Fenghou

Chapter 467
Cao Baozong was taken down and placed under house arrest. He was a treasure trove of information, and he could get more information about Xixia from him. However, Chen Qing didn't have time to interrogate him in detail. He had to deal with the subsequent westward retreat of the main force of Xixia army.

Niu Gao followed Chen Qing and said in a low voice: "I feel that I should send an army to Didao County first, and tell the people along the way to hide, so that the Xixia Army cannot get supplies in Lintao Mansion, so they will go to A Dry County."

Chen Qing stopped, thought for a while and said, "Go and find Li Muqing for me!"

Li Muqing was the commander of the soldiers and horses of Lintao Mansion before, not long after, General Li Muqing hurried over, bowed and saluted, "See Dutong!"

"General Li, the Xixia Army is likely to withdraw from Lintao Mansion. I want you to lead [-] people from your headquarters back to Lintao Mansion and occupy Didao County first."

Li Muqing's three thousand men were all cavalry, and they could indeed rush back to Lintao Mansion in time.

Li Muqing quickly clasped his fists and said, "You can leave immediately!"

Chen Qing nodded and said: "We also need to inform the people along the way to hide to prevent the Xixia army from getting supplies!"

Li Muqing hesitated and said: "The Han people will definitely hide. I am worried about the Tubo people, Qiang people and Dangxiang people on the west bank of Taoshui. The Tubo people and Qiang people will also leave temporarily, because I am afraid that the Dangxiang people will support the Xixia army."

"There is nothing they can do to support them, but we have to do things properly and inform everyone."

"Humble job understands, I don't know when the humble job will leave."

Chen Qing looked at the night and saw that the fourth watch had passed, so he said, "Go back and clean up immediately, and leave before dawn!"

"Follow the order!"

Li Muqing left in a hurry.

Chen Qing then ordered someone to find Zhao Xiaoyi, and ordered him to lead scouts to eliminate the enemy spies in the west of Longxi County, this was to cover Li Muqing's westward trip.

Before dawn, Zhao Xiaoyi sent news that they had wiped out two enemy sentry teams in the west and south of Longxi County.

Li Muqing then led [-] cavalry to set off from the south gate, cross the Wei River, and head west along the south bank of the Wei River.

At the same moment when Li Muqing left Longxi County for Lintao, the spies of the Xixia Army also returned from the north.

At this time, the Xixia army camp was under the control of Xia Lian, the commanding army. Xia Lian was about fifty years old, tall and burly, with white hair, and his eyes were always full of cunning. He is a famous general of the Xixia Army. He has fought with the Western Army of the Song Dynasty for many years and has rich practical experience.

But his personality is different from the upright and fiery Shang Dongyan. He has a more feminine personality. Although many of Cao Baozong's actions are criticized, he just doesn't want to offend this rich family son, so he has been holding back.

It wasn't until Cao Baozong's stupid command caused heavy casualties in the army that Xia Lian finally couldn't bear it, but he was one step too late and let Cao Baozong run away. In fact, this was also related to his feminine character, not decisive enough.

The Xixia army is very particular about seniority. Although Tuoba Chengqing is a lieutenant general, he is ten years younger than Xia Lian. His seniority in the army is far inferior to Xia Lian's, and his prestige is also far behind. Naturally, it is not his turn to control the army.

After listening to the spies' report, Xia Lian frowned. All the [-] troops in Xinxia City followed Cao Baozong?Logically speaking, it shouldn't be!How could there be one or two hundred people left to continue guarding the city? Cao Baozong spent a lot of effort to build the military city. He didn't believe that Cao Baozong abandoned it so easily.

Tuoba Chengqing next to him said: "Maybe he just wanted to take revenge on us and gave all the food to the Song army. I think he should have taken the army away. If it was the Song army, there would be a lot of food in one bag. Neatly stacked in the warehouse."

Commander Li Huang also said: "General Tuoba is right. Cao Baozong deliberately wanted to take revenge on us, so he took all the troops away and left an empty city. Tongxi City is probably the same."

Xia Lian walked a few steps with his hands behind his back and said, "I just think it's strange. Since Chen Qing has tricked us, he has already arrived in Longxi County, so it is impossible for him not to attack the military cities in the north. The military cities are small Dilapidated, with few garrisons and abundant supplies, if it were me, I would have done it a long time ago.”

