Fenghou

Wu Yongjin was grateful, but also went all out.

At this time, more than 100 servants brought by Wu Yongjin were the scouts of the Western Army in disguise. According to the agreed time, they rushed to the North City Gate.

More than 100 Western Army scouts were hiding in the alley, and Wu Yongjin brought a few ox carts full of alleys.

"Why is Wu Sima here?"

Of course the general on duty at the city gate knew Wu Sima. Wu Yongjin pointed to the box behind him and said, "You guys escort the box to the riverside wharf, and then help me carry it to the boat. Each person will reward you with a tael of silver, and those who go will have a share."

There is also such a good thing, you can earn a tael of silver by moving a box. The soldiers were very enthusiastic. The general on duty left a few people to guard the gate, and he personally took more than a hundred other soldiers to guard a few ox carts to the riverside.

"Won't Sima Wu go?" The leading general asked strangely when he found that Wu Yongjin hadn't moved.

Wu Yongjin laughed and said, "You guys go! My butler is waiting by the river, I still have something to do."

The general on duty had no doubts, and took the soldiers away. They had just been transferred from the mountain, and more than 100 scouts from the Western Army immediately took over the North City Gate.

The first thousand and 110 chapters ask for advice

Just after two sticks of incense had passed, hundreds of soldiers came rushing from the official road in the distance, yelling, "The Western Army is here, close the city gate!"

A mile away behind them, a western army was chasing after them.

More than 100 people rushed to the bottom of the city, but found that the city gate was closed, the drawbridge was pulled up, and the leader and general cursed, "Idiot, wait until we go in before closing the city gate!"

He was answered with a mighty arrow, 'Whoosh! ’ An arrow hit the throat, and the leading general fell to the ground and died immediately, and the other hundred soldiers scattered and fled in fright.

At this time, [-] soldiers from the Western Army rushed over, the city gate was reopened, the suspension bridge was lowered, and [-] soldiers rushed into the city.

……

With the internal and external cooperation of the Western Army's scouts, the Western Army captured Hengyang County without bloodshed. Two thousand soldiers of the Song Army surrendered. Zhizhou Ma Wenfu and Tongjuan Liu Ji were captured alive. Famous state officials were also arrested and escorted to Jiangling Mansion together with their family members.

Of course, Chen Qing will not kill these officials. All his current military actions will eventually come back to the negotiating table, breaking the tradition of not killing civil officials in the Song Dynasty. A bargaining chip.

Chen Qing is indeed in Jiangling Mansion. Occupying South Jing South Road is not a matter of meeting some officials to solve the problem. What is more important is military deployment. Chen Qing is very clear that he has broken through the boundary set by the emperor Zhao Gou and even the court: he cannot break through the area of ​​Sichuan and Shaanxi. , if you want to break through, you can only break through in the area occupied by the Jin Kingdom in the north.

The occupation of South Jing South Road this time is also the inevitable result of gradually encroaching on South Jing South Road in the past few years. It can be said that it is the last step. Regardless of whether the court has any opinions, he must take this step and continue to push the border eastward.

In the big tent, Chen Qing said to Zheng Ping: "Jiangxia, Jiangling and Xiazhou echoed each other. We have an absolute advantage in the water surface, which can ensure that Jingnan South Road and Sichuan Road are not lost. Among them, Jiangling Mansion is the key, supporting both ends, and the court wants to plot Sichuan Road and Jinghu South Road can only attack Jiangling Mansion by land, in this case, we must strengthen intelligence collection and keep abreast of the movements of the imperial army."

"Remember the humble job!"

Zheng Ping nodded and said: "Mr. Pang reminded Beizhi yesterday, and Beizhi felt that it was necessary to tell His Highness."

Mr. Pang is Pang Hua, Zheng Ping's aide. Just by looking at his name, he knows that he is from the north. He is from the Hejian Prefecture in the place where birch trees grow, and he is Zheng Ping's fellow villager.

