Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 503 Never Lost

"Reporting to the commander in chief, Commander Sheng is currently resisting the pursuers and asked me to escort the Queen and the Crown Prince of Xixia away first." The leading captain replied.

Gu Tingye glanced at Empress Liang, who was riding on a horse and holding a child, and said, "Zichun, take the people to watch them. I'll go to pick up Changwu! When I come back, we'll leave immediately!"

It was enough to capture Queen Liang and the Crown Prince of Western Xia. He did not plan to stay in the capital of Western Xia any longer.

"Okay!" Wang Shao replied.

"You..." Queen Liang was about to speak when Gu Tingye had already left with his troops.

"Rush over quickly and rescue the queen and the prince!"

Liang Guangchuan shouted with an ugly look on his face.

He never imagined that the Song Dynasty would dare to march alone and launch a surprise attack on the capital of Western Xia.

Moreover, Queen Liang and the Crown Prince were captured by the Song army.

If Empress Liang and the Crown Prince were abducted, it would be useless even if he got rid of Li Mingxiao.

Li Liangzuo is already dead, and I'm afraid that none of the Tangut nobles in Western Xia would be willing to negotiate with the Song Dynasty to exchange for Queen Liang and the Crown Prince. Instead, they will choose a member of the royal family to succeed to the throne.

In that case, not only would his plan fail, but his end would also be extremely miserable.

When Gu Tingye led his troops to arrive, Sheng Changwu could no longer hold on.

He led two thousand men to ambush on the east side of the imperial palace. At this time, except for the several hundred soldiers who sent Queen Liang and Prince Xixia away, there were less than five hundred people left who were struggling to hold on.

Gu Tingye led his men to join the battlefield, killed the besiegers, and withdrew without fighting.

"Chase him quickly!" Liang Guangchuan said angrily.

However, although the people he summoned were all guards of princes and nobles, their fighting ability was not as good as that of ordinary soldiers.

However, these people came from different families and were not united. They had been frightened by Gu Tingye's previous charge. Facing Liang Guangchuan's urging, they only pursued slowly.

"Commander-in-chief, I have captured the Queen and the Crown Prince of Western Xia. The Queen said..." Sheng Changwu followed Gu Tingye, urging his horse and telling Gu Tingye what Queen Liang had said.

After listening to this, Gu Tingye frowned slightly. He also felt that this matter was a bit too fantastic.

But considering that before he sent troops, he learned that the Western Xia's attack on Hehuang suddenly stopped, neither attacking nor retreating, he believed it a little.

Gu Tingye cursed in his heart, if he had known this would happen, he would not have taken such a risk.

With the death of the Western Xia emperor, internal chaos would follow, and it seemed unnecessary for him to send troops.

Now he is in a dilemma. He doesn't have time to prove whether the matter is true or not. Should he let the person go?

If we release her, what if what Queen Liang said was false?
But if he didn't let them go, and what Queen Liang said was true, then he would be doing a great favor to Western Xia by abducting Queen Liang and the Crown Prince of Western Xia.

If Li Liangzuo really died and a young emperor succeeded to the throne, Western Xia would have fallen into chaos for at least several years.

But if he kidnapped the person, Xixia would definitely choose an adult from the royal family to inherit the throne.

In this way, the duration of civil unrest in Western Xia will be reduced.

Gu Tingye had not made a decision until he met Wang Shao.

"Zhonghuai, the Queen of Xixia said..."

"I've heard that!"

Gu Tingye interrupted Wang Shao and asked, "Zichun, we don't have time now. What do you think we should do?"

"Just in case, leave the Crown Prince of Western Xia behind and take Queen Liang away!" Wang Shao said.

Just after Gu Tingye left, Queen Liang repeated to Wang Shao what she had said to Sheng Changwu.

Wang Shao considered the sudden cessation of the Western Xia attack on Hehuang and the abnormality of the Western Xia capital and felt that this incident was very likely.

