Fenghou

"Did the Xixia people ever attack Gongzhou?" Chen Qing continued to ask.

Li Wanlou still shook his head, "It is said that Jin State does not allow them to enter Gongzhou, and Qinzhou does not allow them either!"

Of course, Chen Qing knew the ambitions of the Xixia people. If they didn't want to capture Gongzhou and Qinzhou, then it would be meaningless to attack Ganquan Fort. The Jin soldiers failed to attack Ganquan Fort and had to withdraw. Will the Xixia people be ready to move again at this time?

Even if they don't dare to take Gongzhou openly, they can take Longxi County in the name of bandits!In name, Xia Baihu occupied Gongzhou, but in fact it was occupied by Xixia people. They were so secretive and never harassed Jichuan County, which meant that their target was not Jichuan County, but Gongzhou.

Thinking of this, Chen Qing made a quick decision, he couldn't wait until autumn, he had to win Gongzhou as soon as possible.

After receiving the magistrate of Jichuan County, Chen Qing led two thousand cavalry to leave Chengji County and return to Ganquan Fort.

……

Five days later, Chen Qing divided his troops into two groups. On the one side, Yang Zaixing led two thousand cavalry to Jichuan County, led by Li Wanlou, the magistrate of Jichuan County, to destroy Xiahu, regardless of whether he was Xia Baihu back then, or whether he was from Xixia , but his gang has gathered to 300 people, it is very dangerous, and they will loot the county at any time, so they must be eliminated in time.

The other route was led by Chen Qing himself, leading an army of [-] to Longxi County to capture Gongzhou. Ganquan Fort was handed over to Zheng Ping to guard and train the newly recruited [-] soldiers.

One thousand camels carried food and supplies, and another five hundred carts carried supplies, and they followed the five thousand army mightily. The five thousand army was composed of two thousand cavalry and three thousand infantry, and the army marched all the way to the southwest .

That afternoon, the army entered the territory of Gongzhou and continued to kill Longxi County, 150 miles away.

Chapter 4 and six of Longxi

Longxi County can be said to be the essence of the entire Gongzhou. Seventy percent of the population of Gongzhou lives in Longxi County. County and Qin'an County are the three major grain-producing areas, while Gongzhou has only one major grain-producing county, Longxi County.

Apart from Longxi County, Tongwei County, Dingxi County, and Anxi County have harsh environments, barren land, and naturally have a small population. There is also Tongxi County, which can no longer be called a county because of its small population.

Longxi County is a different scene. The city has a large population, prosperous commerce, and a large city area. Almost all Gongzhou clans are concentrated in Longxi County, but the Puppet Qi Army's garrison in Longxi County is not many, only 1000 people.

But it also shows that the puppet Qi army is not interested in the west of Guanzhong. Their troops are mainly stationed on Shaanxi Road, and Qinfeng Road and Xihe Road are both Jinbing's sites. It's just that the Jinbing needs to concentrate its forces to attack Hanzhong, so they except Fengxiang. The prefectures of Qinfeng Road and Xihe Road outside the government were entrusted to the puppet Qi army, and they were asked to appoint officials, station troops to maintain order, and raise food and grass.

Since it was entrusted to maintain order, of course the puppet Qi army would not station heavy troops, and all states only stationed a thousand troops symbolically.

Therefore, there are only a thousand puppet Qi troops stationed in Longxi County, patrolling the city and the streets every day.

In the east of Longxi County, there is a mansion covering an area of ​​[-] mu. This is the ancestral home of the famous Li family of Longxi. In the Tang Dynasty, the Li family of Longxi was one of the five surnames in the world. It is also necessary to cling to the Li family of Longxi, which shows how famous it was back then.

It's just that at the end of the Tang Dynasty, Huang Chao killed all the famous families in the world, and the reputation of the Li family in Longxi was also wiped out with the wind. However, there are many branches of the Li family in Longxi, and there will always be one family that will revive. The Li family in Longxi County is a relatively famous one.

In the hundred years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Li family in Longxi County produced four Jinshi. Ten years ago, Li Qiao, the governor of Gongzhou, was a member of the Li family. Now Li Qiao is also retired at home. He basically does not go out because of his old age and illness. , nor official.

Li Qiao's younger sister is Wang Huai's mother, and Li Qiao is also Wang Huai's uncle.

In the afternoon, Hu Yanlei brought two of his men to the gate of Li's house, knocked on the gate, and handed a letter to the housekeeper, "We came from Qinzhou, and this is a letter written by Wang Huai, the judge of Qinzhou. , please hand it over to your master!"

