On the same day of Yan Changzhi's enthronement ceremony, the Great Song Dynasty, which is thousands of miles away from the central capital, temporarily traveled in Jiankang, which was also very lively. The Great Song Dynasty was also holding a grand ceremony, which was the surrender ceremony of the Western Xia monarchs.

Before the city of Xingqing Mansion was broken, Li Renxiao, the monarch of the Western Xia Dynasty, had a violent illness and died, and before his death, he appointed Li Renyou, the king of Yue, and the privy envoy Lang Duzhong, and Jiao Jingyan, a bachelor of Hanlin, as auxiliary ministers to protect the crown prince Li Chunyou. Li Renyou and others saw that Xingqing Mansion was no longer defensible, so they fled to Suzhou with the generals Gao Yi, Xibihe, Weimu Yanping and others to protect the crown prince Li Chunyou. After arriving in Suzhou, everyone immediately supported Li Chunyou as the emperor and continued to continue the national glory of Western Xia.

After Li Chunyou succeeded to the throne, everyone immediately gathered the defeated army of Western Xia and prepared to resist the attack of the enemy Song army. At this time, only Bu Xuanhua Mansion was left in the land that still belonged to Western Xia, Suzhou and Guazhou, and there were only two of the twelve military divisions set up, one was the Gansu Military Division located in Xuanhua Prefecture, and the other was the Xiping Military Division with Guazhou. There are less than 20,000 people. Moreover, the material assembly is also insufficient, and even the war horses are only more than 6,000 left.

Of course, the Western Xia monarchs and ministers knew that with their current strength, it was impossible to resist the attack of the Song army, and they had to rely on external forces. And now the Jin State obviously can no longer be counted on, and the only countries that can be relied on are Tubo and Western Liao. Therefore, on the one hand, the Western Xia monarchs and ministers strengthened their preparations for war, and on the other hand, they sent Jiao Jingyan to envoy Tubo and Western Liao, promising to send troops to rescue the two countries on the condition of ceding the land.

Since the restoration of the Great Song Dynasty, the two countries have always sent envoys to each other to greet each other, and opened the field on the border to carry out trade, and Tubo has also benefited greatly. Therefore, the Tibetan monarchs and ministers did not want to change the current situation. Therefore, after Jiao Jingyan came to Tubo, he stayed for more than ten days, although he tried his best to speak and know the benefits, but he could not impress the Tubo monarchs and ministers to change their attitudes. Jiao Jingyan had no choice but to leave Tubo and go to Western Liao.

Western Liao has always regarded itself as a descendant of the Great Liao established by the Khitan people, and the Liao State and the Song Dynasty have always been hostile to each other in the past. There is also a feud between the two countries. Moreover, after the founding of the Western Liao, it did not border with the Song Dynasty, and there was no diplomatic relationship between the two sides. Therefore, Jiao Jingyan thought that although he could not persuade Tibet, he should be more sure that he would move Western Liao to send troops.

But what Jiao Jingyan didn't expect was that the current government of Western Liao was not in the hands of Emperor Zhiluji, but fell into the hands of the concubine. Qu Qulu was the son of Tayang Khan, a barbarian tribe who was destroyed by Temujin. After the Naiman tribe was annexed by the Mongols, Qu Zhulu fled to Western Liao alone and was taken in by Zhiluji. But Qu Qulu was ambitious, and he wanted to use the power of Western Liao to avenge himself and recapture Naiman. And Zhiluji was mediocre in intelligence, and he didn't see through Qu Qu Lu's ambition, but thought that Qu Qu Lu was brave and good at fighting, and he was a usable material, so he also married his daughter to Qu Qu Lu and recruited him as a concubine.

After becoming the concubine of Western Liao, Qu Zhulu was even more unscrupulous, recruiting Naiman's old department, and accompanying his cronies in the Western Liao State step by step, trying to seize the dominance of the entire Western Liao, and then sending troops to attack Mongolia and recapture the land of Naiman, he was not interested in the hatred between Song and Liao, so he was very indifferent to Jiao Jingyan's request.

Although later, Jiao Jingyan had some understanding of the situation in Western Liao, and also explained to Qu Zhulu that the Song Dynasty and Mongolia were allies, and attacking the Song Dynasty was to cut off the wings of Mongolia, and knowing the stakes of the death of the lips and teeth, he even made his own opinion, and promised to cede the land of the West River, and also assured Qu Zhulu that after the restoration of the Western Xia, he would be a vassal of the Western Liao, and Qu Zhulu would attack Mongolia in the future, and he would definitely send troops to help.

