Lingzhou is the second largest city after Xingqingfu, the capital of the Western Xia Kingdom, and at the same time, it is the fief of the Western Xia Xiangguo and the Chu King Ren Dejing, and there is a residence of the King of Chu. Since the rejection of the letter of thanks to Jin, Ren Dejing stopped paying attention to the government and took his son Ren Chunyi back to live in the palace of King Chu in Lingzhou.

At this time, when it was early in the morning, I saw Ren Chunyi walking out of the Chu King's Mansion with his head down, crossing two streets, and entering a restaurant. This restaurant is the best restaurant in Lingzhou City, called Baiyan Building, and it is also a place where dignitaries and nobles in Lingzhou often go on weekdays, Ren Chunyi is also a frequent visitor here, the guys in the building know him, and when they saw Ren Chunyi coming, they got up to greet him.

Ren Chunyi ignored them, waved his hand, and went straight upstairs. The guys are all experts in observing faces, and when they saw Ren Chunyi's bad face, they didn't dare to greet him, so as not to be bored.

Ren Chunyi went up to the third floor, pushed open the door of a private room, and walked in. This is the most expensive room in Baiyan Building, and it is not open to the public. Orders must be placed a few days in advance.

At this time, a Taoist priest was sitting in the private room, who was silently recuperating. This Taoist priest wears a nine-beam Taoist crown, wears a blue sermon robe, holds a dusty hand, and has three locks of long hair hanging down to his chest, which is quite a bit of fairy wind and bones. There is also a small servant of the attendant beside him, with his hair tied in a bun, and his eyebrows are clear.

Seeing Ren Chunyi come in, the Taoist priest opened his eyes, glanced at Ren Chunyi, and said, "Why does Lord Ren have an uncertain look on his face?" ”

Ren Chunyi sat opposite the Taoist priest, smiled bitterly, shook his head, and said, "My father doesn't agree." ”

The Taoist priest seemed to have guessed this result a long time ago, and said with a smile: "What did Lord Xiangguo say?" ”

Ren Chunyi said: "My father said that he is the prime minister of the Great White High Kingdom, and he is also the ruler of the country, and he will never dare to do anything that betrays the king, so he does not agree to send someone to contact the Southern Song Dynasty." ”

The Taoist priest smiled and said: "Lord Xiangguo is a person who is loyal to the country, but it's a pity that although Xiangguo is unwilling to bear the Great White High Country, it's a pity that in this Great White High Country, other people don't think so." ”

Ren Chunyi slapped the table and said, "Isn't it?" I'm afraid my dad is getting old. At this time, what are you still thinking about, aren't you sitting back and waiting to die? Then he said to the Taoist priest: "Daoist, is there any other way you can persuade my father?" ”

The Taoist priest said with a smile: "Heart disease still needs heart medicine, and the bell must be tied to the bell." If Xiangguo has no intention, then Poor Dao is powerless. Saying that, the Taoist stood up and said, "That is the case, and the poor Dao will not disturb the adults, and he will take his leave." ”

Ren Chunyi hurriedly said: "Dao Chief, don't go!" Just stay in this Baiyan Building for a few more days, and the cost of food and accommodation will be covered by the next one. ”

The Taoist priest said: "Thank you for your kindness, but the poor road is still a person outside the party, food, clothing, housing and transportation, all of which are safe and easy, just seeking to be quiet and comfortable, not to be rich and glorious." Baiyanlou is not a place where poor people live for a long time. If you want to find a poor road, please go to the Chaoyang Temple in the west of Lingzhou City to find the poor road. Then he made a headpiece to Ren Chunyi, and then took the little Taoist boy and left together.

Ren Chunyi looked at the back of them leaving, and admired them very much, this is a monk who cultivates, indifferent to fame and fortune, and does not covet wealth and happiness.

The Taoist priest walked out of Baiyan Building with the Taoist boy, turned a corner, and turned into a secluded street, and the Taoist servant said in a low voice: "Mr. Lai, is Ren Dejing really unwilling to join forces with our Great Song Dynasty?" ”

It turned out that this Taoist priest was Lai Wenzheng, and the Taoist servant was dressed as a Vermilion Bird. On the orders of Yang Yan, the two led people to infiltrate Western Xia and use the opening of a business name to arrange an intelligence network, and after more than half a year of hard work, they finally became large-scale. However, in the firm, Lai Wenzheng basically did not show up, and was taken care of by the next few people, just hiding in the shadows to dispatch. But he found another identity for himself, pretending to be a traveling Taoist priest with the name Huang Shizi, and Suzaku pretended to be his Taoist boy. This identity is known to only a very small number of people in the firm.

The confrontation between Ren Dejing and the Western Xia Emperor Li Renxiao has long been not a secret, Li Renxiao is inclined to the Jin State, and Ren Dejing naturally became the object of the Great Song Dynasty, so Lai Wenzheng arranged the intelligence network on the one hand, and deliberately tied up with the Ren family on the other hand.

