Fenghou

"A beggar in the humble jurisdiction reported that there was an old Shunchang teahouse, and he felt abnormal."

Wang Hao divided Jiangling City into [-] districts, and assigned five soldiers to each district to mobilize the beggars and rascals in the district to search for clues of various anomalies.

"What's unusual?" Wang Hao asked again.

"It has too many guys, there are more than a dozen guys, and there are no women in the teahouse."

Wang Hao's heart moved slightly. Generally, there are only three to four waiters in teahouses, and there are more waiters in larger teahouses, but there are only seven or eight people at most, and teahouses must have good-looking tea ladies who are responsible for ordering tea. There is no need for men to order tea. of.

How can a teahouse with more than a dozen people be profitable, and there are no women, which is really strange.

Wang Hao asked again: "Other than that, what else is suspicious?"

"There is also a teahouse where guys go out of town every day!"

Wang Hao finally felt that this clue was a bit reliable. He immediately got up and said, "Assemble all the brothers, I will apply for the army!"

……

Half an hour later, Wang Hao led fifty internal affairs battalion sergeants and five hundred soldiers to surround the old Shunchang teahouse.

When Wang Hao gave an order, the soldiers kicked open the door and rushed in. Seeing that they had been exposed, the guys swung their knives and came out, but they were no match for the Song army. In just a moment, everyone was knocked down and tied up.

The leader, Wang Guan, was also brought up with his back tied behind his back. He said coldly, "Don't expect me to say anything, kill or cut whatever you want!"

After speaking, he closed his eyes and said nothing.

Wang Hao waved his hand and asked someone to take him away.

He then said to several of his subordinates: "Find out five people who don't want to die, and tell them, whoever tells where the pigeon letter is? You can let him go home, and then interrogate him alone."

The subordinates left in a hurry, and after a while, they came forward and said: "Report to the commander, the five of them have explained that the carrier pigeon is just outside the city, and they are willing to lead the way, and they can set off at any time!"

Wang Hao nodded, "Notify the brothers to assemble, let's go now, take away both the people and the pigeons, and none of them can escape!"

……

Three days after crossing the Yangtze River, under the cover of night, the [-] cavalry returned to the north bank of the Yangtze River in a large ship. They did not enter the city, but were deployed more than ten miles outside the west city.

But Chen Qing returned to Jiangling City under the escort of his own soldiers, and the [-] cavalry were handed over to Liu Cui and Liu Qiong. Liu Cui had no problem leading the cavalry, but he was inexperienced in defending the city, especially the [-] recruits.

Chen Qing had already ordered Niu Gao to come back as quickly as possible, but he didn't know if he could reach Jiangling City before the Puppet Qi Army attacked Jiangling City.

On the top of the city, Chen Qing looked at the north with his hands behind his back. He had already understood Wanyanchang's layout. Wanyanchang's next step would be to attack Yingzhou on a large scale, but their target was not Yingzhou, but Li Gang's [-] troops.

If Li Gang could not take back Hanyang County before the enemy's large-scale march southward to Hanyang, then his army would be in danger, facing the serious situation of being attacked by the enemy, and it is very likely that the entire army will be wiped out due to this battle.

Chen Qing also saw the danger, so he ordered Zheng Ping to take Jiangxia back, and then use warships to support Li Gang's main force to cross the river at any time.

The puppet Qi army will definitely attack Jiangling City, but the only thing that is uncertain is when the opponent will divide its troops to Jiangling, whether it will start from Changshou County or after arriving in Hanyang. It is very important to clarify this point.

At noon the next day, Chen Qing received a message from Hanyang's flying eagle. With the help of the people in the city, Li Gang took down Hanyang City. After arriving in Hanyang County, they began to move supplies from Cangcheng to prepare for war.

This news made Chen Qing heave a long sigh of relief, God bless Song Jun, Li Gang was not as bad as he thought, he stood firm at the most dangerous moment.

Chen Qing then received the second news that Kong Yanzhou led [-] troops to kill Jiangling Mansion from Yingzhou.

This news also made Chen Qing a big rock fall to the ground.

The main force of the puppet Qi army that diverted 4 troops is probably only [-] to [-]. This force cannot capture Hanyang, which shows that they actually counted the [-] puppet Qi army that attacked Yuezhou among the troops attacking Hanyang.

Then Zhang Xiao's judgment is not wrong. Whether the puppet Qi army attacks Jiangxia or Baling, it is a false attack. Their real goal is to capture Hanyang. Before capturing Hanyang and Jiangling, they will not waste their limited resources to the outside world. troops.

Chen Qing immediately ordered the recruitment of civilian husbands throughout the city to assist in the defense of the city. The officials of the Jiangling government office and county government went all out to mobilize the people to participate in the civil servants. Participate in the defense of the city.

