Chapter 312 Leaning on the River
From the moment they crossed the gorge, all the officers in the Song Dynasty Imperial Camp who had a little common sense knew that the next 180 miles would be the march that would decide everything.
The reason is simple.
If the Song army could rely on the strategic misjudgments and mistakes of the Xixia people to easily avoid the enemy's elite field troops, dodge the accumulation of lives and the loss of time at the key pass, and then raid here at high speed, then after stepping into the Xingling land, the so-called Yinchuan Plain in later generations, they would have to face the final stress response of a militaristic country that had been established for a hundred years.
And it is an unavoidable stress response.
Because the former is a purely military arrangement, and although the latter will eventually be reflected in the military, the fundamental power comes from the cohesion of politics, nation, and culture, which is an invisible but tangible existence... Yue Fei, Qu Duan, Hu Hongxiu, and Liu Qi may have vaguely realized this concept from a fundamental perspective, and people like Li Shifu may not understand it, but they also know that it exists.
It’s not that no one had fought to the gorge before. After Pingxia City was built, because it controlled the upper reaches of Hulu River, Hulu River, the correct channel for attacking Xia, became the biggest weakness of the Western Xia people. Many people at that time said that Western Xia was going to perish, and the Western Xia people indeed suffered from sleepless nights for decades... Even during the Huizong period, there was the story of Liu Fa invading this place.
But even the most in-depth attempt failed.
This is called speaking from experience.
"Jiedu."
In the afternoon, the army was opposite the majestic Helan Mountain, and went down the Yellow River. After traveling for more than ten miles, they saw a gathering place of foreign cavalry in the distance. There were already more than a thousand foreign cavalry here. Hu Hongxiu immediately stopped his horse at the river bank, but ignored these foreign cavalry. Instead, he pointed to the river fork behind the foreign cavalry and reminded them. "The front is the Tangqukou."
Yue Fei stopped his horse and faced him, and nodded slightly. Most of the generals around him, including Qu Duan and his subordinates, also stopped their horses and marveled at the magnificent scene.
Firstly, the Tang Canal is extremely well-known in this era, perhaps even more famous than the Gorge. It has been introduced in the official gazette a long time ago, and many people know that this water conservancy project was built during the Tang Dynasty during the reign of Wu Zetian. Later, the Xixia people maintained and expanded it like a treasure. Up to now, the irrigation area of this canal has reached 900,000 acres!
It can be said that 30% of the foundation of Western Xia’s hegemony lies here.
Secondly, after Tangqukou, the surface of the Yellow River expanded again, becoming hundreds of steps wide. Even many Hebei soldiers in Yue Fei's army felt that this was the widest part of the Yellow River they had ever seen in their lives, not the downstream.
In fact, looking out from the small slope, you can see a vast river in front of you, all the way to the north, with majestic momentum and spectacular. In addition, under the sunny day, the Helan Mountains a hundred miles away are like a group of galloping horses, and there is a smooth road between the mountains and rivers. Several rivers and canals extend straight, and dotted villages, towns and castles are faintly visible... Seeing this magnificent scene, apart from the words "beautiful rivers and mountains", it is really speechless!
"This place has been a land of abundance since ancient times. There were canals for irrigation in the Han Dynasty, but none of them could compare to the Tang Canal." Hu Hongxiu's words interrupted the sighs of many people. "This canal is the largest and widest of all the canals in Xingling. It is 600 miles long and has hundreds of branches. It can reach all the cities in Xingling. If you follow this canal, you will reach Shunzhou in another 50 miles. Xingqing Prefecture is also downstream of this canal... The rafts we seized in the gorge area came from this canal."
The generals around nodded when they heard this, because Minister Hu's meaning was very clear. He suggested that Yue Fei leave the Yellow River from here, turn to Tangqu from the canal mouth, and march along Tangqu.
This is a very reasonable route, even reasonable enough to be taken for granted.
It should be noted that the Tangqu Canal must have been well maintained by the Xixia people on a daily basis, with neat edges, straight paths, deep water and no siltation inside, so once the rafts carrying supplies entered the canal, the march would be extremely easy. Not to mention, according to Hu Hongxiu's intelligence, there was a complete prefecture fifty miles ahead of the canal, which could be taken down as a forward base, and Xingqing Prefecture further ahead was also next to the canal.
In fact, just by looking at the foreign cavalry gathering at the mouth of the canal, one could guess that even the foreign cavalry believed that the Song army would enter the Tang canal and march towards their capital along the canal.
However, it was also because of this that when Commander Yue Fei reined in his horse for a moment but did not give any orders, everyone realized that the Commander might have other ideas.
"Is Xingqing Prefecture located between Tangqu and the Yellow River?" After a moment, Yue Fei regained his focus from the mountains and rivers ahead, and then asked seriously. "East of Tangqu, west of the Yellow River?"
"Yes." Hu Hongxiu immediately explained. "Xingqing Prefecture is quite large. The west side is adjacent to the Tang Canal, which directly leads into the city through the water gate and also serves as a transportation channel for goods. The east side of the city wall is 20 to 30 miles away from the Yellow River. Even the palace outside the city is more than 10 miles away from the Yellow River."
"Has this canal always been this wide?" Yue Fei nodded slightly and continued to ask.
"Of course not..." Hu Hongxiu shook his head. "On average, it's probably about 30 to 40 steps wide, but there are also narrow places. I remember there was an area in Shunzhou that was about 10 steps wide. But even so, it definitely wouldn't delay the rafts' march, because these rafts originally came out of the Tang Canal."
Yue Fei still nodded, and still did not make any comment, but asked the third question: "Do the Xixia people have navy in the Yellow River? I recently looked up the records of Xixia wars, and it seems that there is a mention of Xixia navy?"
Hu Hongxiu immediately shook his head: "I didn't see it, it must be a misunderstanding."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
