Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 807 Nine Crossings
When the allied forces of Wu and Liu stabilized the Ganzhou area and prepared to march into Suzhou, Tuoba Hou had no choice but to retreat to Suzhou City.

While strengthening the defense of Suzhou City and implementing the strategy of fortifying the city and clearing the fields, he also wanted to transfer troops from the Xiping Military Command in Guazhou.

However, there were constant Tibetan cavalry raids around Guazhou, Shazhou had already fallen, and the Xiping Military Command was already in a state of panic. Although they also understood the principle of "the lips and the teeth are cold", some of their troops had been transferred away and now they had fled to Xingqing Prefecture and could not return, so they had no spare energy to take care of Ganzhou.

Tuoba Hou had no choice but to send fast horses to follow the Ruoshui River, around the western edge of the desert, and go to the Yan Army Headquarters in Heishui Town, Heishui City to move troops.

The Yanjun Division of Heishui Town and the Heishan Weifu Division in the north of Xia State had a total of 70,000 soldiers and horses, stationed at the two northern ends of the desert respectively.

Among them, the Heishui Town Yan Army Division had 30,000 soldiers, and the chief Confucian scholar of the Heishui Town Yan Army Division was Tuoba Hou's cousin.

My cousin is very kind. To his north is the Tatars, who are now in a state of disarray and pose no threat to him.

To the west is Western Liao, but there is a large Gobi Desert between the two countries. The border between Western Liao and Western Xia is like Siberia before it was developed by Tsarist Russia, and there is no threat either.

Therefore, my cousin directly sent 20,000 troops to reinforce Suzhou.

The addition of these 20,000 troops will greatly enhance Suzhou's defense. Without more than five times the number of troops, it would be difficult to capture this big city.

However, correspondingly, the supply pressure in the city will also increase greatly.

Originally, there were Guazhou and Shazhou in the west that could provide supplies, but the Tibetans were rampant in the Guasha area, causing the cessation of trade and travel and the blockade of the city. It was hard to say whether they could still provide supplies to Suzhou.

On Yang Yuan's side, when he received the news that Xixia Prime Minister Ren Dejing was about to arrive in Yingli City, he also prepared to set off.

"Do you have to go? Stay."

Yang Yuan held Gao Shuyao's soft hands with affection.

"Get the hell out of here!"

Gao Shuyao rolled her eyes and refused to give him face: "You don't even let a pregnant woman go, you are such a beast! When your son is born, I will tell him that he has a beastly father."

"Can you really tell us all those tricks we used?"

"roll!"

Gao Shuyao blushed. In fact, as a cultivator of the Six Phases of Concubine Ming, she knew many unconventional ways of making love.

It’s one thing to know, but really... Yang Yuan is a beast, bah, and has a shameless attitude.

Gao Shuyao blushed and glared at Yang Yuan: "Don't think I don't know that you have already sent people to Tianshui to summon Xiaotang, A'man and Xiao Baosi.

She is pregnant with the prince. If you don’t return to Dali quickly, will I suddenly have a child?

When I asked Yangjin Lhamo to pretend to be me, I didn’t tell her to pretend to be a pregnant woman.”

"All right……"

Yang Yuan felt a little regretful. Ming Fei Liu Xiang was really the best auxiliary skill. That feeling of bliss...

However, he also didn't want Gao Shuyao to be pregnant and follow him in the army.

"Then I'll find a chance to visit you when I return to Chuanxia. However, this baby may not necessarily be a son. If it's a daughter, that's great too."

Yang Yuan, who was determined to be a daughter slave, wished Gao Shuyao would give birth to a daughter.

She is so charming and was born with a pair of fox eyes. It would be a pity not to give birth to a daughter. If she had a daughter, she would definitely be smart and beautiful.

"I just don't know what to say that I like to hear."

Gao Shuyao curled her lips, but got in the car and left.

This car was the car of a noble in the city and was seized by Liu Qi after he conquered Liangzhou City.

