Fenghou

Chen Qing ordered the army to speed up and rush westward.

……

The city of Wuguan was on fire, and thick smoke was billowing. More than 1 guards of the puppet Qi army watched the fire on the pass from a distance. This was the second time they were burned by the fire in ten days.

The main general is called Zhang Shao, one of the three generals under Li Cheng. He was ordered to lead [-] troops to guard Shangzhou strictly to prevent the Song army from entering Guanzhong from Shangzhou.

The Song army has been attacking Wuguan for ten days, but they have never really climbed the city. They either attack with bows and arrows, or throw fire oil, as if they did not carry siege weapons.

In the beginning, Zhang Shao was still very nervous, and he personally led [-] soldiers to defend Wuguan, but after the attack, he felt that something was getting worse and worse. After attacking the city for ten days, the casualties of his defending soldiers were less than [-]. , most of which were burned.

And the other party only had two or three hundred casualties, which is not like a siege at all.

The key point is that the opponent can clearly capture Wuguan. For example, now that the city is burning with fire and there is no soldier on the top of the city, the opponent can use a battering ram to smash open the city gate, but there is no movement from the opponent.

You know, Chen Qing's army is famous for defending and attacking cities, how could they not take advantage of this opportunity?

There is only one answer, the Song army did not want to capture Wuguan at all.

Not only did Zhang Shao realize that something was wrong, most of his generals also came to their senses, and Liu Shun, the commander, said to Zhang Shao: "Du Tong, I found out yesterday that the number of enemy troops is actually not that many, maybe only five or six thousand people, look at these days The attack is becoming more and more obvious, I am afraid that the Song army is pretending to attack Wuguan!"

The generals said one after another: "Dutong, since the Song army refuses to come in, let's open the city and fight out!"

Zhang Shao's heart also began to waver. After pondering for a moment, he ordered: "Pass my order, open and close the door first, and the whole army prepares for war!"

The [-] troops quickly set up their formations, ready to attack.

The gate of the closed city was slowly opened, and after waiting for a long time, there was no movement outside.

Zhang Shao ordered a team of spies: "Quickly go outside the city to investigate!"

More than a dozen spies galloped away on horseback, and after a while, the lead spies came back and shouted, "Report to Dutong, the enemy army is nowhere to be seen, and the enemy barracks have disappeared!"

Zhang Shao was taken aback, and immediately led the army to fight out. Sure enough, the enemy army had disappeared without a trace, and the camp three miles away was also gone.

Liu Shun whispered, "Could the information be wrong?"

Zhang Shao shook his head, he didn't know what was going on?

He immediately ordered: "Send the eagle letter to Jingzhao immediately!"

An eagle slowly flew to Jingzhao, and soon, Jingzhao's eagle spread its wings and flew to Bianliang. Two days later, Wan Yanchang received a message from Shangzhou.

This news really made Wan Yanchang speechless for a while, he never thought that the plan of dispatching troops formed in the imperial study room turned out to be fake, if he successfully deceived himself, wouldn't Chen Qing be afraid of the crime of deceiving the emperor?

For a moment, Wan Yanchang's head was as big as a bucket. He ran to the map to take a closer look. Where did Chen Qing's army go?

Attacking Fengxiang would definitely not be wrong. This is indeed the most brilliant strategy to encircle Wei and save Zhao, and it is also the only one that can make Wanyan Wushu retreat. Chen Qing must have adopted this strategy.

The key is where did he enter the customs?

If it is not Shangzhou Road, then it can only go west. Which road will it be Ziwu Road, Luotang Road, and Chencang Road?

At this time, Wan Yanchang's eyes were fixed on Meridian Road, which was the passage Wanyan Wushu had just walked through. The plank roads and bridges inside were all repaired, and last year, Chen Qing had taken this road to surprise Jingzhao. , he is very familiar with this place.

It must be it, Wan Yanchang can be sure this time, Chen Qing must have gone northward through the Meridian Valley, but the question is, where has Chen Qing been after such a long time?

Wan Yanchang immediately ordered: "Send an eagle letter to Jingzhao, tell Li Cheng that Chen Qing entered the pass through the Ziwu Valley, and order him to stop me no matter what!"

