Fenghou

Thirty heavy trebuchets rumbled slowly in the field, with huge bodies and majestic momentum, like thirty monsters walking in the field.

Behind the trebuchet is an army of [-] troops, lined up to follow behind the heavy trebuchet.

The alarm bell on the top of the city had already sounded, and all the [-] defenders had gone to the top of the city. Chen Qing had no idea of ​​sneak attack at night, he just wanted to use the night to cover the soldiers' outfits and equipment, so that the defenders on the top of the city would not be able to guess. out their intentions.

Otherwise, seeing thousands of people carrying big wet quilts, the guards on the top of the city would guess their purpose.

Five hundred sappers stood behind the baffle, and their task was to lay planks on the moat, so they must be the first to charge, followed by two thousand fire raccoons, then three thousand quilt fire extinguishers, and finally two Whether the main force of the main force can capture Pingliang City depends on tonight.

Thirty heavy-duty trebuchets were in place, each with a length of two miles, and each trebuchet had ten craftsmen in charge of debugging.

At this time, there was a sound of a drum on the top of the city, and three hundred bed crossbows were fired at the same time.Whoosh!Whoosh! Shooting at the catapult, the baffle is very high and thick, covering most of the body of the catapult, only a head is exposed outside, and this head is meaningless even if it is shot by a jackdaw arrow.

Most of the jackdaw arrows were still crackling and shooting at the baffle, and the thirty heavy trebuchets were not affected in any way. The winch rotated, the throwing pole creaked and pulled down, and the heavy iron box at the other end was pulled up.

The principle is very simple, just like a seesaw, one end goes down and the other end goes up.

Several Song soldiers carefully placed the [-]-jin kerosene pot on the huge throwing pocket, and a soldier lit the kerosene with a torch, forming a huge fireball instantly.

"emission!"

With Wang Duo's order, thirty huge fire oil balls rose into the air and flew towards the top of the city.

'boom!boom!boom! '22 kerosene pots hit the top of the city with precision, and the other eight flew into the city. This requires fine-tuning, just a few steps back.

The top of the city was suddenly ablaze, and Li Jinrui immediately realized that the other party was attacking with fire, but there were still [-] barrels of kerosene on the top of the city, so he shouted anxiously: "Take the kerosene and retreat to the north and south walls!"

The [-] troops quickly retreated to the north and south sides, armed with weapons and kerosene, and the fire was so fierce that the catapults and bed crossbows deployed on the top of the city could no longer be taken care of.

At this time, the second and third rounds of kerosene pots were thrown, and the entire city was turned into a sea of ​​flames.

Chen Qing ordered coldly: "Attack!"

……

In the night, five hundred soldiers rushed out carrying long planks, followed closely by two thousand Huo Huan, followed by three thousand soldiers carrying wet bedding.

In just a moment, a siege ladder was erected, nearly a hundred siege ladders were erected, and two thousand fire raccoon soldiers struggled to climb up. They climbed to the top of the city and rushed into the fire.

Chen Qing could see clearly from behind. When three thousand soldiers carrying bedding began to rush to the top of the city, Chen Qing immediately ordered, "Go to the city with 5000 more!"

Liu Cui shouted: "The third army comes with me!"

Liu Cui charged up with five thousand troops...

At this time, Li Jinrui saw that the fire at the head of the west city began to go out, and a large number of Song troops went to the city. He suddenly realized that something was wrong, and shouted: "Rush up, and drive the Song army down from the top of the city!"

But the puppet Qi army had just rushed up, and in the darkness, the arrows shot by the god arm crossbow were like a storm, and the puppet Qi army soldiers fell down one after another.

On the other side of the city wall, a thousand fire raccoons fought fiercely with the enemy with spears in their hands, and they blocked the enemy.

The fire on the top of the city has been completely extinguished, and soldiers of the Song Army began to rush down the city.

"Kill me!" Li Jinrui shouted anxiously.

