Li Yanqing led nine thousand troops to march northwest. The Song army built a special military road on Hengshan South Road, connecting Hukou Gorge and Hulushui Canyon, which was more than 700 miles apart, but was closer than from Jingzhao City to Hulushui Canyon.

Four days later, the army arrived at Xiaoguan. Xiaoguan was an important pass to defend against the northern nomadic peoples in the Han Dynasty and even the Sui and Tang Dynasties. It was also the northern throat pass of the Guanzhong Plain. The mountains were high and the valleys were deep and the terrain was dangerous. The Song army had been stationed here for 1,000 troops. For several years, the Song army and the Western Xia army relied on the Grand Canyon to confront each other. The two sides did not interfere with each other and were still peaceful.

When Li Yanqing's army arrived at Xiaoguan, Wang Gui's 7,000 cavalry and Liu Qi's 15,000 infantry had arrived at Xiaoguan a day earlier. The vast baggage team and Li Yanqing arrived at Xiaoguan almost at the same time. Zhong Shidao established a logistics camp outside the North City of Jingzhao, with 5,000 chassis troops and 5,000 donkey carts, which could transport food to Yan'an Prefecture at any time.

Before the troops moved, the food and grass came first. On the first day after Li Yanqing arrived in Jingzhao City, he ordered the logistics camp to transport 20,000 stones of grain and 30,000 dan of grass to Xiaoguan, as well as firearms, weapons, tincture oil and other supplies.

When Li Yanqing's army arrived at Xiaoguan, he happened to meet a team of supplies heading north from another official road. Each large cart was pulled by two donkeys. The large cart was full of heavy food and weapons, and the fodder was slightly better. The donkey carts that pulled grain and military funds squeaked, and the two small donkeys foamed at the mouth and dragged forward like they were struggling their lives. However, the man who drove the cart was not pity and waved his whip from time to time to suck it hard on the donkey's back.

Li Yanqing's army first entered Xiaoguan, Wang Gui, Liu Qi and Zhang Bao, the commander guarding Xiaoguan, came to greet Li Yanqing.

"How is the situation in the scout camp?" Li Yanqing asked.

This is the news that Li Yanqing is most concerned about. If the scout camp fails, it means that the Song army will pay a heavy price. Whether it is rewarded or cut off the village, it is a dangerous pass that can only be opened by one man.

Wang Gui smiled and said, "How could those two guys live up to the trust of the governor? They took down both the reward and the trench village."

"It's really amazing!"

Li Yanqing praised and asked again: "Does the Xixia army have a counterattack now?"

Wang Gui glanced at Liu Qi, and Liu Qi hurriedly said, "I haven't heard of it yet, but the beacon has already reached Xingqing Prefecture. It is estimated that the top leaders of Xixia are also busy dispatching troops to reinforce Weizhou."

Li Yanqing smiled faintly, "Don't underestimate the Xixia army. They should have a pre-plan. The Xixia army is insufficient, but the conventional army is insufficient. Li Gan still has 80,000 Iron Harrier Cavalry, which is the foundation of the Xixia army."

"What the governor means is that Xixia will use iron kites?"

Li Yanqing shook his head, "Not yet. If we take Weizhou, we will continue to march northward, and Brother Richard's army has not yet withdrawn in time, then the Iron Harrier will come out."

Speaking of this, Li Yanqing said to Wang Gui again: "Yan Qing has too few troops, and I am worried that there will be losses. You can lead the cavalry to the Tachou Village immediately!"

"Abide by the orders!"

Wang Gui bowed and turned to mobilize the cavalry.

Li Yanqing said to Liu Qi again: "The infantry is a little later. When the baggage is complete, I will set off. I will bring 7,000 soldiers from Yan'an Prefecture and my own two thousand troops. The march is quite hard. You can arrange their food and accommodation first."

Liu Qi nodded and went out of seclusion to arrange food and accommodation for the army.

Li Yanqing then followed Zhang Bao to the top of Xiaoguan City. Xiaoguan is actually part of the Great Wall. This section of the Great Wall was built during the Sui Dynasty. After hundreds of years, it lacked repairs and seemed to be damaged. After the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty implemented the fort strategy and built countless strong forts. Some of the Great Walls belonging to the forts were also repaired. Xiaoguan is one of the extremely important forts. It can be said that it is the bridgehead for Qinfeng Road to defend against Xixia.

"Do you have anything to say?" Li Yanqing asked with a smile. He had just discovered that Zhang Bao wanted to speak a few times but stopped.

Zhang Bao nodded, walked up to the city and pointed to the broken city wall two miles away and said, "People, please look at the city wall. There is outer Xiaoguan there. It was originally one with our inner Xiaoguan, but now it has been completely damaged."

"Why is it damaged?" Li Yanqing asked.

Zhang Bao sighed, "That year, Tong Guan's entire army was destroyed, and the Song army's defense retreated to Huaide County, 300 miles away. Both Xiaoguan inside and outside were completely destroyed by the Xixia army. The inner and outer Xiaoguan here was rebuilt at the beginning of the year, but the financial resources were insufficient, so Xiaoguan could not continue to be repaired. Xiaoguan was integrated inside and outside, and if one of them was missing, the defense would be reduced by half. Because of this, he had not had a good sleep for half of this matter."

Li Yanqing smiled slightly, "Shuai Zhong deliberately left half of it for me to repair it!"

