People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 296 Li Yuanhao can’t hold himself any longer

In the fourth year of Qingli in the Song Dynasty, in September 1044 AD, a hundred thousand troops from Xixia invaded Qingtang, but were bravely repelled by the Song army.

Li Yuanhao withdrew his troops to the mouth of the river. After reorganizing his troops, he withdrew to Zhuo La City.

He could no longer continue attacking Qingtang.

First of all, Lanzhou City was defeated. Although the losses were not much, thousands of people were killed by muskets and cannons, but the morale of the army fell to the bottom.

Secondly, because Lanzhou City was not taken as soon as possible, the news had already spread, and both Xi Siluo and Da Song knew the situation.

The previous transfer envoy of Qin Feng Road was Wen Yanbo, and now the new transfer envoy is Yang Kai, the former deputy transfer envoy.

In the early Northern Song Dynasty, there were fifteen roads in the country, of which there was only one in the northwest, which was Shaanxi Road.

During the Song-Xia War, the imperial court divided the original Shaanxi Road into five roads: Qinfeng, Fuyan, Huanqing, Jingyuan, and Yongxingjun Roads.

At the same time, five transport envoys, pacification envoys and recruiting envoys were set up, under the unified command of Shaanxi Road Economic Envoy Fan Zhongyan.

Among them, the three roads of Fuyan, Huanqing and Jingyuan were the large area west of Yan'an and east of Guyuan in later generations.

Qinfeng Road was southeast of Lanzhou and northwest of Baoji in later generations, including Tianshui City, Dingxi City, Tongwei County, Huining County and other places, and bordered Lanzhou controlled by the Qingtang regime.

Because Qinfeng Road is located in the west, it did not become Li Yuanhao's attack point when the Song and Xia wars began, so it has been relatively peaceful.

Only three groups, namely, Fuyan, Huanqing and Jingyuan, participated in the war.

Yang Kai had never had a chance to fight before, and he had long wanted to make a contribution. When he heard that Xixia was starting a war again, he made a prompt decision and immediately dispatched troops and generals to help.

Unexpectedly, before the army set off, they heard news of victory coming from below.

This shocked him.

But since war is about to begin, we must not be timid.

Immediately, he personally led more than 30,000 troops from Qinzhou, which was the city of Tianshui in the future, to the west to Xishi Town, which was the Yuzhong County area under the jurisdiction of Lanzhou in the future.

At the same time, Zunsiluo also learned about the attack on Lanzhou, and he also gathered 50,000 men and followed the Huangshui River eastward to the mouth of the river.

The mouth of this river was called Kaluochuan in the Song Dynasty, and later became the Zhuanglang River in Yongdeng County. It was the intersection of the Zhuanglang River and the Yellow River.

The Song Dynasty and the Qingtang regime formed a pincer-shaped offensive from the east and west, from the southeast and southwest, against Li Yuanhao in the north of Zhuolu City, that is, in the direction of Yongdeng County.

This makes Li Yuanhao, who is in a new state of defeat, even worse.

Although the total number of the coalition forces is about 80,000, even if you include the more than 10,000 people in Lanzhou City, they are still less than 100,000, which is comparable to Li Yuanhao's current strength.

The problem is that Li Yuanhao was stunned by the battle in Lanzhou City. He didn't know where he lost and he didn't dare to fight again.

So he could only hide in the city.

On September 8th, after returning from Lanzhou to Zhuolu City after defeat, Li Yuanhao was already in a very bad mood.

He wanted to kill people in a rage, but he knew that getting angry at will at this time when the military's morale was weakened would only cause separation between the superiors and subordinates, so he could only endure it.

In Zhuoluo City, Li Yuanhao's face was so gloomy that he could drip water. The clan generals such as Fangdang and Fei Ting were not present. During the meeting, he would only discuss with a few confidants and the Yeli clan.

In the city lord's mansion, everyone gathered in the hall, but no one spoke. The atmosphere was decidedly silent.

In fact, they could predict that if the Song army attacked on a large scale, they might be defeated.

After all, if the Song army dared to carry out reforms in such a big way, it must have something to rely on.

