Fenghou

Fifty axemen leaned against the battlements with long-handled axes in their hands, and used the battlements as a cover. When the siege ladder was close to the top of the city, they immediately jumped out, swung their sharp axes, and slashed down hard, fast, hard and accurate, 'Crack! 'A crossbar was cut off, and the soldiers immediately turned around and hid behind the battlements, just like they had been training for the past two days, after preparing for the second time, they slashed down with an ax again,'Crack! 'The second rung was cut with precision.

After cutting off three rungs in a row, the axeman went to look for the next siege ladder. There were only 50 of them, but the opponent had a hundred siege ladders.

After the axeman finished his task, it was the turn of the long rope team to play. They used ropes to trap the ladder, and the other two soldiers pushed the ladder with their long forks against the ladder desperately, while the long rope pulled hard to the side.

Other soldiers smashed down with rolling logs and rocks. Soldiers were constantly shot by cold arrows and fell to the city, and soldiers were immediately added.

The soldiers who attacked the city felt the ladder shaking. They shouted and raised their shields against the rolling logs and stones above their heads. Turned over a few people.

Finally, a few brave puppet Qi soldiers withstood the rolling logs and rocks, climbed to the top, and were about to jump up to the city, but they missed the space. Scolding and screaming, he fell to the bottom of the city.

How can the soldiers not hate that at the critical moment, the few upper rungs are gone, so where should they grab it?Where to step?These craftsmen deserve to be hacked to pieces!Work is too careless.

Almost every soldier on the siege ladder was yelling at the craftsmen, but they didn't see the figure of the long axe flashing past. This is the legendary three wicked axes.

The long rope finally showed its power, and the siege ladders slowly tilted and slid to the left, and finally lost their balance and smashed to the side. A dozen soldiers on the ladders screamed and fell heavily along with the ladders .

Zhang Zhongxiong finally got the report from the former enemy. He is not as simple-minded as the soldiers. He immediately realized that it was a trick on the top of the city. It is impossible for every ladder to have this situation. If this passiveness is not improved, they will not be able to attack at all. to the city.

"withdraw troops!"

'when!when!when!when! '

The gong to withdraw troops sounded, and thousands of puppet Qi soldiers left more than 1000 corpses and quickly withdrew from the battlefield.

Chapter 2 The Fire Harrier

Zhang Zhongxiong was furious, none of the [-] siege ladders they worked so hard to bring back was brought back. In a rage, he ordered the siege general Sun Ping to be beaten with [-] army sticks as a severe punishment for his dereliction of duty.

Sun Ping yelled that he was wronged, and withdrew his troops from the city. Before he had time to bring back the siege weapons, the enemy was shooting arrows on it.

Zhang Zhongxiong was very angry, he couldn't get the siege ladder back, so he didn't know what went wrong, and how to improve it next?

He questioned dozens of soldiers, and finally an archer told him the answer.

"It should have been cut off by an axe. When I was shooting arrows under the city, I saw an enemy soldier swinging an ax and chopped it down on the top of the city. The movement was very fast. I saw him chop three times in a row, but it was a pity that I missed this person."

Zhang Zhongxiong asked the other archers again, and got dozens of the same answers one after another. None of the siege soldiers saw it, but the archers could see it clearly.

Only then did Zhang Zhongxiong suddenly realize that the rail was cut off by a Song soldier with an axe. Chen Qing could think of such a wicked way!

Zhang Zhongxiong returned to the big tent sullenly, and sent someone to find the craftsman leader to inquire about the countermeasures.

The leader of the craftsman thought for a while and said: "The only way is to replace the top bars with iron rods or copper rods, and the opponents will not stop chopping. But in this way, we need pig iron and blacksmiths. There is no ready-made iron in the army." stick!"

"There are blacksmiths, and pig iron can also solve it. Don't worry about the iron rods. The key point is, I want to build three hundred siege ladders in three days. Can you do it?"

"As long as the materials are sufficient, we can do it."

"Well, if it can be built, I will reward each of you with a hundred coins. I hope to build a hundred siege ladders before noon tomorrow!"

Zhang Zhongxiong also ordered the marching army Sima to find a soldier blacksmith to make iron bars.

