24. Sandu Luoshui

The dawn of the end of the Northern Song Dynasty.

The mist in the morning gradually dispersed, and a newly awakened mole drilled out of the hole and looked out. Everything around it seemed to be no different from usual. Flags were fluttering on the wall in the distance, and the city guards were patrolling back and forth. It was a particularly quiet morning. It was so quiet that it was a little flustering. The rustling sound of insects and birds that I used to hear before, and the rustling sound of hares crossing the meadow, all disappeared.

Suddenly, a dull shock scared it. It quickly jumped into the ground and hid into the nest, but the soil was still shaking.

Then, the second and third muffled sound rolled like thunder against the ground. The sound became faster and closer and closer. In the end, it was connected, making the grass stem tremble and the sand jump.

The little mole pricked up its ears and listened quietly. The strange muffled sound, the trembling sound of the earth, suddenly, a crack in its memory opened, and a light leaked out. It finally understood that this was the beginning of the war!

At the dawn of the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, 300,000 troops of Liao set off on the Hebei Plain, and the battle of Daming Mansion was about to begin.

Almost thousands of miles away at the same time, the battle of Sandu Luoshui also kicked off.

The seventh year of the lunar calendar, August 26th.

Zhao Ze personally commanded the artillery team and shelled the two shore fortresses of Jintangcheng and Dejingzhai on the other side of the Luoshui River, forcing the Xixia garrison stationed there back ten miles.

Liu Lu and Zhao Shilian quickly led their troops to set up three huge pontoon bridges on the Luoshui River. Two hours later, Yang Wenguang led 3,000 cavalry and shot troops across the other side, and began to attack and disturb the Xixia army camp ten miles away, setting fire to more than a dozen Xixia military camps.

Subsequently, the two sides launched a life-and-death chase in the open valley. Nearly 2,000 more than 2,000 soldiers in Xixia chased Yang Wenguang's cavalry and drove a big circle in the valley, and more than 100 people were shot and killed.

However, this group of desperate pursuers had no intention of retreating at all. It seemed that they deliberately wanted to share the victory or defeat with Yang Wenguang's cavalry. After Yang Wenguang led the troops for a while, he suddenly stopped his pace, and the three thousand troops immediately stopped their horses and shot two waves of arrows. More than 200 pursuers rushed to the front and fell on their horses. The Xixia people thought that the Song army wanted to fight, so they cheered up and killed the whole line. Unexpectedly, Yang Wenguang led the troops to escape again.

The two sides have been fighting for nearly half a day, and there have been casualties with each other.

In the evening of the same day, Yang Wenguang reported the situation to Zhao Ze. The company camp of the Xixia people in the valley of the Bao'an Army was empty, and only a strong cavalry was stationed nearby, and the number of people was estimated to be about 5,000.

After meditating for a moment, Zhao Ze asked again, "Wenguang, have you sent someone to see Baiyu Mountain on the west side? Is there an ambush, and the Zhouhe area on the east bank? What is the movement of the Xixia army?"

Yang Wenguang replied cautiously, "I sent Yan Huai to see the area around Bai Yushan. There have been no ambush in recent days, and the area around Zhouhe is also very calm, but the Yan'an Mansion does not seem to be peaceful, and you can often hear the movement of the army."

"In this case..." Zhao Ze stood up and walked a few steps in the tent. He weighed the importance. After a moment, he called Zhang Zai in and said to his face, "Zihou, tomorrow you will lead 10,000 soldiers across Hebei with Wenguang, and pull out all the Xixia battalions in the valley of the security army. I will pick you up. Remember to go in and out quickly, and don't fall in love with it!"

Zhang Zai and Yang Wenguang quickly got up and took orders.

The next day, Yang Wenguang and Zhang Zaiyi raised more than 15,000 troops from left and right to cross the Luoshui River and went to the security forces to fight with the Xixia cavalry.

