Zhang Jun, who was just promoted to commander of the Zaoyang Army not long ago, didn't know whether to be glad that he was lucky or to scold God for not giving face. As soon as he left Zaoyang City, he encountered a large number of Mongolian troops.

Zaoyang City is an extremely important node fortress in Meng Gong's plan, so after capturing Xiangyang, Meng Gong transferred Zhang Jun and Zaoyang army to Zaoyang City to appease the people and repair the city walls. Of course, before the series of chain fortresses decided by Meng Gong and Jia Sidao were completed, Zaoyang City, more than 100 miles away from Xiangyang City, is still far from the fortress node. If Zhang Jun is allowed to continue to defend Zaoyang City, facing hundreds of thousands of Mongolian troops who are coming to kill the generals with a storm, Zaoyang City may not be able to hold on for a day.

So when he received the Kou Wenbuhua leading the army south to Xiangyang, Meng Gong had already ordered Zhang Jun's Zaoyang army to immediately destroy and burn all the things in Zaoyang City, and took the people in Zaoyang City to join Xiangyang City.

Zhang Jun is not stupid. Although he is a little reluctant to leave Zaoyang City that he has just repaired, he doesn't want to spend his life here. So as soon as he received Meng Gong's order, Zhang Jun began to destroy and burn the city walls and houses that he had just repaired Zaoyang City. After knowing that the Mongolian army was about to kill, too many people wanted to leave Zaoyang City, and they wanted to take too much, which directly led to the delay in Zhang Jun's withdrawal.

When the scout reported, the brigade of Mongolian troops headed south from the north and was less than thirty miles away from Zaoyang City. Now Zaoyang City has been destroyed, so it is obviously impossible to retreat. If it were only Zaoyang Army, it would be fine, but now there are tens of thousands of people with their families in Zaoyang Army, so they will definitely not be able to run past the Mongolian cavalry. Well, I don’t know if there are any cavalry coming. Thinking of this, Zhang Jun’s eyes suddenly lit up.

Meng Gong's previous letter has already said that the 50,000 Mongol vanguards have advanced to Xinyang area less than 200 miles away from Xiangyang City. Logically speaking, it would not have come so quickly, and the direction is not right. Could it be another Mongolian army? Tangzhou! Yes, it must be the Mongolian army stationed in Tangzhou. They wanted to make a contribution, so they came first.

If it was really the abominable Xixia Dangxiang army stationed in Tangzhou, it might be a good opportunity for the Zaoyang army and even for this war.

Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, the surrounding areas have not been very stable. Western Xia, Liao, Jin, and Mongolia today have not been truly peaceful for a few years. In this process, the Song Dynasty actually had a chance to make the border more stable. However, due to two major strategic mistakes in the rule of the country by literati, the Song Dynasty is now facing a great enemy like the Mongols who swept across Europe and Asia, which is almost impossible to resist head-on.

These two major strategic mistakes were the joint efforts of the Northern Song Dynasty to fight against Liao and destroy the Liao Kingdom in the late Northern Song Dynasty, and the joint efforts of Mongolia to destroy the Jin Kingdom when Lizong ascended the throne a few years ago. These two alliances seemed clever, but in fact they were a move to attract wolves into the house.

If Song did not intervene, he would sit in the mountains and watch the tiger fight, and both sides would suffer losses, and the Liao and Jin dynasties, which were sandwiched in the middle, could also serve as buffer zones.

If there was no alliance with Jin to destroy Liao, I would probably not have the shame of Jingkang after Liao was destroyed. If there was no alliance with Jin to destroy Jin, if there was a miracle, the Song Dynasty might still have the possibility of turning around, and if it was not helpful, it might be able to continue some luck.

Perhaps because they were tortured by the Mongols too hard, the Xixia people no longer had much courage in the face of the Mongols, but when they faced the Song people, they became more and more severe and cruel to the Song people in the occupied areas, even more severe than those of the Mongols. This is not a secret for Zhang Jun and others.

However, Zhang Jun did not blindly become optimistic because of his own speculation. While sending scouts to investigate the specific situation of the rushing Mongolian army, he also sent people to Xinyang to contact the Xinyang army of Ren Yi and Zhang Ying's Suizhou army who retreated from Xinyang to Xiangyang.

Ren Yi's Xinyang army was much farther from Xiangyang City than Zaoyang, and Zaoyang was his only way to retreat to Xiangyang City. Because Xinyang was too far away and was hanging outside the Jinghu War Zone, Meng Gong did not include Xinyang into the defense system of the Jinghu War Zone. He gave up Xinyang early and divided his troops to guard places that could not be defended at all. It was better to station troops to defend several fortresses. This is Meng Gong's idea. Three days ago, Meng Gong ordered Ren Yi to gather the Xinyang army and the people near Xinyang who were willing to go to Xianyang City and retreat to Xiangyang. Zhang Ying's Suizhou army was also waiting to retreat to Xiangyang with Ren Yi.

