There are several huge rafts parked at the Yellow River pier. These are grain ships coming from Xingqing Prefecture. They are then transported from Baochuan County to Deshun Prefecture via camel teams. It only takes five days. However, if they are transported by land from Xingqing Prefecture,
It would take at least ten days to get to Deshun Prefecture, not to mention a long time, and it would have to go over mountains and ridges. The road was difficult and dangerous, and the carrying capacity was not large. The advantage of taking the waterway was obviously much greater.
"Commander, look, that's not a boat!" A young man shouted in surprise when he saw the huge raft for the first time.
All his companions glared at him. The young man realized that he had lost his words and lowered his head in fright.
These dozen strong men on the dock were dressed as Song Army scouts, and the leader was Hu Yanlei, the deputy commander of the scout battalion.
There are three teams under the Qinzhou Army Scout Battalion. The first team is called the Scout Department, also known as field detectives. It is responsible for detecting intelligence during marches and battles and is under the direct control of the commander Zhao Xiaoyi.
The second team is called the City Detective Department, which is responsible for entering the city to detect intelligence, and also includes fixed spies in the city. For example, Wucheng Town Inn is a city detective, and Hu Yanlei is in charge of the city detective.
The third team is called the Shanhai Department. There are currently two teams, one is the Flying Apes team that climbs the city, and the other is the Water Ghost team that moves in the water. Both teams are composed of twenty soldiers each, and more types will be added in the future depending on the situation.
The team led by Hu Yanlei today is a city detective, and came under Chen Qing's order to investigate the food and defense situation in Baochuan County.
Hu Yanlei glanced at his companions and said nothing more. He said to everyone: "It is best to remain silent when entering the reservoir area. Follow me and don't get separated."
Hu Yanlei led everyone to the dock. The dock supervisor recognized him and immediately shouted: "The food has arrived, hurry up and move the food."
Hu Yanlei waved to everyone, and more than a dozen people joined the grain transport team.
"Let me push the cart!"
Hu Yanlei hung the leather bag of the wheelbarrow on his shoulder, pushed five or six bags of grain on the wheelbarrow, and followed the convoy towards the granary.
This was his first time entering the granary. He had entered the material warehouse two days ago and had a general understanding of the situation in the material warehouse. Today they started to contact the most important granary for the first time.
The granary looks huge from the outside. There are four granaries in total, including three grain granaries and one fodder granary.
Hu Yanlei entered the granary and was really shocked. Bags of grain were piled up like a mountain, and more than a dozen people were busy on the top of the grain pile like ants. This was a 30,000-stone granary, and it was already mostly full.
Hu Yanlei unloaded the grain, pushed the cart out of the granary, and ran a few more times. He visited all three granaries. He could no longer contain his excitement and wanted to report to the commander immediately.
Making an excuse, Hu Yanlei slipped back to his residence. He quickly wrote a letter to the eagle and placed it in the letter tube. He took out the letter eagle from the cage, carefully tied the letter tube to his leg, walked to the window and shook the eagle, and the letter came out.
The eagle flew out of the window, soared into the sky, circled twice in the air, and slowly flew towards Ganquan Fort.
...........
Yang Yuanqing led two thousand new soldiers and escorted nearly a thousand carts to Ganquan Fort.
The addition of two thousand fresh troops brought the strength of Chen Qing's Qinzhou Army to seven thousand. Whether it was the Puppet Qi Army or the Xixia Army, as long as the disparity in strength was not tens of thousands, he could compete with them.
"How is the training of the new recruits?" Chen Qingxiao asked.
Yang Yuanqing smiled bitterly and said: "There is no problem with the bow and arrow, and the physical strength is not bad. The fighting training has just begun, and there is still a lack of actual combat experience."
Chen Qing nodded, "We must seize the time to train. I estimate that the actual battle will come soon."
"Controller, most of the materials shipped by me this time are tents and supplies. There is not much food. I am very worried about food."
"Food should be able to solve the problem. Do you know Baochuan County?"
"Baochuan County in Xinhui Prefecture?"
Chen Qing nodded, "It is the closest Yellow River terminal to the Hexi Corridor. The Hexi Corridor has been occupied by Xixia. All kinds of materials shipped out of the Hexi Corridor must be transferred to Baochuan County. In addition, it is only two hundred miles away from Deshun Prefecture.
, much closer than Xingqing Prefecture, I believe there will be food in Baochuan County."
"So the Xixia army tried every possible means to capture Ganquan Fort because Ganquan Fort blocked their main transportation route."
