Fenghou

Liu Ziyu happened to be in Lin'an, so the "Beijing News" asked him to predict the development of the war situation in the Central Plains. Liu Ziyu's first prediction had already come out, and the Western Army would definitely dispatch warships to cut off the waterway of the Yellow River and intercept the Hebei Jinbing southward to support Wanyan Wushu.

Liu Ziyu's prediction really aroused the interest of the people all over the city of Lin'an. All the guests in teahouses and restaurants were discussing the upcoming battle situation, even the concubines in the palace were also discussing this matter.

"Snapped!"

Zhao Gou threw the newspaper heavily in front of Qin Hui, and said angrily, "This Liu Ziyu is causing trouble, tell him to take office quickly, and leave tonight. I don't want to see his forecast in the newspaper tomorrow."

Qin Hui hurriedly said: "I have already sent someone to tell him that he is an official of the court, and he cannot express his opinion in the newspaper without the permission of the court. This is very inappropriate!"

"How did he say?"

"He said he didn't think it through, so don't make an example!"

"Hmph! Don't be an example, everyone is not an example. Doesn't he himself understand that officials should do something and not do something?"

Qin Hui said cautiously: "Your Majesty, I feel that Liu Ziyu is really not thoughtful, but this one is not."

Liu Ziyu didn't have much contact with Qin Hui. Qin Hui didn't want to deal with him for the time being. What he wanted to deal with was Zhang Jun, who was the political enemy who threatened him the most.

Qin Hui pointed to an article under the newspaper, "Your Majesty, Zhang Jun submitted his letter."

"I've seen it!"

Zhao Gou said with a gloomy face, "He announced the letter to the public without my consent. What is he trying to do? Is he trying to use public opinion to put pressure on me?"

"Your Majesty, this letter of his has aroused great repercussions in the court, especially the young officials. I know that many court officials have jointly signed a letter of proposal, asking the court to send troops to the Central Plains."

A sternness flashed in Zhao Gou's eyes, he walked to the window with his hands behind his back, looked out the window for a long time and said, "I originally thought that after he suffered a setback, he would change his temper, but I didn't expect him to get worse. I am so disappointed."

Qin Hui didn't stop, he knew that the emperor would not tolerate Zhang Jun this time.

In the afternoon of the same day, an imperial decree came out from the ban, and Zhang Jun, Minister of the Ministry of Rites and a bachelor, was reassigned as Fuzhou magistrate and Fujian Road appeasement ambassador, requesting to leave on the same day.

The voice of the imperial court calling for troops to attack the Central Plains also stopped abruptly.

Chapter 995 Raid

Caizhou is located in the south of Yingchang Prefecture. It has a large area, with hilly and mountainous areas in the west and vast plains in the middle and east. The hills are densely forested, while the plains are endless farmland.

Tang Qian led [-] cavalry and [-] supply camels to march eastward, passing through the forested hills and entering the vast Great Plains.

Caizhou belonged to Li Cheng's territory. There were originally [-] garrisons, but all the troops were transferred to Xuchang City, so Caizhou did not have a single soldier garrisoned.

The Western Army marched on the wide official road, with yellow and green wheat fields on both sides. The wheat has turned yellow, and the harvest season will begin in one month.

In the distance is a small river, and there are large and small villages scattered along the small river. Many people came to watch the excitement on the official road. When they found that the army that came was the Sichuan-Shaanxi Army, they immediately shouted in surprise, Flying back to report the news, the village was boiling, and people helped the old and the young to rush to the official road to welcome the arrival of the Western Army.

Many old people were supported by children, and they were so excited that they burst into tears. Dozens of young men asked to join the army, and more than a dozen healthy women carried baskets of bread and pots of hard-boiled eggs and stuffed them into the arms of soldiers. Holding the self-brewed rice wine jar, pouring the rice wine that has been preserved for many years into the soldiers' bowls, Tanshi Hujiang is such a grand occasion.

