Alubu and his deputy Wanyan Digunai divided their forces into two groups. Alubu led a main force of 14,000 to attack Guide Mansion, while Wanyan Digunai led 6,000 cavalry from Xiao County to Xuzhou, which is west
The Yellow River Navy Army was stationed there, so Digunai also had another mission to destroy the Western Army's Yellow River warships.
Arubu led an army of 14,000 people across the ice of the Yellow River at night and headed straight for Chuqiu County. Arubu gave an order, and the 4,000 cavalrymen transformed into forty cavalry squads and ran in all directions with torches in hand.
Their target is various villages scattered in the yellow flood zone.
Arupuze led 10,000 cavalrymen to the gate of Chuqiu County. The 10,000 cavalrymen held torches and formed a sea of fire. They threw torches one after another onto the city. In a moment, the towers burst into flames.
Two hundred soldiers hugged the bumper and rushed towards the city gate. "Dong——" there was a deep muffled sound, and the city gate shook violently.
"Come again!" the captain shouted, and the wood hit the city gate again.
The city gate was slammed open, and two thousand cavalry who had been waiting for a long time rushed into the city...
The result was unexpected to Arubu. Chuqiu County turned out to be an empty city. There was no one in every household, and there was no one in the government. The official warehouses were empty, and the grain cabinets in the people's homes were also empty.
Alubu's face was as gloomy as water. It was obvious that the other party had been prepared and knew that they were coming.
Alubu also secretly complained about Du Marshal Wanyan Wushu, why didn't he send spies to find out first? He also knew in his heart that if there was no food and livestock, what would his soldiers eat?
Although they also brought some dry food, the quantity was too small and could only last two or three days.
At this time, the soldiers came to report, "Marshal, brothers have captured several old men."
"Bring it up!"
After a while, the Jurchen soldiers grabbed three old men. The three old men knelt on the ground, trembling with fear.
"General, spare your life! General, spare your life!"
Arupu lowered his head and gritted his teeth and said: "You guys, please tell me honestly. If I don't kill you, when did the county evacuate?"
"The evacuation started half a month ago. The last group of people evacuated five days ago, including several county officials and archers. We couldn't move and didn't want to leave, so we stayed."
"Where did they retreat to?" Arubu asked again.
"Reporting to the general, some people evacuated to Kaifeng Prefecture and some to Songcheng County."
Alupu nodded and asked, "What about the countryside?"
"The countryside began to evacuate very early."
Alubu yelled, pulled out his knife, and chopped off an old man's head with one blow. The other two were so frightened that they kowtowed like garlic. The furious Alubu slashed them one by one, and chopped them all to death.
"Search for me! Search thoroughly and dig out the food buried in the ground."
Ten thousand soldiers began to search the city, and they did find some food buried underground that the people could not take away, but the amount was very small, less than a hundred stones. They killed more than a hundred wild dogs, and continued to dig three feet into the ground, but still found nothing.
They were busy until the middle of the night, when the exhausted soldiers finally fell asleep...
At the fourth watch, a cavalry team of 100 people rushed into Dezhuang. Thirteen households in Dezhuang were empty. All that could be taken away were taken away, except for some tattered furniture that could not be taken away.
The Jurchen soldiers rushed into Ruan De's home, rummaged through the boxes and cabinets, but found nothing. However, they unexpectedly found more than a dozen jars of fruit wine in the cellar. Hundreds of soldiers were overjoyed. They found bowls of wine and drank heavily. It was freezing cold, so they drank a few bowls of wine to keep warm.
The body is what matters.
Everyone drank up more than a dozen jars of wine, feeling drunk, and each went to find a place to sleep.
"poisonous!"
A Jurchen soldier suddenly shouted and fell down in the yard, holding his stomach and rolling on the ground. Blood flowed out of his seven orifices, and he stopped moving for a moment.
Hundreds of soldiers fell to the ground with poison, including some drunken horses. At dawn, all the hundreds of Jurchen soldiers who looted Dezhuang died of poison.
At the same time, teams that went to various places to loot villages returned to Chuqiu County one after another, and the news they brought was not good. All the villages were deserted, all the food and livestock were taken away, and the four thousand people almost got nothing.
