Brother Yelu Yan stopped at Mingtangchuan, but was still unwilling to give up. He sent an envoy to Lingzhou and asked Zheng Lang why he had demonstrated to the Khitan.

Zheng Lang answered a few words indifferently: "If you want to come, why bother to be verbose!"

Actually, when it really comes, Zheng Lang will have a headache.

This is Zheng Lang betting on the character of Yelu Yange, but whether he can come or not, Yelu Yange dares not make decisions. However, whether he can come depends on what Yelu Yange will write in the memorial. If he writes that the Song Dynasty was afraid of the Khitan intervening, and even did not hesitate to use foxes and tigers to scare the Khitan army, the consequences would be serious. The army led by Yelu Yange mainly comes from Xishan, and there are many people living in Xishan. It is impossible to summon 100,000 people, but it is still possible to summon 20,000 to 30,000 troops. The Khitan then launched a large army from Youyun to threaten Hebei and Yanmen Pass, and the two countries will inevitably go to war.

But if Yelu Yange writes about this and that, the Khitan monarch and ministers will have controversy. By the time the decision is made, the overall situation of Xixia has been decided.

The former is unlikely.

Yelu Yange is wise and cunning, and another word is suspicion.

As the prime minister of the Southern Prefecture, he led 30,000 troops into the Western Xia, which was mostly thankless. This was also the suppression of Yelu Yixin by some people in the Khitan after Yelu Yixin lost power. In this case, Yelu Yange mostly chose to protect himself.

Without disappointing Zheng Lang, Brother Yelu Yan stayed in Mingtangchuan and stayed until more than a month later.

However, the arrival of this Khitan army brought some trouble to the Song Dynasty. Brother Yelu Yan was afraid that something might happen and did not dare to march. However, he received envoys from various tribes of Yinxia in Mingtangchuan. Under his inspiration, the various tribes resisted and inspired them.

They were lucky enough to block them in Mingtangchuan, otherwise as the Khitan army continued to deepen, even some neutral tribes would participate in the wave of resistance. Zheng Lang had to ask Wang Zude to lead two thousand cavalry scouts to move around the Khitan camp. When he saw the envoys of various troops, he immediately intercepted them. Yelu Yange was not outdone and sent scouts to protect him. Every day, Mingtangchuan was in a tense situation of shooting at any time.

Zheng Lang was watching him. He was also watching the Song army, not only waiting for news from the country, but also food and weather.

The Song Dynasty used both kindness and power, and kindness was enough favor and powerful enough. Those who did not accept it died!

It cannot be said that it is wrong. For example, the ethnic policy of the Song Dynasty in the south was enough, but the result was that many people in later generations accused the Song Dynasty of the salt administration of the Luzhou mankind for causing endless rebellion. But how did Zheng Lang do it? First, allocate funds to build roads, improve the living environment of the people, communicate with the outside world, and increase the business atmosphere. Second, suppress and suppress. No salt administration was carried out.

Unable to move, the annual income of the salt business in the Song Dynasty was only about 10,000 yuan, but in fact, there were officials' greed, invisible expenses in the local area, and other reasonable and unreasonable gray income. Once the salt business was gone, these gray expenses immediately became miscellaneous taxes and added to the people. In this case, how can the Dayanjing in Luzhou not be controlled in the hands of the state?

Even if there is no salt franchise, all the big salt wells cannot be handed over to the private sector. This is not a big merchant and landlord in the Central Plains region. It is not a Hehuang Fanhoushou all the supervisory contract, so there is only the shareholding rights and dividend rights, and there is no management rights, and the lifeline is controlled by the court. If these big salt wells are handed over to the local private sector, it is not a handed over to the people, but transferring interests from the court to the hands of the major barbarians, then countless Nong Zhigao will be produced in the south of Luzhou.

Both kindness and power were used. In order for the Song Dynasty to rule here safely in the future, the foundation was laid. But at present, it has become a problem for the Song Dynasty.

One power led to countless rebellions and endless military use.

For a favor, you need to take out more materials, food and grass to help the people.

It was precisely because of the food and grass problems that the Song Dynasty stopped by the Yellow River.

Also, when time comes to September, it is almost time to run towards October. The Song Dynasty's hundreds of thousands of soldiers, food, clothing and housing, when winter comes, and the resettlement costs of the people, it will also be a disaster for the Song Dynasty.

Liang also had this idea.

The Dangxiang people are not useless. They are not only tenacious, but also have a sense of pride in their hearts. There is a poem called "Songshi Dian" in the Western Xia circulated by Dangxiang: Why don't you go with the Western Qiang (Tubo), the Western Qiang has bowed to me, I am the master of mainland affairs, and government officials assisted with them. I have never been allowed to take charge of China, and China bowed to me, and I am in the royal family uninterrupted. Miyao (the Western Xia tribe was named Miyao in the Tang Dynasty) The crown prince passed on from generation to generation.

