At night, the city of Xiazhou was already very quiet, and the streets and alleys were pitch black. The Song army still implemented strict daytime martial law and evening curfew. Only at noon would the people in the city go out to receive relief. The food in the hands of the people in the city had long been plundered by Sa Jin's subordinates, and they could only rely on the Song army's relief to maintain their survival.

The martial law and curfew of the Song army were not ineffective. Just yesterday, the soldiers patrolling the Song army found that someone had gathered secretly, so they notified the scout camp. Zhang Shun led more than a thousand soldiers to take on the deadly soldiers organization that was preparing to cooperate with the Western Xia army to seize the city and killed more than 120 Western Xia desperadoes.

Li Yanqing stood at the city and stared at the West. The Western Xia reinforcements had already appeared one hundred and fifty miles away, with an army of 30,000. This was a huge temptation and test for Li Yanqing.

"Wen Jin, do you think we should pull the army out and fight the Xixia army quickly?" Li Yanqing asked in a deep voice as he looked at the West.

Wen Jin is Liu Qi. At this time, Liu Qi was standing beside Li Yanqing. He has been following Li Yanqing for many years and has known Li Yanqing's character well. He knew that Li Yanqing's question was not a whim. It must have been carefully considered and weighed the pros and cons.

Liu Qi thought for a while and laughed: "How much does the governor know about this reinforcement army?"

"I know that 20,000 cavalry are elite troops of the Western Xia army. They are incorporated into the Iron Harrier Army and are good at cavalry and shooting. The other 10,000 infantry are also following the tribal troops of the Tuoba tribe. They are stationed in Xingqing Prefecture, equipped with elite troops and brave combat. It can be said that these 30,000 troops are the key capital of the Western Xia army."

"Does the general think we can defeat them?"

Li Yanqing nodded slowly, "We also have brave soldiers and firearms that are far more than the enemy's army. Moreover, our army is three times higher than that. I think we can fight the enemy."

After pausing, Li Yanqing said in a deep voice: "If we want to destroy Xixia, we must pass this level and we must defeat them upright."

"Since the president has made a decision, let's fight!"

Li Yanqing's eyes suddenly became deeper, and he slowly said, "Let the Jingzhao Army rise completely in this battle!"

Dark clouds were low, and strong winds blew by, sand and dust covered the sky and sun. In the wilderness west of Xiazhou City, 100,000 Song troops took over and waited patiently for the arrival of the Western Xia army.

The 30,000 Xixia troops were already seven miles away, and the front line of the Song army could be seen from afar. Brother Richard never expected that the Song army would line up to fight. This was also the result he hoped most. He did not bring siege weapons at all and could not attack the city. He just came to try his luck. If the Song army was willing to fight with him, it would be of course the best. But if the Song army was unwilling to fight, he could only quickly withdraw from the Gobi Desert to Xingqing Prefecture and would not waste time here.

It seems that he is lucky. Li Yanqing is willing to set up a formation to fight with him. This is a rare strategic decision made by the Song army. Generally, the Song army uses strategy or surprise troops. This kind of head-on battle has never happened since Di Qing.

Brother Richard said to more than a dozen generals around him: "The Song army has an army of 100,000, three times that of us. This is their advantage. We must avoid their advantage and cannot fight one-on-one with them."

Brother Richard pointed his sword at the Song army and continued: "The Song army in Jingzhao has changed since last year. If I was not wrong, the 100,000 troops should be the Longxiang Guard and the Huben Guard as the two wings. Li Yanqing's direct guards are in the middle, and our 30,000 troops cannot be divided into three routes to fight them. We must concentrate our forces to attack Li Yanqing's central army. As long as Li Yanqing's central army is defeated, the two wings will retreat without fighting. So my tactic is to 10,000 infantry garrison and then respond, while 20,000 cavalry will attack the central army. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I understand!" the generals shouted in unison.

"The cavalry lined up and the army entered the decisive battle zone!"

The 30,000 Xixia troops began to line up and maintain an attack at any time, walking towards the Song army's front step by step. The so-called decisive battle zone is three miles away from the opponent. This distance is the best distance for the cavalry to launch an offensive, which allows the cavalry to fully rush.

