Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Among the four famous towns in Xi County, Guochuan Town and Xiegu Town have declined rapidly since Ju Ming launched his army.

Not only were merchants cut off, but the town also lost its economic vitality.

Moreover, the magistrate renovated the pass city and forcibly recruited nearby people to serve as soldiers. All the young men in the town were recruited to guard the pass.

The general guarding the gate in Guochuan Town was named Zhe. When he met the Zhe family's army who had escaped, he immediately abandoned Guancheng and ran away together.

There were even many defeated troops of various clans, all of which were gathered together along the way, and could not escape even on one single road in the mountain. The defeated soldiers didn't have much food in their hands, so they joined in when they encountered a large army, just to get a piece of food.

Arriving at Xieyuguan in a blink of an eye, the guard called Zhong Shizhong.

There are two tasks in the seed division. One is to send, receive and transport the grain and grass for the entire army. If the grain and grass are not available, the seed division will come forward to ask for it; the other is to ensure the security of the rear of the entire army and prevent bandits from coming from other places and destroy the army. They were blocked in Baoxie Road.

Xieyuguan is also called Xieyuguan, and Guancheng has developed into a commercial market town, also known as Xieyuguan.

In the north and south of Xiegu Town, there are large houses and a lot of cultivated land.

The south side of Xiegu Town, like Baogukou, was first built with dams and irrigation canals, and became a reservoir in New China.

Even the terrain is similar, with a river in the middle and cliffs and plank roads on both sides.

If Ju Ming leads his troops to kill normally and the government defends with heavy troops, he will face the same problem as the way of cultivating teachers - this way is unavailable and he can only fly over!

"Xianggong Zhong's army was defeated, Xianggong Zhong's army was defeated..."

Zhong Shizhong stopped his soldiers from talking nonsense and hurriedly boarded Guancheng to check the situation.

But on the plank roads on both sides of the strait, a large number of Western troops were rushing back, and all the flags they displayed were "folded" flags.

Where is the Zhong family army?

The Zhong division was inexplicably horrified. All the people coming back in front of them were the Zhe family army. Could it be that the Zhong family army had been completely wiped out?

He did not dare to open the city gate easily, so he prepared to lower the basket with a rope and hang up a few soldiers to ask questions. Finally, when I took a look at the pass, I saw a bunch of generals named Zhe.

The facial recognition is successful and there is no need to check the identity.

Groups of soldiers entered Xiegu Pass, and the commander quickly asked: "What happened?"

Zhe Keqiu said angrily: "The mouth of Baogu is a dangerous place, even more dangerous than the mouth of Xiegu. It is the rainy season in Hanzhong, and the water in Bao has surged, making it difficult to sail. But the supervisors kept urging, and Zhong Jinglue could only send the soldiers to die. Thieves and bandits Hundreds of artillery carriages were deployed on both sides of the lower reaches. Many of the Western Army's boats were capsized by the waves, and the soldiers abandoned their weapons and came to the shore to beg for surrender."

The Zhong masters were even more puzzled: "How come your Zhe family army suffered little loss, but my Zhong family army is nowhere to be seen?"

"There are also some Zhongjia troops in our army," Zhe Keqiu continued. "Those captured Western troops were released by the bandits, and the morale of the entire army was low. At that time, the Zhejia troops were stationed on the east side of Bao Valley, and there was no trail. can approach. However, the Zhongjia army was stationed on the west side of the Bao Valley. The bandits made a surprise attack from the Shahe River, a tributary of Baoshui River. All the Zhongjia troops on the south bank of the Shahe River fled. The bandits took advantage of the victory to pursue them again, and the Zhongjia army was completely annihilated. Because the bandits navy intercepted, The Zhejia army cannot cross the river to rescue."

After listening to this narration, Master Zhong felt his eyes go dark, and he became unsteady and almost fell down.

Not only were the Zhong Family Army gone, but none of his brothers, nephews, and grandchildren seemed to have escaped.

Master Zhong calmed down and asked, "Why did so many soldiers escape but none of the Zhong family generals were seen?"

Zhe Keqiu said: "I don't know very well, but the terrain there is complicated, and the passage to the north of the Zhong Family Army's camp is narrow. If the whole army flees, not many people can stand on the passage, and they will push each other and fall into the Baoshui River."

Zhong Shizhong ordered the soldiers to be summoned, and the Zhong family soldiers who had escaped were called in for questioning.

