Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

The area between Shenmu, Yulin, and Uxin Banner has not yet been desertified.

It was mostly lush forests and grasslands, which rapidly desertified only in the mid-Qing Dynasty.

Of the three cities in Hexi, two were captured by Yue Fei in a surprise attack, and the other was captured by Yao Pingzhong with artillery.

Yao Pingzhong was originally stationed in Fugu, and somehow gained military merit.

He organized laborers to transport grain to Yue Fei, intending to express his sincere gratitude.

As it turned out, Yue Fei had already abandoned the city and ordered Yao Pingzhong to quickly send troops to garrison it.

Yes, Yue Fei finally captured two cities, rested for three days, and then left.

Before leaving, Yue Fei ordered the local tribal chiefs to lead their able-bodied men northwards.

They also slaughtered all the non-local Western Xia prisoners!

He was in a hurry and didn't want to waste time here.

Yue Fei led his troops north along the Hantai River, passing through the forests and grasslands on both sides of the river, crossing the desert on the south bank of the Yellow River, and finally reaching the area around Baotou.

That was Han Shizhong's grain transport transit station, where he could resupply and rest for a few days.

However, they only rested for one day before rushing to Tiande Army City to join Han Shizhong, who was besieging the city.

"So fast?" Han Shizhong was extremely surprised. "Have you taken all three cities in Hexi?"

Yue Fei said, "The enemy forces in Ningbian Prefecture are the most numerous, so I bypassed them and left them to Yao Pingzhong in Fugu."

"Yao Pingzhong has infantry and artillery, so he should be able to take it easily."

"The remaining two cities had very few enemy troops, and the entire army launched a non-stop raid, capturing them with little effort."

Han Shizhong was both amused and exasperated: "The shelling here only started yesterday."

Chapter 3729 Conscription of Men into Soldiers

"No field battles?" Yue Fei asked incredulously.

Yue Fei's swift attack on the three cities in Hexi was to ensure that Han Shizhong had no worries about his rear.

That is, the Western Xia generals in the three cities were not allowed to conscript men from the farmers and herdsmen into soldiers.

Otherwise, that area could have been used to raise thousands of troops.

Although they were mostly unarmored herdsmen cavalry, once they moved north, they could cut off Han Shizhong's supply lines.

The battle was a resounding success. The herdsmen of the three cities were still grazing their livestock on their respective pastures when Yue Fei captured them.

Han Shizhong explained, "The enemies around Tiande Army City have all retreated into the city and dare not come out."

"Tens of thousands of reinforcements from the Weifu Military Command arrived. When I led my troops to attack, the enemy abandoned their livestock and grain and fled."

"Perhaps it was a feigned retreat to set up an ambush, or perhaps I was too scared to continue the pursuit. I came back and took Tiande City first."

“That’s how it should be; there’s no need to take any risks,” Yue Fei affirmed.

Han Shizhong pointed to the city to the north: "I didn't bring any laborers with me, so I had to send cavalry from various tribes of the grasslands to fill in the river. So far, only one section of the moat has been filled in, creating a passage about three or four zhang wide."

“At the beginning, we didn’t bring any craftsmen; instead, we sent some steppe cavalry to cut down trees.”

"Yesterday we finally managed to transport the craftsmen and cannons by boat, and the infantry is now besieging two fortified cities along the way."

"When I arrived, I saw the siege had begun, and one of the fortified cities had already fallen," Yue Fei asked. "How many enemy troops were in that city?"

Han Shizhong shook his head: "I'm not sure. If we bring the elderly, women and children to guard the city, there could be tens of thousands. It all depends on whether the people here are united."

Yue Fei laughed and said, "I'm afraid we won't be of one mind."

Tiande Military City was of great importance to the Liao Dynasty. It was a frontier node on the Liao Dynasty's grassland Silk Road and a bridgehead for the Liao Dynasty's confrontation with the Western Xia.

Therefore, the proportion of Khitan herders here is very high, and there are even many Han Chinese who have adopted Khitan culture and make a living by growing rice.