"Tell me! What's the matter?"

"Mr. Pang told Beizhi that once the imperial court loses the Jingnan South Road, they will realize the importance of the navy. The imperial court will definitely confiscate the large ships of the sea merchants and quickly form a huge navy team. Beizhi has written a letter to inform It is recommended that he hand over all the ships to the Western Army to avoid being forcibly confiscated by the imperial court, but His Highness should also pay attention to other seaports and try to prevent the sea ships from being confiscated by the imperial court."

Zheng Ping's reminder was very timely. Chen Qing really didn't think of this. Warships have high requirements on the robustness of ships. It is difficult for inland river ships to meet the standard of warships, but the sturdiness of sea-going ships can be compared with warships. If The imperial court forcibly confiscated seagoing ships, and hundreds of large ships could be conscripted in a short period of time.

Chen Qing nodded, "I will notify Hu Yun immediately and let him deal with it with all his strength!"

At this time, a personal soldier said at the door of the big tent: "His Royal Highness, the son of Zhang Jun, the Xuanfu envoy of Huaixi, asked to see him outside the barracks, saying that he has something important to do!"

As soon as Chen Qing changed his mind, he immediately understood that the court must have asked Zhang Jun to take action, and he immediately ordered: "Please come in!"

Not long after, Zhang Ziqi was brought into the big tent by his own soldiers, he bowed and saluted and said, "See His Royal Highness King Yong!"

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "Master Zhang, we haven't seen each other for a long time, how is your father?"

"My father is in good health, thank you Your Highness for your concern."

Chen Qing laughed again: "Did your father receive the imperial order?"

"Your Highness guessed right, that's exactly it!"

Zhang Ziqi took out a letter and handed it to Chen Qing, "This is a handwritten letter from my father to His Highness. I just asked the staff to copy it. I signed it with a seal. Please forgive me, Your Highness!"

Of course, Chen Qing could understand how it was possible for an old man like Zhang Jun to let the handle of the letter fall into his own hands. He could avoid the risk by copying it with his staff and adding a seal.

Chen Qing opened the letter and read it, nodded and said, "I understand what your father means, where is his army now?"

"The juniors don't know where they are now, but I know that the army must be moving slowly."

"Okay! Mr. Zhang, go down to rest first, and I will write a letter for you to take back later."

Several soldiers took Zhang Ziqi down to rest, Chen Qing asked Zheng Ping to step back temporarily, he pondered for a long time, and said to the soldiers: "Go to the city and invite Counselor Zhou and Counselor Jiang!"

Half an hour later, both Zhou Kuan and Jiang Yanxian were invited. Zhou Kuan and Jiang Yanxian happened to participate in the establishment of Shangshuxingtai in Jiangling Mansion. The officials are appointed by the Neizhengtang, and they are all sent from Jingzhao to ensure the control of the Neizhengtang over the various ministers.

"Is there anything important, Your Highness?" Zhou Kuan asked.

"Please sit down, let's sit down and talk!"

Chen Qing asked the two to sit down and handed Zhang Jun's letter to them, "This is from Zhang Jun's son, please take a look!"

Zhou Kuan read the letter first, and then handed the letter to Jiang Yanxian. Zhou Kuan frowned and said, "Does Your Highness think Zhang Jun is sincere? Or is he deliberately showing weakness to make us slack off, and then suddenly attacked Jiangling aggressively."

"There is such a possibility!"

Chen Qing pondered for a while and said: "But I don't think it is very likely. This is not a decisive battle. The sudden seizure of Jiangling Mansion will end the matter. It is not like this. Zhang Jun will definitely face my full counterattack. This is something Zhang Jun can't afford. From what I know about Zhang Jun, he definitely doesn’t want to fight us, but it’s in his best interest to maintain a confrontation, so that he won’t be deprived of his feudal domain. Confrontation."

Jiang Yan first asked: "Then why did His Highness come to me?"

