Fenghou

Immediately, some cavalry ran to inform Li Cheng, and Li Cheng immediately said: "Blow the horn and retreat!"

"Ugh-"

The long horn sounded, which was a unique withdrawal order of the Puppet Qi Army, and the soldiers of the Puppet Qi Army immediately retreated like a tide.

The main offensive force on the battlefield was switched, and the Donghu Jurchen army became the main force. They held up their shields and spears, resisted the rain of arrows from the Song army, and gathered around the four huge heavy nest vehicles.

At this time, the four heavy-duty nest carts gradually approached the city wall, and its true appearance was also exposed to the eyes of the soldiers of the Song Army. It was huge and taller than the city wall.

On the front of the top of the nest car stands a thick wood eight feet long and five feet wide, with two big iron hooks at the front end. This is the upper city flyover. There is a roof on it, mainly to prevent the firearms of the Song army from throwing in.

Twenty or so Donghu soldiers were wearing heavy armor, holding shields and spears, with cold eyes, unable to see any human emotions, as if they were more than twenty wild beasts, and the stairs behind them were also full of the same people. Strong Donghu soldiers.

One after another fire mines exploded above their heads, and the thick ceiling was blown to pieces, but because it was covered with a thin layer of iron, it resisted the continuous bombardment of gunpowder barrels, even the burning of gunpowder was of no avail.

The heavy nest cart was getting closer and closer, and the earth-shattering shouts under the city were like a tsunami. All 150 Jurchen cavalry pressed on and shot arrows at the top of the city [-] steps away. .

The war against Ganquan Fort finally reached its climax.

On the top of the city, 1000 troops dedicated to heavy nest vehicles have also assembled. Yang Zaixing, Gao Ding, Liu Cui, and Niu Gao each led [-] people. They carried bed crossbows, god arm crossbows, kerosene and powder barrels, and even He also carried [-] dans of wheat straw.

The nest cart slowly approached the city wall, and there were still a dozen or so steps left. Forty bed crossbows aimed at the nest cart baffle, waiting for the moment when the overpass fell.

The bottom of the nest car finally hit the city wall, and several huge upper city overpasses fell almost at the same time, causing debris to splash.

The westernmost nest car landed on the upper city bridge first, and more than [-] strong and heavily armored soldiers rushed out, but they were greeted by fifty jackdaw iron arrows, no matter how strong the armor was, It can't stop the shooting of the bed crossbow, let alone only a short distance of a dozen steps.

There were screams on the overpass, more than [-] strong soldiers fell down one after another, many of them were shot through by iron arrows, and the iron arrows were nailed to the wooden wall inside, causing the Donghu soldiers who were about to rush up below to squat down in fright .

The gap was only a few seconds, Niu Gao let out a roar, swung his ax and jumped onto the overpass, and rushed into the nest car first, followed by dozens of soldiers behind him.

At the same time, the same situation happened to the other three nest carts. The Song army, led by Yang Zaixing, Gao Ding, and Liu Cui, rushed into the nest cart and blocked the enemy troops in the nest cart from going up to the city.

This is Zhang Xiao's strategy. He regards the nest car as a part of the city wall, focuses on turning away from customers, and seizes the initiative.

Once the Song army captured the top, the Jurchen enemy army would no longer have any chance, and more than a dozen gunpowder barrels were thrown down one after another. This kind did not have poisonous nails, and they were afraid of accidentally injuring the Song army soldiers on the top.

The gunpowder barrels exploded continuously in the nest car. Dozens of soldiers inside were blown to pieces, and the ladder was also blown to pieces. Immediately afterwards, barrels of kerosene were poured in, and bundles of wheat straw were also thrown down. Several torches lit the kerosene, and the raging flames began to burn rapidly inside, with thick smoke billowing, and crimson flames spitting out tongues of fire.

Niu Gao and other generals had led their troops back, and the Song army immediately destroyed the overpass on the upper city. The soldiers of the Song army on the top of the city threw barrels of kerosene and bundles of wheat straw, and within [-] steps below the city, it turned into a sea of ​​flames. The thousands of arrows piercing the heart formation in the city was launched again, and the arrows from the soldiers above the head fell like dense raindrops, and countless soldiers died in despair.

The siege vehicles that made Wanyan Wushu pin his infinite hopes all failed in just a quarter of an hour, and thousands of Donghu infantry were killed in the flames.