But firstly, Qu Qu Lu has not yet completely controlled the entire Western Liao, at this time he does not want to make extraneous branches, and set up other strong enemies for himself, and secondly, Qu Qu Lu also sent someone to inquire clearly, now the Western Xia has already been defeated by the Song Dynasty, almost equivalent to the edge of the country, the so-called ceded to the West Liao, the West River land, in fact, has already been fully occupied by the Song army, but it is just a piece of paper. If you want to help the Western Xia restore the country, it is almost equivalent to a full-scale war with the Song Dynasty, not to use all the national strength of the Western Liao, and may also have to face the two-sided attack of the Song Dynasty and Mongolia at the same time. Therefore, Jiao Jingyan was allowed to talk wildly, and he still ignored it.

Jiao Jingyan stayed in Xiliao for more than 20 days, but still found nothing, so he had to return to Xixia dejectedly. After seeing Li Chunyou and reporting his trip to Tibet and Western Liao, Li Chunyou and his ministers also looked at each other helplessly. I had no choice but to gather again and continue to discuss countermeasures. But when the situation has reached this point, what can be done, the monarch and the ministers discussed for a few days, but there is nothing to be done. And at this time, the Song army began its final attack with the classics.

After more than three months of unremitting hard work by Xin Qiji and others, the governors of the state capitals in the areas occupied by the Western Xia were also in place, and the situation gradually returned to calm. During this period, Yang Changpeng and Gao Zhen also gathered preparations and arrangements according to Yang Yan's instructions to launch a final attack on the remnants of Western Xia.

This attack on the remnants of Western Xia did not have too many difficulties in terms of tactics, and the biggest difficulty was in the logistical supply. Xuanhua Mansion, Suzhou and Guazhou are all located at the western end of Western Xia, the westernmost part of the area currently occupied by the Song army is Liangzhou, which is about 350 li away from the nearest Xuanhua Prefecture, and the farthest Guazhou is more than 1,000 li, and most of the distance along the way is desert and semi-desert, water source is scarce, and transportation is difficult.

According to Yang Yan's arrangement, Yang Changpeng and Gao Zhen used Liangzhou as a base for attack, stockpiled a large amount of grain and grass materials, and at the same time sent a large number of spies to explore the surface, rivers, green states and villages and towns that could garrison troops along the way, and formulated an offensive route from Liangzhou to Xuanhuafu. After everything was ready, he returned to Jiankang and obtained the consent of the imperial court before he began to raise troops to attack.

This time, the two of them also followed Yang Yan's orders, and only 30,000 horses were dispatched, but all of them were elite men and horses stationed in Western Xia of the Great Song Dynasty. The cavalry alone numbered twelve thousand. In addition, nearly 15,000 heads of mules, horses, camels, and other livestock were dispatched as tools for transporting heavy grain and grass. All the men and horses were divided into two teams, with Gao Zhen leading 7,000 cavalry and 8,000 infantry as the vanguard, and Yang Changpeng leading the brigade to escort heavy grain and grass and then march to Xuanhua Mansion.

After Li Chunyou received the report, although there is no foreign aid now, he can't stand still. Immediately began urgent consultations again on how to resist the Song army. After the past few months, all the people of the Western Xia court are now close to 30,000, but most of them are new soldiers, and the real combat effectiveness is actually less than 10,000.

After the discussion of Li Renyou, Lang Quanzhong, Jiao Jingyan and others, they finally came to the conclusion that the Song army could not be defeated by hard fighting, so they could only use the tactics of fortifying the wall and clearing the wilderness, gradually abandon Xuanhua Mansion and Suzhou, lead the Song army to Guazhou, lengthen the supply route of the Song army, and take advantage of their familiar terrain and roads, constantly send small groups of men and horses to attack the logistics team of the Song army, and wait until the Song army's supply could not keep up and automatically retreated, and then pursued and defeated the Song army in one fell swoop.

This tactic can be regarded as a very clever strategy, and it also makes full use of the strengths and avoids the weaknesses, taking advantage of all the advantages now, and it is also the only method that Li Chunyou and his ministers can use at present. Therefore, after the decision was made, the Western Xia people would immediately act according to the plan.

Gao Zhen led his men and horses from Liangzhou successively, and encountered almost no resistance along the way, and it took only four days to occupy Xuanhua Mansion without blood. But after entering the city, Gao Zhen found that Xuanhua Mansion was already an empty city. Not only was there nothing left, but even the inhabitants of the city were less than a thousand left.

It turned out that after receiving the order to retreat, Gao Yi, the general stationed in Xuanhua Mansion, immediately ordered all the people in Xuanhua Mansion to take away all the grain and grass materials, and only gave the Song army an empty city, and on the way to retreat from Xuanhua Mansion to Suzhou, all the villages and towns were also destroyed, so as not to leave the Song army with the slightest chance to replenish.

However, what Li Chunyou did not expect was that after the Song army occupied Xuanhua Mansion, they did not rush to continue to attack Suzhou, but stationed in Xuanhua Mansion, and then continued to transport all the grain and grass materials from Liangzhou to Xuanhua Mansion to stockpile. And also repaired the city wall of Xuanhua Mansion, strengthened the garrison, and moved the base of the attack from Liangzhou to Xuanhua Mansion.

