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The goal of the third Western Expedition was to destroy Xixia. In order to achieve this goal, Li Hu's decision was to first take over Hexi and Shuofang, cut off the Dangxiang people's way out of the Hexi war, and surround the Dangxiang people in Helan Mountain... The so-called Shuofang is from Lanzhou to Qilian Mountain, which is the area controlled by the Xixia Zhuo and the Nanjian Army Office.

Capturing Hexi and Shuofang and forming a pincer attack on Helan Mountain have always been an important strategy for the Song Dynasty to fight against Xia. The Song Dynasty has worked hard for decades and spent countless efforts, but it has not succeeded in the end.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Song Dynasty, the actual control area of ​​its northwestern border did not go out of Qinzhou in the west or Lingzhou in the north. It was in this case that the Dangxiang Qiang, which rose in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, took advantage of its similarity to Tubo culture and consistent beliefs to attract the Tubo races in Ling and Xiazhou, eliminated the largest Panluo branch tribe, annexed the Ganzhou Uighurs, and occupied the entire Hexi Corridor.

The Dangxiang people became stronger and their ambitions became greater. The Song Dynasty was worried that they would not be able to control the border, so they decided to reduce the vassal states. The Dangxiang people broke with the Song Dynasty.

Li Yuanhao was established and the Western Xia was determined to expand. In the reign of Emperor Renzong, Li Yuanhao led a large army to invade Shaanxi, and the battle between Song and Xia broke out.

After many wars, Li Yuanhao did not achieve his goal, so he found another way to attack Song. At this time, he turned his attention to the Tubo tribes in the southern part of Qilian Mountain, and the first goal was to station the Tubo tribes in the Hehuang River Basin.

At the same time, in order to strategically form a clamping attack against the Western Xia, the Song Dynasty decided to conquer the northwest Tubo, and the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia once again competed.

In the second year of Jing? in the Western Xia (1035 AD), Li Yuanhao attacked Tubo? Si? (called the Tongka Kingdom by Tibetans), and the road was as strong as the end of Mazhen Mountain, building a city in Fanchuan. In the seventh year of Jia? (1062 AD), the people of Xixia launched another attack on Hehuang, defeating Dong Jin, the leader of Si?, and building a city on the side of the ancient Wei. If the Hehuang road was opened by the Xixia people, Shaanxi would be attacked from both sides and the Song Dynasty would be in danger.

The attacks on Hehuang by the people of Xixia attracted the attention of the Song Dynasty. Emperor Renzong, the imperial dynasty, and the Shaanxi Qinfeng Road Strait Envoy once wrote a letter to the court, believing that if the people of Xixia occupy Hehuang, it would be difficult for Shaanxi to protect him. Wang Anshi's son Wang? When talking about the Taohe incident, he also believed that once the northwest foreigners surrendered to Xixia, it would inevitably lead to constant border troubles.

In order to relieve the threat from Xixia, Emperor Shenzong established

With ambition to revitalize the foundation of his ancestors, he decided to launch a war in the northwest and the Xihe River opened its borders. In the first year of Xining (1068 AD), Wang Shao submitted a "Pingrong Plan" and proposed a strategy of recapturing the He (now Linxia, ​​Gansu), Huang (now Ledu South, Qinghai), etc., recruiting the Qiang people along the borders, and isolating the Western Xia. This strategy follows the current situation and is deeply the emperor's wishes. Therefore, under the leadership of Wang Anshi, all obstacles were eliminated and the prelude to the Xihe River opened its borders.

In the fifth year of Xining (1073 AD), Wang Shao opened the westward with the Guweizhai as his base and established Xihe Road. In the sixth year, the newly built Xihe Road had one army of Xi, He, Tao, Min, Die, Dang and Tongyuan. In the fourth year of Yuanfeng (1081 AD), Li Xian took Lanzhou and restored Huizhou. The Song and Xia countries confronted each other across the Yellow River.

