Fenghou

Chapter 459
The scouts of the Song Army are all named Lin Tao, about twenty-five or six years old, from Zhongnan County, Jingzhao Prefecture. Before joining the army, he was a hunter in Zhongnan Mountain. He has been a scout for three years and has rich experience.

He hurriedly walked to the edge of the woods and looked into the distance, only to see a cavalry of more than ten Xixia troops coming from a small road in the distance, they should be scout cavalry.

They were not fast, and actually came down from the path and walked directly in their direction. They probably wanted to rest and have lunch in the pine forest.

Lin Tao urgently ordered: "The enemy army is coming, everyone hurry up and clean up!"

Everyone quickly cleaned up and wiped out all traces.

Lin Tao ordered one of his men: "Wang Jin, you lead five brothers to go around and cut off their escape route. The other brothers follow me to ambush!"

The scout named Wang Jin took another five scouts and detoured down another road.

Lin Tao quickly disappeared into the depths of the pine forest with a dozen of his men, ready to kill the enemy spies.

This is their task, to eliminate the enemy's spies going south and ensure that the main force of the Song army will not be discovered by the enemy's spies.

More than a dozen Xixia scouts tied their horses to a big tree and walked together to the clearing in the forest, which happened to be the place where the Song army scouts were resting just now.

It's just that the scouts of the Song Dynasty were very professional, and cleaned up all traces, even the stones that built the stove were thrown away. If there are traces that cannot be erased, it is the smell of their dry cakes and bacon in the air.

Of course, there are farmlands at the foot of the mountain, and it is possible that farmers are resting and having lunch here. The dozen or so Xixia scouts obviously did not smell the peculiar smell in the air. They were also looking for stones and branches everywhere, preparing to light a bonfire for barbecue.

Lin Tao had already seen clearly at Baibu. There were thirteen Xixia spies in total, and twenty war horses were tied to two pine trees on the edge. The extra war horses were used to carry food and other items.

Lin Tao recruited two men, pointed at the horses, and gave them some instructions in a low voice. The two men nodded and walked carefully to the enemy's horses.

At this time, Lin Tao and his men also had thirteen people, thirteen against thirteen, the key was to shoot and kill most of the enemy army with the crossbow first, in order to form a situation of superiority in numbers.

Thirteen Song army scouts stooped and ran quickly, hiding from one big tree to another, gradually approaching the enemy army, and they were about [-] steps away from the enemy. Each of them hid behind a pine tree , raised their crossbows, aiming at an enemy soldier each.

The two soldiers hid behind the big tree and quickly untied the reins of twenty war horses, leading the horses out to the depths of the woods.

They were spotted just two steps away, and several Xixia soldiers shouted and roared, "Catch them, someone is stealing the horse!"

Lin Tao shouted, "Archery!"

The scouts of the Song army raised their crossbows to shoot at the same time. The Xixia soldiers on the open ground were caught off guard and shot one after another. Seven people were shot down in an instant, and all of them were shot at vital points such as throats and faces.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the remaining six Xixia spies turned around and fled. The Song army chased after them, raised their crossbows and shot and killed three people. Five Song army scouts on the side ambushed and shot.

All thirteen Xixia spies were killed, and none of them escaped.

Lin Tao found a map from the leader of the first spy, and saw their patrol route from the map. The target was the official road on the north bank of the Weihe River.

"Captain, we have forty horses!" Several soldiers laughed.

"Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and pack up the corpse, and get ready to go!"

The soldiers of the Song Army burned and buried the corpses, each with two horses, and continued northward to search for scouts from the Xixia Army.

Chen Qing led a [-]-strong army to march day and night, and finally arrived at Longxi County. They also marched lightly. A large amount of luggage had been transported to Longxi County in advance at the end of last year. The first camel team transported grain, and almost all the grain in Didao County was transported to Longxi.

The [-] Song troops who retreated from Hezhou and Lintao also arrived in Longxi County two days earlier than Chen Qing's army. With the addition of the [-] troops stationed in Longxi County, the number of Song troops in Longxi County had reached [-] at this time. .

