A few days later, the news from Xizuo made the kings and ministers of Daxia overjoyed. It was the guy named Su Jin who was guarding Weizhou. Although his background was unknown, it was said that he was just a handsome young man with no hair on his mouth. For such a
As a result, Li Yuanhao was naturally ecstatic.
"There is no one left in the Song Dynasty. For such an important frontier town, an unknown and fresh-faced person is sent to guard it. Isn't this nonsense? Zhao Zhen is stupid. I dare to say that the Song Dynasty will fall in Zhao Zhen's hands.
,Hahaha."
Faced with Li Yuanhao's ecstasy, not many ministers agreed with him, and everyone did not dare to sing the opposite tune casually. They only thought in their hearts: "A nameless young man? I'm afraid that's not the case. You have to know that this person is eating food alive."
He lost three thousand of the elite cavalry of the Jianing Army and captured Prince Ning Ming. It is okay to say that he is unknown, but it is unrealistic to say that he is still young. He should be a little fox with a lot of heart."
Naturally, Li Yuanhao is not just relying on self-confidence. What he has achieved today is not just boasting. The reason why he is so happy is to give everyone a sense of confidence. At the same time, compared to Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan, this Su Jin is indeed
He is a soft persimmon. If the odds of winning against Han Qi or Fan Zhongyan in this battle are 50-50, then against Su Jin, the odds of winning are much greater.
On the 10th day of July, Li Yuanhao sent an order to the left and right Xiang Army Division's Jianing Army, Baotai Army, and Shenmeng Army to assemble in Huizhou. Each of these three armies led an army of 50,000 troops, and the total number was as high as 150,000 troops; this time
Li Yuanhao was sure to win, so he gathered all the main forces on the east and west roads. At the same time, he personally came to Huizhou City to serve as the commander-in-chief, appointed Li Jiqian as the commander of the vanguard army, and led 30,000 cavalry as the vanguard; appointed Ye Li Wangrong Ye Liyu Beggar.
He led the left and right armies to command 40,000 cavalry on both wings, and he led the remaining 40,000 cavalry as the center army, sitting in the rear to supervise the battle. Zhang Yuan served as the chief counselor of the army, and a large number of civil and military ministers came with the army, and they had strong plans to offer.
In short, he vowed to take Weizhou in one fell swoop and give the Song Dynasty a head-on blow.
This assembly took more than twenty days. The most important thing is that the collection of material baggage and forage is a big problem. The daily consumption of food and fodder by so many troops is a huge number. On weekdays, when there is no war, the food consumption is huge.
Consumption and the consumption of food during war are two different concepts. When there is no war, the soldiers have two meals a day, one dry and one thin, which is enough to support them. However, during war, they must eat and drink enough to maintain their strength, and horses cannot be dealt with with fodder. Feeding
It's all fine food, and it's enough to make people upset just by eating the food chewed by horses.
What's more, Great Xia is now in a difficult period. The war has destroyed production, and the grain stocks in the national treasury have bottomed out. There is no way to mobilize so much grain. In the end, Yuan Hao had to go to the extreme, and everyone who had grain in the household had to hand over half of it.
Borrowing things from the imperial court, and those who did not borrow them would be punished with the crime of collaborating with the enemy; this method of borrowing things was probably unprecedented and unprecedented. Even so, it still led to several civil riots and hundreds of heads were chopped off.
Gather the food and grass.
On the first day of August, the 150,000 Xia Army began to make feints on the east line around Qingying and Yanzhou with great fanfare. The first part of the Jianing Army in Youzhou was dispatched in advance and began to attack Zhao'an, Fenglin, and Xin in front of Yanzhou Prefecture on the Yanyan Road.
At the same time, Li Jiqian's vanguard army appeared fifty miles north of Xiqing Prefecture in Yanzhou and was exposed to the enemy in just one day.
Under the eyes and ears of Gyeongju scouts.
For a time, the situation in Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Huanzhou and even Mulangzhai, Zhaoan, Fenglin, Dalangbao and other places on the Yanyan and Huanqing roads suddenly became tense, and it looked like a war was about to break out.
; Even Fan Zhongyan did not expect that the Xixia army would choose to attack the east road, which made all the plans discussed with Su Jin, Han Qi and others in Weizhou come to nothing.
However, Fan Zhongyan was not afraid. He had 70,000 soldiers and horses on the East Road, and there were densely intertwined fortresses and cities as buffer bridgeheads. With the fortified cities and strongholds guarding them, it would be easy for the Western thieves to take them down in one fell swoop.
It's easy, but the bandits from the west are coming with ferocity, so we can't take it lightly.
…
The troops on the east road were on the verge of breaking out, and the city of Weizhou to the west was also a busy scene. After Li Chong, Wei Songhe, Pan Jiang and others arrived, the chaotic situation in the city finally changed.
