Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 809 The Reaction of Yinzhou City
Xiao Dage's face became more gloomy, and he was even so angry that his heart ached.This is more troublesome than filling it with stones and sand.It is not difficult to dig the filled wells, but it is impossible to reuse the polluted wells, and even the connected water veins will be polluted.Judging from the current situation, it is impossible to find a clean water source within ten miles.There is a river ten miles away, but it takes some effort to go back and forth.And if there are fewer people going to the river to fetch water, they may be attacked by some special brigade and rebels, and if there are too many people, they will disperse their forces.

When Yinzhou City was attacked a few days ago, in the surrounding villages, the villagers just filled up the wells with earth and stones, which is also written in Ye Chen's "Command Book for the Enemy in the Vast Sea of ​​the People", written in black and white Promise, how many wells are filled, the government will help to drill as many wells after the Liao thieves are driven out.

At that time, Xiao Dage and Shi Fatty were just lamenting the richness of Xiangfu Kingdom, "Don't even send someone to dig it yourself. It's a lot to pay ten silver coins for a glance at the well, and it's only 10 taels of silver at most. Compared with a victory." What can it count as?The imperial court of Xiangfu Kingdom can afford it! That's what Shi Fatty said at the time, but neither of them paid much attention to it. Although they had no money, but they had tens of thousands of strong men, it wouldn't take too much time to dig the filled well together.

"Ye Chen, the emperor of the Xiangfu Kingdom, is indeed an extraordinary man. Just a handbook has brought countless troubles to our army. Food, grass, and baggage have been looted and burned, and harassment along the way has increased the difficulty of hunting grass and valleys by more than ten times. Chen’s guide book for fishing.” Xiao Dage gritted his teeth and hated.

"No, is that all Ye Chen's means?" Xiao Dage and Shi Fat didn't even dare to say.Ye Chen used himself as a bait because of his majestic emperor status. His plan and method would be so simple?
"Your Majesty, what should we do?" Several generals had already gathered together. There was no water to quench their thirst, and everyone looked angry. "There is no need to drink this water, but it can kill you."

"It's okay for people to say that there is still some water in most of the water bags, so it's no problem to endure it for a day or two. But horses can't, that's not a camel."

"What should we do?" Xiao Dage said angrily, "Where is the water, where is the food, we will go there!"

"But that's not close..."

"No matter how far you go, drink water first!"

But even if they retreated for water and food, it was impossible to abandon the villages and towns outside the city that they had already controlled. A team had to be placed under the city, otherwise their morale would be ruined before the battle started.

Shi Fat took a deep breath, looked around, and said, "Think about it differently, everyone. Since Ye Chen has made so many preparations, he has even used the dirty methods of polluting well water outside the city. It can be seen that it is to delay From this we can see that Hekou County must be empty, and the number of troops should be less than [-] as we found out. The more Ye Chen wants to delay, the more time we have to attack the city."

Xiao Dage lifted his spirits, and said solemnly: "Mr. Shi is right. It is true that we must attack the city as soon as possible. There is no longer any delay."

The generals understood and felt that Shi Fatty's words were reasonable, so they all nodded.

Xiao Dage suddenly said decisively: "We will attack the city tonight."

"Night attack? Your Majesty, this is not easy!"

Several generals shook their heads, it was very difficult to attack a city during the day, let alone at night.

"It's even more difficult for the defenders of Hekou County! And they didn't expect that we would attack the city at night." Xiao Dage glanced at the soldiers under his command. Under his majesty, no one dared to object, and Shi Fatty also wanted to speak. And stop.

"Take the horse away first and eat it, and the people stay." Xiao Dage said, people can endure hunger and thirst, but horses can't, and horses are not very effective in attacking the city.Leaving by water and grass can even give the defenders of Hekou County an illusion.

"Not only will the city be attacked tonight, but the city will also be broken!" Xiao Dage's tone became more determined.

...

...

Huang Dongqiu, deputy head of the Xuanwu Legion, strode up to the top of the city with one step and two steps.

Xu Ke, the magistrate of Yinzhou, held up the hem of his official robe, and followed closely behind him, but his strength was insufficient. When he stepped on the last step, he was already wheezing and wheezing. As soon as the masonry slipped, the person fell backwards with his arms raised in the air, and just as the scream was about to come out, his back was firmly supported.

Once he regained his footing, Xu Kegang, who almost fell back from the top of the city, looked back with lingering fear. An officer in his 30s was reaching out to support him.

"Brigade Commander Wang, thank you very much." Xu Kegang nodded to the officer and thanked him aloud.

"I don't dare to be an official, I just stretched out my hand." Brigadier Wang's tone was flat, and he was not excited about selling a favor from Master Zhizhou, because he knew that civil servants in Xiangfu Kingdom are no more important than Song and Liao. Appointment and dismissal cannot be intervened at all, and the civil and military systems are clearly separated.

When Brigadier Wang saw that Xu Kegang was standing still, he withdrew his hand and looked past Xu Kegang to Huang Dongqiu's back who was already standing behind the battlements.In the past few days, he has carefully studied His Majesty's "Instructions for Trapping the Enemy in the Vast Sea of ​​the People". Always hesitated to disagree.

