Chapter 239: Mr. Zhang Wu’s Belief

Zhao Xing thought about Shi Gan's proposal and shook his head and refused: "Our reinforcements have arrived. If you see them, the Xixia soldiers will also see them. Reinforcements have arrived. People will definitely be alert tonight. It is better to take a few days off to let us familiarize ourselves with the terrain and train our manpower."

Shi Gan persuaded again: "Sir, no reinforcements have just arrived and attacked that night. We can only surprise us if we take action tonight."

Zhao Xingxiao: "If you are not sure, it is not the enemy who is unexpected but us... Okay, there is no need to discuss this matter anymore. Do you have a dog in your village?"

Shi Gan was stunned and replied subconsciously: "Do you like fragrant meat? There are a few shepherd dogs in my village, but it's a pity that the chef's level is..."

"Don't worry about your cook! I need as many dogs as possible, at least one hundred. There are not enough dogs in your village. Go to the nearby city to search. From today on, tie up all the dogs in the village. Only feed water, not feed them. I need one hundred hungry and thirsty dogs."

The Stone Fortress nodded with a question mark: muttered: "My sir's appetite..."

Zhao Xing ordered again: "You send two more groups of people out, one group of people to Hengshan Village, and all the troops there are here, so that they can stand by in Weibian Village in the rear; order a group of people to go to Fuyan Road quickly, and inform the 'Guyan Road Preparation', the general of Zhe Dian said that I will start the 'shallow attack' in about three days, and ask him to Dazhang the military power on Fuyan Road to echo me."

Zhao Xing thought for a moment and called another scout to instruct: "Go to Weibian Village quickly and urge the cavalry behind us to come up, so that they can bring more crossbows, fire bombs, and bombs from the rear, and stay on standby in Weibian Village at any time."

After Zhao Xing issued a series of orders, the entire Huaiwei Fort took action, while the Xixia army on the opposite side remained highly alert, but that night, the Song army did not attack at all.

Zhao Xing was on the front line and felt the helplessness of the spread of information in this era. He did not know that in addition to the Xixia people, the Xixia army opposite could be said to be dispatched on the entire line, so the Xihe, Fuyan, Huanqing and Hedong routes were in a hurry. It is said that "the prime minister of Xixia, Liang Yibu (pronounced bū), personally led the army, divided the troops of Kou Lin, the two prefectures, and they were in a bad language." However, he also sent envoys to congratulate Zhao Xu on his birthday - Tianning Festival.

While sending troops, Liang Yibu sent envoys to congratulate Emperor Zhao Xu on his birthday. It was not because this person was particularly shameless. According to his own statement, "Gali China's gift" - the Chinese court's reward is to express respect for the emperor. The benevolent and righteous court needs to reward this kind of birthday celebration to encourage the admiration of the four barbarians" and imitate. The generous reward is enough to compensate the Western Xia people for half a year's taxes and also enough to compensate the Western Xia people for their military expenses in invading the Central Plains. Liang Yibu believes that with the reward of the Central Plains court, the Western Xia people can invade the Central Plains again in a few months - that is, the spring next year.

Isn’t this a fool if you don’t take money?

On the day when Zhao Xing dispatched troops, the imperial edict from the court questioned the border ministers to all parts of the border, asking the ministers about the peace talks between the Xixia people. Fan Chuncui and Zhang Qing reported together: "There are many repentances in the front and back, and Xia Ting regrets it."

When Zhao Xing was not there, Wanqi Yong used Zhao Xing's official seal to discuss the claims of Fan Zhang and the others, believing that the dictionary of Xixia people did not have the word "credit" and agreed to negotiate peace with Xixia people, just like not agreeing... At the same time, Wanqi Yong quickly reported the matter to Zhao Xing and analyzed: "Liang Yi was crazy. He continued to suffer a major famine in Xixia. Last year, he didn't robbed from our Song Dynasty. He suffered a small defeat at the beginning of this year, but in autumn he used so many people to attack our Song Dynasty. I think he really wanted to negotiate peace because he couldn't hold on.

Lord, the news from Western Xia has been scarce recently. According to the news that the Nestorian pastor asked about the monks of the Western Regions, there were constant struggles in the Western Xia court. Liang Yibu was in a bad situation. I think: If Liang Yibu returned empty-handed from my Song Dynasty, Xixia would undergo a huge change. So we can afford it, but the Xia people cannot afford it. I hope the adults should consider it carefully, and do not be eager for quick success and instant benefits, and do it step by step."

