Prime Minister

Chapter 662
In early December of the third year of Xining.

Zhang Yue, Wang Shao, and Gao Zunyu reviewed the [-] Fan Han soldiers in the ancient Wei village.

Among them were two thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry.

This day is the time when the snow melts and the sun rises.

Fan and Han cavalry were arranged in various formations, performing repeated sprints, cavalry and shooting, and so on.

Gao Zunyu picked up the command flag and waved it. Zhang Yue and Wang Shao watched from the school platform, but saw that the cavalry of the Fan army were also very proficient in the formation of the Song army.

As for the infantry, they set up a half-moon formation to practice salvo.

The infantry tactics of the Song Army have always been fighting with their backs to the city, and in the wild they are fighting with their backs to the mountains.

Zhang Yue saw that there was a heavy crossbow in the Song army that could shoot very far and asked, "Is this the god arm bow?"

Wang Shao nodded and said: "Exactly, this is a gift from Li Ding, a general of the party. Now many Western troops have equipment."

After speaking, Wang Shao ordered someone to take it out and show it to Zhang Yue. Zhang Yue stroked his crossbow and said, "How many are there?"

Wang Shao said: "There are more than a hundred of them!"

"Good! There are such artifacts!"

Zhang Yue applauded on the spot.

Zhang Yue inspected and saw that Wang Shao's Song army not only possessed the god arm bow, but also had a high rate of infantry wearing armor. Almost every Han army had armor. Zhang Yue said to Wang Shao: "It cost a lot of money, right?"

Wang Shaodao: "In these years, all the income from the market is included, and the [-] guan salt banknotes from Sheren are all used here."

Mentioning the six thousand salt bills, Zhang Yue's heart felt like it was bleeding.

Zhang Yue reluctantly said: "Very good, even if it's [-] guan, it's still worth using here."

Zhang Yue glanced at Wang Shao, and Wang Hou glanced at him. He knew that Wang Shao was living in poverty, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that he lived in poverty.Moreover, Wang Shao did not sell the face of Li Shizhong, Dou Shunqing, and Han Zhen. He did not send almost a penny, and even Han Zhen was very dissatisfied with him.

There were ten commanders of the Song Army in Guwei, and each commander had a full staff of 500 people. Among the Song Army and even the Forbidden Army, even the Fourth Army had a commander of only 300 people.

Zhang Yue looked at the Song army in bright armor, standing facing the winter sky above Qingtang, with a light silver streamer shining from left to right.

"The light of the armor opens to the golden scales of the sun."

Zhang Yue thought of Li He's poem at this moment, seeing such a well-equipped Song army, what did Zhang Yue have to say to Wang Shao.

No wonder it can deter the Qing and Tang tribes.

Zhang Yue said sincerely: "I'm afraid that among the four and a half million Song troops and even the imperial army, in terms of armored soldiers, there will be no second army like this army!"

When Wang Shao heard the words, he immediately had the idea of ​​Zhang Yue who knew me, and it was true.Wang Shao amassed a large amount of money in the Northwest, almost to the point of plucking wild goose, but he didn't have a penny of money for himself or to manage relationships, and all of it was put in this elite army.

The Song army in the Northwest has always placed more emphasis on the Tibetan army than on the Han army, and many soldiers of the Han army used armor made of paper.

Wang Shao stands proudly on his horse. The hardships in the Northwest are so difficult. It is not because he has built a team of soldiers and horses who are used to fighting to realize his ambition of becoming a marquis and worshiping general.

Zhang Yue praised: "Zi Chunzhen has the style of a famous general!"

After hearing Zhang Yue's words, Wang Shao and his son immediately said: "Thank you for your praise!"

At this time, Gao Zunyu smiled and said, "Isn't it because the general has meritorious training!"

Wang Shao and his son felt a little uncomfortable when they heard it.

There will always be a struggle for success.

Zhang Yue said with a smile: "The fighting methods of the Fan and the Han are different. Now that they can practice together, General Gao is very good."

After listening to Zhang Yue's praise, Gao Zunyu was a little satisfied.

After speaking, Zhang Yue said to Wang Shao: "Please Fu Gou perform riding and shooting!"

Zhang Yue knew that Wang Shao was good at riding and shooting, but Zhang Yue was the nominal commander, so it was difficult for Wang Shao to show off his skills.

