Chen Qing went to the top of the city, and a group of commanders such as Wang Lun, Li Muching, Cheng Huan, etc. came to greet him. These twelve commanders and deputy commanders were responsible for leading the 6,000 new troops. They were all newly promoted generals and also followed
Chen Qing's old subordinates for many years participated in the Battle of Jianxiao Pass. They were promoted step by step from escort, deputy commander, and commander to deputy commander and commander. Yang Zaixing, Yang Yuanqing, Liu Cui, and Liu Qiong were promoted to commanders.
, Niu Gao and others will be promoted to deputy commanders.
Of course, they are not the only newly promoted generals, there are also many in the cavalry army, and twelve of them are infantry commanders.
Wang Lun clasped his fists at Chen Qing and said, "Today's report, we have found something troublesome. The soldiers have not been trained in firearms and do not know how to use powder barrels."
Chen Qing took a gunpowder barrel from the soldier's hand and said with a smile: "This should be very simple. There are scales on the match rope. Just throw it down when it reaches the scale. It shouldn't be difficult to master!"
Li Muqing said: "The scale has reached the bottom. We are worried that the soldiers have not been trained and are nervous. If they throw it down before it reaches the scale, the barrel will break, the gunpowder will not explode, and the secret will even be obtained by the enemy."
,very possible."
Chen Qing also admitted that the generals' worries were not unnecessary. The barrels were indeed easily broken. In order to ensure that the gunpowder barrels exploded before they hit the ground, they trained a professional firearms battalion of soldiers, with a total of 300 people, some of whom stayed in Baling County.
, some are on warships, but there are none here in Jiangling County.
Letting these untrained soldiers use gunpowder will indeed cause big problems. Don't be afraid if you throw it too early, but you will be afraid of throwing it too late. The gunpowder barrel will explode on the top of the city, and the thousands of poisonous nails that will burst out of it will cause big trouble.
.
"Forget it, send the gunpowder barrels to the lower city and seal them up. Use all the kerosene barrels and kerosene balls!"
"Du Tong, please keep a little less! Some of us have been trained and can be used."
"How many people have trained, raise your hands and let me see!"
The five generals raised their hands, and Chen Qing smiled and said: "There are six of us together with me, so it's agreed that only the six of us can use the gunpowder barrel, and others are prohibited from using it.
"Follow the order!" Everyone bowed together.
"And what's the problem?"
Chen Qingxiao Q&A: "Are our long-handled axes, our number one weapon for defending the city, ready?"
Everyone laughed, and Wang Lun quickly said: "We have prepared three hundred long-handled axes, as well as the divine arm crossbowmen on the horse-facing city wall, as well as long forks and long ropes. They are all ready."
These are all summed up from their experience and passed down, and Chen Qing does not need to remind him.
Chen Qing said to everyone again: "The defense of the city this time is different from before. I don't have a deputy general to command the specific operations. I want to be the chief general to command the overall situation, and also the deputy general to command the specific operations. I may not be able to take care of so much.
Therefore, everyone must take on the heavy responsibility of deputy generals, and everyone must be responsible for their own part. I hope that this battle to defend the city will show me a group of generals who can take charge of their own affairs. Of course, don’t hold on, and ask for help from me in time if there is danger!”
Everyone's blood was boiling and they shouted loudly together: "I will obey the orders of the capital!"
At dawn, an army of 20,000 men led by Kong Yanzhou arrived at Jiangling City.
In history, Kong Yanzhou was cruel, cruel, despicable, and shameless, but he had a prosperous official career, won the trust of the Puppet Qi and the Jin Kingdom, and lived well until his death.
This is actually related to some of the advantages of his character. He is tolerant and can endure humiliation silently, and will not lose his temper and offend others.
Moreover, he was very discerning and good at judging the situation. He saw through the civil service system of the Song Dynasty. Military generals like him, no matter how capable they were, had to be controlled by civilian officials. The Puppet Qi did not have the control of civilian officials on military generals, so he decisively surrendered to the Puppet Qi.
When Qi was about to perish, he turned to Jin without hesitation.
On the other hand, he was also good at leading troops to fight. Although his army had extremely poor military discipline and allowed his soldiers to rob people and rape women everywhere, which made the people hate him extremely, his soldiers were very satisfied and loyal to him.
He is willing to fight for him on the battlefield and has strong fighting ability.
This time Wan Yanchang arranged for him to be responsible for attacking Jiangling. Wan Yanchang also knew that Kong Yanzhou liked to use troops to burn, kill and loot, so he made an agreement with him that he must arrive from Yingzhou to Jiangling within three days, and he was not allowed to waste time by looting cities on the way.
