Daqin arrests alchemists, what does it matter to me as a qi refiner?

Because it is backed by the Luanhe River, the actual defensive area of ​​the defenders is wider than Yang Ling expected. In addition to the camps outside the city, there are more than 2,000 defenders in the city, plus the food and supplies hoarded in the city. , if they attack the city by force, they will probably suffer heavy losses with just the more than 2,000 troops brought by Yang Ling.

Yang Ling thought carefully for a moment, and finally decided not to rush to attack Xinping Fort, but to wait for Li Qingyang to arrive with his troops. When the three parties attack, the chance of winning will definitely be much greater. As for these civilian warriors, they can only wait for Li Qingyang to arrive before making arrangements, otherwise the people in the city will If everyone rebels, they will be in trouble. Even if they capture Xinping Fort, their vitality will be severely damaged.

Yang Ling stopped in the city, sent civilians to rescue the wounded, and calmed the panicked people in the city. At the same time, he urged the defenders to strengthen the city walls and dig trenches and antlers in the city to avoid another riot.

While Yang Ling was busy, the officials in Xinping Fort were also organizing civilians to maintain order, expel the rioters from the city, and then seize the time to restore the city defense.

Qin Tian also sneaked into the city with several of his subordinates and wandered around the city to observe the situation. He had once led his troops to station in Liaodong. He had fought with Zhang Yuqian for several years, so he had a sharp eye. After observing for a while, he found that although the city was in good order, the city defense was weak, so he immediately ordered his men to build fortifications on the city wall.

Yang Ling was very unlucky. There were more than 2,000 people in Xinping Fort, and nearly 70% of them were Southern Song Dynasty people. When they heard that Yang Ling wanted to capture Xinping Fort, they all clamored to participate in defending the city. So with Qin Tian's encouragement, they took the initiative Help build city defenses.

Qin Tian walked around the city for a while and saw that the big families and squires in the city were gathering in the government office to discuss countermeasures, but no one paid attention to him, so he quietly sneaked near the city wall, and then found the opportunity to jump on the city wall.

Yang Ling entered the city with several hundred civilians. When he saw Qin Tian sneaking around on the city wall, he couldn't help but be a little confused, so he came over with a few guards and asked, "Who are you? What are you doing on the city wall?"

When Yang Ling saw it was Qin Tian, ​​he couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief, then patted him on the shoulder and joked: "It turns out to be Brother Qin Xian. How is it? How is the situation in the city?"

"General Yang, something is not normal in the city." Qin Tian lowered his voice and said: "Look, these people are gathered in the government office to discuss how to deal with it, but how can they care about us ordinary people at this time? Can we take advantage of this opportunity..."

When Yang Ling heard this, he suddenly realized that the city was indeed too peaceful. Logically speaking, with so many people in the city, it would be impossible to restore order so quickly. However, this strange situation happened right in front of him. There are only two explanations, and the meaning is self-evident. The first The second explanation is even more frightening, that is, these people have been bribed or bewitched, so they did not resist.

"Brother Yang, what should we do now? Do we want to attack the city?" Chen Bangyan also noticed the movement on the city wall and came over to ask.

"Wait a minute. If we attack the city rashly now, we are afraid that we will encounter a counterattack by the people. Even if we can barely break through Xinping Fort, we will suffer heavy casualties." Yang Ling shook his head and said.

"Then I can only endure it for the time being." Chen Bangyan said with a wry smile.

Yang Ling smiled and said nothing. Of course, he was unwilling to give up the opportunity to capture Xinping Fort. However, the situation in the city was still unclear, so he had no choice but to wait for Li Qingyang's arrival.

At this time, someone hurried over and reported to Yang Linghui: "Commander Qi, there is someone outside the city asking to see you!"

"Please come in!"

Soon, two men wearing ordinary clothes were brought in. They both wore bamboo hats, were thin and had black and gray faces, looking very downcast.

"Who are you? What do you want from me?" Qin Tian stared at the two people and asked in a deep voice.

The younger one among them raised his head and replied: "We are refugees who escaped from the west. We passed through Guibao and wanted to join your army."

Qin Tian looked at the clothes of these two people and said doubtfully, "Are you really fleeing from the wilderness?"

"Of course, if you don't believe me, you will search me." The young man straightened his chest and said frankly, but his legs were shaking slightly, and he was obviously very scared.

"Commander, they are refugees who escaped from the west. I know them. They are my clan uncles." The older man next to him quickly spoke to the rescue.

