Fenghou

Yang Zaixing said with a slight smile: "The gambling is over, don't think about it anymore!"

Ruan De nodded, "Yes!"

Yang Zaixing pondered for a moment and then said: "I read your resume, it seems that you don't know how to ride and shoot?"

Ruan De said in a deep voice: "It's true that I have never practiced riding and archery."

"Can you ride a horse?"

"Horse riding!"

Yang Zaixing smiled and said: "It seems that the water quality is also good, can you really dive for a stick of incense in the water?"

"Humble occupation practiced since childhood, and there is no problem in diving for a stick of incense."

"Since your ancestral home is in Liangshanbo, I think the water quality should be good."

Ruan De's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that the governor knew about his father?

He quickly explained: "Beizhi was born in Dezhuang, Chuqiu County, so there is a word for virtue in his name. He has practiced water skills in the Bian River since he was a child."

Yang Zaixing just talked casually and didn't care where he practiced water skills.

Yang Zaixing pondered for a moment and said: "At the beginning of the year, I applied to His Royal Highness Yong for the establishment of a small navy with about [-] warships and more than a thousand people. His Highness Yong has already agreed, but I lack sailors. I want you to Served as the commander of the navy."

Ruan De hesitated for a moment and said, "Even if you are promoted to a lower rank, you are still a deputy commander."

Yang Zaixing said indifferently: "The deputy commander can also act as the commander, this is not important, the key is whether you are willing or not?"

"Of course I obey the military order, but... what about my two hundred soldiers?"

Yang Zaixing laughed, "You may not understand that the soldiers of a battalion are not allowed to come from the same place, otherwise it will breed corruption in the hometown of the soldiers. They must come from all over the world. This is the rule of the Western Army, so the next step is that all soldiers should Break up, all the generals will be redistributed, your subordinates will be scattered to each battalion, even if you don't enter the navy, it is impossible to lead them again."

"Humble job understands!"

Yang Zaixing nodded, "Train the soldiers first! After the ice and snow thaw, the warships will appear."

……

Outside Licheng County, Jinan Prefecture, [-] Jurchens cavalry lined up neatly, banners fluttering in the cold wind, bright helmets, spears like forests, [-] cavalry were full of murderous looks.

Wanyan Wushu offered sacrifices to Changshengtian, and when he came in front of the army, he waved his hand, and the soldiers came forward with two bowls of chicken blood kumiss, Wanyan Wushu said to the chief general Alu Bu and the deputy Wanyan Digunai: " This time I went to the Central Plains to thresh grain and grass. The eight words I explained were "surprise, quick decision", and I will do my best to destroy Guide Mansion and the west bank of the Yellow River in Xuzhou. People and property can be plundered if they can be plundered, and if they cannot be robbed, they will be killed. Food and livestock Bring it back as much as possible, understand?"

"Understandable!"

With a wave of Wanyan Wushu's hand, the soldiers offered chicken blood milk wine, the two of them picked up the wine bowl and drank it down in one gulp, then smashed the wine bowl hard.

"Okay! Just this momentum."

Wanyan Wushu applauded loudly, he pulled out the sword around his waist and handed it to Marshal A Lubu, "Take my sword and go to Guide Mansion, attack Songcheng County, cut down the prefect Liu Sheng, and judge Li Hun. Human head, I treat them well, but they betray me, I hate them deeply!"

"Follow the order!"

Alu accepted the sword, Wanyan Wushu waved his hand, "Let's go!"

"Ugh-"

The low-pitched horn sounded, and teams of Jurchen cavalry set off. Hitting the grass valley is a nomadic custom, which is to plunder the population and property on the border. Liao, Xixia, and Jin have this tradition. Wanyan Wushu is not only about inheriting the tradition , He also wants to destroy the Central Plains, create refugees, make it impossible for the Central Plains to recuperate, and prevent Chen Qing from obtaining a stable Central Plains.

Another purpose is to destroy the warships of the Western Army while the Yellow River is frozen, so that the Western Army can no longer block the Yellow River.

Watching the [-] Jurchen cavalry go away, the military teacher Fan Gong said to Wanyan Wushu worriedly: "I feel that Yang Zaixing must be prepared, and I am afraid that they will go deep into the hinterland of the Central Plains for greed, and be cut off by the Western Army."