The news of Wanqi Yong was passed to Zhao Xing, and it was the morning of the second day after Zhao Xing arrived in Huaiwei Castle. Zhao Xing was standing on the stone castle wall, holding Wanqi Yong's report in his hand and reading it several times. He turned around and sighed to Chen Buqun: "Even the situation of Xixia can even understand the masters around me. Why don't the 'gents' in the court understand?"

In the courtyard of the stone fort, a group of early Nestorian pastors were praying in the morning prayers, and they prayed loudly against the rising sun: "God, make me your tool,

In places with hatred, let me sow kindness; in places with cruelty, let me sow forgiveness;

Where there is suspicion, let me sow trust.

In a place where despair, let me sow hope; in a place where darkness, let me sow light;

In places where there is sorrow, let me sow joy.

I do not seek comfort from others, but only seek comfort from others; I do not seek forgiveness from others, only seek forgiveness from others;

I don't seek the love of others, I just want to take care of others.

Because when we give alms, we receive giving; because when we forgive others, we receive giving;

Because when we lose our lives, we are born in eternity.”

Chen Buqun waited for the pastors to finish praying, and drew a cross on his chest, then replied: "Teacher, you often say 'the amount of information determines judgment'. The news we received in Xixia is more comprehensive than the news that the officials in the court received in Xixia, and of course we can make correct judgments."

Zhao Xing shook his head: "You are wrong. The amount of information we receive is not complete. For example, we don't know who is the head coach of the army opposite? But we know logical reasoning. We can use logical common sense to deduce the conclusion that is closest to the true image, but the officials in the court...ah!"

At this moment, the prayers of the Nestorian pastors were finished. They raised the "Lotus Flame Cross" in the sun, leading the believers in the scouts to pray. The children prayed loudly in their tender voices, revealing piety: "Lord, our God, please give us to spend this day in peace and happiness; do not let us suffer trauma; do not let us be contaminated with sin. Let us overcome all troubles and stay away from the temptation of sin, which will make us sing and praise you tonight.

God, our God, you are the kind father who cares for all things, and may you be praised forever."

While the scouts were praying, Zhao Xing saw Chen Buqun keep drawing crosses on his chest and asked with a smile: "Why, you believe in this too, why don't you go down and pray together?"

Chen Buqun replied: "Son Bu said that the power of the gods is in chaos. According to the attitude of my legitimate father, the sayings about ghosts and gods have always been: I would rather believe in the existence of it than the absence of it. I also have this attitude towards this thing. In addition, I also have a Zhi Po born in Quanzhou, and she believes it! I have learned some prayer from her. However, I often think... Teacher, what would you do if there is a belief that can give you free healing, listen to you free of charge when you are in the most difficult times, and give you free of confidence when you are in the most depressed, what would you do?"

Zhao Xing laughed, and Wang Gu said to him: "Hedong Shi's son also has a wife, haha, Chen Jichang also has a mistress, the outer room - Buqun, you said it, this is going to reach your mother's ears, does your father still want to live?"

Chen Buqun laughed, and Zhao Xing was not entangled in this issue. He took out a telescope from his arms and observed the Xixia military camp in the morning light.

The morning of the Xixia military camp was chaotic, and the soldiers rushed to the river to fetch water. They bullied the Song army and did not dare to leave the camp. They were making noise and noisy by the river without restraint, with arrogance, as if this Song realm was his vegetable garden.

At this moment, there was a clamor behind Zhao Xing, and the scouts who had finished praying began to run in line. At the same time, were there stones brushing through the city wall and flying out of the castle - it was the soldiers who were practicing stone throwing and trying their best to throw the stones further away.

Zhao Xing did not ask for the accuracy of throwing stones. He only asked the soldiers to throw the stones as far as possible, so the soldiers threw them without any accuracy. The only thing that is gratifying is that no one has ever thrown the stones behind him.

On this morning, officials from all over the Xihe routes were ordered to ask why the Xixia army entered the country. Liang Yibi replied: he did not answer his invasion at all, and he praised the gentleman style of the Song court. The meaning inside and outside said: The national tradition of our Xixia is: we do not have to be kept in compliance with our promises to the enemy. After our king negotiated peace with the Liao soldiers, he took the opportunity to attack the Liao soldiers, which allowed us to establish our country. Therefore, not keeping our words in mind is the foundation of our country, so don't blame us for this. Because for us Xia people, "not keeping our words in mind" is a kind of praise. Soldiers are a trick. That is to praise us as a military general.

