Fenghou

Chapter 436 Take Over
Zhao Xiaoyi flashed into the big hole, turned on the torch, and a big messy hole appeared in front of them. It was at least seven or eight feet long, and someone lived in it. Several stoves for heating.

He poked around dozens of times with his spear, and a large group of mice came out of the darkness in panic, squeaking like a black shadow, running past Zhao Xiaoyi's feet and fleeing desperately to the outside of the cave, which really scared Zhao Xiaoyi. .

He checked again, then turned around and said, "No problem, everyone come in!"

The scouts entered the city wall one after another. They followed the same pattern and quickly removed the wall bricks inside, revealing a large hole with a width of one foot. Outside was an abandoned temple, whether it was the Temple of the Earth or the Temple of the City God.

The scouts put on the plank and waved their hands. Niu Gao was overjoyed and shouted in a low voice, "On the first battalion!"

A commander led a thousand soldiers to run quickly, rushed across the moat, and ran from the city cave to the city gate.
Immediately after the second battalion, the third battalion, and the fourth battalion, in just two quarters of an hour, the entire army of [-] Song soldiers entered the city, and instantly captured the south gate of the city guarded by only [-] people. Outside the south gate, Yang Zaixing Leading two thousand cavalry had been waiting for a long time, when the city gate was opened and the drawbridge was lowered, the two thousand cavalry mobilized at the same time and rushed towards the county town like lightning.
The two thousand Xixia soldiers in the city were finally forced to surrender. They were blocked on the top of the city by the Song army. After the Thousand God Arm soldiers shot and killed hundreds of people from a long distance, the soldiers completely collapsed and surrendered one after another.

The main general Xia Jin was killed in the first round of the breakout battle. He took the lead, but was shot with more than [-] arrows by the powerful crossbow and died instantly.

Teams of Xixia soldiers who took off their armor and wore white clothes were escorted down the city. Thousands of soldiers took control of the whole city, especially Niu Gao, who was the first to rush into the city, led [-] soldiers to quickly control the warehouse.

The warehouse in Didao County is what Chen Qing values ​​most. There are two warehouses in Didao County, one is the county warehouse and the other is the warehouse of Anping Jinglue Mansion. In seven or eight years, no supplies have been shipped out. When Wu Hongwei was the county magistrate, [-] shi of grain were stored in the county warehouse alone, let alone the Jinglue Mansion warehouse.

Chen Qing was short of food now, and one of the important reasons why he attacked Lintao Mansion was to seize food and supplies.

Yang Zaixing was still clearing out the soldiers on the top of the city, Chen Qing brought more than a hundred soldiers to the warehouse of Jinglue Mansion, Niu Gao brought a middle-aged man, "This person is the warehouse manager!"

The steward knelt down and kowtowed, "The villain sees Jiedushi!"

"Are you Chinese?"

"The villain is a Han Chinese. He has always been a warehouse manager. He has a humble boss who is an official of Xixia. He should be at home now."

"How much food is there in the warehouse of Jinglue Mansion?" Chen Qing asked anxiously.

"There are about [-] shi of grain."

A hint of surprise flashed in Chen Qing's eyes, and he confirmed again: "Are you sure there are so many?"

"I don't dare to lie. There are indeed so many. Our Taohe Valley is originally a land of grain production. The Xixia people pay a heavy tax. They collect [-]% of military expenses and taxes per mu. They have accumulated so much in two years. I heard that They are planning to transport it to Lanzhou before the year."

Chen Qing's heart fell to the ground, as long as he had [-] shi of grain, he would be much calmer.

"How much grain is there at the county warehouse?"

"There are about [-] to [-] shi of grain in the county warehouse. The villain doesn't know how much there is. We are not responsible for that."

At this time, Yang Zaixing came running over, clasped his fists to Chen Qing and said, "All the prisoners of war have been escorted to the barracks, but there is an important situation, the humble officer must report it in time!"

"What important situation?"

"We thought there were [-] enemy troops in the city, but now we find that the number is not that many. After asking, we found out that [-] troops were transferred to Dangchuan County yesterday."

There are only two counties in Lintao Prefecture, one is Didao County, and the other is Dangchuan County. Dangchuan County is located in a mountainous area, and its importance is far less than Didao County.

But Chen Qing was a little surprised. The defenders of Didao County should have found themselves the day before yesterday. At this critical juncture, they usually gather troops from all over the country to Didao County. Why are they doing the opposite now and evacuating the troops?

"Why did you evacuate a thousand soldiers? Do you know the reason?" Chen Qing asked

Yang Zaixing shook his head, "The humble official didn't ask the reason!"

At this time, the steward next to him whispered: "Jiedushi, maybe the villain knows the reason!"

Chen Qing turned around and looked at him and asked, "Tell me, why?"