Those soldiers talked to each other. Although their opinions were varied, the basic situation was consistent with Zhe Keqiu.

"Demolish the plank road!"

The planting masters ignored their grief and immediately ordered the plank road to be demolished, and at the same time sent someone to Fengxiang to report the news.

…

Feng Xiang.

Gao Qiu was writing a letter, urging all armies to quickly achieve victory.

The current military rations are very tight. The new wheat from the north is almost exhausted. Next, it will have to rely on the new rice from the south that has been transported thousands of miles to support it. The rice from the south must not only supply Tong Guan's army, but also transport grain to Kaifeng, and finally the remaining rice must be sent to Shaanxi.

Baoxie Road and Tangluo Road were blocked by bandits and soldiers, and the situation on Chencang Road was even worse. The plank road has not yet been repaired!

The plank road on Chencang Road is also called Lianyun Plank Road, with a total length of 470 miles.

The thieves seemed to have little confidence in winning, so they simply demolished all the plank roads north of Yuguan and in the area occupied by the thieves. They even used lime and clay to cover the stack holes. When the Western Army repaired the plank road, they had to have the stonemasons dig out the stack holes first.

Chencang Taoist General Yao Gu lost his temper due to this move and sent people to build the plank road every day.

The commander-in-chief of the Western Army has become the contractor for the infrastructure construction of the Song Dynasty.

The sound of hurried footsteps came, and the soldiers led the messenger in: "Captain Gao, the entire Zhong family army has been wiped out, and the Zhe family army has fled back to Xiegu Pass."

"What?"

Gao Qiu stood up in confusion, with a look of disbelief on his face.

The messenger said: "The supervisors kept urging the battle, and also said that Zhong Jing was slightly suspected of colluding with the bandits. Zhong Jinglue did not wait for the water to become shallow, so he sent troops to attack by boat. After the defeat, his morale was completely lost. The camp was attacked by bandits again. , as a result, the entire army was wiped out. Zhedu was blocked by the bandit navy, and it was difficult to cross the river for rescue, so he was chased and killed by the bandits and fled back."

"This Li Xun is really a bastard!" Gao Qiu yelled at the supervisors. He could have urged the battle, but he complained that the supervisors were pushing too hard.

Li Xun, the eunuch and supervisor of the army, was Liang Shicheng's confidant.

Ever since he came to Fengxiang Mansion, he didn't even take Gao Qiu seriously.

Gao Qiu inquired about the situation carefully, called brothers Liu Xi and Liu Qi, and after telling them, he asked, "How should we deal with it now?"

Liu Xi replied: "Although there are only 2,000 Zhongjia troops and 3,000 Xi County soldiers at Xieguguan Pass guarded by the Zhong Division, we can bring back 20,000 remnant troops and we can protect Xieggu Pass. The terrain there is It’s so dangerous, if the thieves come after us, we might be able to take the opportunity to kill them!”

There were more than 17,000 Zhe family troops left without any losses, and more than 3,000 family troops were gathered. The strength had already exceeded 20,000.

Liu Qi said: "More than 20,000 soldiers are defending Xieguguan. The force is more than sufficient. It would be cumbersome to send more troops to rescue. You can send a force to Xi County and wait for news. If the bandits are defeated, the soldiers of Xi County will immediately go south to fight with them. Zhe Keqiu and Zhong Shi will go to Hanzhong together. If the Western Army is unstable, the soldiers stationed in Yi County can also come to rescue."

"This method is wonderful!"

Gao Qiu thought it made sense, so he said to Liu Qi: "I will give you three thousand soldiers and horses, and immediately move to Xi County to garrison."

"My nephew, I shall die!" Liu Qi accepted the order.

…

But he said that when Zhu Ming came to Xiegu, he used Guochuan Town as a military depot and a food depot, and rested for two days to restore the energy of the soldiers.

At the same time, people were sent to the north to inquire and soon learned that the plank road at Xiegukou had been demolished.

Ju Ming was not discouraged, but ordered: "Keep the promise, release all the prisoners except the generals, and give them three measures of food each."

When tens of thousands of prisoners of war received their rations, they were immediately grateful and left happily.

Zhu Ming led his troops to follow him from a distance, walking north slowly.

Those prisoners of war had already seen Xiegu Pass, and suddenly found that the plank road was cut off, and they all verbally attacked the mother-in-law.

