After capturing Weicheng, the Song army headed north all the way, and Li Yanqing divided his troops into two groups. He ordered Wang Gui and Cao Meng to lead 8,000 cavalry to attack Xiping Prefecture a hundred miles away, and ordered Liu Ziyu to lead 3,000 troops to attack Mingsha County in the west.

As for Xixia, there are some small military cities near Xiping Prefecture, such as Bole City, Yaowu City and Pingshuo City, these small military cities are actually supply points along the way, with a lot of food, grass and water sources in the garrison. The defenders only have about a hundred people, which can be easily captured.

Li Yanqing immediately led an army of 10,000 to attack Xiping Prefecture, only one hour later than Wang Gui.

Xixia is known as a 500,000 army, but the permanent army is actually only 200,000. In addition to the 80,000 main army taken away by Richard, there are also the Iron Harrier Army that guards the capital, the 20,000 troops guarding Xiazhou, and the 8,000 troops guarding the three places of Weizhou-Tachezhai-Shangyikou. The remaining 12,000 troops are scattered in small army cities everywhere.

After crossing Weizhou, we entered the hinterland of Xixia. The heavy troops of Xixia gathered in all the border areas, and there were almost no troops in various prefectures and counties in the hinterland, with only a few hundred people responsible for maintaining order.

The Song army captured Weicheng, which was equivalent to capturing the gate of Xixia. Then heading north, it was unstoppable and conquered Mingsha County, Xiping Prefecture Lingzhou County, and more than a dozen small army cities. That afternoon, Li Yanqing led an army of 10,000 into Xiping Prefecture.

Xiping Prefecture is the second largest prefecture in Xixia after Xingqing Prefecture. It is also the largest copper and silver production area and salt production area in Xixia. More than 100,000 laborers and their families plundered from the Song Dynasty were forced to become mine slaves and salt slaves, mining and salt for Xixia for generations.

Perhaps Xixia never thought that the Song army would attack Xiping Prefecture. Xixia had only 1,300 troops in Xiping Prefecture. Except for the 300 people guarding the city gate in the city, the other 1,000 soldiers were deployed in the settlements of mine slaves and salt slaves, responsible for guarding mine slaves and salt slaves.

The prefecture of Xiping Prefecture is Xiping County, also known as Lingzhou City. It was once the old capital of Xixia, with a population of more than 200,000. It is mainly distributed in tribal ways on large grasslands on both sides of the Lingzhou River. There are 80,000 civilians in Lingzhou City, mainly living in aristocrats and civilians in Xixia.

The city is prosperous in business. Lingzhou Street, which runs through the north and south, is covered with dense shops, taverns, foot shops, brothels, shops, etc. Among the shops are grocery stores, southern goods stores, fur stores, medicinal materials stores, jewelry stores, printing stores, bookstores, silk stores, cloth stores, and various stalls selling meat, vegetables and other ingredients. One by one, various signs and banners are hung all over the street, making it look particularly prosperous.

However, as the Song army captured Lingzhou City, the prosperity in the city seemed to disappear overnight. Every household closed its doors, and the streets of Lingzhou were deserted and there was no pedestrian or group of birds foraging on the streets. Only the Song army soldiers patrolled the streets.

The prefect of Xiping Prefecture was named Li Tao, who was also a royal family in Xixia and was proficient in Chinese. Although Xixia founded Dangxiangwen and Dangxiangwen, the scholars and nobles of Xixia generally had to learn Chinese. The government office was located in the north of the city. Li Yanqing, surrounded by hundreds of personal guards, entered the government office to rest.

"Has the prefect caught it?" Li Yanqing asked with a smile.

A side general hurriedly saluted: "This time it was a night raid. We blocked the two city gates from north to south, but none of them ran away. The prefect Li Tao was naturally caught."

"Take him up, I'll ask him."

The general hesitated and said, "Report to the governor, this governor drew his sword and committed suicide, but was rescued by the soldiers in time, but his throat was injured, so he might not be able to speak to the governor."

"Then can there be officials who understand the situation?"

"Yes! The Lord Bo Bai should be a famous Han Chinese, and he knows a lot."

"Bring him to see me!"

Soon, two soldiers escorted the Lord Bo Baiying to meet Li Yanqing. If it weren't for the fact that this man was wearing the Western Xia official uniform, Li Yanqing would have thought he was an official of the Song Dynasty. He was about thirty years old and looked gentle and had no sign of Dangxiang people in his appearance. Dangxiang people generally had high cheekbones, and most men had mustaches.

