Fenghou

"Keep talking!"

"The general's body is straight, and the groove line shows signs of deepening. Congratulations, the general is about to have a queen!"

Chen Qing was stunned, it was obvious.

"It's a little bit good, let's talk about my future!"

The Taoist stared at Chen Qing for a long time, his expression became more solemn, and he shook his head again and again, "Don't say it, don't say it, the secret of heaven must not be revealed!"

"let it go."

Chen Qing pushed ten taels of silver to him, and said with a faint smile: "Thanks to your good words, my wife is indeed pregnant, so this silver is a donation of a few tiles to your Taoist temple!"

"Thank you General for your generosity!"

The Taoist priest took the ten taels of silver, thanked him again and again, and left in a hurry.

A drinker next to him couldn't help but said: "The general was deceived. This Taoist priest is a well-known liar. He spends all day here on the pretext of cultivating Taoism and cheating money. Ten taels of silver, hey!"

The drinker shook his head repeatedly, he felt that this person was unreasonable, ten taels of silver!

At this time, a soldier walked upstairs quickly and handed a folded note to Chen Qing, "Dutong, it was given to you by a Taoist fortune-teller. He said there are some things he can't say."

Chen Qing took the note and opened it, there was only one line on it: If you enter, you will be the lonely soul of Lin'an, and if you retreat, you will be the hero of the world.

Chapter 412 Under the lamp

In the dark night, a cavalry soldier of the Song Army rode his horse and galloped, stirring up yellow dust billowing on the official road. At the fourth watch, Longxi County was already in sight. It took a while for the army cavalry to get up and come to the horse, only to see that the horse was twitching all over, foaming at the mouth, and it was already dying.

The cavalry sighed, took off their horse bags, and ran towards Longxi County in one group.

Not long after, the cavalry ran to the gate of the east city and shouted to the top of the city, "Please open the gate! Please open the city gate!"

After a while, someone from the top of the city asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm Zhou Jin, a soldier of the Dutong, and I'm coming from Tongxi County. I have a hundred thousand urgent situations to report to the Dutong!"

The people on the top of the city went back, and after a while, a general asked: "Since you are all soldiers, where is your horse?"

"My horse is exhausted, Commander Hou Kai, I know you."

After a while, a basket was placed on it, and the city leader said: "Put the military badge in the basket, and I'll take a look. You know what it is to open the city gate at night."

The card of the personal soldier general was put in the basket, and the basket was put back. After a while, the city gate slowly opened, the drawbridge was lowered, and the personal soldier Zhou Jin ran into the city. The commander Hou Kai brought a horse over, "Get on the horse! You go to see Du Tong."

Zhou Jin got on his horse and followed Hou Kai towards Daying.

……

Chen Qing was awakened by the soldiers in his sleep, turned over and sat up, and asked in a deep voice, "What's the matter?"

"Zhou Jin is back, and he said that there is an urgent situation that needs to be reported!"

Zhou Jin is the head of Chen Qing's personal soldier who stayed in Tongxi County to help the two children bury their fathers. Chen Qing nodded, "Let him in!"

After a while, Zhou Jin walked into the big tent, knelt down on one knee and saluted, "See Dutong!"

"Dutong, a Xixia army is heading towards Longxi County quickly, and it may arrive by dawn."

This was a bit beyond Chen Qing's expectation, he quickly asked: "How many people are there?"

"It looks like seven to eight thousand people. There are infantry and cavalry. The infantry is running all the way, and the marching speed is very fast."

Chen Qing pondered for a moment. It should be that the Xixia Army from Dingxi County had gone south. They didn't know that Xia Baihu's army had been completely wiped out, so they came here to occupy Longxi County.

"How about those two teenagers? Li Songnian and Li Songshi."

"Their father has already been buried. Xiaowu and Zhang Shun sent them to Chengji County. Both of them have read a lot and feel that they can take the imperial examination."

Chen Qing nodded, "You have worked hard all the way, go down and rest first!"

"Humble job... Humble job galloped all the way, and the horse unfortunately died of exhaustion."

"This is a special situation, you go tell Yan Jun, he will arrange a new horse for you."

Zhou made a salute and retreated.

Chen Qing pondered for a moment and ordered: "Quickly tell Yang Zaixing, Gao Ding, Liu Cui and Niu Gao to come see me!"