Most of the schools in the Western Xia Kingdom were Buddhists. The Ren family was originally a minister of the Great Song Dynasty, but they believed in Taoism more, so the Taoist priest Huang Shizi incarnated by Lai Wenzheng was very right. After coming and going, he made friends with the Ren family, although he did not meet directly with Ren Dejing, but he had a lot of contacts with Ren Chunyi, Ren Chunzhong, Ren Chunxin and others, the second generation of the Ren family. And Lai Wenzheng himself is also well-informed, has experienced big scenes, and has a good conversation, which also makes Ren's children very admired. In addition, they were less wary of the monks, so they gradually asked Lai Wenzheng for advice on some important matters.

At this time, Yang Yan's instructions were transmitted to Western Xia, so that the intelligence agencies of Western Xia managed to contact Ren Dejing and persuade Ren Dejing to cooperate with the Great Song Dynasty. Now is the time when the power of the Ren clan is greatly reduced, and the children of the Ren family are also quite a little uneasy, once Ren Chunyi also mentioned to Lai Wenzheng the current situation faced by the Ren family, Lai Wenzheng took the opportunity to take advantage of the situation, let Ren Chunyi persuade Ren Dejing, to contact and cooperate with the Great Song Dynasty, Ren Chunyi suddenly opened his mouth, and immediately went to Ren Dejing to suggest, full of thought that he would please his father, but he was reprimanded by Ren Dejing, and only then did he have the meeting with Lai Wenzheng just now.

Hearing Suzaku ask, Lai Wenzheng said with a smile: "Don't worry, now Ren Dejing has no other choice, he can only cooperate with our Great Song Dynasty to save the fate of the Ren clan." You can see that he has not closed the border with Xinhui Prefecture until now, it can be seen that Ren Dejing has long wanted to contact and cooperate with our Great Song Dynasty. ”

Now Ren Dejing's prestige in the Western Xia Kingdom has plummeted, but after all, the dictatorship has been more than 20 years, and the confidence is still there, and now the area south of the Great Wall and east of the Yellow River is basically still in the hands of Ren's family, and there are three military divisions of Xishou Baotai Military Division adjacent to the Great Song Dynasty and Jingsai Military Division and Jianing Military Division connected to Jin State, and there are still 100,000 troops, which should not be underestimated. After the bad relations between Western Xia and Song, the borders with Lanzhou, Hezhou, and Jishi Prefecture were all blocked, and only the Xishou Baotai Military Division adjacent to Xinhui Prefecture was still open, and merchants from both countries could enter and exit.

However, Suzaku was still a little puzzled, and said: "Then according to what Ren Chunyi said just now, why is Ren Dejing unwilling to send someone to contact the Great Song Dynasty?" ”

Lai Wenzheng said: "This is because Ren Dejing has to wait and see if our Great Song has the strength to deal with the Western Xia Army, if our Great Song is vulnerable, then even if it is to cooperate with the Great Song Dynasty, it is meaningless." At the same time, he probably wanted us to contact him first, so that we could strive for the greatest benefit when we cooperated. So now it depends on which of us can calm down and wait patiently, and at the same time, as long as we can withstand the attack of the Western Xia army in Lanzhou, at most ten days, Ren Dejing will definitely not be able to hold back and take the initiative to come to us. ”

※※Support the original ※ "Song Xiang" was first published in 1*7*k※Support the genuine ※※ "Woo woo woo" With the horn blowing, the Western Xia soldiers flocked to Lanzhou City like a tide.

The Western Xia army attacked Lanzhou for ten days, and inside and outside the city wall, Yijing left a lot of traces after attack and defense. And the city of Lanzhou is still standing still. At this time, on the city of Lanzhou, Yang Changpeng, dressed in military uniform, stood by his sword, watching the Western Xia army approaching under the city, and commanding the Song army to defend. And beside Yang Changpeng were Cao Xun and Zhang Wenzhu, who had just arrived with reinforcements yesterday.

After entering August, the Western Xia finally launched a large-scale attack on Lanzhou, led by the general Wei Ming Jizhong, led an army of 120,000, and attacked Lanzhou, Jingyuguan, Xiguanbao, Dongguan Fort and other places. Another general, Gao Shandu, led 30,000 horses and horses to attack Jishi Prefecture to contain the strength of the Song army. Now the Western Xia army has captured Jingyu Pass with Jingjing, and is concentrating 100,000 troops to storm Lanzhou.

After Sichuan Xuanfu made Wang Yan learn about it, he continuously sent urgent documents to the imperial court. Since the Song army in Sichuan had to guard the key roads in various places, they did not send many men and horses to support Lanzhou. Now there are only more than 20,000 defenders, stationed in Xiguanbao and Dongguan Fort on the left and right of Lanzhou City, and the three cities are in the shape of horns to assist each other in defense. After more than ten days of defense, it repelled many attacks by the Western Xia army, but the Song army was finally too small in number, and the troops were a little stretched.

