Fenghou

Chapter 315 Jiangling
When Chen Qing went to the top of the city, a group of commanders including Wang Lun, Li Muqing, and Cheng Huan greeted them. These twelve commanders and deputy commanders were in charge of commanding [-] new troops. They were all new generals who had just been promoted. Chen Qing's old subordinates for many years participated in the Battle of Jiandaoguan. They were promoted step by step from escort, deputy capital, and capital to deputy commanders and commanders, while Yang Zaixing and Yang Yuanqing were promoted to commanders, Liu Cui, Liu Qiong , Niu Gao and others will be promoted to deputy commanders.

Of course, they are not the only newly promoted generals, there are many in the cavalry army, twelve of them are infantry commanders.

Wang Lun clasped his fists to Chen Qing and said, "Qidu, we found a troublesome thing. The soldiers have never been trained with firearms, and they don't know how to use gunpowder barrels."

Chen Qing took a gunpowder barrel from the soldier, and said with a slight smile, "This should be very simple. There is a scale on the matchlock, and you can throw it down when you reach the scale. It's not difficult to grasp!"

Li Muqing said: "The scale has reached the bottom position, we are worried that the soldiers have not been trained and are nervous, and throwing it down before the scale will cause the barrel to break, the gunpowder will not explode, and the enemy will even get the secret ,very possible."

Chen Qing also admitted that the generals' worries were not superfluous. The wooden barrels were indeed easy to break. In order to ensure that the gunpowder barrels exploded before they hit the ground, they trained a professional firearms battalion soldiers. There were a total of [-] soldiers, some of whom stayed in Baling County , some of them were on warships, but none in Jiangling County.

Letting these untrained soldiers use gunpowder will indeed cause serious problems. Don’t worry if you throw it too early, but if you throw it too late, the gunpowder barrel will explode on the top of the city, and the thousands of poisonous nails that will be shot out of it will cause serious trouble .

"Forget it then, send the gunpowder barrels to the city and seal them up, and use all the fire oil barrels and fire oil balls!"

"Dutong, keep a little less! Some of us have been trained and can use it."

"How many people have trained, show me your hands!"

The five generals raised their hands, Chen Qing said with a smile: "There are six of us together with me, then it's settled, only the six of us can use the powder keg, and everyone else is forbidden to use it.

"Follow the order!" Everyone bowed together.

"Then what's the problem?"

Chen Qingxiao asked and answered: "Is the long-handled ax our number one weapon for defending the city ready?"

Everyone laughed, and Wang Lun hurriedly said: "Three hundred long-handled sharp axes are prepared, as well as the god-armed crossbowmen with horses facing the city wall, as well as long forks and long ropes, all ready."

These are the summaries of their experience and have been passed down, so there is no need for Chen Qing to remind them.

Chen Qing said to everyone: "This time defending the city is not the same as before. I don't have a lieutenant general to direct the specific operations. I want to be the chief general to direct the overall situation and the deputy general to direct the specific operations. I may not care so much. So everyone has to shoulder the heavy responsibility of lieutenant generals, and each of them is responsible for their own piece. I hope that this battle of defending the city will allow me to see a group of generals who can stand on their own.

Everyone's blood boiled with enthusiasm, and they shouted loudly together: "I will obey the order of the capital!"

At dawn, the [-] troops led by Kong Yanzhou rushed to the Jiangling city.

Kong Yanzhou in history was brutal, cruel, despicable and shameless, but he had a prosperous official career, won the trust of the Puppet Qi and the Kingdom of Jin, and did well until his death.

This actually has something to do with some of his character strengths. He has a tolerant character, and he can endure humiliation silently, and will not lose his temper and offend others.

Moreover, he has good foresight and is good at judging the situation. He has seen through the civil service system of the Song Dynasty. A military general like him, no matter how capable he is, must be restrained by civil officials. When Qi was about to perish, he turned to Jin without hesitation.

On the other hand, he is also good at leading troops to fight. Although his army discipline is extremely poor, and he indulges soldiers to plunder the people and rape prostitutes everywhere, making the people hate him, but his soldiers are very satisfied and loyal to him. He is willing to fight for him on the battlefield, and his combat effectiveness is very strong.

