"In response to the official reports, the humble minister Yanqing heard that last year, Li Renzhong was granted the title of King of Pu by the current Emperor of Xia, Li Qianshun."

"Well!" Zhao Ji nodded and said, "I already know this."

Everyone around Zhao Guanjia admires Zhao Guanjia's "knowing oneself and knowing the enemy".

"During the battle between the two armies, Li Renzhong, the king of Pu in Western Xia, came to inspect the city. I wonder why he wore such a conspicuous four-clawed python robe?" Liu Yanying muttered in a low voice:

"Hehe... Isn't he willing to be my Song Army's target?"

Zhao Ji smiled slightly and said: "I guess he must have thought that our army could not break through the Xijing City of Xia Kingdom that he was guarding for a while!"

"And I sent two generals, Yue and Liu, to parade the captive Brother Richard down their city to show the public. This greatly reduced the morale of the Xia army guarding the city and shook their morale."

"Li Renzhong wore the four-clawed python robe given to him by Emperor Xia Li Qianshun and came to patrol the city in order to boost morale and stabilize the morale of the army."

All the surrounding generals praised him: "The officials know things like gods, and I admire them greatly..."

In fact, Li Renzhong came to inspect the city, just as Zhao Ji had guessed.

Originally, Li Renzhong, who was in Xipingfu City, Xijing, sent troops out of the city more than ten days ago to surround and annihilate the Song army led by Han Shizhong with Brother Li Cha. He originally thought that he could annihilate the invading Song army from a long distance in one fell swoop with that battle, but he

Unexpectedly, the strongest cavalry force in Xixia, the Iron Harrier Army, and its auxiliary troops, the Jingzhou Soldiers and Horses, were annihilated by the Song Army...

After that, Li Renzhong, who was cautious in character, adopted the strategy of holding on to Xiping Fucheng in Xijing. He wanted to use the strategy of holding on to the city and never going out to fight to defeat the Song army that had penetrated deep outside Xijing city.

However, what shocked Li Renzhong was that in these short ten days, more and more Song troops gathered outside Xijing City. Now looking at the size of the Song army's camp outside the city, it should be between 150,000 and 60,000. Public.

There are only 8,000 Xia troops in his city. Even though he urgently recruited 6,000 young and strong men in the city, the total number of old and new soldiers in the city is only 14,000.

What worries Li Renzhong the most is that because a dozen days ago, the Iron Kites and Jingzhou troops under Richard's brother were almost completely wiped out by the Song army. He has already predicted that the current Xia Emperor Li Qianshun will really be unable to mobilize any more troops like the Iron Kites. Tens of thousands of troops, including Jingzhou soldiers and horses, marched long distances to relieve the siege of Xijing.

Li Renzhong, the Prince of Pu, who was a member of the Xia Kingdom's clan, knew very well that the current army that the Xia Emperor could really directly mobilize was only a mere 30,000 capital guards.

The guard army of Xingqing Mansion, the capital of Daxia Kingdom, consists of three parts, namely:

One is the "Six Squads in the Imperial Garden" composed of 5,000 people;

The second is the "Iron Cavalry (i.e. Iron Kites)" composed of 3,000 armored cavalry who are best at riding, shooting and fighting;

Third, the combat effectiveness of the 25,000-strong Beijing Guards Army is much worse than that of the "Six Squadrons in the Imperial Garden", and even worse than the Iron Harrier Army commanded by King Richard of Jin. Far.

However, the current emperor of Xia sent his younger brother Richard to personally lead three thousand iron kite troops and tens of thousands of Jingzhou troops to aid Xijing, but they were defeated outside Xijing city and almost the entire army was wiped out.

Does the current Emperor of Xia, Li Qianshun, really dare to divide the remaining 30,000 soldiers and horses from the "Six Squadrons in the Imperial Garden" and the Beijing Su Guards among the guards of the capital to relieve the siege of Xijing? ?

Li Renzhong racked his brains to think, and he dared to conclude that Xia Emperor Li Qianshun could not take the risk of sending out the only 30,000 troops guarding the capital.

"If I, King Renzhong, can send a messenger from the city to the capital, I will also urge Emperor Xia to never use the six squadrons in the imperial garden and the guards in the capital that are the only ones left in Xingfu in the capital to protect the royal family. We have divided our forces and come to aid Xijing. This is absolutely impossible!"

Li Renzhong was thinking, would there be other reinforcements coming to relieve the siege of Xijing?