Yang Ling nodded when he heard this and ordered the soldiers next to him: "Go and get two sets of armor for them to put on!"

When Qin Tian saw Yang Ling conjuring armor like a magic trick, he became more and more convinced that the two people in front of him were refugees, so he asked, "What are your names and where do you live?"

The two older refugees looked at each other, and then the older young man among them answered: "Reporting to General, Liu San, a grassroots man, lives in Xinping Town. My brother's name is Liu Liu. His family is poor. Fortunately, your army rescued him. He just escaped with his life and came here to seek refuge with General Yang, but I don’t know what General Yang’s position is?”

Qin Tian immediately became happy after hearing this. He originally thought that Yang Ling would send a school captain to serve as deputy general, but he didn't expect to send a hundred generals. He just saw that Liu San was tall and burly, with a faint murderous look on his body. He should be a trainee. , if such a good person is brought into the army, it will definitely be a powerful fighting force, so he said eagerly: "This general is the garrison of Xinping Fort. My surname is Qin. I just came to Xinping Fort to report today. I don't know the situation here yet. Since you guys If you come here, you are one of our own. If you have any difficulties, just ask, and I will do my best to solve them for you!”

Liu San was overjoyed when he heard this. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed: "Thank you, general, thank you, general!"

"You're welcome, please get up quickly!" Qin Tian helped Liu San up affectionately, then turned to Chen Bangyan and said to Chen Bangyan next to him: "Old Chen, go and get them some food."

Liu San and the older man were placed in a temporary marching tent to rest, and Yang Ling and Qin Tian also returned to the marching tent.

"Brother Yang, do you think this group of people is trustworthy?"

"Don't dare to judge rashly. Let's observe for a few days before making any judgment!"

Although Yang Ling felt that these two people were like refugees on the run, due to his cautious habits, Chen Bangyan still asked Chen Bangyan to send someone to monitor them secretly and pay close attention to the developments in the city.

Yang Ling's guess was correct. The city was indeed controlled by the mastermind behind the scenes. Now in the entire Xinping Fort, as long as the men who could stand up had gathered under the tower, the goal was to capture Xinping Fort.

However, the people in the city are not stupid. They cannot sit still and wait for death, because in the eyes of the people in the city, Xinping Fort is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there is no hope of victory at all, because what they are most worried about now is that they will be attacked outside the city. They were slaughtered by the rebels, and they were eagerly waiting for the rebels outside the city to attack the city. "There are enemy sentries on top of the city. We can't delay any longer and order an attack on the city immediately!"

At a height of about fifty meters away from Xinping Fort, there were several sentries watching the movements on the top of the city.

At this time, the sentry leader suddenly noticed several groups of cavalry emerging near the city gate, and immediately shouted in horror: "The thieves are coming!"

When several sentries heard the order, they immediately turned their horses and ran towards the camp. Dozens of other sentries also hurriedly turned their horses and followed behind. They were afraid that if they ran a few steps slower, they would be overtaken and killed by the bandit soldiers. The scene was Chaos.

At this time, there was a deafening bang on the city wall, and then dozens of rockets took off and shot into the night sky. Then there were explosions and smoke rose up to cover the night sky.

In the northeast corner of Xinping Fort, there are several wooden watchtowers. These watchtowers are distributed around the east side of the city wall. There are braziers and oil lamps set up on them every five feet. They can be said to be used day and night, specifically responsible for detecting the enemy's situation. In this era The observation tower is relatively simple, only allowing a single crossbowman to lie down on it.

In the northern section of Xinping Fort, there is a large number of infantry arrays stationed. However, due to the lack of sufficient shields and weapon protection, these infantry arrays are more of a cover, so they are mainly sword, shield and spearmen.

However, the situation tonight is completely different. At the top of these watchtowers, two sentinels squatted on each side. They were holding beak-shaped telescopes and carefully listened to the movements coming from outside the city. One of them was holding a The telescope suddenly pointed south.

"There are enemy scouts over there, kill them!" the leading scout shouted.

In fact, before they raised their binoculars, they had already aroused the vigilance of the guard sentry, so before they found the enemy, the sentry had already discovered them first.

But they discovered it too late. When they were about to open their bows and release arrows, the figure of the sentinel disappeared into the darkness, followed by two bleeding heads and the body slowly sliding to the ground.