This time, the Xixia iron horse with a number of about 5,000 people did not fight head-on. After fighting with Yang Wenguang's cavalry brigade several times, it quickly retreated to the west and turned around Zhang Zai's foot soldiers to shoot arrows in the distance, as if deliberately delaying the speed of the Song army's march.

Zhang Zai has been fighting in the out-road army for the past few years. He has learned a lot from Zhao Ze. As soon as he saw the strange movements of the Xixia people, he knew that there was fraud. He hurriedly ordered the whole army to stop, fight, guard the entrance of the valley, and then quickly sent someone to inform Yang Wenguang to ask him to move forward immediately to the company of the Xixia people without taking care about his more than 10,000 troops.

The battle that day began when Yang Wenguang led the army to attack the Xixia company camp. The Xixia iron horse, who had been walking around the Song army, launched an attack on Zhang Zai's more than 10,000-step army after discovering that the cavalry brigade of the Song army had killed in the northwest valley. Their tactics were still mainly long-range shooting, relying on bows and horses to skillfully consume Song. Military combatants.

However, this time, the Xixia people did not take advantage of it, because Zhao Ze distributed all the remaining ammunition to Zhang Zai and asked him to lure the enemy. The Xixia people were really tricked. After Yang Wenguang's cavalry left, they killed them from all directions.

The first route is Shunning Village, which is directly north of the valley, and goes all the way out of Zhouhe in the east. Finally, there are 5,000 iron riders stationed in Xixia, west of the valley and below the mountain. The total number of people and horses in these three roads is about 30,000, and cavalry alone accounts for most of them.

According to the strategy of the leading general on Xixia Middle Road, he led the Song army brigade into the valley, and then surrounded them to death on three sides. Unexpectedly, the Song army cunningly sent only a team of people into the valley, leaving more than 10,000 people at the entrance.

Although there is something wrong with the previous strategy, I can't take care of so much. Even if the Song army comes to help, I have to walk ten miles. During this period, there are many hilly areas. At least it takes more than an hour. As long as I take advantage of this gap and fight fiercely, the Song army can't escape.

The horn resounded over the valley. The Xixia people launched a desperate attack. The cavalry rushed one after another, and the earth shook.

From afar, the yellow sand is all over the sky, and thousands of horses are galloping, which is amazing.

Under Zhang Zai's order, a hundred heavy machine guns ambushed around the mouth of the valley opened fire in an instant, constantly tilting the bullets. At the same time, the musket team of the Chinese army also began to fight back. When they were still in the land of two arrows, the oncoming Xixia cavalry was swept down. In an instant, the horse turned upside down and countless people were killed and injured.

However, the attack of the Xixia people did not stop. After all, they came to attack in three ways. Zhang Zai was facing the elite soldiers of the army of Xixia Middle Road. These Xixia knights were not only not afraid of death, but also knew how to hide. Coupled with the cover of the nearby high and low hills, the loss of Xixia iron riders was reduced to a minimum.

Zhang Zai's army resisted the three waves of attack of the Xixia Iron Horse in a row, and the last wave almost rushed to the front. Fortunately, Liu Yu and Zhao Shilian's 6,000 lancers were also in the army. At the critical moment, they rushed out to block the Xixia Iron Horse to death. Even so, the Song army also suffered a lot of casualties, and the arrow rain of the Xixia people was also Deadly.

After nearly an hour of fierce battle, the Song army killed and injured more than 2,000 people. Zhao Ze's rescue arrived, and the hills around the valley were full of dead bodies. It was roughly estimated that there were more than 5,000, all of which were the elite iron riders of Xixia.

Besides, Yang Wenguang's troops trampled the Xixia company camp in the valley to the ground, and set fire to many mountains and forests, so that the Xixia army could no longer stand here. When he retreated, he chased a Xixia army of nearly 5,000 people. Yang Wenguang led the army to fight and retreated, relying on his belt. The arrows killed more than 2,000 people and fought with the Xixia troops in the open area of the valley, which delayed them a lot of time.

