Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 831 0826 [Defend and Attack]

"I will leave the county town to my brother," Yue Fei said to Li Qiong, cupping his hands. "This city is the hub of the grain road. You cannot send troops easily. Even if you want to rescue General Li's troops, you should leave enough soldiers to defend the city. General Li has already He wrote back and said that he can hold on to Wen'an Town for at least ten days, because he only has ten days of food and supplies for the army, and the Jin soldiers will definitely cut off his food supply. "

Li Qiong said with a smile: "Go as soon as possible. Within ten days, I will never lead my troops out of the city. Even if the Jin soldiers call for formation outside the city, I will treat it as a pack of barking dogs."

Yue Fei said: "I have sent fire rifle soldiers to support General Li."

"It should be." Li Qiong didn't care about this. He was just defending the city anyway.

This is a grain road hub. According to the Ming Dynasty's calculation method of military merit, holding an important military grain stronghold will be a great achievement.

"Farewell!" Yue Fei said goodbye.

Historically, although the two were from the same hometown, their friendship was not deep.

This time and space is different. They fight against the Jin under Zongze together, and they are the regular partners of the main and deputy generals all year round.

Ju Ming didn't have much dislike for Li Qiong, because the Huaixi Mutiny was nonsense.

At that time, Liu Guangshi was deprived of military power, and Zhao Gou asked Yue Fei to take over those troops. But they were worried that Yue Fei would be difficult to control, so the relevant appointments were kept secret, and he also warned Yue Fei not to be public. To put it bluntly, the appointment could be changed at any time - if Yue Fei obtained Liu Guangshi's troops, it would be equivalent to controlling five-sevenths of the main force of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Prime Minister Zhang Jun wanted to take charge of the army himself, so as not to be violated by generals, and let him take charge of the overall counterattack plan.

Qin Hui also didn't want Yue Fei to become powerful, otherwise how could he negotiate for peace?

As a result, the emperor and the leaders of the war faction and the peace faction did not want to hand over the army to Yue Fei.

With such an important appointment, the court was so capricious that Yue Fei was so angry that he resigned.

Before resigning, Yue Fei had already told Zhang Jun that Wang De and Li Qiong had conflicts and it was inappropriate for anyone to take charge. But Zhang Jun didn't take it to heart at all, and promoted Wang De, who had few soldiers, to take charge (to facilitate control), which made Li Qiong increasingly dissatisfied.

Zhang Jun was also afraid of a mutiny and quickly separated the two troops.

In fact, separation was enough, but Zhang Jun went the extra mile and asked Lu Zhi to serve as a supervisor to stabilize the army.

All the bad things happened before have made the generals extremely resentful.

When Lu Zhi arrived in the army, he not only failed to appease the generals, but also arbitrarily replaced Liu Guangshi's old generals. They also made sarcastic remarks to each other, intensifying the conflict between Li Qiong and Wang De - these were all for the court to install trustworthy military officers and drive away all those who were not very obedient.

Perhaps Li Qiong complained, or perhaps he made rude remarks that angered the supervisor Lu Zhi. Or maybe this was Zhang Jun's goal. Lu Zhi then went to Emperor Shu to request that Li Qiong be dismissed from his post.

It's just sparse, but it's not rigorous in doing things.

The scribe next to Lu Zhi actually told Li Qiong about this.

Li Qiong was frightened and angry, fearing that he would be accused of being cunning and would end up miserable without military power. As a result, Li Qiong negotiated with the resentful military generals and took more than 40,000 troops and 200,000 people to defect directly to the puppet Qi regime supported by the Jin Kingdom.

At that time, the Southern Song Dynasty could mobilize only 200,000 troops, and nearly a quarter of them were suddenly lost.

If Zhang Jun and Lu Zhi hadn't angered all the generals in the army, how could Li Qiong have the ability to take away so many soldiers and civilians?
The Huaixi Mutiny belonged to the collective will of the military generals, and Li Qiong was just the leader.

