Fenghou

Chapter 300 Hanyang
The more than two hundred large ships that came from Xiangyang arrived half a day later than the Song Army, and arrived at the mouth of the Han River in the early morning. Most of the cargo ships were two thousand shi, and the speed of the cargo ships was relatively slow. It took five days to arrive in Hanyang carrying five thousand troops.

The general who commanded this sneak attack army was called Li Xiu, who was also Dong Xian's confidant general, and the official held the position of control.

The logistics of attacking the Song army is definitely poor. Even if you don’t need copper coins, you can eat a lot of gold and silver. What’s more, there is Hanyang City. If you plunder it, everyone can make a fortune. , There are countless women who can let them enjoy themselves.

So along the way, everyone's heart was full of longing, and they wished to grow their wings and fly into Hanyang City immediately.

At this time, just before the fifth watch, the fleet was moored on the bank of the Han River, and Li Xiu was still waiting for news.

At this time, the leader of the early spies came to report, "Qi report control, there are a thousand soldiers guarding the city of Hanyang!"

Li Xiu was stunned, and then said angrily: "Didn't you say that Hanyang County has no soldiers to guard it?"

"It is true that there is no army. It is a thousand state soldiers who came from Jiangxia a few days ago, and the governor of Ezhou personally leads them."

"boom!"

Li Xiu kicked the little stool into the river, he was extremely annoyed, how could they attack Hanyang City without siege weapons?
"Dang! Dang! Dang!"

There was a rapid alarm bell in the distance, which came from Hanyang County, indicating that they had been discovered by Hanyang County.

At just a moment ago, Li Xiu wanted to sneak attack Hanyang at night, but the alarm bell shattered his idea in the blink of an eye.

In desperation, Li Xiu had no choice but to turn his attention back to Cangcheng. He looked at Cangcheng for a long time and asked, "Is there a way to attack Cangcheng?"

The leader of the spies bowed and said: "General Qi, Cangcheng is three feet high and very strong. The only gate is the water gate, but the water gate has two iron gates inside and outside. It is even more difficult to conquer. The only way is to capture Hanyang County and force The army from Cangcheng came to rescue, I heard that most of the soldiers in Cangcheng are locals, maybe their relatives are all in Hanyang County."

Li Xiu nodded, "Is there a forest nearby?"

"There are large forests around the county seat, and there are even taller trees on the other side, which can be used to make battering rams!"

Li Xiu turned his head and looked towards the other bank of the Han River. The other bank was pitch black. At this moment, he suddenly heard a rumbling sound, which was very clear in the still night.

Li Xiu was stunned, "What's that sound?"

He looked at the leader of the spies, who also looked blank, and they had never heard this voice before.

"Quickly investigate!" Li Xiu said angrily.

"Follow the order!"

The leader of the spies got off the boat in a hurry, and the boat quickly sailed to the opposite bank.

At this time, the deputy general Ma Wen stepped forward and asked, "Excuse me, the commander, do you want the brothers to disembark?"

Li Xiu looked at the other side in the darkness, shook her head and said, "Wait a minute, let's talk about the news from the scout post!"

After about an incense stick, the Tanshao boat rushed back, and the leader of the Tanshao shouted: "It's a Song Army warship! It's a Song Army warship!"

Li Xiu was frightened and froze, he suddenly shouted: "Order to retreat, the fleet returns!"

He finally realized that the other party was prepared. This was a trap. They fell into the trap. Now he only had one thought, to retreat quickly.

The ships pulled up their sails one after another, and the wind was still southeast. The wind on the river was strong, and the sails bulged. The boatman propped the boats open with pennies, and the cargo ships began to sail northwest.

After walking for more than half an hour, the sky gradually dawned. More than a hundred vehicles and boats launched an attack on the river. Gunpowder arrows ignited the sails of the boats. The rest dived for their lives.

Without sails and boatmen, the cargo ship completely lost its power, and the Song army on the vehicle and boat began to attack with fire oil balls, and more than two hundred cargo ships became fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

One after another warships were set on fire. At this time, it was impossible to escape from the shore. The sky was divided between water and fire. The soldiers on board were terrified. Most of them could not swim. They either burned to death or died in the river drowned.

Many soldiers were so frightened that they cried bitterly and knelt on the bow of the boat begging to surrender. Li Xiu had no choice but to order a white flag to surrender. The main fleet of the Song army also came to block the river.

Zheng Ping stared at the warship for a while and said, "Surrender is allowed!"

