Fenghou

Chapter 181 The Fortress
Qinzhou borders Gongzhou in the west, Fengzhou in the south, Longzhou in the east, Deshun Prefecture and Pingliang Prefecture in the north, and a corner stretches out to border Huizhou. Most of the states and counties here were seized by the Song army. Dude Shunzhou and Huizhou were invaded by Xixia, but everyone has not yet gained a firm foothold, and temporarily maintained a state of peace and harmony.

There are eight counties in Qinzhou, Chengji County, Qingshui County, Yefang County, Longcheng County, Qin'an County, Jichuan County, Gangu County, and Xining County in the north near Huizhou.

After initially solving the imminent food problem, on the morning of the third day, Chen Qing led [-] cavalry to inspect Chigu Town, [-] miles south of Chengji County.

Chigu Town is a big town, and it is the only place to go to Fengzhou. Since ancient times, the transportation is convenient and the commerce is developed. Of course, Chen Qing came to Chigu Town to inspect it because he did not want to drink. To the east of Chigu Town is the famous Zhoujiabao in Qinzhou. , Known as the largest fort in Qinzhou.

The fortress system in the northwest has a long history, and it was mainly built to deal with the invasion of the Xixia army. Once the Xixia army attacked, the county town closed the city gates, and the people in the village hid in each fortress.

In addition, the bow and arrow clubs in the northwest states are very active, basically forming a situation where all the people are soldiers. As long as men can use bows and arrows proficiently, there are hundreds of archers in each fortress, and there are thousands of archers in defense. The effect is so obvious that At the peak of Qinzhou, there were more than [-] fortresses, large and small, sheltering more than [-] people.

When the Jin soldiers came, the fort also played a very good role, so that only Chengji County in Qinzhou was invaded by the Jin soldiers, and the Jin soldiers could hardly attack the fort. The people of Qinzhou suffered little loss.

But everything has advantages and disadvantages. Everyone can see the positive side of the fortress, but the disadvantages of the fortress have also begun to appear, that is, independence, no taxation, and disobedience to government management. Each fortress has a meeting hall, which is controlled by the fortress Several family patriarchs of Xiangbing sit in town and hold the power of the fortress. In fact, each fortress has formed an independent kingdom one by one.

So much so that the county government in Chengji County has been abandoned for several years, and it has no effect. These fortresses are like black holes, constantly absorbing the population. At present, the population controlled by the eight county governments in Qinzhou is less than [-]% of the entire population of the prefecture. The rest of the population hid in the fortresses, each fortress is like a small town, with all kinds of shops in it.

Chigu Town has become very decrepit now. There are less than a hundred people left in the original town of a thousand people, basically all of them are old and weak. Of the hundreds of shops, only one foot shop is left open, and there are a few tea sheds. Pedestrians replenish dry food and tea.

The reason why it is in decline is that there is a Zhoujiabao next to it. Zhoujiabao is one of the three big forts in Qinzhou. The other two big forts are Anyuan Village in Gangu County and Dingxi Village in Qin'an County.

Zhoujiabao was originally called Chigubao, but it is now controlled by the Zhou family of Qinzhou, and renamed Zhoujiabao. There are tens of thousands of people in the castle, most of whom are villagers from Chengji County, young and strong men There are [-] people, all of whom can shoot bows and arrows. Among them, the [-] Zhou family's children are the most famous. They are very brave and good at fighting, and their bows and crossbows are very powerful.

The only time the Jin soldiers attacked the fort happened here. In the third year of Jianyan, a thousand Jin soldiers attacked Zhoujiabao. After two days of fierce fighting, the Jin soldiers suffered more than [-] casualties and failed to capture Zhoujiabao. The price was too high. At that time, the West Route Army controlled Wanyan Ulu and had to give up the idea of ​​​​attacking the fortress.

Chen Qing became the envoy of the Qinzhou system, and the biggest challenge he faced was not the Jin soldiers and the Xixia army, but the fortress.

A fortress can exist, but it must be subject to government management and taxes. The archers of the fortress must obey their dispatch and must come to training on schedule. The leaders of each fortress must also be appointed by themselves.

Zhou Jiabao Chen Qing has been famous for a long time, Yue Fei's master, Zhou Tong, the chief instructor of the bow squad of the [-] Imperial Guards in Tokyo, came from Zhou Jiabao.

In addition, the mysterious banker who gambled on arrows in Fengle Tower was also said to have come from Zhoujiabao. Zhoujiabao has always been famous for its bows and arrows.

Of course, today Chen Qing just came over to inspect and see what the Zhoujiabao looked like.

Pointing to a large mountain in the distance, the guide said, "That is the Zhou Family Fort. It is divided into the front fort and the back fort. There are more than [-] households with a population of tens of thousands."

Chen Qing couldn't believe that there were tens of thousands of people living in a mountain, but when he stepped forward to take a closer look, he probably understood.

