wang Shao looked at the cavalry going for reconnaissance and said to Wang Hou: "Don't worry, let the baggage cross the river first!"
Wang Hou saw that he had no chance of winning the war at his fingertips, so he sat aside in silence again.
By this time, horse-drawn carriages and mule trains had begun to cross the river.
The cavalrymen who went to Dangxiang's camp to investigate entered the camp in a fan-shaped semi-encirclement to search.
However, they saw that the camp was already empty of people. There were only a few pack horses, some mats, wine bottles, saddles and other items, but nothing of value.
As they continued their search, they saw a large box in the middle of the camp.
The two Tibetan cavalrymen were delighted when they saw this, and immediately took out their sabers and opened the box.
At this time, they saw the box move suddenly, but when they heard a popping sound, the two Tibetan soldiers were so frightened that they quickly retreated.
At this moment, Wang Shao saw hundreds of white pigeons rising into the sky, fluttering their wings, and then heading southwest in the camp of the Dangxiang people.
"not good!"
The moment Wang Shao's expression changed, shouts of death suddenly rang out.
And the killing cry that shook the mountains came not from the east bank, nor from the west bank, but from behind Wang Shao and Zhang Yue!
Wang Shao shouted: "Change the formation! The whole army retreats to defend against the enemy!"
Wang Hou suddenly understood that the Dangxiang people were not ambushing on the east bank or on the west bank, but were ambushing behind them.
If Wang Hou had not listened to Wang Shao just now and allowed himself to lead 3,000 Song troops across the river, then the baggage left on the river bank would have been attacked by Dang Xiang.
Wang Hou suddenly broke into a cold sweat.
If he were the commander, the whole army would be responsible for this.
At this time, I saw several fire boats suddenly emerging from the upper reaches of the river.
The fire boat was loaded with firewood and was burning towards the pontoon bridge.
The water flow was quite fast, and when the Song army tried to stop it, it was too late, and the fire ship immediately hit the first pontoon bridge.
There was a carriage on the pontoon bridge that was unable to move forward or retreat. Suddenly, the carriage and the horse-drawn bridge were in flames. The pontoon bridge was burned out in an instant, and then the second pontoon bridge was burned down.
Damn it, the party members are so cunning and scheming.
Wang Hou was filled with hatred.
Once the pontoon bridge was broken, the thousands of Tibetan troops crossing the river were unable to return to the river bank for support.
At this time, Zhang Yue and Wang Hou looked back towards the valley and saw two groups of soldiers and horses coming from the east and west.
One of Wang Shao's subordinates, Yu Hou, was counting the party's troops and immediately reported: "The good judge knows that there are two heads of troops, which is almost between 7,000 and 8,000!"
Wang Shao nodded and said, "I see the same thing."
The Song army currently staying on the river bank and not yet crossing the river has 3,000 regular troops and 7,800 or 8,000 auxiliary troops. Although the number is larger than that of the party members, the chance of victory is actually quite low.
Wang Shao said: "When soldiers come, they will be blocked, and when water comes, the soil will cover them! It's not that easy for the party's cavalry to break through my tent! Each department performs its duties and follows me to defend against the enemy. If anyone retreats, I will kill them!"
Zhang Yue was also focused on playing the drums at this moment. He silently picked up his bow and arrow and stood under Wang Shao's commanding banner.
Tang Jiu and Wang Gong also guarded him from left to right with vigilant expressions.
Tang Jiu said in a low voice: "Sir, if we are going to fight for a while, you should retreat further. If you can't, we will block you here, and I will hold the horse and swim across the river."
Wang Gong nodded after hearing this.
After hearing Tang Jiu's words, Zhang Yue suddenly felt humiliated, and thought that as a civil servant, what could he do?
He shouted: "What are you yelling about? I won't retreat!"
(End of chapter)