Zhao Ji ascended the throne and became emperor. Later, Cai Jing recommended Tong Guan and Wang Hou launched the war in the northwest, and successively recovered the four prefectures of Huang, Shan, Kuo, Tao and Jishi Army, destroyed the "Si" and took all Hengshan and Tiandu Mountain, forming a certain strategic advantage for Xixia.

However, this good situation was ruined by Tong Guan himself. In the first year of Xuanhe (1119 AD), Tong Guan ordered Liu Fa to lead a 100,000 army across the Hebei region, attack Shuofang, and try to occupy Hexi. Richard and Liu Fa fought decisively in Tong'an, Liu Fa was defeated, and the 100,000 army was wiped out, and Liu Fa was killed.

The Battle of Shuofang, also known as the Battle of Tong'an, was a heavy defeat to the Northwest Army.

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Starting from the launch of the Xihe border by Emperor Shenzong, Wang Shao, Li Xian (this was a eunuch. Tong Guan followed him to the northwest to fight and learned some skills). Tong Guan and other two generations of people, still failed to capture Hexi and realize their strategic intention of defeating the Xixia people. This shows the difficulty of attacking Hexi.

Li Hu and the heads of the Privy Council had already anticipated the difficulties of this battle as early as Chang'an, so Dong Xiaochou publicly declared in the meeting hall that the Battle of Hexi was a life-and-death battle, and it was the decisive battle of the third Western Expedition. If this battle was won, the third Western Expedition was basically sure to win.

Li Hu is not familiar with the northwest, and Dong Xiaochou and Luo Qinghan are the same, but Liu Yanqing and Zhe Keqiu are familiar with it. However, these two people have been fighting in Linyan Road and Fengsanzhou in Linfu for many years, and they dare not point fingers at the war in the Hehuang area. In comparison, the Xihe Road Strategic Envoy Yao Pingzhong is currently the most familiar general in the Northwest Army. He and his father Yao Gu are the Northwest generals who grew up in Hehuang.

After Yang Keshi explained the difficulties of attacking Hexi in detail, Li Hu felt it was very difficult and immediately asked Yao Pingzhong.

"The general ordered Yelu Mage to attack from Wulahai City, ordered Luo to station troops from Linyan Road to threaten, and ordered Zhe to go north from Huanqing Road to try to force the Dangxiang people to transfer troops from Hexi and Shuofang to support. I don't think it will be possible to achieve the goal." Yao Pingzhong pointed to Helan Mountain on the map. "The general launched a western expedition two years ago and surrounded Xingqing Prefecture. At that time, the Dangxiang people were intentionally withdrawn from Hexi. Now the Dangxiang people are not strong, and their ally, the Juzhen people were severely injured in Daibei and could not get strong support. In this case, our army attacked with all our might. The Dangxiang people will inevitably give up Henan, Pingxia and Hanhai Road, and defend Xingqing Prefecture based on the dangers of Helan Mountain and the Yellow River. At the same time, they will protect Hexi with heavy troops so that they can retreat across the line when they are absolutely necessary. In this way, they can still maintain the survival place of Hexi and have a chance to make a comeback."

Yao Pingzhong looked at Li Hu and asked carefully: "Master General, if you were Li Qianshun or Li Cha, if you saw the Hu Lie Army rushing towards Helan Mountain with great momentum, would you still fight the Hu Lie Army?"

Of course, there will be no decisive battle. The Dangxiang people suffered a great defeat during the decisive battle last year, and this time they will not repeat the same mistakes. If

If you defeat it again, you will never have a day to turn over.

"I must defend myself and leave a way out for myself at the same time." Li Hu thought for a while and said, "This is the home of the Dangxiang people, the home of Tubo and Tatars. As long as they keep the army, they can fully utilize their advantages. Even if they give up Helan Mountain, they still have a chance to turn defeat into victory."

Li Hu's finger slowly passed through the Hexi Corridor on the map. "The terrain here is very good. There is a snow-capped mountain in the south and a desert in the north. There is only such a corridor. When we traveled a long distance, we were not only stranded by people and horses, but also extremely difficult to transport food and grass. If we are not careful, we will suffer the disaster of defeat."

