Fenghou

"I also think these two conditions are good, but what Qin Xianggong said is also reasonable. If the Western Army and the Jin Bing did not collude, how could the Jin Bing hand over 3000 people to the Western Army for no reason? This must have been agreed in advance. conditions of?"

Tao Lin shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, Mr. Qin's objection sounds like a righteous statement, but in fact it does not stand up to careful scrutiny."

Zhao Gou hurriedly said: "Tao Aiqing, please explain in detail, sometimes I am confused by the authorities and cannot see through the situation."

"Your Majesty, first of all, the most important point is that the collusion between the Western Army and the Jin Bing is just the guess of Qin Xianggong. Neither he nor Zhu Xianggong has conclusive evidence. They just said that I think it should be so, I think it should be that way, and the truth is based on feeling ?"

Zhao Gou nodded, "It makes sense, let's continue!"

"Secondly, there is a serious irrationality in this. Neither Qin Xianggong nor Zhu Xianggong saw it. That is, the Western Army took the opportunity to occupy Qushan County. Weichen believes that if the Western Army and Jin Bing really reach an agreement, this agreement will It will definitely not include the surrender of Haizhou and Qushan County to the Western Army, not to mention the large amount of food and supplies, and the annihilation of the city guards."

"It's really impossible!"

"Your Majesty, here lies the problem. If the Western Army and the Jin Bing reach an agreement, and the Western Army takes the opportunity to occupy Qushan County, this is obviously a major violation of the agreement. Why should the Jin Bing implement the agreement honestly and spend 2 yuan?" Isn't it absurd to hand over many prisoners of war to the Western Army? Your Majesty, it doesn't make sense!"

Zhao Gou was reminded that the Western Army was competing with Jin Bing for the Shandong Road, so how could any agreement be reached?I was really confused, I didn't even think of the most crucial point, if they could reach an agreement to deal with themselves, Da Song would have perished long ago.

"Then Aiqing thinks why Jin Bing gave more than 2 prisoners of war to the Western Army?"

"Your Majesty, there are many factors involved. For example, the Jin soldiers have no food, and I don't have enough to eat. How can I manage the rations of the prisoners of the Song Army and throw them directly to the Western Army as a favor, and by the way, I can adjust the relationship between the Western Army and the court. , or the retreat route of the Jin soldiers was cut off, and it is entirely possible to exchange the Song army prisoners for a retreat route, and it is simply ridiculous to say that the two colluded."

At this time, Zhao Gou finally came to his senses. Qin Hui objected to the negotiation, probably because of Xu Xiantu.

He cursed secretly in his heart, then nodded and said: "I understand, thank you Aiqing for clarifying the confusion."

"I don't want to bother His Majesty anymore, please leave!"

Tao Lin saluted and slowly exited the imperial study. Zhao Gou thought for a moment and said, "I will pass on my will and immediately send a pigeon letter to Xu Xiangguo. I agree to the two conditions of the Western Army!"

……

Ruan De led his men back to the camp in Feng County. They retreated to the east bank of the Yellow River, marched day and night, and rushed back to the camp in Feng County in just one day and one night.

After hearing the report, Chen Qing was overjoyed and ordered a reward of [-] guan and [-] pieces of silk, and all the generals were promoted to one level.

The three of them thanked and retreated, and Chen Qing smiled at Yang Zaixing again: "The cooperation between them is very tacit, and I can see the shadows of Liu Qiong and Tang Qian. They cooperate and can carry out more and more difficult tasks."

Yang Zaixing nodded, "Since His Highness thinks so, I will transfer Huang Dong to the Jiaolong Camp as the deputy general."

Chen Qing said again: "They wiped out the golden soldiers and water army, and they can go deep behind the enemy by boat. Give them fifty warships and let them intercept the enemy's logistics team, especially the [-] lottery in Rencheng County. Army, I got information that the chief general is Zhang Zhongxiong, and they just entered Rencheng County not long ago, which means that Rencheng County did not have enough food and grass in advance, and cutting off the logistics of Rencheng County is a very important part.”

"Understood, make arrangements immediately!"