Wanyan Wushu let out a long sigh, and said to Fan Gong with great annoyance: "I regret not listening to Mr.'s advice!"

Chapter 4 returns

Tens of thousands of Jin soldiers and the puppet Qi army retreated overnight. They spent countless money, food and resources, and finally resented under Ganquan Fort.

The siege of Ganquanbao lasted for a month. The Jin soldiers suffered more than 3000 casualties, and the Song army also paid the price of 2000 casualties, with more than [-] soldiers killed in battle alone.

But also after this battle, Ganquan Fort's fortification and fortification has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and it is known as the best fort in the world.

In the early morning, when the first ray of sunlight fell under Crescent Mountain, the camp of the golden soldiers had completely disappeared, leaving only a circle of camp fences.

According to the news sent by Liu Qiong, tens of thousands of Jin soldiers were evacuating to the south, and they were already fifty li away from Ganquan Fort.

When the news came, the whole Ganquan Fort was full of joy. Chen Qing ordered Yang Yuanqing to lead [-] soldiers to clean up the battlefield thoroughly, and sent Zheng Ping to lead [-] cavalry to chase after the enemy's logistics team.

The battlefield was quickly cleaned up. All the corpses of the enemy soldiers were burned and buried deep. Except for the dark red blood and black smoke and fire traces that could not be cleaned up, everything returned to its original appearance.

Yang Yuanqing led the soldiers to dismantle the barracks. For Ganquan Fort, which was seriously short of wood, the thick logs were all high-quality wood and precious resources. There were more than [-] of these logs. It took three days to dismantle all the barracks.

The gates of the city were opened, and the people went out of the city to fetch water from the river. What is gratifying is that the wheat seedlings were not affected by the war, and they grew well, green and green with no end in sight.

In the afternoon, Zheng Ping led the army back. Although they did not catch up with the enemy, they seized hundreds of carts, which were basically grain, wine, and meat. There were [-] pickled lamb legs alone.

Chen Qing immediately ordered that [-] lamb legs and [-] bags of wine be distributed to the people, and the people in the city beat gongs and drums to celebrate and encourage, just like a festival.

The state of war was finally lifted the next day, and Chen Qing also returned to his home. He walked into the yard, but saw his wife Lu Xiu holding a long broom and slowly sweeping the floor.

"My lady, why are you sweeping the floor?" Chen Qing asked anxiously.

Lu Xiu smiled and said, "Now that my stomach hasn't gotten bigger, there's actually no difference. If I'm tired of lying down, move a little."

It's okay to sweep the floor, Chen Qing also felt that he was making a fuss, he stepped forward to take the broom and asked with a smile: "Where are the two of them?"

Lu Xiu pouted into the room, "Drinking with Master at noon, the three of them are all drunk, and they are still lying down!"

At this time, Yu Ying and Yu Lian came out in a daze, "Ah! The young master is back, madam, what time is it now?"

Lu Xiu was angry and funny and said, "It's afternoon! You guys go wash your face in cold water first, sober yourself up, and then cook together."

The two agreed, and hurried to wash their faces. Chen Qing asked again, "Has Dr. Li been here?"

"He came here yesterday and checked my pulse. He said that the pulse is very stable. He confirmed that it is a happy pulse. He asked me to keep taking the medicine for a few more days."

Seeing that Lu Xiu was going to wash the rice, Chen Qing quickly took the bamboo basket, "I'll do it!"

Lu Xiu smiled and said, "It's not tiring to wash the rice, it's just to carefully pick the stones. You can sit by the side and talk to me!"

Seeing that Yu Lian had washed her face, she ordered, "Hurry up and make a pot of tea!"

"Hey!" Yu Lian hurried away.

Yu Ying took out half a pickled leg of lamb from the kitchen and asked, "Ma'am, what should I do with the leg of lamb?"

Lu Xiu smiled: "Cut it into slices! Put it in the duck soup in the pot and stew together."

Lu Xiu said to Chen Qing: "Lucky yesterday, Yu Ying bought two ducks at the vegetable market, they were quite fat. I asked Ah Luo to kill them for me, and gave half of them to Master. It's just right for our family to eat half of them."

Chen Qing asked in surprise: "There is also a vegetable market in the city?"