Chapter 365 Sword Gate

The god of luck also favored Wanyan Wushu. It took them only three days to complete the return journey. On the last day when the dry food was exhausted, they also walked out of the rice warehouse road. The moment they walked out of the rice warehouse road, they were completely Yan Wushu led [-] golden soldiers to kneel on the ground, thanking Changshengtian for his protection.

The Micang Road was blocked, so the Jin soldiers had to take the Jinniu Road to attack Bashu. At this time, the battle for the Jinniu Road also reached its climax, and the offense and defense of both sides were very tragic.

Xicheng County, which guards the entrance to the east line of Jinniu Road, has been captured by Wanyan Helisa at the cost of 5000 deaths.

After clearing the obstacles on the Jinniu Road, Wanyan Holisa began to attack the Jinniu Road. He learned the lesson from last year and stopped advancing blindly. He personally carried a large amount of food and supplies and slowly moved south.

Three days later, [-] Jin soldiers arrived at Jianmen Pass. At this time, the Song and Jin armies had a spectacular scene. Transported to the front line of combat.

To the south of Jianmen Pass, there also appeared a large camp of the Song army, which was more than ten miles long, and the battle of life and death would be decided at Jianmen Pass.

The Jin soldiers will also use large siege weapons. Unfortunately, there is no battlefield on the mountain road, so only two large trebuchets can be used. They transported the parts into the Jinniu Road and assembled them temporarily. Although there are only two trebuchets, they are I am afraid that this is the first time in the history of Jianmenguan that it has encountered large-scale siege weapons.

Before it was dark, Jin Bing launched a tentative attack. The leader of Jin Bing was Han Chang. He looked at the tall sword pavilion and shouted: "Launch!"

The two trebuchets launched at the same time, one in front and one in the back, 'Boom!Boom! ! With two loud bangs, two burning fire oil balls soared up and rushed straight to the Jianmen Pass above. One of them was slightly larger, passed directly above Jianmen Pass, and fell into the cliff.

The other one hit the city wall of Jianmen Pass, the clay pot inside shattered, black kerosene flowed down the wall, and then a raging fire ignited.

The Song army laid five defensive lines at Jianmen, two of which had been broken by the Jin soldiers, leaving only three defensive counties at Jianmen Pass. The first defensive line was the ice slope, and the Song army poured a lot of water Layers of ice formed on the stone steps, and finally the stone steps were covered with a thick layer of ice, which was so smooth that it was difficult for Jin Soldier's leather boots to walk on it.

The second line of defense is the bed crossbow array in front of the pass. The Song army deployed fifty bed crossbows to attack the enemy with powerful bed crossbows. The third line of defense is Guancheng. The city gate was built dead, and the Song army outside could only come back along the soft ladder on the city wall. The Guancheng was built of huge stones, tall and strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, it can be called a natural danger.

Just like Shibao City in the Tang Dynasty, a few hundred Tubo people can withstand the attack of tens of thousands of Tang troops.

Today's Jianmen Pass has become the last barrier to defend Sichuan. Wu Jie personally led [-] troops to defend the pass, while Wu Ling led the main force to station in the rear, and the camp stretched for more than ten miles.

While launching the fire oil ball, Han Chang was also cracking the Song Army's first line of defense, the ice slope.

Two hundred soldiers are crawling on the ice slope and climbing up little by little. Each of them is dragging a big bag. The bag is made of sand. The method is very simple and effective. As long as a layer of sand is spread on the ice slope, the soldiers can directly rushed up.

There were burning giant logs rolling down from above, and the soldiers lay tightly on the ground, allowing the giant logs to roll over their heads and backs, and then continued to climb up.

The giant log rolled down rumblingly, smashing towards the trebuchet aggressively, and finally smashed heavily on the mudbag wall, which was the protective wall of the trebuchet.

Fire oil balls were continuously thrown upwards, and a big fire was ignited inside and outside the Guancheng.

Han Chang squinted at the creeping soldiers, and suddenly realized that this was a good way to attack Guancheng!The bed crossbow couldn't hit them, and the rolling wooden boulder didn't do much harm to them. They could climb up to their eyes and then jump up to fight the Song army.

Why didn't I think of this good way before?

"Master Wan, be careful!"

