Time brings us back a month ago. The joint attack on Xia was not on a whim, but a conspiracy after a long-term planning. Since all the attention of the Great Xia Empire was focused on the battlefield in the Western Regions, we naturally relaxed our vigilance against the Song and Liao countries. It was not until a few days before the attack of the Song and Liao countries that Wuzang Feixue received a secret report that a large number of soldiers from the Song and Liao countries and the border areas were not on the rise. Wuzang Feixue immediately realized that the big thing was not good and asked all the ministers to discuss it.

The final plan was to actively prepare for war while discussing peace with the two countries; but before the envoys sent to the peace talks set off, the war began. The Song army started from the west from Longxi to Jinning, and the army sent fierce attacks to the Daxia Kingdom in five routes, while the Liao army divided into two routes, and the Eastern Army stationed troops outside the city of Jinzhou, blocking the Andong army of the Daxia Empire outside the pass, and the Western Army set out from Xijin Prefecture to launch a large-scale western expedition. For a while, the Song-Xia and the Song-Liao border areas were full of wars.

In 1086 AD, early autumn; Zhao Xu, the Song Shenzong, who died of grief and anger in history due to the failure to attack Xia, not only did not die due to the butterfly effect of Li Liangzuo, but also ambitiously prepared to destroy the Great Xia Empire; Song Shenzong was not blindly confident, and had been secretly prepared for this battle for decades. Since Taizu founded the Great Song Empire, the demise of Western Xia was the top priority; after Song Shenzong ascended the throne, he even valued a large number of wise ministers such as Wang Anshi to promote reforms. The Song Dynasty is no longer the Song Dynasty for more than ten years.

After Wang Anshi's reform, the treasury of the Song Dynasty was already very full, and the people of the Song Dynasty had already lived a more prosperous and healthy life. In order to prepare for this war, the Song Dynasty also secretly prepared for the war, and compiled 500,000 new troops deep in the Dabie Mountains. At the same time, tens of millions of stones of food, weapons, arrow feathers, and armor were stored in the Guanzhong area. In this battle, Song Shenzong suppressed all the Song Empire.

This time, the Great Song Dynasty of Xia was dispatched in advance, a total of 600,000 troops, including 500,000 new troops and 100,000 elite Western troops. The Song army was mainly infantry, but in order to restrain the Xia army's cavalry combat methods, the Song army equipped many bows and crossbows, which was definitely a killing weapon for the cavalry in the field.

The 600,000 Song army divided into five groups to attack Xia:

The first route was led by Zhang Dunli to command a hundred thousand troops from Longxi to attack Lanzhou, Liangzhou, Huangzhou, Xining Prefecture and other places. The purpose of its combat was to occupy Hehuang and Liangzhou. Hehuang was an important grain production area for the Daxia Empire in the south, and Liangzhou was the main force of the Xia army to return to China. As long as you take these two places, it would be equivalent to breaking the arm of the Daxia Empire.

The second army was led by Zhong Shidao, with a force of 150,000. This army set out from the Zhenrong Army to attack Weizhou and Xiping Prefecture. The purpose of its combat was to cut off the food routes of the Xia army's front line from the rear route, and after attacking Xiping Prefecture, it could directly threaten Xingqing Prefecture, the capital of the Daxia Empire.

The third army was led by Xu Xi, with a force of 150,000. This army set out from Yan'an Prefecture to attack Hongzhou, Youzhou and other places. The purpose was to annihilate the Xia army stationed in the border areas, build cities and camps in this area, and provide materials for the army on the front line. After these strategic goals were achieved, the army would continue to advance westward to participate in the battle to siege Xingqing Prefecture.

The fourth army was led by Liu Changzuo, with a force of 100,000. Here, the army set out from the Ningjin army and attacked Yinzhou, Shizhou, Xiazhou and other places all the way west, and met with the third army in this area.