"Yes! Just beside the city wall of Neicang, the people formed spontaneously, selling some vegetables grown in their own yards, chickens and ducks raised, pickled fish, eggs, onions and ginger, etc., and some people sold cloth shoes and socks, but It’s quite expensive, a duck can be sold for [-] yuan, a chicken is [-] yuan, a chicken in Lin’an is at most [-] yuan, and a three-year-old duck is only [-] yuan, okay?”

"What about vegetables? Are they expensive?"

"Of course it's expensive, more than ten times the price in Lin'an."

"I can't help it during this time. Rare things are more expensive. When we move to Chengji County next year, it will be much better."

Lu Xiu was stunned for a while and said, "Is your husband going to give up Ganquan Castle?"

Chen Qing shook his head, "Of course not, Ganquan will continue to have troops stationed and guarded, but it doesn't need too many troops, as long as 3000 people are enough. We found that as long as there is enough fire oil, 3000 people are enough to deal with the enemy's siege. More importantly, if I wasn't in Ganquanbao, the golden soldiers basically wouldn't attack Ganquanbao."

"Then why wait until next year to go to Chengji County?"

"The city wall in Chengji County is not good. It is too old and too short. It needs to be repaired and strengthened. It will take at least a year."

Just as he was talking, Li Mei came in carrying a carp, and said with a smile, "Today someone was fishing by the river, and I thought it was pretty good, so I bought two of them, and this one is for you!"

Lu Xiu hurriedly asked Yu Lian and Yu Ying to find a basin to raise fish, and asked Yu Lian to give Li Mei half a duck, but Li Mei refused to take it anyway, turned around and ran away.

Chen Qing sat on the side drinking tea and watched this warm scene, and said with a smile: "I found out that you are going to become housewives in Ganquanbao. Come back, I'm afraid there will be no such opportunity next year, enjoy it!"

Lu Xiu smiled embarrassedly: "My husband is right. I went shopping a few days ago, and I even bargained with an old woman. In the end, I finally managed to lower the price. When I got it back, I felt that the weight was not right. It weighed three catties. The big radish is missing half a catty."

"This is a down-to-earth life. Experience it well, and you can say this to your children in the future. My mother also had two years of hard life when she was young, and she even bargained with others when buying vegetables!"

Lu Xiu was giggled by her husband, and she went into the kitchen to cook.

At this time, a soldier came running like a gust of wind.

"Report to Dutong, Hu Yanyun and his brothers are back!"

Hu Yanyun went to Yanzhou to buy kerosene for more than a month, which really worried Chen Qing. They only had a thousand soldiers and a thousand camels. If they were discovered by Jin Bing, they would be in big trouble.

Chen Qing quickly got up and said, "I'll go and see!"

Lu Xiu ran out from the kitchen and asked, "Is your husband coming back for dinner?"

"I'll be back soon, let's have dinner together!"

Chen Qing got on his horse and ran towards the east gate. As soon as he got to the gate, he saw a caravan of camels coming in from outside the city. The leader was a black and thin man, it was Hu Yanyun.

Seeing Chen Qing, Hu Yanyun hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "See Dutong for humble posts!"

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "It's a coincidence that you came back! Yesterday the war ended, and you came back."

"Reporting to Dutong, I have actually been back for a few days, and I have been hiding outside. I didn't know the war was over until I saw someone fetching water."

"How about it, how much fire oil did you get?" Chen Qing asked expectantly.

Hu Yanyun made a gesture, and Chen Qing widened his eyes, "Eight thousand seven hundred barrels?"

Hu Yantong nodded, Chen Qing was overjoyed immediately, beyond his expectation, he quickly laughed and said, "Go to the barracks and talk about it!"

Chapter 4 Urgent News

In the handsome tent, a group of people surrounded Hu Yanyun, expecting to hear his story.

Hu Yanyun took a sip of hot tea and said with a smile: "Thanks to Dongzhu Han this time, he doesn't have many things like him, and we can't buy kerosene at all. Let's get [-] barrels of kerosene from the county warehouse first.

Then he collected oil in the county again at a price that was 5000% higher than the market price. As a result, he collected more than [-] barrels of kerosene in a few days.

At this time, 6000 puppet Qi troops suddenly came and took over the oil fields in Yanzhou. "

Chen Qing happily said: "I will convert the money that should be given to him into silver and give it to him to do things for us. I can't treat him badly. I plan to use him to engage in fire oil for a long time!"

