Chapter 23 First Battle Loss

The West City was built a hundred years ago. At that time, sporadic battles between the barbarians and the Song people were always there. Barbarians continued to cross into Song territory and plunder. In order to intercept the barbarians nearby, Song Ting ordered the southwest army to build this big city on the valley west of Xizhou, the nearest to the barbarians, purely to resist the enemy.

Although this Dingxi City has the name of a city, it is actually not big, and almost no people live in it. There are all military soldiers in it. It is also because of this arrangement of the State of Song that in the battle with the barbarians 20 years ago, the dispatch of the Song army was timely and effective, thus killing the 50,000 troops invaded by the barbarians at a relatively small cost, thus establishing a peaceful 20 years.

After that, Song Jun built a town barbarian castle further west of the defeated barbarians. In this way, Dingxi City is no longer at the forefront of the enemy, but has become a barracks stationed in case of emergency. Today, there are 50,000 soldiers in Dingxi City, all of whom are restrained by the Grand Marshal Wang Chong. In addition to these 50,000 troops, he is the commander-in-chief of nearly 70,000 troops in the three states of Yun, Gui and Xi. It can be said that in the southwest, the most powerful one is Wang Chong.

Now Wang Chong issued an emergency military order because of the sudden invasion of the barbarians, urgently dispatching the soldiers of the three states to set the west city and defeat the enemy with himself. Naturally, the governors of the three states did not dare to disdain. Two days after receiving the military order, they each mobilized 15,000 people to Dingxi City - the rest of the people and horses still had to stay on their own land.

As the governor of Xizhou, Xiang Cang was no exception. He led more than 10,000 elite soldiers and horses from the three battalions under his command and went straight to Dingxi City. Among the three states, Xizhou is the closest to the barbarians and has the most minor frictions with the barbarians. These soldiers can be said to hate the barbarians to the bone. Now there is a chance to revenge before the snow. Naturally, everyone is competing for the first. Dozens of miles of mountain road they arrived in only one day.

After Xiang Cang stationed his soldiers and horses outside Dingxi City, he took his guards into the city. His knowledge of the current situation is still very limited. I don't know why the general suddenly rushed to recruit soldiers and horses from all states. How many people and horses the enemy has used, and Wang Chong's combat deployment naturally needs to be consulted in person.

When he heard the details, Xiang Cang was a little disapproving: "Marshal, is it too much for you to do this? Although the barbarians broke through our barbarians and killed our 2,000 cavalry with sneak attacks and conspiracy, it was just that we were not prepared. With the strength of our northwest army in the Song Dynasty, how could we be afraid of them?

His words won the unanimous approval of other generals, and they also said one after another, "That is to say, our northwest border army of the Song army is the elite division second only to the northern border army. Don't we need to be afraid of those barbarians who only know sneak attacks? In our opinion, as long as our army comes out, the barbarians will be invincible and collapse without a fight. Why do we have to mobilise the soldiers and horses of all states before advancing slowly?

"That's right, the general, you really grow other people's ambition and destroy the prestige of the Song Dynasty! And now the information in my southwest has been sent to Beijing, and the world will soon know about it. If we keep moving forward, I'm afraid that those officials in the court will be impeached. Not only are we generals, but also the generals, you will also be blamed.

"Not bad!" Xiang Cang saw that everyone supported his views, and his confidence was even more confident: "Marshal, now that our soldiers from Xizhou have arrived, and the soldiers and horses from Yun and Guizhou will also come. Why don't we send troops when everyone makes up their minds now? If it's a few more nights, the people all over the world will scold us for being afraid of the enemy.

The generals persuaded Wang Chong word by word, which made his original decision begin to waver. It turned out that he decided to gather the soldiers and horses in one place first and then send troops after careful deployment. In this gap, he can also send capable scouts to investigate the movements of the barbarians, so as to make the appropriate deployment. But now that the group is surging, he knows that if he continues to suppress it like this, it will only hurt the soldiers' hearts to kill the enemy, but it will not be beautiful at that time.

After some weighing, Wang Chong had to change his strategy: "There is also some truth in what you said. Presumably, the soldiers and horses from Guizhou and Yunzhou will arrive in another two days. Let's send troops first. Speaking of this, his expression became solemn: "However, because our southwest border army has not fought with the barbarians for a long time, the current situation for them is unknown. In the past few battles, we should focus on temptation. Don't be greedy and aggressive, and we must take stability as the first priority."

