Fenghou

"The humble staff hadn't been mobilized when they left the city, and I haven't heard that they have this plan."

Chen Qing ordered people to take the scouts down to rest, and he said to everyone: "Wu Jie's army did not go out of Monk Yuan, which relieved the pressure on Fengxiang's golden soldiers. Wanyan Helisa will definitely send troops north to help Siyang City, our top priority It’s not about taking down Siyang City, but besieging the city and fighting for reinforcements, first annihilating the enemy’s support troops.”

……

On the south bank of the Lishui River, an army of about 30 people is marching rapidly to the northwest along the river. This army is composed of [-] puppet Qi troops and [-] Jurchen cavalry. The commander of this army is Wanyan Tietou, His identity is not simple. He is actually Wan Yanchang's nephew, about [-] years old, and he wields a wrought iron mace with extraordinary courage.

Over the years, Wanyan Tietou has experienced many battles, and he has been able to stand on his own, so this time Wanyan Helisa sent him to lead the army to support Siyang County.

There was also a deputy general, Zhao Yong, and the two led the army all the way. They carried dry food for six days. If they could not support Siyang County, they had to retreat immediately, otherwise the dry food would not last long.

In the evening, the army was resting in the nearby woods, while Wanyan Tietou and Zhao Yong were discussing countermeasures.

"Excuse me, commander, did the general mention how many troops the other party has?"

"It seems that there are more than [-] people, but the exact number is not mentioned. Why do you ask?" Wanyan Tietou was really puzzled.

Zhao Yong is a veteran with a lot of experience. He said in a deep voice, "We are only forty miles away from Siyang County, but we haven't been defeated in the south, which means that the Song army has not broken through the county seat. The humble official suspects that the other party's target is us. Get rid of us first, and then take the county seat calmly."

Wanyan Tietou is not stupid, he understood Zhao Yong's meaning, "You mean, the Song army will come to attack us tonight?"

Zhao Yong nodded, "We are resting in the woods. If the opponent attacks with fire, we will be in danger."

"What about General Yi?"

"I suggest that we move to the north bank and find a high place to camp. It will not be so easy for the other party to sneak across the river."

Although Wanyan Tietou is not very smart, he followed Zhao Yong's suggestion, and he immediately said happily: "Well, build the pontoon bridge immediately, and we will move to the north bank!"

Chapter 500 Halfway

At two o'clock, the main force of the Song army quietly approached the woods where the Jin soldiers were resting. At this time, several scouts came galloping on horseback, and reported with fists folded, "I report to Du Tong that the enemy troops in the woods have moved to the other side of the river! "

Chen Qing was startled, "When did it happen?"

"Just half an hour ago, the enemy built a pontoon bridge to the south."

Unexpectedly, the enemy army was so vigilant that they ran away in the middle of the night. This was the first time Chen Qing encountered it.

It seems that it is impossible to destroy this enemy army with a sneak attack. Chen Qing pondered for a moment, and said to Yang Zaixing: "General Yang can lead [-] troops to the south and go around behind the enemy army. I will intercept the enemy army in the north. If you attack from the north to the south, you will surely defeat the enemy!"

"Humble post obeys orders!"

Yang Zaixing agreed without hesitation, but he hesitated and asked again: "Do you want to use the opponent's pontoon bridge to cross the river?"

Chen Qing pondered for a long time and said: "You don't need the opponent's pontoon bridge to cross the river to prevent the opponent from ambush. You can build the pontoon bridge yourself. No matter how the enemy goes, Siyang County is on the south of the river. They will definitely cross the river and come back. This is our chance to strike at the halfway point!"

Yang Zaixing continued to march south with [-] troops, while Chen Qing sent scouts to swim across the river and keep an eye on the [-] enemy troops.