But the Song Dynasty was different. The Emperor Song was always generous to the external vassals and always strictly abide by peace talks. I appreciate this very much. So, don’t worry about our invasion of you, that is our national tradition. Let’s discuss peace talks. According to your Song Dynasty’s national tradition, give us the coins that should be rewarded, so that we can return with the people with the stolen property. As for how we distribute spoils, it is the business of us Xixia people, and you can’t control it.

The next day, Zhezong, who was actually Empress Dowager Gao, was arrogant in Xixia's words and wanted to extinguish the tribute every year. However, he suddenly heard that Xixia congratulated Tianning Festival envoys for several days and were about to arrive in the capital. The court had to stop hostilities unhappily... The rewards to the people of Xixia were given to them.

On the morning of that day, Zhao Xing from Wyway Castle ordered some food to feed the dogs in the castle. After the hungry dogs had some food that could not fill their stomachs, they became even more manic and uneasy. In the afternoon of the same day, Zhao Xing ordered the dogs to be put on dog clothes - this is a small dress similar to a baby suit, with four cloth pockets hanging on it. The pockets were bulging and stuffed.

In the evening, Zhao Xing ordered the troops to eat a full meal, and fell asleep with swords and armor in the first half of the night. In the second half of the night, Zhao Xing ordered his "grenadiers" to get up and start gathering.

The grenadiers did not criticize any armor, but only wore an iron helmet. Seventy grenadiers, each with three people, one was responsible for carrying the basket of bullets, one was holding a torch near him, and the other was holding a shield and knife to take care of him.

When the grenadiers and their companions were familiar with each other, Zhao Xing's scouts began to insert medicine into the fire bomb. The grenades with the medicine bomb were neatly placed in the backpack. Then, the grenadiers arranged in groups, waiting for orders.

At the fourth update, Shuai Fan led five hundred cavalry to the castle in the dark. At the same time, the first group of scouts who came to the castle with Zhao Xing also prepared crossbows. Zhao Xing looked at the sky frequently. When it was at the fifth update, he waved his hand and ordered: "Go."

The team left the castle and did not go straight to the Xixia military camp. They first rushed to the edge of the castle, lying in the grass more than ten centimeters high, waiting for the sky to dawn.

At dawn, the first attack was one hundred hungry dogs. The smell of smell from the Xixia military camp made the hungry dogs move forward bravely. Sparks were swelling on their bodies. Soon after they rushed into the Xixia military camp, explosions began one after another.

The sentinels of the Xixia people were alert. When the dogs rushed over, they had already discovered that they had stood up from their hiding places, but they had never experienced the "dogs break into the camp" and didn't know what to do for a moment. The clever one turned around and ran towards the camp, ready to call the officer to deal with it. The ignorant one was still standing there wondering: "Why, sparks are still coming out of this dog, and there are also sounds of waving, hehe, strange."

The fifth update is when a person's thinking is the slowest. At this time, soldiers who wake up from their sleep often have slow judgments on things due to lack of oxygen in their brains. Seeing that the camp was just a group of dogs, most soldiers couldn't help but feel dissatisfied: "A group of evil dogs are nothing more than a few bones of guns. Is it not good to wait for those sleepy officers to get angry."

The running dog attracted most of the soldiers' gaze. They did not notice that several crossbows in the grass were aiming at them. With the first explosion that came to mind in the Xixia military camp, a bowstring sounded from the grass. Each of the Xixia sentries exposed were hit by seven or eight arrows. A dying Xixia sentry sentry sent a warning, but... it was too late.

Crossbows are an expensive weapon. The official Song Dynasty stipulated that only one crossbow was mandatory in the home of the upper household. According to this standard, Huaiwei Castle has at most three or five crossbows... However, the price of crossbows has dropped sharply recently. Several books on Huaiwei Castle have already made a crossbow. In this way, the war is no longer about human power, but mechanical power.

One hundred scouts stood up from the grass, holding a crossbow. Some of them were moving too fast just now, and their bodies were covered with blood from the grass stubble, but they did not feel any pain at all. They were burdened with national hatred and family hatred. They were red in their eyes and moved forward while stying the crossbow. Behind them, seventy grenadiers shook ropes in their hands and followed step by step.

When they rushed into the Xixia camp, the crossbowmen began to suppress the awakened Xixia soldiers. The dense crossbows made it impossible for anyone to stay by the walls of Xixia village. At this time, the attendant behind the grenade lit a torch, and another attendant took out a grenade bullet from the backpack, lit the lead wire, and put it into the rope pocket.

