Fenghou

Chapter 1079 Sneak Attack
On the tenth day of the first lunar month, an army of [-] to [-] people marched mightily in the dark night, with torches stretching for nearly [-] miles. They had already entered the territory of Suzhou and were heading north along Surabaya.

This army is General Han under the command of Han Shizhong, the Xuanfu envoy of Huaidong. At this time, the imperial court is slowly and continuously transporting food and supplies to Yangzhou, and is preparing for war. According to the general progress, it will be after the spring in mid-February Only then will the war begin.

However, the experienced Han Shizhong created a time gap. He sent troops in early January to attack in the ice and snow, catching Li Qiong's army by surprise.

At the front of the team, Han Shizhong stared solemnly at the north. He himself did not approve of the Northern Expedition to attack Shandong Road. They did not have the capital and were no match for the Jurchen Army.

Attacking the Central Plains that the Western Army has already occupied is like fratricide, and the public opinion of the world will not tolerate it. In fact, they are also no match for the Western Army.

The final goal can only be to attack Li Qiong in Xuzhou. After spending so much money and food to send troops to the Northern Expedition, only three or four states were taken in the end, which is still the Huangpan District. I wonder if the court has calculated this account?

In fact, it was really helpless for Han Shizhong to send troops at this time. He had already sensed the signal of the imperial court's withdrawal. Ever since Yue Fei was stripped of his military power and demoted to Lingnan as an official, Han Shizhong knew that he might be the next one.

Of course he won't be as miserable as Yue Fei, he didn't offend anyone as straightforwardly as Yue Fei, he participated in suppressing Liu Miao's rebellion, and he was able to save him, so his ending will definitely be better than Yue Fei's.

But Han Shizhong knew that his resignation was not only about changing his own fate, but about the fate of many people. What about his generals?
All the generals under him were single-handedly selected by him, and they were loyal to him. The Han family army was not called for nothing. Even if he resigned for retirement, he had to give his subordinates a good home, so that he could give the Han family army an explanation.

He didn't want his Han family army to be frightened like the Yue family army, be arbitrarily demoted by Zhang Jun, and most of them defected to Chen Qing in the end.

Of course, going to Chen Qing is not a bad thing, and it can be regarded as a very good destination, but the process is very painful and the military achievements are great, but the result is the court's ruthless treatment, which is emotionally unacceptable.

Han Shizhong wanted to send troops to capture Suzhou and Xuzhou before the imperial court ordered the withdrawal, so that he could get a chance to negotiate with the imperial court.

There are still ten miles away from Fuli County, the prefecture of Suzhou, and Fuli County is a hill ahead. There are only [-] troops in the entire Suzhou.

Han Shizhong ordered the army to extinguish all the torches and rest on the spot, waiting for the news from his scouts. The order was passed down, and the long fire dragon disappeared quickly, and the [-] troops were silent.

It was the middle of the third watch at this time, and the clouds were thick and dark, and the night was extremely dark, and no one could be seen within a dozen steps, which was the best opportunity for a night attack.

Han Shizhong urged his horse forward slowly, walked more than a hundred steps, bypassed the cover of the hill, and the outline of a county suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.

A quarter of an hour later, several scouts rushed back, and the leader of the scouts reported: "I told the Xuan Fu envoy that there was no trace of the defenders on the top of the city, but there was a faint light of fire. It should be the patrolling defenders warming up on the top of the city. .”

"Which city is it in!"

"Report to Xuanfu envoy, at the head of Nancheng!"

"Did you see the flames on the other walls?" Han Shizhong asked again.

"No flames!"

Han Shizhong nodded and asked again: "How about the moat?"

"The moat is still frozen, so thick that people can walk on the ice."

Han Shizhong immediately ordered: "Where is General Xie?"

Controlling Jie Yuan stepped forward and clasped his fists: "The end is here!"

"You can lead [-] elite soldiers from your headquarters and take ten siege ladders to sneak attack on the west city. After you succeed, light three torches as a signal and open the city gate!"

"The end will obey orders!"

After preparing for a while, the leader Xie Yuan led two thousand Song troops to rush towards the west wall. The soldiers carried ten siege ladders and ran in groups of two hundred.

There are no defenders on the top of the city, and it is pitch black. At this time, the New Year has just passed ten days, and the defenders are still immersed in the atmosphere of the New Year. It will be called the end of the New Year after the Ghost Festival, and they will gradually come back to their senses. , and then began to consider the defense of the city.

The defenders never dreamed that the Song army would attack the city during the New Year, and the defense was obviously relaxed. At the third watch, there were no soldiers on patrol at all, and all the soldiers on duty at night went to find a place to sleep.

At this time, Han Shizhong led an army of [-] troops two miles away from the city gate, waiting for the result of the siege.

Ten siege ladders hooked the city wall, and two thousand troops quickly climbed up the city. Xie Yuan rushed to the top of the city first, and the soldiers sleeping on the top of the city were awakened one after another. With a sound, he got up and fled. Many soldiers were unable to escape and were stabbed to the ground by chaotic spears.

Two thousand soldiers quickly climbed to the top of the city. The soldiers divided into two groups. Some soldiers put down the suspension bridge on the top of the city, opened the iron bolts of the city gate, and lit the torches. Xie Yuan sent a thousand soldiers to rush down to open the city gate.

At this moment, Nanchengtou hurriedly rang the alarm bell, "Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!" Han Shizhong's army was discovered.

Immediately, the alarm sounded all over the city, and the alarm bells sounded everywhere, but it was too late, the west gate was opened, and Han Shizhong led [-] troops to swarm the gate.
The guard Chen Tao yelled loudly, and the sleeping soldiers woke up one after another. They hurriedly put on their clothes, and they didn't even have time to put on their armor.

A soldier rushed over and shouted: "General Chen, the Song army has entered the west city, tens of thousands of people!"

Chen Tao shouted anxiously: "Open the north city gate and retreat!"

Chen Tao led thousands of people to rush out of the North City Gate. At this moment, there was a shout outside the North City Gate, followed by thousands of arrows. Chen Tao couldn't dodge in time, and was shot like a hedgehog, killing him on the spot.

Nearly a thousand soldiers were also shot and killed, and the rest of the soldiers fled back to the city gate in fright.

Han Shizhong was a generous man, although these soldiers used to be Song soldiers, followed Li Qiong to surrender the Jin soldiers, and then surrendered to Chen Qing, and now they surrendered to the Song Dynasty again, Han Shizhong still allowed them to surrender.

The Song army took down Fuli County and Suzhou with almost no injuries.

Han Shizhong left [-] troops to guard Suzhou. After a little supply, he personally led an army of [-] to turn east and fight towards Pizhou.

Three days later, Han Shizhong conquered Xiapi County, and the [-] defenders of Pizhou were wiped out.

Han Shizhong immediately led an army of [-] to turn around and enter Xuzhou, and went straight to Pengcheng County.

In just ten days, the Han family's army broke through three states in a row. Li Qiong, who was guarding Pengcheng County, did not dare to rescue them. He watched helplessly as all [-] troops were lost.

At this time, there were only more than [-] defenders in Pengcheng County. On the one hand, Li Qiong urgently entered the state of combat readiness of the entire army, and on the other hand, he sent a pigeon letter to Jingzhao for help.

(End of this chapter)