Fenghou

Chen Qing clasped his fists back and said with a smile: "General Zhou has won the award. I want to go north to Guanzhong from Ziwu Valley. I wonder if it is feasible?"

Zhou Wu nodded, "It should be possible if you don't bring a heavy truck, but it's more difficult to walk, and it will take at least five or six days, but Yang Sihu knows how to get there, so the governor can just follow him.

In addition, the puppet Qi army built a pass city at the entrance of the valley in the north. It has just been built. Be careful when passing by. "

This news really surprised Chen Qing, he quickly asked: "How dangerous is the pass city in the north, and how does it compare with Ziwu Pass?"

"Of course it is not as dangerous as the Meridian Valley. It was not built on a high place, but at the mouth of the valley, cutting off the valley road. I have studied how to capture it. I can only wait for the night when the moon is dark and the wind is high, and then the valley will be completely dark. , if there is moonlight, the soldiers on the top of the city can see the situation in the valley, and the humble official said that there are so many controls, I am afraid I can’t understand it, just go and see.”

"Thank you!"

Under Zhou Wu's arrangement, Chen Qing led the army through Ziwu Pass and walked to the depths of Ziwu Valley.

There have been no caravans in Meridian Valley since last year. The valley is full of weeds. Many long ravines used to hide thieves. Now the thieves can’t survive. The [-]-mile-long Meridian Valley has become wild animals. world.

The Meridian Valley is 660 miles long. It is not always a narrow valley, nor is it full of cliffs on both sides. In fact, the middle part of the Meridian Valley is the hinterland of the Qinling Mountains. Large and small lakes, mountain streams and streams are numerous. There used to be many villages in the valley, but now they are all abandoned. Only hunters and herbal gatherers come and go occasionally.

Chen Qing's subordinates are cavalry, and they are relatively fast. They can walk through the Meridian Valley in about six days. They have enough food for ten days, which is basically enough.

At noon on the third day, they came to Jinxian Dam, the widest place in Meridian Valley. This is a basin with a radius of a hundred miles. To the west is a large forest. A small river flows out of the forest and flows into Jinxian Lake in front of Chen Qing.

The grassland on both sides of the river is lush, at least several thousand acres, and it is also a good place for grazing.

Seeing that it was already afternoon, Chen Qing ordered to camp in Xiaohe, rest overnight, and set off tomorrow night.

"There are deer over there!" Liu Qiong shouted excitedly pointing to the distance.

Sure enough, there was a group of sika deer drinking water by the river a few miles away. There were more than 100 of them. Everyone was overjoyed, and they could have a delicious meal tonight.

Chen Qing smiled and said to Liu Qiong: "If you can hunt two more bears, I will give you a turn!"

Immediately, Liu Qiong was impatient, and immediately galloped away with hundreds of cavalry, chasing the deer into the forest, half an hour later, the cavalry came out happily, they wiped out the deer, and hunted to 200 There are many sheep, more than [-] cows, and more than a dozen wild boars.

The cattle and sheep were taken away by the residents of the valley too late to become wild cattle and sheep. The prey was so abundant that Chen Qing had to send another [-] brothers to help.

Liu Qiong walked over with a rare clouded leopard on his shoulders, "Guan Zhi, I couldn't hunt a bear, but I caught a clouded leopard. I don't know if that counts?"

Seeing that the arrow shot through the eyes, Chen Qing basically kept the leopard skin intact, which happened to be a birthday gift for Lu Yihao, so he happily smiled and said: "It can be counted!"

Liu Qiong was overjoyed, and offered the leopard to Chen Qing, and then rushed to kill the cow.

That night, the Song army lit dozens of bonfires by the Jinxian Lake and had a delicious meal of barbecued game. They also brought captured sheep wine. The soldiers drank and ate meat and fell asleep to their heart's content.

Early the next morning, the army set off again, and the road ahead was really difficult. The original straight road was gone, and there were long detours, but some road sections could not be detoured, so we had to find a way to solve it.

It is mainly a section of road through Xiaowutai Mountain in Ziwu Valley, which is about a hundred miles long. Many plank roads on the mountain road have been burned. People can climb over the rocky cliffs little by little, but war horses cannot.

Chen Qing had no choice but to send people to cut wood and build bridges, and repaired more than a dozen sections of dangerous roads in a row. Although the road was cleared, it took a full three days.

On the ninth day, the army's dry food was running out, and they could only last for another day and a half at most. At this time, they finally came to the vicinity of Beitankou.

