Jianmen Pass was lost, and the garrison at the top of the city surrendered one after another. General Pan Ping also ordered to stop resistance and all soldiers surrendered.
Why was Jianmen Pass, which had been invincible by the Jin soldiers, so easily defeated by Chen Qing's army?
The reason is also simple. When the Jin soldiers attacked, the Song army was always in a wartime state. The soldiers were highly vigilant and closely monitored every move of the Jin soldiers. The Jin soldiers could only attack Guancheng head-on. Of course, it was difficult to break through.
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This is the main reason. The defenders are in a wartime state, which is not the case now.
Next is the guard. Previously, Wu Jie and Wu Gao guarded Jianmen Pass. All the defensive measures were watertight, and there were basically no loopholes that could be caught by the Jin soldiers.
If Wu Gao was still guarding the gate this time, Chen Qing would not have any chance at all, so he did not hesitate to use shady means to alienate the court and send Wu Gao out of Bashu.
This is the top priority of Chen Qing's attack on Bashu. He sent away the extremely shrewd Wu Gao, leaving only Li Qiong who was about to leave his job and had no intention of guarding the pass. Which of these guard generals would take responsibility seriously?
The third reason was tactics. They sent 4,500 elites into Bashu first, and then cooperated internally and externally to seize the Jinniu Road. This superb tactic, Li Qiong's army simply could not withstand.
In fact, it was the perfect combination of time, location, and people that allowed Chen Qing to finally capture Jianmen Pass and the entire Jinniu Road at the minimum cost.
Fifty thousand troops marched along the Jinniu Road into Longqing Mansion. Chen Qing sent people to deliver a message to Li Qiong first, and then divided the troops into three groups to kill Langzhong City.
Langzhong was Li Qiong's hometown, and Wu Gao was transferred to Jianghuai. He took away 20,000 troops, and then another 10,000 troops were scattered in various counties in northern Sichuan. These 10,000 soldiers worked together in twos and threes to rob homes and plunder people's property.
On the other hand, the 20,000 soldiers in Langzhong City have relatively strict military discipline and are well restrained.
In the camp, Li Qiong had just received a message from Longqing Mansion. Chen Qing led an army of 50,000 into the middle of Shu, which surprised Li Qiong.
He simply couldn't believe this was true. Isn't Chen Qing in Jingzhao? Why did he suddenly lead an army into Bashu?
But Li Qiong soon understood that Chen Qing used a divorce plan to drive away Wu Gao, and then led his army to invade Bashu when he was unprepared. It turned out that Bashu was Chen Qing's real target.
At this time, a soldier reported at the door of the tent, "To report to the capital, Chen Qing has sent someone to deliver a message!"
Li Qiong said quickly: "Bring him to see me quickly!"
Not long after, the soldier who delivered the message was brought in. He cupped his fists and saluted, "See General Li!"
He took out a letter and presented it to Li Qiong, "This is a personal letter from my family's strategic envoy to the general. Please take a look at it!"
Li Qiong quickly took the letter, and it turned out to be Chen Qing's notes. He dismissed the messenger, then sat down and opened the letter to read carefully. In the letter, Chen Qing severely criticized him for lax military discipline, allowing soldiers to rape women, and looting people's property.
As a result, people in the northern Sichuan states were boiling with resentment. As a minister of the Song Dynasty, he would never sit idly by and do nothing. He must clear up the source and restore order...
At the end of the letter, he was given three days to evacuate Bashu and warned him that he must make no mistakes during the evacuation. If he plundered people along the way again, he would pursue them with 30,000 cavalry and annihilate them without leaving any prisoners.
"Bang!" He slapped the case. This letter made Li Qiong feel ashamed and angry. Chen Qing reprimanded him in a condescending tone. He had never been this kind of coward. He said that going to Sichuan to maintain order was just bullshit.
"Du Tong, what does Chen Qing mean?" Staff Zhong Minghui asked from the side.
"See for yourself!"
Li Qiong handed the letter to Zhong Minghui. After Zhong Minghui read the letter, he sighed lowly, "Actually, I thought of it all, but I didn't expect that his target turned out to be Bashu."
"What comes to mind?"
"At that time, I was thinking, how will his army of 200,000 people be supported? The Shaanxi Road alone is obviously not enough. I thought he was going to attack the Hedong Road, but I didn't expect that his target turned out to be Bashu. That's right, the Western Army has been
He relies on Bashu for support, and it is normal for him to want to seize the financial and tax land of Bashu."
"It's useless to say this. The key is what should I do now?" Li Qiong said angrily.