At noon of the next day, [-] gold soldiers arrived at the north bank of Siyang County, and they could already see the city wall on the south bank more than a dozen miles away. Zhao Yong hesitated, he was worried that he would be attacked by the Song army halfway across, but Wanyan Tietou was a little impatient. , Afraid of this and that, don't they just cross the river?They didn't have much dry food in the first place. If they were delayed like this, even if they were not defeated by the Song army, they would starve to death without food.

Wanyan Tietou immediately ordered to build a pontoon bridge to cross the river. The water was about 300 feet wide, just over [-] meters. Jin Bing used sheepskin rafts and ropes to build the pontoon bridge, which was more convenient. It only took an hour to build a pontoon bridge.

"Can the enemy be found on the other side?"

"Reporting to the commander, no enemy situation was found!"

"Cross the river!"

Wanyan Tietou gave an order, and ten thousand soldiers began to cross the river mightily. Wanyan Tietou was more cautious. The two thousand Jurchen cavalry did not go first, but let the soldiers of the Qi army go first, and the two thousand soldiers of the Qi army stepped onto the pontoon bridge , walked quickly to the other side.

On a small hill two miles away, Chen Qing watched the Jin soldiers crossing the river, and he also waited for the best opportunity to attack, which was when the Jurchen cavalry crossed the river.

Ten thousand Song Army cavalry were ready, they hid in a forest, waiting for the order to attack.

After about [-] Qi soldiers passed, [-] Jurchen cavalry stepped onto the pontoon bridge. At this moment, Chen Qing gave an order, "Set fire!"

Dozens of flaming rafts suddenly appeared upstream, rushing down the current to the pontoon bridge hundreds of steps away.

The firelight on the river was an order, and a low-pitched horn suddenly sounded in the woods, "Woo——"

Ten thousand cavalry rushed out of the woods and charged towards the thousands of puppet Qi troops one mile away...

Dozens of rafts burning on the river quickly approached the pontoon bridge, and the gunpowder barrels in several rafts were burned and exploded, blowing the rafts to pieces, and the remaining 20 rafts hit the pontoon bridge one after another.

The cavalry on the pontoon bridge was in a panic. At this moment, the gunpowder barrels on the raft exploded one after another. The pontoon bridge was broken into more than a dozen pieces, and more than 1000 Jurchen cavalrymen on the bridge fell into the water one after another.

Ten thousand cavalry entered the ranks of the puppet Qi army, and four thousand puppet Qi troops fought in a panic. Their morale was low and the ranks were chaotic, unable to form an effective resistance. In less than a moment, soldiers began to flee south.

At this time, the situation on the north bank of the river was equally dangerous. Yang Zaixing led [-] cavalry to attack from behind, and the army on the north bank was killed and caught off guard.

Attacking halfway across the river has always been a nightmare for crossing troops. Once they encounter almost no cure, they will definitely be defeated. If you are lucky, you will lose part of the army crossing the river. If you are unlucky, the entire army will even be wiped out. .

But this time the Jin soldiers were attacked halfway, the root of it was Zhao Yong's decision last night. He suggested crossing the river to the opposite bank. .

The Jin soldiers on the south bank were the first to collapse. The soldiers trampled on each other and scrambled to escape. The Song army cavalry chased after them.

The Song army in the north encountered tenacious resistance from [-] Jurchen cavalry. Yang Zaixing divided his troops into two groups. He personally led [-] cavalry to encircle and suppress the Jurchen cavalry.

They were all Jin soldiers. The morale and willpower of the Jurchen cavalry far surpassed that of the puppet Qi army. The puppet Qi army collapsed first and fled to the north. Countless soldiers fled into the forest.

But the Jurchen cavalry did not retreat, and in the end the entire army was wiped out due to the huge difference in troop strength and the siege of the Song cavalry.

This battle also has disadvantages for the Song army, that is, the roads on both sides of the river are narrow, which is not conducive to the cavalry's full pursuit, and there are many forests, especially the lush forests in the north. Of course, this is also Zhao Yong's deliberate choice.