Li Yanqing's reputation has spread throughout Xixia. He was the second Song army commander after Di Qing, who was afraid of the people of Xixia. He heard that it was Li Yanqing who interrogated him, Bai Ying seemed very nervous and his legs trembled slightly. He walked into the lobby and knelt down and kowtowed, "Bai Ying pays homage to the commander-in-chief!"

"Are you the chief clerk Bai Ying?" Li Yanqing took a sip of tea and asked lightly.

"The villain is exactly!"

"Where are you from?"

"The villain is from Xiazhou..."

Li Yanqing was stunned, "So you are not a Han person?"

Bai Ying quickly explained: "The villain's grandfather was from Han. He was captured in Xixia during the reign of Emperor Shenzong. Three generations lived in Xixia for fifty years. The villain had already been naturalized in Xixia and was no longer a Song Dynasty person."

"You speak Chinese very well, why?"

Perhaps Li Yanqing's tone was relatively relaxed, Bai Ying's fear gradually faded, and his answer became calm, "The villain studied at the Xixia Taixue, where he basically spoke Chinese in Chinese, and the villain's family spoke Chinese, so the villain spoke Chinese well."

"How many people are there in Xiping County?" Li Yanqing asked, looking through the account book on the table.

"There are about 84,000 people, more than half are engaged in business, and half are engaged in agriculture, farming outside the city."

Li Yanqing frowned, "But as far as I know, Xiping Prefecture is the largest copper ore and salt production in Xixia, why is no one engaged in mining?"

"Reporting to the head of the capital, the mine salt wells were mined by slaves, and they were compiled separately, not counted among the residents."

"All of them are slaves from Song people?"

"Most of them are, and there are also a small number of Qiang people."

Li Yanqing's eyes began to become sharp and he continued to ask: "Is there a Song Nu in the city?"

Bai Ying felt Li Yanqing's anger, and he said tremblingly: "Of course there are, almost every household has it. Song slaves are very cheap, and there is no need to pay wages. Almost hundreds of people in the city are mainly female slaves."

"Where does the copper ingot warehouse exist in Xiping County?"

"Some of them are in the city, but most of them are still in the warehouses at the foot of Baitong Mountain. The Baitong Village there is also the most concentrated place for Song slaves, and there are almost 100,000 people living there."

Li Yanqing waved his hand and asked someone to take Bai Ying down. At this time, the Sima of the Song army, Liu Pei, hurried in and bowed and said, "Report to the commander, Bei Zhi has led his army to count the materials in the city's warehouses, including 200,000 stones of grain, 180,000 dan of grass, about 40,000 dan of soldiers and armor, and 1.2 million jin of copper ingots and 500,000 jin of silver ingots, all of which have been counted and compiled."

“Good done!”

Li Yanqing praised and said to him: "Next, I will give you another task to count the entire city's Song slaves. All the families who own Song slaves will be confiscated. Each Song slave will be given freedom first, and the compensation standards will be decided later. The Xixia people in the city will be escorted south, and those who dare to resist will be killed."

Liu Pei was frightened and said, "Is the governor trying to plunder the population and wealth of Xiping Prefecture?"

Li Yanqing nodded, "Xixia must have plundered a large number of people from Xihe Road, and then both sides can exchange it."

"I understand, but I need the assistance of the army."

"I know, I will ask General Yang Zaixing to lead 5,000 people to help you complete this task."

Li Yanqing immediately ordered someone to call Yang Zaixing and Cao Meng, gave Yang Zaixing a few instructions and gave him the order arrows. Yang Zaixing immediately said goodbye to Sima Liupei and left.

At this time, Li Yanqing said to Cao Meng again: "In addition to the 80,000 people in Lingzhou City, Xiping Prefecture also has more than 100,000 people in various tribes. They also have a large amount of wealth and Song Nu. You can lead 5,000 cavalry to sweep the tribes, release Song Nu, and plunder all wealth and population. As the saying goes, those who dare to resist will kill them!"

Cao Meng shouted excitedly, "Abide by the orders!"

After Li Yanqing arranged the plunder plan, he immediately led 5,000 troops to leave Lingzhou City and rushed to Baitong Mountain 30 miles northeast of Lingzhou City.
Chapter completed!