Not long after, the four arrived in a hurry, and Chen Qing said slowly: "I just got the news that about seven or eight thousand Xixia troops are heading towards Longxi County. It is estimated that they will arrive at dawn. I am considering ambushing the enemy."

"Dutong, the ambush is too close to the county seat, I'm afraid it's easy to be spotted by enemy spies!"

Chen Qing shook his head and smiled, "Because it's too close to the county seat, the enemy's spies would not think of it, and they would pay more attention to the situation in the county seat."

Seeing that everyone didn't understand, Chen Qing pointed to the oil lamp on the table and said with a smile: "This oil lamp is the county seat, will you notice what's going on under the oil lamp?"

"They all said it was dark under the lights!" Everyone reacted at the same time.

Chen Qing nodded, "We're going to the county seat soon. Of course, the enemy general sent spies to check the situation in the county seat. Who cares about the villages around the county seat?"

Everyone cheered up, "Dutong, we have to go now!"

Chen Qing nodded, "You immediately notify the army to get up."

"Follow the order!"

The four turned around to leave, Chen Qing shouted: "General Niu Gao stay a step!"

Niu Gao stopped in his tracks, and Chen Qing asked with a smile, "How's the recruiting going?"

Chen Qing decided to recruit two thousand children to defend Longxi County in Longxi, and Niu Gao was in charge of this matter.

Niu Gao bowed and said, "It started yesterday afternoon, and we recruited 1000 to [-] people in one afternoon. It is estimated that we will be able to recruit all of them by today."

"Then you continue to recruit today. I will leave a thousand soldiers for you, and you will be responsible for defending the city."

"Humble post obeys orders!"

……

It was getting brighter, and the six thousand cavalry had been waiting for a long time. They hid in a forest twenty miles away from the county seat. The soldiers were full of energy, their horses were recharging their energy, their spears were like forests, their armor was shining, and they were waiting with high morale. World War I.

Chen Qing put on the curtain and looked into the distance, only to see dust flying seven or eight miles away, covering the sky and blocking out the sun, and a mighty army was coming.

The enemy's scouts had already rushed to the county seat to inquire about the situation in the county seat. The main army behind did not expect an ambush near the county seat at all.

Chen Qing stared coldly at the enemy army that appeared three miles away. Six thousand cavalry were gearing up behind him, waiting for the final order to attack.

The Xixia army was getting closer and closer, Song Jun had already seen the appearance of the enemy army in the dust, and was less than [-] steps away from them. Chen Qing saw the exhaustion of the opponent's soldiers, and he made an instant move Decided not to volley in the middle this time, he wants to attack head-on.

Chen Qing raised Fang Tian's painted halberd and shouted to the six thousand soldiers: "We once defeated a hundred thousand Xixia troops, but that was a city defense battle. Today we will use cavalry to hit them head-on. Brothers, let the Xixia Tartars try Let's have a taste of the great Song cavalry!"

Six thousand cavalry raised their spears and shouted.

"Kill—" Chen Qing roared.

"Kill!" The six thousand cavalry roared together, like ten thousand horses galloping, and charged head-on at the Xixia army two hundred paces away.

The Xixia army never dreamed that the Song army would lie in ambush here and wait for them. The Xixia army panicked immediately, and the horns kept sounding, reminding the soldiers in the army.

This Xixia army consisted of 8000 men, including [-] infantry and [-] cavalry. They indeed went south from Dingxi County to take over Longxi County. Know that Xia Hu's army has been wiped out.

It was only at this moment that he suddenly realized that Longxi County had been occupied by the Song army, so what about Xia Hu's army?

They marched for two hundred miles, almost without sleep all day and night, but the opponent was waiting for work. Can they defeat the enemy?

There will be no answers to the questions in his stomach, whether he wants to or not, he has no choice.

The cavalry of the Song army collided with the Xixia soldiers suddenly, and killed the Xixia army by surprise. Before many Xixia soldiers could even react, the Song army's spears had already taken their lives.

Chen Qing personally led an army into the hinterland of the Xixia Army, killing the soldiers of the Xixia Army with blood and flesh flying all over the place, and thousands of Xixia soldiers wailing and howling, stumbling and fleeing for their lives without fighting spirit.

