Fenghou

Each soldier carried a bag of dry food, followed by a food convoy of more than 300 carts.

This is interesting, how much food can there be in more than 300 carts?This is 2 people, and it will consume [-] catties of grain every day.

"General, will there be a supply team behind?" A soldier asked in a low voice.

There is also this possibility, Zhao Xiaoyi waited for the army to pass, and immediately wrote an eagle letter and sent it to Ganquanbao.

The scouts of the Song army found that the main force of the enemy army was only a hundred miles away from Ganquan. Two hours later, Chen Qing received the eagle letter.

Sure enough, the other party only carried [-] carts of grain, which made Chen Qing confused, especially since the other party did not carry siege weapons, what did they come for?

Counselor Zhang Xiao said with a smile: "It is very likely that the other party is just here for show, not really to attack Ganquanbao."

Zheng Ping was puzzled and asked, "Who are you showing off?"

"Of course it's for Liu Yu to see!"

Chen Qing nodded, "It makes sense!"

"This is actually very obvious. The [-] troops of the puppet Qi army besieged Dashanguan. Could it be that they didn't have siege weapons? They should also have food. Thousands of carts have just returned. He has no shortage of supplies and carts. He has carts There is food and siege weapons, but they don’t carry them with them, which means that they don’t want to attack Ganquan Fort at all, they just come and walk around, then turn around and go back, and write a report on attacking Ganquan Fort to Liu Yu, so it’s considered a job.”

At this time, all the generals looked at Chen Qing eagerly. Will this army fight?

Chen Qing pondered for a moment and said: "If they don't enter Qinzhou, they don't need to fight, but as long as they dare to enter Qinzhou, then don't blame us for being rude."

……

Zhang Xiao's guess was correct. This puppet Qi army was indeed here to falsely attack Ganquan Fort, but the party who was ordered guessed wrong. Liu Yu's order to Li Cheng was to preserve his strength and not to act rashly. Liu Yu knew that the [-] Xixia army Under Ganquan Fort, he didn't want his army to make the same mistakes again.

The one who gave the order was Wanyan Wushu. The Wanyan Wushu army hadn't reached Shaanxi Road yet, but his military order had arrived first, requiring the Qi army to attack Ganquan Fort with all its strength, and pull out Chen Qing's nail in the shortest possible time. He didn't fight himself, but let the puppet Qi army fight.

Li Cheng didn't dare to disobey Wanyan Wushu's order, but he didn't want to waste any more troops, so he used the method of false attack. He had already sent people to attack, but he didn't capture Ganquan Fort.

This 2-man army was led by Xu Jinwen, the commander of the capital. It set out from Jingzhao, marched all the way through Jingyuan Road, Pingliang Mansion, and entered Deshun Prefecture. At first, the morale was good, but the army did not bring tents. The two night rains dealt a heavy blow to the soldiers. They did not have enough rest and food. Twenty thousand soldiers complained and their morale gradually declined.

More importantly, everyone can see that they don't even carry siege weapons, isn't it a joke to attack Ganquan Fort?

Since none of the above has the sincerity to attack Ganquan Fort, don't blame the low morale of the soldiers.

The soldiers marched listlessly and at an extremely slow speed. The chief general Xu Jinwen repeatedly urged to speed up the march to no avail. At noon that day, the team entered Qinzhou, [-] miles away from Ganquan Fort. Xu Jinwen ordered to rest for an hour before leaving.

Wang Heng, the deputy governor, was really worried, so he stepped forward and said to Xu Jinwen: "Since we are not here to attack Ganquan Fort, we should not get too close to it. Chen Qing is a fierce monster. If he guesses our intentions, he will definitely not attack it." Let us go!"

The puppet Qi army's plan was not to go back the same way as they got close to Ganquan Fort, so they couldn't explain it to Wanyan Wushu.

