All Heavens and Worlds Modified History System

Chapter 262: Settlement of Xixia (Part )

The gorge mouth is the famous Qingtong Gorge in later generations.

There is no need to say much about the geographical environment here, it is considered the true southern gate of Xingling.

Breaking through here would be like stabbing a sharp knife into the Tanguts' softest part.

Looking at the endless, long smoke in the sky in the distance, Chen Ran calmly ordered, "All troops must cross the river, and destroy everything they cannot take away."

The section of the Yellow River that flows northward to the Hetao area makes a slight turn here.

Chen Ran, who had come north along Hulu River, was now on the east bank of the Yellow River.

If you continue northward along the river, you will reach Xixia people’s Xiping Prefecture, which is Lingzhou in Xingling area.

But now that we have reached this point, who would want to attack Lingzhou? Of course, we will go straight to Xingqing Prefecture, the Dangxiang people's lair.

Xingqing Prefecture is Yinchuan, located on the west bank of the Yellow River. If you want to fight, you have to cross the river to the west bank.

You can cross the river anywhere on the way north, but if you go further, there is the Tanglai Canal which was dug during the Tang Dynasty, which means there is one more river to cross, so you might as well just cross it ahead of time.

There are not many boats, and people mainly rely on rafts.

Speaking of which, the sheepskin rafts on the Yellow River are also very famous.

It took several days to transport all the personnel, equipment, food, military supplies, horses, livestock, etc.

All the supplies that could not be taken away and the livestock that could not be put on the raft were disposed of.

After reaching the west coast to reorganize the troops, they began the last 200 miles journey north.

It was not until this point that the Xixia people's emergency response truly arrived.

There are towering and magnificent mountains on the west bank of the Yellow River.

There were many tribes inside and outside the mountain. The tribal men riding fast horses and holding light bows rode over, shot an arrow at the enemy's head, and then ran away. The harassment war began like this.

Hu Cheng rode up to report, "Your Majesty, these barbarian horses are fast and hard to catch, and they gather and disperse at random, making it difficult for our cavalry to encircle and suppress them."

Chen Ran, who was on horseback, did not rush to make a decision, but looked at Yue Fei, who was a commander but could follow the commander around. "What do you think we should do?"

"Your Majesty." Yue Fei saluted. "After crossing the river, our army has already burned its boats and has no supply lines to harass."

"To put it simply."

"Don't worry about them." Yue Fei immediately responded on his horse, "The army just keeps moving forward."

"Yes." Chen Ran nodded. "The troops will move forward along the river bank. The cavalry will form units to guard the perimeter. If they come to harass us, ignore them. If they get too close, disperse them."

This place is not far from Xingqing Prefecture, and we can reach the city in a few days at most.

As long as Xingqing Prefecture is captured, these cavalry will scatter.

No civilian laborers were included in this march, and all logistical work was done by Qu Duan's Death Squadron.

Seeing others eating, drinking and enjoying themselves while they can only work as coolies, the people in the Death Squad are naturally dissatisfied.

But there is no way to be dissatisfied, as those who cause trouble will be beheaded.

As for escaping, let alone this, this is the territory of the Dangxiang people. Where can you go even if you escape from the military camp?
They chose another way to vent their anger.

"Brother." The young Wu Lin asked his elder brother Wu Jie in a low voice, "Is it really okay for us to leave the camp without permission?"

"Don't be afraid."

Wu Jie immediately reassured everyone, "General Han has agreed, so there will be no problem."

With the merit of conquering Chang'an twice, Wu Jie escaped from being a cannon fodder in the Death Squad and became a commander under Han Shizhong.

But his younger brother Wu Lin was still doing hard labor in the death squad camp.

In order to help his brother, Wu Jie simply found Han Shizhong and expressed his desire to lead the Death Squad to sweep the many tribes under the Helan Mountains.

Han Shizhong was very courageous and wanted to agree immediately.

Fortunately, he still had some common sense and chose to report to Chen Ran first.

Chen Ran did not comment on this, and only said, "In principle, no."

Han Shizhong was confused as to what was meant by "not allowed in principle".

Fortunately, after leaving the tent, Hu Cheng explained to him, "The regular troops are not allowed to move, at least not more than a hundred men."

Now I understand what happened. This is why Wu Jie brought a team of 100 people and an even larger number of death squads to attack the Dangxiang tribe at the foot of the Helan Mountains.

"Two miles ahead, there is a Tangut tribe."

When the scouts came back to report, Wu Jie immediately ordered an attack.

After a fierce fight, they did not encounter any strong resistance.

The elite troops in the tribe all went to Yinshan to fight the Jin army to the death.

The remaining young and strong men were also busy harassing Chen Ran's main army, and the remaining tribes had no decent resistance at all.

"Kill them all." Wu Jie was from the Western Army, so he would have no mercy on the Tangut tribe. "Take the heads of the able-bodied men, nothing else."

The elderly, the weak, women and children naturally do not count, and even the able-bodied men cannot all be soldiers.

At most it can only be converted.

"Brother." Wu Lin laughed, "Brothers have been holding back for so long, how about letting the brothers have a go?"

Wu Jie looked at him askance, "Those young men who went out to harass others may come back at any time."

"It's better to come back." Wu Lin couldn't help laughing. "It just so happens that there are not enough heads to share." "Half an hour." Wu Jie frowned slightly. "I'll give you half an hour."

By the time the young and strong men from this tribe who had gone out to harass others came back, their tribe had completely disappeared, with no living creatures left.

