"Where is the county magistrate Zhu Sui now?" Chen Qing asked.
Wu Hongwei shook his head, "Zhu Sui disappeared after the Xixia people occupied Didao County. Some people said he escaped, but others said he was dead. I really don't know what he was doing."
Chen Qing then smiled and said: "You go back and tidy up. After I take Didao County, you will report back and continue to serve as the county magistrate."
Wu Hongwei was a little confused: "Thank you for your love and kindness. I am not a major in this humble position. I am afraid that the Ministry of Personnel..."
Chen Qing smiled faintly, "I might as well tell you the truth. The officials I appoint do not need the approval of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Your salary is paid by the Jiedu Government, not the Ministry of Civil Affairs, so you should not have any psychological burden."
Wu Hongwei breathed a sigh of relief, "I understand, I understand!"
"How much food is there in Didao County? Does Wuzhi County know?"
"When I left, I still had 80,000 shi of grain in the county warehouse, which was the accumulated taxes of Didao County over the years. It had never been handed over, nor had it been transferred away by the Jin soldiers.
But the county warehouse is only a small part. The key is the Jinglue Mansion warehouse on Xihe Road. That is the big head. It is composed of dozens of large warehouses. There are mountains of grain and grass materials inside. I don’t know how many menial positions there are, but one thing is certain.
He was not transferred away by the Jin soldiers and Xixia people. As far as I know, Xixia wanted to set up the military headquarters in Lintao."
Chen Qing was excited by the news about Wu Hongwei. He wanted to occupy Didao County immediately. He was now facing the problem of insufficient food supplies.
Chen Qing then asked Wu Hongwei to draw a picture and mark the hole in the city wall. The entire hole was about seven to eight feet long. This was indeed a loophole in the siege.
Wu Hongwei then said goodbye and left, taking the people and dozens of carts with him.
The common people sent 300 shi of grain and more than 100 pigs and sheep, which just provided the army with dry food. Chen Qing let the soldiers have a good meal and rested until the third watch before continuing their journey.
They were still more than sixty miles away from Didao County. In the afternoon of the next day, the army was still about ten miles away from the county seat. At this time, Zhao Xiaoyi received news that a 3,000-man Xixia cavalry was heading south rapidly from the north. I am afraid that
They came to support Didao County.
Chen Qing immediately decided to annihilate the cavalry first and then attack the city.
The 15,000-strong army immediately accelerated towards the official road to the north of the county seat.
Cao Baozong received a letter asking for help from the Lintao defenders. Although he was still frightened, he had to help Lintao if something happened. He hesitated for two days, and finally ordered his deputy general Shang Dongyan to lead 10,000 troops to rescue Didao County.
The time was somewhat delayed, and Shang Dongyan was worried about the loss of Didao County, so he ordered the cavalry commander Tuoba Chengqing to lead 3,000 cavalry to travel day and night to rush to Didao County first.
Tuoba Chengqing led three thousand cavalry and galloped all the way. When they were still twenty miles away from the county seat, Tuoba Chengqing ordered to slow down the horse. There were woods in front of him. He was wary that there might be an ambush by the Song army ahead.
.
Tuoba Chengqing immediately sent dozens of spies to the front to detect the ambush, while his three thousand cavalry stopped moving forward, waiting for news from the spies.
Not long after, the spies rushed back and shouted: "There are Song Army cavalry ahead, coming to kill them!"
The earth began to tremble, the sky rolled like muffled thunder, dust covered the sky and the sun, and the sky turned red.
Tuoba Chengqing was shocked and asked anxiously: "How many Song army cavalry are there?"
"About ten thousand people!"
"Send my order and retreat immediately! Retreat!"
Tuoba Chengqing suddenly became anxious. Chen Qing must be among the 10,000 Song army cavalry. He only had 3,000 men, so he was no match at all. The 3,000 cavalrymen turned their horses around and retreated to the north, but they could not reach ten miles.
Dozens of big trees appeared on the official road in front of them, and blazing fires were set off, completely blocking the way to retreat north.
There was a banging sound on the hillside, and thousands of arrows shot out from the woods like raindrops, hitting the Xixia cavalry a hundred steps away. The cavalry were caught off guard and fell down one after another after being hit by arrows. The horses fell to the ground, and the soldiers fell down tragically.
Shouting and neighing sounds resounded through the official road.
