Fenghou

"I'm just telling the truth. It's not that ten or eight years have passed, but just less than a year. How strong can he be?"

"General Li Cheng, tell me?" Wan Yanchang turned around and asked Li Cheng who was behind him.

Li Cheng pondered for a moment and said: "I heard that he recruited a lot of troops, defeated Ren Dejing, and recruited 2 of his troops. It is estimated that Chen Qing's army strength is now around 6 or [-]. It is true that his strength has increased. But at the same time, we must also see that after Chen Qing's territory and troops expand, it will be difficult for him to use the defensive tactics he is good at, and I feel that if there is an advantage, there must be a disadvantage."

Wanyan and Li Saha laughed, "Li Dutong is right. I admit that Chen Qing defended the city very well. How many troops have been killed by a single Oasis Fort. If it is really a wilderness battle, I don't believe that he can defeat the sturdy Jurchen cavalry? This is I have the confidence, I am not afraid of him, and I will never fight a siege battle foolishly again!"

Wan Yanchang nodded, Wanyan Lisa and Li Cheng did have some truth in what they said, the Jurchen cavalry hadn't had a large-scale ground contact battle with Chen Qing yet.

"That being said, what if Chen Qing and Wu Jie join forces? They attack from two directions, how should we deal with it?"

"This……"

Wanyan and Lisa were speechless for a moment, he looked towards Li Cheng as if asking for help.

Li Cheng said slowly: "This is actually what I'm most worried about. If the soldiers of the Wu rank go out of Monk Yuan to contain Fengxiang Mansion and Guanzhong, and Chen Qing attacks the city and plunder the village in the north, then we will be passive. Only Guanzhong remains."

Wanyan and Lisa's face gradually became serious, and he also realized that this is a big problem. When they attack Xihe Road, Wu Jie will dig out their lair. When they attack Dashan Pass, Chen Qing will point at Jingyuan Road , will indeed lose sight of one another.

The three of them were silent, and suddenly Wanyan and Lisa laughed, "Didn't the Dujian Army come here to solve this matter?"

Li Cheng also realized that since Wan Yanchang mentioned this question, he must already have an answer.

Wan Yanchang smiled and said: "I am indeed thinking about this issue. The crisis in the west has to be resolved in the east. We must put pressure on the Song Dynasty court to ask them to remove Chen Qing or Wu Jie from their posts and replace them with the ones we want. Whoever wants it, the problem will be solved.”

"Does the Supervisory Army think it can be successful?" Li Cheng couldn't believe it.

Wan Yanchang snorted coldly, "I have dealt with the Song Dynasty for so many years, and I still don't understand them? The key is that you don't act rashly for now, even if Chen Qing provokes me, hold back, and I will deal with him slowly in the future!"

……

Time gradually came to July, and Niu Gao returned with fifteen thousand troops.

In the Hehuang Valley, due to the preferential treatment of granting land for joining the army, young and young people signed up to join the army one after another, and recruited another [-] recruits. At this time, the total strength of Chen Qing's army had reached [-].

At this time, the imperial court's rewards also arrived. Chen Qing changed his title to Xihe Road Jinglue envoy, and then he was awarded the title of Yinqing Guanglu doctor, with a reward of 30 pieces of silk.

At the same time, the structure of Chen Qing's Jinglue Mansion and the appointment of all Jinglue Mansion and state and county officials were approved.

In the Jinglue Mansion, Chen Qing received the news from the Second Scout Battalion from Xixia that Li Qianshun appointed his younger brother Li Chage as the chief general and Cao Baozong as the deputy general to lead an army of [-] in Shizhou in the south and Xiao Heda's [-] army In the confrontation, both sides rely on the advantages of terrain to fight against each other, and they are unwilling to easily launch large-scale battles. It is estimated that there will be a relatively long confrontation.

But what is surprising here is that Cao Baozong actually came back again, was reused again, and became Brother Li Cha's lieutenant general.

Cao Baozong asked his family to redeem himself with [-] sheepskins, and released him together with his own soldiers. It is not known how Cao Baozong lied when he returned.

But since Li Qianshun hired Cao Baozong again, Chen Qing discovered that there was a problem with Li Qianshun's employment, including the censor Zhongcheng Bari Zuren who had come to negotiate before, and Chen Qing discovered that he did not have any practical skills.

