The Song Dynasty has been deliberate for 16 years, only to know that it is the Water Margin

In front of Xicheng, it was so miserable that corpses lay in the wild and blood flowed into streams.

The ground, which was already muddy and had not yet dried, was full of devastation. The red mud exuded a fishy smell, and the remains of men and horses were scattered everywhere.

The broken blade of the halberd, the headless gun shaft, and the chipped steel knife all seemed to have rotted away under the setting sun, without even a trace of light shining.

Zhao Tong stood at the top of the city with his hands behind his back, secretly thinking that there would be a great battle.

Since he led his troops, he has conquered south and north, and has encountered tens of thousands and 10,000+ people charging and killing together, but none of them were as fierce as this one.

Even though Du Bo and Li Yanxian attacked the Xixia reinforcements from both sides, and he used flying cannons and crossbows at the top of the city to cooperate, the fight was still difficult.

The opponent's team was far from comparable to his. They were well-trained, quick-reacting, and coordinated well with each other. Even if they were covered in blood, they could still fight hard.

The men and horses are about the same as each other. If the cavalry on his side does not have the professional professor Du Bo and Xu Ning, and the [-] vine armor infantry take advantage of the equipment, then even if it is a flanking attack and Li Yanxian makes a sneak attack from behind, victory may not be guaranteed.

It's too difficult. How come Xixia still has such a strong team?And this is not the frontier army. Generally speaking, the most powerful army in any country is the frontier army, but this one is obviously not.

Zhao Tong couldn't help but wonder, what kind of army is this?
He looked down at the battlefield being cleaned for a moment, then turned to Li Changshuo, who was being brought to the West City, and said, "Whose troops are this from?"

Li Changshuo's body was trembling at the moment, and he thought that everything was over. Even if he jumped into the Yellow River, he would not be able to wash away the charge of treason and surrender to the enemy.

He was unable to answer, nor did he want to answer. He stood blankly like a puppet with a lost soul.

"Your Majesty, I know what kind of team this is." Yuan Guo said from the side, asking for credit.

"Oh?" Zhao Tong said, "What team is it?"

Yuan Guo said: "The elite soldiers in this team should be the Outer Sixth Squadron directly from the Sixth Squadron of the Central Guard Army!"

Xixia Xing and Ling's troops had [-] refined soldiers, and the deputy commanders were supported by [-] soldiers. They were named six squads inside the imperial encirclement, divided into three squads to serve as guards, named six squads directly, and later six squads inside and outside. divided.

There are 5000 elite soldiers in Xingzhou and Lingzhou in Xixia, which refers to the imperial guards of Xingqing Prefecture, including [-] men in six squads and [-] iron kites.

In addition to the military strength of the Xixia Central Group, which guards Lingzhou and Xiangqing Supervisory Army Division to the south of Xingqing Mansion, and the right wing and Chaoshun Supervisory Army Division to the north of Xingqing Mansion, there are about 5000 troops.

As for the other [-] auxiliary soldiers, they are similar to the Xiang army's rural soldiers, only to assist the [-] elite soldiers.

The commander-in-chief of the core central corps of Xixia composed of these three troops and horses is Li Chage, the brother of Li Qianshun, the king of Xixia Jin who is known as "the commander of the army and the governor of Yatou".

Similar to the Imperial Guards of the Great Song Dynasty, and the unified regiments of the Imperial Guards at the South Jingji Road, North Jingji Road, and East Jingji Road guarding the Gyeonggi Road.

But this central Xixia Corps was far from comparable to the Song Dynasty's Imperial Forbidden Army. The Imperial Imperial Army of the Great Song Dynasty had no combat effectiveness at all. It was only in the past few years that Zhao Yu took it out for training, otherwise it would not even dare to go to the battlefield.

There are [-] elite soldiers in Xixia. Although it is doubtful whether they are all elite soldiers, Zhao Tong thinks that there are only half of them. Even if the rest cannot be called, they are definitely stronger than ordinary soldiers.

"The sixth squadron of the Central Guards?" He said slowly.

"Exactly, I just watched. The elite soldiers inside must be the sixth squadron and the sixth squadron. The others should be from the northern regiment of the Black Mountain Weifu Army!" Yuan Guo is an officer in the Xixia Army. After careful observation, it is natural that Recognized the origin of this team.

Li Changshuo glared at Yuan Guo angrily, and Yuan Guo sneered: "You are a common man, and now you are a traitor in the eyes of Xixia. You have abandoned the secret and surrendered to the general."

When Li Changshuo heard this, his face suddenly turned red and white, and he was so angry that he couldn't bear it any longer and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Zhao Tao glanced at him, then suddenly raised his hand and shot out two silver needles, hitting both sides of Li Changshuo's neck. Only then did he look better.

"Kill me, kill me!" Li Changshuo said sadly to himself.

Yuan Guo said disdainfully: "The general saves you, but you want to live or die. You really don't know what is good and what is evil."

Li Changshuo said: "What do you know about this rebellious thing? There are a few people in the world who are as ruthless and unjust as you, who abandon their family and country."