Of course the housekeeper knew who Wang Huai was, and hurriedly said: "You three, please come in and wait, I will report to the master!"

He invited Hu Yanlei and the others into the gate, and then hurried to the back house to report. After a while, a middle-aged man came and clasped his fists and said, "My name is Li Ziheng, and I am cousin Wang Huai. Which of you is the leader of the Song Army?"

Hu Yanlei took out his bronze medal and handed it to him. Li Ziheng looked at the bronze medal and said solemnly: "Commander Huyan, please follow me!"

Hu Yanlei told his two subordinates to rest and wait. He followed Li Ziheng to the inner courtyard. After a while, he came to a small courtyard. He saw a tall old man with white beard and hair waiting at the door.

"This is my father, the head of the Li family in Longxi."

This old man is Li Qiao, Hu Yanlei stepped forward and clasped his fists and said: "My next Huyanlei, Xihe Road Jiedushi Chen Dutong is the commander under the tent, and according to the order of the Dutong, send a letter to Li Patriarch."

After speaking, he took out another letter from his pocket and presented it to Li Qiao respectfully.

Chen Qing gave Li Qiao enough face, and wrote a letter to him in his own hand. Li Qiao immediately smiled, and took the letter and hurriedly said: "General Huyan, please come to my study to explain!"

The three came to the study and sat down. A tea boy served them tea. Li Qiao asked, "General Huyan, where is Chen Dutong now?"

"He is on his way to Longxi County now, and he will arrive in two or three days."

Li Qiao was taken aback, and quickly said: "I heard from my nephew that Li Dutong will not enter Gongzhou until autumn, why is it a few months earlier?"

Hu Yantong bowed slightly and said, "Patriarch Li, have you heard of Xia Baihu?"

"The gangster back then, how could I not know that he committed all kinds of crimes and killed people like hemp. He has been missing for many years."

"He may have appeared again. He is lurking between Tongwei County and Jichuan County. He has three hundred bandits under him. If it's just bandits, my family is not worried. Now I suspect that they are the Xixia army."

"Correct!"

Li Ziheng hurriedly said: "There was a saying back then that Xia Baihu was a general of Xixia, and he was ordered to destroy Xihe Road."

Li Qiao was more stable, he stroked his beard and said slowly: "Although there is such a statement, there is no conclusive evidence, but whether it is from Xixia or not, Xia Baihu's reappearance will inevitably set off a bloodbath. Chen Dutong marched into Gongzhou as soon as possible. Sensible."

Hu Yantong said again: "This time I led a hundred men to Longxi County first. I have two tasks. One is to eliminate the Xixia spies in the city, and the other task is to cooperate with the inside and outside to assist the main force to capture Huaixi County."

Li Qiao nodded, "No problem, I have a big inn in the city, enough to accommodate two or three hundred people, and your subordinates can live in the inn."

"Will you not be interrogated by the army when you enter the city?"

Li Qiao thought for a while and said with a smile: "It's not a big problem. I can just ask the magistrate to issue a pass, saying that it is the Zhuang Ding in my manor who will carry the grain for me. Don't wear armor, and don't carry a long bag." Spears are fine, ordinary short weapons are fine, and everyone knows that there are two hundred men with swords in my manor."

"Old man, there is one more question. Are there any shops or restaurants in the city opened by Xixia people?"

Li Qiao sneered slightly and said, "Why not? There are several of them! The largest Baichuan restaurant in the city is run by people from Xixia. From the proprietor to the shopkeeper to the staff, they are all from Xixia and can speak fluent Chinese."

Hu Yanlei laughed, "Isn't it ridiculous to be a buddy who can speak fluent Chinese?"

"That's right, but the puppet Qi army doesn't care, and neither do we."

Hu Yanlei suddenly realized in his heart that Mr. Li Qiao probably knew that there was a problem with Baichuan Restaurant a long time ago, so he specially reminded himself with details.

"Understood, sir, please let my subordinates enter the city!"

Li Qiao wrote a note asking his son Li Ziheng to take Hu Yanlei to the county government to issue a permit.

"Who is the magistrate now?" Hu Yanlei asked after walking out of the gate.

Li Ziheng smiled slightly, "The current county magistrate is the original county lieutenant named Wu Shan. The Wu family is second only to our Li family. He must give my father face!"

Several people came to the gate of the county government office, Hu Yanlei and his men were waiting at the gate, Li Ziheng entered the county government office, soon he came out, handed a bronze medal to Hu Yanlei and said with a smile: "This is the card for entering the city, but you still have to take it No, I have to take you into the city, let's go! Simply go to the Li family's manor and change your clothes."