Zheng Lang couldn't help but feel happy when he heard this.

From this poem, he immediately thought of the stick of later generations.

In order to raise food and grass, the Song Dynasty went from the generals in the front to the big bosses in the capital behind, and almost turned white. However, the Xixia side was very calm. First, they sent heavy troops to guard more than a dozen ferries on the Yellow River, and then sent people to harvest autumn grains, and even calmly sow winter wheat to prepare for the summer grain harvest in the coming year.

There is also battle. Some tribes in the Hengshan area resisted. The scale was not large. Most areas were hiking around in Hengshan. There were casualties every day, but Zheng Lang didn't care too much. Most of the suppressed armies were for training. At the same time, the surrendered tribes also caused a large number of casualties. In the future, these tribes would have hatred with those rebel tribes. Then, those tribes would lose their living space and have no living space, so the harm would be great.

Either Zhang Shi led his army to recover Beihetao. Xixia stationed some troops here, but mainly to prevent Khitan invasion. In fact, there were not many people here, and desertification occurred in the western region, rather than the scene of cattle and sheep under the Yinshan Mountains, with the vast sky and vast wilderness, and the wind blows the grass low. Xixia also transferred the main army and materials to Xingqing Prefecture. Therefore, Zhang Shi's army was not so much a recovery of Beihetao, but was promoted in Beihetao and then successively divided troops to station. There were battles, and the scale was very small.

The rest began to be quiet.

Time quickly entered late September and it was officially cold.

The Zhongyi army entered the Bingzhou area, and the cavalry of Qu Yao and his two men also arrived in Hebei, and only Zhang Yu's army was still halfway through the Taihang Mountains.

Upon hearing this news, Zheng Lang felt calm.

This is the result of personal style. Zheng Lang also liked to take risks when he was young. Later, he dealt with more things and became more cautious in his personality. In addition, something happened on Jinghu South Road and later reformed, and every decision involved the fate of countless people, so his personality became more and more stable.

This kind of safe personality may not be very good. Who dares to say that the war is 100% victorious, but when the national strength is not much different, you need to take some risks moderately. Therefore, from a military perspective, Zheng Lang may have done many things and won many great battles, but every victory will result in many casualties and a large consumption. This is far inferior to Zhang Feng and Wang Shao. Especially when fighting with the Khitan, Zheng Lang's personality will most likely end up with Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition.

It cannot be said that it is not good, although it is too steady, there will be no mistakes or accidents. At least this personality is enough to deal with Jiaozhi and Xixia.

With these troops stationed in Hedong, Hebei, even if the Khitans came out, the Song Dynasty would not be able to set up another large formation this time, so that the Khitan army could be dragged for a period of time.

At the same time, Zheng Lang also lamented the decline of the Khitan. If Xiao Yanyan had seen Xixia in such a critical situation, he would not have to use any conspiracy and conspiracy. He would have been at the Three Passes of Hebei.

Zheng Lang's eyes were then concentrated in Hexi.

The offense begins.

An attack launched by Xixia unexpectedly.

Tatan tribe.

To the west of Helan Mountain is the desert. It is the famous Tengger Desert in later generations. However, before the water and soil deteriorated in ancient times, there were not only large lakes such as Juyanhai and Shiyanghu in the Tengger Desert, but also many oasis.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the four roads leading to the Western Regions. The two roads in the south are Lanzhou Liangzhou Road, the one is the southern Silk Road in Tubo, and the other is the northern road, the other is the road from Helan Mountain to Juyanhai. The other is the road from Yin Mountain to Juyanhai.

During the reign of Emperor Shenzong, there were fewer and fewer oasis in the desert, but there were still many.

There are completely different nomadic people living on these oasis. Because it is difficult to manage, the Xixia people can only be restrained, which makes these people unruly. There is a large tribe west of Helan Mountain called the Tatan tribe.

Li Hao and Qu Zhen's troops left Yanhai, and the people of Xixia didn't care much, so when the Song army was approaching Lingzhou City, Qu Zhen's troops left Helan Mountain to restrain the Xixia army. They did not attack Helan Mountain, but only acted as a constraining. The Liang family had to divide their troops to station Helan Mountain. Qu Zhen circled a small circle, arrived at the bank of the Yellow River from outside Helan Mountain, crossed the Yellow River, and met with the three armies.

This military operation seemed to be to restrain it, but in fact there was another intention, which was to contact the Tatan tribe outside the Helan Mountains, and leave some of the general's supplies to the Tatan tribe for bribery and win over. Only then did Qu Zhen cross the Yellow River with light troops.

Qu Zhen left Helan Mountain and Lingzhou was lost again. The Liang family had to place food, grass and other supplies in the Helan Mountain in the rear and sent troops to guard it.

