Fenghou

Chapter 654
Lanzhou has gathered [-] troops, including [-] cavalry alone, [-] shi of grain, nearly a million dans of fodder, and countless military supplies.

The reason why Chen Qing attacked Xixia from Lanzhou was mainly to consider using the Yellow River to transport food and supplies. Ten years ago, in order to attack Xihe Road, Xixia mobilized [-] civilians to dig a military road along the Yellow River. It is about two feet wide and tamped very firmly. It can walk on horses and carts. It is hundreds of miles long. It starts from Mingsha County in the hinterland of Xixia and arrives directly at Lanzhou.

In addition, Xixia and Song armies have been at war for a hundred years, spending a lot of manpower and material resources to build hundreds of dangerous passes, large and small, at various passes in Hengshan, all of which are easy to defend and difficult to attack. A heavy price must be paid for these centuries-old passes.

Therefore, based on various considerations, Chen Qing finally chose Lanzhou as an important logistics location for dispatching troops. In this way, he successfully avoided the dangerous pass that Xixia had operated for a hundred years, lost the burden of history, and moved forward lightly.

But it is not easy to attack Xixia even from Lanzhou. One is that the journey is too long, and it takes thousands of miles to gradually approach the hinterland of Xixia.

Secondly, the Xixia army will not stand still, they will definitely gather heavy troops along the way to intercept the Song army, occupy favorable terrain,

With the tenacity and tenacity of the Xixia army, and they are located at home, it is definitely an extremely difficult task and a long process to destroy the country of Xixia.

For Chen Qing, his combat strategy has always been a combination of righteousness and oddness. In addition to the normal dispatch of the main force, there must also be an assistant of odd soldiers.

This afternoon, Chen Qing had already left Jingzhao and was on his way to Lanzhou. He was accompanied by [-] large ships carrying [-] barrels of kerosene, and [-] cavalry escorted on the shore.

Chen Qing's trip to Lanzhou this time was not for inspection, but to implement his first step in the Xixia strategy. His combat preparations had been completed, the defenses in various places were also in place, and the time to attack Xixia was fully ripe.

Chen Qing stood on the bow of the first big ship with his hands behind his back, followed by more than [-] soldiers and five civil servants, among them were Chao Qing and Zhong Huan, who will also participate in the war against Xixia this time. It made them very excited.

Of course, the inner guard also mobilized five hundred elites to accompany them, and they were deployed on the shore, ready to hunt and kill the wolves who moved after hearing the news.

This was also one of Chen Qing's goals. He made a high-profile trip to use himself as a bait to lure the assassins outside and eliminate them.

At this time, Wang Hao, the commander of the internal guards, stepped forward quickly and said: "Report to Dutong, I received a quick letter from my subordinates. They found that many people were following the ship, and my subordinates did not alert the other party."

Chen Qing looked at the sky, it was already dusk, and the red sun was slowly setting in the far west.

"Where are you now?"

"It has now entered Chencang territory, and it is still forty miles away from Chencang County."

Chen Qing nodded, "Pass on my order, the fleet will dock, camp and rest on the spot, and leave at dawn tomorrow!"

The trackers pulled the cables and pulled the big boats to the shore. The cavalry began to set up camp tents, and the soldiers were busy cooking.

At this time, twenty miles away from where the fleet berthed, a team of [-] Heijintang warriors stopped in a forest, waiting patiently for the dark.

Xixia's intelligence station got inside information. This time Chen Qing went to Lanzhou for two months. It would not take such a long time if it was just for inspection. This is obviously an offensive against Xixia.

Under the oppression of a strong sense of crisis, Murong Wenshu decided to give up the plan to assassinate in the mansion and instead assassinate in the wild on the road. Although it was very difficult, they had no choice.

At this time, one of his subordinates rushed over to report, "I would like to report to the hall master, the fleet has been stationed, and it is twenty miles away from us. The spies from the tracker's side sent news that Chen Qing was on the first big boat. As far as I can see, I didn’t disembark.”

