Fenghou

"here we go again!"

The soldiers shouted, this time it was eight clay pots filled with kerosene, roaring and flying over the city wall, and smashed into the open space in the city.

"Prepare the dirt!"

Niu Gao yelled, hundreds of soldiers pushing wheelbarrows were eager to try, and thousands of soldiers carrying soil loads were also waiting in line. The clay pots fell to the ground and shattered, and fire oil poured out. It was covered up, and the soldiers rushed to work together, swinging shovels to load the mud mixed with kerosene on a wheelbarrow and transport it away.

With a tacit understanding and well-trained, even Zheng Ping, who has always been picky, gave Niu Gao a thumbs up, commanding his eyes to recognize people, this Niu Gao's organizational skills are indeed very strong.

Of course, this is also related to the large number of people. There were only a few hundred people in Jiandao Pass at the beginning, and there was no time to deal with the pouring kerosene.

But for the attacker, this is called clearing the field, clearing the crossbowmen and soldiers in the city to prepare for a large-scale attack on the city, otherwise all the arrows in the city will be fired, which will pose a huge threat to the soldiers of the attacker.

At this moment, the huge war drums outside the city sounded, and the fire attack inside the city did not stop, but the attack outside the city had already begun.

'Boom!Boom!Boom! '

Amidst the sound of huge war drums, five thousand crossbowmen took the lead in formation. They knelt on one knee two hundred steps away, raised their crossbows and shot towards the top of the city. The five thousand crossbow arrows shot towards the top of the city like a storm. The soldiers squatted down one after another.

"Bed crossbow and god arm crossbow shooting!"

Five hundred bed crossbows and one thousand god arm crossbow soldiers were launched together. The black and powerful crossbow arrows whizzed down from the sky, and the density was suffocating.

Li Liangfu turned a blind eye and roared, "Siege!"

'Woo—'

Dozens of low-pitched horns blew, and five thousand Xixia soldiers rushed out carrying the siege ladder, rushing towards the city wall like a rising tide, and crossing the hundred-foot line.

The bed crossbow and god arm crossbow were still shooting at the Xixia crossbowmen below the city. After a few rounds of arrows, more than half of the five thousand Xixia crossbowmen had been killed and had to ask to retreat. Seeing that the siege soldiers had rushed to the city, Li Liangfu agreed The crossbowmen retreated.

More than [-] crossbowmen retreated in a panic, leaving corpses all over the ground.

The bow and crossbow battle was over, and the progress of the war turned to the siege battle. The three thousand guard bows on the top of the city were fired, and the three thousand soldiers were recruits. The long arrows fell like raindrops, and their penetrating power was so strong that Xixia soldiers' armors couldn't resist them, so they could only rely on their shields to resist them.

Group after group of soldiers fell down amidst screams, and countless more soldiers rushed up.

A hundred siege warships were hung on the top of the city, and five thousand soldiers bravely climbed up. What greeted them was a torrential rain of rolling logs and rocks. Without the threat of bows and arrows under the top of the city, the bed crossbow and god arm crossbow were removed and replaced with A total of 30 defenders were deployed on the four-mile-long city, divided into [-] groups, with [-] people in each group to deal with a siege ladder.

Chen Qing saw that the top of the city was quite crowded, and the opponent's trebuchets were only half left, so the threat was not great, so he immediately ordered: "Withdraw the bows of the city guards and release arrows under the city!"

"There is an order to control the city, withdraw the bows of the city guards to the city and release the arrows!"

Zhang Min, the commander of the crossbowmen, shouted, "Follow me, the defenders and the archers!"

He led [-] archers along the corridor and quickly withdrew down the city, and the city became less crowded at once. One hundred groups of soldiers performed their duties, and another thousand soldiers were divided into ten groups. Under the leadership of Yang Zaixing, Continuously maneuver and run on the top of the city, supporting any dangerous places at any time.

Both sides fought bloody battles above and below the city. Soldiers continued to fall from the top of the city and the stairs. Li Liangfu could see clearly, and he coldly ordered: "Another five thousand soldiers will be sent to the top of the city. The leader of the city will reward you with a thousand coins!"

'Woo—'

The horn of reinforcement sounded, and the second batch of [-] Xixia soldiers came up like a tide. They also carried a large number of siege ladders, bringing the number of attacking soldiers under the city to more than [-]. The entire hundred steps were densely packed with enemy troops. Soldiers, with heavy rewards, Xixia soldiers attacked frantically regardless of everything.