This time Wanyanchang arranged for him to attack Jiangling. Wanyanchang also knew that Kong Yanzhou liked to burn, kill and loot, so he made an agreement with him that he must arrive from Yingzhou to Jiangling within three days, and he was not allowed to loot cities on the way to waste time. But at the same time, he promised Kong Yanzhou that as long as he captured Jiangling City, he would be allowed to rob the city for three days.

Kong Yanzhou led the army all the way and did not plunder the county towns along the way, but on both sides of the official road, they would still plunder pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks, and insult women. This kind of cruelty in their bones cannot be changed.

Of course Kong Yanzhou knew that Chen Qing was not in Jiangling City, so he led his cavalry to rescue Baling County, his hometown. There were only [-] recruits stationed in Jiangling City. He was confident that he could take Jiangling City within two days. '

Before the ships transporting the luggage arrived, Kong Yanzhou ordered the [-] troops to rest in place, and he took a dozen generals to inspect Jiangling City and study how to attack it.

Although Jiangling City is not comparable to Xiangyang City, it is also a strategic location on the Yangtze River. The city wall is also built tall and strong, with a circumference of more than [-] miles. The surrounding moat is relatively wide, with a width of more than [-] feet. A pontoon bridge needs to be built.

Kong Yanzhou looked around and found that only the north side could be attacked. The land on the east and west sides of the city was too narrow for the soldiers to stand on. If he had a warship of [-] stone, he could directly use the boat to go to the city from the east and west sides. Unfortunately, he didn't have one, and the south side was far away from the pier. Too close to open the battlefield.

Kong Yanzhou looked at the top of the city again. There were densely packed soldiers on the top of the city. He snorted coldly, and said to the left and right: "Go into the city, if you don't accept surrender, the captives will be killed!"

His confidant general Li Xiu led five thousand soldiers to escort the grain ship to Changshou County, but was killed by Chen Qing's army. He kept this hatred in his heart, just as Chen Qing wanted to kill his army. Don't let off every one of Chen Qing's subordinates.

At noon, his cargo fleet arrived at Jiangling County along the Xiashui River. These cargo ships were actually Li Xiu’s grain fleet, which had been moored in Changshou County. Chen Qing handed them over to Li Gang, but Li Gang retreated in panic. Before they had time to burn them, they were taken back by the puppet Qi army and used to transport food and grass.

When the luggage arrived, Kong Yanzhou immediately ordered the camp to be set up, fences erected, sentry towers built, trenches dug, and tents appeared in the camp.

Chen Qing could see clearly from the top of the city, he nodded secretly, no wonder Wang Yan would die at the hands of this Kong Yanzhou, it can be seen from his camp, he is very organized and meticulous, this person is indeed a talent, it is a pity that such a person is more capable, The greater the harm.

Chen Qing turned around and asked Wang Yan's former general Zhao Ping, "You have been in Jingxiang for many years, you should know about Kong Yanzhou!"

"The humble official only knows that he is cruel and extremely lustful. In the fourth year of Jianyan, he led the army to suppress Zhong Xiang and Yang Yao, killed Zhong Xiang, and then sent troops to plunder Yuezhou and Tanzhou. Supported and quickly became a big man, the court thought that he beheaded Zhong Xiang, and the merits and demerits were offset. He was not held accountable, but he was not given any rewards, and he had a deep resentment towards the court.

In addition, he illegally recruited many troops in Xiangyang Prefecture and Ying Prefecture, it is said that there were more than [-] troops, but for some reason, he was not impeached. He escaped again, and he probably knew that he was doomed, so he surrendered to the puppet Qi army and was named the governor of the capital and the Duke of Xiangyang County. "

"How is his army's combat effectiveness?" Chen Qing asked again.

"It's very strong. Wang Zhifu said that if his army surrendered to the puppet army, it would be a loss to the Song army. That's why he led his army to Xiangyang for rescue. He didn't expect to fall into Kong Yanzhou's trap. In addition, everyone must pay attention to his Baijia army. .”

"What White Armored Army?" Chen Qing asked puzzled.

"It's the elite of his elite. He is very fierce. There are about [-] of them. They usually don't go to battle. I wonder if he will send them out this time?"

Chen Qing laughed, "In his eyes, we are just [-] recruits with weak strength. If he wants to make a quick victory, he will definitely send this army out."

(End of this chapter)