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

They didn't even bother to check the armor anymore, and even when they did, they did it perfunctorily.

The soldiers in front of me, who were tasked with capturing prisoners, wore leather armor so tattered it looked like beggars' armor; these armors were family heirlooms passed down for two or three generations.

The Western Xia cavalry's defeat had already instilled fear in them, and now they were being targeted by concentrated fire from the cavalry, with wave after wave of them being rained down with arrows.

They also fought back with bows and arrows, but the bows and arrows were poorly maintained and flew off lightly without much force.

Richard also sensed something was wrong and quickly dispatched elite infantry over.

Just then, Yue Fei shouted, "Blow the horn!"

As the dull horn sounded, Li Shifu's three hundred heavy cavalrymen set out.

They followed behind a cavalry unit, and as the cavalrymen fired arrows and swept past, the heavy cavalry charged suddenly at the already collapsing Qinsheng Army.

"Run for your life!"

This beggar-like army of hunters, with their front-line pikemen throwing down their weapons and shoving each other, turned and fled.

The Western Xia infantry commanders on both sides seemed to want to come over and salvage the situation.

Li Shifu's heavy cavalry had already broken through the gap and were chasing after the fleeing soldiers to attack the rear ranks.

Xu Qing, who was in charge of providing support, did not wait for Yue Fei's order. He led his troops to follow closely behind and charged into the gap to attack the troops next to the fleeing soldiers.

While directing the Western Xia light cavalry to move out, Richard also dispatched right-wing infantry to fill the gap.

He still wanted to try his best, hoping that he could hold them off with his infantry.

However, he overestimated his troops; the Western Xia was no longer the Western Xia it once was.

Fear spread like a plague, and as Li Shifu and Xu Qing charged into the fray, three groups of Western Xia infantrymen collapsed in succession.

Yang Jin also organized his team to launch an attack, further expanding their gains.

The light cavalry sent by Richard were first intercepted by Yang Yizhong and Wang Gui, and then attacked by Yue Fei's own troops.

"Beat the drums, blow the horns, all troops, charge!"

Chapter 3755 The Great Rout

Han Shizhong seized the opportunity and ordered all his troops to charge, even leading his personal guards in the attack.

The Western Xia infantry formation was filled with shouts of battle from three sides.

The left wing and the vanguard didn't understand what was going on at first, until they heard the deafening cries of their allies on the right wing, and then they realized that their side might have suffered a major defeat.

They threw down their weapons and fled in a frenzy, completely losing their minds and no longer considering that losing their formation would mean being slaughtered at will.

Tens of thousands of Western Xia soldiers were instantly routed!

Those with warhorses fled swiftly, especially the Western Xia light cavalry.

They were already hiding to the side and rear, but now they charged in the opposite direction and were at the forefront.

Richard also acted swiftly. Before Han Shizhong's war drums could even sound, he had already fled with his personal guards and the remaining Iron Falcons.

Moreover, instead of fleeing towards Wulahai City, they fled to Keyimen, the garrison of the Chaoshun Military Command—which was the northern barrier of the Western Xia capital.

If we can hold Keyimen, Western Xia can continue to fight.

If Richard leads his troops to Wulahai City, then once the city falls, Han Shizhong might go directly to drink with the Emperor of Western Xia!

Yue Yun followed Li Shifu in a fierce charge, and he was now extremely excited.

In the previous battle, he personally killed three Iron Falcons, and now he is charging through enemy lines again.

For a young man just entering the battlefield, this was enough to excite him to the point of losing his mind; all he could see now was the enemy army ahead.

Too many routs were fleeing haphazardly, blocking the Ming army's path.

Han Shizhong shouted, "Order all Ming generals to ignore the Western Xia infantry and pursue and kill those Western Xia cavalry!"

"Respond to the tribes of the grasslands and do not indiscriminately kill prisoners of war. Capturing enemy soldiers is also a merit!"

The Ming cavalry on Yue Fei's right flank were chasing after the Western Xia cavalry that had just charged forward.