"Bang!" Arubu slammed the table and said with anger on his face: "How did you die?"
"They were all bleeding from their orifices and their faces turned black. They must have died of poisoning."
Another trembling soldier said: "We found several jars of unfinished wine and brought them back for poison testing."
At this time, the military doctor came over and said: "Marshal Qi, what they brought back was poisonous wine. It must have been laced with a lot of arsenic. The poison was very strong. Several wild dogs drank it and died on the spot."
Arubu had no choice but to order: "The whole army packed up, burned the county seat and set off!"
They found a hundred shi of grain last night, which was only enough for the soldiers to have a breakfast. The pigs, sheep, women, and property they had expected were all gone. The 14,000 Jurchen soldiers were all in a low mood. They burned Chuqiu County and continued to attack
Heading towards Songcheng County.
Arubu hoped to capture Songcheng County, loot a lot, and then drive away the people and livestock and return to Licheng County with a large amount of property.
.........
In fact, shortly after the 20,000 Jurchen cavalry set off from Licheng, the Western Army intelligence scouts in Licheng County sent a pigeon message to Songcheng County.
Songcheng County Guard General Hu Yanlei immediately ordered the walls to be fortified and the fields to be cleared. All the people outside the city were brought into the city. All food and supplies were not left behind and were brought into the city.
Songcheng County, also known as Nanjing Yingtianfu in the Northern Song Dynasty, is the third largest city on Henan Road, second only to Bianliang in Tokyo and Luoyang in Xijing. It had a population of nearly one million at its peak, a city perimeter of nearly 40 miles, tall and strong city walls, and a wide moat.
, easy to defend but difficult to attack.
If it were during the Northern Song Dynasty, even an army of 200,000 might not be able to capture Songcheng County. Unfortunately, two huge disasters also brought disaster to Songcheng County.
The first was a military disaster. The Jin soldiers captured Bianliang and kidnapped the two emperors. The officials and people of Songcheng County fled. Hundreds of thousands of people fled to the south of the Yangtze River, including Chen Qing's wife Lu Xiu and her family, who fled to Jiankang Prefecture at that time.
The second time was in the second year of Jianyan, when the Jin soldiers attacked Yingtian Mansion. In order to stop the Jin soldiers, Du Chong, the commander-in-chief of the Song army, ordered the digging of the Yellow River embankment. The Yellow River floods swept southward, and Songcheng County was also hit by the floods. The floods rushed in
Inside the city, the people of the whole county fled to the top of the city.
At that time, tens of thousands of people were killed by floods in Songcheng County. Then epidemics and famine broke out. The population of Songcheng County dropped sharply again. Today, there are less than 150,000 people left in the big city of nearly one million.
The city wall was also seriously damaged by floods. Although it was later repaired, its defensive function has been greatly reduced. Let's put it this way! In the northeastern section of the city wall, a large battering ram can directly punch a large hole in the city wall.
However, during this period, more than 100,000 people from various counties retreated to Songcheng County, causing the population of Songcheng County to increase again to 300,000 people, and almost all the abandoned houses were once again filled with people.
There are 15,000 defenders in the city, led by Commander Hu Yanlei. Hu Yanlei is nearly forty years old. He has been following Chen Qing for ten years. He was originally a general in Huyan Mansion and became the commander of the Western Army today.
, was awarded the title of Marquis of Wuyang County, Hu Yanlei also had many military exploits. This time, under the order of Yang Zaixing, the commander of the capital, he led an army of 15,000 to sit in Songcheng County.
"General, look!"
On top of the city, soldiers pointed to the northeast and shouted.
Hu Yanlei looked into the distance and saw black smoke billowing in the northeast. There was only one place there, Chuqiu County, which was seventy miles away from Songcheng County. Black smoke could be seen seventy miles away, indicating that Songcheng County
The whole county was burned.
At this moment, a gunpowder arrow shot into the sky ten miles away and exploded in the air. Immediately afterwards, nine gunpowder arrows flew into the sky and exploded in the air.
This means that the enemy's main force has already reached ten miles away, and it has arrived too quickly.
Hu Yanlei immediately shouted: "Send the whole army to the city!"
"Dang! Dang! Dang!"
The alarm bell rang, and the Western soldiers under the city rushed to the top of the city.