Fenghou

A cavalryman rushed out and ran towards the city gate, about 250 steps away from the city gate. The soldier raised his huge crossbow and shot an arrow with a letter on it.

The letter was shot at the top of the city, and a soldier picked it up, and rushed to hand it to the general Zhang Zongyan. Zhang Zongyan was about 40 years old. He was Zhang Jun's clan. Although he was an ancestor, he was far away.

Zhang Zongyan first followed Zongze to fight against the gold, and then followed Zhang Jun. After more than ten years, he also accumulated meritorious service and was promoted to the governor of the capital. He has rich combat experience, thoughtful considerations, and is more loyal to Zhang Jun. Jun didn't let his hot-tempered brother Zhang guard Shouchun, but let Zhang guard Hefei, and Zhang Zongyan guarded Shouchun City.

Zhang Zongyan took the letter from the soldiers, and saw that it said General Tiange of the Song Dynasty, Xuanfu envoy of Sichuan and Shaanxi, Marshal of the Western Army, and General Zhang Yanzong from Yong Wang Chen Qing.

He opened the letter, the content of the letter is very simple, the western army will break the city tonight, Chen Qing does not want to hurt the innocent, give them a chance to surrender, "I promise in the name of King Yong, if the general leads the army to surrender, no one in the city will be killed , the Western Army did not commit any crimes, but if they do not know the general situation and try to resist, once the city is broken, street fighting breaks out, and the sword has no eyes, the soldiers and civilians in the city can only ask for blessings. Even if they surrender, they will be treated as prisoners of war. treatment. '

Zhang Zongyan's mood is very complicated. He knows that almost all of the people living in the city are the family members of the soldiers, and even the wife and mother of the lord are also in the city. Once the city is broken, a hundred thousand Western troops will enter, and street fighting will break out in the city. It will be a catastrophe for the common people. My lord His wife, children and mother were not spared.

But just surrender like this?The 20 troops raised their flags and surrendered without firing an arrow. The lord entrusted Shouchun City to himself, but he surrendered because of a letter from Chen Qing. His [-]-year foundation was destroyed. How could he explain to the lord?

Surrender is no, no surrender is no, Zhang Zongyan is really contradictory, he simply called more than a dozen generals to discuss, but the generals were unanimously opposed to surrender, [-] troops have a strong high city, [-] barrels of kerosene, hundreds of A large trebuchet, several years of food, can't stop the attack of a hundred thousand troops?It will make people laugh if it is spread out.

All the generals under his command were opposed to surrender, and Zhang Zongyan had no choice. He immediately ordered the whole army to prepare for battle, and poured kerosene under the city gate. Shouchun City was newly built five years ago, and it was extremely strong. The only weakness is the city gate, which is made of wood and cannot stop the explosion of large iron fire mines.

There are four gates in Shouchun City, of which the north and south cities are Wengcheng. It is unlikely that the Western Army will attack the north and south gates. The most likely are the east and west gates. Zhang Zongyan knows in his heart that Chen Qing must have sent someone to investigate Shouchun City in detail.

An hour passed, exceeding the surrender time stipulated by Chen Qing, and there was no movement in Shouchun City, which meant that the other party did not accept the surrender and stubbornly resisted to the end.

Chen Qing then ordered the soldiers to rest where they were, and at the same time set up a large tent of the Chinese army. Inside the large tent was placed a large wooden city model, which was Shouchun City.

Chen Qing held a wooden pole and said to the generals: "The intelligence department established an intelligence point in Shouchun City two years ago, and collected a lot of information in the two years. The iron fire mine has been tested. Even the iron bull can't blow up this kind of double-layer brick city wall. Our chance is four city gates. Among them, there are urns in the north and south gates, and east and west gates. But this is not important, I think The three city gates in the east, west and south were exploded, and whichever gate was blown down, they could attack from there, and the north gate was left for the enemy to escape.

So I want to divide into four armies, deploy one army at each of the three city gates in the east, west, and south, and each army is equipped with three iron fire mines and a battering ram. The battering ram is a backup. The suspension bridge collapsed, the south gate and even the inner city, I was in charge of the west gate, General Gao Ding was in charge of the south gate, General Li Muqing was in charge of the east gate, General Hu Yanlei led [-] cavalry in ambush one mile outside the north gate, etc. The enemy army escaped and then intercepted and killed them, and launched an offensive at the same time at the same time. "

"Follow the order!"

