Fenghou

Chapter 764

Zhongtiao Mountain is located in the northern part of Shanzhou, that is, on the north bank of the Yellow River. After Chen Qing's army captured Shanzhou, they actually took a large piece of land on the north bank of the Yellow River, and they could attack Hezhong Mansion through the pass of Zhongtiao Mountain.

The first step for the Song army to attack Hedong Road from Zhongtiao Mountain was to gain an important foothold. It could directly attack Hezhong Mansion from the southeast, or attack Jiezhou from the northeast.

Chen Qing finally decided to attack Xiezhou and seize the southernmost Xiexian County of Xiezhou. First, Xiezhou's defensive force was far inferior to that of Hezhong Prefecture.

Speaking of which, I would like to thank Yang Gongran of Shanzhou for his help. He persuaded his brother-in-law, Pei Bo, the head of Wenxi Pei's family, and Pei Bo's son, Pei Yundong, is the county magistrate of Xie County. With Pei Yundong's help, Five hundred Song troops sneaked into Jie County in three batches.

At present, the Song Army is deploying [-] troops in the area of ​​Ruicheng in the south of Zhongtiao Mountain, led by Niu Gao. The reason why the [-] heavy troops are deployed is not to defend Shanzhou, but to break through the pass of Zhongtiao Mountain and enter Hedong. , Cooperate with Pujinguan to fight from the side.

At night, a Song army of [-] soldiers was running fast on the mountain road. There were more than a dozen passes through Zhongtiao Mountain. Among them, the Song army controlled three passes, and the pass where the [-] Song troops ran was one of them. one.
This pass is called Xiazikou, and twenty miles after passing through Xiazikou is Jiexian County.

It was the first watch at this time, and Niu Gao led an army of [-] to march all the way, and he saw the barracks and tents in front of him, and there was the Song army's control camp.

The Song army stationed [-] people in the most dangerous place. Looking from here to the distance, you can vaguely see the lights of thousands of families in Jie County.

Before the army arrived at the camp, the commander Yang Xu came out to welcome Niu Gao.

"Commander Yang, is there any news in the city today?"

In the city, a pigeon letter was sent to contact Niu Gao. Today is the last day. If there is any special change today, someone in the city will come out to contact Yang Xu.

"Reporting to Niu Dutong, there is no one in the city to contact Beizhi."

Niu Gao nodded, turned around and ordered: "Stay where you are and rest for half an hour!"

The soldiers were really tired from walking over the mountains and ridges, so they sat down on the side of the road to rest, drink some water, and eat some dry food.

Half an hour later, the army continued to set off. After passing Xiazikou, it was almost the way down the mountain. The soldiers were fast and relatively relaxed.

At three o'clock, the army arrived three miles south of Xiejie County. The time agreed by the two sides was to capture Nancheng at four o'clock, which was also the time when the city slept the deepest and sweetest.

Xie County is a large county with a population of more than [-] people. The circumference of the city wall is about [-] miles. There are [-] troops garrisoned in the city. Wenxi County and Hejie County each stationed [-] troops.

At this time, the county town was very quiet. There was a Town God's Temple near Nancheng. Dozens of tents were set up in it, filled with peasants. These peasants were recruited by the county lieutenant Pei Yundong to dredge the river in the city.

There are more than a thousand civilian husbands, but [-] of them are soldiers of the Song Army. The county captain Pei specially separated them from other civilian husbands. They live in more than a dozen large tents in the east.

Today is the day of action. At dusk, bundles of weapons were sent into the big tent and hidden. There were a total of [-] spears, [-] swords, and more than [-] pairs of bows and arrows. These were privately hoarded by Lieutenant Pei. thing.

The chief general of the five hundred people is a commander named Cheng Xin, who is the brother of Cheng Heng, the commander of the upper army. Currently Cheng Heng is leading an army of [-] troops in Xixia, and Cheng Xin is Niu Gao's general.

There were crowds of people in the dark city hall of the Town God's Temple, and five hundred civilians and soldiers gathered together. Cheng Xin said loudly to the crowd: "Listen, everyone, taking the city in one fell swoop, there is no pity, either the enemy dies or we live." , if the capture of the city fails, none of the five hundred of us will survive!"

Everyone nodded silently, and Cheng Xin said to Li Hongwu, the deputy commander: "You and a hundred brothers are responsible for keeping the alarm bell, and you can't let the alarm bell ring."

"Understandable!"

After the arrangement was made and the time was almost up, Cheng Xin waved his hand, "Let's go!"

