Zhao Xu has always been aspiring to expand his territory, but it has not been effective, so he is inevitably depressed. He usually summoned the assistant ministers and felt that there were few talents. At this time, under the instigation of Li Xian and Wang Gui, he had a little ambition. Pu Zongmeng came out of the class and said, "Most talents were ruined by Sima Guang's evil sayings." Zhao Xu stared at him for a long time before saying, "Does Pu Zongmeng look down on Sima Guang? In the past, I ordered Sima Guang to enter the Privy Council, and Sima Guang repeatedly refused. Since I ascended the throne, only this person has been like this. Even if I ordered him to take the position, he may not be willing to do it." Pu Zongmeng couldn't help but blushed and bowed his head to go back to the class.

Zhao Xu asked again: "Is it reliable to ask Li Xian to attack Xia again?" Wang Gui replied immediately: "In the past, it was blocked due to insufficient military use. Now it is ready to issue 5 million yuan of money, which must be enough, so that there will be no such troubles as before." Wang Anli continued: "Does not rely on money, it must be converted into money, and money must be converted into millet. It will take a long time to turn. Where can we achieve success in a short while?"

Zhao Xu was unwilling to give up and said, "Li Xian reported that he had prepared well. He was a eunuch and knew whether he was prepared or not, but did you have any intention? I heard that the Tang Dynasty pacified Huai. "Cai, only Pei Du's plan and suggestions were the same as Emperor Xianzong of Tang. Now this proposal is not from the ministers, but from the eunuch, but I feel very shameful." Wang Anli said, "The Tang Dynasty tried to pacify the three prefectures in Huaixi. Pei Du in the court had Pei Du, and Li Guangyan and Li Yan, but they still tried their best to do their best. After more than a year of fighting, they were able to pacify. Now the Western Xia is very powerful, not Huai, and Cai can be compared. Li Xian and the generals are not as talented as the two Lis. I am afraid they cannot achieve Your Majesty's wish." Zhao Xu did not answer and immediately retreated to the court.

Soon, Zhao Xu received another memorial from Zhong Yan. He suggested that the opinions of Yanzhou governor Shen Kuo be adopted to build a city in Hengshan to overlook and pacify the Western Xia and take the situation of Jianling. He also advocated advancing from Yinzhou. After reading it, Zhao Xu ordered the chief officer Xu Xi and the eunuch Li Shunju to go to the Fuyan meeting. Wang Anli advised him again: "Xu Xi is a master of great talent and is afraid that he will mislead the country's affairs, so please choose another person!" Zhao Xu refused to listen.

Xu Xi's courtesy name was Dezhan and was from Fenning, Hongzhou. When he was young, he had ambition and read a lot of books and traveled around the world. He sought to know about the changes in ancient and modern times, and his customs were pros and cons, and he did not participate in the imperial examination. In the early years of Xining, Wang Anshi promulgated new laws, and Xu Xi wrote twenty-four chapters of "Governance Strategy" to contribute. At that time, Lu Huiqing was in charge of the editorial board of the Jingyi Bureau, and Xu Xi then served as a review as a commoner.

When Zhao Xu saw the policy argument he had introduced, he said, "Xu Xi said that the court used the classics and techniques to transform scholars, and had achieved 80% of the tenth effects. Among these people, half of them were sneak attacking others' words and did not seek spiritual communication. This is correct, and he was responsible for taking the exam in a useful place." Then he was appointed as the governor of Zhen'an Army and the Zhongshuhu House studied and studied official business.

A year later, Zhao Xu summoned him to the other party, asked for a long time, and said, "I have ignored many people, but I have never seen anyone like you." He was promoted to the Prince Zhongyun, and the court proofreader, and the censor Lixing. Xu Xi was rough and brave, and liked to talk about military affairs. He always said that the northwest could be taken with his fingers, and hated the generals and the generals. Lu Huiqing strongly recommended him, so he was appointed to the higher level.

Li Shunju went to see Wang Gui and said, "In ancient times, it was said that there were many houses in the suburbs, which was a shame for the ministers. Now the ministers are in the country, and the border affairs belong to the two internal officials. The internal officials only offer sacrifices to the ban court to clean up. Can they be appointed as generals?" Wang Gui felt ashamed,

He had no choice but to speak casually and say the word "borrowing more". Zhao Xu then ordered Xu Xi and the eunuch Li Shunju to go and take care of the matter, and ordered General Shen Kuo to obey and Li Ji to be responsible for supplying food and wages.