Yuan Guo said unhappily: "Don't talk sarcastically, you man. As far as I know, both of your parents are dead. In addition to a bunch of wives and concubines, you don't even have any children at your knees. A carefree old bull is actually with me." It’s really a big joke to talk about abandoning one’s family.”

Bulls are called bulls, bulls, bulls, and bulls.But Guniu is different from bulls, oxen, and bullocks. Guniu originally refers to cows, but when describing people, it specifically refers to castrated bulls. It is mostly used to ridicule and insult.

When Li Changshuo heard this, he was immediately furious. Although he had married many women, no one had given him a son and a half. He had also seen a famous doctor and knew that it was his own problem. There was nothing he could do about it. He was most afraid of someone mentioning it. Whenever someone talks about this, they think it is a shortcoming, and they all become furious.

"Traitor, I, I'm going to kill you..." The silver needles holding him down had already been removed. Although he was tied up again, his feet could still move.

Seeing him looking like he wanted to eat someone, Yuan Guo was so frightened that he hurriedly backed away. Bai Ba and Bai Zhan grabbed Li Changshuo and scolded him: "Be honest, be honest!"

At this time, Li Yanxian went to the city to report. His robe had long been soaked with blood. The dried blood was black and hard. His voice was hoarse and he said: "General, we have finished counting. We have captured more than 5000 prisoners. About [-] to [-] have escaped. The remaining Kill them all!"

Zhao Tong nodded. This is not difficult to calculate. Just check the head. The error will not be too big.

In this battle, about [-] of the opponent's people were killed. It was not without tragedy. It is estimated that all the elite soldiers of the sixth squadron of the Central Xixia Army died on the battlefield, and those who surrendered were the soldiers of the second-tier Northern Army Division.

As for the hundreds of people who escaped, there was nothing they could do. After all, there was not much difference in the numbers between them. It was almost impossible to annihilate them all. What's more, the opponent's combat power was so strong. This was the only time Zhao Tao had ever seen them since he led the army.

"How's the damage?" Zhao Tong asked with a complicated expression.

Li Yanxian reported a few figures softly, and Zhao Tong was silent for a moment and nodded. Small casualties were absolutely impossible in such a battle. It was lucky to have fewer casualties and more injuries. After seeing the opponent's combat power, he thought about the casualty figures. Based on a rough estimate, listening to Li Yanxian's teachings at this moment is still within the acceptable range.

"Continue to clean the battlefield, sort out all the captured things, and replenish consumption." Zhao Tong said calmly: "There are still prisoners. Those captured in this battle will be locked up first. Those in Shichuan were able to surrender two days ago. Give them a comparison." Xixia’s military pay is half as high, and if they perform well, they will be given the same pay as our own soldiers.”

The military pay of the Song Dynasty was higher than that of the Xixia Army. After each was increased by 50.00%, it became much higher.

"Those who have made meritorious service can be promoted and can be divided into fields in Xihe." Zhao Tong continued: "If we reach Xingqing in the future, we can also be divided into fields in Hexi." Dangxiang was originally nomadic, but starting from Li Yuanhao, he began to reclaim wasteland. By this time, Li Qianshun was even more encouraged to open fields for farming. The water and soil in Hexi were fertile, and most of the party members already relied solely on farming to make a living.

"Yes!" Li Yanxian said.

"By the way..." Zhao Tong thought for a while: "You don't want to be the commander of the guard anymore. I haven't rewarded you for your contribution to the flooding of Shikawa River last time. Just be the deputy commander of the Second Army first."

"Thank you, General!" Li Yanxian saluted hurriedly.

Zhao Tong raised his hand at him, then walked straight down the city wall and into the government office.

In the blink of an eye, seven days later, there was no more rain in the sky, and the traces of the two battles in Fuchuan City had long since disappeared. Zhao Tao sent people to strengthen the city defense, started training troops again, and sent scout horses to explore the direction of Huizhou.

Huizhou still looks like that, no reinforcements have arrived, the four gates are closed every day, and the soldiers at the top of the city are constantly patrolling.

Huizhou City was empty, and Zhao Tao also asked about this matter from Li Changshuo himself. Most of the soldiers did not exceed five thousand. These people could barely take turns to defend the city, and they were unable to do anything else.

Nowadays, the Xixia military strength is divided into two, one part is on Xihe Road, and the other part is defending near the grassland in the north to prevent the defeated Liao army from coming and the Jurchens taking advantage of the situation to kill them.

Xixia's arrangement was right. Taking advantage of the Song Dynasty's northwest road transfer to the Liao Kingdom and being unable to invade the border, Xixia took the initiative to attack Xihe, intending to take advantage and tear off a piece of flesh from the Song Dynasty.

But no matter how hard it was, I never expected that Zhao Tong's army would fight out of Qin Wangchuan, go to Zhuoluo, attack Xiliang, and actually covet Shanghuizhou.

This completely disrupted Xixia's plan and put it in a dilemma.

Xixia's army is not endless. It is said to be 30. If it is mobilized during the war, it is estimated to reach 50. This is already a very high proportion of soldiers. You must know that Xixia has a total population of only 300 million.

