Fenghou

But throughout the battle, these Han soldiers inevitably appeared.

On the third day after capturing Jiandao Pass from Chen Qing, a 3000-strong Han army escorted [-] shi of grain to Siyang County.

This mighty grain transport team consists of a thousand carts.

If it was in the Tang Dynasty, Jiandao Pass was of little value. Both merchants and transporters could board boats from Siyang County and enter the Weihe River through the Sishui River. At that time, Guanlong had a mild climate and abundant rainfall, and the river transportation was very busy.

However, at the end of the Tang Dynasty, with the climate change in Guanlong, the precipitation was scarce, and the severe sediment loss on the Loess Plateau caused the rivers to be silted up, so that the rivers in the Guanlong area basically had no shipping value in seasons except summer.

All goods and materials can only be transported by land with carts pulled by mules and donkeys, and the strategic position of Jiandao Pass has become prominent.

In the morning, a businessman with seven or eight men and more than 100 donkeys wanted to enter the customs from Beicheng, but was rejected by the soldiers, but Yang Hua found that the goods of the businessman seemed to be what they needed, so he immediately sent a soldier to go to the customs. Find Chen Qing.

"Commander, take a look at his cargo, do we need to keep it?" Yang Hua asked outside the city.

Chen Qing went out of the city to take a closer look at the goods. This businessman actually sold water tanks. There were hundreds of large tanks inside small tanks. They were indeed the goods they needed most.

When the businessman saw that the goods had been seized, his face paled immediately, and he hurriedly stepped forward and clasped his fists and begged, "General, I have a small business and I still have to support my family, please let me go!"

Chen Qing couldn't help laughing, "Yang Dutou, didn't you explain it clearly to him?"

Yang Hua stepped forward with a smile and patted the merchant's shoulder, "Look, it scares you, thinking we won't pay for your water tank?"

The businessman wiped the sweat from his forehead, "I don't dare, I was really frightened by those Han soldiers yesterday. They ate and took for nothing in Siyang County, and they didn't give any money. They also injured many shopkeepers and Man, the local government and the garrison dare not mess with them."

"Where did the Han army come from?"

Chen Qing immediately heard that it was unusual. There were only 200 troops stationed in Siyang, and their reputation was not too bad. The businessman was obviously not talking about them.

"The grain transport soldiers who arrived yesterday afternoon were all from the Han army."

"How many people? How much food?" Chen Qing asked.

"I heard that there are 3000 people. I don't know how much food, about 2 carts, and it is estimated that it will cost more than [-] shi."

"We want all of your water tanks, and at the market price, you won't lose a penny."

Chen Qing explained a few words to Yang Hua, turned around and went up to the top of the city, and looked at Siyang County in the distance. It turned out to be three thousand Han troops. Has the test come so soon?

……

The chief general of the Han army who was in charge of food was called Xia Jin. He was originally a commander of the Jingyuan army. He was captured and surrendered in the Battle of Fuping. Yan Wulu reorganized the Han army.

This time, under the order of the coach Wanyan Wulu, Xia Jin led [-] troops to escort [-] shi of grain to the Weinan Camp. However, when he arrived in Siyang County, he heard the news that the Jiandao Pass had been captured by the Song army. The yellow-bottomed Tuanlong flag of the Song Army was erected above his head.

Xia Jin didn't know the details of the Song Army, so he immediately sent an eagle letter to the Jinbing camp in Pingliang Prefecture, asking the commander Wulu for instructions on the next move.

After all, he is a food escort army, not a combat army. In his opinion, protecting food safety is far more important than attacking arrows.

Either he withdrew to Pingliang Mansion, or he waited for reinforcements in Siyang County.

At noon, Xia Jin received a reply letter from the coach Ulu, which only said one sentence: "Conquer the Jiandao Pass and continue to go south!" '

Chapter 37 The first battle

Inside the Jianbai pass, a thousand soldiers were busy preparing for the battle. All the weapons and materials in the warehouse had been cleared out and put away in categories.

