Chapter 973: The Great Victory over the Taoshui River
The war breaks out again on Xihe Road.
Zhang Kai, deputy economic envoy of Xihe Road, was ordered to take over the command of the entire Xihe Road army from Gao Zunyu.
Zhang Kai was born in a field and knew the military as a civil servant. It was inevitable that the generals in the northwest would not be convinced by him. Moreover, with the 20,000 cavalry transferred from Xihe Road, facing the Qing Tang's attack, Mu Zheng, Ba Zhanjiao and others were all dissatisfied.
Show a war-weary attitude.
There were less than 30,000 soldiers and horses on Xihe Road to guard the various states. Although Li Xian promised that reinforcements from Qinfeng Road and Shaanxi Fourth Road were on the way, the water far away could not relieve the fire nearby.
Li Xian could only count on this young general and put all his hopes on him. Could it be that he also counted on Gao Zunyu?
Before the negotiations in Xihe, Li Xian made a mistake. The officials asked him to cede the land of Huangzhou and make peace with the Qingtang Dynasty, but he hesitated. Finally, when the envoys he sent to negotiate were still on the way, Ali Gu launched an army.
This caused Li Xian to almost break his thigh. He did not listen to the officials and immediately made peace with Qingtang, causing the other party to start an uprising.
But the good news is that after seeing the envoys of the Song Dynasty, Aligu seemed to have some intentions. This time the Qingtang army raised a large number of troops, but in the end they lingered in Taozhou and did not attack, as if they wanted to wait and see the outcome of the battle between the Song Dynasty and Xixia.
.
Li Xian also confirmed Ali Gu's idea and proposed that regardless of the victory or defeat of the Song-Xia war, he promised to cede Huangzhou, while ensuring that the interests of the Qing and Tang Dynasties in the two states of Xihe remained unchanged.
In this way, the situation in Qingtang eased slightly.
However, Xixia's offensive was fierce. Liang Yimi first lured the Song army into an ambush under Dingxi City, defeated the Song army and beheaded Wu Meng, the military commander of Huizhou.
After that, Xixia surrounded Dingxicheng and led its troops southward in large numbers. Prime Minister Liang Yimi personally led 70,000 cavalry to attack Nanchuan Village.
Nanchuan Village is located between Hezhou and Xizhou. Once Nanchuan Village falls, the entire Xihe Road will be cut off by the Song army.
Many generals in the Song Dynasty were very panicked when they found out. They advocated to Li Xian and Zhang Kai to abandon the land of Huangzhou, Hezhou and Taozhou and quickly return aid to compete with Xixia for Nanchuan Village. Otherwise, the consequences would be disastrous.
However, Zhang Kai did not agree, and only asked the defenders to guard Nanchuan Village. At the same time, he ordered the Song troops in each village to shrink their defense lines and open the main road to allow the Xixia army to plunder.
Xixia originally came for plunder, although they knew that once they conquered strong cities such as Nanchuan Village, they could cut off the Song army from Xizhou and Hezhou.
But after all, the Xixia army was a bandit in nature. They looted on one side of Xizhou and Hezhou, and on the other side burned more than 25,000 houses and thousands of hectares of farmland, leaving the soldiers and civilians of Xihe Road with no harvest.
The strategy of the Xixia people was to steal everything they could, and burn it all if they couldn't. Not even a grain of food was left to the Song army.
Zhang Kai implemented the strategy of strengthening the walls and clearing the wilderness. He had no intention of sending troops to rescue Nanchuan Village, but just let the defenders hold on.
At the same time, reinforcements from all walks of life from the Song Dynasty gradually arrived, such as brothers Wang Hou and Wang Gan, as well as Yao Si, Yao Lin, Zhong E, Liu Shunqing and other famous Western Army generals led by Xing Ye.
The number of soldiers and horses of the Song Army on Xihe Road increased to more than 50,000.
After Zhang Kai's troops gathered together, he still did not save Nanchuan Village. Instead, he sent a messenger to negotiate with Ali Gu and issued an ultimatum.
After Liang Yi buried and plundered for nearly a month, he came back to his senses and attacked Nanchuan Village fiercely. However, the attack could not be defeated for a long time, and numerous soldiers and horses were killed and wounded under the stronghold.
Under the Ali Bone Tent in Taozhou, the elder Wen Xixin, who was pro-Song Dynasty, had an endless quarrel with the young faction of the clan.
Wen Xixin believed that the Song Dynasty's cession of Huangzhou was the greatest sincerity. We, the Qingtang Dynasty, had to appreciate it because we would have to rely on the Song people for business in the future.