Seventy grenadiers' ropes were swung up, and the rope circles were hovering over their heads for several times. Seventy iron eggs flew away from the ropes, twisting and crooking, and flew aimlessly toward the Xixia camp. At this moment, explosions in the Xixia camp were still continuous. The extremely short hand bullets were thrown over, making it even more intense to distinguish the explosion.

In the morning light, the valley was covered with a layer of white smoke. In the faint mist, the gate of Huaiwei Fort Village opened wide. Zhao Xing, wearing his armor, rushed out of the castle like a metal iron can. Behind him were five hundred cavalrymen, and behind the cavalry were the men, women, young and old who survived Huaiwei Fort. Some of them held swords and some were carrying a shovel, and some were holding a dung fork. Everyone shouted at the top of their lungs: "Revenge!"

The cavalry stopped behind the grenadiers. At this time, the grenadiers had already started the fourth round of bomb drops. After the initial tension was eliminated, their movements became more and more skillful.

Zhao Xing jumped off the horse behind them, Tyson also criticized his armor, holding a kite-shaped shield that was tall by one person in one hand, and a machete with an anime style, exaggerated and gorgeous shape, followed Zhao Xing closely. After the grenadier's round of throwing, Zhao Xing stood behind the grenadier, smashed his mouth, and said to himself: "It's the New Year, the sound of these firecrackers is so beautiful!"

Then, his face sank and shouted: "Infantry, go five steps forward."

The grenadier stopped his hand, and the crossbowmen stepped forward and carried out a suppressed round of shooting at the Xixia people by covering the fire. Zhao Xing waved his hand again, and the five hundred scouts holding longbows advanced to the front five steps and began to fire rapidly. The longbowmen finished firing ten rounds of arrows, panting. Then, the grenadier's attendant pulled the grenadiers in a daze and followed five steps again to start a new round of bomb drops.

The front gradually advanced towards the Xixia camp. Shi Gan had already rushed to Zhao Xing with his fifty strongest servants, yelling: "Protect the head coach and protect the lord."

Luo Xin also rushed here with his son Zhou Junming. Zhu Baozhong's troops had been handed over. He followed the Stone Fort Lord's team with two or three servants and rushed towards Zhao Xing. As soon as these people ran, they were all in a mess. The chaos at the scene made Zhao Xing's command a little out of control. Seeing that the situation was wrong, he immediately hit Tyson with his shoulder and shouted immediately: "Break the village!"

Without hesitation, Tyson held up his shield and rushed into the collapsed village wall with a big knife like a splattering wind, raising his hands to greet the people behind him to follow up...

The one who followed Zhao Xing.

The Xixia people's camps were wooden fences. Years of nomadic habits made them carry camping sticks and a few wooden sticks tied with ropes when they moved. A skilled Xixia people could build camps within half an hour. This habit was also brought into the army. Most Xixia camps used this method to tie up continuous wooden walls.

Because the wood on the grassland is rare, most camps have sparse wooden sticks, so people can't get in, but dogs can get in as they please.

The explosion just now had blown up the wall in front of him. After Zhao Xing arrived, his fifty servants also arrived. When Tyson saw Zhao Xing coming to his side, he didn't stop and shouted and went deep into the camp. Then, the scouts arrived, and they cleared the charge passage. Shuai Fan and the cavalry rushed in and began to kill.

The men, women, young and old in Fort Waiwei also arrived. They rushed into the camp and would never let go of any gasping wounded soldiers. Many seriously injured soldiers were chopped into pieces of minced meat by them... The scene was full of screams.

The resistance of the Xixia people was very tenacious, while the Song army, due to the chaos of Baoding and Zhuangding, the battle situation showed a delicate situation. In order to break the organization of the Xixia people, Zhao Xing led Tyson to charge three times in a row. As the war extended, the resistance of the Xixia people became more and more firm.

The battle was in a stalemate. Shi Gan rushed into Zhao Xing and reported urgently: "The recruitment is wrong. This is the first battalion of Xixia elite soldiers. I cut down four 'Bobazi' and met several 'Puxi'. The group of soldiers on the opposite side were 'Puxi'... We encountered a hard bone!"

"Bubazi" is the charger of the Western Xia. The people of Xixia chose the most brave soldiers to serve as the attack and cover the attack, and called it "Bubazi". "Puxi" is an artillery. The people of Xixia called the soldiers who operated whirlwind cannons "Puxi". Whenever they attacked cities and villages, "the whirlwind cannons were steeply erected in the camel saddle, and the stone was like a fist."