Wanyan Wushu shook his head, "Alubu can't, but Digunai is a bit worrying, but how can he grow up without experience? Let him suffer a few times and he will understand."

Chapter 150, Grass Valley

Alubu and his deputy Wanyan Digunai divided their troops into two groups. Alubu led [-] main forces to attack Guide Mansion, while Wanyan Digunai led [-] cavalry from Xiao County to Xuzhou. The army stationed in the Yellow River water army, so Digunai still has a task to destroy the Yellow River warships of the Western Army.

Alubu led an army of [-] troops across the ice of the Yellow River at night, and headed straight for Chuqiu County. Alubu gave an order, and the [-] cavalry turned into forty cavalry squadrons, and rushed in all directions holding torches. Their targets are scattered in various villages in the yellow flood zone.

Alubu led [-] cavalrymen to the foot of Chuqiu County. The [-] cavalrymen held torches and formed a sea of ​​fire. They threw torches one by one onto the top of the city.

Two hundred soldiers hugged the bumper and rushed towards the city gate. There was a low, muffled sound of "Boom," and the city gate shook violently.

"Come again!" the commander shouted, and Zhuangmu slammed into the city gate again.

The gate of the city was smashed open, and the two thousand cavalry who had been waiting for a long time rushed into the city...

The result was unexpected to Alubu, Chuqiu County turned out to be an empty city, with no one in every household, no one in the government office, the official warehouse was empty, and the grain cabinets in the common people's homes were also empty.

Arubu's face was as gloomy as water, obviously the other party was already prepared and knew they were coming.

Alubu also secretly complained to Marshal Du Wanyan Wushu, why didn't he send spies to investigate first, and he knew it well, without food and livestock, what would his soldiers eat?

Although they also brought a little dry food, the amount was too small and could only last for two or three days.

At this time, the soldiers came to report, "Report to the Marshal, the brothers have caught some old men."

"Bring it up!"

After a while, the Jurchen soldiers dragged the three elderly men up, and the three old men knelt on the ground, trembling with fear.

"General, spare your life! General, spare your life!"

A Lubu lowered his head and gritted his teeth: "You tell me honestly, I won't kill you, when did the county evacuate?"

"The evacuation started half a month ago, and the last group of people evacuated in five days, including a few county magistrates and archers. We really couldn't move, and didn't want to leave, so we stayed."

"Where did they retreat to?" Arubu asked again.

"Reporting to the general, some people evacuated to Kaifeng Mansion, and some people evacuated to Songcheng County."

Alubu nodded, and asked again: "What about the countryside?"

"The villages started to evacuate very early on."

Alubu yelled, pulled out his knife, and chopped off the head of an old man with one knife. The other two kowtowed in fright, and were all hacked to death by the furious Alubu.

"Search for me! Search thoroughly, and the grain buried in the ground must also be dug out."

Ten thousand soldiers began to search the city, and indeed they found some food buried in the ground that the common people could not take away.

Working until the third watch, the exhausted soldiers finally fell asleep...

At four o'clock, a cavalry team of a hundred men rushed into Dezhuang, and the thirteen households in Dezhuang were empty, taking away everything that could be taken away, only some broken furniture that could not be taken away.

The Jurchen soldiers rushed into Ruan De's house, ransacked the boxes, found nothing, but accidentally found more than a dozen jars of fruit wine in the cellar, a hundred soldiers were overjoyed, they found bowls of wine and drank heavily, the weather was cold, and they drank a few bowls of wine to keep warm It is the body that matters.

Everyone drank up all the dozen or so jars of wine, feeling drunk, and each went to find a place to sleep.

"poisonous!"

A Jurchen soldier suddenly yelled and fell headlong in the yard, clutching his stomach and rolling all over the ground, blood poured out from his seven orifices, and he didn't move for a while.

Hundreds of soldiers were poisoned and fell to the ground, including some drunken war horses. At dawn, all the hundreds of Jurchen soldiers who looted Dezhuang were poisoned and died.

At the same time, the teams that went to various places to loot villages all returned to Chuqiu County one after another, bringing no good news. All the villages were empty, food and livestock were taken away, and almost all of the 4000 people got nothing.

