dingdiange:
The next day, Di Qing arrived in Lingzhou.
At this time, the Song army occupied many cities on the Song-Xia border almost unhindered.
Most of the territory of Western Xia is desert, and there are very few habitable areas.
The Ningxia Plain accounts for the vast majority of the population, followed by the cities on the border between Song and Xia, which are Yulin, Jingbian, Dingbian, Zhongwei and other places in later generations, and finally along the Wuwei-Zhangye line of the Qilian Mountains.
Now the Song army has occupied the border cities and the areas along the Qilian Mountains, and has also controlled a small part of the Ningxia Plain. Only the areas north of Xingqing Prefecture and Sha, Gua and other states remain.
This means that about three-fifths of the population and important cities of Western Xia were occupied by the Song army.
Lingzhou City.
The birthplace of Li Jiqian.
Because he was dissatisfied with his cousin Li Jibang's decision to submit to the Song Dynasty, he chose to establish himself as an independent state. He first attacked Yinzhou, then attacked Lingzhou, and changed Lingzhou to Xiping Prefecture. From then on, he gathered people and established the Western Xia family business.
But decades later, the army of the Song Dynasty occupied this place again, and the northwest lost during Zhao Guangyi's period returned to the embrace of the Song Dynasty.
Di Qing looked around. Except for some hills and mountains in the east, the rest of Lingzhou was flat. It was close to the banks of the Yellow River, with fertile fields stretching for thousands of miles and countless good farmlands. There were villages scattered throughout, and many Han people could be vaguely seen.
There have always been Han people in the northwest. Since the Han Dynasty, the Han and Hu people have lived together here. By the Tang Dynasty, Qiang, Hu and Han people were everywhere. The Hu people plowed the fields and the Han people raised horses. There was no distinction between you and me.
As the saying goes, "The Yellow River has a hundred harms, but one benefit: prosperity."
As part of the Hetao region, the Ningxia Plain has been cultivated by a large number of Han people since the Qin and Han dynasties, and agricultural civilization and nomadic civilization have been perfectly integrated.
"What a rich land it is."
Di Qing sighed.
The mighty Song army appeared in the vast land south of Lingzhou City, attracting the attention of countless Hu and Han people.
Later, under the command of the Song army, the people of the Yeli tribe began to withdraw from the city and stationed in the wild.
During the heyday of Western Xia, there were more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, but now both the Yeli and Weiming tribes have weakened to the point where their forces only number less than 10,000, and they are no longer able to fight against the Song army.
The total number of troops dispatched by the four Song armies this time was about 80,000.
After the military system reform, the Song Dynasty had only more than 600,000 troops, of which about 200,000 were distributed across the country as local imperial guards.
They were used to maintain public order and suppress ethnic minorities who refused to submit to the king, especially in the southwest region. The largest number of troops were stationed in Yuechao, Qiongzhou, Guangnan West Road, Guangnan East Road, Bashu and other places.
Then about 200,000 troops were stationed in Tokyo Bianliang, which was the Kaifeng Military District. They were mainly used as a defense force for the capital and to prevent the rise of local military leaders or uprising forces.
In recent years, the number of troops deployed on the Song-Liao and Song-Xia borders has become less and less. This is not only because the Song Dynasty adheres to the national policy of strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches, but also because the enemy is becoming increasingly weak.
After the Song-Xia and Song-Liao wars ended in the sixth year of the Qingli reign, Liao and Xia were on the verge of collapse. As a result, the total number of troops in the northwest was reduced from over 100,000 to about 80,000, and the number in Hebei was reduced from over 200,000 to about 120,000.
Including the navy, the total number of troops of the Song Dynasty was about 660,000.
These tens of thousands of border troops in the northwest are enough to complete the task of destroying Western Xia, not to mention that Ge Huaimin also brought 20,000 imperial guards from the capital.
"Marshal Di, these are the Guiyi Army soldiers we captured."
In Lingzhou City, after the Song army entered, Di Qing lived in the Lingzhou City Government Office, which was also the residence of Li Jiqian at that time.
Yeli Wuwei brought more than twenty Han prisoners into the hall.
When Di Qing glanced over, he saw that these people were in tattered clothes and had pale faces. They were obviously locked up in cells, and their facial features were slightly different from those of the Han people in the Central Plains.
But this is not surprising.
The Guiyi Army was a military governorate that existed in the late Tang Dynasty. It has been a full two hundred years since the first generation, with thirteen generations in total.
Even if the Han soldiers migrated from the interior, they could marry and have children locally and reproduce. It was inevitable that they would marry Hu women and give birth to offspring, thus changing the Han bloodline.
Coupled with the influence of the local climate and environment, it is normal that the appearance of the Han people in Sha and Guazhou and the Han people in the Central Plains have changed over the past two hundred years.
Di Qing saw that they were all tied up and frowned, "Why don't you untie them?"
"Untie me!"
The Song army on both sides immediately stepped forward to help them untie the ropes.
Di Qing looked at everyone.
Everyone looked him up and down.
The two states of Sha and Gua have been away from the Central Plains for too long, and they are also very curious about the Han people in the Central Plains.
"Do you speak Chinese?"
Di Qing asked.
He didn't say anything like welcome home.
Because only their bloodline and names remain Chinese.
Their thoughts and behaviors may be no different from those of the locals.
Therefore, they had no sense of belonging to the Song Dynasty.
Saying this kind of words will not move the other person, it will only make them feel strange.
"meeting!"
The leader said.
"Um."
Di Qing nodded: "Do you know anything about the Western Regions?"
"learn."
The man, about forty years old, with rough skin, said seriously, "We have traveled to the Western Regions many times."
"My Great Song is now strong and we want to recover the northwest, including the Western Regions. You are also Han Chinese. Are you willing to join the Song army?"
Di Qing asked.
The Song Dynasty wants to recover the Western Regions?
All the Guiyi Army soldiers looked stunned.
They were led by Cao Xian to surrender to Western Xia and were placed in the Western Xia army. Naturally, they knew something about the current Song Dynasty.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
