Wei Ming Cha Ge didn't care too much at first, but when he heard the last few words, his face suddenly changed, and his eyelids even twitched.
The so-called "Tianyou" and "Yong'an" disasters refer to the time when Li Ganshun's biological mother, Empress Xiaoliang, was in power. In order to consolidate her own power, she ignored the reality and mobilized the whole country to attack the Song Dynasty, which led to the danger of the destruction of the Western Xia.
The first time was in the seventh year of Tianyou Min'an. Empress Xiao Liang brought her son and mobilized 500,000 people to attack the Song Dynasty. They marched into Yanfu Road, which was the area of Yan'an Prefecture, Suide Army, and Bao'an Army. They ended up in a great defeat.
The second time was two years later in the first year of Yong'an. At that time, Li Ganshun had barely reached adulthood and had a certain appeal, but he still could not stop his biological mother. So Empress Xiao Liang once again mobilized 400,000 people across the country to attack the Song Dynasty. In the end, they were defeated at the city of Pingxia and had to turn to the Liao Kingdom for assistance to ensure the survival of the Dabai Gao Kingdom.
Moreover, the core area of Western Xia is nothing more than the first two of the three sets of the Yellow River. At the beginning of the founding of the country, the population was only over one million. Later, it vigorously developed the Hetao and expanded Hexi. At its heyday, the population was only three million. And how many males could be recruited among a population of three million?
For those over 15 and under 60, 500,000 is the limit for the Western Xia Kingdom.
And this kind of war involving the whole country, once frustrated, or even without frustration, as long as it is maintained for a while, will cause the decline of the national strength of the whole country. This can be seen from the fact that the second expedition after Xiaoliang gave up the farther Hengshan and chose Pingxia City, which is closer to the capital, as the target, and the number of people mobilized was reduced from 500,000 to 400,000.
As for the second defeat, they were unable to organize even the defense of their own land and could only seek interference from the Liao Kingdom.
In fact, the two times Empress Xiaoliang committed suicide were the closest times that Western Xia came to the destruction of the country.
This is the tragedy of a small country with a small population. Even if it is a country founded on military power and a nation with abundant martial virtues, the upper limit of its national strength is here... Once the army is mobilized, it involves the whole country's strength. Once it is frustrated or returns without success, it will take many years of recuperation before it can slow down.
What's more, Xixia's real mobile forces were insufficient.
In the two battles, most of the 500,000 and 400,000 troops were just logistics personnel. The so-called 200,000 troops of the 12th Army were nonsense. They were just the Tanguts and various ethnic tribes who were a combination of military and civilians.
Xixia's real national army is no more than 70,000 or 80,000. Moreover, there are garrisons everywhere, so the field force can be 40,000 or 50,000, which is also the limit. The core Iron Harriers are only a few thousand.
No one knows this better than Li Ganshun and Cha Ge.
The battle in which Weiming Cha Ge became famous all over the world, that is, the battle in which Liu Fa was killed, is clear and accurate in the records of both sides. Although Liu Fa was forced to lead his troops out lightly, because he suddenly attacked the city of Lingzhou in the heart of Western Xia, Cha Ge was actually forced to fight to the death... The two sides fought fiercely for a day, and Liu Fa still continued to break through, and was finally trapped and died.
How many soldiers did Liu Fa have at that time? 20,000.
It is very likely that Chago had only 20,000 infantrymen and several thousand Iron Harriers, and he won by relying on a typical infantry confrontation and cavalry surprise attack from behind.
Once you understand the difficulties faced by Western Xia, you will also understand Li Ganshun's military and diplomatic philosophy of "everything for survival, survival is everything", and you will also understand why Zhao Jiu wanted to gamble on this. Of course, you will also naturally understand why Li Liangfu's battle in Yinshan made Li Ganshun so frightened that he directly killed his wife and the eldest son he raised.
Because that battle was not only a defeat, but more importantly, the Jurchens demonstrated a powerful pursuit and annihilation capability in the battle… The Song people could have been defeated in one battle, causing the Xixia people to lose thousands of people. However, unlike the Song people, the tenacity of the Jurchen cavalry played a huge role after the war. Wanyan Loushi and Wanyan Yinshuke's continued pursuit caused the retreating Xixia troops to suffer a fatal blow in front of a suddenly swollen wild river. Countless Xixia cavalry drowned in that unknown river, causing heavy casualties among the Xixia elite troops.
"Outside Hengshan, you can mobilize troops. I'll give you 30,000 of the 50,000 infantry, and I'll give you all the 6,000 Iron Harriers." Li Ganshun sighed when he saw that Cha Ge had finally taken things seriously and was cautious. "Take them to Hengshan, and join forces with Brother Yun, Heda and the others. Together, there will be 50,000 people. You can recruit and use the men in Hengshan... I think you can still defend Hengshan for me! But you must not leave Hengshan and help the Jin people get out of trouble! This is also the key point I called you here to remind you! Do you understand?!"
"I understand! I swear by the Buddha that I will never leave Hengshan!" Cha Ge gritted his teeth and swore, but he was a little worried. "But my royal brother, if I take most of the soldiers with me, you only have 20,000 soldiers here, but it's still important. What if the Song army attacks us from Hulu River or Hanhai?"
"If they come from Hanhai, they're seeking death. If they come from a place like Hulu River, at most they can come with 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers. I'll put these 20,000 soldiers in Lingzhou to watch over Hanhai and hold up the mouth of Hulu River. Is that not enough?" The wrinkles on Li Ganshun's face finally relaxed slightly.
Cha Ge nodded slightly.
Li Ganshun paused for a moment, but regardless of the blackness on his hands, he directly touched the "bird wings" next to his brother's golden crown, and then said earnestly: "Brother Cha, please go. I dreamed of the Buddha yesterday. He told me that after we get through this, we will be able to make the Great White Gao Kingdom last another hundred years!"
Cha Ge looked up in astonishment, only to see his ambitious brother standing in the royal courtyard, wearing a dragon robe and a tall golden crown. One hand was reaching forward to touch his hair bun, and the other hand was behind his back. There was still smoke of mugwort lingering around, and the early spring sunshine was shining from the Helan Mountains in the west, shining on the face of the Western Xia emperor, making it look golden... This scene actually had a sacred look, and even the wrinkles showed some Buddhist principles.
When Cha Ge heard those words and saw this scene, he was shocked, frightened, happy and sincere. He immediately knelt down and kowtowed beside the sheep scapula and said: "I am willing to fight with the Great Baigao Kingdom for another hundred years for my brother! I also ask my brother to live another hundred years!"
Upon seeing this, the witches and sorcerers around hurriedly knelt down. The air was filled with the unique smell of mugwort due to the commotion of everyone. After Li Ganshun took a few deep breaths, he smiled with his hands behind his back, like the Buddha picking up a flower... Come to think of it, not to mention the protection of the Buddha and the mountain ghosts, even the harmony between the monarch and his subjects and brothers is not comparable to that of the Zhao Song officials who imprisoned their father and brothers.
PS: Thanks to Shui Changdong~ for being so cute again!
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