The heavens set sail from the courtyard

Chapter 395
After Wang Gang returned to Dashun City, he found that the Xixia Army had completely retreated, and the whole city was in a carnival.

The people spontaneously went out to thank Wang Gang for helping to treat the wounded, but when they saw Wang Gang and the remaining soldiers, they all choked up.

Although the Xixia army retreated, the loss of Dashun City was still very large. The original defenders of the city were completely lost. Of the [-] reinforcements brought by Wang Gang, less than [-] survived.

For those sacrificed soldiers, the people of Dashun City all saw them, and for Wang Gang, the city guard, the people admired them from the bottom of their hearts.

Wang Gang did not relax. There were still many things to deal with after the war. The food crisis in the city had not been resolved. Fortunately, Gu Tingye came to help this time and brought a lot of food, enough for the whole city to barely eat for three days.

Three days later, the British public should be able to receive the news.

Wang Gang waited in Dashun City for a day before Gu Tingye brought someone back, saying that Li Liangzuo had run away.

"It's a pity this time. If I can bring more people here, even if it's only [-], I can eat the army of Xixia, and Li Liangzuo won't be able to escape." Gu Tingye regretted.

"Although Li Liangzuo was shot and wounded by me, the main force of Xixia didn't suffer any losses. It's very lucky to be able to beat them back. To be honest, it's more of a fluke to win this time."

Thinking about it, Wang Gang felt a little scared now.

It is really extremely lucky to be able to repel the Xixia army this time.

First of all, a heavy rain made the Xixia scouts useless.

Secondly, Li Liangzuo thought that he was sure of winning and divided his troops continuously. Instead, he sent all the main force to attack the city, so that Wang Gang could lead people to rush to him and give him an arrow.

Then, the timing of Gu Tingye's arrival was perfect, just when Li Liangzuo's attention was attracted by Wang Gang in front and the defense in the rear was empty, Gu Tingye attacked from behind and was caught off guard.

In the end, it was Wang Gang who shot Li Liangzuo with an arrow, which made the Xixia army mess up. Otherwise, with Wang Gang and Gu Tingye, it would not be enough for the Xixia army.

Only after facing the real war this time did Wang Gang realize how naive his "big ambition" of wanting to unify the Central Plains and drive Liao Tunxia was.

Only those who have really seen the battlefield understand that the cruelty and uncertainty of war does not mean that one can become a famous general just by reading one or two military books.

Wang Gang was deeply poisoned by those online novels before, and thought that fighting was easy, but he realized that in the era of cold weapon warfare, there are too many limitations. A heavy rain or a strong wind can change the situation of the battle.

Sometimes he also wants to imitate the predecessors of the traversers and make black powder to blow up those bastards of the foreign race.

It's a pity that he didn't realize until after he took charge of the army that although Song Dynasty had already produced firecrackers, he also realized the dangers of sulfur and other things. The government didn't let ordinary people touch them at all, and even the raw materials were controlled, let alone research.

In a word, you don't even have the right to study gunpowder.

Fortunately, luck was on Wang Gang's side this time. With Li Liangzuo's retreat, Da Song can already be regarded as a victory.

Soon Wang Gang received the battle report. On another battlefield, British Duke and King Ying defeated the demoralized Xixia army and drove all Xia soldiers out of the Song Dynasty.

The British Duke also knew the principle of taking advantage of the victory and pursuing it, and even invaded the territory of Xixia for hundreds of miles.

In the end, the Xixia Kingdom was persuaded, and submitted the letter of credence to Song Dynasty, praying for peace.

Then Wang Gang saw an incredible scene.

The Xixia Kingdom, which was originally defeated, actually asked the Song Dynasty to increase the old coins to make up for the losses of this war.

The official Zhao Shu even agreed, on the condition that the two countries sign an armistice agreement and they will not invade each other within ten years.

When Wang Gang received the news, he almost didn't curse out loud.

The winner did not make conditions to the loser, but returned the war indemnity.

Not to mention that Wang Gang couldn't understand, even Gu Tingye was extremely aggrieved.

"Are those ministers in the imperial court crazy? If such a condition can be agreed, what's the point of us soldiers who are fighting bloody battles on the front line?"

Wang Gang's face was also very ugly. For the first time, he realized the political weakness of the Song Dynasty, and the bottomless line of the court ministers.

In the past, when Wang Gang read history books, it was said that the Song Dynasty’s military was weak, and it was always defeated. It was the only unified dynasty that was destroyed twice in a row by foreigners.

After Wang Gang really lived in the Song Dynasty for more than ten years, he found that the military strength of the Song Dynasty was not weak, the combat effectiveness of the soldiers was not bad, and they even had advantages in weapons.

After the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, foreign wars were actually won more than lost, and the national power was several times that of Liao and Xixia.

The real problem is that those officials in the Song Dynasty do not want to fight in their bones, and think that it is more cost-effective to exchange a little money for peace.

