Fenghou

Chapter 501
At two o'clock, the main force of the Song army quietly approached the woods where the Jin soldiers were resting. At this time, several scouts came galloping on horseback, and reported with fists folded, "I report to Du Tong that the enemy troops in the woods have moved to the other side of the river! "

Chen Qing was startled, "When did it happen?"

"Just half an hour ago, the enemy built a pontoon bridge to the south."

Unexpectedly, the enemy army was so vigilant that they ran away in the middle of the night. This was the first time Chen Qing encountered it.

It seems that it is impossible to destroy this enemy army with a sneak attack. Chen Qing pondered for a moment, and said to Yang Zaixing: "General Yang can lead [-] troops to the south and go around behind the enemy army. I will intercept the enemy army in the north. If you attack from the north to the south, you will surely defeat the enemy!"

"Humble post obeys orders!"

Yang Zaixing agreed without hesitation, but he hesitated and asked again: "Do you want to use the opponent's pontoon bridge to cross the river?"

Chen Qing pondered for a long time and said: "You don't need the opponent's pontoon bridge to cross the river to prevent the opponent from ambush. You can build the pontoon bridge yourself. No matter how the enemy goes, Siyang County is on the south of the river. They will definitely cross the river and come back. This is our chance to strike at the halfway point!"

Yang Zaixing continued to march south with [-] troops, while Chen Qing sent scouts to swim across the river and keep an eye on the [-] enemy troops.

At noon of the next day, [-] gold soldiers arrived at the north bank of Siyang County, and they could already see the city wall on the south bank more than a dozen miles away. Zhao Yong hesitated, he was worried that he would be attacked by the Song army halfway across, but Wanyan Tietou was a little impatient. , Afraid of this and that, don't they just cross the river?They didn't have much dry food in the first place. If they were delayed like this, even if they were not defeated by the Song army, they would starve to death without food.

Wanyan Tietou immediately ordered to build a pontoon bridge to cross the river. The water is about [-] feet wide, which is more than [-] meters. Jinbing used sheepskin rafts and ropes to build the pontoon bridge, which was more convenient. It only took an hour to build a pontoon bridge. .

"Can the enemy be found on the other side?"

"Reporting to the commander, no enemy situation was found!"

"Cross the river!"

Wanyan Tietou gave an order, and ten thousand soldiers began to cross the river mightily. Wanyan Tietou was more cautious. The two thousand Jurchen cavalry did not go first, but let the soldiers of the Qi army go first, and the two thousand soldiers of the Qi army stepped onto the pontoon bridge , walked quickly to the other side.

On a small hill two miles away, Chen Qing watched the Jin soldiers crossing the river, and he also waited for the best opportunity to attack, which was when the Jurchen cavalry crossed the river.

Ten thousand Song Army cavalry were ready, they hid in a forest, waiting for the order to attack.

After about [-] Qi soldiers passed, [-] Jurchen cavalry stepped onto the pontoon bridge. At this moment, Chen Qing gave an order, "Set fire!"

Dozens of flaming rafts suddenly appeared upstream, rushing down the current to the pontoon bridge hundreds of steps away.

The firelight on the river was an order, and a low-pitched horn suddenly sounded in the woods, "Woo——"

Ten thousand cavalry rushed out from the woods and charged towards the thousands of puppet Qi troops one mile away. . . . . .

Dozens of rafts burning on the river quickly approached the pontoon bridge. The gunpowder barrels in several rafts were burned and exploded, smashing the rafts to pieces.

The cavalry on the pontoon bridge panicked. At this moment, the gunpowder barrels on the raft exploded one after another. The pontoon bridge was broken into more than a dozen pieces, and more than a thousand Jurchen cavalrymen on the bridge fell into the water one after another.

Ten thousand cavalry entered the ranks of the puppet Qi army, and four thousand puppet Qi troops fought in a panic. Their morale was low and the ranks were chaotic, unable to form an effective resistance. In less than a moment, soldiers began to flee south.

At this time, the situation on the north bank of the river was equally dangerous. Yang Zaixing led [-] cavalry to attack from behind, and the army on the north bank was killed and caught off guard.

Attacking halfway across the river has always been a nightmare for crossing troops. Once they encounter almost no cure, they will definitely be defeated. If you are lucky, you will lose part of the army crossing the river. If you are unlucky, the entire army will even be wiped out. .

But this time the Jin soldiers were attacked halfway, the root of it was Zhao Yong's decision last night. He suggested crossing the river to the opposite bank. .

The Jin soldiers on the south bank were the first to collapse. The soldiers trampled on each other and scrambled to escape. The Song army cavalry chased after them.

The Song army in the north encountered tenacious resistance from [-] Jurchen cavalry. Yang Zaixing divided his troops into two groups. He personally led [-] cavalry to encircle and suppress the Jurchen cavalry.

They were all Jin soldiers. The morale and willpower of the Jurchen cavalry far surpassed that of the puppet Qi army. The puppet Qi army collapsed first and fled to the north. Countless soldiers fled to the forest.

But the Jurchen cavalry did not retreat, and in the end the entire army was wiped out due to the huge difference in troop strength and the siege of the Song cavalry.

This battle also has disadvantages for the Song army, that is, the roads on both sides of the river are narrow, which is not conducive to the cavalry's full pursuit, and there are many forests, especially the lush forests in the north. Of course, this is also Zhao Yong's deliberate choice.