The Xixia soldiers rushed into the bushes to the west. Generally, they would never go into the bushes on horseback unless they had to. It would cause great harm to the war horses. The situation in the bushes was complicated, with rocks, loopholes, sharp branches, etc., and the war horses
It is very easy to lose your footing and break your leg.
But now the Xixia cavalry was so anxious that they did not care about the danger of the bushes. The crossbow arrows were still coming like a storm. The five thousand Song army's crossbow arrows had already fired in the third round. Fifteen thousand crossbow arrows were fired, countless
Xixia soldiers fell in the bushes and on the official road.
Five thousand Song soldiers simply rushed out of the woods and fired arrows at the fleeing Xixia soldiers as they ran. They ran all the way to the official road and shot and killed hundreds of cavalrymen who were lagging behind...
At this time, the Song cavalry in the distance had slowed down, and the Xixia cavalry ran into the mile-wide bushes. The Song army certainly had no reason to follow, and the Xixia cavalry had already been attacked by five consecutive rounds of intensive crossbow bolts.
Most of the casualties were lost. They had already achieved their goal and there was no need to catch up.
More than a thousand cavalry were left and ran through the bushland to the bank of Taoshui River. They fled north along the river bank.
Chen Qing urged his horse to the roadside, looked at the dead and wounded enemy soldiers on the official road and in the bushes, and coldly ordered: "No prisoners of war will be kept, all will be executed and burned and buried."
The soldiers worked together to kill all the wounded but not dead soldiers, pile up the bodies, burn them and bury them deeply.
In this battle, the Song army captured more than 2,000 war horses. At this time, dusk had quietly fallen.
........
At the head of Didao County, two thousand Xixia soldiers were waiting in full formation. The fierce battle between the Song army and the Xixia cavalry affected the county town. All the Xixia soldiers were on the city, ready to welcome changes in the battle situation at any time.
The commander-in-chief of the Xixia Army was called Xia Jin, a general. He knew very well that the battle was taking place in the north, and the Song army must have been there to block the reinforcements from the south, so as to be prepared against the unprepared. This time the Xixia reinforcements might be in danger.
The fighting in the north had stopped for half an hour, and there was still no Xixia reinforcements coming to contact him. Xia Jin's heart sank into the abyss. It seemed that his guess was correct, and the reinforcements were in danger.
Time passed little by little, and suddenly there was a commotion at the top of the North City. It turned out that an army appeared outside the North City. They should all be Song Army cavalry. They were lined up densely. After a moment, a cavalry galloped up and shot an arrow at the city.
head.
Some soldiers had already picked it up and presented it to the general Xia Jin. It turned out to be a "letter to inform the Xixia soldiers in the city" of the Song army.
The letter required the Xixia army in the city to leave Didao County within half an hour and go north. The Song army would not embarrass them. If they did not withdraw within half an hour, the Song army would be severely punished once they breached the city.
Xia Jin, the commander-in-chief of the city, tore the letter into pieces. He was completely unable to accept the Song army's request, let alone give up the evacuation of Didao County. If the Song army wanted to attack the city, he would fight to the death.
Of course, Chen Qing knew that the Xixia army could not abandon the county and go north. The reason why he made this request was just to confuse the Xixia army on the top of the city and buy time for the Song army in the southeast corner.
At this time, Niu Gao led 5,000 soldiers hiding in the woods not far from the southeast corner. Zhao Xiaoyi took more than 20 soldiers to swim across the moat and leaned against the city wall. They needed to confirm the hole Wu Hongwei mentioned.
Does it still exist?
Zhao Xiaoyi pulled out an extremely thin dagger and inserted it into the gaps between the city bricks, chipping off the powder bit by bit. The county seat had not been repaired for at least twenty years, and the city bricks had become very loose, and the powder between the gaps was even more dense.
The blade fell off, and within a moment, the city bricks became somewhat loose.
The city bricks became looser and looser, and the soldiers of the Song Army slowly extended two thin hooks made of fine steel into the gaps between the city bricks, and little by little hooked out a city brick weighing dozens of kilograms.
The soldier drew his knife and reached into the cave to investigate. It was indeed empty, and there was a musty smell.
"General, it's empty inside!"
Zhao Xiaoyi looked over at the top of the city. At least there were no soldiers in front of the battlements. He ordered in a low voice: "Do it!"
The soldiers worked together and poured a large amount of water from the moat onto the city bricks. The dry powder in the gaps between the city bricks turned into mud, making it easier to remove the city bricks. In just a moment, a large hole as tall as a person and two feet wide appeared in front of them.