In the afternoon, the Xixia army arrived in Agan County. As expected, there were three thousand stones of food in the county, which made the whole army cheer. Xia Lian saw that the walls of Agan County were tall and strong, like a military city, so he decided to station the army in Agan County.
However, the county town was too small to be able to station 25,000 troops, and the majority of the people in the county town were Han Chinese, who were not worthy of pity. The generals unanimously decided to expel all the people in the city.
If Lanzhou had not already belonged to the Xixia Kingdom and these people were already Xixia subjects, they would probably have gone on a killing spree and massacred all the people in the city.
Xixia soldiers began to forcibly drive away the people from house to house. The city was full of chaos. Most of the people did not even have time to clean up their property. They only took a few handfuls of copper coins and were forcibly driven out of their homes. Some old people who refused to leave home also died.
into the hands of the Xixia army.
Groups of common people supported the elderly and brought the young together to form a long dragon. Under the strict supervision of more than a thousand Xixia spear soldiers, they walked out of the city crying.
In just an hour, all the people in the city were expelled from the city, and the city gates were suddenly closed. Xia Lian immediately ordered five thousand troops to defend the city, established a defense system, and ordered a city-wide search to prevent Song Army spies from hiding in the city.
Within the city.
Ten thousand Xixia soldiers rushed into every household and began to search through boxes and cabinets, taking the opportunity to rob property that the people had not had time to take away.
A group of Xixia soldiers rushed into a large house, but they found that it was an empty house. It seemed that no one had lived in it for a long time. The boxes and cupboards were empty and covered with dust, which made the leading general disappointed.
"You guys go to the backyard and have a look. If no one is there, go to the next house!"
Three Xixia soldiers ran to the back house. There was nothing in the back house except a dilapidated firewood shed. They kicked open the firewood shed as a family and a stench hit them. The three people quickly pinched their noses and cursed loudly before running back to the front door.
Hall.
"General, there is nothing behind you!"
The leading general waved his hand, led the soldiers out of the mansion, and went to the next house.
The woodshed was filled with all kinds of rotten rags, including many dead rats, which gave off a stench. However, there was a stone slab hidden under the rags, and a tunnel under the stone slab led directly to the outside of the city.
.........
Night finally fell. After marching for nearly ten days, the exhausted Xixia soldiers all moved into people's homes and took an early rest.
Three thousand soldiers were left on patrol at the top of the city. In the county government hall, Xia Lian was pacing back and forth with his hands behind his hands, his eyes full of anxiety.
It was only then that he could calm down and carefully consider the serious consequences he was about to face. How could he explain to the emperor? How to explain to the court?
Although he could despise Cao Baozong and laugh at Cao Baozong, Cao Baozong did behave badly on the battlefield, but he was like a fish in water in the court.
When Cao Baozong returned to the court, how would he complain to the emperor? He could completely shift the responsibility for the defeat to himself and several other commanders, because the discord between the generals led to the defeat, which was a perfect excuse.
Coupled with the influence of the Cao family in the court, he has almost no chance of winning this lawsuit. If he commits this crime, he will not be able to escape. The emperor will definitely kill the five of them to enforce military regulations.
If he had decisively killed Cao Baozong, there would have been no trouble in the future. Xia Lian was filled with regret.
"It's better to surrender to the Jurchens!" Xia Lian raised his head and sighed softly.
But will the Jurchens return them to Xixia?
The night was already very late, and Xia Lian was still pacing back and forth in the lobby, sighing and worrying.
...........
Chen Qing's army has arrived in Agan County and stopped ten miles away. He has sent two thousand troops to escort more than 10,000 Agan County people to Lanzhou City to stay temporarily.
As expected by Chen Qing, the Xixia people still turned Aqian County into a pure military city. This was inevitable. It was not only a matter of housing, but also for safety and elimination of hidden dangers. All the people would definitely be driven out of the city.
.
The reason why Chen Qing wanted to give the Xixia army some food was because he was worried that the Xixia army would split up and plunder and massacre several counties in Lanzhou after they had nothing to do. Especially since the people in Lanzhou were mainly Han people, it would cause devastating disasters to the people of Lanzhou.
This is like fishing, using a little grain to make a nest, attracting the Xixia army to Agan County to concentrate and annihilate them.