There are tens of thousands of spears and swords of all kinds, and bundles of arrows piled up like mountains, but Chen Qing is more concerned about defensive weapons.

There are riding bows, step bows, city defense bows, army crossbows, and bed crossbows, and there are more than [-] arrows of various kinds.

There are more than 100 barrels of kerosene, and even [-] barrels of gunpowder, which are the most important strategic materials for Chen Qing. Unfortunately, the quantity is too small and can only be used at critical moments.

Chen Qing paid special attention to bed crossbows. There were 48 of them in total, and there were [-] jackdaw iron arrows.

However, it is a pity to use it to deal with the puppet army. The puppet army is all leather armor, and the city defense bow and military crossbow are enough.

The key is that the Guancheng itself must be strong, not to mention the gates. The gates carefully crafted by craftsmen in the Song Dynasty are only four inches thick, and ordinary battering rams may not be able to break through them.

There is also a trench three feet wide and one foot deep outside. The bottom of the trench is full of pickets, and if you fall into the trench, you will die.

If there is a trench, there will naturally be a suspension bridge, which is also a sharp weapon to protect the city gate, so that the enemy's battering ram cannot directly hit the city gate.

The city wall is three feet high, and it is all made of local bluestone, which is extremely strong.

"How did this wall protrude?"

Chen Qing found that the city wall above the city gate protruded five feet outward, which is quite distinctive.

"The commander doesn't even know this?" Yang Yuanqing looked at him in surprise.

"Of course I know it exists, but I haven't studied it, and I don't care about its function."

"It seems that the commander has never defended the city!"

Yang Yuanqing explained with a smile: "This is called a horse face wall. It looks like a long horse face. Its biggest function is to shoot at the backs of both sides of the besieging enemy."

Chen Qing stood beside the horse-faced wall, as expected, he was standing outside the city walls on both sides. He changed his mind and said with a smile: "We can arrange twenty crossbowmen here to shoot and kill the enemy troops in key positions."

Yang Yuanqing gave a thumbs up and praised: "The commander is brilliant, it is indeed possible to deploy like this!"

Yang Hua, who had been relatively silent all this time, asked, "Commander, can you tell us about our mission?"

Chen Qing pondered for a while, and ordered his subordinates: "Go and find all of them!"

Chen Qing appointed ten capital heads in total, among which Yang Hua, Zheng Ping, and Luo Gan were promoted to reserve generals and concurrently served as capital heads.

Not long after, the ten capitals all rushed to the top of the city.

"Shortly after the blizzard last year, I received an order from the pacifier Zhang Shuai and the two governors, ordering us to take down and hold on to the Jiandao Pass. Our mission is to intercept the Jin soldiers from Pingliang Mansion from attacking Monk Yuan from the west road. Relieve the stress of Monk Yuan.

In addition, we have another task, which is to meet the troops led by Liu Kai and Liu Ziyu to go south. It is easy to capture Jiandao Pass, but whether we can hold the pass is the key to the success of the entire battle. "

Speaking of this, Chen Qing glanced at everyone, and said slowly: "I don't know to what extent our interception mission will affect the monk's original defense battle, but I know one thing very well, this will be an extremely difficult battle." The offensive and defensive battles in this battle were probably ten times more tragic than the battle of Qilinzhai, so I ask all soldiers to leave a suicide note. Here I also solemnly promise that for every soldier who died in battle, I will do my best to give their families the best shirt."

……

In the morning of the next day, a puppet army of 3000 people appeared at the mouth of the canyon. They set up camp outside the canyon, and then the 3000 men slowly moved southward. in front of you.

Guancheng is in a narrow place, but the front is relatively wide, up to one mile wide, but the terrain is not flat, it is in the shape of a shallow dimple.

This kind of terrain has two disadvantages. First, it will reflect the relatively high terrain of Guancheng, and the city wall is especially tall. Second, once it rains heavily, it will accumulate into a pond.

This is a common occurrence. Once the water accumulates, the caravans can only walk aside.

The main general Xia Jin absolutely does not want to fight this pass offensive and defensive battle, but the military order is like a mountain, and everything is beyond his control.

