Chapter 1 The Battle

When Zhao Song's Emperor crossed the Hengshan Mountains and had not yet reached Youzhou, a battle was about to officially break out between the two most important cities in Western Xia, specifically on the west bank of the Yellow River between Xingqing Prefecture and Lingzhou.

One side of the battle was the Song army's Imperial Camp, consisting of the vanguard, central army, and cavalry, totaling 30,000 elite troops, supplemented by some newly surrendered Tangut barbarian cavalry.

The commander-in-chief was Yue Fei, the commander of the Imperial Camp's vanguard, with key generals including Qu Duan, Wang De, Liu Qi, Li Shifu, Zhang Jing, Qiao Zhongfu, Fu Xuan, Fu Qing, Zhang Zhongyan, Zhang Zhongfu, and Zhang Xian, among other seasoned veterans.

Minor generals like Guo Jin and Yang Zaixing were not of sufficient rank to be mentioned.

The other side was the main force of Western Xia, consisting of the Iron Hawks, the Poshi Army, the Central Imperial Guards, and the Zhuosheng Army, totaling over 40,000 troops.

The commander-in-chief was the Prince of Jin, Weiming Chage, with Weiming Renli as the supervising officer.

In addition, there was Weiming Yie, a general of the Iron Hawks, whose name was the reverse of Weiming Eyi, a Western Xia general who had been executed decades earlier. He was a young member of the imperial clan who had risen to prominence after Chage gained power. There was also Weiming Yunge, the former garrison commander of Hongzhou, who temporarily led the remnants of the Central Imperial Guards; Weiming Yu, a general of the Zhuosheng Army who had led troops to capture several fortresses in Dingbian during the Jingkang Incident; and Weiming Ji, a veteran general who had been an envoy to the Great Song several times and supervised the Poshi Army.

Beneath the many members of the imperial clan, there were inevitably members of the Wang clan, such as Wang Xingzhuo; members of the Lingjie clan, such as Lingjie Zheng; members of the Renduo clan, such as Renduo Shiti; and Bali Longdeng, who had advised Weiming Chage to return to Xingqing Prefecture, among others. These people were all hereditary chieftains of the Tangut tribes and formed the backbone of the army.

As for Renli's elder brother, the Prince of Pu, Weiming Renzhong, he remained in Lingzhou city with the escaped Han Chinese chancellor Wang Shu. Also remaining were many Han generals and officials, including the maternal grandfather of the current Western Xia crown prince and Cao Xianfei's father, the old Lord Cao.

At crucial moments, the Tanguts still did not trust the Han Chinese.

Objectively speaking, this battle was somewhat late, and it was very unfair.

It was late because a decisive battle between the main forces of two countries should have been used to determine the outcome, but at this point, the capital of Western Xia had been lost, and three of the four core ruling regions were gone. The only one still nominally remaining, the Hetao region, was probably about to fall as well.

Therefore, this main battle was not so much a decisive battle as it was a desperate attempt by the Western Xia people, driven to the end of their rope by the alliance, schemes, surprise attacks, and betrayals of the surrounding powers, to use their last major capital to survive.

The unfairness lay in this as well.

Originally, the Western Xia people should have been defending strategic locations, waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out. Originally, the Song army should have been unable to resist the temptation to take the initiative and attack. Originally, everything should have been fine... But the reality was that the Song army calmly divided their forces to guard the cities on the opposite bank of the river. After the Western Xia people were forced to gather under the city of Lingzhou, preparing to risk crossing the river from there, they calmly gathered their troops and waited in formation somewhere on the west bank of the Yellow River.

The Yellow River was too wide, and the Song army's scouts patrolled the river surface incessantly. Although the Western Xia people could obtain various intelligence from the opposite bank, it was all delayed and chaotic, making it impossible to obtain real-time information.

But even so, even though the Western Xia people knew that this battle would be difficult, they had no choice but to fight it, because the situation was getting worse day by day, and Chage could not afford to delay any longer... If he really delayed, the army would probably gradually fall apart.

"The Song army has made a big mistake!"

In the early morning, Weiming Chage stood on horseback by the ferry on the bank of the Yellow River, speaking loudly to the surrounding generals without restraint, completely disregarding the frequent glances of the soldiers boarding the boats around him. "And three big mistakes... First, they should not fight against us Tanguts in the open field. Our Iron Hawks are invincible! Second, they should not abandon the river defenses, allowing our army to cross the river, which shows that the Song army's commander is a useless person! Third, they still have not captured Shunzhou, allowing Zhang Li to leave us a base of operations on the opposite bank!"

