Twenty-five. Xixia retreats

"The sea of the motherland is always so blue"

——Zhao Zeyu

Celebrate the seventh year, September.

General Xixia buried Yi Xiangre and his soldiers and launched an attack on Yan'an Mansion in the spirit of succession. This bloody battle lasted for nearly half a month, and both sides paid a huge price.

The fierce battle began at the border, then spread to the peaks, and then crossed rivers, castles and fortresses. Tens of thousands of soldiers and people died in this catastrophe. The earth was stained with blood, the walls were stained with blood, and the north of Yan'an Prefecture was almost razed to the ground by the fire of war.

Up to now, the Xixia army has launched 116 attacks, of which 100 rushed to the city, 50 times to the head of the city, and almost won ten times. The latest attack broke through a gate outside Yan'an Prefecture. If it hadn't been for the end of the Xixia people's strong crossbow on that day, the thin urn city would also be very dangerous. .

In order to save Yan'an Prefecture,

Zhao Ze's army left the security army on September 3, launched an attack to the east, forcibly broke through the Zhou River, and annihilated a Xixia army stationed on the opposite bank on the way to escape.

Subsequently, Zhao Ze ordered Yang Wenguang to open the way for the vanguard and led 10,000 troops to Jialing Mountain. After a thrilling fight, he occupied the commanding heights in the southeast of Yan'an Prefecture in the afternoon of that day, forming a pressure, and Yan'an Mansion was close in front of him.

Half an hour later, more than 30,000 people from Zhao Ze's Chinese army came to the foot of Jialing Mountain to temporarily camp. Zhang Zai was responsible for arranging the camp. Chao Fang, Jiao Yan and Jiao Zhenhua led people to guard around. When it was arranged, Zhao Ze quickly led people up the mountain to survey the terrain.

After coming to the top of the mountain and checking on the spot, Zhao Ze believed that the enemy offensive on Jialing Mountain was almost destroyed by the Xixia army. No wonder Yang Wenguang's attack army did not have much effort, with less than 300 casualties. At the beginning, he was still worried that it was easy to defend and difficult to attack here, and there would be a lot of casualties, because six years ago, Fan Zhongyan took The soldiers came here. In order to fight against Xixia, they strengthened Jialing Mountain from the beginning to the end. They thought they could rest assured from now on. Unexpectedly, the time passed and was conquered by the Xixia army in just one month.

When Zhao Ze saw the devastated city gate, he couldn't help but feel sad.

The next day, on the eve of the attack.

The horse scout sent by Yang Wenguang came back and reported that the Xixia army besieged Yan'an Prefecture on all sides. The battle was fought for a day and night, and the blood flowed into a river. Many places outside Yan'an Prefecture had been broken, and the two sides were fighting in a melee.

The situation is really urgent. We must send troops immediately, otherwise Yan'an Prefecture will be in danger.

However, Yang Wenguang reminded Zhao Ze, "Your Excellency, the Xixia army has noticed us for a long time. They just reported that a Xixia cavalry of about 3,000 people is coming here. I think it's going to delay us!"

Zhao Ze immediately ordered that Yang Wenguang led the front army to attack, and he led the Chinese army to arrive. As long as he crossed the Jialing Mountain, it was an open plain. At that time, the two armies would rely on strength and must act as soon as possible.

After receiving the order, Yang Wenguang immediately led his troops down the mountain and advanced 20 miles to the Yan'an Mansion in the northwest within half an hour. He defeated the 3,000 Xixia cavalry who came to block it and rushed to Yan'an Mansion in one fell swoop.

Half a day later, Zhao Ze led 30,000 Huanzhou troops and Xixia troops to fight 20 miles south of Yan'an Prefecture.

At the beginning of the war, the Huanzhou military long gun and huge shield set up three large arrays, each of more than 10,000 people. Once the Xixia cavalry approached, they shot with a strong bow and a hard crossbow, and the musket sniped in the distance. The Xixia cavalry circled for several weeks and did not find any flaws. Instead, hundreds of people were killed and injured. They had no choice but to retreat in the direction of Yan'an Prefecture.

Almost at the same time, the Zhejia army and the Sui German army on the second road of Linfu in the northwest jointly defeated 70,000 horses in the left wing of Youzhou, the leader of the Xixia veteran Nuo Yisangdu.

The free Sui German army immediately went south to support Yan'an Prefecture. After a night's march, it crossed the Tuyan River and reached the outside of Yan'an Prefecture through Dantou Village, Yongping Village and Qinghua Town.

In the early morning of the next day, Xu Huaide, who was the commander of the Suide Army and the soldiers and horses on the Yanyan Road, stood under the city. He saw that the flag of the Song army was still flying high above the top of the city. Although it was shabby, it was a symbol of living and a clear proof of high fighting spirit.

