Fenghou

Chapter 25 Return
Yang Dazhi went to Linyou County last night to inquire about news.

He said with a sad expression: "The Jurchens tracked down who led the Song army. Someone betrayed my father. Unwilling to be humiliated, my father hit him to death."

Chen Qing felt apologetic, he didn't expect Yang San to be implicated anyway.

Yang Dazhi shook his head, "It's nothing. Although my father died, at least he died dignifiedly, and he didn't become a lackey of a golden man,"

"How is your wife and children?"

"They were fine, my wife took the two children to a relative's house and escaped unharmed."

"The golden soldiers have already withdrawn?"

Yang Dazhi nodded, "I withdrew the next day. Five hundred people were stationed in the county, one hundred Jurchen soldiers and four hundred Han soldiers, but..."

Chen Qing narrowed his eyes, "Just what?"

Yang Dazhi sighed, "It's just that all the soldiers of the Song Army who died in battle were beheaded and hung up in the county for public display."

"Bang!" Yang Yuanqing slammed his fist hard on the wooden board, his eyes shot out with anger.

Anger was also burning in Chen Qing's heart. After a while, he restrained the overwhelming anger and said lightly: "From today onwards, we will also count merit by head!"

"It's snowing!" The soldiers shouted suddenly from outside.

Chen Qing got up and walked out of the wooden house, looked up at the sky, the gray sky was covered with snowflakes.

Yang Dazhi stared at the gray sky for a while and said, "I'm afraid it will turn into heavy snow tonight!"

...........
The first snowfall of winter has finally arrived.

Of course, the tenth day of November refers to the lunar calendar. If converted to the Gregorian calendar, it will be mid-December. Linyou County has a higher altitude, so winter and snow fall a few days earlier than in the hinterland of Guanzhong.

This is a heavy snow, during the day there are still numerous snowflakes, and at night it turns into heavy snow, the north wind howls, balls of snowballs fall like fluff, the earth becomes gray, and at five o'clock, the snow Has reached the calf.

Two hundred and thirty soldiers lined up to walk in the heavy snow. Yang Dazhi thought that this year's rain and snow were abnormal. It rained continuously last month, and it is likely that this heavy snow will continue for several days.

If they don't go, the road will be blocked by heavy snow, and they will be trapped in the forest.

More importantly, they only had two days of dry food left, and they had stayed in the forest for nine days, so it was time to set off.

The team marched in the mountains with one foot deep and one foot shallow. Yang Dazhi was familiar with the terrain and tried his best to lead them around the cliff. Just after dawn, everyone finally returned to the Tiantai Grassland where Qilin Village is located.

The pasture was covered with white snow, and in the distance was an unrecognizable military camp, leaving only some burnt black ruins.

Chen Qing immediately sent Zheng Ping and Zhao Xiaoyi to Linyou County to investigate the situation, and found a woodland to avoid snow, and arranged for the soldiers to rest.

In the ruins of the barracks, Yang Hua led a group of soldiers to dig out food, oil, salt, dried meat, and many weapons that had been buried in the ground.

At noon, Zheng Ping came back, and Zhao Xiaoyi stayed in the county to continue to inquire about information.

"General, it's snowing heavily. There are no soldiers on the city towers. Even the soldiers guarding the city gates are hiding in the lee of the city and burning fires to keep warm. It is said that the Jurchen soldiers and the Han army patrolled all day at the beginning. Less money, it snowed yesterday, they were nowhere to be seen, they all hid in the barracks to gamble, eat and drink, if the heavy snow doesn’t stop tonight, it’s a chance to seize the county seat.”

"Is the number of soldiers the same as Yang Dazhi said?"

Zheng Ping nodded, "That's right, one hundred Jurchen soldiers and four hundred Han soldiers, led by a Jurchen centurion!"

"Where is their barracks?" Yang Yuanqing asked.

"In the southwest corner of the county is the original Town God's Temple. Dozens of felt tents were built. The Han army and the Jurchens lived together. There used to be a small military camp. The Jurchens thought the conditions there were too poor, and the small military camp had been occupied by refugees. It's full."

Chen Qing picked up a branch and drew a county town on the snow. He drew a circle on the southwest corner and asked, "I want to know, is this southwest corner directly against the city wall?"

"Yes! The south and west sides are against the city wall."

Chen Qing walked to the edge of the woods with his hands behind his hands, looking at the gray sky, the snow was falling more and more, without any sign of stopping.

He turned his head and said to the crowd: "Take Linyou County tonight!"

As night fell, the snow fell harder and harder, and people could not be seen clearly from dozens of steps away. The thick snow had reached the thighs. At midnight, Chen Qing led more than two hundred men to the outside of Linyou County.