As a county magistrate for one year, he is naturally a good hand in government affairs. In the name of Weizhou General Magistrate, he and Wei Songhe jointly drafted wartime announcements, strictly regulated the daily behavior of the people in the city, and ensured internal chaos; he also assigned those who participated in the defense of the city.
The common people divided the labor in a more detailed manner, and at the same time selected more than 5,000 brave and tough people among them to form Weizhou Xiangyong, and distributed weapons and armor to enhance the strength of the city defenders.
Pan Jiang, on the other hand, vigorously purged the Xiang soldiers deployed in Weizhou City, mercilessly killing nearly two hundred soldiers who spread cowardly remarks and violated military discipline in the army, and replaced a large number of incompetent low-level generals. Within a few days,
In a short period of time, the long-disorganized Weizhou Xiang soldiers were reorganized and given a new look; for several days in a row, the violators were publicly punished with strict military laws, causing the atmosphere in Weizhou city to suddenly become stagnant and tense. The soldiers and civilians felt unprecedented fear, and they acted and spoke more cautiously.
Be cautious.
Su Jin didn't stop them from doing this. To be honest, Su Jin had wanted to do this for a long time, but it was natural that Su Jin would like it if someone did it for him. After all, it's better to do less killing, especially killing his own people before the war. Pan Jiang
If he wants to take the blame for himself, then let him go. Anyway, he doesn't care about the slander from the soldiers and civilians. Su Jin is also happy to have someone take charge of it for him.
The effect of the purge was obvious. Su Jin was pleased to see that both soldiers and civilians were more attentive and attentive to the matters at hand. There were no more sneaky, careless and foreign workers found.
, although he was forced to do this under the pressure of fear, but for the upcoming war, this is definitely a good thing.
However, the development of the situation made Su Jin a little puzzled. In early August, after all preparations were made, the scouts suddenly sent news that the Xixia army was advancing eastward and had arrived at Huanqing Road. Fighting had begun in the northern suburbs of Yanzhou in the east, and fighting in the west
The thieves are attacking the northern villages of Yanzhou. It seems that the western bandit army is going to attack the east road instead of Weizhou City.
Su Jin didn't believe it, and even sent more than 20 cavalry scouts to find out. The reports from these scouts the next day were exactly the same. The Xixia army was indeed confronting Fan Zhongyan on the east road, and the two sides were about to go to war. It was said that the Western thieves actually cut down trees this time.
He made siege equipment locally and looked like he was storming Gyeongju and Huanju.
Su Jin was confused and immediately called everyone in Weizhou City overnight to discuss countermeasures.
The giant candle burned high in the government office lobby; Jingtai, Pan Jiang, Li Chong, Wei Songhe, Chao Chao Mahan and others, as well as more than a dozen middle- and high-level generals deployed by them all, were present.
Su Jin reported the situation that the scouts had discovered to everyone, and finally said: "This incident is quite surprising to me. I never expected that the target of the Western thieves was the Yanyan Huanqing Road, not Weizhou City. This
No matter what you think, something is wrong, what do you think?"
Everyone was also a little dumbfounded. They had all worked up their energy to fight the Western thief. Unexpectedly, they clenched their fists before sending them out, but the opponent in front of them disappeared, almost dodging their own waists. This feeling was both frustrating and frustrating.
Confuse.
"Lord Lu, my subordinates also find it very strange. If Weizhou is naturally the weakest in terms of strength, aren't there rumors that the Western Bandits want to avenge you for capturing Prince Xia Ning Ming? Why did they suddenly transfer their hatred to Commander Fan?
Have you gone? It’s really confusing.”
After Jingtai came, he directly called Su Jin, the envoy, and naturally ignored the code. Su Jin was a little embarrassed at first, but over time, he accepted it with peace of mind.
"Are you saying that you also feel something is wrong?" Su Jin asked.
"That's true, it's not normal." Jingtai said.
Su Jin sighed and said, "It turns out I'm not the only one who feels this way. It seems my worries are not unfounded."
Su Jin looked at the other people. Li Zhong and Wei Songhe had just arrived and had not been through the war. They probably had no feelings about this matter. If Ge Huaimin were here, they could ask him for his opinion.
Just when Su Jin was about to skip Li Chong and others and ask Pan Jiang for his opinion, Li Chong suddenly spoke up: "Your Excellency, I have some opinions on this matter. Do you want to listen?" Li Chong said solemnly.
Su Jin looked at his dark face and suddenly realized that Li Chong was also a man who read poetry and books, and also read a lot of military history. He was by no means a pedantic person who just studied hard. So he held his hands and said: "Brother Li, please tell me.
We are discussing this matter, and I am all ears."