But unfortunately, Wei Ninglingge obviously made the wrong choice.
In the early morning of the 19th, a large group of Song army troops began to assemble. Outside Lingzhou City, the black cavalry of the Song army formed a surging tide. They were not wearing armor and carried long spears.
Some used camels and horses to carry carts, some of which were loaded with food and some with heavy steel cannon barrels. Although they were not the two thousand jin cannons, they were still small cannons of one or two hundred jin, and their momentum was deafening.
Di Qing was riding on a horse. He was only wearing the Song army's fiery red military uniform, with a layer of cotton clothes inside, a hat on his head, and a cloak fluttering behind him. He looked like an ordinary middle-aged soldier of the Song army.
If there were no soldiers around him holding up flags with the word "Di" as well as the national flag of the Song Dynasty, the flag of the Song army and other flags, no one would know that he was the supreme commander of the Song army.
"Report, Marshal, our troops have assembled!"
"Report, our army has also assembled."
"Report, our army."
Gao Jixuan, Ge Huaimin, Zhao Zhen, Ren Fu and other top generals came over to report to Di Qing.
The Song army consisted of four armies on the surface, but in fact it consisted of only two.
The western route advanced along the Qilian Mountains and headed straight for Wuwei and Zhangye. The eastern route was divided into three groups, attacking many prefectures and cities on the Western Xia border, and finally met up in Lingzhou.
At this time, in addition to the 20,000 troops led by Lu Jingchu in the west and the 10,000 troops in the rear who were responsible for transporting food and grass and guarding border cities, the remaining 50,000 troops under Di Qing's command had also assembled in recent days.
Di Qing was standing on a small hill on the east side of the north city. He took a glance and saw the densely packed Song army troops below arranged in ten large square formations and hundreds of small square formations. It was endless and seemed that there was no end in sight.
"Set off!"
He waved his hand, and the messenger beside him immediately blew the horn.
"Wooo ...
The desolate sound of the horn resounded through the sky.
Then, the Song army, with Ren Fu as the vanguard, galloped towards the north according to the deployment made yesterday.
Gao Jixuan's troops followed closely behind, but not to the north, but to the northwest.
Then came Ge Huaimin and Zhao Zhen, who were also slightly deviated from their direction.
The Song army obviously did not want to concentrate its forces to capture Jingzhou, the nearest city between the two sides, but wanted to wipe out the Western Xia in one fell swoop.
Capture all the cities of Jingzhou, Xingzhou, Huaizhou and Dingzhou near Xingqing Prefecture, which is currently controlled by Ning Lingge.
By noon, the Song army had already crossed the Yellow River.
Ren Fu's army arrived at the city of Jingzhou.
This is Yongning County, Ningxia in later generations. It is only 20 kilometers away from Lingwu City where Lingzhou is located, and is across the river from each other.
When the main force of 15,000 men led by Di Qing arrived, Ren Fu's 8,000 men had already lined up outside the city and were assembling artillery.
"General, why don't we just bypass Jingzhou and capture the cities one by one?"
Cao Xianhui has been following Di Qing in recent days.
Because Di Qing needed to learn about the situation in the Western Regions from him, he had to be by his side at all times to facilitate Di Qing's inquiries.
Hearing Cao Xianhui's words, Di Qing smiled and said nothing.
The main force of the Song army bypassed Jingzhou and arrived at Xingzhou City, Xingqing Prefecture, 20 kilometers away.
As the capital of Western Xia and also the later capital of Ningxia Province, Yinchuan, Xingqing Prefecture is a huge city with high and thick walls, and is equipped with artillery defenses.
However, at this time, the primitive artillery of the Xixia people had a huge generation gap with the artillery of the Song army, and the two sides were not at the same level at all.
The Song army arrived outside the city in the afternoon and began to form a battle array on the spot outside the range of the Xixia artillery and assemble cannons.
In less than a quarter of an hour, hundreds of steel cannons were lined up outside the south gate of Xingqing Prefecture.
"Didn't you ask why we had to go around Jingzhou?"
Di Qing suddenly said to Cao Xianhui.
Cao Xianhui said, "Circumventing the enemy's city may allow for a surprise attack, but if we fail to defeat the enemy, it will be easy to lose sight of both ends, which is a major taboo in military strategy."
"You are good at reading military books."
Di Qing smiled and said, "But sometimes, when power reaches a certain level, military books are actually meaningless."
"You're welcome."
As he spoke, he looked towards the direction of Xingqing Prefecture and said softly, "I will tell you now why we should bypass the enemy city and attack their center directly."
"because."
"These places have never been an obstacle. My Great Song will crush them all at once!"
Di Qing's eyes flashed with fierceness.
Swing your right hand downward.
“Boom!”
A moment later, flames burst out of the cannon.
Countless shells drew a brilliant arc in the air and fell into Xingqing Mansion.
In an instant, the defenders in the city suffered heavy casualties, and even the city gates were blown down.
After that, there was artillery coverage and sufficient firepower.
After being bombarded by countless artillery shells, the entire South City Gate was in ruins and filled with smoke.
Cao Xianhui stared blankly into the distance. This was the first time he knew that the Song Dynasty had become so powerful.
"kill!"
Di Qing shouted.
“Kill!”
The Song army raised their spears and launched a fierce attack on Xingqing Prefecture.
After the baptism of artillery fire, there was no longer any obstacle on the city wall. A large number of Song troops rushed into the city, and gunshots rang out everywhere.
On this day, the Song army conquered Jingzhou, Xingzhou, Huaizhou and Dingzhou in succession. All the cities controlled by the Weiming tribe were captured. The defenders were either killed or fled. Even Weining Lingge died in the chaos.
The remaining Weiming tribal soldiers, along with the elderly, weak, women and children, migrated northwards and fled to the territory of the Liao Kingdom. From then on, this royal tribe of the historical Western Xia disappeared into the dust.
It took the Song army less than half a month from the time they sent out their troops to the time they recovered the entire northwest, and the huge Western Xia Empire disappeared into thin air.
(End of this chapter)
dingdiange
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