Unable to discuss with everyone, Li Zhizong ordered to continue to move south. The army marched south in a mighty way. About eighty miles away, and had already seen Lingzhou City from afar. Li Zhizong immediately ordered the army to be stationed on the spot.

The armies of each tribe carried their own camel transport teams, carrying various military supplies and supplies. They all issued orders. Everyone started camping one after another. Soon, big tents appeared in the wilderness like mushrooms after the rain. Almost all the troops were in their own formations, and there was no unified camping standard. Some surrounded the fences, some surrounded them with spears, some dug trenches and buried their antlers, and some simply had nothing.

There were only 5,000 troops directly under the jurisdiction of Li Zhizong, and he also needed to build a central camp. After thinking for a long time, Li Zhizong finally decided to build a central camp between the Tuoba tribe and the Xifeng tribe.

That night, Li Zhizong was writing a letter to Emperor Li Ganshun in the big tent. At this time, soldiers outside the door reported, "You are the commander of the capital, and there are envoys from the Song army coming to issue a letter of war!"

Li Zhizong quickly stopped writing and asked, "Where are the people?"

"It's the book of arrows that shoots, the man has gone."

"Where is the letter?"

The soldiers walked into the tent and presented a letter to Li Zhizong. Li Zhizong quickly opened the letter and read it for a moment. It was a handwritten letter written by Li Yanqing to him. There is a translation of the Xixia language below, which will allow the two armies to fight tomorrow, and each side will send out tens of thousands of people.

Li Zhizong quickly asked the general Li Duo to come in. Li Duo is also a member of the Tuoba tribe. His full name is Tuoba Li Duo. He has participated in many battles with the Song army and its Jin soldiers and has rich combat experience.

"I am looking for a low-ranking position?" Li Duo asked with a bow.

Li Zhizong handed him the letter of war, "Li Yanqing just sent it, take a look!"

Li Duo took the Zhan Shu and read it, and smiled and said, "Is this Li Yanqing trying to test our reality?"

"Is that a fight or no fight?"

"Of course it's a war, we also want to know the background of the Song army."

"But do you think it's better to send an army?"

Li Duo hesitated for a moment. He was from the Tuoba tribe, so of course he didn't want the Tuoba tribe to go. "This task can be handed over to the Xifeng tribe!"

Li Zhizong also felt that it was inappropriate. This arrangement would make Xifeng's ministry dissatisfied. He thought about it and said, "Then let's hang it out! It depends on which ministry volunteered."

Li Zhizong immediately sent a letter of war to various tribes. Soon, Tuoba Wei walked in and bowed and said, "Du Shuai, challenge tomorrow, let our Tuoba tribe try!"

Li Zhizong was overjoyed. He was worthy of being a young man and was indeed competitive.

"Okay, I will bring you the generals to cheer you up!"

Generally speaking, a big battle cannot be decided by one battle. It is often divided into countless small battles, such as the battle proposed by Li Yanqing to the Western Xia army.

This is a bit like a swordsman's appointment. Both sides clearly define the location and number of participants. Generally speaking, they will not go back on their word. It is meaningless to deliberately make fraud. It is not meaningful to commit fraud, but instead they cannot achieve the purpose of the appointment.

The battle between the two parties mainly wants to test the other party's strength. The other party wants to achieve this goal. Of course, it is not ruled out that some troops want to show weakness and deliberately send weak brigades. However, the consequences of doing so are serious and will affect the morale of the main army.

So this requires the main general to weigh the trade-offs, but generally speaking, they are seeking victory, and both sides send out relatively powerful troops.

Li Yanqing sent out the Longxiang Army, but he personally led 10,000 troops to fight. For this reason, he specially dispatched three thousand heavy armored infantry.

But Li Yanqing's real purpose was to test the effectiveness of musket soldiers in actual combat. This army was composed of five thousand cavalry, one thousand crossbow soldiers, one thousand musket soldiers and three thousand heavy armored infantry.

The sky emitted thousands of rays of light, and the east wind blew vigorously. Li Yanqing stood in front of the army. He was tall and majestic. The red helmet was floating in the wind under the glittering golden helmet. The corners of his mouth were stretched into a straight line. His face was as cold and hard as granite, full of perseverance and fearlessness.

"Woo" the loud and high-pitched horn sounded in the wilderness. This was the order of the Song army to set off. Other horn sounded also, and the rumbling drums sounded, one by one, one by one, one by one, one by one, and one by one, directly into people's hearts, urging people to move forward and make the soldiers feel proud.

"Advance, march towards the Xixia people!"

