Fenghou

"How did the Xixia people capture the county?" Chen Qing asked again.

He Zongshen showed a look of shame on his face, and sighed: "At that time, the lowly position was a trick. Xiyun Town, twenty miles away from here, was infested with bandits. Someone came to report at night that more than two hundred bandits attacked Xiyun Town. A thousand troops rushed to Xiyun Town to suppress the bandits, but fell into the trick of the Xixia people to divert the tiger away from the mountain. When we arrived at Xiyun Town, the bandits had already escaped. Then we got the news that thousands of Xixia troops occupied Longgan County, and the low-ranking officials had to go south. After retreating to Tongbian, I realized later that the bandits were also disguised by Xixia people."

Chen Qing nodded, "The Xixia people are full of tricks, so be careful."

"Because the ancestral home of the humble job is in Xiyun Town, and there are many members of the He family there. When they heard the news, their heads were blown. The clansmen all moved to Longgan County."

At this moment, a horse came galloping in the distance, it was the cavalry of the Song Army, and the cavalry was quickly brought in front of Chen Qing. He knelt down on one knee and said, "Report to Dutong, General Yang was attacked by the Xixia Army." Ambush, the army suffered heavy casualties!"

At the same moment when he arrived in Longgan County in the morning, Chen Qing also ordered Yang Zaixing to lead a thousand cavalry to go north to Delong County first.

Chen Qing was taken aback by this news, and quickly asked, "Where was it ambushed?"

"Ten miles outside Longde County!"

Chen Qing was stunned for a moment, isn't this a repeat of the scene in Longxi?It's just that the roles have been reversed.

"How many soldiers were killed or injured, and what is Yang Zaixing's situation?"

"Reporting to Dutong, more than [-] brothers were killed or injured. General Yang's horse was shot to death, but everyone was safe."

Chen Qing immediately said to the commander Li Muqing: "General Li leads two thousand soldiers to cooperate with the state soldiers to guard the city, close the city gate tightly, even if the enemy army is lying under the city for you to slaughter, you are not allowed to leave the city, unless I come Only then can the city gate be opened, and in addition, it is necessary to prevent the enemy from attacking the city from inside and outside at night."

"Humble post obeys orders!"

Chen Qing immediately led [-] cavalry to leave Longgan County, and rushed to Longde County [-] miles away like lightning.

……

Chen Qing led 100 cavalry for more than [-] li, and it was getting late. This is a cavalry team coming from a distance. It is Yang Zaixing's army that has retreated from defeat. There are only more than [-] cavalry, and there are more than [-] wounded soldiers.

The soldiers led Yang Zaixing to Chen Qing, and Yang Zaixing said with shame on his face: "The humble official didn't learn the lesson from Longxi County, and rushed to the county seat, but was ambushed by the enemy army. The humble official is guilty!"

Chen Qing waved his hand and asked, "How many enemy troops are there?"

Yang Zaixing shook his head, "The other party is ambushing in the woods on the hillside. I am eager to lead the army to break through, so I didn't see the specific strength of the troops, but judging from the number of arrows shot by the other party, it should not exceed 2000 people, otherwise our casualties would not be three. More than a hundred people."

Chen Qing was a little strange. The scouts had checked Longde County before and there were no soldiers from the Xixia Army, so where did this army come from? Why are there so few troops?

"Dutong is probably here to occupy Longde County, so there are not many troops."

Chen Qing shook his head, "Everything must be considered for the worst. It is better to make a wrong judgment than to be negligent."

"Du Tong means that the other party has other plans? Could it be that the target of the other party is Du Tong's army?"

Chen Qing pondered for a moment and said: "The other party may have gone to attack Longgan County and transferred me out, but if I rush back to kill them, maybe they will ambush near Longgan County again, and repeat the same trick."

Yang Zaixing was stunned for a while, he just thought of the other party's plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain, and also thought that the other party's real intention was to sneak attack Longgan County, but he ignored the possibility of the other party's ambush near Longgan County, which is really too careless up.

"Dutong, what should we do?"

"Return to Longgan County first!"

