People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 313 The Heavenly Army of the Song Dynasty!

Take the main road straight to Langzhou, then forcibly break through the heavily guarded Yongji Pass ancient road, and finally forcibly attack Thanglong, the capital of the Li Dynasty?

After listening to Di Qing's words, Nong Zhigao felt his head was buzzing, his eyes were blurred, and he was a little dazed.

I have seen arrogant people, but never such arrogant people.

You must know that the Li Dynasty is no better than the Xixia and Liao Kingdoms. There may be some gap between the Li Dynasty and them in terms of combat power, but in terms of terrain, Li Yue has an absolute advantage.

He couldn't help but said to Di Qing: "General, isn't this a little too rash?"

As he spoke, Nong Zhigao pointed to the map and drew a line around Yongji Pass: "After leaving Yongji Pass here, we have Menzhou on the border of the Song Dynasty. There is Menzhou Pass in the rear, which is controlled by Jiaozhi. The road leads directly to Langzhou, but although the road is relatively smooth, it is surrounded by high mountains on both sides and a straight road in the middle.”

"It's not like we don't have spies in the area. According to their reports, Lieutenant General Guo Shengyi of the Li Dynasty is already heavily guarded here. If they want to forcibly detain the border, they only need to set up an ambush on the mountains on both sides. Isn't it the same as committing suicide?"

The terrain of Xixia and Liao Kingdoms is flat, and there are not many geographical advantages for both sides. Even the cities owned by the Song Dynasty may be more advantageous in non-field wars.

The Li Chao side is full of mountains. Although after passing the mountains in the northern part of the Red River Delta, there is the endless Red River Plain.

But it is these mountains that are sad.

After all, since ancient times, there is only one path to the absolute path, which is very dangerous.

This kind of road cannot be opened by one man or ten thousand people. Just by occupying the choke points, you can block thousands of troops from outside with a small number of troops.

The most typical example is that Jiang Wei occupied Jianmen Pass, and Zhonghui's army of more than 100,000 people outside the pass was unable to move even an inch. If Deng Ai had not led 5,000 men and horses to sneak across the Yinping Trail and take Chengdu, I am afraid that another 100,000 Ji Han would not be able to perish.

The same is true for the Yongjiguan Ancient Road.

Although the combat effectiveness of the Li Dynasty's troops and horses is not necessarily high, with such a dangerous terrain, unless the army goes south, how can it forcibly break through such a desperate way without much advantage in military strength?

But Di Qing also had a reason. Today's wars are not fought with cold weapons like in the past. If the enemy occupies the mountains, they will occupy the mountains. With so many mountains along the way, can they all be occupied?

As long as a cannon is set up on the opposite mountain, no matter how many forts the enemy builds, how steep the pass is, or how many troops the opponent has, it will all be destroyed with one cannon.

So Di Qing just smiled and said: "We know what we don't know. Although we only have 10,000 people, our combat power is extraordinary. We are also better at fighting in mountains. They like to be in the mountains, and we can beat them until they have nowhere to hide." .”

"Forehead"

Nong Zhigao was even more puzzled, but seeing that Di Qing was quite confident, he did not dare to argue with him, so he could only say: "General, please don't be careless."

"Don't worry, I have a strategy of my own."

Di Qing responded, and then said: "Although we have a strategy to attack the enemy, we still need to actually observe the terrain. Tongzhi is familiar with the enemy's situation. I hope Tongzhi will take me to see it tomorrow."

"Are you going tomorrow?"

Yang Cha couldn't help but said: "Yongzhou is still four hundred miles away from Yongji Pass. The general has been here all the way. Do you want to rest first?"

"It doesn't matter, we can go ahead and station ourselves in Guanzhong. Once I have observed the terrain, we can officially send out troops. Your Majesty and the Governor want me to fight quickly, and I don't want to delay it for too long."

Di Qing waved his hand.

June is the hot time in Guangxi right now, and there are a lot of mosquitoes. He is worried about epidemic diseases in the army, so it is best to solve it quickly, and he does not want to delay it.

Seeing Di Qing's insistence, Yang Cha had no choice but to respond: "I hope the general will take the overall situation first and not take risks easily."

"That's natural."

Di Qing responded, and then everyone chatted about some things before the meeting ended.

After the meeting, everyone was in different moods.

Yang Cha knew that firearms were powerful, but he had never seen them on the battlefield, so he didn't know whether an army of 10,000 firearms could be effective.

Nong Zhigao, on the other hand, had never even heard of it, let alone seen it. Transportation in the southwest was inconvenient and information was limited. Especially since he was not a court official before, but was just a border minority leader, it was even more impossible for him to know about the existence of firearms.