Li Shunju and Xu Xi and others soon arrived in Fuyan. When they saw Zhong Yan, Zhong Yan wanted to build Hengshan, and Xu Xi wanted to build Yongle City, but the two were in dispute.

Xu Xi said: "Although Yinzhou is located in Mingtang River and the intersection of Wuding River, the southeast of the old city has been swallowed by water, and its northwest is blocked by natural barriers, which is not as dangerous as Yongle. I believe that Yin, Xia and Youzhou will recover one day after a hundred years of destruction. This is indeed a merit of the border generals. The morale of the army has increased by a hundred times. However, if a state is established here, the complicated costs of the beginning of the establishment of the state are immeasurable. If you choose to know, build a fortress. Although it is not a state in name, it actually owns its territory. The old frontiers are still in the heart. You have discussed with Shen Kuo to build six forts. Nine hundred steps around the Dazhai and five hundred steps around the Dazhai; two hundred steps around the Dazhai and one hundred steps around the small forts, and two hundred steps around the Dazhai and 230,000 steps around the Dazhai and 203,000 steps around the Dazhai and 200,000 steps around the small forts."

At that time, the two of them were sent to the capital. Zhao Xu followed Xi's advice alone, so he ordered Xu Xi to lead the generals to Yongle, and ordered Shen Kuo to respond. Shaanxi Transportation Judgment, which was completed in 14 days. Zhao Xu gave the name Yinchuan Village, and left the deputy general manager Qu Zhen to stay in the custody of Fuyan. Xu Xi, Shen Kuo and others all returned to Mizhi. At the same time, Zhao Xu urged Li Xian to return to Beijing to discuss matters and gave him silver and silk. He appointed him as the Jingyuan Road General Pacification Commander, 300 guards, and was granted three hundred guards, and was granted the title of Jingfu Palace Envoy, and Wu Xinjun stayed behind. He also ordered him to return to Xihe Road to serve and control the generals of Qinfeng Road.

This Yinchuan Village is twenty-five miles away from the old Yinzhou. It is a key place for Yinzhou. The Xia people must fight for. Zhong Yan believed that this place was surrounded by mountains and had no water, and if it violated the military scourge, it should not be built. Zhao Xu did not listen, but instead ordered Xu Xi to lead the Han soldiers and civilians to build the construction. The reason why Zhong Yan opposed Xu Xi's opinion was because he was afraid that the Xia people would fight for it, and the Song army would not be easy to be conservative. As expected, within ten days, thousands of Western Xia cavalry went straight to the new city. Xu Xi hurried to inspect. Someone advised Xu Xi: "It is not your duty to just be ordered to assist in building the city and resisting the enemy." Xu Xi did not obey, and walked forward with Li Shunju and Li Ji, while Shen Kuo guarded Mizhi alone.

When Zhong Yan returned from the capital, he still said that building Yongle City was not a strategy. Xu Xi was angry and changed color and said to Zhong Yan, "Aren't you afraid of death? You dare to make a mistake in success." Zhong Yan said, "Building a city will lead to failure, and if you lose, you will die. Resisting the control of superiors will also die. Therefore, he died, and finally he was stronger than losing the country's army and fell into a foreign country." Seeing that Zhong Yan refused to surrender, Xu Xi reported that Zhong Yan was domineering and had different opinions. Soon, Zhao Xu ordered Zhong Yan to stay in Yanzhou.

There were 200,000 troops stationed in the north of Jingyuan in Xixia. When they heard that the Song army was building a city wall in Yongle, they came to compete for the border. More than ten people were reported by the horse. Xu Xi and others didn't believe it and said, "If they come in large quantities, this is the day for me to make meritorious and gain wealth." Xu Xi hurried to Yongle City, and general Gao Yongheng said, "The city is small and there are few people, and there is no water, so they cannot be stationed." Xu Xi thought this was depressed and wanted to kill Gao Yongheng. Fortunately, everyone pleaded for mercy, so Xu Xi detained him in Yanzhou Prison.

When Xu Xi and his party arrived in Yongle, Xixia had already arrived. Gao Yongheng's brother, Gao Yongneng, said: "There are many people coming to the Hulu. I ask to take advantage of his formation that he has not yet formed. We will cover up and kill him immediately, and maybe we can win." Xu Xi shouted angrily: "Do you know?"

