All Heavens and Worlds Modified History System

Chapter 261: Conquering Xixia (Part )

The Hengshan Mountains stretch over a thousand miles from east to west.

This was the natural defense line between the Song Dynasty and the Dangxiang people that lasted for more than 80 years.

Whoever attacks aggressively and crosses this line of defense will suffer logistical difficulties.

It was not until the Song Dynasty spared no effort in sacrificing manpower and material resources and finally seized this natural defense line through a brutal war of attrition that the entire hinterland of Western Xia was opened to the Song Dynasty.

Seeing that the day of destroying Western Xia and atoning for a century of humiliation was just around the corner, Zhao Ji in Bianliang City started to make some bold moves again.

After consulting with the literati, he actually accepted the Xixia people's request for peace on the eve of victory!
It’s the same operation used by Sima Guang and others back then. Anyway, the merits must be ours. If they are not ours, we will not give them to them. Even if we give them to the Xixia people, we cannot give them to our political enemies!

The two sides ceased fighting, and the Xixia people, whose national strength was almost exhausted, recovered from the brink of extinction.

They even took advantage of the storm that Chen Ran was causing in Middle-earth to send out large numbers of troops and seize many territories.

The blood of hundreds of thousands of Western Army soldiers was almost shed in vain.

Qinfeng Road, Xiaoguan.

"The Helan Mountains are the frontier, and the road to Xiaoguan is very desolate."

"Infinite cities are not in the Han territory, and many people are in the Hu country."

Chen Ran, sitting on horseback, looked at Xiaoguan, one of the four major passes in Guanzhong, and felt something in his heart.

For thousands of years from the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty, this place has been the Middle-earth since ancient times.

But at the end of the Tang Dynasty, it was completely lost.

It was finally taken back during the Song Dynasty, but lost again a few years later. It was not until hundreds of years later that it was taken back from the Hu people.

All the people around, regardless of their literary talent, applauded and praised him.

Chen Ran smiled without saying anything and rode his horse into the pass.

Everyone followed suit, and the mighty procession was awe-inspiring.

On Suzaku Street, Qu Duan was the first to surrender and set an example. Although he was also assigned to the Death Squad, he was appointed as the commanding officer.

The organization of the Death Squad Camp was different, and Chen Ran took in nearly 100,000 Western Army prisoners.

Although it is divided into several battalions, a single battalion of death warriors has at least tens of thousands of people.

Qu Duan was a commanding officer in charge of tens of thousands of people, and was also qualified to ride on horseback and follow Chen Ran.

"There's more to come, why don't you finish reading it?"

Qu Duan's doubts were heard by Yue Fei who was standing beside him. After thinking for a while, he replied, "He probably thinks the pattern is too small and he doesn't bother to do it."

Looking at him in surprise, Qu Duan's face suddenly showed enlightenment. "Looking back at the scenery in a foreign land, who can devote themselves to recovering Hehuang? That's right, going to Hehuang is nothing. Our king has the ambition to restore the prosperity of the Han and Tang dynasties."

"I am Qu Duan, the commander of the Death Soldier Battalion, and I am not asking for your advice."

"Yue Fei, Commander of Xiangzhou Camp."

Hearing that Yue Fei was just a commander, Qu Duan immediately became arrogant and asked, "Where are you from? You look so young!"

Seeing Qu Duan taking the lead, Han Shizhong, who was born in Fuyan Road, couldn't stand it. "Xiangzhou Camp is one of the camps of new soldiers recruited by the king in various states in Guandong."

After saying this, Qu Duan said arrogantly, "New recruit~"

"The king has recruited hundreds of new soldiers." Han Shizhong laughed and continued, "Only the Xiangzhou camp has been following the king's central army! Wherever the king goes, they go!"

Qu Duan' (⊙.⊙)'

Han Powu, you idiot, the king values ​​this person so much, why didn’t you tell me earlier!