"Bang!" Alubu slammed the table hard, and said with anger on his face, "How did you die?"

"They were all bleeding from their seven orifices, and their faces turned black. They should have died of poisoning."

Another fearful soldier said: "We found a few jars of unfinished wine and brought them back for drug testing."

At this time, the military doctor came over and said, "Marshal Qi, what they brought back was poisoned wine. It must have been poisoned with a lot of arsenic. The poison was very strong. Several wild dogs drank it and died on the spot."

A Lubu was really helpless, so he had to order: "The whole army pack up their things, burn down the county town and set off!"

They found a hundred stones of food last night, which was only enough for the soldiers to have a breakfast. They had nothing but pigs, sheep, women, and property that they expected. Go in the direction of Songcheng County.

Alubu hoped to capture Songcheng County, plundered it severely, then drove away the population and livestock, and returned to Licheng County with a large amount of property.

……

In fact, not long after the [-] Jurchen cavalry set off from Licheng, the intelligence scouts of the Western Army in Licheng County sent pigeon letters to Songcheng County.

Hu Yanlei, the guard of Songcheng County, immediately ordered to fortify the walls and clear the fields, and all the people outside the city would enter the city, and all food and supplies would not be left behind, and they would all be brought into the city.

Songcheng County, also known as Yingtianfu in Nanjing in the Northern Song Dynasty, is the third largest city on Henan Road, second only to Bianliang in Tokyo and Luoyang in Xijing, with a population of nearly one million when it was the largest. , easy to defend but difficult to attack.

If it was during the Northern Song Dynasty, even an army of 20 might not be able to conquer Songcheng County. Unfortunately, two huge disasters also brought disaster to Songcheng County.

The first time was a military disaster. The Jin soldiers broke through Bianliang and took away the second emperor. The officials and people of Songcheng County fled, and tens of thousands of people fled to the south of the Yangtze River, including Chen Qing's wife Lu Xiu's family, who fled to Jiankang Mansion at that time.

The second time was in the second year of Jianyan, when the Jin soldiers attacked Yingtianfu. In order to stop the Jin soldiers, Du Chong, the commander of the Song Army, ordered to dig the embankment of the Yellow River. In the city, the people of the whole county fled to the top of the city.

At that time, tens of thousands of people in Songcheng County were killed by the flood, and then epidemics and famine broke out, and the population of Songcheng County dropped sharply again. Today, there are less than 15 people left in a big city with nearly a million people.

The city walls were also badly damaged by floods, and although they were repaired later, their defensive function has declined considerably, let's just say!In the northeastern part of the city wall, a large hole can be directly punched through the city wall with a large battering ram.

However, during this period, more than 30 people from various counties retreated to Songcheng County, which increased the population of Songcheng County to [-] people again, and almost all the abandoned houses were filled with people again.

There are 5000 defenders in the city, led by the commander Huyanlei. Huyanlei is nearly 40 years old. He has followed Chen Qing for ten years. Jue Wuyang County Marquis, Hu Yanlei also made many military exploits. This time, under the order of Yang Zaixing, the governor of the capital, he led [-] troops to sit in Songcheng County.

"Look, general!"

On the top of the city, the soldiers pointed to the northeast and shouted.

Hu Yanlei looked into the distance, and saw black smoke billowing in the northeast direction. There was only one place over there, that was Chuqiu County, which was seventy miles away from Songcheng County, and black smoke could be seen seventy miles away, indicating that Songcheng County The whole county was burned.

At this moment, a gunpowder arrow soared into the sky ten miles away and exploded in the air. Immediately afterwards, a series of nine gunpowder arrows flew into the sky and exploded in the air.

It shows that the main force of the enemy army has been killed ten miles away, and it has come too fast.

Hu Yanlei immediately ordered: "Order the whole army to go to the city!"

"Dang! Dang! Dang!"

The alarm bell rang, and the soldiers of the Western Army under the city rushed to the top of the city.

Chapter 150, Song City

At noon, [-] Jurchen cavalrymen came to Songcheng County, and Alubu ordered [-] cavalrymen to search for food and livestock around. Roughage, but chop it up and the warhorses can barely eat it.