Fortunately, at this time, Cao Xun led the reinforcements to arrive, which made Yang Changpeng breathe a sigh of relief, this time to reinforce Lanzhou, Cao Xun brought the two armies of the palace front division, Shengjie and the infantry division of Xiongwu and Jinyong, with a total of more than 26,000 people, and also brought a thousand improved god back bows, and a large number of firearms. At the same time, Zhang Wenzhu also brought three hundred astonishing Yan troops. also told Yang Changpeng that Yang Yan corresponded to the battle plan of the Western Xia army's attack. After Yang Changpeng learned about it, he was also full of confidence in holding Lanzhou and defeating the Western Xia army.

Cao Xun and Yang Changpeng were originally brothers-in-law, his wife Zhang Wenzhu and Yang Changpeng's wife Zhang Wenmin were sisters, plus Yang Yan's relationship, naturally they were indistinguishable from each other, so Yang Yan sent him to lead the army into Sichuan first to support Lanzhou.

At this time, the Western Xia army advanced to a distance of about two hundred steps from the city wall, and with Yang Changpeng's order, eight trebuchets launched together, smashing more than ten catties of heavy stones to the Western Xia army.

The boulders fell from the sky one by one, and the soldiers of the Western Xia Army who were hit were all smashed into flesh and blood, turning into a pile of mud. Immediately after that, thousands of arrows were fired on the tower of Lanzhou City, and the arrows poured like raindrops towards the heads of the Western Xia army. Suddenly under the city, countless Western Xia soldiers fell to the ground with arrows, screaming and wailing.

However, under the fierce blows of the Song army, the Western Xia army held a shield to block the rain of arrows, continued to advance, and finally approached the city wall. He set up a ladder and began to climb up the city wall.

However, Yang Changpeng was also prepared, he had already raised four feet in the back row of the wall of Lanzhou City, and when he saw that the Western Xia army began to attack the city upward, the archers immediately retreated to the high place in the back row and continued to release arrows, while the spearmen and shield players immediately stepped forward to defend the battlements, and the Western Xia army was connected with the white blades, and a fierce battle began. And constantly smashed stones and logs at the Western Xia soldiers on the ladder.

Although the walls of Lanzhou City are very strong, the defensive preparations are actually not very sufficient, there are only twenty-four trebuchets in total, and there are no firearms, and there is not a single large equipment for defending the city, such as bed crossbows and rushing carts. However, the siege ability of the Western Xia army is even worse, and there are no large siege equipment such as tower cars and crash cars, so they can only rely on cloud ladders to kick the city, plus the current strength in the city is sufficient, and Yang Changpeng and Cao Xun have a way to defend the city, so that the Song army can still firmly hold Lanzhou City, so that the Western Xia army has no chance to take advantage of it.

The walls of the entire Lanzhou city were crawled with Western Xia soldiers, but they were all stubbornly resisted by the Song army and could not attack the city walls. The corpses under the city gradually piled up, and the blood began to stain the earth red.

Cao Xun looked at it from the city wall and muttered: "The siege tactics of the Western Xia army are too backward, even the Jin army is inferior." If you continue to fight like this, even if you fight until the end of the year, you won't be able to storm the city wall! ”

Yang Changpeng said angrily: "Are you a spy of the Western Xia people?" Why bother about them? ”

Cao Xun said with a sad face: "I'm not worried about them, but my hands are itchy, you look at the way the Western Xia army is attacking the city now, it's just a matter of ignoring the tail, if I let me lead a team of men and horses to rush out now, kill them by surprise, I will definitely be able to beat them down and win a big victory." ”

Yang Changpeng said: "You still need to say this, when I don't know?" But you've also read Zihao's letter, so we can only hold on to the city now, and we must not attack, we must wait for him to come. Because of this, do you know how much I spent yesterday trying to convince other generals? ”

Zhang Wenzhu on the side couldn't help but be curious, and said, "Brother-in-law, why did Second Brother Yang give such a strange order?" And I've always wondered why the firearms we brought this time, the Divine Arm Crossbow and the Repeating Crossbow, haven't been used yet? ”

Yang Changpeng said: "If we go to war according to my brother-in-law's method now, of course we can win a big battle, but the damage caused to the Western Xia army is limited." And after the defeat of the Western Xia army, it will definitely withdraw its troops back, which could have not hurt its vitality. Zihao's idea is to hit the Western Xia army hard this time, so that the vitality of the Western Xia will be greatly damaged, and he will never dare to easily invade the Great Song Dynasty in the future, so he must not let them withdraw so easily, so the matter of a full-scale attack must wait for him to come to Lanzhou, let's just guard it first. Therefore what you bring with you will not be used unless it is absolutely necessary. ”

At this time, Cao Xun clasped his hands together, looked deeply at the city, and said: "Anything that is targeted by the eldest brother will not end well." Even if I have the virtue of a good life, I can't save you, so ask for more blessings. ”

Yang Changpeng was angry and funny, pointed at Cao Xun and said with a smile: "You kid, when it comes to time, you are all like this." ”