Tanliang City was so empty and chaotic that it was unbelievable that Li Shifu and his vanguard of 2,000 light cavalry easily controlled the city. Not only that, Li Shifu himself also learned an important news from the local tribes - on the second day after Xingqing City was captured, someone came here with a golden medal from the King of Western Xia, asking the defenders to take all the livestock and sufficient food and fodder with them to go northeast, and at the same time asked the defenders to set fire to the city when they left.
However, how important was this city? Although the defenders saw the gold medal, how could they dare to burn it easily just because of a gold medal? Moreover, there were also people from the local tribe among the defenders, who went directly to the tribal leader to tell him about it... In the end, most of the defenders left with food and livestock, and the fire did not start.
As for the castle, it fell under the control of two small local tribes.
Just when the two local small tribes were in surprise, panic and confusion, not knowing what to do with the strategic reserve grain of the Great Baigao Kingdom, only a day and a half later, Li Shifu personally led thousands of cavalry here.
Seizing a large amount of food reserves was of course great news, but at the same time, considering the time and distance, the appearance of the messenger holding the gold medal of the Western Xia king coincided with Li Ganshun's itinerary.
The Western Xia king was obviously worried about the long journey to Hengshan, with the Yellow River and the desert, and the lack of supplies... or he was worried that going directly to Hengshan would be too obvious and he would be intercepted by the Song army at the river or on the opposite bank, so he chose to go north along the river to temporarily avoid the attack.
Of course, after heading north, where will this person go?
It might be that they were heading to Houtao, which was a strategic location and one of the four core ruling areas of Western Xia. But it was also possible that they just wanted to obtain supplies and then cross the river directly from Shengweicheng, taking a detour through Luotuogang to Hengshan.
But in any case, it seems a little too late... There is a time difference of one and a half days, especially in Dingzhou and the north of Tanliangcheng, which is still enemy-occupied area and the geographical conditions are completely unclear, so it is not a good idea to advance rashly.
Especially since you never know when the ally you have to be on high alert for will arrive.
Just when Yue Pengju and his followers were determined to control the Yinchuan Plain, the political, economic, cultural and geographical heartland of Western Xia, and wait for Western Xia to split apart, on the other side, on the Hengshan front, there was finally movement that could no longer be concealed.
"According to the military intelligence report from Yang Zheng of Huanzhou, three days ago, the Xixia garrison troops in Yanzhou suddenly retreated in large numbers and their whereabouts are unknown."
On the top of the wall of Baoan Army's Luoluo Village, Guo Hao, who had hurriedly ridden here from the front line of Pingrong Village, was trying to persuade the commander-in-chief Wu Jie who was stationed here at the time. "Yesterday, I was at the front line of Pingrong Village, and there was also a secret report from the Hengshan tribe, saying that Weiming Cha Ge had gathered a large number of troops, but they had decided to go to Youzhou, which is located west of Hongliu River. I think Youzhou is an inner line, and the troops here are clearly intended to escape rather than attack. This morning, Weiming Heda personally sent his son to Pingrong Village, saying that Cha Ge was going to return to the west... It can be seen that Yelu Dashi and Yue Jieduchu should have succeeded, and are now approaching Xingling..."
"So, what do you want to say?" Wu Jie, with a yellow face, sat on the top of the city wall of Luoluo Village with a frown on his face, staring at the dark Hengshan Mountain to the north of him in a daze. At this time, Guo Hao came to persuade him with a cold attitude.
"General." Guo Hao quickly said in a serious tone. "I think Weiming Heda is a minister of Princess Nanxian after all. He is a noble Khitan who hates the Jin people to the core. Now that Yelu Dashi is coming to attack Xixia, he must be trustworthy."
"And then?" Wu Jie still frowned.
"General!" Guo Hao was getting more and more anxious. "Think about it, Yue Jiedu and Qu Da, Wang De, Liu Qi and their men are probably already at the gorge, and Yelu Dashi may also march from the Helan Mountains..."
"I'm asking you, do you have a plan? What do you want me to do? Why do you keep talking about irrelevant things?" Wu Jie suddenly stood up from the top of the city wall, waving his sleeves in anger.
Guo Hao was also furious for a moment, but he suppressed his anger and said, "General, I think we can follow Xiao Heda's strategy and immediately send at least 10,000 main forces to attack Longzhou. Together with Xiao Heda, we will surely win in one fell swoop and break the Hengshan defense line."
Under the setting sun, Wu Jie stood on the city wall with his hands behind his back for a long while, frowning and looking at Hengshan in the north for a long while. He didn't know how long he thought about it or what he was thinking about, but he finally shook his head and said, "We can try, but we can't give up easily! I will contact the Prince of Yan'an and Wu Er, and we will attack Yan'an from four directions...see how the Xixia people react, and also spy on the position of the Jurchens."
Guo Hao was greatly disappointed and wanted to persuade him again.
"You don't understand!" Wu Jie said with a wave of his sleeves. "Pingrong Village is in a critical position, you should go back earlier!"
Guo Hao was now completely helpless and could only follow military orders...but he was full of resentment, and did not even bow. He gripped the horse whip and angrily went down the city wall, then mounted his horse and led dozens of his personal guards to hurriedly return to Pingrong Village.
After Guo Hao left, Wu Jie still stood on the top of the city wall with his hands behind his back, and then he didn't even look at his subordinate, but just stared at Hengshan again. Only at this time, the setting sun gradually set, bringing up a piece of fire clouds, reflecting on Wu Jie's face, the light kept changing, and even his yellow face turned red from time to time.
Finally, as the sun set, Wu Jie finally issued the military order to attack Yan'an. Then he had a small meal and went to bed early. However, since he had all kinds of complicated thoughts in his mind, he didn't know how long he waited before he fell asleep.
But he had only slept for an hour or two when he was hastily awakened in the middle of the night by his younger brother and eldest son Wu Gong, who bowed and reported that Guo Hao had returned and had just arrived in the city. He said that he had top-secret military intelligence to report to General Wu... No one in the city dared to neglect him and could only let Wu Gong wake his father up.
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