Saying this, without waiting for the generals to respond, Weiming Chage directly drew his saber and waved it forcefully in the air. "In this battle, we must kill Yue Fei and Qu Duan, recapture Xingqing Prefecture, and then welcome His Majesty and the Crown Prince back to Hetao, and re-establish the Great White High Kingdom!"

Hearing this, the surrounding generals drew their sabers and raised them, roaring in agreement.

After saying these words, Weiming Chage gritted his teeth, sheathed his saber, dismounted, and separated from his black yak standard, each boarding a sheepskin raft to cross to the opposite bank.

The commander-in-chief personally leading the way naturally boosted the morale of the surrounding soldiers... The crossing point became smooth for a time.

However, as Chage boarded the sheepskin raft, the excited expression on his face visibly dimmed—the reason was simple: this Western Xia commander knew that he was just spouting nonsense!

This pretense, let alone changing the minds of those treacherous chieftains, even he himself found unbearable. In fact, since arriving in Lingzhou, he himself, Weiming Chage, had been the one whose confidence had declined the fastest in this surviving Western Xia group!

The reason for this was not because he was disloyal to Li Qianshun, nor because he was unwilling to fight to the death for the Great White High Kingdom, but because this Prince of Jin, who was usually greedy for wealth and lustful, and who was constantly at odds with Weiming Renzhong, was indeed the most militarily talented and experienced commander among the current Western Xia people.

Historically, after Weiming Chage took over the Western Xia army on his brother's orders, he noticed the corruption and degradation of the Western Xia army very early on. After defeating Liu Fa and reaching the peak of his prestige, he still believed that the traditional Western Xia tactics of the Bubazi fighting in the mountains and the Iron Hawks fighting on the plains were outdated, and he advocated learning from his defeated opponent, the Western Army.

He believed from the beginning that the Iron Hawks encountering the Song army's powerful crossbows in the plains and the Bubazi encountering the Song army's heavy armor and long axes in the mountains were both suicidal. The previous Western Xia victories over the Song army were entirely due to the Song army's lack of discipline and logistics, not because the Western Xia people were so capable.

Therefore, it was necessary to imitate the Song army and establish a strong crossbow force to expand their projection capabilities.

Li Qianshun, who trusted Chage greatly, naturally followed his advice, but unfortunately, Western Xia's national strength was limited. They could only maintain a few thousand Iron Hawks and a few thousand Bubazi. The Poshi Army was even smaller, with only two hundred. In this situation, it was really difficult to develop powerful crossbows. In the end, they could only equip the entire army with bows, regardless of whether they were cavalry or infantry. But these bows were useless against heavily armored troops.

However, as soon as Weiming Chage arrived in Lingzhou, he diligently inquired about the situation from the scattered people and knew that the army on the opposite bank had an astonishingly high armor penetration rate, and that their military discipline was excellent and their formations were strict. This was the kind of army that Chage feared the most, or rather, Chage was very clear that Western Xia's mediocre main force was afraid of this kind of army... This was not a fear that he had now because of the situation, but a fear that he had had for more than a decade.

Yet Weiming Renzhong and his brother kept urging him to advance, as if he, Weiming Chage, would be a sinner of the Great White High Kingdom if he did not advance!

Of course, he could not refuse to advance. If the entire Hengshan Mountains fell, and then the only remaining stronghold on the opposite bank, Shunzhou, also fell, then the army would collapse on its own, and he, Chage, would really be a sinner of the Great White High Kingdom. But speaking of which, did he forget to perform divination before coming?

Amidst his wild thoughts, as the sheepskin raft stopped in the shallows, the turbid waves of the Yellow River gently lapped over the raft with the warm breeze. Chage, who was sitting cross-legged on the raft, felt a chill in his crotch and immediately came back to his senses. He quickly put on his helmet, pulled down his mask, and jumped off the raft, drawing his saber and wading ashore.

As he stepped ashore, without even leaving the beach area, this Prince of Jin of Western Xia felt a pang in his heart at the sight before him.

There was nothing else, the waist-high wheat was trampled in extreme disorder by the army. Some of it was done by his own army that had just landed, but there were also many traces that were clearly left by large groups of troops before. Most of the wheat that had been trampled on before was already withered and yellow, like spots on a person's face, glaringly obvious in the green fields, but there were also a few fallen wheat stalks that stubbornly raised their heads again.

