Fenghou

Chapter 671
Chen Qing paced back and forth in the big tent with his hands behind his back. Although the siege weapons could not come through for a while, it did not mean that he would do nothing. He could start from the areas that did not need to be siege, clean up the periphery first, and finally attack the city , like a noose around the neck, slowly tightened step by step, and finally strangled to death.

The first is boats. Xixia cities are located on the left and right sides of the Yellow River. He must use boats to build pontoon bridges. The pontoon bridges built with rafts are easily destroyed by the Xixia people. The pontoon bridges built by boats are much stronger.

Chen Qing now needs to find a general who is good at surprise attacks. After pondering for a long time, he turned around and said, "Bring me Tang Qian!"

Not long after, Tang Qian hurried into the big tent, knelt down on one knee and saluted, "See Du Tong for humble posts!"

"General Tang, please rise up!"

Chen Qing said with a smile: "I've given you a task, if the task can be completed, I will let you reinstate your post!"

Tang Qian was really excited, clasped his fists and said: "The humble job must live up to the great trust of Du Tong!"

Chen Qing nodded, "The task I give you is easy and difficult, that is, to search for and capture all the ships outside the city, and if you encounter Han slaves, you can bring them back directly, but you don't have to deliberately Find them, your task is to find the ship."

"Humble job understands!"

"Take [-] cavalry, and if you find a batch, send them back."

"Understandable!"

An hour later, Tang Qian led [-] cavalrymen across the raft pontoon bridge and headed north along the west bank of the Yellow River.

The river surface in this area of ​​the Hetao Plain is very open and the water potential is gentle, which is very suitable for shipping and irrigation. In addition, the soil is fertile and the sunlight is sufficient, so that the Hetao Plain is rich in food and melons, and it is called the top of the Yangtze River.

The Hetao is actually composed of the front, middle and back. The front is today's Yinchuan area, the middle is the Bayannur area of ​​Inner Mongolia, and the back is the Baotou area of ​​Inner Mongolia. These three places are fully irrigated by the Yellow River. , and become a famous food producing area.

Five thousand cavalry galloped along the west bank of the Yellow River. Here are all plains, with a wide field of vision, and the situation in the Yellow River can be seen clearly.

There were no boats or rafts, and the Yellow River was very quiet. At noon the next day, they passed the gorge, and the Yellow River began to fork from here. At the same time, there were large reed marshes on both sides of the river. There should be ships in this area.

Tang Qian reined in his horse and looked out on the Yellow River. A soldier who had been to Xixia pointed to the opposite bank and said, "The opposite is actually a large island in the Yellow River. It has a large area. There are many canals inside, as dense as a spider's web. There are hundreds of large islands. Large and small manors are scattered inside, and the humble staff estimates that the ships we are looking for are also hidden inside."

Tang Qian felt a little overwhelmed, the question now is how do they get in?

At this time, suddenly a soldier pointed to the distant river and shouted: "General, there is a small boat on the river!"

Tang Qian took a closer look, and sure enough, a small boat sailed out of the reed marsh, wobbling towards this side.

The soldiers hurriedly waved their hands and yelled. After a while, the boat rowed to the shore, and it turned out to be an old man with a hunchback. He looked very old, but his face and clothes were all Han people.

"Are you Song Jun?" The old man spoke Chinese, but it was a bit jerky.

Tang Qian nodded, "We are the Western Army, is my husband a Han?"

The old man sighed, "I used to be, but now I don't know where I am from?"

"How long has the old man been in Xixia?"

"It's been fifty years. I was kidnapped in my teens, and now I'm in my sixties. I haven't been back in my life."

Speaking of this, the old man suddenly burst into tears, "I don't know if my parents are still there?"

The eyes of all the soldiers were moist, and Tang Qian persuaded: "If the old man is willing to go back to his hometown, we can take you back."

"Hometown? My hometown is in Yanzhou. If I can go back to my hometown, I would even die."

"Old man, we are actually here to find the boat, does the old man know where we can find it?"

The old man wiped his tears with his sleeve and said: "I know you are looking for a boat, and I am the boatman. The Xixia people said you would take the boat away, so they hid the boat, and I will wait for you in the reed marsh!"

Everyone was overjoyed, Tang Qian quickly asked: "Does the old man know where the boat is hidden?"

"How could I not know, I have been a boatman on the Yellow River for [-] years, and I know the way here even with my eyes closed. There are three places where boats are hidden nearby. I can take you there."