……

In the afternoon, Hu Yanlei and a hundred of his subordinates entered the city smoothly and stayed in the Li family's Shunfeng Inn.

The main force of the Song army is still a certain distance away from Longxi County. Huyanlei's current task is to clear the Xixia spies in the city.

But a strange thing happened at this moment. Hu Yanlei was discussing the action plan with the two capitals, but Li Ziheng hurried over and brought them a shocking news that the puppet Qi army was about to retreat.

"Li Ya Nei, is the news reliable?" a head asked in surprise.

Li Ziheng nodded, "It's absolutely reliable. They have looted 1 coins and [-] pieces of cloth in the county warehouse."

Hu Yanlei pondered for a while and said: "It should be that the puppet Qi army in the city got the news that the capital sent troops, so they gave up Longxi County and retreated urgently."

At this moment, the sound of running footsteps came from the street outside, and everyone hurried to the window, and saw a thousand puppet Qi soldiers running out of the city in line, with spears on their shoulders, dry food bags and water bottles on their backs, Hu Yan Lei is a scout, and he can see the number of dry food bags at a glance, which is enough to last ten days of dry food.

It seems that the puppet Qi army really retreated.

Each person was also carrying a very heavy package, which should be the copper coins and cloth they got from looting the warehouse. The copper coins alone weighed twelve pieces per person, weighing more than seventy catties!

It is estimated that several mules and horses at the city gate will suffer.

Li Ziheng reminded: "One of the three mule and horse shops is also run by Xixia people."

"Then go and have a look!"

Speaking of this, Hu Yanlei thought of an important matter, and asked Li Ziheng anxiously: "Can you bring the two hundred Zhuang Ding from your manor into the city?"

Chapter 4 and Seven

The city gate was in a mess, three mules and horse shops were looted, and even a few sick mules were taken away. Proprietor confess?

But one of the robbed mules and horses behaved abnormally. The gate was closed tightly, and the sheds at the gate were smashed and collapsed, but no staff came out.

If something goes wrong, there must be a demon. The vigilance of the profession made Hu Yanlei keep a close eye on this mule and horse shop, especially when Li Ziheng told them that this mule and horse shop has a Xixia background, which made Hu Yanlei even more vigilant.

Not far behind the mules and horses was a tall locust tree. It was early summer and the tree was full of shade. A Song army scout climbed on the tree and looked at the backyard of the mules and horses dozens of steps away. go.

The yard behind the mules and horses was also a mess, with scattered cabinets all over the yard, and the guys were cleaning up the smashed utensils from the house.

At this time, a clerk came out with a large bundle of weapons. Just as he walked into the yard, someone scolded him from behind, and the clerk quickly went back with the weapons in his arms.

Soon a middle-aged man walked out, who should be their shopkeeper. He looked around, especially his eyes on the big locust tree not far away. After looking for a long while, he found nothing unusual, and then he turned and went back to the house.

The soldiers on the tree climbed down like monkeys and rushed to the street...

"You see clearly, is it a spear?" Hu Yanlei, who was standing on the street watching the excitement, asked quietly.

"You can see clearly that it is a brand new bundle of spears, about twenty!"

There should be twenty spears. There are twenty spears in a bundle without opening the package. Obviously there is more than one bundle.

Moreover, the mules and horses are close to the east gate, which is very convenient for the Xixia people in the city to seize the gate.

But it doesn't matter now. The puppet Qi army has withdrawn, and there are only three hundred state soldiers in the city. It depends on who strikes fast and strikes hard, so as to seize the opportunity and control Huaixi County.

At this time, a group of more than a hundred soldiers came running in formation, wearing disc-shaped Fanyang hats, tight-fitting cloth armor, holding red-tasseled spears, and bows and arrows on the back. This is a typical Xiang army in the Song Dynasty. They have changed everything except the flag to pseudo-qi.

Hundreds of state soldiers quickly took over the city gate, and the city gate was slowly closed.

Hu Yanlei made a decisive decision and returned to the inn. He said to the two scouts, Liu Zong and Wu Nanshan: "We need to change the plan now, we can't wait until night to act, we must seize the opportunity!"

"But we don't have weapons!" One of them said anxiously.

"Mules and horses have weapons, now it's time to wait, let the brothers gather and set off immediately!"

At this time, Hu Yantong has realized that weapons are the key, whoever grabs the weapons first will take the initiative, and the Xixia army spies are the same.