In fact, it is not a big mountain. It is composed of seven or eight big mountains. The mountain is steep and has only one entrance. Of course, other mountains can also be climbed, but if the horse does not go up, it will be meaningless to the Xixia Army and Jinbing.

There are no trees on a big mountain in the front, and it is full of densely packed cave dwellings. Three fort walls were built with stones, forming three steep defensive walls. Each fort wall is fifty or sixty steps apart. If it is breached, the army will quickly retreat behind the second fort wall. Even if the three fort walls are breached, the soldiers can retreat to the mountains behind.

It is indeed too expensive to capture this fortress, no wonder the golden soldiers are unwilling to attack.

"What do the people above live on?" Chen Qing asked.

The guide pointed to the endless wheat fields below the mountain and said: "These wheat fields belong to them. During the fourth year of wheat harvest in Jianyan, the Jin soldiers came to burn the wheat, but they were ambushed and killed more than a hundred people. Afterwards, the Jin soldiers never came again. "

Chen Qing smiled and asked Yang Zaixing and Liu Cui who accompanied him, "What do you think is the reason why the fort has always existed?"

Yang Zaixing didn't want to understand, but Liu Cui sneered and said, "My father told me that it was because the Battle of Fuping, the Battle of Heshangyuan and the Battle of Dasanguan attracted the main force of the Jin army, and Wanyan Wushu had no time to take care of it." On the other side, the hundreds of gold soldiers stationed in each state are too few to do anything about them."

Chen Qing nodded, "Your father is right, several battles have restrained the main force of Jin Bing, and even though Jin Bing occupied Xihe Road, they didn't have the energy and time to digest it.

This is also the main reason why Jin Bing abandoned Xihe Road and Shaanxi Road, and let Qi State and Xixia digest Shaanxi Road and Xihe Road. "

Speaking of this, Chen Qing whipped his whip, "Go to the foot of the mountain and have a look!"

Chen Qing led [-] cavalrymen to rush down a country road to the foot of the mountain. There was a small river at the foot of the mountain. There were wheat fields on both sides of the river. Many farmers were farming. When they saw them coming from a distance, these farmers immediately blew their horns.

'Woo—'

Immediately afterwards, the horns on the mountain continued to sound, and the drums sounded like thunder.

All the peasants ran away, which made Chen Qing secretly a little annoyed. Even though his army was flying the Song Dynasty banner, these peasants didn't recognize it.

Not long after, Chen Qing led the army across the small bridge and came to the foot of the mountain. Looking up the mountain, they saw the first defensive wall. The first defensive wall was built on the mountainside, about [-] meters above the ground. step.

There is a winding mountain road that can walk carts and circles up the mountain.

At this time, Chen Qing saw a mass of soldiers standing behind the first defensive wall, more than a thousand people, each wearing hats and leather armor, with bows and arrows in their hands, ready to fight.

"Wave the Great Song Army Flag!"

A soldier waved Da Song's Tuanlong Army flag towards the mountain, but there was no response from the mountain.

At this moment, hundreds of arrows suddenly shot out from the mountain, and shot towards the Song army down the mountain.

"It's the God Arm Crossbow!"

Chen Qing recognized the arrow, and he immediately ordered: "Retreat immediately!"

The cavalry of the Song Army retreated quickly, and their position was within the range of the divine arm crossbow.

But the arrow didn't land on his head, the distance was shortened, and more than a hundred crossbow arrows landed in front of them.

Chen Qing's face became very ugly. Of course he understood what the other party meant. The other party already knew that he was Song Jun, but he was warning them not to interfere with Zhoujiabao.

When did Chen Qing become so cowardly and passive? He turned around and asked, "Do we have the God Arm Crossbow?"

"Have!"

Several cavalry soldiers with crossbows in their hands rushed forward.

Chen Qing took over a god-armed crossbow, stretched his arms to wind it, put in a crossbow arrow, and took a few steps back.

The soldiers retreated one after another, and Chen Qing raised his crossbow to aim at the flagpole on the defensive wall, on which was flying a large flag with the word "Zhou" written on it.

"What did you see in this fortress?" Chen Qing asked Yang Zaixing behind him.

"Arrogance!" Yang Zaixing returned calmly.

"Yes! Arrogance."

Pull the hanging knife, 'click! With a sound, a crossbow arrow shot out powerfully. It could not penetrate the armor of the enemy with three hundred paces, but it could break the rope. The big flag on the flagpole suddenly fell off, blown by the wind, and floated far away.

The exclamation of the Baoding people suddenly sounded on the defensive wall. Even Zhou Jiabao, who is powerful in archery, had never seen such a transcendent archery technique.

The cavalry of the Song Army also burst into warm applause and cheers.

Chen Qing put down the crossbow and said coldly, "Go back to the city!"

(End of this chapter)