Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 267 The big battle is coming!! (4k ha)
Funing City and Luowu City were only a few dozen miles apart. Even though the army moved slowly, it took almost a day to arrive there. Before they crossed the river, news came from the front that the Song army under Luowu City had retreated.

Ye Beima and Mei Emai were a little stunned for a moment.

At first they thought that the Song army was not just trying to besiege Wei to save Zhao.

Or to be more daring, you could encircle a point and attack its reinforcements, surprise them on the way, attack them halfway across the river, and so on.

But in fact, it is not like that. This is simply a case of attacking Wei to save Zhao.

Well, in order to save Funing City and besiege Luowu City, and wait for your army to come to support, the Song army retreated immediately.

What now?
This problem stood between Ye Beima and Mei Emai.

It's definitely not possible to go back like this.

They had an army of over one hundred thousand, and it took several months and consumed so much food and fodder. Then so many people died. There was no spoils of war, no expansion of territory, and they even caused the three cities of Yinzhou, Xiazhou and Youzhou in the rear to be breached. They must take the blame for all this.

Therefore, if they go back like this, their end will be to have their heads and bodies separated. There is no other possibility.

Liang Yongneng suffered a great defeat before but survived because they were members of the Liang family's descendants. Who are they to be compared with Liang Yongneng?
Therefore, it is definitely not possible to go back like this. I must find a merit that can make me feel guilty, otherwise I might as well just run away.

Oh, just kidding. Running away is definitely not an option. No one is born out of thin air. Although they are not nobles, they also have families. If they run away, their families will definitely be exterminated.

Therefore, both of them turned their eyes to Qingbian Village within their sight.

After collecting some intelligence, the two decided to fight.

The reason why they couldn't take down Funing City was because there was a fierce general named Wang Shunchen who appeared out of nowhere. But the defender of Qingbian Village was called Wei Mingshan. They had fought against each other in the previous Battle of Yongle City. Well, he was a soft persimmon and could be squeezed!
Qingbian Village is a rather large fortress. As the first line of defense against the Xia, a lot of food and fodder must be stored here. After all, they have to prepare for the siege and attack by the Western Xia. If Qingbian Village can be opened, it can hold out for some time, and there will be more room for maneuver.

"The army has less than three days' worth of food left. Go to Luowu City and get the remaining food."

Ye Beima gave these instructions to the quartermaster, and at this time the siege on Qingbian Village also began.

Mie Emei planned to win the battle quickly and defeat Qingbian Village within a day, so the ferocity of the first offensive was jaw-dropping.

Mie Emai almost had the army surround Qingbian Village on all sides and then launched an all-round attack.

However, although Qingbian Village is not as large as Funing City, its terrain is dangerous. Qingbian Village is built on a stone mountain. Although there is no cliff to block it, the drop is quite large, and large siege equipment is difficult to use. Therefore, it is quite difficult to conquer.

Ye Beima and Mie Emai thought that Wei Mingshan was a soft persimmon, but they underestimated the strategic importance of Qingbian Village. After attacking fiercely for two or three days, they found that Qingbian Village was still standing firm.

The quartermaster who returned from Luowu City brought back another piece of bad news: Luowu City was not without food, in fact, it had a lot of it, but that was relative to Luowu City. If the food was to be supplied to an army of more than 100,000, it would probably only be enough for about half a month.

This news made Ye Beima and Mie Emai feel despair.

Half a month's worth of food was not even enough for them to return to Xixia.

They have to pass through Yinzhou, Xiazhou, and Youzhou along the way. Half a month is not enough. And the key is that they can't go back now. If they go back, they will both die!
How to do?
What else can I do? I can only gamble!

Their gambling nature finally came out.

As long as we take down Qingbian Village, perhaps things will turn around!

Mei E Mai went all out and personally led the soldiers in the siege. The battle was extremely fierce and Mei E Mai even personally led the charge into the battle under a hail of arrows.

This naturally had a very good effect. The Xixia soldiers climbed up the wall many times, and although they were eventually driven down, the people in Qingbian Village had suffered heavy casualties. By the sixth day, Qingbian Village was on the verge of collapse.

Mie Emai saw it very clearly. If they fought for another day tomorrow, Qingbian Village would definitely be broken!
Ye Beima and Mie Emai were both very happy. As long as they could capture Qingbian Village, they would have room to maneuver.

By taking down Qingbian Village, we can obtain at least ten days' worth of food. Then, relying on Qingbian Village, we can attack Mizhi Village and Nuanquan Village.

