Fenghou

Chapter 250 Baling

In the afternoon, Yan Jun hurried over with Wang Shu, the magistrate of Jianli County.

Of course, Chen Qing would not decide his next move just after listening to a few words from the shopkeeper of the restaurant.

At this time, Chen Qing was well-known all over the world, and even the county magistrates in small places like Jianli County had heard of Chen Qing's reputation.

"Wang Shu, the magistrate of Li County, the next official prison, has a meeting with General Chen!"

"Wangzhi County, you are welcome, please sit down!"

Chen Qing asked the magistrate to sit down, and soon, Yu Lian and Yu Ying came in and served them tea.

Wang Shu looked at the twin sisters in surprise. Why do they look exactly the same?
Chen Qing smiled and said: "I invited Wang Zhixian to come here, just to ask for advice!"

"Just ask the general, the humble officer knows everything!"

"The first thing is about the situation in Yuezhou. I heard that Yang Yao led tens of thousands of people to besiege Baling County. Is it true?"

"The siege happened last month. Because the county seat was not captured, Yang Yao changed to besiege Baling County instead of fighting. It has been a month. They wanted to wait for the food in the city to run out, so as to seize the Xuanfu envoys in the city. Li Gang and Wang Zhizhou."

This is almost the same, how is it possible to keep attacking, it is more logical to surround and not attack, but when Yang Yao became so clever, he actually knew how to attack the mind first.

Chen Qing put aside the matter of siege for the time being, and asked again: "From Jianli County to the south, is the Yangtze River waterway safe?"

Wang Shu shook his head, "There is no safety at all, basically controlled by Yang Yao's navy, every ship must be inspected, if it is a merchant ship, half of the cargo will be confiscated, forcing many cargo owners to go overland and bypass Dongting Lake. "

"Where's our passenger ship? Do you want to investigate too?" Chen Qing asked again.

"Passenger ships generally collect taxes, five hundred shi for five guan, and two thousand shi for twenty guan. In fact, it's nothing more than collecting money. I'm afraid that the female relatives will be taken in by them, like the general's two little maids. They must pass. Can’t pass this level.”

Chen Qing got up and cupped his hands and said, "Thank you Wangzhi County for your advice!"

Chen Qing asked the county magistrate only after he had experience. Last year, Yang Yao was not considered strong, but he was already very rampant. This year, he defeated the officers and soldiers three times, and he would only become more rampant. He knew what he should do now.

With the magistrate's reminder, Chen Qing naturally did not let the passenger and horse boats continue to set off, but temporarily left the two young ladies and Yang Liu in Jianli County, and asked Yan Jun to lead [-] soldiers to protect them.

Chen Qing led [-] soldiers to put on armor, and pulled out the horses from the horse boat. They got on the horses and headed for Yuezhou by land.

Baling County is today's Yueyang. Decades ago, Fan Zhongyan once wrote here the famous sentence of "worry about the world first".

But at this time, Baling County encountered an unprecedented crisis. Thirty thousand Dongting water bandits surrounded the gate of Baling City from four directions, and there were only a few thousand officers and soldiers in the city, and tens of thousands of people. If it is breached, the people of the whole city will face a tragic catastrophe.

On the city wall, Huguang Xuanfu made Li Gang very worried. He was only in his early fifties, but his hair was all white. The shame of Jingkang became a mountain on him, making him breathless.

Although Jin Bing's second attack on Bianliang has nothing to do with him, but after all he is the prime minister of Jingkang, the two emperors were captured and the court was destroyed, so he couldn't pass the test in his heart.

Li Gang hoped that the Song army could regain Bianliang and welcome back the second emperor all the time, but the reality is so cruel, and this dream has become so out of reach.

Looking at the vastness of the waves in the distance, Li Gang couldn't help but heaved a long sigh.

At this time, Zhizhou Wang Yan walked over quickly and said: "Xuanfu envoy, the food has been rearranged, please take a look!"

Baling County has been under siege for a month, and the court reinforcements don't know when they will arrive?
The army's food was about to be exhausted, and he had no choice but to implement a food rationing system, concentrating all the food in the county in the hands of the government to ensure the minimum survival food for each commoner and the minimum food guarantee for each soldier.

"After redistribution, how long can it last?"

"Each soldier can only give half a catty a day, and the common people can reduce it to two taels. It is estimated that they can last for half a month."

Li Gang was startled, "Only half a month?"

