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

The urgent report was sent by Wang Cunli, stating that he had abandoned Yanzhou and retreated.

Li Renzhong was furious: "How dare this fellow! After suffering defeats, he still dares to withdraw his troops without authorization!"

Richard said, "He did the right thing. We underestimated the Ming army and overestimated our own fighting strength."

"The three major military commanders on the left wing were defeated too quickly. They couldn't even defend the city, let alone fight in the field."

“If Wang Cunli stays in Yanzhou to defend it to the death, his tens of thousands of troops will be wiped out. It would be better to retreat all the way to lengthen the Ming army’s supply line.”

"What's the next step?" Li Renzhong asked.

Richard said, "Let Ren Dejing defend Lingzhou to the death, drag it out until the Yellow River rises, then breach the dike and flood the Ming army's supply lines and retreat routes."

"The Ming army's supply lines will be stretched very long over Wang Cunli's side. I will personally lead cavalry to attack the Ming army's supply convoy."

"Wang Shu's side has a high city wall, deep moat, well-trained soldiers and ample supplies. It should be very difficult for Han Shizhong and Yue Fei to break through it."

...

In the eyes of the Western Xia people, the Khitan, Uyghur, and Tibetan were all barbarians.

The name "Keyimen" was originally used to refer to the conquest of the Khitan, but later it came to refer to the conquest of the Mongols.

Because of repeated attacks by the Mongols, the Western Xia even built the Great Wall in the Keyimen area.

During the early and middle period of the Northern Song Dynasty, the people were very unfamiliar with the distant Western Xia region.

Fan Zhongyan even believed that the Helan Mountains ran east-west, and this view became a consensus in the mid-Northern Song Dynasty.

The crowd then conjured up a picture in their minds: the Helan Mountains stretched across the north of the Western Xia capital.

There is a passage in the mountains that can be used for military marches. The fortified gate built at the entrance of the passage is called Keyi Gate.

For centuries afterward, even into the 1990s, historians believed that Keyimen was the pass of Helan Mountain.

As archaeological work progressed and scholars from Northwest China conducted on-site investigations, it gradually became believed that Keyimen was located in Subaiyingou, Wuhai City.

Su Baiyin Valley is about 20 miles long, with high mountains and cliffs on both sides. The valley is winding and the terrain is dangerous.

The two mountains can hide 100,000 troops, and the bottom of the ravine in between is completely visible. If the enemy dares to enter, they will never be able to get out.

A small number of light cavalry can bypass it, but the main force has no chance of getting around it.

Beyond the mountains to the east lies the desert.

Beyond the mountains to the west lies the Yellow River, and beyond the Yellow River lies the desert.

Chapter 3783 Misjudgment

This is the foothills of the Helan Mountains. If we connect the many mountain ranges near Keyimen,

So the Helan Mountains do indeed run east-west, and Keyimen is located between the remaining ridges of the Helan Mountains.

It is estimated that the envoys sent by the Northern Song Dynasty made the wrong judgment after investigating this place, and everyone, including Fan Zhongyan, believed it.

If Yue Fei were to conquer this place, it could barely be considered as "breaking through the Helan Mountain pass".

Genghis Khan once reached this place during his third campaign against the Xia dynasty.

At that time, the Western Xia garrison numbered 120,000, which Genghis Khan could not defeat, so he had to change his strategy from a fierce attack to a siege.

The two sides remained locked in a stalemate for more than two months.

Due to the constant urging from the Western Xia court, the Western Xia's food supplies were gradually running out, so Weiming Linggong had no choice but to risk a night raid, which resulted in him being captured by the Mongol army.

The Western Xia army was thrown into chaos, and Genghis Khan seized the opportunity to capture Keyimen.

The Mongols then marched south, besieged the capital of Western Xia, and breached the Yellow River to flood the city.

The capital of Western Xia was submerged for more than a month, but it did not collapse.

