Fenghou

Chen Qing nodded, "Then let's talk about the second condition, I want [-] shi of grain as compensation for the consumption of prisoners of war!"

Although Chen Qing obtained a lot of food from Baochuan and seized more than 1 shi of food from the puppet Qi army, he also got 1 mouths to eat, and there were more than [-] prisoners of war, so the food consumption was also staggering. Just take the opportunity of negotiation to get back some of the original.

Compensation for prisoners of war is even more nonsense. How much prisoners of war can eat, a little bit every day, they can't starve to death, just afraid that they will cause trouble if they are full.

This condition is a bit special, Tao Shuang did not dare to agree, he recorded the condition and said: "I can't decide the second condition, I have to go back and ask for instructions, why don't we talk about the details, specifically how to exchange prisoners of war?"

……

Tao Shuang left that afternoon. Chen Qing stood on the head of Dongcheng and watched Tao Shuang go away. Yang Yuanqing was a little puzzled and said, "Wan Yanchang actually wants to negotiate with us. I can't figure it out. If he sends an army of [-] to kill him, Are you still worried that you won't be able to capture Oasis Fort?"

Chen Qing smiled lightly: "I guess in his opinion, we are no different from the mice in the cage. It's meaningless to kill them with one knife. Anyway, we can't escape, so just play with us."

"I think it has something to do with Xixia people?" Zheng Ping muttered beside him.

Chen Qing glanced at Zheng Ping, nodded and said with a smile: "Perhaps Wan Yanchang wants the Xixia people to clean us up, so that we both suffer, and he will come to collect our corpses in the end!"

"Do you think Wan Yanchang will agree to our conditions?"

"There should be no problem with the first condition. The key is [-] shi of grain. It depends on whether the Xixia people have told him the truth, how much grain and supplies we got."

Speaking of this, Chen Qing said to Zheng Ping and Yang Yuanqing: "What I have explained to you, let's start doing it! This matter is related to our survival, so we need to be tougher."

The largest area in Ganquanbao is Zhong County, and it cannot accommodate such a large population. Chen Qing decided to relocate a group of people to Gangu County, where the county is big enough to accommodate them, but the county residents Chen Qing wants to move are from Ganquanbao. [-] aboriginal households.

The main reason was the attitude of these aborigines that angered him. Zhang Zhongxiong led an army of [-] to attack the city. Yang Yuanqing wanted to recruit [-] civilian men to help deliver supplies, but no one signed up.

In other words, the Song army's battle has nothing to do with them?

Unlike the Han people in Baochuan County at all, Niu Gao recruited 2000 people's regiments, and unexpectedly 6000 to [-] people came. Even women and gray-haired old people wanted to help.

It's a pity that Ganquan Fort is too small, and there are more than 1 prisoners of war. It really can't house so many people. Now there are still several households sharing a tent.

Chen Qing had to relocate some of the people, so he naturally wanted to relocate the aborigines, even if they didn't want to, he had to forcefully relocate.

Zheng Ping and Yang Yuanqing nodded silently, and Chen Qing said again: "Inform them first, give them some time to clean up, and then tell them that the war is coming, and everyone will not survive if they don't leave, and let them come back after the war is over. People are very selfish, so the resistance will not be too strong."

……

The base camp of the Puppet Qi Army is currently in Pingliang Mansion, and it happens that Wan Yanchang is also here, and he is still waiting for Chen Qing's reply.

Pingliang Mansion is only one Deshun Prefecture away from Ganquan Fort. Deshun Prefecture is long from north to south and narrow from east to west, so it is not far from Ganquan Fort, and it takes only two days to arrive.

That afternoon, Tao Shuang returned to Pingliang County. Wan Yanchang, who had been waiting for a long time, summoned him immediately, and Guo Zhen also sat beside him.

Tao Shuang bowed and saluted, then explained Chen Qing's two conditions. Wan Yanchang smiled slightly, "The request is not too high!"