Chen Qing decided to withdraw to Longgan County, and sent Zhao Xiaoyi and his men to investigate the ambush near Longgan County.

……

At night, dark shadows appeared near the west gate of Longgan County. They gathered from all over the county to an inn closest to the west gate.

Like Longxi County, Xixia also sent a large number of spies to sneak into Longgan County, and lived in Longgan County for nearly a year in various identities, including businessmen, buddies, pawns, porters and so on.

Their mission is to cooperate internally and externally at the critical moment to take Longgan County again.

This is a common strategy used by the Song army, but the Xixia army also likes to use this tactic very much. It has been tried and tested in offensive and defensive battles with the Song army and the Liao army.

But Chen Qing was already prepared. He brought Hu Yanlei and his [-] scout battalion soldiers with him, just to eliminate the Xixia spies in Longgan County.

It stands to reason that this should be a matter of the internal affairs battalion, but the main task of Commander Wang Hao is to prevent the enemy forces from destroying Chengji County, and the task of eliminating Xixia spies in Longgan County falls on Hu Yanlei's shoulders.

At this time, Hu Yanlei rushed to the barracks, walked into the big tent, clasped his fists to Li Muqing and said, "General Li, the Ping'an Inn near the west gate found a large number of suspicious people gathering, please send troops immediately!"

4 Chapter Twenty

A thousand soldiers of the Song Army were dispatched quickly, and within a short time, they surrounded the Ping'an Inn.

At this time, the shopkeeper and several clerks of the Ping An Inn were killed by the Xixia spies. Two hundred Xixia spies occupied the inn, wearing the armor of the puppet Qi army, holding swords, spears, bows and arrows, eagerly waiting for the signal from outside the city.

Suddenly, a soldier stumbled in and shouted, "The Song army has surrounded the inn!"

The two hundred Xixia spies sitting in the yard jumped up in shock, and the leader shouted: "No chaos, let's break through the encirclement together through the front and rear doors!"

One thousand soldiers of the Song Army and two hundred elite scouts surrounded the Ping'an Inn. There were three hundred soldiers at the front door and three hundred soldiers at the back door, aiming at the door with crossbow arrows.

Li Muqing judged that the opponent was likely to break through the gate, so he deployed heavy troops in front of the gates on both sides.

The back door was smashed open, and dozens of spies rushed out with shields in their hands. The Song army fired arrows at random, and the Xixia spies held up their shields, blocking most of the arrows.

Hu Yanlei, the general in charge of the back door, shouted, "Go up!"

Three hundred soldiers threw down their crossbow arrows, charged up with spears in their hands, and fought fiercely with the enemy with roars.

The same situation happened at Qianmen. Li Muqing led the army to fight fiercely with the Xixia spies who had broken through at Qianmen.

At this moment, three gunpowder arrows appeared in the night sky outside the west city. The signal from the Xixia army finally came. Unfortunately, the Xixia spies could no longer respond to them. Arrows were released in the inn, and the strong crossbow bolts shot into the inn like a torrential rain.

The Xixia spies had no way to dodge, and were shot with arrows one after another. After more than a dozen rounds of arrows, there was no movement in the inn.

After Hu Yanlei led two hundred scouts into the inn from the back door, dozens of Xixia scouts were left to fight fiercely with the Song army, but they were far from the opponents of the Song army scouts. The army was destroyed, and the Song army only arrested a few people who asked for confessions.

Not long after, Hu Yanlei found Li Muqing and said to him: "The confession is over, hold up three torches to show that you have successfully captured the city gate, then lower the drawbridge and open the city gate!"

Li Muqing pondered for a while, but still shook his head, "Our task is to guard the city gate, and we must not take risks."

It is ok to put down the drawbridge, but it is absolutely impossible to open the city gate. Not only is the governor Chen Qing strictly opening the city gate, but he also does not know how many Xixia troops are outside. They only have 3000 people. If the other party has 3 people, he Isn't opening the city gate courting death?This is not called being scheming, it's called stupidity.