Yang Zaixing bowed and retired, at this moment, a soldier walked quickly to the door of the big tent and said, "His Royal Highness, Master Zhang accompanied Xu Xiangguo."

"Please come in!"

Zhang Xiao accompanied Xu Xiantu into the big tent, Xu Xiantu was all smiles, with a relaxed look on his face, not as sad as he was two days ago.

"Seeing that Xu Xiangguo brought good news!" Chen Qing laughed.

Xu Xiantu nodded, "The Son of Heaven fully agrees to the two conditions proposed by His Highness, and is willing to give all the siege weapons in the Yangzhou warehouse to the Western Army."

Chen Qing asked the two to sit down, and asked with a smile, "Xu Xianggong should know how many there are!"

Xu Xiantu nodded, "There are thirty heavy-duty trebuchets alone, twenty nest carts, ten battering rams, five thousand-step guns, and more than a thousand siege ladders."

"What about the bed crossbow and the god arm crossbow?" Chen Qing asked again.

Xu Xiantu was taken aback, "These two are defensive weapons, right? Not siege weapons."

"They have both offensive and defensive capabilities. If Mr. Xu is in trouble, I will have half of the two in stock."

Xu Xiantu thought for a while and agreed, "Okay! I will give you 30 bed crossbows, [-] jackdaw arrows, [-] god-arm crossbows, and [-] arrows. I never lie, these are all in stock half."

Chen Qing smiled and said, "In the Yangzhou warehouse, do you still have kerosene and gunpowder?"

"Your Highness is really greedy..."

Xu Xiantu sighed helplessly: "We don't produce kerosene. We have never had kerosene since we moved south. It is said that Zhang Jun's army has kerosene. I don't know how he got it, but His Highness should be very clear. As for gunpowder, The stockpiles of the Military Weapons Supervision and Yangzhou are gone, and the mine that produces fire nitrate is on Sichuan Road.”

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "In this case, give me the five hundred craftsmen who make gunpowder! I won't ask your craftsmen for nothing. Xu Xiangguo can tell His Majesty that I will exchange five thousand horses with him."

-------------Chapter Dividing Line---------------

On the same day, Xu Xiantu went to Haizhou accompanied by Zhang Xiao, and the two sides will hand over on the Huaihe floating bridge.

The next day, Chen Qing personally led [-] cavalry to the north, and set up a big camp fifty miles south of Rencheng County. The big camp was located to the east of the Nanqing River. The Western Army provides logistical transportation.

That's why Chen Qing wanted to wipe out the Jin Guo water army first, so he didn't have to worry about being attacked by the Jin Guo water army to harass the logistics fleet.

In addition, Chen Qing also set up five relay warning posts, one sentry point every ten miles. Once the Jin soldiers abandoned the city and evacuated, the five sentry points were like beacons, firing gunpowder arrows into the sky in succession to notify the Western Army camp.

This morning, a polo match was going on in the camp of the Western Army. The field was billowing with yellow dust, and the horses were galloping like lightning.

Chen Qing and a group of generals were also sitting on the sidelines to watch the battle. At this time, a soldier stepped forward and whispered something to Chen Qing. Chen Qing nodded and told Yang Zaixing next to him, and the two got up and walked out of the field. .

Not long after arriving at the camp, Zhou Bin, the commander of the scouts, stepped forward to report, "His Royal Highness, we found this caravan in Jiaxiang County, and we have brought their leader!"

"Are you sure it's a businessman, not a trap set by the other party?"

"The humble job has been confirmed!"

Chen Qing nodded, and came to the side tent with Yang Zaixing. In the side tent, a middle-aged businessman was sitting and drinking tea anxiously. When Chen Qing and Yang Zaixing walked in, the soldiers next to him quickly reminded him, "The first one is King Yong." Your Highness!"

The businessman got up and knelt down to Chen Qing and kowtowed, "Xiaomin Ni Shun pays homage to the prince!"

"Mr. Ni, please stand up!"

Chen Qing gently asked the businessman to get up, the soldiers moved chairs, Chen Qing and Yang Zaixing sat down, and the businessman Ni Shun also sat down.