Guo Zhendao next to him: "I feel that there is no need to negotiate with him. His fortress is hanging outside. If we attack with all our strength, he won't last long. Negotiating with him, he thinks he has a lot of capital!"

Wan Yanchang glanced at him, and said calmly: "If General Guo wants to capture Ganquan Fort wholeheartedly, I will give you a chance, but not now, it is the Xixia people who want to do it now, then I will let them do it, and wait for him to replace me." After you have dealt with the Xixia people well, you go and destroy him."

Only then did Guo Zhen understand that the Marshal wanted to take advantage of the conflict between Chen Qing and the Xixia people, causing them both to lose out, and then they would become the fisherman who fought between the crane and the clam.

"Humble job understands!"

Wan Yanchang smiled and said to Tao Shuang: "Magistrate Tao, please make another hard trip and tell Chen Qing that I can agree to his two conditions. Please rest assured that the Jurchens will keep their promises and will not keep their promises!"

……

Wan Yanchang agreed to Chen Qing's two conditions, and the next step was to implement them.

The [-] Ganquanbao aborigines, supporting the old and the young, drove a cart, took their property and food, and left their homes to migrate to Gangu County, two hundred miles away.

Chen Qing gave each family five sheepskins, a tent, and a stone of grain as compensation for them.

The reason why it is placed in Gangu County is because there are enough cave dwellings in Gangu County to accommodate more than 1 people.

Two thousand households of people are mighty, stretching for ten miles, heading towards Gangu County. Yang Zaixing and Liu Cui each led a thousand cavalry to guard the people going south.

The aborigines finally left, the houses in the county town were finally vacant, and the population pressure was relieved a lot. Yang Yuanqing and Niu Gao were responsible for allocating houses and resettling the Han people in Baochuan.

That afternoon, Tao Shuang came to see Chen Qing for the third time. He brought [-] carts and transported [-] shi of grain. More than ten miles away, [-] prisoners of the Song Army were escorted by the Puppet Qi Army. .

Chen Qing and Zheng Ping personally led [-] cavalry and escorted [-] Puppet Qi Army prisoners of war to the agreed place to replace the prisoners of war.

The replacement point was in an open space ten miles outside the east city, and the other party had already lined up.

Chen Qing also ordered [-] puppet Qi troops to wait in line. Zhang Xiao went to exchange the rosters with the other party. The drums began to beat, and the two prisoners of war each formed a long line and ran towards the opposing camp like a rope.

Half an hour later, the exchange of prisoners of war between the two sides was completed, and General Han Jingzong evacuated eastward with the puppet Qi army prisoners of war. As for Zhang Zhongxiong, it was the last step, and he could only be released after Yang Zaixing and Liu Cui's army returned.

Fourteen thousand prisoners of war of the Song Army stood upright in the wind. They also couldn't eat enough, didn't wear warm clothes, and were tortured to the point of emaciation. There were also many wounded soldiers inside.

"Brothers, you are home!"

Chen Qing stood on a big rock and shouted loudly to more than 1 soldiers: "Although we are temporarily at a disadvantage, we have not failed. We have our own territory. We will regain the lost land inch by inch. Brothers, follow me!" If Chen Qing works together, even if we go through hardships and fight bloody battles, we believe that the victory will belong to us in the end, brothers, we are dignified men of the Song Dynasty, no matter how powerful the Jurchens are, we will never bow our heads!"

The blood of more than 1 soldiers boiled again, and they raised their arms and shouted: "Never bow your head! Never bow your head!"

……

Ganquanbao’s city walls are about 1 miles in circumference, and it is considered a medium-sized county seat. The population was already overloaded before, but after 5 people were moved away, it can barely accommodate [-] people, but it’s a little crowded. The house of one family squeezed into two families, and the shops were closed and converted into residential houses, with one family living upstairs and one downstairs.

But even so, there are still more than [-] households without houses to live in, and they really can't live in them. This problem has to be solved by Chen Qing in the end.