The fifth army was led by Li Xian, with a total of 100,000 troops. From the Baode army, they attacked Ningbianzhou, Dongshengzhou, Heqing army, Jinsu army, Shuozhou, Wuzhou and other places all the way north, assisting the Liao army in cutting off the connection between the Datong army and the rear of the Daxia Kingdom. The strategic purpose was to capture the western region of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun for the Song Dynasty.

The five armies of the Xia army had clear division of labor and strong troops. As long as they cooperated properly, there would be no problem in sweeping the Daxia Kingdom. In addition to these 600,000 troops, the Song Empire recruited nearly two million civilians to transport food, grass, weapons, and other strategic materials to the front-line army. The living standards of the Song army during this period were just like the US army during World War II. Even the front-line army lived quite well. It is no exaggeration to say that the logistics supply of the Song army was definitely the richest in this era. All of this originated from the strong national strength of the Song Empire.

Although the Song army was mainly infantry, the advancement speed was not slow in one month. Of course, the important reason was that the Xia army lacked military strength and the sudden improper command of the incident caused the Song army to win consecutive battles. In one month, the Great Xia Empire suffered heavy losses, and the border towns were successively lost, and the defense line was retreating. The road from the southeast border to Xiping Prefecture was full of refugees who fled.

In the Political Consultative Hall of Xingqing Prefecture, the Empress did not hide Feixue and summoned several important officials of the empire, including King Chu of Chu, King of Chu, Zhou Wentai, the envoy of the Executive Yuan, Jilasiyi, Deputy envoy of the Military Affairs Office, Gao Huaizheng, the envoy of the Judicial Affairs Office, Zhou Shengcai, the Director of the Finance Department, Mao Huaichang, the Director of the Supervision Department, and Nuoyishengdu. These eight people were important pillars of the Daxia Empire, and half of them were old guys who were half buried.

Wuzang Feixue sat on the phoenix chair on the left side of Li Liangzuo's dragon chair and said to everyone: "My lords, you are all pillars of the empire. Now the empire has been attacked by Liao and Song countries. Although I have asked Your Majesty for help, Your Majesty's reinforcements cannot arrive in a short time. Therefore, if you want to resist the attack of Song and Liao countries, we still have to rely on ourselves; I have just received a military report that the Song army vanguard has approached Xiping Prefecture;

In the past month, the Song army has been successful frequently. The empire's border towns, such as Yinzhou, Shizhou, Xiazhou, Youzhou, Yanzhou, Weizhou and other places, have been lost one after another. Our army has suffered heavy losses. The southeastern region of the empire has fallen, and hundreds of thousands of people have been driven out of their homes are terrible. Now Xiping Prefecture has become the last line of defense to defend the capital. This palace decided to lead troops to Xiping Prefecture in person."

"How can the Empress be a thousand gold-minded person come to the danger? Let's go!" Zhou Wentai stood up and said to Wuzang Feixue.

"I have decided on my mind, so Lord Zhou doesn't have to be in power anymore. In addition, I am not going alone. In this month, the 50,000 female soldiers recruited by the palace have been trained to resign. I will personally lead the 50,000 Makui army to Xiping Prefecture. In addition, I have a reluctant request, wanting to invite the veteran general Jila to Datong to defend the attack of Liao Kingdom. I will move the veteran general to Zhenzhou to guard the grasslands and ask the imperial uncle to sit in the capital to serve as the governor of the palace."

As soon as Wuzang Feixue finished speaking, Vergung Ning Ling opposed: "Xiping Prefecture was my resident back then. I am familiar with it. No matter what, I will go."

"Since the emperor insists, please let the emperor go with me! After the palace leaves, all the matters of the capital will be left to Lord Zhou. Please work together to overcome the difficulties. I thank you here." After saying that, Feixue bowed deeply to everyone, and the ministers did not dare to do so.

The Makui army existed during the Li Yuanhao period. Since the population of Western Xia was sparse, there were often insufficient troops. Using female soldiers could effectively alleviate the lack of troops. The Makui army of the Daxia Empire was not a vase wearing military uniforms. These strong women of the Daxia Empire were brave and martial, good at riding and shooting. This was the first time in Chinese history that women were allowed to legally enlist in the army.
Chapter completed!