"Your Majesty, messengers from Fuyan Road, Huanqing Road, Jingyuan Road and the Zhe family have successively sent news." Hu Cheng brought over several military reports. "All units are progressing smoothly and have not encountered the main force of the Dangxiang people."

Chen Ran carefully checked the military report and asked, "Have the spies in Xingqing Prefecture returned with any news?"

"No news has come yet."

"Then continue to wait. If there is still no news after ten days, there is no need to wait any longer and we can send troops immediately."

After stabilizing the six routes in Guanxi, Chen Ran sent troops north without hesitation to prepare for action against Western Xia.

A large number of troops were deployed along the Hengshan line, first launching trial attacks from Huanqing Road, Jingyuan Road, Fuyan Road and other places to attract the attention of the Western Xia people.

The real main force to destroy the country was led by Chen Ran himself to Xiaoguan.

He left the pass and headed north, heading straight for Xingqing Prefecture.

Chen Ran was waiting for news, that is, the news of the Battle of Yishui.

The Liao Dynasty was doomed to perish, the Liao emperor kept fleeing, and the Jin people were chasing him.

At this time, the Jin army had already reached the Hetao and Yinshan areas. This was an important area of ​​interest to Western Xia and had to be defended at all costs.

Chen Ran just wanted to pick peaches when the Xixia people's regular army went to Hetao to fight the Jin people.

Even though we can win by just fighting directly, why not seize the opportunity to reduce casualties?

He is not the kind of person who believes that 'one general's success depends on the sacrifice of thousands of soldiers'.

Hu Cheng's report continued, "The supply team sent by Li Anfu has arrived. Together with the stockpiles sent previously, it will be enough for the army to use for more than a month."

After Chen Ran initially pacified the six routes in Guanxi, he immediately set out to destroy Western Xia.

But such a large area, and the Western Army's generals have been working there for many years, so it is naturally impossible to settle it down so easily.

So he called Li Ying and ordered him to stay in Jingzhao Prefecture and serve as the pacification envoy of the six routes.

On the one hand, it was to continue to stabilize the Guanzhong areas, and on the other hand, it was to provide logistical support for the Northern Expedition troops.

"It's fine as long as it's enough." Chen Ran already had a plan in mind. "Xingqing Prefecture has hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland reclaimed during the Tang Dynasty. There's plenty of food. As long as we fight there, we won't have to worry about food and clothing." Western Xia may look large in area, but its actual population is not that large.

The total population is at most three million.

The century-long war with the Song Dynasty had already exhausted the country's national strength and young men.

If it weren't for the frequent and wonderful assistance from the literati of the Song Dynasty, and the secret support of the Western Army generals, they would have been exhausted to death long ago.

This is the reason why Chen Ran dared to fight a war to annihilate a country.

Although it looks huge, its actual strength is not enough to be looked at at all.

Seven days later, news finally came from Xingqing Prefecture.

"Xingqing Prefecture has about 30,000 soldiers and horses on standby, and they were dispatched to the Yinshan Mountains half a month ago."

Calculating the time, the Xixia people's regular troops had already been mobilized to Yinshan long before Chen Ran's troops headed north.

With the communication capabilities of that era, the news of Chen Ran's troops heading north was delivered to Xingqing Prefecture, and Li Qianshun then sent people to call the regular soldiers back. It took a month for the whole process to go back and forth.

"it is good."

Chen Ran, who finally got the news, immediately slammed the table and said, "Send out the troops!"

The number of soldiers and horses he accompanied was not as exaggerated as hundreds of thousands.

The limitations of transportation capacity and terrain make it impossible to deploy a large-scale army.

The Song Dynasty did this before, sending out hundreds of thousands of people at one time to overwhelm Western Xia, but due to the lack of food and fodder supplies, it was ultimately completely defeated.