He shouted, and the war horses jumped out. Behind him, the battle flag of the Jingzhao Army was rolled in the wind, and teams of Song soldiers rose up and drove straight to the battlefield twenty miles away. Li Yanqing rode his horse, his white mane flew, and the cavalry on both sides roared forward, like the surging waves running towards the coast.

The weather is clear today, with a few light clouds floating in the sky, and the wind is turning into a west wind, and the wind speed is increasing.

Ten thousand Xixia troops stood quietly on a wide hill. At the highest point of the hill, the Xixia chief general Tuoba Wei, who was riding a high horse, stared at the distance.

Suddenly, he saw a wriggling black line about five miles away, slowly moving towards this side, becoming clearer and clearer, the flags turned into clouds, the armor was cold, "Five thousand cavalry! He only had five thousand cavalry at most." Tuoba Wei felt a sense of pride in his heart. He would definitely win this battle.

The Song army stopped three miles away, and a thousand crossbowmen quickly took their seats. Behind the crossbowmen were a thousand musketeers.

The integrated square array of the three thousand heavy armored infantry is located in the middle, standing in two rows, like two thick iron walls. Behind the team are five thousand light cavalry, holding a spear in their hands, and a knife with a saddle and a hip-studded sword. The war horse has already felt the murderous aura that is coming, and is roaring down and ready for battle at any time.

When the two armies faced each other, both sides were accumulating strength and waiting to go. This Western Xia cavalry with 10,000 people was the mail army of the Tuoba tribe, and it was also the most elite army that the Tuoba tribe had maintained for nearly a hundred years. Almost all of them were told by father and son and would not be easily taken out.

This time, the Western Xia faced life and death, and the great chief Tuoba Wanli handed over this mail army that had been passed down for a hundred years to his son Tuoba Wei.

The strength of this army lies in its armor. They are not like the Iron Harrier Scouts, but are mostly worn with chain mail, with exquisite workmanship and fine details, and ordinary swords are hard to cut into.

In addition, the Western Xia sword-casting skills are also high, so the main equipment of this army is long swords and spears, but this army also has weaknesses, that is, it is not very flexible, and is relatively weak when riding and shooting on horseback. They mainly rely on powerful impact and fierce fierce fighting to defeat the enemy.

The Song army's cavalry was different. They were well-equipped, with crossbows, iron armor and spears. They were the three magic weapons of the Song army, especially the Northwest Army of the Song Dynasty. They were brave and good at fighting, tall and mighty, and equipped with sharp firearms. They have always been the main force in the Song Dynasty's battle with foreign races.

A strong wind blew across the open battlefield, and the flying sandstorm dyed the sky gray, but the two armies still did not move. The commander of Xixia Tuoba Wei was waiting, waiting for the Song cavalry to come out first to weaken the power of the Song army's crossbow arrows.

The chief general of the Song army, Li Yanqing, was also waiting, using Henggu's unchanging patience. The Western Xia army first came out, and used strong crossbows and muskets to weaken the enemy's vitality. The two generals seemed to be competing for patience to see who could wait until the end.

Time passed by little by little, moment by moment, and half an hour passed. Li Yanqing's pupils had become a straight line, but there was no expression on his rock-hard face, and his expression was grim. Without orders, Song Jun was not allowed to move.

Tuoba Wei finally shook a little. He seemed to hear Xifeng Beiye's ridicule, as if he was mocking his lack of courage. Young is his advantage, and he can be brave and fearless, but young is also his weakness. He does not have enough depth, so he can't calm down in the end.

Finally, his sword slowly raised, and three words popped out from his tight lip line: ‘Strike!’

The Western Xia army, which had the advantage of cavalry, finally attacked first. The sound of the skin drum of the "dong!dong" was shocking. The Western Xia cavalry in a row of 200 people slowly started to form a fifty-row square formation, filled with a huge murderous aura. Each soldier's eyes were dead gray, holding a shield in his left hand and a spear in his right hand, urging his horse to drive towards the Song army step by step, moving faster and faster, holding a long sword high, flashing a cold light in the sun.

At this time, the rapid sound of war drums sounded, and the cavalry began to run, and the speed became faster and faster. The team began to disperse and turned into a huge square formation, but it was not completely dispersed.

This cavalry team fights with two hundred people as a battalion, so no matter how fast the speed is, the formation will not be messy. Only in this way can the cavalry fight in a group after entering the enemy formation.

This is also the speed that Li Yanqing expects. The opponent maintains the formation, which is exactly their living target. Li Yanqing silently calculates the range of the musket. The Western Xia army has reached 250 steps and is about to enter the range of the Song army's musket. Li Yanqing raises his arms and shouts: "Prepare for shooting!"

The commander's order immediately responded, and a thousand muskets were raised, and the soldiers half-kneeled on the ground and aimed at the rushing enemy cavalry.
Chapter completed!