Li Muqing was quite decisive, he immediately decided to give up the idea of ​​following tactics, and deployed all [-] troops to the city, with all soldiers holding bows and crossbows, ready to fight.

Li Muqing looked at a forest in the darkness in the distance. The forest was close to the official road. He guessed that the Xixia army was hiding in the forest.

The main force of the [-] Xixia Army is indeed in the forest. The leader is Li Ke, a member of the Xixia royal family and the deputy marshal of Xixia Zhengnan.

He led an army of [-] troops from Zhenrong Prefecture to the south in an attempt to control Deshun Prefecture except Longgan County. As soon as he arrived in Longde County, he learned that the Song Army cavalry had gone north and captured Longgan County.

But Li Ke also got the news at the same time that a thousand Song Army cavalry was rushing towards Longde County. He immediately made a decision and sent 2000 people to ambush the thousand Song Army cavalry, using the strategy of diverting the tiger away from the mountain to transfer Chen Qing's main force away from Longgan County. , To create conditions for him to cooperate with the spies in Longqian County.

Li Ke squinted his eyes at the dark west city gate. It had been two quarters of an hour since the signal was launched, but there was no movement at all from the top of the city, not even the guards at the top of the city panicked.

When they fired rockets, they would definitely alarm the defenders in the city, and it was inevitable for the defenders to increase their defensive manpower. The spies in the city wanted to take advantage of this short time difference to seize the city gate, but the time left for them would not be too long, a quarter of an hour at most.

Now two quarters of an hour have passed, and there is still no movement. There can only be one explanation, the defenders in the city have failed.

Li Ke didn't waste any more time, and immediately said: "Execute the second plan!"

His second plan is to ambush the retreating Song army near the west city if he fails to capture the city gate, just like he ambushed the Song army in Longde County.

This trick was taught by Chen Qing. It is easier to ambush the enemy near the city. Although he has used it once, he believes that the Song army will suffer another big loss.

The [-] troops quickly turned around and rushed to Huaixing Valley ten miles away. Li Ke had long discovered that Huaixing Valley was a good place to ambush. The distance from the pine forest to the official road is about one hundred steps, which happens to be the best range for bows and arrows.

Time gradually came to the second watch, Chen Qing's army finally came back from the north, Li Ke got the news that the opponent's speed was very slow, but they were already more than ten miles away, heading towards Huaixing Valley.

"The whole army is ready!"

Just as Li Ke gave the order, there was a commotion from behind. When Li Ke turned his head, he was stunned. He saw thick smoke billowing on the hillside behind him, and the fire was soaring into the sky.

Immediately afterwards, a fire started on the opposite hillside. This was originally a mountain pass, and the wind was stronger at night. The fire took advantage of the wind, and the pine wood was full of grease, and dozens of trees were ignited in an instant.

Li Ke knew that he had hit the trick, and immediately ordered: "Retreat to the south immediately!"

'Woo-oo--'

The retreat horn sounded quickly, and in the darkness, a large number of Xixia soldiers rushed out of the forest to the official road, and retreated in the direction of the city. However, many Xixia soldiers were surrounded by flames and had no way to escape. Buried in the sea of ​​fire.

……

The leader Chen Qing was already ten miles north of Huaixing Valley at this time. He looked at the thick smoke billowing in the distance and the flames soaring into the sky. It was Zhao Xiaoyi who led the scout battalion to successfully ignite the fire.

At this time, the horn sounded from a distance, and the Xixia army should retreat.

Chen Qing pondered for a moment and asked the scouts, "Can we take a shortcut to the west?"

The scout clasped his fists and said, "Report to Dutong, there is a valley that can be bypassed, and it is five miles to the west."

Chen Qing looked at the night sky again. The moon was bright and the stars were sparse. A round of bright moonlight coated the earth with a layer of silver light, and the ground conditions were clearly visible.

Cavalry combat is greatly affected by the weather, especially at night. If it is rainy, the cavalry will basically be unable to act. The horses cannot see the ground clearly, and it is easy to step on the ground or step on gravel and hurt the horseshoes.