The firearms camp is what they rely on.

The reason why Li Yuanhao attacked Qingtang was actually to test the strength of the mysterious firearms battalion.

What everyone didn't expect was that they lost so miserably.

Fifty thousand people besieged Lanzhou, but were beaten to a pulp.

If Li Yuanhao hadn't deployed another 30,000 people at the mouth of the river to support him, there would still be 20,000 people guarding Zhuoluo City. I am afraid that based on the level of defeat on the front line, they may have been wiped out by the Song Army and Xisiluo.

What a shame!

"Your Majesty."

After being silent for a long time, Zhang Yuancai said in a hoarse voice: "At least in this battle, we did find out the reality of the firearms camp. They only have a few thousand people, and they can stop the siege of tens of thousands of our cavalry."

"Yes, fortunately we did not attack the Song Dynasty directly, otherwise our cavalry would have just died in the face of so many of their firearms battalions."

"Their firearms battalion can kill people at a distance of one to two hundred steps. Although it is not as far away as the artillery, it is extremely difficult for our artillery to turn. Once they attack from the rear, the artillery will have no effect on them."

"We must find a way to get such a weapon. Otherwise, we will never be able to defeat the Song Dynasty."

After the chatterbox opened, Yang Su, Yeli Wangrong, Yeli Yuqi and others spoke one after another.

In essence, this battle is to test the strength of the firearms camp.

If you see that the situation is not good, retreat immediately. If you find that you can fight, notify the Liao State to attack the Song Dynasty together.

What made Li Yuanhao collapse was that they originally thought they would be unable to retreat at best, but they were crushed to pieces by one or two thousand people.

Losing too quickly and cowardly is really hard to accept.

But this also reflects from the side that the firearms battalion of the Song Dynasty is indeed powerful. If they do not have muskets, it is obviously a very irrational thing to fight against the Song Dynasty.

"Hoohoo."

Li Yuanhao took a few deep breaths, turned his head and asked Ye Li Yuqi: "Have the soldiers below clearly seen what they are using?"

"It's a long tube, and things can be shot out of the tube. I suspect this thing is a small artillery."

Yeli Yuqi made a gesture and said: "The craftsman said that artillery is the gunpowder that burns to shoot out the shells. If the artillery is reduced to the point where people can hold it, and the shells are also reduced a lot, this should be the case. "

The principle of muskets is the same as that of artillery. When the firearms battalion is fighting, the steel gun in the hand will also produce a lot of smoke when it is fired, so that when the white smoke is thick, it can even submerge the entire firearms battalion.

Therefore, the Xixia army would only see a sheet of white smoke shrouded a hundred or two hundred steps away, with banging sounds from time to time, and then their comrades around them fell one after another.

This is very similar to the scene when an artillery position fires a cannon. The cannon also emits a lot of thick fog. The difference is that the person is holding a small steel pipe.

Therefore, when the soldiers below reported the situation layer by layer, these people could actually think of the principle of muskets.

"You mean, that thing is a shrunken cannon?"

Li Yuanhao was shocked.

"Yes."

Yeli Yuqi nodded.

Li Yuanhao suddenly started thinking rapidly.

As the king of field battles, artillery has been imitated by the Xixia and Liao people since its inception.

Due to the serious corruption in the Song Dynasty army, they actually bought a lot of them, which were disassembled by craftsmen and studied thoroughly.

Now it seems that Da Song is already ahead of them again.

"If it's just the same as artillery, does that mean we can also imitate it?"

Li Yuanhao asked hurriedly.

Yang Su said: "If we give the craftsmen some time, it should be feasible."

"Ah."

Li Yuanhao nodded slightly after hearing this and said: "If I, Daxia, had such firearms, I wouldn't be afraid of the Song Dynasty."

Zhang Yuan reminded: "Your Majesty, we still need to go back and discuss the firearms matter. Now the Liao Kingdom has given us a lot of sulfur. Whether it is cannons or this new long tube, we can make them in the future. The problem now is now."