Most of the puppet Qi soldiers in the north fled into the forest. In addition to the 800 Jurchen cavalry who were wiped out, about [-] people were killed, and only a thousand or so surrendered.

But the Jin soldiers in the south suffered heavy losses. Most of the Jurchen cavalry who fell into the river were drowned. More than 3000 of the [-] Jin soldiers who crossed the river were killed, and more than [-] surrendered. Only a few hundred people fled into the woods to escape.

Chen Qing did not continue to chase, and immediately ordered his men to rebuild the pontoon bridge, and the two armies met on the south bank.

Although the Jurchen cavalry did not surrender in actual combat, the main general Wanyan Tietou led more than [-] people to break through at the last moment, and managed to escape by fleeing into the woods.

After Wanyan Tietou collected the remnants of the army, only 2000 heads were collected, almost all of them were from the Qi army, including the deputy general Zhao Yong, who also disappeared, and was also seen captured by the Song army.

Wanyan Tietou was terrified, and after night fell, he took the remnant army and fled to Fengxiang Mansion.

The Song Army captured more than [-] prisoners of war, all of whom were Qi Army prisoners of war. The Song Army has always exterminated the Jurchens and did not accept surrender.

However, in this battle, nearly a thousand cavalrymen of the Song Army died in battle, mainly because of the price paid for encircling and suppressing a thousand Jurchen cavalrymen.

It can also be seen that the Jurchen cavalry is brave and good at fighting. When the time, place and people are at a disadvantage, they fought with their backs and maintained a one-to-one death ratio with the Song army.

At this time, Gao Ding brought up a prisoner of war, Zhao Yong, the deputy general of the Puppet Qi Army, and Chen Qing was quite interested in him.

Chen Qing ordered someone to untie his rope and asked with a smile, "Do you know me?"

Zhao Yong nodded silently, "I met the general at the top of Jingzhao City, you are Chen Dutong!"

"I see that you have a lot of experience. You can guess that I will sneak attack last night. Why did you withdraw to the north bank? Don't you think that you will be attacked halfway when you come back?"

Zhao Yong sighed and said, "Why didn't I think of that! It's just that the Jurchens didn't listen to my suggestion. After retreating to the other side, I suggested that Wanyan Tietou go north immediately and march forty li before crossing the river and going down the river. When your army arrives , we have already entered Siyang City, but Wanyan Tietou didn't listen, he thought you would use the pontoon bridge he built to cross the river and chase after him, so he led [-] troops to ambush on both sides of the pontoon bridge, waiting for you to cross the river, a full delay of three hours , When he wakes up, there is no time to cross the river."

Chen Qing nodded, this Zhao Yong still has experience, he asked again with a smile: "Who was General Zhao's former subordinate?"

"The humble position was originally a bandit in the east of the river, with tens of thousands of soldiers, who plundered for a living, and was nicknamed the hornless cow. Later, the old general Zongze recruited the humble position. After the old general Zong died of illness, the humble position followed Du Chong. Later, Du Chong surrendered to Jin. Bing, we were not spared either."

Chen Qing said again: "Now I will give you a chance to follow me and serve as the commander of the general. I will also take your family members to Chengji County. Are you willing!"

Zhao Yong knelt down and said with tears: "Mengdu will not give up, let me go back to the right path, even if I see General Zong under the nine springs, I will have no shame in my heart!"

……

Chen Qing ordered Hu Yantong to lead 4000 people to clean up the battlefield and escort the prisoners of war, while he himself led [-] troops to ambush outside Siyang County.

Of course, Chen Qing also brought baggage during this expedition. Two thousand camels were carrying food supplies and dozens of siege ladders, among which dozens of siege ladders had been installed in the Jiandaoguan Canyon and sent to the Song army. .

