Fenghou

Chapter 1357 Toyosu
Fengzhou is the top of the shape of the Yellow River. The Yellow River is divided into two parts here, each flowing for hundreds of miles and then merged into one, forming a rope shape, which is the Hetao.

Of course, Hetao is composed of three areas, including Shangtao in Lingzhou, Zhongtao in Fengzhou and Houtao in Yulin, forming three fertile Hetao Plains.

"The Yellow River has a hundred harms, but only benefits." The three fertile lands in the Hetao Plain have always attracted the prying eyes of various forces.

As early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, the imperial court moved tens of thousands of people to reclaim Hetao and build counties. However, the wheel of history soon entered the dark era of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. The northern Han people were almost slaughtered, and the Hetao area was also deserted. Desolate, collapsed, gradually buried by historical wind and sand.

The rise of Lingzhou in the Tang Dynasty led to the establishment of the Shuofang Army, and the Hetao area ushered in a short-term prosperity. After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Hetao area was once again occupied by nomads. Various forces came and went like revolving lanterns, and finally became the ZTE of the Dangxiang people. The land, this occupation is more than 100 years.

The Western Xia of the Dangxiang people had already perished. Chen Qing resettled Lingxia Road and stationed [-] troops. However, the Hetao area of ​​Fengzhou was still occupied by the Tata and Kelie tribes from the grassland.

Since Chen Qing was launching the battles of Shandong Road and Hebei Road, he adopted a strategy of forbearance against the fall of Fengzhou. In the spring of this year, after the Western Army captured Hebei Road, they began to counterattack Hetao.

It was already the beginning of February, and the Hetao Plain was still covered with snow. The snow had not yet melted, and it was difficult to ride horses due to the thick snow. However, the Tata and Kelie tribes already had supply tribes in Fengzhou, tens of thousands of soldiers. Squatting in the dome tent, you can also eat and drink through the winter.

This morning, a group of small black dots appeared on the vast snow field. Looking closer, they were scout soldiers of the Western Army riding camels. Each of them had two camels, one for riding and the other for carrying supplies.

The team has been exploring the Fengzhou area for half a month and has gained a lot of information. They are ready to return to Lingzhou.

The leader of the scout was a deputy commander named Zhou Honglie, from Yan'an Prefecture. He led [-] men to investigate the enemy's equipment and the snowmelt situation in Fengzhou.

The team currently has one last task, to understand the snow melting situation. It is best to determine when the snow and ice will melt?

When everyone came to the South Yellow River, if they want to understand the melting of ice and snow, it is best to start with the Yellow River. From the thawing and melting of the Yellow River, it can be judged that the entire Hetao is snow melting.

"Head! The underlying ice is half-thawed."

The crowd smashed a big hole in the ice with a few picks, and the river rushed up.

"Half a month ago, the ice layer was three inches thick, but now it is only one inch. In 20 days at most, the Yellow River will completely thaw."

Calculated from the thawing time of the Yellow River water, then 20 days later, the snow in Fengzhou should also completely melt.

Zhou Honglie nodded and said: "I sent the eagle letter back, saying that horseback riding is feasible around February [-], and the snow will melt by the end of the month. Fengzhou is still about half a month later than Lingzhou."

At this time, a soldier pointed to the east and shouted: "It seems that someone is coming over there!"

Everyone looked to the east, only to see hundreds of small black spots running towards this side, "It's a war horse!" The deputy commander Zhou Honglie's heart sank. They made a mistake in their judgment, and the war horse was ready to run.

"This is the enemy sentry cavalry, let's cross the river!"

Thirty soldiers led the camels and walked carefully towards the ice. The ice was so thin that they could barely walk on it. They only heard the creaking sound of the ice and fell into the river without paying attention.

"Watch out ahead!"

Zhou Honglie pointed to the front of a soldier and yelled. The soldier was startled and found signs of water seepage on the ice ahead. He was so frightened that he led a camel and took a detour.

"Everyone go west, don't cross the river!"

Zhou Honglie lay down on the river and looked ahead, only to see water seepage on the ice to the south, and the ice was too thin to move forward.

Everyone turned around and walked westward in unison, walking with difficulty.

