Chapter 234 An Unheard-of Battle!
That night.

Outside the camp, the Wuding River Valley was littered with the corpses of Western Xia soldiers.

In order to avoid the soldiers in the army competing to cut off the heads of Xixia soldiers in exchange for military merits.

In order to prevent the possibility of a counterattack by the Western Xia army, Zhao Xin also prohibited the soldiers from cutting off heads.

As for how to calculate this military merit.

I’m afraid we’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning to talk about this.

But what Zhao Xin didn’t expect was…

The Western Xia had just suffered such a crushing defeat, yet they still dared to come.

I can only say that this person is too courageous!

The next morning.

The fog in the Wuding River Valley has not yet completely dissipated.

soon……

The scouts brought news that traces of Western Xia cavalry were found ahead, and judging from the sound of horse hooves, there should be no less than a thousand of them.

When Zhao Xin heard this, he naturally ordered his generals to prepare for defense.

I saw Mo Zang Epang leading a thousand people as the vanguard.

After yesterday’s disastrous defeat, Mo Zang Epang already had a general understanding of the situation.

to be honest!
It was the idiot Bao Baochiduoyi who underestimated the enemy and was careless, resulting in him being cut off from the middle and suffering a crushing defeat.

And Mei Zang Epang naturally had to learn from this lesson.

But don’t say…

When he arrived at the battlefield, he could immediately see that the battlefield was truly tragic.

Because we fought all day yesterday, the corpses and other things have not been cleaned up yet.

Therefore, Mo Zang Epang could still see some corpses of Xixia soldiers.

“How many people died?”

Mo Zang Epang couldn’t help but sigh like this.

The person next to him also replied: “We haven’t had time to count yet, but judging from the situation, there must be at least 20,000 people.”

But this is not the worst!
The worst part is…

Almost all of those who died were brought out from Xingqing Prefecture in Western Xia.

In other words, it is equivalent to the most elite troops in the capital.

Most of them died here.

The total number of troops in Xingqing Prefecture, under normal deployment, is only 70,000.

The person next to him said, “How did the Song army do this? The key is that it seems that none of the Iron Harriers have returned.”

“With the strength of our Xixia Iron Harriers, even if we stood there and let the Song army hack us for a long time, we wouldn’t have suffered such a disastrous defeat.”

When Mei Zang Epang heard what others said, he suddenly felt a little unsure.

Last night, he asked some people who had escaped, and they told him that there were some noises like rumbling and bang-bang-bang in the valley.

then……

Immediately afterwards, they encountered an ambush by the Song army. Seeing that everyone else was running away, they followed suit.

As for what that boom boom boom and bang bang bang sound was.

All we can say is that they don’t know either.

But it’s okay!

Judging from the sound, it should be something like a catapult.

Then Mo Zang Epang imagined that a number of catapults were placed in the military formation of the Song army.

This immediately caused heavy damage to the Western Xia army.

In fact, they also have this catapult in Western Xia, and it is called Poxijun.

A very joyful name.

Although there are not many of them, they can launch fist-sized stones. When mounted on a camel, they can be moved at any time. It is very convenient and is truly a rare weapon for breaking formations.

Is it…

Did the Song army also develop such weapons?

But think about it, it’s not surprising!
But if Baobao eats too much, he should at least have some brains, right?
If the other party really had a trebuchet, where would they place such a large trebuchet? Would Bao Bao have ordered his men to charge directly at it?

Unless it was an ambush or stones thrown from the mountains on both sides.

Mo Zang Epang then looked at the valleys on both sides again.

I always feel like there are two groups of soldiers rushing down from the mountains in the valleys on both sides.

To be on the safe side, several people were immediately sent to climb up to see if there were any enemies.

There are so many valleys here.

in fact……

If you want to search one by one, it is not very practical.

Of course!
However, we can make a preliminary judgment by looking at the tire tracks on the road or the footprints of people and animals to see whether a large number of people and animals have passed through this place.

“Let’s set up camp here first, at the trumpet mouth twenty miles to the north! I have ordered the Xiangyou Army Commander to lead people to go around the back of the Song army. It is estimated that within two or three days, we will be able to encircle the Song army. When the time comes, we will attack from the north and south, and the Song army will definitely not be able to resist. The only thing that is uncertain now is whether Mizhi Village can still hold on.”

Others said, “The commander of Mizhi Village will not surrender so easily.”

“I’m afraid that the Song army won’t dare to fight us and will run away.”

The Western Xia cavalry acted quickly.

The decision of whether to fight or not lies entirely with Xixia itself.

