Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 635
Near the south gate of Xingqing City, a new silk and satin shop has opened in the past two days, specializing in Song Dynasty silk and satin. Although Xixia has repeatedly fought with the Song Dynasty in the past two years, the high-level Xixia officials still love the high-end products of the Song Dynasty. Porcelain, silk, Spices, rouge, high-quality tea cakes, etc., are all favorite commodities of the upper and middle classes in Xixia.

The middle and lower classes of Xixia are also inseparable from the items of the Song Dynasty, such as ceramics, tea cakes, daily necessities, etc., so the merchants of the Song Dynasty did not have any trouble doing business in Xixia. Protected by the gods, the army and scoundrels are not allowed to extort and extort.

The business of this silk and satin shop is good. They have a relatively complete range of goods. Not only do they have all kinds of silk and satin, but if they have money, they can also buy some treasures, such as Song brocade from Suzhou, Yun brocade from Jiangning, Shu brocade from Chengdu, and Yisi from Dingzhou. Wait, but there are not many of them and they are expensive.

The name of the silk and satin shop was Song Jin, and the shopkeeper was a fat middle-aged man named Zhang. There were four or five guys under him, all from Song Dynasty. No one knew who the proprietor was.

Both the shopkeeper and the staff can speak fluent Xixia, and they are very considerate and patient in greeting guests.

Most of the customers are female customers, and many of them are noble ladies from Xixia. They came to the store specially to buy silk and satin.

"Shopkeeper, I want these three Song brocades, wrap them up for me." A tall and fat lady shouted straight.

The shopkeeper hurriedly stepped forward and put his hands together and begged, "Ma'am, didn't we agree to only pick one piece? You want to buy them all, it's hard for me!"

"I won't give you any money. If you sell it to others, you are selling it, and if you sell it to me, you are also selling it. I can't do without you for a tael of silver."

The shopkeeper said helplessly: "Madam, why don't you keep one picture! I only have three pictures here, and the samples are all gone. I will be the first to notify you when I buy next time."

The lady was reluctant, and picked left and right, leaving a picture, "Then it's settled, next time you buy, you must be the first to notify me."

"sure!"

Immediately, the noble lady ordered her attendants to settle the bill, asking for 100 taels of silver for two pieces of Song Brocade, without even frowning.

Soon it was busy until noon, when there were finally no customers in the store, the shopkeeper and the shopkeepers breathed a sigh of relief.

"Shopkeeper, the business is so good, we need to buy more goods!"

"Bullshit! There are wars everywhere now, where do we go to buy goods, let's talk about it after the war subsides a little!"

At this time, a man hurried in from the outside. When shopkeeper Zhang saw him, he immediately transferred to the backyard. The man also came to the backyard, and the two entered a room.

The man whispered: "I got the latest news. Early this morning, Xixia sent [-] troops to Hetao, including [-] cavalry and [-] infantry."

Shopkeeper Zhang nodded, "Is there any other news?"

"temporarily unavailable."

"Okay, I'll send the message right away."

This silk shop was the first intelligence agency of the Intelligence Battalion of the General Staff Division of the Song Army in Xingqing Prefecture.

Prior to this, the Song Dynasty did not pay much attention to Xixia's intelligence. For example, the Xixia Emperor Yizong died, and the Song Dynasty did not know at all.

A group of more than a dozen of them had been lurking in Xingqing City two months ago, and after slowly understanding the situation, they opened this silk shop as a cover.

Half an hour later, shopkeeper Zhang tied a tube of letters to the eagle's legs, and as soon as he let go, the goshawk flew into the sky, circled a few times, and then flew towards the northern Hetao.

.........

In just half a month, a new Wuyuan County was erected on the Hetao Plain.

The inner city is still the former Tiande City, which has not been demolished. The inner city is mainly warehouses and military barracks, and some businesses are also arranged in the inner city. The outer city has a perimeter of thirty miles, and there is still only one city gate in the south.

At the same time, the Song army diverted water from the Wuyuan River, forming a moat with a width of ten feet. The Song army built a pontoon bridge on the moat, and usually entered and exited the city from the pontoon bridge. With a wide moat, it is not easy for the Xixia army to come over.

The outer city is currently relatively empty and wide, except for some military camps, the rest are turned into training grounds and vegetable fields.