For the first time in more than ten years, the Song army appeared on the land of the Central Plains. How could the people who had been devastated by the Puppet Qi and the Jin Kingdom not be very excited.

The [-] cavalrymen of the Song Army received a triumphant welcome along the way. Two days later, the army entered Ruyang County, the state capital.

The county magistrate, surnamed Yu, came from a wealthy local family, and belonged to the out-and-out local snakes. The general officials all ran away, but the local snakes would not escape. They did not stand in line, but were loyal to their own family. whoever they obey.

Ten thousand cavalry did not enter the city, but stationed in a ready-made barracks outside the city. Tang Qian entered the city with more than a hundred cavalry.

The city is very lively, all the shops on both sides of the street are shouting one after another, all kinds of food stalls are full of the streets, and the restaurants are also full of guests. It still looks very prosperous, not the slightest depression.

"What does Li Cheng say? Direct taxation and indirect taxation are a lot of exploitation, and salt can be sold for several hundred yuan a catty, but Li Cheng can restrain military discipline, and there are very few cases of soldiers under his rule doing anything wrong, so everyone is satisfied. , so the business is relatively prosperous, and you don’t have to worry about being extorted.”

Yu Xiancheng introduced the situation in the city to Tang Qian all the way, but Tang Qian was obviously not interested in this.

"How many warehouses are there in the city?" Tang Qian asked.

"Two warehouses!"

Yu Xiancheng hurriedly said: "One official warehouse, one military warehouse!"

"Take me to see the military warehouse, and please ask the county magistrate to do two more things for me."

"The general obeys orders!"

"Help me find two businessmen who just came from Yingzhou and Chenzhou. I want to know about the situation in Chenzhou and Yingzhou!"

"I'll go find it right away!"

Yu Xiancheng took Tang Qian to the military warehouse and hurried to find someone.

The warehouse manager was surnamed Wang. He welcomed Tang Qian into the official warehouse a little nervously and said: "There are not many supplies in the warehouse. There are only [-] shi of grain and [-] dans of fodder. The other supplies for soldiers and armor have been taken away. A batch of medicinal materials."

Ten thousand shi of grain and [-] dan of fodder are enough for the army, and medicinal materials are also useful. Tang Qian asked again: "How do they usually transport the food and supplies?"

"Use a boat to go to Rushui, but I know that Li Cheng has transferred the grain and grass in the warehouse to Li Qiong, and the boat sent by Li Qiong will come to transport it away in the next two days."

Tang Qian was very interested in this news, and he asked again: "Where did the ship come from? Where did it go?"

"The humble job only knows that the ships come from Chenzhou."

At this time, Yu Xiancheng brought two businessmen over, both of whom came from Chenzhou and Yingzhou early this morning. The businessman from Yingzhou said: "The villain came from Ruyin County, Yingzhou. Thousands of garrisons have been transferred to Yingchang Mansion, currently there is no garrison in Yingzhou."

Another businessman said: "There is a garrison in Xiangcheng County, Chenzhou, about two to three thousand people, but it seems that it is not Li Cheng's army, but Li Qiong's army."

"How do you know it's Li Qiong's army?"

"We all know that the flag of their chief general is in Quzi, and they have gathered a lot of supplies in Xiangcheng."

Xiangcheng is a small county in the south of Chenzhou. It is not the prefecture of Chenzhou. The prefecture is in Wanqiu, but Xiangcheng is a famous shipping transit city. Many large warehouses were built there in the Song Dynasty.

Reminiscent of what the warehouse manager said just now, Li Qiong would send a fleet to transport the grain and grass to Chenzhou. Tang Qian had a vague guess. I am afraid that Li Qiong's army is about to enter Chenzhou.

Tang Qian immediately found Yu Shouzhong, the leader of the scouts, and said to him: "You immediately take two scouts, one to Bozhou, I want to know the main force of Li Qiong's army, and the other to Xiangcheng to learn about the enemy forces in Xiangcheng. and the situation of food supplies, especially the deployment of enemy troops."