In a marching tent, Chen Qing spread out the map of Aqan County that the scouts had drawn, and said to Liu Cui and Niu Gao: "The county is very small and there is no way to open an isolation zone. This creates conditions for us to attack the county with fire, and the buildings in the city
Mainly made of brick and wood structures, the buildings are very dense. Once it burns, the whole city will be burned. However, the Xixia army is not a stone. They will definitely put out the fire with all their strength. Moreover, there are three thousand defenders on the city head with sharp bows and crossbows. They will also fire
The arrows prevented Song soldiers from approaching the city wall, so I considered lighting a fire from inside the city first."
Liu Cui and Niu Gao looked at each other and both laughed, "It seems they are both ready to strike first!"
Chen Qing nodded and said solemnly: "Yang Zaixing's scouts have dug a tunnel in the city, leading directly to the outside of the east city. They will wait for the enemy soldiers to fall asleep before going in and setting fire to it. But we must arrange how to deal with the enemy's breakout on the outside.
"
.........
At two o'clock in the morning, fifty Song soldiers wearing Xixia army armor bent down and ran along a ravine. They were only thirty steps away from the city wall. There were Xixia soldiers patrolling back and forth on the city wall, but the Xixia soldiers could not see into the ravine.
situation.
Several soldiers pushed aside a huge boulder, revealing a cave. This was a tunnel they spent five days digging. Everyone got in from the tunnel one by one.
There were more than thirty Xixia soldiers living in the air traffic control house. The stone slabs in the firewood shed were slowly pushed open, and a Song Army soldier emerged. He opened the firewood shed door and looked into the yard. The yard was very quiet.
, there was no movement, and there were no soldiers on the city.
There is a small gate in the yard, and there is a long alley outside. The key to the small gate is in the hands of the soldier.
He opened the small door and waved his hand. Soldiers came out of the woodshed one after another and ran towards the small door. Two soldiers stayed behind. This was their retreat and someone had to stay behind.
At the same time, Chen Qing's army had surrounded the county town from all directions. Chen Qing personally led three thousand elites to ambush outside the north city gate. Agan County was a small county with only one city gate in the north.
There are four groups of Xixia soldiers patrolling the city, but they are mainly distributed on the two main roads, east-west and north-south. There is no need to patrol the cobweb alleys.
Fifty soldiers carried fifty bags of kerosene. They mainly concentrated on setting fires in the East City. Firstly, it was convenient for them to retreat. Secondly, they would not be discovered by the patrolling soldiers. Another reason was that the East City was where residential houses were concentrated, and the wooden houses were far away.
There are many, relatively old, and the houses are very densely packed. Once a fire breaks out, they will burn in pieces.
They actually acted as a primer, attracting the defenders on top of the city to come to put out the fire. The real igniters were the 18,000 Song troops outside the city.
Fifty soldiers were running in the alleys. Each of them carried a leather bag filled with twenty kilograms of kerosene. They kept spraying kerosene on the roofs and wooden walls of the houses. After the kerosene was sprayed, they
Start ignition.
Not long after, a wooden house in the southeast caught fire first, followed by several nearby wooden houses. Almost at the same time, several fires broke out in the northeast.
The Xixia soldiers at the head of the east city immediately noticed something unusual and sounded the alarm, 'Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!'
Many soldiers woke up from their dreams and ran out one after another. At this time, the fire points in the east of the city began to spread out. The smoke was billowing and the fire was raging. The soldiers at the top of the east city ran down to put out the fire.
Xia Lian fell asleep lying on the table. The piercing alarm bell suddenly woke him up. He heard the shouting outside, quickly pushed away the table, stood up and came to the door. His eyes suddenly widened. The fire in the East City was blazing, and the thick color was thick.
Smoke billows.
Xia Lian suddenly broke into a cold sweat. Could this be the Song army... setting fire to the city?
He immediately realized the biggest risk in Agan County, which was the enemy's fire attack. With beads of sweat streaming down his forehead, Xia Lian shouted urgently: "Send the order for the entire army to put out the fire!"
The whole city began to become chaotic. At this time, countless gunpowder arrows were shot from outside the city. More and more places were on fire, and fires were also burning on the four walls. This was caused by Song soldiers spraying fire oil directly.
When they arrived at the top of the city, they set it on fire so that the Xixia soldiers could not escape to the top of the city.
The entire east city was engulfed in fire and smoke, and began to spread rapidly to the west city. Fires broke out everywhere in the west city. The Xixia soldiers in the city could no longer put out the fire and ran around in panic. Many people fled towards the city gate. The soldiers rushed to escape.
, trampling on each other, causing countless casualties, screams and cries resounded throughout the city.
Outside the city gate, Chen Qing led three thousand crossbowmen who were ready, and three thousand crossbows were pointed at the city gate coldly...
