Chapter 44 Flooded Zhongxing Mansion

In March 1209, Genghis Khan launched the third attack on Xixia. This military operation mobilized more than 50 Qianhu and Qixue troops with a total strength of 60,000.The combat thinking this time was different from the previous ones. Genghis Khan's corps was divided into two groups, attacking Heishui City (now south of Ejina Banner, Inner Mongolia) all the way, in order to protect the safety of the right wing, and attacking Wulahai City all the way.After Xixia Emperor Li Anan got the news, he sent Crown Prince Li Chengzhen to lead 5,000 soldiers from the capital military region to Heishui City. In this way, the total force of Heishui City reached more than 10,000.The Mongolian army attacking Heishui City had a strength of 30,000. When they came to Heishui City, they all opened their mouths.Facing this magnificent city that they had never seen in their life, they felt apprehensive.The commander of the Corps changed his thinking and used the long to strike the short.First, they attacked across the board. This kind of attack seemed like a child's play to the Xixia people. The Mongols left a few corpses and fled in a hurry.Li Chengzhen had never been in a battle, and found that fighting was so easy, so he ordered the door to be opened, and he wanted to expand the results of the battle.

Someone reminded him that there is specialization in martial arts, although these men on horseback are not good at attacking the city, but they are first-class masters in field battles.Li Chengzhen has read many books and firmly believes in the truth that if a person fails in one thing, he will not succeed in everything, so he opened the gates of the city wide and expelled the soldiers to go out and attack in formation. Wave after wave came up.He had never seen a play like this before: a wave of men slashed at his messy team for a while, turned and walked away, and another wave came again.He wanted to escape back to the city, but the gate of the city was blocked so that even flies could not fly in. Prince Li yelled, raised his gun and jumped on his horse, turned around and ran south, and ran back to the capital Zhongxing Mansion (now Yinchuan, Ningxia). stop.This is how Blackwater City fell.

Wulahai city was reinforced after it was breached by Genghis Khan last time.Before Genghis Khan arrived at the city of Wulahai, the reinforcements sent by Xixia Emperor Li Anan had already arrived in the city. Genghis Khan's style of play was still to lure snakes out of the hole. After several rounds of qualityless sieges, he ordered a retreat. Because of Li Chengzhen's courage, he refused to leave the city to attack.Genghis Khan saw that this trick didn't work, so he returned again and ordered a fierce attack.Although Wulahai City has been reinforced, its quality is far inferior to Heishui City, and it soon fell under the fierce attack of Genghis Khan's regiment.The city guard and the reinforcement guards from the center rose up to resist, and started guerrilla warfare with the Mongols in the alleys of the city.The Mongolian Corps suffered heavy casualties. After the guerrillas in the city were completely wiped out, Genghis Khan ordered the massacre of the city, and the bloody smell of Wulahai City rose to the sky.

After finishing Wulahai City, Genghis Khan ordered the troops attacking Heishuicheng to join forces in Wulahai City. In May 1209, Genghis Khan's troops drove straight against the Yellow River and entered the Helan Mountain Pass to rush to Keyi Gate. Keyi Gate is more than 100 kilometers north of Zhongxing Mansion, and it is the northern gate of the capital of Xixia.Its terrain is dangerous, the two mountains face each other, the cliffs are steep, and it is difficult to climb.Moreover, after the fall of Heishui City and Wulahai City, Xixia Emperor Li An'an sent the most capable general in the empire, Wei Mingling, to lead 10,000 troops to help defend.

Genghis Khan led the army to camp five miles away from the city, and sent people to persuade him to surrender. As you can imagine, Wei Mingling hung the head of Genghis Khan's envoy on the city wall. Genghis Khan ordered an attack, but to no avail. Wei Ming Linggong could tell from the frequency of the enemy's attacks that the enemy was exhausted.A month later, when Genghis Khan came to persuade him to surrender again, Weiming Linggong arrogantly threw the envoy's head off the city wall and shot a few arrows.Genghis Khan ordered the attack again, but Wei Mingling barely encountered any high-quality dangers on the city wall. He relaxed and sent a message to Emperor Li Anan: "This group of barbarians know nothing about siege. Bows and arrows are like rascals, your majesty, you can sing and dance to make peace, and I will return triumphantly soon."

