Zhang Zhongxiong looked around the city and basically decided to attack the east and south sides. There was no battlefield in the north, and the terrain in the west was uneven, which was not conducive to siege. Only the east and south were relatively wide and flat.
He looked at the banner with the word "Chen" on the top of the city. He felt that there were not many troops on the top of the city, which made him a little suspicious. He had worked hard to prepare to attack the city. Was Chen Qing in the city? Or had he fled back to Dashan Pass?
?
Zhang Zhongxiong was extremely utilitarian, otherwise he would not have betrayed his father and surrendered to Qi in the end.
He had no interest in attacking the Song army at all. He just wanted to capture Chen Qing and get the coveted reward offered by the Emperor of Jin.
If Chen Qing was not in Ganquan Fort, he would not want to waste time here and would withdraw directly to Chengji County, and then divide his troops into various counties to occupy the entire Qinzhou.
At this time, his soldiers pointed at a general at the top of the city and shouted: "Capital, that must be Chen Qing!"
Zhang Zhongxiong also saw that a general wearing a golden helmet and mountain pattern armor appeared on the city wall, standing under the banner of Chen Zi. This man's figure and face were indeed very similar to what he had seen on the Xianyang battlefield.
Chen Qing, the key opponent wears a golden helmet. Who else can wear a golden helmet besides the general Chen Qing?
At this time, the soldiers beside "Chen Qing" shot down a letter with an arrow, which landed not far in front of Zhang Zhongxiong.
A soldier ran forward and gave the letter to Zhang Zhongxiong. Zhang Zhongxiong took the letter and saw on the cover it read, 'The Qinzhou system of the Song Dynasty established an envoy to control Chen Qing, and the puppet Qi general Zhang Zhongxiong was sent.'
Although he rudely called him a fake Qi general, Zhang Zhongxiong was relieved. The bastard on top of the city was obviously Chen Qing. This was an opportunity given to him by God. His wealth and high-ranking officials were not far ahead.
Wait for yourself.
Zhang Zhongxiong's suspicion was gone, and he immediately returned to the camp and ordered the craftsmen to speed up the production of siege ladders. One hundred siege ladders would be built before noon tomorrow.
...........
As night gradually fell, the lights in the puppet Qi army camp were brightly lit. Thousands of soldiers and craftsmen were working overnight to build siege ladders. The second batch of pine wood also arrived. They had four thousand pine wood in their hands, enough for them to build thousands of siege ladders.
For the city ladder, Lieutenant General Liu Hongqing suggested using the extra trees to make a barracks, but Zhang Zhongxiong rejected it. He also wanted to make ten siege vehicles and an observation archery tower.
Zhang Zhongxiong understood in his heart that their siege weapons were relatively crude and their siege ability was relatively weak. They could only rely on quantity to make up for quality. It was a complete waste to use it to build barracks after finally getting some wood. Now all the Song troops have too much to take care of themselves.
, where else would anyone come to help Chen Qing?
At two o'clock, several Song army scouts appeared on a hill south of the camp, and the leader was none other than Zhao Xiaoyi.
Zhao Xiaoyi was rich in experience. He bypassed the Puppet Qi Army's patrol post from the south and climbed to the mountain south of the enemy's camp. The Puppet Qi Army's camp was built on the mountain, but it was not completely close to the mountain and was separated from it.
The advantage of camping like this is that the area to be attacked is greatly reduced to only the north and west. At the same time, there is no fear of the enemy climbing to the top of the mountain and setting fire from a high position.
In fact, the mountain is not very high, less than 100 feet high. The puppet Qi army built a sentry tower on the east and south sides of the top of the mountain. The sentries can stand down and observe the surrounding situation. Even if the enemy climbs up the mountain, they will be discovered by the sentries.
At this time, Zhao Xiaoyi and several of his men were only about thirty steps away from the sentry tower in the south. They were lying low, their bodies blocked by the slope, and the soldiers in the sentry tower could not see them.
Zhao Xiaoyi crawled on the edge of the hillside and looked around. The shape of the entire hill was like a sickle, which happened to surround the crescent-shaped camp. The opponent obviously took the shape of the mountain into consideration when building the camp.
Looking at the foot of the mountain, there is an open space at the foot of the mountain. The trenches of the camp can only be seen a mile to the north. In other words, no matter whether using bows, arrows or trebuchets, rockets and firearms cannot be thrown into the camp.
Zhao Xiaoyi had to admire the opponent's camping experience. Since he used the mountain shape to protect himself, he also did not leave any loopholes.
