Ten thousand cavalry led by Tang Qian quietly stationed in Wuyang County, about forty miles away from Lin City, and sent more than a hundred scouts to Lin City to monitor the movements of Li Qiong's army.
Tang Qian faithfully carried out Chen Qing's orders. Once Li Qiong's army left Yancheng, he would immediately cut off the opponent's retreat.
At this time, Li Qiong did not know that he had become Chen Qing's first target, but he was an experienced veteran. He also knew the danger of going north. His 20,000 troops could not stop the enemy cavalry at all.
impact.
On the top of the city, Li Qiong looked worriedly to the north. Lincheng was about two hundred miles away from Xuchang, and it would take at least three days to walk. He had already sent spies north to find out about the siege.
At this time, on the official road in the distance, several cavalrymen quickly moved south and gradually approached. Li Qiong saw the cavalry clearly, and his heart suddenly sank. It turned out to be Jurchen cavalry. They must be the envoys of Wanyan Wushu.
Not long after, several Jurchen soldiers were led to the top of the city, bowed to the centurion, and handed a military order to Li Qiong, "Your Majesty's urgent military order, general please obey it!"
Li Qiong opened the military order, and it turned out that it was Wanyan Wushu who urged him to go north to support Xuchang City. "While the Song army has not yet laid siege to the city, you can quickly lead your army northward and enter the city to defend Xuchang together with Li Dutong.
Don’t be afraid either!”
Li Qiong let out a long sigh in his heart. Although Wanyan Wushu had the right idea and an army of 50,000 could defend the city without fear of a hundred thousand enemy troops, didn't he consider the risk of going north?
The centurion added: "Your Majesty said that there are risks in doing anything, but you can't not do it just because of the risks. General, please don't be afraid of the risks and try to find ways to reduce the risks. But no matter what, you must rush to Xuchang City immediately."
, defend Xuchang City, these are the prince’s exact words!”
Li Qiong had no choice but to nod, "Please go back and tell the prince that I will leave as soon as possible!"
After the soldier who delivered the message left, Lieutenant General Pan Gui sneered: "The fourth prince is really smart and knows that we don't want to go north."
Li Qiong sighed and said: "We didn't want to come to support in the first place. It's not that he didn't know and forced us to come. Of course he wouldn't relax at the last critical moment."
"He also knows there are risks, so why not let 20,000 Jurchen troops go to support Xuchang? They also ride horses, which is safer."
"Don't say such meaningless words. When have the Han people not been at the forefront? We should still think about how to reduce the risk."
A general suggested: "As a military envoy, you can travel day and night, so you won't be easily discovered."
Pan Gui also said: "I asked Li Zhixian two days ago. He said that there is an abandoned old official road, which also leads to Xuchang. It is on the west bank of Yingshui River. It is relatively hidden. We can take the old official road at night and walk in the woods during the day.
Rest within hours and the risk can be reduced by half.”
Another general also said: "We also need to ask the soldiers to bring less weapons and more dry food, and tell all the soldiers that once they are intercepted by the Song Army's cavalry, they will immediately flee for their lives in the woods, and then return to Bozhou to rendezvous. This can reduce losses."
to the lowest level.”
Another general suggested: "Let each soldier carry a sheepskin bag. It is very light and does not take up any weight. If the situation is critical, you can still dive into the water to escape!"
Li Qiong nodded repeatedly. These plans were very good and well prepared. If they were implemented well, even if they were intercepted, their losses would be minimized.
Li Qiong immediately made preparations, but the sheepskin bags were not enough, and there were still thousands of them missing. Li Qiong also found thousands of large gourds from people's homes and asked the soldiers to carry them on their backs, so that they could swim and escape with them.
In the afternoon, another group of Jurchen messenger soldiers came and delivered Wanyan Wushu's military orders. Wanyan Wushu once again urged Li Qiong's army to go north immediately.
Li Qiong could no longer hold on. That night, 20,000 soldiers marched lightly, throwing away their spears, shields, heavy crossbows, and no armor. They only wore cloth uniforms, and all other items they could throw away.
Each soldier only wears a knife and a pair of bows and arrows, and does not even need a blanket. These equipments are available in Xuchang City.
