The prince is more stable

Chapter 208 Unexpected
Zhang Xiaoyi is uneducated and doesn't like to talk.

But he was able to make friends, and most of them were true friends, and he made friends quickly and accurately.

The main reason is that Zhang Xiaoyi's honest and simple appearance makes him very competitive in the market for friends.

If one has shifty eyes and the other is honest and simple, and the two stand in front of you, who would you choose as your friend?
The answer is obvious.

So after Zhang Xiaoyi spent two days in the East Market, he quickly gathered a group of friends around him. Of course, just like when he was in Bian Jing, they were all poor friends.

At this time, Zhang Xiaoyi established a new personality, that is, a generous big brother.

When he said goodbye to Zhao Xiaoqian, he gave all the valuables he had on him to Zhang Xiaoyi, which was equivalent to about one or two thousand taels.

With money in his pocket, he establishes his image as a generous big brother.

If you have money and are a down-to-earth person, you will never have trouble making friends.

Within a few days, Zhang Xiaoyi had gathered around him a group of friends who were eager to become sworn brothers with him.

But this is not enough.

It’s not that he is a snob, but at this critical juncture, a group of poor friends really can’t help him.

So he continued to stroll around the East Market every day. When he gradually became familiar with the capital of Western Xia, he finally locked on a target.

There was a commander-in-chief of the cavalry, named "Weimingsha". "Weiming" is his surname. He was a relative of the Western Xia royal family.

The person Zhang Xiaoyi targeted was a middle-aged manager who was in charge of purchasing at Weimingsha Mansion.

Just because he took one more look at him in the crowd, Zhang Xiaoyi decided to become a lifelong confidant of this manager.

How can I make friends with this steward?

Zhang Xiaoyi's method is very cliché.

He called up his poor friends in the East Market and staged a scene where bullies beat up the enemy and heroes rescued them.

The process is both melodramatic and cliché, and the young punks thousands of years later have used it to pick up girls.

But thousands of years ago, this clichéd and clichéd routine was still very effective.

So, this poor manager, who had done nothing to offend anyone, was inexplicably put into a sack in the East Market and then beaten up.

When the innocent manager was about to be beaten to death, Zhang Xiaoyi roared and made a brilliant appearance. After a life-and-death struggle, Zhang Xiaoyi, who was injured countless times, finally defeated the ruffians and saved the manager from danger.

Friends, isn’t that it?

The manager was filled with gratitude towards Zhang Xiaoyi, calling him "benefactor" all the time. He was impressed by Zhang Xiaoyi's heroic spirit of helping him with his sword. After a few exchanges, the two men cut off a chicken's head and burned yellow paper to bind themselves as a community of shared destiny.

Look, Zhang Xiaoyi has used practical actions to point out a smooth path for those who are naturally introverted, need friends but are shy to make friends actively.

In an inconspicuous and hidden corner of the chessboard, a chess piece that no one noticed fell steadily.

…………

Who would have believed that when two countries were at war, the people who suffered the most were not the soldiers on both sides, but the spies of the Imperial City Bureau.

Before going to the expedition, after being complained and criticized by Zhao Xiaoqian, Wei Jie learned from his mistakes and became braver. The spies under him were in big trouble and ran themselves ragged.

When Zhao Xiaoqian led 5,000 musketeers slowly towards the border of Western Xia, intelligence finally arrived from the Imperial City Office.

The 300,000-strong Western Xia army had arrived in Hongzhou. However, under Zhang Yu's arrangement, the officials and people of Hongzhou had already abandoned the city and fled eastward. They took away all the food, fodder, and property in the city that could be taken away, and burned all that could not be taken away.

The Song Dynasty left behind an empty city for the Western Xia. There was not even a stray dog ​​looking for food in the city. It was even more deserted than the ancestral tomb of the Western Xia monarch.

The 300,000 Western Xia troops were furious, and the commander was even gritting his teeth.

The Imperial City Bureau also brought a piece of information that the commander-in-chief of the Western Xia army who led the 300,000-strong army this time was actually the Queen Mother Liang and the young Western Xia king Li Qianshun.

In other words, when invading the Song Dynasty, the Western Xia Kingdom not only mobilized the entire country's troops, but also led the army personally.

Empress Dowager Liang personally served as the chief commander, and two important officials of Western Xia served as deputy commanders, one named "Weiming Amai" and the other named "Meiledubu".

The two deputy commanders' names were so convoluted that it was clear they weren't destined to be the protagonists. The news brought by the Imperial City Division did surprise Zhao Xiaoqian.

