Although the Jin soldiers were elite spies, the Song army was also very brave and powerful. In addition, the number of soldiers was nearly three times that of the opponent, so they had the upper hand as soon as they fought.
In less than a quarter of an hour of fighting between the two sides, five of the thirteen Jin soldiers were killed, and three of the Song soldiers were killed. Seeing that the situation was not good, the Jurchen chief shouted, "Retreat!"
The Jin soldiers spies desperately fought their way out of a tight siege, but Song troops shot down three more horses. Three Jurchen soldiers fell off their horses. Zhao Xiaoyi shouted: "The first team captures them alive, the other brothers follow me!"
He led twenty cavalry in hot pursuit of five enemy troops.
Less than two miles away, several tripping ropes suddenly appeared among the dead leaves on the ground. The Jurchen cavalry who were running could not dodge and tripped over the ropes. Ten Song army scouts who were ambushing on both sides came out and killed them with one arrow.
The leader immediately besieged and killed three other people, and finally tied up an injured spy who was pinned down by a war horse.
Not long after, Zhao Xiaoyi led his army in pursuit. Unexpectedly, the last five spies had been eliminated. Zhao Xiaoyi was overjoyed. Against the fierce and fierce Jurchen spies, they only killed three of them, which was a miracle.
...........
In the evening, Zhao Xiaoyi put a detailed confession on Chen Qing's desk. Chen Qing looked at it and said with a smile, "He is actually a Khitan?"
Zhao Xiaoyi said with a wry smile: "I always thought they were Jurchens, but when I finally asked, I found out that this spy was actually a Khitan. No wonder they are not as fierce as the Jurchen cavalry."
Yang Yuanqing looked at the interrogation report and said: "It said that the Jin Kingdom built a large camp at Xigukou with 50,000 troops, mainly Jurchens and Khitans. Should we send someone to investigate the specific situation?"
Chen Qing pondered for a moment and said: "Some people were grazing in the West Valley before. I suspect that they were not herdsmen, but spies of the Jin Bing. The Jin Bing already knew the various terrains here very well, and the Jin Bing had also built a large camp to explore. Then they
What are we going to explore now?”
Yang Yuanqing blurted out: "It must be to explore our specific situation, such as our number of troops, equipment, and even our combat capabilities, etc."
"Then do you think the fire last night was accidental or intentional?"
Zhao Xiaoyi understood immediately, "The commander meant that they deliberately set off the fire to lure us into arrest? But the soldiers said that they accidentally lit the fire."
"Ordinary soldiers will not know the truth. It's a pity that Shi Chang didn't catch it."
Yang Yuanqing asked in confusion: "If it is intentional seduction, what is the intention?"
"The intention is to capture our soldiers. It would be good to capture one or two scouts. If not, they will tell us some information and lure our scouts to go to their camp to investigate the situation. How many troops they have is of significance to us.
It’s not big, but how many troops we have means a lot to them.”
Zhao Xiaoyi was deeply admired by the commander's reasoning. He bowed and said: "I understand, I will never let a scout be caught by the enemy!"
...........
The West Valley is about a hundred miles long. Wanyan Wushu learned the lessons from last year and began to layout the Western Army early. He built a large camp at the westernmost end a few months ago.
The main camp consists of the barracks and the sheep and horse camp. The sheep and horse camp is the main source of food and supplies for the Jin soldiers, with hundreds of thousands of sheep and tens of thousands of war horses herding.
For several months, the Jin soldiers have been increasing their troops in the Western Camp. The current strength has reached 50,000, including 20,000 Jurchen troops, 20,000 Khitan troops and 10,000 Xie soldiers.
The Xie Cong Army was the surrendered Han army, and there were not many of them in the Western Camp.
These Han armies are also divided into two types. One type has stronger combat effectiveness and can assist the Jin soldiers in fighting. It is called the auxiliary army and has higher pay.
The other kind can only do rough work such as logistics and transportation. They belong to the lowest level of the army, called servants. Their conditions are extremely poor and their treatment is very bad. In fact, the Jin Bing does not count them as an army.
The number of servants was huge. This time when Wanyan Wushu launched the southern expedition, he mobilized 100,000 servants for the transportation of food and various materials.
The atmosphere in the West Camp was tense. The coach Wanyan Wushu personally inspected the West Camp. The commander of the West Army was Wanyan Wushu's confidant Wanyan Alubu, who was appointed as the left commander of Shaanxi Road. Wanyan Wushu, who failed to attack Jianjun Pass last year,
Yan Wulu was demoted to the Northwest Division and went to fight with the grassland herdsmen.
Wanyan Wushu stood on a high place on horseback, looking at the valley mouth in the distance and asked: "How much do you know about the situation in the West Valley?"
