Fenghou

Chapter 985 Night Encounter
Tang Qian returned to the Dengzhou military camp. Liu Qiong, who got the news, greeted him out of the camp in person, appeased Tang Qian, and everyone returned to the military camp.

Tang Qian took a deep breath and sighed: "It's a shame that I was born as a scout leader, and I was caught by the other party. It's also fortunate that the other party is not a golden soldier, otherwise my life will be in danger."

"Because the other party is not a golden soldier, you relax your vigilance. You are going to inquire about the news, not to spy on the news. The meaning is different."

Speaking of this, Liu Qiong said again: "Received the military order from His Highness, asking us to seize Ruzhou and connect Henan Prefecture with Ruzhou, Dengzhou and Tangzhou."

Tang Qian lifted his spirits and said with a smile: "It seems that I came back at the right time!"

Liu Qiong nodded, spread out a map and said, "Actually, I'm still a little worried!"

He pointed to the map and said: "To the northwest of Dengzhou is Xiong'er Mountain, which stretches for thousands of miles. State, must take Tangzhou first, and use Tangzhou to attack Dengzhou."

"So the only thing the general is worried about is Xiangyang?" Tang Qian understood what Liu Qiong meant.

"Yes! If Xiangyang Yue Fei's army took advantage of our going north and used the excuse of assisting us in attacking the Kingdom of Jin and swallowed up Dengzhou, we would have nothing to do."

Tang Qian pondered for a while and said: "It seems that Xiangyang has no intention of attacking us, at least there is no atmosphere of sending troops, and it seems that something happened to Yue Fei, and he may be detained by the court in Lin'an."

"what happened?"

"I heard from Cai Kejian that it was a lie that the imperial court attacked the Jingnan Road, and that it was true that Yue Fei was deprived of his military power. Of course, this is just an internal rumor, and it cannot be regarded as true for the time being."

Liu Qiong nodded, "But at least it shows that the imperial court has no intention of attacking the north. They are still bound by the Song-Jin armistice agreement."

"So we don't need to think about the Xiangyang Song army, and we should focus on dealing with the Jin soldiers."

Liu Qiong smiled and said: "You are right, it is not a man's job to look forward and backward, we should face Jin Bing directly."

Liu Qiong pointed to the map and said, "The golden soldiers are nothing more than two routes to attack us. One is to attack Tangzhou and take our back route, and the other is to support Ruzhou. Of course, the opponent may take both routes."

"Whose army will the other party send to support?"

"It should be Li Cheng. There is Li Cheng's garrison at Yingchang Mansion, but it's not clear whether Li Cheng came here himself."

Tang Qian immediately said: "Soldiers are precious and fast, and troops will be sent to capture Ruzhou tonight!"

That night, Liu Qiong and Tang Qian led [-] cavalry to the north, followed by [-] camels loaded with food and grass. Two days later, they crossed the gap between Xiong'er Mountain and Fangcheng Mountain and entered the Ruzhou area.

Wherever the Song army went, they were warmly welcomed by the people along the way, and the people in each village rushed out to eat pots of pulp to welcome their troops.

"Long live! Long live King Yong!"

Wherever they went, the people raised their arms and shouted, unable to bear the excitement in their hearts.

The imperial court and the emperor ruthlessly abandoned them, but King Yong did not hesitate to save them, and never regarded them as a burden.

They had heard that King Yong's army was coming more than a month ago, and the people were looking forward to it, and finally the army of King Yong was coming, how could they not be excited?
The Song army passed through the densely populated plain area and entered the hilly area. At night, the army camped under a hill in the north of Longxing County.

There is a clear spring flowing down the hill. The water is extremely clear and sweet. In many cases, water is even more important to soldiers than food.

However, Chen Qing had made a strict order that no matter how clear the water was during the march, it must be boiled and drunk.

The soldiers have implemented this very well, and the first thing they do when they stop is to boil water and cook.

Put down the marching stove, lit the briquettes, boiled a pot of water, boiled a large pot of noodles, and then put in various seasonings, each soldier went in with a piece of dried sea fish, each with a large bowl, and squatted aside to eat. up.