If they encounter a small group of Song troops, they can still have an advantage with their numbers. If they encounter more than 10,000 Song troops, even if they are fully equipped, they are no match for them. They might as well just turn around and run for their lives without any equipment.
However, each soldier brought six days of dry food, silver, and broken silver and copper coins. Since Chen Qing killed more than a thousand soldiers in Luoyang who robbed the people, he really shocked all the soldiers in the Central Plains, and they also wanted to
Consider leaving a way out for the soldiers and try not to rob the people's property. Moreover, scattered defeated soldiers like them can easily be surrounded and killed by the angry people if they rob the people's property.
Everything was ready. At the first watch, the 20,000-strong army left Yancheng County and quickly headed northwest.
As soon as Li Qiong's army left Yancheng, they were immediately discovered by the scouts sent by Tang Qian. When the enemy army walked away a little, the scouts immediately fired three gunpowder arrows into the sky, followed by three gunpowder arrows ten miles away.
Three bright red gunpowder arrows also rose ten miles away, and the last three bright red gunpowder arrows rose at the head of Wuyang County.
Only half an hour after Li Qiong's army left Yancheng, Tang Qian led 10,000 cavalry out of Wuyang County and rushed towards Yancheng.
At two o'clock, Tang Qian's 10,000 cavalry arrived at Lin City. The army entered Lin City and found that there was no enemy in the city. Li Qiong's entire army marched north.
Tang Qian immediately made a decision and left his commander Cao Changqing to lead 2,000 men to guard Licheng. He immediately led 8,000 cavalry to follow Li Qiong in the north direction.
In fact, not only the scouts sent by Tang Qian were keeping an eye on Yancheng, but also the dozen or so scouts sent by Chen Qing were also keeping an eye on Yancheng County, watching every move of Li Qiong's army. When Li Qiong's army set off, the scouts sent by Chen Qing
He immediately ran towards the target.
The next morning, Chen Qing got the news that Li Qiong's army was heading north. He personally led 30,000 cavalrymen to go south. Together with Tang Qian's 8,000 cavalry, nearly 40,000 troops surrounded and suppressed Li Qiong's army.
It is not far from Licheng to Xuchang, about 150 miles, but Liqiong traveled by day and night, so it would take at least three nights.
But Chen Qing's cavalry moved south very quickly. Of course they knew the abandoned official road, even more so than the other party. At noon the next day, forward scouts discovered 20,000 enemy troops hiding in the woods and resting in the woods forty miles away.
The Song army's scouts encountered the opposing spies at the same time, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides. The Song army's number was ten times that of the opponent's, and they quickly eliminated all ten of the opponent's spies, killing four and capturing six.
An hour later, the leader of the Song Army's scouts rushed back to report to Chen Qing, "This is a typical report. Our forward scouts have discovered the main enemy force in the south!"
"how far!"
"It was still forty miles away when they were discovered, but now it's estimated to be less than thirty miles away."
"Does the other party have spies?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, we encountered an enemy. We eliminated all ten of the other party's spies and captured six of them. We dealt with the spies and confessed. They were lightly armed. Each soldier carried a sheepskin bag. If there was an emergency, they fled to the woods or jumped into the river to escape.
, very well prepared.”
Chen Qing smiled slightly at Liu Qiong and said, "I want to escape before fighting."
Liu Qiong bowed and said: "Actually, it is understandable that the 20,000 troops were surrendered by Li Qiong from Huaibei. Their families are all in Bozhou. He values these soldiers very much and does not want them to die."
"Why don't you surrender if you don't want to die?"
Chen Qing sneered, and then said to General Li Fuxing: "Li Tong leads 10,000 cavalry along the river to intercept their escape from the river, Liu Dutong!"
"The end is here!" Liu Qiong said, cupping her fists.
Chen Qing said calmly: "You and I will lead 10,000 cavalry on the left and right to surround them."
Liu Qiong hesitated and asked: "What about the retreat?"
"Don't worry! Tang Qian's army must be behind them. Remember, everyone, those who surrender will be spared death, and those who resist will be killed!"
"Follow the order!"
The 30,000 cavalrymen immediately divided into three groups, and with the yellow dust billowing and the sound of horse hooves thundering, they galloped towards the south to kill with great force.