Fenghou

More than a dozen generals immediately cheered, and at this moment, a war drum was faintly heard in the distance, which should have come from outside the city.

Miao Xiu nodded and said: "It seems that our opportunity has come, the whole army will go to the East City!"

The east city was defended by Miao Xiu's army. At this time, [-] Song troops outside the city gathered at the four city gates, and outside the east city was Niu Gao's army. He led [-] troops to line up hundreds of steps outside the city. The second step is to harvest the surrendered soldiers.

Miao Xiu led a large group of generals to the city, and all [-] troops also went to the city. Miao Xiu looked at the Song army in the distance, feeling a little hesitant in her heart.

At this time, a soldier rushed to report, "The king of Nancheng led his army out of the city and surrendered!"

Miao Xiu turned pale with shock, unexpectedly Wang Lifeng took the first step, he regretted it, and quickly ordered: "Open the city gate, leave the city and surrender!"

A white flag was hung on the tower of the east city, the city gate was opened wide, and a large group of soldiers came out with white flags and surrendered.

"General, could it be an enemy trick?" A general whispered to Niu Gao.

"It doesn't look like it!"

Niu Gao knew it well, no matter how many tricks he tried, he would not dare to take the risk of opening the city gate.

Holding a long spear and a large shield, he led his men to meet them. At this moment, Miao Xiu and the generals urged their horses out, took off their helmets and said, "Controlling Miao Xiu led ten thousand people under his command to return to the Song Dynasty, begging the general to include them."

Niu Gao was overjoyed, nodded and said: "Welcome General Miao to return, but order the soldiers to leave the city quickly, put down their weapons, and gather far away, we will give preferential treatment to the brothers!"

Miao Xiu turned her head and shouted: "Run out of the city, put down your weapons, and gather far away!"

The surrendering soldiers ran, dropped their weapons after leaving the city, and ran to a distance. Niu Gao ordered General Gu Kai to lead an army of three thousand to receive the surrendering soldiers.

Niu Gao personally led [-] soldiers to kill inside the city, his most urgent task now is to capture the east gate.

The city was already in chaos. Han Chang was still leading the soldiers to collect the leaflets, but he heard two consecutive news that shocked him. Wang Lifeng, who was in charge of the south city, led his army out of the city to surrender to the Song army, and Miao Xiu of the east city also led his army to surrender. .

Han Chang was stunned by these two news, and stood there for a long time unable to say a word.

A soldier next to him pointed to a big house and said, "Master Wan, there must be a list in this house, I'll go and search for it!"

"Still searching for a fart! Run for your life!"

He turned the carriage and ran towards the north city gate, "Follow me!"

Hundreds of soldiers also turned their horses and fled after him. The reason why he rushed to the north gate was because he had just received the news that there were a large number of Song soldiers at the three gates of the east, west and south, but there were no Song soldiers outside the north city.

At this time, sporadic battles broke out in the city, mainly in the barracks. Yang Zaixing's army entered the city from the south gate, surrounded more than a thousand Jurchen soldiers, and the two sides fought fiercely.

Niu Gao's army also encountered two thousand soldiers who refused to surrender on the east street, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides.

Han Chang didn't care about these things, he rushed to the north city gate, ordered to open the city gate, the city guard was not at the gate, the city guard commander did not dare to stop him, opened the city gate, and put down the drawbridge.

Han Chang led hundreds of soldiers to rush out of the city gate. He didn't dare to stay, and ran to the northeast quickly...

At this time, he could no longer go to Taiyuan, so he could only flee eastward, crossing the Taihang Mountains to Hebei.

Chapter 778 Joining Forces

The Yangliang South Pass was finally captured by the Song army. This dangerous pass built on the mountainside was three feet high, and it was built on a high place. Looking up at it from the south, it was a full seven feet high. A rolling log and stone can Killing and injuring dozens of people can be said to be one man in charge, and ten thousand men can't open it.

Huyantong's army attacked for five days, with more than [-] casualties, but they couldn't overcome this dangerous pass, but it was finally conquered by the Song army who came from the north without any effort.

The reason still lies in the pass itself, which can only accommodate more than a hundred people, so most of the soldiers are stationed on the mountain road to the north.

Li Muqing led [-] Song troops to attack from the north. It was night again, and the enemy was caught off guard. In the chaos, countless soldiers fled to the pass, but the pass was too late. The soldiers inside couldn't resist the wolf-like Song army at all, and they were all killed in a blink of an eye, without even a chance to surrender.

Surprised, happy and ashamed, Hu Yantong led the crowd to rush forward, clasped his fists to Li Muqing and said, "Thank you Li Tongzhi for your assistance, otherwise this pass will be breached at some point?"

