"It's a misunderstanding. Where did the Xixia people get so many troops?" Liu Qi suddenly interrupted, then raised his whip and pointed at the wide river ahead. "Jiedu, please look, from here on, the Yellow River becomes wider and wider, wider than Jingdong, but such a wide and flat river also makes the river level gentle, which is convenient for crossing... The only difference is that the river is wide, so a lot of rafts and sheepskin rafts are needed for crossing the river, so it is natural for the Xixia people to arrange troops at the ferry to keep the rafts and sheepskin rafts, have weapons, and serve as guards. It became a matter of course, and naturally it was spread as a navy."

"That's right." Qu Duan suddenly interrupted. "When I was young, I saw the so-called Xixia navy once... Those Xixia people on the river had neither decent boats nor other proper water equipment. They were dressed in tattered sheepskin coats and carried some horse bows. In fact, they were just civilians following the army to transport goods. They were despised by everyone."

Yue Fei got the answer he wanted, and then nodded heavily. After a moment, he turned his head to Qu Duan, with no expression on his face: "General Qu, can you quickly disperse the foreign cavalry in front of us?"

"Jiedu, don't joke." Qu Duan's expression remained unchanged. "Even if there are 10,000 of us, we can drive away this kind of foreign cavalry, but they have few equipments, good horsemanship, and are very fast, so it's hard to catch up. If they scatter, we still need to gather them together again."

"I know." Yue Fei immediately wanted to say something else. "Please ask Commander Qu to clean it up first, so that we can cross the canal later."

Qu Duan nodded, but did not move immediately. He asked back on the spot: "The governor asked so carefully, obviously he wants to abandon Tangqu and go to the Yellow River?"

"Yes." Yue Fei still had some respect for Qu Duan, but it was just some respect.

"But what's the point of crossing the Yellow River? Do you think we can't handle the increasing number of foreign cavalry and are going to turn around and cross the river from the lower reaches to attack the empty Lingzhou on the other side of the river?" Qu Da finally frowned and looked at him seriously. "If we want to attack Lingzhou, what's the point of letting the whole army cross the gorge together before? How can we appease the morale of the army with such back and forth? Jiedu, I have something to say to you. Everyone has come here because of their great achievements and want to accomplish great things; secondly, they are also worried that something might go wrong... Changing the route at this time, abandoning Xingqing Prefecture and taking Lingzhou is certainly a merit, but please forgive me for speaking frankly, it will only make the morale of the army loose."

Having said that, at this point in the situation, there are actually very few choices, and the surrounding military generals have already thought of some things.

However, Yue Fei was a favorite general of Emperor Zhao and had a high rank. He was one of the three great generals and was always strict in managing the army. When the three armies joined forces this time, there was no need to say much about his headquarters in the imperial camp. As for the cavalry and central army of the imperial camp, although most of them were from Kansai, they were all deployed around Tokyo and had long known the temperament, qualifications and abilities of General Yue.

Therefore, there was not much dissatisfaction among the people, but rather more fear.

But even so, it still depends on what Qu Duan said. Now that everyone has come this far, how could they give up Xingqing Prefecture and go to attack Lingzhou because of possible military obstacles?

If we attack Lingzhou, the army will certainly be dissatisfied.

Therefore, since Qu Duan had spoken, the surrounding officers had no scruples anymore and came forward to persuade him.

This person said that if they went to Lingzhou, they would be easily taken advantage of by the Khitans. The Khitans were equipped with cavalry and camels, so they might even march directly from behind the Helan Mountains!

It was said that Weiming Chago in the direction of Hengshan would definitely return to provide support after receiving the message. If he really went to Lingzhou, the Xixia reinforcements from the direction of Hengshan might come back and be trapped there instead.

Everyone tried to persuade him, but Yue Fei just reined in his horse and said nothing.

After a while, when the people around him gradually quieted down, Yue Fei spoke calmly: "Do you all think we should go to Tangqu?"

The generals knew that it was a crucial moment and nodded in agreement.

"And if I take the Yellow River, do you think I will have to walk a few dozen miles to cross the river downstream to Lingzhou on the other side of the river?"

The crowd will continue to nod, but the smart ones have already tasted the flavor.

Qu Duan narrowed his eyes slightly, and Liu Qi and Hu Hongxiu looked at each other directly.

"Since we have come this far, we must move forward without hesitation and take Xingqing Prefecture alone." Yue Pengju finally said sternly. "How can we take Lingzhou? Listen to my orders. The cavalry will drive away the foreign cavalry, build a floating bridge on the canal, and the whole army will cross the canal and set up camp there! Don't ask any more questions, and don't be suspicious!"

The generals were all excited, and General Qu Liu and others did not dare to hesitate any longer. However, although these people were excited about Yue Fei's statement, they still had some doubts in their hearts, because Yue Fei still did not say whether he wanted to go through Tangqu or the Yellow River. From his appearance, it was obvious that he acquiesced to let the baggage and troops go through the Yellow River.

But since the goal was to take Xingqing Prefecture, why not march along the Tang Canal instead of the Yellow River?

But the coach's authority is here, if he says more, there will be no hope. Even Qu Duan does not want to cause any trouble at this time and place.

Let's not talk about others. Only Hu Hongxiu, the Minister of the Song Dynasty, who was wearing a turban, followed Yue Fei and watched the battle from a high place. Under the afternoon sun, the water of Tangqu was rippled. Zhang Zhongfu led thousands of cavalrymen to rush to the mouth of the canal. Liu Qi led thousands of cavalrymen to try to bypass and encircle them from the west, but they were still discovered by the foreign cavalrymen and fled along the Tangqu. On the other side of the canal, there were more than a hundred newly arrived foreign cavalrymen who harassed them across the river, forcing the Song army to send out a group of archers to scare away the foreign cavalrymen... At this time, Minister Hu couldn't help but take another look at the Yellow River, which was hundreds of steps wide, and he suddenly realized something.

Just like that, on the first day after entering the heartland of Xingling, the Xixia people hurriedly gathered more than a thousand foreign cavalry. Not to mention killing or wounding them, they were unable to cause any effective delay to the Song army.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!