At this time, although the horses could run on the ground, the ice and snow resistance was still great, and the speed of the sentinel cavalry was not fast, but they were still getting closer to the Western Army.

"There is no water seepage ahead!" shouted the soldier in charge of observing the ice.

Zhou Honglie threw a roll of rope over, "Tie the rope around your waist, and walk over to have a look!"

The soldier tied the rope around his waist and walked forward cautiously step by step. Finally, he jumped onto the south bank.

Zhou Honglie was overjoyed, and quickly shouted: "People go first, camels follow!"

The soldiers went up to the south bank one by one, and Zhou Honglie led the long camel team to the south bank one by one. Sixty camels climbed to the south bank, and more than forty camels suddenly went, "Ha la! With a sound, the ice cracked, and a dozen camels fell into the water instantly and disappeared without a trace.

The soldiers were sad, these camels had been with them for a long time, and they already had deep feelings, but they were swallowed by the river.

"Wang Ping and Liu Shun take the camel away, and the rest of the brothers prepare to shoot with crossbow arrows!" Zhou Honglie ordered loudly.

The chasing sentinel cavalry also went on the ice and walked towards the south bank. The soldiers of the Western Army immediately acted. Two soldiers took the camel away, and the remaining 28 soldiers each sought cover and raised their crossbow arrows.

At this time, the chasing nomadic cavalry shouted loudly. Dozens of them stepped into the thin ice area with their horses, and all fell into the water and were also swallowed by the river.

The other sentinel cavalry were frightened. They hesitated for a moment, and then went west in the same way as the scouts of the Western Army, looking for ice that could cross the river.

"Archery!" Zhou Honglie gave the order.

Twenty-eight scouts shot arrows at the same time, and the powerful crossbow arrows shot two hundred paces away. Eight nomadic soldiers were caught off guard and were shot by the crossbow arrows, falling to the ground one after another.

The other soldiers lay down on the ice in fright. For a moment, the cold on the ice made them unbearable, and they got up again, shouting and running. The second round of crossbow arrows roared, this time more accurately, 28 arrows, Sixteen soldiers were shot and fell.

Hundreds of nomadic soldiers also fired arrows to fight back, but unfortunately their bows and arrows did not have enough range to hurt the soldiers of the Western Army.

Zhou Honglie watched the ice surface creaking, his mind suddenly moved, and he had a bold idea.

"Stop shooting arrows!"

The soldiers stopped shooting arrows, and the nomadic cavalry came after them shouting.

Zhou Honglie ordered his men to go down and fetch the firearms bag. After a while, three soldiers brought up the big bag and took out five wooden barrel fire mines, each weighing about five catties.

Zhou Honglie left four of his men behind, while the other soldiers withdrew first.

Five scouts of the Western Army lay in ambush behind the soil, watching the approaching nomadic cavalry. This is a 300-man sentry cavalry. Excluding the soldiers who fell into the water and the arrows, there are still more than 240 people.

The sentinel cavalry was only fifty paces away from them, and they also found the ice surface that could go ashore, and began to approach the south bank.

Zhou Honglie gestured to the four men, and they simultaneously lit the matchlocks of the barrel fire mine, and threw them at the cavalry on the ice with all their might.

Five wooden barrel fire mines slid on the ice and slipped into the enemy's ranks, 'Boom!boom!boom! 'Five wooden barrel fire mines exploded continuously, poisonous nails splashed, and soldiers and horses hissed miserably.

The real crisis came from the ice surface. The ice surface began to crack rapidly, and the area was very large. The commander turned pale with fright and shouted: "Retreat!"

Before it was too late, more than a dozen ice surfaces broke at the same time, and more than half of the soldiers and horses fell into the water. After struggling in the water for a while, they were swept away by the underwater rapids.

Of the more than 240 soldiers, there were only about [-] soldiers left, including the commander, who was also swept away by the rapids. The rest of the soldiers were so frightened that they turned around and fled to the north bank, not daring to pursue them any more.

They were not only frightened by the broken ice, but also shocked by the barrel fire and thunder.

Zhou Honglie laughed loudly and waved his hands, "Let's go!"

He brought back a few of his men and chased after the distant team.

(End of this chapter)