In fact, the Xixia soldiers who marched for a day and night had no physical strength to fight the Song Army. The well-trained Song Army cavalry turned into six thousand-man teams, and the six thousand-man teams split into sixty hundred-man teams. It was so torn apart that it was not a decisive battle at all, and they were defeated after a little resistance.

Li Qixia met Song Army General Gao Ding, and within three rounds of fierce fighting, Li Qixia was shot three times in a row, almost piercing his throat on the spot. If his own soldiers hadn't rescued him desperately, Li Qixia would have been decapitated by Gao Ding.

Li Qixia was so frightened that he didn't even bother to bandage his wound, so he turned his horse and fled north.

Although the Xixia soldiers were famous for their tenacity, they couldn't stop their own army from being defeated. More than a dozen generals of the Xixia army who originally wanted to resist saw that the master ran away, and they lost their fighting spirit. The Xixia army was defeated like a mountain.

The cavalry of the Song army chased and killed for more than 600 miles. They killed everyone they met, leaving no prisoners of war. They killed more than [-] Xixia soldiers. Only more than [-] cavalry escaped from the pursuit of the Song army and fled northward in panic.

This battle was the "Longxi Ambush" written into the textbook by the Northwest Army Yanwu Hall. It described the importance of early intelligence, but because the early intelligence was not in place, it was unknown that the Song Army had already occupied Longxi County. The Xixia army marched desperately and without rest for a day and a night. As a result, the Song army waited for work with ease and collapsed head-on.

However, the lack of early intelligence was not entirely the main reason for the defeat of the Xixia Army. The main reason for the Xixia Army's ambushes was tactical problems.

The key is the choice of the ambush location of the Song army. Although the Xixia army also sent spies, but because they were too close to the county, the Xixia spies habitually went to investigate the situation in the county, but ignored the dangers around the county. This is a typical case under the lamp. In the case of the black war, the county seat is too eye-catching, and its surroundings have become blind spots.

This battle also forced the Xixia Army to give up their plan to capture Gongzhou, and began to shift from offense to defense, and began to consolidate their existing occupation of Xihe Road.

Among the prefectures on Xihe Road, Lanzhou, Huizhou, Huangzhou, Kuozhou, Xining Prefecture, Hezhou, and Lintao Prefecture, these six prefectures are currently in the hands of Xixia people, while Taozhou, Minzhou and Jishi Army are in Tubo hands.

Strictly speaking, the Gongzhou and Qinzhou currently controlled by Chen Qing do not belong to Xihe Road, and his Xihe Road Jiedushi is still a nominal title.

Chapter 413 Mine

After defeating the Xixia army's southward raid, Chen Qing immediately ordered Zhao Xiaoyi to lead the scout battalion northward to check the movement of the Xixia army in Dingxi County.

The Song army that captured Longxi County was not in a hurry to advance westward towards Tao, and the top priority was to stabilize control of Gongzhou.

Especially when the city wall of Chengji County in Qinzhou has not been repaired, the rush to the west will cause the front line to be stretched too long, and the Xixia army will break it one by one, and even the puppet Qi army will sneak attack the rear of Qinzhou.

The war did not affect Longxi County, and Longxi County still maintained peace and prosperity. The two mule and horse shops that were looted in the east of the city reopened, and the Song army returned the captured mules and horses to the two shops.

This morning, Chen Qing, accompanied by Cao Jingde, the deputy mine supervisor, came to the saltpeter mine about eighty miles south of Longxi County. Produced in Sichuan and Longxi.

The saltpeter mine has been out of production for several years. The mine supervisor is an official sent by Bianliang, Tokyo, and his whereabouts have long been unknown. The deputy mine supervisor Cao Jingde is from Longxi County. Ore is shipped out of the mine.

When Chen Qing came to a big mountain, he saw more than a dozen large and small mines scattered on the rock wall. The original plank road was still there, wooden carts on the ground were also piled up together, and dozens of crowbars were scattered all over the place. Drop on the ground.

"Jiedushi, this is our No. 300 mine, which belongs to the new mine. We have a total of five mines. This is the smallest one. There are only more than [-] people working here. The largest No. [-] mine was prosperous. There are thousands of people mining at the same time."