Only then did Chen Qing understand the reason why the Jin soldiers did not go south from the Ziwu Valley. If there was no logistics support, they would cut off the food when they reached the Ziwu Pass to the south. Only by killing horses for food can they return to Guanzhong. This is a result that Jin Bing cannot accept anyway.

But the Song Army can attack Ziwu Valley in the north, and they can build a logistics camp in Jinxian Lake, so they don't have to worry about the future.

Of course, Chen Qing didn't think of this, and it was too late to set up a logistics camp.

Now they are also facing the same consequences as Jin Bing. If they can't attack the pass of Taniguchi in the north, they will have to kill horses for food.

Chapter 236 Accident

Wanyan Salihe led the generals to the team, there were dozens of Jurchen soldiers lying alone on the grass, many people watched them worriedly from a distance, and a Jurchen military doctor was examining them.

Wanyan Sali didn't dare to approach him, so he beckoned the military doctor to come forward.

"What's the matter with them?"

"Reporting to the Marshal, they all have the same symptoms, high fever, body pain, runny nose and cough, and red and swollen eyes."

Wanyan Sali was taken aback, and asked nervously, "Is this an epidemic?"

"I'm not sure at the moment. They haven't had vomiting or diarrhea yet. At least they don't look like a plague, but they are contagious. They are all soldiers in the same account. At first, there was only one person, but now everyone is infected."

"Does this disease affect combat?"

The military doctor nodded, "They are sore and weak, and they can't even hold weapons in their arms, which will definitely affect the combat."

Wanyan Sali looked back at the crowd, lowered his voice and asked, "How serious is this disease? I mean, will soldiers die if they get infected?"

"Yes! There are already several of them who can't do it anymore. If their physique is a little weaker, they are all more dangerous!"

"Will that be contagious?"

The military doctor nodded and looked at the dozens of people on the grass in the distance, "In just one day, a tent of soldiers has fallen."

Wanyan Chishulie stepped forward and said: "Marshal, it is a dangerous sign for soldiers to get sick, we must retreat immediately."

Wanyan Sali was really helpless, he still wanted to try to attack Xianrenguan, but now that the army was sick, he had no choice but to order to evacuate eastward.

The [-] Jurchens turned around and evacuated eastward, speeding up...

On the second day after Jin Bing withdrew, Chen Qing led the army to appear in the abandoned temporary camp of Jin Bing. The soldiers dug up more than a dozen Jurchen corpses.

The military doctor stepped forward and said to Chen Qing: "Basically, I can be sure that these golden soldiers all died of the same disease."

"Is it the plague?" Chen Qing asked.

"It's not like the plague, it looks a bit like dying from a fever."

Chen Qing knew that there were no antibiotics in this era, and an epidemic would cause widespread death, not necessarily dysentery or cholera, for example, viral influenza was actually the same.

He immediately ordered, "Burn the body on fire, dig a pit and bury it deep!"

Yang Zaixing stepped forward and asked, "Control, should we pursue?"

Chen Qing was a little hesitant, he was worried that his army would also be infected with this flu.

The military doctor said with a smile: "Actually, there is no need to worry about the control. Every spring, we will make a large amount of soup and medicine for the soldiers to prevent this kind of fever. There should be a lot of medicinal materials in Wu Dutong, such as honeysuckle, banlangen, etc. You can go and get some for the humble !"

When Chen Qing heard the names of these medicines, he couldn't help laughing knowingly. He nodded and said, "I'll write a letter, and you hand it to Wu Dutong for me!"

Chen Qing immediately wrote a letter and handed it to the military doctor to take to Wu Jie. He then sent someone to Xianrenguan to inform Liu Qiong to lead the army to meet him at Raofengguan. He then led [-] soldiers to continue to chase eastward. .

……

At this time, Liu Ziyu had already come out from Jinniu Road, together with Li Yuan, the special envoy of the imperial envoy, Liu Ziyu arranged for Li Yuan to go to Chengdu for a temporary refuge.

Considering that Xixian County is strong and difficult to attack, Liu Ziyu brought Li Yuan to Xixian County.

In the lobby, Wu Jie was discussing the military situation with Liu Ziyu. Li Yuan asked very worriedly: "If the situation continues like this, will Hanzhong fall completely and endanger Bashu?"

Wu Jie smiled slightly and said, "Your Majesty, don't worry, the situation has turned around, and we will be able to regain Hanzhong soon."