Although he failed today, he found that the soldiers on the top of the city were not very brave in fighting, and they were a little bit cowering, just like the feeling of recruits fighting. Tomorrow, as long as he invests heavily and continues to attack the city day and night, he will definitely be able to win Ganquan Fort.

Zhang Zhongxiong drank a few glasses of wine and started to get excited again. He stood at the door of the big tent with a jug in his hand. The tall city wall seemed to be fragile and vulnerable. With his drunken eyes, he felt that high officials and great rewards were waving to him. .

……

The night was getting darker, and the northeast corner of the Puppet Qi Army camp was still brightly lit. More than [-] craftsmen and hundreds of soldiers were busy building siege ladders. Forge an iron rod.

Except for the northeast corner, the rest of the camp was pitch black, and the soldiers who had been exhausted all day fell asleep early. Even the lights in the central army tent were turned off. The chief general Zhang Zhongxiong drank a few more glasses and fell into a drowsy sleep.

It was the second watch, and there was silence in the camp, only the figures of the outer guards swaying back and forth.

Dozens of figures appeared on the top of the mountain behind the camp. The two sentry towers had been easily pulled out, and the entire top of the mountain was completely controlled by the Song army.

The secret weapon brought by the Song army this time is the ancestor of firearms, the fire kite. This is also the product of the first use of gunpowder in military affairs. It is mainly used for fire attacks. More than 100 years have passed. Although the function has not changed, it is still It is used for fire attack, but the technical content has been greatly improved.

The specific performance is that the range can be controlled by increasing or decreasing the dose, unlike the original fire kite, which could not control the fire, and many of them flew past the target.

This batch of fire kites was naturally found in the Baochuan warehouse, together with two thousand catties of gunpowder. The Xixia army paid attention to fire attack, so they produced a large number of fire kites, and the quality was also very high. comparable.

Five hundred fire kites were brought to the top of the mountain, and their range was between half a mile and one mile, and they landed right in the camp.

The attack time is set at the third watch. Two cavalry teams have been assembled at the foot of the mountain on the back of the hill. One is led by Chen Qing himself, with about 3000 people. According to Zheng Pingrong, they will take a detour to the east and enter the camp.

This is a loophole in the patrol deployment of the puppet Qi army. They deployed sentry posts on the east, west and south sides, but they missed the back of the hill. Maybe they thought the hill was a natural barrier and there was no need to spend more patrolling, but the puppet Qi army did not. I realized that it was only one mile away from the camp by going around the hill.

In short, they were sure to be found by the patrols, but they were only a mile away from the camp when they were found.

Three thousand cavalry waited patiently in a mountain depression, using the low slopes on both sides to hide themselves. At this time, as long as a patrol ran up the low slopes, the Song army could be found, but it was meaningless to find them now. They could not escape the Song army. hunting.

Time gradually came to the middle of the night. Zhao Xiaoyi on the top of the mountain gave an order, and dozens of soldiers began to launch fire kites. Wooden fire kites soared into the sky and flew towards the camp one mile away. If you use ejection, you can fly up to three miles, but you don't need it now.

One by one fire kites ignited in the air, turned into balls of raging fire, flew into the puppet Qi army camp, ignited one after another large tents, and bright fire spots appeared in the camp.

The fire took advantage of the wind, and the big tent began to burn rapidly, with thick smoke billowing and flames blazing, and the alarm bells sounded in the camp, 'Dang!when!when! '

The sleeping soldiers were awakened by the smoke and fire, their eyes were full of flames and thick smoke, they shouted in fright, and rushed out of the big tent desperately. Many soldiers were barefoot and wearing underwear, with bare hands, terrified.

At this time, muffled muffled thunder came from the west and east, and gunpowder arrows were continuously launched into the sky as a warning, but it was meaningless now.

Zhang Zhongxiong, who was sleeping soundly, was woken up by the soldiers pouring cold water on him. He also realized that something was wrong when there was shouting outside. He sat up in amazement and asked, "What happened?"

"The big tent was on fire, someone set fire on the mountain, and the whole camp was set on fire."

As soon as the soldiers finished speaking, 'Boom! With a sound, a ball of fire fell in front of Zhang Zhongxiong, which was a still burning fire kite.

Zhang Zhongxiong was startled, and when he looked up, he found that his big tent was also set on fire. A big hole was burned on the top of the big tent, and the flames were rapidly spreading to all sides.

"Let's all go!"

