Fenghou

Chen Qing shook his head, "Go and have a look first!"

There was no one guarding the gate of the barracks, and they entered the barracks directly. The barracks was deserted, and there was not a single soldier to be seen. After passing through several rows of houses, the houses were also empty.

Just when it was strange, there was a loud shout from a room in front, "Big! Big! Big! Give me a big!" At the same time, countless people laughed.

Chen Qing walked over, but saw a room full of people, surrounded by a small table with three floors inside and three floors outside, several generals were throwing dice, and the table was surrounded by copper coins.

Chen Qing finally got a little annoyed, whether it was gambling or whoring, or eating and drinking, is this the army he wants to bring to suppress the bandits?

"Go beat the drums and gather troops!"

Zheng Ping ran to the big drum and raised the drumsticks to beat it.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!" The sound of the drums was dense. This was one hundred and eight drums for gathering soldiers, and all soldiers were required to gather.

The sound of the drums was earth-shattering and could be heard miles away. The soldiers were stunned. For a moment, there was chaos everywhere. The soldiers who were drinking and eating jumped up and ran towards the school grounds. , The red-faced gambler soldier also came out of the room, looking at Chen Qing and the others in surprise.

"I'm Chen Qing, the commander of the Western Army's scout battalion!"

Chen Qing first introduced himself to the two thousand soldiers. The only thing that satisfied him was that the two thousand soldiers were not absent from duty and they were all here. Although many of them arrived a little later, Chen Qing didn't want to take them into action today.

"Starting today, I will be the commander in chief. Our task is to wipe out Zhang Kui's army in Muzhou!"

As soon as Chen Qing finished speaking, the soldiers were in an uproar. They were actually asked to beat Zhang Kui. Could they survive?

"General Chen, you didn't... Are you kidding me!" one of them asked nervously.

"Am I joking?"

Chen Qing's voice became severe, and he shouted to the 2000 people: "Many people thought they were going to die when they heard that Zhang Kui was attacked. Could it be that he is more terrifying than the Jurchens? I, Chen Qing, led a thousand troops in Guanzhong and Longzhou Fighting against tens of thousands of golden soldiers, winning many battles and killing countless enemies, a mere Zhang Kui frightened you out of your courage. The same Song army, why is there such a huge difference? When the country is in crisis, don’t you just eat, drink, whore and gamble? Don't even the most basic soldiers have blood?"

Several people bowed their heads in shame, the two thousand soldiers were silent, Chen Qing said slowly again: "I will never force anyone, if you don't want to attack Zhang Kui with me, you can leave now, if you want to follow me Attacking Zhang Kui, I can promise everyone that after destroying Zhang Kui, I will give all his money to everyone, and I, Chen Qing, will not take any money!"

With both kindness and strength, none of the 2000 people left in the end.

Chen Qing then divided the 2000 people into four battalions. He himself led one battalion, Hu Yantong, Liu Qiong, and Zheng Ping each led another battalion, and selected fifty capable soldiers to form a scout battalion, led by Zhao Xiaoyi.

At this time, the Military Weapons Supervision and Craftsman Supervision sent people to bring the armor and supplies, and also sent [-] carts to help them carry the supplies.

Although Chen Qing was mentally prepared, he was disappointed when he saw all kinds of supplies. There were no bed crossbows, no god arm crossbows, and no siege weapons. There were only five hundred half-old military crossbows and five hundred The secondary guard bow, [-] semi-old shields, [-] flags of various colors, and tens of thousands of arrows. A thousand pairs of old leather armor, dozens of pairs of chain mail and bronze helmets.

Soldiers are currently wearing cloth armor with hats, spears and sabers in their hands. Cloth armor is no good, and even ordinary bows and arrows cannot be defended. They must wear leather armor. Although leather armor cannot defend against military crossbows, at least Can resist ordinary bows and arrows.

After putting on the armor, it was already dark, and there was no need to unload the carts for all kinds of supplies. After a two-hour rest, Chen Qing led [-] troops and [-] carts and set off overnight to kill Muzhou in the southwest. go.

……

On the second day after Chen Qing led the army to leave, there was good news in Lin'an City. The army and the people need this kind of exciting news too much. Even in the distant Guanzhong, the city was filled with joy and the sound of firecrackers kept coming and going.

In fact, Zhang Jun had already reported the battle situation of Monk Yuan to the emperor by means of flying pigeons, this time it was an official military report.

Zhang Jun himself also arrived in Lin'an at the same time, ready to report to the emperor.

