Dingxi Village belongs to Qin'an County and is located on the west bank of Wating River, the second largest river in Qinzhou. It is about 40 miles away from Qinchuan County. The terrain of Dingxi Village is somewhat similar to Zhoujiabao, but it is not composed of several hills.
There is only one big mountain, tall and majestic. There are also densely packed cave dwellings carved on the mountain, occupying the entire east and south sides of the mountain. There are enough thousands of families living on the mountain.
Dingxi Village was originally a military village built by the Western Army, where a thousand soldiers and their families were stationed, and there was even a tile village consisting of dozens of shops.
The Western Army had abandoned this military stronghold. In order to avoid the iron hoofs of the Jin soldiers, the people of several surrounding villages moved to Dingxi Village. As a result, more and more people came, and finally there were thousands of households with a population of six to seven thousand people.
.
Unlike Zhoujiapu, Dingxi Village does not have one family deciding their fate. Instead, four large families form a council. Each family sends a respected elder to sit in charge, forming a kind of elder-like structure.
decision-making body of the meeting.
Decide on various large and small matters, mediate conflicts among people, distribute water sources, food supplies, etc.
Dingxi Village has more than 20,000 acres of wheat fields on the west bank of Wating River. These wheat fields feed the residents on the mountain. Armed force is the foundation of the existence of Dingxi Village. Dingxi Village has a defensive army of 800 people, while Qin'an County only has 100 people.
Yu Gongshou is no match for Dingxi Village, so even if Dingxi Village never pays taxes and never obeys the management of Qin'an County, Qin'an County can't do anything against them.
The number of guards, population size and influence make Dingxi Village the third largest fortress in Qinzhou, second only to Zhoujiabao and Anyuan Village.
But it also became a node in Chen Qing's eyes that must be split open with a knife. Unlike Zhou Jiabao's strategy, Chen Qing decided to treat Dingxi Fort with courtesy first and then attack with soldiers.
That afternoon, Chen Qing led two thousand cavalry to Dingxi Village, and the team set up camp opposite Dingxi Village.
Chen Qing carried a thousand small marching tents, each of which could only accommodate two soldiers to sleep. The army dug a trench around the camp. In order to prevent the opponent from attacking with fire, Chen Qing deployed a trench near the camp.
There are more than a hundred scouts, divided into open sentries and secret sentries.
As soon as the camp was built, soldiers came to report, "The magistrate of Qin'an County wants to see you!"
The magistrate of Qin'an County was called Wei Yuan, and the county captain Zhang Qu came with him.
Chen Qing asked the two of them to sit down in his big tent. Chen Qing's big tent was the only normal tent and the command center of the entire army. Of course, small tents could not be used.
Unlike Chengji County, Qin'an County did not have Jin soldiers stationed there, so the county officials did not flee. They regarded themselves as officials of the Song Dynasty and did not recognize themselves as officials of the Jin Kingdom.
"Dingxi Village is just an abomination of four families. They are fighting against the government and have nothing to do with the people. I beg the general to attack the village and show mercy to the people!"
Chen Qing waved his hand and said with a smile: "You may not know that I have captured the Zhou Family Fort. In addition to killing the Zhou family, more than 10,000 other people have been evacuated back to their homes. I also gave them money, food and cloth.
The same goes for the attack on Dingxi Village this time. I won’t attack the people, and the money I get will be given to the county to use it to resettle the villagers and provide relief to the hungry."
Wei Yuan and Zhang Qu were overjoyed and stood up together to salute, "Thank you general for your tolerance!"
Chen Qing asked them to sit down and asked Wei Yuan: "Does Qin'an County organize county residents to farm?"
Wei Yuan nodded, "After receiving the general's order, I also organized thousands of county residents to farm in official fields outside the city. However, our county is not bad. It has always been a major grain-producing county in Qinzhou. It seems that Jin Bing did not realize it."
When we arrived, the amount of grain allocated to us was not large, only half of the grain stored in the official granary, so we hurriedly hid the remaining grain, creating the illusion that the granary was empty."
"In other words, there is no situation in Qin'an where people are digging wild vegetables and catching field mice to make a living outside the city?"
"They didn't show up. Our county has food and porridge relief, so it's not too bad. I heard that the situation in Gangu County and Jichuan County is not very good."
Chen Qing nodded. His next step was to go to Gangu County. Chen Qing glanced at County Lieutenant Zhang Qu and asked with a smile: "Can County Lieutenant Zhang tell me about the situation in Dingxizhai?"
Zhang Qu quickly said: "I am willing to share my worries with the general!"