I also thought about the response method in a hurry.

If it was fake, taking Queen Liang away would also be a shame for Western Xia.

If this is true, without Queen Liang, the young Crown Prince of Western Xia would not be able to stabilize the internal situation of Western Xia.

Next, Western Xia would inevitably fall into internal strife over power struggles.

Therefore, regardless of whether it is true or false, Queen Liang must not be released.

"Then do it!"

Gu Tingye was also a decisive person and made the decision immediately.

When Queen Liang heard that they were going to leave her son behind and take her away, she naturally didn't want to.

But Gu Tingye ignored all this, forcibly snatched the Prince of Western Xia, threw him on the street, and led his men to the west gate.

At the city gate, Yuan Wenshao was leading his troops and struggling to resist the troops who wanted to retake the city gate. He was overjoyed to see Gu Tingye coming back.

Gu Tingye fought off the besieging troops, joined up with Yuan Wenshao, and headed straight out of the city, disappearing into the distance.

…………

Zhao Xing didn't know that Gu Tingye had done such a big thing. At this time, he was waiting in Bazhou City for news of the sneak attack on Youzhou City.

The Duke of Ying withdrew his troops into the city on the pretext of rest, and secretly transferred 50,000 troops to Zheng Jun.

Zheng Jun, with his troops and thousands of Liao surrendered soldiers led by Xiao Asu, quietly headed for Youzhou City.

According to the plan, last night was the time to deceive the city.

Zhao Xing didn't know whether Xiao Asu could trick the city gate open, although according to Zeng Gongliang and Duke Ying's plan, the chances of success were very high.

But there is always a loophole, and no news of success came, so Zhao Xing was always a little worried.

I didn't get much rest last night.

It was not until the afternoon that we finally received the news that the sneak attack was successful.

When Zhao Xing received the victory report, he immediately sent a message to Duke Ying, asking him to send troops to attack the counties of Youzhou City according to the plan, and to connect Youzhou City with the cities that the Song Dynasty had already captured as soon as possible.

The border of the Song Dynasty was in the north, while that of the Liao Kingdom was in the south.

This time, they pretended to open the city gate by going around to the north gate of Youzhou, and then Xiao Asu pretended to be an army transporting grain to trick the city gate open.

Although Youzhou City strengthened its defenses, the Song Dynasty had no intention of attacking Youzhou City, so the defenders were inevitably negligent.

In addition, Yelu Yixin was also worried that the Song Dynasty would fail in its siege of Xijing and turn to attack Youzhou City, so he had been transporting food and fodder to Youzhou City.

There were 30,000 defenders in Youzhou City, and many counties outside were in the hands of the Liao Kingdom. Yelu Yixin was not in a hurry to send more troops.

After all, he did not have enough troops. With only 30,000 soldiers guarding a fortified city, even if the Song Dynasty's army of hundreds of thousands attacked, they would not be able to take it down in a short time. He had plenty of time to transfer troops.

In addition, he also underestimated Empress Dowager Xiao and Xiao Asu.

In other words, in his opinion, Empress Dowager Xiao just wanted to take back the Liao Kingdom with the help of the Song Dynasty, not to let the Song Dynasty destroy the Liao Kingdom.

He would never help the Song Dynasty to do so. He was defeated too quickly, the Song Dynasty did not suffer much loss, and it would not benefit Empress Dowager Xiao at all.

It was precisely because of this carelessness that the Song Dynasty had the opportunity to take advantage.

Zhao Xing wrote a letter of victory in his own handwriting and had it sent back to Bian Jing.

You should know that Emperor Taizong's Northern Expedition was defeated at the city of Youzhou.

From then on, the Song Dynasty not only failed to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, but also lost a lot of territory.

Youzhou City and Xijing City were both important frontline cities used by the Han Dynasty to resist nomadic peoples.

As long as we recapture these two cities, strengthen the defenses and win the hearts of the people, even if we cannot completely drive the Liao Kingdom back to the grassland this time, we can still defend them and prevent them from being easily recaptured.