"I understand!" Yu Shouzhong saluted and left in a hurry.

The next morning, a fleet of [-] flat-bottomed cargo ships arrived in Ruyang County. Not surprisingly, the fleet was captured by the Song army together with the [-] soldiers it escorted.

After the Song Army conducted the interrogation, they quickly learned about the general situation. The fleet really came from Xiangcheng County. At present, Xiangcheng County has gathered a large amount of grain and grass materials, guarded by [-] soldiers.

Tang Qian immediately made a decision and ordered his lieutenant general Cheng Feng to lead the fleet and camel team back, while he led [-] cavalry to rush towards Xiangcheng County.

……

Xiangcheng County is about 250 miles away from Ruyang County in Caizhou. Although Li Qiong's army and a large amount of food and supplies appeared in Xiangcheng County, Tang Qian couldn't figure out Li Qiong's intention. Transport the grain and grass materials back to Bozhou.

The cavalry rushed all the way, and arrived at Xiangcheng County in the evening of the next day. Xiangcheng County was close to Yingshui, and the warehouse group was built beside the Yingshui Wharf outside the city.

Twenty miles away from Xiangcheng County, Tang Qian's cavalry stopped. At this time, the scouts sent by Yu Shouzhong also rushed back to report.

The scouts pointed to a sketch and said to Tang Qian: "There is a wall around the warehouse, about ten feet high, but no one can stand on it. The barracks of the [-] troops is next to the warehouse. I haven't asked how much food there is in it. Another fleet arrived this morning to transport food, I asked about it, the fleet came from Qiao County, Bozhou, and the fleet has not yet left, it is moored on the water, there are thousands of ships.”

Since it came out of Bozhou, it must be that Li Qiong's army is about to enter Chenzhou. Chenzhou's strategic position is much more important than Caizhou. To the north of Chenzhou is Kaifeng Mansion, to the northwest is Yingchang Mansion, and to the north In the northeast is Yingtianfu. If a war breaks out in Chenzhou, the Jurchen of Yingtianfu can go south to support at any time.

Tang Qian is worthy of being an experienced general. He immediately decided to use only a thousand cavalry to attack the enemy to hide his strength.

The night had not completely fallen, and the soldiers in the barracks were busy eating. At this moment, the soldiers heard a thunderous sound, rumbling from not far away. Many soldiers stood up in surprise with bowls in their hands. Look around for the source of the sound.

Suddenly someone shouted at the gate of the barracks: "Run! The enemy cavalry is coming."

The soldiers stood blankly for a moment, and suddenly there was a panic, and they fled in all directions.

"Boom!" With a loud noise, the battalion fence was knocked open, like the Yellow River bursting its embankment, and thousands of cavalry rushed in from outside.

The cavalry soldiers of the western army killed everyone they saw, their heads rolled and their corpses were strewn all over the ground. The tents also caught fire.

The [-] cavalrymen chased and killed them mercilessly, and stopped after driving for more than ten miles. Nearly half of the [-] soldiers were killed.

At this time, the soldiers were still in a state of ignorance, and all of them were unarmed and unarmed. Thinking of the ruthlessness of the opponent's killing, none of the soldiers had the courage to look back and check, and they didn't even dare to stay any longer, lest the Song army would come after them. Flee in the direction of Bozhou.

Chapter 996 The Bing

Tang Qian captured 20 cargo ships by the river, all of which were flat-bottomed boats of [-] shi. Arriving in Xiangcheng County, eight thousand Song soldiers worked together to transport [-] shi of grain, [-] dans of fodder, and a large amount of military supplies onto ships and camels, and transported them back to Caizhou.

On the third day after Song Jun left Chenzhou, Jiedu envoy Li Qiong personally led an army of [-] to Xiangcheng County, Chenzhou. He was ordered by Wanyan Wushu to come to support Yingchang Mansion.

