After shouting this, the hearts of the soldiers guarding the city were shaken. A Han man wanted to defeat Zhang Yousi, saying that the Song army had 4,000 to 5,000 men, and his side only had a few hundred, so they would definitely destroy the city. Instead of waiting to die, it would be better to kidnap the county magistrate and surrender.
If the Song army cannot stand here, it is better to follow the Song army back south than to be killed now.
So he and several friends worked together to kidnap the county magistrate, Kaicheng surrendered, and Xixian County was captured without spending a single soldier.
After entering the city, Du Gao immediately ordered people to take over the city defense, and at the same time ordered people to survey the terrain and make statistics on the treasury and population.
Later, Du Gao happily met with Zhang Yousi and others, praised their righteous actions, and then asked: "Where is the county magistrate?"
Zhang Yousi brought the magistrate of Xi County with him. Du Gao did not want to talk nonsense and said directly: "You did not respect the king's order and deserved your death. Zhang Yishi, please give him an end."
How could Zhang Yousi and the others not know that this was Du Gao asking them to hand over their name certificates, and denying their intention of stabbing the Song army in the back in the future, they couldn't help but feel a little flustered.
But if you don't follow the instructions, it's obviously unrealistic.
In desperation, four of Zhang You's men raised their knives and hacked the magistrate to death with knives.
Afterwards, Du Gao ordered his people to actively publicize that the arrival of the Song Army's King's Division was to save the suffering people, and also to punish the Jin Kingdom for invading the Song Dynasty. He hoped that the people in Xixian County would support the Song Army and actively join the army to drive them.
Du Gao knew that propaganda alone was not enough, so he also opened warehouses to release grain. The people were greatly moved and joined him one after another.
Immediately, Du Gao began to deploy the city defense without stopping. He ordered his soldiers and young and strong women to dig trenches, repair the city walls, and build movable and detachable wooden towers to prevent gaps in the city walls after they were collapsed by catapults.
While Du Gao was nervously preparing for war, Meng Gong's army was rushing towards Jieshou.
Along the way, Meng Gong raised the banner of the King of the Song Dynasty. Although many people were so scared that they closed their doors, many young people came to join him and said they wanted to serve the Song Dynasty court.
Meng Gong accepted them one by one and said to them: "I have been ordered to recover the leader of the world. You can go home and recruit fellow villagers to join the army to build up your momentum. When the army returns in triumph, the court will reward you based on your merits and grant you official positions."
No problem, go ahead, I will be waiting for you good news at the head of the world."
When these young people heard that it was so easy to be promoted and they could just go home and invite people, they all became extremely excited, howled and hurriedly went home to recruit people to join the army.
After marching for several days, the road was calm and calm. It didn't make anyone feel like they were in the Jin Kingdom-occupied area. Instead, it felt like their own back garden.
One day, Meng Gong's army came to a forest. Meng Gong ordered the army to stop and looked at the forest carefully.
Liu Yi rode over and asked, "General, what's the matter?"
Meng Gong pointed to the woods, "Look."
Liu Yi was curious, carefully observed the situation in the woods and the sky above, and finally said: "There are no birds flying above the woods, so there should be no ambush."
Meng Gong shook his head and said: "No, this just means there is an ambush."
Liu Yi was puzzled, looked at Meng Gong doubtfully, and asked: "May I ask the general, why is this?"
Meng Gong said: "You think, if there is no ambush inside, our army of 3,000 troops marched here, not far from the woods, why did no birds start up or animals run away?"
Liu Yi nodded, feeling that it was indeed strange.
Meng Gong added: "There is only one reason for this, and that is that the ambush inside has been hiding for at least several days, and the birds and beasts inside have long since fled in fear."
Meng Gong pointed to the surrounding villages and towns and said: "Also, along the way, there are villages next to this forest. Some rely on the mountains to eat the mountains, and the sea to eat the sea. Such a lush forest, but not a single villager comes to hunt.
, and there are no children playing, is it possible that they all know that my army is coming?"
Hearing what Meng Gong said, Liu Yi no longer doubted that there must be an ambush here. He hurriedly asked: "Then what should we do?"
Meng Gong said: "In the woods, the Jin army cannot form a formation. As long as our army lines up in front and uses rockets to force them, the Jin army will not dare to come out of the forest and will be scattered and defeated. Then our cavalry will cover up and kill them."
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After saying that, Meng Gong ordered Liu Yi to lead 300 cavalry on the side, and the remaining soldiers formed an emergency formation in front of the woods, forming a powerful battle formation.
"Fire the arrow."
Meng Gong's army was already in good order, but now it only changed its formation slightly. It was naturally very fast. Before the Jin army in the woods could react, Meng Gong ordered the arrows to be fired.
The arrowheads of the bow and arrows were tied with oilcloth so that they would catch fire when touched.
Suddenly, just when Meng Gong's army was about to release arrows, countless sharp arrows were shot from the woods. In just a moment, twenty or thirty people in Meng Gong's army fell to the ground after being hit by arrows, but the formation remained stable.
Meng Gong's soldiers were protected by shields. Although the damage was caused, it was not serious. The army continued to carry out Meng Gong's orders in an orderly manner. Hundreds of rockets were fired round after round, setting the woods on fire.
It was summer at this time, the weather was hot, the woods and trees were dry, and they caught fire. Soon many places inside were on fire, accompanied from time to time by the screams and roars of Jin soldiers.
"Fire the arrow."
Meng Gong's order did not stop, and the rockets flew over densely. The Jin soldiers soon could not resist and began to run around. Liu Yi followed Meng Gong's order and led the cavalry behind to take the opportunity to cover up the kill. Jin was quickly killed.
The soldiers were bleeding everywhere.
After the war, Meng Gong ordered his troops to simply clear the battlefield, and the injured Song soldiers got on grain trucks and continued on their way.
Soldiers who unfortunately died in battle were simply wrapped in straw mats and buried on the spot. Their locations were noted so that they could be taken away and returned to their hometowns when the opportunity arises.
As for the soldiers of the Jin Kingdom, regardless of whether they were dead or injured, they were all executed with one last blow and abandoned in the wilderness to be eaten by wild dogs.
War is so cruel.
At this time, people in Jieshou County were in panic. The people knew that the Song army was coming, and even the Jin soldiers who went to ambush suffered heavy losses. Now the county government is asking the court for reinforcements, but they don't know when they will come.
It has been a hundred years since the Song Dynasty crossed to the south. This is the time of four or five generations. Now these people north of the Huaihe River have been under the rule of the Jin Kingdom since they were born. The Song Dynasty is unfamiliar to them and only exists in the mouths of the elderly.
It's just a story. Faced with the sudden war at this time, many of them are of course afraid.
It can be seen that at this time, the gap between the two places was already very deep, so many people even regarded their home country as the Kingdom of Jin.
There is a squire named He Chu in the county town of Xixian. People outside are panicked, but he is not afraid at all. Moreover, he goes around claiming that he is a subject of the Kingdom of Jin. If the Song army really comes, his He family will fight with the Song army.
However, they couldn't fight, so the He family set themselves on fire.
He Chu said this everywhere, saying that he was loyal to the Jin State, a good citizen of the Jin State, vowed to live and die with the Jin State, and called on everyone to join him in resisting the Song army.