Cao Jingde pointed to a huge concave surface about two feet away from the ground and said to Chen Qing: "That is, a saltpeter vein has just been discovered, and it will be exposed after peeling off the outer rock. It is estimated that this vein can produce 10,000+ catties of saltpeter ore. There are also tens of thousands of catties of fire nitrate powder, but it is a pity that the mining was stopped when it was about to be mined."

"Where did the miners come from?" Chen Qing asked.

"In fact, most of them are young and strong from Longxi County. More than half of the [-] troops newly recruited by the Jiedushi used to be our miners. The puppet Qi army is also preparing to resume mining. They also brought money and cloth just to recruit miners. , and was snatched away by puppet Qi soldiers.”

Only then did Chen Qing realize that the more than 1 coins and 3 pieces of cloth they seized were originally used to recruit miners, but this was only part of the money they seized. They also seized a large amount of property from Xixia soldiers, mainly gold. Silver, more than 2000 taels of silver and [-] taels of gold are all personal property of Xixia soldiers.

"What do you need cloth for?" Chen Qing asked puzzled.

"Cloth is also money. In some remote places, even if you have money, you can't buy anything. You have to exchange it with cloth."

Chen Qing nodded, and asked again: "How many miners can we recruit now?"

"There is no problem with two to 3000 people. Three mines can be restored, but money is needed. Without money, miners cannot be recruited."

Chen Qing thought for a while and asked, "How much does a miner earn a month?"

"Food and lodging are included for sixty renminbi a day, less than two pennies a month, disability and death will be counted separately."

Chen Qing was taken aback, "So low?"

Cao Jingde said with a wry smile: "The wages in the Northwest region are very low, but this is still a very high wage. As a clerk in the county town, you can only earn [-] Wen a day, as a maid, you can earn [-] Wen a day. Chengji County recruits people to repair We have all heard about the city wall, which includes food and lodging at fifty renminbi a day, which is very good, and has attracted many people from Longxi County to go.”

Chen Qing smiled slightly and said: "Mine Supervisor Cao, let's restore the mine! I will allocate all the money and cloth you need, and there is no problem with the cooperation of the government and the army. If Mine Supervisor Cao can let my army get [-] yuan a year Jin of pure nitrate powder, I will reward you with two thousand coins every year alone."

Cao Jingde's eyes lit up, "Jie Dushi's words are serious?"

"I keep my promises, and I never lie!"

Cao Jingde said without hesitation: "Well, I will start recruiting workers when I go back. Please ask the Jiedushi to allocate 1 guan, [-] pieces of cloth and [-] shi of grain first. You don't need to give me the money and food. The Jiedushi can send someone To manage the money and food, but the money, food and cloth must be in place.”

"What are you going to do?" Chen Qing asked curiously.

Cao Jingde said with a smile: "In fact, I went to find mine heads, I can find ten mine heads, and each mine head can find 3000 miners, that's [-] people, and then all the mining iron tools are sealed in the county warehouse. "

"How do you calculate the money from the mine?"

"This...they mainly draw from the miners. The miners earn [-] Wen a day, and each person has to give [-] Wen to the mine head. Looking for someone to find a car to transport the ore to the Weihe River, the mine owner can only earn [-] Wen a day."

"You mean to say that the mine head makes money by exploiting the miners?"

Cao Jingde quickly explained: "Jiedushi is not exploitative. It has been like this for decades. It is a kind of agreement and a rule recognized by everyone. These mine heads are passed down from generation to generation. They also opened mines at the earliest. Later, after the imperial court forbade them to mine, they became mine bosses. If Jiedu made them feel troublesome, they could change the way. They recruited people to mine, and then sold the ore to Jiedu's government. In fact, it would not take more than a year. Thousands of coins."

Of course, Chen Qing also understands this contracting method. This is the monopoly system of the Song Dynasty. This method is used for boiling salt and mining. Camp is better.

Chen Qing said lightly: "Salt mines are fine, but fire nitrate is not. Let's follow the previous method! You go to the mine head."

"Humble job understands!"

Although Cao Jingde's personal interests in the government-run mine are not many, Cao Jingde's heart is excited when he thinks of the promise of two thousand guan. Thousands of catties of pure nitrate powder ore.