In the morning, Ren Yi's letter said that he had arrived in Suizhou City. After resting in Suizhou City, he joined forces with Zhang Ying to raise an army to Xiangyang City. At this moment, he must have received Meng Gong's military order, and the two armies were rushing to Zaoyang, and they were even almost at Zaoyang City.

Ren Yi and Zhang Ying's two armies should be considered the closest army to Zhang Jun. If the two armies can arrive in time and the Mongolian army that rushed towards them is really the army of the Xixia people, then with the Zaoyang army, Suizhou army and Xinyang army, Zhang Jun really plans to have a good start before the war and kill and kill with a warm and gentle spirit.

However, he was also worried that Ren Yi and Zhang Ying could not take care of themselves at this time. The 50,000 real Mongolian cavalry elites came from the direction of Xiangyang, and it was difficult to ensure that Ren Yi was not bitten by this group of Mongolian cavalry with a total of 50,000 people.

If you are really bitten, then Zhang Jun will have to rely on himself.

The scout came back very quickly, and the news he brought back made Zhang Jun overjoyed.

The army that came down from the north was indeed not the elite of the Mongols, but the Xixia army stationed in Tangzhou City. The number of people was not too large, only 30,000. The news of this small number of people made Zhang Jun feel sank.

The Zaoyang army has only more than 20,000 people. If they really want to fight with this group of Western Xia people who are greedy for merit, then the tens of thousands of people who left together must divide their troops to escort them to Xiangyang. In this way, his troops under him will probably be even less sufficient.

Zhang Ying and Ren Yi's Suizhou Army and Xinyang Army were about the same number. If the three armies united together and attacked the 30,000 Xixia people, Zhang Jun naturally didn't have to worry too much, but what he was worried was that Ren Yi and Zhang Ying would not be able to come to join the battlefield in time. You must know that they also brought a lot of people. These people were not only the main force of settlement, but also the source of troops in the Jinghu War Zone in the Houjing. They must not be given up.

If Ren Yi and Zhang Ying's two armies could not arrive in time, it would be a bit dangerous if he only relied on the Zaoyang army with less than 20,000 people. If he wanted to eat the fierce 30,000 Xixia army, he would even have to trap him in.

Zhang Jun hesitated for a while and sent two battalions of soldiers to escort more than 40,000 people with their families to speed up their departure. Then he summoned the generals in the army to start discussing the matter. After the tea time, the Zaoyang army, which had less than 20,000 remaining people, began to turn around and return to Zaoyang City.

...

Hua Shan was the ten thousand households of Xixia who were stationed in Tangzhou City, and was one of the five few people in the Xixia who could have accumulated merits to ten thousand households. His 30,000 elite soldiers of Xixia were also the capital he was proud of.

He received the sect king's verbal order at noon. He was ready to lead his troops south to cooperate with the army in the battle of Xiangyang. In just three hours, Changshan had already raised his troops and began to pounce on Zaoyang City, which was closest to Tangzhou City.

He didn't want to be a supporting role, and the ten thousand households were not the end he thought. Chang Shan knew very well that once the army of gentlemen came, his small ten thousand households were nothing among the hundreds of thousands of households. It was too difficult to build some military achievements at that time. There were too many monks and less porridge. Everyone, including him, believed that even if Meng Gong could fight well, no one would think that Meng Gong still had a chance of winning when he was in charge of the army.

Of course, this is also a fact. The Mongols who swept across Europe and Asia did have this confidence.

Now that the army has not arrived, and Tangzhou City is the closest city to the battlefield, Changshan has long been staring at the Song army stationed in Zaoyang. He did not dare to act rashly because of the order of warm-hearted words. Now that Changshan has already given orders, Changshan will naturally not give up this merit that is equivalent to giving away for free.

It was already dark, so even if you were dozens of miles away, you could clearly see the fire that soared into the sky in the direction of Zaoyang City in the distance.

Seeing this scene, Chang Shan felt even more confident. He was not surprised that the Song army was able to get the news that the Mongolian army was about to attack. The Mongolians also knew the clues that Meng Gong showed before the Battle of Xiangyang were also clear. It was just that the Mongolians did not take the Song army seriously and did not take the City of Xiangyang seriously, so they did not take a more radical response.