The geography of Western Xia is harsh. In order to adapt to the local geography, this car was built by famous Western Xia craftsmen. It is very stable and comfortable.

Liu Qi originally gave it to Yang Yuan for riding, but now Yang Yuan gave it to Gao Shuyao.

After the camel caravan escorted the carriage far away, Military Supervisor Han came over tactfully.

"Envoy, we should go to Shatuo City."

"Okay, let's go now."

So, General Han took a carriage and Yang Yuan rode a horse, and they went to Shatuo City.

On this trip, Yang Yuan brought 1,500 soldiers, one third of whom were selected from the Crazy Army, led by Yang Shou. One third were selected from the Central Army, led by Yang Wanli. Another third were selected from the elite cavalry of the Central Route of Lizhou, led by Gao Gan.

The group of people marched towards Shatuo City in a mighty procession.

The once glorious Shatuo people no longer exist.

Although the residents of Shatuo City are mainly of the Shatuo tribe, the people of Shatuo City have long since switched to farming as their main livelihood in the fertile plain valley between the Yellow River and the Helan Mountains.

Their agricultural evolution was even more thorough than that of the Dangxiang Qiang people.

Therefore, there is no trace of the former Shatuo people left on them.

……

Ren Dejing stopped when he arrived at Yingli City.

Going further and crossing the winding Yellow River, you will reach Shatuo City.

In order to show its sincerity in peace talks, Western Xia took the initiative to give up Shatuo City, withdrew its troops stationed in the city, and the Shi Han troops of the Song army moved in ahead of schedule.

Yang Yuan and Ren Dejing will meet at the "Nine Crossings of the Yellow River" between Shatuo City and Yingli City.

The Yellow River stretches for 4,000 miles in the territory of Western Xia. The river flows slowly and there are about ten places suitable for crossing the river. Counting from north to south, this ferry is the ninth one, so it is named Jiudu.

Genghis Khan once led his troops to capture Shatuo first, then crossed the river, conquered Yingli, and then fought all the way to Xingqing Prefecture...

The power in Western Xia held by Ren Dejing was even greater than that of the Western Xia emperor, making him the most powerful person in Western Xia.

Yang Yuan is now the Sichuan Xuanfu Envoy, in charge of the three major army corps heading into the summer to fight.

These two people were both important figures that could not be lost to their side. Therefore, choosing to meet on the Yellow River would be the safest option.

It would be extremely difficult for either party to cause trouble.

Shi Han had already entered Shatuo City half a month earlier.

Shatuo was a small city. Although it was called a city, its wall was only about ten feet high, a dilapidated earthen wall corroded by wind and rain. There was really no need to defend it.

No wonder Xixia gave up this city so readily.

During this period, Shi Han had done a lot of sorting and reorganization in Shatuo City.

Although the town is not big, it has an army of 10,000 stationed there, which is enough to provide timely rescue if Yang Yuan, who is negotiating in Jiudu, encounters any danger.

There are already signs of spring, the ice and snow are melting, and the roads are inevitably muddy.

The mountains appear to have a hint of green when viewed from a distance, but when you get closer, you can no longer see the sprouts of flowers and trees.

Ren Dejing arrived in Yingli one day earlier than Yang Yuan, and Yang Yuan arrived in Shatuo the next day.

Yang Yuan sent his chief secretary Lu You to contact Tuoba Heiyi on the opposite side to discuss negotiations.

After a day of consultation and two days of preparation, the two sides officially started the talks on the third day.

It was early spring and the Yellow River had thawed.

When the river opens in early spring every year, the thawing floating ice flows downstream, often causing ice jams, ice dams and other ice floods in sharp bends and narrow places, which are called ice floods.

In Jiudu, the river surface is wide and the river level is low, so ice floods are less likely to occur.

Even so, two days in advance, both sides sent out troops on cowhide rafts and sheepskin rafts to clean the river.

On the day of the talks between the two sides, Yang Yuan arrived at Jiudu with only 1,500 people.

