Chapter 316: Dispatching Troops
Yue Fei sent his generals to sweep the Ningxia Plain, not only to find Li Ganshun and his son, but also to quickly establish a defense system to deal with possible military counterattacks.
The significance of finding Li Ganshun and his son is self-evident, but it is also necessary to defend against the counterattack of the Western Xia’s peripheral military forces... Because at this moment, except for the local military forces in the Yinchuan Plain which have suffered a large-scale blow, there is no clear news of damage to the rest of the Western Xia’s military forces.
Among them, the first and most important one is of course the direction of Hengshan on the other side of the Yellow River.
The north of Hengshan was originally the Five States where Li Yuanhao started his career and one of the four core ruling areas of Western Xia (the Xingling area in the front set, the area under the Yinshan Mountains in the back set, the five states of Hengshan, and the six states of Hexi). There were many Dangxiang tribes there, and because it was located on the front line, there were tens of thousands of troops stationed there all year round. In addition, at this time, Weiming Chago brought 30,000 to 40,000 main forces of Western Xia there. It can be said that most of the active military forces of Western Xia were gathered there.
Secondly, there are 20,000 reinforcements heading towards Hexi to resist Yelu Dashi.
Finally, there are the local forces of the Black Mountain Wei Fu Army that resisted the attacks of the Mongols at the Yinshan Pass. There is another core ruling area of Western Xia, the strategically important Houtao Plain.
This is not groundless worry. You have to know that five days had passed from the day the beacon fire was lit at the gorge to the second day when the city was captured.
Be lenient when you estimate the enemy's strength.
Assuming that Wei Mingchage received the warning from the beacon smoke transmission himself, rather than Li Ganshun receiving the message and then passing it on, and that he happened to have set up an emergency response system in advance, then his vanguard may have set out from Yanzhou, the westernmost part of the Hengshan front, three days ago. Yanzhou is 300 miles away from the Yellow River, and there is a desert in between. After three days and three hundred miles, it should be possible to reach Lingzhou, an important town on the other side of the river.
Relatively speaking, the 20,000 troops heading west to Hexi did not need to worry too much, because the 20,000 troops passed through the gorge and headed west ten days ago. Not to mention where they were when the beacon fire was lit, could they be seen? Even if they were seen, and without considering Yelu Dashi, Wang De was now leading 6,000 imperial camp infantrymen behind him to occupy the key point of the gorge, which was enough to deal with it.
Of course, the above measurements are all based on the leniency of the enemy, and they are the leniency at best.
In fact, everyone knew that after the beacon fire was lit that night, it was unlikely that Weiming Chage could see the military situation here across a desert of hundreds of miles, and the dispatch of such a large-scale army still required Li Ganshun's order... Otherwise, who knew whether it was a campaign to defend the king or a mutiny?
Besides, the Western Xia and Song armies were in a full-scale standoff on the Hengshan line. The two sides had a total of about 100,000 people, and the battle line stretched across five states. It lasted for nearly two months. Even if Cha Ge wanted to come to the rescue at all costs, how many days would it take just to mobilize the troops?
In fact, this is true.
In the next two days, three of the four states surrounding Xingqing Prefecture were quickly swept away, and Wang De at the gorge also opened up the road with the main force. Even though Shunzhou resisted firmly for some reason, the defense system of Xingqing Prefecture on the west bank of the Yellow River was basically rebuilt. At the same time, there was still no sign of Cha Ge's army returning to the other side of the Yellow River, and there was no sign of the Xixia army heading west in the gorge direction.
At this time, Qu Duan even suggested that they should send a troop to Lingzhou on the other side as a test.
Of course, Yue Fei did not agree. The reason was very simple... First, Li Ganshun's whereabouts were unknown, and second, there were some clues about Yelu Dashi's movements.
It would be inappropriate to split up the troops and cross the river at this time.
The news came from Li Shifu.
Not to mention the previous battle on the Yellow River and the fact that the Song army occupied Xingqing Prefecture, which really shocked many local Dangxiang tribes, just say that Li Shifu led 6,000 cavalry to sweep along the Helan Mountains. With the army approaching, even if you are a loyal minister of the Great White Gao Kingdom, you have to temporarily take shelter in the Song thieves... Do you understand saving the country in a roundabout way? Li Shifu is not a good man, so would he take 6,000 cavalry and go around when he encounters a resisting tribe?
It was these Dangxiang tribes living under the Helan Mountains who learned about the movements of the Khitans during their visit to Xingqing Prefecture to pay homage to Yue Fei.
It turned out that as early as when Yue Fei marched into Xingqing Prefecture, a small tribe, or simply a small group of horse bandits, passed through the rear of Helan Mountain and brought some scattered news from the Hexi region. At that time, some people said that more than 10,000 Xixia reinforcements who went out to support ran into the Khitans in the east of Xiliang Prefecture (Liangzhou), and were caught off guard and a large-scale encounter broke out with the Khitans in a small town called Jisang.
The result was that they were defeated in one battle and all the troops surrendered.
No one believed this news at first, because it meant that the Khitans were advancing at an extremely fast speed.
Of course, the Song army had already crossed the gorge by then, and no one cared whether to believe it or not... But now with more and more relevant information, the date, location, and army size are basically the same, so it is almost certain.
In other words, although it is unclear whether the 20,000 Xixia soldiers and the Khitans were both defeated or whether they were just an advantage for the Khitans, there is no doubt that the entire Hexi area now belonged to the Khitans, and that Yelu Dashi might appear at the foot of the Helan Mountains in the near future.
This is an 'ally' that must be treated with great caution... Compared to Lingzhou on the other side of the river, preventing the Khitans from taking risks is the most urgent task.
In fact, as soon as the message arrived, Yue Fei urged Liu Qi, who was failing in his attack on Shunzhou.
A day later, Li Ganshun finally got the news, but it was obtained by Li Shifu... Specifically, Li Shifu obtained it after capturing Tanliang City.
The so-called Tanliangcheng was a mountain castle built by Li Ganshun's grandfather, Emperor Yizong of the Western Xia, during his reign. It was located in a valley deep in the Helan Mountains northwest of Xingqing Prefecture. It was used to store grain in the rear and was a major strategic location in the Western Xia. Hu Hongxiu was temporarily in charge of the administration of the surrounding areas of Xingqing Prefecture. He checked the relevant documents and heard about the surrendered officials. After finding this place, he immediately informed Li Shifu through Yue Fei's headquarters. The latter also hurriedly abandoned many tribes and rushed there directly to control it.
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