Ziwu Pass is silent in the snowy night. Ziwu Pass is relatively safe in winter. Heavy snow has blocked the Ziwu Valley. The snow is so deep that even war horses have difficulty walking. It is basically impossible for the enemy to get through.
So after winter, most of the defenders withdrew from Guancheng and lived in sheepskin tents in the campsite. It was too cold on Guancheng and they would freeze after staying there for one night.
Generally, only two or three soldiers stayed on duty at Guancheng at night, lighting a fire, and several people sat around the fire to spend the night.
At the third watch, hundreds of small white dots moved on the snow in the distance. As they gradually approached, they turned out to be hundreds of Jurchen soldiers riding camels.
The Jurchens have lived in the ice and snow of the Northeast for a long time and are very familiar with fighting in the snow. They know that although war horses cannot travel long distances in the snow, camels can. As long as they have a sufficient amount of supplies, the army can pass through the Ziwu Valley.
The Jurchen soldiers jumped off their camels one after another. The leader was called Wanyan Liao, a captain of thousands. He was ordered by Wan Yuan Heli Sa to seize Ziwu Pass and open up the strategic passage to Raofengling.
Ziwu Pass is built in a dangerous location, easy to defend but difficult to attack. Three hundred people can block the attack of tens of thousands of people. In normal times, it would be difficult to attack.
But winter is different, especially after heavy snowfall, the defense of Ziwu Pass will definitely be relaxed, which is the opportunity to seize Ziwu Pass.
The Jin soldiers changed into white cloaks and began to climb halfway up the mountain. It was midnight, and the three Song soldiers were all sleepy, sitting by the fire and leaning on the city wall.
Suddenly, the dog on the top of the city barked loudly. It seemed to have discovered something?
"Xiao Liuzi, take a look."
"I'm not going, the wild beast must be close to the city wall again."
The three soldiers did not want to move, thinking that only wild beasts would harass them. In the middle of the night, all kinds of wild beasts came out to look for food.
At this time, the dog stopped barking, and the three of them closed their eyes again. Suddenly, the three of them felt something. They opened their eyes together and saw countless spears in front of them pressing against their throats.
........
Three days later, a Jurchen cavalry force of more than a thousand people escorted Wanyanchang and Wanyanhelisa as they marched in the Ziwu Valley.
Unlike Wanyan Wushu who preferred to attack Dashan Pass, Wanyan Helisa preferred to focus on attacking on the eastern front. His first attack on Hanzhong was via Shangluo Road.
Taking the Ziwu Valley this time was a suggestion given to him by Wan Yanchang two months ago. Chen Qing was able to take the Ziwu Valley twice to enter Guanzhong. Why couldn't the Jin soldiers take the Ziwu Valley to enter Hanzhong?
Wanyan drank and Lisa immediately adopted this suggestion.
"Bizhi started repairing the plank road in more than a month, and established a logistics point in the middle of Ziwu Valley to stock up on food supplies!"
Wanyan Helisa was reporting his plan to Wanyanchang, "I discovered that the biggest problem making it difficult to march in Ziwu Valley is food security. The team has to walk for seven or eight days, and many places are too heavy to carry. Soldiers must prepare dry food for at least ten days.
, It would be fine if Ziwu Pass can be captured, but if it cannot be captured, there will be a big problem with food supply, so food supply points must be established, which is the top priority."
"Is there any news from Ziwu Pass?" Wan Yanchang asked.
"not yet!"
At this time, a military camp appeared in front, surrounded by a camp fence. There were hundreds of tents inside the camp fence. This was the temporary logistics transfer point established by the Jin soldiers. It took Wanyan and Lisha a full month to arrive.
Three thousand stones of grain were hoarded.
As soon as the team arrived in front of the military camp, a general came over and reported excitedly: "To the Imperial Guard and to the Marshal, there is news from Ziwu Pass that it was captured the night before yesterday."
Wanyan was overjoyed when she drank from Lisa, and she couldn't even close her mouth with laughter.
Wan Yanchang asked calmly: "Did any Song soldiers escape?"
"No one escaped, and no beacon was lit."
