C243

Chapter 243 - Hongzhou City

The hundred thousand people of Shanbei Forbidden Army headed towards the north!

In the morning, the weather was just a bit gloomy. In the morning, it snowed heavily!

In front of him was a patch of greyish fog. He could not see it clearly even from a distance!

The huge army of 100,000 was trekking down arduously!

It was only until late that night that they finally arrived at a Tucheng and rested there! At the borders of the Song Dynasty and Western Xia, Tucheng such as these were everywhere because of the perennial war! Many of the Tucheng's were fortifications that were once stationed with army, but later on they were abandoned in the war! Some of the Tucheng s were buildings left behind by the Tang Dynasty. Regarding their history, even the local people did not know it clearly!

Outside, the cold wind was howling. The soldiers were huddled together, warming themselves with each other's warmth! However, the soldiers weren't depressed at all. They just wanted to hurry to Western Xia and get into the war as soon as possible! They yearned for war, they yearned for war, this army was completely different from the army of Song Dynasty! If it was the army of the Song Dynasty back then, then the soldiers would only serve as soldiers, and that was only passing by, they would definitely not go to the Western Xia for such a long time, and they would not have the guts to enter the Western Xia for such a long time! But now, this army had faith that they would be invincible. They believed that as long as they entered the Western Xia, they would be able to conquer that country and would be able to return all the humiliation to them!

The next morning, the army continued to advance through the snow.

The Shaanxi was too desolate, there were no roads in many places! There were places that looked like flat snow, but once the soldiers stepped on it, they would immediately cave in! So these places were deep ditches! Once the soldiers collapsed, it was almost impossible to survive! Li Xianzhong had already ordered the First Army to begin their battle!

On this night, according to the data reported by the First Army, more than three hundred of them had died in the scouting process!

Li Xianzhong clenched his teeth, and kept all the information into a book! This was the first group of people to be sacrificed during the northern expedition!

On the third day, they arrived at the Dingfang army! This was the Western Xia and Song Dynasty's border region! There was a thousand plus Song Army stationed here, when these Song Army saw their own army arrive, they were exceptionally excited! Immediately, Li Xianzhong ordered the army to follow the Shanbei Forbidden Army to the north, conquering Western Xia!

On the fourth day, a hundred thousand Shanbei Forbidden Army camped in the wilderness!

On the fifth day and the sixteenth day of the first month, they arrived at the Western Xia Province's border, the He Lan Yuan!

This Helan Plains had two fortresses. Li Xianzhong's huge army of a hundred thousand rushed over like a flood, and in less than two hours, both fortresses were captured. Not a single enemy could escape!

"Marshal!" "An army has appeared behind us!" At this moment, the commander of the Third Army, Mo Biao, came to report.

"Oh?" Li Xianzhong was slightly stunned!

But he was not very anxious, the army that appeared from behind must be the Song Dynasty's army! Could it be that Tsinghua Army had already caught up from behind?

He had guessed correctly!

In less than an hour, an army of 50,000 men had arrived! Different from Li Xianzhong's army, this army of fifty thousand was made up of thirty thousand cavalrymen! They were the Tsinghua Army that was being commanded by Liu Qi!

Other than Tsinghua Army, there was an army closely following behind him. It was the Managed that Zhao Chen had personally led! Curved End and Yu Yunwen followed Zhao Chen up the mountain and arrived here!

"His Majesty is here! Your Majesty has come personally! "

"Quick, greet His Majesty!"

"His Majesty has personally come to the Western Xia! We must not retreat from his personal attack! "

A moment later, the news spread across the entire Shanbei Forbidden Army!

All of the Shanbei Forbidden Army soldiers were stunned in joy. Countless Shanbei Forbidden Army soldiers knelt on the ground to welcome Zhao Chen's arrival! The army had abolished kneeling for many years already, and in Zhao Chen's opinion, this was a type of "bad habit", but this kind of "bad habit" could not be completely corrected! Because many generals in the military were more or less indulging such 'bad habits', they allowed the soldiers to kneel before the emperor whenever they saw him!

Zhao Chen rode Ye Juetian's jade lion horse and walked forward. He had already arrived in front of the hundred thousand people in Shanbei Forbidden Army and alighted from his horse.

"It's snowing so heavily, get up quickly! Kneeling there, his body frozen! Get up! " Zhao Chen said loudly.

The hundred thousand soldiers of Shanbei Forbidden Army stood up one after another!

"Your Majesty, can we win?" A soldier who was not far from Zhao Chen asked while looking at him with extreme excitement.