Xia Jin rode his horse and looked at the pass one mile away. The Jiandao Pass was slightly higher, making the pass even more majestic and solid, difficult to conquer.

"Let's try it out, isn't our life our life?"

Xia Jin scolded angrily, and then shouted loudly: "The central army and the rear army are assembled, and a large array of bows and arrows is formed!"

Two thousand soldiers of the puppet army quickly assembled, with 500 people as a row, arranged in four rows, all dressed as crossbowmen, and another thousand soldiers stood by on the spot.

The soldiers of the puppet army wore bronze helmets, leather armor, bows and crossbows in their hands, and arrow pots on their backs. They were generally tall, strong and well-trained.

"go ahead!"

Xia Jin shouted loudly, and the team began to march forward in a row, with dusty feet under their feet, and a somewhat desolate murderous look in the canyon.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The drums sounded very rhythmic, and the two thousand puppet troops lined up neatly, full of murderous intent.

Xia Jin did have some skills, and trained the [-] troops to be quite strong. Although the military discipline was corrupt, their morale was high.

Although the puppet army also temporarily made a few siege ladders, Xia Jin knew in his heart that he would attack the city as soon as he came up, and he would easily suffer heavy setbacks. It is better to use the advantage of the large number of people to fight against the Song army, and first suppress the opponent with bows and arrows.

The sky was dark and low, and the early spring wind was still chilly. A strong north wind blew, and the yellow-backed black dragon battle flag on the top of the city was flapping.

On the top of the city, 300 defenders are waiting in battle with crossbows in their hands. The city wall is only [-] feet long and [-] feet wide, and can accommodate up to [-] people to defend at the top of the city.

Chen Qing stared at a thousand soldiers in the distance, who had siege ladders in their hands.

Chen Qing understood the enemy's general's strategy, and first suppressed the soldiers on the city wall with a bow and arrow formation, and then the next 1000 people would attack.

"Ready to shoot arrows!"

The general of the Song army commanding the top of the city is Luo Gan, who was also Chen Qing's early subordinate and one of the survivors of Erlangzhai. head.

Logan is usually taciturn, but today he volunteered to lead his army to participate in the first round of combat.

Three hundred soldiers squatted one after another. They were divided into two rows, front and rear. The front row shot the enemy in a straight line from the firing holes, while the rear row fired parabolas from the air.

Chen Qing walked quickly to the side of the female wall, and shouted to the soldiers below the city: "The enemy's arrows are coming, retreat to both sides!"

Hundreds of soldiers retreated to the cliffs on both sides, close to the cliffs, exposing a large open space.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The sound of clappers in the puppet army suddenly rang, and two thousand soldiers charged forward with shouts, stopped sixty steps away, and raised their bows and crossbows together to shoot random arrows at the top of the city.

Black arrows shot towards the top of the city like raindrops, some of them hit the city wall and crenels, but most of the arrows flew over the city wall and shot into the city.

At the same time, Logan shouted: "Fire the arrow!"

The soldiers of the Song Army began to counterattack, and three hundred crossbow arrows shot at the neatly lined puppet soldiers.

Three hundred crossbows were far from being able to compare with the density of 2000 people on the other side, but they were more lethal. The powerful crossbows pierced through the leather armor of the soldiers of the puppet army, and hundreds of soldiers screamed and fell down.

Both sides come and go, and an arrow war breaks out first.

Xia Jin saw that his soldiers were unprotected and suffered heavy casualties. The opponent hid behind the battlements and shot down from the firing holes, with almost no casualties. He was heartbroken and annoyed, but there was nothing he could do.

Xia Jin immediately ordered: "Blow the horn and attack!"

'Woo—'

The low antler sounded, and a thousand soldiers rushed up like a tide. They carried eight siege ladders made overnight. On the battlefield, soldiers with spears and shields were running wildly, trampling on the corpses of the fallen soldiers. In one breath, he rushed to the trench.

The ditch under the city wall has been boarded up by the archers, and the galloping soldiers rushed through the ditch and put eight siege ladders on the top of the city.