The Young Zhuang faction is different. They believe that in addition to Huangzhou, Xizhou, Hezhou, Taozhou, Minzhou, and even the Tongyuan Army are the hometowns of the Qing and Tang Dynasties, the goal must be to drive the Song Dynasty out of Xihe.
One group thinks that the other party is ignorant of the world, and the other group thinks that the other party has no blood.
The Qingtang Tribe is a tribal collegial system, and no one can claim absolute leadership, not even Ali Gu, not to mention that the current leader of the Qingtang is Dong Fei himself.
However, when he learned that Liang Yimi had been unable to attack Nanchuan Village for a long time, he finally made a judgment and reached an agreement with the Song Dynasty to seize Huangzhou and withdraw his troops from Taozhou.
Aligu's separate withdrawal of troops was tantamount to breaking the original agreement between the Qingtang and Xixia to join forces, and the east-west attack was ruined.
What's more, Liang Yimi's 70,000 infantry and cavalry were suddenly left alone. By the time he got the news of Aligu's retreat, it was too late. Zhang Kai led the main force of the Song army out of Xizhou to fight with Liang Yimi at the Tao River.
On one side was the Song army who was determined to take revenge, and on the other side was the Xixia army which had looted their pockets full of plunder. In the decisive battle between the two armies, Zhang Kai defeated the Xixia army with a small number and a large one.
The defeated Xixia soldiers and horses crossed the Tao River in a panic and were killed by the Song army from all sides. The Xixia soldiers and horses were unable to cross the river in time and numerous people drowned.
Liang Yi was chased and overtaken by the Song army three times. Fortunately, he was not captured because of the life guards on his left and right. Like a frightened bird, he traveled sleeplessly for three days and three nights before escaping.
But the rest of the Xixia soldiers and horses were not so lucky. In this battle, the Song army killed tens of thousands of Xixia cavalry and captured countless baggage. Blocked by the corpses, the Tao River stopped flowing for a time.
This was the Song army's greatest victory over Xixia after the Battle of Dashun City. After the victory at Taoshui, the Song army attacked Xixia from all directions in Shaanxi.
As soon as the news came out, the ruling and opposition parties in Xixia were shocked. Bingchang, the leader of the Xixia Kingdom who had always opposed the use of troops against the Song Dynasty, went to the Ancestral Temple and cried all night after learning about the incident.
However, the Xixia courtiers in Xingqing Mansion exclaimed that the Song army was no longer comparable to that of the past and should not be taken lightly!
This time, Xixia sent envoys to discuss peace with Song Dynasty, but they spoke cowardly. At the same time, they quickly reported to Yelu Hongji, the father of Liao Kingdom, and asked him to come forward to mediate between Song and Xia.
Needless to say, the officials were overjoyed when they learned of the incident. He rewarded Zhang Kai with a great reward, compiled it for Jixian Palace, and served as the envoy of Xihe Road.
In the dusk.
Aligu led the army back to Qingtang City, and countless Qingtang people cheered for him both above and below the city.
In this Taoshui War, both Song and Xixia paid a heavy price.
Only the Qingtang tribe led by Ali Gu recovered the entire territory of Huangzhou without losing a single soldier, which brought his reputation to its peak. But for some reason, Ali Gu felt a little sad at the moment.
His rebellion this time must have deeply offended the Song Dynasty. Although Huangzhou was lost and regained, from then on the Song Dynasty had an excuse to use troops against the Qing and Tang Dynasties.
At the same time, he also saw from this battle the strength of the Song Army's Western Army, which could even defeat the powerful Xixia elite soldiers.
In the future, if he wants to be able to compete with Song and Xixia in the Qing and Tang Dynasties, he can only exclude dissidents in the clan and strengthen his power.
Fortunately, the victory in this battle earned him enough fame to enable him to eradicate these people.
Thinking of this, Ali Gu had a decision on his face.
Qingtang City at dusk is now shrouded in the afterglow of the setting sun. Ali Gu whips his horse into the city.
…
In the negotiations between the Liao State and the Song Dynasty in Zhending Mansion, the two sides were still involved in the dispute over land and land demarcating the border, and were in endless details. The victory of the Battle of Taoshui was not announced until two months later. here.
Ps: This battle refers to the second year of Yuanyou. Liang Yimi of Xixia and Ali Gu of Qingtang jointly attacked Xihe Road. However, the Song army defeated Qingtang instead of Xixia. Gui Zhang was captured alive in this battle, and the tactics refer to Zhang The battle of Hongde City in Xixia was defeated.
