Fenghou

Four thousand soldiers rushed forward like a tide, but at this moment, a cavalry suddenly appeared in the city, and the leader was Yang Zaixing.

The enemy troops attacking Baling had withdrawn to besiege Hanyang. Baling made a false alarm and the alarm was lifted. Yang Zaixing took a boat across the river. According to the prior agreement, he waited for Chen Qing's main force halfway from Jiangling to Hanyang, which happened to be Yusha County. .

Yang Zaixing led [-] cavalry to rest in the county for two days. Unexpectedly, Chen Qing's army did not arrive, but Kong Yanzhou's remnants instead.

"General Yang, it's Kong Yanzhou's army!" County magistrate Feng Da recognized the enemy general.

Yang Zaixing nodded, "After my cavalry go out, close the city gate immediately, and don't give these demons a chance to harm the people!"

"I see!"

Yang Zaixing shouted, "Annihilate them all, leaving no prisoners of war!"

It was Chen Qing's order that Kong Yanzhou's army should be wiped out and no prisoners of war would be accepted.

Five thousand cavalry rushed out of the city gate, their swords sharp and their spears shining coldly, like a strong wind blowing on the ground, they swept towards the four thousand enemy troops one mile away.

The four thousand puppet Qi soldiers who were in high spirits saw that countless Song Army cavalrymen were coming to kill them. They were so frightened that they turned around and fled.

"Don't run, line up for me!"

Kong Yanzhou yelled loudly, but none of the four thousand soldiers listened to his order. They threw away their helmets and armor and ran away desperately, only hating their parents for missing two feet.

Kong Yanzhou had no choice but to lead a few soldiers to flee to the northwest...

In just a moment, five thousand cavalry caught up with the fleeing enemy army, stabbed with knives and spears, killing corpses all over the field, and blood flowed like rivers.

Although Kong Yanzhou had a horse and escaped by chance, the [-] troops he led were wiped out this time, and Kong Yanzhou lost the attention of the Jin people. It was many years before Chen Qing met Kong Yanzhou again.

……

The next morning, Chen Qing led [-] cavalrymen to Yusha County. He thought that Yusha County was in dire straits, but he didn't expect Yang Zaixing to arrive first. Absolutely, it really gave Chen Qing a pleasant surprise.

Yang Zaixing sighed, and said with some regret: "It's a pity that Kong Yanzhou ran away. I was not ready at the time, and the other party came too suddenly. If I could find out earlier, I would have ordered the north and the south to deploy an army each. There is no escape."

Chen Qing smiled slightly and said: "There is a destiny in the dark, and it may not be a bad thing if he escapes, let him go!"

Yang Zaixing felt relieved, and said again: "As for the information about Baling, I want to report to Dutong in detail."

"Let's talk about it in the city!"

Chen Qing led the army into the county seat, and several county officials came out to greet them with great gratitude. Feng Da, the county magistrate, said with emotion: "God bless Yusha County, if General Yang happened to be in Yusha County, Yusha County would face the greatest catastrophe in history. Families will be destroyed, and so will we. We are grateful to Chen Dutong's army from the bottom of our hearts."

Chen Qing said with a smile: "I was also worried that Kong Yanzhou's army would harm the people, so I chased all the way. It was still a step too late. Thanks to Yang Zaixing who came first, I was relieved. Don't worry, everyone. My army has always been strict in military discipline. Don't disturb the people, what you want to buy is a fair sale, and you won't bully others, and all the people are asked to supervise."

Everyone laughed and said: "With Chen Dutong's words, we can rest assured. Yusha County is a land of fish and rice, and it is quite rich. We will do our best to prepare food and grass."

Chen Qing nodded, "We are going to Hanyang, we need six or seven days of dry food, and the horses need fodder and black beans. We will get the food from the official warehouse first. If the food in the official warehouse is insufficient, we will buy it from the private sector."

"There must be enough food in the official warehouse, and [-] dans of forage should be enough. Black beans must be purchased from the private sector. In addition, we will purchase some cured meat and wind meat from the private sector for military rations."

"Then I would like to thank you all. I would like to ask you to contribute. We will pay for how much money is needed. There is no need for the government to pay in advance."

Feng Da smiled slightly, "You are welcome, I don't think it will cost much."

Chen Qing's army protected the people of the whole city, so they brought out some food to express their feelings, shouldn't they?

In an empty room, Yang Zaixing and Zhang Xiao reported the situation in Baling County to Chen Qing.

"When the enemy army attacked Baling County along the river, Commander Yang got the news and transferred all the military family members to Changde Mansion by boat. A large amount of property was transferred to the treasure cave in Junshan, and more than 3000 young and strong men were mobilized. The men assisted in defending the city, in fact, [-] puppet Qi troops arrived in Baling County three days earlier than us, and they surrounded the county town."

