bookrandom Chapter 1135: Decisive Battle in Lanzhou
Chapter 1135: Decisive Battle in Lanzhou
Chapter 1135: Decisive Battle in Lanzhou
March of the third year of Yuanfeng.
Liang Yimai and Liang Yongneng respectively sent troops from Xingzhou and Hengshan, claiming to have 800,000 troops to attack Song.
Although Liang Yongneng was a small army, he captured cities and strongholds along the way, and successively attacked cities along Fuyan Road and Huanqing Road, and swept along the way.
After Liang Yimei led his troops out of Huluchuan, there was panic along the Jingyuan Road. The governor Shen Kuo asked Han Zhen for reinforcements, but was rejected by Han Zhen because the Fuyan Road and Huanqing Road were also attacked by Liang Yongneng.
Liang Yimei ordered his general Wei Mingji to go to the city of Pingxia and shoot his own handwritten letter into the city defender Liu Changzuo.
Liang Yi said, "Yesterday, when the war broke out, we raised our weapons and fought against each other. Now I am writing to ask for your tribute. It is not that we have changed our minds. It is because we are loyal to our mission and have no choice but to do so."
The letter also said, "Western Xia has a territory of 10,000 miles and hundreds of thousands of soldiers. In the south, we have Khotan as our friendly neighbor, and in the north, we have Liao as our strong support."
Liang Yi concealed his thoughts, saying that the two families had been fighting for more than ten years, so how could they give up?
Liang Yimai marked the final condition for peace talks with Western Xia in the book, unless the Song Dynasty agreed to cede Lanzhou and Xi'anzhou, there would be no peace talks.
Liang Yimai's words were not arrogant, but his words of "If you want to fight, I will fight" really made people feel that this Dangxiang prime minister was indeed something.
After receiving the letter, Liu Changzuo reported it to Shen Kuo, who then reported it to the government.
The emperor sitting in the Golden Palace in Bian Jing was furious when he saw the letter and almost tore it up on the spot. He then summoned the two prime ministers Wang Gui and Zhang Yue and had a tantrum.
Zhang Yue cursed Shen Kuo in his heart for being so stubborn. He could have just burned the letter himself, but he had to send it to the capital to humiliate himself.
The emperor was angry and blamed Zhang Yue for being lazy since he became the prime minister. He was so ineffective in fighting against Western Xia that Liang Yimai became so rampant.
Seeing the emperor's incompetent rage, spitting saliva everywhere, gesticulating and treating the air as Liang Yi, Zhang Yue also very calmly wiped the spit on his face with his hands, and then said with great concern: "Your Majesty, take care of your health."
The emperor looked at Zhang Yue, who looked like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water, and said coldly: "I don't need you to continue listening to me. I will go to Pijiajingyuan Road to find Liang Yi's grave!"
Wang Gui and Shi Deyi panicked when they saw this and tried to persuade him. Wang Gui advised Zhang Yue to just apologize to the emperor for making him so angry.
Zhang Yue rolled up his sleeves and bowed to the emperor, saying, "Your Majesty, please appoint a regent as soon as possible!"
Official...
Shi Deyi, Wang Gui...
……
Liang Yi hid in the direction of Jingyuan Road, but it was just a feint. He led his troops to attack Xi'an Prefecture set up in Qinfeng Road. After destroying several newly built forts of the Song army, he burned down all the military farms and pretended to attack Huizhou.
While Li Xian was at it, Wang Hou dispatched troops to guard Huizhou and stationed heavy troops along the Quwu Mountain, waiting for Liang Yimai to come to fight.
Liang Yimai suddenly turned north, crossed the Yellow River, and went along the river to Lanzhou to join forces with the main force of Western Xia.
Liang Yimai's deployment of troops this time can be described as a subtle and subtle move, which was quite in line with the teachings of Li Yuanhao.
He used a small force to attack Huanqing Road and Fuyan Road, and then pretended to attack Jingyuan Road, Huizhou, and Tiandu Mountain. Finally, he assembled the main army and marched to the city of Lanzhou.
Whether it was Han Zhen, Shen Kuo or Wang Hou who was stationed in Huizhou, they all thought that Liang Yimai's main attack direction was on their side. They did not expect that Liang Yimai would eventually go back to the city of Lanzhou.
The city of Lanzhou where the battle was defeated.
