Not long after Li Cheng's army entered Haizhou, they encountered a commander and dozens of militia soldiers who fled in panic. They were soldiers who were packing up outside. They luckily escaped the stranglehold of the Western Army and ran all the way to find the main force.
.
Li Cheng was shocked. What he was most worried about had happened. He did not dare to continue marching and ordered to camp in Shuyang County. In fact, the army had no camp and pursued the Song army without carrying tents.
However, Shuyang County was an empty city. All the people in the county were moved to Qushan County. The army entered the county and tens of thousands of troops were able to rest in civilian residences.
The accommodation problem was solved, but food became a big problem again. They pursued the Song army with only a small amount of dry food. Although a large amount of food was seized in the Song army camp, they pursued it with light troops and did not carry any food.
Not only was there a shortage of food, but Li Cheng was also troubled by the situation. There were also more than 20,000 captured Song troops. Seeing that there was not much food, they were taken to Yizhou. Everyone had to run out of food along the way, but Li Cheng let them go.
And a little bit unwilling.
"General, why don't we just kill them..."
Lieutenant General Wang Mian made a beheading gesture with his palm. Li Cheng shook his head and said, "Kill them and our way out will be dead. Chen Qing will not spare our soldiers, they will all die!"
"Why should the general be afraid of that Chen Qing? He has three heads and six arms..."
Before Wang Mian could finish speaking, Li Cheng stared at him fiercely, and Wang Mian shut his mouth angrily, not daring to say anything.
Li Cheng thought for a long time and said to several of his generals: "Send those 20,000 Song troops to the Western Army and let them decide what to do!"
Handing over 20,000 Song troops to the Western Army was, on the one hand, an exchange of favors with Chen Qing, who would release his own troops in the future, and on the other hand, it was also a way to sow discord between Chen Qing and the imperial court, which could be said to kill two birds with one stone.
.......
As the sky gradually dawned, the Western Army took control of the entire Qushan County. To Liu Qiong's surprise, the harvest was huge, not only the money, food, supplies and tents of one hundred thousand Song troops, but also a large amount of food supplies from the Jin soldiers. The Song and Jin soldiers
Like two people leaving the house, they ran away one after the other, but the property and materials in the house were cheap for the old Wang next door.
The copper coins alone were no less than one million guan, which were the salaries of the Song and Jin soldiers. They were captured by the Jin soldiers, but fell into the pockets of the Western army.
There are also more than a million dan of grain, more than 500,000 tons of fodder and black beans for horses, as well as weapons, armor, crossbows, missing arrows, battering rams, bed crossbows, tents, flags, war drums, military blankets, and pig iron.
, sheepskins, medicines, camp timber and countless other supplies, as well as 10,000 war horses.
Of course, these grains and supplies must be transported to Donghai Island. As a transit center, Donghai Island also needs these grains and supplies.
In the afternoon, several scouts came galloping on horseback to report, "Inform the commander-in-chief that a Song army of about 20,000 people has arrived from 20 miles away. They were escorted by Jin soldiers and said to be handed over to us."
Liu Qiong and Tang Qian looked at each other, and Tang Qian smiled and said: "This must be a Song soldier who was captured by the Jin soldiers. As a result, the mantis stalks the cicada, and the oriole stalks behind. Li Cheng's lair was also lost, and Li Cheng had no way to deal with it."
These Song soldiers handed them over to us."
Next to him, Tang Huai asked: "Could it be a fraud? The Jin soldiers disguised themselves as soldiers of the Song Army. They are all Han people anyway, and they were deliberately sent to defraud the city!"
Liu Qiong shook his head and said: "It's unlikely. The main reason is that the risk is too great. Once discovered, the entire army of 20,000 people will be destroyed."
Tang Qian smiled and said: "I will lead three thousand brothers to take over!"
Liu Qiong nodded, "We just happened to have captured the war horses. We rode to pick them up and identify them clearly."
Tang Qian led three thousand cavalry to leave the county and ran west along the official road. Not long after, he saw a large number of Song army prisoners of war coming from a distance. Tang Qian ordered one of his men to go and contact them.
Not long after, the leader of the Jin soldiers came over on horseback. He was Li Cheng's confidant general, appointed as the commander, and his name was He Qing.