"Did you attack the city?" Chen Qing asked.

"There was a siege, but only a few thousand troops were sent. They attacked twice, and both sides suffered hundreds of casualties. In Commander Yang's words, it was just a show to force the city to seek help from Jiangling!"

"and then?"

"After the arrival of our [-] vanguard cavalry, the enemy immediately retreated to the Yangtze River, but did not leave until the second batch of troops led by Zhang Canjun arrived."

Zhang Xiao also said with a smile: "Our [-] cavalry pretended to be [-] cavalry, and we found another soldier who was somewhat similar to Du Tong, riding a white horse and carrying a wooden Fangtian painted halberd. The other party thought it was all coming, so they retreated that day."

"Like me? You can find a substitute."

Yang Zaixing said with a smile: "The appearance is very similar, but the demeanor is completely different. People who are familiar with Dutong can tell at a glance that the other party is a fake."

Chen Qing laughed, "Of course, a monster! The world must be unique."

Chapter 318 Rescue

The gratitude of the people in Yusha County was beyond Chen Qing's expectations. The black beans donated a thousand stones because Yusha County is rich in rice but not black beans.

There are as many as 10,000+ pieces of bacon and wind meat made into strips, all of which are donated to the army without taking a cent. Each soldier carries more than a dozen strips of jerky, as well as dry food, fodder, and black beans. There are thirty or forty catties.

The soldiers could no longer ride horses, so they had to lead the horses. The next morning, the [-] troops bid farewell to Yusha County, chose an official road along the Yangtze River, and marched in the direction of Hanyang...

Two days later, the army arrived in Jiayu County, where Chen Qing's army joined Zheng Ping's 2 water army. Zheng Ping led a hundred thousand-stone chariots and twenty three-thousand-stone ships, bringing the number of Chen Qing's army to [-] People, become a powerful main reinforcement.

In a large tent, Chen Qing pointed to Qikou Town on the map and said: "Zhao Xiaoyi's intelligence said that the inspection range of the Puppet Qi Army is about [-] li, and this Qikou Town by the river is about four miles away from Hanyang. Ten miles away, Lao Zheng's navy will join me in Qikou Town, and then we will discuss the next move based on intelligence."

"Does Dutong want to find the enemy's loopholes?"

Chen Qing nodded, "Their biggest loophole is that they don't know the battle situation in Jiangling, so they can't let them discover us in advance. Only by attacking the opponent by surprise, can we hope to win."

After setting the tone in Jiayu County, the [-] troops continued to attack Hanyang in a low-key manner...

At present, Hanyang is surrounded by 5000 puppet Qi regiments. The Hanyang army has [-] people, including the [-] defenders of Hanyang Cangcheng. The coach is Li Gang.

Amidst the fierce battle drums, the puppet Qi army aggressively attacked Hanyang City from three directions. The north, south and west sides of the moat were filled with soil, making the moat lose its defensive function.

The shouts of killing on the battlefield were loud, and arrows were intertwined densely in the air like rain. A siege ladder was overturned, and more than [-] puppet Qi soldiers on the ladder fell from the sky screaming.

At one corner, dozens of puppet Qi troops fought bravely to the top of the city. On the top of the city, the two sides fought fiercely together, and reinforcements from both sides came continuously, forming a tragic battle for the top of the city. The heavy price paid by hundreds of people killed the enemy soldiers rushing to the top of the city one by one, and finally a dozen enemy soldiers were forced to jump down the city.

Dong Xian watched the battle from a distance. This was the third attack on the city. The puppet Qi army invested 1 troops, while the Song army invested [-] troops.

It was getting late at this time, Dong looked at the sky first, and then looked at the battlefield. After fighting for a whole day, the Qi army still failed to capture the top of the city, and they were defeated three times. He saw that the soldiers were exhausted. Obviously, he had to order: "Send the order to withdraw the troops!"

'when!when!when! '

The bell for the withdrawal of troops rang, and the siege soldiers retreated like a tide, and the wounded soldiers were also carried away.

After a whole day of siege, the puppet Qi army suffered nearly 6000 casualties, and the Song army also suffered more than [-] casualties. Hanyang City is still extremely strong. After a short rest, the night battle is about to begin.

……

Several scout cavalry rushed from the east and arrived at Qikou Town. The leader of the scout cavalry was Zhao Xiaoyi. He was ordered by the general Chen Qing to rush to the battlefield to check for information.

After Zhao Xiaoyi and several scouts waited in Qikou Town for half a day, Chen Qing led [-] cavalry to Qikou Town.

"See Du Tong for a lowly position!" Zhao Xiaoyi bowed and saluted.

Chen Qing got off his horse and smiled, "Thanks for your hard work, how is the situation in Hanyang?"

