Fenghou

Chapter 687 Reinforcement
The biggest advantage of the Xixia Army is its toughness, and it is not easy to retreat. If the army does not ring the bell to retreat, the soldiers will often fight to the end. Although the first army attacked the city with nearly [-]% casualties, the Xixia Army has no intention of retreating.

The siege ladders were built on the city wall one after another, and they swarmed up. The rolling logs and stones on the top of the city were smashed down like hail, and soldiers kept screaming and falling from the ladders.

The Xixia people had obviously learned their lesson. The two front rails were replaced with iron rods, so they would not be cut off by the Song army's sharp axes, but they were greeted by spears and rolling logs and stones.

Xixia soldiers held up their shields and struggled upwards. When a soldier was smashed down, new soldiers came up immediately. The two sides fought desperately on the top of the city, and the casualties continued to increase.

The arrows on the top of the city are still falling like raindrops. This is already the fifth round of all arrows being fired. I don't know how many Xixia soldiers died of hatred under the arrows.

Liu Cui looked coldly at the Xixia soldiers gathering towards the city, the time was ripe, he immediately ordered: "Throw wheat straw and kerosene!"

Buckets of black kerosene were poured down the siege ladder, and the siege soldiers were splashed all over their faces. Some soldiers lit the kerosene with a torch, and the entire siege ladder was on fire, and many soldiers on the ladder were burned instantly. The fire man screamed and jumped off the siege ladder, more and more kerosene was poured down, the fire under the city became bigger and bigger, and the scope became wider and wider. Thousands of bundles of wheat straw were also thrown down. Accelerated the fire.

More than [-] soldiers in the city were yelling in fear, scrambling to escape for their lives. The bridge was crowded into a group, and many soldiers jumped directly into the moat, but the water surface of the moat also burned, and the smoke filled the air, which was suffocating.

Even the soldiers on the top of the city were blinded by the thick smoke, but they were prepared in advance. The soldiers squatted down one after another and covered their faces with wet towels.

[-] barrels of kerosene were poured into the lower city, and the whole lower city became a fiery hell. In fact, most of the soldiers were not burned to death, but suffocated to death by the thick smoke, trampled to death by other soldiers, and of course burned to death. There were countless soldiers, and the smell of scorched corpses could be smelled from miles away.

All Xixia soldiers were shocked, and Uyan Puluhun was also dumbfounded. When he saw countless soldiers on fire struggling and howling, a sense of fear that he had never felt before shrouded his heart. The contempt of the army was also completely burned by this fire.

A tentative attack ended with the tragic death of [-] people, and only [-] people escaped back, completely dispelling the Xixia Army and Jin Bing's idea of ​​attacking Xiping Mansion.

They can only use Xiping Mansion as bait like a fisherman, just to see if the Song army in the south will take the bait.

Ten days later, all the supplies and people of the Song army were transferred, and the time to fight the Jin soldiers was ripe.

This morning, Jiang Guangyuan, the leader of the Qiang tribe in Xiazhou, arrived with a hundred people. Chen Qing's team currently has [-] Qiang cavalry, led by Jiang Guangyuan's brother Jiang Wuming. The Qiang cavalry also lost in several battles. Three thousand people were recruited.

However, Jiang Guangyuan did not come here for the Qiang cavalry, but at the request of Chen Qing, he recruited [-] Qiang soldiers from the Xixia army. These Qiang soldiers were originally from Xiao Heda's army and became Xixia prisoners of war. Khitannu, mining salt in the north.

Because the Xixia army was seriously insufficient, Brother Li Cha turned all the Khitan slaves into soldiers. The Qiang people have been paying attention to this army. Of course, they hope that the tribe will recall the tribe. The battlefield is ruthless. If the Qiang people do not want this army to be wiped out by Chen Qing, they You have to find a way to deal with it as soon as possible.

Jiang Guangyuan went northward shortly after arriving in Mingsha County. Chen Qing sent a thousand cavalry to escort them northward.

Before dawn, Chen Qing personally led an army of [-] and [-] camels to leave Mingsha County and head towards Xiping Mansion.

On the surface, Chen Qing only leads an army of [-], which is relatively small in number, but in fact, he also needs to add [-] troops from Xiping Mansion, which is the same as the number of enemy troops. If the Qiang army is successfully instigated, the comparison of the number of troops will be reversed immediately.

