Chapter 316 The official family is so powerful that the people of Xia country are panicked
Respecting Zhao Ji's oral instructions, military officials wrote...
He wrote in both Chinese and Dangxiang script to persuade the local tribal army leaders in the Xia Kingdom to surrender to the Song Dynasty. Even if they do not want to surrender to the Song Dynasty for the time being, as long as they remain neutral in the war between Song and Xia,
That’s it.
After the Song Dynasty destroys the Xixia Kingdom, their tribal leaders will be named khans. Their tribes will have a high degree of autonomy and will also receive rewards from the Song Dynasty...
Zhao Ji divided the 300 party generals recruited by Liu Guangshi a few years ago into thirteen missions, with the large group numbering ten people and the small group numbering seven or eight people.
They brought the letters and instructions from Zhao Guan's family and prepared to secretly sneak into Xixia and recruit and surrender the top commander of the Thirteenth Route Local Army (i.e., the tribal leader)...
Before these thirteen missions left, Zhao Ji and Liu Guangshi saw them off together and promised that as long as they completed their mission, everyone in their mission would be promoted to a third level and given a large sum of money.
If someone in one of their missions encounters misfortune, as long as they do not disgrace their mission and do not surrender, their families will receive generous pensions, and their sons will receive the emperor's favor to become officials or officials when they reach adulthood.
Zhao Guanjia always sticks to his word.
After receiving the promise from Zhao Guan's family, these three hundred secret envoys happily accepted the order and thanked the emperor for his kindness.
"Thank you Lord for your kindness, long live my emperor..."
"We are just vulgar people who are desperately trying to survive. Today we are fortunate to be trusted and reused by Zhao Guanjia. Our family members stay in the Song Dynasty and can be cared for by the officials. We are very relieved, even if we die generously
, why should we waste our lives!"
Zhao Ji looked solemn and spoke earnestly:
"You have the courage to take on such an important responsibility. In my opinion, you are all heroes!"
"If you can complete this mission, to me, you will be like the Xianbei Yuchi Jingde, the Turkic Ashinasheer and many other famous foreign generals assisting Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty!"
These party members of the secret mission, who had returned to the Song Dynasty for many years, were moved to tears when they heard Zhao Guanjia's words.
Although they were rough people, since they surrendered to the Song Dynasty, they had heard many legendary stories in the army between Tang Taizong and the famous foreign generals who surrendered.
Zhao Ji took advantage of the situation and encouraged all members of the secret mission:
"I chose you and other party members as secret envoys after careful consideration. You and others secretly sent envoys to the local armies of Xixia Kingdom separately. In fact, it is relatively safe."
"The reason is that the more my army defeats the Xixia army, the more the leaders of the local tribal armies in Xixia, in order to protect their troops and people, the less they dare to use violence against you; even
, they will also treat you as honored guests!"
"Therefore, in order to ensure that all my dear friends are safe and sound, I must lead my troops to conquer Xijing City of Xia Kingdom in the near future!"
"The official's high opinion..."
"Thank you Lord for your kindness..."
"The official sage..."
Zhao Ji and Liu Guangshi bid farewell to the thirteen local military envoys from Xixia who were on secret missions, and watched their figures drift away.
Liu Guangshi looked at Zhao Guan's house with admiring eyes. He bowed deeply and said in admiration:
"The soldiers and generals of the Dangxiang clan in Weichen Guangshi's tribe are wild by nature, but they can value justice. Today, Guanjia only needs a few words to tame them into obedience. Weichen Guangshi really admires Guanjia very much. Guanjia is truly the holy lord and wise king of the ages.
ah!"
Liu Guangshi metaphorically referred to the Dangxiang soldiers and generals who surrendered to him as wild dogs and wild horses, and called the Zhao Guan family experts who were good at taming wild beasts. Therefore, it was said that the Zhao Guan family reused the Dangxiang soldiers as envoys to recruit the Xixia local army.
"Domestication".
He was deeply satisfied with his sincere words of flattery to the Emperor of the Song Dynasty, and the corners of his mouth turned up, feeling complacent.
After Zhao Ji finished listening to Liu Guangshi's flattery, his face was as dark as water and he said coldly:
"I sincerely value these party members who have sincerely surrendered to our Song Dynasty. I personally marched and led my troops to attack Xia. I just want to ruthlessly eradicate the Li Xixia Dynasty, which has been a scourge to our Song Dynasty for a century!"
"I do not want to destroy the Dangxiang clan. My mind is as broad and broad as that of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. As long as the soldiers and civilians of various ethnic groups can contribute to the unification of China, I will regard them as my subjects."
Liu Guangshi, who originally wanted to flatter Zhao Guan's family, turned red with shame and was amazed after hearing Zhao Guan's lofty words.