There was really nowhere to find them, and it took no effort to get them. They had nothing to do, but they didn't expect an old Han boatman to be willing to help them.

Tang Qian asked two soldiers to sit on the boat, and he led the cavalry to follow on the shore. The old boatman rowed north for a few miles, and pointed to an inlet. The inlet was covered by dense reeds. It was not easy to see that this was a water swings.

Immediately, more than [-] sailors rowed down the river on rafts, and rowed hard to the bay on the other side. They followed the old man and rowed into the water.

Not long after, three large flat-bottomed boats sailed out of the water, and the soldiers on the shore cheered.

These three big ships were the first step, but they were the foundation. The three big ships transported hundreds of soldiers across the Yellow River. Soon, in a river channel on the opposite bank, more than two dozen hidden large ships were found.

These twenty or so large ships are exactly the same as the previous three large ships, and they are all flat-bottomed boats with Xixia characteristics. It is also because the Yellow River in Xixia area is calm and there is no wind and waves. The sides of the ships on both sides are relatively low, but the bottom of the boats is very wide.

If you use a more vivid metaphor, the ships in the Central Plains are like bowls, while the ships in Xixia are like plates. They can transport many people and horses at a time, and they can also carry a lot of food.

However, the Song army found [-] ships successively, which were only a small part of the Xixia ships. The old boatman said that there were more than [-] such ships in Xixia, some of which were transported into the city, and the other part was hidden.

He knew that there was another place where the boat was hidden not far away. According to the clues provided by the old boatman, Song Jun quickly found another [-] flat-bottomed boats on the same small river. In just one day, Song Jun found [-] flat-bottomed boats. Seven big ships, this harvest is really not small.

"Thank you for the clues, old man." Tang Qian thanked again and again.

The old boatman’s Chinese is not as jerky as it was at the beginning, and he has already spoken it very proficiently. Everyone knows that his surname is Qiao, but the specific name has been forgotten. Everyone calls him Qiao Tuozi. He is from Ansaibao, Yanzhou. A boatman on the Qingshui River was taken captive by the invading Xixia army during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty and taken to Xixia as a slave. When the Xixia people saw that he could drive a boat, they simply let him work as a boatman on the Yellow River.

In the first few years, Mr. Qiao wanted to escape home all the time. In order to hold him back, the Xixia people married a Uighur woman to him and gave birth to a son for him. The idea was gradually dissipated, and he worked as a boatman for fifty years in a flash.

His wife and children both died of illness ten years ago, and his two grandsons were also taken away by the Xixia army and disappeared. Old boatman Joe became alone again. The Xixia people saw that he was old and had no value for exploitation, so they no longer cared about him. , He himself did not dare to go home again.

Until today when he finally saw Song Jun, he once again had the idea of ​​going home. As long as he can take a look at his parents' graves, he will have no regrets in his life.

"I am from the Song Dynasty. I am also very happy to help the army of my motherland. I have lived here for fifty years, and I am very familiar with every plant and tree here. I will tell you what you want to know."

"Thank you so much, old man."

Tang Qian asked again: "Excuse me, old man, is there any manor near here?"

Qiao Gong said with a smile: "There are not many manors here, and there are more in the north, but there is still a big manor, which is next to the twenty or so ships we found. I forgot to tell you that the twenty or so ships are actually that The property of this manor, the owner is the royal family of Xixia, who lives in the capital, and will come to the manor during the autumn harvest."

"Are there any Han people in the manor?"

"How could it not be? The Xixia people robbed the Han people to grow food for them. The other Hu people don't know how to grow food! The Xixia people themselves don't know how. There are at least [-] Han people in the manor and more than a hundred soldiers guarding it. Another batch of slaves was sent from heaven, two or three hundred people, also from the capital."

"Is it necessary to use a boat to transport the slaves?" Commander Wang Jian asked with a smile.

Qiao Gong was stunned for a moment, he lowered his head and thought for a moment and said, "You reminded me that there are not only ships in the manor, but also an army, which only came two days ago."

"How many people are there in the army?" Tang Qian asked hastily.

Qiao Gong shook his head, "I don't know how many people there are. I just heard from others. I dare not approach that manor. There are very vicious dogs in it. I was bitten once."

Tang Qian stood up and smiled at the commanders, "Let's go and see what the manor of the Xixia people looks like?"

(End of this chapter)