Liu Ziyu's eyes lit up, "Is Chen Qing here?"

Wu Jie nodded, "I arrived three days ago."

Li Yuan asked cautiously: "Before I set off, the officials also asked me to pay attention to Chen Qing. Mr. Qin hates him, but the other Mr. Xiang admires him very much. Could it be that he really has such a great effect? To reverse the situation in Hanzhong?"

Wu Jie said indifferently: "The biggest weakness of Jin Bing is the logistics supply. This is the credit of Liu Zhifu, causing Jin Bing to rely on the supplies from Jinzhou. Not many people can see this, and Chen Qing also sees it. Arrived, so the night before yesterday, he destroyed Jin Bing's logistics supply team in one fell swoop, burned hundreds of warships, and wiped out five thousand Jurchens. This battle basically reversed the situation in Hanzhong, and the main force of Jin Bing had to withdraw gone."

At this time, the soldiers reported in the hall, "Report to Dutong, and Chen Tongzhi sent someone to deliver a letter, saying that there is something important!"

"Bring him in!"

Not long after, a man in his thirties walked quickly into the lobby and bowed to salute, "This is Gu Tingfang, a military doctor in Qinzhou, here to deliver a letter under the order of Chen Tongzhi!"

After speaking, he took out a letter and presented it, and a soldier took the letter and handed it to Wu Jie.

Wu Jie opened the letter and read it again, then gave the letter to Li Yuan.

Wu Jie asked with both surprise and joy: "Is the news accurate about the outbreak of an epidemic in Jin Bing's army?"

"Reporting to Dutong, it should not be an epidemic, but it is also a fatal infectious disease. The infected person will often have high fever, pain all over the body, and severe cough, especially if the body temperature is too high, it will be fatal. We have excavated more than a dozen dead people. The body of a Jurchen soldier."

After reading the letter, Liu Ziyu also smiled and said: "Jin Bing can be said to have a leaky house, continuous night rain, lack of food, and an infectious disease. He probably won't attack Immortal Pass again. I agree with Chen Tongzhi's judgment. Jin Bing wants to keep Jinzhou. But we can't give them that chance."

Li Yuan pondered for a while and said: "The most urgent thing is not to let the disease pass to Song Jun!"

Gu Tingfang hurriedly said: "Chen Tongzhi also meant the same thing, so he sent a humble official to Xi County to ask for medical support!"

Wu Jie immediately ordered his soldiers: "Take Doctor Gu to the warehouse. Just take any medicine you need. Our whole army will also prepare medicine for prevention!"

Gu Tingfang saluted and left, Liu Ziyu and Li Yuan both looked at Wu Jie to see his next action plan.

Wu Jie pondered for a long time and said: "I think with Raofengguan as the boundary, if the Jin soldiers withdraw from Raofengguan, it will be a real retreat. We can return to Nanzheng and rearrange the defense of Raofengguan."

"Will Wu Dutong send troops to support Chen Qing?" Li Yuan asked puzzled.

Wu Jie smiled slightly, "His army is all cavalry, which is faster. My army will drag him down in the past, but if he captures Raofengguan, I can take over the defense and solve his worries."

……

Chen Qing's cavalry followed Jin Bing all the way, and kept seeing the bodies of the dead buried by Jin Bing. In just three days, more than 300 people died of illness.

But this kind of viral flu is not a plague after all. Strong soldiers can resist it even if they are infected. It is often the wounded or weak who cannot resist it. Most of the wounded soldiers died of illness these days.

But even so, this kind of death also brought great pressure to the main general Wanyan Salihe. More and more soldiers were infected, and it has exceeded [-]%. No one knows who will die next?

The morale of the Jin soldiers was low, and the entire army remained silent. Everyone bowed their heads and hurried on. Almost everyone wanted to fly away from this ominous place in Hanzhong.

This morning, the army finally arrived at Raofeng Pass. Raofeng Pass was still controlled by a thousand gold soldiers. Although there was a secret road to the canyon to pass through Raofeng Ridge, the secret road could not pass through the baggage, not even the horses. It can play the role of seizing Rao Fengguan.

Therefore, Raofeng Pass is still an extremely important pass, and it is impossible for Jin Bing to abandon it after entering Hanzhong.

The [-] Jurchen army marched through the Raofeng Pass, just a few miles away in a mountain depression, Chen Qing watched the Jin soldiers pass the pass from afar.