Chen Qing slowly said to the crowd: "Street fighting will break out once the city is captured. Except for women, the elderly and children, the rest of the men are either me or the enemy. They must not show any mercy. In order to reduce casualties, surrender is acceptable, but it must be surrendered." Take off the armor, throw away the weapon, and those who still hold the weapon will be killed!"

All the generals agreed together, "Follow the order!"

The first thousand and 260 chapters of Shouchun

It was already very late at night, the [-] army was divided into four parts, waiting outside the four city gates, the soldiers on the top of the city were extremely nervous, Zhang Zongyan deployed heavy troops above the four city gates.

Except for Huyanlei outside Beicheng who was in ambush for three miles, the other three armies were all ready to attack the city.

The key point of defense is the city gate. On both sides of the city head above the city gate, the soldiers are almost too crowded to stand up. Dozens of barrels of kerosene are thrown in front of each city gate, and the black kerosene flows all over the ground. Not only that, Zhang Zongyan also ordered [-] soldiers to load the soil bags, and tens of thousands of soil bags blocked the four city gates.

Zhang Zongyan was also afraid that the family members of the soldiers would be affected and killed, so he specially ordered people to go door to door and tell them to hide in their rooms or cellars tonight, and not to go out anyway.

On the top of the city, Zhang Zongyan looked at the Western Army outside the west of the city. Nearly [-] Western Army lined up to fight, obviously preparing to attack. Under the bright moonlight, Zhang Zongyan saw the canopy of the purple umbrella. He had discovered it during the day. Chen Qing was most likely under the umbrella.

Zhang Zongyan sighed secretly, if he couldn't keep the city gate, it might be a tragic battle tonight.

"Dutong, they are coming!" The soldier next to him pointed to the city and shouted.

Zhang Zongyan saw it, and saw three long worms walking slowly from a mile away. They were actually long worms made up of people. Two or 300 people formed a team, holding a large shield. The three worm teams walked towards the city gate in the shape of a character. Come.

"The trebuchet is ready, use the kerosene ball!"

Several large trebuchets creaked and pulled up, and the soldiers ignited the fireball, "Boom! Boom! Boom!"

With the sound of continuous throwing, five kerosene balls were thrown out, the kerosene balls landed, and the kerosene inside poured out, forming a sea of ​​flames several feet wide. This is a kerosene ball invented in the Northern Song Dynasty. It was first used against the Khitan army use.

The three worm formations were very flexible, and they all escaped the attack of the fire oil ball, and continued to march towards the city gate. Zhang Zongyan had already seen clearly that the team was carrying long wooden boards and heavy objects, which must be iron fire thunders.

"Fire arrows!"

He yelled, arrows were shot like rain, and the dense arrows shot at the three insect formations, but the shield was like a mountain, and they couldn't pierce the shield at all.

"Dutong, look at the city!" A soldier pointed to the moat below the city and shouted.

Zhang Zongyan looked over and saw a huge wooden box floating in the moat. The wooden box couldn't move by itself, obviously there was someone under the wooden box.

Zhang Zongyan suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. It was dark under the lights, and Chen Qing used three worms to attract his attention. In fact, the people he arranged were inside the moat.

"Archery!"

The arrows from the city head shot at the wooden box like a storm. The wooden box was nailed full of arrows in an instant, but it was not damaged at all.

"Throwing stones! Throwing stones!" Zhang Zongyan shouted.

At this time, the big wooden box was hidden under the suspension bridge, and the big stone was useless. Zhang Zongyan immediately ordered: "Light it up!"

Dozens of torches were thrown down, and the front of the city gate suddenly became a sea of ​​flames. At this moment, "Boom!" A violent explosion sounded in the direction of the south gate, and the city was shaking.

Zhang Zongyan was stunned for a moment. Could it be that the attack on the west city was false, and the real attack on the city was at the south gate?

Immediately, he was very anxious, and said to one of his generals: "You continue to command the soldiers to set fire and arrows, and I will go to the south gate to see the situation."

He got on his horse and ran along the top of the city towards the south gate...

