When news of the great victory at Beiyuan Village reached Tokyo, the court officials did not share Tang Ke's joy.

They considered this victory insignificant and incapable of shaking the main force of the barbarians.

Because they were far from the northwestern frontier, their understanding of the situation there was largely based on imagination. Some ministers even suggested that Beiyuan Village had not actually achieved a great victory, and that this battle report had deceived Xingqing Prefecture and, more importantly, Tokyo.

For example, Lin Yunzhi, the Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, publicly criticized Gu Changting for falsifying military intelligence in the Hall of State Affairs.

While other officials were not as vehement as Lin Yunzhi, they were more or less skeptical, believing that Gu Changting's battle report was highly exaggerated.

The imperial court remained deeply concerned about the Northwest.

June has arrived in the blink of an eye, and the Central Plains and the South are entering the hot summer.

The highest temperature in the Hetao region is no more than 30 degrees Celsius, and it usually stays in the 20s.

Especially in the Heishui City area, there are endless grasslands to the north and the Ejina River flowing through the east, making the climate very cool.

Occasionally, a heavy rain will come, wetting the sun-scorched air and making it feel more refreshing and comfortable.

The terrain of the Hetao Road is very special, with the Hexi Corridor, which stretches for 2,000 miles, to the south.

It is a long and narrow alluvial plain. Because it is adjacent to the Western Regions, with the Qilian Mountains to the south and the Heli Mountains to the north, the monsoon winds from the Western Regions blow into the Hexi Corridor, creating a comfortable climate zone here.

The Hexi Corridor is home to many historical cities, such as Jiuquan, Zhangye (Xuanhua Prefecture), Liangzhou, and Yongzhou.

In the narrow strip of land to the north of the Hexi Corridor, besides the Helishan Mountains, there is also the vast Badain Jaran Desert (since the name of this desert in the Song Dynasty cannot be found, we will use its modern name).

Badain Jaran divides the Hetao Road into upper and lower sections. Heishui City is located on the north side of the Hetao Road. It was a key military town for the Tangut people to defend against the nomadic tribes of the grasslands.

Today, it remains an important military stronghold, and its commander is Zhe Keqiu, a famous general of the Song Dynasty.

Unlike the fertile Hexi Corridor to the south, the land here is relatively barren and unsuitable for farming.

The villagers would typically choose to herd sheep and then sell the cattle and sheep to Blackwater in exchange for goods and other food.

It will be easier for all the people in the Blackwater City area to migrate.

After a heavy rain, the sun shone brightly, making the grass glisten.

The Xiang Army soldiers, who set out from Heishui City, were divided into teams of one hundred men and issued relocation orders in the surrounding villages.

The villagers, dragging their cattle and sheep, began to drive towards Heishui City.

Some, finding it too troublesome, simply sold their belongings cheaply, packed their valuables, and headed south along the Hei-Liang Highway to Liangzhou in search of a new livelihood.

Meanwhile, in Shazhou, Xuanhua Prefecture, Suzhou, and Liangzhou, the local militia also began to hastily relocate the people from the surrounding villages.

There are fertile fields here, and if people want to move into the city, they have no choice but to abandon the lush green crops in the fields.

Many people sighed and complained on their way to migrate, and some women shed tears of sorrow, feeling that they had finally managed to get food and their lives were slowly stabilizing, but now they had to wander again.

Some people deliberately hid and refused to move into the city.

Because the Hexi Corridor is sparsely populated, omissions are very common.

In short, all the prefectures along the Hetao Road were strictly enforcing the scorched-earth policy.

By the end of June, the major highways along the Hetao Road were deserted, and the caravans that used to come and go were nowhere to be seen.

After the scouts delivered the news about the Hetao Road to Yelü Dashi, Yelü Dashi became even more certain that that stupid pig, Anbahai, would die a terrible death in the Hetao Road.

The Song army's formidable fighting power was one aspect, but the Song court's ability to organize and control the populace was also a crucial factor.

When they need to replenish their ranks, they can form an army of unprecedented size; when they need to implement a scorched-earth policy, they can quickly evacuate the surrounding population.

Yelü Dashi's general Xiao Wulila said to Yelü Dashi, "Your Majesty, our Bahhai is, after all, the last strength of the grasslands. Why not send troops to assist us?"

"No need, let that stupid pig die."

After some time, the siege still made no progress.

When the soldiers in the rear heard that tens of thousands of people had died in front, they began to discuss the matter.

In order to stabilize morale, Ibahai began to find various reasons to explain things to the troops.

For example, when we marched south, some soldiers fell ill due to the change in environment and climate, but these were all minor illnesses and there was no need to worry.

For example, a few days ago, 5,000 people contracted a cold and died.

The soldiers in the rear looked at the clear blue sky and couldn't understand how they could have caught a cold at this time.

Some time later, I heard that another 20,000 people had died.

So they came up with a new excuse: they died in their sleep!

That's right, they were dead in their sleep!

Finally, when the next batch of heads was delivered to the foot of the city wall of Beifu, the morale of the army was already wavering.

Rumors circulated that the Northern Army was impregnable, and that 70,000 men had already died in the siege, without even managing to set up siege ladders.

By the end of June, the barbarian army that had been so imposing and imposing over a month earlier had become tired and disorganized, and the soldiers in the rear were increasingly dissatisfied.

The original plan was to conquer the Northern Prefecture within ten days and loot it completely.

Many generals were already preparing to reach the pinnacle of their lives, having even planned how many wives they would marry and the names of their future children.

Damn it, it's been over a month now, and not only is there no movement, but so many people have died.

The siege is going nowhere!

And they even gave away tens of thousands of lives for nothing.

The chieftain, Anbahai, was so angry that he couldn't sleep all night. Several other tribal leaders would come to Anbahai to complain and scold him whenever they had free time.

"It's all your fault for saying you wanted to attack the Northern Prefecture!"

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