Fenghou

Chapter 1023
The counties of Kaifeng Prefecture were not rich and had a small population during the Northern Song Dynasty, and the countryside was especially desolate. Tokyo Bianliang was like a black hole, sucking away the population and resources of Kaifeng Prefecture.

After the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, Bianliang declined rapidly and the population dispersed, but Kaifeng Mansion improved a bit. At least the rural scenery was not so desolate, and there were yellow wheat fields everywhere, and the wheat was about to be harvested soon.

It was precisely because the wheat had to be harvested that Chen Qing and Wanyan Wushu reached an oral agreement on a temporary truce for harvesting wheat. Wanyan Wushu needed military rations, and Chen Qing was unwilling to destroy the farmers' hope of harvesting.

However, both parties' emphasis on intelligence has not been weakened because of the wheat harvest.

In Fugou County, south of Kaifeng Prefecture, a troop of cavalry was resting in the woods to the southwest of the county seat. This was a Western Army scout cavalry consisting of [-] men. Their task was to check the deployment of the enemy army and find the main force of the enemy army.

The leading general is a young scout Dutou, named Shen Qing, from Jingzhao. He has only been in the army for three years, but he has excellent martial arts skills and has made outstanding achievements repeatedly. He was promoted from a small soldier to the capital.

Shen Qing's task is to move around Fugou County and investigate Jin Bing's intelligence.

The soldiers lit a few briquettes, put them into the marching stove, put them in a pot, and boiled the noodles. Of course, the briquettes used by the scouts were different from ordinary people. The briquettes used by the scouts contained nitrate powder and sulfur powder. It is easy to ignite, has great firepower, and burns quickly. It is very suitable for the life of scouts in a hurry. A large pot of water boils quickly, and a large pot of noodles is boiled. Spices, jerky, and I started to eat it.

Shen Qing sat on a big rock, while eating noodles, while looking at the map on the stone, they have traveled all over Fugou County, and found no sign of the enemy army, and it is relatively easy to find the enemy army, Jin soldiers usually have vanguards, The farmers' sheep and livestock were forcibly confiscated, but the rabbits did not eat the grass beside the nest. It is hard to say whether the Jin soldiers plundered the farmers in Kaifeng Prefecture in this way, but one thing is certain, the vanguard of the enemy will definitely arrive.

At this moment, the sentinel on the tree shouted: "A cavalry team is found in the north, about ten miles away, and it is running towards us!"

Shen Qing immediately ordered: "Pack up your things and prepare to retreat!"

The scout army is not a combat team, they will not fight the enemy at will, unless it is necessary, such as capturing the opponent's scouts to obtain information and so on.

The soldiers ate the noodles in a few bites, cleaned up quickly, and led their horses to hide deep in the woods, leaving Dutou Shenqing and the sentinel to watch the enemy.

Not long after, a group of golden sentry cavalry came galloping like lightning, and rushed into the woods. They turned over and dismounted in the open space where the Song army had just rested. They brought sixty or seventy sheep, and tied two for each horse. It is relatively spacious here, next to the small river, it is very convenient for eating or resting.

"Dutou, the other party is not a Jurchen!"

Generally, soldiers of the Song Army couldn't tell the difference between the Jurchens, the Khitans, or the Bohai people. They all looked the same, but the scouts could distinguish each other from the equipment.

The sentinel cavalry were all wearing leather armor. Although they were double-layered leather armor, it meant that they were definitely not Jurchen soldiers, but Donghu soldiers.

Shen Qing discovered a deeper problem. This cavalry is sentinel cavalry. The elite among the elite can only wear double-layer leather armor, so ordinary soldiers can only wear single-layer leather armor. This is Donghu soldiers, then What about the signed soldiers?
Shen Qing felt that this information was very important, he had to capture some prisoners of war and bring them back.

But there are [-] people on the other side, and they only have [-] people, how to catch them?
Thirty soldiers were roasting sheep over a fire, and several washed and peeled sheep were hung on wooden racks. The cavalry were chatting excitedly while roasting the meat.

Shen Qing's eyes fell on the opponent's horse. The opponent was afraid that the horse would be smoked by the barbecue, so all thirty horses were tied upwind, and the distance was a little far away, at least thirty steps away from where they were grilling.

But there is a sentinel on the big tree where the horses are tied. He is watching the official road outside and is also responsible for guarding the horses.