Not long after Zhang Zongyan left, a violent explosion suddenly erupted under the suspension bridge, "Boom!" The suspension bridge was blown to pieces, large pieces of wood rose into the air, water waves splashed, the ground shook, and the soldiers on the top of the city They couldn't stand steadily, fell down one after another, and covered their ears in pain. The explosion was so violent that many soldiers' eardrums were shattered, and blood flowed from their ears.

There was thick smoke in front of the city gate, but in the thick smoke, a group of soldiers rushed over and crossed the city on boards. This is the difference between professional and non-professional defenders. The non-professional defenders are still in pain. The shock made them stunned, but the professional firearms battalion soldiers seized this opportunity and rushed across the city, pushing a huge 240-jin iron fire thunder against the city gate.

The soldiers on the top of the city were still struggling to get up, but they didn't know that the fire rope on the city gate was sizzling and burning. At this moment, a huge explosion erupted from the east city gate, and the east city gate was blown open.

Immediately afterwards, "Boom!" There was another violent explosion, thick smoke filled the air, and the city shook violently. The defenders on the top of the city were shocked and killed hundreds of people on the spot. Even if the rest of the defenders did not die, they were also seriously injured. , They got up, stumbled and fled to the city.

The sand, gravel and sawdust fell down, and the gunpowder smoke gradually dissipated. The west city gate was blown down, the city gate was blown away, and the city wall next to it also collapsed several feet, although there were still hundreds of bags of mud and sand blocking the city gate. , but the city wall next to it collapsed, revealing a large crack more than ten feet wide, and you can directly see the inside of the city.

Chen Qing waved his sword, "Go in!"

"kill!"

The [-] Western Army came rushing from a mile away, and the three previous insect teams rushed forward first, and built three wooden bridges with wooden planks.

Several soldiers from the Firearms Battalion detonated another iron bull iron fire mine inside the broken city wall, "Boom!" With a dull explosion, the city wall rose and then collapsed, filled with dust in an instant, and the third explosion collapsed hundreds of thousands of people. The city wall, which was more than ten feet wide, revealed a gap of one hundred feet wide.

Zhang Zongyan was in despair. The western army had already attacked the city from the east gate, and then the south gate also entered, and the west gate could not be defended.

"These bastards misled me!" Zhang Zongyan yelled angrily.

"General, there are no enemy troops outside the North City Gate, you can withdraw from the North City Gate."

Zhang Zongyan was really in a dilemma, if he withdrew, what would the prince's family do?

"General, retreat quickly! The brothers are all withdrawn."

At this time, a cavalry rushed over and shouted: "General, General Wu, please persuade the guards of the palace to retreat. If they do not retreat, the prince's family will really die."

Zhang Zongyan suddenly realized that if he didn't fight, he could survive, and fighting to the death would only hurt the prince's family.

He immediately yelled, "Follow me!"

He urged his horse and led thousands of soldiers to the north of the city. Zhang Jun's palace was in the north of the city, with three thousand confidant troops guarding him. The commander was Li Jiming, who was Zhang Jun's personal leader.

Wu Kun, the deputy commander of the capital, repeatedly persuaded Li Jiming to lead the army to retreat. Li Jiming was extremely stubborn. The lord entrusted his family to him and asked him to leave them and run for his own life. How could he do that?

Seeing Zhang Zongyan coming, Wu Kun sighed, "He refuses to retreat, there is nothing we can do about him!"

"General Wu, lead the brothers to retreat first! Let me persuade him."

Wu Kun retreated with more than 1 troops. Zhang Zongyan shouted: "General Li, the city cannot be defended anymore. If you stick to it here, the whole family of the lord will die. You can either withdraw the troops yourself or take them with you."

"The old lady refuses to leave!"

"Then you take a few young masters to evacuate, and the Western Army will not harm women and children."

Li Jiming was right when he thought about it, don't let the lord's cigarette offspring be broken in his hands, he must take his grandchildren out.

He immediately ran to persuade them, and in the end, except for the old lady and his wife, the other two sons and three grandsons were taken away.

At this time, the Western Army had already occupied most of the city. The so-called street fighting was completely over-thought by Chen Qing. palace.

The defenders of the palace had already retreated, and there were only dozens of servants and maids left in the palace, all kneeling on the ground.

Soon, soldiers escorted two old women over, one was Zhang Jun's mother, and the other was Zhang Jun's wife, Zhang's. Zhang supported the old lady, and the two were trembling with fear.