After the successful sneak attack, Yang Ling's troops quickly withdrew, and they did not continue to pursue the sentinels.

The identity of these sentinels is unknown, and they don't know the details. If they pursue too deeply, they may make the other party jump into panic. Therefore, Yang Ling does not plan to risk the pursuit before he has a clear understanding of the other party's true nature to avoid unnecessary losses.

After Yang Ling and the others retreated into Xinping Fort, they immediately organized manpower to repair the city wall, build fences, block rifles, and build fortifications.

The repair of this ancient civil structure city wall is very troublesome. Unless enough materials can be found, it will be difficult to complete it in a short time. But Yang Ling can't think about it at this time because they only have about half a month. If they don't hurry up, If they repair the walls of Xinping Fort before winter comes, then when spring comes, they will really have no chance to seize Xinping Fort, and they can only retreat to the periphery in despair to avoid trouble.

There is a small river to the north of Xinping Fort. At this time of year, the water level is very shallow, only two feet deep. Yang Ling's troops hid on the river bank, using the mud and branches on the riverside to pile sandbags to block the river channel, and then used shovels to dig trenches and build them to block the cavalry charge. antlers.

"Sir, the enemy has entered the range of the bow and arrow. Please fire a rain of arrows to suppress the momentum of the opponent's cavalry." Chen Bangyan came to Yang Ling's side and reported respectfully.

Yang Ling pondered for a moment and said, "Let's fire, don't hurt innocent people."

Chen Bangyan agreed to retreat, and then issued instructions according to Yang Ling's orders. Many tripwires and traps were buried in the trenches outside Xinping Fort. When the enemy rushed into the trenches, they were immediately triggered. Several horses fell to the ground with mournful cries, and then countless arrows whizzed out like locusts, disrupting the enemy's formation.

However, the enemy troops were obviously well-trained. Although many people were shot down or knocked over by arrows, more enemy troops still swarmed in from behind. After paying a heavy price, they finally broke through the obstacles blocking the road and successfully crossed over. Trench, rushing towards Xinping Fort on the west side.

Although there were two thousand elite infantrymen guarding the southwest side of Xinping Fort, the enemy's large number and extraordinary bravery quickly defeated the infantry guarding the northwest side, forcing the defenders to shrink their troops and defend the city gate.

There are four city walls on the northwest side of Xinping Fort. Four urns are built on the west side of each of these four walls. This ensures that the south gate of Xinping Fort is always open, and the defenders at the gate can continuously reinforce the battle on the north side. However, the number of defenders at the city gate is very limited. After all, the width of the city gate is limited. If you want to reinforce the battle on the north side, you can only mobilize more people.

Under the harassment and inducement of the rain of arrows on the city wall, Yang Ling's troops successively captured the West City and the East City, but they did not take advantage of the victory to attack the city. They just stopped the attack after occupying the West City and the East City.

To the west of Xinping Fort is a large wilderness. Although there are no plants in the grass due to the cold weather, sporadic bonfires can be seen occasionally in this barren wilderness. These fires shine like stars in the silent night.

"General, what should we do now? Are we going to attack Wengcheng to the west at night?" Xu Qing walked to Yang Ling's side and asked.

"No, we have just tried the defenders in Weng City. Those defenders were equipped with long bows. Our cavalry couldn't rush through them at all, so we had to attack by force. But since these defenders dared to leave torches on the west wall, , there must be something to rely on, so we must not attack rashly." Yang Ling shook his head.

Xu Qing looked at the crenels that were lit with fire and frowned: "Then we can't just sit back and let these enemies rest, right?"

Yang Ling smiled and said: "Do you think the enemy army can sleep peacefully?"

"Huh? The general means..."

"They will definitely send people out of the city to search, and then find the enemy's scouts. The best way is to let the scouts go out of the city to investigate first. If they encounter an ambush, the scouts will not be helpless, so they will have plenty of time. Return to report, so our target is the group of scouts guarding the west. As long as they dare to leave the city, we will give them a fatal head-on attack. "

Before Yang Ling finished speaking, noisy footsteps could be heard faintly from the west. Then, hundreds of enemy scouts poured out from the west city gate. They gathered at the city gate to stand by.

However, Yang Ling's face showed contempt. He turned to Xu Qing and said: "Take three hundred cavalry to ambush them. Remember, don't hurt the enemy's scouts. Just entangle them. Wait until our troops are all The arrangements are complete, and you will cooperate to annihilate them!" (End of this chapter)