Caizhou is located in the south of Yingchang Prefecture and has a large area. The west is hilly and mountainous, and the central and eastern parts are vast plains. The hilly areas are densely forested, while the plain areas are endless farmland.
Tang Qian led 10,000 cavalry and 5,000 supply camels to march eastward, passing through the forested hilly areas and entering the vast plains.
Caizhou belongs to Li Cheng's territory. There were originally 5,000 garrison troops, but all the troops were transferred to Xuchang City, leaving Caizhou without a single soldier to garrison.
The Western Army marched on the wide official road, with yellow and green wheat fields on both sides. The wheat had turned yellow, and the harvest season would begin in one month.
In the distance is a small river. There are villages of various sizes scattered along the small river. Many people came to the official road to watch the excitement. When they found out that the arriving army was actually the Sichuan-Shaanxi Army, they immediately shouted in surprise.
After rushing back to report the news, the village was in a state of excitement. People rushed to the official road with their young and old to welcome the arrival of the Western Army.
Many old people were supported by children and were so excited that they burst into tears. Dozens of young men asked to join the army. A dozen strong women carried baskets of flour cakes and pots of hard-boiled eggs and stuffed them into the arms of the soldiers.
Holding a jar of home-brewed rice wine, pouring the rice wine that has been collected for many years into the soldiers' bowls, eating the rice wine from the pot is such a grand occasion.
For more than ten years, for the first time, the Song Army appeared on the land of the Central Plains. How could the people who had been tortured by the Puppet Qi and the Jin Kingdom not be extremely excited.
The 10,000 Song Army cavalry received a hero's triumphal welcome along the way. Two days later, the army entered the prefecture-controlled Ruyang County. All the state officials and county officials had fled, and only one county magistrate came out to welcome the arrival of the Western Army.
The county magistrate's surname is Yu. He comes from a local wealthy family. He is an out-and-out local gangster. Most officials have fled, but local gangsters will not escape. They do not take sides and are only loyal to their own family. They have no allegiance to the outside world and only obey. Whoever is strong will
To whom they obey.
Ten thousand cavalry did not enter the city, but were stationed in a ready-made military camp outside the city. Tang Qian led more than a hundred cavalry into the city.
The city is very lively, with all the shops on both sides of the street shouting and shouting, various food stalls filling the streets, and the restaurants full of guests. It still looks very prosperous, without any signs of depression.
"What do you think of Li Cheng? There is a lot of exploitation of direct and indirect taxes, and salt can be sold for hundreds of coins per catty. But Li Cheng can control military discipline. There are very few cases of soldiers misbehaving under him, and everyone is satisfied.
, so business is more prosperous and there is no need to worry about being extorted.”
Yu Xiancheng introduced Tang Qian to the situation in the city along the way, but it was obvious that Tang Qian was not interested in that.
"How many warehouses are there in the city?" Tang Qian asked.
"Two warehouses!"
Yu County Cheng said quickly: "One official warehouse and one military warehouse!"
"Take me to see the military warehouse, and please ask the county magistrate to do two more things for me."
"General, just ask!"
"Help me find two businessmen who have just arrived from Yingzhou and Chenzhou. I want to know about the situation in Chenzhou and Yingzhou!"
"I'll go find it right away!"
Yu Xian Cheng took Tang Qian to the military warehouse and hurriedly went to find someone.
The warehouse manager's surname was Wang. He welcomed Tang Qian into the official warehouse a little nervously and said: "There are not many supplies in the warehouse. There are only 10,000 shi of grain and 50,000 dans of fodder. All other military supplies have been taken away. By the way, there is also a
Batch medicinal materials."
Ten thousand shi of grain and 50,000 dan of fodder are enough for the army, and medicinal materials are also useful. Tang Qian asked again: "How do they usually transport grain and materials?"
"Use ships to travel through Ru River, but as I know, Li Cheng has transferred the grain and fodder in the warehouse to Li Qiong, and the ships sent by Li Qiong will come to transport it in the next two days."
Tang Qian was very interested in this news, and he asked again: "Where do the ships come from? Where are they transported to?"
"I only know that ships come from Chenzhou."
At this time, Yu County Cheng brought two businessmen over. They both came from Chenzhou and Yingzhou early this morning. The businessman from Yingzhou said: "The villain came from Ruyin County, Yingzhou. There were originally three people in Ruyin County.
Thousands of garrison troops have been transferred to Yingchang Prefecture, and there are currently no garrison troops in Yingzhou."
Another businessman said: "There is a garrison in Xiangcheng County, Chenzhou, about two to three thousand people, but it seems that it is not Li Cheng's army, but Li Qiong's army."