Song Zhenzong's Chanyuan Alliance gave Song a bad start.

Wang Gang had read the battle report of the Chanyuan Alliance. In fact, in the battle between the Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty, the Song Dynasty had the upper hand, and finally won a small victory.

But in the end, because Song Zhenzong cherished his life and didn't want to fight on the front line, he tried his best to promote the Chanyuan alliance. Although the two countries stopped fighting, Song State provided Liao State with 30-year-old coins every year.

Many ministers felt that it was a good deal to exchange 30-year-old coins for peace, because at that time, Song Dynasty's annual tax was 3000 million taels of silver.

Only one percent of the annual tax revenue can be exchanged for peace between the two countries, which is a stable and profitable business no matter what.

Because once there is a big battle, even if it is a small battle, Da Song will pay a price far exceeding 30 taels of silver.

After the beginning of the Chanyuan Alliance, and the rise of the Xixia Kingdom, the Great Song Dynasty lost three battles in a row. All the people in the court lost their confidence and asked for peace one after another.

Once this hole was opened, it had a very bad effect, that is, whenever the Xixia Kingdom encountered a financial crisis, it liked to launch a small war against the Song Dynasty.

Because no matter whether you win or lose in the end, the Xixia Kingdom can get rich returns.

Because of the rapid development of business in the Song Dynasty, the annual tax revenue has doubled several times, and it has almost exceeded [-] million taels of silver every year, so it doesn't care about this small amount of money.

But these officials have never been to the front line to see it. They don't know what price the frontline soldiers paid to resist the Xixia iron cavalry.

Although Qingzhou resisted the Xixia army this time, the loss was too great to estimate, and some places were empty.

In Dashun City alone, the defenders lost more than [-]%.

These people paid the price of blood to repel the invaders with great difficulty, but in the end, the high officials in the rear easily annihilated their efforts and completely threw away the fruits of victory.

Wang Gang and Gu Tingye no longer feel aggrieved, but humiliated, the humiliation of being trampled on their dignity as Song people.

Gu Tingye expressed even more excitedly that he would ask King Ying to write to the court not to accept this humiliating victory.

Wang Gang calmed down a bit, he knew that King Ying would not write a letter, even if he did, it would not be of much use.

This is not a matter of submitting a letter at all. It is not that there are no officials in the court who agree with them, but in the end, the official Zhao Shu chose to spend money to seek peace.

Of course, the officials did not completely deny the contributions of the frontline soldiers, and even gave generous rewards.

The Duke of England and King Ying both received official awards and gave them a lot of rewards.

However, because the positions of the two have reached the point where there is no room for promotion, the rewards given by the officials are mostly false.

Wang Gang and Gu Tingye are different.

The officials are also discerning people, knowing that Wang Gang and Gu Tingye have made great contributions to the retreat of the Xixia army, especially Wang Gang. If he hadn't shot and injured Li Liangzuo, the battle would have ended.

So Wang Gang was promoted again, and Zhao Shu transferred him back to Bianjing as the right servant of the Ministry of War, the fourth rank.

Not only that, in order to show Wang Gang's contribution in the defense of Dashun City, Zhao Shu gave him the title of knighthood for the first time.

"Uncle Qingyang?" When Wang Gang received the imperial decree, he still couldn't believe it.

Da Song has always been stingy about conferring titles, unless he wins a big battle, no one wants to confer titles.

The Uncle Qingyang that Zhao Shu conferred on Wang Gang was still a first-class earl.

"Changfeng, you can be regarded as a glorious ancestor. When you return to the capital, your father will have to call you Lord Earl." Gu Tingye teased Wang Gang.

Wang Gang was awarded a title and promoted to an official position, completely surpassing his own father Sheng Hong.

"Why did the officials entitle me to a knighthood?" Wang Gang was puzzled.

Gu Tingye laughed and said, "So you don't know yet!"

"What do I want to know?" Wang Gang asked puzzled.

Gu Tingye continued to laugh and said: "Xia Emperor Li Liangzuo is dead. Your arrow hurt him too badly. He burped soon after returning. Now Xixia has changed hands."

Wang Gang suddenly realized that it was no wonder that Zhao Shu would ennoble himself, and those high officials in the court had not objected.

Killing an enemy emperor, no matter what time it is, is a great achievement, or that kind of monstrous achievement, not to mention the title of earl, it is enough to be directly named a marquis.

As a result, Wang Gang felt that Zhao Shu was being stingy, so he was dismissed by an earl and the right servant of the Ministry of War.

"You don't want to be cheap and act good. Many people in the court object to making you an earl, and they use your age as an issue." Gu Tingye said sourly.

"Help me count those who oppose it, and when I return to Bianjing, I will settle accounts with them one by one." Wang Gang said harshly.

Wang Gang is really a vegetarian, he was the one who killed the emperor!
(End of this chapter)