At this time, the moat was completely frozen, and the soldiers accidentally discovered a rope, which fell from the top of the city and almost condensed into an icicle.

He was wearing a thick sheepskin jacket, still shivering from the cold.

"General, there is no one at the top of the city, it's just... almost freezing to death."

A soldier handed Zhao Xiaoyi a wine gourd, and he took a few sips to warm up his body, and continued: "There are no soldiers under the city, and even the watchmen in the city can't be seen, and they are completely asleep."

Chen Qing squinted at the city wall. Although the wind and snow covered his sight, he still saw small black dots hanging on the city wall.

That was the head of his subordinates. More than two hundred soldiers who died in battle for the country were beheaded by the Jurchen for public display. Chen Qing slowly clenched his fists.

"action!"

Chen Qing gritted his teeth and burst out two words. Yang Yuanqing immediately led the soldiers to climb the ropes to the city, and then threw down a few long ropes, and the soldiers quickly climbed to the top of the city one by one.

The snow on the top of the city was also knee-deep, and the visibility was extremely low. The gray sky was full of snow, and it was impossible to see anything thirty steps away. The only way to judge whether there were soldiers lighting a fire to keep warm was by the lack of fire.

Such bad weather made the defense of the city meaningless.

Chen Qing led the soldiers to the southwestern corner of the city quickly. There seemed to be an open space below. There were several big lanterns in the sky. The lights reflected the snow, and the shadow of the tent could be vaguely seen at the edge of the lantern's peripheral light.

This is the Town God's Temple, which is where the Jinbing camped.

There is a bonfire below, and several people can be seen gathering around the bonfire to enjoy the fire. They should be patrolling sentries.

"Be careful not to slip through the net!"

Chen Qing gave a warning, Yang Hua nodded, and went down to the city with a dozen soldiers.

Not long after, there were a few muffled groans from both sides of the bonfire, and the patrolling sentry was eliminated.

The soldiers went down to the city with the help of ropes, and quickly assembled under the city.

Chen Qing said to the four heads: "According to the plan we made before, each is responsible for one piece. Remember, try to cut off the head with one knife, and the strike must be ruthless and fast, so that no one will be left alive."

"Follow the order!"

Each of the four leaders rushed away with their subordinates.

Chen Qing led more than a dozen of his men to a large tent. The felt tent was made of sheepskin, and there were two leather curtains. The ropes were fastened from the inside to prevent the cold wind from entering, and it was very warm.

Each big tent has more than [-] square meters. Ten Jurchen soldiers live in one tent, while thirty Han soldiers live in one big tent. The treatment is very different.

What Chen Qing led the soldiers to break into was a large tent of Jurchen soldiers.

It was cold outside, but warm inside the tent. The Jurchen soldiers were all asleep. In the big tent, the lights of knives flickered, blood splashed everywhere, and there was not even a muffled cry. In just ten seconds, ten Jurchen soldiers were already sound asleep. The bodies were separated.

Chen Qing led his men to turn around and leave without hesitation, and went to another big tent. At this time, screams continued, coming from the direction of the Han army tent, but there was silence again for a while.

There was another group of young women wailing loudly, and the soldiers found the young women who had been kidnapped in the main hall of the Town God's Temple.

At four o'clock, the barracks was completely quiet...
All [-] Jin soldiers were killed, and more than [-] women were rescued at the same time, a large amount of money, food, soldiers, armor, and [-] horses were seized.

But this is only the beginning.

...........
The sky is getting brighter, and the snow is starting to decrease. There are still sparse snowflakes falling, but there is no heavy snow before.

Pedestrians appeared on the street, and many vegetable farmers rushed to the city in donkey carts, and people who were eager to buy vegetables and rice also came from all directions.

Many people accidentally discovered that the heads of the soldiers of the Song Army hanging above the city gate had turned into the heads of Jurchens, with shaved hair and pigtails, fierce appearance and very distinctive characteristics.

Not only that, but the soldiers guarding the gate were also different. The former soldiers of the Song Army returned, and soon, a banner of the Song Army's Tuanlong was flying over the city.

The common people began to cheer uncontrollably. They scrambled to run in the city, shouting, "The Song army is back! The Song army is back!"

More and more people ran out of their homes to the street and started beating gongs and drums, and the whole county was about to boil.

Li Boliang, the county magistrate, had just left his house and was standing on the steps to get into a carriage to go to the county government office. Suddenly, he saw a group of people running up, shouting, "The soldiers of Song Dynasty have returned, and the Jurchens are all dead."

Li Boliang was like thunder, he stood still for a moment, then suddenly yelled, turned around and ran towards the house, while running, he shouted in a crying voice: "My lady, pack up your clothes and run for your life!"

(End of this chapter)