A soldier suddenly pointed outside the city and shouted: "General! Look quickly."

Li Jinrui looked down the city, his heart suddenly felt cold, he saw that the suspension bridge had been lowered, and countless cavalry rushed across the suspension bridge and entered the city.

Chapter 523 Encirclement

Li Jinrui abandoned the city and fled, leading his army to retreat in the direction of Jingzhou, but he was ambushed by Yang Zaixing's [-] cavalry just after he retreated. How many Song soldiers came from all directions.

Under the impact of the powerful cavalry, the puppet Qi army collapsed, and countless surrendered. Li Jinrui fought hard to open a bloody road, and fled in panic with hundreds of remnants.

The Song Army quickly took control of Pingliang City, and immediately issued an amnesty decree signed by Chen Qing, requiring all soldiers of the Puppet Qi Army who hid in the houses to come out and surrender, and they will not be held accountable.

By dawn, the whole city had been cleaned up, and more than 8000 puppet Qi troops became prisoners of war.

The Xihe army selected [-] elite soldiers to join the Song army, and the rest of the soldiers were given five buckets of grain and five hundred coins each, and all were sent back to their hometowns.

At the same time, Liu Guangshi also led the army to Beixianren Pass.

But General Li Qiong's army did not arrive for a long time, which really annoyed Liu Guangshi. He cursed in the big tent: "This bastard, he is faster than a dog when he grabs a woman's money. Now he has to do something. I changed my name to Turtle and urged him, and if he doesn’t come before dawn, he won’t come.”

Wu Chang, the general of the army, persuaded: "General Li is stationed at Dasan Pass after all. He has to deploy the army. It will take time. It's normal to be late. Commander, wait patiently!"

Liu Guangshi sighed helplessly and said, "I don't know what's going on, I always have a bad feeling now, and I feel like something's going wrong?"

"I think it's because the commander-in-chief hasn't had a good rest in the past two days. It's already late, so the commander-in-chief should rest early!"

Liu Guangshi was really exhausted, he nodded, "Okay! I'll sleep for a while, and if Li Qiong's army arrives, please notify me immediately!"

But just as Liu Guangshi lay down, he suddenly heard the sound of horseshoes outside, running towards his big tent. His sleepiness disappeared suddenly, and he pricked up his ears.

I only heard someone shouting anxiously outside: "There is an urgent military situation, I will report it to the commander immediately!"

"The commander-in-chief just fell asleep, let's talk about it at dawn!"

"No! If you drag it on, the golden soldiers will kill you."

Liu Guangshi sat up in shock and said loudly, "Bring the messenger in!"

Not long after, the soldiers brought the messenger into the inner tent, and the messenger knelt down on one knee and said, "Commander, is there an emergency situation at Rao Fengguan?"

"Tell me, what is the military situation?"

"A golden army attacked Raofeng Pass at night, and the pass city has already fallen, but the opponent's troops are not many, only a few thousand."

Liu Guangshi's scalp was about to explode when he heard it. Thousands of people are the vanguard of the enemy army, okay? The enemy must be heading south, that is tens of thousands.

Liu Guangshi suddenly remembered that the alarm Chen Qing sent to him before turned out to be true, and tens of thousands of Jin soldiers and puppet Qi troops went south.

He suddenly yelled and ordered: "Beat the drums and gather the generals immediately!"

'Boom!Boom!Boom!Boom! '

With the sound of fierce drums, all the commanders and generals rushed to the big tent. When Liu Guangshi reluctantly announced that Raofengguan had been captured by the Jin soldiers, the big tent was like a frying pan. Most of the generals’ family members were in Nanzheng. County, Raofengguan fell, and Nanzheng County will be next.

The crowd in the big tent was passionate, and the angry generals shouted, "Withdraw the army! Withdraw the army! Withdraw to Nanzheng immediately."

Liu Guangshi felt ashamed in his heart, he didn't dare to attack, so he had to immediately order: "Send the order, and the army will immediately withdraw to Nanzheng!"

