Fenghou

Three thousand soldiers rushed into the barracks and started killing...

An hour later, the battle in the barracks ended. More than 1000 soldiers who resisted were killed, and about [-] surrendered. The other sporadic cleanups also came to an end at the same time, and none of Mo Huaixian's soldiers escaped.

Liu Qiong immediately ordered his men to take five hundred mules and donkeys to the hiding place to transport three thousand bags of kerosene back to the county seat.

When the county was fully controlled, it was already the middle of the night. Liu Qiong selected more than 5000 strong soldiers from the surrendered soldiers and incorporated them into the Song Army team, which quickly expanded the Song Army team to [-].

At this moment, a soldier rushed to report, and three gunpowder arrows rose from the east. Liu Qiong was taken aback, and immediately ordered: "Close the city gate, and the soldiers go up to the city to defend!"

Tang Qian stepped forward and suggested: "These soldiers staying in the city may be hidden dangers, it is better to drive them all out of the city!"

Liu Qiong thought for a while, and sent someone to find Wei Ping, "You take fifty brothers and take the remaining [-] soldiers to the valley where they hid before. If they make trouble, you just take the soldiers Evacuate!"

Wei Ping and fifty men left with more than 1000 soldiers.

Liu Qiong gathered more than [-] newly recruited soldiers, and said loudly to them: "Today, you have become an official member of the Western Army and under the command of King Lingwu. Our King will never treat him badly. Soldiers, you will have income to support your family, and you will get land. If you take your family to Sichuan and Shaanxi, you will immediately get a hundred acres of land, and you will increase the land every year, and you will be tax-free for life.

These are all visible and generous benefits. More importantly, you also participated in the war to expel the Jurchen Tartars and restore our Han people. Your heroic name is worthy of the ancestors in the ancestral hall. "

Liu Qiong took a deep breath, and said loudly: "A hundred years later, your grandchildren will pat their chests and tell everyone that my grandfather is an anti-golden hero, and his name is in the anti-golden ancestral hall. He is by no means a traitor." Thieves, your children and grandchildren will be proud of you."

Many soldiers shed tears, and Liu Qiong raised his arms and shouted: "Expel the Tartars and restore the Han family!"

The soldiers raised their arms and shouted together: "Expel the Tartars and restore the Han family!"

Liu Qiong nodded in satisfaction, and said sharply: "Everyone go back to the team, let's hit the invading enemy hard!"

……

In the dark night, [-] puppet Qi troops rushed towards Shanxian County under the command of Zhe Keqiu. There were still [-] miles away from Shanxian County. Three gunpowder arrows suddenly shot out from the mountain forest to the south, and the bright red flames rushed straight Sky.

Zhe Keqiu reined in his horse and looked at the three gunpowder arrows in surprise, which were obviously signal arrows, which were fired towards Shan County.

But why did you send signal arrows to Shanxin? The army coming from the east cannot be the enemy. Could it be that Shan County has...

Thinking of this greatest possibility, Zhe Keqiu felt a little uneasy. Once Shan County was occupied by the Song army, he would definitely be responsible for the ineffective rescue, and Wanyan Wushu would not spare him lightly.

Zhe Keqiu immediately ordered a team of spies to go to Shan County to check the situation.

Chapter 729

The development of the matter confirmed the worries that can be obtained, and Shan County has been captured by the Song army.

This news made Zhe Keqiu speechless for a while, he rushed here non-stop after receiving the order, but he was a step too late, if he had known it earlier, he would have sent a cavalry to kill him.

Zhe Keqiu felt very regretful in his heart, but it was useless to regret now, after having to face the reality, Zhe Keqiu began to think about what to do next?

First of all, he needs to know how many Song troops are in the city?He still needs to know what's going on at Hangu Pass?In addition, he also wanted to know, where did the Song army come from to occupy Shan County?

But the first question stumped him. They didn't carry siege ladders and couldn't attack the city. How would he know how many soldiers there were in the city?

After thinking for a long time, there was nothing to do, so I had to temporarily give up the first idea.

Deputy General Hu Mei stepped forward and suggested: "Commander, why don't we go to Hangu Pass first?"

Zhe Keqiu shook his head, "When we went to Hangu Pass, our retreat would be cut off. Once the Song army in Shan County cut off our retreat and the food supply, wouldn't it mean that the entire army would be wiped out?"

Another general said: "Since the commander-in-chief is afraid of being cut off, it is better to retreat to Mianchi County first, and at the same time send someone to Hangu Pass to inquire about the news."

Mianchi County is about a hundred miles east of Shan County, and it is also the starting point of the Weihan Ancient Road. Support for two days, waiting in place is definitely not an option, returning to Mianchi is their only option.