A few soldiers didn't care about putting on shoes for him, and rushed out of the big tent with Zhang Zhongxiong on their backs. As soon as they got out of the big tent, they said, "Boom! 'With a loud bang, the burning tent collapsed.

Zhang Zhongxiong looked around with his bare feet, and saw that the camp was engulfed in flames from all directions. The fire was raging and smoke filled the sky. There were fire kites flying in the sky, and the soldiers fled in all directions.

At this moment, the sound of horseshoes from the west suddenly sounded like a landslide and the ground cracked. A cavalry rushed into the camp from the west. With galloping horses, cold spears, and sharp knives, they killed everyone they saw. , mercilessly, killed the puppet soldiers of the Qi army crying and screaming, on one side was the raging fire, on the other side was the demon killed from hell.

Zhang Zhongxiong was stunned, he clearly kept all the city gates under close surveillance, how could the enemy troops still come out?

His brain was short-circuited for a while, and he never thought that this was the Song army killed from the outside, but at this time he had no time to think about it, and the soldiers put him on the horse and fled eastward in a panic...

The east is in charge of Zheng Ping's army. According to the plan, Zheng Ping will also lead his army into the camp from the east, and the two cavalry will join forces in the middle of the camp, but the plan is not as good as changing. Most of the puppet Qi soldiers who came out were bare-handed and barefoot.

Suddenly, a large group of cavalry from the Song Army came, and thousands of soldiers knelt on the ground in fright, begging for mercy. Chen Qing massacred the puppet Qi army in Guanzhong. He was called a demon, and the soldiers were very afraid of him.

At this moment, tens of thousands of soldiers lost their fighting spirit and dared not resist any more, kneeling down and surrendering one after another.

This time, Chen Qing did not issue an order to kill them. He needed prisoners of war in exchange for benefits. Zheng Ping saw that there were too many surrendered soldiers, blocking the official path, and they couldn't kill them. He had no choice but to order the soldiers to accept the surrender.

Teams of soldiers were escorted away by the Song army with bare hands. At this time, dozens of soldiers rushed to flee around Zhang Zhongxiong. He was so frightened that he quickly reined in his horse.

"Dutong, there are enemy troops chasing from behind!" The guards shouted nervously.

Zhang Zhongxiong turned his eyes, turned around and ran towards the foot of the mountain to the south. They marched in the opposite direction with the Song army. The Song army came from the west to the east, and they fled from the east to the west. The army may not be able to find them.

Dozens of people ran along the foot of the mountain. With the cover of night, they passed the Song army in the camp one mile away. But just as they reached the end of the hill, hundreds of soldiers rushed out and surrounded them. Countless cold crossbow arrows were aimed at them.

……

In this battle, nearly 3000 puppet Qi troops were almost wiped out. More than [-] people were burned to death by the fire alone. The rest of the soldiers died and fled. prisoners of war.

Zhang Zhongxiong's dream of getting rich as a senior official was completely shattered in this battle.

Chapter 211 Negotiation

At the same time when the [-] puppet Qi army in Ganquanbao was destroyed, the [-] Song army besieged in Pingliang County ran out of food, and Guan Shigu led the army out of the city to surrender to the puppet Qi army.

Guo Zhen immediately led the army into Qinzhou and marched quickly to Xihe Road. At this time, Wu Ling's [-] troops had withdrawn into Xianrenguan, and the puppet Qi army immediately occupied Gongzhou, Lintao Mansion, and Taozhou , Hezhou, Jishizhou and other places.

However, Xixia was forced to withdraw from the previously occupied Deshun Prefecture under the strong pressure of the Kingdom of Jin, and the Puppet Qi Army was able to successfully occupy Deshun Prefecture. Lost, the news spread to Lin'an, and the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty were shaken.

You know, more than a month ago, the imperial court was still celebrating the recapture of Xihe Road, but this victory was like a flash in the pan, it just bloomed and then withered, which really hit the emperor Zhao Gou and the imperial court hard.

In the imperial study room, Xiangguo Zhang Jun was heartbroken and complained that Zhu Shengfei was incompetent and ruined the hard-won good situation.

"Your Majesty, I have repeatedly reminded him that the Puppet Qi has added 15 troops to Guanzhong. The retreat of the Jin soldiers does not mean giving up Fengxiang Mansion and Xihe Road. Xihe Road and Qinzhou will expand after defeating the puppet Qi army.

