Fenghou

According to Chen Qing's prior deployment, Li Feng led [-] naval troops to stay to defend Jiangxia and Hanyang, while Zheng Ping led a fleet full of supplies and [-] troops to Jiangling County to establish a logistics base.

And Niu Gao led a hundred chariots and ships and three thousand troops northward along the Han River, preparing to cooperate with Chen Qing's battle by water.

……

The information transmission on the battlefield is much faster than usual. This is also because a large number of scouts or spies are deployed around the battlefield, and they can grasp the situation on the battlefield at any time.

The news of the complete annihilation of the [-] troops attacking Yiling and the [-] troops attacking Hanyang reached Xiangyang almost at the same time.

Wan Yanchang was not surprised, he knew that fighting Chen Qing would have this consequence.

But Dong Xian was stunned. Chen Qing actually killed 8000 people. Could it be that he repeated his method on Shaanxi Road, issued an order to kill and built a Beijing to deal with the Qi army?

Wan Yanchang sneered and said, "Why didn't Marshal Dong read the other battle report, none of Hanyang's [-] Qi troops were killed, why do you think so?"

Dong Xian pondered for a while and said, "Could it be because the general is not Chen Qing?"

Wan Yanchang snorted disdainfully, "Nonsense! The generals of Hanyang will still carry out Chen Qing's orders. If Chen Qing orders them to kill them, none of the prisoners will be rescued, and they will all die in Hanshui."

"What's the reason for that, I really don't know the humble position, I implore the superintendent to show me!"

Wan Yanchang said calmly: "Chen Qing is indeed a bloodthirsty monster, he kills without blinking an eye, even if the opponent surrenders, he will still kill him, it is the same in the northwest, and it is the same here, but he has changed his mind , one of the 5000 people is not killed, this is because of Li Gang, the envoy of Xuanfu, who was a prime minister and a civil servant who has read sage books. It was Li Gang who restrained Chen Qing."

Dong Xian pondered for a moment and said, "Does it mean that in the future, Chen Qing will have no autonomy in commanding and making decisions and operations, and will have to be restrained by civil officials?"

Dong Xian was a civil servant who had commanded the army in the Song Dynasty, and he had a very deep understanding of the civil servant leadership system in the Song Dynasty. If Chen Qing was restrained by Li Gang in the future, he would have confidence in the battle to attack Jingxiang.

Wan Yanchang shook his head, "I'm not very clear about this, but it's extremely important, so we have to find a way to figure out the details of the Song Army's command and decision-making. I want to know how much autonomy Chen Qing has."

At this moment, a soldier reported from the hall, "Report to Marshal Dong, and report to the Supervising Army. An eagle letter was sent from the front post. Chen Qing led [-] cavalry to leave Changlin County for Yingzhou."

Wan Yanchang and Dong Xian glanced at each other, and they both realized that Chen Qing was eyeing the [-] troops retreating to Yingzhou again.

Dong Xian couldn't help but said: "The capital inspector army, Chen Qing's cavalry is really sharp, our army can't compete with it, can we send a Jurchen cavalry of [-] people to help?"

Wan Yanchang shook his head, "This requires the approval of our Emperor Jin, but it is unlikely, so you don't have to think about it, I suggest you write to the emperor of Qi and send [-] Qi cavalry from Jingzhao, this will be easier to achieve idea."

Dong Xian sighed, "Okay! I will write to the Son of Heaven today, asking for cavalry support."

Chapter 300 Longevity

Chen Qing's army arrived at Changshou County, Yingzhou. In the night, he looked at the dark county town from a distance, and felt a little emotional in his heart.

He now knows why Li Gang fights so hard, and always loses more than wins. The fundamental reason is that Li Gang doesn't pay attention to intelligence, can't know himself and the enemy, and always fights with others in a smear, how can he win?

The reason is very simple, how much food does the [-] puppet Qi army confronting the Song army have?Li Gang didn't know if there was any eyeliner he planted in Changshou County, but it turned out that there was none. Then the enemy army occupied Changshou County, do they need supplies?Li Gang still doesn't know.