They passed Ganquan Fort and then turned south, entered the hinterland of Qinzhou, and before Chen Qing could react, they ruthlessly raided Chengji County and withdrew, killing thousands of people to pretend to be Song soldiers, which could give Wanyan Wushu Even if you do business, you can also breathe out the evil spirit that Jingzhao City has been captured.

Xu Jinwen said coldly: "Don't be so hopeless, okay? Since we are here, we dare not even approach Ganquan Fort. Wouldn't the world laugh at us? If he wants to fight, we will fight. If he doesn't fight, we will go south. I, Xu Jinwen, have been in the army for more than [-] years, but I have never been as useless as I am today."

"But with the current morale of the soldiers, can they win against Chen Qing's army?"

"That's easy. Let's announce to the soldiers now that we will go south to capture Chengji County, burn, kill and loot, and let them play with women if they want. The whole army will have a three-day holiday. I wonder if morale will improve?"

Xu Jinwen has experience. He was the commander of the Song Army back then. After surrendering to the Jin soldiers, he led two thousand soldiers to loot three counties in Bozhou, and the morale that was already dying became unprecedentedly high.

Xu Jinwen immediately sent someone to announce their plan to the whole army. Sure enough, when the soldiers heard that Chengji County would be plundered for three days, their morale rose immediately, and everyone was full of anticipation. Dying and washed away.

Xu Jinwen then ordered the army to move on...

When night fell, the army finally arrived at Ganquan Fort. Even if they wanted to go south, Ganquan Fort was the only way to go.

Don't look at Xu Jinwen's contempt for Chen Qing and the Qinzhou Army, but his heart is not as strong as it appears on the surface. How could he not know that Chen Qing is a Song general who can even fight against Wanyan Wushu, that is not something he can challenge .

Xu Jinwen didn't dare to stay in front of Ganquan Fort, and immediately turned south. Fortunately, the Song army in Ganquan Fort did not chase him out, so he was a little relieved.

But just after walking to the foot of a hill a few miles away, the ground began to vibrate faintly. Xu Jinwen realized that something was wrong. When he turned his head, he saw the moonlight in the distance turned dark red, and the cavalry overwhelmingly charged towards them.

"Archers form formation! Form formation!" Xu Jinwen hissed in shock.

Fortunately, he had made arrangements in advance, and the three thousand crossbowmen walked behind the team. The horns sounded repeatedly, and the three thousand crossbowmen lined up nervously. They formed six teams, each with 500 people, and raised their crossbows together. , with an oblique angle upward, waiting for Song Jun to enter the lethal range.

Five thousand cavalrymen had already killed three hundred paces away, and the yellow dust was billowing like a stormy sea.

"Prepare to shoot!" Just as General Wang Heng ordered the preparations, a shocking event that surprised everyone happened.

Chapter 245 Sky Raid

Three thousand crossbowmen were ready to go, when dozens of dark wooden barrels suddenly fell from the sky, some of them fell into the crowd, but most of them exploded on top of the soldiers, 'Boom!boom! 'Red light burst out, and tens of thousands of poisoned iron nails flew around, and the crossbowmen were hit by poisonous nails one after another, and the soldiers were in chaos.

Xu Jinwen was taken aback, and looked up to the top of the nearby mountain, only to find that there were many figures on the top of the mountain, and then threw the second round of gunpowder barrels.

The gunpowder barrel exploded on top of the soldiers again, but this time there were no poisonous nails. The Song Army cavalry was very close, which would lead to accidental injury.

"damn it!"

Xu Jinwen cursed angrily, Chen Qing obviously had an ambush long ago, set up a trap, and waited for him to attack when he passed by the foot of the mountain.

He knew that he could not retreat at this time. Once he retreated, the entire army would be defeated.

Just as the army was in extreme chaos, the cavalry of the Song army had already killed a hundred paces away. Xu Jinwen immediately shouted: "The crossbowmen retreat, and the spear army is ready to fight!"