The reason why this businessman is valued by Chen Qing is that he is one of the very few people who escaped from Rencheng County. People left, but Zhang Zhongxiong repented in less than half an hour and closed the city gate again, only a very small number of people came out of Rencheng.

Chen Qing's scouts also found that [-] troops had entered Rencheng, but they didn't know the specific situation of Rencheng. The scouts had been looking for the person who came out of Rencheng. After searching for a few days, they finally found this businessman in Jiaxiang County.

He and three fellows were the last ones to go out of the city while driving the team of donkeys. It was also because he lived in an inn next to the city gate that he managed to escape from the city.

"Could Yuanwai Ni briefly tell us about the situation in Rencheng County."

Ni Shun nodded silently, thought for a while and said, "As soon as they entered the city, they closed the city gate. Originally, there were some vacant houses in the north of the city, but they were all filled by soldiers, but it was not enough. They also drove a group of people in the east of the city out of the house , all the inns, monasteries and teahouses are fully occupied. In fact, harassment and crowding are not a big problem. The big problem is that the price of rice has risen. On the third day, it was rumored that the army was short of rations, and the price of rice rose to [-] Wen per bucket that day, and it had already risen to [-] Wen per bucket of rice the day I left."

"Do you think it's really the lack of military rations?"

"When they came, they also brought grain carts into the city. At that time, they felt that there were quite a lot of grain carts, but when I thought about it, they had [-] troops! It is said that the [-] troops ate up all the restaurants in the city on the first day. And basically nothing was paid."

It’s not enough to eat up the restaurant, the main reason is that they don’t pay, and the restaurant is closed the next day, but Chen Qing also agrees with the businessman’s point of view. The [-] army consumes a lot of food, so there must be a logistics supply line, or like Qushan County In that way, a large amount of grain was stored in the county in advance.

This is also the basis for Chen Qing to judge that the other party is short of food. Rencheng County is temporarily stationed and there is no large amount of food. The food carried by the [-] army alone is definitely far from enough. It is necessary to establish a logistics supply line, but judging from the current situation. Look, the opponent's supply convoy or fleet has not been found yet.

"How long has it been since the opposing army entered Rencheng County?" asked Yang Zaixing next to him.

"Today is the eighth day."

Merchant Ni Shun sighed and said, "I really don't know what is going on in the city. I guess people will starve to death soon."

Chen Qing asked the businessman some more details before letting him leave.

Yang Zaixing said to Chen Qing: "The humble staff believes that the lack of food is the biggest weakness of the opponent, and it will also be our chance to wipe out the opponent. If we succeed in intercepting their supply team, they will not be able to support them for a few days. Ruan De and the others went to the waterway I am worried that their supply team will come over by land, and I suggest that every official road should send scouts?"

"Okay, you can arrange it!" Chen Qing readily agreed.

……

Rencheng County is close to Qingshui, which is a tributary of Wenshui. The fleet from Jinan Prefecture sails from Jishui to Liangshanbo, then from Liangshanbo to Wenshui, and then from Wenshui to Guangshui. This is also [-] yuan. The main reason for signing the army to station in Rencheng County is to establish a water supply line, coupled with the escort of the water army, to ensure continuous supply.

Of course, Rencheng County itself has tall and strong walls, which are easy to defend and difficult to attack, which is another important reason why Jin Bing chose Rencheng County.

Jin Bing's supply fleet set off a few days ago, but the Jin Bing navy was attacked in Liangshanbo. The news of the entire army's destruction stopped the supply fleet halfway until the situation stabilized, and the sneak attack on the Western Army had gone. The fleet continued to set off, and hundreds of flat-bottomed tugboats were full of grain and supplies and sailed to Rencheng County.

At this time, on a small hill on the south bank of Jishui, a few scout cavalry hid in the woods, watching the huge supply fleet slowly approaching in the distance. rope.

There are still about forty miles from here to the mouth of the Jishui River in Liangshanbo. Several scouts immediately turned their horses and rushed south.