Of course he also wants to intercept the Jin soldiers in Xingyuan Mansion, but this is unrealistic. There are the main forces of the Jin soldiers on both sides of Raofengguan. If he occupies Raofengguan too early, he will only suffer from the enemy, and the whole army may be wiped out. .

If any pass wants to control it, the premise is that there can only be enemy troops on one side, and there must be no enemy troops on the front and back.

Chen Qing could only attack Raofengguan after the main force of the Jin soldiers had withdrawn from Raofengguan.

That night, all 3000 golden soldiers left Raofeng Pass, and there were still only [-] golden soldiers left on Raofeng Pass, but [-] golden soldiers were stationed below the eastern pass, and [-] were stationed in Jinzhou. Obviously, Wanyan Sali was unwilling to withdraw from Hanzhong like this, he wanted to control Jinzhou and Raofengguan so that he would have a chance to make a comeback.

Chapter 237 Dark Moon

In the afternoon, several miles away, Chen Qing saw a pass in the distance. At the end of a canyon with a width of more than twenty feet, a city wall stood, directly blocking the exit, with milky white cliffs on both sides.

If the moonlight shines on the white cliffs, it is like a mirror reflection, making the moonlight in the canyon extraordinarily clear, and the line of sight can see farther.

It was only then that Chen Qing understood why it was necessary to attack the city in the dark of the moon. It was really difficult for soldiers to escape the surveillance of the sentries.

But for Chen Qing, who has experienced many battles, it is not difficult to capture this kind of pass city, and it is even easy. The pass is not built in a dangerous place, it is built on flat ground, and there is no depth in the city. It is estimated that the original intention of building it It was just to prevent the Song Army from scouting, or to monitor the Song Army.

It was easy to capture Guancheng, but what Chen Qing was worried about was that the pass would pass the news to Chang'an. In order to prevent this, the advantage of attacking at night was relatively large. Neither carrier pigeons nor eagles could be used, and only cavalry could report the news.

In fact, Chen Qing was still worried about Fengsui. He suspected that the reason why the Puppet Qi built the Guancheng here was to establish the Fengsui system.

However, according to Wu Jie's introduction, the Puppet Qi Army has already built more than [-] beacons west of Jingzhao, and the south has not yet begun to build.

But this is what Wu Jie told himself at the beginning of the year. He doesn't know whether it has been established now. Chen Qing has no choice now, but can only bet that the other party has not had time to establish the beacon.

Chen Qing thought for a moment, and sent someone to find Yang Fangxu.

Not long after, the soldiers brought Yang Fangxu up, "See Zhizhishi!"

Chen Qing waved his hand and asked, "I want to ask if this is the only way to get out of the valley?"

"Of course it's more than that. It's just that you have to go over mountains and mountains if you take another road. You can't walk on horses. This is the only way you can walk on horses and carts."

"Then do you know another way?"

"Beizhi also knows a road. It is about [-] miles away from the north of this valley mouth. It needs to climb two mountain ridges."

Chen Qing immediately called Liu Cui forward, "Take five hundred brothers and follow Yang Sihu to take another road out of Ziwu Valley, go around to the back of Guancheng, and take the whirlwind cannon to attack from behind, especially to prevent the messenger soldiers from escaping."

"Humble post obeys orders!"

Liu Cui gathered five hundred elite soldiers and followed Yang Fangxu to make a detour to the north.

Chen Qing ordered Liu Qiong to take hundreds of soldiers to find towering trees and make battering rams.

The rest of the soldiers rested in place, patiently waiting for the night to fall...

As night fell quietly, Liu Cui and other five hundred soldiers slowly climbed down from a rock by pulling a rope, and finally walked out of Meridian Valley. Liu Cui counted the number of people, straightened their equipment, and ran eastward with five hundred soldiers.

The Puppet Qi Army’s pass city was only completed last month, and [-] soldiers were stationed there. The original intention of building it was also to prevent the Song army’s scouts from entering the pass, and it was also to establish a beacon tower to the south, so the number of people stationed was not large.

When it was two o'clock, Liu Cui led his men and finally arrived at the back of Guancheng. The front and back of Guancheng were similar, and it was also a high wall with several patrolling soldiers pacing back and forth.

This time Liu Cui led the same team that attacked Raofengguan before, three hundred crossbowmen and two hundred shooters.

It was around three o'clock again, and one of them ran forward and said, "General, brothers are ready!"