He thought for a while and said slowly: "Dingxi Village existed at least during Renzong's time. It has always been a military village. I lived in Dingxi Village for five years when I was young. Later, Dingxi Village was abandoned until it was destroyed by nearby villagers in the second year of Jianyan.
It was renovated and villagers began to live in it. Up to now, there are about a thousand households and the population is close to 7,000 people. It is currently controlled by the Guan, Yang, Luo and Huang families, mainly the Guan family. His family is from Dingxi County.
He is a famous merchant, and his family purchased Zhai Ding's armor, so the Guan family has the greatest say in Dingxi Village. Their head is called Guan Pingxu, and he is currently the head of Dingxi Village."
"How to solve the water source on the mountain?" Chen Qing asked again.
"There is a spring on the top of the mountain, and they divert the water into the village."
Chen Qing laughed, "Do they have to kneel down if I cut off the water supply?"
Zhang Qu nodded, "You can say that, but they must have stored water. At least when I was young, the army had regulations that every household must store water. Now I don't know how much they are required to save."
Chen Qing stood up and walked to the tent door, looking at Dingxi Village on the mountain. He could try cutting off the water source.
He turned back to the county magistrate Wei Yuan and said: "There is one more thing. The magistrate Wei is preparing to receive the people. I hope the magistrate can organize manpower as soon as possible!"
........
A cavalryman galloped close to Dingxi Village, raised his divine arm crossbow and shot an arrow at the sentry tower on the mountainside. A letter was stuck on the arrow. The cavalryman turned around and walked away. After a while, a soldier came out of the sentry tower and picked up the
He took up the arrow and ran towards the mountain.
The owner of Dingxi Village is called Guan Pingxu. His family is a businessman and a famous cloth merchant in Dingxi County. He has been a cloth merchant for decades and accumulated a lot of wealth. Like all businessmen, his family turned all this wealth into land.
After the Jingkang Incident, a large number of businessmen took their families and wealth to the south. However, the Guan family's wealth was settled on the land and could not escape. They simply took their people to Dingxi Village and took advantage of the war to buy a large number of soldiers at low prices.
First.
The Guan family's financial resources, force and influence have allowed them to occupy the top position in Dingxi Village. The other big families, the Yang family, the Luo family, and the Huang family, can only become the younger brothers of the Guan family.
Guan Pingxu is about fifty years old. Although he is already a landlord, he still maintains the shrewdness, cunning and profit-seeking nature of a businessman.
Two thousand Song troops appeared at the foot of the mountain, which made Guan Pingxu very nervous and quickly invited several elders to come together to discuss matters.
At this time, everyone did not know that Zhoujia Fort had been destroyed, nor did they know that the Song cavalry was just passing by or coming from Chengji County.
"Goose Jiaoda can be greedy!"
Yang Jin, the eldest, spoke first with a bit of a lisp. He was nearly seventy years old, and his mouth was like a cloth bag. He was always leaking when he spoke, but he liked to show off his knowledge.
Guan Pingxu knew that what he said was 'I think we can negotiate', but now was not the time to correct his pronunciation.
He waved his hand and stopped Yang Jin from talking anymore. He said to everyone: "Let me just say a few points. First, we need to know the other party's purpose, why they came and what they want to get; second, how to protect our interests."
No loss; third, what will happen to my soldiers? Fourth, if we surrender, what benefits will we get?"
Guan Pingxu is worthy of being a businessman, and his thinking is very clear. He uses business language to explain what he means, which is just one sentence, "How much is the other party willing to pay? What price can I sell it for?"
Luo Tao, the representative of the Luo family, nodded, "The village leader is right, we can send people to contact them, get a feel for them, and then start negotiations."
"Goose-bang-bang-gang-nine-greed!" Yang Jin was anxious. He was the one who proposed the negotiation first. How could it become the Luo family's idea?
No one understood or cared what he said. Huang Jigu worriedly asked: "What is the basis for our negotiation?"
"army!"
Guan Pingxu said coldly: "We have a thousand village soldiers guarding the heights, but only two thousand people want to capture Dingxi Village?"
At this time, there was a rush of running sounds outside, and a soldier shouted loudly: "For the report to the leader of the village, a letter has been shot up from below."
"Bring it up!"
The soldier walked into the hall and put a letter on the table. Everyone came forward and saw on the cover of the letter: 'The imperial edict is to entrust Qinzhou to establish an envoy, and to control Chen Qing and send it to Xizhaiguan, Yang, Luo and Huang.'
Guan Pingxu picked up the letter, opened it, took out the letter and read it again, his face became very angry.
The three of them asked together: "What is written in the letter?"
Guan Pingxu snorted coldly and said: "He ordered us to go down the mountain and surrender before dark, otherwise he would kill all four of our families!"