Liu Guangshi's army was really in a state of embarrassment, they didn't need the large tents and supplies, and each soldier ran desperately towards Nanxianrenguan with only a few days of dry food.

On the way, Liu Guangshi's army encountered five thousand troops who came to join them, led by the commander Li Qiong.

Li Qiong was shocked when she heard the situation, and said to Liu Guangshi, "I'm afraid it's too late to go to Nanzheng now, the commander-in-chief might as well retreat south from Jinniu Road!"

Liu Guangshi sighed and said: "The family members of the soldiers are all in Nanzheng County. If I don't go to Nanzheng County, the army's morale will be lost."

"The humble officer will go to Jinniu Road first, deploy at Jianmen Pass, and defend the enemy from going south to Bashu."

Liu Guangshi frowned, "But what about the troops in Dasan Pass?"

"Which is more important, I understand in my heart, and I will send people to Dasan Pass and order the army to retreat south!"

Liu Guangshi was really helpless, so he nodded, "Just do what the general said!"

The armies of the two separated at that time. Li Qiong led the army to Jinniudao Jianmen Pass, while Liu Guangshi led an army of [-] to Nanzheng County.

Liu Guangshi really regretted it. Even if he snorted Chen Qing's warning at that time, it would not lead to the situation today. However, he had evil thoughts in his heart and wanted to take advantage of Chen Qing's opportunity to seize his lair and capture his wife and children. In the end, his old nest was taken away, and the wives and children of his soldiers were arrested.

But no matter how regretful he was, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and rush to Nanzheng County as quickly as possible, hoping to arrive at Nanzheng County before Jin Bing.

Two days later, Liu Guangshi's army arrived near Baixi Town, which is [-] miles away from Nanzheng County. Surrounded by endless wheat fields, a small river meanders through the wheat fields.

At this time, a black line appeared in the distance, and the soldiers shouted, "Golden soldier! It's a golden soldier!"

Liu Guangshi was taken aback, and hurriedly looked into the distance, his heart immediately turned to freezing point, there were at least [-] cavalry, and Nanzheng County was finished.

"Master, what should we do?"

Liu Guangshi suddenly thought of a word, 'Run! '

The opponent's 5000 cavalry may be Jurchen cavalry, and I only have [-]. How could it be the opponent's opponent?

What else can I do if I don't run?

But before he gave an order, some soldiers behind shouted, "There are also enemy troops behind!"

Liu Guangshi looked back, and a black line appeared behind him.

They had already fallen into the enemy's trap, Liu Guangshi had no choice but to bite the bullet and shout: "The whole army is in formation!"

The [-] troops quickly formed a large formation. At this time, the [-] Jurchen cavalry were slowly approaching, and they stopped the thousand troops one mile away from the Song army.

Wan Yanchang sneered and waved his hand, "Bring it up!"

I saw thousands of men, women and children brought up by the Jin soldiers, they were the family members of Liu Guangshi's subordinates, and they cried loudly as soon as they showed up.

At this time, a Jurchen general rushed forward and shouted, "Those who surrender can be reunited with their families, and those who resist will die!"

This move was too venomous, the Song army fell silent, Wan Yanchang was furious, and ordered: "Drag up dozens of people, behead them!"

Dozens of people in front were dragged up, crying and shouting. The Jurchen cavalry raised their knives and fell, and dozens of people had their heads beheaded.

The soldiers of the Song Army broke through the defense immediately, and hundreds of soldiers shouted and rushed up.

"Don't kill my father, I surrender!"

"Don't kill my wife and children, I am willing to surrender!"

The Song army was in chaos immediately, and thousands of people rushed out.

Liu Guangshi couldn't stop drinking, seeing more and more soldiers running out, the morale of the entire army was shaken.

Wan Yanchang laughed, turned his head to Wanyan Helisa and said, "General Helisa, you can attack now!"