At dusk, Niu Gao led a dozen soldiers back to Jiangling City on horseback. This made Chen Qing overjoyed, and appointed Niu Gao's deputy to be responsible for organizing the civilians to assist in guarding the city.

Niu Gao didn't care about the exhaustion of the journey and didn't take a break, so he immediately rushed into the organization training of the militia soldiers with enthusiasm.

This is also what Chen Qing admires most about Niu Gao. He works like an old scalper, is loyal, patient, has no complaints, and has outstanding abilities.

On the large field of the barracks, [-] assisted defensemen were divided into ten square formations, wearing leather armor, holding swords and short spears, and trained sword and spear skills under the leadership of dozens of generals. They need to be like soldiers, but at least they have a feel for how to fight.

Chen Qing watched the training from the sidelines of the university on horseback, accompanied by Niu Gao, and took advantage of this opportunity to report Jiang Xia's information to Chen Qing.

"Jiang Xia was a bit beyond the expectations of Lao Zheng and me. We thought there would be a hard battle to siege the city, and we were worried about the lack of siege weapons. We didn't expect that we would break open the city gate with only a battering ram. encounter resistance."

"Where's Jiang Xia's defenders?" Chen Qing asked with a smile.

"This is the problem. After we entered the city, we discovered that there were less than 1000 soldiers defending the city. The battle flags on the top of the city were all false. We thought there were thousands of people, but in fact there were only dozens of people. We tied the battle flags On the stakes, it seems that someone is holding it up."

"This shows that they have no plan to occupy Ezhou."

"Exactly! Old Zheng and I also believe that whether the puppet Qi army attacked Jiangxia or attacked Baling County in a mighty manner, it was all a bluff. county."

"Your vision is right, and everything is inseparable from it. No matter how much the puppet Qi army bluffs, their target is still Jingxiang. To be precise, it is Hanyang and Jiangling. Threatening the puppet Qi army in Baling County has achieved their goal. They will soon Cross the river to the north and attack Hanyang from the direction of Fuzhou."

Niu Gao was a little worried and said: "Dutong, the other party has more than 100 warships and a large number of troops. I am very worried that they will pose a threat to our warships."

Chen Qing smiled slightly and said: "I told Old Zheng, if you can't beat them, just run away, don't be ashamed, after we have trained the navy, we will take care of them."

Niu Gao scratched his head and said with a smile: "Dutong is right, if you can't beat them, run away, anyway they can't catch up with our vehicles and boats."

At this time, a soldier came rushing forward, clasped his fists and reported: "Several commanders, please go to the city and report something important!"

Chen Qing nodded, and smiled at Niu Gao: "We need to speed up the training of bow and arrow, I guess the puppet Qi army will arrive tonight and tomorrow morning."

With a promise, Niu Gao strode towards the school field, and Chen Qing also turned his horse and went to the city.

Chapter 314 Jiangling

When Chen Qing went to the top of the city, a group of commanders including Wang Lun, Li Muqing, and Cheng Huan greeted them. These twelve commanders and deputy commanders were in charge of commanding [-] new troops. They were all new generals who had just been promoted. Chen Qing's old subordinates for many years participated in the Battle of Jiandaoguan. They were promoted step by step from escort, deputy capital, and capital to deputy commanders and commanders, while Yang Zaixing and Yang Yuanqing were promoted to commanders, Liu Cui, Liu Qiong , Niu Gao and others will be promoted to deputy commanders.

Of course, they are not the only newly promoted generals, and many of them are in the cavalry army. Twelve of them are infantry commanders.

Wang Lun clasped his fists to Chen Qing and said, "Qidu, we found a troublesome thing. The soldiers have never been trained with firearms, and they don't know how to use gunpowder barrels."

Chen Qing took a gunpowder barrel from the soldier, and said with a slight smile, "This should be very simple. There is a scale on the matchlock, and you can throw it down when you reach the scale. It's not difficult to grasp!"

Li Muqing said: "The scale has reached the bottom position, we are worried that the soldiers have not been trained and are nervous, and throwing it down before the scale will cause the barrel to break, the gunpowder will not explode, and the enemy will even get the secret ,very possible."

Chen Qing also admitted that the generals' worries were not superfluous. The wooden barrels were indeed easy to break. In order to ensure that the gunpowder barrels exploded before they hit the ground, they trained a professional firearms battalion soldiers. There were a total of 300 soldiers, some of whom stayed in Baling County. Some of them were on warships, but none in Jiangling County.

Letting these untrained soldiers use gunpowder will indeed cause serious problems. Don’t worry if you throw it too early, but if you throw it too late, the gunpowder barrel will explode on the top of the city, and the thousands of poisonous nails that will be shot out of it will cause serious trouble .

"Forget it then, send the gunpowder barrels to the city and seal them up, and use all the fire oil barrels and fire oil balls!"