"I would like to report to Jiedushi that there is a large silver mine in Dangchuan County. Last year, the Xixia army escorted a group of miners from an iron mine in the north. There were about [-] people. They mined silver mines in Dangchuan County. , These thousand soldiers went with a thousand camels, presumably they wanted to transport the smelted rough silver back to Lanzhou."

"How much silver did they refine?"

"Little man. Little man doesn't know!"

"You can't be ignorant, tell me quickly!" Chen Qing's eyes were as sharp as a knife.

The steward was terrified, "The villain has inquired, and the rough silver is no less than one hundred thousand catties."

One hundred thousand catties is [-] million taels of silver. The mining slave has been here for more than a year. Will there be such a large output?

"You didn't tell the truth!" Chen Qing's knife-like gaze pierced into the steward's heart.

The steward knelt down in fright, "As far as I know, I never lied to Jiedushi, but I don't know if there is one hundred thousand catties or more, I have never seen real silver."

"You were in Dangchuan County last year?" Chen Qing's eyes softened a little.

"At the beginning of the year, I went there once to escort food."

"Do you think eight thousand mine slaves can produce one hundred thousand catties of crude silver in one year? Is it possible?"

"This is what the manager of the silver mine told the villain himself while drinking. He told me that there are [-] catties of crude silver in the warehouse, and there will be [-] catties by the end of the year."

"How far is it from here to Dangchuan County?" Chen Qing asked calmly.

"For about eighty miles, it's all mountain roads!"

"Can you go cavalry?"

"Of course, it's just not as flat as the official river valley road."

Chen Qing secretly calculated that the camel team should not have arrived in Dangchuan County yet, with a journey of [-] miles since they set off yesterday.

Chen Qing immediately said to Yang Zaixing: "You lead five thousand cavalry to Dangchuan County immediately, and you must stop this camel caravan!"

"Humble post obeys orders!"

Yang Zaixing turned around and hurried away.

Chen Qing then said to Niu Gao: "You hand over the warehouse to Hu Yanyun to take over, and you don't care about it. Immediately fill up the holes in the city wall and organize soldiers to defend. The cavalry we ambushed today is only the vanguard army. There should be more cavalry behind us." The main force, don't be careless!"

"The humble job will be arranged immediately!"

Niu Gao took the steward to find Hu Yanyun.

Chen Qing probably already understood that the [-] catties of crude silver might not be fake, and there should still be stock here, but the question is, how come he never knew that there was a Guichuan silver mine?
Not only myself, but the officials of Qinzhou and Gongzhou don't know, what secret is hidden in it?
Chen Qing came to Jingluefu Yamen on Xihe Road to the west of the warehouse, but now it is renamed Hehuang Junsi Fuya by Xixia people. Xixia has twelve military divisions, and they plan to set up a thirteenth military division in Hehuang.

Of course, the Xixia people's ambitions are far from being completed. They still have a lot of obstacles before annexing the entire Xihe Road area. The complex relationship between the Tubo people and the Qiang people.

They are also aware of these huge obstacles, so the Military Division Office is still located in Lanzhou.

The government office occupies a large area and is also the core of the city. It has been occupied by the Song army. Hundreds of soldiers are busy cleaning up the official office, driving out all the Xixia officials living in the official office, and dozens of Xixia women. They all squatted aside tremblingly, guarded by soldiers of the Song Army.

The government office is also an important place to store supplies. There is an ice cellar in the backyard, which stores a lot of meat and wine.

There was also a money bank, which was managed by Xixia officials, but the person could not be found. The soldiers directly smashed the big lock and began to count the belongings inside.

Chen Qing saw the soldiers coming in and out of the government office, quite busy, so he didn't bother him, and turned to the barracks to rest. It was already midnight, and he hadn't slept for three consecutive nights, and he was really tired.

As soon as the group arrived at the gate of the barracks, Liu Cui hurried out with an official.

"General Liu, why haven't you rested yet?"

This time Chen Qing brought three commanders, Yang Zaixing, Liu Cui and Niu Gao, each commanding [-] troops. Yang Zaixing led [-] cavalry to Dangchuan County, and Niu Gao's [-] infantry were on duty tonight. , Liu Cui's [-] cavalry rested and replaced Niu Gao's infantry during the day tomorrow.

"The humble officer found out that the county lieutenant of this county is a Han Chinese. He knows the situation of the Xixia people in the city better. The humble officer handed him over to General Niu, and then came back to rest."

Chen Qing saw that this person was only thirty years old, and he looked gentle, so he asked, "What's your name? Are you from this county?"

The chief secretary bowed and said: "The villain's name is Huang Yaozong, and he was originally the county magistrate. Because the villain can speak the party language and understand their characters, the Xixia people appointed the villain as the county captain to assist their county magistrate in managing Didao County. .”

Chen Qing nodded, "You go to see General Niu first, and you come to see me tomorrow morning!"

"Little man obeys!"

Chen Qing asked some simple questions again, and asked his own soldiers to take Huang Yaozong to meet Niu Gao, and he and Liu Cui entered the barracks.

(End of this chapter)