"How do you know it's Li Qiong's army?"
"Everyone knows that their general's flag is called Qu, and they have gathered a lot of supplies over there in Xiangcheng."
Xiangcheng is a small county in the south of Chenzhou. It is not the prefecture of Chenzhou, which is in Wanqiu. However, Xiangcheng is a famous shipping transit city. The Song Dynasty built many large warehouses there.
Thinking back to what the warehouse manager said just now, Li Qiong would send a fleet to transport grain and grass to Chenzhou. Tang Qian vaguely guessed that Li Qiong's army was about to enter Chenzhou. The troops and horses had not moved, and the grain and grass would go first.
Tang Qian immediately called for the scout commander Yu Shouzhong and said to him: "You immediately take two scouts, one to Bozhou. I want to know the main situation of Li Qiong's army, and the other to Xiangcheng to learn about the enemy forces in Xiangcheng."
and the situation of food and supplies, especially the deployment of enemy troops."
"I understand your humble position!" Yu Shouzhong saluted and hurried away.
The next morning, a fleet of 500 flat-bottomed cargo ships arrived in Ruyang County. As expected, this fleet, together with the hundreds of soldiers escorting it, were captured by the Song army.
After the interrogation, the Song Army quickly learned the general situation. As expected, the fleet came from Xiangcheng County. Currently, Xiangcheng County has gathered a large amount of grain and grass supplies and is guarded by three thousand soldiers.
Tang Qian immediately made a decision and ordered his deputy Cheng Feng to lead the fleet and camel team behind, while he led eight thousand cavalry and galloped towards Xiangcheng County.
Xiangcheng County is about 250 miles away from Ruyang County in Caizhou. Although Li Qiong's army and a large amount of grain and grass materials appeared in Xiangcheng County, Tang Qian could not figure out Li Qiong's intention. Li Qiong was going to lead his army to Chenzhou.
, but also to transport grain and grass supplies back to Bozhou.
The cavalry galloped all the way and arrived at Xiangcheng County in the evening of the next day. Xiangcheng County is close to Yingshui, and the warehouse group is built next to the Yingshui Pier outside the city.
Still twenty miles away from Xiangcheng County, Tang Qian's cavalry stopped. At this time, the scouts sent by Yu Shouzhong also rushed back to report.
The scouts all pointed to a sketch and said to Tang Qian: "There is a wall outside the warehouse, about one foot high, but no one can stand on it. The military camp of three thousand troops is next to the warehouse. I haven't asked how much food is in it, but I haven't asked yet.
This morning another fleet arrived carrying food. I asked, and I found out that the fleet came from Qiao County, Bozhou. The fleet has not yet left, and is parked on the water. There are thousands of ships."
Since they are coming out of Bozhou, Li Qiong's army must be entering Chenzhou. Chenzhou's strategic position is much more important than Caizhou. To the north of Chenzhou is Kaifeng Prefecture, to the northwest is Yingchang Prefecture, and to the northwest is Kaifeng Prefecture.
In the northeast is Yingtian Prefecture. If a war breaks out in Chenzhou, the Jurchens of Yingtian Prefecture can go south to support them at any time.
Tang Qian was indeed an experienced general. He immediately decided to use only a thousand cavalry to attack the enemy in a sneak attack to hide his strength.
Night had not yet completely fallen, and the soldiers in the military camp were busy eating. At this moment, the soldiers heard a thunderous sound, rumbling from not far away. Many soldiers stood up in surprise with bowls in their hands.
Look around for the source of the sound.
Suddenly, someone shouted at the gate of the military camp: "Run! The enemy cavalry is coming."
The soldiers stood still for a moment, then suddenly there was chaos and they ran in all directions.
"Boom!" There was a loud noise, and the camp fence was knocked open, just like the Yellow River bursting its banks, and thousands of cavalry came in from the outside.
The cavalry of the Western Army killed everyone on sight, killing heads and leaving corpses everywhere. The camp was also on fire. The soldiers were so frightened that they did not bother to return to the barracks to get their weapons and fled in panic for their lives.
A thousand cavalrymen pursued them mercilessly, and they fought for more than ten miles before stopping. Nearly half of the three thousand soldiers were killed. The remaining soldiers did not dare to stay, and fled eastward desperately. They did not stop after escaping for twenty miles.
At this time, the soldiers were still confused, and all of them were unarmed and unarmed. Thinking of the brutal killing force of the other side, none of the soldiers had the courage to look back and check, or even dare to stay any longer, for fear that the Song army would pursue them, and under the leadership of Commander Zhang Lin