When you see the envoy who brought the holy decree, don't be funny, then it will be exposed. What is disobedience? I didn't see the decree at all. handed over the person to Wang Fifty-six, and even the envoys of the Western Xia and the envoys of the Great Song Dynasty were killed, and the corpses had to be destroyed, and there was no proof of death.

Even if Wang Hou rebelled against the water and switched to the emperor in the future, this matter would be a confused account, and no one would believe it. In the midst of the war between the two countries, the emperor sent envoys to deliver the decree to the enemy country, and then forwarded it to the leading generals of his own country, which is not nonsense.

In fact, this holy decree was not given to Hong Tao at all, nor was it given to the king of Qi, the emperor knew that even if he issued an order, he would probably not be able to catch up with the pace of the new army, and it would delay a lot of time back and forth, so he simply made a decree for peace talks, thinking that this could play a role in controlling the new army on the side.

If you don't stop attacking, you will be disobedient and will be in a passive position in terms of reason. If you obey the order and don't attack, you can't garrison troops in Western Xia, at least you have to return to Lanzhou or Ganliang Road. When the time comes, look at the situation and find a way to make up nonsense, anyway, so many courtiers are experts in nonsense, so they don't have to worry about making it up.

But they still underestimated the thickness of Hong Tao's skin, this one has no fixed thickness at all, and he will adjust it when he meets someone. If you want face, he wants face, and if you don't have face, he doesn't have face at all.

Xingqing Mansion, originally run by the ancestor of the Dangxiang clan, after the Tang Dynasty gave him the surname Li, Li Deming repaired Huaiyuan Town in the fourth year of Tianxi, and later renamed Xingzhou. After Yuan Hao was called emperor, Xingzhou was changed to Xingqing Mansion and set as the national capital.

Although it is the capital of the party, it is no different from the city of the Song Dynasty, and the name Xingqing is also taken from the Tang Dynasty palace Que Xingqing Palace.

It has a circumference of eighteen miles, the wall is three zhang six high, two zhang wide, six city gates, there is a palace city inside, there is the royal garden Yuanhao Palace outside, also imitates from Chang'an Xingqing Palace and Qujiang Pond.

The city was located on the Ningxia Plain between the Qilian Mountains and the Yellow River, with the mountains protecting it to the west and the river blocking the east, and there were two easiest ways for the new army to enter this plain.

From the southwest through the Lopangling Road, there is no need to cross the river, but there are hills and ravines. Or cross the Yellow River and walk north from Xiping Mansion to the official road of Xingqing Mansion, which is relatively flat and wide.

But it was too slow for so many people to cross the river, especially since the field artillery could not follow the new army. Its weight is not a problem for an armed cargo ship, but there are no large ships here, at best it is a sheepskin raft, and it cannot be carried at all.

Without artillery, the new army can still attack the city, but it will be much more difficult, in case of encountering the enemy's cavalry from different directions, I am afraid that it will not be able to stop it with rifles alone. The Xixia people are afraid, but who dares to guarantee that they will not be trapped and fighting, anyway, Hong Tao is not at ease.

"Shi Tong, can you walk through this Lopangling Road?" Whether to go north directly or cross the river to the east has become a choice question in front of Hong Tao. He almost turned over the map and couldn't find an answer, and sometimes the map was not as detailed as he could see with his own eyes.

"Back to the adult's words, the first time the villain went to Xingqing Mansion was the Lopangling, which was more than ten miles closer than the official road on the east bank. The mountains are not high, and the roads are not steep, but they are in disrepair and the ruts are a little deeper and a little bumpy. ”

Shi Tong didn't need to look at the map to know what Hong Tao meant by asking this road, he had personal experience, and simply answered the key point accurately, as long as the box truck could pass through the new army.

Although the official road to the east is wide and flat, there are many rivers and small waterways. If the Western Xia army destroyed all the bridges, the new army would be busy, and at least dozens of bridges would have to be built to reach Xingqing Mansion.

"What is the topography of this road?" Shi Tong's suggestion Hong Tao understood, took the map and looked at it for a while, thoughtful.

"It is roughly the west bank of the Yellow River, and there is a dry ancient river channel not far in front of it, so close to the Yellow River, almost accompanying it. The roads are all sand and gravel, but they are sturdy and won't get stuck in the wheels without much rain. It's now autumn, and the rainy season has already passed, so it should be fine. ”

Shi Tong was not the slightest impatient with Hong Tao's constant questions, and he admired this man who existed like a big shopkeeper from the bottom of his heart. When it's time to let go, let go and let the people below play, and when it's time to be serious, you have to ask for clarification.