"Reporting to Dutong, the attack on Hanyang City is basically in a state of exhaustion. The puppet Qi army's offensive is very fierce, but they don't have many means of attacking the city. Like Jiangling City, they lack large-scale siege weapons and mainly rely on siege. Ti, at present both sides have suffered heavy casualties, the puppet Qi army suffered nearly 1 casualties, and the Song army also suffered more than [-] casualties."

"Where's the navy of the Puppet Qi Army?"

What Chen Qing is most concerned about is the navy of the Puppet Qi Army. As long as they have enough warships, they will threaten the safety of Baling County at any time.

"The puppet Qi army has about 4000 warships and about [-] sailors. The humble officials have already found out that the puppet Qi army's navy was obtained after the Mingzhou commander Xu Wen surrendered. Xu Wen was stationed in Wuhu and had [-] ships. The warship, with more than [-] people, probably surrendered to the puppet Qi army because they were lured by high-ranking officials and generous salary. They also looted Wuhu County, and their crimes were serious."

Chen Qing asked again: "The forty warships they seized later, are the forty warships left to us by the envoy Xuanfu?"

"Exactly! At that time, forty warships were moored by the Hanyang River, and the soldiers had all gone ashore. Only a small number of boatmen stayed behind on the warships, but they were able to sneak attack. Now a hundred warships are also moored by the Hanyang River, but the opponents Be very vigilant, four thousand sailors are in the boat, not even going ashore."

Chen Qing paced back and forth with his hands behind his back. It was very difficult to build a navy, and it required a lot of manpower and material resources, and it took more than ten or even twenty years to build it.

Now all the warships are the inventory left by the Northern Song Dynasty, including a large number of ships of the Yang Yao navy, which were also seized from the Song army.

Chen Qing was well aware of the serious consequences once the puppet Qi army or Jin soldiers got a navy. They could kill the Yangtze River at any time, invade the territory of the Song Dynasty, kill the people of the Song Dynasty, loot their property, and make the Song army unbearable.

The real goal of Chen Qing's rescue of Hanyang this time is not Hanyang, but the fleet of the puppet Qi army. He must completely destroy this fleet.

In the evening, Zheng Ping led 120 warships and arrived at Qikou Town. Chen Qing immediately summoned all the generals on a large ship to deploy his troop plan.

Zheng Ping had a naval commander named Li Shihong. He was a general of the Huguang water army. He was about 30 years old and was from Jiangxia. He had ten years of naval combat experience.

Chen Qing asked him: "How does the navy generally fight now?"

Li Shihong bowed and said: "To tell you the truth, naval warfare is the same as land warfare. It pays attention to formation. If the formation is properly deployed, there will often be a situation where several ships besiege a warship. In this way, they will have the upper hand. After capturing half of the enemy's ships, the enemy has to retreat, and generally will not fight to the end."

"What about the specific method of combat?"

"There are also three kinds of combat methods: far, middle and near. For long-distance combat, for example, bows and arrows are used at a distance of about a hundred steps, or gunpowder arrows are used to burn the opponent's sails. The middle distance refers to about [-] to [-] steps, and stone cannons are used. More, a boulder weighing [-] jins can smash the opponent's ship through a big hole within [-] steps."

"What about the firearms and kerosene?"

"Firearms and kerosene are used to ignite fires, and are usually used at close range, such as two ships next to each other, but to be honest, they are generally not used much."

"Why don't you use it much?" Chen Qing asked puzzled.

Li Shihong smiled wryly and said: "Because it's more troublesome. The ships are next to each other and hooked by iron hooks. In fact, it is no different from the battlefield. Who will use firearms at this time? Before you can ignite it, the other party will shoot you with one arrow." Killing is meaningless, it is better to rush up and fight fiercely with the enemy, firearms mainly use gunpowder arrows in water battles."

Zheng Ping also laughed and said, "Dutong, although we destroyed Yang Yao's car and boat with kerosene balls, the kerosene balls are really useless against warship sailors in the Yangtze River."

"Tell me why!"

"To tell you the truth, fire oil balls are good against immobile ships, such as ships used to siege cities, or vehicles and boats whose paddle wheels are entangled in fishing nets. Soon it was fully burned.

But sailing warships can’t do it. Fifty or sixty steps away, the river surface is undulating and the speed is very fast. It is very difficult to hit the fire oil ball. Fortunately, I hit one, but the burning area is very small. Soggy bedding on the bed solved that.

If you throw fire oil balls at close range, all the opponent's navy will come to your ship. What's the point of burning the opponent's ship? If you can't decouple, the two ships will burn together, which is what General Li said just now , The ships are no different from the battlefield when they are next to each other. "

Chen Qing nodded and said to Yang Zaixing, Liu Cui and Liu Qiong: "The three of you each lead [-] cavalry to wander around the periphery to harass the enemy. Don't fight the enemy head-on. Give me time until General Zheng and I wipe out the enemy. After the enemy's navy, we will launch an offensive against the enemy!"