When the sun rose, the defenders at the head of the city raised their heads, the sun shone on them, and the dawn of victory appeared.

Yesterday, Zhao Ze's army fought three times in a row and defeated the enemy several times more than himself. From 20 miles south of the city of Yan'an Prefecture, it was killed to the bottom of the city. After another scuffle, the remnants of Xixia, who did not have time to escape, blocked between the outer city and the inner city. Both sides were red-eyed, slashed their knives and fought with their lives until dusk. Only then did the battle end.

After the inventory, the Huanzhou Army paid the price of nearly 5,000 people and killed more than 30,000 enemies, which can be said to have achieved brilliant results.

Yan'an Prefecture appeased Zhang Shangyang and led hundreds of his family to send water and wine to Zhao Ze's army to show his gratitude.

That night, after the two families joined forces, and after a whole night of cleaning, all the war dead were buried in the earth.

Postscript:

The defense of Yan'an Prefecture is one of the major military operations that took place in the Song Dynasty in the seventh year of Qingli. It is also one of the major military and political actions in Xixia. There are many details about the siege, and there are many rumors about the final defeat of the Xixia army.

But there are only two reasons why it was later confirmed and included in history books.

The first reason: the tenacious battle of the Song army, the unity of the army and the people, and the struggle for an inch of land, broke the beautiful dream of the invasion of the Xixia army.

The second reason: the internal power struggle of the Western Xia Dynasty led to the failure of the front-line battle. When the battle between the Song and Xia was in full swing, the prime minister set off a bloody storm in Xingqing Prefecture. When the three senior ministers of the Western Xia Dynasty went out to fight, he quickly promoted and reused a group of cronies, and replaced the internal guard generals, the secret envoy, the guard of Xipingfu, etc. at the fastest speed. The Xixia magnates, who did not obey his orders, firmly controlled the capital, which triggered the fierce resistance of many powerful ministers. They plotted to assassinate the blacks and set up a new prince to take charge of the government. As a result, the matter was leaked. They were arrested by more than ten masterminds in the name of conspiracy to rebel, and all of them were secretly executed in the prison.

But the matter was not settled. Later, as many as 100 ministers were implicated, and many of them turned to the prime minister in order to save their lives.

Almost at the same time, the Xixia army, which was in the border war, was once like a broken bamboo, and occupied a large area of land of the Song Dynasty in several cities, which made Pang very worried, because the Xixia army that went out to fight was in the hands of the three Yuanhao's old ministers. In case they were lucky enough to win, they helped Liao destroy the Song Dynasty. Once successful, his position and the power he has already got will definitely not be guaranteed. At that time, the three people will definitely join hands to deal with themselves, and maybe they will kill all the Tibetan clan.

The more he thought about it, the more afraid he became, so that it was difficult to sleep and eat. After three days of consideration, he made up his mind to make a move to deplete the army in front of him.

First of all, the food and fodder sent to the front army are seriously insufficient. It is common to cut off grain. Every time the veteran promises to transfer rewards, he sends people to question them. If the prime minister does not hide it, he will make up a reason to explain the reason for the poor grain and fodder. Then he treats the messenger with good wine and vegetables and sends some gold and silver beauties. In this way, the messengers will turn to it little by little. Pang, help him speak.

Secondly, in the name of changing defense and training soldiers, he frequently mobilized the army and generals, and took the opportunity to place a group of trusted people at the border gate to monitor the movement ahead and obstruct or destroy them at the critical moment.

Finally, it was also the most ruthless move to reveal the secret of the movement of the front-line veteran Nuo to the Suide army of the Song Dynasty and the Zhejia army of Linfu Road.

Under the rotational attack of these three moves, the Xixia army that went out to fight was quickly dragged down. It was only more than three months. The 200,000 Xixia elite army that went out to fight was nearly 150,000 dead and injured, and had to retreat and return to Xixia.

This unexpected result made Pang ecstatic. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he first appeased the veteran Nuo Yisheng and waited for the three people, and promoted them to the official. All three were ranked among the three public. However, he did not ask them to return to Beijing, nor did he add personnel to their army, but avoided talking about this, just for To prevent the Song army from retaliating and crossing the border to attack Xixia, the veteran Nuo Yishangdu and other three people were asked to continue to guard the border gates for Huan, Qing, Zhenrong, Yuanzhou and Yunyun.

After this battle, Xixia was no longer able to attack the Song Dynasty in a short period of time. The remaining troops were only enough to protect themselves, and the northwest border army of the Song Dynasty was almost exhausted and scarred. I'm afraid it would be difficult to cope with a large-scale war.