"Your Majesty, you didn't get much rest last night. Now that the good news has come, you should take a rest first." Sanshui advised.

"I am so excited now, how can I sleep? Bring me the note sent from Bian Jing, I will take a look at it, and then go to bed after dinner. Otherwise, if I go to bed now, I will not be able to sleep at night." Zhao Xing said with a smile. He was indeed a little tired now, but mentally he was very excited and had no desire to sleep at all.

Although the emperor is now the regent, Zhao Xing is the emperor of the Song Dynasty after all.

Any important matters in Bian Jing would be copied and sent to him for his review.

Because he had been thinking about the sneak attack these days, Zhao Xing had no time to look at those sticks.

Now that the dust has settled, it’s time to take a look at and understand the domestic situation.

"Yes!" Sanshui responded and went to pick up Zhazi.

Zhao Xing picked up the folder and started reading it. Nothing major had happened in the Song Dynasty recently.

Sheng Wei, on the other hand, made a speech in which he described the situation of establishing a money house.

From the moment he planned to introduce the new currency, Zhao Xing summoned Sheng Wei back and asked him to select ten important cities across the Song Dynasty and open money houses.

These ten cities were not chosen based on their prosperity, but rather on comprehensive geographical considerations.

The money houses in these ten cities will radiate to the entire Song Dynasty.

At the beginning, Zhao Xing did not plan to set up too many money houses. Ten was just right. He would first look at some of the drawbacks and correct them before opening more in various places.

Sheng Wei said in his letter that money houses in various places had been built, and asked Zhao Xing when they would open.

Zhao Xing pondered for a while and approved the opening of the business for trial operation one month later.

Then he wrote several imperial edicts and ordered them to be sent back to Bianliang.

By the time I finished looking through all the accumulated bundles, it was already evening.

After Zhao Xing had dinner, he took a bath and went to bed.

…………

Zhao Xing could sleep well, but Yelu Yixin couldn't.

Once Youzhou City is lost, once the Song Dynasty has taken over all of Youzhou City, they can send troops to cut off the connection between Xijing and Zhongjing.

In this way, although Xijing and the Liao Kingdom could not be completely isolated, the transportation of food and fodder could only take a detour through the grassland.

In this case, it would be very troublesome to mobilize troops and transport food. Once the Song Dynasty sent troops to interfere, food and grass could not be transported in time and Xijing City would be difficult to defend.

Yelu Yixin was naturally unwilling to give up just like that. After learning the news, he prepared to send troops to retake Youzhou City.

However, the Duke of England did not give him any chance and sent troops to besiege the city again.

"hateful!"

Yelu Yixin gritted his teeth and said, "Since the Song Dynasty wants to force me to fight, then let's fight! Order the Shuozhou troops to rush to Xijing immediately. Be prepared and wait for the Shuozhou troops to arrive to fight a decisive battle with the Song Dynasty!"

"Your Majesty, you should have done this long ago! Even if the Song Dynasty has something that can blow up the city wall, what does it matter? When the two armies are fighting and the soldiers are fighting each other, will the Song Dynasty dare to use it?"

"That's right! With the bravery of our Liao soldiers, we will surely defeat the Song Dynasty!"

The morale of the Liao army generals was high and they did not take the Song Dynasty seriously at all.

Because since the establishment of the Song Dynasty, the Liao and Song dynasties have fought each other and the Song Dynasty has never won.

When Emperor Taizong of Song Dynasty launched the Northern Expedition, he won in the early stages and captured many cities. However, he was eventually defeated outside Youzhou City, and even got lost in the chaos and was almost captured by the Liao Kingdom.

During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong, the Liao Kingdom moved southward and suffered a great defeat.

However, the Song Dynasty took the initiative to seek peace and pay tribute to the Liao Kingdom. In the eyes of the Liao people, the Liao Kingdom was the winner.

