Fenghou

Chapter 998 Persecution
Ten thousand cavalry led by Tang Qian quietly entered Wuyang County, about [-] miles away from Yancheng, and sent more than [-] scouts to Yancheng to monitor the movement of Li Qiong's army.

Tang Qian faithfully carried out Chen Qing's orders. Once Li Qiong's army left Yancheng, he would immediately cut off the opponent's retreat.

At this time, Li Qiong didn't know that he had become Chen Qing's first target, but he was an experienced veteran, and he also knew the danger of going north. His [-] troops couldn't stop the enemy cavalry at all. shock.

On the top of the city, Li Qiong looked at the north worriedly. Yancheng was about two hundred miles away from Xuchang, and it would take at least three days to walk. He had sent spies northward to inquire about the news of the siege.

At this time, on the official road in the distance, a few cavalrymen were heading south quickly and gradually approaching. Li Qiong saw the cavalry clearly, and his heart sank suddenly. It turned out to be the Jurchen cavalry, which must be the emissary of Wanyan Wushu.

Not long after, several Jurchen soldiers were led to the top of the city, saluted the chief centurion, and handed a military order to Li Qiong, "My lord's urgent military order, please obey it!"

Li Qiong opened the military order, and it turned out that Wanyan Wushu urged him to go north to support Xuchang City, "Before the Song army has yet to besiege the city, Jun can lead the army to go north quickly, enter the city and defend Xuchang together with Li Du, Xuchang has [-] troops, and the Song army breaks the city Don't be afraid!"

Li Qiong let out a long sigh in his heart. Although Wanyan Wushu had the right idea, [-] troops could defend the city without being afraid of [-] enemy troops, but didn't he consider the risk of going north?

The centurion said again: "My lord said that there are risks in doing anything, but you can't stop doing it just because of the risks. General, please don't be afraid of the risks, try to find ways to reduce the risks, but no matter what, you must rush to Xuchang City immediately. , Keep Xuchang City, these are the original words of the prince!"

Li Qiong had no choice but to nod, "Please go back and tell the prince, I will leave as soon as possible!"

The soldier delivering the letter left, and the deputy general Pan Gui sneered, "The fourth prince is really shrewd, he knows that we don't want to go north."

Li Qiong sighed and said, "We didn't want to come to support in the first place. It's not that he didn't know and forced us to come. Of course he won't relax at the last critical moment."

"He also knows there are risks, so why not let the [-] Jurchen troops go to support Xuchang, they still ride horses, which is safer."

"Don't say such boring things, when are the Han people not charging forward? Let's think about how to reduce the risk."

A general suggested: "Reporting to Jiedushi, you can travel day and night, so it won't be easy to be discovered."

Pan Gui also said: "I asked Li Zhixian two days ago. He said that there is an old abandoned official road, which also leads to Xuchang. It is on the west bank of Yingshui River. It is relatively hidden. We can take the old official road at night, and walk in the woods during the day. If you rest, the risk can be cut in half."

Another general also said: "The soldiers should be asked to bring less weapons and more dry food, and tell all the soldiers that once they are intercepted by the cavalry of the Song Army, they should immediately flee to the woods and then return to Bozhou to meet up by themselves, so as to reduce losses. to the bottom."

Another general suggested: "Let each soldier carry a sheepskin bag. Anyway, it is very light and does not take up the weight. If the situation is critical, they can also dive to escape!"

Li Qiong nodded again and again. These plans are very good and well prepared. If they are implemented well, even if they are intercepted, their losses will be minimized.

Li Qiong immediately made preparations, but there were not enough sheepskin bags, and there were still a few thousand missing. Li Qiong found thousands of big gourds from the people's homes, and asked the soldiers to carry them on their backs, so that they could swim and escape with them.

In the afternoon, another group of Jurchen messenger soldiers came and sent Wanyan Wushu's military order. Wanyan Wushu once again urged Li Qiong's army to go north immediately.

Li Qiong couldn't drag it any longer. That night, [-] soldiers marched lightly. They lost their spears, shields, and heavy crossbows. They didn't wear any armor. They only wore civilian military uniforms. Each soldier only wears a knife and a pair of bows and arrows, and doesn't even need a blanket. These equipment are available in Xuchang City.