Xu Ke just got the reminder, so he turned around and headed towards Huang Dongqiu, Brigadier Wang also followed.

Coming to Huang Dongqiu's side, looking out while leaning on the battlements of the city wall, an obvious fact appeared in front of Xu Kegang, Huang Dongqiu and Brigadier Wang.

The hustle and bustle of the previous few days was gone outside the city of Yinzhou. Although the activities of Khitan cavalry could still be seen, the number had decreased significantly.

Even if they split up and went to the countryside to fight grass valleys, there were no less than ten thousand Liao troops outside the city. They were still flying with flags and banners, and there were like a sea of ​​troops.But now, like a harvested wheat field, it has become sparse.

"The Liao soldiers are really retreating." Tsui Hark, who was still panting, straightened up suddenly, and was so surprised that he forgot to close his open mouth. Unexpectedly, it was not a false alarm.

It's just that Xu Kegang's joy was not passed on to his companions. Huang Dongqiu couldn't see any joy on his face, and squinted towards a place outside the city, his voice was still low: "I didn't go clean."

Outside a few city gates, there are still a large number of Khitan cavalry staring at them. It can be said that Yinzhou City is still under surveillance. With the number of troops in the city, it is still difficult not to pay a big price during the day. Break through such blockades.

Brigadier Wang said at the right time: "The officer has carefully looked at them these days, and there are at most 6000 to [-] people."

"Anyway, it's too much less." Xu Kegang said with a smile, the besieging army is less, it is less, as the governor of Yinzhou, as long as Yinzhou City does not fall, he will make a great contribution this time.

Huang Dongqiu still had a sullen face and furrowed brows, he was full of thoughts. He looked around, and the faces of the officers and soldiers around him were all relieved, exactly the same as Xu Kegang. He sighed softly, after all, few people can think more.

In Huang Dongqiu's eyes, Xu Kegang's governance in Yinzhou Prefecture can actually be regarded as an upper-middle level, but when the Liao army came, he exposed his shortcomings of not being good at dealing with military affairs. He made many mistakes and was unable to calm people's hearts. Now I don't see why the Liao people left.

Huang Dongqiu sighed, and said: "The Liao bandits are going to Hekou County, but Your Majesty is in Hekou County."

"What?" Xu Kegang's expression suddenly changed, and he froze for a moment.

Huang Dongqiu looked out of the city: "The Liao thieves are moving in the southwest direction. If they were only attacking Caogu, they would not dispatch so many people, and they would not concentrate in one direction. For the Liao thieves in Yinzhou, there is no one other than His Majesty. Nothing is more important than Yinzhou City."

Xu Kegang finally came to his senses, looking at Huang Dongqiu with a pale face.It was as if he had fallen from heaven to hell.With his intelligence, he should have been able to see it a long time ago, but the departure of the main force of the Liao army seemed to have removed a boulder that weighed on his heart. After relaxing, there was only ecstasy left
Now that I came back to my senses, my mind was working again, and I finally realized that the situation has not improved, and it is even more sinister. Since the Liao people must have left for His Majesty, if something happens to His Majesty, the entire Xiangfu Kingdom may fall apart in an instant, not to mention Yinzhou City is gone.

"Your Majesty Xu, don't worry too much." Huang Dongqiu's eyes shone with light as firm as steel, "This is His Majesty's intention to lure them away."

"Why do you say that?" Xu Kegang asked quickly.

Huang Dongqiu smiled: "With your majesty's wisdom and martial arts, how can you make yourself a mortal enemy?"

With clues, Huang Dongqiu could almost confirm that the reason why the Liao people abandoned Yinzhou was that His Majesty the Emperor used himself as a bait to forcefully attract the Liao army.

Xu Kegang's mood calmed down a bit, but another sentence from Huang Dongqiu made him feel uncomfortable again: "But your Majesty uses himself as a bait, let's not talk about wars, and no one can say whether there will be accidents. Besides, Afterwards, we drove away the Liao thieves. You and I sat in the city of Yinzhou and watched His Majesty use himself as a bait, and remained indifferent, even if His Majesty would not blame you and me. However, the two prime ministers on the left and right, the general How will Lord Li of the Procuratorate, Lord Hu of the Ministry of Security, Lord Lian, the commander of the secret guards, and the three empresses in the palace, and even the more than 400 million people in our Xiangfu Kingdom think of us and say what they will say about us."

Xu Ke's face that had just calmed down turned pale again. As a civil servant, he knew and valued the consequences of being denounced by thousands, spurned by all people, hated by hundreds of officials, notorious, and even stinking for thousands of years, which is worse than death.

However, Xu Kegang was able to become the magistrate of Yinzhou, and there was still some Xinzhichengfu. Besides, since he had figured out the key points, it was still too late to remedy it.

What's more, in front of a group of warriors, he didn't want to lose face too much as a civil servant.

"Deputy Army Commander, my subordinates are willing to take a battalion of officers and soldiers out of the city and go to Hekou County to rescue him." Brigadier Wang said at the right time.

Huang Dongqiu shook his head and said, "You stay and defend the city, and I will take 1000 people out of the city to fight guerrillas near Hekou County."

Brigadier Wang looked unwilling, but under Huang Dongqiu's gaze, he could only obey orders.

(End of this chapter)