An hour later, the three cavalrymen arrived at the mouth of the river. A small boat was moored by the river. The lead scout handed over the horses to his companions. He got on the boat immediately, and the boat turned around and sailed towards the vast Liangshan moor.

The forty-mile journey only takes an hour for the cavalry, but it takes half a day for the fleet pulled by the trackers. The cavalry scouts use this time difference to rush back to report.

The Jiaolong Battalion under Yang Zaixing's command is currently hiding in Liangshan Po, near the mouth of the Jishui River. This is the only way for the supply fleet to pass. Chen Qing's task for them is to cut off the Jinbing's logistics fleet, not only in Rencheng, but also in Rencheng. Including other various garrison places.

This is also the law that Chen Qing has gradually mastered after dealing with Wanyan Wushu for a long time. Wanyan Wushu is used to centralized management of various resources, whether it is money or food, only when various resources are in his hands can he control the states.

As early as the beginning of the year, intelligence spies on Shandong Road discovered that Jin Bing had only two food storage points, one in Jinan Prefecture and the other in Haizhou. The transportation of grain from Jinan Prefecture to the west and south must pass through Liangshanpo. The mouth of the river also choked the throat of the main grain transportation route.

This is a loophole in the enemy's army that Chen Qing had discovered a long time ago, strangling the throat of the enemy's grain transportation channel is the top priority of the Western Army's expedition to Shandong Road.

When the time came to Haishi, that is, around nine o’clock in the evening, the grain transportation fleet finally appeared at the mouth of the river. After entering the Liangshan Houpo, there were mountains and reeds by the lake, and it was impossible to pull the fibers. During this period in Liangshan, we had to rely on other forces Propelled, by sail or by cart.

The first ship of the grain transport fleet was a car ship with a pair of water wheel paddles on each side, and 24 soldiers trampled in the bed cabin.

The first boat was sailing rumblingly on the water, and with hundreds of flat-bottomed cargo ships behind it, when it passed a reed pond, dozens of warships suddenly rushed out of the pond, all around Qianshi, and the five warships were about to Surrounded by the first boat, the soldiers of the Western Army rushed onto the vehicles and boats one after another, and the leading general was Ruan De.

He wielded the copper stick and knocked down seven or eight Jin soldiers in a row. In fact, seeing the situation was not good, the Jin soldiers knelt down and surrendered one after another.

Other Western troops also killed the tugboats, and fierce conflicts broke out with the soldiers on board. There were two soldiers on each tugboat. Although the total number exceeded 1000, the disadvantage was that they were too scattered. A dozen soldiers from the Western Army went all the way. If you continue to kill, you can kill hundreds of signed soldiers.

It only took a quarter of an hour for the Western Army's Jiaolong Battalion to capture the grain transport fleet consisting of hundreds of tugboats and drag them into the vast water.

-------------Chapter Dividing Line---------------

In Rencheng County, the chief general Zhang Zhongxiong waited eagerly for the logistics fleet, standing on the top of the city every day hoping to see through, but every day he was disappointed.

As time went by, the food they carried gradually bottomed out, and the food in the city was almost exploited by them, and almost all the rice shops were robbed by them, but even so, the food of the [-] army could only last three God.

Of course, they can choose to retreat. After all, the Western Army did not siege the city. If they retreat in time, they can retreat to Xucheng County in the north. There is Dongping Mansion, which is a famous food production place. There are [-] Donghu troops stationed there, so there should be enough food. .

But the question is, does Wanyan Wushu allow them to retreat?Zhang Zhongxiong also knew that once he gave up Rencheng County, Jeju and Tengzhou would fall, and even Yunzhou would fall with it.

Zhang Zhongxiong was extremely distressed, he had to make a decision today, the remaining food could only be consumed on the way.

Zhang Zhongxiong couldn't make up his mind, so he called several leaders to discuss the countermeasures.

Commander Feng Lin said: "The logistics food and grass have not arrived for a long time. It is very likely that they were intercepted by the Western Army. Zhang Dutong, we can no longer count on the food ships. We should evacuate to the east immediately before the morale collapses. Otherwise, once the food is exhausted, Soldiers will definitely make trouble and loot the whole city, at that time, we will be like the defenders of Luoyang, waiting to be beheaded one by one by Chen Qing!"