Chapter 319 Water Battle

Although both Zheng Ping and Li Shihong disagreed with the use of firearms and kerosene, they failed to convince Chen Qing. Chen Qing decided to go on board and practice his idea of ​​water warfare.

Zhao Xiaoyi's information was from two days ago. When Chen Qing's fleet arrived in Hanyang, the information had changed. Forty warships sailed northward on the Hanshui River to transport wounded soldiers to Xiangyang, and at the same time transport food and grass supplies from Xiangyang go south.

It was easy to be spotted by the enemy's sentry ships on the big river, and they were discovered by several enemy sentry ships when they were still [-] miles away from Hanyang, and the sentry ships rushed back to report the news.

Thousands of infantry brought by Chen Qing from the northwest stayed in Yueyang to guard. They were not familiar with water, and none of them boarded the ship. Of the 6000 troops on board, 4000 were descended from Yang Yao's army, and the other [-] were from the former Wang Yan army. The Yuezhou army left behind basically grew up by the riverside and lake, and their water quality is good. They are more adapted to the water conditions of the Yangtze River.

On the contrary, their opponent is the Mingzhou navy, which is actually an offshore navy. Although they are regular troops, they may not be suitable for fighting in the Yangtze River.

At this time, it was the first ten days of November, and it was already the beginning of winter. The north wind was bitter, and the wind and waves on the river were very strong.

Chen Qing stood on the only warship of [-] shi. Because it had been remodeled, he kept it specially at the beginning, and the other nineteen ships were all [-] shi. They were won from Yang Yao. Of course, they The earliest was also the Huguang Water Army, which was captured after being defeated by Yang Yao.

"The warship in front is coming out, in the northeast direction!" The soldier on the mast shouted.

"How many ships are there?" Li Shihong asked loudly.

After a while, the watchmen saw clearly and shouted: "There are about ten ships!"

Li Shihong hurriedly stepped forward and said to Chen Qing: "Reporting to Dutong, this should be a guard ship. They think we are just passing by, so they didn't put on a large-scale battle posture. In fact, it means that they don't want to fight."

"What if we fight?"

"If you want to fight, the main force of the enemy army behind will kill you."

Chen Qing thought for a while and said with a smile: "Then let's use these ten ships to try the knife first!"

"Order to implement Plan No. [-]!"

There is no wireless signal in naval warfare, only simple semaphore, and it is impossible to deploy complex tactics temporarily. Generally, various combat plans have been arranged and numbered. The semaphore only needs to be represented by color flags, and all warships will play the same The semaphore, and then everyone takes their positions.

A semaphore is pulled up on the mast, and at the top is a huge red triangular battle flag, which means attack, while the black battle flag means retreat, the white battle flag means surrender, and then there is a numbered flag below, which is a blue pennant flag, which means a plan .

All the ships behind pulled up the same battle flag, so that more than 100 warships knew how to fight.

Plan No. [-] is that Chen Qing's main ship will lead [-] vehicles and ships to attack the opponent. The [-] vehicles and ships are actually escort ships. If the main ship's situation is critical, they will even use the hull of the ship to block the opponent's pursuit.

The puppet Qi army came out with ten guard ships, also called surveillance ships, to monitor the other party's transit. The leading general was a commander named Zhang Sheng, who was also the confidant of the main general Xu Yun.

He didn't expect the other party to welcome ten warships, which made him stunned for a moment. Do you want to compete with his own ten warships?

Zhang Sheng sneered, and sent an order: "Go up to the battle!"

He also hoisted the red pennant, and ten warships of three thousand shi bulged their sails and rushed towards the warships of the Song army.

The sound of war drums on the river'boom!Boom!Boom! ' rang, and the atmosphere became tense and murderous.

Chen Qing shouted: "The bed crossbow is ready! The trebuchet is ready!"

Twenty bed crossbows and five ballistas were installed on each side of his warship, as well as sixty throwers, a whip seven or eight feet long, and fifty short spears and giant shields Soldiers, fighting hand-to-hand with enemy soldiers.

There were no archers, and the archers were replaced with bed crossbows. In addition to the soldiers who manipulated the ships, there were a total of 250 people, and almost all of them could be put into battle.

Li Shihong was in charge of commanding and manipulating the warship, while Chen Qing was in charge of the battle himself.

Of the sixty throwers, 20 were soldiers from the Firearms Battalion who could throw a new type of gunpowder barrel. The so-called new type of gunpowder barrel was just improved by Xie Changzhi. There are two kinds of non-toxic nails, and there is a throwing handle on it, which can be thrown by Lida soldiers for more than [-] steps. Of course, non-toxic nails are used for warship combat, otherwise the poisonous nails will hurt themselves if they are too close.