This is exactly what Li Anan wanted, and it was what Genghis Khan wanted.Genghis Khan has been attacking the city symbolically. His real purpose is not to attack the city, but to let Wei Mingling relax his guard and lure him out of the city. Wei Mingling found that the enemy was withdrawing one after another at dusk. His generals were overjoyed and said: "The enemy's withdrawal is a great time for us to go out of the city to attack. Wealth and wealth are right in front of us!" Son, he said, "This is the enemy trying to lure us out of the city. Don't be fooled." Genghis Khan has been withdrawing troops unhurriedly. After a few days of withdrawal, he found that the enemy was not fooled.So, he changed his mind again, while withdrawing his troops, he mobilized cavalry to carry out raids and harassment in front of Wulahai City, and at the same time, he also carried out shouting and scolding battles.As a result, Duke Wei Mingling and his soldiers became cowards, cowards, and incompetent people in the Mongolian population.Wei Mingling has wisdom, but no measure. He was dizzy and bloody after being scolded, and finally opened the gate of the city two months later and went out to kill the Mongols.

A squad of Mongols was yelling and cursing at the bottom of the city. It seemed that they didn't expect him to leave the city suddenly, and ran away in a hurry.This made Weiming Linggong firmly believe that the Mongols had nothing to do and withdrew his troops. He chased desperately, and when he reached the foothills on the right side of Longgu Mountain, he suddenly killed a corps from the shadow of the hills. Weiming Linggong secretly called out Not good, hurriedly ordered to go back to the city.But at this time, it was easy to leave the city and difficult to enter the city. Genghis Khan's army had been ambushing here for more than a month, so how could it be possible for him to return to the city.Genghis Khan used piercing tactics, and three columns directly attacked his central army.Sure enough, the Xixia army was not good at field battles, and there was a sudden chaos. Wei Mingling was captured alive in the chaos, Keyi Gate fell, and the door to Zhongxing Mansion was suddenly opened.

After a brief rest at Keyimen and dispatch of various reconnaissance teams, and after receiving a large amount of reliable information from the Zhongxing Mansion, the Genghis Khan Corps marched towards the Zhongxing Mansion at the end of July 1209. The defense was completely eradicated, so Genghis Khan's corps approached the city of Zhongxing Mansion without any obstacles. Facing Zhongxing Mansion, Genghis Khan and his corps were dumbfounded.Compared with Zhongxing Mansion, the Heishui City, Wulahai City, and Keyi Gate that they had conquered were nothing more than fences.Zhongxing Mansion is the capital of Xixia that has been in operation for nearly two hundred years. The Xixia royal family chose this place because of its geographical advantages.There is Helan Mountain in the northwest, and the Yellow River surrounds it in the southeast. The situation is convenient, the land is fertile, and it can be attacked or defended.The Zhongxing Mansion was completely built in the style of the capital city of ancient Chinese dynasties. The city wall is made of huge stones. The city wall is high and thick, and the moat is ten feet wide. Ninety percent of Xixia's garrison is in the city. It is really difficult to crack bone.

Although the North Gate was lost, Xixia Emperor Li Anan was not worried at all, he was full of confidence.This is due to the impregnable walls of Zhongxing Mansion and the incompetence of the enemy.As far as he knows, the enemy's siege technology is messed up. They don't have a three-bow bed crossbow that can shoot arrows like telegraph poles, nor do they have large ballistas, and of course they don't have black powder or molten metal to burn and cause an explosion. All they have is the scrawny horses and bows and arrows with a range of less than two hundred meters.Li An'an heard that there are indeed engineers of siege equipment in the enemy's army camp, but they are all half-experts, and can only make unusable ladders and crude siege equipment. The mansion is a stone city, not a wooden city, and these things are obviously rubbish.