"General Qi, all the men in Zhang Jun's residence retreated from the north gate, and only the female relatives remained in the residence. These two are Zhang Jun's mother and wife."

Gao Ding nodded and said: "His Royal Highness has an order not to be rude to Zhang Jun's family members. Just guard the gate and don't go into the mansion to scare them."

The soldiers did not find other men, so they withdrew, sealed the palace with a seal, stood guard at the gate, and did not allow other soldiers to enter the palace.

Both the old lady and Mrs. Zhang breathed a sigh of relief. They were both very regretful. If they had known this, they should not have allowed the child to retreat with Li Jiming. The retreat would probably be chased by the Western Army, which would be very dangerous.

The first thousand and 260 chapters and two peers

As the day dawned and the battle ended, more than [-] people who escaped from the city were intercepted by Huyanlei's [-] cavalry. The soldiers of the Huaixi Army had no fighting spirit and knelt down and surrendered one after another. However, the more than [-] personal guards led by Li Jiming He resolutely refused to surrender and broke through the encirclement desperately. He was encircled and suppressed by the cavalry of the [-] Western Army, and the entire army was wiped out. Even Zhang Jun's descendants died in the chaos.

Although Li Jiming did not die in battle, after realizing the stupid thing he had done, he couldn't help feeling extremely remorseful, and immediately drew his sword and killed himself, apologizing with death.

Of the seven descendants, only the youngest, a two-year-old grandson, survived when the soldiers stuffed him under the chair of the carriage.

Of all the troops that escaped from the city, only more than [-] people led by Zhang Zongyan escaped, but they disappeared in the end. It is estimated that they could not cross the Yangtze River and fled back to their hometowns.

The Western Army imposed martial law in the city, and no one was allowed to go to the streets. On the street, teams of prisoners of war were escorted out of the city. There was basically no decent fighting broke out last night. The soldiers of the Western Army rushed into the city, and the defenders in the city either Fleeing from Beicheng, the remaining tens of thousands of soldiers all surrendered.

In a night battle, the Huaixi Army suffered more than [-] casualties, and the Western Army also suffered more than [-] casualties. The casualties of the Western Army mainly came from the [-] soldiers who surrounded and suppressed Li Jiming. The [-] soldiers were extremely fierce, although they were all killed. died, but it also caused more than a thousand casualties of the Western Army.

At this moment, Hu Yanlei came galloping on horseback, holding a young child in his arms, Chen Qing asked, "Where is the child?"

"I found it under the seat of a carriage while cleaning the battlefield. I asked the prisoners of war. This child should be the youngest grandson of Zhang Jun. His two sons and several other grandsons died in the rebellion. Only this child survived. .”

Chen Qing nodded, and said to his own soldiers: "Send this child to the palace, give it to Mrs. Zhang Jun, and leave an incense for Zhang Jun!"

The soldier left with the child in his arms, and Fan Li, who joined the army, came forward and reported, "His Royal Highness, the warehouse has been roughly counted. The property includes copper coins, cloth and silk, which are probably consistent with the records in the ledger. It will take at least ten days to complete the detailed inventory. time."

"How many records are there in the ledger?"

"There are 520 million copper coins, 120 million bolts of cloth and silk, 230 million stones of grain, millions of catties of copper ingots and iron ingots, and a large number of other materials. No gold or silver was found."

Chen Qing nodded. This record is similar to the information they received before. No gold or silver was found because the gold and silver were stored in Zhang Jun's private treasury. As far as he knew, it was about 30 taels of gold and 80 taels of silver. , and a large number of other treasures. Zhang Jun’s private treasury was counted by his own soldiers, and all of them went into the treasury, while the wealth and materials in the official treasury were divided into two. library, which is also the loot distribution convention.

Chen Qing immediately ordered: "You take people to take a good inventory, count all the money, food and materials in the official treasury, compile them into two inventories, give one to me, and send someone to Jingzhao to give to Counselor Zhou. "

"Humble post obeys orders!"

At this moment, a messenger cavalry came rushing from outside the Nancheng. After a while, he rushed to Chen Qing. Annihilate [-] enemy troops!"

"How did you take down the city?" Chen Qing asked.