He was good at recruiting and recruiting traitors, and he sincerely felt that the Zhao Guan family's ideological level was really thousands of times higher than his!
…
When Zhao Ji said goodbye to Liu Guangshi, who was full of shame, he comforted him with some kind words.
Liu Guangshi was grateful and bid farewell to Zhao Guan's family...
Zhao Ji returned to the Chinese army's imperial tent under Yao Gu's tribe, and he unfolded the trophy map of Daxia Kingdom presented by veteran general Guo Chengjin.
Put it on the table and watch it carefully.
He saw that the territory of the Xixia Kingdom was only about a quarter of the size of the Song Dynasty at that time.
Traveler Zhao Ji recalled his historical knowledge before time travel:
‘The Northern Song Dynasty is about 2.8 million square kilometers, and the Western Xia is about 770,000 square kilometers, about a quarter of the Northern Song Dynasty.’
Of course, in today's ancient society, it is impossible to calculate the precise territorial area of a country or region as accurately as in modern society.
Even Zhao Ji saw that the map was poorly drawn, and some areas were not very accurate.
While he was looking at the map, he was comparing in his mind the Xixia Kingdom in this world and where it was in modern society before he traveled through it.
According to the drawing method of this map, the current territory of Xixia Kingdom should be parts of Ningxia, Gansu, Shaanxi, Qinghai, and Inner Mongolia in later modern society.
Among them, Ningxia, Gansu, and northern Shaanxi occupy a relatively large area, as well as most areas of Inner Mongolia.
Today's Xingqingfu, Tokyo, the capital of Xixia, is roughly the center of the Yinchuan Plain in later generations.
The Xiping Prefecture in Xijing, Xia Kingdom, which was heavily surrounded by the Song army, was the southwest region of Lingwu, Ningxia in later generations.
Zhao Ji looked for the geographical location of the thirteen secret missions just sent to the thirteen local tribal military regions of Xixia on this map of Daxia...
The thirteen local military regions of Xia Kingdom are:
Of course, Zhao Ji knew that the Xixia Kingdom had military horns imitated in the Song Dynasty, dividing the country into left and right wings, and each wing was divided into several local military districts. The highest officer of the military supervision department in each district was called Du Tongjun (almost all
(Served by the local tribal leader), responsible for commanding the army in the region.
Zhao Ji thought: Among the local armies in Xixia today, the Xiangqing Army has the highest status. The other local armies vary in size, some have more than 100,000 troops, and some have only 10,000 or 20,000 troops.
The local army of the Xixia Kingdom, that is, all the supervisory military divisions of the Xia Kingdom, combined, have a total army of about 500,000 people.
"I want to divide and conquer the local armies of Xixia."
"Even if the thirteen secret envoys I have sent cannot successfully recruit and surrender the local tribal army immediately, it will shake their will and make them dare not send heavy troops to aid Xia Kingdom in the siege of Xijing."
That night, Zhao Ji sent two teams of royal city officials to protect the prince, King Yun Zhao Kai, and King Kang Zhao Gou. As imperial envoys, they inspected Guo Cheng, Zhong Shidao, Zhong Shizhong, Liu Yanqing, Yao Gu, and Han Shizhong respectively.
In the camps of several troops, we focused on checking the garrison situation of each ministry, and reminded each ministry to prevent Xia Jun from jumping over the wall in a hurry, leaving the city at night to rob the camp, or leaving the city at night to break out and escape...
That night, in Xijing City of Xixia, more than a dozen middle- and high-level military generals who had stayed in Xijing were waiting anxiously in the courtyard of Prince Pu's Mansion.
They learned that Pu Wang Li Renzhong, who was watching the enemy on the east city during the day, was seriously injured, so they waited in the courtyard of Pu Wang's Mansion for a short time.
The purpose of their arrival was firstly to visit King Pu's injury, and secondly to bring the voices of many soldiers in their respective armies who wanted to abandon the city and break out of the siege.
Pu Wang Li Renzhong, who had been in a coma after being seriously injured, was carefully cared for by four military doctors with superb medical skills. He did not wake up until the middle of the night.
After Li Renzhong woke up, he found that although the injured area on his upper body was bandaged, it was still very painful.
Now, only his right eye can see clearly, while his left eye is completely dark.
The frame of his left eye seemed to be hollowed out, and the pain was as painful as his heart, which was very unbearable.
He glanced at his left eye with the corner of his right eye and saw several white bandages wrapped diagonally around his left eye and head.
He realized that when he was watching the enemy in Dongcheng, his left eye should have been blinded by the Song Army's unknown weapon that looked like a fire stick.
