Lingzhou City, which could only look at the sky and sigh more than a year ago, is now in front of the plant.

Lingzhou City is not high, nor is it majestic, and it is just a small shadow on the field when it is seen from a distance of five miles. Even when you get closer, you don't need to raise your head very high.

But the significance of this city to the kind of people, and even the entire Great Song Dynasty, is by no means ordinary.

At the beginning of the founding of the country, the Lingwu Festival made Feng Jiye surrender, and Lingzhou was left alone. In the fifth year of Xianping [1002], it was captured by Li Jiqian, and Pei Ji of Zhizhou died. In the following 80 years, this land under Helan Mountain became the source of the party's continuous southern invasion. Year after year, year after year, the people of Shaanxi spend their time in the beacon fire and the sound of horns.

Regaining Lingzhou, restoring Xingling, and destroying Western Xia is the long-cherished wish of several generations of Great Song Dynasty emperors, and it is also the long-cherished wish of countless Western Army soldiers.

Now that Western Xia has long since perished, only Lingzhou remains.

There was an impulse to order the whole army to attack the city and capture Lingzhou in one fell swoop, but he immediately calmed down.

Compared with the 100,000 horses led by Gao Zunyu and Miao Zhu, who attacked Lingzhou City in the middle of last year, there are only a pitiful 2,000 cavalry with him now. Even without the support of the people, the transportation of grain and grass could only rely on the more than 400 four-wheeled carriages that had been collected throughout the Yinxia Road, which were mainly used to transport salt from the Qingbai Salt Pond.

According to the report of the exploration horse, the defenders in the city had closed the gate of Lingzhou early, and it was impossible to capture the city with only 2,000 cavalry.

This realization made Chong Ge's heart heavy. As early as on the road to Xingling in the north, he bumped into a lot of Liao rangers, and the intelligence of the army's northward journey had already leaked out, and the Liao people naturally knew about it for a long time. Now the main force of the Liao army is not waiting under the city of Lingzhou, but is nowhere to be seen, unless they and the party can get accurate information, it is impossible for the seed to relax.

The soldiers under the command of the cultivator were building the camp for tonight, using an old fortress abandoned in the south of Lingzhou City, but the camp was quickly set up.

The walls were repaired, the turrets were repaired, tents appeared in the camp, and the work of setting up camp took only an hour.

When the two teams of personal soldiers began to inspect the inside and outside of the camp, there was still no relaxation in their expressions, and their brows were furrowed, showing that they were preoccupied.

"Great. Seed Jianzhong is back! The young Yanzhou Zhizhou appeared in front of the seed and saluted with his fists. A dusty face, with excitement between his eyebrows and eyes.

At this time, he had already changed into a relaxed and peaceful look. He looked under the fort of Guard, and saw far more horses and livestock entering the camp than when he had gone out. The smile was a little more relaxed: "I have gained a lot from this trip!" ”

After arriving in Lingzhou, the first thing he did was to send scouts to track down the enemy's whereabouts; The second thing is to send troops to plunder and take food on the spot, otherwise they will sit on the mountain and have no choice but to retreat: the dry food and dried meat carried by the accompanying carriage cannot be supported for too long, and the rear cannot safely transport more food.

"I ran into a small tribe in the col, and in total I caught more than 600 sheep, and all of them were driven back. There are three hoards of forage, seven or eight hundred stones of dried beans and wheat, and they have been left to watch, and they are asked to send someone to transport them back! "The harvest returned from the harvest and the soldiers were full of vigor when they reported the results of the battle, and the most important thing was to plunder enough food," and there were also horses and camels, adding up to more than one hundred and thirty horses! There are a lot of horses that have been lost along the way, and this time I can make up for some of the shortfall. ”

The bloody aura on Chong Jianzhong's body was so thick that it couldn't be dissolved, and on the robe outside the armor, there were peach petal-like blood stains. The seed is sharp-eyed, and behind the saddle of the mount in the construction under the fort, there are still four men's heads hanging. Two on the left and right, tightly attached to the leather bag with an iron shovel inserted.

Chong Mo didn't care much about the loot brought back by Chong Jianzhong, "Is there any news about the main force of the Liao army?" ”

Chong Jianzhong shook his head, and his voice was much lower, "No." Most of them were herdsmen, and a few who seemed to have some status couldn't be said clearly. But when he returned, he immediately led the army to the west. I don't know whether the road is Xingqing Mansion in the northwest or Qingtongxia in the southwest. In addition, there do not seem to be many defenders left in Lingzhou City, it is said that there are less than a thousand. ”

The eyes of the seed are gloomy, in the enemy's land, intelligence is far more important than food. Even the movements of the main forces of the Liao army cannot be caught, and the result may be very bad. Taking a deep breath and sorting out his troubled thoughts, he asked again, "Are there any losses?" ”

Chong Jianzhong's face lit up: "I broke one brother, and there were five injured." One is seriously injured, and the other four are all minor injuries, and you can go into battle again with a bandage. ”

Chong Ge nodded, his expression relaxed a little, "Send the injured sons to the doctors." The horses and camels were handed over to Yang Yong. As for the sheep, they are all divided. told Yang Yong that the wine brought with the car was also shared. Let the sons and daughters have a good year! ”

"No!"

Chong Jianzhong clasped his fists and saluted, then turned around and strode away.

