At noon that day, Zheng Ping received news that Li Jinxiao, the general magistrate of Hezhou, had launched a rebellion with more than 20,000 troops. They immediately captured Chongqing Prefecture and Changzhou. At the same time, the southern and eastern states also shouted "Resist"
Warlord, return to the Song Dynasty' slogan.
More than a dozen states including Fuzhou, Quzhou, Guozhou, Suizhou, Luzhou, Wanzhou, Dazhou, Nanping Army, Guang'an Army, etc. all supported them.
The rebel army was so powerful that it gathered 150,000 people in just half a month and conquered Zizhou, which refused to surrender to them. The prefect Qin Changmao and the Panshi County magistrate Wang Qing were captured and killed by the rebel army. The rebel army occupied Zizhou and immediately
He also captured Jianzhou and directed his troops towards Chengdu. His strength rapidly expanded to 200,000 men.
Li Jinxiao was so satisfied that he proclaimed himself the Grand Marshal of Southern Shu and the Military Envoy of Guangwu Army.
That night, Chen Qing personally led 50,000 elite troops to Zizhou.
The army did not even camp in the county town, but camped and rested in a forest in the wilderness far away from the county town.
In a small marching tent, Chen Qing held a candle and looked at the marching map. The enemy's route to the north was very clear. The enemy was going north along the Zhongjiang River, and the baggage was most likely transported by ship.
At this moment, Chen Qing had already thought of several combat plans, including a direct attack on the enemy, a sneak attack on Li Jinxiao's home base in Hezhou, or a sneak attack on the enemy's grain and grass supplies.
But he wanted to choose the best battle plan. While he was meditating, a soldier reported outside the tent, "Report to the king, there are scouts coming to report!"
Chen Qing was overjoyed, he was waiting for the scouts!
He quickly ordered: "Let him come in!"
After a while, a scout commander came in, knelt down on one knee and saluted, "See the prince!"
"No need to be polite, just tell me about the enemy's current situation."
"Reporting to the prince, the enemy's 200,000 troops are currently concentrated on the border between Jianzhou and Chengdu. The border is a small river, but they have not crossed the small river. They are all stationed on the Jianzhou side of the river."
"Their baggage is in the Yang'an County area, consisting of more than a thousand flat-bottomed tank boats, anchored on the shore, stretching for nearly a hundred miles."
"How many guards are there?"
"Thousands of people! I haven't found many guard troops in my humble position."
At this moment, Chen Qing made a decision. He immediately ordered people to find Tang Qian and Zhang Qu. They were both generals of the scout army, one was the chief general and the other was the deputy general. Tang Qian was the chief general and Zhang Qu was the deputy general.
After a while, the two of them walked into the tent and saluted together: "Chen Qing smiled and said: There are two tasks for you to complete."
Chen Qing pulled out a command arrow and gave it to him, "General Zhang Qu, you command three thousand cavalry, rush all the way to Hechuan, and take the Li family fort, but don't kill people for the time being. I want to judge their family. Of course, if they resist, they will
Destroy the fort directly with iron fire thunder"
"I humbly obey the order!" Zhang Qu took the order arrow and walked away quickly.
Chen Qing took out another command arrow and handed it to Tang Qian, "You have five thousand cavalry to rob the enemy's logistics baggage. Don't burn the ships. I still have use for the ships. Just bring the baggage fleet into Yang'an City. Do you understand?"
"I understand the humble position!"
"If a small number of enemy troops come after me, defeat them."
"Follow the order!"
Tang Qian also took the order arrow and left. Liu Qiong beside him said worriedly: "Your Majesty, the enemy army is 200,000 strong. Are we being careless in doing this?"
"It's just a bunch of rabble!"
Chen Qing said coldly: "I feel it is a shame for our hardened warriors to fight with them. Not to mention that we have more than 40,000 troops. Even if we only have 10,000 cavalry, I will still defeat their so-called 200,000 troops!"
"
"I think too much about my humble position."
Chen Qing patted his arm and said with a smile: "Being cautious is a good thing, but being too cautious would be underestimating oneself. Go and rest! The army will set off at dawn."
Liu Qiong bowed and left. Chen Qing blew out the candles and looked at the night. It was almost the third watch. He also took a nap. When it was almost dawn, the army got up and set off.
Tang Qian arrived at Yang'an County, Jianzhou at noon the next day. Sure enough, there were thousands of flat-bottomed tank ships moored on the river. These tank ships had a large carrying capacity, each could transport two hundred shi of grain, and they could also sail in the Yangtze River.
By sailing, a thousand tank ships can transport 200,000 shi of grain, which is of great strategic significance. No wonder Chen Qing took a fancy to these ships.