In addition to not being very stable in dealing with people, he does have skills beyond ordinary people. The generals who lead the troops in battle are not afraid of prudence and caution, they are afraid of being too self-righteous.

As a veteran of the forbidden army, he understands this truth very well, and every time a general considers and understands a small issue, he can often decide the life and death of thousands of soldiers, which is really not annoying.

"Ancient river channels? Listen carefully, for the king has an idea, and let's see if it can help. If I were the defenders of the Western Xia, after the new army entered the river, especially the section parallel to the Yellow River, I would find a way to dig the embankment on the west side of the Yellow River somewhere downstream and divert the river water into the ancient channel. Even if the new army can climb the river to escape, most of the baggage will not be saved, and it is a big problem whether it can safely withdraw to Yingli City with only the supplies and ammunition carried by the soldiers, not to mention the attack on Xingqing Mansion. ”

It may be that he has seen the details of the endless wars of Chinese and foreign countries in later generations, although Hong Tao has not read any art of war, but he always has all kinds of whimsical ideas in his mind, and he thinks about everything to the extreme.

Through Shi Tong's narration and observation of the contour lines on the map, he discovered another possible pit, a bottomless pit. If you step on it, the god of war may fall, and half a lifetime's efforts will be wasted in an instant.

"What? Dig up the Yellow River! That, isn't most of Xingqing Mansion gone! Shi Tong was the first to express his incredibleness, the method of digging the river to retreat from the enemy was used by the ancients, and even the Great Song Dynasty court also used it, but it was not used like this.

As the saying goes, fire and water are ruthless, where can anyone drown oneself. Besides, this is the autumn harvest season in the Huaihe River Basin, and the north of the Yellow River is afraid that it will be about ten years in the evening. I've been busy for a whole year, and I've been flushing it all by myself, and I'm going to be sad this winter!

"In my opinion, Xingqing Mansion may not be affected too much...... Seventh, you're the best at looking at this thing, let's take a closer look, if you dig from here, which direction will the water potential go roughly? ”

Hong Tao thinks that no matter how vicious he is, he is afraid that he will not be as good as a qualified politician. In order to retain power, drowning tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people is a fart, and the harvest of tens of thousands of acres of fertile land is a fart. As long as this new army can be killed, the price that the Tanguts are willing to pay is probably even greater.

But this is just a conjecture of their own, the Tangut people may not have imagined this layer, and it is likely that they are really frightened, and they are hiding behind the high wall of Xingqing Mansion to pray for blessings to the gods and Buddhas.

Whether they want to or not, they have to consider all the possibilities comprehensively, and then they can find the one that is most beneficial to the new army to carry out. What is the commander for? There are generals like Wang Da in wars, and officials like Wang Hou in herdsmen, and the commanders are used for this, and they have big ideas at critical moments.

“…… This time, I'm afraid that my father is right again, if the Yellow River is dug from this section, the water will not flow downstream immediately. You see, although the topography here is generally high in the southeast and low in the northeast, because the altitude of the ancient river channel is lower, it will only turn north after the water level exceeds the river bank by more than two meters. The altitude of Xingqing Mansion is higher, and the location of its construction is very particular, even if the Yellow River is really flooded, it will not hinder the city. On the contrary, the section ahead of us is more dangerous, the water will zigzag along the low-lying places, not always in a straight line, to say ......"

Wang Qi lay on the map, took notes on some numbers, and sketched some curves, and soon had an answer. In order to make everyone understand, he simply used the map as a lecture board, drawing while talking, and a good map was ruined.

"Stop, this is a military meeting, not your lecture hall! Okay, let's talk about it, if we go to the west coast, we may be killed by the enemy, and if we go to the east coast and there is no field artillery available, where should we go? ”

But there are few people who have been teachers, and there are few who are not good teachers. Wang Qi has lectured at Yangtze River University for several years, and the mouth that he couldn't talk about is also very good, and when he encounters topics that he is interested in and good at, he has a tendency to talk endlessly.

"The child thought that he could attack the city without field artillery, but the bridge along the way was a little troublesome, and there were not too many trees here, so if he wanted to build a bridge, he could only go to the city to demolish the house."

Of course, Wang Da didn't want to be a water mouse, she was not afraid of fighting, and there was no artillery to fight accordingly, but how to march was a difficult problem, and the dense water network on the map was too sad.