Chen Qing nodded and said: "Because I found that this is an opportunity to seize Jinghu North Road. Although Zhang Jun wants to confront me, I can take the initiative because the war was caused by the other party. I can send [-] cavalry to march south. In a battle between Jingxiang and Zhang Jun's armies, they seized the opportunity to seize Jingbei Road in one fell swoop, so that the imperial court could not steal chickens and lose a handful of rice, but this matter is of great importance, and I would like to hear the opinions of the two of you."

Zhou Kuan shook his head and said: "If the problem can be solved by war, then His Highness can completely attack the Jiangnan East Road and seize the north of the Yangtze River. These are all easy to achieve, even destroying the Song Dynasty is easy to do, but this is what His Highness wants. Is it true? Your Highness wants kingship and justice, not domineering, so I would like to advise His Highness not to take Longwangshu, just got the Jingnan South Road, and the name is not right, and it is too eager and too reckless to want to seize the Jingbei North Road."

Jiang Yanxian asked with a smile: "Why is Your Highness so eager for Jingbei Road?"

Chen Qing said lightly: "What I really want is Xiangyang. If Xiangyang is taken, the Han River will be opened up. The materials from Jiangling Mansion will be transported directly to Shangzhou through the Han River, and then transferred from Shangzhou to Guanzhong. It will be closer than taking the Shu Road." It’s much, much more convenient.”

Jiang Yanxian calmly said: "There are two ways to take Xiangyang, one is to seize it by force, and the other is to let it take the initiative to embrace it. The first way is immoral and too passive. In the second way, the court has nothing to do if it gets angry again, at most it is at the negotiating table, using other methods to appease the court."

Jiang Yanxian's suggestion convinced Chen Qing that there was really no need to use force to seize Xiangyang. The Xiangyang defenders could voluntarily surrender themselves, leaving the court speechless, and finally handed over the Bianliang Palace, altar, ancestral temple, and imperial mausoleum to the court. , It can be regarded as appeasement to the court.

At present, Xiangyang is guarded by the commanding Wang Gui leading an army of [-]. To make Wang Gui surrender, he must not only win over him, but also drive him into a desperate situation. Make a deal.

The first thousand and 110 chapter two cut the river

In Jiangxia, Yang Yuanqing, the governor of the Yangtze River Middle Road Navy, received an urgent order from Chen Qing. The content was very simple, ordering him to immediately lead the army to block the Han River and intercept Zhang Jun's army to the east of the Han River.

Yang Yuanqing immediately led 300 warships with a total of [-] soldiers to attack. The fleet passed through Sanjiangkou and sailed towards Hanshui. Monitor each other's crossing points within hundreds of miles.

This morning, a [-] army arrived in Fuzhou. The army stopped in the south of Jingling County. Jingling County is close to the Han River, and Jiangling Mansion is on the opposite bank.

Zhang Jun stared at the surface of the Hanshui River. The river was very quiet and there were no boats in sight. In fact, this was a signal that there must be military ships upstream or downstream, which prevented merchant ships or fishing boats from sailing.

General Wang Zheng stepped forward and said: "The situation is a bit abnormal. It will not be easy to cross the river the next day. I suggest you choose another place to cross the river!"

Zhang Jun glared at him, "If there are enemy ships, it will not be safe to cross the river anywhere!"

He ordered: "Build a pontoon bridge!"

They collected more than [-] small boats from various small rivers, and the construction soldiers began to quickly use the small boats to build a pontoon bridge. First, they pulled two long ropes to fix the boats in the middle of the ropes. It is the best floating bridge across the river.

Halfway through the shop, someone suddenly pointed at the river and shouted: "Enemy ship!"

Looking around, Zhang Jun saw dozens of large ships several miles to the south, all of which were thousands of stone vehicles, and they were speeding towards this side.

