met free Page 2706
Page 2706
Xiao Heda stood on the command platform, facing nearly ten thousand soldiers:
"Some people say that I have been in Xiazhou for more than ten years, embezzling military rations and oppressing the people. This time, I raised an army for my own wealth and honor, and they even blamed me for the famine in Xiazhou."
"Today, I will take out all my wealth and distribute it all as a reward to the soldiers of the three armies."
"All the grain stored in my home was used as military rations."
"I've already emptied my own residence, and I don't want that big house anymore either; I'll just burn it all down!"
Chapter 3767 Land Rewards
"Go and give the order: burn down my house!"
A horse galloped into the city, and half an hour later, the people inside began to stir and shout.
Xiao Heda then said, "Each officer and chieftain may select thirty men to enter the city and see if my house has been set on fire!"
One by one, hundreds of people stepped forward, all riding horses into the city to check the situation.
A moment later, these people ran back outside the city and told their companions that Xiao Heda's mansion was indeed burning.
Xiao Heda continued, "I will also give all my land in Xia Prefecture as a reward to the meritorious soldiers."
"This is the land deed. It is locked in a box and will be kept in rotation by the generals."
"If you want more rewards, then follow me to crush the enemy army and seize them from the hands of the corrupt and incompetent rulers of Western Xia. Kill the corrupt rulers! Kill the incompetent officials!"
"Kill the tyrannical emperor! Kill the corrupt officials!"
The entire army roared in response, their morale soaring like a rainbow.
Xiao Heda's rebellion was not to relieve the people's suffering; he simply could no longer survive in Western Xia.
How far did Xiao Heda go in history?
He first defeated the Western Xia's army that was suppressing the rebellion, and then contacted two Khitan tribes on the southern slope of the Yin Mountains.
Immediately afterwards, the eight halls of Hedong, the Shanjin Division, the northern border of the Northern and Southern Princes' Palaces, and various Khitan tribes and some Han people rose up in rebellion.
They combined their forces of tens of thousands and repeatedly defeated the army sent to quell the rebellion, leaving the Western Xia's left flank armies in disarray.
They then attacked Lingzhou, which was more than a hundred miles away from the capital of Western Xia. Unable to capture the fortified city of Lingzhou, they turned to attack Yanzhou, a strategic location.
Then, they plundered ranches in various states and even sent light cavalry to attack the Helan Mountains.
At the beginning of his uprising, he gave away all his family wealth and distributed the looted goods to his soldiers. Many poor people spontaneously came to join him.
Unfortunately, Ren Dejing sent troops to raid their stronghold, and their retreat was blocked, resulting in a defeat in Yanzhou.
In this timeline, Xiao Heda would naturally not be in such a sorry state, much less besieged by the pacification army.
In early winter last year, he suddenly launched a surprise attack on the ironworks in Xiazhou.
They slaughtered all the civil and military officials there, looted all the craftsmen and ironware, and then repelled the pacification army from the Xiangyou Military Command.
The Xiangyou and Jianing military commands sent troops again, but Xiao Heda held Xiazhou City to the death, forcing the enemy to retreat before the heavy snow fell.
Now that spring has arrived and the snow has melted, the army that quelled the rebellion has come again.
……
The Western Xia general in charge of suppressing the rebellion was Wang Cunli, a newly appointed military supervisor by the imperial court.
As for Ren Dejing, he was still suppressing rebellions around Xingqing Prefecture and had almost wiped out the rebel army.
"Cunli" is a good name, but adding "Wang" makes it ridiculous, and together it becomes "Bucunli".
The surname Wang was a prominent surname in the Western Xia Dynasty, and Li Jiqian's biological mother was surnamed Wang.
Before the snow had completely melted, Wang Cunli arrived at the Jianing Military Command and gave the Commander-in-Chief, Deputy Commander-in-Chief, and Military Supervisor a good scolding.
They were ordered to immediately conscript men to quell the rebellion. Only by eliminating Xiao Heda, who was entrenched in Xia Prefecture, could they help the Xiangyou Military Command and the Shenyong Military Command to establish a scorched-earth policy.
