Fenghou

Chapter 421
A thousand soldiers of the Song Army were dispatched quickly, and within a short time, they surrounded the Ping'an Inn.

At this time, the shopkeeper and several clerks of the Ping An Inn were killed by the Xixia spies. Two hundred Xixia spies occupied the inn, wearing the armor of the puppet Qi army, holding swords, spears, bows and arrows, eagerly waiting for the signal from outside the city.

Suddenly, a soldier stumbled in and shouted, "The Song army has surrounded the inn!"

The two hundred Xixia spies sitting in the yard jumped up in shock, and the leader shouted: "No chaos, let's break through the encirclement together through the front and rear doors!"

One thousand soldiers of the Song Army and two hundred elite scouts surrounded the Ping'an Inn. There were three hundred soldiers at the front door and three hundred soldiers at the back door, aiming at the door with crossbow arrows.

Li Muqing judged that the opponent was likely to break through the gate, so he deployed heavy troops in front of the gates on both sides.

The back door was smashed open, and dozens of spies rushed out with shields in their hands. The Song army fired arrows at random, and the Xixia spies held up their shields, blocking most of the arrows.

Hu Yanlei, the general in charge of the back door, shouted, "Go up!"

Three hundred soldiers threw down their crossbow arrows, charged up with spears in their hands, and fought fiercely with the enemy with roars.

The same situation happened at Qianmen. Li Muqing led the army to fight fiercely with the Xixia spies who had broken through at Qianmen.

At this moment, three gunpowder arrows appeared in the night sky outside the west city. The signal from the Xixia army finally came. Unfortunately, the Xixia spies could no longer respond to them. Arrows were released in the inn, and the strong crossbow bolts shot into the inn like a torrential rain.

The Xixia spies had no way to dodge, and were shot with arrows one after another. After more than a dozen rounds of arrows, there was no movement in the inn.

After Hu Yanlei led two hundred scouts into the inn from the back door, dozens of Xixia scouts were left to fight fiercely with the Song army, but they were far from the opponents of the Song army scouts. The army was destroyed, and the Song army only arrested a few people who asked for confessions.

Not long after, Hu Yanlei found Li Muqing and said to him: "The confession is over, hold up three torches to show that you have successfully captured the city gate, then lower the drawbridge and open the city gate!"

Li Muqing pondered for a while, but still shook his head, "Our task is to guard the city gate, and we must not take risks."

It is ok to put down the drawbridge, but it is absolutely impossible to open the city gate. Not only is the governor Chen Qing strict enough to open the city gate, but he also does not know how many Xixia troops are outside. They only have [-] troops. Didn't he seek death when he opened the city gate?This is not called scheming, but stupidity.

Li Muqing was quite decisive, he immediately decided to give up the idea of ​​following tactics, and deployed all [-] troops to the city, with all soldiers holding bows and crossbows, ready to fight.

Li Muqing looked at a forest in the darkness in the distance. The forest was close to the official road. He guessed that the Xixia army was hiding in the forest.

The main force of the [-] Xixia Army is indeed in the forest. The leader is Li Ke, a member of the Xixia royal family and the deputy marshal of Xixia Zhengnan.

He led an army of [-] troops from Zhenrong Prefecture to the south in an attempt to control Deshun Prefecture except Longgan County. As soon as he arrived in Longde County, he learned that the Song Army cavalry had gone north and captured Longgan County.

But Li Ke also got the news at the same time that a thousand Song Army cavalry was rushing towards Longde County. He immediately made a decision and sent two thousand people to ambush the one thousand Song Army cavalry, using the strategy of diverting the tiger away from the mountain to transfer Chen Qing's main force away from Longgan. County, to create conditions for him and the spies in Longgan County to cooperate with each other.

Li Ke squinted his eyes at the dark west city gate. It had been two quarters of an hour since the signal was launched, but there was no movement at all from the top of the city, not even the guards at the top of the city panicked.

When they fired rockets, they would definitely alarm the defenders in the city, and it was inevitable for the defenders to increase their defensive manpower. The spies in the city wanted to take advantage of this short time difference to seize the city gate, but the time left for them would not be too long, a quarter of an hour at most.

Now two quarters of an hour have passed, and there is still no movement. There can only be one explanation, the defenders in the city have failed.

Li Ke didn't waste any more time, and immediately said: "Execute the second plan!"

His second plan is to ambush the retreating Song army near the west city if he fails to capture the city gate, just like he ambushed the Song army in Longde County.

This trick was taught by Chen Qing. It is easier to ambush the enemy near the city. Although he has used it once, he believes that the Song army will suffer another big loss.

The [-] troops quickly turned around and rushed to Huaixing Valley ten miles away. Li Ke had long discovered that Huaixing Valley was a good place to ambush. The distance from the pine forest to the official road is about one hundred steps, which happens to be the best range for bows and arrows.

