The scouts of the Song Army are all named Lin Tao. They are about 25 or 26 years old. They are from Zhongnan County, Jingzhao Prefecture. Before joining the army, they were hunters in Zhongnan Mountain. They have been a scout for three years and have rich experience.
He quickly walked to the edge of the woods and looked into the distance. He saw a group of more than ten Xixia Army cavalry coming on the path in the distance. They should be spies.
They were not very fast and actually came down from the path and walked directly in their direction. They probably wanted to rest and have lunch in the pine forest.
Lin Tao gave an urgent order: "The enemy is coming, everyone hurry up and deal with it!"
Everyone quickly cleaned up and eliminated all traces.
Lin Tao ordered one of his men: "Wang Jin, lead five brothers to go around and cut off their retreat. The other brothers will follow me to ambush!"
A scout named Wang Jin took five other scouts and went around another way.
Lin Tao quickly disappeared deep into the pine forest with a dozen of his men, preparing to kill the enemy spy.
This is their mission, to eliminate the enemy's spies going south and ensure that the main force of the Song Army is not discovered by the enemy's spies.
A dozen Xixia spies tied their horses to a big tree and walked together to the clearing in the forest, which happened to be the place where the Song army scouts rested just now.
It's just that the Song Dynasty scouts were very professional and cleaned up all traces. Even the stones used to build the stove were thrown away far away. If there are still traces that cannot be erased, it is that the smell of their dry biscuits and cured meats is still in the air.
Of course, there is farmland at the foot of the mountain, and it is possible that farmers are resting here for lunch. The dozen Xixia spies obviously did not smell the peculiar smell in the air. They were also looking for stones and branches everywhere, preparing to light a bonfire and barbecue.
Lin Tao had already seen clearly at Baibu. There were thirteen Xixia spies in total, and twenty war horses were tied to two pine trees on the edge. The extra horses were used to carry food and other items.
Lin Tao summoned two of his men, pointed at the war horses, and whispered a few instructions to them. The two men nodded and carefully walked around the enemy's war horses.
At this time, Lin Tao and his men were also thirteen people. Thirteen people versus thirteen people. The key was to use military crossbows to kill most of the enemy troops first to create a numerical advantage.
Thirteen Song army scouts bent down and ran quickly, hiding from one big tree to another. They gradually surrounded the enemy and approached them. They were about thirty steps away from the enemy. Each of them hid behind a pine tree.
, raised their crossbows and each aimed at an enemy soldier.
The two soldiers hid behind the big tree and quickly unbridled the twenty war horses, leading the horses deep into the woods.
They were discovered after taking just two steps. Several Xixia soldiers shouted and roared, "Catch them, someone is stealing horses!"
Lin Tao shouted, "Shoot an arrow!"
The Song army scouts raised their crossbows and fired at the same time. The Xixia soldiers in the open space were caught off guard and were hit by arrows one after another. Seven of them were shot down in an instant, and all of them were shot in the throat, face and other vital parts.
Seeing that the situation was not going well, the remaining six Xixia spies turned around and ran away. The Song army chased them, raised their crossbows and shot three more people. The last three of them rolled and climbed down the mountain, but as soon as they ran down the mountain, they were ambushed on the road.
Five Song army scouts on the border ambushed and shot him dead.
All thirteen Xixia spies were killed, and not one escaped.
Lin Tao found a map from the leader of the spies and saw their patrol route on the map. The target was the official road on the north bank of the Wei River.
"Du Tou, we have forty war horses!" Several soldiers laughed.
"Stop talking nonsense, pack up the body quickly and get ready to go!"
The bodies of the Song soldiers were burned and buried, each with two horses, and they continued to look north for the Xixia army scouts.
Chen Qing led an army of 20,000 people to march day and night, and finally arrived in Longxi County. They also marched lightly. A large amount of baggage had been transported to Longxi County in advance at the end of last year, and the transportation of grain from Didao did not stop throughout the winter.
The first camel team transported grain, and almost all the grain stored in Didao County was transported to Longxi.
The 5,000 Song troops who retreated from Hezhou and Lintao Prefecture also arrived in Longxi County two days earlier than Chen Qing's army. Together with the 3,000 garrison troops in Longxi County, the Song army in Longxi County now reached 28,000 people.