For two consecutive days, Wu Jie led his troops to attack several tribes, taking many heads, and at the same time greatly provoking the Dangxiang people in the nearby tribes.

That afternoon, when they attacked a tribe again, they were finally caught and besieged by thousands of Tangut cavalry.

"Form a formation! Form a formation!" Wu Jie roared, "Hold still!"

"Don't even think about running away or surrendering. These Tanguts won't leave anyone alive!"

"Light up your cigarette, hurry up and light up your cigarette! The king is dozens of miles away, and he will definitely come to rescue us when he sees the signal smoke."

The so-called lighting wolf smoke is certainly not burning wolf dung. The fireworks produced by that thing are very faint, and it is impossible to collect that much wolf dung.

Several soldiers quickly lit the dry firewood, and then threw in watered firewood, weeds, sheep fat, dry cow and sheep dung and other things.

The thick smoke rose straight into the sky, and the message was finally delivered.

Hundreds of men and horses formed a battle array, relying on the tribe’s tents, fences, and even cattle and sheep, to form a simple defense line, struggling to hold on.

Their fighting spirit is very firm, and they are all determined to fight to the death.

It is not possible to be unsteady. You know what you have done. Once you fall into the hands of these red-eyed Dangxiang people, you will be tortured to death, so fighting to the death is inevitable.

The signal smoke was lit, but the reinforcements were nowhere to be found. Instead, more and more Tangut cavalry came from nearby, gathering a total of two to three thousand cavalry.

If this tribe had not built fences and stone walls, Wu Jie and his men would have been scattered and killed long ago.

"Brother." Wu Lin asked anxiously, "Why doesn't the king come to rescue us?"

"Don't panic." Wu Jie responded simply, "Calculating the time and distance, the troops must have arrived. It's a good thing that they haven't appeared now."

"Ah?" Wu Lin was dumbfounded. Could it be considered a good thing that reinforcements didn't show up?
"The troops came but he didn't show up." Wu Jie patiently taught his brother, "He must be setting up a trap, blocking all exits, preparing to wipe out the Tangut cavalry here in one fell swoop. As long as you can hold on to the end, you will naturally get credit."

Wu Lin was stunned. "You have to be alive to be considered a meritorious service, right?"

"Then don't die!"

Wu Jie's ability is really good, and his speculation is absolutely correct.

Chen Ran, who had long been annoyed by the harassment of these foreign cavalry, immediately rushed over with reinforcements.

He was not worried about the Wu Jie brothers, but his battlefield experience told him that this was a good opportunity.

The deliberate indulgence in allowing Wu Jie and his men to destroy the Dangxiang tribes along the way was meant to provoke anger.

Now we are just reaping the fruits.

When all the key points had been blocked, Chen Ran personally rode his horse to charge into the battle line and completely defeated the thousands of foreign cavalry that had been gathered with great difficulty.

The advantages of the Fan cavalry are that they can run fast and are familiar with the local geographical environment.

But once these advantages were lost, courage alone would not be enough to stop them from being defeated in the face of well-organized and well-equipped regular cavalry.

After the battle, only one in ten of the thousands of foreign cavalrymen survived, and the ground was littered with captured animals and stray horses.

After this battle, the Dangxiang tribes living under the Helan Mountains will no longer be able to harass on a large scale in the short term.

"You have made collective contributions. Those in the Death Squad will be exempted from punishment, and the regular soldiers will be rewarded according to the rules."

Chen Ran instructed Wu Jie and his men, who had lost more than half of their troops in the battle, "Promote Wu Jie to the commander of a battalion. All the survivors will be assigned to your command. The remaining vacancies will be assigned to the death squad once someone escapes punishment."

Wu Jie was overjoyed and immediately bowed and saluted, "Yes, sir!"

He was born into a commoner family, and when he followed Tong Guan to Jiangnan, he was just a mere sergeant.

Now he has been promoted all the way to the commander-in-chief, which was unimaginable in the past when all military positions were controlled by the generals of the Western Army.

The king is a very nice person.

In fact, so many soldiers of the Western Army were willing to follow Chen Ran, on the one hand because he improved their treatment and distributed land to their families and relatives.

On the other hand, it broke the control of many generals of the Western Army over the military promotion channels, giving all low-level generals and soldiers an opportunity to climb up through military merit and bravery!
Han Shizhong, who was so famous, was just a minor general when he was fighting Fang La.

Even such a great achievement as capturing Fang La in history was taken away by the sons of generals.

Even Han Powu, who is so famous, is like this, let alone others.

On one side are the generals who treat them like pigs and dogs, and on the other side is the king who gives them the opportunity to succeed.

Anyone with a normal brain would know who to choose.

This is also the reason why, despite the harsh conditions in the Death Camp, these Western Army soldiers are still willing to stay in the Death Camp and wait for opportunities.

Although it is hard, it is no different from when I worked under a general in the past.

After sweeping away the tribes at the foot of the Helan Mountains, the army's advance speed increased.

On the third day, we arrived in Shunzhou.

Looking at the closed gates of Shunzhou, Chen Ran sneered and ignored it, continuing to urge them forward.

Two days later, the vanguard troops arrived outside Jingzhou City.

To the north of Jingzhou is Xingqing Prefecture, and the two places are only a few dozen miles apart.

Here, Chen Ran finally encountered the real Dangxiang army.

The fertile Yinchuan Plain is filled with people like a tide!
(End of this chapter)