Chen Qing stood on the observation deck five feet high, looking down at the city. From his angle, he could see every corner of the city clearly.

Chen Qing looked at it for a long time, and said to everyone: "Have you seen it? In fact, the city is big enough, but many places have been wasted."

Of course, Chen Qing didn’t mean the streets. Yang Yuanqing understood what he meant. He mainly meant the city walls. In order to prevent enemy fire, the Song army demolished all the buildings within 150 steps of the city walls in the east, west, and south directions, thus forming an area of ​​​​the city wall. A blank area ten miles long and 150 steps wide.

"How does the regime plan to use this blank space?"

"We can turn it into a military camp, and then give up the plot of our military camp, and [-] households will set up tents for them to live in."

Zheng Ping frowned, "But if our barracks is built next to the city wall, and the enemy shoots rockets in, it will be dangerous!"

"This requires us to build it at night and dismantle it during the day, and we try to build it inside as much as possible. There is still a hundred steps away from the city wall, and ordinary rockets can't hit the big tent. If the enemy uses trebuchets, then we will find a way!"

Everyone still felt that it was wrong, not to mention the danger, and the soldier was too wronged. Chen Qing did not insist on going his own way on this issue. He smiled and said to the crowd: "Everyone, tell me, is there any other good way?"

At this time, Cheng Ju, the deputy commander, raised his hand and said timidly, "There is a way for the humble officer!"

Chapter 213 Revenge

"General Cheng, please speak!"

Cheng Ju was the leader of the Song army prisoners of war in Baochuan County, Yannu. He joined the Song army in Yelanggou and was appointed as the deputy commander.

Everyone looked at him, and Cheng Ju said with some embarrassment: "The way to talk about low-level jobs is actually to live in different categories. For example, the elderly can live together, single men or women can also live in four or five people, and women with children can live together. Two people share a room, just like a military camp, 1 large tents can accommodate [-] people, and the common people can actually do it too.”

This method is actually not to harm the interests of the army, so everyone is more in favor of it, but as an envoy, Chen Qing is not only considering the army.

He pondered for a moment and said: "Let's do this! The elderly and single men and women can live together in dormitories. If a mother has more than two children, she can live in a single room. If she has only one child, two families can share a room." , and then set up tents on the edge of the city wall isolation zone, where the recruited militia soldiers live. One of their tasks is to fight fires, so they should be able to live there."

Yang Yuanqing nodded, "The humble official understands the meaning of the commander, try to make women and children suffer less, and the humble official will try his best to arrange it!"

"We need to make it clear to them that this is a period of war, and we can only arrange this temporarily. Please understand!"

"Understandable!"

After making arrangements for the common people, Chen Qing actually had to consider the arrangements for the [-] Song Army prisoners of war.

Historically, after Guan Shigu surrendered, more than 1 of his troops returned to Wu Jie, which greatly enhanced Wu Jie's strength. Now that these prisoners of war have returned to him, it is not only a good thing, but also a burden.

After all, Chen Qing is just a control, not all. If you want to break the rules and lead more troops, it is not impossible. You must agree with the superiors, and the Xuanfu envoy, the Privy Council or the emperor will nod, and then the money and food can be allocated.

These details will not be recorded in the history books, but these are common sense, otherwise, how could it be possible to command hundreds of thousands of troops and have the court pay for the money and food?

But not only the salary, but also the opportunity to make a fortune for the soldiers. If the generals don't give the soldiers the opportunity to make a fortune, who is willing to work for you?

It was only after Chen Qing personally led the troops to fight that he gradually understood why there were so many vertical armies looting the people, especially the wars between foreign races must be very cruel.

There is no way, the prisoners of war must be used first, and keeping Ganquan Fort is the top priority, and everything else is temporarily put aside.

Chen Qing immediately began to reorganize the prisoners of war, reorganized, and removed the wounded, old, weak, and old soldiers. He obtained 8000 elite soldiers from the [-] prisoners of war, plus his own [-] troops. [-] people.

