Li Zhong stood up and walked around the sand table on the desk to look at it a few times, and said slowly: "Lord Su, my lords, I thought this was a plan by the thieves of the West, and this was confusing the public. ”

Su Jin smiled: "How can you see it? ”

Li Zhong pointed to the sand table and said: "When I came, I listened to your introduction to the current situation, and the lower officials think that your analysis is reasonable. On the other hand, in our Weizhou City, there are almost no barriers to speak of except for the two abandoned forts in the north, and there are not many troops, to say something disrespectful to the adults, in the eyes of the Western Thieves, they will not even know who Lord Su is; Unless the thief is a fool, how can he give up attacking Weizhou and provoke Fan Shuai? Even I, a scholar who doesn't understand military affairs, would not make such a choice. ”

Su Jin nodded slowly: "That's the reason, but don't you know it's a strategic consideration?" Attacking Weizhou, even if Weizhou is taken, the western thieves can no longer advance in depth, because Han Shuai's Qinfeng Road is blocked in front, and Fan Shuai's Yanqing and Yanqing are clamped on the left; If you want to do more, attacking the two roads of Yanyan and Huanqing is indeed the simplest and most effective way. ”

Li Chong shook his head and said: "Didn't Master Su say that the country of the Western Thieves is already full of devastation, there is no doubt about this, I think my Great Song Dynasty is rich like this, after the past few years of fighting, the treasury is also empty and the national strength is declining, and the summer is in a barren land, and the situation is even worse than my Great Song Dynasty; If at the beginning of the war, the Western Thieves had the delusion of annexing my Great Song Dynasty in one fell swoop, now that a few years have passed, I will never believe that the Western Thieves are still doing this delusion. ”

Jingtai nodded in agreement when he heard this: "That's true, I have been fighting with Han Shuai for a few years, and I have a deep experience; The momentum of the West Thieves was like a rainbow at the beginning, but in recent years, Yu has indeed been tired, last year's Battle of Haoshuichuan In fact, the West Thieves could completely annihilate all my trapped soldiers, but the result was that more than 30,000 people who were trapped escaped more than 20,000, if all the more than 20,000 people were annihilated at that time, the current pattern in the northwest is not like this, the entire Qinfeng Road Jingyuan Road has already fallen into the hands of the West Thieves, and it can be seen that they are indeed not as good as before. ”

Su Jin said: "Then, strategically speaking, they actually don't have any further thoughts, so the intention of this gathering of soldiers and horses to fight is to teach people doubts, is it really to avenge Li Ningming's capture?" This movement is too big, and revenge should be coming at me, how did it hit Fan Shuai's head. ”

Li Chongdao: "This is suspicious, whether the western thieves want to boost the morale of the people with a big victory, or simply take revenge for Li Ningming's matter, the target should be Weizhou, and it can never be anywhere else, so I said that they are playing a strategy of attacking the west; Now the soldiers are coming to the city of Gyeongju but they are not fighting, but there is a nuisance in the north of Yanzhou, and even the village of Mulang in Gyeongju has not been attacked, which is obviously for show, I think their target is still Weizhou, all of this is just a show. ”

Su Jin looked at everyone: "Do you think what Master Li said makes sense?" ”

Everyone agreed, and after Li Chong's analysis, basically the facts have become clear, unless there is news that the Western Thieves have officially attacked Gyeongju City.

Su Jin said with a smile: "It seems that you are all clear-eyed people, and I also think that the western thief is cheating, in addition to the reasons that Brother Zhaoting said, there are several details that are enough to prove it." ”

Everyone pricked up their ears to listen to Su Jin's reasoning, and the reasons given by Li Zhong were convincing enough, but they were mostly analytical and speculative, which inevitably gave people a feeling of being too subjective, but I don't know what kind of evidence Su Jin could give.

Su Jin pointed to the sand table and said: "Everyone, please see, my Jingyuan Road and Huanqing and Yanyan Road are divided into east and west, Fan Shuai is facing Youzhou City in Western Xia, and our opposite is Huizhou City in Western Xia, in terms of distance, if the target is Fan Shuai's East Road, why is the gathering of soldiers and horses not in Youzhou but in Huizhou?" Is this another ploy to attack the west? Do you want to confuse us into thinking that their target is Weizhou? ”

Everyone looked at the sand table and was stunned, if the western thieves would even use a strategy to choose a gathering place, it would be too terrible, who would dare to confront such an opponent?