A soldier threw Han Chang down, only to hear a strange whistling sound. It turned out that the Song army fired dense bed crossbows. Two hundred bed crossbows whizzed towards them. The targets were two heavy catapults, and a catapult behind them The two belts of the trebuchet were shot and broke immediately, and the ten-foot-high trebuchet fell apart. Several Jurchen soldiers were unable to dodge and were hit by the falling giant log.

Han Chang stood up and ordered: "Come up to 300 people, climb up for me, and kill the opponent's bed crossbow!"

The long ramp was full of Jurchen soldiers, and as they climbed up little by little, random arrows were fired from the top of the city, shooting high into the sky, but the arrows fell down and kept hitting the Jurchen soldiers on the ramp.

Wu Jie could see clearly from the top of the city. The arrows couldn't stop them from climbing up, but unfortunately they didn't have kerosene. He pondered for a moment and ordered: "Throw the straw bales down, and prepare the trebuchet!"

Although Wu Jie did not have kerosene, he also had something to set fire to. He prepared thousands of straw bales, each weighing dozens of catties, tied into a square.

The soldiers threw straw bales one after another, and the straw bales rolled and scattered on the hillside. Dozens of straw bales scattered, and soon formed a sea of ​​flames. A dozen trees were also thrown out, and the whole The ramp was engulfed in flames.

Hundreds of Jurchen soldiers scrambled and crawled down to flee for their lives, but they were shot from behind by a storm of crossbow arrows, and more than two hundred people fell down immediately.

Han Chang was annoyed, but there was nothing he could do. At this moment, a soldier shouted: "Be careful of the top of your head!"

Han Chang looked up, only to see a boulder roaring from the sky, "Boom! ' A loud noise hit the trebuchet behind Han Chang, and the trebuchet fell down.

……

Coming out of Ziwu Valley, Chen Qing led [-] cavalry into Hu County to rest and recuperate. There were no guards in the city, and the old soldiers guarding the city gate did not dare to stop them, so they rushed to report to the magistrate that Song troops had arrived.

Chen Qing saw that every house in the city was decorated with lanterns and festoons, filled with a festive atmosphere, as if it was a festival.

Chen Qing was stunned for a moment, then turned around and asked, "What day is today?"

Everyone laughed, Gao Ding said with a smile: "Didn't you feel it? Today is New Year's Eve!"

"Ah! Today is New Year's Eve?"

It was really beyond Chen Qing's expectation. He hurriedly said to Hu Yanyun, the logistics supervisor, "Take more brothers to buy pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks. You can buy as much as you can. If you don't want to sell, you can pay twice the price. Buy some black beans, but you are not allowed to take them by force, you know?"

"Humble job understands!"

Hu Yanyun led thousands of soldiers into the city.

At this time, Xu Yunhui, the county magistrate, came to meet Chen Qing with a large group of officials.

"So it's General Chen!"

Xu Yunhui recognized Chen Qing, shivered in fright, and quickly said: "The next official is Xu Yunhui, the county magistrate, welcome General Chen to Bixian County!"

Chen Qing saw that a group of county government officials showed fear on their faces, probably because of his moniker of monsters that frightened them.

He said to a group of officials: "Xuzhi County, magistrates, today is New Year's Eve, my subordinates and I need a good rest, we will leave tomorrow, we will not infringe on your interests, but if you go to Jingzhao to report, Triggering a war between the troops, forcing me to kill people, the consequences are unimaginable, I hope everyone will cooperate!"

Xu Zhixian hurriedly said: "We dare not, invite the army to enter the city, there are some vacant rooms in the east of the city, we can let the army rest!"

Chen Qing led the army into the city, and immediately ordered the city gates to be closed. The county officials vacated hundreds of rooms for the soldiers to rest, and took out hundreds of shi of grain and hundreds of catties of mutton from the warehouse to the Song army.

But where the food needs to be arranged by them, Chen Qing ordered the soldiers to transport all the several thousand catties of frozen mutton to the army and distribute them to the soldiers.

At this time, Hu Yanyun bought hundreds of pigs and sheep and a large number of chickens and ducks. Chen Qing ordered the army to kill pigs and sheep, make a sumptuous dinner, cook soup and roast meat, and let the tired soldiers have a delicious New Year's Eve dinner. They also cooked hundreds of stone black beans and fed them to the horses, so that the war horses also enjoyed the atmosphere of the Chinese New Year.