Hu Yanlei sent two people to monitor the Baichuan Restaurant, and he led the rest of the hundred men to sprint down a path backing the street. They only carried knives, bows and arrows, and no other weapons or armor.

At this time, the sky was already getting dark, and a thin layer of twilight quietly enveloped the county town. The sudden withdrawal of the army caused a kind of uneasiness in the county town. The people in the city went home early, and the streets began to become deserted. Nervous and hurried.

Not long after, a hundred Song soldiers rushed to the backyard wall of the mules and horses. There was a small door in the backyard. Hu Yanlei gave Liu Zong a wink, and Liu Zong understood, and hurriedly led a dozen of his men to the front door.

The time was ripe, Hu Yanlei gave an order, several soldiers climbed over the wall of the backyard, opened the small door from the inside, and everyone drew their knives and rushed in.

Just as everyone rushed into the yard, they saw two men coming out of the room. They saw the soldiers of the Song Army, they yelled, turned around and ran into the room.

The soldiers of the Song army rushed in, killing everyone they met, without hesitation. At this critical moment, there was no mercy to speak of, even innocent fellows could not escape death.

In just a moment, more than [-] guys in the store were killed, leaving only the family of the shopkeeper who was questioning the confession, the shopkeeper himself, his wife and young son.

The soldiers found ten bundles of spears, 200 pieces of Song army leather armor, 200 shields, knives and crossbows from a room. These were equipment for [-] people. It can be preliminarily inferred that the Xixia spies in the city would not exceed [-] people.

But Hu Yanlei still wanted to ask clearly. He entered the room, and the shopkeeper's family was in the room. The shopkeeper lowered his head, looking very depressed, and secretly glanced at his son from time to time.

This is psychological warfare. During the fight just now, the shopkeeper desperately protected his wife and children, and Hu Yanlei immediately realized where his weakness was?

Hu Yanlei said coldly: "At this point, even if you deny me anything, it's meaningless. We can make a deal. You tell me what you want to know, and then I will spare your family."

The woman murmured something to her husband in party language, and the shopkeeper answered her harshly, and the room fell silent again.

A soldier who understood the party language whispered to Hu Yanlei: "The woman said, it doesn't matter if we die, but the son is still young, so he can't die!"

"What did the shopkeeper say?"

"The shopkeeper said that these Han people cannot be trusted!"

Hu Yanlei sneered and waved his hand, "Take the women and children away!"

The soldiers stepped forward and grabbed the woman and the child and dragged them outside. The boy burst into tears in fright, and the woman screamed in terror.

The shopkeeper was furious, "You bastards, give me back my son!"

He rushed forward to snatch his son back, but was pushed down by the soldier. The sharp knife pointed against his throat. The shopkeeper did not dare to move, so he had to watch his son and wife being taken away in despair.

Hu Yanlei looked at him and said indifferently: "We are the Song Army, Chen Dutong's army, and we always keep our promises. If you can't trust us, I can't help it!"

The shopkeeper stared at Hu Yanlei's eyes for a while, and finally he lowered his head and said in a deep voice, "What do you want to know?"

……

The Xixia people began to deploy in Longxi County two years ago. They stationed more than 150 spies in the county. They divided the city into three points, Baichuan Restaurant, Mule and Horse Shop, and a fur shop. Usually dozens of Xixia spies Pretend to be shopkeepers and shopkeepers to operate in these three shops, but there are still a hundred spies lurking in rented rooms in the city.

Of course the Xixia people want to seize Longxi County and Gongzhou, but they are also afraid of the Jin Kingdom's ban, and dare not blatantly seize Gongzhou. They are patiently waiting for the opportunity.

After waiting for two full years, when Wanyan Wushu's army was defeated in Ganquan Fort and retreated hastily, the Xixia people realized that the opportunity to seize Gongzhou had come.

Of course, the Xixia people knew that when Chen Qing defeated Jin Bing, his next step would be to expand westward, so capturing Longxi County before Chen Qing became the top priority.

It was just an accidental bandit incident that exposed the secret of the Xixia army hiding in Gongzhou, and Chen Qing acted decisively.

The leader of the Xixia army spies is called Li Fuding. His original name was Tuoba Fuding, but he changed his Chinese surname to Li. He was the proprietor of Baichuan Restaurant. He rented a big house next to Baichuan Restaurant, and there were fifty or sixty Xixia soldiers hidden in the house. spies.

Li Fuding had already received news of the retreat of the puppet Qi army, which made him immediately realize that the opportunity had come.

The Baichuan restaurant closed early, and more than 100 Xixia spies had already gathered in the restaurant, waiting for nightfall to seize the east gate.