I know, the king will not be in line without drums!"

Soon, more and more Western Xia were divided into formations and attacked the city of Yongle in turn. Qu Zhen lined up the enemy on the waterfront, and the battle with the Xixia army was not good, and the soldiers were all afraid. Qu Zhen reported to Xu Xi: "Now everyone's fighting spirit has been shaken. If you can't fight, you will be defeated. Please withdraw your troops and enter the city. Think of good plans again." Xu Xi said, "As a general, why don't you fight when you meet the enemy, and retreat first?"

Xu Xi then ordered 70,000 people to line up at the city. After a while, the Xia people led the iron cavalry across the river. Qu Zhen said to Xu Xi again: "The Iron Harrier Army came from the Western Xia, and it is not easy to underestimate the enemy. We can take advantage of him to attack him and kill him. If we cross the river and get the land, we will clash east and west, no one dares to take responsibility." Xu Xi said shamelessly: "The king is upright and there is no need for any tricks."

Qu Zhen retreated back to the formation and couldn't help but sigh: "Our army has no place to die!" As he said that, the front team of Xia soldiers had crossed the river to the east. Qu Zhen hurriedly led his troops to stop him, and was a little unable to withstand it. When all the cavalry of the Western Xia crossed the river, they galloped across the river, as if they had entered a state of no one. Qu Zhen's subordinates were already scared and there was no place to fight, so they immediately retreated and trampled on the back formation.

At this time, Xu Xi was also in a hurry. In a hurry, he no longer cared about the king's army, slapped his horse's head and ran back to the city. Li Shunju, Li Ji and others were unable to do so, and rushed back one after another. The Western Xia army took advantage of the victory to pursue the Song army, and the Song army was defeated, and almost half of them died and abandoned their armor and fled south.

Qu Zhen and the remaining soldiers entered the city. The cliff was steep and narrow. The cavalry went up the cliff and lost 8,000 war horses. The Western Xia army tried their best to siege the city, surrounding it for several turns, and occupied the water camp to cut off the water source in the city. Xu Xi was helpless, but relied on Qu Zhen's soldiers to fight bloody battles day and night, barely defended it. However, there was no water in the city, so he dug wells everywhere, but had not seen the spring water yet. Most of the soldiers were already thirsty and extremely critical. There were drowning ghosts, frozen and starved ghosts, and thirsty ghosts.

Shen Kuo and Li Xian's reinforcements were also blocked by the Xia army. Zhong Yan resented Xu Xi and refused to send out reinforcements. Poor the soldiers in Yinchuan Village almost became turtles in jars and fish in cauldrons. Just in the middle of the night, heavy rain suddenly came, and the Xia people attacked the city quickly. The Song soldiers were unable to resist and the city was captured. Xu Xi, Li Shunju, Li Ji, Gao Yongneng and others all died in the chaos. Only Qu Zhen abandoned his armor and barefoot, and was able to escape. Hundreds of people died in the generals, soldiers and husbands were killed, and more than 200,000 were killed.

When the Xia army chased Mizhi, Shen Kuo hurriedly closed the door and finally did not fall. The Xia army failed to attack several times and then retreated. Since Xining, it has used troops to Xixixia many times. All they have obtained were Jialu, Wubao, Yihe, Mizhi, Futu and Saimen. The soldiers have suffered numerous casualties. Money, grain, silver and silk are even more invincible. The Yongle battle suffered more losses.

Zhao Xu received the defeat and couldn't help but feel mourning. He even refused to eat and posthumously awarded Xu Xi and other officials. Zhao Xu demoted Shen Kuo to the deputy envoy of the Junzhou Tuanjiao, placed him in Suizhou, and surrendered Qu Zhen to the imperial city envoy. Zhao Xu had no intention of expedition to the west since then. Whenever he was in the court, he sighed: "Wang Anli once advised me not to use troops, and Lu Gongzhu also stated the hardships of the border people. I misbelieve in the border ministers and caused this." Li Xian, who was determined to build a general's mansion in Lanzhou, did not want to sit and watch the fall of Yongle City, but he killed Xu Xi and also harmed himself. Because after the Xia people captured Yongle City, they sent heavy troops to invade Lanzhou.
Chapter completed!