Li Yanqing looked at the Xixia army in the distance. He said to the left and right deputy governor Wang Gui and Liu Qi: "The enemy's troops are effective and they will definitely not fight with us in full swing. They will definitely concentrate their forces to attack the central army. According to my prior arrangement, after the enemy cavalry and the central army meet in close contact, the left and right wing spearmen will gather together to trap the Western Xia cavalry, and the cavalry will assault the opponent's infantry, and everything will be under my command of the flag leader."

"Abide by the order!"

Wang Gui and Liu Qi each bowed and rushed to their respective teams.

The 100,000 army fought a decisive battle with the Western Xia army. On the surface, there were not many central troops, only 20,000 people, and 40,000 people on the left and right wings. In fact, Li Yanqing studied Richard's tactics thoroughly.

Richard's tactics are also the usual tactics of the Western Xia Army and the Liao and Jin Army. They use the advantages of cavalry to attack the enemy's central army, directly defeating the opponent's central army, causing the collapse of the entire army. The countless failures of the Song army were defeated by the enemy's tactics.

But today Li Yanqing's central army is different. They are not ordinary infantry, including heavy armored infantry, firearms, scouts, and crossbow camps. The Light God Arm Crossbow Army has 10,000 people.

Li Yanqing's musketeers were mainly used to deal with heavy armored cavalry. Today, they would not need to fight, and the divine arm crossbow could shoot through the enemy's armor.

At this time, the enemy had entered the war zone, and Li Yanqing immediately ordered: "Prepare the Divine Arm Crossbow!"

The commander Zhang Wei, who was commanding the Divine Arm Crossbow Army, immediately shouted, "Design the formation!"

The 10,000 Shen's Arm Army had actually set up a battle. They were divided into three rows, each row of three thousand people, of which the first row was 4,000, and three sections of shooting were used to attack the enemy.

In the distance, Brother Richard could see clearly that the Song army's arrow formation was as expected. This was also the traditional tactic of the Song army. Although the Western Xia cavalry would suffer losses, the Song army must have been defeated.

Brother Richard is very clear about the power of the Song army's divine arm crossbow. Generally, leather armor can be shot through at 150 steps, while armor can be shot through at 100 steps. However, if the cavalry holds a shield, it can only shoot through the shield and leather armor within 60 steps. If it is armor, it can be shot through forty steps. Forty steps, the distance between the cavalry is like a rush. The Song army's crossbow soldiers actually only have one chance to shoot.

This is the main reason why the Song army defeated positions with Xixia in the Hundred Years War and won more than they won. The Song army was also constantly pursuing advanced weapons. The invention of the Divine Arm Crossbow was to replace the original weakness of the military crossbow that could not penetrate the enemy's armor.

If it is an ordinary Western Xia cavalry, it mainly uses leather armor and has fewer shields. The Divine Arm Crossbow can indeed exert great power, but today it is different. Today, it is the Western Xia cavalry wearing armor and a strong shield. What's the use of your Divine Arm Crossbow?

Brother Richard sneered and sternly said: "Go on!"

"Dong!Dong!Dong!" The fierce war drum sounded.

The 20,000 Western Xia cavalry shouted and began to start suddenly. The horses galloped, killing the Song army three miles away like a raft of mountains and seas. The dust covered the sky and the sun, the earth was trembling, and soon ran to a mile.

Zhang Wei yelled loudly, "Rise the crossbow!"

The drum sounded, and ten thousand crossbow soldiers raised their divine arm crossbows. Unfortunately, the distance was too far and blocked by dust. Brother Richard could not see the details. If he got closer, he would be shocked. The first section of the three sections, the four thousand crossbow soldiers used different crossbow arrows. Each crossbow arrow was tied to a thin tube two-inch long. This is the burst arrow that the Jingzhao Song Army had just entered the war for the first time this year.

This kind of gunpowder-bound arrow was found in the Song Dynasty a hundred years ago, but the gunpowder explosion was not enough at that time, so it could only be used to set fire. Its power is not very strong. Now, the gunpowder arrow is renamed the explosion arrow. It has powerful explosive power and has strong lethality, which can blow up shields and disperse iron armor.

The armor of the Xixia army was not made of a whole piece of pig iron. Xixia did not have so many strategic resources. Instead, it was made of pig iron into fish scale-like thin slices, and then stringed them with ropes and draped them on the shoulders, chest, back and abdomen. It belongs to a kind of light armor.
Chapter completed!