Of course, even if 50 people are really mobilized, not all of them will be able to fight. At most, some of the 30 rural soldiers, engineers, and soldiers will be directly transformed into formal soldiers, while most of the newly mobilized people will still have to continue to work. Used by conscripts.

But mobilization takes time. This time is not measured in a few days or ten. Mobilizing, recruiting, settling in, distributing weapons, and briefly training, and then dividing the troops and dispatching them, are probably measured at least in months.

Zhao Tong estimated that Xixia was mobilizing at the moment. He did not want to transfer troops from the north to the south, nor did he want to withdraw the troops and horses that had already invaded Xihe, so he could only mobilize new troops and then distribute them among the various units to intercept his side.

Huizhou should also be waiting for this group of people, but these people have not arrived yet, so Huizhou can't go out, even Fukawa doesn't care at all.

Brother Richard sent troops to assist Shichuan, probably based on his own opinions, or even what Li Changshuo said in the letter, so Brother Richard sent people over, thinking of protecting Shichuan, but he did not expect that almost all of them The army was destroyed.

Zhao Tong thought about it for another day and finally decided to give Huizhou a try.

If you can't defeat it, withdraw it. If you can capture it, you can occupy it directly. Huizhou is a choke point. If you can stand firm here, you can barely qualify to challenge Xingqing Mansion.

The next day, they began to mobilize troops. This time they only brought 1 troops and did not consider attacking by force. Although Huizhou had few soldiers, it was not something he and his like could conquer by force.

Just see if there is a chance, use some tricks if there is a chance, retreat to Fukawa if there is no chance, and then carefully manage the Roulang Shanxi front line to occupy this place.

Zhao Tong did not ask Du Bu to follow him and asked him and Xu Ning to stay behind. He took Zhang Xian, Li Yanxian, and Yang Zhi with him, and marched past Roulang Mountain and headed straight for Huizhou City.

They stopped thirty miles away from Huizhou, and then waited for the report of the expedition horse, without sending a vanguard to the outpost.

With the return of waves of exploring horses, they had even explored dozens of miles away from the east city and north city of Huizhou, but no ambush was seen. Then they set off again and set up camp five miles in front of the city to dig fortifications.

The scene here can be seen in the distance from Huizhou City, but there is no reaction, as if they don't exist.

Zhao Tong looked at it with a telescope, shook his head and said with a smile: "It seems that Huizhou has been prepared for a long time and plans to defend it to the death. There is no water here, and the fire cannot burn the city. It is impossible to attack by force. It may be difficult to win."

Li Yanxian said: "Your Majesty, as the saying goes, let your subordinates look around to see if there are any loopholes that can be exploited."

Zhao Tong nodded and said: "Be careful, take this city if you can. If you can't take it back, run Fuchuan for the time being, and then make other plans."

Li Yanxian nodded in agreement. Zhao Tong returned to the tent and thought about it. He really had no idea, so he called Yuan Ying to practice martial arts and watch.

On this expedition, he not only brought Yuan Ying, but also Yuan Ji and others in the prison car. These people can only feel relieved if they are by his side. Otherwise, who knows if there are spies in Shichuan City that Yuan Jing planted in advance. Think about it again. I tried to rescue a few of them, but the success fell short.

In the evening, Li Yanxian returned with his troops. He did not find any omissions in Huizhou, but he did not give up and said he would go back tomorrow.

Zhao Tong left it up to him. In fact, he also wanted to walk around. After all, this was a good time to carefully observe the terrain. If Huizhou could not be captured this time, and more troops would arrive in the future, it would be difficult to move around at will.

In the blink of an eye, the next day came, and Zhao Tong felt impatient. When Li Yanxian came to ask for orders to continue wandering, he asked them to explore together. Li Yanxian couldn't help but be overjoyed and hurriedly led the horse. Zhao Tong ordered a thousand horses, and then took Yuan Ying with him. Rush to Huizhou City.

They stayed for a while outside the city of Huizhou City. The city ignored them and if they came closer, they would fire arrows at random.

Zhao Tong smiled and rode around the city to the northeast. This time he ran straight for more than twenty miles before returning. He was not afraid of people coming out of the city to steal his retreat.

There are only less than [-] soldiers in Huizhou City, so how can they dare to act rashly? If they want to kill the [-] cavalry led by Zhao Tong, they will probably need [-] cavalry. If there are [-] cavalry, then the large army in front of the city will be destroyed. If we outflank them, I'm afraid the city will no longer be safe.

Nearing the evening, Zhao Tong came back with his soldiers and horses, and basically explored everywhere. Although there was Roulang Mountain to the west of Huizhou, the distance was not very close. The other three sides were bare, with not even a forest. It was difficult to ambush him. Can't find the place.

After dinner, there was nothing to say at night, and another day came.

In the morning, Zhao Tong was sitting in the tent reading a book. Suddenly someone reported that there was a woman outside the camp asking to see him.

Zhao Tong frowned and said, "Who is he?"

The soldier replied: "General, this woman said she came here when she was in Zhuoluo City. Her name is Zhiling..."

(End of this chapter)