Wuyuan City has been built, and another Woye City is under construction in full swing. Woye County is to the east of Wuyuan City, about [-] miles away from Wuyuan City. The city is much smaller than Wuyuan City, just like the original Tiande City is about the same size, with a circumference of only twelve miles.

At present, the city wall has been repaired to a height of two feet. At this moment, Fan Ning received an eagle letter from Xingqing City. The Xixia court assembled [-] troops, including [-] infantry and [-] cavalry. kill.

Fan Ning immediately ordered to stop the construction of Woye City, and the [-] craftsmen immediately withdrew to Wuyuan City.

The Xixia army's first counterattack against Hetao is coming soon. The [-] Song troops in the city are ready to annihilate the Xixia army who will attack in the future under the city of Wuyuan.

On the top of the city, Fan Ning looked to the southwest with his hands behind his back. There was a beacon tower built by them over there, and he was waiting for the beacon smoke to light up.

Yang Wenguang, the lord of Wuyuan City, walked slowly to Fan Ning, and asked with a smile, "It's very interesting, the other side actually only sent 5000 troops, my lord, what do they mean?"

Fan Ning smiled lightly, "It means that Xixia has not realized our strategic intention to attack them from the north. Perhaps they thought that the Song army occupied Hetao to raise horses, and thought that there would only be a small number of Song troops here, so they I want to smash the Song army's attempt to occupy Hetao in time."

"Then how are we going to respond?"

Fan Ning looked back at Yang Wenguang and said with a smile, "You are the commander in chief, it's up to you to decide."

Yang Wenguang shook his head hastily, "The general is not the commander in chief. I am only responsible for leading troops to fight, and the specific decisions have to be made by the gentleman. This is the rule of our Song Dynasty. I dare not break this precedent."

Fan Ning didn't insist either, and smiled and said, "Then the old general will tell you what you think."

Yang Wenguang thought for a while and said: "If you want to catch big fish, you have to put a long line. Why don't we show our weakness, lure the enemy to go deep, cut off their retreat, and then annihilate them in one fell swoop."

Fan Ning nodded with a smile, "This idea is interesting, you can give it a try!"

At noon the next day, the defenders of Wuyuan City saw the beacon smoke in the distance, and the enemy finally came. Yang Wenguang made careful deployment, preparing to wipe out all the invaders on the Hetao Plain.

Fifteen thousand Xixia troops marched to Hetao in a mighty manner. Their organization was the Black Mountain Weifu Army. According to the convention, they should be stationed in the Hetao Plain. Stationed in Xingqing Prefecture.

This time Hetao was attacked by the Song army, of course they should be responsible for retaking Hetao and annihilating the Song army.

The main general of this army is called Cui Shancheng, who is about fifty years old. He once followed Li Yuanhao to capture the Hexi Corridor, fought against the Song Army many times, and has rich experience. He is the veteran of the Dangxiang Army.

But rich experience is not necessarily a good thing. Cui Shancheng has never lost a battle, so he looked down on the Song Army from the bottom of his heart. He thought that the Song Army would be defeated in one battle, and he had the idea of ​​underestimating the enemy as soon as he set off.

Cui Shancheng also didn't realize that the Song army was going to use Hetao as a strategic intention to attack Xixia. He also thought that the Song army just wanted to seize a land for raising horses, so he didn't pay much attention to tactics, and he didn't bring much dry food. God, as for the forage, there is no need for it. The Hetao Plain is full of rich pastures.

The army arrived at the south bank of the Yellow River in Hetao. At this time, some soldiers discovered the beacon fire at a height of more than ten miles away. Cui Shancheng waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about it. They are telling the grazing horses and sheep to escape in the city. Listen to my order and cross the river immediately. !"

The Xixia people are far more mature than the Liao people in playing rafts. They not only have a large number of rafts, but also have large and super-large rafts. The largest raft is equivalent to a three thousand stone warship. It is mainly used for It is used as a ferry and transports grain and grass supplies.

The Xixia army was also very good at building floating bridges with leather rafts. They connected hundreds of leather rafts into long strings and placed them vertically in the river. One end was fixed, and the other end floated to the other side of the Yellow River with the river water, and then a few piles were fixed.

Two hours later, the Xixia army built a pontoon bridge with rafts at the narrowest point of the Yellow River, covered it with planks, and the army began to cross the river quickly and continue to drive deep into the Hetao.

(End of this chapter)