Since Genghis Khan saw the Zhongxing Mansion for the first time, he realized that this military operation was going to fail.However, he and his regiment were full of enthusiasm for fighting, and they always knew that they couldn't do anything, so he decided to give it a try.He put a captive officer into Zhongxing Mansion and gave Li An'an a message, which said: "As long as you pay tribute, we will withdraw our troops immediately." Li An'an also brought him a message: "Hey, if you want to attack, attack, if you don't attack, go back to your hometown." Genghis Khan’s comrades advised him that our experience lies in mobility and speed. Siege is not our strong point, especially for such a tall city. We should go back to the army, search for some spoils along the way, and recruit real siege equipment after returning to the grassland. Professionals, making a comeback.

Genghis Khan pondered for a moment, and suddenly he saw the water of the Yellow River rushing to the sea as if coming from the sky, never to return.He suddenly heard the wind howling, the horses braying, the Yellow River roaring, and the yellow and dirty waves beating the fragile river bed. A perfect scheme was born. A few days later, the defenders of the Zhongxing Mansion discovered that Genghis Khan’s corps put down their weapons and became migrant workers. They were building dams outside the city. The clever people immediately realized that the enemy wanted to use the dams to store water from the Yellow River to irrigate the Zhongxing Mansion. Genghis Khan's trick is to produce wisdom in a hurry, which reflects his intelligence level of being flexible and able to produce great wisdom anytime and anywhere.Outside the city of Zhongxingfu is flat farmland, as long as there is enough water, it will be able to flow evenly over the city wall of Zhongxingfu from all directions. Li An'an was in a hurry. If Genghis Khan was really allowed to build the dam, his end would come.In desperation, he plucked up his courage and sent an elite regiment down the city to attack the enemy's migrant workers.Genghis Khan had expected this trick a long time ago, and the cavalry ambushed around them easily drove them away.Li An'an found that sabotage was not the solution to the problem, so he could only pray to the gods to bless the Yellow River in September. God did not bless him. In September 1209, the water of the Yellow River surged as promised, and the embankment built by Genghis Khan was squeezed by the flood and rattled.Seeing that the reserves were sufficient, Genghis Khan ordered the gates to be opened to release the water.The flood surrounded Zhongxing Mansion from all directions, and the water level rose rapidly. Chaos broke out in the city of Zhongxing Prefecture. Both dignitaries and civilians began to prepare water equipment. Li Anan was restless. Every day someone reported the water level to him. Every time he heard the water level rose a few inches, he seemed to have split his liver and gallbladder.Someone proposed to seek help from the big brother Jin Guo for the current plan. If it were any emperor of Xixia, the Kingdom of Jin would come to the rescue without stopping.But Li Anan didn't have this kind of treatment, because he got his position by abolishing his cousin, and he didn't give Jin Guo any hint after he took the position.So when his people broke through and ran to the Kingdom of Jin to ask for help, the emperor Wanyan Yunji of the Kingdom of Jin said excitedly: "Great, you are about to become turtles! Go back and tell your shitty emperor that he and that Genghis Khan are ours." The enemy, the enemy is biting each other, we are too late, how can we rescue it?" After Li An'an got such bad news, he fainted on the dragon chair. All the officials were in a hurry, pinched people with the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, and danced the witch dance, and then pulled him up from the bottom of the valley of death.He slowly opened his eyes, with snot and tears flowing and said: "Since the establishment of my capital, no enemy soldiers have ever come to the city. I never thought that when soldiers came, it would look like this miserable appearance." A courtier said: "Anyway, they are all dead. It's better to point out all the horses and go out of the city to kill them!" Li An'an shook his head dejectedly and said: "How can you beat someone? I think I can only ask God to bless you!" The gods probably thought Li Anan was too pitiful. One day in December 1209, it showed its gods, and there was a loud bang like the sky fell, and even the guards at the western border post of the Kingdom of Jin could