But soon, they were trampled back to the ground by the disorderly troops of his own army.

This was the bank of the Yellow River, where wheat was harvested once a year in autumn after being planted in spring, and everyone knew what the consequences of trampling on the summer wheat would be.

"Tell them to be careful and try not to damage the crops," Chage blurted out, but immediately, probably feeling that it did not fit his usual image, he quickly added, "This is my land!"

The guards who had just gathered around looked at each other, but no one went to deliver the order... Everyone knew that His Highness, Prince Jin, liked to seize people's houses and land, relying on the Emperor's favor, so everyone believed what Chage said, but the problem was, how could they avoid the crops in this chaotic landing situation?

"Forget it! Tell the soldiers that this is all my land, and let them walk on it with confidence!" Chage realized and waved his hand in distress.

As he waved his hand, he sighed in his heart... Over time, he did not know whether he was really trying to seize houses and land, or whether he was tacitly playing a game of self-defilement with his brother.

An unnecessary episode passed, and Chage's black yak standard was gently raised by the summer wind, and the Western Xia troops on both banks cheered in unison.

The situation seemed to be very good.

However, the cheering was the signal. At this moment, about three miles away, behind the embankment of a small channel that could be crossed by a single person, the Song army skirmishers who had been waiting for a long time no longer hesitated. With the whistle and flag-waving of the Song army officer in the lead, they immediately mounted their horses and rode into the wheat fields and the river beach, and then harassed, shot, divided, and drove back the troops who had just landed.

Obviously, perhaps because the field of vision was too open, the Song army could not place their main force too close, so they did not launch a large-scale half-crossing attack, but chose this method to deal with the Western Xia people's landing... After all, the Song army could not possibly miss this window of opportunity to inflict the most efficient casualties and demoralize the enemy.

Perhaps this attack was expected, Chage did not panic. He mounted a wet warhorse, not knowing whose it was, took the initiative to urge the black yak standard forward, and at the same time ordered the surrounding soldiers to gather around him.

At the same time, Western Xia officers and chieftains at all levels also began to do the same on other beaches.

The effect was significant. The skirmishers sent out by the Song army were typical light cavalry, with a spear and a bow. They could only hunt down scattered crossers and did not dare to touch the Western Xia army that had gathered into groups and established beachhead positions.

However, at the same time, it must be admitted that these skirmishers still effectively delayed and affected the crossing of the Western Xia troops. And soon, to Chage's slight surprise, these skirmishers seemed to have caused a commotion beyond their ability to cause casualties... It was indeed a commotion. Chage could not think of a more accurate word... What he saw on horseback was that in many places, the soldiers of his own side could have gathered under the flags of the generals, but after seeing these mounted skirmishers, they chose to shout angrily and pursue, even though they were likely to suffer losses; and in some places, the shouting and pursuit were the same, but unexpectedly, there was no fighting. After shouting at the attacking skirmishers a few times, those soldiers actually plunged into the wheat fields with specific skirmishers and never returned.

"What's going on?!"

Weiming Chage roared at the top of his lungs under his black yak standard.

He could not help but do so. Although, in terms of results, this phenomenon was not worth mentioning compared to the casualties and delays caused by the Song army's mounted skirmishers. But the problem was that the Song army's skirmish attacks were completely expected, while the current phenomenon was beyond Chage's understanding... As a commander-in-chief and a battlefield commander about to fight a major battle, he could not allow this to happen.

With Chage's stern questioning, several officers and guards split into small groups and went out in all directions, trying to rescue and gather the troops, and also trying to intercept and inquire.

And soon, a guard returned in a hurry, bringing Chage an unexpected but reasonable answer: "Your Highness! Most of the attacking troops are local Tanguts... Those people said that according to the Song army's rules, whether they bring back a head or lead back a living person, they will receive the treatment of a regular soldier with fifty strings of cash a year! Even just rushing to the shore and then turning back will earn them three dou of grain!"

Chage was dumbfounded, his body swaying on the wet warhorse before he stopped himself.

After a moment, realizing that he was completely helpless, he hurriedly turned back, only urging the troops to cross the river quickly and move forward quickly, gathering the troops in the open wheat fields.

But things were not that simple.

Even after shifting his attention back to the battle itself, Chage still encountered difficulties... The crossing speed was too slow, and the Song army's mounted skirmishers were increasing in number, seemingly adding a corresponding proportion of mounted skirmishers to the beachhead harassment with each batch of Western Xia troops that crossed the river.