Another commander, Ma Yaowu, also said: "General Xia's doubts are correct. The correct answer should be that the Song army wiped out the defenders of Xinxia City."

"Then why don't you take away the food?" Tuoba Chengqing asked back.

Ma Yaowu sneered, "It might be a trap. There is no food in it, and if two thousand people follow Cao Baozong to retreat northward, they will take some food with them. It is impossible to put them away neatly."

"Okay, stop fighting!"

Xia Lian made up his mind and said to the crowd: "It's too risky to go directly north, we'd better go to Lintao, order the whole army to start packing, and set off at four o'clock tonight!"

At three o'clock, Chen Qing got the news that the Xixia army was about to withdraw.

Chen Qing immediately rushed to the head of the northern city, and cast his eyes on the enemy camp three miles away. Although it was three miles away, he could feel the abnormality of the Xixia army camp on the top of the city. The most obvious thing was that the military flag above the camp had disappeared. The lanterns on the tower and in front of the camp gate were also extinguished.

Chen Qing immediately ordered: "Order the army to assemble!"

Just as the Song army began to gather, the west gate of the Xixia camp slowly opened. Two thousand cavalry came out of the barracks first, followed by groups of infantry. Silently, silently.

In the middle of the team is the baggage team. All the siege weapons were thrown away, thousands of large tents, hundreds of thousands of spears, armor and other materials were also forced to give up. They only carried grain and some strategic materials, mainly Kerosene and gunpowder.

In addition, each soldier also carried six days of dry food with him. This was the retreat, and he tried his best to be as streamlined as possible. All optional weapons and supplies must be given up, otherwise it would become a serious drag on the army.

At dawn, [-] Song soldiers also went out of the city to pursue the enemy. The soldiers of the Song army only carried six days of dry food, and one thousand camels carried four thousand shi of grain. The four thousand shi of grain was enough for the soldiers for twenty days.

Chen Qing came to the barracks with hundreds of cavalry, and Hu Yantong was leading the soldiers to sort out the list and carry the supplies.

The tents have been dismantled and piled up like a mountain. There are as many as [-] tents in the light tent, and there are [-] shi of grain, [-] loads of forage, [-] frozen lamb legs, [-] bags of wine, [-] spears, and [-] spears. A sword, [-] crossbows, [-] sets of armor, and hundreds of siege ladders.

In addition, there are hundreds of thousands of sheepskins, war drums, flags, medicinal materials and other large quantities of supplies, which is simply a bumper harvest that inspires everyone.

Hu Yantong stepped forward to report to Chen Qing: "We found a list of warehouse supplies, and the humble staff checked it carefully. Except for food and grass, there are [-] barrels of kerosene and [-] barrels of gunpowder. They should be taken away. "

"Aside from grain, kerosene, and gunpowder, what else did you take away?"

"It seems that there is still some mutton and wine bags, but nothing else."

Chen Qing nodded, "Move all the materials into the city and dismantle the barracks. These woods are high-quality house builders' beams, so keep them!"

Chen Qing probably knew the supplies carried by the enemy, so he turned his horse's head and chased after the troops in the distance.
Not long after entering Lintao Mansion, they entered the fertile Tao River Valley. Li Muqing sent more than a hundred soldiers on both sides of the Tao River to inform the people to move, and the effect was good. Immediately migrated with their cattle, sheep and belongings. Their wealth was also accumulated from generation to generation, and no one wanted to be robbed by the Xixia army.

Li Muqing led [-] cavalry all the way north, and arrived in Didao County in a few days. The magistrate of Didao County was still Wu Hongwei, and the Song army withdrew temporarily, so he organized [-] militiamen to defend the city.

Li Muqing led the army back, which really made Wu Hongwei and the people in the city very happy. They were always worried that the Xixia army would come back, or that the Ren Dejing army from Huangzhou would come.

"Song Jun is back!"

The people ran and yelled, and the whole county was boiling. Tens of thousands of people walked out of their houses, beat gongs and drums, sang and danced, and lined the road to welcome Song Jun back.

(End of this chapter)