After observing for half an hour, Zhao Xiaoyi waved back, and several of his men crawled back and slowly left the hill. Of course, they also observed the sentry. The sentry was not big and could only accommodate two or three people at most. They should be on duty in turns.
There is only one soldier standing guard at a time. If anything unusual is found, he will shoot gunpowder arrows directly into the sky.
...........
Zhao Xiaoyi was a scout, and he needed to observe the enemy's situation in advance. At this time, Chen Qing led the army to escort the last batch of grain, grass and supplies on the way to Yelanggou.
Their team consisted of 4,000 cavalry, 1,000 camels loaded with supplies, and 1,500 carts loaded with grain and grass.
On the last day, they searched another 2,000 carts and more than 20,000 livestock from Baochuan City. Zheng Ping promised with all his heart that no livestock would be found in Baochuan City. The party members were going to Xingxiang, hundreds of miles away.
Qingfu reported that you can only go there on foot.
In addition to vehicles and livestock, there are nearly 30,000 Han people from 7,000 families, including tens of thousands of salt slaves and Han people in Baochuan City. They have a humble status and have been enslaved. This time they got a chance to escape from the control of the Party members.
The vast majority of Han people were willing to follow Chen Qing to Qinzhou.
As the Qinzhou envoy, Chen Qing promised to give them land for farming free of charge and exempt them from taxes for five years.
Chen Qing is well aware of the importance of population. From ancient times to the present, population is the source of wealth and the source of soldiers. Only population can create wealth.
Most of the population in Qinzhou and Fengzhou fled to Bashu and needed to be replenished. What's more, these Han people were enslaved by Xixia. It was also the responsibility of the Song army to rescue them back to their homeland.
Chen Qing distributed 10,000 mules and donkeys, tens of thousands of sheep, and hundreds of thousands of sheep skins to these poor Han people. He also gave them 10,000 shi of grain and 20,000 pieces of cloth. He also searched the houses of large Dangxiang people.
The daily necessities and working tools that came were given to them, and each family was given three guans of money, so that these poor Han people finally had a small amount of property.
Under the bright moonlight, 30,000 people carried burdens and led sheep, and mules and donkeys pulled carts. On the carts were placed food, cloth and daily necessities, and there were also old people and children sitting, full of excitement and hope.
Dang followed the Song army, and the team was twenty miles long.
The Song Army cavalry followed on both sides of the team, guarding the people and protecting them from wild wolves.
At the fourth watch, the mighty team entered Yelanggou, which was more than twenty miles deep and three miles wide, with thick loess slopes on both sides.
Wang Hao led five hundred soldiers to guard the grain and supplies that had been transported before. The army made three trips before finally emptying the Baochuan County warehouse.
Chen Qing ordered Zheng Ping to place grain and grass supplies, and Niu Gao to lead his soldiers to appease the people.
Chen Qing is now more concerned about Ganquan Fort, which is thirty miles away. There are 20,000 puppet Qi troops there. How to deal with them is the top priority right now.
They had 5,000 cavalry before, but in the fierce battle with the Baochuan Xixia Army, 500 soldiers were killed, and 300 soldiers were injured and unable to go to the battlefield for the time being. He now only has more than 4,200 cavalry available.
The more than a thousand Song Army prisoners of war who were rescued could be used, but Chen Qing considered letting Niu Gao lead them to protect Yelanggou. After all, there were a large amount of supplies and more than 30,000 people here.
Chen Qing is still waiting for news from Zhao Xiaoyi.
At this time, Niu Gao came to see him. He went into the tent and saluted, and said to Chen Qing: "I have carefully inspected these 1,300 Song army prisoners of war. Most of them can ride horses. At least 800 people can be selected to join the army and control them."
I have five thousand more cavalry at my disposal."
Don't underestimate these 800 people. Once they join, Chen Qing's military strength will return to the order of 5,000. This is a critical numerical level. Once the army reaches 5,000, it can launch a larger-scale battle.
Niu Gao knew this, and so did Chen Qing. He pondered for a moment and said: "The remaining troops are too few, and I'm afraid they can't handle so many grain supplies and people."
Niu Gao smiled slightly and said: "We have a large amount of armor and weapons in our supplies. We can select a few thousand people from the 30,000 people to organize into a militia. I think this is enough to protect ourselves."
This is the Niu Gao who can stand alone in history, not the reckless man in the novel. Chen Qing greatly appreciated it and said to Niu Gao: "I appoint Cheng Ju as deputy commander and will be your subordinate. I will give you another hundred
Brother Elite, I will leave the Wild Wolf Valley to you."
Niu Gao stood up and gave a long salute, "In this humble position, I will definitely live up to the trust of the ruler!"