Sure enough, it has come. In fact, this is what Zhang Jun expected. He must have a reason to confront Chen Qing's army. Not being able to cross the Han River and the Yangtze River is the best reason. The court has nothing to say. Who made the court delay Refuse to build ships?

"All retreat! Ming Jin retreats!"

"Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!"

The rapid bell rang, and hundreds of fortification soldiers on the pontoon turned around and rushed to the shore to evacuate. After a while, dozens of warships approached the pontoon bridge. boom! 'The fire was burning on the pontoon bridge, black smoke billowed, and soon the pontoon bridge was engulfed.

……

Within two days, Zhang Jun's army built pontoon bridges to cross the river three times, but they were destroyed by the warships of the Western Army three times. At this time, the logistics of Zhang Jun's army arrived in Jingling County. Zhouzhou was going to fight a protracted war. At the same time, Zhang Jun wrote a military newspaper and ordered people to send it to Lin'an.

At night, Zhang Ziqi was taken to his father's big tent by his own soldiers. He walked back from Yingzhou, but passed by the army. When he found something was wrong, he turned around and came back. He walked for five or six days longer.

This is not to blame for Zhang Ziqi. Zhang Jun's army planned to go to Yingzhou and cross the river from Renshou County, but later found that Yingzhou could not bring a boat, so the army changed to the south where the river network is densely covered.

Zhang Ziqi didn't dare to complain, he reported to his father the process of meeting King Yong, and finally said: "His Royal Highness said that he wanted to make a deal with his father, but he didn't tell the details of the deal, he said it in the letter."

Zhang Jun took the letter and asked a few more questions before letting his son go down to rest. He opened the letter and read it carefully. Invite staff member Wang Jingxiu.

Not long after, Wang Jingxiu walked into the big tent and asked with a smile, "The eldest son is back?"

Zhang Jun nodded and handed the letter to him, "Sir, take a look at this letter, a letter written by King Yong."

Wang Jingxiu opened the letter and read it carefully, and said with a smile, "Prince Yong wants Xiangyang, so please ask Xuanfu envoy to force Wang Gui to fight against him. That's a good idea!"

"Sir, do you think this transaction is inappropriate?"

Wang Jingxiu shook his head, "There is no problem with the transaction itself, but the effect will not be very good. After all, Chen Qing can't control the court. It is Qin Hui and the Queen Mother who can really keep the military power of the Xuanfu envoy."

After a pause, Wang Jingxiu smiled again: "But even if Qin Hui and the Queen Mother are trying to protect them, they still need an excuse, and Chen Qing is just the best excuse, so this deal can be done."

"Then what should I do, I mean Wang Gui, how can I force him to surrender to Chen Qing?" Zhang Jun asked.

"It's easy to say, but it has to be done step by step. Xuanfu envoy might as well ask Wang Gui to send a batch of food, and that's it!"

Wang Jingxiu said a few words in a low voice, Zhang Jun nodded again and again, this move is really vicious!

……

Wang Gui is the second person in the Yue Family Army. When the Yue Family Army was disbanded, he did not choose to surrender to Chen Qing, but directly surrendered to the court. It was also his luck. In order to appease Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun, Zhao Gou, It was necessary to set an example after cutting down the vassal, and this pie fell on Wang Gui. Wang Gui was appointed as the envoy of the Xiangzhou system and commanded [-] troops to guard Xiangzhou, mainly to defend the western army from going south from Dengzhou.

In the past two years, Wang Gui has been cautious, for fear of offending Zhang Jun. He knows that Zhang Jun has always wanted to annex his army, but was stopped by the court, but as long as there is a chance, Zhang Jun will open his bloody mouth and swallow his army. , without the army, my fate might not be as good as that of a small soldier.

This time Zhang Jun led an army of [-] to the west, and Wang Gui was very nervous. On the one hand, he was worried that the western army would annex Xiangyang directly under the pretext of going to war, and on the other hand, he was worried that Zhang Jun would ask for a joint attack on Jiangling, taking the opportunity to annex his own army.