Time gradually came to the second watch, Chen Qing's army finally came back from the north, Li Ke got the news that the opponent's speed was very slow, but they were already more than ten miles away, heading towards Huaixing Valley.

"The whole army is ready!"

Just as Li Ke gave the order, there was a commotion from behind. When Li Ke turned his head, he was stunned. He saw thick smoke billowing on the hillside behind him, and the fire was soaring into the sky.

Immediately afterwards, a fire started on the opposite hillside. This was originally a mountain pass, and the wind was stronger at night. The fire took advantage of the wind, and the pine wood was full of grease, and dozens of trees were ignited in an instant.

Li Ke knew that he had hit the trick, and immediately ordered: "Retreat to the south immediately!"

'Woo-oo--'

The retreat horn sounded quickly, and in the darkness, a large number of Xixia soldiers rushed out of the forest to the official road, and retreated in the direction of the city. However, many Xixia soldiers were surrounded by flames and had no way to escape. Buried in the sea of ​​fire.

The leader Chen Qing was already ten miles north of Huaixing Valley at this time. He looked at the thick smoke billowing in the distance and the flames soaring into the sky. It was Zhao Xiaoyi who led the scout battalion to successfully ignite the fire.

At this time, the horn sounded from a distance, and the Xixia army should retreat.

Chen Qing pondered for a moment and asked the scouts, "Can we take a shortcut to the west?"

The scout clasped his fists and said, "Report to Dutong, there is a valley that can be bypassed, and it is five miles to the west."

Chen Qing looked at the night sky again. The moon was bright and the stars were sparse. A round of bright moonlight coated the earth with a layer of silver light, and the ground conditions were clearly visible.

Cavalry combat is greatly affected by the weather, especially at night. If it is rainy, the cavalry will basically be unable to act. The horses cannot see the ground clearly, and it is easy to step on the ground or step on gravel and hurt the horseshoes.

This is also the reason why Qin Zhidao's flatness requirements are very strict, which is convenient for the cavalry to march quickly at night.

But if the moonlight is good at night, there is no problem. For example, tonight, the moonlight is extremely bright, and the gravel and potholes on the ground are clearly visible. The horses can completely avoid it, giving the cavalry the best chance to launch a night battle.

Not long after, [-] Song Army cavalry entered the valley. The valley was not wide, but the road was smooth and ran from northeast to southwest.

Chen Qing led the speeding cavalry to speed up and gallop to the southwest.

Li Ke's army retreated in a panic, like a thief being discovered, they rushed westward after rushing out of Huaixing Valley, they had to retreat thirty li before they could enter a safe zone.

After running for about twenty miles, Li Ke ordered the army to stop, and he was going to rectify the army. This area is full of hills and valleys, and he felt a dangerous atmosphere.

His team was stretched too long, covering seven or eight li, and it was easy to be ambushed, but he was afraid that something would come. As soon as he had this idea, the army behind him was in chaos.

Li Ke also vaguely saw that a cavalry of thousands of people came from the side valley and cut the Xixia army into two sections.
Under the bright moonlight, the cavalry galloped fast, their swords gleaming coldly, killing the Xixia soldiers with their heads rolling and their blood flowing like rivers

The Xixia soldiers were terrified, yelling and fleeing in all directions. Fortunately, this area is not a plain, but low hills and mountains. Many Xixia soldiers fled to the hills. This is the only way to escape the pursuit of the cavalry.

Under the moonlight, Li Ke saw the general of the Song army holding Fang Tian's painted halberd. This should be the enemy's general Chen Qing, who had beheaded Wanyan Loushi before.

Li Ke was very frightened and did not dare to fight the Song army. He ran wildly with a hundred soldiers and gradually escaped from the Song army's pursuit.
At dawn, Li Ke escaped forty miles away, with only a dozen people following him. At noon, more than two thousand soldiers came one after another. He didn't dare to wait any longer, and led the remnant soldiers to retreat northward.

The battle between Longxi County and Longgan County caused the Xixia Army to lose on both the east and west fronts. Gongzhou and Deshun Prefecture, which were originally in the bag, were both taken away by the Song Army, and more than [-] soldiers were lost.

Only then did the Xixia court realize the seriousness of the problem. The Xixia Emperor Li Ganshun issued an order to mobilize [-] elite troops from the five military divisions including Jingsai Army Division, Jianing Army Division, and Zuoxiang Shenyong Army Division to Lanzhou. The government mobilized [-] civilians to transport [-] shi of grain and a large amount of military supplies to Lanzhou.

At the same time, Li Qianshun dismissed two royal families, Li Xingchao and Li Kezheng Nanzheng and deputy marshals, and reappointed General Cao Baozong as the Marshal of Zhengnan to lead an army of [-] troops, preparing to compete with Chen Qing for Xihe Road.

(End of this chapter)