On the left flank, Li Yu and Liu Zhengyan bypassed the fleeing infantry and pursued the nearby Western Xia light cavalry.

The Western Xia infantry were all handed over to the various tribes of the steppes, and those guys seemed incredibly excited.

Each squad intercepted and slaughtered the fleeing soldiers, forcing large numbers of Western Xia infantry to surrender.

The Ming cavalry pursued them for over seventy li (approximately 35 kilometers) before gradually returning at midnight, with some even getting lost and disappearing during the night.

Richard fled from nightfall to dawn. Some of the more than 20,000 Western Xia light cavalry followed him, turning south, while others fled to Wulahai City.

Some fled to the more distant Zhenyan Military Command, while many locals surrendered directly to the Ming army.

After Richard escaped back to Keyimen, it took him several days to gradually gather the fleeing cavalry.

Only twelve thousand riders remained.

Another 8,000 cavalrymen were attacking the castle from the rear, but their situation is unknown. Another 4,000 to 5,000 cavalrymen fled to the Zhenyan Army Commandery.

Three or four thousand cavalrymen fled into Wulahai City, where several thousand infantrymen remained to garrison the city.

The remaining Western Xia soldiers were either killed or captured, with over 50,000 being either beheaded or captured by the Ming army.

Richard seemed a bit dazed; the Western Xia had suffered such a great defeat before.

But this time it's clearly different. The Ming Dynasty is far too powerful; it's directly aiming to destroy the Western Xia.

This year's war is just the beginning; the real all-out offensive will begin next year.

The Ming army is likely to send hundreds of thousands of troops to attack from the Shaanxi direction!

The Iron Falcons had been decimated, with only a little over four hundred escaping back, and the crossbowmen were completely wiped out.

Are we to use the infantry and the "Capture the Living" army to deal with the Ming Dynasty's hundreds of thousands of troops next year?

Chapter 3756 The Army Dispersed

Richard began to reflect. He shouldn't have gone to rescue Wulahai City; he should have ordered the entire Weifu Military Command to retreat south, adopting a scorched-earth policy to lure the Ming army deeper into the territory...

No, no, this is a tactic used to deal with the Song army in the Hengshan area. It won't work at all against the Ming army outside the Hetao region.

Richard realized that no matter how he commanded, he could not defeat Han Shizhong.

His army was too weak.

Iron Falcons were actually routed by a group of elite cavalry!

How is this played?

The infantry was even worse. Due to the tight deployment schedule, he could not mobilize infantry from afar to fight, and could only use the poorly recruited soldiers from nearby areas.

Having not gone out to plunder for more than ten years, the Qinsheng Army was extremely poorly equipped and its morale was also extremely low.

When the news reached Xingqing Prefecture, it shocked the Western Xia court and the public.

Fifteen-year-old Li Renxiao was extremely flustered. Prime Minister Li Renzhong said, "Your Majesty need not panic. When the Prince of Jin led his reinforcements north, we had already sent envoys to contact the Liao Kingdom (Yelü Dashi)."

"The Liao Kingdom is growing stronger in the Western Regions, and they will come to our aid with a large army."

Li Renxiao asked, "What if the Liao Kingdom doesn't send troops?"

Li Renzhong said, "They will. I have already instructed the envoy to promise that as long as the Liao Kingdom sends troops to aid them, I will teach them how to manufacture firearms."

"Your Majesty could send another envoy to Luoyang to see if..."

"Is there anything we can do?" Li Renxiao asked.

Li Renzhong said, "Could we cede territory in exchange for a truce with the Ming Dynasty?"

……

The force that circled around and launched a surprise attack on the Ming army's castle was eight thousand cavalrymen from the Yan Army Commandery in Heishui Town.

Yan refers to the Liao Kingdom, and Zhenyan means Zhenliao.

The original purpose of establishing the Yan Army Commandery at Heishui Town was to guard against the Liao army launching an attack on Ganzhou (Zhangye) from the northern desert along the Heishui River.

