Fenghou

Chapter 381 Deserters
A hard life not only brings hope, but also despair. Seven days after Huyantong’s army arrived, the first desertion occurred. Three soldiers on duty at night climbed down with the ropes prepared in advance. The city wall escaped under the cover of night.

This news caused an uproar in the entire army, and deserters actually appeared in the army, which has never happened since the establishment of the army.

Hu Yantong was under tremendous pressure. Although it is not uncommon for deserters to appear in Jiangnan, this is the first desertion incident in Chen Qing's army. It happened that this kind of thing happened to his subordinates, which made Hu Yantong hate and angry. Very frustrated.

Chen Qing was also deeply shocked. You must know that the army led by Hu Yantong was trained by him personally. He watched them reborn and won the first place in the recruit contest.

He had deep feelings for this army, and he wanted to take it away with all his heart, but he didn't expect such a big event to happen in the end. You must know that in any army, deserters are a major event that cannot be tolerated. Downturn sign.

In the big tent, Hu Yantong lowered his head and said: "They are no longer the army they used to be. They have been training for a few months at most, but they can't change their nature. When they were stationed in Jiangning, sneaky things happened from time to time. Rape of women has also happened, and it is unwise to treat them with old eyes."

"You mean, this army is starting to degenerate again?"

"It's not degeneration, it's assimilation. It's slowly becoming the same as Zhang Jun's army. If you don't believe me, try their physical strength again. They can't even run half of the distance back then. This is the result of not training for several years. In fact, the decline in physical strength is still small. The problem, the key is that the mentality has changed, this group of people came to the Northwest because they want to get rich, so they don’t want to work in such a bitter and cold place, and there will definitely be deserters in the future.”

Chen Qing walked a few steps with his hands behind his back and said: "Go back and tell all the soldiers clearly that I will never force them to stay. If you want to leave, you can ask. I will give them travel expenses and dry food, and handle the withdrawal procedures for them. Then send troops to send them to Xianren Pass, without enough dry food, they can’t survive on the road, if they go to rob them, they will definitely be beaten to death by the local people.”

"Humble job, go back and call all the soldiers to make it clear!"

Hu Yantong saluted and left.

Chen Qing was distracted as he looked outside the tent. He had already realized the mistakes he had made. He always thought that they were still the same army as before, but in fact they were no longer there. The ideological education of generals at the bottom.

Two days later, a group of hundreds of golden soldiers came from outside the city. Xiao Dongsheng came to Oasis Fort again. This time he brought [-] concubines and maids, but unfortunately, he did not bring back Emperor Ji. It is impossible for the emperors to die, marry, or become imperial concubines to return to the Song army. At the same time, the Kingdom of Jin offered [-] taels of gold as an additional ransom.

Twelve taels of gold to redeem one person, and send a concubine and maid, is the biggest concession made by the Kingdom of Jin.

Chen Qing accepted this concession. Like last time, he still did not allow the golden soldiers to enter the city, and sent people to bring back [-] palace maids and concubines. Two hundred and seventy family members escorted out.

Chen Qing did a very good job. When these Jurchen family members entered the city, they were all brought into the city with hoods, and then they were placed under house arrest in Ganquan Fort, and they were not allowed to go out. They were also escorted out with cloth bags covering their heads. I don't know what it looks like inside Ganquan Fort.

Even the people living outside, who help to deliver things, are not allowed to enter the castle.

Xiao Dongsheng counted the family members of the Jurchens one by one, all of them were correct, but to his dismay, they failed to enter the city. This was actually another task of his, to understand the various military deployments in the city, and to prepare for the attack on Ganquan Fort after the beginning of spring. Good information preparation.

But now, not only his people couldn't enter the city, but even the redeemed family members didn't know anything about it. They didn't see what the inside of the city was like at all.

In desperation, Xiao Dongsheng had no choice but to lead the team to set off and return to Fengxiang.
At night, a thousand Jurchen soldiers and dozens of ox carts were stationed in a mountain depression about [-] miles away from Ganquan Fort. The area was deserted for dozens of miles, and there were no trees. Even small animals could not be seen, and the world was completely silent.