"Reporting to Your Highness, Liu Dutong only led 3 troops to challenge the enemy, and sent soldiers to insult the ancestors of the chief general Zhang Bao. Zhang Bao couldn't stand the insult, so he led [-] troops out of the city to fight, but was cut off by the [-] Western troops who were ambushing. On the retreat, the [-] troops flanked each other, the Huaixi army was defeated, Zhang Bao was killed by Liu Dutong's arrows, and more than [-] people surrendered."

Chen Qing was overjoyed, Liu Cui's strategy was good, he had figured out Zhang Bao's violent temper, used his character to provoke him out of the city to fight, and then ambushed the army to cut off his retreat.

Chen Qing then came down and gathered all the prisoners of war in Shouchun, leaving Hu Yanlei to lead an army of [-] to guard the prisoners of war. He planned to send these prisoners of war to Huangzhou to mine copper and iron mines.

He led an army of [-] to Yangzhou, preparing to cross the river from Yangzhou and wipe out Zhang Jun's army.

As for Yang Yuanqing's navy, Chen Qing is not worried at all. Zhang Jun's navy is completely different from the Western Army's navy. It can be said that it will crush the opponent. The only uncertainty is whether the opponent's warship will slip through the net. .

……

On Xishan Island in Taihu Lake, there is a special fleet of Zhang Jun moored here, consisting of [-] large ships and [-] soldiers. The leader is a commander named Wang Jiong. Raiders, ready to attack the food and logistics supplies of the Song army.

At this time, the confrontation battlefield between the two sides was located in Wuxi County in the south of Changzhou. Although Zhang Jun's [-] vanguard army entered Pingjiang Mansion, Wu Yu's army in Jinling County still dragged the Huaixi Army back. Without Zhang Jun's [-] soldiers If the army were to fight, then the [-] Huaixi army could directly enter Lin'an Mansion and approach the city, and Wu Ling's [-] troops would not be a worry.

But the imperial court sent Zhang Jun to lead an army of [-] to fight, so the battlefield should not be too southward, and Wu Ling's army would cut off the Huaixi Army's logistics and food fleet. will lose without a fight.

So Zhang Jun finally decided to put the main force in the south of Changzhou, which can not only monitor Wu Lin's army, but also fight against the main force of the Song army.It can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

At night, Wang Jiong led [-] vehicles and boats to leave Xishan Island and set off. They went south to Jiaxing Mansion, preparing to intercept and destroy the Song Army's grain transport fleet.

Unexpectedly, not long after they set off, Wang Jiong suddenly heard commotion behind him. He stood on the side of the ship and looked back, and couldn't help being stunned. Suddenly, there were many more ships behind him, not only thirty, but at least sixty or seventy. They are all vehicles and boats, mixed with his boats, it is impossible to tell who is who?

How is this going?Wang Jiong was at a loss, where did the extra ships come from?

At this moment, a big boat approached his boat, and dozens of black figures jumped out of the big boat in an instant, moving skillfully, as if they were walking on the water.

"Who is it?" Wang Jiong asked sharply.

A burly black figure sneered, and a big stick swept towards him. Wang Jiong was taken aback, and hurriedly retreated, taking a few steps back, but this was a ship after all, not flat ground. Wang Jiong's center of gravity was unstable, and he staggered. Seeing that he was about to fall, suddenly there was a sharp pain in his legs, and he heard a click, and his legs were broken.

Wang Jiong screamed and fell on the boat. Several black shadows rushed forward, pushed Wang Jiong down and tied him up.

Soon, Wang Jiong's subordinates were either dead or injured, and they were all under control. Although their martial arts skills were good, they were no match at all on the choppy water surface. The battle was over in less than a quarter of an hour.

The fleet sailed back to Xishan Island again, but pulled over without going ashore. Wang Jiong was lifted onto the big boat by two strong men. Both his legs were broken and he couldn't walk, so he was taken directly into the cabin.

The cabin was brightly lit, and there were several soldiers standing inside. A burly general was sitting on a wide chair, with a snub nose and tiger eyes, and a dignified appearance. Ten catties.

Wang Jiong immediately realized that it was this person who broke his leg.

"Who are you?" Wang Jiong asked in a low voice.

The other party sneered, "We are the Jiaolong Battalion of the Yellow River Navy, have you heard of it?"

Wang Jiong had never heard of the Jiaolong Camp, but the Yellow River Navy made him realize that his eyes widened, "Are you... the Western Army?"