If they encounter a small group of Song troops, they can still have an advantage in numbers. If they encounter Song cavalry with more than [-] people, even if they are fully equipped, they are no match for them. It is better to turn around and run for their lives.

But each soldier brought dry food for six days, as well as broken silver and copper coins if he had silver. Since Chen Qing killed more than a thousand soldiers who robbed the people in Luoyang, he really shocked all the signatories in the Central Plains. Consider leaving a way out for the soldiers, and try not to rob people's property, and sporadic defeated soldiers like them who rob people's property are easy to be surrounded and killed by angry people.

Everything was ready, and at the first watch, the [-] troops left Yancheng County and quickly marched northwest.

As soon as Li Qiong's army left Yancheng, they were immediately spotted by the scouts sent by Tang Qian. When the enemy moved a little farther, the scouts immediately fired three gunpowder arrows into the sky, followed by three gunpowder arrows ten miles away, and again Three bright red gunpowder arrows also rose ten miles away, and the last three red gunpowder arrows rose above the city of Wuyang County.

Just half an hour after Li Qiong's army left Yancheng, Tang Qian led [-] cavalry out of Wuyang County and rushed towards Yancheng.

At two o'clock, Tang Qian's [-] cavalry arrived in Yancheng, the army entered Yancheng, and found that there was no enemy in the city, and Li Qiong's entire army went north.

Tang Qian immediately made a decision, and the commander Cao Changqing led [-] people to defend Yancheng. He immediately led [-] cavalry to follow Li Qiong in the direction of going north.

In fact, not only the scouts sent by Tang Qian stared at Yancheng, but also the dozens of scouts sent by Chen Qing also stared at Yancheng County, watching every move of Li Qiong's army. When Li Qiong's army set off, the scouts sent by Chen Qing He immediately rushed to the victim.

In the morning of the next day, Chen Qing got the news that Li Qiong's army was going north. He personally led [-] cavalrymen to march southward.

It is not far from Yancheng to Xuchang, about [-] miles, but Li Qiong travels by day and night, so he will have to walk for at least three nights.

But Chen Qing's cavalry went south very quickly. Of course they knew the abandoned official roads, and they were even more familiar with them than the other party. At noon the next day, the forward scouts found [-] enemy troops hiding in the woods forty miles away.

The scouts of the Song army encountered the spies who were dealing with them at the same time, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides. The Song army had ten times the number of the opponent, and quickly wiped out all ten of the opponent's spies, killing four and capturing six.

An hour later, the leader of the Song army's scouts rushed back to report to Chen Qing, "The report is typical, our forward scouts have found the main force of the enemy army in the south!"

"how far!"

"It was still forty miles away when they were discovered, but now it is estimated to be less than thirty miles away."

"Does the other party have spies?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, we met. We wiped out the ten spies of the other party and captured six of them. They confessed to the spies. They were light soldiers. Each soldier carried a sheepskin bag. They scattered to the woods to escape in a crisis, or jumped into the river to escape. , well prepared."

Chen Qing smiled slightly at Liu Qiong and said, "I want to escape before fighting."

Liu Qiong bowed and said, "Actually, it's understandable. The [-] troops were taken by Li Qiong from Huaibei and surrendered. His family members are all in Bozhou. He values ​​these soldiers very much and doesn't want them to die."

"Why don't you surrender if you don't want to die?"

Chen Qing sneered, and then said to General Li Fuxing: "Li Tong led ten thousand cavalry to walk along the river, cut them off from the river, Liu Dutong!"

"The end is here!" Liu Qiong clasped his fists and said.

Chen Qing said unhurriedly: "You and I each led [-] cavalry to surround them."

Liu Qiong hesitated for a moment and asked, "Then what about the back road?"

"Don't worry! Tang Qian's army must be behind them. Remember, everyone, those who surrender will not die, and those who resist will be killed!"

"Follow the order!"

The [-] cavalry immediately divided into three groups, the yellow dust billowed, the horseshoes sounded like thunder, and they rushed to the south with great momentum.

(End of this chapter)