However, he was still a little unwilling to be reconciled. After thinking for a long time, he ordered: "Continue to Shan County!"

It can be said that he has rich experience. He suspects that the opponent is just a scout team of two to 300 people. Wouldn't it be ridiculed by the people of the world to retreat in such a haste?

The army continued to move forward, and at the fourth watch, the army arrived in Shanxian County. There was nothing to see on the top of the city, only the dark city walls and gates.

"How did you find something wrong?" Zhe Keqiu asked the leader of the spies.

"We went up to call the door, but the answer was bows and arrows!"

"Call the door again!"

The leader of the spies had no choice but to rush to the city gate with dozens of soldiers, and heard them shouting from a distance: "We are under the command of Commander Zhe, coming from Luoyang, please open the city immediately..."

Before the words fell, a burst of arrows shot down from the top of the city. Although the soldiers were all prepared, several people were shot by the arrows and screamed. The spies fled back in fright.

"Reporting to Commander, there are many arrows on the top of the city, and three of our brothers were injured!"

Zhe Keqiu frowned, he could see clearly, and more than a hundred arrows were shot from the top of the city, this point of arrows can't explain the problem.

He pondered for a moment, then ordered his lieutenant general Hu Mei to say: "Take a thousand brothers to cut down a thick tree nearby, and come back, the kind that can be used as a battering ram!"

"Follow the order!"

Lieutenant Hu Mei left with a thousand soldiers, and ordered the whole army to sit down and rest on the spot if they could ask for more.

At the same time, Zhe Keqiu sent another team of spies to Hangu Pass to investigate the situation.

……

As the sky was getting brighter, Hu Mei also led the soldiers to cut back two tree trunks that could be used as battering rams. The branches were all gone, leaving only the trunk, with a diameter of about two feet and a length of seven or eight feet, which could hold seven or eighty soldiers Hold it and rush to the city gate.

Zhe Keqiu narrowed his eyes and looked at the top of the city. He could see clearly at this moment that the top of the city was densely packed with soldiers, but were these soldiers the real Song Army?Or is it temporarily finding some young men in the city to pretend to be?He had to try and attack to know.

"Order, [-] archers go up!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The war drum sounded.

The five thousand crossbowmen were divided into five square formations, running in formation, rushing forward like a tidal wave.

On the top of the city, Tang Qian frowned and said to Liu Qiong: "The other party doesn't have a siege ladder, how can he attack the city?"

Liu Qiong said coldly: "They must have cut wood to make battering rams, trying to break open the city gate!"

He immediately ordered: "Follow my order, fire oil and gunpowder are ready!"

Five thousand crossbowmen rushed to the city and shot arrows at the top of the city from a hundred steps away. The arrows rained down on the top of the city.

There are [-] defenders on the top of the city, consisting of [-] Song troops and [-] new recruits. Needless to say, the [-] Song troops are very experienced, and the [-] new recruits are also well-trained troops.

They squatted on the top of the city and fired blindly, without aiming at a certain enemy, as long as the number of arrows was sufficient, they also had great lethality.

In the dense arrow rain on both sides, a siege team rushed towards the city gate. The siege team consisted of more than 100 people. More than [-] people held up shields for protection, and the remaining [-] soldiers held battering rams on both sides. He rushed towards the city gate quickly.

"Powder barrel ready," Liu Qiong yelled, "Fire oil ready!"

Dozens of soldiers have prepared two gunpowder barrels and dozens of bags of kerosene. The best way to deal with the siege enemy is kerosene and gunpowder. Rolling logs and stones are of little use. Experienced soldiers can use shields to unload them skillfully. The impact force of falling logs and rocks.

But no one can stop the pervasive liquid fire oil and the dense poisonous nails when it explodes, and there is also a psychological offensive in it. When the fire is ignited on the body, or when the poisonous nails are injected into the body, every soldier will have a strong feeling. The sense of fear is enough to defeat their will.

The siege army had already approached the city gate, and the firearms soldiers shouted: "Powder barrel attack!"

There are special firearms soldiers in the Western Army. They have rich experience and special training. They know when to throw the powder keg and where to throw it.

For soldiers with battering rams, they usually throw them thirty steps away from the city gate. The throwing point is not on the team. They have dense shields to resist, so they must be thrown to both sides, so that the flying poisonous nails can be shot from the bottom of the sides.

The two gunpowders were thrown down at the same time, and they exploded when they touched the ground. There were two consecutive loud noises, and thousands of tiny poisonous nails flew in all directions. The legs of dozens of shield soldiers outside were shot into by the poisonous nails.