"Dutong, keep a little less! Some of us have been trained and can use it."

"How many people have trained, show me your hands!"

The five generals raised their hands, Chen Qing said with a smile: "There are six of us together with me, then it's settled, only the six of us can use the powder keg, and everyone else is forbidden to use it."

"Follow the order!" Everyone bowed together.

"Then what's the problem?"

Chen Qingxiao asked and answered: "Is the long-handled ax our number one weapon for defending the city ready?"

Everyone laughed, and Wang Lun hurriedly said: "Three hundred long-handled sharp axes are prepared, as well as the god-armed crossbowmen with horses facing the city wall, as well as long forks and long ropes, all ready."

These are the summaries of their experience and have been passed down, so there is no need for Chen Qing to remind them.

Chen Qing said to everyone: "This time defending the city is not the same as before. I don't have a lieutenant general to direct the specific operations. I want to be the chief general to direct the overall situation and the deputy general to direct the specific operations. I may not care so much. So everyone has to shoulder the heavy responsibility of lieutenant generals, and each of them is responsible for their own piece. I hope that this battle of defending the city will allow me to see a group of generals who can stand on their own.

Everyone's blood boiled with enthusiasm, and they shouted loudly together: "I will obey the order of the capital!"

……

At dawn, the [-] troops led by Kong Yanzhou rushed to the Jiangling city.

Kong Yanzhou in history was brutal, cruel, despicable and shameless, but he had a prosperous official career, won the trust of the Puppet Qi and the Kingdom of Jin, and did well until his death.

This actually has something to do with some of his character strengths. He has a tolerant character, and he can endure humiliation silently, and will not lose his temper and offend others.

Moreover, he has good foresight and is good at judging the situation. He has seen through the civil service system of the Song Dynasty. A military general like him, no matter how capable he is, must be restrained by civil officials. When Qi was about to perish, he turned to Jin without hesitation.

On the other hand, he is also good at leading troops to fight. Although his army discipline is extremely poor, and he indulges soldiers to plunder the people and rape women everywhere, making the people hate him, but his soldiers are very satisfied and loyal to him. He is willing to work hard for him, and his combat effectiveness is very strong.

This time Wanyanchang arranged for him to attack Jiangling. Wanyanchang also knew that Kong Yanzhou liked to burn, kill and loot, so he made an agreement with him that he must arrive from Yingzhou to Jiangling within three days, and he was not allowed to loot cities on the way to waste time. But at the same time, he promised Kong Yanzhou that as long as he captured Jiangling City, he would be allowed to rob the city for three days.

Kong Yanzhou led the army all the way and did not plunder the county towns along the way, but on both sides of the official road, they would still plunder pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks, and insult women. This kind of cruelty in their bones cannot be changed.

Of course Kong Yanzhou knew that Chen Qing was not in Jiangling City, so he led his cavalry to rescue Baling County, his hometown. There were only [-] recruits stationed in Jiangling City. He was confident that he could take Jiangling City within two days.

Before the ships transporting the luggage arrived, Kong Yanzhou ordered the [-] troops to rest in place, and he took a dozen generals to inspect Jiangling City and study how to attack it.

Although Jiangling City is not comparable to Xiangyang City, it is also a strategic location on the Yangtze River. The city wall is also built tall and strong, with a circumference of more than [-] miles. The surrounding moat is relatively wide, with a width of more than [-] feet. A pontoon bridge needs to be built.

Kong Yanzhou looked around and found that only the north side could be attacked. The land on the east and west sides of the city was too narrow for the soldiers to stand on. If he had a warship of [-] stone, he could directly use the boat to go to the city from the east and west sides. Unfortunately, he didn't have one, and the south side was far away from the pier. Too close to open the battlefield.

Kong Yanzhou looked at the top of the city again. There were densely packed soldiers on the top of the city. He snorted coldly, and said to the left and right: "Go into the city, if you don't accept surrender, the captives will be killed!"

His confidant general Li Xiu led five thousand soldiers to escort the grain ship to Changshou County, but was killed by Chen Qing's army. He kept this hatred in his heart, just as Chen Qing wanted to kill his army. Don't let off every one of Chen Qing's subordinates.

……

At noon, his cargo fleet arrived at Jiangling County along the Xiashui River. These cargo ships were actually Li Xiu’s grain fleet, which had been moored in Changshou County. Chen Qing handed them over to Li Gang, but Li Gang retreated in panic. Before they had time to burn them, they were taken back by the puppet Qi army and used to transport food and grass.

When the luggage arrived, Kong Yanzhou immediately ordered the camp to be set up, fences erected, sentry towers built, trenches dug, and tents appeared in the camp.