Chen Qing killed thousands of soldiers who raped and plundered the common people in Luoyang. Although it had no effect on the Jurchen soldiers, it had a great impact on the signing army. Leave a way out, even including Li Cheng, he dared not kill more than 2 prisoners of war, but also left a way out for himself.

This is also Chen Qing’s letter to Han soldiers when he attacked Henan Road the year before last. It doesn’t matter how you fight on the battlefield. As long as you don’t harm the people, you won’t be held accountable after the war. Let everyone go back to their hometowns and reunite with their families.

As a result, the Luoyang defenders did not take it seriously, raped, burned and killed people wantonly, and plundered people's property. As a result, they were collectively taken to the top of the city and more than 3000 heads were beheaded.

Tong Zhi Feng Lin's words aroused many people's worries, and some Tong Zhi asked: "We robbed the rice store, does this count as looting people's wealth?"

Feng Lin shook his head, "It's definitely not counted. This is called army requisition, not personal looting, it's not the same thing."

Zhang Zhongxiong saw that everyone was getting off topic, so he coughed heavily, "I called everyone to ask everyone to vote collectively. As I said just now, our food can last for three days. Now we have two options. First, Withdraw the troops to Xucheng County, Dongping Prefecture, and second, continue to wait for food and grass support, everyone come to vote!"

Everyone secretly despised that the coach didn't dare to take the responsibility and asked everyone to vote, but this is also a way, the law does not blame the public, it is a joint decision of everyone, and it is not easy for Liang Wang to pursue responsibility.

Zhang Zhongxiong glanced at China and said: "Please raise your hand if you support the first choice!"

All ten commanders raised their hands, and everyone knew that if they waited, they could only die.

Zhang Zhongxiong breathed a sigh of relief, nodded and said, "Since everyone chooses to retreat, there is no need to vote on the second item. Everyone go back and clean up. We will withdraw our troops to the east as soon as it gets dark tonight."

……

In the past two days, the [-] cavalry led by Chen Qing have also been put on alert. Chen Qing has received news that the Jiaolong Battalion intercepted the grain fleet sent to Rencheng.

According to the intelligence analysis he has, the defenders in the city are about to run out of food, and there is a high probability that they will evacuate at night in the next two days.

As soon as the night fell, Yang Zaixing led [-] cavalry to ambush in Yuxing Town, [-] miles away from the city. If there was no movement, they would retreat after dawn.

In the night, Chen Qing was wearing armor, standing in front of the large tent with his hands behind his back, looking at the direction of Rencheng County from a distance, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse, the night sky was extremely clear, and the whole land was covered with a layer of silver, although it was night, it was as bright as day. It's fine weather for marching!

At this moment, Chen Qing faintly saw a fire flickering in the sky, and then, a closer fire appeared in the sky, it was a rocket, and soon, the gunpowder arrow closest to them flew into the sky.

"Enemy retreat!"

Chen Qing immediately ordered: "Order the army to mount immediately!"

"Woo—" A low-pitched horn sounded in the barracks.

[-] cavalry mounted their horses one after another, and after a short while, they rushed out of the camp, gathered into a long dragon, and rushed towards Rencheng County, fifty miles away...

The [-] troops left the south city gate and retreated to the east. Not far away, nine gunpowder arrows shot into the sky, and the bright red flames were particularly eye-catching in the night.

Immediately afterwards, nine more gunpowder arrows flew into the sky in the distance, the bright red flames streaked across the night sky, and nine more gunpowder arrows flew up in the distance.

Zhang Zhongxiong was secretly startled, this is the scouts of the Western Army reporting the news with gunpowder arrows, just like beacons, soon, the main force of the Western Army will know that they have retreated, the main force of the Western Army is fifty miles away, if luck is good, the Western Army will chase after them Not on them.

But the Western Army is all cavalry!

"Command, speed up the march!"

Most of the soldiers also saw the message sent by the gunpowder arrow, and everyone was frightened and ran faster.