The fiasco in Hanzhong was extremely bad. All the officials of the Xuanfu Division in Sichuan and Shaanxi became prisoners of the Jin soldiers. Ten thousand elite soldiers who had followed Wu Jie for many years were also killed and captured because of Liu Guangshi's incompetence.
This time Wan Yanchang learned from the lessons of previous failures. He was not in a hurry to attack Bashu, but completely controlled the northern line of Jinniu Road and wiped out the Song army in Hanzhong.
The 5,000 Song troops at Dashan Pass, led by Commander Cao De, went all the way south, preparing to rush to Jianmen Pass to join Li Qiong's army. Unexpectedly, when they were in Hechi County, they received news that Liu Guangshi's main force had been completely destroyed in Nanzheng, so he headed south.
Jinniuguan has been controlled by Jin Bing.
This news shocked Cao De so much that he made the decision without hesitation and led his army to turn northwest and take Qilian Road, retreat to Xianren Pass in the north and retreat to Qinzhou.
When the news spread, tens of thousands of people in Hechi County, dragging their families and families with them, retreated with Cao De's army.
Qilian's cries were loud and he walked very slowly. It took him only one day to cover more than 30 miles, and it took at least three days to walk more than 100 miles.
The soldiers were anxious, and the commander Sun Gu stepped forward and said to Cao De: "If you are going to be dragged down by them, it is better for the army to go first."
Cao De smiled bitterly and said to the generals: "Do you think Chen Qing will accept us if we leave the people alone?"
"But...we are Liu Guangshi's people, will he have any prejudice against us?"
Cao De shook his head and said: "Probably not. Although the generals above our commander are Liu Guangshi's people, the army is not. The five thousand soldiers are Wu's army. He will definitely accept it. Besides, Chen Qing and I have an old relationship, so he should be able to accept it."
Give me some face..."
Just then, a soldier shouted: "General, look!"
Everyone looked in the direction pointed by the soldiers and saw black smoke floating in the sky in the southeast. Everyone's hearts sank at the same time. This must be a fire in Hechi County.
It means that enemy troops are chasing them to Hechi County.
Cao De shouted: "Let the people go first, and the army will follow me!"
Five thousand Song troops found two commanding heights and set up a large array of bows and crossbows. About an hour later, the fierce sound of horse hooves came from the south, and two thousand Jurchen cavalry chased them like lightning.
The cavalry was getting closer and closer. After crossing the hundred-step line, Cao De shouted, "Shoot!"
Five thousand Song troops fired crossbow arrows at the same time. Five thousand crossbow arrows shot at the Jurchen cavalry like a storm from three directions. The Jurchen cavalry came to chase the people of Hechi County, but they did not expect that there would be Song troops. They were caught off guard and fell off their horses one after another.
Hundreds of people were shot and killed.
The rest of the cavalry were so frightened that they turned their horses and fled southward, disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye.
Cao De did not retreat immediately. He waited until dark and no more enemy troops were pursuing him, then led his army northward.
Perhaps because the Jurchens were chasing after them at the same time, the people fled significantly faster. They went north all night, and at noon the next day, they finally arrived at Beixianren Pass. There were also two thousand Song army defenders here. The leader was named Zhang Xuefei, who was originally Liu Zan's
His subordinates had been at Beixianren Pass for many years. He was the deputy commander and was not purged by Liu Guangshi.
Zhang Xuefei's head was as big as a bucket and he hesitated: "General Cao, why don't you lead the people to retreat north! If Beixianren Guan is lost, Chen Dutong will not spare me!"
"If the enemy comes from the south, can you defend it?"
"It should be possible. The inner pass protects the south, and the outer pass protects the north. This pass is originally designed to defend both the north and the south. We are afraid that there will be troops from Longzhou coming to kill us, but it shouldn't happen for a while."
Cao De nodded, and he led five thousand soldiers to escort tens of thousands of people across Beixianren Pass, and headed towards Chengji County along the newly built official road...
The news that Liu Guangshi's main force was destroyed in Hanzhong reached Pingliang County three days later.
Chen Qing, who was about to lead his army to the south, had to change his plan, suspended the attack on Liyang County in Longzhou, and ordered Niu Gao to lead an army of 10,000 to guard Pingliang City.
The main purpose of Chen Qing's arrangement for Liu Zan to guard Lanzhou was to exchange for Niu Gao. Liu Zan guarded Lanzhou City, while Cheng Heng, the guard general of Lanzhou City, was transferred to guard Liangzhou. In this way, Niu Gao was transferred back.
The reason why Niu Gao was transferred back was that he was better at defending against fire attacks and had high commanding ability, so he could fully act on his own.
