Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 413

After nearly half a month of trekking, Fan Ning and his party arrived at Yan'an Mansion. The military and government officials of Yan'an Mansion specially helped Fan Ning clean up the dust. Early the next morning, Yan'an Road Zhijun Gao Zunyu personally accompanied Fan Ning to the Suide Army.

Gao Zunyu is the eldest grandson of the famous general Gao Qiong, and also the uncle of Zhao Zongshi Princess Gao Taotao. When Fan Ning got married, his brother Gao Zunfu sent Fan Ning 3000 taels of silver as a gift, which was exactly what Gao Zunyu meant.

As a result, the Gao family obtained the right to mine gold in Kunzhou, and they have made a fortune in the past two years.

Because of several relationships, Gao Zunyu was also very enthusiastic about Fan Ning's arrival, and accompanied them all the way. Two days later, they arrived at Mijiayu near the border.

This is a typical Loess Plateau, with undulating mountains and many depressions. Mijiayu is one of the largest depressions, which is more than ten miles wide and stretches for nearly a hundred miles. If you walk eastward for more than fifty miles, you will reach the Suide Army’s camp. station.

"Although Xixia signed a covenant with Song Dynasty, it does not mean that they have stopped. There are no large-scale wars, but small-scale frictions often occur. It is called threshing grass, which I learned from the Khitan people.

A few days ago, hundreds of Xixia cavalrymen crossed the border to snatch slaves. They fought a fierce battle with us and killed more than 100 Xixia cavalrymen. We only killed more than [-] people. "

"How often do conflicts like this with hundreds of people happen?" Fanning asked.

"This is not necessarily the case. The main reason is that there are more people in summer and autumn. They come to rob people in summer and food in autumn. They come almost every few days. Especially the garrison of those castles are very lonely, so they will take risks to rob women."

"How far is the farthest into the Song Dynasty?"

"It won't be very far. They are also afraid if they go too far. We will cut off their retreat, usually up to fifty miles, mainly at night. At first, we were exhausted, but now we have found the pattern. They are here. , we lay in ambush on their retreat and fight their ambush."

"But the common people are miserable, and they will go back after all."

"It can't be helped, but there are very few Han people in the frontier, and the Han people have all entered the city. The area near the border is mainly Qiang people, and the unlucky ones are also Qiang people."

As soon as Gao Zunyu finished speaking, a soldier pointed to the front and shouted: "General, look ahead!"

I saw dust flying in front of me, billowing yellow dust like thick smoke, gradually approaching this side, Gao Zunyu's face suddenly became serious, and not long after, nearly a hundred people on horseback approached from a distance, including men, women, and children in my arms.

The soldiers immediately recognized it, "General, they are Qiang people."

"No, there are still pursuers behind!"

Behind the hundreds of Qiang people, the dust was still flying, and Gao Zunyu immediately realized that they had encountered the Xixia Army's sentries threshing grain and grass.

"Everyone come with me!"

Gao Zunyu turned around and rushed to another path. There were only about thirty of them in total, especially those with high-ranking court officials, so they really didn't dare to take risks.

The path ran higher and higher, and finally reached the top of the mountain. The view here was wide open, and there was a cavalry troop rushing towards this side, more than ten miles ahead. There were about two hundred people, all of them were in black. attire.

"Is it the Iron Kite Army?" Fanning asked in a low voice.

Gao Zunyu shook his head, "The iron kite army is heavy armored cavalry. There are not many of them. They are only responsible for protecting the king. They won't appear here. This should be the capture army."

"What do you mean by the captured army?"

Gao Zunyu sneered and said: "It is an army dedicated to catching slaves. The Xixia nobles like to keep slaves and use slaves to mine salt and mine. Slaves have always been the means for Xixia to make money, so Xixia set up a special army to catch slaves, which is called capture. There are about tens of thousands of people in the army, and I don’t know how many Song Dynasty people have been captured over the years, and there are as many as 10,000+ salt slaves alone.”

Gao Zunyu was very cautious. He didn't want to be targeted by the Xixia cavalry, so he waved his hand and said, "Let's go!"

The crowd turned their horses and left the top of the mountain, galloping towards the north, they could only take a detour to the Suide Army.
Two hours later, they bypassed the Xixia Captured Army, came down from the top of the mountain, and continued northward along Mijiayu, walking for more than [-] li. The exit of Mijiayu was in front of them. Gao Zunyu suddenly reined in his horse .

I saw an army appearing in front, about a thousand people, headed by a majestic general, behind him was flying a flag with large Song characters written on it, they were indeed the Song army.

"Ha! It's Mr. Zhongjia!"