"Well"

Li Yuanhao pondered. The problem at hand was that both Qingtang Zasiluo and Da Song had already sent troops.

This is not something that can be solved by withdrawing his troops.

Because they are about to attack Zhuo La City, it is a question whether they will let him go back, let alone whether there will be a chance to make firearms in the future.

Although Li Yuanhao thought that his long guns were powerful in field battles, he put the remaining cannons on Zhuolu City, so the enemy should not be able to get in. But the problem is that if the Song Dynasty is angered, what should the firearms battalion attack from the border?

Therefore, the top priority now is to calm down the anger of Song Dynasty. This is diplomatic mediation.

Li Yuanhao immediately said: "Then I will immediately send someone to report to Emperor Song to express that this is all a misunderstanding."

"Your Majesty."

Zhang Yuan smiled bitterly and said: "If our army only suffered a small defeat, maybe they would still be afraid, but..."

"But what?"

"But we were defeated by one or two thousand people. The Song Dynasty will definitely look down on us. If we go to the table again at that time, the Song Dynasty will definitely impose various conditions."

"what do you mean?"

Li Yuanhao looked at him with a gloomy look. Although he also wanted to go to war, it was all because of Zhang Yuan's instigation.

Zhang Yuan didn't notice Li Yuanhao's gaze, and lowered his head and fell into deep thought.

This is actually a question of initiative.

If they go to the table first, then the initiative will be in the hands of Song Dynasty, and Song Dynasty will definitely take advantage of them.

The best situation is that the Song Dynasty issues an edict to warn them first, so that they can find out the attitude of the Song Dynasty. The initiative lies in Xixia's hands, and Xixia can respond with words.

It doesn't matter if he lowers his posture a little. What he fears most is the threat of force from the Song Dynasty.

So after Zhang Yuan thought deeply, he said cautiously: "I thought that for the time being, I would send someone to contact Yang Kai, the envoy of Qin Feng Road, to express our intentions and hope that he could withdraw his troops first. As for Xisiluo, without the support of the Song Dynasty, we will not Dare to attack our Daxia."

"Is that right?"

Li Yuanhao asked.

"Yes."

Zhang Yuan nodded.

"Ah."

Li Yuanhao said: "That's it."

He immediately sent an envoy to Xishizhen, hoping to communicate with Yang Kai.

Yang Kai had not yet received the order from the imperial court and did not dare to make the decision without authorization, so he did not reply immediately but reported it to the imperial court.

This has nothing to do with whether the general is willing to fight or not.

It is simply that the Song Dynasty court never gave frontline generals the opportunity to make their own decisions.

"If the general is outside, the emperor's orders will be ignored" at least did not work in the Song Dynasty.

So far, there is only one person who has the convenience of being able to make decisions without going through court consultations, and that is Fan Zhongyan, the current Comrade of the Constitutional Yuan.

Therefore, when faced with Li Yuanhao's desire to communicate, he directly refused, continued to station troops in the West City, and also communicated with several other transit envoys.

The post of Shaanxi Road Economic Envoy was a temporary position. After Fan Zhongyan came back, no one took the post, and the Fifth Route Envoy was on the same level.

Zhao Jun thought that Liao Xia was about to attack again this time, and originally planned to let Pang Ji go, but now it seems that the situation cannot be fought, so he will wait and see for the time being. Therefore, Yang Kai's superior is the imperial court.

But it didn't take long for Yang Kai to stop worrying. The order from the Constitutional Yuan was quickly issued. Just like what he chose now, he ignored Li Yuanhao and continued the confrontation.

By late September, Li Yuanhao suddenly became impatient when he saw that there was no movement from Yang Kai and that the Song Dynasty court did not take the initiative to issue an order to issue orders. They seemed to continue to fight to the end.

The Song Dynasty was so powerful that it could maintain military confrontation.

He can't.

Even if we have become a little richer in the past few years, if a hundred thousand soldiers are eating horses and not going back to graze, the country's strength will inevitably decline in the long run.

Therefore, Li Yuanhao could only obey Zhang Yuan's wishes and immediately sent an envoy to Liao for help.