Xiao Dongsheng sighed and said to Wanyan Heishi, the captain of the team: "Now I know why Chen Qing chose Ganquan Fort as his base. No matter which army attacks Ganquan Fort, it will cost a lot, and the logistics alone is not ordinary. The army can take it."

"May I ask Xiao Sima, does the Fourth Prince want to attack Ganquan Castle?"

"Of course we have to fight. The fourth prince said, no matter Ganquan Fort or what kind of fort, as long as Chen Qing is in the northwest for a day, it will be a cancer in the northwest. If it is not dug up, there will be no occupation of the northwest."

At this moment, there was a commotion outside, Xiao Dongsheng and Wanyan Heishi hurried out of the tent, and soon, a soldier rushed to report, "Report to Sima, catch two Song soldiers who stole food!"

Xiao Dongsheng and Wanyan Heishi looked at each other, both of them looked puzzled, Xiao Dongsheng immediately ordered: "Bring them up!"

In the big tent, two men in Song Army uniforms were wolfing down meat pies. Xiao Dongsheng smiled all over his face, "Eat slowly, drink some water, don't choke!"

He never expected that he would capture two fugitive soldiers from Fort Ganquan. According to them, there were three of them, and one of them went to find water but never came back. They only found a pile of bones gnawed by wolves. The two men were frightened and ran for their lives, but they lost their way and hadn't eaten for three days.

Xiao Dongsheng was worried that he couldn't go back and explain. Now that he caught two deserters from the Song army, his mission was successfully completed.

No one knows the situation in Ganquan Fort better than the soldiers of the Song Army.

Chen Qing didn't know that two of the three deserters were captured by Jin Bing. To Jin Bing, these two people may be very important, but to Ganquanbao, the arrest of the two is only a trivial matter, and it will not trigger Ganquan. The defense crisis of the fort.

With the arrival of spring, Chen Qing now has several important things to do. The first is to store wood, the second is to store water, the third is to store coal, and the fourth is to plow in spring.

First, Chen Qing sent Hu Yantong and Wang Duo to lead [-] people to Heishong Mountain, fifty miles away to the northeast. There are two mountains planted with pine forests. Although most of them have been cut down, there is still a little forest. , There are at least thousands of pine trees, and even the branches are not wasted.

Wood is the most important strategic material. Only with wood can we make various combat weapons, such as fire kites, trebuchets and so on.

In addition, Chen Qing sent Hu Yantong's army to participate in the felling of trees, which actually gave these soldiers a chance to escape. Although everyone stated that they would not desert again, Chen Qing didn't know if this statement was their innermost thoughts.

Then simply give them a chance to escape, each of them took seven or eight days of water bottles and dry food, and went fifty miles away to cut down trees. At this time, it is easy for the soldiers to escape. If they do not escape at this time, it shows that their statement is convincing , Only if you successfully resist the temptation and test, can you be trusted.

The second major thing in Ganquanbao is to store water and burn coal. Needless to say, burning coal is the energy needed to maintain life and production. Chen Qing sent Zheng Ping to lead [-] soldiers to dig coal mines and transport coal back to the city. There are hundreds of soldiers to collect sulfur mines.

The key is water. Ganquan Fort got its name because it can dig wells to produce spring water. This is related to the rich groundwater in Huizhou. There is only one white water river for surface water, but there are several undercurrents for groundwater.

However, Ganquan Fort not only has tens of thousands of troops and civilians, but also war horses and a large number of livestock. They all need drinking water. It is not enough to get water by digging wells. Once the enemy is besieging the city, what should we do if there is not enough drinking water?Therefore, storing water to the maximum extent has become a top priority.

Storage of water requires containers, and water tanks and large urns are the best water storage containers. It was under the guidance of this kind of preparation thinking that the first large-scale handicraft workshop in Ganquanbao was established.

That is to use extremely rich loess resources and coal resources to burn pottery and bricks.

Two thousand soldiers turned into potters and started working in full swing three miles west of Ganquan.

Then, the third major event is spring plowing, which is the time for spring plowing.

(End of this chapter)