But Zhu Shengfei didn't listen to the persuasion of Weichen at all, and insisted on going his own way, sending out troops in an all-round way. In the end, the Song army was defeated one by one, and Guan Shigu's [-] elite army was wiped out. ! "

There was silence in the imperial study room, Qin Hui sighed and said: "Actually, this can't be completely blamed on Zhu Xuanfu. It is a long way from Lin'an to Hanzhong. He walked for more than a month on the way to take office, and the enemy took advantage of this gap to transfer troops. After dispatching the general, the deployment is completed, and it will be too late for him to deal with it when he arrives in Hanzhong. Under certain circumstances, this is indeed a kind of providence."

"God willing?"

Zhang Jun did not agree with Qin Hui's defense for Zhu Shengfei. He said to Zhao Gou: "Before I left, I gave Wu Jie the power to send troops northward according to the situation to consolidate the results of the Dasan Pass. Originally, Wu Jie appointed Guan Shigu As the general manager of soldiers and horses on Xihe Road, Chen Qing was appointed as the envoy of the Qinzhou system. Fengxiang Mansion has no danger to defend.

But Zhu Shengfei was still on the way, so he denied Wu Jie's appointment and appointed his confidants to guard Fengxiang and Longzhou. He was not greedy enough, and divided his troops to guard Pingliang Mansion and Yuanzhou. How many troops do we have in total?If the army is dispersed, who will guard Hanzhong?Who will guard the hinterland of Bashu?

What's more terrible is that he issued an order right after he took office to stop the supply of military rations to the troops going north and let them raise their own rations. Your Majesty, the Jin soldiers have already scraped away all the rations and let the soldiers of the Song Army raise their own rations. Where will the army go to raise rations?The army has no food, morale is low, and it collapses after the first battle. This is the root cause of the army's defeat! "

Zhang Jun did not agree with Zhu Shengfei's idea of ​​​​separation of Sichuan and Shaanxi. Without Sichuan's money and food assistance, what Hanzhong would use to fight against Jin Bing would not be able to support it at all.

Zhao Gou said helplessly: "Zhu Aiqing just arrived in Sichuan and Shaanxi, and she really doesn't understand the situation. Mistakes are unavoidable. I feel that it is not the time to pursue accountability. How should we deal with the current passive situation in Sichuan and Shaanxi?"

At this time, Lu Yihao, who had not said a word, said slowly: "Although the situation in the northwest is dark, there is still a little light in the darkness. Qinzhou made Chen Qing defeat the puppet Qi army in Fort Ganquan and wiped out [-] enemies. , It is said that before this, he had fought against the Xixia Army several times, winning consecutive battles and rescuing tens of thousands of captured soldiers and civilians of the Song Dynasty. At least we have not been completely defeated in the northwest, and there is still hope."

Zhao Gou's eyes lit up. He only cared about losing the defeat in the Northwest, but he didn't notice the victory. He actually wiped out 2 enemy troops, and Guan Shigu only wiped out [-] people. Isn't this evenly matched?

"This Chen Qing really surprised me!"

Lu Yihao smiled slightly and said, "Your Majesty had the foresight to appoint him as the envoy of the Qinzhou system, so he lived up to His Majesty's expectations."

Zhao Gou felt a little comforted in his heart, and smiled at Zhang Jun: "This is Zhang Xianggong's knowledge of people, and Chen Qing used it well!"

Seeing that the emperor did not want to hold Zhu Shengfei accountable, Zhang Jun felt very helpless, so he bowed and said, "Chen Qing is both civil and military, with extraordinary courage and insight. Great hope, I didn't bring him back to Lin'an this time, but I also hope that he will make great achievements in Sichuan and Shaanxi. He really did not disappoint the humble minister, and lit a fire of hope for His Majesty and the court in the darkness. A great talent should be reused, and a humble official recommends him to be promoted to the governor of the capital."

Qin Hui was a little dissatisfied and said: "Chen Qing was promoted to Commander last year, and was promoted to Commander more than two months ago. Now he is going to be promoted to Commander-in-Chief. The speed of promotion is too fast!"

Deputy Prime Minister Zhao Ding said calmly at the side: "Your Majesty always distinguishes rewards and punishments. Those who commit crimes are not punished, and meritorious deeds are not rewarded. This is not His Majesty's style!"