Li Renzhong gritted his teeth and endured the severe pain of being seriously injured in many parts of his body. He asked slowly:
"Song army, are they attacking the city?"
The military doctors and bodyguards present had sore noses and almost shed tears after hearing this.
The seriously injured King Pu had just escaped from Hell. His first words after waking up were still concerned about the war, which moved everyone present.
He learned from his subordinates:
"The Song Army did not attack our Xijing City..."
"I reported to King Pu that there are more than ten generals guarding the city in the courtyard. They have been waiting for a long time. They want to come in and visit after King Pu wakes up."
When the worried Li Renzhong heard this, he wanted to get up from the couch, walk out of the courtyard as free and easy as before, and meet the military leaders chatting and laughing, to show that he was not seriously injured and to give reassurance to his military leaders.
He even wanted to leave the government as before, inspect various ministries in the military camp, and command the defense of Xijing City...
However, while he was holding the bed with his hands, he felt not only the huge pain in his left eye, but also the tearing pain from multiple wounds on his upper body.
"Ah!?" Li Renzhong gritted his teeth and struggled several times, but was unable to sit up.
The military doctor next to the bed immediately stopped and said:
"King Pu is seriously injured, please rest well and don't stretch the wound so hard that it will tear!"
Li Renzhong asked: "With this injury, how many days will it take for me to be able to walk around and recover as before?"
"This..." the military doctor hesitated, but he did not dare to tell the truth:
"The villain reported back to King Pu that the Song army used those unknown weapons to shoot out so many iron sands that... His Highness King Pu's left eyeball was broken!"
"His Royal Highness Prince Pu is permanently blind in his left eye!"
"Also, His Royal Highness Prince Pu's upper body was also injured in many places by the iron sand shot by the enemy's strange weapons!"
"Fortunately, King Pu is blessed with good fortune. In addition, our military doctors bandaged His Highness's wound in time and stopped the severe bleeding. Now King Pu can wake up. As long as he is well nursed back to health, in two or three months, His Highness Pu will be able to walk around.
Got it!"
The lonely sword-shaped eyebrow on Li Renzhong's right eye frame was frowning, and the right eyebrow was close to the white cloth bandage wrapped diagonally around his eye frame.
"Does it take two or three months for this prince to be able to walk around?"
"It's been too long! I can't worry about the defense of Xijing and other matters!"
"Alas!" the military doctor sighed:
"First of all, it's my fault that our medical skills are not good. We have never encountered such a strange injury as the one suffered by King Pu. We really have no good treatment plan or good medicine!"
"Secondly, our military doctors carefully examined the injuries sustained by His Highness King Pu. After consultation, we found that a lot of the iron sand shot by the enemy had penetrated deeply into His Highness's flesh. We are afraid of causing a second blow to His Highness.
The damage will be even greater, so I don’t dare to take it out now!”
Li Renzhong said feebly: "I know that all the military doctors have tried their best to treat me."
"However, in order to stabilize the morale of the army, Gu Gu vows to defend Xijing, the land of Longxing in Daxia, to the death. Therefore, everyone here must declare to the outside world that Gu Gu is only slightly injured and will recover as before in three or two days. Anyone who disobeys the order will be punished according to military law.
.”
"We obey the order..."
…
Li Renzhong, who was seriously injured, had no choice but to lie on the bed and summoned a dozen mid-level and senior generals who had been waiting outside.
"Before I was injured, I climbed to the city to watch the Song army outside our Xijing city. Their camps stretched for more than ten miles and surrounded Xijing city impenetrably. However, the Song enemies secretly attacked and wounded me, but they were not in a hurry.
To attack the city. Why is this?"
The generals replied one after another:
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "I believe that the Song army may want to besiege our Xijing City until we are deprived of food and people will die, right?"
"General, I don't think so."
"The late general learned from the defeated generals who fled here from Zhejianghui, Pule City and Yaode City that were previously attacked by the Song Army that the Song Army was able to pray to heaven, draw thunder from the sky, and bombard the city."
"Now that the Song army is not in a hurry to attack our Xijing city, could it be that the time to pray for a lightning strike from heaven has not yet arrived?"
"Humph! You are so ignorant, you are really talking nonsense!" Li Renzhong, who was lying on the bed, cursed angrily:
"Destiny is in our country, Daxia, and the Song Dynasty is not strong enough. How can He De let God favor it and help it rain down thunder to punish our country, Daxia, which is so rejuvenated?"
"This..." The general felt it was difficult to explain, so he hesitated and said:
"What the last general said was what I heard from the soldiers and generals who retreated from the front of my country in Daxia! There is no lie at all."
