Fenghou

Chapter 60
The [-] troops assigned to Chen Qing by the Privy Council were a Xiang army. The temporary barracks were arranged in the south of the city, and they were usually responsible for guarding the city gates, patrolling security, or transporting supplies.

There were [-] soldiers in this Xiang army, and the Privy Council dispatched [-] soldiers to Chen Qing. There were no generals above the general level.

The barracks consisted of five rows of brick houses, nearly [-] rooms, surrounded by walls, and a school field the size of a football field.

Chen Qing rushed to the barracks with Hu Yantong and other four subordinates, but found that the front gate was crowded with small vendors doing business, setting up small tables to cook vegetables and warm wine.

Dozens of small stalls were full of soldiers drinking and guessing. There were more than a dozen flower boats trading in skin and meat by the small river in the distance, and soldiers lined up in front of each flower boat.

Chen Qing passed by the hawkers on a horse. The horse was lent to him by Han Shizhong. Although the horse was not as good as Chen Qing's own horse, it was still very good.

The hustle and bustle around made everyone look at each other in blank dismay. They couldn't believe that this was actually an army. If it was in the Western Army, such a military leader would be beheaded for public display.

Hu Yantong had a little more experience, and explained to everyone: "Basically, the Xiang army is like this. The salary is low, the morale is not high, and the soldiers are just fooling around. The salary of the imperial army is twice as high, and all kinds of benefits are high. A little better."

"Commander, do you want to call them all in?" Zheng Ping whispered.

Chen Qing shook his head, "Go and have a look first!"

There was no one guarding the gate of the barracks, and they entered the barracks directly. The barracks was deserted, and there was not a single soldier to be seen. After passing through several rows of houses, the houses were also empty.

Just when it was strange, there was a loud shout from a room in front, "Big! Big! Big! Give me a big!" At the same time, countless people laughed.

Chen Qing walked over, but saw a room full of people, surrounded by a small table with three floors inside and three floors outside, several generals were throwing dice, and the table was surrounded by copper coins.

Chen Qing finally got a little annoyed, whether it was gambling or whoring, or eating and drinking, is this the army he wants to bring to suppress the bandits?
"Go beat the drums and gather troops!"

Zheng Ping ran to the big drum and raised the drumsticks to beat it.

'Boom!Boom!Boom!Boom! "The sound of the drums is dense, this is one hundred and eight drums for gathering soldiers, and all soldiers are required to gather. If they fail to do so intentionally or fail to meet the time limit, they will be beaten with sticks or even beheaded.

The sound of the drums was earth-shattering and could be heard miles away. The soldiers were stunned. For a moment, there was chaos everywhere. The soldiers who were drinking and eating jumped up and ran towards the school grounds. , The red-faced gambler soldier also came out of the room, looking at Chen Qing and the others in surprise.

"I'm Chen Qing, the commander of the Western Army's scout battalion!"

Chen Qing first introduced himself to the two thousand soldiers. The only thing that satisfied him was that the two thousand soldiers were not absent from duty and they were all here. Although many of them arrived a little later, Chen Qing didn't want to take them into action today.

"Starting today, I will be the commander in chief. Our task is to wipe out Zhang Kui's army in Muzhou!"

As soon as Chen Qing finished speaking, the soldiers were in an uproar. They were actually asked to beat Zhang Kui. Could they survive?
"General Chen, you're not kidding!" one of them asked nervously.

"Am I joking?"

Chen Qing's voice became severe, and he said loudly to the two thousand people: "Many people thought they were going to die when they heard about the attack on Zhang Kui. Could it be that he is more terrifying than the Jurchens? I, Chen Qing, led a thousand troops in Guanzhong and Longzhou. Zhou fought against tens of thousands of golden soldiers, won many battles and killed countless enemies. A mere Zhang Kui frightened you out of your courage. The same Song army, why is there such a huge difference? When the country is in crisis, don’t you just eat, drink, whore and gamble? Don't you even have the basic blood of a soldier?"

Several people bowed their heads in shame, the two thousand soldiers were silent, Chen Qing said slowly again: "I will never force anyone, if you don't want to attack Zhang Kui with me, you can leave now, if you want to follow me Attacking Zhang Kui, I can promise everyone that after destroying Zhang Kui, I will give all his money to everyone, and I, Chen Qing, will not take any money!"

With both kindness and strength, none of the two thousand people left in the end.

Chen Qing then divided the two thousand people into four battalions. He himself led one battalion, Hu Yantong, Liu Qiong, and Zheng Ping each led another battalion, and selected fifty capable soldiers to form a scout battalion, led by Zhao Xiaoyi.

At this time, the Military Weapons Supervision and Craftsman Supervision sent people to bring the armor and supplies, and also sent [-] carts to help them carry the supplies.

