"What?"
Li Yuanhao almost lost his balance and fell off his horse. It was only because of the support of his personal guards that he managed to avoid falling off the horse.
This news was so shocking that Li Yuanhao's joy at defeating the Song army disappeared completely. Instead, he felt dizzy and was on the verge of collapse.
Because for him, it is now a matter of picking up sesame seeds and losing watermelons.
You should know that Li Yuanhao's strategic task this time was mainly to cover the Liao attack, and secondly to capture Qingtang, and then defeat the Song army on his own territory on the western front.
Originally, he wanted to let Qingtang and Zhuola City hold off the main force of the Song army. He would first lead the main force of Western Xia to quickly complete the attack on the Song army's detachment, and then rush west without stopping to gather all the troops of Western Xia to launch a head-on attack on the Song army.
In this way, he completed two counterattacks on his own territory. Even though the Song people had muskets, he had the advantage of geographical location and his own Xixia artillery, so it should be easy for him to repel the Song people.
By then, not only will they have completed the task of tying down the Song army in the northwest, but they will also be able to seize Qingtang and expand the strength of their Western Xia.
But who knew that the defeat on the western battlefield would be so quick.
You have to know that he only set out half a month ago, plus the time the Song army advanced, this means that the Song army could only capture the two cities in a few days at most, which is completely different from his imagination that it would take at least more than a month.
"What on earth is Yeli Wangrong doing? He originally said he could hold out for at least two months, so how come they were breached in just a few days?"
Li Yuanhao came to his senses and roared hysterically.
The soldier who brought the news said with a sad face, "The Song army took advantage of the heavy rain, which prevented them from using firearms and leaving the city to investigate, and deployed artillery outside the South Gate. When the rain stopped, they bombarded the South Gate, catching General Yeli off guard. If it weren't for the heavy rain,
heavy rain?
Li Yuanhao was stunned for a moment. The artillery could indeed not be fired in the rain, and it seemed that Yeli Wangrong could not be blamed.
But he was still very angry. If he didn't know that drawing a knife and killing people at this time would cause the army to lose morale, he would probably want to kill the soldier who reported the news.
"Sound the retreat!"
Li Yuanhao roared.
"Your Majesty, we should be pursuing our victory now. How can we withdraw our troops?"
A general nearby advised.
Now that we have ambushed a small contingent of the Song army, it is time to expand our victory.
No matter what, they must at least kill the Song army and plunder everywhere to make up for their losses in Western Xia. If they withdraw their troops now, they will suffer a great loss.
However, Li Yuanhao was furious and said, "If you don't withdraw your troops now, will they march north and capture Xingqing Prefecture? Idiot!"
Now that the western front has collapsed and Zhuolu and Nan have fallen, it means that the Song army can march straight north and directly attack Li Yuanhao's old nest, Xingqing Prefecture.
Giving up home in order to expand victory is equivalent to giving up the crystal base for a top lane tower.
No matter how stupid Li Yuanhao was, he would never commit such a mistake.
Li Yuanhao immediately ordered his troops to return to defend the city. Regardless of whether he could recapture Zhuo Luo and Nan, he had to at least ensure that the Song army would not continue to advance north to take Xingqing Prefecture.
The Western Xia occupied Qingtang in May, and the Song army launched a counterattack in August. In less than half a month, they gradually recaptured Qingtang and captured the Zhuola and southern areas of the Western Xia. The results of the battle were very fruitful.
In October, Li Yuanhao led the main force to return for support, but was repelled by the troops led by Zhang Kang and Jingtai.
It was not until this time that Han Qi in the northwest learned that Li Yuanhao had actually hidden his main force, but it was useless. Although Ren Fu was defeated, the strategic mission of the Song Dynasty had been completed and a large amount of territory was successfully captured.
In early October, the war in Liao had just begun. Fan Zhongyan led the Hebei Road army to besiege Xijin Prefecture of Liao, and Di Qing led a detachment from the sea to cut off the Yumen Pass.
Bianliang has not received any battle reports yet. After all, it is too far away. In the era without telegraphs, it would take four or five days to get the battle report from Xijin Prefecture. It would take at least half a month to get the battle report from Yuguan.
Therefore, the Constitutional Court did not know what was happening on Di Qing's side.
They are currently busy with another matter - the reorganization of the Constitutional Yuan in October.
Since the establishment of the Political System Council in September of the third year of Jingyou, this department has formulated relevant rules and regulations.
In accordance with the powers granted by the Supreme Constitution of the Song Dynasty, the full name of the Political System Council is "The National Government Development and Institutional Reform Council of the Song Dynasty", abbreviated as the Political System Council.
This department is in charge of all national affairs and has the power to appoint and dismiss all officials except the Vice-Director of the Constitutional Yuan. It supervises, manages, makes decisions and even enforces the law over all departments and has all powers except military.
It can be said that the Political System Council is equivalent to the power held by the prime minister in ancient times. The director of the Political System Council, Zhao Jun, is the emperor who has the command of the wing troops and the imperial city guards in addition to the vast majority of the imperial guards.
It is obviously unfair to say that Zhao Jun is second only to the emperor, because the person nominally above him is often threatened, intimidated, bullied, and even beaten by him.
So Zhao Jun is very powerful now.
After the morning court session on October 8, Zhao Jun sat at his desk with a pot of tea, while Yan Shu was chatting with him.
"Today's morning court was quite lively. The emperor immediately dismissed Duke Song and Duke Cai, and they will be re-elected."
"But in return, they will naturally have to give up the power to recommend."
"You have to give up before you can gain."
"Why do I feel like you seem very happy, Uncle Lari?"
"No, but Hanlong, your position is as stable as Mount Tai. Back then, you told me that you wanted to be the executive vice emperor. How about it, now you have achieved your wish, right?"
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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