But the human problem is even bigger. The Jurchen army only has one day left of dry rations. If they can't get food supplies before dawn tomorrow, or if they can't take down Songcheng County, they can only retreat.

This is the power of strong walls and clear fields, and it is especially effective against nomadic troops. Nomadic troops invade the Central Plains and never carry food. They rely on looting along the way to support wars. Finally had to retreat.

Alubu narrowed his eyes and looked at the city. He had led the army to be stationed in Guide Mansion for two full years, and he knew Songcheng County well. He knew that the defense of Songcheng County was flawed. It can be smashed down with a heavy trebuchet, and it can be easily knocked down with a battering ram.

This is why Alubu didn't carry any siege weapons, but prepared a heavy battering ram.

Fortunately, the Song army did not repair Songcheng County, and the defects in the northeast section were still the same as before, which made Alubu heave a sigh of relief.

"The whole army rests in place!"

After running for a whole morning, the cavalry were a little tired. Arubu ordered to rest in place, and sent soldiers to check the freezing situation of the moat.

On the top of the city, Hu Yanlei watched the situation of the enemy cavalry. The number of enemy cavalry was less than he expected. It seemed that there were only more than [-] cavalry. He had received information from Licheng County before that the enemy had sent [-] cavalry. Could it be that Incorrect information?

The lieutenant general Zhou Ping smiled and said, "The enemy must have divided up and went to Xuzhou, so the number is smaller than we expected."

Hu Yanlei nodded, it must be for this reason, and the deputy general Zhou Ping said again: "Actually, our troops are no less than the opponent's. Even if the enemy invades the city, we can wipe them all out with street fighting!"

"No!"

Hu Yanlei categorically denied this idea, "Whether the enemy army invades the city or engages in street fighting, it will be a disaster for the people. We cannot explain to His Royal Highness King Yong."

Zhou Ping was ashamed and said: "The general is right, I know my mistakes!"

Hu Yanlei said again in a deep voice: "The enemy army is resting in the northeast direction, which means that they know the shortcomings of the city, and they will definitely attack Dongbeiduan. General Zhou, hurry up and gather the fire oil!"

Zhou Ping walked quickly. At this time, a soldier shouted: "There are enemy cavalry coming to investigate."

Seeing a cavalry of about 20 people rushing towards the moat, Hu Yanlei immediately said: "Shoot with crossbow arrows!"

On the top of the city, hundreds of soldiers raised their crossbows and shot at the enemy cavalry. The Jurchen cavalry raised their shields to resist, but some horses were still shot and fell to the ground neighing, knocking the cavalry to the ground. The crossbow arrow hit and was shot dead on the spot.

However, more than a dozen cavalry braved arrows and rushed to the moat, stabbed the ice of the moat with their spears several times, turned around and fled, the arrows followed, and several cavalry were shot down , the rest of the cavalry beat their horses desperately and fled back.

Half of the [-] cavalrymen were shot and killed. Hu Yanlei found a clue. They were not using divine arm crossbows, but ordinary army crossbows. , this kind of situation can't happen, and now you can shoot and kill the enemy from a hundred steps away with ordinary guns, what does this mean?The enemy's equipment fell.

Hu Yanlei immediately said to a commander: "General Wang, you lead a hundred brothers to the city and drag the corpses of the enemy soldiers back with ropes. I want to have a look!"

"Follow the order!"

A dozen soft ladders were thrown down, and the commander Wang Miao led a hundred soldiers to climb the rope ladders down to the city.

Not long after, more than a dozen corpses were hung on the top of the wall, and more than a dozen generals of the Western Army surrounded the corpses for a closer look. Sure enough, there were no iron armors, but leather armors. The faces were Donghu people, and the waist tags were also Jurchen waist tags. It doesn't explain the problem, and it can't be seen that they are real Jurchens, and they are generally referred to as Jurchens.

"It should be from the Donghu people, not the real Jurchens!"

Hu Yanlei said to everyone: "His Royal Highness Yong said that there are not many real Jurchens left. In order to win over Donghu people, a large number of Donghu people were also granted the identity of Jurchens, but in fact there are differences in all aspects. From It can be seen from the equipment that real Jurchen cavalry don't use leather armor, it must be iron armor."