Fenghou

Chapter 543
At noon the next day, it was not time for lunch yet, but the soldiers on the ship ran to the stern impatiently, waiting for their meal. The roast mutton eaten at noon today weighed half a catty each, and it was burnt like golden honey. The soldiers were so greedy that they salivated.

The soldiers at the stern huddled together, Wang Miao gave the old ambassador a wink, and then walked towards the bow.

"Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!" The bell rang, which was the bell for lunch and a signal to start together.

Wang Miao thought about an excuse all night, but now he found that there was no need for an excuse at all. There was no one at the entrance of the cargo hold, and they all went to eat. He took out the key and opened the iron lock, and then opened the heavy door. Big wooden cover.

At this time, there was a scream in the distance. It should be that his subordinates acted forcefully. Not everyone was so lucky to be able to open the cargo hatch cover directly.

Wang Miao didn't have time to think about it, and jumped down. The cargo ship was full of densely packed large wooden barrels, all of which were filled with kerosene.

Time did not allow him to take a closer look, he pulled out his dagger and stabbed it hard, a jet of black kerosene sprayed out, he stabbed several times, and the ground was immediately covered with kerosene.

He took out the fire folder and ignited it, threw it on the ground, with a bang, the ground was covered with flames, Wang Miao turned and ran to the deck, only to see shouts in the distance, and black smoke from most of the ships.

"Jump the ship!"

Wang Miao saw that the boss of the boat was covered in blood, and waved to him desperately. He was desperately resisting the enemy soldiers rushing over.

At this time, a spear pierced the chest of the boss of the boat fiercely, and the boss of the boat screamed and died immediately.

Wang Miao's eyes were red, he endured the grief, jumped off the boat and disappeared into the water, a dozen soldiers rushed up and shot arrows into the water.

At this moment, someone shouted, "Fire! The cargo ship is on fire."

I saw thick smoke billowing from the cargo hold, and the soldiers on the ship shouted in fright: "The ship docks! The ship docks!"

One after another, the large ships slowly approached the shore, and four of the twenty-five large ships were not successfully burned. The kerosene of the other twenty-one ships was all ignited, and the cavalry on the shore watched them burn to nothing but their skeletons. .

In the end, the puppet Qi army only kept [-] barrels of kerosene. This kerosene may be useful for small-scale battles, but it is almost insignificant for a big city like Chengji County.

But the Song Army scouts also suffered heavy losses in this battle. Of the twenty-five Song Army scouts, only twelve survived, and the remaining thirteen Song Army scouts died with the enemy.

On the south bank of the Weihe River, a small convoy of [-] carts, escorted by [-] soldiers, was heading west at high speed. They used a catty of gunpowder, they built plank roads openly, and kept warehouses in secret. It seemed that they boarded a big ship and walked by water, but in fact they took land, just to deceive the Song Army scouts.

From the current point of view, their strategy is still relatively successful. Most of the ships carrying kerosene were burned on the Weihe River, but the convoy carrying gunpowder remained unscathed. It seems that they were not discovered by the Song army scouts.

On this day, the convoy arrived at the edge of Heshangyuan. The rolling hills and ravines in this area are the best places for ambushes, so the convoy is more careful.

That night, the convoy, which had been resting for a day, was ready to travel at night. The soldiers stood up one after another, fearing that they would catch the grass clippings on their bodies. The drivers yawned and walked lazily towards the cart.

Just then, 'whoosh! ' With a sound, a flaming powder arrow hit a cart and was nailed to a barrel.

"There are enemies!"

A soldier shouted, and the soldiers fell down in fright, and then hundreds of gunpowder arrows shot towards them, but the target was not the soldiers, but fifteen carts.

"It's over!" The leading general yelled in fright.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The gunpowder barrels exploded continuously, and the smoke filled the air immediately, deafening. Several coachmen were killed on the spot, and the rest of the coachmen lay on the ground, covering their ears and yelling.

When the explosion stopped and the gunpowder smoke cleared, the fifteen carts had disappeared, and mules lay bloody and bloody on the ground.

The leading general shouted: "It's on the hill on the left, kill me!"

Two thousand Puppet Qi Army soldiers rushed up the hill, the hill was empty, there was no one there, there was a large pine forest in the distance, and the ambushed Song army had already retreated into the pine forest.

Five days later, the puppet Qi army's plank-walled camp had been completely built. Thousands of soldiers stood on the high wall and patrolled. The Song army could no longer harass the puppet Qi army, and the Song army's harassment completely stopped.

But at this moment, a bad news came from Guanzhong. Their kerosene and gunpowder were all attacked by scouts of the Song army, leaving only [-] barrels of kerosene, and the other kerosene and gunpowder were all destroyed. Burned up.

The news made Li Cheng furious. He drew his sword and slashed indiscriminately in the big tent. This was his only hope of breaking the city. He sent [-] people to guard it, but they were still destroyed by the Song army. If there is more than one, everyone should be killed.

