bookrandom Chapter 1086 Who said the rear guard must die?
Chapter 1086 Who said the rear guard must die?
Chapter 1086 Who said the rear guard must die?
Under the city of Lingzhou, there is the military camp of the Xihe Road army.
At dawn, the day breaks up very early.
The surging Yellow River can be seen under Lingzhou City, and in the distance, invisible to the eye, is Xingqing Prefecture at the foot of the majestic Helan Mountains.
The sound of horses neighing could be heard as the 20,000-strong army stood in formation below. The scarlet battle flags fluttered in the wind, and were particularly eye-catching against the tall walls of Lingzhou City.
"All those who are the only sons in the family should step out!"
"Anyone whose father or brother died in the king's service should also stand out!"
"Anyone who is injured and unable to move!"
After saying it twice in both Tibetan and Chinese languages, with a command, nearly half of the people in the formation stood out sparsely.
The respective teams will come forward to confirm their identities.
"You all follow the troops along Jingyuan Road and go home!"
Following Zhang Zhi's order, the soldiers who came out of the line were surprised at first, then their faces showed joy, as if they had survived a calamity, while the soldiers who were left behind looked at each other in bewilderment.
Are we not going to fight anymore? No, Lingzhou City is about to be captured, right?
If we withdraw our troops in this way, then would the deaths of our comrades who died under the city during the past twenty days of siege have been in vain?
Is this a withdrawal? Are we the last ones to leave? Or are we going to die?
Zhang Zhi looked at these bewildered soldiers with a heavy heart. Although he was still chatting with the generals on his left and right as if nothing had happened, he knew that since last night, trumpets had been sounded on the north bank of the Yellow River. It seemed that Western Xia had won the victory, otherwise the central army of Xingqing Prefecture would not have gone south.
This meant that the Song army had to withdraw immediately, otherwise they would be left here.
Of course, all the sacrifices made during the siege these days were in vain.
Upon hearing the news of the retreat, several foreign generals hesitated before their horses. They were originally hostages of the Xihe foreign tribe. Although they served in the front of the Song army, they were actually unwilling to join this life-threatening mission of covering the rear.
Zhang Zhi said to several people: "Your father has made great contributions to the court, so you should go back with him this time! Remember to appease the tribe!"
Several people were overjoyed to hear this, and left after expressing their gratitude profusely.
After seeing the men leave, Zhang Zhi said, "If our army fails in the two-way attack on Xia, there will be unrest in Xihe. If these men die, it will be hard to guarantee that we won't be able to suppress it."
The generals then realized.
Zhang Zhi's face was calm. He turned his horse's head towards Lingzhou City, pointed his whip at it and said to the generals: "It is right to send troops to attack Xia from Jingyuan Road! If we follow this road, we will definitely be able to conquer Lingzhou and break Xingzhou... If we see their country destroyed, I will die without regrets."
The generals were shocked and asked, "Why do you say that, Marshal?"
Zhang Zhi said: "As the Art of War says, put yourself in a desperate situation and then you can survive!"
"All three armies believe that the last one to come back will die, but I want to return with my entire division!"
……
At dawn, the Song army was retreating in a grand manner outside Lingzhou City. Ling Renduo Yashan and Renduo Baozhong immediately climbed up the city wall to watch.
"Is the Song army really retreating? Or is this just a strategy to lure the enemy?"
Ren Duo Ya Shan looked at it for a while and said, "You can't tell by looking at it. You will know after trying it."
"You defend the city, and I will lead 300 cavalrymen to charge down the city!"
"Daddy, I'll go!"
Renduo Yashan stretched out his calloused hand and pressed Renduo Baozhong's shoulder, saying, "I'll go!"
……
Hearing the war drums sounding on the top of Lingzhou City, the Song army was surprised that the Xia army actually dared to leave the city.
"Yes, Iron Harrier!"
"The Western Bandit General Renduo Yading!"
The Song army on the watchtower immediately reported to Zhang Zhi.
Hearing the name Renduoyading, the Song army couldn't help but feel hatred.
Zhang Zhi immediately led his personal cavalry to meet the enemy, and the cavalry of the two armies immediately collided with each other.