The actual number comparison between the two sides was always in a suitable range of two-to-one to three-to-one.

Quantitative change led to qualitative change, and as the number of both sides increased linearly, the bloodshed of this attack also deepened.

Gradually, as wave after wave of Song army skirmishers continuously harassed and hunted on the beachhead, even at the cost of casualties that should not have been paid in a harassment battle, Chage keenly realized that the Song army had sent out these troops not just for a little harassment... There must be a greater tactical purpose.

But he had no way to deal with it.

However, the mystery was soon revealed. About when the Western Xia troops had crossed a little more than 20,000, suddenly, as the flags in the distance waved and rolled, and then dozens of horns sounded together, the lightly armed mounted skirmishers, whose number had approached 10,000, suddenly abandoned the Tanguts on the beachhead and withdrew to the north and south.

However, a small number of Tangut barbarian cavalry, who had obviously just joined, lacked sensitivity in discipline and failed to withdraw in time, becoming prey for the Western Xia people.

Chage did not care about these gains and losses, nor did he pay attention to the two waves of light cavalry that had withdrawn, but continuously ordered the troops to quickly organize their warhorses and camels and quickly gather around the generals... At this time, gathering the troops was the only thing to do.

But not long after, suddenly a guard behind him called out to Chage: "Your Highness, it seems that they are waving a red flag on the Lingzhou city wall?!"

Chage immediately turned back and saw that on the Lingzhou city wall, not far from the Yellow River, on the temporarily raised watchtower, a red flag was waving incessantly... This made Chage and the guard feel puzzled, because the red flag meant that a large army was attacking, but on this bank of the river, it was clear that the Song army's large group of skirmishers had just dispersed... But at the same time, Chage also noticed that the crossing speed of the troops dragged on the opposite bank of the river was greatly reduced, which seemed to confirm the correctness of the red flag.

With this thought, Chage turned back, standing firmly on the back of the warhorse under the black yak standard, silently looking to the west, waiting quietly.

After a moment, everything was answered—above the green wheat waves, under the black body of the Helan Mountains, a red line changed from a faint presence to an obvious and clear existence, and it became wider and wider, more and more dynamic, until it became a clear red wave.

On the beachhead position, the Western Xia people's movements became smaller and smaller, their actions more and more cautious, the atmosphere more and more tense, but their actions also became more and more urgent and panicked... After all, everyone knew what that red wave was.

The Western Xia officers also instantly realized, why had the Song army not strictly guarded the river defenses before, and why had they sent so many light cavalry to suppress and harass? The Song army was not so arrogant as to give up a half-crossing attack, but realized that the terrain here was open, and if they established a formation near the river, the Western Xia people could easily see it from the high ground on the opposite bank of the river. At that time, why would the Western Xia people crash into your army's formation?

If they wanted a half-crossing attack, they could only do it like this, first hiding far away, letting the skirmishers harass and contain, and waiting for the Western Xia army to really cross the river, and not be able to turn back, and then taking the opportunity to approach.

The Song army was almost all mounted on horseback. From the time they appeared to the time they surged to a place less than a mile away from the Western Xia army's formation, it only took the time to squeeze a pot of camel milk. But after arriving at the predetermined battle position, the Song army did not immediately launch an attack, but calmly stood firm and sent an envoy.

"My commander Qu has gifts for His Highness, Prince Jin of Western Xia: one is the head of Xue Yuanli, the defending officer of Xingqing Prefecture, and the other is the head of Weiming Zhangli, the defending officer of Shunzhou... Commander Qu said that the reason why Shunzhou has not been captured for so long is just to wait for Prince Jin to cross the river. When Prince Jin crosses the river, the useless Zhangli will naturally die." The envoy stopped an arrow's distance away from the Western Xia army's formation. After two guards behind him threw the two items on the ground in front of the formation, he left these words and rode back.

The Western Xia army's formation was in commotion for a time.

And the commotion became bigger and bigger... The guard could not bear it and called out to Chage again: "Your Highness, look back at Lingzhou City."

Chage, who had not moved before, turned back and was still calm—even though he saw with his own eyes that the many tribes remaining on the opposite bank of the river had taken the initiative to stop advancing. And under the banner of Weiming Yunge, who had not yet crossed the river, there seemed to be some abnormal movements. This was the main reason for the army's commotion.

"What did you want to say just now?" Chage looked for a long time, came back to his senses, and suddenly smiled at the guard beside him.

"Your Highness... I just wanted to say about Lingzhou..."