The city of Siyang County is neither high nor wide, only two feet and six feet, and there is no horse-faced wall. It is an ordinary city wall. Most of the city walls in the Song Dynasty are like this. Only those counties with strategic importance can be built tall and strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack. , Siyang County obviously does not belong to this list.

But no one thought that when Chen Qing used Longzhou as a springboard for his eastward expansion, the strategic position of Siyang County would be highlighted.

At present, there are [-] troops in Siyang County, all of them are puppet Qi troops. The general is called Mo Wangu, but he is a Bohai Jurchen.

Mowangu ordered the closure of the city a few days ago, the people inside the city could not get out, and the people outside the city couldn't come in, but this also led to the cut off of intelligence, he only knew that [-] troops would come to support him, but he didn't know that Wan Yuanjun has been wiped out by the Song army halfway.

On the top of the city, Mo Wangu stared at the south, eager to see through, but the reinforcements did not come for a long time, which made him a little annoyed.

At this time, a general persuaded in a low voice: "General, bear with it for a few more days, I believe that reinforcements will definitely come!"

Mo Wangu didn't understand Chinese, he couldn't understand what his subordinates were saying, and he didn't want to find an interpreter. He vented all his anger on the general, and whipped his whip at the general.

"You Han dogs, it's all because you broke my father!"

Chapter 5 and one startled the city

At one watch, Chen Qing sent someone to find Zhao Yong, the surrendered general, and asked him with a smile, "Does General Zhao know the main general in the city?"

Zhao Yong clasped his fists and said: "I know a thing or two about my humble position. The general in the city is called Mo Wangu, a commander of a thousand commanders. He is actually a native of Donghu in Bohai. Orders need to be translated, resulting in poor language communication, so he often beats people in a rage, and even Wanyan Holisa doesn't like him, so he was sent to guard Longzhou."

"Why does the puppet Qi army use Hu people as leaders?" Chen Qing asked puzzled.

"This is a new rule that has just been established. It is said that the repeated defeats of the puppet Qi army made Jin Guo feel distrustful, so it is stipulated that all the first-level generals should be Jurchens, but not all of them. I don't know the specific humble positions. At least This is the case on Shaanxi Road.”

Chen Qing nodded, "Then tell me how to attack Siyang City?"

Zhao Yong knew that it was all about the examination of the school himself, so he racked his brains and said, "If the governor decides to attack the city in the middle of the night, the humble official agrees very much. In fact, to deal with the defenders of Siyang County, you only need to use one word, 'surprise!'" You can subdue the enemy without fighting."

Chen Qing became more interested, and said with a smile, "Tell me more about it!"

"The humble official suggested that Dutong should attack the south city. When attacking the upper city, don't rush into the city. First beat the drums like thunder, and then set fire to the south tower. The soldiers in the city will be frightened. They will flee from the north gate. There is an army ambushing outside the gate, and they are all the turtles in the urn."

"But why do you say that the soldiers will be frightened and flee north?"

Zhao Yong smiled slightly and said, "How many people like Mo Wangu are willing to sacrifice their lives for him? Besides, these soldiers are not fools. Everyone knows that 3000 people can't defend a city. At a critical moment, who doesn't want to save their lives?"

Yang Zaixing said from the side: "Dutong, I also feel that General Zhao's words are reasonable, and I am willing to lead the army to attack the city!"

Chen Qing nodded, "Then you will be the chief general, General Zhao will be the deputy general, and lead 5000 people to attack the city, while Gao Ding and Niu Gao will lead 6000 people to ambush outside the north gate!"

……

At the third watch, Yang Zaixing and Zhao Yong led 5000 people to the south of the city. Zhao Yong was really uneasy. He didn't understand how Chen Dutong let him, who had just surrendered, lead the army, but wasn't he worried that he would backtrack?

Yang Zaixing saw his uneasiness, so he smiled and said to him: "Everyone always has no doubts about employing people, and no doubting people. If he doesn't trust you, he will never give you any chance. He is actually giving you a performance." Opportunity."