He didn't expect that Empress Dowager Liang and the young emperor Li Qianshun would lead the army in person.

But it makes sense when you think about it. This is a war that will cost the whole country. The 300,000 troops are almost half of all the troops of the Western Xia Kingdom. With such a huge army, who can Empress Dowager Liang entrust with peace of mind?
Of course, she can only sleep peacefully if she runs around with it tied to her belt.

At the same time, it also revealed that Empress Dowager Liang was determined to make a mortal enemy of the Song Dynasty, the kind that would not stop until one of them died.

Zhao Xiaoqian couldn't help but wonder if someone had really dug up Empress Dowager Liang's ancestral tomb, otherwise how could she have such malice towards the Song Dynasty.

On the 29th day of the 12th lunar month in the first year of Shaosheng, when the Song Dynasty was about to bid farewell to the old and usher in the new, Zhang Yu, the governor of Huanqing Road, led an army of 120,000, bypassed Hongzhou, and headed straight for Yanzhou.

On the day of the siege, Yanzhou was conquered.

There were more than 3,000 Western Xia soldiers defending the city, more than 1,000 of whom were killed in the battle, and the rest either escaped or were captured. The number of Western Xia officials and civilians in Yanzhou City who were killed or injured is incalculable.

On the second day after conquering Yanzhou, Zhang Qi decisively gave up Yanzhou and the army continued to move westward, making a feint attack on the Western Xia capital Xingqing Prefecture.

Zhang Yu's military deployment this time was far beyond the expectations of Empress Dowager Liang and the Western Xia generals.

Because the Song Dynasty had never been so aggressive in using its troops before, Zhang Yu took the risk of losing the Song Dynasty's Guanzhong hinterland, ignored the rear, and turned from defense to offense, directly attacking the capital of Western Xia.

As a result, a very strange scene appeared in the history of Chinese wars when the two countries fought. You fight yours, I fight mine, and we don't interfere with each other. Let's see who has the last laugh.

Empress Dowager Liang couldn't laugh.

Because she can't afford to lose.

Even if the Song Dynasty lost all of its Guanzhong hinterland, it would still be able to organize reinforcements to counterattack and regain the lost territory.

But if the 120,000 troops under Zhang Yu really broke through the capital of Western Xia, then the loss of the city would be truly irreversible.

A country's capital was occupied by the enemy. Not to mention how heavy a blow it was to the morale of the Western Xia army, just think about where Empress Dowager Liang and the young lord would go in the future?

If the capital is gone, won’t everyone become wandering ghosts?
After weighing the pros and cons, Empress Dowager Liang quickly gave the answer to this multiple-choice question without much consideration.

Xingqing Prefecture must not be lost!

No matter what the cost, we will never allow it to fall into the hands of the Song army.

Otherwise, the consequences would be too serious. Not only would it undermine the morale of the army, but the important officials and dignitaries in the Xixia court would not allow Empress Dowager Liang to continue to control the government.

The capital was occupied under your rule. This is the greatest humiliation than any other. How can you continue to hold on to power?
Therefore, Zhang Qie's feint to attack the capital not only put Empress Dowager Liang in a sudden passive military position, but also posed a huge political crisis.

At this moment, Empress Dowager Liang was full of confusion about her familiar old rival Zhang Yu.

Old Zhang, you make me feel unfamiliar.

You have fallen and started to lose your moral principles!

So Empress Dowager Liang issued an urgent order, ordering the 300,000 troops to abandon their eastward advance and immediately return to support Xingqing Prefecture.

At this time, the 5,000 musketeers under Zhao Xiaoqian's command, led by this insignificant commander, had been resting in a canyon on the border between Song and Xia for three days.

War is dangerous.

At this critical juncture, Zhao Xiaoqian did not deliberately miss the opportunity to fight, but he was waiting for news from Zhang Yu's troops and the reaction of Empress Dowager Liang.

Three days later, the military scouts finally brought the news that Zhang Yu had conquered Yanzhou and was approaching Xingqing Prefecture. They also brought the news that Empress Dowager Liang had led her army back to support Xingqing Prefecture.

In the freezing canyon, Zhao Xiaoqian squatted by the campfire, shivering with cold, and read the news brought by the scout over and over again.

Finally, Zhao Xiaoqian raised his hand to wipe the snot that was flowing uncontrollably, and said with a smile: "Old Zhang is really great! He has finished the work, now it's our turn."

"Zhong Jianzhong, pass the order, the entire army will march out within half an hour!"

"Target: Zhuo Luo and Nan Junsi!"

(End of this chapter)