After half an hour of fierce battle, Xixia's troops began to retreat. Yang Wenguang did not dare to chase them. After biting Xixia's defeated army for more than three miles, he retreated in the opposite direction and went to the round with Zhang Zai's troops.

On August 29, Zhao Ze led 40,000 people to cross the Luoshui River again and fought head-on with a large army of Xixia slaves, killing more than 7,000 enemies, and his own losses were insignificant.

On the 30th, Yan'an Prefecture slightly appeased Zhang Shangyang and asked for help from Pozhou. Tens of thousands of troops in Xixia attacked the city for half a month in a row. They had firmly controlled the three important places in the north of Gongweizhou Prefecture in Sanchuankou, Jinmingzhai and Fenglin Town, cut off the waist of Yan'an Prefecture, and infiltrated behind the defenders, and were attacking Fulong Mountain. If Fulong The mountain was also lost, and Yan'an Prefecture completely became a lonely city, which was not far from ran out of food.

On the 31st, Zhao Ze led his army to sweep a large area west of the security army, drove the Xixia army in this area to the east bank of the Zhou River with steady tactics, and recaptured the two pass of Weibianzhai and Shengqiang Fort, and beheaded more than 100 people.

In the evening of the same day, the messenger of Pozhou Zhizhou Wang Gui came to Zhao Zejun and told the story of being trapped in Yan'an Prefecture. Finally, the messenger knelt down and cried, "Your Excellency, please send troops to rescue Yan'an Prefecture as soon as possible. My son-in-law is in danger."

As soon as Zhao Ze heard about it, what kind of emperor's son-in-law, asked him to speak slowly. Later, he learned from a detailed question that it turned out that Lord Zhang Shangyang, the Yan'an Mansion, was the son-in-law of His Majesty Renzong, and married Princess Shengping as his wife. A few years ago, Lord Fan Zhongyan, who had made great achievements in fighting against Xixia at the border, and was promoted by His Majesty to Yan'an Prefecture. I thought that he would be transferred back to the capital after a few years of peace, but His Majesty Renzong suddenly died. His son-in-law was suddenly forgotten. A few years have passed, and he was still an official in Yan'an.

Don't mention how depressed it is. Several times, I sent my confidant family members to send a letter to Princess Shengping asking her to do activities in the capital. It's better to mention the credit of the Empress Cao as his son-in-law. If it makes the queen happy, she may transfer herself back to the capital.

However, Empress Cao has her own plan. Not to mention the many soldiers in Yan'an Mansion, it has always been controlled by the royal cronies. When Renzong reigned, he did not dare to let outsiders go through the place easily, not to mention the current extraordinary period. Empress Cao told Princess Shengping, "I know your hardships and understand that you and your husband have been separated for a long time. Looking forward to the early reunion and double sleep, but in the current situation, my family is worried. If Yan'an Prefecture does not have the royal cronies to lead the army to guard, in case there is a rebellion in Xixia, it will be a big deal. Therefore, princess, don't worry, my family promises that in three years, he will be transferred back to the capital in three years! "

Three years later, Empress Cao sent Princess Shengping back to her hometown. At first, Princess Shengping was full of joy and felt that three years was just a moment. However, the world was unpredictable. In these three years, the border war began, and Zhang Shangyang was trapped in Yan'an Prefecture.

"Okay!"

Zhao Ze waved his hand and stopped the crying messenger. He said to himself that I finally understood the intention of Lord Zhang in Yan'an Mansion. Then, he told the messenger, "Don't worry, this angel brother. Since I have wiped out the security army and there are no worries about it, I will take up to Yan'an Prefecture to rescue him immediately. Your Lord Zhang, don't worry. Please tell the King of Pozhou and the son-in-law of Yan'an Prefecture. As long as there is an official in Xixia, the tail of a rabbit can't grow!"

After listening to Zhao Ze's face-to-face guarantee, the messenger was heartbroken and laughed. After thanking Zhao Ze, he left the barracks and took more than a dozen families to look at Puzhou.