Miao Kui didn't mean to go against the horse, he was just too traditional and didn't believe that the horse's strange tactical ideas could work, and he didn't want to watch the soldiers give their lives in vain with a pampered and cranky imperial relative.

But since the victory in Mawei City, he is no longer a cold observer, Miao Kui is still very ancient-style on the issue of unanimity with the outside world, whoever can kill more enemies is capable, not only oral but also convinced.

Hong Tao was indeed preparing for war, and Mawei City was the last fortress he had to take out of the Qilian Mountains. With this fortress, you can threaten the important town of Jisang in Western Xia, and you can hold the border when you retreat, which is very convenient.

This is a bit like the meaning that after the Liao State occupied the sixteen states of Yanyun, it could go south at any time to threaten the hinterland of the Northern Song Dynasty. However, the Northern Song Dynasty had to station heavy troops on the east and west roads of Hebei and the east road of Hedong because there was no danger to defend, and the walled forts were gathered. Passive defense is very labor-intensive and material-intensive, and the Great Song Dynasty can afford it, but the Western Xia may not be able to afford it.

As soon as spring arrives and the snow in the valley melts, the Song army in Mawei City can choose a valley to the north at will. In the west is Renduoquan City, in the northeast is Jisang City, and in front is Xiliangfu, an important town in Western Xia, and the straight-line distance is within one hundred and fifty miles.

It can be reached in a day or two at the speed of the box cart, and according to the speed of information transmission in this era, no matter how fast the horses of the Tangut people are, a large number of reinforcements will not arrive within ten years. Whether it's a siege or a raid, there's plenty of time left for yourself.

The only way for the Xia to defend themselves was to station heavy troops near the border and tie up the fence like the Song army. However, the production and lifestyle of the Xia people was different from that of the Song people, and they were scattered in various places in peacetime as a tribal unit, and only in wartime would they be concentrated.

There are not too many standing armies, and they can't afford to raise so many standing armies. Each additional standing army will affect the quality of production and life of the Xia people, and at the same time increase the burden on the local people.

In fact, the Tangut people have begun to taste the taste of passive defense, and Jiang Erlang's method of training recruits is very direct and cruel, except for standing skills, the only way is actual combat.

Since Lord Shuai Si gave him the right to go north at any time, he didn't waste a day, and in early December, he took half of the special forces to disguise themselves as three Tubo camel teams, and drilled out the stretching Qilian Mountains from two mountain passes less than ten miles apart, and walked towards the endless Liangzhou Plain.

They were not going to attack the city, but to find the Xia tribe east of the city of Rindoquan. Every winter, the herders find a place with water to spend the winter, and feed their livestock from the grass harvested in the fall.

No matter how the weather changes, the camp cannot be changed this winter, and any problems can only be solved after the beginning of spring.

Jiang Erlang went to find these herdsman tribes, and when he encountered a direct attack from a small tribe, he killed people, burned forage, took away the livestock and mothers, and killed the others. If the cost of a big tribe attack is too high, poison their livestock, or simply burn the forage.

Without forage, livestock starves to death, and those that survive are undernourished, and litter rates drop after the start of spring. Usually this situation is brought by nature, such as low temperatures and heavy snowfall, and even large tribes will be broken by white disasters, and it will take at least a year to recover.

Natural disasters are not common, but man-made disasters can't be avoided, Hong Tao and Jiang Erlang just want to normalize natural disasters, and they have to come several times every winter, don't talk about wars, whether they can survive the winter is a luxury.

There is no way to deal with this kind of harassment of the Xia people, and the cost of gathering a large army to encircle and suppress it is too high, and it may not be effective. Pull out the bane of Mawei City, nature doesn't give face, anyway, don't fight this idea before spring comes.

"Eleven people were killed and eight wounded, most of them recruits. All that has been obtained is outside the city, and the adults will go with the end to check it out. ”

It took less than half a month to take the first expedition back and forth, and Jiang Erlang didn't dare to go too deep into the hinterland of Western Xia, but when he came back, he still smiled, and he was about to pull Hong Tao out.

"How many tribes have you copied here?" Hong Tao was pondering the ratio of incendiary bombs, and he didn't want to go out to see any loot, and the shepherds didn't have anything of value except cattle, sheep and horses.

But in order not to dampen Jiang Erlang's enthusiasm for work, he had to pretend to be smiling and go out of the city, and then he was dumbfounded. It is true that there are still cows, horses, sheep and camels, but there are a bit of them, and there is a large area of black pressing.