But water far away cannot save the fire nearby.

What's more, the power of the firearms battalion has been demonstrated. As long as the Liao Kingdom is not stupid, it is impossible to end. The most they can do is help mediate.

So at this time, Li Yuanhao was a little bit stuck.

The main reason is that I still can't figure out the attitude of the Song Dynasty court.

Say fight.

It seems that the other party has not mobilized a large army to garrison the border.

Say no to fighting.

But he had no intention of retreating.

Nor communicate with him.

This made Li Yuanhao uneasy and didn't know what to do.

As a last resort, he could only continue to send people to communicate with Yang Kai, and his words became more humble every time.

From the beginning, I just said it was a misunderstanding, and I hope Da Song will not take it to heart.

Even now, there is even a vague intention of apologizing.

It's a pity that Yang Kai always adheres to the attitude of ignoring, not rejecting, not agreeing, not communicating, and not meeting each other, and does not give Li Yuanhao any face.

Now the offense and defense have changed.

In the past, the Song Dynasty had to win over Xixia to check and balance the Liao Kingdom.

Therefore, both Zhenzong and Zhao Zhen of the early Song Dynasty had to be kind to Xixia, fearing that they would collude with the Liao Kingdom.

Now everyone in the Song Dynasty has discovered that not to mention your little Xixia, even the Liao Kingdom has to obediently pay compensation in front of Fan Zhongyan, the military god of the Song Dynasty, and dare not claim the throne.

Coupled with the propaganda of newspapers and Di newspapers, the confidence that the Song Dynasty had lost since the Battle of Chanzhou was regained step by step.

Both the people and the officials have increased their confidence and fighting spirit.

After several years of recuperation, many people believe that the Song Dynasty is now strong enough to easily deal with Xixia and Liao, and there are noisy calls for war to destroy Liao and Xixia.

If Zhao Jun hadn't planned to completely reform the army in the past two years and greatly improve the combat effectiveness of the army before launching the war to exterminate Xia and Liao, I'm afraid he would have probably followed public opinion and started a war.

Therefore, when the Northwest Army faced Xixia, its attitude was quite arrogant. Yang Kai did not take Li Yuanhao seriously at all and continued to follow the court's orders and leave Li Yuanhao alone.

This situation lasted until two months later, in December of the fourth year of Qingli. After another military meeting, Li Yuanhao had to start thinking about a plan to formally apologize to Zhao Zhen.

Because at this military meeting, Fang Dang, Fei Ting and other generals complained to him one after another.

These generals are said to be subordinate generals, but in fact they are chiefs of various tribes. For example, Fangdang Qiuhu is the leader of Dangxiang Fangdang tribe, and Feitingguxi is the leader of Feiting tribe.

Li Yuanhao's so-called army was actually a military operation of burning, killing and looting led by his Dangxiang Weiming tribe and the other Dangxiang clan tribes.

If the war goes well, these tribes will naturally obey Li Yuanhao's leadership.

If it doesn't go well, then naturally everyone has different intentions.

So this complaint is said to be a complaint, but in fact it is still putting pressure on him.

After all, the leader of the Dangxiang tribe was no longer willing to fight against the Song Dynasty after several defeats.

This time I came out thinking I was just fighting Qingtang.

Now that the Song Dynasty is involved, and the long-term confrontation will only cause serious internal strife, they and the Song Dynasty cannot afford to use up their national power, and the cattle and sheep of each tribe have to be sold to the Song Dynasty.

Once the Song Dynasty becomes angry and cuts off mutual trade, all tribes will have to drink from the northwest wind this year. Therefore, everyone hopes for a ceasefire and is unwilling to continue fighting.

Li Yuanhao was already riding a tiger, but now he couldn't stand it any longer. He had no choice but to give up the initiative and sent someone directly to Yang Kai to express his hope of communicating with Zhao Zhen.

He also expressed his hope to sincerely communicate with the Song Dynasty court.

　I have something to do out of town. I took a car for more than 6 hours. The update is late. I will code more tonight. I hope I can finish the work early tomorrow and go back early. It feels uncomfortable.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)