If it is an experienced negotiator, at least a dozen rounds of negotiations will be required, and the prisoner of war will also be visited in the mine.

But Bali Zuren only talked for one round, and when he saw that the Song Army was tough, he compromised. It is said that this Bali Zuren was Li Qianshun's favorite minister, and he sent his favorite minister to negotiate, and sent a son of a family who was talking on paper as a general. This shows that the Xixia Emperor His stupidity shows the corruption of the Xixia court.

When Xixia and Xiao Heda kill both sides, maybe I will have the opportunity to attack Xixia in the north. I don’t know if the Kingdom of Jin has the same idea.

Xixia had no time to look south, so Chen Qing began to turn his eyes to the east. Of course, he would not be satisfied with a small Xihe Road. Xihe Road is his foundation. He needs to manage it well, and Chen Qing is not in a hurry to expand eastward. It's just that Qinzhou needs a strategic buffer zone, so that the Jin soldiers will not come directly to Chengji County as soon as they kill them.

One Longzhou and one Pingliang Prefecture, Chen Qingzhi was sure to win. With these two prefectures, Qinzhou would have an outer barrier.

Chen Qing immediately ordered Hu Yanlei to send people to Longzhou and Pingliang Mansion to spy on the military intelligence of these two states.

……

Before the sand table in the official office of Jinglue, Chen Qingzheng, Zhang Xiao, and Jiang Yan first discussed the feasibility of sending troops to Longzhou and Pingliangfu.

Zhang Xiao pondered for a moment and said: "Longzhou is not only the buffer zone of Qinzhou, but also the buffer zone of Fengxiang Mansion. If you station soldiers and monk Yuan, then you can restrain the Jurchens from sending troops to Longzhou, and Longzhou will be easier to take."

Jiang Yanxian also said slowly: "Zhang Sima is right. Once the Wu ranks garrison and monk Yuan, there will be an offensive momentum, Fengxiang's golden soldiers will not dare to act rashly, and they will be able to take Longzhou relatively easily, but the Pingliang mansion It is even more important than Longzhou. It is the entrance of Jingyuan Road. The Jin soldiers and the puppet Qi army will definitely fight Pingliang Mansion to the death. It will be a fierce battle for us. Think about how to fight, and then make full preparations!"

Zhang Xiao and Jiang Yanxian both suggested to contact Wu Jie's army monk Shang Yuan, Chen Qing nodded, "I will write a personal letter to Wu Jie!"

Chapter 498 Restraint

Longzhou is divided into two by the vast mountains. Jiandao Pass is undoubtedly the most important channel connecting the north and the south of Longzhou. This is also the place where Chen Qing rose. But now, the pass has basically been demolished and abandoned. You can still see a little shadow of the pass.

After crossing the valley and walking for more than ten miles, we arrived at Siyang County, the state government of Longzhou.

This morning, a caravan of mules and horses entered Siyang County. They were the spies of the second scout battalion of the Xihe Army. Unlike Zhao Xiaoyi's first scout battalion, the second scout battalion had a much richer composition of members There are young people, middle-aged men, women, and even teenagers and old people.

They dressed up as various characters and went to various big cities to spy on intelligence.

Siyang County was not within the scope of the second scout battalion's investigation, so a temporary caravan was formed to come to the county seat.

The information they need to investigate is actually not much. Siyang County is not a strategic place for the situation of the main city wall and the number of troops stationed there. Neither Song Army nor Jin Bing pay much attention to it.

However, after the Battle of Jiandaoguan broke out that year, Jin Bing also learned from the painful experience and organized 10,000+ civilians to spend half a year dredging the Sishui, which rejuvenated the Sishui, which had lost its shipping value due to silting, and the river can sail thousands of stone cargo ships. The army can also enter Longzhou from Fengxiang along the banks of the Lishui River.

Therefore, for Chen Qing, Longzhou and Pingliang Mansion were not so much a strategic buffer as a springboard to enter Shaanxi and Guanzhong.

The leader of the caravan is Wu Dequn. He is about 40 years old. He was also a businessman before. He joined the Xihe Army half a year ago. This is the first time he has come out to perform a mission.

No one would regard Wu Dequn as a soldier. He is short, fat, and very old. His small mung bean-sized eyes are very flexible, and he looks shrewd.

After paying the tax at the city gate, they entered the county seat.