Although Chen Qing was mentally prepared, he was disappointed when he saw all kinds of supplies. There were no bed crossbows, no god arm crossbows, and no siege weapons. There were only five hundred half-old military crossbows and five hundred The secondary guard bow, [-] semi-old shields, [-] flags of various colors, and tens of thousands of arrows. A thousand pairs of old leather armor, dozens of pairs of chain mail and bronze helmets.

Soldiers are currently wearing cloth armor with hats, spears and sabers in their hands. Cloth armor is no good, and even ordinary bows and arrows cannot be defended. They must wear leather armor. Although leather armor cannot defend against military crossbows, at least Can resist ordinary bows and arrows.

After putting on the armor, it was already dark, and there was no need to unload the carts for all kinds of supplies. After a two-hour rest, Chen Qing led [-] troops and [-] carts and set off overnight to kill Muzhou in the southwest. go.

On the second day after Chen Qing led the army to leave, there was good news in Lin'an City. The army and the people need this kind of exciting news too much. Even in the distant Guanzhong, the city was filled with joy and the sound of firecrackers kept coming and going.

In fact, Zhang Jun had already reported the battle situation of Monk Yuan to the emperor by means of flying pigeons, this time it was an official military report.

Zhang Jun himself also arrived in Lin'an at the same time, ready to report to the emperor.

Zhang Jun has been in the officialdom for many years, and he is very familiar with the various rules of the officialdom, and he is also well versed in the tricks of the officialdom outside the rules. He did not send someone to deliver the official report alone, but let the official report go with him. Good news to set off their own debriefing.

Otherwise, by the time I report on my work, the heat of victory has passed, and the effect of the report will be halved.

When the emperor Zhao Gou heard about Zhang Jun's arrival, he immediately summoned Zhang Jun in the imperial study. Accompanied by the emperor, there were Prime Minister Lv Yihao and two deputy ministers, Qin Hui, the official of the government, and Fan Zongyin, the right servant of the Shangshu, and Li Huiye, the official of the Privy Council. sitting.

After seeing the ceremony, Zhao Gou gave him a seat and said with a smile: "Last time when Fuping was first defeated, I said that victory or defeat is a common matter in military affairs. Jin soldiers are above sharpness, and defeat is normal, but Aiqing's resilience later Very good! You beheaded Wanyan Loushi, defeated the golden soldiers in Heshangyuan, and the opponent’s coach was also killed. Although it is the credit of Wu Jie, Wang Yan and other generals, but more importantly, you are a qualified coach. The dispatch of troops is well-mannered, which also proves that I did not use the wrong person when I asked you to go to Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces."

"All of us in the Western Army are deeply moved. This great victory is due to His Majesty's great fortune. Without His Majesty's determination to rejuvenate the Song Dynasty, the morale would not be so high. No matter how talented the general is, he would not succeed. We also borrowed from His Majesty." upward trend."

This flattery is good, and the final credit belongs to the emperor.

Zhao Gou is really happy that he is far in the southeast, and can also affect the far west.

At this time, Prime Minister Lu Yihao asked: "I look at Xuan Fushi's military merit books. The first one is that he was in charge of Wu Jie, and the second is that he was in charge of Wang Yan. I can understand all these. They are the chief generals, and of course they have to bear the leadership. However, the third major contributor is Commander Chen Qing, so I am a little confused, what kind of merit does a mere battalion commander achieve to rank third?"

The privy envoy Li Hui suddenly asked: "Is this Chen Qing beheading the Chen Qing of Wanyan Loushi?"

Zhao Gou was stunned, why did he feel that the name sounded familiar? It turned out to be the brave general who beheaded Yan Loushi.

"Is it because he beheaded Wanyan Loushi that he ranked third in the credit list?"

Zhang Jun leaned back and said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, his credit is not for beheading Wanyan Loushi, but for what I wrote in the military newspaper. He led [-] soldiers of the Song Army to fight against [-] Jin soldiers at Jiandao Pass." Although almost all of them were killed in battle, they still held the Jiandao Pass, making it impossible for the Jin soldiers on the West Road to go south, creating conditions for the main force of the Song Army to defeat the Jin soldiers in Heshangyuan. The final victory or defeat is still unknown, so although he is just a humble battalion commander, we all agree that he is the real leader."

Everyone nodded silently, and Zhao Gou was really touched and said: "It is because of these soldiers who serve the country loyally that the Song Dynasty can continue under the iron heels of tigers and wolves."

Lu Yihao frowned slightly and said, "Why is the name Chen Qing familiar to me? Where have I seen it? It wasn't about Wanyan Loushi, it seems to be just recently."

Zhang Jun smiled slightly: "He should be in Lin'an now! I recommend him to study martial arts."

Zhao Gou suddenly realized, "I know!"

　It's almost the end of the month, ask for a monthly ticket!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)