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In addition, Hu Yantong and Zhizhou Wang Huai jointly recruited 10,000 logistics militia, including 2,000 strong young women, who were mainly responsible for cooking and taking care of wounded soldiers.
Chen Qing couldn't afford to rest and immediately went to the county seat to inspect the defense preparations. This was what he specifically told Hu Yantong to conduct a comprehensive inspection and look for every possible defense loophole.
The enemy is coming soon, and they don't have much time to make temporary remedies.
"The city gates are all closed!"
"It was closed the day before yesterday and people are no longer allowed to enter or exit. In addition, all pigeon and eagle signals in the city have stopped. All homing pigeons and hawks are under the unified control of the military. If homing pigeons appear again, we will arrest them immediately. In addition,
, all the Xixia people were placed under temporary house arrest, and even if there were spies among them, they could no longer inform anyone."
Chen Qing knew that the Xixia spies in Longxi County had been removed by the inner guard camp and there would be no new spies in a short time, but he still appreciated Hu Yantong's thoughtfulness.
Moreover, the arrangement on the top of the city is also very good. The top of the city is very wide, two feet long. Three oxcarts can drive side by side on the top of the city. There are fire-proof sand and shovels every thirty steps. In addition, there are special
A large wooden box, inside which is the place where barrels of kerosene and gunpowder are placed.
The places that can be seen are very good, but Chen Qing is more concerned about the places that cannot be seen.
"Let's talk about the city wall! Has it been thoroughly inspected?" Chen Qingxiao asked.
Hu Yantong said quickly: "Reporting to the capital, the city wall has been inspected inside and outside, and 577 damaged bricks have been replaced. The suspension bridges and gates have all been replaced with new ones, but the moat
It was frozen and the water could not be drained. It was not dug deep, but it was very deep, one foot and a half deep and two feet wide."
Chen Qing nodded, and he looked inside the city. All the houses near the city wall had been demolished, and a separation area of about a hundred steps had been left. However, the houses near the south and west walls had not been demolished.
Chen Qing pointed to the south and west walls and asked, "Is it because the enemy cannot attack from the west and south?"
Hu Yantong quickly explained: "There are several large ponds outside the west city, as well as many private houses. The trebuchets cannot get close to them. There are military camps near the south city wall. As soon as I demolished the tents, the isolated open space came out."
"Our trebuchet must also be installed as soon as possible!"
"It is already being installed in full swing. It is guaranteed to be installed within two days. The two thousand-gun cannons are already ready and will be erected tomorrow."
Chen Qing was quite satisfied with Hu Yantong's various defensive measures. He smiled and said: "Let's go see Watergate!"
Everyone turned and walked towards the south city wall. Water gate was also a weak link, so Chen Qing paid more attention to it.
At this moment, a pigeon suddenly flew up from a residential area, spread its wings and flew towards the city wall. Hu Yantong's face suddenly turned dark. He had just vowed that there would be no pigeons, but one appeared.
"Shoot it down! Shoot it down!" Hu Yantong shouted.
The soldiers opened their bows and nocked arrows to shoot at the pigeon, but the pigeon turned around and flew to the west, and all the arrows missed.
Chen Qing took his bow and arrow from the soldiers. He knew that the pigeon would circle in the air twice before flying away and would definitely come back.
Sure enough, the pigeon made a big circle and flew back to the north.
"Everyone stop shooting!" Chen Qing shouted.
The soldiers relaxed their bowstrings one after another. Without the obstruction of the bows and arrows, the pigeons fluttered their wings and flew out of the city. Just when the pigeons were about to fly over the city wall, Chen Qing drew his bow like a full moon and shot out an arrow, which pierced the pigeons.
The dove fell from the sky and landed on the top of the city.
A soldier picked up the pigeon and brought it to him. Chen Qing took a look and saw that it was indeed a homing pigeon. There was a ring on the foot, but there was no mailbox attached.
"General Huyan, plug this loophole immediately!"
Hu Yantong's face turned red with anger and he shouted: "Search for whose pigeon is it? I have to dig three feet to find it!"