White-robed Minister

Chapter 224 0222 [Lanzhou is right in front of us]

Xu Lai looked at the envoy surrendering before him and asked with a smile, "How does your leader plan to defect?"

The messenger of Li Dukezhan, the lord of Kangu Fort, said, "At midnight tonight, my master will set fire to the Western Xia camp, and the Song army can take advantage of the chaos to attack."

The envoy then explained in more detail: "When your army storms into the camp, there's no need to linger on the outer perimeter, as it's filled with soldiers from various Qiang tribes. The real Tangut soldiers are further inside, occupying a river valley and two mountain valleys where they can retreat at any time. If these escape routes hadn't been blocked by the Tanguts, some of the Qiang tribes might have already fled."

"How many Tangut soldiers are there?" Xu Lai asked. "I have interrogated many prisoners, and everyone's answer is different."

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The envoy replied, "The actual number of Tangut soldiers is probably only three or four thousand, at most no more than four thousand. But if you include their vassals, the number is much larger. These vassals are mostly Qiang people, but they have been tamed and are very obedient."

The basic military unit of the Western Xia Dynasty was the "Chao," and each "Chao" consisted of at least one regular soldier and one assistant soldier.

However, when actually going out to fight, they usually had one soldier paired with two assistants. This was because the military felt tents of the Western Xia were just the right size for three soldiers.

The "Fu Shan" can be understood as a combination of auxiliary soldiers and civilian laborers. Their main job was to transport food, armor, and spoils of war, but they also had to participate in the battle when the fighting was intense.

The servants accompanying the Dangxiang soldiers in Lanzhou were mostly Qiang people.

But these Qiang people were actually quite similar to the Tangut soldiers. They did not have their own tribal leaders and usually served as herdsmen or serfs for the Tanguts. If they distinguished themselves in battle, they could become free citizens and eventually even become regular soldiers, owning their own serfs and serfs.

They have been domesticated by the Tanguts, feel ashamed of their Qiang ancestry, and look down on other ordinary Qiang people, only thinking about making merit to become Tanguts (free people).

These guys, despite having only the most rudimentary equipment, were exceptionally fierce in battle. They were even willing to die for their masters, because even if they died, their masters would reward their families and treat their sons with special favor.

Xu Lai said, "Go back and report."

The messenger said, "My lord, the Tanguts have intensified their patrols. I came out disguised as a woodcutter, and if I return without firewood, I'm likely to be discovered. If I carry firewood back from here, I'll certainly be spotted by the Tangut scouts."

"Then you shall remain in my camp and not wander about, or you shall be killed without mercy." Xu Lai ordered his men to take the envoy to rest, and then summoned the generals of Moxia for a meeting.

At the meeting, Yu Ping raised concerns: "Could Li Dukezhan's surrender be a ruse, with the enemy feigning chaos at night while lying in ambush in their camp, waiting for us to storm in at midnight?"

The blind man said, "Probably not. I know Li Dukezhan too well. He's not loyal to anyone. He wasn't loyal to Muzheng before, he's not loyal to Xixia now, and he won't be loyal to the Song Dynasty in the future."

They are certainly familiar with it.

Xia Yao is Mu Zheng's brother-in-law, and Li Dukezhan is Mu Zheng's uncle. The two had previously engaged in various open and covert struggles. Moreover, Xia Yao won the struggle and became even more favored and trusted by Mu Zheng.

Bajan also said, "Li Duk Chan will follow whoever is stronger."

Bazhanjiao and Muzheng are half-brothers. Their father fled alone to the Kangubao area and married the sister of Lidukezhan. One had Zanpu blood, and the other was a local tribal chief. With their cooperation, they quickly grew stronger.

However, after Mu Zheng's father became wealthy, he divided the territory among his sons, and Li Du Ke Zhan didn't get any land at all.

This escalated the conflict between the two sides.

While Xu Lai was discussing the night raid plan, the enemy was also making arrangements for their withdrawal.

The Western Xia generals were terrified and unwilling to fight the Song army anymore, especially not on the Song army's pre-arranged battlefield.

The Tangut soldiers actually suffered few losses, with only over 500 dead or wounded in total. The real casualties and prisoners came from the Qiang tribe.

Including the Qiang people loyal to the Tanguts, their core military force still numbered over eight thousand.

They only need to withdraw these 8,000-plus men; the rest of the troops can be abandoned.