One question and three questions really made Chen Qing depressed. How could he win the battle with such negligence?

Li Gang didn't plant an eyeliner in Changshou County, but Chen Qing did. Hu Yanlei sent two brothers to sneak into the county seat to find out all kinds of information about the county seat.

Now he had to find a way to get in touch with these two people, Chen Qing immediately sent someone to find Zhao Xiaoyi.

Not long after, Zhao Xiaoyi hurried over, clasped his fists and said, "Please give orders!"

"I'll give you two things. First, send someone to Changshou County to investigate and see if the enemy army knows we're coming. Second, send a few more brothers to Hanshui to inquire and contact the Niugao fleet that came from Hanyang. !"

"Follow the order!"

Zhao Xiaoyi left in a hurry.

Chen Qing immediately ordered the whole army to rest on the spot.

At this time, Yang Zaixing stepped forward quickly and said, "Dutong, a local big family has sent more than [-] carts of black beans!"

Chen Qing stood up and smiled, "Where is it? Take me to see it."

Chen Qing came to the south of the woods. Outside the woods, there was indeed a large convoy. A kind of middle-aged man was saying something to the soldiers?

"Everyone is here!"

A soldier shouted, and everyone moved away.

In front of a cart that Chen Qing was leaving, he grabbed a few handfuls of black beans and took a closer look. The quality of the black beans was good, the grains were plump, and more importantly, there was no croton in the black beans. This was what Chen Qing was most concerned about. The enemy's strategy.

The soldier led the middle-aged man forward, and he knelt down to salute, "Xiaomin Zhang Qifa greets the general!"

"Come on, Mr. Zhang, thank you for the black beans!"

Zhang Yuanwai sighed and said: "Originally there were 100 catties of black beans at home, but the puppet Qi army crossed the border, and all the granaries were robbed. Dozens of fat pigs and more than [-] sheep were also robbed, leaving only the cellar. This is five thousand catties."

"Is this group of puppet Qi soldiers very cruel?"

"Actually, it's not cruel. There is no murder or arson, nor is there any rape of women, but it is disgusting. It specializes in robbing food, pigs and sheep, and it is called temporary expropriation by the army. The food, pigs and sheep are forced to be requisitioned, and they may be returned. ?"

Chen Qing's heart moved. Judging by this performance, the other party's food supply really had a problem.

"Do they have a heavy truck?" Chen Qing asked again.

Zhang Yuanwai shook his head, "I didn't see the heavy carts, they were just infantry, they just snatched some carts to load pigs, sheep and food."

This is a bit strange, the puppet Qi army had barracks and large tents in Changlin County, but the army did not carry any luggage, so where did these things go?

After thinking about it for a while, Chen Qing probably understood that the opponent's troops should have left in two ways, the luggage team went north, and the main force was afraid of being overtaken by him, so they would move lightly. This should be the case.

……

In the afternoon, Zhao Xiaoyi sent someone back to report that they had contacted Niu Gao's fleet, and the fleet led by Niu Gao was berthed thirty miles south of Changshou County.

In addition, Zhao Xiaoyi has sent someone to sneak into the city to contact Hu Yanlei's subordinates.

Chen Qing asked: "Can people from outside still enter the city?"

The soldier shook his head, "Just open the gate of the city for half an hour at noon, only exits are not allowed, and only in special circumstances can we enter the city. Our brother pretended to be a coachman and entered the city with a cart delivering food to the army. They are Special case."

Chen Qing nodded. It seemed that the enemy army had spies near Changlin County. They knew that he had led the army to Yingzhou, so they controlled it so strictly.

When it was getting dark, Chen Qing led his army to set off. They did not go to the county seat, but passed through the south of the county seat to the Hanshui River, where a hundred thousand-stone carts and boats were moored. The carts and boats were full of grain and tents. The supply ship of Chen Qing's army.

In fact, regardless of whether the enemy army has withdrawn to Yingzhou or not, Chen Qing will lead his army to the Hanshui River to get supplies from the fleet.

Otherwise, the supply of [-] cavalry would be very troublesome, and it would be impossible for them to carry logistics supplies, which would seriously hinder their high-speed mobile march.