"Only one! Three or four hundred people, quite rich, more than 500 horses, countless cattle and sheep. The mountain road back is not easy to walk, and I have been separated a lot. Jiang Erlang enjoyed Hong Tao's expression very much, there are really not many things that can surprise Lord Shuaisi, which is also a high compliment.

"How can there be such a big tribe not far from the border?" Hong Tao couldn't figure it out, there were basically no serious farmers on the border side of the Northern Song Dynasty except for the soldiers, so weren't the Western Xia herdsmen afraid of war? That's not normal.

"The Admiral took a few prisoners and asked, this has always been their winter camp. There is a hot spring in the local area that can cure diseases, and this tribe is called the Yaoquan tribe. They didn't know that Mawei City was occupied by us, and they didn't know that Wei Ming Ah Wu and Liang Daochu were dead. When we went in, they thought it was a sneak attack by other tribes, and shouted that they were going to Xiliang Mansion to sue the official, hehehe. ”

Jiang Erlang said it like Zhuge Liang, and it was very enjoyable to talk about how he led the team to disguise himself as a Tubo and how to attack the opponent's camp at night like Zhuge Liang.

"What about people? Kill them all? Hong Tao is not interested in the story, it is natural to have more livestock, but he still wants more.

“…… What's the use of not killing and keeping? Didn't adults say that the best enemy is the dead? Jiang Erlang was stunned by the question, he hadn't said anything about capturing prisoners before, and it was impossible to let Xia people join the army, so what was the use of keeping them?

“…… If the next opportunity is given to bring back the people and the livestock, the official lacks slaves to work. Or keep only the woman, and not the children. You see that all the forts in Huangzhou, including Mawei City, are full of military men, and there are few women in the Fan nationality, so this official can't let everyone fight for a lifetime. The Han people, the Tibetan people, the Dang Xiang, and the Uighurs are all human beings, and the men are killed and killed, but the women should not suffer this crime, and they will be captured and brought back to everyone as daughters-in-law, what do you say? ”

There are indeed many singles, and not many people care about the nation, as long as it is a woman, they are happy, let alone give it for free. But Hong Tao's real purpose was not to solve personal problems for the army, he wanted to use prisoners of war to do the work of producing dangerous goods.

With current production technology, some products can only be piled up by human life. It is obviously too easy to be caught by others to exchange Song people, and it is too bad to lose reputation if it is spread out.

But you can't help but do it, it's much better to use prisoners of war, kill a group with a batch, and the dead can't testify. Even if someone attacks themselves with this matter, there is no evidence, who can go to Xia Guo to ask about the disappearance of people?

"Your Excellency...... The last general wants to beg the adults to let me and others move my family to Huangzhou, the children are almost ten years old, if I can learn some crafts, it will be a blessing for me to cultivate in my previous life. ”

Jiang Erlang naturally wouldn't guess Hong Tao's true purpose, and he was still happy for his soldiers. Indeed, eating the bowl of rice as a soldier also caught up with the wartime, and it was not easy to marry a daughter-in-law.

The forbidden army is okay to say, the reputation is good, and the treatment is good, but the van service and special forces are miserable. Who listens to the former and grins, and the latter simply has no identity, whose girl is willing to marry?

He and Jiang Dalang have families in Kaifeng, and this time they have been out for more than a year, and they may not be able to go back in the future, if they don't want to say that they don't want to, it must be fake.

"Don't come to Huangzhou, it's not suitable for living. I sent a letter to Qin Hu and asked him to take your family to Weiqiao Town, where there are also state schools and government schools, and I can't afford to lose my children. When the war is not too tight, you can follow Lord Wang's convoy home to have a look, or take your family over to stay for a few days. ”

For Jiang Erlang's request, Hong Tao agreed very simply, and it is normal for people to agree. In fact, the most uninsured person is a single, and it is easy to control the ties of a family.

"I discussed it with Da Lang, I want the children to follow the adults, just like Wang Da and their ......" Seeing that Hong Tao didn't fully understand what he meant, Jiang Erlang had to make his words clearer.

“…… That's very bitter and dangerous, and you two are willing to let your children live this kind of life of licking blood from the knife edge? This time, Hong Tao understood, Jiang Erlang wanted their children to join the children's group. I have never confiscated the children of acquaintances into the group, which is still a new topic.