If Xiao Heda had not been eliminated, those two military commanders would have been unable to withdraw even if they wanted to, and their talk of a scorched-earth policy against the Ming army would have been utter nonsense.
In villages and grasslands everywhere, the cries of the Western Xia people shook the heavens.
Their houses were all burned down, and everyone had to take their valuables and food with them and leave, leaving not a single grain of food for the Ming army.
The elderly, women, and children were evacuated directly to Yanzhou, while the able-bodied men joined the army to fight and suppress Xiao Heda's rebel army.
Chapter 3768 Artillery Bombardment
Of course, before Xiao Heda was defeated, the front-line troops could not all be withdrawn; some had to be left to defend the city and resist the Ming army.
In just a few days, Wang Cunli amassed several thousand troops and withdrew three thousand regular soldiers from the front lines.
"Da da da da..."
A rider on horseback galloped in, his face covered in dust, and went to see Wang Cunli: "Angel, Changchengling has fallen!"
Wang Cunli was greatly alarmed: "Didn't you report two days ago that the Ming army had just begun attacking the camp?"
The rider explained, "The Ming army used muskets and crossbows to provide cover, and used hundreds of men to drag the giant cannons to the hillside to bombard the fortress."
"The stockade walls hadn't even collapsed yet, but the soldiers guarding the stockade were already terrified and fled!"
Changchengling is a strategically important mountain range southwest of Hongzhou in Western Xia. Without the use of firearms,
Even if tens of thousands of troops attack in turn, the thousand or so defenders there can hold out for at least half a month.
Li Yanxian personally set up his command tent at the foot of the ridge and sent troops to capture a gentle slope halfway up the mountain.
The craftsmen were instructed to cut down trees and build pulley systems to hoist the siege cannons up and construct the gun emplacements.
Even so, the angle of the artillery fire was problematic, and they could only bombard one corner of the fortress.
However, the constant barrage of cannonballs terrified the defenders inside the castle.
There were only 500 garrison soldiers there, and another 3,000 regular troops were temporarily transferred in.
Three thousand five hundred men guarded the castle, watching the densely packed Ming army below the mountain.
They were already terrified, and the artillery fire sent them fleeing in disarray.
Because they ran fast and the mountains were steep, the Ming army failed to capture a single prisoner or kill a single garrison soldier.
"Da da da da..."
Another rider galloped up, kneeling and crying out, "Your Majesty, the Ming army is approaching Longzhou City!"
"Shilijing Village, south of Longzhou, is also gone. The two Ming armies have probably already surrounded Longzhou!"
In fact, Helan Yuanzhai, further southwest, has also been captured, but news has not yet come from the distant location.
Wang Cunli was completely panicked.
His mission was to eliminate Xiao Heda and open up a passage for the Xiangyou Military Command and the Shenyong Military Command to withdraw their troops.
They took away all the soldiers and civilians from Yinzhou, Shizhou, and Xiazhou, and used a scorched-earth policy to lure the Ming army deep into their territory.
Before he could quell the rebellion, the Ming army had already breached the fortified villages one after another, and the main force was pressing on the two prefecture cities of Hongzhou and Longzhou.
How did the Ming army achieve such a swift victory?
There is only one reason: the Western Xia army was already too weak and ineffective.
Historically, Xiao Heda, an outsider military general, was able to defeat three major military commanders in the vicinity with just one rebellion in Xia Prefecture.
Even after Xiao Heda led his army westward, none of the three military commanders dared to send troops to raid their stronghold. Instead, Ren Dejing sent several hundred elite soldiers to capture Xia Prefecture.
Wang Cunli, who held considerable military power, was repeatedly defeated by Xiao Heda and eventually retreated to Lingzhou City, afraid to show his face.
What a useless general and army!
It turns out that during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, the Song army fought the Western Xia to a standstill, essentially a case of two weaklings fighting each other at the same level.
Wang Cunli was both shocked and furious, and said with a fierce but weak voice, "Order the generals of Hongzhou and Longzhou to hold the city and buy time. We can withdraw after I have destroyed Xiao Heda. Remember, before you withdraw, burn all the grain and fodder in the city!"