The river network in the Huguang area is dense, so it is undoubtedly wise to use the fleet to replenish.

Immediately, the army set up a large camp by the Han River, without a barracks, and Chen Qing sent hundreds of patrols to patrol around the camp.

In the big tent, Niu Gao reported to Chen Qing the situation of the battle in Hanyang. Chen Qing nodded. The other party forced ships on the Han River, and they couldn't all be cargo ships of two thousand shi, which meant that the puppet Qi army still had a lot of five hundred shi in their hands. They will definitely use the Han River to transport grain and grass supplies to Changshou County.

The government in Changshou County did not store food, Li Gang was sure of this, and the [-] puppet Qi troops themselves did not carry food and grass, they could only exploit food from the people, even so, to meet the food problem of the [-] soldiers, they had to rely on the people alone Food is also difficult to meet.

Xiangyang will definitely send food supplies to Changshou County.

What Chen Qing thought of was not to cut off the opponent's supplies, but to use this fleet. This was an opportunity to seize Changshou County.

……

Changshou County is the seat of the prefectural government of Yingzhou. The county seat is very large, and the city wall is [-] miles in circumference, but it is not a strategic place like Xiangyang City, so although the city wall is very long, it is not tall and strong, the moat is not wide enough, and the city gate is very tight. old.

According to the combat plan of the puppet Qi army, they will use Xiangyang City as the fulcrum, and then launch an attack on the west, middle, and east lines. The west line is Xiazhou. It is necessary to take Xiazhou and open the passage to Bashu.

The central line is to seize Jiangling Mansion, control the Yangtze River waterway, lure Wang Yanjun to go north and wipe them out. This is the central line strategy. In this sense, the central line strategy has already succeeded for the most part.

But the focus of the Puppet Qi is still on the Eastern Front. Their Eastern Front strategy is divided into two steps. The first step is to seize the west of Hanshui to capture the symbol of Hanyang, and then they will take Changshou County and Hanyang County as the fulcrum to the east of Hanshui Expand and seize the entire north of the Yangtze River.

It's a pity that their strategy had just begun to advance, and they were attacked twice by Chen Qing's army, losing more than 3000 people.

However, Changshou County was the starting point of the Puppet Qi Army's strategy of advancing eastward, and it was of great strategic significance to the Puppet Qi Army, so Dong Xiancai ordered [-] troops to withdraw eastward to Changshou County.

As long as Changshou County is firmly held, whether it is expanding to the east or capturing Hanyang County to the south, it will have a foothold.

There is a Gaochang Inn near the south gate of Changshou County. Zhang Hua, the scout who sneaked into the city at noon, lived in this inn. , Where to find two of Huyanlei's subordinates.

Zhang Hua is the head of the scouts, with very high martial arts skills and strong adaptability.

He was sitting alone in the room, waiting patiently. At this time, there was a knock on the door outside, very rhythmic, 'Boom, boom, boom, boom! '

Zhang Hua drew out his dagger, stood up and opened a crack in the door, "All is well!" He asked in a low voice.

"It's business as usual!"

Zhang Hua opened the door, and a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy came in. He smiled and opened his sleeves, revealing a blue mark on his arm, which was the logo of the Second Scout Battalion.

"Sit down!"

Zhang Hua asked the other party to sit down, poured him a cup of hot water, and took out the token from his waist to show him.

The young man was in awe, "So it's Zhang Dutou, it's rude to be humble."

Zhang Hua smiled and asked, "What's your name and how old are you?"

"My name is Wangdu, from Jingzhao, and I am 16 years old."

The other party was actually just a young man, but Zhang Hua was not surprised at all. The Second Scout Battalion was like this. There were men, women, young and old, and they were engaged in all walks of life, so that they could sneak into the enemy's rear to inquire about intelligence.

"What do you two do?"

"Practicing medicine, I am a medicine boy, responsible for grabbing, dispensing, decocting medicine, and carrying the medicine box for Master."

"Why didn't your master come?"

"He was conscripted into the military camp to see a doctor, and many soldiers in the military camp had diarrhea."

Zhang Hua was startled, "Is there a disease?"