Wanyan and Lisa yelled: "Beat the drum, attack!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The [-] Jurchen cavalry, led by Wanyan Holisa, swept and killed the Song army's formation from both sides.

There was also loud drumming from behind, and Li Cheng led [-] puppet Qi troops to cover up and kill them from the rear.

The Jin soldiers and the puppet Qi army attacked back and forth, and the Song army was defeated. Countless people were killed and surrendered.

Liu Guangshi once again used his advantage of being good at escaping, and led his soldiers to get rid of the soldiers of the Song Army who were dragging him down, and ran to the southwest, rushing out of the encirclement before the enemy encircled him.

There were also countless Song troops led by Wang De to break through to the south and rush towards the forest more than a dozen miles away. Wanyan Helisa led the army to chase and kill them. The fertile soil was covered with blood, and in the end only a thousand people fled into the forest.

This was the worst defeat of the Western Army since the Battle of Fuping. The 5000 troops were almost wiped out, more than 8000 soldiers were captured, [-] were killed, and only [-] escaped.

The fall of Hanzhong not only affected the entire situation in Sichuan and Shaanxi, but also seriously affected Chen Qing's plan for the Eastern Expedition.

Chapter 524 Withdrawal

The fiasco in Hanzhong was extremely bad. All the officials of the Xuanfu Department in Sichuan and Shaanxi were captured by the Jin soldiers, and [-] elite soldiers who had followed Wu Jie for many years were also killed and captured because of Liu Guangshi's incompetence.

This time Wan Yanchang learned the lessons of the previous failures. He was not in a hurry to attack Bashu, but completely controlled the northern line of Jinniu Road and wiped out the Song army in Hanzhong.

The [-] Song troops at Dasan Pass went all the way south under the leadership of Cao De, and were about to rush to Jianmen Pass to join Li Qiong's army. Unexpectedly, when they got news in Hechi County, Liu Guangshi's main force had been wiped out in Nanzheng, and he went south Jinniuguan has been controlled by Jin Bing.

Cao De was shocked by this news, and he made a decision without hesitation. He led his army to turn northwest and take Qilian Road, retreat to Beixianrenguan, and retreat to Qinzhou.

As the news spread, tens of thousands of people in Hechi County withdrew their families and retreated with Cao De's army.

Qilian was crying loudly, walking very slowly, it took more than 30 miles to walk in one day, and it took at least three days to walk more than 100 miles.

The soldiers were very anxious, the commander Sun Gu stepped forward and said to Cao De: "This will be dragged down by them, it is better for the army to go first."

Cao De smiled wryly and said to the generals: "Do you think Chen Qing will accept us if we leave the common people alone?"

"But... we are Liu Guangshi's people, will he have prejudice against us?"

Cao De shook his head and said, "Probably not. Although our commanders and generals belong to Liu Guangshi, the army is not. The five thousand soldiers belong to the Wu rank army. He will definitely accept them. Besides, Chen Qing and I are old, so he should be able to accept them." Give me some face."

At this moment, a soldier shouted: "Look, general!"

Everyone looked in the direction of the soldier's finger, and saw black smoke floating into the sky from the southeast, and everyone's hearts sank at the same time. This must be a fire in Hechi County.

It means that the enemy army has chased him to Hechi County.

Cao De shouted: "Let the people go first, and the army will follow me!"

Five thousand Song troops found two commanding heights and set up a large array of crossbows. About an hour later, the fierce sound of horseshoes came from the south, and two thousand Jurchen cavalry came after them like lightning.

The cavalry was getting closer and closer, and after crossing the hundred-pace line, Cao De shouted, "Shoot!"

Five thousand Song troops fired crossbow arrows at the same time, and the five thousand crossbow arrows shot at the Jurchen cavalry from three directions like a storm. Hundreds of people were shot.

The rest of the cavalry were so frightened that they turned their horses and fled south, and they fled without a trace in a blink of an eye.