Tang Qian and his five thousand cavalry had already changed their flags and were flying the banner of Wei. Wei refers to Wei Xiaoan, the commander-in-chief of the Song army who was defending Dali. This would cause Li Jinxiao to misjudge and the Song army would fight back from the south.
At this time, Tang Qian saw the ship escort soldiers, about four to five thousand people, lazily coming out of Yang'an County.
Tang Qian drew his sword and shouted: "Kill him!"
The five thousand cavalry suddenly accelerated and attacked the enemy troops one mile away along the official road.
The five thousand soldiers guarding the ship never thought that the army would come to kill them. Their mission was only to patrol the shore to prevent thieves from stealing rice.
At this time, the dust on the official road was flying, and the sound of horse hooves was thunderous. The soldiers were stunned. When they saw clearly that they were the Song Army cavalry, they were frightened out of their wits. They turned around and ran away. Some people ran back to the city.
Some jumped into the water, but most of the soldiers could not escape. They were instantly overtaken by Song cavalry, and they were bloody and killed all the way. In a short time, more than a thousand people were killed.
These soldiers had never seen such a bloody massacre. They were so frightened that they peeed and knelt on the ground, kowtowing desperately and begging for mercy. Tang Qian ordered to stop the massacre and sent hundreds of people to collect prisoners of war. He also ordered a thousand soldiers to put down their horses and take control of the fleet.
Order the leading boat to turn around and sail towards Yang'an City.
Two hundred thousand troops gathered on the border between Jianzhou and Chengdu. The reason why they did not continue to march towards Chengdu was mainly because they lacked siege weapons. Li Jinxiao ordered the craftsmen to rush to make a batch of siege ladders. On the other hand, Li Jinxiao also looked forward to Chengdu.
The defenders took the initiative to attack, so that the thousands of soldiers they placed in the city could take the opportunity to seize the city.
Of course, he also got the news that the Song Army was cleaning up internal spies in the city. According to internal news, the Song Army arrested about a thousand people, but this was far from the approximately 4,000 internal spies they deployed. This made
Li Jinxiao clung to another glimmer of hope.
Contrary to Li Jinxiao's overwhelming self-confidence, Zhang Jian, another important rebel general, was worried. Although the 200,000-strong army was large, how many troops could actually fight?
In addition to the 20,000 and 10,000 state soldiers they trained themselves, only 30,000 people had some training and had regular armor and weapons, while the remaining 170,000 people were really a mob. They were all farmers at home.
After listening to the instigation, they wanted to plunder the city of Chengdu, play with the women of a few wealthy families, and then go home with a lot of money. Most people thought this way, so they enthusiastically signed up to join the army, which led to the rapid expansion of the army.
.
These 170,000 peasants have no training, no armor, no weapons, no weapons. They are all wearing common clothes and carrying all kinds of weapons, including old spears, broken knives, forks, and rakes.
Sticks and even many people holding hoes.
They followed the army in rebellion like this, gorging themselves on the free meals provided by the army, complaining about the lack of oil and water, and dreaming of the wealth they would get after entering the city.
However, Zhang Jian became a little impatient because of the delay in advancing, and immediately rushed to the marshal's tent. As soon as he entered the tent, he saw Wang Dongyuan and Li Jinxiao arguing with each other, their faces red.
Zhang Jian heard clearly, and it turned out that Wang Dongyuan also thought that he had missed the fighter plane by staying here for too long.
"You are counting on the other party to take the initiative to attack. Let me tell you, if you want to attack, the other party will have already attacked. Zheng Ping is not a fool. He only has 20,000 troops at hand. If he comes out to fight our 200,000 troops, isn't he looking for death? Of course he is.
We have to defend the city, and we are wasting the opportunity to fight here. What if Chen Qing’s reinforcements come and kill us?"
Li Jinxiao retorted angrily: "Even if we attack and siege the city as you said, what will we use to siege the city? We have only built more than 20 siege ladders. We were not prepared in advance, and now we find that everything is missing.
.”
At this time, Wu Miao, the governor of Hezhou, said at the side: "Marshal, I have a way. In fact, you don't have to make it too fine. I think those craftsmen have to peel off the bark and measure the size. It's not necessary. Just make it rougher.
As long as it works, I estimate that I can build hundreds of them overnight and we can set off tomorrow."
“This is a good idea!”
Zhang Jian stepped forward and said: "Commander, we can't wait any longer. These soldiers joined the army and fought with enthusiasm. If time goes by too long and their enthusiasm fades, we will be in trouble."
When Li Jinxiao saw that several important figures were requesting to send troops, he could only nod his head and said: "Just follow what Wu Zhizhou said, simply build a siege ladder and set off early tomorrow morning."
At this moment, a soldier rushed to the tent to report, "Commander, our baggage fleet has been intercepted!"