Therefore, seeing that only 10,000 people came from the imperial court, I couldn't help but be a little pessimistic about this expedition.

It's just that Di Qing seems to be full of confidence. He seems to think that with the tens of thousands of people in Guangxi and the manpower in Dali, he can destroy the important pass of Jiaozhi guarded by tens of thousands of troops.

Let Nong Zhigao inevitably evaluate him as arrogant in his heart.

"Alright."

"This Di Qing thinks that the Song Dynasty defeated Liao and Xixia, so he is so arrogant. If he is allowed to have a bloody encounter, he will know how powerful he is."

"When the time comes, report it to the court. Since I have already dissuaded you, it has nothing to do with me."

"Then the imperial court saw that only 10,000 people could not defeat Jiaozhi. Maybe they were even more furious and sent 200,000 heavy troops. Only in this way can Jiaozhi be completely destroyed."

After leaving the prefecture government office and returning to his Tongzhi government office, Nong Zhigao thought to himself.

So, everyone had their own thoughts, and the night passed.

Early the next morning, Di Qing took 300 people on the road lightly, and headed towards Pingxiang Cave under the leadership of Nong Zhigao.

Pingxiang Cave is Pingxiang City in later generations.

On the Song-Vietnam border, there were quite a few Jisizhou in this area, more than ten of them, among which Menzhou was the Tongdeng town of Vietnam in later generations.

Like Dali, the Song Dynasty and Vietnam were not directly connected, but there were a large number of ethnic minority tribes in between. The market towns formed by these tribes belonged to the Song Dynasty in name, but in fact they were autonomous.

The Li Dynasty adopted strategies such as co-opting, dividing, and squeezing these border tribes, so that the local tribesmen were disgusted and raised troops to resist. This led to the rise of Nong Zhigao.

It's just that I feel a little ashamed to say it.

These areas have been the territory of the Central Plains Dynasty since ancient times, but the guardians of important passes such as Yongji Pass are not the Song army, but ethnic minorities on the border.

They were caught between the two countries and were unable to stop Li Chao's attacks, resulting in frequent border losses.

Before the Li Dynasty conquered Yongzhou in history, the Li Dynasty sent troops to harass border checkpoints many times and plundered Menzhou, Dongzhou, Xiashi, Pingxiang, Xizhou, Shangshi, Xipingzhou and other border states of the Song Dynasty. pose a serious threat to border residents.

If this were not the case, Nong Zhigao would not have been able to raise his arms and respond to hundreds of responses, and develop tens of thousands of troops from a mere few thousand in a very short period of time.

They were all border ethnic minorities who were oppressed by the Li Dynasty and rose up to resist.

Nong Zhigao's prestige on the border is actually average now. In history, he needed to resist the Li Dynasty many times and recruit troops many times. After becoming stronger and stronger, he was respected by the surrounding border tribes such as Nong and Huang.

At this time he was not at the point where he would be later.

However, his father, Nong Quanfu, had a high prestige. He used to be the largest ethnic minority force in the border areas and led various tribes to resist Li Yue.

Therefore, Nong Zhigao knew many tribal leaders on the border. For the sake of his dead father, the leaders of the various tribes in the caves would basically give him face.

With him leading the way, the journey was very smooth.

Di Qing came out of Yongzhou and walked for about ten days, passing through Guwan (Fusui), Taiping (Chongzuo), Siming (Ningming) and other major states, and finally arrived at a place more than ten miles away from Pingxiang Cave. Outside Xizhou.

This road is actually full of roads, and there are many plain areas. For example, Taiping Prefecture and Siming Prefecture are places with many plains and fertile soil. Many tribes live here, and there are even many Han people. With these border ethnic groups, they have formed a situation where I am among you, and you are among me.

But Di Qing still walked for more than ten days, not because the road was difficult. But there were too many forests, and Nong Zhigao had to introduce the local leader to him every time he went, so it was delayed for some time.

I have to say that although it is a plain area, there are too many trees. Later Ningming had an area of ​​3705 square kilometers, most of which was plain. But at this time, most of the area was covered with forests, and the endless forest sea seemed to have no end in sight.

It’s no wonder that in ancient times, all the wood supplied to the imperial court had to be transported from Guangxi in the southwest. The richness of this wood resource is really amazing.

Di Qing was born in Fenzhou, Shanxi. He got into a fight at the age of 16 and was incorporated into the Bianliang Forbidden Army. He had never seen such a boundless forest sea, and he was amazed along the way. But he kept such a strange terrain in mind, thinking about how he should deploy his troops if he came here to fight.