Lu Yihao also said with a smile: "Actually, what Qin Xiangguo said is somewhat reasonable. Chen Qing is still very young, and it is not good for him to be promoted too quickly. Besides, we only saw a few letters sent by flying pigeons, and we don't know many details. Wei Chen suggested that it is best to understand the situation clearly before considering rewards and punishments."

Zhao Gou nodded and said: "Lv Xianggong is right. After all, we only saw a letter and express, and we don't know the specific situation yet. We need to understand the situation clearly. I decided to send Li Yuan, a member of the driving department, to Fu Yuchuan. Shan, investigate the truth of this defeat, if you are guilty, you will be punished severely, if you have meritorious service, you will be rewarded heavily, I will clearly reward and punish, and there is no ambiguity!"

……

This morning, an envoy sent by Guo Zhen came to Ganquanbao. Chen Qing knew that it was Tao Shuang, the prefect of Pingliang. The prefect of Pingliang.

Chen Qing invited him to sit down in the big tent, and ordered his subordinates to serve tea, and said with a smile: "I have always been worried about Tao Shijun's fate, thinking that he would be killed by the golden soldiers!"

Tao Shuang smiled wryly and said: "The gentry of Pingliang Mansion collectively guaranted me. They also need someone to stabilize the situation. The Jin people did not touch me. This time I persuaded Guan Shigu to surrender, and Guo Zhen still thinks I have meritorious service!"

"Why did the envoy persuade Guan Shigu to surrender?"

Tao Shuang said coldly: "If he doesn't surrender, tens of thousands of people in Pingliang County will starve to death. I only care about the fate of the people, not his reputation!"

Chen Qing nodded, his position was different, so he couldn't say much?

"Then what did Guo Zhen ask the envoy to do?"

"Negotiations with the regime, about Zhang Zhongxiong and [-] prisoners of war."

Chen Qing laughed, "You shouldn't be looking for me! You should go to Hanzhong to negotiate with Zhu Shengfei."

"I don't know anything about the control system. Guo Zhen is a very pragmatic person. He knows that it may not be useful to find Zhu Shengfei. If the agreement between the two parties damages the interests of the control system, will the control system release him? Certainly not, so Guo Zhen thinks that it is better to go to you directly than to find Zhu Shengfei." .”

This is also true, if Zhu Shengfei only wanted to satisfy his face and harm his own interests, he would definitely not accept it.

Of course, Chen Qing also knew that Zhu Shengfei would inevitably hate him even more, but Chen Qing didn't care anymore.

"Could Governor Tao tell me why Guo Zhen was in such a hurry to negotiate instead of sending troops to attack Ganquan Fort?"

"I heard that the negotiation was meant by Wan Yanchang. It seems that the Emperor Xixia sent an envoy to say something to Wan Yanchang? I don't know the details, but I just heard some gossip."

It turns out that the real negotiating opponent is Wan Yanchang, and Guo Zhen is just standing up for Wan Yanchang. It seems that Wan Yanchang's intention is also related to Baochuan County. Chen Qing said with a smile: "Then you talk about the conditions? Release the prisoners, I will What can I get?"

"Guo Zhen will also replace the prisoners of war of the Song Army, that is, Guan Shigu's subordinates, one to one, but Guan Shigu surrendered on his own initiative, and it is impossible for him to come back."

Chen Qing chuckled, "If Guan Shigu can't come back, then Guo Zhen has to exchange Zhang Zhongxiong with other conditions, or is it because Guo Zhen doesn't care about Zhang Zhongxiong's life at all?"

Tao Shuang shook his head, "Wan Yanchang thinks highly of Zhang Zhongxiong, Zhang Zhongxiong will definitely be released, it depends on what terms Commander Chen uses in exchange."

Chen Qing pondered for a while and said, "I agree to exchange the prisoners one to one, but I have two conditions for Zhang Zhongxiong's exchange!"

Chapter 212 Changing Prisoners

"Chen Tongzhi, please tell me!"

Chen Qing pondered for a while and said: "The first condition is that I want to move a group of people to other counties in Qinzhou. I hope you will not destroy it!"

"This condition is not a big problem. If they are ordinary people, Qi State will treat them kindly. After all, they are all Han people, and they are not so vicious."