Together with the [-] militia corps assisting the army, whether Chen Qing or his soldiers, they have more confidence in defending Ganquan Fort.

Wanyan Chang's willingness to release more than 1 prisoners of war to Chen Qing is not over-the-top. He has reached an agreement with the special envoy sent by the Xixia Emperor Li Qianshun. The Xixia Army will withdraw from Deshun Prefecture. Assigned to Xixia.

Although Ganquanbao is slightly less important than Deshun Prefecture, it is equally important.

Once the Xixia army captures Ganquan Fort, the door for the Xixia army to go south will be opened, and there will be a very favorable springboard. Whether it is looking down on Qinzhou, Fengzhou or other Xihe Road states, this is also the case of the Xixia army. dreamt of.

Therefore, Wan Yanchang allowed the Xixia army to use Ganquanbao on a large scale. Once the Xixia army captured Ganquanbao, the land and population would belong to Xixia, but the leader of the Song army, Chen Qing, would hand it over to Jin Guo.

But Wan Yanchang is also very wary of the ambitious Xixia people. He does not want the Xixia people to occupy Ganquan Fort from the bottom of his heart, forming a tendency to attack Qinzhou and Xihe Road, so he is also using Chen Qing's military power to severely damage Xixia Army, this is an excuse to negotiate, and handed over more than 1 Song Army prisoners of war to Chen Qing.

Cranes and clams fight each other, and the fisherman wins. This is Wan Yanchang's real plot.

……

In the upper reaches of the Baishui River, three thousand soldiers of the Song Dynasty are busy cutting down trees. Timber can be said to be the most precious resource in this area. The low shrubs around Ganquan Fort have grown a lot, but there are no tall trees. Within a hundred miles, only this side The two big mountains are covered with pine trees.

The tall and straight pine trees were cut down, dragged away together with the branches, thrown into the Baishui River, floated with the water to the vicinity of Ganquan Castle, and then dragged back to Ganquan Castle by mules and horses. The thick trunks can be sawed into rolling logs and branches It can be used for cooking after drying on the roof.

Not only trees, but thousands of soldiers are quarrying stones ten miles north of Ganquan Fort. There is a large river that has been abandoned for thousands of years. On the river bed, you can see various strange rocks and huge pebbles, stretching for more than 100 miles. yes.

In just a few days, all the boulders on the twenty-mile riverbed were excavated by the Song army, transported back to the city by cart, and piled up like a hill in the south of the barracks.

There is also a kind of big bluestone dozens of miles south of Ganquan Fort, which is very fine in texture and is a kind of high-quality building material. The city walls of Ganquan Fort and the houses of the people are built with this kind of big bluestone.

It's just that the parts that are easy to mine have been exhausted, and if you want to mine again, you have to blow up the mountain. The difficulty is too high, so the Song army had to give up and look for large rocks from the abandoned river bed.

Not only the Song army mobilized, but also the people of the city. They mainly went to the Baishui River to fetch water. Although there were more than a dozen deep wells in the city, there were too many people and the well water was still unaffordable.

Common people usually go to the Baishui River to fetch water. The water storage tank is the most important family asset in Ganquanbao. It is usually placed behind the corner house with a cover on it. Every family has several large water tanks.

Then use mule carts to fetch water from the Baishui River several miles away. Everyone has to fill up all the water containers, which can last for a month or two.

The same is true for the army, which needs to store a lot of water and use as little water as possible from wells.

At the same time when the Song army was busy preparing for the war, a hundred thousand Xixia troops assembled in Baochuan County. Xixia once again transported a large amount of food and supplies with giant leather rafts. Further south is Ganquan Fort, which is the relay logistics supply base.

Xixia had been planning this plan for two years, but it was interrupted by Chen Qing just as it started to be implemented, and a large amount of food and supplies were taken away.