Gao Zunyu recognized the leading general, waved his hands and shouted: "General Zhong!"

The general on the opposite side also recognized Gao Zunyu, and urged his horse to gallop towards him. He got off his horse, knelt down on one knee and apologized: "The last general will see Gao Zhijun!"

"Please, General Zhong, let me introduce you to a high-ranking court official, Zuo Jianyi doctor Fan Zhiyuan, who came to inspect the Suide army."

Fan Ning nodded with a smile. The general on the other side was very surprised. He didn't expect this high-ranking court official to be so young, so he didn't dare to neglect.

Gao Zunyu introduced to Fan Ning: "This is General Zhong Guzhong, the commander of the Suide Army, and the eldest son of the old general Zhong Shiheng."

Fan Ning suddenly realized that Zhong Shiheng was the founder of the Zhong Family Army, and his descendants were even more famous as teachers.

Fan Ning also saluted and said with a smile: "I am patrolling the Yan'an Mansion according to the order of the emperor, to understand the opinions of the army and the people, and especially to listen to the thoughts of the soldiers of the Suide Army. I also hope that General Zhong will cooperate."

"Humble staff must fully assist Fan Zhiyuan."

After Zhong Gu finished speaking, he asked Gao Zunyu anxiously, "Didn't Zhijun encounter a Xixia army just now?"

"Of course we did. It's just that we took a detour up the mountain to avoid them. Could it be that General Zhong wants to cut off the Xixia army's retreat?"

Zhong Gu nodded, "The humble officer brought two thousand brothers here just to wipe out this Western Xia cavalry."

"But you only have a thousand soldiers!" Fan Ning asked puzzled.

Zhong Gu smiled slightly, "There are still a thousand soldiers lying in ambush on the other side of the Taniguchi, waiting for the enemy to take the bait!"

At this time, there was a dazzling light flashing on the top of the mountain, which was a signal that the messenger soldier used the mirror to reflect the sunlight, which meant that the enemy army was back.

Zhong Gu hurriedly said: "The enemy army has come, please Zhijun and Fan Zhiyuan wait behind, and see how the humble officer can completely wipe out this army."

Gao Zunyu didn't grab command, he nodded to Fan Ning and said, "Let's go to the back to watch the battle!"

He took Fan Ning and ran behind the soldiers. Fan Ning was very interested. Although he also led the army to fight in Japan, it was the first time he saw the Song army and the Xixia army fighting in the hinterland of the Song Dynasty.

Fan Ning smiled slightly and said, "Let the brothers fight hard, and I will ask the emperor for credit for them!"

When Gao Zunyu spread the word, the morale of the three armies was boosted, and the frontier army was afraid that they would not be rewarded for their meritorious service. With Fan Ning, a high-ranking official, their morale was immediately boosted, and they geared up to wait for the arrival of the enemy.

Fan Ning looked at Taniguchi, and it was five miles wide, but the Song army only controlled one mile on the right. Even if there were still 1000 people ambushing on the left, there was still a gap in the middle. How could they block it?
Gao Zunyu understood Fan Ning's thoughts, and said in a low voice: "The middle part is covered with barbed wire, and the horses can't get through it."

Gao Zunyu took out a piece of iron thorn from the horse bag and handed it to Fan Ning. Fan Ning focused on this black thorn. In the middle was an iron egg the size of a quail egg, with a sharp and flat iron thorn cast on three sides. The three thorns are symmetrical. No matter how you throw it, there will be an iron thorn upward after landing, which can directly penetrate into the horse's hoof. In a narrow passage, this sharp weapon is extremely powerful.

"If the impact fails, will they withdraw?" Fanning asked again.

Gao Zunyu smiled slightly, "That's because you don't understand the Xixia army. They didn't say retreat, especially the cavalry. Retreat means defeat, which is a great shame to them, but they don't want to fight to the death. When they find that they can't break through the encirclement, It’s too late when you think about retreating.”

"The Gaozhi army knows the Xixia army very well!"

"Of course!"

Gao Zunyu said triumphantly: "I have dealt with them for so many years, and I already know the bottom line!"

Just as they were talking, more than two hundred Xixia cavalry appeared several miles away. They did not catch up with the group of Qiang herdsmen. They also found Fan Ning and his party on the top of the mountain at that time, which made the Xixia cavalry a little worried, so they did not go deep. Song Jing, after chasing for dozens of miles without any results, turned around and returned.

The Xixia cavalry group was getting closer and closer. More than 1000 soldiers of the Song Army raised their crossbows and aimed at the murderous Xixia cavalry.

(End of this chapter)