Siyang County is barely considered a large county, with about 10 people in the city and its outskirts. Because Sishui can enter Fengxiang, the business in the city is not bad. There are bustling mules and horses everywhere. Many shops specialize in buying furs from the west. , medicinal materials and other goods.

Wu Dequn brought a thousand pieces of high-quality old sheepskins this time, which can only be sold for two pieces in Chengji County, but they can be sold for three pieces in Fengxiang and Jingzhao, increasing the profit by [-]%.

When a group of people came to an inn, the staff warmly received them, and the shopkeeper arranged for them to stay.

At this moment, the shopkeeper walked into the room and asked, "Are you all from Xihe Road?"

"Is there any problem coming from Xihe Road?"

"There was a notice just two days ago. If you are a businessman coming from Xihe Road, you must go to the county government to register."

Everyone looked at each other, and Wu Dequn smiled and said, "We didn't come from Xihe Road, but from Zhenrong Prefecture in the north, and there is the official seal of Zhenrong Prefecture."

"That's good. The grass and trees are full of soldiers these days. It is rumored that Chen Qing's army is going to attack Longzhou, and the county government is very nervous."

"Aren't there any defenders in the city? So scared!"

"Hey! There used to be a thousand defenders in the city, but in the past two days, another thousand defenders have been added, but there are only two thousand troops! If the opponent comes with an army of tens of thousands, how can they hold it?"

"It's the Song army who can't defend the opponent! Are we not the people of the Song Dynasty?"

'Da Song Zimin? '

The shopkeeper smiled wryly, this title was already a bit far away.

……

After everyone settled down, Wu Dequn immediately sent his men to search for information in various parts of the county. After collecting information at night, the information they wanted was basically clarified.

There are 2000 defenders in the city. The barracks are in the northwest corner. The city wall is not high, only two feet and three feet, and the moat is not wide, only two feet.

These intelligences were collected and relatively comprehensive information was obtained. Early the next morning, Wu Dequn sent the pigeon letter to Chengji County with the carrier pigeon they carried.

……

In Nanzheng County's Sichuan-Shanxi Xuanfu Division official office, Xuanfu envoy Lu Fayuan did not express his opinion on Wu Jie's report for a long time. Wu Jie asked to send troops to Monk Yuan, but Lu Fayuan did not agree. Jin soldiers no longer attacked Dashan Pass , the two sides are in peace, he doesn't want to cause trouble again.

Lu Fayuan paced back and forth with his hands behind his back. As the Xuanfu envoy of Sichuan and Shaanxi, he always wanted to bring Xihe Road back under his command. When Zhang Jun was in charge of Sichuan and Shaanxi, Xihe Road was under the jurisdiction of the Xuanfu Department of Sichuan and Shaanxi. Here, Xihe Road has gone out independently, which is not in compliance with the regulations and is not reasonable.

Lu Fayuan was really annoyed by the court's decision to make Chen Qing independent. Of course, Lu Fayuan also knew that this was a bait for Chen Qing from the court, and he would go to work if he was given enough temptation. Recover Xihe Road.

But what made Lu Fayuan unacceptable was that now that Xihe Road was taken back, the imperial court did not hand over Xihe Road to him, but sent an eunuch to supervise the army. With such an obvious weakness, what if Chen Qing agrees with him and buys him off?

Thinking of Chen Qing repatriating several spies he had planted in Chengji County some time ago, Lu Fayuan felt unspeakable worries.

In case Chen Qing betrays the imperial court, the officials will definitely not spare him, and will say that he is responsible for not investigating!

But I can't blame myself for this, and who made Xihe Road separate from the Xuanfu Department of Sichuan and Shaanxi?

Lu Fayuan was very confused, and he saw the report on the table, sending troops to monk Yuan, this Wu Jie is really confused, he didn't know he was being used.

When he was not needed, he kicked himself out, and now he asked for himself, and asked the Sichuan-Shanxi Army to send troops to Monk Yuan. How could there be such a good thing in the world?

With a livid face, Lu Fayuan took up a pen and wrote two words on the report, 'No! '

……

After receiving Lu Fayuan's approval, Wu Jie actually did not agree to send troops, which was really beyond his expectation. This time is such a good opportunity. If he does not move, the Xihe Army will definitely be under tremendous pressure. The plan to send troops to Longzhou will also fail.

Wu Jie rushed to Hanzhong immediately and found Lu Fayuan.

