Yi Song

Chapter 214 You are all too conservative

In Jing'an Village in Yuanzhou, Liu Ziyu couldn't help but ask when Xuanfu envoy Si Xingyuan was on his way to Huaide's army.

"Erlang, how do you feel about launching two major military trainings against Xixia Hongzhou and Yinzhou in the Suide Army and the Security Army respectively?"

"Sleepy and conservative. From Lao Zhong, the general manager, to Meng Zhen, Li Xi, and then to low-level officers, their strategic and tactical thinking is very conservative.

What he is best at is defense. Even in defense, he is rigid and inflexible. He only knows how to stick to it and not do what he wants.

They had never thought about going out to attack, so it was obvious that they were allowed to defend the city, knowing that although it was difficult, they were still confident. Let them go out to fight, even if they are ambushed at a designated location, it is a tragic mentality of narrow escape and never coming back. "

Liu Ziyu also stayed in the Western Army for several years and felt that Liu Guozhang's evaluation was quite fair.

"Then you don't see any merit."

"Be obedient. Even if they thought that taking the initiative to attack would be a narrow escape, they still set off after giving the military order. Civil servants and eunuchs spent nearly a hundred years taming the Western Army into obedience. Unfortunately, they were too docile. They were domestic dogs. They are sheep and have no fighting power.”

"It might be better to go to the west. The Huanqing and Fuyan roads have indeed been on the defensive in recent years, and there have been very few attacks. The Jingyuan, Qinfeng and Xihe roads are different. Jingyuan Road is the Pingxia City of Huaide Army. The war took place during the reign of Shaosheng Yuanfu.

Liu Fa tried his best to prevent his troops from the situation that happened most often to the Song army in the past - each fighting his own way, without contact with each other, let alone coordinated operations.

On August 26, Liu Fa, the former enemy commander on the middle route, commanded a field regiment composed of four combat brigades, which set out from Xiaoguan, Suirong Fort, Tiandu Village, and Keyuan Fort to guard Hengshan (Liupan Mountain) in Xixia. The attack was launched at Duolingkou, the very important Shuangyikou pass.

"Let's take a look."

Liu Fa is indeed the most capable and skilled fighter in the Western Army.

Even the two armies were less than five miles apart. You didn't know me and I didn't know you. As a result, they were defeated one by one by the Xixia army. After being defeated, they fled to one place and realized that if they could communicate with each other and cooperate with each other a little, Xia's army would be defeated.

He immediately pulled a trick.

The distance between the four brigades is no more than twenty miles at most, and they are always in contact: they send a large number of messengers to each other, and they also set off fireworks from time to time to communicate with each other.

In addition, in recent years, when troops were used against Hehuang, Qin Feng and Xihe troops were used in turn. These three paths should not have the twilight Qi Erlang mentioned. "

The famous general Guo Cheng led the elite Pingxia Brigade and gradually launched an attack on Shangyiguan along the Hulu River. The two friendly forces on the left and right, the Keyuan Brigade and the Suirong Brigade, responded to each other and covered the left and right flanks of the Pingxia Brigade.

The cavalry of the Xixia Army also fought in this way.

Liu Fa quickly realized that it was a huge waste to pile all the troops and horses here without being able to deploy them.

Previously, the Right Front Enemy Command Division initiated two major military trainings in the Suide Army and the Security Army. Detailed military reports were compiled by the Staff Office of the Xuanfu Envoy Division and distributed to the Center and Left Front Enemy Command Divisions.

Finally, Pingxia Brigade, Keyuan Brigade and Suirong Brigade, three troops and horses, about 16,000 people, all piled up in the narrow place between Xiao Pass and Shangyi Pass.

The war horses here are also thinner and shorter, and they are all mountain horse breeds, different from the Xihai and Hequ horses in Hehuang.

In a sense, whether it is Song or Xixia, whether it is Tibetan or Han, the cavalry here is more like infantry that uses war horses to move quickly and is very flexible.

The Tibetan and Han infantry, who were good at fighting in the mountains, relied on the favorable terrain to advance forward step by step.

The Tibetan and Han cavalry were good at traveling through mountains and ravines. They were like a group of mice, rushing through the ravines blown by wind and water in the Loess Plateau and Liupan Mountains.

He integrated the horse infantry army and the Tibetan and Han army very well, and was able to maximize their respective advantages.

The geographical environment here does not provide enough flat open space for detours, outflanks and charges - in the Hanhai of Henan, north of Huanqing and Fuyan, across the Hengshan Mountains, that is, the Mu Us Desert, it can provide a vast flat land.

Liu Fa absorbed some advantages of the right army's tactics: strengthening the cover on the left and right wings, and placing a strong reserve behind him.

Liu Guozhang was summarizing in his mind while silently watching the training of the Central Route Army commanded by Liu Fa.

First, the Pingxia Brigade and Keyuan Brigade were withdrawn and arranged on both sides of the river. Then he ordered the Suirong Brigade to attack 10,000 Xia troops at Xiaoguan and start a fierce battle.

When the Xia Army's reinforcements increased to 25,000, Liu Fa ordered the Suirong Brigade to retreat, and even ordered the Suirong Brigade to burn Xiaoguan with fire.

Tan Zhen, who was watching the battle with Liu Guozhang, was so angry that he cursed and almost exercised his power to supervise the army.

The Song army's determination to give up Xiao Guan made the Xixia army overjoyed.

According to their many years of combat experience with the Song army, the Song army generally did not set fire to the retreating army. They also had the idea of ​​​​fighting back to regain the old ground.

