Chapter 38: Lifting the Siege

  On the first day, the army marched only eight miles, but the scouts had already gone twenty miles ahead. Such caution and such a slow pace were unbearable for Zhao Shi. That evening, Zhao Shi came to the central military tent, his eyes hidden with anger, which made Li Jinhua, as the commander, also fearful.

  "Scouts were discovered twenty miles away by the Western Xia's reconnaissance troops. The lives of tens of thousands of people are at stake, I must be cautious...". Li Jin Hua explained with great effort to this young man who had a cold expression and only occasionally showed some emotions. From the beginning, Li Jin Hua did not have any sense of self-importance or awareness of her own identity.

  "It's been said before, we must show a posture of rushing to rescue Qingyang. Hey, if you only march eight miles in one day, no matter how many flags you have or how open your formation is, what will the Western Xia people think? Is their commander an idiot? If they send a few more troops to probe us, everything we've done will be in vain."

  It's normal to encounter Western Xia scouts, what the Western Xia people fear is that reinforcements suddenly appear in front of them. If I were the commander-in-chief of the Western Xia people, I would have already thoroughly investigated the area within a hundred miles around Qingyang some time ago, and our plan to confuse the enemy would be useless. It can be seen that the main general of the Western Xia is overly cautious but lacks initiative, which is exactly our opportunity.

  Tomorrow, we will march at least twenty miles and release all the cavalry to clear out the enemy scouts around our army. With these two thousand elite soldiers, even if we engage in a battle with them, it's not necessarily that we'll lose. You should know that since we've already come this far, if we retreat now, regardless of the morale of our troops, as long as the Western Xia people attack us from behind, we will become another defeated army.

  "But the reinforcements were nowhere to be seen..."

  "Don't mention reinforcements anymore..." He cut off the other person's words with a rough wave of his hand. Zhao Shi had lost all hope in the reinforcements by now. These days, they had scouted out every nook and cranny within 50-60 li of that small hill, but not only was there no sign of a large army, they hadn't even seen the shadow of a single soldier. This was why he strongly urged Li Jin Hua to lead his troops to Qing Yang - waiting for the reinforcements to arrive would undoubtedly be the safest and most feasible course of action. But now that several grain-protecting armies had gathered together, their food and supplies were piled up like mountains, while that so-called great general ordered them to stay put, and yet there was no sign of the reinforcements. One or two days might be fine, but if the reinforcements didn't come for a long time, just staying there without making a move would be like carrying all one's wealth on their person, flaunting it, and yet being unable to protect it - just like some nouveau riche who was bound to be discovered by the enemy and end up in an unavoidable great battle. He didn't believe that they could still manage to cut down the enemy general and cause the enemy army to retreat. This was the main reason why the grain-protecting armies had set out...

  "We are the reinforcements, listen to me, tomorrow let the army advance quickly and make preparations for a big battle with the enemy troops. However, I think the Western Xia people will retreat, as long as we reach the city of Qingyang, everything will be easy."

  The battlefield information was delayed, and even if Zhao Shi had the ability to communicate with heaven, he couldn't change the fact that his side really needed luck. He didn't know who the enemy commander was, nor did he know how strong the enemy's military was, or even where they were. This situation made this elite soldier, who was used to modern special warfare tactics, feel frustrated and anxious. He had no choice but to rely on fragmented intelligence to judge the battlefield situation, and whether it was correct or not, even he himself couldn't be sure. While boosting his own side's morale, he also had to admit that luck was what they needed most at this moment.

  After that night's conversation, Li Jinhua took out a drinking gesture, as if it were a scout report, and found an enemy cavalry of over a thousand people. The entire grain-protecting army didn't stop, with many grain carts, the speed of the large army wouldn't be too fast, but on the first day, they walked a full 25 miles. That cavalry didn't come forward to attack, but turned around and left. They didn't know that this overly cautious mistake would lead to what kind of consequences. This action was the most normal thing when encountering the enemy's large army, but it gave the grain-protecting army a great deal of confidence and motivation. In the next few days, this nearly 10,000-man army just buried their heads and rushed on the road, even in the evening, they no longer set up camp, everyone ate dinner and then immediately let go of their worries and fell asleep to accumulate energy for the next day's journey.