If we can take down these two large fortresses, we can form a triangle defense and connect it with Luowu City, and then we can hold it!

Taking over this place would be like driving a solid nail into the Song Dynasty. Once Yinzhou City and other places had food, they could further eye Suide City.

Taking over Suide City is a matter of great strategic significance. If they can do this, then not only will they have done nothing wrong, but they will have even made a contribution!
Ye Beima and Mei Emai were very happy. After making a plan for the siege on the next day, they even drank some wine with great interest.

It was already early autumn and the nights were a little chilly, but the two men were Tangut men who grew up in the bitter cold of the northwest, so they didn't care and continued drinking outside the tent.

Of course, this behavior was done out of genuine happiness on the one hand, and to stabilize the morale of the troops on the other.

There have been rumors in the army recently that there is a food shortage and the army will soon run out of food. When this news came out, people were already in a panic.

Now their two main generals are drinking and having fun. What does this mean? It means that the news of food shortage in the army is completely false!
It must be said that they were quite happy, drinking and laughing loudly.

Ye Beima smiled and said, "It was Mid-Autumn Festival a few days ago. Unfortunately, we were away from home and could not reunite with our families. Su Shi from the Song Dynasty wrote a poem about Mid-Autumn Festival, which can be used to express our longing. Do Ye Beima and General Mie E know about it?"

Mei E laughed and said, "I am just a warrior, not as good as you in both civil and military affairs. Please don't embarrass me. But I am still very interested. Can you tell me about it?"

Ye Bei Ma nodded and smiled, "Okay, speaking of which, Su Shi and Su Yun are relatives. They seem to be from the same family, both from the Meishan Su family. How did that poem go? It's called When will the bright moon appear? I raise my cup to ask the sky, I wonder... um..."

Ye Beima suddenly stopped talking. Mei Emai thought that Ye Beima had forgotten, so he quickly laughed and said, "Good words, good words. Just this one sentence is enough to make it clear. Hahahaha."

But Ye Beima pointed in the direction of Qingbian Village with a trembling hand. Mei Emai looked over quickly and saw a raging fire rising into the sky in the direction of Qingbian Village, and a large amount of thick smoke rushing towards the sky.

Mei Emai reacted immediately: Burn the food!
The people in Qingbian Village knew they could not hold on and planned to escape, but they burned the food first!
The two looked at each other in shock, and then at a loss. They were about to capture Qingbian Village, obtain a large amount of food and fodder, and gain some space to maneuver, but the other party directly used the strategy of scorching the walls and clearing the fields. What should they do now?
They took half a month's worth of food from Luowu City, plus three days' worth of food of their own, for a total of eighteen days' worth of food. However, after six days of siege, the food reserves were only enough for seven or eight days. It was not because they were bad at math, but because the food supply during a battle was naturally much greater than when not fighting.

There are only seven or eight days of food left. What should we do now?
The two men's eyes gradually showed despair.

Mei E sat down dejectedly, as if he had lost all life.

Ye Beima stared blankly at the fire rising into the sky in the distance.

After a long time, Ye Beima withdrew his gaze and looked at Mei Emai, saying, "What should we do next?"

Mei Emei looked at Ye Beima absentmindedly and said, "Retreat. If we don't leave now, I'm afraid we won't be able to leave."

Ye Beima said, "Leave? If we go back, we will die."

Mei Emai smiled bitterly and said, "What else can we do? We can't let hundreds of thousands of people die with us."

Ye Beima showed a look of fear and cruelty and said: "Once Qingbian Village is broken, the weak spot of Mizhi Village will be exposed. We can take down Mizhi Village!"

Mei E smiled bitterly and said, "What if we can't defeat it?"

Ye Bei Ma shook his head and said, "As long as we are willing to die 10,000 people, there is no fortress that cannot be conquered."

Mei Emai was somewhat speechless, but facing life and death, he had no reason to stop Ye Beima.

If he had mercy on the lives of those soldiers, who would have mercy on his own life?
So early the next morning, the army crossed Qingbian Village and headed straight for Mizhi Village, and began a fierce attack that day.

However, starting from the next day, the army began to feel unstable because the lieutenant generals under his command had already been dissatisfied.

This dissatisfaction began to appear when the siege of Funing City failed for a long time. It became more obvious in the following days, and it was truly expressed during the attack on Qingbian Village.