The horn blew, and the crossbowmen in the confusion turned around and ran. At this time, the third round of gunpowder barrels was thrown down. This time, the target was thousands of soldiers of the Spear Army behind. There was a violent explosion on the top of his head, and tens of thousands of poisonous nails flew in all directions, with such strong penetrating power that the puppet Qi army's leather armor couldn't resist it, and many of them were shot in the face.

"Toxic! Nails are poisonous!"

The toxicity of many crossbowmen began to attack, and they shouted in horror, and the morale of the soldiers of the Spear Army began to be seriously shaken.

The cavalry of the Song army came up like a stormy sea, and more than a thousand crossbowmen were unable to retreat. Some were pierced by spears, some had their heads chopped off, and more were directly wrapped under the iron hooves of the horses. , Howling and screaming continued.

The spear soldiers flinched and stepped forward, only to hear a loud bang, dozens of soldiers were knocked into the air, and many cavalry and war horses were pierced by spears and fell into a pool of blood.

There were a thousand Song soldiers and fifty small trebuchets on the top of Yueya Mountain. At this time, they replaced it with kerosene, and dropped fifty cans of kerosene from the top of the mountain. , black kerosene flowing in all directions.

At this time, five hundred gunpowder arrows shot down from the top of the mountain, and the kerosene on the ground burst into flames, and the soldiers ran away in shock.

Deputy General Wang Heng saw that the spear soldiers could not resist the enemy cavalry at all, and they fell down one by one like harvesting wheat. The mountain kept throwing terrifying weapons. They were getting deeper and deeper in the trap. How could the Song army only send out cavalry? And ambushes.

He couldn't bear it any longer, found Xu Jinwen and said, "If this continues, the whole army will be wiped out. It's better to retreat south first, at least part of the army can be saved."

As soon as Wang Heng finished speaking, a soldier shouted: "Xu Dutong, the enemy army is coming from behind!"

Beads of sweat were all over Xu Jinwen's forehead. Seeing that the fire was getting bigger and engulfed countless soldiers, he swung his saber fiercely and shouted: "The whole army breaks through to the south!"

"Woo! Woo! Woo!"

The urgent trumpet sounded, which was the order to break out.

The puppet Qi army desperately broke through and was routed to the south. Chen Qing was well aware of the evil consequences of the puppet Qi remnants fleeing into the hinterland of Qinzhou. He issued an order to kill them, and the cavalry chased down to the last person.

This was a chasing battle without any suspense. The cavalry of the Song army chased all the way south, and the deputy general Wang Heng died in the chaos. At dawn, Liu Cui led a thousand cavalry to surround Xu Jinwen and his three hundred soldiers. This is the last batch of puppet Qi troops.

"Kill them all, leave no one alive!"

Liu Cui gave the order to attack, and a thousand cavalry rushed forward, gradually engulfing Xu Jinwen and his three hundred soldiers.

More than 100 miles of official roads were covered with corpses, and more than [-] puppet Qi soldiers were killed. Of course, it is impossible to kill them all. There are still many puppet Qi soldiers who fled into the barren mountains, but they basically discarded them. Without weapons and armor, in twos and threes, they can no longer form a concentrated destructive force. The fate waiting for them is either to die of starvation, sickness, or be beaten to death by Qinzhou farmers.

However, the annihilation of the entire army of 2 people did not cause much disturbance. It was covered up by the coach Li Cheng. Gradually forgotten.

……

Wanyan Wushu led [-] cavalrymen to Jingzhao City. The first problem they faced was the insufficient supply of food and fodder. Jinbing never carried food and grass, and it was usually supplied by the local government. In Wanyan Wushu’s view , a huge Shaanxi Road can't support [-] troops?

But he forgot that there are still 10,000+ puppet Qi troops who also need support from Shaanxi Road. In the big sheepskin tent, Wanyan Wushu scolded Liu Yan, the Shaanxi Road appeasement envoy of the puppet Qi State, and Li Cheng, the commander of the three armies and horses, to the point of scolding.

"I am not an army of 50, nor an army of 5. I only have [-] horses. I can't even eat mutton. I drink batter all day. What's the use of raising you? I raise a hunting dog and catch rabbits for me." , you are simply inferior to dogs!"

