Chapter 1674: Shen Tang arrives in Hezhou, Xin Qiji greets him
Chapter 1674: Shen Tang arrives in Hezhou and is greeted by Xin Qiji
Seeing that Shen Tang had made up his mind, the generals agreed.
However, Shen Tang also wrote two letters again, one of which was to Zhang Jun. Zhang Jun was in charge of Dashanguan. Once unforeseen circumstances occurred, he was entrusted to the west. With Zhang Jun's ability and With prestige, there is no problem in controlling the army.
The second letter was naturally given to Zhao Shen. Although he had the power to mobilize troops, the situation had changed after all, so he told Zhao Shen in advance to save the trouble of some villains.
Everything was arranged well, and at 10 o'clock on the second day, Bi Zaiyu ordered five thousand soldiers and horses, followed Shen Tang and left the camp, heading straight to the west.
Shen Tang's first stop was Hezhou, where Xin Qiji was based. Hezhou was adjacent to Lintao Prefecture, and Weiyuan Fort was only two hundred miles away from Hezhou Prefecture.
Therefore, even if he was not in a hurry, Shen Tang had already arrived before noon the next day.
Xin Qiji came out happily after receiving the news.
"Commander, why are you here?"
Xin Qiji and his personal guards left the camp ten miles to greet him. Shen Tang stepped forward and said with a smile, "How are you doing, second brother, recently?"
Xin Qiji grinned and said, "It's good, but I'm a little bored without fighting. The group of soldiers under me are yelled at by me every day, just waiting for when the commander will let our unit go to war.
Now that the commander is here, do you think he is going to take action?
But for those Tubo brats?"
"Has the second brother ever fought against them?"
"Hey, don't mention it, I'm still slow to react!"
"I discovered that they had a small group of soldiers coming across the river before. I personally led more than two thousand soldiers and horses to kill them. However, there were not many people on the other side, only two or three thousand. Moreover, they collapsed at the first touch. They were no match at all. .
In addition, the other party escaped very quickly and directly fled across the river. I wanted to catch up with him, but I was worried about the enemy's ambush, so I withdrew."
"Just like that, the other party has appeared two or three times.
But the next two times I didn't dare to cross the river at all, only a small group of soldiers and horses were wandering on the other side, and as soon as I sent my soldiers and horses to attack, they would retreat directly, which was really uncomfortable."
"The situation at General Shao's place is basically similar. He also fought several battles with Tubo, but they were all in vain. The other party did not send large groups of soldiers and horses, and the small groups of soldiers and horses that were sent did not fight to the death."
"In my opinion, they seem to be testing our true strength and combat capabilities. Therefore, I sent a message to General Shao before to discuss that even if we went to war, we did not send the most elite soldiers and horses, and let the brothers keep a few By sharing your strength, you can also be a little cautious so as not to be caught off guard by the opponent."
Shen Tang nodded. Xin Qiji and Shao Hongyuan were both veterans. Even if they didn't control the overall situation like he did, they still had a lot of savvy.
"The Tubo people are indeed testing us, and they are also testing the reaction of the Dangxiang people."
"Commander is here, do we want to have a fight with them?"
Shen Tang burst out laughing, "Second brother, don't worry, since I'm here in person, how can I come here in vain?
Moreover, since they have thoughts that they shouldn’t have, they must be taught a lesson! Moreover, now that the Dangxiang people, the Jin people, and us, the Song Dynasty, are hostile to each other but also at odds with each other, there is no need for a Tibetan to intervene again."
While talking, a group of people had already entered the Chinese army's tent.
Xin Qiji summoned all the generals to come to see him. Most of the generals in the Xin family army were old acquaintances of Shen Tang.
After all, since Shen Tang and Xin Qiji met in the North, Zhang Jun had also joined forces in the Northern Expedition, including the last Tibetan invasion, which was also led by Shen Tang.
Coupled with the subsequent battles, it can be said that they all followed Shen Tang all the way here.
"In the past two days, based on your investigation, has there been any change in the number of soldiers and horses on the other side?"
Xin Qiji took out a military report and handed it to Shen Tang while saying, "The opponent's troops are not increasing, they are still around 50,000. However, they are now gradually gathering in the direction of Xige City. It is very clear that We may have to forcefully cross the river and raid Jishi Prefecture."
In fact, before the Jin soldiers went south, the border between the Tubo people and the Song Dynasty was from Lanzhou to Longxi. In other words, Lanzhou, Hezhou, Jishi Prefecture and even Lintao and Taozhou were all Tubo human territory.
Later, when the Jin State moved south, it not only expelled the Song Dynasty to the south of the Huaihe River, but the Jin State and the Tubo people, who were originally unrelated, also became neighboring countries. Therefore, there were wars between the two countries.
However, the Jin people were so tyrannical, and the Tubo people were no match for the Jin people. After several battles, the Tubo people had to withdraw from Lanzhou and Jishizhou, and relied on the natural dangers of the Yellow River to stop the Jin soldiers' cavalry.
In addition, in order to prevent the Jin soldiers from crossing the river, the Tubo people built a city on the other side of the Yellow River.
Across the river from Hezhou is Langzhou City in Tubo, while Xige City and Jishi Prefecture are opposite each other.
Both of these places are where the river is narrow and it is easy to cross the river. As long as both sides completely block these two places, it will be extremely difficult to cross the river.
Even, in order to prevent accidents, the original pontoon bridge in the middle was directly destroyed, making it naturally more difficult to cross the river.
Why did Tu Dankening not think that the Dangxiang people would cross the river from Hezhou and Jishi Prefecture before, but instead annexed Lanzhou, mainly to guard against Jingyuguan?
The biggest reason is that opposite these two places are Tubo lands, and there is basically no shortage of soldiers and horses to garrison them.
Unfortunately, Zhang Hua did the opposite, sending a small group of troops to deceive the Tubo people, and then quietly crossed the river in the Jishizhou area, and then killed Tu Dankening by surprise.
This is also the reason why even though only one elite group passed, no more troops came.
Because it is not difficult to deceive the Tubo people once, but if you want to deceive them twice...the Tubo people are not simple fools after all.
Shen Tang nodded. The opponent's 50,000 soldiers gathered in Xige City. Naturally, it was not without aim. But if they really wanted to go to war with the Song Dynasty, then the Tubo people must have made sure to fight the Song Dynasty and Dangxiang at the same time.
Otherwise, with the current relationship between the Song Dynasty and the Dangxiang people, Tubo would not easily go to war.
"It seems that Zampu of Tubo is also a confident person!"
Shen Tang slowly said that since the last time Tubo invaded the Song Dynasty but was defeated, the power within Tubo has been undergoing rapid changes.
Zanpu is considered the emperor of Tubo, but the whole of Tubo is composed of many loose tribes.
Just like during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the vassal states nominally respected the Zhou Dynasty, but in fact they fought against each other and did not really have much respect for the imperial court on the surface.
The situation in Tubo was also the same. Just like when Tubo Prime Minister Lu Dongzan came to the Song Dynasty, Zampu's strength was not overbearing.