In early July, he and Nong Zhigao arrived in Xizhou.

Just hearing about such-and-such a cave on the border, I would have thought that these ethnic minority tribes all live in caves.

But in fact, the cave can also be said to be a cave, which is a local administrative name. Correspondingly, it is a bit like a township in the Song Dynasty, and its scale is no different from a town.

Xizhou is just a street as a town, and the local villagers live in the mountains and farm. The leader of Xizhou's ethnic minorities, the state owner Huang Yingwen, cannot be said to be a leader of ethnic minorities, but more like a local landlord.

He wears silk and satin worn by Han people, lives in a large mansion where wealthy Han people live, and behaves and speaks in the same way as Han people.

This is also the norm for ethnic minority leaders on the southwest border. Except for the ethnic minorities who still live in the mountains and live a traditional life, the ethnic minorities who came down from the mountains were basically very Chinese. In later generations, many Han people with the surname Huang in the Southwest actually had their ancestors from these ethnic minorities.

Huang Yingwen warmly entertained Di Qing and Nong Zhigao, and then personally took them to Pingxiang Cave, met with Qin Dafu, the cave owner of Pingxiang Cave, and introduced them to the local situation.

July 9th, morning time. On the official road north of Yongji Pass, a team of more than a thousand people rode horses and moved forward slowly.

Di Qing raised his head and looked at the surrounding mountains. In fact, the surrounding mountains were not high, only a few dozen meters high and the highest was less than a hundred meters high. However, the trees were as lush as the sea, the roadside was overgrown with weeds, and the official road was wide but undulating. , walking is still very difficult.

Mule and horse caravans can often be seen on the Song-Vietnam border, which is not very prosperous.

However, when the Song Dynasty fully opened up trade and encouraged commercial development, many Guangxi businessmen still went to Vietnam to purchase spices, ivory, and jewelry for sale back home.

The appearance of this group of Song troops on war horses at the border naturally attracted the attention of many people. However, as a general, Di Qing could not be so stupid and unprepared. The outer perimeter was defended by Nong Zhigao's local troops, while the inner circle was kept vigilant by the musketeers.

Once a battle breaks out, unless Nong Zhigao suddenly rebels, as long as the troops outside delay for a few seconds, the loaded musketeers will fire immediately, which is enough to deal with any force except the main force of the Li Dynasty. .

Now that Nong Zhigao has been rewarded by the imperial court and became a local official, it is naturally impossible and unwilling to rebel - how can being a rebel be as comfortable as being an official of the imperial court?

So Di Qing is very safe.

The local indigenous people did not attack them, but got along extremely well with them.

They inspected Yongji Pass, and Di Qing saw the dilapidated pass. Although the city walls were still there, they were already mottled and cracked. Many places had simply lost their barriers and were reduced to ruins.

Di Qing's attention was entirely on the terrain. In the next few days, he continued to observe the terrain, draw maps, and determine the main direction of attack on Li Chao.

At the same time, Yang Cha also began to mobilize troops and horses, contacting various ministries and asking them to send troops to gather in Xizhou.

The main force of the firearms army also began to move southwest.

It was just that a small Song army was stationed near Yongji Pass, which naturally attracted the attention of Guo Shengyi in Langzhou.

After all, there were people coming and going across the border, and many Vietnamese went to Song Dynasty to do business, so the news quickly reached Langzhou.

Guo Shengyi was very surprised to learn that a Song army had arrived at the border, and that a large number of troops and horses were also mobilized within the Song Kingdom. Could it be that His Majesty's tribute to the Song Emperor did not calm the Song Emperor's anger?

He hesitated for a moment.

After hesitation, he decided to incite the rebellion of the ethnic minorities attached to the Li Dynasty on the border, attack the Song army team, and test the enemy's situation.

On July 19, at midnight, Di Qing's team was stationed on a hilly slope north of Pingxiang Cave, which would later become the Fort Scenic Spot in Pingxiang City.

After they set up camp there, each military camp was sealed with mosquito nets. When sleeping at night, they burned mugwort and mugwort to use smoke to repel mosquitoes, or spread patchouli and mint to prevent mosquito bites.

But even so, there are sometimes so many mosquitoes in this jungle that people can be carried away. It was barely okay when I was sleeping in the tent, but it was absolutely terrible when I got out of the tent.

In the evening, several soldiers in the camp were lighting mugwort. Someone scratched his itch and said, "There are too many mosquitoes in the southwest. I looked up yesterday and saw a cloud of mosquitoes above my head. It almost scared me to death." "

"The newspaper said that the disease is caused by the bites of these mosquitoes. In this hot weather, we must cover every part of our body, for fear that we will die from the heat even if we are not bitten by mosquitoes."