The siege ladders were constantly being overturned and fell down, and new siege ladders were constantly being hung up. The soldiers of the Xixia Army, mainly party members, were extremely brave, putting life and death at risk, and desperately rushed to the top of the city. , the rolling wood and rocks don't work anymore.

Chen Qing has turned to the observation tower, from which he can see the entire battlefield more clearly. He has enough troops, the key is how to use them to kill the enemy to the greatest extent.

He took out a command arrow and handed it to the messenger: "Notify Commander Zheng to deploy [-] soldiers to release arrows and crossbow arrows in the city, and use the three-three formation!"

Yang Yuanqing was in charge of the battle at the top of the city, Zheng Ping was in charge of deployment under the city, Niu Gao was in charge of militia support, Hu Yanyun was in charge of medical logistics, Zhao Xiaoyi was in charge of order in the city, and each general performed his duties.

As the chief general, Chen Qing is responsible for judging the situation and arranging the battles of the armies. This is called rules and regulations. The situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly. Only by responding to changes can we remain invincible.

No matter what kind of situation changes, they must stick to the bottom line, adhere to principles, never compromise, and never make concessions. This is to respond to changes with the same.

But on the battlefield, it is necessary to adapt to changes, not to be pedantic, not to be dull, and to face new problems that continue to arise, and to solve them quickly and decisively.

For example, too many people at the top of the city lead to congestion, which makes the reinforcements run too slowly and delays the fighter plane.

Another example is that if you find that the enemy army is too numerous and densely packed, you have to use weapons of mass destruction, either kerosene or firearms, but Chen Qing considered the cruel situation he might face in the future, so he used Thousand Arrow Array, which is also a weapon of mass destruction.

The reserve army was already ready, and Zheng Ping dispatched troops. The previous three thousand archers were still in one group, at the front, followed by two groups of crossbow troops, each with 3000 soldiers.

'Boom!Boom!Boom! The drums were beating rapidly, requiring nine thousand crossbow soldiers to quickly enter the state.

The arrow was strung up, the bow and crossbow were raised slightly, and the point of the arrow was at a [-]-degree angle, surpassing the top of the city, and the formation of the Nine Thousand Army was completely silent.

'Bang!Bang!Bang! 'The sound of the clapper suddenly rang.

Three thousand soldier arrows were shot first, and the dense arrows, like a dark cloud, crossed the top of the city and shot out of the city.

Immediately afterwards, another dark cloud shot out, and just as the arrows flew over the city wall, the third batch of three thousand crossbow arrows shot out again.

There was still fierce fighting on the top of the city, but the dense Xixia soldiers outside the city suffered a devastating blow. Arrows shot down overwhelmingly, and the shields were useless. Soldiers fell down crying one after another. Many soldiers were only injured at first. , but the next intensive supplementary arrows made the wounded soldier swallowed by the arrows in despair.

How could the [-] soldiers below the city block the rounds of thousands of arrows, and they shot five rounds of [-] arrows in just a moment, and the originally dense team became sparse.

Li Liangfu was still a little hesitant. If he withdrew his troops, his previous efforts would be wasted, but if he did not withdraw, the soldiers would suffer too many casualties, and his hesitation would lead to a large number of casualties.

The generals were in a hurry and shouted: "Commander, order the withdrawal!"

"Order to withdraw troops!"

Li Liangfu had no choice but to order the troops to withdraw, "Dang!when!when! The bell rang, and the Xixia soldiers who were attacking on the ladder, as well as the soldiers under the city, raised their shields and retreated step by step.

But it was still the same ten thousand arrows that sent them off. Two rounds of [-] arrows were fired, and the Xixia soldiers got rid of the attack of the ten thousand arrow array. Chen Qing immediately ordered to stop shooting.

In the first attack, the Xixia army suffered more than [-] casualties, while the Song army suffered only a few hundred casualties.

Li Liangfu deeply felt the tenacity of the Song Army, and he also tasted the power of the young general of the Song Army. He responded properly and was very organized. Those famous generals in the Song Dynasty were no different. For the first time, a shadow was cast over Li Liangfu's heart.

Chapter 217 The Little Man

Zhu Shengfei had already gone to Chengdu, but just after arriving in Chengdu, he was forced back to Hanzhong by an edict of accountability from the emperor.

The imperial envoy sent by the Son of Heaven was already on the way. Although he said he was only here to comfort Sichuan and Shaanxi, Zhu Shengfei knew in his heart that it must be because the Song army was defeated and lost Xihe Road and Fengxiang.

He could imagine the anger of the ministers in the court, and how Zhang Jun would say bad things about himself?