Then continue to boil water, fill each soldier's water bottle, and keep busy until night falls, the soldiers have enough food and drink, and feed and water for the horses before lying down to rest.

At this time, just thirty miles to the north, an army of ten thousand people was marching rapidly eastward.

This army is the [-] troops led by Zhang Zhongxiong. The [-] troops were from Dengzhou to support Luoyang. When they approached Yiqueguan, they got the news that Dengzhou was captured by the Song army. Shu ordered his army to guard Ruzhou, and at the same time ordered Li Cheng's army to support Zhang Zhongxiong.

Zhang Zhongxiong's army went south from Liang County in the northwest, along the official road on the south bank of Rushui River, and went to Xiangcheng County, more than [-] miles away, to join Li Cheng's army. At this time, the team was marching in Longxing County. I didn't know that the main force of the Song army was thirty miles to the south, and it was night. If there were no accidents, the two sides would pass by like this.

It's a pity that thirty miles is not a safe distance. In the dark night, a group of scouting cavalry came galloping from the trail to the south. They were pathfinding cavalry sent by the Song Army. On the official road, there is actually a large army marching on the official road ahead, and the torches in the hands of the soldiers are like a long fire dragon.

"Beware!" shouted the head of the capital.

Dozens of arrows shot at them in the dark, and several soldiers screamed, and the arrows fell off their horses.

"There is an ambush, retreat!"

A dozen or so cavalrymen turned their horses and rushed towards the way they came. Suddenly, hundreds of ambushes came out from both sides, and countless spears stabbed at them. An enemy general shouted: "Kill them all, don't let them escape!"

The scout cavalry broke through desperately. They broke through the siege for the head of the capital and two cavalrymen, and fled southward on horseback. There were fifteen of them in total, and only three of them broke through in the end.

The leading general inquired about the news from several wounded and surviving soldiers, and rushed to report to Zhang Zhongxiong.

Zhang Zhongxiong was furious. He whipped the general across the head and face with a whip, and cursed: "Five hundred soldiers besieged fifteen cavalry, and three of them escaped. Do you all eat shit?"

The general lowered his head and reported: "The humble officer interrogated a surviving enemy soldier. Liu Qiong's main force is thirty miles to the south, with [-] cavalry. I'm afraid they will soon know that we exist."

"Shit! You killed them all, don't you know?"

Zhang Zhongxiong wanted to chop off the useless bastard in front of him with one knife, but he had no choice but to order: "The whole army speed up!"

Ten thousand soldiers speeded up their march and began to run.

Half an hour later, Liu Qiong was shocked when he received the report from the scouts, and immediately sent someone to find Tang Qian.

"General, what happened?"

Tang Qian took a nap and was woken up by the soldiers, saying that something serious had happened, so he hurried over.

"Our scouts found the main force of the enemy army on the official road to the north, and they were moving to the east. Fifteen of our scouts were surrounded by the enemy, and only three of them escaped."

Tang Qian immediately reacted, "It is very likely that the other party also knows about us. Why does the general think they moved?"

Liu Qiong said slowly: "I think the other side's reinforcements don't want to stay away from Yingchang Mansion, so let Zhang Zhongxiong go to join them, Xiangcheng County is the most likely."

There are three big counties in Ruzhou, Beiliang County, Nanye County, Dongxiang City, and Xiangcheng County. As the base of logistics, Zhang Zhongxiong must have withdrawn to Xiangcheng County.

Liu Qiong and Tang Qian immediately reached an agreement that Zhang Zhongxiong's army and reinforcements could not be merged, and Zhang Zhongxiong's [-] troops must be wiped out before the two armies converged.

Liu Qiong immediately ordered the whole army to stop resting and pack up and set off. It was still the fourth watch, and [-] cavalry packed up their luggage and got on their horses, leaving [-] troops in Longxing County to protect the logistics of [-] camels, and the remaining [-] cavalry The cavalry pursued to the east.

(End of this chapter)