But at the same time, he promised Kong Yanzhou that as long as he captured Jiangling City, he would be allowed to plunder the city for three days.
Kong Yanzhou led his army to rush all the way. It is true that they did not loot the counties along the way, but on both sides of the official road, they would still loot pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks, and insult women. This kind of cruelty in their bones cannot be changed.
Of course Kong Yanzhou knew that Chen Qing was not in Jiangling City and led his cavalry to rescue Baling County, his hometown. There were only 6,000 new soldiers stationed in Jiangling City. He was confident that he could capture Jiangling City within two days.'
Before the ships carrying the baggage arrived, Kong Yanzhou ordered 20,000 troops to rest where they were, while he led a dozen generals to inspect Jiangling City and study ways to attack it.
Although Jiangling City is not as good as Xiangyang City, it is also a strategic location on the Yangtze River. The city wall is also built tall and strong, with a circumference of more than 30 miles. The surrounding moat is wider, more than 20 feet wide, and a pontoon bridge needs to be built.
Kong Yanzhou looked around and found that only the north side could be attacked. The land under the city on the east and west sides was too narrow for soldiers to stand. If he had a three thousand stone warship, he could directly use the ship to go up to the city from the east and west sides. Unfortunately, he did not have it. The south side was far away from the dock.
Too close and can't open the battlefield.
Kong Yanzhou looked at the top of the city again. There were densely packed soldiers on top of the city. He snorted coldly and said to his left and right: "Come into the city. If you don't accept surrender, surrender the prisoners and kill them all!"
His confidant general Li Xiu led five thousand soldiers to escort the grain ship to Changshou County, but was killed by Chen Qing's army. He kept this hatred in his heart, just as Chen Qing wanted to kill his army, he also refused to do so.
Don’t let go of any of Chen Qing’s men
At noon, his baggage fleet arrived at Jiangling County along the Xia River. These baggage ships were actually Li Xiu's grain fleet and had been anchored in Changshou County. Chen Qing handed them over to Li Gang, but Li Gang retreated in panic.
Before they had time to burn them, they were taken back by the puppet Qi army and used to transport food and supplies.
When the baggage arrived, Kong Yanzhou immediately ordered the camp to be set up, fences erected, sentry towers built, trenches dug, and tents appeared in the camp one after another.
Chen Qing could see it clearly from the top of the city. He nodded secretly. No wonder Wang Yan died at the hands of Kong Yanzhou. From the time he set up camp, it could be seen that he was very organized and meticulous. This man was indeed a talent. Unfortunately, the more capable he is, the more capable he is.
The greater the harm.
Chen Qing turned around and asked Zhao Ping, Wang Yan's former subordinate: "You have been in Jingxiang for many years, so you should know this Kong Yanzhou!"
"From his humble position, I only know that he was cruel and extremely lustful. In the fourth year of Jianyan, he led his army to suppress Prime Minister Zhong and Yang Yao, killed Prime Minister Zhong, and then sent troops to plunder Yuezhou and Tanzhou. His crimes were heinous, and Yang Yao also lost the people.
He quickly became powerful because of his support. The imperial court wanted him to behead Prime Minister Zhong, but the merits and demerits were equal to each other. He was not held accountable, but neither was he given any reward. As a result, he developed a deep resentment towards the imperial court.
In addition, he illegally recruited a large number of troops in Xiangyang Prefecture and Yingzhou, it is said that there are more than 20,000 troops, but for some reason, he was not impeached. Xuanfu originally planned to deprive him of his troops and hold him accountable, but the puppet Qi army invaded the south.
He escaped another disaster, and he probably knew that he could not escape, so he surrendered to the puppet Qi army and was named the governor of the capital and the Duke of Xiangyang County."
"What is the combat effectiveness of his army?" Chen Qing asked again.
"Very strong. The prefect Wang said that if his army surrendered to the puppet army, it would be a loss for the Song army. That's why he led his army to Xiangyang for rescue. Unexpectedly, he fell into Kong Yanzhou's trap. In addition, everyone should pay attention to his Baijia army.
."
"What White Armored Army?" Chen Qing asked in confusion.
"They are the best of his elite. They are very fierce. There are about 3,000 of them. They usually don't go into battle. I wonder if he will send them out this time?"
Chen Qing laughed, "In his eyes, we are just 6,000 new soldiers with weak strength. If he wants to win a quick victory, he will definitely send this army out."