Immediately afterwards, Wang Cunli instructed the elderly, women, and children to hurry towards Yanzhou.
Then Wang Cunli led an army of over ten thousand men north to attack Xiao Heda.
Meanwhile, over 20,000 troops from the Xiangyou Military Command also marched out, intending to launch a pincer attack on Xiazhou from both the north and south.
Chapter 3769 The Bandits Are Coming!
Wang Cunli marched quickly to Sanchakou Village, where the entire army stopped to set up camp and rest.
That night, a shout woke Wang Cunli from his sleep.
However, Xiao Heda led several hundred elite troops from Xia Prefecture, and Duo E led several hundred elite troops from Ding Prefecture, who suddenly launched a night attack on the camp.
Wang Cunli was completely unprepared because the place where he sent his troops was much farther away from Xia Prefecture.
In his view, Xiao Heda should be fighting the Xiangyou Army, which has more troops and is closer in distance, and it is absolutely impossible for him to come all the way here to launch a sneak attack.
"Angel, hurry! A large number of bandits are attacking!"
How many bandits have come?
"There are probably tens of thousands of people, carrying torches everywhere."
"..."
Wang Cunli was living in the castle at Sanchakou Village at this time. He climbed the city wall and looked around in a panic, only to find that the camp outside the village was on fire everywhere.
Many soldiers fled to the gates of the fortress, shouting and crying for refuge inside.
"Don't open the door! Beware of enemy spies infiltrating!" Wang Cunli shouted.
The castle at Sanchakou Village was not large, only able to accommodate three or four thousand people. More than half of the army brought by Wang Cunli camped outside the village.
Xiao Heda and Duo'e led their elite troops to set fires everywhere, shouting along the way: "Lay down your weapons and surrender to be spared!"
These defeated Western Xia soldiers all came from Youzhou, Hongzhou, and Longzhou.
With Ming troops outside and rebels inside, their parents, wives and children were forced to move away, and even their houses were burned down in a scorched-earth policy.
They were exploited and embezzled on ordinary days, and now they were attacked at night and not allowed to enter the village to hide. They were all blocked outside the village gate and were filled with resentment.
Suddenly, a defeated officer roared angrily, "Stop serving this tyrant! Let's just surrender to General Xiao and then go with him to the Ming Dynasty!"
The routed soldiers beside them did not respond immediately, but instead shouted into the stockade, "If you don't open the gate and let us in, we're going to surrender to General Xiao! Open the gate now!"
"Open the door quickly!"
"Open the door quickly!"
Shouts rose and fell, and Wang Cunli dared not open the gate, for he was now certain that there were spies outside.
After several minutes of commotion, Xiao Heda and Duo'e led their elite troops closer and closer.
The routed soldiers were even more terrified and furious. Finally, one of them charged towards the rebels, shouting, "Don't kill me! I want to join the rebels!"
More and more defeated soldiers outside the village gates left, filled with rage, to join the rebels.
Upon hearing the shouts of the fleeing soldiers, Wang Cunli was terrified.
He led his elite cavalry, opened another gate, and slaughtered any fleeing soldiers he saw, abandoning the fortress and his army in a hasty retreat.
Of the more than 10,000 troops, more than 4,000 were directly recruited and captured by Xiao Heda.
The following day, Xiao Heda reorganized the surrendered soldiers and promised to help them find their families who had been relocated.
Doe asked, "Go back, or head south?"
Xiao Heda smiled and said, "Great minds think alike. Both strategies are acceptable, but it would be safer to go back."
The two returned to Xiazhou with the surrendered soldiers and the captured grain, where it was already besieged by 20,000 troops from the Xiangyou Military Command.
Upon seeing the large army arriving from the south, the Western Xia general assumed it was Wang Cunli and personally led a cavalry unit to rush over to greet him.
Xiao Heda laughed and said, "Raise the military flag of Wang Cunli."
With the "Wang" flag raised, the Western Xia general was completely convinced, and even wore a fawning smile on his face.
Chapter 3770 Kill!
Xiao Heda and Duo'e had already mounted their elite troops, and after the Western Xia general approached, they suddenly led hundreds of cavalrymen out.