He Qing stepped forward and clasped his fists and said: "These are the 20,000 Song troops we captured. My family couldn't bear to kill them, and we were afraid that letting them go would harm the people, so we decided to hand them over to your army. I hope you can handle them properly."
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Tang Qian nodded, "Besides that, do you have any other requests? For example, we can release your family records in Qushan County."
"Thank you, General. Our family records are not in Qushan County. If it is convenient, please give us several thousand dan of food."
Tang Qian immediately agreed and sent people back to inform Liu Qiong. He carefully identified the prisoners of war and confirmed that they were all Song soldiers, and then took them over and sent them to Qushan County.
Not long after, more than a hundred carts came back loaded with five thousand shi of grain. He Qing led the soldiers to take over the grain and return to Shuyang County.
Early the next morning, the Song army began to transfer personnel and materials to Donghai Island. At the same time, Liu Qiong sent people to quickly send the battle report to Bianliang.
.......
Fuli County is the administrative seat of Suzhou and is also the largest city in Suzhou. Two years ago, it had a maximum population of more than 100,000. Since then, it has suffered successive Yellow River bursts and wars. The population of Fuli County has dropped sharply. Now it has
Less than thirty thousand people.
After Li Cheng's army drove the Song army across the Huaihe River, he left three thousand troops to garrison in Fuli County, and there were also three thousand troops to garrison in Xuyi County in Sizhou.
There is an inn not far from Xicheng Gate in Fuli County, called Rongji Inn. It covers a large area, but is also relatively old. There are several businessmen living in the inn, and the leading businessman is Yu Shouzhong, the commander of the Western Army.
Yu Shouzhong was originally the deputy intelligence chief of Datong Prefecture and Luoyang City. He made great contributions in the capture of Datong City and Luoyang City. He was promoted to scout commander by Chen Qing. This time, he led 300 men to sneak into Fuli County and Xuyi County in advance.
Yu Shouzhong and several of his subordinates lived in the inn, while the other 150 subordinates lived in nearby residences. Their movements were marked by the red lanterns hanging out of the inn.
Today is the third day of the retreat of Li Cheng's army. In a small utility room on the top floor of the inn, Yu Shouzhong watched the movements of the city gate a hundred steps away. They were relaying observations of the patterns of the west city gate. They had already made a lot of gains and mastered it.
The changing time of the west city gate and the changes in the number of defenders on the city head.
At this time, footsteps were heard from the stairs below, and a subordinate came up and asked with a smile: "Have you gained anything today, Commander?"
“Good harvest!”
Yu Shouzhong smiled and said: "I found that they are starting to be lazy. The number of people patrolling the city today is only half of yesterday's. It is estimated that there will be fewer at night."
"Let me do it! Liang Cheng is back and brings good news."
Yu Shouzhong perked up, quickly changed positions with his men, and walked down the stairs.
Liang Cheng is Yu Shouzhong's subordinate. He went out of the city early this morning to contact the Western Army. He got good news and got in touch.
Yu Shouzhong came to his room. Liang Cheng, who was as thin as a monkey, clasped his fists and said with a smile: "I met General Li Qiong in my humble position!"
"where are they?"
"Near Xinguo Town, twenty miles away from the county seat, there were 10,000 people who just arrived last night. Another army was led by General Pan to Xuyi County. I gave the contact information to General Pan."
Yu Shouzhong nodded and asked, "What action does Li Qiong plan to take?"
"He said he would take action tonight. At the third watch, he would attack the west gate. He hoped that the general would cooperate with the outside and hold three fires in front of the tower as a signal."
Yu Shouzhong calculated the time. It was now afternoon, and there was only one hour before dark. He immediately said to Liang Cheng, "Go and inform the brothers. They will gather at the inn as soon as it gets dark and come in through the back door."
Liang Cheng went to take the order, and Yu Shouzhong walked to the corner of the house, struggled to lift the floor and put it aside, revealing a large dark pit. Underneath was actually a cellar, which was used by the innkeeper to hide food. Yu Shouzhong took advantage of it.
stand up.
He lit an oil lamp and took the oil lamp down the ladder to the cellar. The light illuminated the cellar, which was filled with a large number of armors, spears, swords and crossbows.