"Report to the Xuan Fu envoy, the Jin soldiers are not strong enough now, and they are no longer as strong as before. This is the opportunity for us to counterattack step by step. I sent troops to the south to contain the Jin soldiers and the puppet Qi army, and Chen Qing's army went to the north. , Gradually regain the north of Shaanxi Road, and finally the two sides cooperated to capture Guanzhong, Xuan Fushi, this is an opportunity that we have fought hard for many years, we can't just let it go!"

In front of a civil official like Lu Fayuan who is proficient in officialdom struggles, Wu Jie is obviously not an opponent. Lu Fayuan said lightly: "The strategic change is not something that you and I can decide. We must ask the officials for instructions. If the officials agree, then we will Sending troops, monk Yuan, if the officials object, it means that the time is not yet ripe."

"But the timing is not ripe. Only we know best. A few years ago, the Kingdom of Jin attacked Dashanguan, which cost a lot of financial and material resources. Now that they are exhausted, it is time for us to fight back..."

"General Wu!"

Lu Fayuan elongated his voice impatiently, "The battle against the Kingdom of Jin is under the overall command of the officials. We can't just think about what is going on on the western front. We must think about it as a whole. The current confrontation is an argument set by the officials. We must To overthrow it and launch a counterattack, of course, the government must agree, I will send someone to report to the government, just wait patiently!"

Lu Fayuan pushed the decision-making power to the emperor with one stroke, which really made Wu Jie depressed. He could no longer object, so he had to get up and leave.

Leaving the office of the Xuanfu Division, I was deeply moved. Lu Fayuan was only slightly better than Zhu Shengfei, but he still refused to delegate power when it comes to major military decisions. In the end, it was actually vetoed. Wasn't it always his own decision to send troops to Monk Yuan?Why should he object?

At this moment, Wu Jie deeply felt the pain of being restrained by the civil servants. No wonder Chen Qing refused to join the Sichuan-Shaanxi Xuanfu Division. From this point of view, how lucky and wise Chen Qing is.

Chapter 499 Precautions

Without the cooperation of the Wu rank army, Chen Qing had no choice but to change his plan. They originally sent [-] troops to easily capture Siyang County, but now he had to consider Fengxiang's reinforcements, and had to add a strategy of besieging the city and fighting for reinforcements.

Chen Qing originally attacked on both fronts at the same time and took Pingliang Mansion at the same time. Now he can only consider taking Longzhou first, consolidating the victory and then attacking Pingliang Mansion. But in this way, Pingliang Mansion will have time to prepare. It must cost a greater price to win Pingliang Mansion.

Although it was just a small movement of sending troops to Monk Yuan, it represented great significance and would completely change the situation, but Lu Fayuan refused to use this small movement.

Chen Qing didn't know what happened, but one thing he was sure of was that his expulsion of several spies must have affected Lu Fayuan's decision-making.

After thinking about it, that's fine, he won't even think about going back to the Shaanxi provinces that he worked so hard to get back.

The head of Chen Qing changed his strategy, suspended the plan of sending troops to Pingliang Mansion, and changed the plan of sending troops to Pingliang Mansion to capture Longzhou. Chen Qing personally led an army of [-] to kill Longzhou.

……

Wanyan Helisa was very wary of the Song army's eastward advance. He had spies all over Longzhou. As soon as Song Jun entered Longzhou, he was discovered by Jinbing's scouts and immediately reported to Fengxiang Mansion with an eagle letter.

At this time, Wanyan Helisa was in Fengxiang Mansion, he received the Eagle letter, and he took it very seriously, he currently has 3 troops in Fengxiang, [-] Jurchen soldiers and [-] Qi troops, of which [-] are deployed on the south bank of the Weihe River. Prevent Song Jun from going out of Monk Yuan.

There are also 1 people stationed in Fengxiang's counties, and he has [-] mobile troops in his hands.

Although Wu Jie's Song army did not come out of Monk Yuan, it was difficult to guarantee that he would not come later. Wanyan Helisa ordered a thousand soldiers stationed on the Sishui to reinforce Siyang County with fire, and ordered the commander Wanyan Tietou to lead a group of troops. Wan Dajun went to reinforce Siyang County.

This afternoon, Chen Qing's army passed by Jiandao Pass. He paid homage to the soldiers who died that year in the pine forest to the south. More than four years have passed, and things have changed. The army recaptured Longzhou including Jiandao Pass.