"The southwest is not a place for people."

They were complaining.

Suddenly there was a loud noise outside, and all kinds of shouts of killing were everywhere.

Everyone quickly ran to Yingkou to take a look.

I saw hundreds of people wearing local aboriginal costumes rushing in at some unknown time outside, slashing and killing everyone they saw.

Nong Zhigao's indigenous troops were stationed outside to protect them, and they were already in chaos.

Nong Zhigao himself was commanding the troops to defend. At the same time, someone hurried over and shouted: "General Di, General Di, the enemy is coming."

"Beep beep beep beep!"

Almost instantly, the whistle sounded loudly throughout the camp.

Then Di Qing quickly walked out of the camp and shouted: "Line up!"

Soon, three hundred soldiers of the Song Army formed a formation at the entrance of the camp in less than a minute.

They were based on one hundred people, with one hundred people squatting at the bottom, one hundred people standing in the middle, and another hundred people behind them, forming a square formation to block the entrance to the village.

Then Di Qing ordered: "Send a message to Nong Tongzhi and ask him to retreat to both sides and let the enemy in."

"Yes."

Immediately, soldiers went out to deliver orders.

A moment later, Nong Zhigao, who was in a bitter battle, received the order. Although he didn't understand why Di Qing had the confidence, his troops suffered heavy losses and had to follow the order to evacuate to both wings.

As they left, the road leading to the hill suddenly became empty, and more than a thousand people began to charge up the hill with shouts.

The hillside is not actually steep. It is just a long steep slope with an oblique angle.

And because it is near the entrance of the cave, the local people cut down a lot of trees in the mountains, resulting in a wide field of vision. Except for the extremely lush vegetation, it does not hinder their sight.

At least one or two thousand people charged up the slope in a mighty manner, howling like wild wolves from their mouths, as if they were going to devour everything in front of them.

"shooting!"

Di Qing issued the order almost when the opponent was less than a hundred steps away from the entrance of the village.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Flames erupted from the muzzle and a loud noise erupted.

The next second, the soldiers in the first row retreated to the back and started loading. The soldiers in the second row squatted down and continued firing, followed by the third row, the fourth row, the fifth row...

Gunshots continued to sound, forming a dense fire network. All the enemies rushing in front were shot and fell down, wailing all over the field.

Less than a minute later, there was no one standing a hundred steps away from them. The ground was littered with corpses or injured enemy soldiers. The remaining people were stunned, and then screamed as if they had seen a ghost. Run backwards.

Everything happened so fast, no one expected that the Song army did not even fight hand-to-hand with the enemy. From such a long distance, all these sudden enemies fell down, and there were few survivors.

Nong Zhigao's troops among the grass on both sides were stunned, and they still didn't come back to their senses. They saw constant noises, and then the Song Army's position was shrouded in white mist. In the smoke, the enemy fell like this. They had no idea what was happening, and it was as scary as magic.

"This"

Nong Zhigao was so dumbfounded that he even forgot to give the order to pursue after the remaining enemies escaped.

It was the sound of fighting coming from the bottom of the mountain that woke him up.

That was when Qin Dafu, the master of Pingxiang Cave, learned that someone was attacking, so he quickly brought his troops over to help and fought with the enemy.

After about twenty minutes, Qin Dafu led a group of prisoners up the mountain and reported the situation to Di Qing.

It turns out that these are the natives of the nearby Qiyuan Prefecture. Qiyuan Prefecture was the area around Wenlang County in Vietnam in later generations. It was controlled by the Li Dynasty of Vietnam. I heard that Song troops were coming to the border and was sent by the Li Dynasty to explore the truth.

After learning about this, Di Qing said angrily: "I didn't expect that there are border people who are acting as lackeys for Jiaozhi. Qiyuanzhou was originally the territory of the Song Dynasty, but they rebelled against the country and surrendered to the enemy. This tribe can be destroyed! I will send troops to destroy these traitors. Jiaozhi The Li Dynasty must die for this and destroy the country!"

"The general is mighty!"

Qin Dafu shouted repeatedly that they had had enough of Li Chao's anger.

Only Nong Zhigao, who saw the powerful firearms with his own eyes, came to his senses and hurriedly asked Di Qing: "General, are all our Great Song Heavenly Army so powerful?"

"That's natural."

Di Qing grinned and looked towards the north: "There are things more powerful than this!"

As soon as the artillery came out.

It doesn’t matter whether you have an army of one hundred thousand or one million.

All vanished into thin air!

(End of this chapter)