The Western Xia occupied this area for only a few years and did not impose any light taxes or levies. How could they possibly win over the Khitans and the Han people who had been assimilated by non-Han peoples?

Yue Fei asked, "Have you tried to persuade them to surrender? You tried to persuade them to surrender and sow discord among the non-Dangxiang people in the city."

"We've been trying to persuade them to surrender, and it should have worked by now," Han Shizhong grinned.

"Boom boom boom!"

After two more rounds of artillery fire, more than a dozen cavalrymen of various ethnicities under Han Shizhong's command, all wearing armor, charged across the moat.

Braving the rain of arrows raining down from the city walls, they dodged and shouted:

"The land of Liao has been incorporated into the Ming Dynasty. The Ming emperor is very benevolent and treats Han people and Khitan people equally."

"I am a Khitan from Fengzhou, and we live a very good life here. You should quickly surrender and those who make contributions will be richly rewarded!"

"Khitan, Tangut, and Tibetan tribes, stop serving the Western Xia! Kill the Tanguts and surrender to the Ming Dynasty!"

"..."

As Tanggu has already stated, it was formed by the long-term coexistence of slaves from various ethnic groups in the Liao Dynasty.

The Tubo tribe was mostly composed of Han Chinese who had adopted non-Han Chinese customs. It is unknown when they migrated here, but they have been cultivating rice here for one or two hundred years.

At this very moment, the soldiers and civilians of all ethnic groups outside the Tangut people were already having all sorts of thoughts.

When the Jin dynasty ruled this area, they were extremely brutal and their exploitation became increasingly severe.

Therefore, when the Western Xia army attacked, they helped the Western Xia drive away the Jin soldiers.

The rule of the Western Xia was slightly better than that of the Jin Dynasty.

Chapter 3730 Siege

It was only slightly better, yet it was enough to make all the tribes choose to submit—who would want to rebel if they could survive?

But that just means they won't rebel.

Do you want them to fight desperately to defend the city for Western Xia?

Stop talking nonsense.

There has been no internal strife or defection among the tribes within the city so far; they are simply afraid of being unable to defeat the Western Xia garrison.

Yeli Degui sent men on horseback to gallop through the city, shouting along the way: "Don't believe the Han people's nonsense! The Ming army is even more ferocious than the Jin army!"

"If the city falls, they will slaughter everyone inside."

"Your wives, children, and elderly parents will all be killed. Follow me to defend the city and wait for reinforcements, and we will win!"

Both inside and outside the city, people shouted slogans and launched a massive propaganda campaign.

"Boom boom boom!"

The sound of cannons rang out again outside the city.

Another day of bombardment ended, and the city walls had miraculously withstood the attack.

The city here was built by the Tang Dynasty's military governor, and later expanded and fortified by the Liao Dynasty.

After driving out the Jin troops, the Western Xia fortified their defenses again, making them impervious to artillery fire in a short period of time.

……

Xiao Lufen led his people back to the rest area, where they silently ate rice porridge and mutton.

There were too many livestock and not enough fodder, so sheep were being slaughtered throughout the city.

Not only can the chiefs of each tribe eat mutton, but even ordinary herders can get offal and enjoy a delicious bowl of mutton fat soup.

Xiao Lufen was not a member of the Khitan royal family; he was just an ordinary tribal chief.

In the mid-to-late Liao Dynasty, since most Khitans did not have surnames, Khitan commoners also adopted the surnames Yelü and Xiao.

As for donkey dung, it's purely a transliteration.

The Han people in the north got used to calling it "donkey dung," and it became a common term in the local dialect.

Some Khitan nobles found it inelegant and translated it as "旅坟" (lǚfén) when writing it.

Xiao Lufen was still eating mutton when a herdsman carrying a bow and arrows walked by.

The herdsman whispered, "The donkey dung leader hasn't made up his mind yet? But your neighbor has already agreed to defect."

Xiao Lufen picked at the bits of meat stuck between his teeth with his fingernails: "When are we going to make our move?"

The herdsman said, "We'll take action that very night once a section of the city wall collapses."