"We will definitely win! In front of us, the Western Xia people are too weak to withstand a single blow! They must submit to us, or else our nation will be destroyed! " Zhao Chen said loudly.

When his voice was heard, the warriors of the Shanbei Forbidden Army that were far away let out excited shouts!

"General Li Xianzhong greets Your Majesty!" At this time, Li Xianzhong had already arrived beside Zhao Chen. He knelt in front of Zhao Chen and said.

"There is no need to kneel in the military! "Why are you like this too?" Zhao Chen said as he pulled Li Xianzhong up.

"Your majesty, this is the ceremony of passing down a thousand years! This general will not change! " Li Xianzhong said.

"Forget it!" The soldiers had travelled day and night for a long time. It had been a tiring journey! Find a shelter from the wind and let the soldiers rest for half a day! After that, we will go all the way to the Hongzhou! I will give you all three days, take down the Hongzhou! " Zhao Chen said.

"Yes!" The last general's life! " Li Xianzhong said excitedly.

Hongzhou City was a large city at the border of the Western Xia Province. Its current location was in the western part of Jing Bian County and the eastern part of Dingbai County. A thousand years later, this famous city of Western Xia had long been destroyed, but it was still bustling with life, famous under the heavens! In the hundred year wars of the Northern Song Western Xia, the Western Xia people would often attack the Guan Shan from the Hongzhou, and although the Western Army was strong and prosperous, no one ever dared to attack the Hongzhou from the north!

When Zhao Chen's orders were passed down, all the soldiers below were excited! Everyone, please fight! The army's morale was beyond imagination!

"Although the Hongzhou City is an important town in the Western Xia, I, on the other hand, have sent a huge army of one hundred and sixty thousand to capture it in one fell swoop!" Zhao Chen mounted his horse once again, and pointed to the north.

"The total strength of the Western Xia Army is only about four hundred thousand! Most of their four hundred thousand plus people were near the Xingqing Mansion. Unless it was wartime, the Hongzhou did not have many soldiers! There is no problem at all in conquering the Hongzhou! " Yu Yunwen nodded.

"I can't wait any longer. I want to stand on the walls of Hongzhou City!" Zhao Chen laughed.

The soldiers beside him burst out in laughter! They wanted to hurry on with their journey, but the soldiers were exhausted after not resting for five days. Even though they were in high spirits, they had consumed too much energy. They needed to rest!

Waiting until the afternoon of the sixteenth of the first month, the army continued to move forward, their target reaching the Western Xia Hongzhou Palace!

The road ahead was unusually hard, and the soldiers were even slower!

On the seventeenth of the first month, they were still over seventy kilometers away from Hongzhou City!

On the morning of the 18th of the first month, they continued their journey! On the afternoon of the 18th of the first month, they were not far from Hongzhou City!

At this time, the north was in complete desolation. Outside Hongzhou, it was completely empty, with not a single person in sight!

The weather was too cold. No one came out at this time! At this time, there were no merchants coming and going all over the place!

It was already getting darker. At this time, in Hongzhou City's magistrate court, the place was actually brightly lit!

Countless officials of Hongzhou City had entered the magistrate court!

The magistrate court was brightly lit with red candles and was filled with nobles. In addition to the officials, there were also countless gentry! There were also countless generals sitting there!

Just then, a official dressed in a fourth grade official robe walked over. He sat on the main seat and the gentry below all stood up!

"We pay our respects to the Prefect!"

"Greetings, Lord Ren!"

"Why has the Prefect summoned us here today?"

The gentry s below all spoke up.

This fourth stage official was the Western Palace Chief, Ren Dejing! He was also the former judge of Xi'an Prefecture of Song Dynasty! That day, when the Kaifeng City was broken, the news spread to the northwest region of Guan Shan, Ren Dejing immediately pledged allegiance to the Western Xia people! However, his position was not that high. He was still just a judge! But half a year ago, Ren Dejing managed to establish a relationship with King Jin, and had sent his daughter to the Western Xia Imperial Palace! His daughter was exceptionally beautiful. In just half a year, she had gone from an ordinary concubine to the Western Xia Imperial Concubine! Ren Dejing also rose in power. In a short period of time, he had already become a Prefect of Western Xia Hongzhou!