At the same time, it is also a node of the grassland Silk Road, with a trade route of "Ganzhou-Heishui City-Mobei".

Heishui, also known as Ruoshui or Ejina River.

It originates from the Qilian Mountains and flows northward to converge into Juyan Lake.

In ancient times, Juyan Lake covered an area of ​​up to 2600 square kilometers.

During the Han Dynasty, the area of ​​Juyan Lake shrank to more than 700 square kilometers, and the area along the river and around the lake was fertile land.

The Han Dynasty established 2.8 million mu of farmland here, in addition to horse breeding farms and nomadic areas, and dispatched 180,000 people to build cities and guard the border!

During the Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, and Western Xia periods, the area of ​​Juyan Lake continued to shrink.

But there are still three or four hundred square kilometers left, which can be cultivated and grazed, and have a large population. Historically, after the Mongols conquered Khara-Khoto, they massacred tens of thousands of people in the city.

Yes, it's Blackwater City from "Candle in the Tomb: The Lost Caverns".

Fei Cong Juli came from one of the eight clans of the Dangxiang people. His great-grandfather was transferred to Heishui City, and a portion of the Fei Cong clan moved there to multiply.

Life there had always been quite good; the land there was lush with water and grass, fertile and boundless, and it was a trading hub where taxes could be collected.

After the fall of the Liao Dynasty, the northern desert was in disarray, and the Zhenyan Military Command no longer posed a military threat.

Their duties also changed accordingly, namely, to be ready to support the Weifu Military Command at any time, and to come to their aid from afar immediately upon receiving a carrier pigeon or beacon fire.

It really is a thousand miles away!

There are many deserts and oases along the way, and beacon towers were built along the oases and rivers.

Fei Congjuli's troop deployment this time was extremely swift, because of the Weifu Military Command...

Dozens of carrier pigeons were sent out, and signal fires were lit continuously.

Chapter 3757 Siege with Wooden Ladders

He didn't have time to gather more troops, so he only conscripted more than 10,000 men from the area around Juyan Lake in the east, and they rushed to Wulahai City with one man and two horses.

During Richard's decisive battle, Fei Congju led 8,000 cavalry to flank the city from the rear, and also brought a large number of simple wooden ladders for the siege.

It was a fortified city, and also the largest transit point for supplies and the location of military warehouses between Wulahai City and Tiande Military City.

The Ming army's cannons and food supplies were hidden inside the city!

There is no moat.

Moreover, the Ming army blasted a breach in the eastern wall of the castle.

At this moment, the gap has only been simply repaired and barely blocked with clods of earth and wood, only reaching a height of more than three meters.

The Ming army infantry and artillerymen defending the city numbered only a few hundred, in addition to several hundred laborers from the grasslands.

Outside the city, along the Yellow River, there were many grain transport boats, and the boatmen and some laborers lived on the boats.

Upon seeing the enemy approaching, all the grain transport ships moved towards the south bank.

Two of the small boats sped westward to the main battlefield to deliver the message to Han Shizhong.

Fei Congju led his troops to this location, and after a brief observation, immediately engaged in battle.

Some cavalrymen dismounted, carried wooden ladders, and charged toward the breach, while the rest of the cavalrymen took turns firing arrows to provide cover.

Meanwhile, the Ming soldiers defending the city were smashing iron pots with a clanging sound.

The shattered rammed earth blocks and iron pot fragments were used as shot to plug the cannon barrels.

These are siege cannons, large in caliber and long in range, and are temporarily placed here.

Siege iron shells are ineffective against light cavalry, but shotgun shells are a different story.

"Boom boom boom!"

The six cannons on either side of the breach took turns firing at the charging enemy.

Countless rammed earth blocks and iron pot pieces flew out, and Western Xia soldiers fell down from time to time.

Cleaning the cannon barrel was quite troublesome. The rammed earth blocks came from the collapsed city wall, leaving a lot of dirt and ash inside the cannon barrel when the cannon was fired.

There was no other way; it was difficult to find stones nearby, so they had to break up rammed earth blocks to use instead.