There were crowds of people on the other side of the ferry, and judging from the size, it was in accordance with the regulations, with about 1,500 people.

Then, both sides sailed a large cowhide raft towards the Yellow River.

You can't see each other's faces clearly across the river, but if there are boats or rafts hidden, they cannot be hidden from the other side.

The visibility today is very high, and we can clearly see that there is only a large raft at the ferry crossing on both sides of the river.

Moreover, since you are sailing on a raft instead of driving a boat, you don't have to worry about ambushes hidden in the cabin.

Apart from the boatman who was steering the raft, each side only brought four people.

Among them, of course, there are those who are good at fighting and those who are excellent swimmers.

However, Yang Yuan's side had one more person than the other side, because there was also a military supervisor, Han Jingbei.

The raft was getting closer.

There was little rain in this season, the Yellow River had not yet fully opened, and the water flow in the ferry area was slow, so the two ox-hide rafts sailed very smoothly.

Seeing that the two sides were getting closer and closer and he could already see each other's appearance clearly, Yang Yuan immediately turned his gaze to the opposite side.

On the opposite raft, there was only one person named Tuoba Heiyi whom he recognized, and the person sitting in the middle of the raft was obviously the Western Xia Prime Minister Ren Dejing.

Yang Yuan was quite curious about Ren Dejing.

This Western Xia prime minister was originally the magistrate of a lower state in the Song Dynasty.

Yang Yuan also served as a Tongpan (a position held by the capital city), and his status was much higher than the other party's.

However, it was this small judge of Xi'an Prefecture (now Xi'an Prefecture, northwest of Haiyuan County, Ningxia) who presented his daughter to Li Qianshun, Chongzong of Xixia, after Xixia captured the city.

Ren Dejing was appointed by Western Xia as the defense envoy of Jingzhou (now northeast of Yongning County, Ningxia).

It seems that his daughter was extremely beautiful, and she was made queen by Li Qianshun the following year.

The father-in-law of the emperor, Ren Dejing, was therefore promoted to the rank of commander-in-chief.

After that, he led his army to suppress the rebellion of Xiao Heda and the rebellion of the Western Xia tribe. He had military merits and had strong influence in the harem, so he was promoted repeatedly.

The current Western Xia emperor, Li Renxiao, was born to Li Qianshun’s virtuous concubine, Cao.

However, when he became the emperor, he had to respect Ren Dejing's daughter as the empress dowager. Moreover, Ren Dejing at that time had great power in the court and even he, the emperor, could do nothing about it.

Yang Yuan is now a high-ranking official in the Song Dynasty. If he moves up further, the only position worthy of his "advancement" would be the prime minister.

But compared to Ren Dejing, he is still far inferior.

Ren Dejing is now the uncrowned emperor of Western Xia.

When Yang Yuan was looking at Ren Dejing, Ren Dejing was also looking at him.

Before this, after the pharmacist Luo Cheng'an returned to Western Xia from Lin'an, he gave the portrait of Yang Yuan to Ren Dejing.

Therefore, Ren Dejing already knew what Yang Yuan looked like.

But when he saw him with his own eyes, Ren Dejing, who was sitting cross-legged, clenched his hands into fists.

He stared at Yang Yuan without blinking until the two cowhide rafts slowed down, slowly approached each other, then slowly intertwined and leaned against each other.

Yang Yuan felt that the way Ren Dejing looked at him was very strange.

As the toughest opponent at the moment, it is not surprising that people look at us with scrutiny and consideration.

But, the way Ren Dejing looked at him...

He couldn't describe it, it was too complicated, containing much more than a pie-shaped statistical chart that showed three parts indifference, three parts ridicule, and four parts carelessness.

Yang Yuan suppressed the strange feeling in his heart, stood up, clasped his fists, and smiled, "I am Yang Yuan, the Sichuan Envoy of the Song Dynasty, and I am honored to meet you, Mr. Ren."

(End of this chapter)