This is Chen Qing's order to Zheng Ping, there is no need to offend Li Gang in the matter of killing and surrendering, and the prisoners of war can be exchanged with the enemy for the captured Song army.

Moreover, there are copper mines in Jiangxia, if there is no exchange, they can use prisoners of war to mine copper mines.

The Song army put boards on the cargo ships and ordered the enemy soldiers to put down their weapons and take off their armor. Groups of prisoners of war ran along the boards to the vehicles and boats, crying and knelt down with excitement, raising their hands.

An hour later, two hundred cargo ships disappeared on the river, all of which were burned and sunk without leaving any traces. Only a few sentry ships escaped by chance and rushed back to Xiangyang to report the situation.

Chen Qing's army has a set of rules for the management of prisoners of war. Generally, prisoners of war and generals are separated and held in different cities. This can effectively prevent prisoners of war from rioting. There will be no resistance.

Dozens of generals of the puppet Qi army above the capital, including the chief general Li Xiu and the deputy general Ma Wen, were sent to Hanyang County to be imprisoned, and the other [-] soldiers and prisoners of war were sent to Jiangxia for custody, waiting for the disposition of Xuan Fu envoy Li Gang.

According to Chen Qing's prior deployment, Li Feng led [-] naval troops to stay to defend Jiangxia and Hanyang, while Zheng Ping led a fleet full of supplies and [-] troops to Jiangling County to establish a logistics base.

And Niu Gao led a hundred chariots and ships and three thousand troops northward along the Han River, preparing to cooperate with Chen Qing's battle by water.

The information transmission on the battlefield is much faster than usual. This is also because a large number of scouts or spies are deployed around the battlefield, and they can grasp the situation on the battlefield at any time.

The news of the complete annihilation of the [-] troops attacking Yiling and the [-] troops attacking Hanyang reached Xiangyang almost at the same time.

Wan Yanchang was not surprised, he knew that fighting Chen Qing would have this consequence.

But Dong Xian was stunned, Chen Qing actually killed [-] people, is he going to repeat his method on Shaanxi Road, issue an order to kill and build a Beijing to deal with the Qi army?

Wan Yanchang sneered and said, "Why didn't Marshal Dong read the other battle report, none of Hanyang's [-] Qi troops were killed, why do you think so?"

Dong Xian pondered for a while and said, "Could it be because the general is not Chen Qing?"

Wan Yanchang snorted disdainfully, "Nonsense! The generals of Hanyang will still carry out Chen Qing's orders. If Chen Qing orders them to kill them, none of the prisoners will be rescued, and they will all die in Hanshui."

"What's the reason for that, I really don't know the humble position, I implore the superintendent to show me!"

Wan Yanchang said calmly: "Chen Qing is indeed a bloodthirsty monster, he kills without blinking an eye, even if the opponent surrenders, he will still kill him, it is the same in the northwest, and it is the same here, but he has changed his mind , one of the five thousand people is not killed, this is because of Li Gang, the envoy of Xuanfu, who was a prime minister and a civil servant who has read sage books. It should be Li Gang who restrained Chen Qing."

Dong Xian pondered for a moment and said, "Does it mean that in the future, Chen Qing will have no autonomy in commanding and making decisions and operations, and will have to be restrained by civil officials?"

Dong Xian was a civil servant who had commanded the army in the Song Dynasty, and he had a very deep understanding of the civil servant leadership system in the Song Dynasty. If Chen Qing was restrained by Li Gang in the future, he would have confidence in the battle to attack Jingxiang.

Wan Yanchang shook his head, "I'm not very clear about this, but it's extremely important, so we have to find a way to figure out the details of the Song Army's command and decision-making. I want to know how much autonomy Chen Qing has."

At this moment, a soldier reported from the hall, "Report to Marshal Dong, and report to the Supervising Army. An eagle letter was sent from the front post. Chen Qing led [-] cavalry to leave Changlin County for Yingzhou."

Wan Yanchang and Dong Xian glanced at each other, and they both realized that Chen Qing was eyeing the [-] troops retreating to Yingzhou again.

Dong Xian couldn't help but said: "The capital inspector army, Chen Qing's cavalry is really sharp, our army can't compete with it, can we send a Jurchen cavalry of [-] people to help?"

Wan Yanchang shook his head, "This requires the approval of our Emperor Jin, but it is unlikely, so you don't have to think about it, I suggest you write to the emperor of Qi and send [-] Qi cavalry from Jingzhao, this will be easier to achieve idea."

Dong Xian sighed, "Okay! I will write to the Son of Heaven today, asking for cavalry support."

(End of this chapter)