Chen Qing could see clearly from the top of the city, he nodded secretly, no wonder Wang Yan would die at the hands of this Kong Yanzhou, it can be seen from his camp, he is very organized and meticulous, this person is indeed a talent, it is a pity that such a person is more capable, The greater the harm.

Chen Qing turned around and asked Wang Yan's former general Zhao Ping, "You have been in Jingxiang for many years, you should know about Kong Yanzhou!"

"The humble official only knows that he is cruel and extremely lustful. In the fourth year of Jianyan, he led the army to suppress Zhong Xiang and Yang Yao, killed Zhong Xiang, and then sent troops to plunder Yuezhou and Tanzhou. Supported and quickly became a big man, the court thought that he beheaded Zhong Xiang, and the merits and demerits were offset. He was not held accountable, but he was not given any rewards, and he had a deep resentment towards the court.

In addition, he illegally recruited a lot of troops in Xiangyang Prefecture and Ying Prefecture. It is said that there are more than 2 troops, but for some reason, he was not impeached. He escaped again, and he probably knew that he was doomed, so he surrendered to the puppet Qi army and was named the governor of the capital and the Duke of Xiangyang County. "

"How is his army's combat effectiveness?" Chen Qing asked again.

"It's very strong. Wang Zhifu said that if his army surrendered to the puppet army, it would be a loss to the Song army. That's why he led his army to Xiangyang for rescue. He didn't expect to fall into Kong Yanzhou's trap. In addition, everyone must pay attention to his Baijia army. .”

"What White Armored Army?" Chen Qing asked puzzled.

"He is the elite of his elite. He is very fierce. There are about 3000 people. They usually don't go to battle. I wonder if he will send it this time?"

Chen Qing laughed, "In his eyes, we are just [-] recruits with weak strength. If he wants to make a quick victory, he will definitely send this army out."

Chapter 315 Jiangling

In the night, figures on the moat swayed, and thousands of soldiers were building a pontoon bridge. Arrows rained down on the top of the city, and people kept screaming and falling down the moat.

This was the first time that [-] recruits fought in actual combat. The screams outside the city stimulated everyone's nerves and made the soldiers extremely excited. They kept looking for sensations, adjusted their posture, and tried to make themselves able to shoot an enemy soldier.

But it was night after all, and the vision was not clear. The soldiers all shot arrows at the place where the figure was shaking, and most of the arrows missed.

Chen Qing was watching the bustle below the city from the top of the city. Commander Wang Lun said in a low voice: "It's better to attack with fire oil balls and burn their pontoon bridge!"

Chen Qing shook his head, "We need to use war to sharpen our soldiers. An elite army is fought from the mountains of corpses and blood, not trained."

"Humble job understands!"

Chen Qing said again: "The construction of the pontoon bridge has come to an end, tell the soldiers to stop shooting and rest where they are!"

The order was conveyed, the arrows on the top of the city stopped shooting, and the construction of the pontoon bridges under the city also accelerated. At two o'clock, the construction of the three pontoon bridges was completed, and thousands of soldiers left hundreds of corpses, and they also receded like a tide. .

……

Just after dawn, the sound of rumbling war drums sounded in the wilderness. From the puppet Qi army camp three miles away, teams came out one by one. Ten thousand troops quickly formed a large formation in the wilderness. There were 100 soldiers in the team. Multiple siege ladders, but no large siege weapons.

"Du Tong, that is the White Armored Army!" Zhao Ping pointed to an army in the northwest corner.

Chen Qing also saw that there were about 1000 people, wearing white helmets and white armor, all of them were tall and murderous, and they were particularly prominent among the ten thousand troops.

But compared to the White Armor Army, Chen Qing paid more attention to the equipment of other soldiers, which were typical Song Army equipment, including leather armor, iron helmets, round shields and spears, and many soldiers held military crossbows.

Niu Gao sighed softly, "They were still the Song army more than a month ago, how could they have the heart to attack their own country?"

Chen Qing said coldly: "In their eyes, Jiangling is just a piece of oily fat. Apart from wealth and women, how can they have a family in their hearts?"

Chen Qing sternly ordered: "The bed crossbow is ready! General Niu, the city guard bow is ready!"

"Follow the order!" Niu Gao turned around and went down to the city.

'Woo—'

With the sound of the low-pitched horn, two thousand crossbow soldiers galloped up. Holding their large shields and carrying crossbows on their backs, they quickly rushed to about 150 steps. At this time, five hundred bed crossbows were fired, and two thousand five hundred The jackdaw arrows shot at the enemy crossbow soldiers with the power of piercing gold and cracking stones.

The soldiers raised their shields to meet them, but the shields couldn't block the penetrating power of the iron arrows. The shields and leather armor were shot through, and the crossbow soldiers screamed and fell to the ground.

Kong Yanzhou turned a blind eye to it, waved his saber, "Attack!"

'Boom!Boom!Boom! '