Although we lost the battle with the Song Dynasty, when it comes to a war, we cannot just look at the beginning, we must also look at the final outcome.

Coupled with the propaganda of successive Liao emperors, in the eyes of the Liao people, they had never lost a war with the Song Dynasty.

During the Northern Expedition of the Song Dynasty, the Liao Kingdom lost dozens of cities, even important cities like Youzhou City.

But in the eyes of the Liao generals, the Song Dynasty used something unknown to blow up the city, and Youzhou City was attacked by surprise, which was not a crime of war.

In a head-on battle, the Song Dynasty was no match for the Liao Dynasty.

There were several Han civil and military officials in the tent, and many of them frowned slightly when they saw the Khitan generals were eager to fight.

This time, the Song Dynasty's attack was very different from usual ones.

Half of the troops were dispatched, and there were still means to blow up the city walls.

There was no news about this thing before, which shows that the Song Dynasty was well prepared.

Who knows if the Song Dynasty has other means that have not been revealed?

Today, the Liao generals seem to be eager to fight and the military morale is high.

But isn't this also a manifestation of arrogance?

However, all the Han officials remained silent because they saw that Yelu Yixin, who was at the top, looked very satisfied.

After Yelu Yixin ascended the throne, although he did not suppress Han officials, he did not care about them.

Some of them had mentioned before that if the Song Dynasty failed to capture Xijing after a long siege, they might try to find a solution from other places.

As a result, he was ridiculed by the Khitan generals. Although Yelu Yixin did not say anything, he did not stop it either.

These Han officials could all feel that Yelu Yixin did not care about them. The reason why he did not suppress Han officials after he ascended the throne was because the time was too short.

At this time, the Khitan generals of the Liao army were spoiled and did not take the Song Dynasty seriously at all. They hoped that the Liao Dynasty would be defeated.

Of course, they did not think that the Song Dynasty would be able to destroy the Liao Dynasty and become Han people again.

In their view, the Song Dynasty did not have the strength to destroy the Liao Dynasty, and this time it was only because of the internal strife in the Liao Dynasty that it was severely damaged.

In addition, the Song Dynasty also had the means to blow up the city walls, so they were caught off guard.

They wanted to wait until the Liao Kingdom was defeated, and then give advice to Yelu Yixin and demonstrate their role at that time.

Let Yelu Yixin see their importance.

Yelu Yixin didn't know this. He was very satisfied to see that his generals were all eager to fight.

…………

Naturally, the movements of the Liao Kingdom could not be concealed from the Duke of Ying.

In fact, there was no need for any intelligence. The Duke of Ying could guess that the Liao Kingdom would engage in a head-on battle with the Song Dynasty next.

After all, Youzhou City was one of the five capitals of the Liao Kingdom. Not long after Yelu Yixin ascended the throne, he lost Youzhou City, which dealt a heavy blow to his prestige.

Whether it was to restore his prestige or because of the importance of Youzhou City, Yelu Yixin would never accept this and would inevitably fight the Song Dynasty.

Intellectually speaking, the best option at this time is to avoid fighting and switch from offense to defense.

But many times, fighting a war requires a comprehensive consideration of various factors.

Since ancient times, more and more military strategies have been circulated, but in each era there are only a few people who can be called famous generals.

Whether one is a famous general or not is not determined by how much military strategy one has read.

The soldiers of the Song Dynasty had always been afraid of the Liao Dynasty like a tiger, and this time they captured dozens of cities in a row, and their morale was high.

The soldiers do not understand any military tactics, and if they actively avoid fighting, it will undermine their morale.

This was also the case when Duke Ying had clearly noticed that his soldiers were showing signs of arrogance, but he did not ask Zhao Xing to retreat to defend, but instead besieged Xijing.

Doesn’t the Duke of England know that a proud army will eventually be defeated?

He understood, but he knew even more clearly that once they retreated, the soldiers' high morale would drop, and it would be difficult to recover.

(End of this chapter)