On the top of the city, Chen Qing said to Niu Gao: "The significance of Pingliang City is that it is a springboard for us to attack the Shaanxi Road. It can also be said to be a poisonous thorn inserted into the enemy's back. It is very harmful to both us and the enemy."
It is very important. Neither the Jin Kingdom nor the puppet Qi will accept our occupation of Pingliang and will definitely continue to attack the city. I will leave Wang Duo to you as a deputy general and give you ten young commanders. You can also train six thousand
The newly formed troops will be surrendered. In addition, the food supplies and trebuchets will be left to you. I only have one request: guard Pingliang City."
Niu Gao nodded, "Don't worry, Commander-in-Chief! The conditions in Pingliang City are very good. I will guard the city carefully, especially not to let the enemy forces cooperate with each other to seize the city."
After a pause, Niu Gao asked worriedly: "I wonder how the situation in Hanzhong will develop?"
Chen Qing pondered for a while and said: "This time the Jin soldiers attacked Hanzhong, which is different from the past. They are well prepared, so I am not in a hurry to attack Fengxiang. The strategy of surrounding Wei and rescuing Zhao may not be effective anymore. We must first stabilize Xihe Road, and then consider how to recapture it."
Hanzhong."
"The fall of Hanzhong this time will greatly ease the situation of the generals. At least there will be good reasons not to go back to report on their duties."
Chen Qing shook his head and said sadly: "I have excuses for whether or not I go back. The key is that the pressure on us has increased. To be honest, I would rather Wu Jie was in Hanzhong, but the court just transferred him away and sent a mediocre future to take charge of Sichuan.
Shaanxi, completely destroying the foundation of the army that Wu Jie has worked hard to build for so many years."
.........
That night, Chen Qing led 20,000 troops and 10,000 camels back to Chengji County. Niu Gao was appointed as the envoy of Pingliang, in charge of the military affairs of Liangzhou Prefecture, and led 16,000 people to guard Liangzhou City.
Three days later, Chen Qing's army returned to Chengji County. When he heard that Cao De had arrived in Chengji County, he was overjoyed and immediately met with Cao De at the official room of Jinglue Mansion.
Cao De is a descendant of Cao Bin, a famous general in the Northern Song Dynasty. When Chen Qing was training troops in Lin'an, Cao De competed with him for the military camp. The two did not know each other before fighting, and they formed a friendship.
Cao De had a very good relationship with Gao Ding, and he also had a deep friendship with Hu Yantong. These general disciples all grew up together, so Chen Qing simply called the two of them here to chat.
Chen Qing smiled and said: "I heard that Liu Guangshi was defeated in Yangzhou, and I thought that General Cao also died for his country. There was indeed such gossip at the time."
Cao De said sadly: "Hey! Forget about what happened back then, even my family prepared a funeral for me. I crossed the Yangtze River holding a piece of wood and was rescued by fishermen. I was the only one among the three thousand brothers who survived.
"
"How is the situation in Hanzhong?" Chen Qing asked, changing the subject.
"The Jin soldiers probably wanted to occupy Hanzhong. They were not in a hurry to attack Jianmen Pass, but instead stabilized their occupation of Hanzhong. This time Liu Guangshi's entire army was destroyed, and it will be difficult for Hanzhong to take it back."
"I clearly sent people to inform Liu Guangshi this time, how could his entire army be destroyed?" Chen Qing asked in confusion.
Cao De was a little surprised, "Don't you know this until now?"
Chen Qing was startled, "You don't know what?"
Next to him, Zhang Xiao leaned forward and said: "Beside me, I haven't had time to report to the capital. In fact, the destruction of Liu Guangshi's entire army was entirely his own fault. He actually wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of the capital's eastern expedition to sneak attack Chengji County, but he was intercepted by Jin soldiers instead."
When he arrived at his hometown in Nanzheng, all his men had family members in Nanzheng, so he led his army back to Nanzheng in a hurry, but was ambushed and defeated by the main force of the Jin army."
Cao De said with some embarrassment: "This person has a strong opinion of Dutong. Maybe he wants to eat Xihe Road. He has already had this idea."
Chen Qing snorted coldly, "It seems like God's will!"
Cao De quickly said: "Bizhi feels that the top priority now is how to deal with the North Immortal Pass. Zhang Xuefei also led two thousand troops to guard there. Beizhi is very worried that the Jin soldiers will attack from the north and south, and the North Immortal Pass may not be able to be defended."
Chen Qing nodded and turned around to ask Zhang Xiao, "How many troops are there in Weishui City?"
Zhang Xiao quickly leaned forward and said: "Report to the capital, there are currently about two thousand people."
Chen Qing made a decision immediately: "I remember that Weishui City was built as a military city with a capacity of 5,000 people. I immediately added another 3,000 troops."