Today, the Daxia Kingdom still has about 500,000 local troops. However, when the Xia army is completely at a disadvantage, are they willing to risk the annihilation of the entire army and the destruction of the entire clan to send troops to help?

"Haha..." Li Renzhong thought about this and smiled bitterly.

There are about 500,000 standing armies in various places in Daxia, mainly tribal soldiers, divided into left and right armies.

Each compartment is divided into six local military regions. Each region has a military supervisory department responsible for commanding the army in the region. The highest officer of each military supervisory department, who is served by the leader of each tribe, directs the army. They all have military numbers imitated in the Song Dynasty. Because of their tribes Most of them retain their nomadic life, and each army has a fixed station.

In addition to the military commander, each military supervisory department also has a deputy military commander and a military supervisor, who are served by tribal nobles. There are commanders, coaches and other officials under them, who are served by party members or Han people respectively...

Even though he had a profound knowledge of Sinology, he would lament with indignation: There were a total of twelve military supervisory departments in both sides of Daxia, that is, twelve tribes of different sizes. They were too similar to those in the middle and late Tang Dynasty who controlled military, political and financial power in various places.

The festival was accomplished.

Every time Li Renzhong thought about this, he would get a headache.

Therefore, he knew that the twelve military supervisory divisions distributed throughout Daxia were twelve tribes of different sizes. When the Central Army of Daxia fought against foreign enemies and was at an advantage, they would all send troops upon hearing the news.

Follow the battle in order to gain more benefits after winning.

If the central army of Daxia suffered a huge defeat, how many of the twelve tribes would be able to send troops? It must be very few.

Many years ago, the Song Dynasty's five-pronged army invaded Xia. On the surface, the Song army had the upper hand. At that time, the late emperor was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. He sent an imperial envoy with a silver medal (similar to the tiger talisman used by the Han Dynasty to mobilize troops) in an emergency.

Recruited some local soldiers and horses from the twelve military supervisory departments and quickly attacked to resist the Song army...

However, what is the result?

Although the local armies of each tribe accepted the silver medals, indicating that they would absolutely obey the emperor's orders and obey the conscription, the soldiers and horses they sent to the front line were marching as slowly as a tortoise...

However, after they learned that the Central Army of Daxia had defeated one of the main forces of the Song army, they quickly marched in an attempt to carve up and capture the Song army's supplies, hoping to capture Song prisoners as slaves...

Three years ago, Liu Fa, the famous general of the Song Dynasty, led his troops to march straight into the Xia Kingdom. After penetrating into the Xia Kingdom, the local soldiers and horses of all ethnic groups in Xixia also maintained a wait-and-see attitude...

At that time, if Brother Richard had not personally led the Iron Harrier Army and tens of thousands of auxiliary soldiers in the capital to defeat Liu Fa's tribe and beheaded Liu Fa, then the siege of Xijing City might have been staged three years in advance.

Li Renzhong saw it clearly:

Many of the "six squads in the imperial garden" in the capital city of Daxia were composed of local military generals from various tribes and powerful disciples who were good at riding and shooting. They were used to serve as the emperor's bodyguards. What was their purpose?

In fact, the "Six Banzhi in the Imperial Garden" is a hostage army, using the powerful children of various tribes as "hostages" in front of the imperial court to control the leaders and powerful people of each tribe.

However, the effect this can have is that the tribes and powerful people will not rebel openly. It is harder to force them to fight against the wind that may destroy the tribes and families than to climb to the sky.

Emperor Xia never trusted the tribal soldiers in various parts of the country...

The local armies would not take the huge risk of tribe extinction and send troops to fight to the death for Emperor Xia...

Through past events, Li Renzhong saw through the various local tribal armies in Daxia. On the surface, he respected the Emperor of Xia, but in the interior, they focused on protecting the interests of his own tribe.

The Daxia Kingdom was not like the Song Dynasty of the Han Dynasty, which was deeply influenced by Confucianism. All the Xiang armies were very loyal and patriotic.

…

During the ten days when Xijing City in Daxia was besieged by the Song army, Li Renzhong visited the city every day to inspect and encourage the soldiers to defend the city...

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! He also personally led troops to supervise the forcibly recruited civilians every day. He first demolished some houses in the city to collect stones, and then moved the stones to strengthen the four walls of Xijing. Small pieces of stone

They were transported to the city walls and piled up in preparation for the Song enemies using ladders and other siege equipment to attack the city, so that the invading Song generals could be stoned to death...

