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

"Yes, I will obey the order."

In the next few days, Li Chunfang led his personal guards to conduct reconnaissance everywhere and drew a detailed defense map around Qingshui Station. Finally, they summarized the map into a complete plan to capture Qingshui Station.

On the night of August 16, Yang Ling led 3,000 light cavalry to cross the canal at night, then bypassed the north gate to the west side of Qingshui Posthouse and sneaked into the county town quietly.

Because the map drawn by Li Chunfang was very detailed and the defensive deployment made by officers and soldiers based on the actual terrain was relatively obvious, it was not difficult for the light cavalry to march at night.

Half an hour later, Yang Ling arrived outside the city with his personal guards. He immediately sent out scouts to investigate the enemy situation and also sent out scouts to investigate the situation at Qingshui Station along the way.

It was not until the evening of the next day that Yang Ling received news that the defense arrangement near Qingshui Station described by Li Chunfang had basically not changed, except that the number of sentries had been increased and new fences had been built to prevent the enemy from escaping from the north gate.

Although the map of Qingshui Station drawn by Li Chunfang was detailed, it overlooked important facilities such as residential houses and warehouses in Qingshui Station.

Qingshuiyi is one of the only two fortresses outside Jiangning City. It is located on the bank of Poyang Lake, only 70 steps away from the east bank of Poyang Lake. It is the throat of Jiangning City. If Qingshuiyi is captured, Poyang County will fall completely. Therefore, Qingshuiyi is of great significance to the officers and soldiers. In order to prevent the rebels from breaking out from the north gate, the officers and soldiers specially strengthened the vigilance around Qingshuiyi and strengthened the wall of Qingshuiyi.

Seeing this, Yang Ling guessed that the purpose of the officers and soldiers strengthening vigilance near Qingshui Station was not to prevent him from breaking out from the north gate, but more to prevent the enemy from attacking Qingshui Station from the west gate.

If the defensive arrangements around Qingshui Station described by Li Chunfang were really as tight as he said, then Qingshui Station would indeed become his first choice target for attack.

Yang Ling thought for a moment, then took a pen and drew a few lines on the paper, outlined the terrain of Qingshui Station with a red pencil, and then ordered people to hang the map on the wall.

Yang Ling stood beside the map and looked at it carefully. He saw three small hills around Qingshui Station, a river in the northeast corner, a valley in the southwest corner, and a ditch in the northeast corner. The Jing River and the Qingshui River were clearly separated. The river was only more than ten meters apart. The ditch was wide, and the vegetation on both sides was lush and densely covered with trees.

Yang Ling raised his head and asked, "Except Qingshuiyi, what other places are worth attacking?"

The personal soldier in charge of scouting the enemy immediately replied: "There is a moat to the north of Qingshui Station. The two sides of the moat are ridges of fields. The terrain is low and not conducive to the deployment of cavalry. Therefore, the main types of troops to attack Qingshui Station are infantry and firearms."

"Qingshuiyi is about six kilometers long from north to south and about three kilometers wide from east to west. There are moderately sloping earthen slopes on both sides, and beacon towers are built on the tops of the earthen slopes on both sides. The city of Qingshuiyi is tall and solid, and it is easy to defend but difficult to attack. There are 3,000 soldiers guarding the city. If we attack by force, I'm afraid there will be heavy casualties."

Yang Ling frowned and asked, "Then, is there any way for us to seize Qingshui Station?"

The Qingshui Posthouse in Yang Ling's memory was an ancient pass. Due to its special geographical location, it once became the throat passage for the Sui Dynasty to enter Huaiyang, so it was soon transformed into a military stronghold in the late Sui Dynasty. In the late Sui Dynasty, Qingshui Posthouse was regarded by the Sui army as an important security town in the capital, with 500 elite soldiers stationed there. Later, with the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, this pass was abandoned.

In Yang Ling's memory, Qingshui Post was abolished in the early Tang Dynasty. Because the Tang Dynasty was already in jeopardy at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Qingshui Post was reopened in the late Sui Dynasty and expanded to about twice its original size.

But now Qingshui Post is still there, and the Sui army is still stationed there. This shows that the Sui Dynasty still had some precautions at Qingshui Post. Therefore, if you want to capture Qingshui Post, you must first defeat the defenders of Qingshui Post.

"How is the combat effectiveness of the Qingshui Station defenders?" Yang Ling continued to ask.

The personal soldier who reported the news immediately said, "General, the garrison at Qingshui Post is all cavalry, but their equipment is simple and the quality of their war horses is generally poor. According to my humble estimation, the combat effectiveness of the officers and soldiers is not enough to threaten us."

Yang Ling was surprised to hear this conclusion. He did not expect that the garrison of Qingshui Post would even have a miscellaneous breed of warhorse. He turned to Chen Jitang beside him and said, "Old Chen, how long will it take us to capture Qingshui Post?"

Chen Jitang smiled bitterly and said, "General, if we want to take Qingshuiyi, it will probably take at least five days. After all, this is a critical fortress, and the defenders will definitely fight to the death."