Moreover, because Yue Fei left the army, Zhao Gou sent people to persuade him many times before returning. The honeymoon period for Zhao Gou and Yue Fei ended.

……

But it was said that Yue Fei led his troops to leave Hezhong County without taking the three main routes.

Instead, Han Chang, the surrendered general of the Bohai Sea, served as the guide. It took four days to walk back and go north in a large circle over Shiziling (a mountain range in the north of Pingquan City).

Before crossing the mountains, they resupplied once in Zezhou City (a few miles south of Pingquan City).

Then, along the eastern foot of the remaining veins of Yanshan Mountain, we walked around Dadingfu City day and night.

Han Chang, a general of the Han people in the north, was very familiar with this area. He pointed to the map and said: "The Jin soldiers transported grain and grass. Although they did not mainly transport food and grass by ship, they must still come along the Tu River. Because they have countless war horses and livestock. , it’s easier to get water along the Tuhe River.”

"This place is fifty miles away from Dadingfu City and forty miles away from Wen'an Town. Whether the Jin soldiers want to attack the city or go south for reinforcements, it is the most convenient and safe place to store food. The food and grass for the Jin soldiers must be here! "

The location pointed out by Han Chang, where the later Ningcheng County was located, was still a rural area at this time.

Yue Fei looked at the map again and said: "Wanyan Zonghan is a veteran, so he must keep a close eye on the military rations. Moreover, sentries will inevitably be sent out everywhere. You have to be extra careful along the way. Once discovered by the Jinbing sentry, you will have nothing but blood. Fight back to Dadingfu City."

They even changed their flags, and they were all the flags of the Jin Kingdom.

When on the road, light cavalry must be sent to explore the road every time. These light cavalry are all dressed as golden soldiers, even without helmets and with Khitan hairstyles - pretending to be herdsman cavalry.

Wanyan Zonghan's elite was limited, and the cavalry sent out to cover the battlefield must be mainly grassland cavalry.

There is also a lack of unified management among various grassland ministries.

Even if the light cavalry sent by Yue Fei to explore the road were discovered by the Jin soldiers, they would probably be thought to be some kind of herdsmen cavalry.

In addition, the entire army was moving day and night, so no matter how cautious Wanyan Zonghan was, it would be difficult for him to detect this surprise attack force.

When Yue Fei led his army sixty miles north of the target location, the path-finding light cavalry even encountered a Jin Kingdom grain transport team.

"Which unit are you from?" asked the general escorting the grain and grass.

Han Chang was dressed as a Khitan herdsman and spoke fluent Khitan: "Which branch are you from?"

The general who was guarding the grain said: "The Jiera tribe." Han Chang suddenly raised his nostrils to the sky: "We are the Jurchen tribe of the ancient tribe of the Southern Tang Dynasty. We were ordered to go to the front to explore to prevent the southern thieves from coming around and killing us."

"Thank you for your hard work." The general in charge of the grain immediately became three points shorter.

Most of the ancient Tang people lived in the Monan grassland.

The ancient tribes of the Southern Tang Dynasty were scattered in the vast grasslands from Changchun to Songyuan, and there were even some in the south of Changchun.

Initially, they were all direct slaves of the Liao royal family. Mainly Jurchen, there are also Shiwei, Bohai, Goryeo and other ethnic groups.

Although Khitan customs are still preserved, in recent years they have been regarded as Jurchens by the Jin Kingdom.

Han Chang claimed to be an ancient Jurchen of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and the prairie cavalrymen who were guarding grain immediately became respectful to him.

"You guys all go out to investigate, don't stay here and be lazy!" Han Chang asked his Qingqi to disperse so as not to stay too long and expose any flaws.

The Ming Qingqi quickly dispersed, staying away from the grain transport team in front of them.

Han Chang asked casually: "Is the food and grass shipped almost? Why are they still being shipped?"

The general who held the grain charge said, "I don't know how long the fight will last."