Li Dukezhan, who had planned to create chaos by setting fire to the city at night, was suddenly summoned to a meeting by the Dangxiang commander. When he arrived at the commander's tent, he found that all the other Qiang leaders were present.

Fei Ting'eyu's first words were: "You don't need to go back. Stay with me and withdraw tonight. I will send someone to convey any military orders to your troops."

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Upon hearing this, Li Duqizhan's mind went blank; at this crucial moment, he had been detained by the Tanguts.

If the Song army pursued him at night, he could easily die in the chaos. But he dared not say that the Song army would come at night; if he admitted to having contacted the Song army, he would most likely be killed on the spot.

The other Qiang leaders looked at each other in bewilderment. Many of them had planned to defect or flee with their troops, but now they had all been detained by Fei Ting'eyu.

As night fell, the Tangut soldiers, carrying their provisions, were the first to quietly retreat along the riverbank and valley.

Following closely behind in retreat were larger Qiang tribes.

Fei Ting'eyu even confiscated many Qiang warhorses specifically to carry away the grain. He didn't burn the grain that couldn't be carried, because setting fire to the grain would easily expose them and lead to the Song army immediately pursuing them.

When the Western Xia army withdrew, the Song army also secretly left the camp and arrived three miles away from the enemy camp in the dark, waiting for Li Duke to set fire to create chaos.

The enemy camp was thrown into chaos ahead of schedule.

Although Fei Ting'eyu ordered the entire army to be silent, and even the muzzles of the warhorses were to be muzzled, how could the Qiang tribesmen, whose leader had been detained, strictly follow military orders?

At first, it was just quiet discussion, but it gradually turned into loud clamor. The main complaint was that the Tanguts had retreated first, while they themselves had been left behind to retreat.

Smaller tribes also complained about larger tribes because the larger tribes were allowed to leave first, and were seen as lackeys of the Tanguts by the smaller tribes.

Zhao Long handed his warhorse to his personal guard and ran to find Wang Junwan: "Why is the enemy camp making a ruckus now? It's not even midnight yet, and I haven't seen any Qiang people setting fires."

Wang Junwan was also very puzzled and analyzed, "The enemy's morale is very low. Such a commotion at night would definitely cause a camp riot. But this doesn't sound like a camp riot, so the enemy soldiers are not asleep at all."

"They're withdrawing their troops!" Zhao Long suddenly realized.

Wang Junwan waited no longer and immediately ordered, "Send word to all units to pursue and kill them immediately! The Western Xia are retreating under cover of night!"

The Han and Qiang cavalry of the Song Dynasty lit torches one after another and charged toward the Western Xia camp.

At this moment, the Tangut soldiers and their entourage had all withdrawn from the camp. Nearly half of the Qiang tribe had also withdrawn. The rest remained in the camp.

The Song cavalry charged forward with torches, and the Qiang soldiers of Western Xia fled in terror. But their retreat route was blocked, so they could only flee to the mountains, abandoning their weapons and frantically climbing the hills.

Wang Junwan led his cavalry at the forefront, slaughtering any fleeing soldiers who blocked their path. The Song cavalry split into three routes, pursuing the fleeing soldiers into one river valley and two mountain valleys respectively.

However, the valleys and ravines were far too narrow, and the routed soldiers trampled each other, their corpses filling the roads. The Song army's warhorses couldn't get going at all, and even if they managed to step over the corpses, they were slowed down by the congested routed soldiers.

That night, the Song army killed and captured countless Qiang soldiers.

Meanwhile, the main force of the Western Xia Tanguts fled with Fushan, the Qiang chieftain, and a portion of the Qiang soldiers.

They fled back to Kan Valley Fortress and occupied it immediately.

Li Dukezhan's entire family was under house arrest. He roared at the Tangut soldiers guarding him, "Kangu Fort is my territory! Let me out now! I can lead troops to defend the fort!"

Nobody paid any attention to him.

This guy, who had been indecisive and had made contact with the Song army months ago, has now inexplicably lost his stronghold and his followers.

Like a clown.

The Western Xia commander-in-chief, Fei Ting'eyu, was in an even worse mood than Li Dukezhan. Although the main force of the Dangxiang suffered few casualties, the Qiang soldiers had lost more than half of their strength.

Moreover, his decision to detain all the Qiang leaders at once will surely have endless consequences, and now it's unclear whether they should be killed or released.

Also, his son died.

The son remained in a coma for days, occasionally waking up only to wail incessantly. During the withdrawal of his troops, Fei Ting'eyu personally killed his own son.