Wanyan Wushu scolded extremely badly, but Liu Yan and Li Cheng could only bear the scolding with their heads down. Their hearts were also full of resentment. It was this Wanyan Wushu who stripped away all the food on Shaanxi Road last year and accumulated 40 shi of military rations were burned by Chen Qing.

He attacked Heshangyuan and Dasan Pass year after year, and made the poor Shaanxi Road impoverished. Now he needs 20 sheep and [-] shi of grain per mouth. Where can I find them for him?

Cursing and scolding, Wanyan Wushu still had to solve the problem. He walked a few steps with his hands behind his back and said, "When Chen Qing occupied Jingzhao City, didn't he distribute a large amount of food to the people in the city? These ill-gotten gains, Haven't you thought about taking it back?"

Liu Yan was very embarrassed: "His Royal Highness, I have already received it once, otherwise the Qi army will also be short of food."

Wanyan Wushu's face sank and he asked, "How much was recovered?"

"About [-] shi!"

"Not enough! Only [-] shi was recovered after [-] shi of food was distributed, which shows that you are not doing your job well. It is not only food, but also money. It is said that the people who drive the carts have made dozens of money. This is simply dividing up the spoils. We must strictly If you don’t want to hand it over, you will be arrested directly. I will give you three days to complete this matter. If you can’t handle it, then let the Jurchen soldiers do it.”

……

Wanyan Wushu made up his mind, if he couldn't make the people of Shanxi Road submit to him, then at least he had to make them fear him, and let them understand that following the Song army would never end well.

Jingzhao City closed the city gates, and the army began to search for food and copper coins from house to house. They said that they were looking for food and military pay that had been distributed, but they were limited to food and copper coins. But when it came to the soldiers' specific searches, there was no bottom line.

Not only copper coins, but all valuables were taken away, not only food, but also livestock, chickens and ducks were seized. Many young women also suffered.

In just three days, the food and belongings in Jingzhao City were taken away, and the people complained that there was no food. The people in Jingzhao City began to flee, and many people fled to Qinzhou.

But even so, the puppet Qi army only found 10,000 shi of grain, [-] guan coins, and [-]+ livestock, chickens and ducks, and the food was only enough to sustain the Jinbing for two months.

On the fifth day after Wanyan Wushu arrived in Jingzhao City, he finally met Wanyan Chang who had retreated from Hanzhong.

Wanyan Sali did not return to Jingzhao, and went directly north to Yanjing. This time he suffered a disastrous defeat, he really felt ashamed to come to see Wanyan Wushu.

In this battle of Hanzhong, after half a month of confrontation in Jinzhou, the food gradually ran out, and was attacked by Wu Jie continuously. The rear army lost thousands of people. They had to return to Jingzhao City due to the dismissal order.

Wan Yanchang was disheveled and haggard, and he also hated himself for listening to Wanyan's plan of letting go and thinking things too simply.

In the room, Wan Yanchang took a few sips of hot goat milk, sighed and said: "The biggest reason for this failure is lack of preparation, we are not familiar with the terrain of Hanzhong at all, it is not the Central Plains, we can support wars all the way.

Hanzhong is not good, because there are vast mountains everywhere, and often you can’t see a single family when you walk hundreds of miles. It’s hard to find a county town, but all the people hide in the mountains. There is no food, no livestock, and no supplies. The lesson is profound! "

Wanyan Wushu smiled and said: "I agree with the opinion of the supervising army. If you want to succeed, you must be fully prepared, so this time I specifically asked the wolf master for three years to attack Sichuan within three years."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"I plan to build a city before Dasan Pass, hoard supplies, food and grass in the city, and then face the city against the city. Instead, I will be condescending, so it will be easy to win Dasan Pass."

Wan Yanchang's eyes lit up, "This method is good, then you need to build large-scale siege weapons, such as super-giant trebuchets, and attack the city with kerosene or gunpowder, it will be much easier."