clearly hear it. The dam built by Genghis Khan collapsed on its own. , the flood poured into his camp, and all the tents, slow-moving horses, and carts were washed away.Genghis Khan's army had no choice but to retreat to a high place, and everyone stood on it to watch the flood rolling and overflowing under their feet. It is reasonable for such a thing to happen.The dam is a century-old project, and it is only a matter of time before the dam built in a few months goes wrong. Genghis Khan flooded himself with the dam he built, which really makes people laugh and cry at this arrogant man. This was the stupidest thing Genghis Khan did in his life, he suffered heavy losses, his camp and rations became a problem due to the flooding around, so he ordered to return to the army.On the way back to the army, he released the captured Weiming Linggong and asked him to go back to Zhongxing Mansion to persuade Li An'an to pay tribute and become a minister. In the eyes of outsiders, this is undoubtedly a fantasy, because all the facts prove that he is a loser.However, the few months that Linggong Weiming stayed in Genghis Khan's military camp made him deeply aware of the discipline and strength of Genghis Khan's army.He said to Li An'an: "Genghis Khan has already possessed the quality of the lord of the world. Although he failed this time, he will come again next time. He is a person who will never give up until he achieves his goal. Why should we mess with such a person? Now that the Kingdom of Jin has abandoned us, we don't have the strength to deal with Genghis Khan, so we might as well pay tribute to him. Besides, this is also the national policy of our Xixia Kingdom!" Seeing that Genghis Khan had withdrawn his troops, Li Anan immediately regained his courage and greatness.He said: "We in Xixia have a tradition of 'big things'. Liao and Jin can be regarded as great civilized countries. What is Genghis Khan, an upstart!" Wei Mingling shook his head and sighed, "You can't be impulsive and insist on cheap self-esteem. In the end, you can only be hurt." He invited Li Anan to go to the city wall, pointed to the muddy pond outside the city, and asked, "If Genghis Khan built the dam to the fullest? Hold on tight, where are we now?" Li Pingan shuddered, and finally agreed to sign an unequal treaty with Genghis Khan. However, Li An'an was unwilling to bow his head to Genghis Khan, so in the treaty, he used wisdom.The treaty said: "We are terrified by the imperial power of Genghis Khan. Now that you have come in person, we are in awe of the imperial power. If you use force against the Kingdom of Jin, then I will be your right hand and add strength to you; if you attack the Western countries Use force, then I will become your left hand and give you strength." Then he changed his pen: "However, we are a settled country, separated by cities, so we can't mobilize urgently, and we can't go to the battlefield immediately. If you are rewarded by Genghis Khan, we are willing to give you special camels and fine silk and cloth. Here, I present you the tamed falcon." When Genghis Khan received such a pledge, he said, "Please marry your daughter to me." Li Anan gritted his teeth and sent his daughter to Genghis Khan's tent.Since then, Xixia has become Genghis Khan's source of wealth. In the next few years, Xixia had to send various resources to the grassland continuously. However, apart from material wealth, Genghis Khan did not receive military support from the Xixia Kingdom.The Xixia people made it clear in the treaty that their emergency mobilization ability is poor, so some wars can send troops, and some wars cannot send troops.As for what kind of war can or cannot be fought, the final interpretation rests with them. With the wisdom of Genghis Khan, it is impossible not to see the small actions of the Xixia people on the treaty.Perhaps Genghis Khan had other matters and was too lazy to argue with the Xixia people; more likely, Genghis Khan only wanted the Xixia people to provide material wealth for the time being, and Genghis Khan didn't care about the other party's military strength at all. His eyes were like lightning, looking for the next enemy.His regiment was gearing up behind him, their blood boiling.There is such a beastly army, if it does not fight, it is too unfair to it. The enemies of Genghis Khan seemed to have heard his call, a gorgeous kite turned over and jumped in front of him, baring its teeth and claws, arrogant. This enemy did not come from the outside, but rose rapidly from within. This enemy was the wizard Kuo Kuo Chu who stole the limelight at the founding ceremony in 1206.