Li Muqing smiled slightly and said: "General Huyan doesn't need to blame himself. The county king also knew that this pass is difficult to attack, so he sent me to attack from the north. The county king ordered that General Huyan cooperate with General Niu Gao to stay in the south of the East Road, and the rest of the army will go north."

"Humble post obeys the order of the county king!"

After the Queshu Valley was completely opened up, Yang Zaixing and his men also captured Linfen City. They received Chen Qing's military order, and Niu Gao served as the military envoy on the southeast road of the river, and Hu Yantong was the deputy general. Yang Zaixing left the soldiers to Niu Gao's disposal He, Liu Cui, and Gao Ding led an army of [-] to march northward to Taiyuan Mansion.

……

At this time, Chen Qing's battalion was stationed in the north of Qingyuan County, Taiyuan Prefecture, about 5000 miles away from Taiyuan City. At the same time, Chen Qing sent the commander Zhang Yun to lead an army of [-] people to occupy Pingding County and control Jingxing Pass.

Chen Qing was not in a hurry to attack Taiyuan City, but first controlled the counties around Taiyuan City, and finally he patiently waited for the reinforcements from the north to arrive.

At noon that day, Yang Zaixing and others led an army of [-] to the camp of the main force. Yang Zaixing and the others went to the camp of the Chinese army to meet the general Chen Qing.

"See the county king!"

The three of them knelt down on one knee and clasped their fists together to salute.

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "The three generals have worked hard, please get up!"

Chen Qing asked the soldiers to bring three stools and let the three of them sit down.

"I thought you would come a few days late, but I didn't expect to win Linfen County so quickly, which was beyond my expectation."

Yang Zaixing sighed and said, "Without the county king's heart attack plan, it would be impossible for Linfen County to be taken down so quickly. We didn't expect that after the plan was implemented, the enemy army would surrender. It was really unexpected. If we had known that we would still have Siege for what?"

Chen Qing smiled and said: "This kind of psychological tactics will not be effective all the time. If it is implemented a few days earlier, they will not surrender. The key is to have the weather, location, and people. Total breakdown."

Liu Cui leaned forward and said, "Can the king of the county explain in detail, what is the right time, what is the right location, and what is the harmony of people?"

Chen Qing said with a smile: "The weather is the current situation. Wanyan Yinshu suffered a disastrous defeat in northern Shaanxi, and Wanyan Nianhan's entire army was wiped out. The opponent's soldiers have already realized that it is only a matter of time before we seize the Hedong Road, and the geographical advantage is ours." Captured the Queshu Valley and cut off their northward retreat to Taiyuan. Human harmony is also very important. They are all Han Chinese, and they are allied troops. Even the leader Han Chang is not a Jurchen. If they are like Wanyan Nianhan, they are all above The generals are all held by the Jurchen, and I am afraid that if the soldiers want to surrender, they will be suppressed by the Jurchen generals."

Gao Ding pondered for a while and said, "Just now the king of the county said that if it was implemented a few days earlier, they would not surrender. In fact, it refers to the favorable location!"

"Yes! It's the location."

Chen Qing said with a smile: "If the Queshu Valley is not taken down, the generals will still have a way out, and they will still have a chance. They will not think that this is the only opportunity in front of them, so I have not asked you to carry out scheming until I completely Winning Fenzhou and stopping their thoughts of going north, this is the opportunity to implement the offensive strategy, and the conditions in all aspects are mature, and they will succeed in one fell swoop!"

Yang Zaixing said with a wry smile: "I am ashamed of my lowly position! Only now do I understand the arrangements of the county king."

Chen Qing nodded slightly and said: "If you are good at learning and summarizing, you will gradually accumulate experience. I believe you will mature soon."

"Your Majesty, how do you fight Taiyuan City?" Liu Cui scratched her head and asked embarrassedly.

Chen Qing pondered for a while and said, "Taiyuan City is actually not difficult to fight, but I want to besiege the city and fight for aid."

"Does the king think there will be reinforcements?"

Chen Qing shook his head, "I had some hope before, but now I have realized that the possibility is not great."

Yang Zaixing hurriedly said: "The general who surrendered also told the humble officer that Wanyan Yinshu has the idea of ​​giving up Taiyuan, maybe he wants to give up Taiyuan City and concentrate his troops to defend Datong Mansion."

"It makes sense, but Wanyan Yinshu doesn't dare to give up Taiyuan, he has to get the approval of the court, but how can the Kingdom of Jin give up Taiyuan so easily, they would rather die in battle with Wanyan Yinshu than allow them Abandon Taiyuan."

Speaking of this, Chen Qing said indifferently: "So we must attack the city, but I am waiting for your warship, Yang Dutong, when will the ship I told you arrive?"

"Report to the county king, come in two days at the latest!"

……

There were indeed only [-] Jurchen troops in Taiyuan City, and their strength was so stretched that two voices appeared in the city. One side believed that a large number of young and strong Taiyuan should be recruited into the army to participate in the defense of the city, and the other side believed that the Han people were unreliable and could not be recruited.