The hastily constructed dikes by the Mongol army collapsed, and the Yellow River overflowed, flooding the Mongol army...

What the hell is this?

The two countries then made peace and agreed to become brotherly states. Genghis Khan also married the daughter of the ruler of Western Xia.

At this moment, Yue Fei and Han Shizhong looked at the ravine and felt extremely overwhelmed, having no idea how to proceed.

Cao Yu, the surrendered military supervisor of the Western Xia, described the valley as "about twenty li long, with winding and meandering paths."

"There are many fortified villages on both sides of the mountain ridge, and there is a strong city behind the valley. Even if the general has an army of 300,000, it will be difficult to conquer it."

Han Shizhong asked, "Since it's only twenty li long, why not just go around it from the eastern desert?"

Cao Yu explained:

"The narrowest valley is twenty li long, but there are more valleys beyond Keyimen, just not as narrow."

"The locals call the valley north of Keyimen 'Qiangou' and the valley south of it 'Hougou'."

"If we want to take a detour, our army should retreat dozens of miles, then go east across dozens of miles of desert, and then cross the mountain pass."

"Then we will head south through the desert. I don't know exactly how far, because no one dares to go that way. I estimate we will have to travel another one or two hundred miles through the desert."

Han Shizhong remained silent after listening.

Yue Fei said, "We have no choice but to launch a direct attack."

Han Shizhong said, "We must first take down the mountains on both sides."

Listening to their conversation, Cao Yu felt that they had gone mad.

The western mountain range is lower, but the main peak is still several hundred meters high.

The main peak of the mountain range on the east side has a vertical height of over 1,000 meters.

Large mountains surround smaller mountains, and high ridges connect to low ridges.

The mountain range stretches for over 150 li, and even if the attack only reaches Keyimen City, it is still more than 20 li in a straight line.

Moreover, the mountain is mostly rocky, with hardly any trees or even grass growing on it, and the slopes are extremely steep due to weathering and erosion.

Artillery is useless here!

Under the command of Yue Fei and Han Shizhong, there were more than 10,000 Ming cavalry and more than 5,000 Ming infantry.

The rest were soldiers from various ethnic groups including Khitan, Tangut, Tangut, Tibetan, and Uyghur.

Some were brought from the grasslands by the two of them, and others were recruited from outside the border by the two of them.

Even the laborers transporting grain came from the grasslands outside the city.

The laborers from Shanxi only transported grain and fodder to Dongsheng Prefecture.

Many grassland tribes under Han Shizhong's jurisdiction were transported to Tiande Military City by boat and livestock.

Chapter 3784 Hostages

The grassland laborers near Tiande Military City then transported the grain and fodder to Wulahai City.

The grassland laborers of Wulahai City will then transport grain and fodder here to attack Keyimen.

They were not afraid that surrendered tribes would burn their provisions, because the tribal chiefs and nobles were all under the protection of Han Shizhong and Yue Fei.

Their wives, children, and elderly relatives have also been sent to Shanxi as hostages.

Yue Fei summoned Han Shizhong for a private discussion: "You, along with three thousand elite cavalry and three hundred heavy cavalry, will stay at the foot of the mountain to oversee the battle."

"I personally led the troops to attack the eastern mountain range, while several thousand infantrymen attacked the western mountain range."

“Some of the cavalry from various tribes followed us up the mountain.”

"After capturing a strategic location, we left the cavalry units to garrison it, while the elite Ming troops continued to advance."

"Should your elite cavalry, and all the other cavalry units, dismount and attack the mountain?" Han Shizhong asked.

Yue Fei laughed and said, "We can't exactly ride a horse up there, can we?"

"Tens of thousands of men went to attack the mountain. This place is twenty miles away from Keyimen. How will the soldiers on the mountain get water?"

“These mountains are barren; I’m afraid we won’t find any water sources,” Han Shizhong asked.