Five hundred subordinates followed Cheng Xin and rushed to the outside of the Town God's Temple. After leaving the gate of the Town God's Temple, there was Central Axis Street outside, and the South City Gate was less than a hundred steps away from them.

At four o'clock, the south city gate was also very quiet. Inside the city gate, a dozen soldiers were sitting on the ground and sleeping against the wall, holding spears in their arms. Cheng Xin gave him a wink, and one of them led fifty soldiers to rush in. The gate of the city gate controlled more than a dozen soldiers.

Four hundred and fifty soldiers entered the city along the corridor. Cheng Xin waved his hand backwards to signal everyone to squat down. He slowly looked towards the top of the city with his head, and saw scattered soldiers on both sides of the top of the city. The tower was full of sleeping soldiers, as many as seventy or eighty people.

Cheng Xin gritted his teeth and shouted: "Kill!"

He led hundreds of soldiers to rush to the top of the city, and killed the enemy at the tower like a gust of wind.

"There is an enemy!"

Several soldiers of the Confederate Army were awakened, and when they saw a large group of peasants rushing forward with spears, they shouted in fright.

A soldier reacted extremely quickly, picked up the mallet, jumped up and knocked on the alarm bell above, and a mace arrow went 'whoosh! 'The shot came and hit him in the neck, and the soldier fell to the ground with his head up.

More than [-] people swarmed up, wielding spears and fighting fiercely with the enemy on the top of the city. In just a moment, they all assassinated the enemy. The sporadic soldiers on both sides ran away in fright and shouted, "There is an enemy! There is an enemy!"

The soldiers of the Song Army ignored these sporadic soldiers. They quickly lowered the suspension bridge, opened the city gate, and lit the torches.

Niu Gao led an army of [-] to hundreds of paces away. When he saw the city gate opened and the torches were waving, Niu Gao shouted, "Break into the city!"

Twenty thousand soldiers stormed into the city
Niu Gao led an army of [-] to capture Xie County. Most of the [-] soldiers in the city surrendered. Those who tried to resist were wiped out by the Song army. Niu Gao then ordered Cheng Xin to lead [-] soldiers to defend Jie County, and he led [-] soldiers to Hedong City. pounce.

There are [-] Congjun troops stationed in Hezhong Prefecture, which is the most important thing to defend against the Song Army's eastern expedition.

The Song army generally crossed the Yellow River from Pujin Pass to attack the East River. Pujin Pass was also called Pujin Ferry. On the one hand, the bank of the Yellow River in Hezhong Prefecture is very wide and flat, which is very suitable for ferry boats to cross the river.

In the early years, there was even a long bridge with iron chains on both sides of the river. Generally speaking, people on foot could go directly to and from the bridge. Only carts needed to cross the river by ferry.

But at this time, the [-] Jin Guoxie joined the army and waited for it, while on the other side, the [-] Song army was sharpening their swords and murderous.

The Xie Cong army built three defensive lines in front of the ferry, invested [-] troops, and sealed the ferry with crossbow arrows and bed crossbows. Sentinel boats patrolled the coast day and night, as if the Song army had sneaked at night.

In the early morning of this day, when the sky was just getting bright, there was a sudden sound of sirens on the banks of the Yellow River, and the sound of alarm bells also sounded in the east city a few miles away, and groups of soldiers rushed out of the city to their respective positions.

At this time, mist shrouded the river, and thirty ferry boats sailed at high speed on the river, rushing to the opposite bank, and each big boat was full of soldiers, and the thirty big boats were fully loaded with five or six thousand soldiers.

Soldiers of the Song Army crawled on the boat, holding shields in one hand and short spears in the other. Many soldiers held bows and crossbows in their hands, watching the boats slowly approaching the shore.

At this moment, hundreds of medium-sized trebuchets deployed on the shore were launched at the same time, and hundreds of ignited kerosene balls flew towards the ships of the Song army. The bright red fireballs flew in the air, emitting thick smoke and flames. , The fireballs are too dense, ships are constantly being hit by fireballs, kerosene is splashed, and the ships burn rapidly.

Many soldiers on the boat were splashed with kerosene and burned. The soldiers screamed in pain. The soldiers beside them slapped the flames on their companions desperately. Some soldiers couldn't bear the burning and jumped into the Yellow River directly. . . . . .

Fire oil balls flew in one after another, and the three large ships had been engulfed by the flames, and the soldiers of the Song Army on board jumped into the river one after another to survive.

The fleet is getting closer and closer to the shore, and it crashes against the pier. Thousands of soldiers jumped ashore, and the Jinbing catapults quickly retreated. Shooting, weaving into a dark cloud in the air, shooting to the top of Song Jun's head.

(End of this chapter)