Zhang Jun has been in the officialdom for many years, and he is very familiar with the various rules of the officialdom, and he is also well versed in the tricks of the officialdom outside the rules. He did not send someone to deliver the official report alone, but let the official report go with him. Good news to set off their own debriefing.

Otherwise, by the time I report on my work, the heat of victory has passed, and the effect of the report will be halved.

When the emperor Zhao Gou heard about Zhang Jun's arrival, he immediately summoned Zhang Jun in the imperial study. Accompanied by the emperor, there were Prime Minister Lv Yihao and two deputy ministers, Qin Hui, the official of the government, and Fan Zongyin, the right servant of the Shangshu, and Li Huiye, the official of the Privy Council. sitting.

After seeing the ceremony, Zhao Gou gave him a seat and said with a smile: "Last time when Fuping was first defeated, I said that victory or defeat is a common matter in military affairs. Jin soldiers are above sharpness, and defeat is normal, but Aiqing's resilience later Very good! You beheaded Wanyan Loushi, defeated the golden soldiers in Heshangyuan, and the opponent’s coach was also killed. Although it is the credit of Wu Jie, Wang Yan and other generals, but more importantly, you are a qualified coach. The dispatch of troops is well-mannered, which also proves that I did not use the wrong person when I asked you to go to Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces."

"All of us in the Western Army are deeply moved. This great victory is due to His Majesty's great fortune. Without His Majesty's determination to rejuvenate the Song Dynasty, the morale would not be so high. No matter how talented the general is, he would not succeed. We also borrowed from His Majesty." upward trend."

This flattery is good, and the final credit belongs to the emperor.

Zhao Gou is really happy that he is far in the southeast, and can also affect the far west.

At this time, Prime Minister Lu Yihao asked: "I look at Xuan Fushi's military merit books. The first one is that he was in charge of Wu Jie, and the second is that he was in charge of Wang Yan. I can understand all these. They are the chief generals, and of course they have to bear the leadership. However, the third major contributor is Commander Chen Qing, so I am a little confused, what kind of merit does a mere battalion commander achieve to rank third?"

The privy envoy Li Hui suddenly asked: "Is this Chen Qing beheading the Chen Qing of Wanyan Loushi?"

Zhao Gou was stunned, why did he feel that the name sounded familiar? It turned out to be the brave general who beheaded Yan Loushi.

"Is it because he beheaded Wanyan Loushi that he ranked third in the credit list?"

Zhang Jun leaned back and said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, his credit is not for beheading Wanyan Loushi, but for what I wrote in the military newspaper. He led [-] soldiers of the Song Army to fight against [-] Jin soldiers at Jiandao Pass." Although almost all of them were killed in battle, they still held the Jiandao Pass, making it impossible for the Jin soldiers on the West Road to go south, creating conditions for the main force of the Song Army to defeat the Jin soldiers in Heshangyuan. The final victory or defeat is still unknown, so although he is just a humble battalion commander, we all agree that he is the real leader."

Everyone nodded silently, and Zhao Gou was really touched and said: "It is because of these soldiers who serve the country loyally that the Song Dynasty can continue under the iron heels of tigers and wolves."

Lu Yihao frowned slightly and said, "Why is the name Chen Qing familiar to me? Where have I seen it? It wasn't about Wanyan Loushi, it seems to be just recently."

Zhang Jun smiled slightly: "He should be in Lin'an now! I recommend him to study martial arts."

Zhao Gou suddenly realized, "I know!"

Chapter 61 Relief

Zhao Gou found a report from the closet beside him, and said with a smile to everyone: "This is the result of the martial arts entrance examination, and the No. 1 is Chen Qing. I also said at the time that this name looks familiar. "

Zhang Jun hurriedly laughed and said, "Your Majesty, since he can kill Wanyan Loushi, who is known as the number one general in the Kingdom of Jin, his martial arts can certainly rank first in martial arts."

"Not bad! It seems that he deserves his name. Where is he now? I want to meet this brave general."

Li Hui, who knew the privy affairs, smiled and said: "Your Majesty, I just remembered that this Chen Qing has unveiled the first list, and he should lead the army to Muzhou to wipe out the tyrant Zhang Kui."

One after another, not only the emperor Zhao Gou was more interested in Chen Qing, but also several ministers wanted to meet this legendary hero of the Western Army.

……

Muzhou is the area of ​​Chun'an County in western Zhejiang, today's Qiandao Lake area. Of course, there was no Qiandao Lake in the Song Dynasty, and the prefecture of Muzhou is Chun'an County.

