The Song soldiers on the city wall hesitated a little, and relaxed their bowstrings slightly, but they did not put down their bows and arrows. They received orders, and there were a group of Jurchen spies under the city.
At this time, the commander-in-chief Zhang Zhongyan appeared on the top of the city. He sneered and said: "If I guessed correctly, you must be Chen Qing of the Eight-Character Army!"
"I am Chen Qing, who are you?"
Zhang Zhongyan was overjoyed. Sure enough, it was Chen Qing who was being hunted with a reward. He rolled his eyes and said hypocritically: "I am Zhang Zhongyan, the commander of the Huanqing Army. I suspect that you are spies of the Jin Army, trying to sneak into the city to ambush you!"
"That's nonsense. We are an upright Eight-Character Army. When did the Jin soldiers surrender?"
"If you are not spies, then put down your weapons and accept our careful interrogation!"
If you take Chen Qing's head, you can only be promoted to two ranks, but if you offer a prisoner to Wanyan Zongbi, you can be promoted to three ranks. Of course, Zhang Zhongyan wanted to capture Chen Qing alive.
Although Zhang Zhongyan's plan was good, he overlooked one thing: he probably didn't know Chen Qing, which made Chen Qing suspicious.
Chen Qing suddenly remembered the heavy reward he saw at the entrance of a small village yesterday. Wanyan Zongbi should have found the appointment letter from the leather bag of his horse.
As soon as his mind changed, he understood immediately.
Chen Qing sneered, "General Zhang wants to capture me alive and promote me to the third level!"
When Zhang Zhongyan's old story was revealed, he couldn't help but became angry and cursed: "Asshole, I'll give you one last chance. If you don't drink the toast, I will kill you!"
Chen Qing pulled back the skirt of his clothes, exposed his chest, and shouted loudly: "Brothers, in order to cover the evacuation of the main force, we, a thousand Song Erlangs, fought to the death with 10,000 Jurchen cavalry, killed countless enemies, and broke through from the 10,000-horse army.
Hundreds more Jurchen Rangers were killed, leaving only these fifty of the thousand brothers left. If you want to betray your ancestors and betray your country for glory, I will help you, and you can take your life!"
Fifty soldiers also put down their weapons, tore off their shirts, exposed their scarred chests, raised their heads and shouted: "Come and kill! We, the great Song Erlang, will never frown."
Zhao Xiaoyi raised the battle flag, and the eight-character army flag riddled with holes appeared in the air, with the eight characters "Serve the country with all my heart and swear to kill the golden thieves" written in blood.
The surrounding Song soldiers were all moved. They finally learned the truth and put down their bows and arrows.
Zhang Zhongyan was furious, "Wang Ping, Lu Shaowu, Zhang Qun, do you dare to disobey my military order? Give me the order to fire arrows!"
Several generals remained silent. Without their orders, the soldiers would not fire arrows.
Zhang Zhongyan had no choice but to turn around and order more than 20 soldiers around him, "Go and get the crossbow quickly!"
The soldiers rushed towards the small stone house on the city wall where the military crossbows were stored. At this moment, a large group of soldiers rushed up the corridor and rushed up to the city. Lieutenant General Li Hua led more than a hundred soldiers and arrived. They instantly surrounded Zhang Zhongyan's soldiers.
Zhang Zhongyan was shocked. Wasn't Li Hua under house arrest by him?
He pointed at Li Hua and stammered: "You...why did you come out?"
Li Hua sneered and said: "Zhang Zhongyan, do you think all soldiers will betray their country and seek glory like you?"
Zhang Zhongyan was a little panicked and shouted to the soldiers around him, "Whoever shoots Chen Qing will be promoted to the third rank and rewarded with three thousand guan!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a general behind him shouted: "I'm here to receive this reward!"
A cold light flashed, and the general raised his sword and cut off Zhang Zhongyan's neck from behind.
……….
At the same moment when Zhang Zhongyan was beheaded, an army of two thousand men was rushing towards Chunhua County.
The dress of this army is a bit strange. They are not Jurchens or Khitans. Their faces are all Han. They also wear the black patent leather armor of the Song Army, but their helmets are the bronze helmets of the Liao Army in the past, and the military flag is also a white dragon on a black background.
flag.
The white dragon flag on a black background revealed the details of this army. They were the army of the Qi State that had just been established, and they were also the army of Liu Yu and the puppet Qi State in history.
The Jurchen cavalry that attacked Guanzhong only had more than 30,000 troops, so the Jin Dynasty Emperor Wanyan Sheng ordered Liu Yu to send troops to support them.
Liu Yu did not dare to disobey the order and immediately sent his brother Liu Yi to lead an army of 50,000 into Shaanxi. However, they arrived too late and the Battle of Fuping had already ended, which really made Wanyan Lou's family dissatisfied.
This puppet Qi army of 2,000 people was sent by Wanyan Loushi to Chunhua County to accept the surrender of Zhang Zhongyan's army.
The general's name was Wang Shijie. He was armed with an iron spear, skilled in bow and horse, and highly skilled in martial arts. He was less than five miles away from Chunhua County. Shijie ordered the army to rest on the spot and sent a Yuhou to Chunhua County to contact him first.