"Dutong, I think it's unwise for the other party to give up Jiandao Pass!" Yang Zaixing said in a deep voice.

Of course, Chen Qing understood what he meant. The Longshan and Longshan Mountains stretched from the northeast of Deshun Prefecture to the Qinling Mountains, and isolated Qinzhou from the west. Only the Weihe River created a channel to connect Qinzhou and Longzhou.

And a branch of Longshan divided Longzhou into two. Jiandao Pass is an important passage through this branch. The Song army went out of Longshan to attack Longzhou. If the Jin soldiers repaired Jiandao Pass, the Song army went north to Siyang The county must attack Jiandao Pass first, because the Song army may not be able to attack it due to the danger of the Jiandao Pass canyon.

Only 1000 people can resist the Song army's plan to attack Longzhou, but the Jin soldiers gave up Jiandao Pass.

Chen Qing smiled and said, "Perhaps Jin Bing didn't expect us to start moving eastward so soon!"

Gao Ding, who was on the sidelines, said, "If we capture Siyang County, do we want to reopen the Jiandao Pass?"

Chen Qing still shook his head, "Jiandao Pass is meaningless to us. If the Jin soldiers want to attack Qinzhou, they will send troops along the Weihe River. If they want to attack Siyang County, they will also go north along the Sishui River. Jiandao Pass is just to defend us. It is useful, so instead of rebuilding Jiandao Pass, it is better to build a pass on the Wei River in the south."

Everyone nodded, Liu Cui smiled and said: "Now I understand why the Jin soldiers and the puppet Qi army are not interested in Xihe Road. A Long Mountain completely separates Xihe Road from Shaanxi Road, which belongs to another area. It cannot be connected with Shaanxi Road.”

Chen Qing smiled slightly and said: "There are reasons for this. Compared with the poorly populated Xihe Road, the Jin soldiers want the fertile Bashu plain for thousands of miles, so they have invested a lot of resources in attacking Bashu. Now the Jin soldiers have repeatedly After repeated defeats on offense, their vigor was exhausted, and they began to turn on the defensive, and they had no energy to devote to Xihe Road."

"Excuse me, Dutong, is the time ripe for us to attack Longzhou?" Yang Zaixing asked after a moment of thought.

This is also the common thinking of many generals. They think that they have just captured Xihe Road, and they should at least cultivate for a year or two before sending troops. In addition, the Wu rank army is unwilling to cooperate. Everyone thinks that the time to attack Longzhou is not yet ripe. This is not true Yang Zaixing had this idea alone, and more than half of the generals had this idea, including Zheng Ping, who also opposed sending troops to Longzhou at this time.

Chen Qing simply gathered the generals together, and said to them: "I know that at least half of the people here think that the time to attack Longzhou is not ripe, let me tell you, what do I think?

I also know that we are not ready yet, but for the same reason, Jin Bing is not ready either. Today we pass Jiandao Pass. It is a barren pass. It is such a dangerous pass. We will pass without hurting any soldiers. When we are ready Now, the golden soldiers will be ready. At that time, we will first face the great pass of Jiandao Pass. Based on my experience, it is impossible to win it without thousands of casualties. "

Everyone was stunned, and there was a lot of discussion immediately. Chen Qing waved his hand to calm everyone down, and he continued: "My Eastern Expedition this time is not to attack Guanzhong. We are indeed not ready, and the time is not ripe. The first thing is to seize the two springboards before the enemy is ready, capture Longzhou and Pingliang Mansion, and prepare for our real Eastern Expedition in the future."

Yang Zaixing said with a smile: "The whole thing is to seize the opportunity. I understand it, but I suggest that we should build the Jiandao Pass to prevent the enemy from building the pass, which will isolate us from Siyang County."

Chen Qing nodded, "This plan is acceptable, and we will build a new Jiandao Pass in the south of the valley!"

At this moment, a soldier hurried over with the latent scouts in Siyang County.

The scout knelt down on one knee and saluted and said: "Qi Dutong, at midnight last night, a puppet Qi army with a thousand soldiers entered the county seat, and now the army in Siyang City has reached 3000 people, all of them are puppet Qi troops. Knowing that the Song army is coming, I ordered the city gate to be closed, and the humble officials were driven out before the gate was closed."

Chen Qing nodded, and asked again: "Have ordinary people in the city been mobilized to defend the city?"