Liang Zhangning ran to Fei Ting'eyu and said, "Our army has suffered defeat after defeat and cannot continue fighting. Kangu Fort will definitely be besieged by the Song army, and we have not brought back much food. If the entire army stays here, the Song army will not even need to attack the fort; they can starve us to death simply by besieging it."

Fei Ting'eyu retorted, "Will there be grain when we go back?"

Liang Zhangning was speechless.

Before they launched their campaign, their requisitioning of grain and soldiers was extremely ruthless. In each tribe, only women, children, and a small amount of rations remained. It was a strategy of annihilation.

In fact, Fei Ting'eyu was also hesitant. Although Kangubao was easy to defend and difficult to attack, it was also a dead end. Once surrounded, there was no way to escape.

With ample provisions, things are fine. Even if the Song army has cannons, it will be difficult to launch an effective attack on the stockade walls. This dilapidated place can be held for at least half a year.

The problem is that he doesn't have enough supplies!

Fei Ting'eyu also left a portion of his soldiers to garrison the mountain ridge. If the Song army wanted to attack Kangu Fort, they would have to cross the mountains to get there.

The Song cavalry that had been pursuing them the first were now blocked on the other side of the mountain ridge, waiting for the main Song infantry force to attack the mountain.

Just as Fei Ting'eyu was hesitating, he suddenly received an urgent military report: Xishi City had fallen!

However, the Song army from Qin Prefecture and Gong Prefecture mobilized and bombarded the city walls with artillery for days. After breaches appeared in the walls, the Qiang soldiers inside the city could not withstand the pressure and wanted to kill the Dangxiang commander and surrender the city.

Generals Zhang Shouyue and Liu Changzuo seized the opportunity to attack the city, capturing Xishi City in one fell swoop. They then broke through another fortified village and marched towards Kangu Fort.

"Withdraw troops immediately!"

Fei Ting'eyu hurriedly gave the order: if they didn't leave now, they would really be surrounded and trapped.

He left only 500 men to defend the mountain ridge and 1,000 men to defend the Kangu Fortress, and the rest retreated towards Lanzhou. Qiang leaders such as Li Dukezhan were also taken away.

Only half a day after the main force of Western Xia withdrew, the vanguard sent by Zhang Shouyue arrived and joined Xu Lai's main force the following morning.

The following afternoon, Zhang Shouyue and Liu Changzuo's main forces also arrived.

The Song armies from Qin Prefecture, Xi Prefecture, and Gong Prefecture then joined forces in one place.

Zhang Shouyue observed through his binoculars and said helplessly, "If we can't take Kangubao, let's leave a force to besiege it and try to persuade them to surrender."

Xu Lai said, "Back when Mu Zheng was in Kangu Fort, Li Liangzuo personally led a large army to attack it every year, and they fought for several years without success."

The western fortress further north would be even easier to attack.

Xu Lai and Zhang Shouyue left troops to besiege Kangu Fort, while the main force moved to Xishi Fort. It was much easier to attack here than Xishi City. After just two days of bombardment, several sections of the fortress wall collapsed.

Then, the Shenji Battalion, mixed among the other infantry, rushed to the breach in the stockade wall and fired their three-eyed guns, while the remaining Song infantry took the opportunity to break in.

Take it down in one fell swoop!

Further ahead lies the city of Lanzhou.

Before Xu Lai had even led his troops to Lanzhou, soldiers of the Western Xia Qiang tribe had already come to surrender.

"Did the Tanguts abandon Lanzhou and flee?"

"Not only did they run away, but they also took our leader and our food with them."

This news surprised Xu Lai greatly, but upon closer reflection, it made perfect sense.

The Qiang tribes near Lanzhou suffered countless casualties, and their food supplies were almost depleted by the Tanguts. If they continued to defend Lanzhou, not only would they lack provisions, but they would also have to be constantly on guard against a Qiang rebellion.

Even if they hold Lanzhou and successfully block the Song army, the Qiang tribes in Lanzhou will repeatedly rebel in the next few years.

It would be better to take the grain and leave, abandoning the Qiang soldiers, which would save a lot of food.

The problem of food shortage was left to Xu Lai.

Xu Lai had captured a large number of Qiang soldiers. If he wanted to rule Lanzhou in the future, he couldn't simply kill all the Qiang prisoners. He had to feed them!

Now, the Song army is facing a food shortage, let alone continuing its offensive.

Because the grain transport route was so long, half of the grain would be consumed halfway through the journey from Qinzhou.

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