The struggle in Chunhua County has ended. Zhang Zhongyan and his thirty-seven followers were all killed. Deputy Commander Li Hua took charge of Zhang Zhongyan's army and appointed Chen Qing and Commander Yao Ling as his left and right deputy generals.
Chen Qing was originally unwilling to accept Li Hua's appointment, but he couldn't shirk it again and again, so he had to reluctantly accept it.
On top of the city, Chen Qing was thinking about where to go next. Li Hua wanted to take Jingyuan Road to Pingliang Mansion to defect to Liu Qi, the governor of the capital, but Chen Qing didn't want to go. After his men's injuries were treated, he still had to take everyone to the big city.
Sanguan and the main force of the Eight-Character Army converged.
"General Chen! General Chen!"
A soldier called out twice, and Chen Qing realized that he was calling him.
"What's the matter?"
"Commander Li, please come over. It's urgent!"
Chen Qing followed the soldiers to the south city head quickly. Li Hua stepped forward and whispered: "An army is coming from the south. It is Liu Yu's army. Wanyan Lou's family sent them to accept the surrender. The envoy is already at the bottom of the city.
"
Chen Qing looked down at the city and saw three sergeants standing under the city. The leader was a section-level officer looking up at the city.
"Commander Li wants to annihilate this army?"
Li Hua nodded. If the Jurchen cavalry came to accept the surrender, he might not have the courage, but the opponent was the puppet Qi army and there were only two thousand people, so he had an idea.
Chen Qing smiled slightly and said, "Then use trickery."
"But Zhang Zhongyan is dead!"
"But they don't know Zhang Zhongyan!"
Li Hua slapped himself hard on the forehead. He was really confused.
"I have an idea, let's arrange it!"
They have both heads, a thick beard exactly like Zhang Zhongyan's, and similar builds. They look very similar if their eyebrows are slightly trimmed thicker.
.........
The city gate slowly opened, and 'Zhang Zhongyan' led the generals to welcome him out. He cupped his fists and said with a smile: "I am the commander Zhang Zhongyan. May I ask what is the name of this general?"
"In Xialu Xinzheng, the Qi army is under the command of Marquis Yu. On the orders of my general, I came to contact you about the surrender!"
"Who is your general?"
"Commander Wang Shijie has come to accept surrender on the order of Marshal Wanyan!"
"Marquis Lu Yu, please come into the city and have a detailed discussion!"
"please!"
The crowd invited Lu Yuhou into the county seat like a star holding the moon...
After drinking a few glasses of wine in the city and collecting dozens of taels of silver, Lu Yuhou's attitude became much better.
He left the city in less than half an hour. He told Zhang Zhongyan: "You should pay attention to the points I mentioned. First, you must change the flag. You can temporarily fly the white flag, but you can no longer fly the Song flag; second, the soldiers' left arms must be tied with
Put on white gauze; thirdly, prepare the barracks and wine and meat, slaughter more pigs and sheep, prepare more wine, and find more than a hundred women. We have traveled a long way from Bianjing and we really need to rest."
"Don't worry! I will arrange these."
After walking out of the city gate, Marquis Lu Yu thought of something again, "By the way, when the army arrives, let the brothers put down their weapons and assemble outside the city. We will reorganize together when the time comes."
"I know, I won't make any mistakes!"
Marquis Lu Yu left with his men, and Li Hua summoned several generals to discuss, "Let's talk about what to do next?"
The soldier Yao Ling said: "I have a plan. I'll pick a thousand strong men in the city and let them pretend to be surrendered soldiers and gather outside the city. We happen to have extra armor. Then the brothers will ambush above Wengcheng and wait for the enemy troops to enter the city. Our Wengcheng
It’s quite big, and it’s just the right size to kill a turtle in the jar!”
Several generals applauded, "What a plan!"
Seeing that Chen Qing was deep in thought and silent, Li Hua asked, "What does General Chen mean?"
"I think this plan is good, but it has loopholes!"
Yao Ling raised his eyebrows and said with a dissatisfied look: "What loopholes will there be?"
"A thousand civilians must be honest and obedient, and don't make any mistakes, and don't let the enemy see it. Ten people are okay, a hundred people are enough, but a thousand people...does General Yao think it's achievable?"
They are not soldiers, they are civilians. Some are afraid of being massacred, some want to find opportunities to sneak home, and some want to take advantage of the chaos to escape. If there is chaos, the secret will definitely be exposed."
Everyone nodded silently. It was unreliable for an untrained civilian to pretend to be a soldier. A general with a little experience could tell it was a fake at a glance.
Seeing that everyone did not support him, Yao Ling was secretly annoyed and snorted coldly, "I would like to hear General Chen's opinion!"
Chen Qing said calmly: "The more complex any strategy is, the easier it is to reveal its flaws. Simplicity is the way to go!"
Yao Ling pouted, "That's easy to say, so how do you think we can lure them into the city?"
Li Xiu smiled faintly and said, "Take advantage of the weaknesses of human nature!"