In addition, Hu Yantong and Zhizhou Wang Huai recruited [-] logistics militias, and there were also [-] strong young women who were mainly responsible for cooking and taking care of the wounded soldiers.

Chen Qing didn't care about rest, and immediately boarded the county seat to inspect the defense preparations. This is what he specially told Hu Yantong to conduct a comprehensive inspection to find every possible defense loophole.

The enemy is coming soon, and they don't have so much time to temporarily remedy it.

"The city gates are closed!"

"It was closed the day before yesterday, and people are no longer allowed to enter or leave. In addition, all the pigeon letters and eagle letters in the city have stopped. All carrier pigeons and carrier eagles are under the unified control of the army. If there are carrier pigeons again, we will arrest them immediately. In addition , all Xixia people are temporarily under house arrest, and even if there are spies among them, they will not be able to report any more."

Chen Qing knew that the Xixia spies in Longxi County had been pulled out by the inner guard camp, and there would be no new spies in a short time, but Hu Yantong still appreciated Hu Yantong's thoughtfulness.

And the arrangement on the top of the city is also very good, the top of the city is very wide, two feet long, three ox carts can drive side by side on the top of the city, every thirty steps there are fireproof sand and shovels, in addition there are special The large wooden box in the wooden box is the place where the kerosene and gunpowder barrels are placed.

The places that can be seen are very good, but Chen Qing is more concerned about the places that cannot be seen.

"Tell me about the city wall! Have you checked it thoroughly?" Chen Qingxiao asked.

Hu Yantong hurriedly said: "Reporting to Dutong, the city wall has been inspected inside and out, and [-] damaged city bricks have been replaced. The moat suspension bridge and city gates have all been replaced with new ones, but the moat It was frozen, and the water could not be drained, and it was not dug deep, but it was very deep, one foot five deep and two feet wide."

Chen Qing nodded, and looked into the city with his head. All the houses near the city wall had been demolished, and a quarantine area of ​​about a hundred paces was left, but the houses near the south and west city walls had not been demolished.

Chen Qing pointed to the south and west walls and asked, "Is it because the enemy cannot attack from the west and south?"

Hu Yantong quickly explained: "There are several large ponds outside the west city, and there are many private houses. Catapults can't get close. There are military camps near the south city wall. Once the humble officials dismantle the tents, the isolated open space will come out."

"Our trebuchet should be installed as soon as possible!"

"The installation is already in full swing, and it is guaranteed to be installed within two days. The two thousand-step guns are ready and will be erected tomorrow."

Chen Qing was quite satisfied with Hu Yantong's various defensive measures, he said with a smile: "Let's go and see the water gate!"

Everyone turned around and walked towards the south city wall. The water gate was also a weak link, and Chen Qing paid more attention to it.

At this moment, a pigeon suddenly flew up from a residential area, spread its wings and flew towards the city wall. Hu Yantong's face turned dark suddenly. Just now, he had vowed that there would be no pigeon letter, and finally one appeared.

"Shoot it! Shoot it!" Hu Yantong shouted.

The soldiers shot at the pigeon with their bows and arrows, but the pigeon turned around and flew westward, and all the arrows shot to nothing.

Chen Qing took his own bow and arrow from the hands of the soldiers. He knew that the pigeon would circle twice in the air before flying away, and it would definitely come back.

Sure enough, the pigeon made a big circle and flew to the north again.

"Everyone stop shooting arrows!" Chen Qing shouted.

The soldiers relaxed their bowstrings one after another. Without the obstruction of bows and arrows, the pigeon letter fluttered its wings and flew out of the city. At the moment when the pigeon was about to fly over the city wall, Chen Qing pulled his bow like a full moon and shot an arrow, which pierced the pigeon. The dove fell from the sky and landed on the top of the city.

A soldier picked up the pigeon and sent it. Chen Qing took a look and found that it was indeed a carrier pigeon with rings on its feet, but no post box.

"General Huyan, plug this loophole immediately!"

Hu Yantong was flushed with anger, and shouted: "Search for me, whose pigeon is it? You have to dig three feet to find it!"

(End of this chapter)