“No,” Xiao Lufen shook his head and said, “We should do it the next morning. I brought many of my clansmen here, including the elderly, women and children. It would be too chaotic to start the killing at night.”

“That works too. I’ll go and inform the other tribes,” the herdsman said with a smile.

The herdsman's name was Guo Sichang, and his Khitan name was Xiao Gougou.

He himself did not know which ethnic group he belonged to, but since his great-grandfather’s time, he had been engaged in part-time farming and part-time herding in Dezhou (Liangcheng County) of the Liao Kingdom.

His father died during the Liao-Jin War.

During the Ming-Jin War, his brother died, and he himself was captured by the Ming army.

Because he could speak Mandarin, Guo Sichang was selected from a prisoner-of-war camp in Shanxi and released back to the grasslands to provide various intelligence to the Ming Dynasty.

After the destruction of the Jin dynasty, Guo Sichang remained in Yunnei Prefecture and followed merchants to Dongsheng Prefecture for trade.

After becoming familiar with the leader of Dongsheng Prefecture, he frequently wandered around Tiande Military City.

When Yue Fei and Han Shizhong arrived in Dongsheng Prefecture, why did the tribal chiefs there choose to surrender to the Ming Dynasty instead of fleeing westward?

Besides fearing the might of the Ming army, the local tribal chiefs also wanted to continue doing business with Ming merchants to make money!

Iron pots, tea, and salt—these three commodities completely won over the chieftains of Dongsheng Prefecture!

That place was a transit point for trade in the northern Hetao region, where the tribal chiefs made huge profits and even became accustomed to using Ming Dynasty copper coins.

Chapter 3731 Don't Hesitate

As darkness fell, Guo Sichang headed toward the defense zone of another tribe.

“Chief Elitu, Xiao Lufen has also agreed, what are you still hesitating for?” Guo Sichang said.

Yelü Eritu handed Guo Sichang a bowl of mare's milk wine and said in a low voice, "The Western Xia garrison is well-equipped, while only two or three of my people are wearing armor."

"We dare not use iron arrowheads too often; we usually use bone arrows and stone arrows for archery."

“If we act rashly, my people will probably be killed before the Ming army even enters the city.”

Guo Sichang laughed and said, "The Western Xia garrison in Tiande Army City only numbers a little over a thousand people at most."

"The rest are all Tangut herdsmen, with fewer than ten thousand archers."

"Our Khitan, Tibetan, and Tanggu tribes combined have over ten thousand able-bodied men."

"We outnumber the Tanguts, and there are Ming soldiers outside the city. What is there to be afraid of?"

Yelü Eritu shook his head: "The Tangut soldiers in the city can be commanded in a unified manner."

"But the warriors of each tribe have no one to command them. If things get chaotic, they may even kill each other."

"Then let's wait for the Ming army to storm the city and slaughter you all?" Guo Sichang threatened and questioned.

Yelü Eritu hesitated. He didn't want to help anyone. He was afraid of both the Ming army outside the city and the Western Xia Weifu Military Command.

This tribe was quite powerful, so Guo Sichang began to offer them bribes: "If you defect, I will give you 50 iron pots, 200 catties of tea, and 200 catties of salt."

"Further rewards will be given for meritorious service: capturing a city gate will be rewarded with 30 iron pots, 300 catties of tea, and 300 catties of salt."

"If you can kill a Western Xia general, you will be rewarded according to your military rank."

"If you can kill or capture the Deputy Commander of Western Xia, you will be rewarded with 2000 catties of tea, 3000 catties of salt, 150 bolts of silk and 20 bolts of brocade."

"So many?" Yelü Eritu's eyes lit up, and he immediately patted his chest and said, "I'll do it!"

……

The garrison of the Weifu Military Command was located in Wulahai City, more than 600 li away from Xingqing Prefecture, the capital of the Western Xia Kingdom.

If you encounter a major military emergency, ride your horse as fast as you can, and you'll receive the information in two days at most.

When the news spread throughout Xingqing Prefecture, the civil and military officials of Western Xia were thrown into a panic.