He was also really helpless, Xihe Road was lost too quickly, he was powerless to recover, and he was defeated like a mountain without even a decent resistance.

Zhu Shengfei was pacing back and forth in the hall of the government office in Nanzheng County at this time, feeling upset for a while, how should he explain to the court?

At this time, Fu Jingyi, the staff member, reported in the hall, "I want to report to Xuanfu envoy, Fu Dutong has urgent matters to see!"

"Let him in!"

Not long after, Fu Xuan walked in hurriedly, "See Xuanfu envoy for humble posts!"

"Excuse me, Fu Dutong, what can I do for you?"

"I heard the news that Wan Yanchang is negotiating with Chen Qing."

"what?"

Zhu Shengfei was taken aback, "I don't understand what you're talking about, what can they talk about?"

"Reporting to the Xuan Fu envoy, Chen Qing fought a small victory in Fort Ganquan and captured some puppet Qi soldiers. Now Wan Yanchang is negotiating with him. It is said that he wants to use Guan Shigu's soldiers to exchange soldiers with him. .”

"Bullshit!"

Zhu Shengfei's face suddenly darkened, "He is in charge, what qualifications does he have to negotiate with Jin Guo's coach?"

"That's the problem. I heard that they are talking about it. I feel strange because the Jinren are barbarians and don't know the rules. Could it be that Chen Qing doesn't know the rules either?

He could have Wan Yanchang come to Hanzhong to negotiate, but why didn't he refuse?Did he not understand, or did he not take Xuan Fushi seriously? "

Zhu Shengfei glanced at Fu Xuan, "Fu Dutong, how do you know about this?"

"This matter is the news brought by the businessman. It is said that the negotiation has been completed. Chen Qing exchanged prisoners of war with the other party. Many detained businessmen were also released. Some of them went south and talked about this matter when they passed through Dashan Pass. .”

"It means that Wu Jie also knows about this?"

"He must know, he even knows about the lowly position, how could he not know? He just pretended not to know and didn't report to the envoy."

Zhu Shengfei's face became more and more gloomy. It seemed that the Shaanxi Army had a serious problem. These people didn't report anything. From top to bottom, from Wu Jie to Chen Qing, they didn't take themselves seriously.

Fu Xuan watched the words and expressions, and pretended to be hesitant, and said: "Xuan Fushi, there is a saying that I don't know if I should say it or not!"

"If you have something to say, I won't blame you if you say it."

Fu Xuan sighed, "Actually, we all know that the defeat at Xihe Road can be avoided..."

Zhu Shengfei raised his eyebrows, "How do you say that?"

"Xuanfu envoy also knows that Fengxiang is a part of Guanzhong, and there is no danger to rely on. When tens of thousands of enemy troops come to attack, they have no other choice but to withdraw their troops to preserve their strength.

But Xihe Road is different. Could it be that Xihe Road can't be guarded?The mountains are numerous, the land is sparsely populated, the enemy's troops are far away and the logistics are not enough, as long as a surprise soldier breaks the enemy's logistics and food channels, the puppet Qi army will undoubtedly be defeated.

But in fact?The Song army on Xihe Road withdrew without even seeing the enemy, making one wonder that Wu Jie didn't want to guard Xihe Road at all. "

"Then what is he trying to do?" Zhu Shengfei asked puzzled.

"responsibility!"

"He obeyed the order of the Xuanfu envoy to send troops to Xihe Road, and then fled back in a panic. The Xuanfu envoy will bear the responsibility. If the court officials pursue the responsibility, the Xuanfu envoy will bear the brunt of the responsibility!"

Fu Xuan's words aroused Zhu Shengfei's sympathy. The emperor sent special envoy Li Yuan to Hanzhong to investigate, but he knew nothing about it. He didn't deploy or do anything. The Song army was defeated in a hurry. This responsibility can be pushed to himself head?Still like what Fu Xuan said, some people deliberately put the blame on themselves.

Fu Xuan saw the anger in Zhu Shengfei's eyes, he was secretly happy, and continued to fan the flames, "The humble staff has always been unwilling to use the worst thoughts to speculate on their colleagues, but the fact is here, if Zhang Jun is here, they will definitely not do this ?”

"Zhang Jun is here, what will they do?"

"If Zhang Jun were here, he would set up a wartime military intelligence office, and all the people would send people to stay in the military intelligence office, with constant eagle letters every day, and then they would sort out the military situation and report it all the time. Grasp the situation of the former enemy, and then issue an order, if the Xuanfu envoy has a military intelligence office, Chen Qing and Wan Yanchang's negotiations will not need to be reported by humble officials."