There are whirlwind cannons and "Bubazi". Such a thousand-man army is definitely the main force of the Xixia people. No wonder the resistance is so strong. Zhao Xing's scouts just came to the battlefield and encountered this group of old officials, casualties were rising sharply.

A strong warrior charged with a high-intensity charge. Each charge cannot last more than five minutes. This is also a round time in a modern boxing match. Zhao Xing charged three times in a row. Although he scored many people, the people on the other side have gradually organized themselves, attacking and defending with Zhao Xing, which has gradually increased the casualties.

Zhao Xing glanced and happened to see Chen Buqun mobilizing archers. Zhao Xing's eyes lit up: "I'm stupid, why are you comparing cold weapons with the people of Xixia? I want to compare knowledge with them."

"Grenadiers come, I don't believe their shields can block the bombs. Please quickly transfer the grenadiers," Zhao Xing ordered repeatedly.

The Xixia soldiers fought around a military tent. Zhao Xing mobilized people here, but he did not dare to leave easily. Several Xixia soldiers frequently used horns to summon nearby reinforcements... But unfortunately, they could not have been recruited. Shuai Fan had led the cavalry to plow the Xixia camp back and forth three or four times. Except for the military tent that still had resistance, the other Xixia soldiers were all facing the pursuit of the scouts and the old and weak in Huaiwei Fort.

The last moment came, and the grenadier arrived, and Zhao Xing ordered: "Cut half of the medicine and throw it to me where there are many people..."

With a rope ring as a helper, the grenadier's throwing distance was similar to that of the bow and arrow. However, the bomb exploded, and the debris flew out farther than the bow and arrow splashed. After several rounds of bombs, the shield formation on the periphery of the Pixi Army had been broken. When Shuai Fan saw the gap, he screamed strangely and led the cavalry first to rush in. Zhao Xing led the infantry immediately followed, and then a massacre.

When Zhao Xing first arrived in Huaiwei Castle, he promised: never forgive me. In this battle, no prisoners were left...

Lying on the ground, Zhao Xing walked into the gorgeous military tent. Tyson blocked left and right and cut off the last resistance in the military tent. Only a scholar on the throne of the military tent was left. He was holding a pretty woman in his arms. When he saw Zhao Xing coming in, he hugged the girl calmly and wrote something on the table.

Zhao Xing looked at these two people in surprise. Judging from their appearance, they were both Song people, pure Song people, who were in their early twenties, and were young.

The scribe picked up the pen, pulled a miscellaneous hair from the tip of the pen, sighed with regret, and muttered: "What a pity this pen..."

Then, the man picked up his pen and wrote the last few words on the paper. Then he gently raised the paper full of words and blew the ink marks calmly. The woman in his arms didn't care about the Song Jun who kept coming in, but only knew to stare at the lover in front of him affectionately.

Zhao Xing stopped the other soldiers and whispered to order them to search everywhere. Only the Lord of the Stone Fort and Chen Buqun were left in the military tent. The Lord of the Stone Fort whispered to the Fort to summon Zhu Baozhong, and took a step forward, and was on guard.

The man opposite dried the moji. This time he looked up at Zhao Xing and said calmly: "The person who came here is Zhao Liren, the entourage envoy of Huanqing Road, must be it. With such a tall man, I believe it is not easy to find on Huanqing Road."

Zhao Xing was slightly surprised and asked back: "How did you know? Sorry, but I don't know you. It seems that I lost to you in terms of intelligence."

The man opposite grinned and explained proudly: "It has been half a year since the adults came to Huanqing Road. I don't know about such a person as Xixia for half a year. Wouldn't I underestimate my Xixia military and civilians?"

Zhao Xing frowned and asked, "'I Xixia'? But I think you are a Song Dynasty native, why did you betray China? You haven't answered me yet, who are you?"

Zhu Baozhong lifted the curtain and came in. When he saw the man on the seat, he was startled and immediately grinned and said, "I didn't expect that I, Old Zhu, had such a great face, and the one who caught up with him was Mr. Zhang - Mr. Zhang with a golden belt. I am lucky and fortunate! Old Luo, come in quickly and meet the fifth son of the Zhang family. We, a small minion, usually want to see Mr. Zhang, but it depends on Mr. Zhang's mood. I didn't expect that today we can enter and exit Mr. Zhang's tent at will without notice."
To be continued...