He is like a small fish in a giant crocodile, just wanting to hide in the cracks to survive.

That afternoon, Wang Gui received news that Zhang Jun's [-] troops could not cross the Han River, and the Western Army's warships blocked the river, and they had set up camp in Jingling County, Fuzhou.

This made Wang Gui heave a sigh of relief. Jingling County is about [-] miles away from them, which is still relatively far away. I don't know if Zhang Jun's hands are so long?

As soon as he breathed a sigh of relief, Wang Gui received a message sent by Zhang Jun, asking him to provide [-] shi of grain and [-] pigs and sheep immediately.

Wang Gui couldn't help being extremely annoyed, how could Zhang Jun's rations be provided by himself, he had the whole of Huaixi to provide them with military rations, no matter how bad it was, Fuzhou, Yingzhou, Mianzhou and Hanyang Mansions would provide them with rations and grasses, so he couldn't turn himself in.

However, the other party's request was not too much. He could still afford [-] shi of grain and [-] pigs and sheep. Wang Gui held back his displeasure and sent his confidant general Cheng Zhi to lead a thousand soldiers to escort the cart to Jingling County by land...

Three days later, the grain transport convoy entered Fuzhou, more than [-] miles away from Jingling County. It was already dark, and the convoy and escort soldiers rested in the woods by the river.

Cheng Zhi was a little worried. After passing Renshou County, he found someone following his team. Tonight might be the last night, and if something happened tonight, a feeling of uneasiness flooded his heart. It feels very strong.

He simply carried the knife and walked out of the woods. The woods where they camped was close to the Hanshui River, and this was also a camp specially selected by Cheng Zhi. If there was a situation, they could escape from the water.

But as soon as he walked out of the woods, he was taken aback. All around were dense black shadows, which had already surrounded them.

"Go in, shoot and kill!" A fierce voice came.

The first thousand and 110 chapters three buy

Tens of thousands of black shadows rushed towards the woods from all directions. Seeing that the situation was critical, Cheng Zhi didn't have time to notify his subordinates. He ran for dozens of steps and jumped into the Han River. There happened to be a big rock on the bank, half on the bank and half in the water. Hiding under the boulder, he slowly took off his armor.

There were screams in the woods, cries, wailing, begging for mercy, and finally turned into desperate screams.

About half an hour after the massacre, and then began to clean up the battlefield, Cheng Zhi heard someone report faintly, "General, we haven't found the other party's chief general."

"Search for me thoroughly, if we can't find the chief general, how can we explain to the envoy?"

Cheng Zhi's heart skipped a beat, he couldn't believe his ears, the opponent was not the Western Army, but the Xuan Fushi, it was Zhang Jun's army.

At this time, a few spears poked towards him, and he quickly sank into the water holding his nose...

Not long after, the search soldiers found nothing and left the shore.

"General, it's too late, we really can't tell the faces apart, and we really don't know which corpse is their leader?"

"Forget it, burn the body and dig a deep hole!"

More than 1000 corpses were doused in kerosene, lit a fire and burned, Cheng Zhi quietly dived along the river, dived five or six miles and landed on the shore, turned around and saw the raging fire, thick smoke billowing in the distance. He didn't dare to stop after burning the corpse, and ran away to the north.

……

There is a five-acre house in the northwest of Xiangyang City. It is very close to the government office, only two hundred steps away. The place where senior officials and famous families live together in Xiangyang City.

This three-acre house is the house of Cai Li, Wang Gui's confidant. The Cai family has been a famous and wealthy family in Xiangyang since the Three Kingdoms period. Li is a real son of a wealthy family. He is the second son of Cai Quan, the former magistrate of Xiangzhou. He was born in an imperial school.

In the middle of the night, two guests from afar knocked on the door of Cai Li's mansion, and the door opened with a creak. Who are you looking for?"

"We are coming from Jiangling. This is my greeting card. Please let me know if you have something important to ask him."