The two thousand troops allocated to Chen Qing by the Privy Council were a Xiang army. The temporary military camp was arranged in the south of the city. They were responsible for guarding the city gates, patrolling security, or transporting supplies.
This Xiang army has a total of 6,000 people. The Privy Council transferred 2,000 soldiers from them to Chen Qing. There are no generals above the general level. After the suppression of bandits is completed, they will have to return to their respective teams.
The barracks consists of five rows of brick buildings, with nearly 200 rooms, surrounded by walls, and a school field the size of a football field.
Chen Qing rushed to the military camp with Hu Yantong and four other subordinates, only to find that the front gate was crowded with vendors doing business, and small tables were set up for cooking and warming wine.
Dozens of stalls were filled with soldiers drinking and playing guessing games. In the distance, there were more than a dozen flower boats selling skins and meats by the river. There were long queues of soldiers in front of each flower boat.
Chen Qing passed by the stalls on horseback. The horse was lent to him by Han Shizhong. Although the horse was not as good as Chen Qing's own horse, it was still very good.
The hustle and bustle around them made everyone look at each other. They couldn't believe that this was actually an army. If they were in the Western Army, such a military discipline commander would be beheaded in public.
Hu Yantong had a little more knowledge and explained to everyone: "The Xiang army is basically like this. The salary is low, the morale is not high, and the soldiers are just dawdling. The salary of the forbidden army is doubled, and all kinds of benefits are high, and military discipline will be improved."
A little better."
"Commander, do you want to call them all in?" Zheng Ping whispered.
Chen Qing shook his head, "Go in and take a look first!"
There was no one guarding the gate of the military camp, so they entered the military camp directly. The military camp was deserted, and there was not a single soldier in sight. After passing several rows of houses, the houses were also empty.
Just when it was strange, a loud shout suddenly came from the room in front, "Big! Big! Big! Give me a big one!" At the same time, countless people laughed.
Chen Qing walked over, only to see a room full of people. There were three floors inside and three floors around a small table. Several generals were throwing dice, and the table was surrounded by coins.
Chen Qing finally got a little annoyed. He was either gambling, whoring, or eating and drinking. Did he want to lead an army to suppress bandits?
"Go beat the drums and gather troops!"
Zheng Ping ran to the big drum, raised his drumsticks and started beating.
‘Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!’ The drums sounded intensively. These were the 108 drums for gathering troops. All soldiers were required to gather. If they failed intentionally or failed to do so after the time limit, they would be beaten with sticks or even beheaded.
The sound of the drums was earth-shattering and could be heard for miles away. The soldiers were stunned. For a moment, there was chaos everywhere. The soldiers who were drinking and eating jumped up and ran towards the school grounds. The soldiers who were queuing in front of the flower boat also dispersed. After a while,
, the red-faced gambler soldier also came out of the room and looked at Chen Qing and others in surprise.
"This is Chen Qing, commander of the Western Army Scout Battalion!"
Chen Qing introduced himself to the two thousand soldiers. The only thing that satisfied him was that the two thousand soldiers were not absent from duty and all arrived. Although many of them arrived a little late, Chen Qing did not want to attack them today.
"From today on, I will be your commander-in-chief. Our mission is to destroy Zhang Kui's army in Muzhou!"
As soon as Chen Qing finished speaking, the soldiers were in an uproar. They were asked to fight Zhang Kui. Can they still survive?
"General Chen, are you kidding me?" a captain asked nervously.
"Am I kidding?"
Chen Qing's voice became stern and he shouted to the two thousand people: "Many people thought that they were going to die when they heard about attacking Zhang Kui. Is he more terrifying than the Jurchens? I, Chen Qing, led a thousand troops to attack Guanzhong and Long.
The state fought against tens of thousands of Jin soldiers, won many battles, and killed countless enemies. A mere Zhang Kui scared you out of your courage. They are both Song soldiers, why are there such huge differences? When the country is facing a national crisis, do you only know how to eat, drink, whore, and gamble?
Don’t you even have the most basic military qualities?”
Several of them lowered their heads in shame. The two thousand soldiers were silent. Chen Qing said slowly: "I will never force anyone. If you don't want to follow me to attack Zhang Kui, you can leave now. If you are willing to follow me, you can leave now."
Attack Zhang Kui, I can promise you that after destroying Zhang Kui, I will give all his money to everyone, and I, Chen Qing, will not take any of it!"
Thanks to both kindness and power, not one of the two thousand people left.
Chen Qing then divided the two thousand people into four battalions. He personally led one battalion, Hu Yantong, Liu Qiong and Zheng Ping each led a battalion. He also selected fifty capable soldiers to form a scout battalion, led by Zhao Xiaoyi.
At this time, the Ordnance Supervisor and the Crafts Supervisor sent people to deliver soldiers and armor supplies, and also sent 300 carts to help them move the supplies.
Although Chen Qing was mentally prepared, he was still disappointed when he saw various supplies. There were no bed crossbows, no divine arm crossbows, and no siege weapons. There were only 500 half-old military crossbows and 500 semi-old military crossbows.