Of course, Li Renzhong, who was both wise and brave, had not thought that although he defended the Xijing city, what would he do if the enemy army of the Song Dynasty did not attack outside the city?

Now, the food stored in the city is only enough to feed the soldiers and civilians for two months.

To defend a city, one must be prepared for a protracted war.

Therefore, Li Renzhong ordered that all the food from merchants and residents in the city must be forced into the army, and then uniformly distributed to the soldiers and civilians: in order to preserve the combat effectiveness of the city's soldiers, the soldiers will temporarily provide meals normally, and the daily food supply for civilians will be reduced.

to one-third.

Early this morning, Li Renzhong put on soft armor next to his body and a four-clawed python robe on the outside to show the respect and majesty of King Pu's status and to facilitate the exercise of his power to expropriate food from the people in the city.

He commanded the officials, government officials and soldiers in the city to forcibly "mobilize grain" from all merchants and ordinary people's homes in the city, so that the Xia army could hold on to Xijing for several months or even a year and a half, and prepare grain and grass reserves in advance.

Li Renzhong first asked his officials, government servants and soldiers to post notices in the city, and beat gongs and shouted along the streets to announce the military order to requisition grain:

"Xijing City is the place where our Great Xia Kingdom thrives. There is absolutely no way it will be attacked and fallen by the enemies of the Song Dynasty. Our officers and men are sworn to defend Xijing City to the death, which is also to protect the lives and fortunes of your merchants and common people!"

"We ask the soldiers and civilians in the city to unite as one and fight against the enemies of the Song Dynasty."

"The military order of King Pu is now passed down: All the grain stored in the shops and people's homes in the city will be collected and stored in the army, and then uniformly distributed according to the population every day. The number of livestock and poultry raised by the people's homes must also be registered. From today on, no private use is allowed.

The slaughtered animals will belong to our army, but they will be temporarily kept in your homes to be used as a reward for the soldiers who risk their lives to defend themselves."

"Those who disobey this order will be killed without mercy..."

"Those who disobey this order will be killed without mercy..."

The people in Xipingfu City were furious...

They knew that the Xijing City of Daxia where they lived was now surrounded by nearly 200,000 Song troops.

If your family's food is forcibly confiscated by the Xia army, although the Xia army will distribute it uniformly, after the battle to defend the city has been going on for a long time and the army rations are used up, how can the Xia army distribute food to the people? Then I

Wouldn’t their family members have to starve to death?!

In Daxia Xijing City, a small number of brave people resisted the military's forced food requisition...

As a result, they were ordered by Pu Wang Li Renzhong to drag them to the street with the most people and behead them in public as a warning to others...

There were nearly a hundred people who resisted the grain requisition in the city. After they were beheaded in public in the street, the people in the city were so frightened that they had to obediently hand over all their grain to the Xia army's grain requisition team...

Li Renzhong's Danxiang national bodyguard asked: "Why not kill all the tens of thousands of Han people in the city to reduce the food distributed to them every day?"

Li Renzhong sighed: "Among the Han people in Xijing, some are descendants of Han people who settled here in the late Tang Dynasty, some are Han people who have surrendered long ago, and some are Han slaves captured in the Xia-Song wars a few years ago; alas!

This king really cannot bear to kill him!"

"Alas!" Li Renzhong sighed: "If we wait until five or six months later, when food in Xijing City is exhausted, I will never be merciful again!

The guard officer asked in confusion: "Isn't it true that the tens of thousands of Han people in the city shared the food for half a year in vain?"

Li Renzhong's eyes were blood red, he looked into the distance, his voice was hoarse, and he sneered sinisterly:

"Haha... When that time comes, I will definitely imitate Zhang Xun who defended the city for a year during the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty!"

"Huh?!" the guard of the Party clan asked in confusion: "Who is Zhang Xun? He can actually hold on to the city for a year! Then he must have a lot of military rations in the city he is guarding, right?"

Li Renzhong had a sinister look on his face and reprimanded him in a cold voice: "Ask less, do more! What I say today is not allowed to be spread outside!"

"I obey the order, little man!" the guard did not dare to say any more.

If Li Renzhong had not been besieged in the city by the Song army for more than ten days, which made him so depressed, he would never have said such words that were contrary to benevolence and justice and inhumane.
To be continued...