Wang Du shook his head, "Master said it wasn't an epidemic, but the climate was unacceptable. Many soldiers had diarrhea after drinking raw water."

"I want to know some information, how much food is left in the enemy army, and how is the morale? You should know!"

Chapter 3 and One

In the dark, Zhang Hua approached the southern city wall. Although the city would be opened for half an hour at noon every day to let people out, once the enemy army found the cavalry of the capital, they would probably cancel the opening of the city gate to let people out tomorrow.

But more importantly, Zhang Hua knows that information is only valuable if it is timely and accurate, and delaying it until noon tomorrow may cause delays.

He found a dilapidated city wall, jumped up lightly, grabbed the hole in the wall and climbed up the mountain. It was only two stories high when it was two feet high. After a while, Zhang Hua climbed up the female wall, and a group of sentries were just walking , he held his breath and leaned on the city wall, and the sentinel walked past him.

When the sentinel was far away, he jumped onto the top of the city and reached the other side in two or three steps. He hooked the top of the city with a hook, grabbed the rope and slid down. He took the iron hook and swam across the moat. Then disappeared into the darkness.

……

An hour later, Zhang Hua found the fleet thirty miles to the south, and he was taken by soldiers onto a vehicle and boat, which was Chen Qing's temporary commander.

Zhang Hua walked into the cabin and knelt down on one knee to salute, "See Du Tong for humble posts!"

Chen Qing knew Zhang Hua, and said with a smile, "Did Zhang Dutou come out of the county?"

"Exactly! I met the subordinates of Commander Huyan. The two of them are doctors and medicine boys. They were temporarily recruited by the other side to treat soldiers in the barracks."

"What happened to the opposing army?"

"I heard that some soldiers suffered from diarrhea due to unacclimatized water and soil. About one or two thousand of them, but it was not a disease, but their stomachs were damaged by drinking unboiled water."

Chen Qing nodded, "How is the other party's food situation?"

That's what he's most concerned about.

"Reporting to Dutong, each soldier on the other side now has half a catty of rice per day, which can last for about ten days. The latest news I got is that a supply fleet came from Xiangyang and set off yesterday."

This news was too important and timely, Chen Qing asked about other things, he immediately sent someone to find Yang Zaixing and Niu Gao, and made detailed arrangements.

That night, Chen Qing's [-] cavalry and [-] vehicles and boats left one after another.

……

There are more than [-] supply ships coming from Xiangyang. The ships are quite miscellaneous. There are thousand-stone cargo ships, five-hundred-stone passenger ships, and even fishing boats. They are mainly food, bows, arrows, kerosene and other consumables. The fleet stretches for more than [-] years. , along the mighty Han River downstream.

There were [-] soldiers accompanying the guards in the fleet. The leading general was called Li Ju, who was a subordinate of Kong Yanzhou. The army he commanded was also Kong Yanzhou's army. They had been stationed in Yingzhou for a long time, and they were familiar with the situation in Yingzhou. This is also the reason. The escort mission that no one wanted to take finally fell on them.

The risk of transporting food and supplies this time is very high. Chen Qing not only has cavalry, but also has a powerful navy, which is not available in the puppet Qi army. They don't have a warship, so they can't resist Chen Qing's navy.

Dong Xian originally wanted to transport by land, but Wan Yanchang vetoed it. The risk of going by land was even greater, and he would definitely encounter Chen Qing's cavalry, while Chen Qing's navy might not be encountered by water.

After all, they had received the news that a mighty Song Army navy had arrived at Jiangling Mansion.

Li Ju stared nervously at the river and the shore. At this time, they were still about a hundred miles away from Changshou County. This distance was the most dangerous. What was even more terrible was that the sky was already dark, the sun had already set, and the river was half-lit. half dark.

It can be said that this night made everyone worry, and Li Ju also ordered that everyone is not allowed to rest tonight.

"General, the river is foggy!" The boatman shouted.

Li Ju also discovered that there was indeed a layer of gray veil-like fog on the surface of the river, making it impossible to see the water surface clearly.

"What will happen if there is fog?" Li Ju asked loudly.