The soldiers on the periphery screamed, their legs limp and fell to the ground, and the originally dense shield defense suddenly disintegrated, revealing the soldiers holding the battering ram inside.

"Shock!"

The enemy army at the head roared, and the battering ram rushed towards the city gate...

At this time, dozens of jets of black fire oil sprayed down from the top of the city, drenching dozens of soldiers in the front section, and threw down dozens of torches at the same time, "Boom! 'The flames burned rapidly and spread so fast that in the blink of an eye, all the people who were drenched in kerosene were ignited.

The battering ram was still more than a dozen steps away from the city gate, but the dozens of people in front of them all turned into burning men. They screamed and ran in all directions, and the battering ram fell to the ground with a bang.

In the chaos, arrows rained down from the top of the city, and the soldiers behind were hit by arrows and fell to the ground. The battering ram fell to the ground and was engulfed by the fire on the ground.

In the distance, Zhe Keqiu could see clearly from the opponent's shooting arrows. There were at least a few thousand people in the experienced Song army on the top of the city, and it was not a small team as he imagined. He could only sigh, "Retreat!"

"Dang! Dang! Dang!"

The withdrawal bell rang, and the puppet Qi army on the battlefield withdrew quickly like an ebb tide, leaving behind more than [-] corpses, most of them were crossbowmen who were shot and killed by arrows from the top of the city.

The puppet Qi army did not stop, and retreated directly towards Mianchi County. The defenders on the top of the city immediately cheered, and many soldiers who had just surrendered were even more excited. Many of them tasted the taste of victory for the first time.

7 Chapter Thirty

In the morning, Wei Ping returned to Shan County with more than 1000 prisoners of war. They withstood the test. A prisoner of war ran out of the valley, and they were all unwilling to work for the puppet Qi army from the bottom of their hearts.

Although these prisoners of war were leftovers, a little older or a little younger, because of their performance, Liu Qiong decided to let them all join the Song Army, bringing the total number of troops in Shan County to 500.

At dawn, the news that the Song Army had captured Shanxian County spread throughout the city, and the people immediately erupted, running to the streets to beat gongs and drums to celebrate the return of the Song Army, and the city of Shanxian County became a jubilant world.

At the same time, the hatred accumulated in the hearts of the people for a long time also broke out with the arrival of the Song army. Thousands of elders rushed into the magistrate's mansion, arrested Yan Shun and beat him up. Going to Bianliang to report on his duties, he just escaped a catastrophe. In the past few years, officials at the prefecture and county levels have strictly implemented the puppet tax policy and imposed excessive taxes in Shanzhou. The people have long hated them.

When the patrolling soldiers arrived, the magistrate Yan Shun had been beaten to death by the angry people, and the county captain Jiang Dafu, who was domineering over the people, was also beaten to death by the angry people. They were also set on fire, and many places in the county were on fire, with thick smoke billowing.

Seeing that the situation was getting out of control, Liu Qiong hurriedly ordered a temporary martial law and asked all the people to go home, otherwise they would be arrested and severely punished.

When the order in the city calmed down a bit, Liu Qiong came to visit Yang Gongran. The corpses in Yang's mansion had been cleaned up, and the housekeeper brought dozens of servants to wash the floor with water to clean the blood on the floor.

Yang Gongran ordered his eldest son, Yang Chu, to invite Liu Qiong to the guest room. The two sat down as guest and host, and the maid served tea. The generals wiped out all of them, which enabled us to successfully capture Shan County and minimize the casualties of our soldiers, for which I am sincerely grateful."

"Where! Where! General Liu is serious. This is our job. Besides, the Yang family alone is not enough. The key is to rely on General Tang to arrange the deployment. Why didn't General Tang come together?"

"The order outside is relatively chaotic. General Tang is leading the soldiers to maintain order, and he really can't get out."

Yang Gongran sighed and said, "It's normal for this to happen. I hope General Liu will be more tolerant and don't criticize the people. They have suffered too much these years."

"Mr. Yang, can you explain in detail?"

Yang Gongran said to the eldest son beside him: "Da Lang, you know the situation better, so tell me!"

Yang Chu bowed slightly and said: "The main reason is that the taxes and prices are too high, and the people's income is meager. The land tax is 120% and the household tax is [-]% per year. There are also shelf tax, deed tax, and exemption money. The annual direct tax of a household is six to ten guan. The amount of the tax is related to the size of the house. These are not enough, there are terrible indirect taxes, salt, tea, sugar, oil, cloth, slaughter, etc., salt is [-] yuan per catty, wheat is [-] yuan per bucket, and cloth is also [-] to [-] yuan, so every family is poor. As for many people who send girls to our house as maids, they don't ask for money, they just want to support her."