"Before," Chage reminded him. "Before, when you were reporting that those Tangut tribes were recruiting us for the Song people, you clearly didn't finish your words."

"I... I, I wanted to say that a chieftain who went to investigate this matter actually followed those skirmishers away," the guard said somewhat timidly.

Chage nodded: "You want to say that I, Chage, am deceiving myself."

The guard looked at each other blankly.

But Chage continued to sigh: "I am deceiving myself, who is not deceiving himself? But the key is, since I knew the news, I shouldn't have done anything wrong, right?"

The guard quickly nodded: "Your Highness is wise and decisive, how could you be wrong?"

"There is still one mistake," Chage said with emotion. "If I had not listened to these bastards' words that day and had forcibly kept the troops in the Hengshan Mountains, I might have been able to do something..."

The guard and the other guards and officers under the black yak standard all remained silent.

"But that's not right either," Chage continued to sigh at the already distraught guard. "That would only have been a waste of a few more days, and the ending would have been the same... And this time, I can finally tell the world, tell those who write books later, that I, Chage, am loyal to His Majesty."

At this time, the guard, no matter how embarrassed or distraught he was, could only nod in agreement.

Chage did not make things difficult for him any further, but took a deep breath and looked from the already somewhat agitated Yellow River on the opposite bank behind him, first to the increasingly agitated riverbank ferry, then to the Yellow River behind him, then swept his gaze across his own position, and then looked forward to the front of the formation, finally passing over the Song army's formation, which was clearly making its final preparations, and aiming at the clear and cloudless sky.

Let's say.

The Yellow River is yellow, the kind of yellow whose roaring sound is so majestic that everyone feels ashamed;

The Western Xia people revere white, which is how the Great White High Kingdom got its name, so the entire Western Xia army formation, including the Iron Hawks wearing dazzling armor on the left wing, is white, only the unarmored are like snow, and the armored are like ice;

The wheat seedlings are green, the kind of green that is so tender that people can't bear to touch them;

The Song army revere red, the red military uniforms forming a line, like a wave of fire that is eager to try;

The Helan Mountains have no snow peaks. From a distance, they are a black, oily expanse, like several black warhorses galloping towards the sky, flaunting their fur in the sunlight;

And finally, there is the sky. The sky is an unprecedented azure blue, clean and capable of encompassing everything.

Chage vowed that he had never seen such beautiful colors layered upon each other in front of and behind him in his life... From this point of view, his life was worth it!

"Order Weiming Yie to lead the Iron Hawks to bypass the Song army's flanks from the south and charge fiercely against the Song army from the windward side! The Song army is not short of horses now, tell him not to be greedy for deep penetration, just turn to the flanks and charge!"

"Yes!"

"Order Weiming Ji to quickly organize the Poshi Army's camel cannons. Without the camel cannons, our infantry will not be able to hold on!"

"Yes!"

"Order Weiming Yu to immediately supervise the rear army and advance with me against the river!" Chage drew his shining saber again. "In this battle, I will be the vanguard!"

After saying this, the Western Xia army, guarding with their backs to the river, did not wait for the Poshi Army's camel cannons to be prepared, nor did they wait for the Iron Hawks to successfully flank. Instead, with Commander-in-Chief Weiming Chage's black yak standard suddenly turning west, the entire army raised their flags and drums, and then the entire army shouted in unison, and then swarmed forward, mustering the last of their courage and actively attacking the Song army.

This scene stunned Yue Pengju under the four-character banner on the opposite side for a moment, but only for a moment. He then coldly grabbed the gun cover and waved it forward at will. And as he waved it, the Song army, including the surrendered barbarians, reaching 40,000 strong, cavalry and infantry, with clear armor, pressed over the Western Xia army of just over 20,000 in a wave of flashing fire.

The ice and fire were in a stalemate for about half an hour. After half an hour, the ice and snow suddenly melted, and then turned into red water and flowed into the Yellow River, but quickly disappeared.

Without any accidents or miracles, in this battle, the Song army took advantage of the enemy's half-crossing attack and annihilated more than 20,000 of the Western Xia's core main force on the banks of the Yellow River.

ps: The 139th Moe appeared, thank you Sao Rui classmate, also an old book friend, the 140th Moe I am a bit embarrassed, this is a big guy who transferred from other themes to online literature, the work is "Red Heart Patrol Sky"... I answered a related question on Zhihu yesterday... I didn't expect the big guy to be so concerned... It makes me so ashamed and embarrassed.