When Guo Shengyi saw the reply, his face turned pale, but he was helpless and had to continue to strictly block it.
For a time, the situation on the border between the two sides became tense.
On the morning of July 26th, which was the third day since the main force of the Song army arrived at Pingxiang Cave, the food and fodder in the rear had basically been in place.
The soldiers had also finished their rest. Taking advantage of the fact that it was the Mid-Autumn Festival and the temperature had dropped slightly, not as hot as in June, Di Qing prepared to officially march.
Early in the morning, the soldiers left the camp one after another, and the laborers began to pack up the camp, take up the tents, and reinstall the carriages and horses.
Di Qing rode on horseback, accompanied by officials such as Yang Cha, Zhao Wenzuo, and Nong Zhigao.
This time, Yang Cha and Zhao Wenzuo will be responsible for logistics and stationed in Pingxiang Cave to transport food and fodder to Di Qing on the front line.
Nong Zhigao served as the deputy general, leading the minority soldiers and fighting alongside Di Qing.
"Han minister, do not be careless on this expedition."
Yang Cha warned: "You must act with caution and do not disappoint the court's expectations."
"Please be at ease, Commander!"
Di Qing bowed and said, "I'm off."
"good."
Yang Cha nodded.
With Di Qing's order, the large army officially set off.
The Dali army also marched along with the Song Dynasty.
As early as several days ago, Yang Cha had sent people to notify Dali and asked them to send troops quickly.
However, the Dali army did not attack in Guangxi, but started from Xiushan County of Dali Kingdom, which is the area of Gejiu City in later generations, and went south along the Red River, passing through Tierong and Ayue, and directly took Jiaozhi.
The route was roughly like this: starting from Gejiu City, Mengzi City and other places in later generations, going all the way through Yuanjiang to Hekou Yao Autonomous County, and attacking Lao Cai City in Vietnam.
Therefore, the Song army and the Dali army took the ancient Yongji Pass Road to the south, and the other took the ancient Honghe Road to the southeast, launching a pincer attack on Jiaozhi.
The Song army marched out of Yongji Pass and entered Menzhou along the ancient road.
This place was nominally still part of the Song Dynasty and one of the forty-eight vassal states of the Song Dynasty, but it was occupied by the Jiaozhi people.
Upon learning that the Song army had arrived, the local Jiaozhi people had already scattered and fled in all directions.
The Song army successfully occupied Menzhou, which is the Vietnamese town of Dongdeng opposite the Pingxiang port in later generations.
The terrain here is relatively open and not suitable for blocking, so the Li Dynasty army will naturally not station here. Therefore, after occupying Munju, the Song army continued to move south.
There are two forks from here. One goes west, passing through Wenguan County and Beishan County in later Vietnam, and enters Taiyuan Province, Vietnam.
The other route is naturally to go south to Liangzhou, and then directly enter the Red River Plain through Liangzhou.
The western road is the route taken by Song general Guo Kui during the Song-Vietnam War. From here, you can pass through Xuanhua of the Ly Dynasty and reach Ruyue River. Several battles broke out between the two sides here.
The reason for taking the western route was naturally because the southern route was heavily controlled by the Jiaozhi army, so they could only take a long detour and launch a surprise attack.
However, Di Qing chose the southern route without hesitation.
The army continued to move south. Nong Zhigao ordered the border minority soldiers who were able to cross mountains and ridges to explore the way ahead and advance slowly at a distance of thirty miles a day.
At the end of July, at noon on the 30th, when the army was still marching forward, a scout came and reported: "Report!"
"What is it?"
Di Qing asked.
"We've reached Jiaozhi Pass. They're building a wall at the crossing."
"Take me there."
"yes."
The scout took Di Qing with him to look for Nong Zhigao.
When Di Qing came to Nong Zhigao, Nong Zhigao was looking out from a small hillside.
His minority troops served as vanguards in the front, but their numbers were small.
Because the real main combat force is the Song army's musket team and artillery team. If they deploy too many troops in the front, the Li Dynasty will suddenly launch an attack. They will not be able to resist and may be forced to retreat.
Therefore, the entire deployment of the Song army was planned. Nong Zhigao led 5,000 of the most elite soldiers to explore the way ahead, the firearms army was in the front as the vanguard, followed by more than 20,000 ordinary soldiers in the middle as the center army, and the artillery followed behind with the civilians pulling the cannons.
At this moment, the Song army was in a narrow mountain road, with dense mountains and deep forests on both sides.
Many of the 5,000 soldiers in the front went into the forest, searching everywhere for scouts from Jiaozhi. They even engaged in fierce fighting in the forest.
The main force of Jiaozhi was in the rear. Facing the attack of the main force of the Song army, the Jiaozhi scouts in the forest were defeated and finally retreated. Therefore, this place was still quite safe. Only the flags on the distant mountains were towering.
At noon, the sun was high in the sky and the air was a little stuffy. Even though every member of the firearms army carried a mosquito repellent sachet, the mosquitoes were like dark clouds that could not be driven away.
The mountains are covered with dense forests and centuries-old trees can be seen everywhere. Although the mountains are not high, they are covered with bushes and wild grasses that are taller than people.
Nong Zhigao's small hill is on the right side of the road, a small slope under the mountain. He is riding on a horse, looking at something in the distance.
"Tongzhi, what are you looking at?"
Di Qing came over and asked.
Nong Zhigao pointed to the mountains to the southwest and said, "General, the people of Shizhong have built a camp on the south side of the mountain."
Di Qing looked over and could vaguely see flags fluttering on the mountains.
He looked around and then said, "Is there any higher ground here from which we can see the entire distance?"
“Yes, there are, but the mountain is steep and not easy to climb.”
"That's fine. Let the army rest here first. We'll go up the mountain and see what's going on."
"yes."
Nong Zhigao responded.
The army then stopped and he personally took Di Qing up the mountain.
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