Early the next morning.

After learning that there were enemy troops on the front line, Zhao Xin was not in a hurry. He sent Zhong Yan and Zhong Yi to lead a team to check the situation closely.

Zhao Xin himself ordered people to deal with the corpses along the way and pick up the dropped weapons and armor.

Start counting from nearby places, and let people pick up the trash while counting the number of people.

The credit near the Mizhizhai military camp can be seen as mostly due to the Li Yuan army, then in the middle section, it’s due to the generals of Zhong Yan, and finally to the Weimingshan army.

After the head count was made, ten strings of cash would be given to each head to the generals of Zhong Yan and to Wei Mingshan. At that time, Zhao Xin would only be responsible for the total number. Once the total number was given to them, it would be up to them how they wanted to divide it.

Zhao Xin was too lazy to help them divide it.

Until noon.

When Zhong Yan and Zhong Yi came back, almost all the heads had been counted.

A total of more than 27,000 people.

All I can say is that quite a lot of people escaped back.

But it doesn’t matter.

The main thing is that the ones in the front, basically, you can clearly tell from their armor and other things, are the elite troops of Western Xia, and those in the back are basically some auxiliary troops.

These auxiliary troops could run away if they wanted to, but these elite troops were exactly what he wanted to destroy.

When Zhong Yan heard this number after returning, he was also shocked and said, “This is definitely the first time in the past ten years that our Song army has won such a big victory!”

Zhao Xin said, “Don’t rush to spread this news. What’s the situation outside?”

Zhong Yan said, “The Xixia cavalry is like a dog-skin plaster, lurking in the north. Moreover, I climbed to a high place and saw that they seemed to be setting up camp at the mouth of the trumpet.”

Zhang Kang on the side said to Zhao Xin: “Your Highness Prince Yu! The longer we delay, the more disadvantageous it will be for us. The Xixia army is ten times our size every time they go out.”

“Besides, our place is small and we can’t store much food. Even if we want to transport it from the rear, the roads are not smooth. We should fight quickly and make a quick decision!”

Zhao Xin said, “Then clean up the battlefield today, and then send someone to persuade the commander of Mizhi Village to surrender.”

Zhang Kang: “Yes!”

in the afternoon.

The defender of Mizhi Village certainly did not want to surrender at first.

only……

The soldiers guarding Mizhi Village were unwilling to do so.

As for who this soldier guarding the city is, it’s hard to say.

Maybe he would have received countless benefits from Zhang Kang.

The commander of Mizhi Village also looked outside and saw that the Song army had even got the armor of the Xixia Iron Harriers.

They are placed in front of you in rows and shown to you.

The deterrent effect is also very strong.

So he had no choice but to open the city and surrender with his three thousand men.

This saves Zhao Xin the trouble of attacking the city.

After dealing with this worry, Zhao Xin led some soldiers northward the next morning.

Around noon, they received information from Suizhou City that enemy troops could be seen in their Huaining Village and Qingjian City.

This is what is annoying about the Western Xia army.

Since almost everyone of them had a war horse, they could maneuver quickly.

If the regular Song Dynasty imperial guards were faced with this situation, it would be difficult to advance and difficult to go back.

Of course!
If they could rely on Mizhi Village and the newly rebuilt Suizhou City to hold out, they could still hold out for a while.

only……

After all, Western Xia regained control of their food supply.

If they were really held up by the Western Xia army, it would not be very advantageous for them.

However, this only applies to the former Song Dynasty imperial guards, which did not have much offensive capability.

For the Song army, which now has the firepower support of the Li Yuan army, that is another matter.

The news that Zhao Xin was slowly advancing northward soon reached the ears of Mo Zang Epang.

Mo Zang Epang also went out to inspect the situation immediately.

When he saw that the Song army was marching in front of chariots, Mo Zang Epang seemed to understand why their Western Xia army could not win.

Even if we use an iron kite to charge, we won’t be able to defeat it!

But Bao Bao has eaten too much, so he won’t really use the Iron Harrier to charge at those chariots, right?

Starting from Mizhizhai all the way to Labakou in the north, the total distance is about eighty miles.

With the cover of the chariot camp, the Song army reached Labakou in just two and a half days.

At the mouth of the trumpet, Mo Zang Epang had accumulated an army of nearly 70,000 to 80,000 people.

Not far to the north of the Labakou, also dozens of miles away, is Yinzhou of Western Xia. At this time, Mo Zang led his men to station in Yinzhou.

When the news came from the front line, Mo Zang was also shocked to hear that the Song army took the initiative to march north.

