Fenghou

Chapter 673 Weakness
Hundreds of thousands of people who were expelled from Xingqing Mansion have all been sent to Weizhou and Yanzhou for resettlement. The camp that was just vacant has welcomed new residents. The first batch of [-] Han slaves have moved into the camp. .

Tao Chunlai, the marching commander who was in charge of resettling these Han slaves, asked Chen Qing: "These Han people are very confused about the future, and they all come to ask the humble officials, but the humble officials can't answer them, can the general tell the humble officials, how to resettle them next? "

"I intend to let them stay in Hetao, give them land, tax exemption for [-] years, and give them enough lures to let them take root in Hetao."

Tao Chunlai hesitated and said, "They have a strong desire to return to the Song Dynasty. I'm afraid only some of them are willing to stay."

Chen Qing smiled and said: "I will let them choose voluntarily. If they don't want to stay, they can also go to northern Shaanxi to resettle. Those also need a population. It is said that there are hundreds of thousands of Han Chinese slaves. In fact, it is not a big problem."

After a pause, Chen Qing said to Tao Chunlai again: "There will be a large number of people coming soon, and they will set up tents quietly. If you have any difficulties, please bring them up to Zhang Sima. I have asked him to take full responsibility for the people."

Tao Chunlai secretly heaved a sigh of relief. With Zhang Sima in charge, his pressure was much less.

"The humble staff will arrange to set up a tent immediately!"

Back in the commander's tent, Chen Qing ordered his soldiers again: "Go and invite Zhang Sima, and then invite General Yang, General Gao, and Generals Liu and Xiao, and say that I have something important to discuss with them!"

Not long after, Zhang Xiao came first, followed by Yang Zaixing, Gao Ding, Liu Cui and Liu Qiong also rushed to the tent.

"Everyone, please sit down, I have important matters to discuss with you."

Everyone sat down, Chen Qing raised a report in his hand and said: "This is a report written by Tang Qian. He followed my order to search for ships and brought up a manor. Some of the details worry me."

Chen Qing handed the report to Zhang Xiao and asked him to circulate it to everyone.

Chen Qing said to everyone: "I found three more serious problems. First, Zhuang Ding's problem. This is actually the private army of various dignitaries. Each = the Western Xia dignitaries hid them in the manor, but they didn't want to hand them over to the court. , All these private troops add up to a large number. What I am worried about is that they are Zhuang Ding now. If the Xixia dignitaries feel that the situation is not good, will all these Zhuang Ding join the Xixia Army?
The second is the problem of grain and armor. There are a lot of grain and armor stored in the manor. To be honest, the grain is within my expectation, but the armor is beyond my expectation, but it is reasonable to think about it .

In the final analysis, it is still the same nature as the private army, because the rich and powerful are selfish, in other words, the powerful and powerful do not feel the seriousness of the situation and do not want to hand over their property to the court, so they hide food, soldiers and private troops in the In the manor, once they felt the situation was serious, they would not hesitate to fully support the Xixia court. "

Gao Ding couldn't help interjecting: "Dutong's meaning is to intercept this part of resources before they wake up, and Zhuang Ding will wipe them all out?"

Chen Qing nodded, "That's what I mean, and I'm a little worried. Tang Qian destroyed the first manor. Once the news leaks out, there will definitely be a chain reaction. There is no impenetrable wall in the world, only the speed of the wind."

Zhang Xiao pondered for a while and asked: "The envoy Xuanfu just said that there are three questions, what is the third question?"

"The third problem is the issue of Han Chinese slaves. They are basically concentrated in the major manors. I estimate that there are hundreds of thousands of them. I am worried that when Xixia's troops are insufficient, they will all be escorted back to Xingqing Mansion as human shields. When we attack Xingqing Mansion, there will be a very tragic scene, and it will seriously affect my Hetao plan."

"So the envoy Xuanfu decided to send troops?" Zhang Xiao continued.

Chen Qing nodded, "We must send troops to the north immediately, sweep away all the manors, and leave no hidden dangers!"

Yang Zaixing pondered for a while and said: "The Western Xia court will not just watch us sweep, they will definitely send troops to stop us!"

"That's why I convened everyone to discuss. How should we send troops? How many troops should we send? How should we deploy them?"