Zhong Minghui thought for a while and said: "The only way now is to evacuate Bashu. The general can say whatever he wants to the court, just say that Chen Qing's hundreds of thousands of troops are coming to kill. Some of the generals of the Western Army cooperated internally and externally and dedicated Jianmen Pass, but the general only has two
Tens of thousands of troops could not stop Chen Qing's army of more than 100,000, so they had to withdraw from Bashu!"
Li Qiong nodded, "The question is where should I retreat?"
"Of course we have to evacuate from the Three Gorges Road. The Jinzhou Road is more difficult and difficult to walk!"
Li Qiong finally made up his mind and immediately ordered: "Beat the drum and gather the generals!"
Li Qiong ordered the soldiers to carry ten days of dry food and evacuate toward the Three Gorges Road overnight.
He maintained military discipline along the way, and Qiu did not make any mistakes. Chen Qing's army did not make things difficult for him. A cavalry team followed his army and sent him out of the Three Gorges Road.
Chen Qing immediately ordered a large-scale arrest of soldiers who harmed the people. Within two days, more than 4,000 people were arrested and a large amount of looted wealth was seized. Among them, more than 750 soldiers who committed murders and participated in the rape of women were publicly executed.
, all the remaining soldiers were sent to the mines and were punished by mining for five years to atone for their sins.
Chen Qing severely punished the criminal soldiers and was warmly welcomed by the people in northern Sichuan. Public security was improved and there was no more disturbance to the people.
Chen Qing immediately led the army and continued to march towards Chengdu.
In the Meizhou section of the Minjiang River, a fleet of more than 700 large ships has been heading south in a mighty manner. This fleet is all two thousand stone large cargo ships. Some are local ships from Bashu, and some are transferred from the direction of Jingzhou.
The fleet went south along the current, and the sails were spread again, and the speed was quite fast.
Each large ship has a triangular official flag, which means that this fleet is an official ship, and other ships along the way have to give way.
Standing on the bow of the leading ship was an official in his sixties. He was of medium build, dark and thin, but in good spirits. His name was Zhao Kai, and he was appointed as the transfer envoy to Sichuan and Shaanxi. Zhang Jun admired him very much.
It was due to his planning that a steady stream of money and grain from Sichuan could be transported to Hanzhong to support the Western Army in the fight against the Jin Dynasty.
The reason why Chen Qing chose to take action in mid-October was also related to Zhao Kai. He received news from Li Jiong that Zhao Kai was mobilizing ships to transport part of last year's taxes to Lin'an.
The annual tax on salt, tea, sugar, wine, and horses in various parts of Sichuan is about 3 million guan, plus household tax, land tax, exemption money, etc., the total is 5 million guan. Of course, there are other incomes, mainly land and house rents.
Income, as well as official and commercial operating income, etc., are as much as one million dollars a year.
What was to be transported to Lin'an this time was the 3 million Guan tax on salt, tea, sugar and wine from last year. Originally, Zhao Kai was planning to set off a few days later, but when he heard that Chen Qing's army had entered Bashu, he was so shocked that he did not dare to pay more.
Stayed for one day and left ten days in advance.
"Official man!" the captain of the ship suddenly shouted.
Zhao Kai turned around and asked, "What's the matter?"
"listen!"
Zhao Kai listened carefully and faintly heard the muffled thunder coming from the north.
He looked up at the sky. It was overcast and there was no sign of rain.
"Is it going to rain?"
The captain's face changed a little. He was well-informed and knew what kind of business this was. "Official, this is the cavalry running. Didn't you hear it?"
Zhao Kai's eyes widened suddenly, and he hurriedly ran to the stern of the ship to look north. At this time, he faintly saw that the sky in the north turned red, and Zhao Kai's face changed drastically. It was filled with dust.
"Can you speed it up?"
Zhao Kaixin was extremely anxious, Chen Qing's army must be chasing him.
"Master, now we are at the fastest speed."
Gradually, a black line appeared in the distance, getting closer and closer, the sound of horse hooves became louder and louder, and dust flew all over the sky, dyeing the sky red and yellow.
Zhao Kai was desperate. There were no cavalry in Bashu. This must be Chen Qing's cavalry. There were about five or six thousand people in front of him. The horn sounded, and the cavalry slowed down, getting slower and slower.
Finally stopped.
The leading general was Gao Ding. He was ordered by Chen Qing to pursue the fleet and must bring the fleet back to Chengdu.
Gaoding shouted from the shore: "Envoy, please bring the fleet to the shore immediately, otherwise we will block the river."
To block the river, either use ships to block the channel, or use iron chains to cross the river. The fleet can only stop obediently. In fact, this is not bad. Zhao Kai looked at thousands of cavalry with bows and arrows, and he could only sigh, "The fleet