"The Xia soldiers who were previously guarding Zhejianghui, Pule City and Yaode City were lucky enough not to die in the battle. After escaping to our Xijing, according to what they said:
'After they heard several loud noises from the Song Army's position, they saw several balls of fire hitting the city they were guarding, killing people and destroying the city...'"
Li Renzhong immediately stopped him and said: "Don't say such words that shake the morale of the army again."
"Before I was injured, I saw the Song Army taking out a long tubular weapon. Then, the strange weapon burst into flames, and a lot of iron sand hit me."
"Now, I, the king, think about it. What you say can destroy the three cities of Jianghui, Pule City and Yaode City in Daxia, and blow up the cities and destroy the soldiers is not some kind of thunder from the sky. It should be the Song Army using something similar."
A new strange weapon that can breathe fire and shoot iron sand."
"Both are the same, it's just expanded dozens of times."
Everyone nodded in agreement with King Pu's speculation, and at the same time they became even more panicked...
If the Song Army can draw thunder from the sky, then does it need a prayer ceremony?
Also, God may not always favor Song Jun, right?
It is possible that the Song army became ineffective when praying to heaven to rain thunder on Xiping Mansion in Xijing, the land of Longxing in the Great Xia Kingdom...
However, according to the reasonable inference of Pu Wang Li Renzhong, if the Song army possesses new heavy weapons that are as effective as lightning strikes, then how can we defend Xijing City in Daxia?
What's more, we heard that the emperor of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Guan's family, has arrived at our Song army outside Xijing City for his personal expedition. This will definitely boost the hearts and morale of the Song army.
But our Li Renzhong, the king of Pu, who stayed behind in Xijing, was seriously injured and could only lie on the bed. The whole city's soldiers and civilians were panic-stricken!
The Song Army didn't even need to get close to the city, they could use that thunder-like weapon to blow us up...
The arrows fired by our army's bows and arrows could not reach the Song army, and the arrows fired by our army's trebuchets
The stones thrown out could not hit the Song army. Can we, the soldiers and generals guarding the city, just wait to die?
In this battle to defend the city, the weapons were not as strong as the Song enemy, the troops were not as numerous, and the morale was not as high as the Song enemy. How could this battle be won?
The dozen or so generals exchanged glances with each other and tactfully told King Pu the escape strategies they had discussed with each other.
"Prince Qi Pu, the soldiers and civilians in our Xijing City are now in panic. Many soldiers and generals in the whole army want to abandon the city and break out of the siege...
"King Pu, why not take advantage of the Song Dynasty enemy's massive attack on the city and find an opportunity to break out in order to preserve the vitality of our army..."
"Reporting to King Pu, our troops are guarding the North City. We found that the Song army outside the North City is not in order and their military discipline is loose. If King Pu leads us to break through, it is best to choose to come from the North Gate of Xijing..."
"Shut up!" Li Renzhong roared:
"You are so brave! Before fighting, think about the way to escape first!"
When he got angry, he was hit by a gunshot wound, which oozed blood and stained several white cloth bandages outside.
"If anyone dares to abandon the city and break out of the siege again, I will kill them without mercy!"
The generals were so frightened that they immediately shut up and did not dare to speak anymore...
"In order to allow the Great Xia court to have time to mobilize various local armies to fight against the Song Dynasty, I swear to the death to coexist with Xijing City!"
The righteousness of Pu Wang Li Renzhong frightened these generals into panic, but they were still worried.
After the generals heard King Pu's statement, he did not dare to talk more to persuade him.
They excused themselves awkwardly, each with their own thoughts, and left Prince Pu's Mansion...
…
On the morning of the next day, Zhao Ji received a military report that the prince, who was staying in the capital to supervise the country, had sent Wang Zhen to lead an army of three thousand to escort supplies of firearms and ammunition to the Song-Xia border in accordance with the official decree.
Zhao Ji immediately sent five generals, Wu Jie, Wu Lin, Yang Zaixing, Wang Gui, and Zhang Xian, each with one thousand troops and horses, totaling five thousand, to meet Wang Zhen's troops to prevent the Xia army from robbing the Song army's ammunition supplies.
…
In the afternoon, twelve envoys from the Xia Kingdom riding fast horses arrived, carrying a letter written by Xia Emperor Li Qianshun begging for an armistice and peace.
They wanted to meet the Emperor Zhao Guanjia of the Song Dynasty, who was personally conquering the country.
After receiving the report, Zhao Ji only said lightly:
"Force is the bargaining chip on the negotiation table!"
"I don't see the peace envoys sent by Li Qianshun, so Zhang Jun is responsible for receiving them. It is best to let them stay in our Song Dynasty military camp for a few days, so that they can see how my Song army conquered the Xijing City of Xia Kingdom."
"The territory within the range of my cannon is my territory of China!"
…………
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