But the Xixia people did not expect that when the Tatan tribe took advantage of the Xixia to station heavy troops on the front line, they suddenly crossed Helan Mountain and attacked the Xixia granary.

After hearing this news, the people in Xixia looked like earth. Winter is coming, and the Song Dynasty army is hard to bear, and they are also hard to bear. Even if there is still food and grass in Xingqing Mansion, what should I do next spring?

Of course, this Tatan tribe will also give Zheng Lang a headache in the future, but don’t worry about them for the time being.

The most terrifying thing is not how much food the Tatan people burned and robbed, but a piece of news circulated among the military and civilians in Hexi.

The greatest confidence of Xixia defending Hexi is food and grass. It started in early May and the actual war started earlier. The two countries began to get into evil since last winter. The front line was in a stalemate, and the Song army recovered Hexi, which wasted a lot of supplies.

This news is precisely aimed at this point. The Song Dynasty not only had to support the army, but also some people from Hedong. Some were temporarily placed in Guanzhong, and some were left in their original place. The number of these people was not small. From Yinzhou to Huizhou, the area was so large that it was close to two million.

But not much. In the seventh year of Xining, the highest peak of the disaster reached more than 20 million. That drought lasted for nearly two years. The Song Dynasty survived safely and recovered Hehuang Lanzhou in the middle.

Could it be that these little materials have stumped the Song Dynasty?

In fact, raising 20 million victims in the Central Plains may not be able to support 2 million people in Xixia, but the people do not know the difference.

The news spread, which somewhat weakened the morale of Xixia.

The Song army began to force the crossing of the Yellow River.

In fact, at this time, everyone understood the reason why Zheng Lang was cautious.

The Song Dynasty's preparations for the attack on Xia this time were sufficient, including politics, economy, military, logistics, weapons, seasons, people's hearts, intelligence, and various conspiracies and ethnic policies. The previous situation was indeed successful. The Western Xia was only compressed on a large area of ​​land that was a few hundred kilometers in the west of the river.

But facing the critical moment of life and death of the country, the soldiers of Xixia fought bloody battles with the Song army on every inch of land.

From the east to the west of Hebei, there are three major ferries: Shunhua Dui in Huaizhou, Lu Dui in Lingzhou, Guojia Dui in Xiongzhou, and more than a dozen small ferries.

After three days of attack, the Song army captured the two small ferries of Dingyuan Ferry and Bipu Ferry.

However, the casualties rate between the two sides was much higher than that of the Song army.

Although the Yellow River was in hand and many fortifications were built on the other side of the river, the Song army was too powerful and even moved various weapons to the ship and bombarded the other side. As for how much money would be spent on bombardment every day, the people of Xixia would not have the heart to calculate. What they saw was how many people died every day when the Song army was bombarded.

On the fourth day, the Song army was asked to capture two small ferries.

In a hurry, Liang sent envoys to Lingzhou to negotiate with Zheng Lang, willing to obey Zheng Lang's request, and returned all to Li Bingchang, and dealt with a group of so-called evil people at the same time.

But before the envoy arrived, two generals from Western Xia, Li Duanming and Li Kaitai, began to discuss with their confidants.

Under the further pressure of the Song army, the Liang family would inevitably make further concessions. However, these two men followed Li Yan and Renduolingding and led their confidants to kill Li Qing and imprison Li Bingchang, which was also one of the so-called evil spirits. Renduolingding was the leader of the Western Xia clan and was in charge of the zuoyou box with the Liang family. Liang family would not deal with Renduolingding, but they would inevitably vent their anger against Li Duanming, who was not sorry for his father and his mother. If Liang family attacked them, they would inevitably attack their confidants.

The two asked these confidants what to do in response to this situation.

Finally, under their intentional or unintentional induction, their subordinates decided to support the two of them to rebel against the Liang family, fight back to Xingqing Mansion from the front line, execute the Liang family, and support Li Bingchang. They can fight the Song army to the end, and seek peace after retreating.

After the agreement, the two immediately abandoned the defense of Hue Du and led the army to attack Xingqing Mansion.

Without achieving the achievements, even the gate of Xingqing Prefecture had not entered, but this time, Xixia was in chaos. Moreover, the Song army easily took down Hue Du and forced Xingqing Prefecture.

Li Duanming could not attack Xingqing Prefecture, and the Song army forced him over again. Under their "forced" intentional or unintentional induced, their confidants took the initiative to persuade Li Duanming and Li Kaitai to surrender to the Song Dynasty. At this point, Feng Gao and the other two had been withered for decades and finally returned to the arms of the Song Dynasty, but their identities could not be revealed at present. Under the pressure of their generals, more than 30,000 troops surrendered. During this surrender, the remaining troops had no intention of fighting, including Ren Duolingding, who was guarding Lu Du, who also offered his army to surrender.

On the seventh day of the 10th month, Zheng Lang led a large army to the city of Xingqing Prefecture.
Chapter completed!