Speaking of Zhang Yue and Zhang Qie, both were good at martial arts, but Zhang Zhi was even more skilled in archery and horse riding. Since he was the governor of Daizhou, Zhang Zhi had recruited a lot of cavalrymen who were both Tibetan and Khitan and had strong martial arts from the two territories.
Zhang Zhi learned martial arts from him and became an extraordinary horseman and archer.
After Zhang Zhi arrived in Xihe, most of these people followed him as his personal soldiers. Zhang Yue was worried about Zhang Zhi, so he asked Tang Jiu, who was the most skilled in martial arts, to bring his old soldiers from Xihe Road to guard Zhang Zhi.
Based on these people, Zhang Zhi selected those who were good at fighting and shooting from both the Han and the Tibetans, selected the best weapons, and formed a personal cavalry of nearly a thousand people.
All these cavalrymen followed Zhang Zhi and stayed.
But Renduo Yading's Iron Harriers were also the elite troops of Western Xia.
The two cavalry forces collided head-on, intertwining and entangled with each other.
Zhang Zhi led his troops straight towards the flag of Renduoyading, and his personal cavalrymen tried their best to clear the way for him and block the arrows.
"General Jie, the man in the red helmet is Renduoyading!" Tang Jiu shouted.
Zhang Zhi personally bent his bow and shot three arrows at Renduoyating, but they were all avoided by the other party. Renduoyating turned around very powerfully and shot Tang Jiu, who had been closely guarding Zhang Zhi, off his horse.
After that, Renduoyading left.
The men rushed Tang Jiu back to the camp. Tang Jiu was still unconscious. Zhang Zhi used wine to clean Tang Jiu's wounds while shouting "Uncle Jiu, Uncle Jiu".
Finally, Tang Jiu looked at Zhang Zhi, nodded, and then fainted again. He died in the army in the middle of the night.
Zhang Zhi burst into tears upon seeing this and had to bury Tang Jiu overnight. He was afraid that the Xia army would identify and destroy the body, so he did not dare to erect a tombstone. Instead, he made a mark so that they could come back later.
……
Renduoyading himself escaped back to the city with a narrow escape, but more than half of his personal guards were killed or wounded, and the three hundred Iron Harriers were killed, leaving less than a hundred.
Renduo Baozhong came forward and took off Renduo Yading's armor himself, but saw that his father's whole body was soaked with sweat. Renduo Baozhong was afraid that his father had "armor removal syndrome", so he immediately wiped him off and served him hot soup.
Renduo Yading drank the hot soup while his hands were shaking as he said, "It's almost impossible to survive!"
Renduo Baozhong said: "I saw it today on the top of the city. The troops of Xihe Road are so difficult to defeat!"
Renduoya Ding said: "It's not that the troops of Xihe Road are difficult to defeat, it's that the general of the Zhang family is difficult to defeat!"
"Originally, Zhang Yue left, and Xihe Road was deserted. But who knew that another Zhang Yu came? I thought that the Emperor of the Song Dynasty was suspicious and transferred Zhang Yu away, but now another Zhang Zhi has come!"
"This man is not good at using troops, but he can rally his soldiers and make them fight to the death for him! He is truly a formidable foe!"
After saying this, Renduo Yading said with a calm and terrifying look: "If this person returns to Song territory, he will be a serious threat to our Renduo family!"
……
Fire in July.
More than two months had passed since summer when the Song army retreated from the city of Lingzhou back to Song territory.
The total distance from Lingzhou City through Mingsha, Xiaoguan to Zhenrong Army is 560 miles. It took more than a month to get there after many battles.
It's not that easy to go back.
The day after the Song army retreated from Lingzhou, the Western Xia dug a seven-level canal in the Yellow River in the middle of the night to flood the Song army. The Western Xia people would rather flood Lingxing, the richest land in the country, into a swamp than destroy the Song army.
Although Zhang Zhi and Zhong Shidao were well prepared, some of their troops were still defeated.
Some foreign soldiers were in an uproar that night, and some even took the Han army to join the Xia people overnight.
Fortunately, Zhang Zhi led his troops to cover the rear. When the Western Xia soldiers in Lingzhou City saw that it was Zhang Zhi who was covering the rear, they dared not pursue them. This caused most of the Song troops to retreat from Lingzhou City.