Yue Fei said, "The enemy has camps on the mountain. How do they get water? We'll find a way."

Han Shizhong summoned Cao Yu and asked, "How many camps are there on the mountain? Which peak are they located on?"

Cao Yu shook his head: "I don't know."

Han Shizhong then asked, "What do they eat? What do they drink?"

Cao Yu shook his head: "I don't know."

Han Shizhong asked again, "How many people are in each camp?"

Cao Yu shook his head: "I don't know."

Han Shizhong was furious: "How can you, a military supervisor of Western Xia, know nothing about anything?"

Cao Yu explained in a flustered manner, "This humble subject is the supervisor of the Weifu Military Command, not the supervisor of the Keyi Gate."

Han Shizhong was so angry that he wanted to kill him with a single blow, but he forcibly suppressed his anger and said to Yue Fei, "You and I will each take thirty men and climb up to observe the situation first."

Famous generals throughout history would personally scout the battlefield when they arrived in an unfamiliar region.

Maps and other people's descriptions are never as intuitive as what you see with your own eyes.

Extremely cautious generals would even speed up their march with their personal guards, personally selecting campsites two hours in advance.

Yue Fei and Han Shizhong borrowed light armor from the steppe cavalry.

Each group led thirty people to climb the mountains on both sides, and each person also carried dry food and several water bags.

The army at the foot of the mountain was temporarily placed under the command of Li Shifu.

After several days of arduous work, with their bodies aching from climbing in the mountains, Yue Fei and Han Shizhong finally figured out the location of the nearest enemy stronghold.

The living conditions on the mountains are too harsh, unless a decisive battle is taking place in the valley.

Otherwise, the enemy general wouldn't have deployed so many people on the mountain—food and water would have been a major problem.

The two descended the mountain nearby and returned to the valley to exchange messages.

Han Shizhong said, "I found a watchtower, which is not a stockade at all. There are at most two or three hundred people inside."

"Given the terrain and size of the site, there are usually only five or six people stationed there at most."

"It's about the same on my end; a small number of elite troops can take it quickly," Yue Fei said.

They were lucky; the Western Xia didn't have time to build the Great Wall.

Historically, the Western Xia was badly defeated by the Mongols. After the Mongols withdrew, they built a large section of the Great Wall on both sides of the mountains.

It could quickly transport troops and supplies up the mountain, and also be used to guard the Great Wall and defend against Mongol attacks.

Chapter 3785 Skilled at Climbing Mountains

If the Great Wall had been on the mountain at that time, Yue Fei and Han Shizhong would have been unable to attack and would have been forced to station their troops in a standoff, just like Genghis Khan.

After the discussion, Yue Fei and Han Shizhong stayed behind to rest, while their generals each led eight hundred elite troops to attack the mountain.

Instead of climbing from the beginning, skilled mountaineers were sent to the marked locations within the valley to climb up without armor.

Then they smashed down wooden stakes, tied ropes to them, and threw them down. The armored elites then pulled on the ropes to climb up, and finally, they were dragged up by wooden ladders.

The wooden ladder was brought from Wulahai City; it was an ordinary wooden ladder used by the common people.

Cao Yu, acting as the guide, said that it was difficult to find trees in this area.

Yue Fei and Han Shizhong's predictions were correct; they discovered two watchtowers.

Normally, only six people are stationed there, but the number of troops is increased depending on the situation during wartime.

Because Keyimen is located in the rear, it has not been a battle for nearly a century, and normally not even a single soldier is stationed in the watchtower.

After all, even if only six soldiers were stationed there, it would be troublesome to transport food to them, so gradually everyone wanted to save trouble and was too lazy to send troops.

At this very moment, however, two hundred soldiers were guarding the area.

When the Ming elite troops charged in, the watchtowers immediately lit beacon fires, and then beacon fires rose further south as well.

The Ming army lookouts responsible for observation had already climbed to the higher peaks.