Liu Qiong frowned, "This is too tragic, no wonder the people are so angry."

Yang Chu said angrily: "Actually, it's not just Shanzhou, it's the same in other parts of the Puppet Qi State. The dog emperor Liu Yu even ordered the people to sell their sons and daughters to pay taxes. The sky is resentful and the Puppet Qi State can still live." How many days?"

Liu Qiong thought for a while and said, "I have [-] prisoners of war here, all of whom have joined the Song Army. At present, their families are all in the Central Plains. I want to transfer their families to Sichuan and Shaanxi. Is it possible?"

Yang Gongran stroked his beard and said: "Of course it is possible, but Mianchi County must be taken. Although Xin'an and Luoyang also belong to the Weihan Ancient Road, Mianchi County is special. It happens to be the exit of Xiaoshan, and there are many roads leading to Mianchi in all directions. .

Therefore, Mianchi is the real entrance to the ancient Weihan road. If Mianchi is controlled by the puppet Qi army, then all the migrating people will not be able to enter the ancient Weihan road. On the contrary, if Mianchi is taken down, people who come from all directions can enter the ancient Weihan road. . "

"I see. Thank you, Yuanwai Yang, for your reminder. In addition, according to the agreement, Da Lang is invited to serve as the magistrate of Shan County."

……

After half a day of martial law, Liu Qiong ordered the lifting of the martial law, and put up a list to calm the people, announcing the abolition of all exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes of the Puppet Qi State. Like the common people in Shaanxi, they can eat enough and wear warmth.

Although the literary talent is average, the content is very down-to-earth, and the people in the city see hope.

Yang Chu immediately became the magistrate of Shan County, and Yang Gongran recommended Wang Changyi, the eldest son of another powerful family in Shan County, Wang Changyi, as the county magistrate. Relief porridge, relief of the poor suffering from hunger and cold.

……

On the second day after Liu Qiong led the army to capture Shaanxi, Chen Qing led an army of [-] troops to Hangu Pass, and at the same time, Liu Cui led an army of [-] to cross the Yellow River from Fengling and swept across Shanzhou on the north bank of the Yellow River. counties.

Hedong and the Central Plains are not bounded by the Yellow River, but by the Zhongtiao Mountains in the south. Therefore, even if the Song Army swept across the north bank of the Yellow River, it would have no effect on Hedong. The Zhongtiao Mountains and the Zhongtiao Mountains are finally connected with the Taihang Mountains, enclosing the River East.

Another army of 7000 people was led by the governor Wang Duo, and occupied Guozhou where no soldiers were stationed.

Hangu Pass became the top priority for attacking the Weihan Ancient Road.

And at this moment, the spies sent by Zhe Keqiu also rushed to Hangu Pass.

"what!"

Kong Yanzhou's eyes widened, he grabbed the scout by the collar and shouted, "What the hell are you talking about? How could Shan County fall?"

The spy tremblingly said: "Don't dare to deceive Kong Dutong, Shan County was indeed captured by the Song army, and we also attacked the city, causing more than a thousand casualties."

Kong Yanzhou calmed down slowly. In fact, he also knew that there was a loophole in the Weihan Ancient Road. He could pass through the candle water, or even the Yellow River. .

Kong Yanzhou immediately turned around and asked Sima, "How much food and grass do we have?"

"Reporting to Dutong, the grain and grass are relatively sufficient. There are 10,000 shi of grain and [-]+ dan of fodder!"

Kong Yanzhou nodded, and reported to the spies: "Go back and tell your commander-in-chief that I will stick to it for a month, and ask him to take back Shan County within a month. Otherwise, Shanzhou is over, and Luoyang can't hold on for long!"

Kong Yanzhou simply wrote another pigeon letter and sent it to Bianliang, asking Wanyan Wushu to put pressure on Zhe Keqiu. He knew that Wanyan Wushu would lead an army to retake Jianghuai, and if Shanzhou fell, Wanyan would be severely restrained. Wushu's strategy, he can ignore him if he can, but he will definitely not be able to withstand the pressure of Wanyan Wushu.

……

The [-] Song Army camped two miles in front of Hangu Pass. This was Chen Qing's first visit to Hangu Pass. Surrounded by his generals, he came to Hangu Pass to inspect the enemy's situation.

The guide Zhang Hua introduced to Chen Qing and the generals: "The south is Xiaoshan Mountain, which extends eastward, but there is also a branch extending northward to the Yellow River. Hangu Pass is this canyon, to be precise, it is not a pass, but the entire canyon has been built into a pass city, and there are four passes in total.”

Chen Qing saw clearly that a city gate was built in front of the canyon, with high walls on both sides in an arc, and finally connected to the cliff.