Wanyan Alubu quickly bowed and said: "Reporting to Your Highness, I have sent spies many times to understand the situation in the West Valley. I have a thorough grasp of the topography of the West Valley, but the two Song armies stationed in the West Valley still lack some information."
Wanyan Wushu was startled, "What do you mean by lacking some information?"
"You just don't know the important information about their military strength, equipment, and their tight defense. It's difficult to capture prisoners of war?"
"Who are the leaders of the two Song armies?"
"The commander-in-chief of the Song Army in the West Camp is Liu Ziyu, the former general manager of the Song Army's Xining Road. There is a newcomer in the East Camp named Chen Qing."
"What's it called?" Wanyan Wushu's eyes widened.
"My name is Chen Qing, and he is the newly promoted commander of the Song Army."
Wanyan Alubu had just been transferred from Zhongjing to Shaanxi Road and didn't know much about what happened last year.
Wanyan Wushu said coldly for a while: "You still need to know more about the situation, otherwise you will suffer a big loss. This Chen Qing is not a newcomer. Wanyan Lou's head was chopped off by him. Your predecessor Wanyan Wu
Lu was also demoted because of him. The Wolf Lord offered a reward of 100,000 yuan for his head. The living girl was defeated by his arrows in Lin'an. Last year, I suffered from him and let the Eight-Character Army escape. Do you still think he is?
Newcomer?"
Wanyan Alubu's mouth opened wide, and he said in panic: "It was a humble mistake in my duty, and I didn't understand the enemy's situation in detail!"
Wanyan Wushu turned around and asked, "Where is General Han Chang?"
General Han Chang stepped forward and bowed and saluted, "I am here to serve you!"
"From now on, I appoint you as the deputy commander of the Western Camp to assist General Alubu in capturing the Western Valley and cut off Monk Yuan's retreat route for the Song Army!"
"I humbly obey orders!"
Han Chang participated in the battle to attack Jianjun Pass and knew Chen Qing better. Wanyan Wushu appointed him as deputy capital commander in order to make up for Wanyan Alu's shortcomings.
Wanyan Wushu slowly said to everyone: "Xigu is one of the important fulcrums of this southern expedition. Its success or failure is related to the success or failure of the entire war. The battle of Xigu must take precedence. This time I came to Xigu to inspect, to supervise you.
Let’s start the war, the Battle of West Valley will begin from now on!”
...........
In the afternoon, Wanyan Wushu returned to the main camp under the escort of three thousand cavalry. Once the Western Camp launched an offensive against the Song Army, the main camp's 100,000 troops would soon launch a fierce attack on Monk Yuan.
Wanyan Alu invited Han Chang to come to the big tent and asked: "The war is about to start, but we have no way of knowing the enemy's situation. What can the general do?"
Han Chang smiled slightly and said: "The strength and equipment of the two armies are secrets to us, but I believe they are no secret at Dashan Pass. Many people know that if we cannot detect information from the front, we can also go back to the Dashan Pass.
Go to Sanguan to inquire about news."
"But the Song army has already entered a wartime state, and we can't enter Dashan Pass."
Han Chang thought for a while and said: "You can go through the Xianren Pass. If there are thousands of old and weak refugees at the pass, it is impossible for the Song Army not to let them in. We only need to sneak in two people to have a chance."
Wanyan Alu frowned, "It takes at least ten days to get from Xianren Pass to Dashan Pass. It's still more than walking. Even if we get the information, how can we send it out? The war will start in three days, and we won't have time at all."
Han Chang waved his hand and said calmly: "The old and weak women and children will definitely carry livestock and poultry, and homing pigeons can be among them. After passing Xianren Pass and walking dozens of miles, you will reach Yuguan. There are mules and horses for rent at Yuguan.
Two horses, they went to Dashan Pass not only to get information, but also to spread rumors and bribe some Song troops who wanted to surrender.
As for the strength of the Song army, I am actually more concerned about Chen Qing’s army, and I can roughly guess the number of Liu Ziyu’s troops.”
"How could you guess that?"
"Liu Ziyu withdrew about 10,000 troops from Dashan Pass at the beginning of the year. His second son Liu Zan led 4,000 troops to guard Xianren Pass and Yu Pass. Even if Wu Jie added some troops to Liu Ziyu, his total number of troops should be six
Between a thousand and eight thousand, which is consistent with the area occupied by his current camp, we can concentrate our forces to attack Liu Ziyu first, and at the same time closely monitor Chen Qing's army. As long as he sends troops to assist, we will immediately lay a dragnet for him!"
Wanyan Alu took a few steps to recover his hands, then turned back to Han Chang and said thoughtfully: "If we make a sneak attack on Liu Ziyu's camp, will we succeed?"