"I also understand, it's just me... I surrendered just now! If I go back on my word and run away with the army, wouldn't the loss of the capital be too great?"

Yang Zaixing laughed, "Then you are wrong. The prestige of the Dutong is built on every soldier. Even if you want to take them away, they will never go with you, not to mention you, even me. In order to prevent accidents, I have announced this mission to each of the following command envoys before dispatching troops. If the mission is changed midway, I will also give the order to change the mission to each command envoy. You will give me a golden command arrow, and use this golden command arrow to issue orders."

Zhao Yong was ashamed, it turned out that this was the case, and he really thought too much.

Yang Zaixing said indifferently: "This is the system. The so-called system is applicable to everyone, and we will never favor one another, so everyone can live easily, do things according to the system, and work hard to kill the enemy and make meritorious deeds. Other interpersonal relationships, bragging and flattering. Don’t even think about it.”

"This is the best way. Our military generals are afraid of dealing with civil servants. We can't fight them, and we are miserably handled by them."

"I am also afraid, and Dutong is also afraid, so there will be no civil servants in the Xihe Army. If it must be strictly speaking, then Dutong is a civil servant. After all, he is also Doctor Yinqing Guanglu. This is a civil servant. Sanguan title."

"It turns out that Du Tong is also a civil servant!"

"Economic and strategic envoys! Both civil and military training."

Just as he was talking, a young general aged eighteen or nineteen jumped over to Yang Zaixing and said, "Master, my disciples have already investigated clearly. There are only two teams of patrols at the top of the city, each with 50 people. Maybe some people are sleeping, so I can't see them!"

Yang Zaixing smiled and nodded, "You are the first to go to town today, don't let me down!"

"Don't worry! Disciples lead the army to the city from the easternmost point, even if they find out, it will be too late to run over."

"Okay, ready to go!"

The young man turned around and walked away. Zhao Yong said with a smile: "Commander Yang's apprentice has a great aura, so he must be quite skilled in martial arts!"

"His name is Sun Jian. He is from Huangzhou. The young man is very quick-witted. He is also skilled in martial arts and has excellent archery skills. He didn't need to ask me to be his teacher, but he wanted to learn Yang's spear, so I will help him."

In fact, Sun Jian wanted to worship Chen Qing as his teacher, but Chen Qing refused to accept him as an apprentice, so he entangled his second admirer, Yang Zaixing. Yang Zaixing saw that he was a good character and a good foundation in martial arts, so he agreed.

Yang Zaixing glanced at the city, and said in a deep voice, "General Zhao, the preparations are about to begin!"

"Understandable!"

Zhao Yong immediately led 2000 people to touch the western half of Nancheng...

Sun Jian did not join the Huangzhou garrison, but became Yang Zaixing's general. Chen Qing also hoped that Yang Zaixing would train him to be a capable right-hand man.

Dozens of scouts had already placed long planks on the moat. Sun Jian led his men to appear about [-] steps away from the city wall.

Sun Jian watched the patrolling soldiers on the top of the city. When they turned around and walked towards the tower, he waved his hand, and he led the first group of fifty soldiers to rush towards the city wall. Out of the corner of his eye, he found it.

Sun Jian and fifty of his subordinates ran across the moat like a gust of wind, sticking tightly to the city wall.

At this time, the patrol team on the top of the city was halfway through, and they were no longer walking close to the battlements. This was the best opportunity, and three hundred soldiers came rushing in, carrying three siege ladders.

The soldiers of the Song army hung the siege on the top of the city without hesitation. Sun Jian took the lead and quickly climbed up. When he was almost at the top, a face suddenly appeared on the top of the city. The sound of iron hooks on the city ladder startled them.

The first person who woke up came forward to check the situation. Sun Jian reacted very quickly. He raised his spear and dropped it, piercing the throat of the soldier at the top of the wall.