Zhang Shan was sure that the army with warm mouths could not have arrived so quickly. The only possibility was that the Song army received the news that the Mongolian army was about to attack, and withdrew from the newly captured Zaoyang City in advance, and burned all available materials, grain and houses, including destroying the city walls before withdrew. This was something that the Song army often did in previous battles. The purpose was to prevent the Mongolians from obtaining materials that could be used to attack the city from these abandoned cities.

"The Song people have abandoned the city and fled. Judging from the fire, they must have not burned for long. The Song people must have taken the ordinary people of Zaoyang City away, and they will definitely not go far." Zhang Shan sat down on the war horse, as if he was talking to himself and as if he was analyzing the generals under his command, "I ordered the army to turn around and rush to Xiangyang City, and ordered all the scouts to go out. Once the Song army brigade was discovered, he would immediately alert him with a rocket. He would leave all the Song army lambs."

The Xixia generals behind Changshan responded to the call after hearing the sound.

Military merits represent everything. The fleeing Song army was obviously afraid. This kind of military merit that could not be done with any effort naturally made the generals excited. Of course, in addition to military merits, there were also the gold, silver, treasures, men and women carried by the Song people, all of which were wealth. Tangzhou City had been squeezed out, and the Zaoyang City was particularly important.

Soon the scout came to news and found the traces of the Song people's escape. More than 20,000 troops and tens of thousands of people with their families were also exposed. It was impossible to hide their whereabouts, not to mention that Zhang Jun had never thought about hiding his whereabouts.

Xiangshan looked at the various types of scattered on the official road, including clothes and even weapons, but the smile on his face became even worse. With a command, the 30,000 Xixia troops ignored the basic marching shape and spread their feet and began to desperately chase Zhang Jun and his group along the official road.

The traces are too obvious, and you don’t even need to be considered or searched. You just need to follow the packages scattered all over the ground and follow the footprints.

The scene of Xixia soldiers was so wild, so Chang Shan naturally saw it, but he did not stop it. The Song army brigade, carrying a large number of ordinary people, was absolutely impossible to fight with him, not to mention that he had already figured out that there were only 20,000 newly formed troops in Zaoyang City, not Meng Gong's direct Ningwu army, but a pieced together miscellaneous cards.

Such a group of people is not as large as his, and their morale is not as high as his. They also bring tens of thousands of people who are completely like lambs. If he is the general of the Song army, then the first choice is to escape, the faster the better. What's more, Chang Shan actually hopes that the Song army will overestimate his ability to make some conspiracies.

Facing the 30,000-like wolf-like tiger-like sons, the less than 20,000-plus miscellaneous army, what if there are many tricks or conspiracies? In the face of absolute strength, all conspiracies are false.

Once the more than 20,000 Song troops were taken away, the people of the runaway Song people would truly become lambs. Thinking of this, Changshan couldn't help but lick his lips. He hadn't tasted the fresh Song women for a long time, and did not hear the Song women wailing under him. He felt the heat in his lower abdomen, Changshan instead urged the army to run faster.

It seems that in order to prevent the Xixia people, the remaining infantry were except for the 500 people in the scout camp in Changshan, except for the 500 people in the scout camp, which were cavalry. Of course, it was not just the Xixia people, but also the Jin people and the Song people. The Mongols did not give too many war horses, especially cavalry, to them. The real cavalry belonged to the absolute direct line of the Mongols. Now, the cavalry in the entire Central Plains, except for the less than 300,000 cavalry composed entirely of the Mongols, the total number of cavalry is only 50,000 or 60,000, and these 50,000 and 60,000 cavalry are still scattered among the servant army with a total number of more than one million. This shows that the Mongols strictly control the number of cavalry.

Of course, this may also be related to the fact that war horses are too expensive and difficult to cultivate. Even Mongols who are good at raising horses will not be so easy to cultivate a qualified war horse.

This is also the main reason why Changshan hopes that the Song army in Zaoyang City will stop and use some tricks. If the Song army really wants to escape, even if the tens of thousands of Song people are dragged down, it will be difficult for him to follow the 30,000 Xixia army to catch up with them. If it takes too long, he is worried that if the army in Xiangyang City sends a large army to respond and meet, then the Song army will probably come and bite him back, and he will become a handful of rice that will be lost. This is definitely not what he wants to see.

Soon, the Xixia army, which had already been attacking for a long distance, began to show fatigue. The Xixia army, which was originally rushing, began to fall behind and fall behind. Gradually, it was pulled into a long line on the official road.

Because of his horse, Changshan and other generals naturally ran in the first echelon. In addition to some generals, there were also Changshan's 5,000 personal soldiers. These were the most elite soldiers under Changshan. Their usual treatment was much better than ordinary soldiers, and their discipline and physical fitness were much higher than ordinary Xixia soldiers. In addition to them, there were about one or two thousand Xixia soldiers with better endurance, and the total strength of the first echelon was only about seven or eight thousand.