"Damn it!"

Zhu Shengfei slammed his fist on the table, he just came to his senses now, no wonder he always felt that he was missing something, the former enemy didn't know anything, and he didn't know how to command?

It turned out that the Military Intelligence Office was missing, but Wu Jie refused to tell himself, and completely emptied himself. It seemed that his guess was correct, and Wu Jie didn't take himself seriously at all.

In fact, Fu Xuan was just confusing concepts. The Military Intelligence Office is not a fixed institution, nor does it have to be set up. Each Xuanfu envoy has a different style, so naturally there will be a different way of holding power. The Military Intelligence Office is just Zhang Jun's way.

Then after Zhu Shengfei came, he should quickly establish his own way of taking power. You can't expect the big future below to establish it for you.

If Wu Jie must be blamed, Wu Jie's only responsibility is that he did not remind Zhu Shengfei to establish his own way of taking power as soon as possible.

But if, as Fu Xuan said, he decides to withdraw the army without authorization, and finally puts the responsibility on Zhu Shengfei, then it is completely nonsense.

Fu Xuan may not know it, but Zhu Shengfei knows it very well. In this meeting hall, Zhu Shengfei summoned Wu Jie, Liu Ziyu, and the deputy envoys of the Xuanfu Department of Sichuan and Shanxi, Lu Fayuan and Sima Wangsi, a total of five people in this room After discussing countermeasures, Zhu Shengfei made the decision to withdraw the troops immediately.

But Zhu Shengfei selectively forgot about this decision. He listened to Fu Xuan's slander, and the reason for the terrible situation before him was entirely caused by the generals making decisions without discussing with him.

"This commander knows what to do, thank you General Fu for telling me."

"Retire from humble position!"

Fu Xuan was secretly proud, saluted and withdrew.

……

After Fu Xuan left, Zhu Shengfei was even more upset. Fu Xuan only told him the reason, but didn't tell him how to get out of the predicament in front of him.

At this time, another subordinate reported, "The magistrate Liu Ziyu has urgent matters to see!"

It was urgent again, Zhu Shengfei said impatiently: "Let him in!"

After a while, Liu Ziyu walked into the lobby, clasped his fists and saluted, "See Xuanfu envoy!"

Zhu Shengfei restrained the impatience in his heart, and said lightly: "Prefect Liu, please sit down!"

Liu Ziyu sat down, anxiously said: "I just got the news from the eldest son from Xianrenguan that the Western Xia army of [-] to [-] has surrounded Ganquan Fort. The situation in Ganquan Fort is critical. We must take action here."

Liu Ziyu didn't know about Chen Qing's change of troops. He thought that Chen Qing only had [-] troops, while the opponent had [-] to [-] troops. Under pressure, Chen Qing would definitely not be able to defend Ganquan Fort.

Zhu Shengfei raised his slender eyebrows. For some reason, this news gave him an indescribable pleasure.

Chen Qing finally has today?I can't deal with him by myself, and now the Xixia people are here to do it for me.

But Zhu Shengfei didn't show any expression on his face, and his tone was still very cold: "Chen Qing is in Ganquan Fort, but not in Immortal Pass. How can we rescue him?"

Zhu Shengfei knew about Ganquan Fort, which was located in the northernmost part of Qinzhou, hundreds of miles away from Dashan Pass, so far away, didn't Liu Ziyu know the word beyond reach?And let yourself rescue, isn't this a joke?

Liu Ziyu hurriedly said: "Of course it's not about sending out a large army to rescue. The humble position means that a cavalry of more than a thousand people can be sent northward to harass the Xixia army from the outside. The key is attitude. Let Chen Qing know that the envoy Xuanfu did not abandon him. It's doing his best to support him, which will do a good job of boosting morale."

Zhu Shengfei said coldly: "Now that I think about it, I want to encourage him. When he was negotiating with Wan Yanchang, why didn't he think that I, the Xuan Fu envoy, would be in Hanzhong?"

Liu Ziyu was shocked, "Xuanfu envoy, where do you start with this?"

"Humph!"

Zhu Shengfei couldn't bear it anymore, he snorted heavily, stood up and said with cold eyes: "Does he think that if he doesn't report it, the higher-ups won't know about it? I can put the ugly words in front of me. I don't pursue his responsibility now. Once he comes back, I will definitely take it as my responsibility." Urge to commit the crime of superiors and behead them!"

Liu Ziyu looked helplessly at the murderous Zhu Shengfei, and he sighed deeply in his heart. It is very likely that Chen Qing will not escape this time.