Shen Qing immediately had a bold plan in his mind, he waved to his sentinel, and the two retreated quietly into the dense forest.

Shen Qing called everyone to assign tasks, they were a capital, a deputy capital, and nineteen soldiers.

"Yang Da and Wei Qilang are in charge of stealing horses. Wei Qilang's arrow skills are good, and he has to kill the sentries on the tree with one arrow. Everyone, the sentries will scream and fall down when they are shot. The screams are the signal for our action. Shoot with a crossbow. , and then we will keep three alive and bring them back for interrogation, this is up to me to decide."

Shen Qing explained some details, everyone agreed, and then they split up, leaving one soldier to look after the horse, and the other soldiers split up from all directions.

Thirty Donghu soldiers had already started eating mutton, gulping down the goat's milk wine in their skins. Two soldiers from the Western Army reached the northeast corner. Thirty war horses were tied to two big trees. A sentry was squatting, also eating the leg of lamb with relish, completely unaware that the danger was approaching.

They are most likely to be attacked while eating, and this is the reason why they are all focused on the food and not paying attention to the risks of the outside world.

A soldier of the Western Army raised his crossbow to aim at the soldier on the tree, while another soldier of the Western Army quietly approached the horse. At this time, all the soldiers raised their crossbows, waiting for the scream of the sentinel.

"Crack!" The sound of the crossbow machine sounded, and a powerful crossbow arrow 'whoosh! ' shot out and hit the Sentinel's chest, and the Sentinel uttered a scream and fell from the woods.

Almost at the same time, [-] crossbow arrows were shot powerfully, and each arrow hit one person. The key is the reasonable distribution of the enemy troops. If an enemy soldier is shot by seven or eight arrows, it means that the sneak attack failed.

A round of crossbow arrows was fired, and fifteen soldiers from Donghu fell down. The Western Army threw away their crossbows and charged forward with their spears raised.

The Donghu soldiers were blinded by the shots. When the Western Army rushed towards them shouting, they turned around and fled to the horses in fright. Unexpectedly, the place where the horses were tethered was empty, and none of the thirty horses had disappeared.

The chief centurion shouted, "Scatter and run for your life!"

As soon as the words fell, suddenly there was a sharp pain in the head, and the vision went dark, and I didn't know anything.

Shen Qing stunned the enemy centurion with a wooden stick, and tied him behind his back with a rope.

The scouts of the Western Army chased and killed them all the way, and several Donghu soldiers rushed out of the woods, fleeing for their lives in a panic.

"Stop chasing!"

Shen Qing shouted, the soldiers stopped chasing, they captured three prisoners of war, tied them behind their backs, and covered their heads with black bags.

He quickly cleaned the battlefield, stripped off the armor, took away the weapons, dug a pit and buried the corpses, and then ran towards Xuchang with the three prisoners of war.

During this period of time, Chen Qing has been reorganizing the army. He has assembled more than [-] Yue Fei's troops. Among them, the three elite troops of Yue Fei's army, the Tabai Army, Youyi Army, and Beiwei Army, have all been completely acquired by Chen Qing. up.

He needs to break up his army and Yue Fei's army, mix them together, and then reorganize.

Among them, Yue Yun, Zhang Xian, and Xu Qing were organized into the Huben Army. Each of them commanded [-] troops. The ten-jin gold-backed machete is an infantry general. He was appointed by Chen Qing to be in charge of the Black Armored Infantry Battalion, commanding [-] Black Armored Infantry of the Western Army.

His generals were incorporated into the capital camps of Gaoding, Liu Qiong, Liu Cui, and Yang Zaixing respectively, none of them were downgraded, and the number of troops under his command was the same as before.

In addition to reorganizing the army, their family members have to be resettled, nearly [-] people and more than [-] households. Chen Qing adopted the method of voluntary selection. If his hometown is nearby, he will be resettled back to his hometown, and other family members will be voluntarily Combined, they were resettled in Dengzhou, Ruzhou, Yingchangfu, Chenzhou, Caizhou and other four prefectures and one prefecture, and distributed official and military fields to them, ensuring that each family had at least [-] mu of land, and at the same time Like soldiers of the Western Army, enjoy life-long tax exemption.

This treatment really cheered the [-] family members, even Yue Fei couldn't do it.

That afternoon, Chen Qing received a report that a scout team escorted back three prisoners of war, and there was some important information, which Chen Qing attached great importance to.

(End of this chapter)