The Song army fighting the Jin soldiers this time is not cavalry, but [-] elite infantry. The secret weapon of Jurchen cavalry.

The infantry also rode northward on horseback. This battle can be said to be the most critical battle against Xixia. Whether they can defeat the Jinbing depends on this battle.

"General Yang, is your injury really healed?" Chen Qing asked Yang Zaixing with a smile.

Yang Zaixing patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "After recuperating for nearly two months, I must have recovered. The key is that I didn't hurt my muscles and bones, and the poisonous gas was pulled out. If I don't fight again, I will be moldy."

Everyone burst into laughter. Everyone understood Yang Zaixing's pain. Everyone was fighting the Xixia army in the front, but Yang Zaixing was recuperating in the rear. They would have gone crazy.

This time Yang Zaixing, as the deputy general, commanded [-] cavalry, but his mission was not to fight the Jurchen army, but to fight the Xixia army and the Congjun army. This made Yang Zaixing quite regretful, but he had no choice but to fight the Jurchen army himself Against each other, no matter how thoughtful he is, he must obey military orders.

Seeing that it was getting late, Chen Qing ordered: "The army rests on the spot, and sets out at five o'clock tomorrow!"

One hundred thousand troops camped on the spot beside the Lingzhou River. When marching in Xixia, they must follow the river, otherwise they will be caught in the vast Gobi Desert, and they will easily encounter the crisis of water shortage.

As night fell, Jiang Guangyuan and his followers returned under the escort of the Song army, and Chen Qing immediately received the chief in the camp tent.

Jiang Guangyuan was about fifty years old, tall and burly. He was also a general of the Xixia Army at first. Later, the Qiang people gradually parted ways with Xixia because they could not bear the cruel exploitation of the Xixia court. During Xiao Heda's rebellion, the Qiang people supported Xiao He. Da Er completely turned against the Xixia court.

Jiang Guangyuan is currently the great chief of the Xiazhou Qiang people, and also the leader of the Xixia Qiang people. He has high prestige among the Xixia Qiang people.

Chen Qing asked him to sit down, and asked with a smile, "How is the chief?"

Jiang Guangyuan smiled and nodded, "I used the Qiang people's unique communication method of beacon fire. That night, the Qiang people's general Ashali came to see me. Their leader was Murong Tao, and Ashali was the deputy general. He actually commanded an army of [-]. I am willing to obey the arrangement of the capital and lead the army to defect."

"Is this Ashali trustworthy?" Chen Qing asked again.

Jiang Guangyuan smiled and said: "He was originally an orphan, his parents died. I buried his parents for him, adopted him as an adopted son, raised him, and became the number one warrior in my tribe. I am his father."

"Then what should I use as evidence to make him obey me?"

Jiang Guangyuan handed a black stick wrapped in cloth to Chen Qing and said with a smile: "This is the Qiang Man Ling. It is specially made with wolf dung. It is easy to ignite. After it is lit, its smoke will soar into the sky in a straight line. Asha Li can tell at a glance that after he leads the army, he will become Jiang Wuming's lieutenant general and obey the command of the Xuanfu envoy."

It turned out to be wolf dung, Chen Qing took it and asked, "Then will the chief go back now?"

"I'll go straight back to Xiazhou!"

Jiang Guangyuan sighed again: "I've tried my best, if something happened to Ashali and he didn't come over, the Xuan Fu envoy would kill them directly, I have no complaints!"

"I will try my best, and I will not take this step unless I have to."

Jiang Guangyuan thanked him again and again, took his leave and left.

Before dawn the next day, the Song army set off again to go north. At noon, a group of Jurchen sentry cavalry finally discovered them and rushed back to report.

Wuyan Puluhun was getting impatient with the wait. He finally got the news that the Song army was going north. Chen Qing personally led the main force and was only eighty miles away from him. This information made him ecstatic and he immediately ordered the entire army to assemble.

The conceit and pride in the Jurchen's bones made them ignore the Xixia Army and the Consortium Army. They quickly assembled, and [-] cavalry set off southward.

The coach Li Kan also got the news, and was so angry that the Jurchens did not cooperate. He also hurriedly led an army of [-] and Han Chang's [-] Congregation Army to follow them south. Of course, Xiping Mansion did not give up. Murong Tao led an army of [-] Qiang people to continue to confront the Song army in Xiping Prefecture.

(End of this chapter)