Wanyanchang breathed a sigh of relief and said to Wanyan Jiuli: "From now on, we must block the news and continue to hoard food, not only here, but also at Ziwu Pass, and we must capture Rao Fengling before the spring of next year."
"I humbly obey orders!"
........
At the same moment when Jin soldiers began to march into Ziwu Valley, tens of thousands of Xihe troops began winter training. The main event of winter training was long-distance running training. They ran from Chengji County to Longxi County, and then ran from Longxi County back to Chengji County.
Running hundreds of miles in a few days is a great test for a soldier's physical strength and will.
As for cutting ice and bathing in the river, that is a training exercise that every soldier must do every morning. It is already child's play.
The second major training subject of winter training is night fighting, especially night siege training.
The training ground was located in Qingshui County. The city walls of Qingshui County were relatively short and filled with snow underneath. Even if soldiers fell from the siege ladder, they would not lose their lives.
At night, the war drums on the walls of Qingshui City were thundering, and the shouts were loud. The people in the city knew that the army was conducting drills, and everyone stayed asleep without being affected.
Yang Zaixing led 3,000 men to play the role of defender, while Generals Gao Ding, Liu Cui, and Zheng Ping took turns to lead their troops to attack the city. The two sides agreed that within half an hour, the attacker would win if fifty people boarded the city, and vice versa.
The defender wins.
Twenty siege ladders were set up on the top of the city, and the fighting was extremely fierce with shields and spears in both hands. However, all the weapons were made of wood, and even wooden weapons were just as dangerous. Soldiers kept screaming from the top of the city.
Falling into thick snow, but even so, more than 20 people were injured in just the first three days of night training, and the most serious injury was a broken leg.
Chen Qing stood on the viewing platform at the top of the city, silently watching the fierce battle between the offensive and defensive sides. Standing next to him was Hu Yantong. He had a bye tonight, but he would lead his army to fight tomorrow night.
"Compared with the actual siege, it seems to be missing a lot!" Hu Yantong sighed.
Chen Qing said calmly: "You have to understand what training for night battles is. It is not to practice weapons, but to train soldiers' combat capabilities at night. If it can reach 80% of the level during the day, it will be considered a success. As for the bows and arrows, rolling logs, rocks, etc. you are worried about,
, it’s actually not important.”
"I heard that there will be kerosene training?"
"The fire oil training will be in January, and the fire armor is still being processed, and the quantity is insufficient."
At this time, a bell rang in the distance, and there was cheering on the top of the city. The time was up. Gaoding's army only attacked twenty-three people, and the attack failed. They rested for half an hour, and then Liu Cui led his army to attack the city.
Chen Qing did not continue reading. He rushed back to Chengji County overnight.
He received news in the afternoon that Liu Zan had arrived in Chengji County, and it was said that he had come to defect to him.
Liu Zan is the eldest son of Liu Ziyu and the elder brother of Liu Cui. He is one of the four great kings under Wu Jie.
It is certainly a good thing for a famous general like Liu Zan to defect to him, but it also puts Chen Qing in a dilemma. Knowing that Liu Zan has been appointed as the official, how can he arrange for him?
Unable to think of a good solution, Chen Qing could only go to see someone first and discuss it with both parties.
In the morning, Chen Qing returned to Jinglue Mansion.
At this time, his military officer Zhu Sui came up to him quickly and said, "General Liu Zan is studying engineering!"
Engineering is a school that trains young craftsmen. It was established at the beginning of the year. There are 360 students studying crossbow making, forging, woodworking, gunpowder, papermaking, winemaking, agricultural tools and other technologies. In fact, it is not only military technology, but also civilian technology, such as papermaking.
Winemaking, farm tools, these are all.
The Engineering School was very close to the Jinglue Mansion, just a two-hundred-step walk away. When Chen Qing walked into the gate, he saw several trebuchets placed on the square, and military craftsman Shi Ze was teaching dozens of students the essentials of trebuchets.
Chen Qing saw Liu Zan in casual clothes at a glance.
"Why is General Liu here?" Chen Qing walked up and asked with a smile.