The generals hurriedly got up and promised, and then Wang Chong began to send troops and horses. Because the Xizhou Army was a team that fought more with the barbarians, this time they were given as pioneers, which made Xiang Cang, who was eager to give some lessons to the barbarians, happy. After receiving the military order, he quickly left Dingxi City and led his troops to continue to the west, but he left behind everything Wang Chong told him to be careful not to be greedy.

The Xizhou army moved forward, and half a day later, a scout in front of them came back to report: "The governor, ten miles ahead, we have found traces of barbarians. Brothers have sent people to investigate. Please ask the governor to decide whether to continue tracking?"

Xiang Cang didn't even think much about it, so he waved his hand and said, "Of course I have to chase it!" At the beginning, as long as these barbarians entered our western border, they could not leave calmly. How can they not chase after they killed so many of us this time?

"But the governor, the general ordered us to march as planned. If we chase too fast, I'm afraid we will distance ourselves from the generals. At that time, the barbarians will send troops to attack us, but we will be a little passive. Ruan Yong, the deputy general of Xiang Cang, reminded.

"Where are you afraid of him coming from? The purpose of our coming here is to have a good fight with them and let those barbarians know the strength of our Song border army, that is, to meet them, just fight!" After waving his hand, Xiang Cang immediately ordered: "It is said that the three armies will speed up the march and catch up with the traces left by the scouts. We will make this achievement!"

"Ye!" None of the soldiers and soldiers in Xizhou said no, and immediately 15,000 people and horses increased the speed of their march.

There are many mountains and forests in the southwest, and Song Jun is not used to drilling in and out of the mountains and forests, so they have opened up official roads in Songjing. The road that the Western Army is now on is such an official road, with dense forests on both sides. These Western State soldiers had no intention of exploring both sides at all. When they thought about it, there were scouts in front of them, and it was naturally impossible for them to have barbarian ambush here. However, they still moved forward carefully and would not be given a chance to raid from both sides.

But they didn't know that thousands of barbarians were indeed ambushed in the mountains and forests on both sides. But their purpose was not to suddenly kill when Song Jun passed by, but to have a more fierce plan, so they just watched Song Jun go west secretly on both sides.

Song Jun continued to move forward at full speed. After more than ten miles, some forward scouts rushed to report again, saying that hundreds of barbarians had been seen moving ahead. At this time, the Xizhou army would not stop. Under Xiang Cang's order, it accelerated its speed and rushed forward again, vowing to take down these barbarians who fell behind.

Because they were determined to make this achievement, the Xizhou army only cared about moving forward, but did not notice that the sky had gradually darkened, and their direction of progress had slowly deviated from the official roads of the Song Dynasty and began to go up some rugged mountain roads.

At this time, they did not know that they had fallen into a trap, waiting for them to end up being destroyed by the whole army.

Shortly after the departure of the Xizhou army, the 50,000 troops in Dingxi City also divided into three groups and began to march west. However, Wang Chong was much more cautious than Xiang Cang. After marching 30 miles, he ordered the army to camp on the pretext of getting dark. At the same time, cavalry were sent back to find the soldiers and horses of Yun and Guizhou to see if they had arrived.

After such a night of delay, early the next morning, they continued to move forward, but Wang Chong felt more and more uneasy. Although the Northwest Army is a relatively elite man in the Song Army, it is an indisputable fact that they lack actual combat experience. Now once you go to war with the barbarians, it's okay if you win, but if you lose, many people may not have the heart to maintain confidence. This battle is inespensable for them.

Thinking of this, he was even more worried about the leading Xizhou army, especially after one night, the other party did not even send a person back, which made him even feel uneasy. After thinking for a while, he opened his mouth and shouted, "Junqing!"

"The end!" Wang Junqing responded and rushed up. As the leader of the army, he was always commensurate with his father in private: "I don't know what do you want to order, the general?"

"The Xizhou Army has been out of touch with us for most of the day, and I don't know where they have been. I ordered you to lead the people of the headquarters to search, be sure to find their whereabouts, and tell them to be careful not to make wrong judgments because of impulse!"

"Ye! The last general will take people forward!" Wang Junqing did not delay and immediately ordered 100 capable scouts in his battalion and personally led the army to move forward.

At this time, in a hollow 50 miles away from them, Xiang Cang was fighting with three barbarian generals with a spear in his hand, and more than 10,000 people under his command had been killed and injured...

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There are guests at home, so the update is late, but there will be a second update in the evening, please collect it!!!!