Chen Qing led the army to march for two days. At noon, they were still about ten miles away from Chun'an County. Chen Qing ordered the soldiers to rest where they were, and asked Zhao Xiaoyi to take a team of scouts to check the situation.

Since Han Shizhong told himself that He Zhizhou asked for help from the court, it is likely that Zhang Kui went down the mountain, so he can't be careless.

In the pine forest, the soldiers were so exhausted that they collapsed to the ground, and many of them were snoring loudly. In fact, they had been given rest on the road, and even slept through the night last night, but the soldiers were still exhausted, and they were too tired to walk.

Chen Qing shook his head secretly, this army was seriously under-trained, and its physical strength was too weak. With this state, it would undoubtedly lose when fighting against the enemy.

To forge iron, you have to be hard on your own. If you want to wipe out bandits, you must first have an army capable of fighting.

Not long after, Zhao Xiaoyi rushed back with his men and shouted: "The bandits are attacking the county seat, and there are about four to five thousand people!"

The faces of a group of soldiers next to them turned pale. There were only 5000 of the opponent's 2000 soldiers. How could they fight?

Chen Qing didn't hesitate, he had a plan for this situation, Chen Qing immediately said to Hu Yantong and Liu Qiongling: "Implement according to the previously scheduled plan!"

"Follow the order!"

Hu Yantong and Liu Qiong yelled to the soldiers: "Get up and cut branches with me!"

Soon, the soldiers cut down countless pine branches. Chen Qing asked the coachmen to untie the mules, tie several pine branches to each mule, and ordered [-] coachmen to put on cloth armor, hold spears, and ride on the mules to pretend to be cavalry.

At the same time, Chen Qing asked each of the [-] soldiers to hold two large flags. On the flag was a big "Han" character, inlaid with gold borders around it, and on the other side were the big characters "Dou Tong Zhi".

This is a commander-in-chief flag that Chen Qing specifically asked Han Shizhong for, and it was also to implement his strategy of suspicious soldiers. He had thought of this strategy a long time ago, so he asked the Privy Council for two thousand flags.

"Let's blow the horn together!"

Chen Qing made a gesture to the fifty soldiers, "Listen to my command, one, two, three, blow!"

Fifty soldiers blew their horns together, "Woo-oo-"

The sound of the trumpet was deep and distant, and could be clearly heard from the county town.

"set off!"

Two thousand troops set off, with their banners unfurled, two thousand big flags fluttering with the wind, forming a cloud of flags, followed by three hundred mules, sweeping the ground with pine branches and flying dust, forming a spectacular scene of billowing yellow dust.

Huge war drums beating 'Boom!Boom!Boom! 'It was knocked loudly.

From a distance, there are no 2000 people here, but it is clearly 1 people.

Zhang Kui, who was attacking the county seat, suddenly heard the sound of a horn. It was the arrival of an army. He was taken aback and ordered his men to go inquire about the situation.

Not long after, the spies flew to report, "Commander, a group of officers and soldiers was found in the northeast, about ten thousand people, and they were coming towards the county town, about seven or eight miles away."

"Have you seen where the army is?"

"It seems to be Han Shizhong's army, and I saw his handsome flag!"

"Are you sure it's his handsome flag?"

"Sure!"

Zhang Kui really didn't want to retreat, the county was about to be captured, at this critical moment, reinforcements arrived again, it was actually Han Shizhong.

You must know that his boss Miao Fu and Liu Zhengyan were killed by Han Shizhong. He hated Han Shizhong to the core, but he was also afraid of him from the bottom of his heart.

"Pass my order, the army is in formation, ready to fight!"

The four thousand rebels gave up attacking the county seat and began to gather quickly. Zhang Kui was extremely suspicious. He wanted to see with his own eyes whether it was Han Shizhong or not.

At this time, Chen Qing's leader had already killed six miles away, and he could see the county town and the assembled army from a distance.

Zhao Xiaoyi rushed over and shouted: "Report to the commander, the enemy army has formed an formation and is ready to fight us!"

Several of them were trembling with fright, and whispered to Chen Qing: "Commander, the enemy must have seen through our disguise, why don't you stop!"

Chen Qing ordered coldly: "Don't stop, the mule and the coachman switch to the front, speed up for me!"

The soldiers' faces were pale with fright, and each of them was thinking about how to escape during the battle?

Not long after, the officers and soldiers had already killed five miles away, and there were cavalry in front, holding spears, billowing yellow dust behind them, and overwhelming battle flags behind them, with an astonishing momentum.

Zhang Kui saw the banner clearly, and it turned out to be Han Shizhong's own handsome banner, and he was in the team.