The assistant city guard had bows, five hundred old shields, two thousand flags of various colors, and tens of thousands of arrows. What was left was a thousand stones of rice flour, salt and some dried meat, a few hundred strings of money, and two more
Thousands of old leather armors, dozens of chainmails and bronze helmets.
The soldiers are currently wearing cloth armor, wearing hats, and holding spears and swords. Cloth armor is not good enough and cannot protect against ordinary bows and arrows. They must wear leather armor. Although leather armor cannot protect against crossbows, at least it can protect against crossbows.
Can resist ordinary bows and arrows.
After putting on the armor, it was already dark, and there was no need to unload all kinds of supplies from the cart. After two hours of rest, Chen Qing led two thousand troops and three hundred carts to set out overnight, heading toward Muzhou in the southwest to kill.
go.
...........
Just the day after Chen Qing led his army to leave, good news came out in Lin'an City. The Western Army defeated the Jin soldiers at Dashan Pass, annihilating tens of thousands of enemies, and the Jin soldiers' commander Wanyan Meili was killed. The Song Dynasty
The soldiers and civilians needed this kind of exciting news so much that even in the distant Guanzhong, the city was filled with joy and the sound of firecrackers was heard one after another.
In fact, Zhang Jun had already reported Monk Yuan's battle situation to the emperor by flying pigeons. This time it was a formal military report.
Zhang Jun himself also arrived in Lin'an at the same time, preparing to report to the emperor.
Zhang Jun has been in the officialdom for many years and is very familiar with the various rules of the officialdom. He is also well versed in the officialdom tricks beyond the rules. He did not send someone alone to deliver the official report, but let the official report go with him, using the monk Yuan Dasheng's method.
Use good news to set off your work report.
Otherwise, by the time you report your work, the heat of victory will have passed, and the effect of your report will be halved.
When the emperor Zhao Gou heard about Zhang Jun's arrival, he immediately summoned Zhang Jun in the imperial study. Accompanying the emperor were the prime minister Lu Yihao, two deputy prime ministers, Qin Hui, the political minister, and Fan Zongyin, the right servant of the minister, and Li Huiye, the minister of the Privy Council.
Sitting.
When the monarch and his ministers saw the ceremony, Zhao Gou gave him a seat and said with a smile: "The last time Fuping was defeated, I said that victory and defeat are common matters for military strategists. The golden soldiers are superior to sharp, so defeat is normal, but Aiqing's resilience later on
Very good! You beheaded Wanyan Lou's family, and defeated the Jin soldiers at Monk Plains. The opponent's coach was also killed. Although it was the credit of Wu Jie, Wang Yan and other generals, the more important thing is that you are a very qualified coach.
The skillful deployment of generals also proves that I did not hire the wrong person when I asked you to go to Sichuan and Shaanxi."
"Everyone in our Western Army feels deeply that this great victory is thanks to His Majesty's blessing. Without His Majesty's determination to revive the Song Dynasty, morale would not be so high. No matter how talented the general is, he will not succeed. We also borrowed from His Majesty's help.
On the rise.”
This flattery is good, and the final credit belongs to the emperor.
Zhao Gou was really happy that he was far away in the southeast and could also influence the far west.
At this time, Prime Minister Lu Yihao asked: "I looked at the military achievements of the Xuanfu envoys. The first one is that they all control Wu Jie, and the second one is that they all control Wang Yan. I can understand these. They are the chief generals, and of course they have to bear the responsibility of the chief general.
But the third greatest contributor is Commander Chen Qing, so I’m a little confused. What kind of contribution did a mere battalion commander make to be ranked third?”
Privy Councilor Li Hui suddenly said: "Is this Chen Qing the one who killed Wanyan Lou's house?"
Zhao Gou's face showed surprise. Why did he feel that the name sounded familiar to him? It turned out to be the brave general who killed Wanyan Lou's room.
"Is it because he killed Wanyan Lou that he ranks third in the list of merits?"
Zhang Jun leaned forward and said: "Reporting to your majesty, his credit is not to kill Wanyan Lou's family, but what I wrote in the military report. He led 1,500 Song army officers and soldiers to fight against 30,000 Jin soldiers at Jianxiao Pass.
Although almost all of the Route Army was killed in the battle, they still defended Jianxiao Pass, preventing the Jin soldiers from going south. This created conditions for the main force of the Song Army to defeat the Jin soldiers at Monk Yuan. If the Jin soldiers from the West Route went south,
The final victory or defeat is unknown, so although he is just a humble battalion commander, we all agree that he is the real first contributor."
Everyone nodded silently, and Zhao Gou was really moved and said: "It is because of these soldiers who loyally serve the country that the Song Dynasty can continue under the iron hooves of tigers and wolves."
Lu Yihao frowned slightly and said, "Why does the name Chen Qing seem familiar to me? I've seen it somewhere. It wasn't the incident at Wanyan Lou's house, but it seems to have been recently."
Zhang Jun smiled slightly and said: "He should be in Lin'an now! I recommend him to study in martial arts."