Murong Wenshu nodded. Tonight is their last chance. When Chen Qing arrives in Chengji County tomorrow, he must ride a horse or a camel instead. That is their last chance.

"Order the brothers to rest on the spot, and we will set off at the first watch!"

As night fell, Chen Qing sat in the main cabin and checked the large map. He drew a circle on Yingli County on the map. Yingli County is located [-] miles west of Mingsha County, where the Yellow River enters the Ningxia Plain. It becomes very wide. There are nine ferries here that can cross the Yellow River, so it is called the Nine Degrees of the Yellow River. More importantly, Yingli County is also a large logistics city for the Xixia Army. It was built to be used as a logistics city, so the city is strong. Tall, easy to defend and difficult to attack, it is an ideal bridgehead for attacking Xixia.

The first battle against Xixia was to win this bridgehead, otherwise everything would be out of the question.

But how easy is it to win this bridgehead?According to the news from the scouts, Xixia deployed at least [-] troops along the western military road to intercept them, especially [-] troops were deployed at Shatuoguan, [-] miles west of Yingli County, where the terrain is very dangerous. The pass city is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It can be said that one man guards the pass, and ten thousand men cannot open it.

Zhang Xiao, who was sitting opposite, pointed to the Hulu River on the map with a wooden pole, and said with a smile, "The key is here. When does the Xuan Fu envoy think they will arrive?"

Chen Qing shook his head and said, "I don't know either, I just hope that when I arrive in Lanzhou, they will arrive too!"

This time a [-] army gathered in Lanzhou, and most of the military headquarters moved to Lanzhou. Sima Zhang Xiao also followed Chen Qing. He was not only the chief officer of the military department, but also Chen Qing's military adviser in the conquest of Xixia.

At this time, Wang Hao walked in quickly and said: "Report to Dutong, the other party has already left, and the humble officer is ready to collect the net!"

Chen Qing nodded, "What action is Jin Guo making?"

Wang Hao shook his head, "So far, the underlings have not found any assassins from the Kingdom of Jin, but Li Toutuo is still in Jingzhao, and there has been no movement. I suspect that they have a tacit understanding with Hei Jintang. This time when all Hei Jintang is dispatched, they will not Come to this muddy water."

Chen Qing glanced at him meaningfully and said, "Do you still believe in Li Toutuo?"

Wang Hao was taken aback, he hesitated and said: "I don't quite understand the lowly position, please clarify clearly!"

Chen Qing smiled and said: "You underestimate the other party too much. Jin Guo has been hiding for a year and has not been discovered by the inner guards. How can they be easy to deal with? Lin Jianqing and Li Toutuo are just tricks thrown by the other party , let’s focus on them, the intelligence chief of the Kingdom of Jin is actually someone else.”

Speaking of this, Chen Qing walked to the window and looked at the faintly visible Chencang County in the distance, and said indifferently: "This is called Mingxiu plank road, crossing Chencang secretly!"

"Ah!" Wang Hao opened his mouth in shock, unable to say a word for a while.

Zhong Huan's face was flushed, and now he realized that Li Toutuo's use of Lin Jianqing was a trap from the beginning, and the real mastermind behind the scenes used the relationship between Li Toutuo and Lin Jianqing to attract them all, so how stupid he was.

Zhong Huan stepped forward and bowed: "It's a humble and stupid person who fell into the opponent's trick!"

Chen Qing smiled and said: "You are not stupid, but the other party is smart, but if you don't fall for the other party's tricks, how can I let the other party fall for my tricks?
If I guessed correctly, the Kingdom of Jin would definitely defend the east bank of the Yellow River on a large scale, and Xixia must have thought that Liu Qiong and Tang Qian's [-] troops went northward to attack Hedong and restrain the Jin soldiers from reinforcing Xixia. "

Wang Haoruo realized something, "Could it be that the Kingdom of Jin really has spies lurking around Dutong?"

Chen Qing nodded, "A person you would never have thought of!"

(End of this chapter)