The bandits were also taken aback by the opponent's momentum, and they all shouted: "Marshal, retreat quickly! We can't outrun the cavalry."

"withdraw!"

When Zhang Kui gave an order, the four thousand rebels were already frightened and ran wildly towards the direction of Qianligang in the south. After a while, they gradually ran away.

The thousand city and country guards at the head of the city suddenly cheered.

The two thousand soldiers had already run three miles away, and finally stopped. Everyone was so frightened that their legs trembled, and their calves were cramped from exhaustion, and they couldn't run anymore.

The faces of the three hundred coachmen turned pale with fright, their spears could not be held firmly, and their whole bodies were shaking like chaff. Fortunately, the dust swept up by the branches covered the mule and the coachman, and the other party could not see clearly.

If Zhang Kui later learned that the so-called cavalry actually rode mules, he would be so angry that he would spit out his old blood.

Hu Yantong laughed loudly and gave a thumbs up, "The commander's move is really clever. Hundreds of mules actually scared away four thousand thugs."

Chen Qing said with a smile: "The key to this tactic is not to show weakness at all. Now that the chips have been bet on it, we can simply stud boldly. In the end, whoever can't hold on will lose."

"Not bad! Not bad! No wonder our Han Shuai praised you for your courage, but what is Stud?"

Chen Qing said indifferently: "Stud is to bet on all the family property, including his wife and children. To put it in a more elegant way, it is to fight with one's back, put one's life on the line and survive!"

……

The city of Chun'an County was once rebuilt by Fang La, and the city walls were very tall and strong. Zhizhou He Jian mobilized a thousand soldiers from the township and the whole city people to defend the city, so that the city could not be lost.

He Jian accompanied Chen Qing to inspect the city wall, and said as they walked: "Zhang Kui is very cruel. Many people don't want to rebel against him, so he wiped out his whole family. He wiped out hundreds of households in Muzhou. As for those with a little property The rich households were also robbed cleanly by him, and the women were also robbed to the mountains to serve as the wives of the village. They had to be redeemed with money, and if they could not be redeemed, they would be sold to brothels in other places after they had spoiled enough."

Chen Qing nodded, "It is also because of his unscrupulous plundering and killing that his subordinates are willing to work for him."

"It's true. His subordinates are very tough. When attacking the city, none of them are afraid of death. Fortunately, they don't have many ladders to attack the city. If they were fully prepared and fully blossomed, the county would have fallen long ago."

Speaking of this, He Jian said to Chen Qing worriedly: "With all due respect, your troops are too small and your training seems insufficient. I'm afraid you really are not Zhang Kui's opponent!"

He Jian said it very politely. When the two thousand soldiers entered the city, they were all exhausted like dogs. They couldn't walk. They supported each other, stuck out their tongues, dragged their legs, took off their armor and threw them on the ground Dragging away, there is no trace of military appearance, it looks like the kind of soldier bastard who is full of food and dawdles, which really disappointed the soldiers and civilians in the city.

Chen Qing smiled slightly and said: "So I am not in a hurry to suppress the bandits. Sharpening a knife is not a mistake for woodcutters. Sharpen the knife first, and then it will not be too late to attack Zhang Kui!"

He Jian sighed, "If the commander needs anything, just ask!"

Chapter 62 Sharpening Knives

In the early morning of the next day, before dawn, the drums in the barracks were rumbling.

The sleepy soldiers were awakened one after another. After yesterday's march and battle, they more or less restrained their previous tiredness and became a little bit of a soldier.

No matter how sleepy they were, the soldiers had no choice but to curse and get up, put on their armor indiscriminately, and ran towards the school field without even washing their faces.

Chen Qing already had one available army, fifty scouts led by Zhao Xiaoyi.

These scouts were all selected elites with good physical strength and strong bodies. Although they had many faults, they could become Chen Qing's temporary military police with a little guidance.

Otherwise, Liu Qiong and Zheng Ping would have to do things like pull it down and hit the board.

Not long after, the two thousand soldiers arrived, and Chen Qing watched the last dozen or so soldiers coming.

Before dawn, the soldiers held up torches, and Chen Qing said loudly: "Let's talk about the assembly in the morning first. For our first assembly in the barracks, 37 people were late. When we assembled this morning, there were fewer people. 16 people were late. In any army, it is a felony to fail to reach the deadline, today is the last time I don’t care about it, but starting from tomorrow, if you are late once, you will be beaten with [-] sticks, and if you are late three times, you will be beheaded for public display!”