Troubled Times: Start with 800 Dead Soldiers

As mentioned before (Chapter 134), in the battle outside Gaoqing City, the Tianwu Army was completely wiped out by the National Protectorate Army led by Su Xia!

Gu Tingye, the commander of the Tianwu Army, was shot dead on the spot.

At the same time that the Tianwu Army was completely wiped out, Hua Rong, who was far away in Bianliang, Tokyo, had also completed the assassination of Ximen Qing and Hu Shiwen, and was currently retreating to Qingzhou and Dengzhou.

On the other side, Duan Pengju (appeared in Chapter 119, who participated in the first and second conquests of the imperial court against Su Xia) led more than 800 elite men under the starry night to prepare for a surprise attack on Su Xia's army.

For this reason, Su Xia specially arranged for Lin Chong to lead the cavalry brigade back to Dengzhou to prevent Duan Pengju from leading a small force to attack Dengzhou from Hebei East Road.

But the best defense is offense.

The spring of Zhenghe's fourth year has not yet passed.

Song Huizong Zhao Ji and Gao Qiu wanted to use two elite troops, Gu Tingye and Duan Pengju, to hinder the rise of Su Xia.

The only thing he can rely on now is the Western Army that has been fighting against the Xixia Army.

In Su Xia's mind, a bold plan emerged spontaneously.

In ancient times, communication was inconvenient, and the news of annihilating the Tianwu Army was strictly blocked. Why not pretend to be a Tianwu Army, and give Gao Qiu and Zhao Ji a mute to eat Coptis chinensis - the pain could not be told.

Taking advantage of the plan, Su Xia immediately called Zhao Wenhui. The former Tianwu Army general who had followed him for many years had complicated emotions at the moment.

The Tianwu Army was where he made his fortune in the Northern Song Dynasty, but it was also his saddest time (being framed by Hu Shiwen, as explained before in the book).

The family is big and the business is big, but they are framed and their wives and children are separated!

Zhao Wenhui has been completely disappointed with the Northern Song Dynasty court since then.

It can be said that two of the National Guards were firmly on the opposite side to the Northern Song Dynasty court.

One is the leopard-headed Lin Chong, and the other is Zhao Wenhui.

What Su Xia has to do is let Zhao Wenhui pretend to be the Tianwu Army again and make a surprise attack on Yingtian Mansion!

(Note: Yingtian Prefecture, also known as "Henan County", was one of the four capitals in Nanjing in the Northern Song Dynasty. It was where the East and West Roads of Beijing were located, and the administrative seat was Nanjing City, Songcheng County, close to Qingzhou Prefecture (today's Suiyang District, Shangqiu City, Henan Province The ancient city of Shangqiu, Yingtianfu is a very important place name in Water Margin.)

It was not difficult for Zhao Wenhui to pretend to be the Tianwu Army. He captured so many prisoners of the Tianwu Army and asked them to take off their military uniforms, scrub them, distribute weapons, and then let the officers and soldiers of the First Corps of the National Defense Army change them. Go up and soon it will look brand new.

The soldiers outside were wearing the clothes of the Tianwu Army, while the soldiers inside the queue looked for some with similar colors.

Looking from a distance, it is winter again, and they look no different from the Tianwu Army.

Zhao Wenhui found the captured flag bearers and buglers from the Tianwu Army and used them for his own use.

At the same time, according to Su Xia's instructions, Gu Tingye's body was cleaned and placed on the horse.

Then he ordered Shi Jin, Yang Chun, Chen Da and others to lead hundreds of soldiers from the mobile team, disguise themselves as captured Su Xiajun, and go straight to Yingtian Mansion on the East and West Road of Beijing.

As the political center, economic center and military center of the Song Dynasty.

Yingtian Mansion has a large army stationed there.

Songcheng County is the most prosperous county under the rule of Yingtian Mansion. The army ran all night and marched for four days before arriving at the Xiangjun military headquarters outside Songcheng County.

Along the way, Su Xiajun, who was disguised as the Tianwu Army, was bossing around. He used himself as the Central Forbidden Army as an example and turned a blind eye to the passing Xiang Forbidden Army.

These Xiang Forbidden Forces responsible for defense did not dare to intercept more, and could only report to the Songcheng County Magistrate.

The magistrate of Songcheng County knew that Gu Tingye was leading an army on an expedition. After all, just over a week ago, Gu Tingye led an army through the county under his rule and went straight to Qingzhou and Dengzhou. Why did he come back so soon? Already?

Before he could think about anything more, the soldier who reported the news said again: "Lord County Magistrate, they are just below the city with a large army. Do you see?"

The county magistrate couldn't help but curse in his heart. Although it was not far from Gaoqing City to his Songcheng County, it was not close either. It would have been impossible to arrive so quickly without walking for several days and nights.

Did Gu Tingye lose or win?

Why didn't the other Imperial Guards under the rule report to us?

But it was too late to think about it. Under the guidance of the soldiers, he immediately led a group of officials up to the Songcheng County wall. He saw Gu Tingye from a distance of about a hundred meters.

Gu Tingye was riding on the horse, but his eyes were closed. Although he was holding the reins, he looked a little weird.

In fact, Gu Tingye had already turned into a corpse at this moment.

As mentioned earlier, Gu Tingye was killed on the spot under the artillery fire of the National Guard Army.

Unlike other soldiers who were directly scattered by artillery fire, Gu Tingye was directly shocked to death by artillery shells.

Therefore, his body was still intact, and it was freezing cold, so the body could still maintain its original state. Su Xia ordered people to put makeup on him, and selected people from among the soldiers who could imitate Gu Tingye's voice. After repeated identification of the captured soldiers of the Tianwu Army, the candidates were finally determined.

When they arrived outside Gaoqing City, this man was hiding in the carriage behind Gu Tingye's body.

Gu Tingye, on the other hand, was like a puppet in a shadow puppet show. He was fixed on the horse and could not move.

There are wires pulling on the back, but all of this is done while thinking and operating during the march.

If you take a closer look, you can definitely see the difference.

After experiments, Su Xia found that the seamlessness can only be achieved when the distance is more than 50 meters.

Only then can it be invisible from the outside.

Although the magistrate of Songcheng County is not a model of integrity, the person who sits in the position of magistrate of Songcheng County is by no means an ordinary person.

"Song Book" records: During the Song Dynasty, Songzhou was called Yingtianfu and Nanjing, and its administrative seat was Songcheng County.

But it was a large county town with a population of 10,000+. Therefore, standing on the city wall, he looked at the Tianwu Army in the distance with extra caution, as if everything was normal.

But he suddenly felt as if it was normal. The man on the horse was Gu Tingye, whom he had just met a few days ago.

It's Gu Tingye, but it's still a little strange, "General Gu, is it you? Why are you back so soon?"

"Lord County Magistrate, I made a surprise attack on Qingzhou Mansion and captured many Su Xia bandits. Isn't it time to return? Open the city gate quickly."

The Songcheng County Magistrate carefully looked at the Tianwu Army under the city wall.

For a long time, he didn't notice any weirdness or difference between them.

The captain on the side said: "My Lord County Magistrate, what are you looking at?"

"I always felt like something was wrong."

"Do you think they are fake? No, that General Gu's voice is the same as before." The captain continued.

"Don't worry, raise the command flag and see if they can see through it." The county magistrate continued to order.