Li Cheng was so depressed that he got drunk that night. His staff member Yao Bing had never seen Li Cheng lose his temper so much, so he had to go to the deputy general Guan Shigu to discuss.

Guan Shigu sighed and said: "If you really can't attack, then retreat! As long as you can keep the main force, even if Wan Yanchang is dissatisfied, the emperor can explain it."

Yao Bing shook his head, "I've already felt it. Chen Qing will never let us retreat easily. If we retreat, he will definitely come out and fight us decisively."

Guan Shigu was startled, "Will it be like this?"

Yao Bing nodded, "When we attacked the city, Chen Qing didn't kill us, so his intentions were obvious. If he wanted to surrender, he would not be able to just defend the city. The two armies must fight to defeat us. I guess he is waiting for an opportunity, and when our morale is low and we are about to retreat, he will attack."

Guan Shigu thought for a while and said, "Is it possible to use his mentality to fight an ambush?"

Yao Bing smiled wryly, "He has deployed a large number of scouts around us, and our every move is under his control. How could there be an opportunity to ambush, General Guan, we can only fight and fight him head-on. We have no other ideas. Reality,"

Guan Shigu nodded slowly, "You are worried that Li Dutong's state will affect the final battle."

"Exactly! I would like to ask General Guan to persuade him to cheer him up. Even if the siege fails, we still have a chance for a decisive battle. We can defeat the Song army in one fell swoop and achieve our goal."

Guan Shigu pondered for a while and said: "Okay! I'll go and persuade him."

Guan Shigu walked into the handsome tent, Li Cheng was still pouring himself a drink, seeing that it was Guan Shigu, he waved and smiled and said: "Old Guan came just in time, let's have a drink!"

Guan Shigu stepped forward and said solemnly: "The opportunity to defeat the enemy is here, why is Li Dutong willing to give up the opportunity?"

Li Cheng was startled, raised his head and laughed loudly: "General Guan must have drunk too much!"

Guan Shigu went up to snatch his wine glass, looked into his eyes and said: "You give the order to withdraw the troops now, and Chen Qing will lead the army to chase them out within fifty miles. At that time, it will be a decisive battle between the two armies. Fifty thousand people, isn't this an opportunity to defeat the enemy army?"

Li Cheng was stunned and said, "Why did he chase him out?"

"Then why didn't he use fire oil to burn all [-] troops to death when you attacked the city? Could it be that he has the heart of a Bodhisattva? Don't you forget what his nickname is?"

"Human devil!"

Li Cheng blurted out, and he nodded for a while, "Then what should I do?"

"Cheer yourself up first, stop drinking, prepare well for two days, and then withdraw!"

"I see!"

Li Cheng stood up and ordered sharply: "Come here, take away all the wine and food!"

About five miles away from the enemy's camp, Tang Qian, the scout commander of the Song Army, stood by the woods and looked in the direction of the camp.

He turned around and asked his subordinate Yang Rui, "How sure are you?"

Yang Rui thought for a while, "About fifty percent!"

"Only [-]% sure?"

Tang Qian shook his head, "If the confidence is so low, I will not agree to let you go."

Yang Rui was in a hurry, and hurriedly said: "The general will listen to me, and then the general will make his own judgment."

Tang Qian laughed, "I knew you were more modest, so tell me! I'm listening."

"Before I served as the commander of the Jingzhao Defense Army under Li Cheng, I had [-] men under my command. These two thousand brothers are currently in the camp. I have already contacted an old member of the army yesterday. He is from my hometown and I single-handedly promoted him. My confidant, he happens to be on guard outside, willing to help me sneak into the camp. As long as I enter the camp, with my martial arts, I will be able to attack the grain and grass."

Tang Qian pondered for a moment and said, "The key is whether your old department is reliable, and will he betray you for wealth?"

"Don't worry, general! I know him very well. His parents died at the hands of the gold man, and his wife was ruined and died by the gold man. Moreover, he is also from Qingshui County, Qinzhou. He came to me because he was desperate. For revenge, he will definitely do his best to help me."

Tang Qian frowned, "With such deep hatred, why did you still join the puppet Qi army instead of joining the Song army?"

"He joined Liu Kai's army, but he couldn't get enough to eat, and he was defeated repeatedly. He was a little discouraged, so he came to me and wanted to have a full bowl of food."

Tang Qian pondered for a long time and said: "According to what you said, the chance can be increased to [-]%, and there is still a great risk, but it is not as good as a tiger's den. I will go with you. The two of us cooperate with each other, and the chance of success is greater." It will be seventy percent."

"I'm determined to die, in order to repay the authorities for not holding me accountable, so the general won't have to go."

Tang Qian patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "How can I be promoted to commander if I don't go, and how can I give up the position to you if I don't get promoted to commander? We bear the risk together, and we receive the credit together, how about it?"

Yang Rui was moved and nodded, "Then let's go together!"

(End of this chapter)