Although Funing City is harsh, it is on a plain after all, but Qingbian Village is much more dangerous than Funing City.

Mie Emai was anxious to capture Qingbian Village, so he almost drove and forced his generals to attack.

Although Qingbian Village was captured, only an empty Qingbian Village was left, with no food or fodder, and no wealth to plunder, which made the dissatisfaction reach a new level.

They had no time to rest and were immediately pulled to the outside of Mizhi Village and began to attack Mizhi Village!

At this time, the food shortage in the army could no longer be concealed. In order to hold out for a few more days, the daily food supply was reduced. Now the rumor was confirmed!
The army is already seriously short of food!

The news that Yinzhou, Xiazhou and Youzhou had been lost and the grain and fodder had been burned could no longer be concealed, and even the soldiers were spreading the news!
These resentments and doubts will be reflected in the battle. Ye Beima and Mei Emai found that the soldiers began to slack off in the battle, much more slack than when they attacked Funing City. Some even made noises but did not move forward. They looked like they were trying very hard, but in fact they were just paddling!
Go, or continue fighting?
This is the choice that Ye Beima and Mei Emei need to face again.

"We can't fight any more. The army is already in disarray and exhausted. Fighting any further will only result in more casualties. Moreover, we are running low on food. If we don't leave now, we may not even have enough food for the return trip."

Mei Emai still maintained a certain degree of clarity.

However, Ye Bei Ma was already showing signs of going crazy, and said, "If we can't hold on, Mizhi Village won't be able to hold on either. If we fight for a few more days, Mizhi Village will be broken! We must fight. If we don't fight now, all our efforts will be wasted!"

Mie Emai’s persuasion was in vain, so the Xia army continued to attack Mizhi Village, but their morale became increasingly unstable.

On September 12, the Xia army had less than three days' worth of food. In order to make the food last a few more days, the army was only provided with one meal a day, which was mainly porridge. The army was also full of complaints.

Now even Ye Bei Ma was in despair. He sat in his tent all night, planning to announce his retreat at dawn.

But the next morning, Mie Emai came hurriedly, with a look of joy on his face, saying, "The Song army is arrayed outside Mizhi Village! Our chance has come!"

Ye Bei Ma was overjoyed when he heard this and said, "Our chance has come!"

Mei Emai remained calm and said, "I'm afraid it's a trick. We need to be extra cautious!"

Ye Bei Ma laughed and said, "So what if it's a trick? As long as it's a field battle, our Great Xia Army is not afraid of any army in the world!"

Mei Emei thought about it and realized that this was the case, so he didn't say anything more.

Ye Beima stood up and said, "I will command this battle."

There is nothing wrong with making mistakes.

Ye Beima immediately ordered his men to cook. This time, he directly opened up the granary and made a sumptuous meal. Then the army rushed out of the camp and deployed their troops, intending to annihilate the 30,000 to 40,000 Song troops in one fell swoop.

At this time, the commander of the Song army's central camp was not Su Yun, but Qi Keyong, the commander of the Suide military wing.

Qi Keyong had a solemn look on his face, seemingly in command, but he was nervous inside.

This time, the Yanzhou Army, Suide Army and Baoan Army were gathered together. Except for the necessary personnel guarding the important strongholds, the rest of the soldiers were all concentrated here. If they were defeated in this battle, it would be a major reversal of the current situation.

In the view of Qi Keyong and others, all they had to do now was wait for the Western Xia army to retreat due to lack of food, and then the crisis would be resolved. Then the Song army could take back many fortresses and restore their pre-war territory. If they reported this to the court, not only would they be blameless, but they would also have made a great achievement, because after all, they had thwarted the strategic intention of the Western Xia.

Therefore, many generals including Qi Keyong advised Su Yun not to be so reckless. At least it would be a great achievement if they could hold on. However, Su Yun insisted that the Xia army was exhausted and the opportunity for battle had come, so he had to fight a field battle with them!
However, field battles are not that easy to win. Historically, the Song army never gained much advantage in field battles with the Western Xia. Sometimes they would win in the early stages but still lose in the later stages. So what was the point?

So what if they win? The Western Xia army has many cavalrymen, and it will be difficult to pursue them. The outcome of winning the battle and defending the position will be almost the same. Wouldn't it be better to just defend the position peacefully?
Qi Keyong sighed inwardly, hoping that he wouldn't lose too badly. As long as he could fight back and forth, then it would be considered a win if he lost less.

(End of this chapter)