Most of the puppet Qi soldiers in the north fled into the forest. In addition to the [-] Jurchen cavalry who were wiped out, about [-] were killed, and only a thousand or so surrendered.

However, the Jin soldiers in the south suffered heavy losses. Most of the Jurchen cavalry who fell into the river were drowned. More than [-] of the [-] Jin soldiers who crossed the river were killed, and more than [-] surrendered. Only a few hundred people fled into the woods to escape.

Chen Qing did not continue to chase, and immediately ordered his men to rebuild the pontoon bridge, and the two armies met on the south bank.

Although the Jurchen cavalry did not surrender in actual combat, the main general Wanyan Tietou led more than [-] people to break through at the last moment, and managed to escape by fleeing into the woods.

After Wanyan Tietou collected the remnants of the army, only [-] heads were collected, almost all of them were from the Qi army, including the deputy general Zhao Yong, who also disappeared, and was also seen captured by the Song army.

Wanyan Tietou was terrified, and after night fell, he took the remnant army and fled to Fengxiang Mansion.

The Song Army captured more than [-] prisoners of war, all of whom were Qi Army prisoners of war. The Song Army has always exterminated the Jurchens and did not accept surrender.

However, in this battle, nearly a thousand cavalrymen of the Song Army died in battle, mainly because of the price paid for encircling and suppressing a thousand Jurchen cavalrymen.

It can also be seen that the Jurchen cavalry is brave and good at fighting. When the time, place and people are at a disadvantage, they fought with their backs and maintained a one-to-one death ratio with the Song army.

At this time, Gao Ding brought up a prisoner of war, Zhao Yong, the deputy general of the Puppet Qi Army, and Chen Qing was quite interested in him.

Chen Qing ordered someone to untie his rope and asked with a smile, "Do you know me?"

Zhao Yong nodded silently, "I met the general at the top of Jingzhao City, you are Chen Dutong!"

"I see that you have a lot of experience. You can guess that I will sneak attack last night. Why did you withdraw to the north bank? Don't you think that you will be attacked halfway when you come back?
Zhao Yong sighed and said, "Why didn't I think of that! It's just that the Jurchens didn't listen to my suggestion. After retreating to the other side, I suggested that Wanyan Tietou go north immediately and march forty li before crossing the river and going down the river. When your army arrives , we have already entered Siyang City, but Wanyan Tietou didn't listen, he thought you would use the pontoon bridge he built to cross the river and chase after him, so he led [-] troops to ambush on both sides of the pontoon bridge, waiting for you to cross the river, a full delay of three hours , When he wakes up, there is no time to cross the river."

Chen Qing nodded, this Zhao Yong still has experience, he asked again with a smile: "Who was General Zhao's former subordinate?"

"The humble position was originally a bandit in the east of the river, with tens of thousands of soldiers, who plundered for a living, and was nicknamed the hornless cow. Later, the old general Zongze recruited the humble position. After the old general Zong died of illness, the humble position followed Du Chong. Later, Du Chong surrendered to Jin. Bing, we were not spared either."

Chen Qing said again: "Now I will give you a chance to follow me and serve as the commander of the general. I will also take your family members to Chengji County. Are you willing!"

Zhao Yong knelt down and said with tears: "Mengdu will not give up, let me go back to the right path, even if I see General Zong under the nine springs, I will have no shame in my heart!"

Chen Qing ordered Hu Yantong to lead [-] people to clean up the battlefield and escort the prisoners of war, while he himself led [-] troops to ambush outside Siyang County.

Of course, Chen Qing also brought baggage during this expedition. Two thousand camels were carrying food supplies and dozens of siege ladders, among which dozens of siege ladders had been installed in the Jiandaoguan Canyon and sent to the Song army. .

The city of Siyang County is neither high nor wide, only two feet and six feet, and there is no horse-faced wall. It is an ordinary city wall. Most of the city walls in the Song Dynasty are like this. Only those counties with strategic importance can be built tall and strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack. , Siyang County obviously does not belong to this list.

But no one thought that when Chen Qing used Longzhou as a springboard for his eastward expansion, the strategic position of Siyang County would be highlighted.

At present, there are [-] troops in Siyang County, all of them are puppet Qi troops. The general is called Mo Wangu, but he is a Bohai Jurchen.

Mowangu ordered the closure of the city a few days ago, the people inside the city could not get out, and the people outside the city couldn't come in, but this also led to the cut off of intelligence, he only knew that [-] troops would come to support him, but he didn't know that Wan Yuanjun has been wiped out by the Song army halfway.

On the top of the city, Mo Wangu stared at the south, eager to see through, but the reinforcements did not come for a long time, which made him a little annoyed.

At this time, a general persuaded in a low voice: "General, bear with it for a few more days, I believe that reinforcements will definitely come!"

Mo Wangu didn't understand Chinese, he couldn't understand what his subordinates were saying, and he didn't want to find an interpreter. He vented all his anger on the general, and whipped his whip at the general.

"You Han dogs, it's all because you broke my father!"

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[Thank you for your tolerance and understanding. After taking the medicine for two days, I have been much better. I just coughed badly. When I coughed, I curled up and the muscles on my stomach hurt. It was really painful, but there was no way. During the process, my spirits were not very good, and I didn’t dare to stay up late any longer. I went to bed around ten o’clock, and tried to resume the third shift tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. 】

(End of this chapter)