Wherever the Dangxiang army passed, except for the large fortresses that remained intact, all the small garrisons were destroyed, the cultivated fields were burned, and the granaries were looted.
This is what happened when the Dangxiang army advanced. They passed through like combing a grass, leaving almost no grass or tree behind for the Song army.
Zhang Yue wanted to use Lanzhou, Tiandu Mountain and Pingxia City to consume the Dangxiang people, but the Dangxiang people were doing the same in return.
The same is true outside Lanzhou City.
Li Hao was quite knowledgeable about military affairs. Judging from the fact that the Dangxiang troops sent out to Jingyuan Road, Huanqing Road and Fuyan Road this time with much ado about nothing, it was just a dummy force.
On the contrary, the Dangxiang cavalry crossed the Yellow River several times, lingered under the city, and then quickly returned to the north bank. It seemed that the Western Xia intended to attack Lanzhou again.
As expected, Liang Yibu arrived in person, and this time the Dangxiang claimed to have 800,000 infantry and cavalry.
There must be a lot of water in the 800,000, but there is some real value in the water.
Li Hao and Wang Wenyu saw Xixia's most elite infantry and iron harriers, as well as the rumored newly established Poxi Army, under the city.
There were only 6,000 soldiers in the city.
Six thousand versus eight hundred thousand...
This time, the Western Xia siege did not surround the city on three sides but surrounded it on all four sides.
They saw the golden tent buried by Liang Yi at the foot of the city. The other party was drinking from a cup not far from the city with an arrogant look on his face, while in front of him were Tangut warriors dancing with rows of shields.
Wang Wenyu held the knife at his waist, he knew that Liang Yi was deliberately provoking him.
I, Liang Yimai, am right in front of you. I dare you to come here and steal our camp in the middle of the night with seven hundred assassins, just like you did last time.
Li Hao patted Wang Wenyu on the shoulder and said, "Just defend the city well this time, don't think about anything else. The Tanguts said they had 800,000 soldiers, but there are definitely not that many. Besides, how many days can the military rations last?"
Wang Wenyu smiled and said, "No matter how many soldiers he has, I only have 6,000."
Lanzhou defenders Li Hao and Wang Wenyu were both rewarded for their contributions in defeating Xixia last time. Li Hao was promoted to Defense Envoy, Governor of Lanzhou and Xihe, and Deputy Envoy of Qinfeng.
Wang Wenyu was appointed as the commander of the militia in Rongzhou, and the commanders of Pengri and Tianwu were appointed as deputy chief administrators.
After the last battle of Lanzhou, many of his generals in Lanzhou city were promoted to envoys of various ranks.
Although there are not as many people as the horizontal squad, there are still envoys everywhere.
Before, Li Hao and Wang Wenyu were worried that they were promoted by Zhang Dun, not Zhang Yue's confidant, and whether the reward would be suppressed. Unexpectedly, the other party did not mind at all. The battle of Lanzhou was in January, and the reward came in February.
The speed of rewarding is non-stop.
Once the Xihe Road army achieved military success, everyone was promoted to a higher position. Even ordinary soldiers received five strings of salt notes and a piece of silk.
Everyone in the world knows that in prosperous times, the only way to gain military merit is through the Xihe Road. All the students who graduate from the martial arts school go here, vowing to become a scholar and a marquis.
There were only 6,000 soldiers in Lanzhou City, and each of them was a brave and powerful general.
The Xihe Road Army was established by Zhang Yue and Wang Shao. Zhang Yue believed that the best pattern could be drawn on a blank sheet of paper. After the establishment of the army, he always insisted on having scholars lead the troops and using Tai students as grassroots officers.
Scholars can not only write articles, but also lead troops and enforce strict military discipline while demonstrating integrity.
At that time, the battles between the Dangxiang, Khitan, and Song armies, including the later Jurchens, still relied more on the bravery and martial arts of grassroots officers to lead the soldiers into battle.
But the soldiers from Xihe Road gave people a different feeling.
It seems that people who have served in the military have a kind of tiger spirit when doing business, and scholars who lead troops have another kind of temperament, which is stubbornness.
The martial arts of the Imperial Academy were taught by Zhang Zai and his disciples. Although Zhang Zai was a Qi scholar, he was also a follower of the School of Principle.
Zhang Zai and Cheng Yi were both able to fight with Wang Anshi for dozens of rounds. They were scholars who came from the School of Confucianism and were particularly stubborn. To put it bluntly, this stubbornness was a bit stubborn, but Zhang Yue liked it very much.