"I'm afraid the horses won't be able to move fast with this much food on their backs. Can it be delivered before dark tomorrow?" Han Chang began to make insinuations.

The general in charge of the food said: "It's not too slow. It will arrive tomorrow afternoon."

Han Chang said: "Then don't talk about it, don't delay the army rations."

The two chatted for a few more words before saying goodbye. Han Chang asked his Qingqi to be on guard and ran back to see Yue Fei hiding in the hilly area.

Yue Fei asked: "Have you met an enemy?"

Han Chang said: "I met a grain transport team from the Khitan tribe south of Linhuang Mansion. After a few test questions, I can basically confirm that the Jin Bing grain and grass is located at the place we guessed before."

Yue Fei said: "Then continue to go east tonight. There are more mountains there and it is better to hide. I will have a good rest during the day tomorrow and eat all the food I brought. I will also feed the horses enough beans. Tomorrow night, go straight to the Jinbing Food Station. After burning the food, we will wait for the opportunity to attack. If we can't, we will retreat to Dadingfu City."

……

Wen'an Town.

Li Yanxian has been surrounded by groups. Except for the 600 heavy cavalry, all the elite cavalry under his command are not here. Some were taken away by Li Bao, some were lent to Yue Fei, and some went to Jinzhou.

Wen'an Town is surrounded by mountains on one side and water on the other.

The chariot relied on mountains, rivers and houses to surround Li Yanxian's troops.

There was only ten days of food and fodder for the army, and the civilians had already sent most of them back, and asked the follow-up food transport team not to come again, so as not to be raided by Jin soldiers on the way.

"Hold your troops and fight again tomorrow!"

Wanyan Zonghan was extremely depressed.

There was just an abandoned town in front of me. Not to mention the city walls, even the houses were in a state of decay.

In the past, whether it was fighting the Liao Army or the Song Army, a small town like this could be captured with a single charge.

But now we can’t attack!

He also cut down trees nearby and made artillery arrays to bombard the vehicles.

But Li Yanxian's tribe actually also has artillery, and the number is more than that of Dadingfu City!
The Jin soldiers' returning artillery was bombarded by artillery before they even entered the range.

The Jin cavalry sent further south to run out of food has not encountered the Ming army's food transport team until now.

Wanyan Zonghan always felt that something was wrong, as if he had been seen through long ago and all his actions failed to achieve his goal.

Several Qingqi rushed back from the southwest: "Marshal, our army couldn't find the food transport team, so we fought all the way to the county towns. No matter how we called for formation, the defenders in the city did not come out."

After hearing the news, Wanyan Zonghan became more and more irritable.

The Ming troops in other cities were unable to defend themselves. Do you want to stay here and surround the Ming troops in front of you until they run out of supplies?
We can't continue to besiege Wen'an Town, who knows what the other Ming troops are doing.

Wanyan Zonghan ordered: "Send more Qingqi to investigate in all directions, searching for signs of the Ming army within a radius of 150 miles."

He planned to pretend to retreat tomorrow to see if he could attract Li Yanxian to chase him, or he could kill the Ming army here with a single shot. Wanyan Zonghan didn't know yet, but Li Yanxian's army was almost out of food and grass, and he could hold on for three more days at most. If the consumption continues, Li Yanxian can only kill the mule pulling the cart.

Wanyan Zonghan is not a god, how could he possibly guess it?
Li Yanxian was really too calm, as if he wanted to hold on to Wen'an Town to the end. He also ordered the food transport team not to come again. It seemed that the army had more than enough food and grass.

"Marshal, twenty Zhennan cannons have been rebuilt!"

"Okay, the craftsmen will be rewarded heavily!"

Wanyan Zonghan suddenly regained his energy: "Push the Zhennan artillery quietly tonight. The Ming army's artillery will definitely not be able to fire accurately. First, use rocks to smash the car array, and then the armies will attack from several sides. We will also send people from the other side of the mountain to climb over. Suspend the rope to the rear of the Ming army’s camp and make a surprise attack!”

(End of this chapter)