"It should be possible. Even if there is an army guarding it, it is impossible to cover everything. They will definitely have a way."

Chen Qing asked again: "Where do you replenish supplies on the way?"

Hu Yanyun hurriedly said to Chen Qing: "We have been in Longde County in Deshun Prefecture, and we have only stayed in the county for more than ten days. There is no puppet Qi army there, and there is no puppet Qi army in Deshun Prefecture. It is all unified. I think this is a Chance."

Chen Qing nodded and said with a smile: "We will discuss this issue tomorrow. You go back and have a good rest now, and then visit your fiancée. I will arrange the marriage for you in two days."

Hu Yanyun was embarrassed to leave under the laughter of the crowd, Chen Qing waved to the crowd and said: "Let's go! Let's go and see the kerosene."

……

When his wife was pregnant, Chen Qingye had a harder time, at least the joy of intercourse was gone, so he could only focus on other aspects.

At night, Chen Qing was still pacing in the study room. There was a map on his desk, which was the whole map of Xihe Road. He was officially named Jiedushi of Xihe Road by the imperial court. Of course he didn’t want to be a Jiedushi in name , he had to take back all of Xihe Road, and it was not easy to do it.

Xihe Road includes the eight prefectures of Xi, He, Tao, Min, Lan, Hui, Huang, and Xining, as well as the Tongyuan Army, which is equivalent to today's southern Gansu, northeastern Qinghai, and northwest Sichuan, and does not include where he is now. Qinzhou.

But it is impossible for him to give up Qinzhou and move to the west, and there is Gongzhou between Qinzhou and Xihe Road, which means that he still has Gongzhou in his pocket.

There is also the Deshun Prefecture that Hu Yanyun mentioned today. Chen Qing is considering whether to take it down. It is best to take it down to ensure the safety of Qinzhou. However, taking Deshun Prefecture will inevitably threaten Pingliang Prefecture again. This has to be carefully weighed some.

Now his eyes are looking west. He knows that Xixia has occupied a lot of territory, but they don't know the specific situation. It is said that there are still Qingtang Tubo remnants in the Hehuang area.

At this moment, the door opened, and Lu Xiu came in with a cup of tea, "Husband, it's so late, don't you want to rest?"

Chen Qing said with a smile: "Tomorrow there is an important meeting, I have to prepare first, my lady should go to sleep first!"

Lu Xiu hesitated for a moment, and whispered: "Husband, in fact, they can do it too."

Chen Qing was startled, but then he understood, and shook his head quickly, "No, they are too young."

"Husband, they had their monthly period last year."

"Or not!"

Chen Qing stepped forward and hugged his wife to his chest and smiled, "You don't have to worry about me, isn't it the same if I didn't have a woman before?"

Lu Xiu smiled and said: "That's different. The cat has never eaten fishy food before, so it doesn't care, but it has already tasted it. How can you let it endure the temptation of fishy food outside? Instead of bringing another woman back, It's better to let two little ladies serve you."

"They are still too young, it will hurt them physically and mentally, just wait a few more years!"

Chen Qing whispered a few words to Lu Xiu, and Lu Xiu blushed, and said coyly, "Is this okay?"

Chen Qing grinned and said, "At least it won't hurt the child, and I won't go outside to steal it either!"

"Okay!" Lu Xiu reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"Let them boil more hot water!"

Chen Qing didn't have the heart to think about big things anymore, so he quickly asked Yu Ying and Yu Lian to boil water.

This night, the husband and wife were in love again. The two were full of interest and chatted about the unborn child again. They talked until the second watch before falling asleep from exhaustion.

……

When entering the non-combat state, the soldiers don’t need to click their heads, and the soldiers can also sleep for a while. They don’t get up, wash and have breakfast until the morning glow comes out, and then prepare for the assembly training. Generally, several generals take turns to be responsible for the assembly training in the morning. .

Chen Qing didn't have to do everything by himself, and he didn't have to come so early. He arrived at the big tent at about two quarters, that is, at 06:30 in the morning.

The soldiers had already made tea for him, Chen Qinggang sat down, Zhang Xiao quickly walked into the big tent, and handed him a document, "This is the urgent letter sent by Wang Huai, which I received last night. .”

Chen Qing suddenly had a bad feeling, and asked anxiously, "What happened?"

Zhang Xiao sighed and said, "The Jin soldiers slaughtered Chengji County!"