Since the decision had been made to retreat, there was no time to lose. The army on Jingyuan Road destroyed and abandoned excess armor and baggage along the way. Some soldiers even threw away their weapons, just to rush things.
Fortunately, Zhang Zhi had already cleared out the Xia army in the direction of Tiandu Mountain before he arrived, otherwise the Western Xia would have ambushed the troops here, and the troops would have surely been defeated if they had been in a hurry to travel to Jingyuan Road.
The morale of the army was already like this, and most people had no intention of accompanying the Xihe Road troops to cover the rear.
Except for a few, the rest of the people were only thinking about going home, and some even went home in a panic.
Who could have imagined that this disheveled army was the Song army that attacked Lingzhou with such momentum a month ago?
The Western Xia ruler Li Bingchang personally led 50,000 palace guards from Xingqing Prefecture and the night guards south to pursue the Song army that was retreating from the city of Lingzhou.
When the golden umbrella and imperial tent of Li Bingchang, the king of Western Xia, arrived at the foot of Lingzhou City, which was mostly flooded, Renduo Yading and his son Renduo Baozhong personally went out of the city to the high ground where the king was to greet him.
Although Li Bingchang was young, the rulers of Western Xia had a tradition of leading troops to war in person.
Li Bingchang said to Renduo and his son, "This time the Song army attacked Lingzhou, and Xingqing Prefecture, which is separated by a river, was shaken. The Queen Mother was also horrified and said that this must not happen again."
"So this time I brought the six squads of soldiers from the Imperial Garden. Unfortunately, the soldiers who captured the living were taken away by Liang Yi to attack the troops of Fuyan Road... I ordered General Renduo to be the vanguard and lead the entire army for me to pursue the Song army!"
Renduoyading wanted to decline the offer, but Li Bingchang sighed, "You are the most famous general of Dabai Gao State. I can only trust you. How can I trust the Prime Minister?"
Li Bingchang brought up the conflict between him and Liang Yimei in front of him. After hearing this, Ren Duoyading knew that the king wanted to use his power to balance the internal situation of Western Xia.
He immediately accepted the order.
……
The next day, Renduo Yading led light cavalry to pursue the Song army.
In just half a day, Renduoyading caught up with the rear guard of the Song army, but he could not help but frown as he watched the rear guard of the Song army retreating leisurely.
The Song army's march was not disorderly at all, and their scouts who were ambushing the Western Xia soldiers even launched a surprise attack.
Renduoyading had only light cavalry with him and was unable to use his strength, so he had to lead his troops to a high place and watch the Song army enter the canyon.
The Song army was not in a hurry, and facing the pursuers from Western Xia, they actually set up camp at the entrance of the canyon.
Renduo Yading carefully observed the Song army camp until dark, and could not help but say to his attendants: "How can the Song army retreat without any chaos? If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes today, who would have dared to believe it?"
"Will the village be robbed in the middle of the night?"
"Of course!" Ren Duoya Ding Yan said.
The next day, the Song army continued to retreat, and Renduoyading inspected the Song army's camp last night.
After inspecting the area for halfway, Renduo Yading said angrily, "There's nothing surprising about it. Why can't we defeat it?"
The generals were ashamed.
……
The general flag with the word "Zhang" was flying, and the general Zhang Zhi personally led the troops to cover the rear, which stabilized the morale of the army.
He fought several times with Renduoyading and lost hundreds of his soldiers.
After the army marched for a while, they kept seeing beacon fires ahead. The troops from Jingyuan Road reported to them that they were safe and the army ahead had successfully retreated through Mingsha City.
The total distance from Lingzhou City to Mingsha City is one hundred and twenty miles.
Here they were not pursued by the Western Xia people, and they could reach Xiaoguan by passing through Huluchuan Avenue. Shen Kuo, the governor of Jingyuan Road, and Yu Chong, the governor of Huanqing Road, were on their way to support them with troops from Jingyuan Road and Huanqing Road.
It was expected that the army from Jingyuan Road would retreat into Song territory without any trouble.
At this moment, Zhang Zhi saw the billowing smoke and dust behind him.
The scout reported: "Sir, it's the Sixth Guard in the Imperial Garden of the Western Bandits!"
The generals were horrified when they heard this. These six squads were the most elite troops of Western Xia. Could it be that Li Bingchang had come?
(End of this chapter)