Once they retreat and set fire, it means they completely abandon this place.

Seeing the raging fire in Xiaoguan, the Xia army felt that the Song army had stolen the chicken but lost the rice this time. The 20,000 main Xia army followed the Hulu River and chased the Suirong brigade one after another.

This is Xia Jun's favorite thing to do.

The Song army can only fight stupidly - staying in one place to defend the city or fighting in formation, whether it is attacking or retreating, they are all terrible. When retreating, if you pursue it even slightly, you will be defeated like a mountain.

When the Xixia army caught up with the Hulu Gorge, the Pingxia brigade took advantage of the terrain and launched an attack on the Xixia army from the flank, cutting off the 20,000 Xia army in the middle.

The Xixia Army can use the terrain, and the Song Army can also use it. It's just that the Song Army was not very skillful in using it in the past, and the Xia Army often took advantage of the terrain.

Liu Fa was famous in the Western Army and was powerful in Xixia. Even he was good at taking advantage of the terrain.

The Pingxia Brigade cut the pursuing Xia Army into two pieces. The Suirong Brigade, which turned around, and the Keyuan Brigade, which was waiting in full formation, under the leadership of Deputy Commanding Envoy Yang Weizhong, worked together to launch an attack on the 7,000 people in the front of the Xia Army. Combined attack.

If you take advantage of the terrain, your opponent will only be at a disadvantage and at a disadvantage.

The Song army had superior strength and terrain, so the fight would go smoothly. Five thousand people in the front of the Xia army were wiped out, and the rest fled without a trace.

Xia Jun's rear quickly retreated, exited Xiaoguan in one breath, and retreated to Shangyukou.

After the Song army recaptured Xiaoguan, they tried to attack Shangyikou once, but were repelled by the Xia army relying on the terrain, so they withdrew their troops.

In this battle, the Song Army in the middle route annihilated more than 6,000 Xia troops, which was more than twice the number of enemies annihilated by the right route army.

It hit a Xiaoguan and needs to be renovated.

Tan Zhen disagreed with this. The Song Dynasty had a large number of people and resources, and what they were least afraid of was repairs and construction.

Overjoyed, he immediately wrote a letter about the victory, asked Liu Guozhang to sign it, and then hurriedly sent it to Bianjing to make the officials happy.

In Pingxia City of Huaide Army, Liu Guozhang summoned Liu Fa, Yang Weizhong, Guo Cheng and other generals of the Middle Route Army to hold a summary meeting.

In attendance were Li Miao, Zhao Ding, Liu Ziyu and other staff members of the Xuanfu Envoy Department, as well as more than 40 students from the first training course for Kongtong Mountain officers.

"My subordinates believe that the first contribution to this great victory should be the innovative organization of the Xuanfu Envoy Division. Each brigade and battalion has clear organization, smooth military orders, and effective execution.

The second is to improve the means and methods for the various armies to cooperate in operations."

The high-spirited Liu Fa made a concluding speech.

Yang Weizhong, Guo Cheng and other senior generals of the Western Army believed deeply.

Lure the enemy deep and set up an ambush to encircle them. How dare Liu Jieshi do this in the past?

In the past, we were able to allow all armies to enter designated locations, spread out their formations, and start attacking or defending. This was already Amitabha. How could we dare to be so reckless?

After fighting for a while, Liu Fa and others found that the Western Army had been slightly transformed and could be deployed easily.

He is not a pedantic person, and he dares to do it immediately when he thinks of it.

The Xixia army didn't believe that the Song army dared to be so reckless, so they rushed in headfirst.

Then everyone worked hard together, bumped into each other, and won the victory.

Seeing the disbelief of Liu Fa, Yang Weizhong, Guo Cheng and others, Liu Guozhang chuckled in his heart.

The Song Dynasty's ancestral law of keeping the inside empty and the outside outside is really difficult to describe in a word.

An army was forced to have an unclear organizational structure, unclear staffing, poor communication and weak execution capabilities. Any action will end up being a mess, with up and down being confused. Even if the opponent wins, he will be confused.

I just adjusted the organization clearly so that the Western Army knew who was in charge of whom and who should listen to whose orders. After sorting out the order, the order can be passed down to the end.

It's not that you've changed for the better, but that you were so bad in the past. As soon as you make a slight change, you feel completely transformed.

When Liu Fa, Yang Weizhong, Guo Cheng and others finished speaking, the White Tiger Festival Hall was silent, and everyone turned to the superiors, looking forward to Liu Guozhang's concluding remarks.

"Not limited to the gains and losses of one city or one place, that's what I admire most about Liu Jieshi. If people are saved and land is lost, people and land will be saved; if land is saved and people are lost, people and land will be lost."

Liu Guozhang spoke.

"What is national strength? It's population! Only with talent can we have soldiers and horses, food, and armor. We must not be limited to one city or one place, and put the annihilation of the Xixia army's effective strength first.

What is the population of Xixia Kingdom? Five thousand annihilated in one month, sixty thousand in one year, and six hundred thousand in ten years. Even if they were fighting and surviving, it would be too late.

When the population is less than a certain number, no one is farming, no one is grazing, and no one is repairing soldiers and armors. It is useless to have elite soldiers and generals, and the country collapses. "

Save people and lose land, and everyone and land will survive; save land and lose people, and everyone and land will be lost.

Liu Fa recited this sentence silently in his heart, and suddenly realized that he was proud of himself, which was completely different from other generals of the Western Army in their flexible use of troops. In the commander's mind, he might still be too conservative.

(End of this chapter)