Zhang Yue gave his bow to Wang Shao, and Wang Shao rode to the front of the formation, and shot seven arrows at the arrow stack fifty paces away, and the arrows hit the target. endlessly.

Wang Shao raised his bow upwards, and the three armies shouted in unison.

Zhang Yue looked at Wang Shao's archery skills, and immediately stopped his thoughts of practicing riding and archery.

Then Gao Zunyu will order the flag in one fell swoop.

Two thousand Song soldiers drew their bows and set arrows.

"shoot!"

Immediately all arrows were fired!

A few days later, all the grain, fodder and supplies transported by Han Zhen from Qinzhou arrived.

In addition to food and fodder, there are hundreds of armors, five hundred knives and guns, tens of thousands of arrows, and some money and drinks.

Wang Shao was taken aback when he saw this scene. Has Han Zhen emptied out Qinzhou's armory and moved it here for himself?

When Zhang Yue found out, he immediately replaced these with the Gu Wei Song Army, and exchanged the last twenty ultimatums that Han Jiang had given him for salt money, and ordered someone to send them to Han Zhen.

[-] Song soldiers went from the ancient Weizhai to Weiyuan Fort. Zhang Yue, Wang Shao, Wang Hou, Gao Zunyu, Liu Xishi, and Zhiyuan were all traveling together.

In order to confuse the Xixia people, Wang Shao also sent hundreds of fan cavalry from Tongweizhai north to attack Huizhou.

After Zhang Yue arrived at Weiyuan Fort, he saw that it was much smaller than the ancient Weizhai. The city was only 200 steps away. There were [-] Fan troops and [-] Han soldiers stationed inside. There are brick walls, while the east and south sides are just wooden walls and a sheep and horse wall.

After Zhang Yue was stationed here, he waited for the troops of the various tribes to come to join them.

According to Wang Shao, the Fan tribe attached to Guwei in the Song Dynasty had about 6 accounts and 40 accounts, which was twice the size of when he first established in Guwei.

This is also the origin of Wang Shaoqi's report of "one hundred thousand Tibetan horsemen" to the official family.

One hundred thousand Fanqi is an imaginary number and it is not an imaginary number. If you count all the men from the age of 65 to 15 in the Fan tribe, it is more than that.

So in the end what the combat effectiveness is, you don't need to guess.

The Qing, Tang and Tibetan tribes went out to fight, and it would be fine if they were strong and powerful. Among them, there were no more than [-] people who could really go to battle, and there were some who were put together from various tribes.

But Dong Zhan was different, he had tens of thousands of cavalry under his command.

It was freezing outside, and Zhang Yue was warming up in the tent, when Wang Shao and Master Zhiyuan walked in together.

"Sheren, Dong Zhan refuses to send troops!"

Zhang Yue's expression changed when he heard this.

Master Zhiyuan handed the letter to Zhang Yue.Zhang Yue saw Dong Zhan's letter saying that he was sick and unable to send troops, and expressed guilt for the kindness of the Song Dynasty emperor.

"The imperial court rewards Dong Zhan every year, but this thief doesn't listen to orders!"

It was Han Jiang's two Yuan Sui who spoke. They went to Qingtang City to negotiate and deliver a letter, but they came back without even seeing Dong Zhan's face.

Zhang Yue paced back and forth.

His original plan was to send troops with Dong Zhan to jointly attack Lanzhou, but now that Dong Zhan refused to send troops, he really went deep alone.

"Is there any reply from Wu Chila?" Zhang Yue asked.

Zhi Yuan shook his head.

The two of Han Jiang's Yuan Sui said: "Let's go to Qingtang City again, we must see Dong Zhan."

"No need." Zhang Yue shook his head, there were only three days before the dispatch of troops, and it was too late to go back and forth.

What's more, even if they met each other, even if they knelt there to beg someone, Dong Zhan might not be willing to send troops.

The charcoal fire in the brazier rang softly, and everyone in the tent fell into silence.

Wang Shao hesitated to speak, and said after a while, "If Dong Zhan refuses to send troops, it's better to sweep the castles around Lanzhou instead of going deep into Xixia territory."

Wang Shao's words represent the voice of most people.