This is also the reason why Qin Zhidao's flatness requirements are very strict, which is convenient for the cavalry to march quickly at night.

But if the moonlight is good at night, there is no problem. For example, tonight, the moonlight is extremely bright, and the gravel and potholes on the ground are clearly visible. The horses can completely avoid it, giving the cavalry the best chance to launch a night battle.

Not long after, [-] Song Army cavalry entered the valley. The valley was not wide, but the road was smooth and ran from northeast to southwest.

Chen Qing led the speeding cavalry to speed up and gallop to the southwest.

……

Li Ke's army retreated in a panic, like a thief being discovered, they rushed westward after rushing out of Huaixing Valley, they had to retreat thirty li before they could enter a safe zone.

After running for about twenty miles, Li Ke ordered the army to stop, and he was going to rectify the army. This area is full of hills and valleys, and he felt a dangerous atmosphere.

His team was stretched too long, covering seven or eight li, and it was easy to be ambushed, but he was afraid that something would come. As soon as he had this idea, the army behind him was in chaos.

Li Ke also vaguely saw a cavalry of thousands of people coming from the side valley, cutting the Xixia army into two...

Under the bright moonlight, the cavalry galloped fast, their swords gleaming coldly, killing the Xixia soldiers' heads rolling and blood flowing like rivers.

The Xixia soldiers were terrified, yelling and fleeing in all directions. Fortunately, this area is not a plain, but low hills and mountains. Many Xixia soldiers fled to the hills. This is the only way to escape the pursuit of the cavalry.

Under the moonlight, Li Ke saw the general of the Song army holding Fang Tian's painted halberd. This should be the enemy's general Chen Qing, who had beheaded Wanyan Loushi before.

Li Ke was terrified in his heart, he didn't dare to fight the Song army, he ran wildly with a hundred of his own soldiers, and gradually escaped from the Song army's pursuit...

At dawn, Li Ke escaped forty miles away, with only a dozen people following him. At noon, more than two thousand soldiers came one after another. He didn't dare to wait any longer, and led the remnant soldiers to retreat northward.

The battle between Longxi County and Longgan County caused the Xixia Army to lose on both the east and west fronts. Gongzhou and Deshun Prefecture, which were originally in the bag, were both taken away by the Song Army, and more than [-] soldiers were lost.

Only then did the Xixia court realize the seriousness of the problem. The Xixia Emperor Li Ganshun issued an order to mobilize 30 elite troops from the five military divisions including Jingsai Army Division, Jianing Army Division, and Zuoxiang Shenyong Army Division to Lanzhou. The government mobilized [-] civilians to transport [-] shi of grain and a large amount of military supplies to Lanzhou.

At the same time, Li Qianshun dismissed two royal families, Li Xingchao and Li Kezheng Nanzheng and deputy marshals, and reappointed General Cao Baozong as the Marshal of Zhengnan to lead an army of [-] troops, preparing to compete with Chen Qing for Xihe Road.

Chapter 421

The battle in the Central Plains took a dramatic turn. Li Heng led [-] Song troops to pretend to attack Ruzhou, but sent [-] troops to Xuchang for three days. [-] troops.

At this time, the temporary truce agreement of the Song Army expired, and Yue Fei, Zhang Jun, and Han Shizhong sent troops across the Yangtze River at the same time to attack the Jianghuai River.

Yue Fei led an army of [-] across the river from Tongling and entered Anqing Mansion, Zhang Jun led an army of [-] across the river from Health Mansion and entered Zhenzhou, and Han Shizhong led an army of [-] across the river from Jiangyin and entered Taizhou.

Zhang Jun and Han Shizhong planned to encircle the important town of Yangzhou from the east and west sides.

This Northern Expedition received the full support of the Emperor Zhao Gou. The purpose was to seize the Jianghuai area and push the Song-Jin boundary to the Huaihe River, Tongbai Mountain, and Funiu Mountain. In this way, the Jiangnan area received a valuable strategic buffer.