As the saying goes, a stubborn child in the family will never bring ruin to the family.
Later generations denounced the evils of Neo-Confucianism of Song and Ming dynasties, "When there is nothing to do, one sits back and talks about the nature of the mind, and when there is danger, one dies for the king." However, more than 100,000 people jumped into the sea at Yashan, and more than 3,800 officials died after Chongzhen hanged himself.
Stubbornness can easily lead to excessive study, but it is very useful when serving in the military.
It would be a terrible thing if these scholars were tempered with bloodiness through military service and war.
Many great figures in later generations came from this route.
The battle moved from Lingzhou City to Mingsha City, and nearly 10,000 Xihe troops fought until the last moment the city was broken. Their strict military discipline, patience and obedience of the soldiers frightened even the Dangxiang people.
It has to be said that Zhang Zai and his disciples were quite good at teaching the students of the Imperial College.
After leaving Xihe Road, Zhang Yue had only two requirements for every successor: one was sufficient salary, and the other was to conduct drills on time.
Just these two points alone were something that no other army in the Song Dynasty could achieve, except the Xihe Army.
Everyone saw that Zhang Yue was clear about rewards and punishments and good at employing people when he was managing the army in Xihe Road, but they didn't know that establishing an organizational system was more important than both.
Above the system is something with a different temperament, which is ideology.
This is determined by the first leader. It is like the Yue Family Army, which "would not destroy the house even if it was frozen to death, and would not plunder even if it was starved to death." Among the four generals of the Restoration, only Yue Fei did not drink the blood of his soldiers.
Although the Tangut army of 800,000 surrounded the city, the soldiers in the city remained tenacious and silent.
At dawn the next day, the Dangxiang launched a massive attack on the city, attacking it from all four sides without leaving any one side open.
Because of the sufficient military strength, the main attack will be on either side, striving for a quick victory.
Although the Xixia soldiers were tribal soldiers, they were very brave. They did not need to be driven away. They climbed up the city walls using ladders, holding the backs of knives in their mouths.
At the same time, Liang Yimai also ordered his troops to approach the city wall, dig a tunnel and destroy the wall.
In addition, the Poxi Army of Western Xia used a first-class whirlwind cannon called the "Poxi Cannon".
They loaded the "Poxi Cannon" on the camel's back, urged the camel to move closer, took out fist-sized stone bullets from the saddle bag, and threw them out continuously.
However, the Song army on the city wall of Lanzhou was not easy to deal with either.
The city walls were equipped with a large number of Shenbi bows and crossbows. Countless arrows were shot down, and hundreds of Dangxiang soldiers carrying ladders were shot down on the spot under a city wall.
These dead people were all soldiers from tribes that were alienated from him. They were pure cannon fodder. Liang Yimai didn't even look at them and ordered the leader of another tribe to lead his troops to replace the tribe that had suffered heavy casualties.
In Liang Yi's eyes, Lanzhou City must be taken even if tens of thousands of people die.
The officers and soldiers of the Song army on the city wall defended the city side by side, braving the arrows and stones of the Western Xia. Generally speaking, scholars had a noble status and it was impossible for them to stand together with warriors.
But that was the case with the Xihe Army. Soldiers and officers ate and lived together, trained together every day, and of course went into battle together.
There is absolutely no phenomenon of "brothers, charge forward".
If a chief officer is killed in battle, his subordinates will not flee, but will be replaced by an adjutant. If the adjutant is killed in battle, there are arrangements for who will take his place, and all of this is carefully written into the military regulations.
Attaching importance to discipline is the characteristic of Xihe soldiers.
Under the leadership of junior officers, the Song army on the city wall was very resilient. The Song army in Xihe Road did not rely on individual bravery, but on organization and tenacity.
Being good at attacking may not necessarily mean being good at attacking, but one must be good at defending.
The next day, the Dangxiang soldiers built an earthen platform and artillery positions in the west and continued their attack, then withdrew at nightfall.
At night, the Song army escaped from the city and attacked the stronghold.
A few days later, the artillery positions built by the Dangxiang outside the city were completed, while at the same time, Li Xian and Wang Hou had led the main force of Xihe Road to a distant place.
Li Xian and Wang Hou were both shocked to see the Tangut soldiers everywhere in the mountains and the Lanzhou city that was surrounded.
This reminded them of Mingsha City.