Chen Qing said with a smile: "The blocking is not blocking, but they have to send a large army to protect us every time, otherwise they will only benefit us in vain, and sending a large army to protect us is too costly. This is the helplessness of the Xixia Army."
Just as he was talking, a soldier rushed over and bowed and said: "To report to the commander, the eagle letter from deputy commander Huyan has arrived."
Chen Qing was overjoyed and urged his horse to rush towards the military camp. An eagle mailbox was quietly lying on the table of the Chinese army's tent.
Chen Qing took out the Eagle Letter and looked at it carefully. There was only one sentence on it, 'Fifty thousand dan of grain and three thousand troops. Please contact Lao Yuan Inn in the city.'
Chen Qing nodded. As expected, the food problem could be solved.
...........
Going north from Ganquanbao along the Kushui River, you will see the vast Loess Gobi along the way. This place still belongs to the Loess Plateau area, but precipitation is scarce and green is basically invisible. Without water, there is no population and it is deserted for dozens of miles.
The reason why Ganquan Fort is valuable is that there are more than a dozen large deep-water wells in the city. The water quality is sweet, which solves the problem of drinking water for humans and animals. The population has gathered in Ganquan Fort and the Baishui River in the east.
It is not far from Ganquan Fort to Baochuan County, about 150 miles away. The road is very flat. Chen Qing led 5,000 cavalry and 1,000 carts to march for a day and a half. On the afternoon of the third day, the team arrived at Baochuan County.
Kuyu Town is ten miles away.
The town is very small, with only a dozen households. Although the houses are in Han Chinese style, they have been occupied by party members. Their main way of making a living is to sell water and dry food to passing travelers and caravans.
The team was stationed in the small town, and Chen Qing sent people to Baochuan County to find Hu Yanlei.
In the evening, Hu Yanlei hurried over. Chen Qing asked a little strangely: "I still expect you to cooperate inside and outside to capture the county town at night. If you come here now, can you still enter the city at night?"
Hu Yanlei said quickly: "Qi Zongzhi, there are basically no troops in the city now, only two hundred people guarding the warehouse. This morning, something happened at the Yantian. It is said that the Han slaves were unwilling to be humiliated and were preparing to revolt. Three thousand Xixia troops rushed there
The suppression was on, but they happened to be outside the city."
Chen Qing cheered up, it was really a good opportunity.
He immediately said to Zheng Ping: "You lead a thousand brothers to follow Hu Yanlei into the city and seize the city and warehouses. I will lead the army to deal with the Xixia army!"
Although Zheng Ping was a little unwilling, the military order could not be violated, so he had to agree and led a thousand soldiers and a thousand carts to Baochuan County. Chen Qing led four thousand elite cavalry to leave Kuyu Town and fight to the west of Yanze.
.
The four thousand cavalrymen ran for more than twenty miles. Under the setting sun, they saw an army a few miles ahead. There were about three thousand people, including cavalry and infantry. They were escorting more than a thousand slaves. The slaves had their hands tied behind their backs.
A team of ten people stumbled along under the escort of the army.
At this time, the opposing army also discovered them and immediately blew the horn, "Woo--" The horn sound was rapid and alarming.
Four thousand Song Army cavalry launched into action, waving their spears and sabers, like a raging black tide, rushing and roaring towards the enemy.
The yellow dust stirred up by the horse's hooves filled the sky, as if a sandstorm was sweeping in, and the sky turned black.
The 3,000 Xixia Army was also a capture force. The general was called Li Muyuan. He had heard the sound of horse hooves for a long time, but he never thought it was the Song Army. The Song Army had almost no cavalry and would not come here. The Song Army was all in the south.
Woolen cloth!
He thought it was the Xixia army or the Jin soldiers, but he suddenly saw the opponent's flag clearly, and was shocked, and hurriedly ordered the army to assemble in formation.
More than a thousand bound Han slaves ran wildly to the west, away from the battlefield. The Xixia army could not care about them. The Song army's cavalry was so powerful that they were about to kill them.
The soldiers of the Xixia Army quickly formed their formation, but it was a little too late. Before the formation was completed, the Song Army's cavalry came in overwhelming numbers.
Chen Qing led the five hundred cavalry at the front. He roared, and Fang Tian's painted halberd slashed up and down, knocking off more than a dozen heads. The blood splashed, and the five hundred cavalry rushed into the Xixia people's army like a storm.
In the array.
Immediately afterwards, a large tide of 3,500 cavalry rushed forward and swamped the Xixia army.