After saying that, Li Yanqing couldn't help laughing. Zhang Bao was overjoyed and hurriedly said, "We two thousand soldiers in Xiaoguan are counting on Taibao to take care of us."

"No problem, I will fix it before the end of the year, but General Zhang will still call me the Dutong! It's a bit strange to call Taibao."

"I thank the general for his kindness!"

This time, Li Yanqing was in charge of the northwest and was granted a series of official positions, including two real power officials. The three-way strategic system was the highest government official of the three-way northwest. The other Western Army commander was the highest military commander of the Northwest Army. Li Yanqing did not correct Zhang Jun in Yan'an Prefecture to call him the commander. When he arrived at Xiaoguan, he corrected Zhang Bao, who was at a lower level, which was obviously winning over Zhang Bao.

Although Zhang Bao is just a commander, he has a deep experience. He has been in the frontier for twenty years and has rich experience. Moreover, he is only forty years old now, and he is a general who Li Yanqing is preparing to promote.

As for Zhang Jun, although he was one of the four generals of the Southern Song Dynasty, staying on Shaanxi Road would become his own constraints, and he would be suppressed by himself and unable to display his talents. It is in the interests of both parties to transfer him to Hedong or Central Plains.

.........

Li Yanqing's counter-defense and offense did not follow the common sense, which really disrupted the strategic deployment of Xixia. When the beacon from Weizhou reached Xingqing Prefecture, Li Ganshun did not sleep for almost a night.

When the Western Xia was the strongest, it was called a 500,000 army. Of course, there was a lot of water here. The Western Xia was full of soldiers. Moreover, the imperial court only provided a small number of weapons to soldiers. The rest of the armor and bows had to be prepared by themselves. They also had to bring their own food rations when fighting on the front line, let alone any salary.

Once a war breaks out, the whole nation needs to mobilize. Of course, it is easy to gather 500,000 troops, but in fact the standing army will not exceed 200,000. Otherwise, even if Xixia has a land in Hetao, it will be difficult for it to support so many troops.

The Xixia and the Jin Kingdom fought for the Xijing of Liao Kingdom the year before yesterday. The two sides fought fiercely, and eventually ended with a disastrous defeat of Xixia. The Xixia army lost nearly 100,000 people and was forced to surrender to the Jin Kingdom.

Before his vitality could recover, Xixia saw the opportunity for the Song Dynasty to retreat step by step. Li Gan sent 80,000 troops to attack Xihe Road, and another 20,000 troops to restrain Shaanxi Road.

Now, in addition to the 80,000 Iron Harrier Guards guards guarding Xingqing Prefecture, there are only 20,000 troops from various military departments. Li Ganshun really has no army to assist Weizhou.

As soon as dawn was dawn, Li Gan urgently summoned important officials to Xingqing Palace to discuss countermeasures.

The official system of the Western Xia model Tang and Song dynasties, and at the same time there was a set of Dangxiang clan official positions. Many ministers often held two positions, such as the Shangshu Ling Cao Jing, who was the prime minister of the Western Xia and also served as the position of the ancestor of the Dangxiang clan, second only to Ning Ling and Moning Ling, who was the emperor of the Western Xia, and Moning Ling was the royal kings.

However, Li Ganshun advocated Han culture. Under his rule, the official positions of the Tang and Song dynasties had become real power, while the official positions of the Dangxiang were turned into empty positions.

"Your Majesty, I heard that Li Yanqing was appointed as the strategic envoy of the Northwest Third Route, and Li Yanqing was eager to break the deadlock. This county was obviously his method of counter-defense and attacking. Although I had to admit that this trick was very clever, it also had weaknesses."

The first person to speak was Shangshu Ling Cao Jing. Li Ganshun was excited and asked quickly: "What weakness?"

"The weakness of the Song army is also insufficient troops. As long as we capture Fengxiang Mansion from the west, we can cut off Li Yanqing's retreat. If he does not want the entire army to be destroyed, he must withdraw his troops immediately, so that the Song army will retreat without fighting."

"Well said!"

Li Ganshun praised and said to Li Renzhong, Minister of Rites: "Renzhong, tell me."

Li Renzhong was also a royal family. He was named King Pu and served as the Minister of Rites. He was Li Ganshun's confidant. He stood up and bowed and said, "I basically agree with the opinion of Cao Prime Minister, but I am worried that there are only 4,000 troops in Weizhou. Can I defend Weizhou? If Weizhou is lost and Xipingzhou is empty, Li Yanqing will go north."

Li Renzhong's concern was also Li Ganshun's concern. Li Ganshun sighed and said, "I also want to increase troops in Weizhou, but there is no extra army in my hands unless it is temporarily recruited, but this damage is too great, or I will use the Guards, but it seems that I am not yet in that way, which makes me very embarrassed!"

"Then transfer 20,000 troops from Xiazhou to Weizhou!" Cao Jing obviously had a plan.

"What should I do on the other side of Shaanxi Road? Will the Song army go north from Shaanxi Road to Xiazhou again?" Li Ganshun pointed to the core question.

Cao Jian smiled slightly, "Have Your Majesty forgotten the Jin Kingdom? At this time, Wanyan Xie would never stand by and watch, and he would definitely make a fuss. I believe that the Song army on Shaanxi Road will do its best to defend against the Jin army and dare not go north."
Chapter completed!