Now Chen Qing is not only a confidant of Jin Bing, but also a thorn in the eyes of the Xixia Army.

The head coach of the Xixia army is the famous Xixia general Li Liangfu. Li Liangfu is nearly 20 years old and has experienced hundreds of battles. He has fought against Song, Liao, and Jin for many years.

This time Murong Tao performed poorly, failed to take Ganquan Fort in time, and lost Deshun Prefecture, which made the emperor Li Ganshun very dissatisfied. South gate.

Although Xixia is afraid of the Jin soldiers, they are not afraid of the puppet Qi army. If the puppet Qi army is too busy to take care of themselves, it is not impossible for them to eat away at the land from the puppet Qi army.

In the Xixia big tent, Li Liangfu is listening to Murong Tao's report.

Li Liangfu is tall and burly, with a rough appearance. Although he is nearly [-] years old and has white beard and hair, he is still strong and strong, with a straight back and a pair of copper bell-like eyes. His gaze is very fierce, but his wrinkled face shows him He has experienced many vicissitudes of life.

"Commander Qi, this Chen Qing once defeated tens of thousands of Jin soldiers at Jianbai Pass. His defensive ability is very strong, and he is especially good at using fire. He was the one who caused the fire in the gold camp of the monk. Not long ago, he set fire to the camp of the Qi army. Annihilating [-] Qi troops, he made great achievements in battle, and even the Jin people were very troubled by him. The emperor of the Jin Kingdom also ordered a reward of [-] guan and [-] households to reward his head. It is said that Wanyan Loushi was killed by him. "

Li Liangfu originally closed his eyes and listened carefully, but when he heard that Wanyan Loushi was killed by Chen Qing, he suddenly widened his eyes, "Wanyan Loushi died at his hands?"

You know, Li Liangfu and Wanyan Loushi fought many times ten years ago, and he was defeated by Wanyan Loushi. He listed Wanyan Loushi as his greatest enemy in his life, and Wanyan Loushi actually died in Chen Li Liangfu had no choice but to pay attention to the enemy he was about to face.

"What is his origin? How old is he? Why haven't you heard of him before?"

Murong Tao bowed and said, "Reporting to Commander, this person is very young, in his twenties, he only started to rise after the Battle of Fuping, and he was highly regarded by Commander Zhang Jun. He has been promoted several times in just two years, and now he is the leader .”

"I'm only in my twenties!"

Li Liangfu was really surprised. The army pays attention to qualifications and experience. He is only in his twenties. How many battles can he fight?How much experience can you have?

The arrogance in his bones made Li Liangfu underestimate Chen Qing.

"I see, order the army to send troops to Ganquan Fort tonight!"

That night, Li Liangfu appointed general Li Mingxiu as the logistics commander, and led an army of [-] to guard Baochuan County. He personally led an army of [-], with Murong Tao as the vanguard, and marched in the direction of Ganquanbao.

Chapter 214

Accompanied by Yang Yuanqing and Zheng Ping, Chen Qing brought more than a dozen soldiers to a small residential courtyard. Some people reported that there was a Xixia spy hiding here.

Hu Yanlei had already led his men to take the first step. When Chen Qing came to the yard, he saw a young man kneeling on the ground with his hands and feet tied behind his back, his eyes full of fear.

"What's the matter with him?" Chen Qing stepped forward and asked.

Hu Yanlei clasped his fists in salute and said: "To report to the government, it was this person's adoptive father who reported him. This person is Han, but he has lived in Xixia for many years. He only returned to Baochuan County this year. He brought an eagle and wrote last night. He was discovered by his adoptive father during intelligence."

"What did you find?"

"We found the thin pen and paper used to write Ying's letter, and also found a bronze medal from Heijintang, which proves that he is a spy from Xixia people."

Heijintang is a special agency for the Xixia people to collect intelligence about the Song Dynasty. Many of them are rebellious Song people. They use business, study or work in the government office as a cover to collect intelligence for the Xixia people.