Yang Ling nodded. Qingshui Station, as the southern gate of the Grand Canal, was naturally of paramount importance, so there must be a lot of troops stationed there. It would indeed take a long time to capture this sturdy fortress.

After thinking for a while, Yang Ling said, "I have decided to attack the city tomorrow. I will send scouts to explore the way first, and at the same time send a message to Li Chunfang, ordering him to send two troops to ambush our army in the south of Qingshui Station to prevent our army from attacking Qingshui Station."

Yang Ling turned around and told his personal guards, "Go and inform Li Chunfang immediately. I will personally command the attack on Qingshui Station tomorrow. Tell him not to try to intercept our offensive with cavalry alone. I will send cavalry to go around behind them and help them attack Qingshui Station. When the time comes, you only need to set up checkpoints on the east and west sides of Qingshui Station to block the north-south communication of Qingshui Station."

Yang Ling chose to attack the city tomorrow because he was worried that the government would counterattack, or that the defenders of Qingshuiyi would get wind of the situation and flee from the southeast. Because Qingzhoufu is southeast of Qingshuiyi, only by occupying Qingshuiyi can the connection between Qingzhoufu and Qingshuiyi be cut off.

Qingshui Post is about forty miles away from Qingzhou Prefecture. If all goes well, we can attack Qingshui Post today and end the battle before dusk tomorrow.

After Yang Ling arranged the troops, he returned to his residence in the city to rest. The next morning, after breakfast, Yang Ling led 500 iron pagodas to Qingshui Post.

The purpose of Yang Ling's Iron Pagoda operation this time was to prepare for the attack on Qingshuiyi. In order to avoid any more trouble, Yang Ling directly organized the 500 Iron Pagoda into two brigades, each with 500 people. The total force of this operation reached 600 people, which was unprecedented in scale. Yang Ling also went all out.

However, Yang Ling was not worried about any losses to the Iron Pagoda. Don't forget that his Iron Pagoda not only had a full set of armor, swords and shields, spears, bows and arrows, cannons, kerosene and other weapons and equipment, but also five strong horses, each carrying a barrel of gunpowder.

Yang Ling brought Tiefutu to the wilderness south of Qingshui Station and found that the terrain here was relatively flat, with bare stone walls on both sides. The shadow of Qingzhou Prefecture could be vaguely seen in the distance.

Yang Ling asked the soldiers to set up camp here, and then ordered people to set up ladders, catapults and other equipment in preparation for the siege.

While Yang Ling was busy, his deputy general Xu Xun came hurriedly and reported: "General, Li Chunfang sent an urgent report!"

Yang Ling took the urgent report and opened it to scan it.

The dispatch reads:
"General, Li Chunfang led the cavalry to attack Qingshui Post yesterday on your orders. Yesterday evening, Li Chunfang led the cavalry to kill the defenders and beheaded Liu Degui, the commander of the Qingshui Post defenders. He also captured 2,800 enemy soldiers. Please give me your next instructions."

After watching, Yang Ling said with satisfaction: "Well done, Li Chunfang is worthy of being a veteran. He broke the city in such a short time. Great job."

Yang Ling suddenly said solemnly, "Quick, call Li Chunfang over. I have something important to discuss with him."

After a moment, Li Chunfang ran over and knelt at Yang Ling's feet.

Yang Ling handed the urgent report to Li Chunfang and said in a deep voice: "Chunfang, I have just received the battle report of Qingshui Station. The cavalry under your command captured Qingshui Station last night and beheaded hundreds of people. Li Chunfang, you now have 20,000 soldiers and horses under your command, and you are a veteran. How do you think we should attack Qingshui Station?" Li Chunfang was delighted when he heard this. He had been looking forward to Yang Ling to call upon his cavalry. He did not expect Yang Ling to really lend him the cavalry. Although Yang Ling did not give him a specific task, this was also a manifestation of trust.

After a brief thought, Li Chunfang bowed and said, "I am willing to lead the cavalry to attack the city in person!"

Yang Ling nodded with satisfaction: "How is the combat effectiveness of your subordinates?"

"Reporting to the commander, I have more than 2,000 soldiers under my command, most of whom have participated in bandit suppression operations. Among them, two or three hundred have served in the Liaoyang County militia and have some experience. There are also several lieutenants who are backbones selected from the militia and have good combat effectiveness."

"Well, I'll leave Qingshui Station to you to guard."

Li Chunfang was overjoyed when he heard this and said, "Thank you for your trust, Marshal!"

……

The news that Yang Ling's cavalry had captured Qingshui Station immediately flew into the ears of Wang Qing, the general of the Qingshui Station garrison, as if it had wings.

The moment Wang Qing got the news, he was dumbfounded. He then angrily cursed: "You thief scholar, you actually dared to sneak attack my Qingshui Posthouse. This is too much. It is simply unreasonable!"

Wang Qing had originally hoped that Yang Ling's Iron Pagoda would attack Qingshui Station so that he could escape in the chaos, but Yang Ling didn't give him this opportunity at all.