These siege ladders were made by carpenters in Siyang County in a short period of time and the workmanship was relatively rough.The sawdust burrs on the sides and beams were not removed.

But these are minor problems. The key point is that there must be a pair of hooks on the top of the siege ladder to hook the city wall, so that the defenders on the top of the city cannot overturn the siege ladder.

The eight siege ladders all have hooks, which are tied at both ends of the top with belts, and are firmly hooked to the city wall.

The puppet soldiers jumped onto the siege ladder and began to climb up. Arrows rained down on the top of the city. The siege soldiers held shields to block the top of their heads and climbed up step by step.

At this time, the horse-faced wall began to play a role. Eight soldiers of the Song Army with excellent crossbow shooting squatted inside the horse-faced wall and shot at the soldiers on the eight siege ladders. A siege soldier.

In addition, [-] soldiers of the Song Army assisted in loading the arrows, making the crossbowmen shoot continuously. In each round, eight enemy soldiers were hit by arrows in the back and fell down from the ladder screaming. posed a great threat.

Chapter 38 The first battle

The arrows under the city were shot at the top of the city like locusts, tightly suppressing the soldiers at the top of the city, preventing the soldiers on the top of the city from leaning forward and shooting down.

The speed of the attack was very fast. Even though they were attacked by crossbowmen of the Song Army behind them, and people kept falling with arrows, there were still too many enemy troops besieging the city. Dozens of soldiers climbed to the battlements first, and fought fiercely with the Song Army at the top of the city. To jump to the top of the wall, the other side wants to drive them off.

The two sides fought together, and the crossbowmen of the puppet army stopped firing and began to retreat quickly, out of the range of the Song army. In just a quarter of an hour of the bow and arrow battle, the puppet army crossbowmen suffered nearly [-] casualties.

But without their cover, it was impossible for the soldiers of the puppet army to attack the city so smoothly. In fact, the casualties of the crossbow soldiers were exchanged for the smooth attack of the city.

This is also the rich experience accumulated by the enemy's general Xia Jin in long-term combat. He knows very well that he must pay a price to gain something.

The fierce battle on the top of the city was in a state of stalemate. The soldiers of the Song Army fought fiercely with the enemy with their tenacious will, continuously assassinating enemy soldiers one by one and throwing them out of the city.

And the soldiers defending the city were pierced by the enemy's spears from time to time, and fell down to death...

The soldiers of the Song army defending the city were all new recruits and had no experience in defending the city. Even the general Chen Qing also had no experience in defending the city. He and Yang Yuanqing each led [-] soldiers as mobile reinforcements. Wherever there was danger, they rushed forward immediately. support.

In this offensive and defensive battle, the Song Army played very passively. They obviously had the advantage of being condescending, but they failed to fully utilize it.

Chen Qing already understood that the root cause was still on the siege ladder. If the enemy's siege was not destroyed, the enemy would continue to attack him, and finally defeated himself with superior forces.

At this moment, a soldier shouted: "Commander, Xicheng... has broken through!"

As soon as Chen Qing turned his head, he saw a dike break in the west, and countless enemy soldiers rushed to the top of the wall.

He yelled, "Come with me!"

With a swing of his big iron spear, Chen Qing led thirty soldiers towards the westernmost point.

In just a moment, Chen Qing rushed to the place where the embankment broke. Dozens of enemy troops had already been killed on the top of the city. The westernmost passage was completely opened, and the enemy soldiers were still pouring upward. Desperately resisted, but the number of enemy troops was too large, and they were killed and retreated steadily.

An enemy general flew up and down with an ax in his hand, his face was full of flesh, and he looked very fierce. At his feet lay the corpses of five Song soldiers, some with different heads, and some with their heads split in half. Flowing all over the place, the death was extremely miserable.

"go to hell!"

Chen Qing shouted, and stabbed the enemy general with his long spear. This shot was as fast as lightning and powerful.

"Good come!"

The general had a double axe, holding down the tip of the gun, with some strength, Chen Qing sneered, raised his arms upwards, the general yelled, and the two axes were lifted into the sky.