"The Zhong family army is back." Zhe Keqiu said.

The teacher felt incredible: "These soldiers are endless on the plank road. I'm afraid there are thousands of them. Do the red thieves really dare to let them all back?"

Zhe Keqiu said: "Baogukou has been released once."

The seed master said: "Maybe there are spies mixed in."

It doesn't matter whether you ask for it or not: "Those are your own decisions, Your Excellency Zhong Jiajun."

How else can a farmer decide?

Let's put it back. We are afraid that there will be spies and bandits will follow and kill us. Then there will be chaos and Xiegu Pass will probably disappear.

If you don't let them go, they are all Zhong family soldiers, and they are all children of his hometown.

The breeder is so hard-hearted that he grits his teeth and pretends not to see it.

But the officers under his command kept coming to plead for mercy. Everyone had relatives going south, maybe among the prisoners.

The cultivator's eyes were red, and he said to the officers: "My brothers, nephews, and grandchildren have all gone to suppress the thieves. Do I feel better? For the current plan, we must defend Xiegu Pass and not let go." Bandits are sweeping across Shaanxi!"

The officers retreated in silence. Although they agreed with Zhong Shizhong's statement, they were still aggrieved in their hearts.

Seeing that Xieguguan didn't respond, Ju Ming ordered again: "Give the prisoners axes, saws, hammers and planes."

There were also craftsmen among the prisoners, and they quickly received a complete set of equipment.

The number of axes was the largest, hundreds of them, and the prisoners took turns retreating to the gentle mountains to chop down trees.

In order to return home, the prisoners worked day and night, and just wanted to repair the demolished plank road as soon as possible.

Each person has three measures of grain, which is nearly forty kilograms.

Let them take this little food. Ju Ming sent more military rations and let the prisoners make their own meals in the valley.

The prisoners were so moved that they almost cried. General Zhu was so benevolent that he continued to provide food.

One by one, they worked even harder to build the plank roads, rotating the work 24 hours a day.

The plank road is getting closer and closer, and it has entered the bow and arrow range of the guards.

To cum or not?

If you use the bed crossbow or the divine arm bow, you can shoot it in the past few days, but it has been difficult for the cultivators to make up their mind.

They were all soldiers from the Zhong family, where could he kill them?

Zhong Shizhong ran to find Zhe Keqiu and said, "Your Excellency is the deputy general of the middle road, so it is up to you to guard the pass."

Zhe Keqiu said, "There are troops from the Zhong family on the opposite side. The Zhong family has done a great favor to the Zhe family. I can't be ungrateful. I only kill bandits and bandits, not my own people."

Zhongshi suddenly woke up and began to suspect that Zhe Keqiu had colluded with Zhu Thief.

Even if there is no collusion, I'm afraid I don't want to offend Zhu Thief.

The soldiers in the army suddenly feel cold in their chests. They have few soldiers, but they can ask for more soldiers. What if the Zhe family army suddenly rebels?

The teacher stood at a loss, Zhe Keqiu left silently.

The prisoners repaired a few more meters of plank road, and the master ordered with tears in his eyes: "Fire arrows over there!"

The soldiers of the Zhong Family Army raised their bows and arrows, but by chance, they all missed.

The cultivator was furious: "Didn't you even eat?"

An officer replied: "I haven't shot arrows for a long time, and my hands are very weak."

The more than 3,000 kinds of family troops brought back by Zhe Keqiu have already established a relationship with the Zhong family army at Xiegu Pass.

By the way, I brought the news that the thieves would not kill the prisoners, and what the thieves asked the prisoners to recite. Although the content is very long, I can remember the basic meaning, which is nothing more than two points: the emperor and corrupt officials are too bad, and General Zhu rebels for the people; Sichuan does not collect excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and the soldiers and people there are living very well.

"Aim and shoot!" Zhong Shizhong yelled.

The officer pretended to draw his bow fully.

An arrow flew out and shot even more crookedly.

Opposite are all brothers from my own family, even if they are not relatives, they are fellow villagers.

The cultivator looked at the archers, and the archers looked at him.

They looked at each other speechlessly.

Zhong Shizhong inspected the military camp and found that the soldiers were packing their belongings.

I went to inspect the Zhejia Army again, but I couldn't get in at all and was stopped outside.

The prisoners were still working overtime, working by torch at night, and no one could stop them from going home.