Jiang Yan hurried back from the warehouse, clasped his fists to Chen Qing and said with a smile, "It's not bad. There are a thousand shi of grain in the warehouse and [-] dans of hay, which are enough for us to go to Fengxiang Mansion."

Chen Qing said with a smile: "Let the brothers rest first, have a good meal, drink a little wine, don't get drunk!"

That night, [-] cavalrymen of the Song Army gathered for dinner in the county seat. The soldiers let go of their stomachs, ate meat and drank wine, and celebrated the fourth year of Shaoxing together.

Chapter 366

At noon on the first day of the first lunar month, Chen Qing's army left Huxian County and continued to march westward in the hilly area between the south bank of the Weihe River and Zhongnan Mountain. Three days later, [-] cavalry arrived at Wuzhangyuan near Meixian County, which had already entered the territory of Fengxiang Prefecture. .

According to past experience, there should be Jinbing garrisons in Mei County, but the number will not be too many, about 1000 people.

But Chen Qing didn't want to sneak attack on Fengxiang City, but wanted to create momentum to force Yan Wushu to withdraw his troops.

He needs to bloody kill a chicken to make this momentum come into effect.

As for this chicken, Chen Qing stared at the defenders of Mei County.

In the afternoon, Zhao Xiaoyi brought a caravan to the forest where Chen Qing's army was stationed. Chen Qing's army had moved to a pine forest about ten miles away from the county seat of Mei County.

Soon, Zhao Xiaoyi took the leader of the businessman into the forest. The businessman's surname was Wang, a native of Mei County. He was a medicine merchant. He was leaving for Bianliang to purchase medicine.

The owner Wang heard that it was the demon Chen Qing, and he was so frightened that he knelt down on the ground and couldn't speak.

Chen Qingwen smiled and said: "You don't have to be afraid. I kill the Jin soldiers and the puppet Qi soldiers. At least I have never killed innocent people. I will ask you something, and you can answer it truthfully."

"Little man... dare not hide it!"

Wang Dongzhu calmed down a little, and Chen Qing asked, "How many golden soldiers are there in the city?"

"Reporting to the general, there are about 1000 people."

Sure enough, as expected, there were thousands of gold soldiers in the city, Chen Qing asked again: "Are they all Jurchens?"

"They're all Jurchens!"

Chen Qing nodded and continued to ask: "Are there any restrictions on entering and leaving the city?"

"There is no control, ordinary people come and go as they please, but businessmen have to pay taxes."

"How much is the food price in the city now?"

"The cheapest wheat is about [-] cents a bucket."

"Is there a price increase?"

"Food prices are basically relatively stable."

The reason why Chen Qing asked about the price of grain was that he wanted to know about the grain storage in the city. Guanzhong was a famous granary, and there should be no shortage of grain. He could use Mei County as a place to garrison troops.

After asking about the situation in detail, Chen Qing comforted the businessman and sent him away.

Yang Zaixing smiled at Chen Qing: "It's such a cold weather, and there are only a thousand soldiers. Judging from their relaxation during the day, there should be no one on the top of the city at night. Let the humble officials seize the city!"

Liu Cui said anxiously: "You should go every time! This time it should be my turn."

Chen Qing glanced at Liu Qiong and Gao Ding next to him, both of them were eager to try, Chen Qing said with a smile: "The four of you draw lots, whoever wins will go!"

The result of the lottery came out soon, Liu Qiong won the lottery, and the three had to leave angrily.

Chen Qing said to Liu Qiong: "The moat is already frozen, don't think about it, you lead five hundred brothers to go, and bring a few special scouts up to the city on soft ladders."

"Understandable!"

"It will be easier to go to the city from the northeast corner!" Chen Qing added with a smile.

Liu Qiong nodded, "After dark, the humble job will lead people to set off, what else does the governor have to say?"

"Old rules, after capturing the East City Gate, light three torches."

Liu Qiong clasped her fists in salute, turned and left...

It gets dark early in winter, and after a short time, night falls quietly. Liu Qiong leads five hundred soldiers on foot to Mei County, ten miles away...

The night was not completely dark yet, Chen Qing could clearly see the outline of the county town in the distance, and hoped that Liu Qiong would not let him down.