Li Qiong's face was very ugly. The food and supplies were looted, and there was nothing left. Some of the food and supplies belonged to him, but most of them were kept by Li Cheng. As one of the conditions for him to rescue Li Cheng, Wan Yanwu Shu also readily agreed.

But now that he has sent troops, the food and supplies have been taken away by the Song army. How can he rescue them next?

I was careless and sent too few guards, and Li Qiong regretted it for a while.

At this time, Deputy General Pan Gui stepped forward and said, "Jiedushi, I have just asked the government and the surrounding people. They said that there are at least seven or eight thousand troops, far more than 1000."

Li Qiong nodded, "I know, there must be more than 1000 people. With so much food and supplies, how could more than 1000 people move in just two days?"

"Could it be that Chen Qing sent troops to Caizhou?" Pan Gui asked in surprise.

"It stands to reason that no troops were sent."

Li Qiong pondered for a moment and said: "It should be a flexible cavalry force that can go wherever it is needed. Before capturing Yingchang Mansion, Chen Qing will not easily expand and disperse his forces."

"Jiedushi, what should we do now?" Several generals looked at him eagerly.

Li Qiong smiled wryly, he had already agreed to Wanyan Wushu, so could he withdraw the soldiers again?

He thought for a while and said: "It is estimated that there is still some grain in the folk warehouse, collect some, and take away what can be taken away. Yingchang Mansion is a major grain-producing area, and there should be grain in Yancheng."

Li Qiong's army plundered all over Chenzhou again, and got more than 3 stones of grain and more than 200 ships. A few days later, the army marched to Yingchang Mansion in mighty force.

……

At the same time that Li Qiong's army arrived in Chenzhou, Chen Qing also personally led an army of [-] to attack Xuchang in a mighty manner.

On the official road to the east of Yingchang Mansion, a mighty army of 1000 troops can't be seen at a glance, with dense spear points, shiny armor, and flags like clouds. There are more than [-] boats in the river next to it, and hundreds of trackers pull on the shore. Fiber.

Thousands of scout cavalry patrolled within [-] miles around the team to prevent enemy sneak attacks.

There are more than 3 camels in the middle of the team, keeping pace with the army, carrying heavy supplies, and striding forward.

Xiangcheng County is not far from Xuchang City, only more than 100 miles away. The main reason is that Xiangcheng County is close to Yingchang Mansion, and basically a few miles to the east is Yingchang Mansion.

Chen Qing walked in front of the team on horseback, with big flags waving in the wind, but Chen Qing was listening to the report from Cheng Feng, the commander in chief. Cheng Feng was Tang Qian's lieutenant general, and he sent a thousand ships and a large amount of food and grass supplies.

"The humble staff also just got the news that on the third day after we left, Li Qiong led an army of [-] to Chenzhou. We were worried that he would withdraw to Bozhou if he ran out of food and grass, but we still collected some food and grass. , Continue to march towards Yingchang Mansion, now should be in Yancheng County of Yingchang Mansion."

Chen Qing turned his head and smiled at Zhang Xiao, the military adviser who had just arrived in Xiangcheng: "It seems that I was too worried, and I did everything possible to lure Li Qiong's army to come to Yingchang Mansion. Now it seems that there is no need at all, it is completely unnecessary."

Zhang Xiaowei smiled and said: "It should be Wanyan Wushu's order, Li Qiong dare not disobey, I guess Wanyan Wushu will also send [-] to [-] Jurchen cavalry south to look for opportunities."

After thinking for a while, Zhang Xiao continued: "Actually, I think it's a failure for Li Cheng to guard Xuchang County. If he doesn't defend Xuchang County, and join forces with Li Qiong and the Jurchen cavalry, he will have [-] to [-] soldiers. We can fight to the death."

Chen Qing shook his head, "Li Cheng has no way to control this plan. The Jurchen army came late, and Li Qiong's army also came late. Li Cheng must either stick to Xuchang County or give up Yingchang Mansion. I will never give them a chance to join forces. .”