Wanyan Yinshu is the representative of the latter faction. Even though the former faction has the upper hand, Wanyan Yinshu is determined not to give in and never recruits Han Chinese. When Han Chang sent the briefing on the destruction of Linfen City in Shangdang County with Eagle Letter Since then, no one has asked to recruit Han people.

Facts have proved the wisdom of Wanyan's silver tricks. If Han people are recruited as soldiers at this time, if they can't be made to die for the Kingdom of Jin, then they will definitely open the city and surrender like the Linfen defenders, and give Taiyuan City as a gift. To Chen Qing.

But being wise is wise, the weakness of Jin Bing is indeed great, there are only [-] troops, how can we defend Taiyuan City?

On the top of the city, Wanyan Yinshu sat on the soft couch and sighed lazily to Wanyan Ahu: "The biggest mistake I made was that I shouldn't have sent the live girl to defend Fenzhou!"

Wanyan Ahu was silent and speechless, he understood what the commander meant, if Wanyan's live girl was not in Fenzhou, he would not have to take the risk of attacking Chen Qing, and even his [-] troops would not be sent to Qi County, then there would be three soldiers in the city. With an army of ten thousand, it is much easier to deal with the Song army.

Wanyan Ahu was silent for a moment and said: "In fact, the commander can also ask General Ba Lisu to send [-] troops to Taiyuan, so Taiyuan will have [-] troops."

Yin Shuke shook his head, "Although Ba Lisu is my brother, I can't order him. He refuses to divide his troops, but instead asks me to give up Taiyuan and go north, and guard Datong Mansion with him."

"Actually, this plan is not bad. In this way, we can at least keep the northern part of Hedong Road, and we can go south to recapture Taiyuan City at any time. This can also restrain the Song army from marching towards Hebei. It is actually not wise to defend Taiyuan City."

Yin Shuke sighed, "I also know that this plan is good. Forty thousand Jurchen troops will gather in Datong Mansion. As long as the Song Army dares to go north, I will be able to fight the Song Army in the wild. I also have the confidence to defeat the Song Army. I also want to give up. Taiyuan is going north, but the court has been refusing to make a statement! Tarlan is also asking me to persevere, and if I persist, he will not let me go north, and I can't go north without authorization."

Wanyan Ahulan knows the difficulties of the coach, the coach is only the nominal coach of the East Road, the real coach of the East Road is Talan, and if Tarlan doesn't let go, the coach can't give up Taiyuan and go north.

At this moment, a soldier came to report, "Report to Marshal Zuo, Shangjing Yingxin!"

"Give it to me!"

The soldiers hurriedly presented the eagle letter to Wanyan Yinshuke. Yinshuke opened the eagle letter and read it carefully. It was Wanyan Tarlan's own handwriting. There were only four words on it, "Stick to Taiyuan!"

Chapter 779

In the dark night, a fleet of [-] large ships was sailing north in line, and there were trackers on the shore pulling the ropes to keep the speed of sailing from going too fast.

These thirty large ships are all three thousand stone large ships, but they are not cargo ships or passenger ships, but a special type of ship called a siege ship.

This is a unique military ship of the Western Army. Using the opponent's moat to use ships to attack the city, it is equivalent to a kind of water nest car, with special ladders and cross-city bridge passages, which can run directly from the bow of the ship to the top of the city.

Not only that, in order to prevent the enemy's fire attack, these ships are covered with raw cowhide on the deck and sides of the ship, which can protect the ship from fire attack to a certain extent.

This fleet was originally used to deal with Hedong City, but it was useless. Later, it was planned to be used against Linfen County, but it was still useless. This time Chen Qing transferred them to deal with Taiyuan City.

Of course, not every city can use this kind of siege ship. First of all, it must be a big city with a wide moat connected to the river itself and part of the waterway. Secondly, the distance between the moat and the city wall should not be too far. The ladder itself can be extended and retracted, and the city wall can be built at a distance of five feet, but that is too risky. Generally, a distance of about one foot is the most suitable distance, which is also the most common distance.

The moat of Taiyuan City is about eight feet away from the city wall, which is very suitable for using siege ships to attack the city. Chen Qing's first idea was to use siege ships.

The next morning, a fleet of [-] large ships finally arrived at Taiyuan City and stopped about [-] miles away from Taiyuan City.

At this time, Chen Qing was about one mile away from Taiyuan City, observing this famous big city. Taiyuan City was the land of Longxing in the Tang Dynasty. It can accommodate more defensive soldiers and more large defensive weapons, and it is very difficult to attack. If the [-] Jurchen troops in the city are properly deployed and defended, they can also firmly defend Taiyuan City.