Ren Dejing was currently feeling full of himself. Looking at the Western Xia gentry below, he really wanted to laugh out loud! As a Chinese, he had only been in the Western Xia for five years, and was now on the side of the Prefect! In time, if his daughter could become the empress, his status would be even higher! If his daughter was able to give birth to the Dragon Children of the Western Xia, he might be able to enter the imperial court and make himself the prime minister! Naturally, he did not know how "illustrious" his reputation was in history. He, a mere Chinese, had come to Xicha, and without spending a single soldier, he had almost split Xicha apart, causing Xicha to be unable to recover from its setback! He, a Chinese person, was finally able to become the "King Chu" of the Western Xia, which could be considered as leaving a heavy mark in history!

Of course, he was still a Prefect, so he was already very satisfied!

"The reason I have invited everyone here today is to introduce a great general of the imperial court!" Ren Dejing laughed.

"A great general of the imperial court?"

"Over the recent period of time, the imperial court has sent an army of thirty thousand over! However, the main general has never come. Could it be the main general of the thirty thousand strong army? "

"It should be so!"

The gentry s below were all discussing amongst themselves. It was at this time that a high-ranking officer walked up from behind them! This high-ranking officer was around 30 years old. She was extremely tall, and her face was covered with a beard. She was extremely ugly, but her eyes were gleaming. She was clearly not an ordinary person!

"So it's General Li Siyi!" gentry below had already recognized the identity of the high-ranking officer, and immediately said.

"This is General Li Siyi, the mighty general of the imperial court. He has come to the Hongzhou on the orders of His Majesty to protect the entire imperial palace!" Ren Dejing pointed to the great general and laughed.

"We pay our respects to General Li!" The Western Xia gentry s below all bowed!

Many gentry knew that this Li Siyi's identity was not simple! His surname was Li, and this Li was the national Western Xia's surname. It could be seen that he was a descendant of the Western Xia Imperial Family! Of course, this "Li" of the Western Xia was different from the "Li" of the Central Plains! The Western Xia was a country formed by the Party member back then. When they were in the Tang Dynasty, their party was also known as the Party's Xiang Qiang. The Party member had a total of eight surnames, the largest of them being Tuoba! When they were in Tang Dynasty, Party member Tuoba Chi had joined the Tang Dynasty and was given the surname Li! When the end of the Tang Dynasty's history arrived, Tuoba Si, the leader of the various tribes, was once again bestowed the surname Li, and was bestowed the title "Duke of Xia"! Therefore, the Party member was later established as a country with the name of "Xia", and their royal family also took the surname "Li" as the surname! In truth, they were the standard people from the north-west, from another race!

"There is no need to be courteous, everyone! From today onwards, I will have everyone in the Hongzhou and all of you will be depending on me! " Li Siyi's gaze swept across these people, and nodded!

"Men, bring me all the fine wine and fine dishes!" Ren Dejing laughed.

Following his orders, countless servants and maids placed the food and wine on the tables of the gentry! Since it was Ren Dejing washing Li Siyi's dust today, it was naturally incomparably lively!

"I'm a soldier. You can't drink too much of this wine!" Ren Dejing toasted, and after Li Siyi drank a cup, he said.

"Good!" General Li strictly abided by military discipline, I, Ren, admire! I have lived in the northwest for more than thirty years. Back then, I have also seen the Western Army, and none of the generals of the Western Army could compare to General Li! " Ren Dejing said.

"Humph!" Chinese, Western Army! "It's just a weak and incompetent thing, how can it be compared with the men of our Party!" Li Siyi said.

"General Li is right!" The Chinese are despicable, and are indeed far inferior to the Party member! " Ren Dejing seemed to have forgotten his Chinese identity, his expression did not change as he replied.

"Lord Ren, you offered a plan this time, saying that the little Chinese emperor of the Guan Shan is surrounded by the Dajin and the Jiangnan Emperor Jianyan and is in imminent danger, allowing us to take the opportunity to go south and seize the lands of the Guan Shan! His Majesty was praising him! If we can get enough benefits this time, His Majesty will never forget your contribution! " Li Siyi said.

"AHH!" Really? Thank you, your majesty! " Ren Dejing was already kneeling on the ground, kowtowing towards the direction of the Western Xia Capital's Xingqing Mansion.

"A mere Chinese can't even withstand a single blow! This time I am only the vanguard, supervising in the Hongzhou, our party's army of hundreds of thousands has already gathered in different places, ready to head south at any time! However, we still have to wait for the old man's return! " Li Siyi said.

"Prince Jin went to the Guan Shan and handed in the letter of credence. I wonder if the little emperor of the Han Dynasty would agree?" Ren Dejing said.

"He will definitely agree! He's not a fool! If he is willing to give up the Guan Shan's Great Clan, we can spare his life for now! At that time we don't have to use any army, we can have half a Guan Shan! " Li Siyi said excitedly.