At this time, Chen Ran had about 8,000 cavalrymen by his side, the central army of his headquarters of about 20,000, the only 25,000 Qinfeng soldiers who received special treatment after the reorganization and elimination of the old and weak, and the 10,000 people in the Dinghao Battalion who were used as cannon fodder and civilian laborers.

Then there is Yue Fei’s Xiangzhou Camp, which has a smaller organization of less than a thousand people.

This is the main force Chen Ran will use to destroy Western Xia, and in his opinion it is enough.

The Song army could not destroy the Western Xia because their enemies were not north of Hengshan, but inside the city of Bianliang.

The army left Xiaoguan and captured Yonghe Village, which had only 200 defenders, in one day.

Then they quickly captured Geda City and Mingsha City, which was just on the bank of the Yellow River.

The siege was brutal and the Xixia people's resistance was resolute.

But no matter how determined they were, they could not withstand the determination of the death squad members to change their fate.

Less than ten days after leaving Xiaoguan, Chen Ran had arrived at the bank of the Yellow River.

On the other side of the Yellow River, you can see the remains of the ancient Great Wall buried under the sand.

Further north of the Great Wall is the vast desert.

The core of Western Xia was in the east, and the east was centered on the western side of the Yellow River's "J" shape. The cities, fields, population, etc. along the way were all concentrated in the areas on both sides of this narrow Yellow River.

On both sides of this narrow strip of land are two vast deserts.

To the west is the Tengger Desert, and to the east is the Mu Us Desert.

In other words, to defeat the Western Xia, one only needs to go north along the Yellow River and reach Xingqing Prefecture.

The news that the Song army was marching northward reached Xingqing Prefecture.

Xixia Emperor Li Qianshun was horrified. "Aren't they fighting among themselves in Guanzhong? Why are they sending a large army to attack us?"

None of the Tangut and Han ministers in the court could explain the situation.

"His Majesty!"

Once Li Qianshun's father-in-law, who assisted Li Qianshun in seizing power, and now has been stripped of his military power, the Western Xia Liang Wang Weiming Anhui shouted loudly, "The Great Bai Gao Kingdom is now facing a crisis, what's the point of discussing why the Song army came?"

"King Liang is right." Li Qianshun, who had experienced a lot of hardships in his life, quickly calmed down and began to respond. "Quickly send someone to find Li Liangfu and ask him to bring all the troops back!"

The first thing is to recall the regular troops of the main army sent to Yinshan as soon as possible.

Compared with the crisis of the Great Baigao Kingdom's demise, helping the Liao Dynasty and consolidating the security of its own Yinshan Hetao area is nothing.

It's funny to say that, with the help of the literati of the Song Dynasty, the Western Xia repeatedly defeated the Song army and created one battlefield myth after another.

But his strength was too weak. In every battle, even if he won, he suffered terrible losses and the national strength was almost exhausted.

So we can see in history books that every time they won a battle, they would ask for peace.

It’s not that we don’t want to develop, it’s just that the Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty around us are too powerful.

"Order all tribes and cities to mobilize all people, livestock and horses. We must stop the Song people!"

At this time, Western Xia was still in the stage of transition from a tribal system to a Sinic system.

The city is highly sinicized, but there are still a large number of tribes in various places.

These tribes were also regarded by the Dangxiang people as their real support.

Apart from anything else, all the men in the tribe, from twelve to sixty years old, were mobilized, and each man with a horse was considered a warrior.

If it is an extreme mobilization, there will be hundreds of thousands of people.

Of course, the current Western Xia does not have such national strength, and Chen Ran’s side is already at the throat of the gorge, and the Xingqing Prefecture area can mobilize at most 100,000 men.

It refers to males, not young and strong ones, those aged between twelve and sixty.

At the same time in the bath, Chen Ran had arrived at the key location for destroying Western Xia, the famous gorge!

PS: Thank you to book friend Gao Youcai for the 300-point reward support. I am very grateful. Thank you!
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(End of this chapter)