Chen Qing's eyes fell on the water gate. The water gate is not like the city gate. It uses iron fences that move up and down, and there are two inside and outside. They were far away, but Chen Qing could still feel the thickness of the iron fence. Their gunpowder would deform it at most and could not break it.

The intelligence also said that the iron fences in Taiyuan City were only updated last year, and each fence is as thick as a wrist, which may be even more difficult to break.

It is also unrealistic to cooperate internally and externally. There are no Han people in the city to join the army. They are all Jurchen soldiers. Their scouts cannot be mixed into the guarding army, and it is said that Wanyan Yinshu has bought a group of beggars to monitor the whole city for him. Once there is a gathering of people in the whole city, the Jurchens will kill them immediately.

This also prevented Chen Qing from sending troops to sneak into Taiyuan City.

Facing the impeccable defensive deployment of Wanyan Yinshu, they have no chance of opportunistic, and can only deploy a large army to attack.

At this time, a soldier came to report, "Qi to the county king, Yang Dutong said that thirty warships have arrived!"

Chen Qing nodded, "Back to camp!"

More than a thousand cavalry escorted Chen Qing and ran towards the camp in the south...

At night, a group of 300 Jurchen soldiers surrounded a small courtyard near the south city gate. The Jurchen soldiers kicked open the gate and rushed in. A moment later, there were screams in the room.

Not long after, more than [-] men were dragged into the yard, all trembling with fright, the Jurchen soldiers tied them up, threw them into the carriage and took them away.

Dozens of Jurchen soldiers began to thoroughly search the houses, but found nothing except a pile of copper coins and a dozen sets of gambling tools.

Wanyan Yinshu got the report very quickly. A group of 25 people in total were arrested near the South City Gate. The current interrogation and investigation shows that it should be a gathering of people to gamble, not a gathering of Song army scouts.

The captain on duty bowed and said: "This is a clue provided by a beggar. Please show me how to deal with it, Marshal."

Wanyan Yinshu nodded and said: "Regardless of whether the scouts of the Song Army gathered or not, the key is to find out in time, which shows that our dark-eyed strategy is correct. Reward this beggar ten taels of silver, as for the twenty or so gamblers , violated the ban on gatherings, and each of them chopped off one hand and released them."

"As ordered!"

The captain hurried away.

Ten days ago, Wanyan Yinshuke issued a ban on gatherings, prohibiting any gathering of more than three men. For this reason, gambling halls, inns, and bathhouses are all closed, and even restaurants can only eat with two people, unless It's women or children together, and even the government doesn't allow more than three people to get together.

At the same time, Wanyan Yinkeshu bought hundreds of beggars in the city and asked them to secretly monitor the gatherings in the city. This plan is called the dark eye strategy. Each of these beggars can get one hundred coins a day. If you find someone partying, you will get a big reward.

If you violate the ban on gatherings, you will be severely punished, ranging from a severe beating to amputation of hands and feet, or even your life.

More than [-] people gather to gamble, which is a serious violation of the ban on gatherings. Wanyan Silver Technique can only cut off their hands, which is considered a favor.

Not far from the small courtyard where Gaga was arrested, there was a small grocery store. The grocery store was opened by an old couple, and there were only two of them in the store. Bing never doubted them.

At night, a man in Tsing Yi knocked on the door of the store and asked, "I want to buy a few catties of sugar, is there any in the store?"

"Yes, come in and talk!"

The man in Tsing Yi walked into the small shop in a blink of an eye. The door was open, and people could see shopping inside.

This grocery store is an important information point for Song Jun. This old couple is the parents of a scout commander. They are from Taiyuan and live in Taiyuan City. It is very suitable for them to open this small store.

Normally, farmers outside the city would enter the city and sell vegetables at the city gate. They were not allowed to enter the city. Many farmers would come to this small grocery store to buy something by the way. Jin Bing didn't doubt it. The dishes are exchanged directly, why bother?

However, the gates of the city have been closed these days, and only a very small number of vegetable sellers are allowed to enter the city for an hour at noon, and the vegetable sellers will be monitored by the Jurchens. In addition, the ban on gatherings has been issued in the city, so this small grocery store has become a The best place for information exchange.

When the old man weighed the candy, he quietly put a note in front of the man in Tsing Yi. The man in Tsing Yi looked at the note, and the old man put the note in the stove and burned it.

"Let me tell you, the price of sugar has risen. A catty of sugar costs five hundred Wen, and two catties cost the same."

The man in Tsing Yi put a string of money on the table and went out with a candy bag. As soon as he came out, a group of patrolling Jurchen soldiers stopped him and searched him all over, even the paper on which the candy was wrapped.

"Why do you come here to buy things?" the Jurchen Centurion asked.

"No way, his family is the only one in the city that has brown sugar, and his wife needs brown sugar water to replenish blood during confinement."