"Of course not." Su Jin himself denied his own question: "The soldiers and horses did not move the grain and grass first, and the war was fought as a logistical supply, even if the troops were superior, if the supply of grain and grass could not be guaranteed, the result would be self-evident; And Huizhou is at least 300 miles away from the two roads around Qingyan, while Youzhou is only 100 miles, who will play with logistics and supply? Not to mention that the supply line is too far and there are difficulties in supply, but such a long road also gives me the opportunity for the Song army to sneak attack, once the grain route is cut off, it will be a fart battle? ”

Jingtai slapped his hand and said, "Yes, who would be so stupid?" The assembly site is actually set in Huizhou for the convenience of supplies when we fight Weizhou in the future, and the lower officials think that the grain and grass of the Western Thieves must all be gathered in Huizhou City, if there is no common sense at all, what kind of battle will the Western Thieves fight? ”

Su Jin raised his head and said: "Lord Jing is right, the grain and grass are gathered in Huizhou, and the soldiers and horses will go to Huanqing to disturb the nuisance first, and only need to bring a few days of dry food, and within a few days, the soldiers and horses on the two roads of Huanqing and Yanyan will disappear overnight, and with the foot strength of the war horse, you can reach the boundary of Weizhou in the afternoon of the next day, and then Huizhou City will be supplied nearby, which is the trick played by the West Thief." ”

Everyone nodded and smiled, this must be the case, after understanding the enemy's plan, their hearts were relaxed for a while, but in an instant, everyone's expressions froze, which showed that this vicious battle in Weizhou was not spared at all, and a bloody battle was just around the corner.

Su Jin understood everyone's thoughts, and said with a smile: "Actually, I hope our analysis is wrong, because then we don't have to fight with the army of Western thieves, but there is no way, this battle is inevitable after all, since it is inevitable, why not come more fiercely." ”

……

On the night of the fifth day of the eighth month, the Western Xia army, which had done enough to do the article, set off overnight, and quietly retreated fifty miles under the cover of night and turned to the west overnight to attack Weizhou, leaving only 30,000 Jianing troops led by Li Jiqian on the east road; Even if there were only 30,000 people, it was enough for the Song army not to dare to go out of the city to fight, and if the 30,000 cavalry was countless times the strength of the troops, it would not be able to compete with it at all.

At dawn, the 40,000 horses of Yeli Wangrong, the commander of the left army of the Xia army in front of the sudden advance, took the lead in reaching the mountain pass of 60 miles north of Weizhou, which is the end of Longshan, and the mountain is completely lost here, but there is Jingshui in the east and a mountain beam in the west, and there is a passage five or six miles wide in the middle, although it is not very steep, but it is also the best place to hold.

Yeli Wangrong ordered his troops to pass through the mountain pass quickly, but unexpectedly, the vanguard Pegasus came to report that there was a walled city ahead, which seemed to be guarded by Song troops.

Yeli Wangrong is a little strange, when did there be a walled city here? Intelligence shows that the fortresses north of Weizhou have long been cleaned and leveled? Why did the Song army secretly rebuild here again? Since the scouts didn't listen to the report, Shijiao Yeli Wangrong was annoyed.

Yeli Wangrong didn't know that their scouts were not derelict in their duties, but the speed of the reconstruction of this Dingchuan village was too fast, and the 5,000 people in Weizhou City repaired and rebuilt this abandoned fortress in three days and three nights.

Even so, Yeli Wangrong didn't pay much attention to it, it was just a small village, and he didn't make a fuss, it is estimated that there were not many Song troops in it, just for show, as soon as the army arrived, he should have already made the idea of escaping.

Yeli Wangrong personally rode his horse to the front of the team, raised his eyes, and frowned; In the dawn of dawn, the tall walled city between the mountain passes looked so eye-catching.

The location of this Dingchuan village is really lewd enough. Dang, which happens to be located on a suddenly raised hillside extending outward from the mountain pass, condescendingly controls the two passages on the left and right, although the army can completely avoid the range of the bow and arrow in the village and choose to walk close to the east side of Jingshui and the west side of the mountain, but the originally not too wide passage is compressed even smaller in order to avoid this fortress, which not only greatly slows down the speed of passing, but also is a psychological blow.

"Who went get the cottage for me?" Yeli Wangrong said in a low voice.

Before the words fell, someone shouted: "The last will go." One of the generals stepped forward with a meteor hammer in his hand, and the rest of the generals scolded secretly with unhappy expressions: This kid reacted too quickly, and he saw that the first merit fell into his hands, damn it!

Yeli Wangrong said with a smile: "General Yuan, you are moving fast. ”

"To serve the king, naturally strive to be the first." The general surnamed Yuan is not red and his heart is not beating.

"Good! This commander ordered you to take the headquarters of the children to take this village, and to fight quickly, so as not to affect the speed of the army. ”

"The king can rest assured, Zhuxiang will step on this village between meals." Yuan Dezhong was full of confidence, and after getting Ye Li Wangrong's approval, he rode away.

After a while, the five thousand cavalry lined up and prepared, the two hundred hornmen pulled out the horns at their waists and pressed them to their mouths, Yuan Dezhong raised the meteor hammer and shouted, the cavalry pulled out their long knives and urged the horses with their legs to shout and shout, accompanied by a long and low horn, and rushed towards the projectile village on the hillside like a tide.