The generals looked at each other in blank dismay, and only then did they understand that Du Tong had decided to send troops, but the method of sending troops needed to be discussed with everyone.

That night, the [-] cavalrymen of the Song Army divided into three groups and headed northward, and [-] large ships also headed northward again. Gao Ding led [-] cavalrymen to sweep the various manors, and Liu Qiong led [-] cavalrymen to destroy the pontoon bridges built by the Xixia Army. Li Muqing and Cheng Huan each led [-] cavalry to block the Xixia army.

And Chen Qing personally led [-] Song troops and [-] Qiang cavalry to the north as backup.

This is also a weakness of Xixia. The interests of the Xixia dignitaries and the court have not reached a consensus. The Xixia dignitaries put a lot of resources in the manor. Chen Qing must destroy the resources of the Xixia dignitaries outside the city before the Xixia government and the opposition reach a consensus.

At this time, Tang Qian had already got [-] ships, which was all thanks to the old boatman Qiao and Song Cheng, the Han steward.

The old boatman Qiao drew a map for Tang Qian, and he marked all the places where the boats might be hidden. However, the old boatman Qiao couldn't support himself and could no longer follow them. He followed the first fleet to Mingsha County.

But only the map was given, Song Jun's eyes were still dark, they couldn't find any hiding spots on the map, so the steward Song Cheng stepped forward, he became Song Jun's guide, and led the soldiers to find one after another. In one hiding place, batches of ships were pulled out of the hidden water by the Song army.

In just three days, the Song army searched all [-] hiding places drawn by the old boatman Qiao, and captured [-] large ships, bringing the total number of ships they captured to [-], surpassing the total number of Xixia ships. half of the number.

The rest of the ships were either hidden in the manor or in the city.

That afternoon, Tang Qian led his cavalry and [-] ships to the south. Suddenly, dust was flying in front of him, and the ground seemed to be trembling. A huge cavalry was rushing from the south.

Tang Qian immediately ordered the scouts to investigate, and after a while, the scouts came back and reported, "It's General Gao's army!"

It turned out that Gao Ding was coming, and Tang Qian rushed to meet him. At this time, Gao Ding's cavalry had slowed down and stopped.

Gao Ding had already seen the fleet in the Yellow River, he urged his horse forward, pointed his whip and laughed loudly: "Is this the latest victory of General Tang?"

Tang Qian clasped his fists in salute, and said with a wry smile, "This is all the warships that have been found so far, and there are still more than a hundred warships that have not been found."

Gao Ding nodded, and told Tang Qian about the plan and deployment of Dutong. He said helplessly, "This time, my mission is to sweep all the manors, annihilate all the Zhuang Ding, collect food and supplies, and take away all the slaves. But I don't know where to start, can General Tang help me?"

Tang Qian said with a smile: "If it was three days ago, I'm afraid I would be confused, but now I can really help General Gao."

After finishing speaking, Tang Qian called up the guide Song Cheng and introduced to Gao Ding: "This man is called Song Cheng, his original surname is Zhang, and he was a commander of Murong Tao's under the command of the Jingyuan Army. After the Battle of Fuping, Murong Tao led the army to surrender to Xixia, and he was also forced to enter Xixia. Because he refused to work for the Xixia people, he was sold as a slave by the Xixia people. He changed his name to Song Cheng, which means Song Chen. , strong commanding ability, was appointed by his master to be the steward of Han Chinese slaves, he has a very good understanding of the manors in various places, and he is also my guide."

After listening to Gao Ding, he stood in awe, clasped his fists and said, "General Song is determined not to betray, which is admirable."

Song Cheng replied: "If General Gao needs to know about the situation of various manors, I can introduce them in detail? However, I suggest that General Gao start with the top ten manors. They own [-]% of all manors, food, soldiers, etc. Similar to slaves, the first big manor is Brother Li Cha’s Tianlu Manor, which is only [-] miles away from us and covers an area of ​​more than [-] hectares, and I heard that there are nearly [-] people in it.”

Gao Ding was overjoyed, and said decisively: "Time is not waiting for me, let's go to Tianlu Manor now!"

The Song Army built a pontoon bridge with large ships, and [-] Song Army cavalry crossed the Yellow River. Under the guidance of Song Cheng, the army marched toward Tianlu Manor more than ten miles away.

(End of this chapter)