Wang Yan sighed and said, "There is no way. The grain transport fleet was robbed by the enemy. The military grain has long been exhausted. We have been getting food from the people, and now the grain from the people is almost gone."

Li Gang was silent. They failed in the third battle with Yang Yao's army because the logistics camp was attacked, and hundreds of large ships full of food were robbed. Tens of thousands of troops withdrew to Baling County without any food. , They basically ransacked all the merchants in the entire Baling County for food, so they could barely maintain the food for the army.

Yang Yao also saw this, and adopted the strategy of siege, forcing himself to leave the city and surrender.

The majestic Xuan Fu envoy surrendered to the thieves. He would rather kill himself than take that step and cause the court to suffer great humiliation.

Li Gang sighed slightly, "Let's see when the reinforcements will arrive?"

He turned around and went to the dungeon with heavy steps, his back already a little bent.

It only took Chen Qing one day and one night to lead eighty of his men to Baling County, Yuezhou on horseback. The surrounding villages in Baling County were empty, and traces of being smashed and burned could be seen everywhere.

Chen Qing led the crowd into a village, and he seemed to see lights in the village from a distance. This was a small village, with just over a hundred households.

At this time, Chen Qing saw that there was indeed a faint light in the house at the westernmost part of the village.

"Go and see, who is it?"

The two men got off their horses and galloped away.

Not long after, two of his subordinates came running over, "Qizhengzhi, that is a big family's house, and there are more than a dozen bandit soldiers digging the yard inside, they may think that there is a treasure buried underneath!"

I was about to catch some thieves and ask about the situation, but I didn't expect them to be sent to my door.

Chen Qing ordered Zhuang Quan, the vice capital, "Go and catch them all, be careful not to slip through the net!"

"Follow the order!"

With a wave of his hand, Zhuang Quan led dozens of soldiers to the place where the lights were lit. Soon, there were several screams, and then the lights went out, and there was no sound.

It only took a cup of tea time for Zhuang Quan to lead his men to arrest seven or eight bandit soldiers, and the rest of the bandit soldiers were killed.

The thieves knelt on the ground and begged for mercy, Zhuang Quan said in a low voice: "There are two naked women in the room, they died not long ago, they probably ruined them to death.

Chen Qing nodded, and asked one of the leading bandit soldiers, "How many bandit soldiers do you surround Baling County?"

The bandit leader tremblingly said: "There are about [-] people in their early years, and they pretended to be [-] people."

"Is the leader Yang Yao?"

"Your Majesty is in the water stronghold. The general who besieged Baling County is Zhong Ziyi, the son of Prime Minister Zhong."

"Which city gate is his tent at?"

"At the South City Gate!"

"how many people?"

"The villain really doesn't know. It is estimated that there are about five or six thousand people."

Chen Qing winked at Zhuang Quan, and ordered: "Take them down and interrogate them separately, I want to know the password for tonight!"

The thieves were taken down, and after a while, they asked clearly. Zhuang Quan came back and reported: "The control guessed well, they are indeed a peripheral patrol, responsible for the peripheral patrol in the southwest corner, and the password tonight is 'Dragon King out of the water!' "

Chen Qing nodded, "They dealt with it!"

The soldiers swung their knives together and chopped up the eight thieves.

Chen Qing immediately ordered: "Go to the South Gate!"

He led eighty men and galloped towards the south gate from the southwest corner.
The Dongting water bandits set up a total of four large camps, located in front of the four city gates in the east, west, north, and south respectively. Among them, the camp at the south gate is the largest, and there are camp fences around it.

The patrolling soldiers in the southwest corner were all killed, and there was a defensive loophole. Chen Qing led his men to use this loophole to enter the defensive circle. After a while, he led his men to appear [-] steps away from the South Camp. It doesn't matter if you step outside, the opponent didn't build a sentry tower at all, and only a few sentries stood in front of the camp gate.

Chen Qing fought against the Jin soldiers, Xixia army, and puppet Qi army in the northwest. He had seen many well-defended camps, but this was the first time he had seen the bandit camp. After getting the camp tent, they don't know how to defend it, it is full of loopholes.

As long as the soldiers standing guard in front of the camp gate are killed, they can enter the camp in a dignified manner.

The crowd followed Chen Qing on horseback and approached the gate of the camp. The sentry found them and asked sharply, "Password!"

"The Dragon King comes out of the water!" Chen Qing replied calmly.

There was no problem with the password, and the sentinel asked again: "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

(End of this chapter)