Then there is the second echelon, which should be considered the largest number of people, with about 20,000 people; the last third echelon should be the elderly, weak, sick and disabled, with only about two or three thousand people.

From this we can see that the 30,000 army of Changshan is indeed considered elite. If it were an ordinary Song army of the same number, it would be normal for the third echelon to have more than 20,000 talents.

A red torch ignited, rendering the entire official road a moving long fire dragon in the city.

At this time, if someone looks down from the sky, he will find that a little further ahead of the fire dragon, at most about fifty miles, a group of fire balls gathered together but were much more messy. Although the speed was not satisfactory, it was much slower than the moving fire dragon. At most one or two hours, the fire dragon would definitely catch up with the fire ball that looked like a dragon ball.

The official road ahead suddenly became narrower and narrower, and the mountains on both sides of the official road were rugged and dense forests.

"General, should you be careful of the Song people setting up an ambush here?" A close general drove his horse to catch up with Jiang Shan and whispered.

"The army was ordered to slow down, and a thousand vanguards passed first, and then the army went in batches to send orders to the waste behind, so that they could speed up and meet up." Xiang Shan was not stupid, and ordered in a deep voice.

Soon the thousand personal soldiers of Changshan passed through the narrow zone without any abnormality. Soon the second group of personal soldiers passed by, but there was still no abnormality. While Changshan was relaxing, he was a little disappointed. Since the Song people did not set up ambush in such a place that was conducive to sneak attacks, they obviously all fled.

"Bang!"

Just as Changshan was about to order the army to speed up through the narrow and short official road to continue chasing the Song army, a crisp sound suddenly came from the dense forest on the right side of the official road, causing Changshan to suddenly stop.

"Enemy attack!"

With the roar of Changshan at the top of his lungs, countless roars suddenly burst out from the dense forests on both sides of the official road. Immediately afterwards, the war drums sounded, and the loud shouts of killing resounded throughout the official road. In the light of torches, Changshan could clearly see that countless blurry black shadows were waving cold swords and rushing down from the dense forests on both sides.

"Range the array, hold on! Stay!"

The Xixia generals around Changshan were frightened and did not panic. They urged the war horse under their crotch to avoid the densely packed arrows, and shouted loudly to comfort the Xixia soldiers who were a little turbulent because of the sudden attack.

As the rain of arrows fell, countless howlings suddenly sounded, and blood splashed everywhere, adding a bit of blood to this dark night.

The first thousand soldiers of the Qianshan army who passed through this narrow official road of only a few dozen feet long were treated the most. Countless sharp arrows rushed down from the dense forest, and most of them were heading towards the thousand Xixia soldiers hanging alone on the other side.

Suddenly, the three Song troops rushed out of the dense forest. The first route rushed towards the thousand Yanshan's personal soldiers hanging outside. The second route rushed directly from both sides of the official road to where Yanshan and others stood, blocking the possibility of Yanshan's rescue of the thousand Yanshan's personal soldiers joining forces; the third route blocked Yanshan's retreat.

The commander of the Zaoyang Army, Zhang Jun, took the lead, waved the spear in his hand and quickly overturned a few Xixia soldiers who were coming up, and led more than 2,000 personal soldiers to attack the Central Army of Changshan.

, let Changshan suddenly stagnate.

"Enemy attack!"

With the roar of Changshan at the top of his lungs, countless roars suddenly burst out from the dense forests on both sides of the official road. Immediately afterwards, the war drums sounded, and the loud shouts of killing resounded throughout the official road. In the light of torches, Changshan could clearly see that countless blurry black shadows were waving cold swords and rushing down from the dense forests on both sides.

"Range the array, hold on! Stay!"

The Xixia generals around Changshan were frightened and did not panic. They urged the war horse under their crotch to avoid the densely packed arrows, and shouted loudly to comfort the Xixia soldiers who were a little turbulent because of the sudden attack.

As the rain of arrows fell, countless howlings suddenly sounded, and blood splashed everywhere, adding a bit of blood to this dark night.

The first thousand soldiers of the Qianshan army who passed through this narrow official road of only a few dozen feet long were treated the most. Countless sharp arrows rushed down from the dense forest, and most of them were heading towards the thousand Xixia soldiers hanging alone on the other side.

Suddenly, the three Song troops rushed out of the dense forest. The first route rushed towards the thousand Yanshan's personal soldiers hanging outside. The second route rushed directly from both sides of the official road to where Yanshan and others stood, blocking the possibility of Yanshan's rescue of the thousand Yanshan's personal soldiers joining forces; the third route blocked Yanshan's retreat.
Chapter completed!