The cultivation of the building went down, and the cultivation was still standing at the highest point of the Guardian Fort, overlooking Lingzhou City in the twilight. The city on the horizon looks so small and delicate that it seems to be able to hold it in the palm of your hand with an open hand.

Regardless of the risk of annihilation of the whole army, he went north along the Lingzhou River, is it just for this city? As long as Lingzhou is laid, Xingling will be pacified in one fell swoop.

He looked down. On the gray-yellow ground is a thin layer of yellow sand. Legend has it that the abundance is comparable to the land of rejuvenation in the south of the Yangtze River, and it is now full of yellow dust. The fine yellow sand is swept up by the wind, and it is as desolate as a desert.

Last year, Gao Zunyu was defeated in Lingzhou City because the party members dug a canal. The water of the Yellow River flowing out of the canal flooded the fertile fields outside the city of Lingzhou. Due to the destruction of the Western Xia immediately afterward, and then occupied by the Liao people who were not good at governance, the fields under the city of Lingzhou showed no sign of recovery at all. I don't know whether the breach of the canal was blocked, or because the water dried up in winter, it did not flow out, anyway, after the water receded, all that was left was yellow sand.

At this time, the Weibao where the army was stationed was one of the few highlands outside Lingzhou City. Last year, the party broke the embankment and released water, and for a time the water flooded the wasteland, and the gushing Yellow River flooded 30 miles away. When the seed comes from the south, the traces of water left on the ground are obvious. The flood pushed the sand and gravel, drawing several undulating parallel lines on the earth, with no end in sight on both sides, and many officers and soldiers of the Huanqing and Jingyuan armies should have retreated here. When the fortification was repaired, a lot of remnants of the remains were found.

The bones were white and rusty, and many soldiers burst into tears when they saw the relics of their robes under a thin layer of sand. The kind of life is disposed of, and I can't help but feel miserable.

It's all the sins done by Gao Zunyu. However, Xingling's location is too remote, hanging alone between the desert and the mountains, far away from the core of Shaanxi. It's hard to get in, and it's even harder to get out of the way in peace. This time, if it wasn't for the fact that the Dangxiang tribe in the Qingtongxia led by the Renduo and Ye families had already invaded Xingling, the cultivators would not have taken such a risk.

Where is Jeruyuri?

I thought hard. If he was Yelu Yuli, he would never divide his troops to guard Lingzhou. Either the whole army will sit in Lingzhou and defeat the official army first, or they will attack the party members.

Yelu Yuli can't be regarded as a famous general, but a mediocre talent, but no matter how stupid a general is, he should know that dividing troops in the face of a great enemy is the way to die, if he let the Song army merge with the party members, he even jumped off the cliff after putting a rope around his neck. If Yelu Yuli hadn't been stupid, he would have made arrangements here in Lingzhou.

He looked at the sand and felt something. Along the way, he never concealed his tracks, and hundreds of miles north, the Liao people had long known that there was a Song army chasing after him. There were only a few choices that Yelu Yuli could make, and he was ready to deal with them.

The shouts of joy rang out at the feet of the planters, and in an instant they spread throughout the camp. The harvest brought back by the planting and construction made more than 2,000 soldiers cheer.

When he went out on the New Year's Day, although there was a kind of commander who was a famous general who won the hearts of the army, his morale was also damaged. Fortunately, Chong Jianzhong got a batch of fresh meat back, so that the seed did not order the decomposition of the dead horse meat.

Bonfires are roaring.

Although there is a civil official background in Chong Jianzhong, his appearance now is not visible at all. The inner robe was tied around his waist, and his sturdy upper body was naked, not afraid of the cold wind in the middle of the night.

He took a steel dagger and stabbed it in the neck of the fat sheep, and the blood immediately gushed out. Chong Jianzhong tightly grabbed the desperately struggling fat sheep, and the tendons and flesh on his body bulged up piece by piece, so that the soldiers who fought down took the blood with their helmets, sprinkled a handful of salt into it, and put it aside. After a while, it solidifies, and it is stewed with sheep brain and water, and the taste is extremely delicious.

The smell of meat wafted from all over the camp. Oily roast lamb, served with haggis soup soaked in dry cakes, and hot wine, this Chinese New Year's Eve in a foreign land can be regarded as pleasant.

He took the bowl and walked past the bonfires. Groups of soldiers jumped to their feet and accepted the toast in fear. The soldiers under his command know a lot of people, and many of them can be called famous, shouting names, patting shoulders, and drinking a sip of wine, in exchange for the heart of death.

"Handsome! I have something urgent to report to the handsome!! ”

Tied up with two captives, a squad of scouts suddenly appeared outside the camp. I was shocked by the banquet that was being celebrated.

Chong Jianzhong, who was carrying the wine jug for the seed, was extremely surprised, and even stunned. The scout who sent out the gang to find out the news is back, which is of course a good thing. Finally caught two raw mouths, and they were also raw mouths with important information. It can even be said to be a happy event.

But the scouts sent out by the cultivator were basically low-level officers that he valued and was ready to promote. Calm and steady is a necessary quality, even if you find out any important enemy situation, you don't dare to start shouting as soon as you enter the camp.

"Say!" Seed of peace and quiet. Even in front of everyone.

"The Liao people are in the seventh-level canal, and they are preparing to burst the embankment to release water!"

The hand holding the wine bowl trembled slightly, and immediately stabilized again, "It's okay, you can't hide us!" ”