Qinzhou borders Gongzhou to the west, Fengzhou to the south, Longzhou to the east, Deshun Prefecture and Pingliang Prefecture to the north, and a corner extends out to border Huizhou. Most of the prefectures and counties here were occupied by the Song army, except for
The Dude Shun Prefecture and Hui Prefecture were invaded by the Xixia, but currently they have not yet established a firm foothold and have maintained a state of peace for the time being.
There are a total of eight counties in Qinzhou, Chengji County, Qingshui County, Yefang County, Longcheng County, Qin'an County, Jichuan County, Gangu County and the northernmost Xining County close to Huizhou.
After initially solving the imminent food problem, on the morning of the third day, Chen Qing led 500 cavalrymen to inspect Chigu Town, thirty miles south of Chengji County.
Chigu Town is a big town, the only place to go to Fengzhou. It has convenient transportation and developed commerce since ancient times. Chen Qing came to Chigu Town to inspect it, of course he was not interested in drinking. To the east of Chigu Town is the famous Zhoujiapu in Qinzhou
, known as the largest fort in Qinzhou.
The fort system in the northwest has a long history. It was mainly built to deal with the invasion of the Xixia army. Once the Xixia army invaded, the county closed its gates and the people in the countryside took refuge in various forts.
In addition, the archery societies in the northwest states are very active, basically forming a situation where all the people are soldiers. As long as the men are proficient in using bows and arrows, each fort can be defended by hundreds of archers or as many as a thousand archers. The effect is so obvious that
At the peak of Qinzhou, there were more than 300 fortresses of various sizes, sheltering more than 200,000 people.
When the Jin soldiers came to kill, the forts also played a very good role. Only Chengji County in the entire Qinzhou was invaded by the Jin soldiers. The Jin soldiers could hardly attack the forts, and of course they were not willing to spend the money to attack the forts. In general,
The people of Qinzhou suffered little loss.
But everything has advantages and disadvantages. Everyone can see the advantages of the fort, but the disadvantages of the fort have also begun to appear, that is, independence, no taxes, and disobedience to government management. Each fort has a meeting hall, and the person who controls the fort has
The heads of several clans of Xiangbing were in charge of the forts. In fact, each fort formed an independent kingdom.
So much so that the county government offices in Chengji County have been abandoned for several years without any impact. These fortresses are like black holes, constantly absorbing the population. At present, the population controlled by the eight county governments in Qinzhou is less than 30% of the entire state's population.
The rest of the population hid in forts. Each fort was like a small town, with all kinds of shops inside.
Chigu Town has become very depressed now. The original town of thousands of people now has less than a hundred people left, mostly old and weak. Of the hundreds of shops, only one foot shop is still open and a few tea sheds.
Pedestrians coming and going replenished food, tea and water.
The reason why it is in ruins is that there is a Zhoujia Fort next to it. Zhoujia Fort is one of the three major forts in Qinzhou. The other two are Anyuan Village in Gangu County and Dingxi Village in Qin'an County.
Zhoujia Fort was originally called Chigu Fort, but it is now controlled by the Zhou family, a powerful family in Qinzhou, and was renamed Zhoujia Fort. There are tens of thousands of people in the fort, most of whom are villagers from Chengji County, young and strong men.
There are two thousand people, all of whom can shoot bows and arrows. Among them, the five hundred children of the Zhou family are the most famous. They are very brave and good at fighting, and their bows and crossbows are very powerful.
The only time the Jin soldiers attacked Zhoujia Fort occurred here. In the third year of Jianyan's reign, a thousand Jin soldiers attacked Zhoujia Fort. They fought fiercely for two days. In the end, the Jin soldiers suffered more than 300 casualties and failed to capture Zhoujia Fort. The cost was too high.
At that time, Wanyan Wulu, the commander of the Western Route Army, had to give up the idea of attacking the fortress.
Chen Qing became the envoy of Qinzhou. The biggest challenge he faced was not the Jin soldiers and the Xixia army, but the fortress.
Forts can exist, but they must obey government management and must pay taxes. The archers in the forts must obey their own dispatch and must come for training on schedule. The leaders of each fort must also be appointed by themselves. He, Chen Qing, is the master of Qinzhou.
Chen Qing has heard of Zhoujiabao for a long time. Yue Fei's master, Zhou Tong, the chief instructor of the 800,000-strong Imperial Army archery class in Tokyo, came from Zhoujiabao.
In addition, the mysterious banker who gambled on arrows at Fengle Tower was said to have come from Zhoujiabao. Zhoujiabao has always been famous for its bows and arrows.
Of course, Chen Qing just came here for inspection today to see what Zhoujia Fort looks like.
The guide pointed to a large mountain in the distance and said: "That is the Zhoujia Fort. It is divided into the front fort and the back fort. It is home to more than 1,700 families with a population of tens of thousands."
Chen Qing couldn't believe that there were tens of thousands of people living in a large mountain. When he stepped forward to take a closer look, he probably understood.