Now I’m stuck in this godforsaken place, and it’s hard to escape.

There were more than 4,000 defenders at Qingshui Post, including about 3,000 cavalry. Except for those responsible for guard and patrol, almost all the rest went into battle. In addition, the family of Liu Degui, the defender of Qingshui Post, who was left behind at Qingshui Post, were all kidnapped. Because they knew that they would not live long, they did not care about the lives and safety of their family members.

Because Qingshui Station is strategically located, Liu Degui spent this period of time building fortresses, chevaux de frise and trenches in Qingshui Station.

When Yang Ling's cavalry arrived at the outskirts of Qingshui Station, the scouts of Qingshui Station had already scouted Yang Ling's Iron Pagoda. Seeing that Yang Ling's Iron Pagoda had only more than 2,000 people, they relaxed their vigilance. Unexpectedly, this cavalry was extremely fierce, easily breaking through the defense of Qingshui Station, and quickly controlling the mountains and forests around Qingshui Station, completely blocking Qingshui Station's retreat.

Although the defenders of Qingshuiyi wanted to hold out, they could not hold out for more than a few days due to the lack of food and fodder. They could not stay in Qingshuiyi any longer and finally decided to abandon it.

With the assistance of Yang Ling's Iron Pagoda and Qinghe County soldiers, Qingshui Post soon fell into Yang Ling's control.

"Your Excellency, Li Chunfang has assembled his troops in Qingshui Station and is awaiting your orders," Xu Xun reported again.

"Well! Pass on my order. Li Chunfang's troops will attack immediately and capture Qingshuiyi. I will let all the chieftains in Qinghe County experience my power!"

"Yes!"

Soon, Yang Ling's cavalry assembled and, led by Li Chunfang, marched towards Qingshui Station in a mighty force.

Qingshuiyi is located at the junction of Qinghe County and Qinghe Township, and its location is very important.

Qingshui Station is located in a high and steep terrain, surrounded by mountains, with only narrow paths for passage. It is not easy to attack Qingshui Station by force.

What's more, Yang Ling's cavalry is not infantry and has no advantage in siege.

But Yang Ling found a way to overcome this problem. He asked Xu Xun to send scouts deep into the dense forest to find farmers in the villages near Qinghe County and ask them to help cut wood.

Yang Ling led his troops to build a temporary wooden bridge on the official road outside Qingshui Posthouse, and then transported the cavalry to the wooden bridge one after another.

Afterwards, Yang Ling ordered the Iron Buddha troops to escort the infantry to the wooden bridge first. The infantry followed Yang Ling's instructions and slowly crossed the river, and then advanced along the wooden bridge towards Qingshui Station.

When the defenders in Qingshui Post saw the infantry approaching, they immediately organized archers to shoot arrows to stop them. However, this did not pose a threat to Yang Ling's cavalry, who easily avoided it.

Li Chunfang stood on a high hill to the north of Qingshuiyi, looking at Yang Ling's army advancing slowly along the wooden bridge. He couldn't help but smile excitedly, and thought to himself, "No wonder General Yang asked me to lead his troops to attack Qingshuiyi. It turned out to be a preparation for today! Hehe, I really found a treasure!"

Yang Ling's cavalry stopped about fifty or sixty meters away from Qingshui Post Station, then began to line up in an orderly manner, and raised their shields and spears at Yang Ling's command.

Soon, Yang Ling's cavalry troops formed a battle formation, then marched in a column towards Qingshui Station, with the infantry following behind.

Yang Ling's cavalry troops were getting closer and closer to Qingshui Station, and Wang Qing also felt that the situation was not good.

He quickly ordered the archers to suppress the enemy and sent several scouts towards Qinghe County, hoping to receive reinforcements.

"Shoot the arrows and kill these rebels!" Wang Qing ordered.

As arrows rained down, Yang Ling's cavalry waved their weapons to block them, and then continued to advance, soon reaching a place about thirty or forty meters away from Qingshui Post. Then Yang Ling ordered the archers to stop shooting and ordered the Iron Pagoda to move forward.

Upon seeing this, the defenders of Qingshui Station immediately shot arrows to fight back, but unfortunately there was a huge gap in strength between the two sides. The armor of the Iron Pagoda was too thick, and the bows and crossbows of the Qingshui Station defenders could not hurt them at all. However, after the Iron Pagoda's spears pierced the armor of the defenders, the lethality was amazing, and the Qingshui Station defenders suffered heavy losses.

Seeing the defenders retreating step by step under the charge of the cavalry, Wang Qing was extremely anxious. He suddenly remembered something and turned around and ordered, "Quick, go and capture those women and children, and use them to force Yang Ling to withdraw his troops!"

As soon as Wang Qing finished speaking, a deafening shout rang out from the woods east of Qingshui Station, followed by hundreds of people in mourning clothes, with mourning sticks and paper money flying everywhere, rushing toward the west of Qingshui Station. Apparently, they had heard that Qingshui Station was surrounded by the enemy and were preparing to abandon the city and surrender. (End of this chapter)