Li Hu looked up at Yang Keshi and Yao Pingzhong, "So, the Battle of Hexi is the key to the Western Expedition. We must take down Liangzhou, capture Xiliang Prefecture, and cut off the retreat of the Dangxiang people, otherwise the Western Expedition will definitely return in vain."

"Master, the Dangxiang people will also think of what we want." Yao Pingzhong said without hesitation, "I can say with certainty that as long as Yelu Mage and Luo, the two envoys, launched an attack in the east, the Dangxiang people must draw troops from Helan Mountain to strengthen the defense of Liangzhou and ensure the safety of Hexi."

"Xingqing Prefecture is only more than 400 miles away from Gaizhu City and Xiliang Prefecture. The horse army gallops day and night and can reach it within two days." Yang Keshi also looked helpless, "As long as the army in the east attacks, the Dangxiang people will definitely strengthen the defense of Hexi and Shuofang, and there is no way to fight the battle in Hexi."

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Li Hu thought for a long time and asked, "You two think, how should we fight the battle in Hexi?"

"If you want to attack Hexi, you must first take down Shuofang. If you want to take down Shuofang, you must first seize control of Karochuan." Yao Pingzhong smiled bitterly, "In order to seize control of Karochuan, our Northwest people launched three attacks, and paid a heavy price for this."

Li Hu knew about this. The heavy price Yao Pingzhong mentioned was actually the Battle of Tong'an, which was the battle when Liu Fa's entire army was wiped out.

The Battle of Tong'an can be said to be a nightmare for the people of the Northwest.

"Master, look, this is Karochuan." Yao Pingzhong pushed the map in front of Li Hu.

Karochuan is the Zhuanglang River in Gansu. It originates from Qiulongling and flows into the Yellow River from north to south. Lanzhou is at the intersection of the two rivers. On the east bank of Karochuan, from south to north, there are Gaizhu City, Tong'an City, and then to north is Xiliang Prefecture. Taking control of Karochuan and capturing Gaizhu City and Tong'an City is equivalent to getting Shuofang, and the gate of the Hexi Corridor is also opened.

Tong Guan presided over the Northwest military for about twenty years, with the goal of controlling Karochuan and then completing the strategic intention of attacking Helan Mountain from the east and west.

Before Tong Guan presented the "Pingyan Ce", the main target of attack was Hehuang, regaining the lost territory of Xihe, destroying Tubo, and preparing to cross the Hebei to attack Shuofang. After presenting the "Pingyan Ce", in order to implement the plan of the Northern Expedition, he urgently needed to realize the strategy of attacking Helan Mountain, so he immediately launched a Western Expedition, trying to capture Shuofang, cut off the connection between Helan Mountain and Hexi, and then formed a clamp-shaped offensive against the Western Xia, allowing the Song Dynasty to escape from the dilemma of fighting on both sides, and thus concentrated its efforts to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

Tong Guan's first Western Expedition was launched in the fifth year of Zhenghe (1115 AD), and the attack strategy was to attack Karochuan from east to west.

At that time, Liu Fa led 150,000 infantry and cavalry out of Huangzhou (now the Ledu area in the northwest of Lanzhou, Gansu), and attacked Shuofang from the left wing, while Qin Feng led Liu Zhongwu led 50,000 troops out of Huizhou (now the Jingyuan City area in the northeast of Lanzhou, Gansu), and crossed the Yellow River from the right wing to attack Shuofang. Tong Guan led the central army in Lanzhou and launched an attack towards Gaizhu City to restrain Zhuo and the Southern Army Division and support the left and right routes.

Liu Zhongwu's mission on the right wing was mainly to attack feints, forcing the Dangxiang people to divide their troops to meet the enemy, so he built a city and guarded the enemy after he reached Qingshui River by the Yellow River.

Liu Fa was the main attacker on the left wing. He crossed the Haoshui River and headed straight to Qiuliuling. He fought with the right wing army between the ancient Gu Long City and the Dangxiang people, beheaded 3,000 levels, and then built Zhenwu City on the basis of the ancient Gu Long City, and later changed its name to Zhenwu Army.
Chapter completed!