In the Imperial Study Room, both Lu Yihao and Zhao Ding were trying to persuade the Emperor Zhao Gou to recall Li Heng. Perhaps because of the stimulation of the three major governors, Li Heng was a little aggressive. He led an army of [-] troops from Xuzhou to Kaifeng Mansion, and went straight to In Bianliang, he repeatedly defeated the puppet Qi army who blocked him, and had already reached the suburbs of Bianliang.

"Your Majesty, it's not that I don't want to take back Bianliang, but I absolutely don't agree with such a lonely army going deep, without logistical supplies, without military support, it's easy to be cut off by the enemy and destroy the whole army. Such battles abound in history. There are very few successful ones, so I implore Your Majesty to quickly recall Li Heng with [-] soldiers as the most important thing!"

The minister who persuaded the emperor was naturally Lu Yihao. It was he who proposed the plan to send troops north from Xiangyang. Now that the situation is getting out of control, he is also a little anxious. Now he is not so much persuading the emperor to withdraw the army as he wants to clear the blame .

"Your Majesty, Bianliang is the place where the thief Liu Yu is entrenched. Once his foundation feels in danger, he will definitely ask for help from Jin Bing. If Jin Bing sends troops too early, it will destroy our plan for the Northern Expedition. I once again implore Your Majesty to recall Li horizontal."

Lu Yihao tried hard to persuade Zhao Gou, but Zhao Gou was hesitant. Although Lu Yihao had some truths, this was the first time he was so close to capturing Bianliang, even if he captured Bianliang for two or three days, he would kill all the ancestors in the ancestral temple. Zhao Gou was satisfied with the Zongling bit's invitation to come back.

That's why he didn't reply to Lu Yihao immediately, Zhao Gou was a little tempted, he didn't really care about the life and death of the [-] soldiers, he cared more about whether he could capture Bianliang.

Judging from Li Heng's record in the Northern Expedition, he has not lost a single battle so far. It can be seen that the combat effectiveness of the puppet Qi army is extremely weak and vulnerable. No wonder Chen Qing was able to repeatedly defeat the puppet Qi army in the northwest and Jingxiang. Think too strongly.

Lu Yihao wanted to persuade him again, but Zhao Gou waved his hand to stop him, "I understand Lu Xianggong's worry. Although Lu Xianggong proposed the plan first, I don't need Lu Xianggong to take any responsibility for it, so let Li Heng try it. If we try, even if we fail, we can learn from our experiences and lessons.”

At this time, Zhang Jun, who remained silent all this time, said, "Your Majesty's thoughts are not unreasonable. Now that Bianliang has been attacked, we might as well test the defense of Bianliang. The failure of Bianliang can also deter the puppet Qi and those who work for the puppet Qi, and even if it fails, it can quickly retreat to the south without much loss, and even the humble minister has a bold idea."

"What idea?" Zhao Gou asked with great interest.

"Yue Fei's army has entered Anqing Mansion. As far as I know, the puppet Qi's troops on Jianghuai East Road have been mobilized to the Queshan line of Caizhou to confront the Song army in Tangzhou. If Yue Fei can quickly reach Caizhou, the front and back After defeating the puppet Qi army in a pincer attack, he will go north to meet Li Heng, and the situation in the Central Plains may be completely reversed."

Lu Yihao secretly sighed, Zhang Jun is still a scholar!Always thinking of things so beautifully, Liu Yu must ask Jin Guo for help, and Jin Guo will never tolerate the loss of the Central Plains, and will definitely send a large army south, then the situation will be completely different.

But Lu Yihao also knew that the officials liked to hear such words, which were very pleasing to the ear and made sense. If he continued to say it, the officials would be disgusted. Fortunately, the officials had already stated that they had nothing to do with him, and he did not necessarily become a villain again.

Lu Yihao fell silent in time.

Seeing that Lu Yihao no longer objected, Zhao Gou was overjoyed, and immediately ordered: "I want Yue Fei to destroy Caizhou's puppet Qi army as soon as possible, and go north to meet Li Heng's army!"

Zhao Gou also issued a decree to confer Li Heng the Duke of Chenliu, in recognition of his Northern Expedition to Bianliang.