Zhang Yue knew that Wang Shao was reluctant to take risks with the elite soldiers he had trained so hard.But Zhang Yue took a look at Liu Xishi, and now the matter of garrisoning the farmland is no longer covered by paper. If this battle fails, both himself and Wang Shao will suffer.

Sweeping several forts around Xixia could not be perfunctory, and the strategic goal could not be achieved.

From the perspective of military advice, Wang Shao's decision is correct, and the hard-earned soldiers cannot be risked, but the purpose of military affairs has always been to serve politics.

What's more, the plan to attack from the side of Hehuang and help the main force of the Song army capture Hengshan was dedicated to the officials and Han Jiang.

Zhang Yue said: "Since Dong Zhan won't come, he won't come here in the future. We can go to Lanzhou by ourselves, and we have to drink horses in the Yellow River!"

When Zhang Yue said this, he didn't have the confidence, but he had to force himself to do so in front of everyone.

Wang Shao led the army, Gao Zunyu trained the army, and Liu Xishi supervised the army, but Zhang Yue was the coach of the Song army along the way. It seemed useless, but at the critical moment, he was determined to do it himself.

After Zhang Yue finished speaking, Wang Shao, Wang Hou and his son were in a bad mood, and they clasped their fists together and said nothing.

Gao Zunyu's lips moved but he didn't speak.

This way to Weiyuan, Wang Shao has always advised himself to collect Hehuang and Lintao first, and then send his army to the north to attack Xixia after incorporating the local army.

There was silence in the tent at the moment.

In history, there are many cases where the emperor's powerful ministers supervised the army, forced the generals to fight, and the entire army was wiped out in the end.

In another time and space history, Tong Guan forced Liu Fa, a famous Song army general, to send troops to unify Ancheng, and finally the entire army of more than [-] troops was wiped out.

This is also Song Xia's last decisive battle.

If the Song Dynasty could destroy Xixia ahead of schedule, with the elite of the Western Army, they could face the Kingdom of Jin...

Liu Xixi walked up to Zhang Yue and grabbed his sleeve, motioning to go outside the tent.

Zhang Yue agreed.

Liu Xixi said outside the tent: "Zhang Sheren, Wang Fugou is indeed a good general. From my point of view, our family can report to the officials as appropriate for the matter of farming in the Weishui River Valley. You can see that without Dong Zhan's cooperation, it is up to us How can a lone teacher cross the Yellow River north? It's too dangerous."

Hearing Liu Xishi's words, Zhang Yue was moved, and when he was hesitating, he looked up and saw Han Tong staring at himself and Liu Xishi not far away.

At this moment, a gust of wind was blowing, and suddenly several cavalry came straight to the gate, dismounted after being stopped by the sergeant, and were led to Zhang Yue.

When the other party saw Zhang Yue, he immediately bowed down and wrote a letter: "Han Xuanshuai has decided to send troops from Suide City to attack Luowu City. Please Zhang Sheren immediately send troops to Lanzhou, cross the Yellow River and attack the hinterland of Xixia to help our army seize Hengshan. Violation of orders Those who are punished shall be punished by military law!"

Wang Shao and Gao Zunyu came out of the tent just in time to see this scene.

"What's your name?"

The messenger said: "In Xialu Guang, in the name of Xuanshuai, walk beside Sheren."

Zhang Yue asked casually: "Your accent is from Lantian, what do you call Wei Zhong (Lv Dafang)?"

The messenger claimed to be Lu Dafang's nephew, and now he is indeed working in the Xuanfu Department under Han Jiang's tent.

Zhang Yue read the letter and confirmed that it was Han Jiang's monogram and the big seal of Xuan Fusi, and then asked a few seemingly irrelevant questions before confirming his identity, then helped the other party to stand up and said, "Thanks for your hard work."

Zhang Yue immediately rewarded the other party with wine and meat, Han Tong, and Lu Guang's intention to be sent to him by Han Jiang is also self-evident.

Wang Shao, Wang Hou, Gao Zunyu, and Liu Xishi also had nothing to say at the moment.

If it was Zhang Yue's idea before, but Xuanfu envoy Han Jiang also ordered, and now he has to obey.

……

Three days later, the [-] Fan-Song allied forces sent troops northward from Weiyuan Fort.

(End of this chapter)