"As the supervisor said!"

Wanyan Wushu pondered for a while and said again: "There is also Chen Qing, how should we deal with him, I want to hear the opinion of the supervising army?"

2Chapter 16 Changing Strategies

"You can let Qi Jun deal with him."

Wanyan Wushu shook his head, "Qi army can't do it, they sent [-] troops to Ganquan Fort to conquer Chen Qing, but they were killed and the whole army was wiped out. This matter was concealed by Li Cheng, who dared not let Liu Yu and The generals below know."

Wan Yanchang frowned, "This guy really has a headache. The key is that his foundation is in Ganquan Castle. There are no trees or cities in a radius of a hundred miles. It is even more difficult to attack this castle than Dashanguan. At least attack Dasan Pass also has Fengxiang Mansion as the backing, and the Weihe River can transport it, there is nothing in Ganquan Fort, and it will take several months to make all kinds of preparations, and it is impossible to defeat him without paying the price of tens of thousands of casualties."

"That's the problem!"

Wanyan Wushu said worriedly: "I originally applied to the wolf lord for 50 troops this time, but in the end the wolf lord only gave me [-]. The wolf lord told me that our Jurchens have less than [-] young and strong men, and now we have to use a lot of Khitan troops." , Xiren, and Bohai people came to make up the numbers. I brought Jurchen soldiers this time, and they were Jurchen elites, capable of both riding and shooting. "

Wan Yanchang pondered for a while and said: "Ever since I heard that Chen Qing went to Ziwu Valley to attack Jingzhao successfully, I knew that sooner or later he would become our confidant, no matter what we want to get rid of this person, I have been thinking about how to do it. deal with him?"

"Does the supervisor have a plan?"

Wan Yanchang nodded, "Actually, there are two options. One is to use military means to get rid of him, and the other is to use political means to get rid of him. Now it seems that military means are not realistic, so we will consider using political means."

Wanyan Wushu laughed, "Heroes see the same thing, and I have the same intention. I received a letter from Fu Xuan on the way, and he said in the letter that Zhu Shengfei has decided to get rid of Chen Qing. Good news!"

Wan Yanchang said indifferently: "Zhu Shengfei is just a scholar. He has no guts and courage. If he could kill Chen Qing, he would have killed him long ago. We can't count on him. To deal with Chen Qing, we have to start from Lin'an."

Wanyan Wushu realized something, "You mean Qin Hui?"

"Not only Qin Hui, but also Empress Dowager Wei. I will soon be sent to Lin'an for the second time to discuss the renewal of the contract. This time I will not let Chen Qing escape from my grasp."

Wanyan Wushu was slightly taken aback, "Chen Qing is going to Lin'an?"

Wan Yanchang nodded, "My spies in Lin'an have received news that Zhao Gou has ordered Chen Qing to go to Lin'an to report on his duties."

Wanyan Wushu was overjoyed, "As soon as Chen Qing leaves, can we take this opportunity to unplug Ganquan Castle?"

Wan Yanchang waved his hand, "Don't touch Ganquan Fort yet, once he does, he will have a reason not to go to Lin'an."

Speaking of this, Wan Yanchang stared at Wanyan Wushu's eyes and said slowly: "Marshal Du, the important thing is Chen Qing, this person is our serious concern, not Ganquanbao."

Wanyan Wushu nodded silently, "The supervisor is right!"

……

Chen Qing found a small courtyard next to the barracks to house sisters Yu Lian and Yu Ying. In fact, many generals have their own small courtyards in Ganquanbao. Next, there is Yang Yuanqing, who also married a concubine and placed him in Ganquan Castle.

If it was two months ago, Ganquanbao would not have extra houses, but Chen Qing evacuated more than 7000 people to other counties in Qinzhou during this period, reducing the population of Ganquanbao to just over 1. , basically all belong to the military, and a large number of houses have been vacated.

There is no way to evacuate the population. Ganquanbao does not have so many water sources to support tens of thousands of people.

"The son is back!"