In fact, it is not a big mountain, but consists of seven or eight mountains. The mountain is steep and has only one entrance. Of course, other mountains can also be climbed, but without war horses, it is meaningless to the Xixia army and the Jin soldiers.
There are no trees on a large mountain in the front, which is filled with densely packed cave dwellings. Three fort walls were built with stones, forming three steep defensive walls. Each fort wall is fifty or sixty steps apart. If the first fort wall is blocked by
If it is breached, the army will quickly retreat behind the second fort wall. Even if all three fort walls are breached, the soldiers can retreat to the mountain behind.
The cost of capturing this fortress was indeed too high. No wonder the Jin soldiers were unwilling to attack.
"What do the people above make a living on?" Chen Qing asked.
The guide pointed to the endless wheat fields at the foot of the mountain and said: "These wheat fields belong to them. During the wheat harvest in the fourth year of Jianyan, the Jin soldiers came to burn the wheat. They were ambushed and killed more than a hundred people. After that, the Jin soldiers never came again."
"
Chen Qing asked Yang Zaixing and Liu Cuixiao who accompanied him: "Why do you think the fortress has always existed?"
Yang Zaixing did not understand, but Liu Cui sneered and said: "My father told me that it was because the battle of Fuping, the battle of Monk Yuan and the battle of Dashanguan attracted the main force of the Jin army, and Wanyan Wushu had no time to take care of it.
On the border, the few hundred Jin soldiers stationed in each state are too small to be able to do anything to them."
Chen Qing nodded, "Your father is right. Several battles have restrained the main force of the Jin soldiers. As a result, although the Jin soldiers occupied Xihe Road, they did not have the energy or time to digest it.
This is also the main reason why the Jin soldiers gave up Xihe Road and Shaanxi Road, and let Qi and Xixia digest Shaanxi Road and Xihe Road. After the Qi and Xixia people have cleared all these forts, the Jin soldiers will come back."
Speaking of this, Chen Qing whipped his horse and said, "Go to the foot of the mountain and have a look!"
Chen Qing led five hundred cavalrymen and ran along a country road to the foot of the mountain. At the foot of the mountain was a small river with wheat fields on both sides of the river. Many farmers were farming. When they spotted their arrival from a distance, the farmers immediately blew their horns.
‘Woo——’
Then the horns on the mountain continued to sound, and the drums sounded like thunder.
All the farmers ran away, which made Chen Qing secretly annoyed. It was clear that his army was flying the banner of the Song Dynasty, but these farmers actually didn't recognize it.
Not long after, Chen Qing led his troops across the small bridge and arrived at the foot of the mountain. They looked up and saw the first defensive wall. The first defensive wall was built halfway up the mountain, about three hundred meters above the ground.
step.
There is a winding road that can accommodate large vehicles and winds up the mountain.
At this time, Chen Qing saw a dense mass of soldiers standing behind the first defensive wall. There were more than a thousand people, each wearing hats on their heads and leather armors, with bows and arrows in their hands, ready for battle.
"Wave the military flag of the Song Dynasty!"
A soldier waved the Tuanlong flag of the Song Dynasty toward the mountain, but there was no response from the mountain.
At this moment, hundreds of arrows suddenly shot out from the mountain towards the Song army at the foot of the mountain.
"It's the God's Arm Crossbow!"
Chen Qing recognized the arrow and immediately ordered: "Retreat immediately!"
The Song army's cavalry retreated quickly, and their position was within the range of the divine arm crossbow.
However, the arrow did not fall on his head. The distance was shortened, and more than a hundred crossbow arrows fell in front of them.
Chen Qing's face became very ugly. Of course he understood what the other party meant. The other party already knew that he was the Song Army, but he was warning them not to interfere with the Zhou Family Fort.
When had Chen Qing been so cowardly? He turned around and asked, "Do we have the God Arm Crossbow?"
"have!"
Several knights and cavalrymen holding divine arm crossbows rushed forward.
Chen Qing took a divine arm crossbow, unstrung the string with both arms, placed a crossbow arrow, and took a few steps back.
The soldiers retreated one after another. Chen Qing raised his crossbow and aimed at the flagpole on the defensive wall. There was a big flag flying on it with the word "zhou" written on it.
"What did you see in this fortress?" Chen Qing asked Yang Zaixing behind him.
"Arrogance!" Yang Zaixing returned calmly.
"Yes! Arrogant."
The hanging knife was pulled, and with a 'click!' sound, a crossbow arrow was shot out powerfully. It could not penetrate the enemy's armor at three hundred steps, but it could break the rope. The big flag on the flagpole suddenly fell off, and was blown away by the wind.
Float away.
The defense wall suddenly rang with exclamations of exclamation from the castle guards. Even Zhou Jiabao, who had strong archery skills, had never seen such extraordinary archery skills before.
The Song Army cavalry also burst into enthusiastic applause and cheers.
Chen Qing put down the divine arm crossbow and coldly ordered: "Go back to the city!"