At the same time, the tactics of clearing the field of fortified walls, which were supposed to create difficulties for the Song army's attack, also limited the activity ability of the Western Xia army at this time, bringing great resistance to their attack on the Song army's transport team, and the Song army carried out strict defense along the transportation route, so at this stage, the Western Xia army did not create much trouble for the Song army's transport team.

The Song army stopped in the city of Xuanhua for nearly a month, accumulating enough grain and grass to support six months, and then Gao Zhen and Yang Changpeng reorganized their horses and marched towards Suzhou. This time the march was still divided into two parts, Gao Zhen led 12,000 men and horses as the front, Yang Changpeng led 15,000 men and horses to escort grain and grass materials as the rear team, leaving 3,000 men and horses to guard Xuanhua Mansion.

However, at this time, the monarchs and ministers of Western Xia insisted on continuing to use the tactics of fortifying the walls and clearing the wilderness, led by the privy envoy Lang Duzhong and the Hanlin scholar Jiao Jingyan, who insisted on continuing to use the tactics of fortifying the walls and clearing the wilderness, and still acted according to the plan, and then abandoned Suzhou and led the Song army to Guazhou for a decisive battle. However, the generals Gao Yi, Xibihe, and Weimu Yanping believed that according to the way of the Song army's step-by-step and layer-by-layer advancement, the tactics of fortifying the walls and clearing the wilderness that had been formulated before would not have much effect, and if Suzhou was abandoned again, it would only allow the Song army to easily kill under the city of Guazhou.

Moreover, in order to achieve the current situation of the strong wall and clear the wilderness, when the Western Xia army retreated from Xuanhua Mansion, a large number of people were brought to Suzhou, although the Song army could not get the support of manpower, but it also increased its own burden. Now the Western Xia itself does not have many reserves, and if the people are brought to Guazhou again, I am afraid that before the supply and demand of the Song army are insufficient, they will not be able to support themselves. On the contrary, leaving the people behind and throwing them all to the Song army will only allow the Song army to take the opportunity to buy people's hearts at this time. Therefore, it is necessary to revise the plan made at the beginning, it is better to garrison in Suzhou and block the advance of the Song army with all its might, even if Suzhou is still lost in the end, but it will also cause considerable losses to the Song army, and consume the strength of the Song army for the decisive battle in Guazhou later.

Both sides have their own opinions and disputes. Because both sides made sense, and Li Youren, the king of Yue, who was in charge of government affairs, was also in a dilemma, and the new emperor Li Chunyou was already all the listeners, so he didn't know what to do at this time. But now that the Song army is pressing, it is just around the corner, and a decision must be made immediately. Therefore, Li Youren finally decided to garrison Suzhou and fight a decisive battle with the Song army according to the opinions of Gao Yi, Xibihe, Weimu Yanping and others.

So the Western Xia army concentrated 15,000 defenders in Suzhou, and Gao Yi led 10,000 horses to defend Suzhou, Xibihe and Weimu Yanping each led 2,000 cavalry to attack the logistics of the Song army.

The distance between Suzhou and Xuanhua Mansion is also exactly 3560 miles, but the road conditions are much better than between Liangzhou and Xuanhua Mansion, because the largest river in the western part of Western Xia, the Heihe River, is in this distance.

The Heihe River originates from the famous Qilian Mountain, flows north through Xuanhua Mansion and then turns westward, flows to a place about 100 miles east of Suzhou before turning northeast, until the Yanjun Division of Heishui Town, and finally joins Gashun Nuoer and Suoguo Nuoer Lake. In this section of the river basin from Xuanhuafu to Suzhou, the river surface is relatively wide and deep, which can be navigated, and there are many green states along the coast, at least the water source can not be worried. Lang was loyal and Jiao Jingyan insisted on giving up Suzhou, to a large extent, because of the existence of Heihe, and the march of the Song army was relatively convenient.

After Gao Zhen led the Song army from Xuanhua Mansion, he advanced towards Suzhou. However, the army led by Yang Changpeng marched along the Heihe River, gathered some boats, and set up many rafts to transport them by water. And set up a big village on the back of the river closest to Suzhou, as a forward base for attacking Suzhou.

The existence of the Heihe River brought great difficulties to the attack tactics of the Western Xia army, because the Song army only marched along the side of the Heihe River, and the defensive surface was greatly reduced. Therefore, the Western Xia army launched three or four attacks on the convoy of the Song army, but none of them achieved obvious results. On the contrary, the Song army also used the transport team as a bait, and in turn surrounded and suppressed the attackers of the Western Xia, once when Xibihe attacked the Song army, he was bitten by the cavalry of the Song army led by Yang Changpeng, and it took a lot of effort to escape, but the two thousand cavalry army was also damaged by the warp.