Zhang Xiao said again: "Your Highness has thought about besieging the city and fighting for aid. Has anyone dealt with first?"

"I want to hear the opinion of the military division!"

Zhang Xiao pondered for a moment and said: "The Jurchens are cavalry, so it is not easy to fight. Li Qiong's army is infantry. It is enough to defeat him with [-] cavalry, but Li Qiong will definitely rely on the city to fight against our cavalry. The key here is to fight against our cavalry. Li Qiong's army led away from Jiancheng. At present, there are only two cities in Yingchuan Prefecture that can be defended. The others are small counties that are vulnerable. One fortified city is Xuchang County in the north, and the other fortified city is Yancheng County in the south. .”

Chen Qing said with a smile: "The most important thing is to lure Li Qiong's army out of Yancheng County, but Wanyanwushu will definitely help us achieve our wish. Wanyanwushu let them come to Xuchang, not let them stay in Yancheng Rest, you must put pressure on Li Qiong and force him to send troops north, just like he was forced to come to Yingchang Mansion."

Chen Qing said to Cheng Feng again: "Go back immediately and tell Tang Tongzhi to keep an eye on Li Qiong's army. Once his army leaves Yancheng and goes north, immediately cut off his retreat and prevent his army from returning to Yancheng. Then the army follows from afar, don't act rashly."

"Humble post obeys orders!"

Cheng Feng turned his horse's head and headed south with his men.

At this time, Gao Ding asked puzzled: "Could it be that Wanyan Wushu didn't expect that we would besiege the city and fight for aid, and he forced Li Qiong's army to go north?"

Chen Qing nodded, "Of course he wants to get it, but there are some things that must be done, such as support. Either the Jurchen army will come to support Xuchang, or Li Qiong's army will go north. He must let the signing army go north. According to the information we got , Wanyan Wushu is recruiting soldiers on a large scale again, and Zhang Zhongxiong is training the army in Kaifeng Mansion, do you understand? Every Jurchen soldier is very precious, but the Han soldiers are not necessarily so. As long as Li Qiong can escape, it is completely Yan Wushu will immediately replenish Li Qiong with new troops."

Gao Ding sighed, "I understand!"

……

At noon the next day, Chen Qing led the army to Xuchang County. Xuchang County was the old name of the Song Dynasty. The Jin Kingdom changed its name to Changshe County. The carriages drive side by side, and the moat is as wide as three feet.

There are about 20 people in the city and 5000 defenders. The food stored in the city is enough to feed the entire city for half a year.

This is also due to the effective governance of Zhao Yuan, the magistrate of Yingchang, which has made it the first grain-producing state in the Central Plains for seven consecutive years, and the only state without fleeing farmers. The people live and work in peace and contentment.

The Western Army built a city-like barracks on the other side of the Yingshui River in the west of Xuchang County in three days, dug a ditch to divert water into the barracks, and built a wide bridge on the Yingshui River.

While building the barracks, hundreds of craftsmen began to install heavy trebuchets.

On the top of the city, Li Cheng stared at the barracks three miles away. Tens of thousands of troops were busy building the barracks. It turned out to be a plank barracks, which showed that the Song army didn't want to rush to attack the city.

"Jiedushi, the Song army didn't surround the city, so can we withdraw at any time?" A general asked in a low voice.

Li Cheng glared at him, "If I could withdraw, I would have withdrawn a long time ago. Chen Qing also knows that I will not withdraw, so there is no need to surround the city. But if you withdraw at this time, can you hide from his cavalry?"

Another general next to him said: "Chen Qing didn't besiege the city, I'm afraid he wanted to create opportunities for our reinforcements, and his real intention was to besiege the city and fight for reinforcements!"

Li Cheng nodded, "General Wang is absolutely correct. Chen Qing's real target is Li Qiong's [-] troops, but we must have reinforcements to arrive so that the soldiers can see hope and their morale can be maintained. If hope is lost, our The city will soon fall, and Chen Qing is well aware of this."