  The Western Xia army is now stationed on the flat ground more than ten miles away from Qingyang, with lanterns shining brightly in the central general's tent. More than a dozen top generals wearing helmets and armor sat quietly in chairs to the left and right, while Li Yuankang rubbed his brow, deep in thought. The people present were all old followers of his, and they knew that when the commander encountered difficulties, he would be like this, so no one spoke up.

  Li Yuankang also had a sense of difficulty at this time. He had investigated clearly that a military coup had occurred in Qingyang, which was not a difficult secret to obtain. Many civilians who escaped from Qingyang were caught and interrogated, and when he heard the news, he was naturally overjoyed. This was a great opportunity to open the gates of Western Qin, but it was followed by regret and despair at seeing delicious food that could not be eaten. He had only brought less than half of his troops with him, and he could not abandon them. The temptation to break through Qingyang and advance into the heartland of Western Qin was not something that any general could resist. He did not have much hope for the Western Xia army far away in Yan'an City, and he had a deep understanding of the combat effectiveness of the Qin army. The soldiers of Western Xia were no longer the crack troops they had been when Taizu founded the country...

  So he has been waiting, and the great army of Qingyang is actually short of food. If this were in the past, he would have doubted the accuracy of the message, but now he firmly believes that the message is correct. Fourteen days ago, a branch of the Qingyang garrison abandoned the city, and the number of enemy troops and their desperation made him make a not-so-small mistake. He should not have blocked this obviously fleeing Qin army from Qingyang City. The enemy's ferocity and tenacity in battle, as well as their stubbornness after defeat, were far beyond his expectations, making him even more furious. What's more, before he could get any news from inside Qingyang, the 2,000-strong Iron Hawk Army had already suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Qin army remnants, with over 1,000 casualties within a hundred miles of Qingyang. This forced him to withdraw his troops and abandon his plan to annihilate the Qin army remnants that had inflicted heavy casualties on his great army. He recalled the cavalry that was pursuing from behind.

  Li Yuanhan, who had fled back in disarray, did not dare to deceive him. The other side was a grain transport team, and there were not many soldiers or horses. This made Li Yuankang, who claimed to have experienced countless battles, want to personally lead the troops to take a look. What kind of grain transport team could annihilate an elite cavalry known as the Iron Hawks, behead their great general, and no matter what Li Yuanhan said, he would rather believe that it was a large reinforcements from the Qin army that launched a surprise attack on the Iron Hawks on that rainy night.

  So, now that he has heard that a large army of no less than 20,000 men is rapidly approaching Qingyang, Li Yuankang cannot help but make a difficult choice: whether to withdraw his troops or continue to wait here. He believes that in just ten days, or perhaps even five days, the scouts he sent to Qingyang will bring him good news and he will be able to obtain this strategic location without losing a single soldier. However, there is no more time for that. After the incident with Ren Dejing, the generals are not united, and the military discipline has become lax, leading to a rapid decline in the combat effectiveness of the Western Xia army. If they wait any longer, if they get entangled by the enemy, by the time the Qingyang army arrives, he may never see his lovely tenth concubine again. The useless supervising officer sitting next to him will not even give him two days' time.

  He suddenly lifted his head, and Li Yuankang regained the dignity and calmness of being the commander-in-chief of a large army, but the tone of his voice was mixed with unwillingness and disappointment that anyone could hear. "We will withdraw our troops tonight..." As for his trusted advisors who were still in the city of Jingyang, he couldn't care less about them now. The defeat had made him look ten years older at the age of thirty-five...

  When the exhausted and nearly breathless vanguard arrived at the foot of Jingyang City, the Western Xia army had vanished without a trace. What appeared before their eyes was the majestic and towering figure of Jingyang City.