The number of enemies killed by Zhao Xin was counted, and Mo Zang naturally knew roughly how many Central Guards they had lost.

Regarding this battle, Mei Zang was both afraid that her brother would win and afraid that she would not win.

But think about it…

I still hope her brother can win.

otherwise……

The chance will go to the second son of the official of Song State.

But then I thought about it…

But it doesn’t seem impossible.

Anyway…

At this moment, her heart was really confused.

As for Zhao Xin…

As the team advanced slowly, Zhao Xin soon passed through the hot air balloon and discovered the infantrymen ambushed in the mountain stream by Mo Zang Epang.

Zhao Xin asked: “How many people are there?”

Then the scout replied: “About two to three thousand people. And… they should have discovered our hot air balloon. Maybe they will move to another location tonight.”

Zhong Yan then asked, “Do we need to take people to wipe them out right now?”

Zhao Xin said, “They are good at climbing up and down hills, but my soldiers may not have such ability.”

Zhang Kang also suggested: “Leave some people to watch. Just don’t let them get close.”

Zhao Xin looked at Wei Mingshan and said, “Weimingshan, I’ll leave this task to you.”

Wei Mingshan was also stunned when he heard this.

But he quickly said: “I hope to be the first person to step into the enemy’s main tent.”

Zhao Xin said, “Compared to entering the enemy’s main tent, this task is even more difficult! You and your people originally lived in the mountains and grazing everywhere. So it is most appropriate for you to stop them. And you are also familiar with the terrain in this area. I will leave my back to you!”

Wei Mingshan looked at Zhao Xin, and seeing that Zhao Xin trusted him so much, he had no choice but to say, “I obey your command!”

Zhao Xin finally said: “Attack with all our strength tomorrow morning!”

……

Early the next morning.

It’s just dawn.

Zhao Xin ordered people to set up the chariot formation and artillery positions.

The Western Xia army also pulled out all its infantry, cavalry, and Poxi troops.

Zhao Xin knew that the enemy was waiting for reinforcements, so he only formed a battle array and did not actively attack.

However, Zhao Xin would not give them the chance to wait for reinforcements to arrive.

There was no dialogue between the two sides.

Seeing that they were still two hundred steps away, Zhao Xin ordered his men to fire.

But Mo Zang Epang had never seen anything like this before.

A big iron ball hit the faces of the infantrymen lined up in square formation.

Just one shot knocked down at least a dozen or twenty people.

And Zhao Xin had thirty cannons in front of him.

In other words, in this encounter alone, at least three to five hundred Xixia soldiers were killed or injured. If they were lucky, the number might even be more than that.

The key is……

On the right side of the artillery, a large number of Song cavalry were waiting for an opportunity.

After these bursts of artillery fire, Mo Zang Epang, who had fought for so many years, was really confused.

what on earth is it?

Mei Zang Epang just stared with his eyes wide open, not understanding at all what was going on.

however……

Before he could react.

The Song army’s second round of artillery fire came again.

The second round goes on.

The Western Xia soldiers immediately began to riot.

All I can say is that there has to be rioting!

Because even some severed hands were blown out by the shells.

Anyone with a discerning eye would know that this was not a normal war situation.

Someone’s internal organs flew out and landed on another soldier’s face, catching the soldier off guard.

Mei Zang Epang also reacted.

This was probably the culprit why all of Xixia’s Iron Harriers were unable to return.

But what to do?
Since the distance was two hundred steps, he couldn’t even see clearly what the thing on the other side was and could only roughly see its outline.

It looks like a car.

“Prime Minister, what should we do?”

The staff below were also stunned when they saw this scene.

This is estimated to be at least two hundred steps!
You should know that the range of a bow and arrow is generally only fifty to one hundred steps.

Beyond this range, it cannot be said that it is completely impossible to kill the enemy.

only……

That requires very good luck.

Just as they were discussing what to do next, the Song army launched its third round of artillery attack.

Boom boom boom boom!
The iron balls knocked the Xixia people to the ground one by one.

This kind of battle!

Mei Zang Epang can only say that he has never heard of it!

But we can’t just wait to die like this!
Mo Zang Epang took advantage of the fact that the soldiers had not yet completely collapsed and immediately made a decisive decision and ordered: “Charge! Kill them!”

The horn sounded…

It’s the signal to charge!

But it seems too late.

After all, if a square formation was completely wiped out, it was like mowing the grass, they would just be cut down in pieces. When the soldiers saw this, how could they even think of charging forward?

(End of this chapter)