"This guy is looking for death!" After hearing the report from brothers Yuan Kun and Yuan Bao, Han Qing sneered and his eyes quickly fell on the map on the table.
The Yellow River has changed its course many times in history, and its current mouth is near Zhao'an County (Zhanhua County, Shandong Province). The location is very different from the entrance of the Yellow River in Han Qing's previous life.
In the Yellow River Basin, there are countless tributaries, large and small. They either eventually merge into the Yellow River, or they serve as diversion and flood discharge functions, and find another way out to the sea.
There is just such a tributary in the north of Pingyuan County, named Xiaoqing. The water volume is not abundant, and fishing boats with only five or six materials can travel without any problem. (From 1060 to 1099, it once became the main channel of the Yellow River.
)
"The north gate of Pingyuan County is right next to the wharf. There is no urn city. The city wall is built of rammed earth and is one foot and seven feet high." Yuan Bao was very smart and saw Han Qing set his sights on the Xiaoqing River on the north side of Pingyuan County.
He immediately added in a low voice to the side that the city gate is made of linden wood, about four inches thick."
"There are about two thousand soldiers in the city. They are signing troops from Youzhou. Their morale is low and their military discipline is extremely poor. They openly enter and rob houses in broad daylight, and the commander Wang Xingzu who leads the team cannot restrain them." Yuan Kun was not to be outdone.
He also reported quietly next to him.
In order to make up for the lack of troops, the Liao State forcibly recruited young men from Youyan to join the army before the expedition. They were neither entitled to military pay nor received any training. In most cases, they had to prepare their own weapons and armor.
Of course, this kind of team does not have much combat effectiveness, so the Liao Kingdom usually does not let the signing army fight with the Song army in the field. They are only used as "consumables" during the siege, or sent out to maintain order in the newly occupied areas.
In the task of siege, at least 40% of a team of sign troops must die, so everyone in the sign army avoids it. When it comes to the task of maintaining order in the newly occupied area, the sign troops are happier than in the New Year.
There is no other reason. The people of the Song Dynasty were known for their pliability. Signing troops to maintain order would basically not encounter any risks.
In such a big city, you can always find seven or eight wealthy families who cherish their motherland or have "not enough respect" for the Liao Dynasty. At this time, the army can knock on the door, kill all the men inside, and rape the women inside.
By the way, these people's properties were looted.
Even if the traitor county magistrate temporarily appointed by the Liao Kingdom knew that the people who had been looted were wronged, in order to achieve the effect of "killing one person to serve as a warning to hundreds", he would not come forward to stop it, and even participated in sharing the loot later.
In recent days, the signing troops stationed in Pingyuan County, under the command of their capital commander Wang Xingzu, looted thirteen wealthy households in succession.
From Wang Xingzu himself to ordinary soldiers, everyone made a "not small" fortune.
Of course, this "not small" is relative to each person's vision. Usually ten pieces of silk cloth can make an ordinary soldier of the signing army think that it is the first time he has seen a large number in his life. In Wang Xingzu's own eyes,
, ten bolts of silk cloth, is nothing more than an ordinary drinking party.
"Song people are really rich!" Cui Huaisheng, the leader of the signing army, sat on the second floor of the enemy tower at the north gate of Pingyuan County and sighed as he put the stolen silver pot to his lips and took a sip.
The rice wine in the silver pot was just snatched from the house of a scholar named Fang this afternoon. Both the commander and the captain like to drink grape wine and don't like such sour things, so they bought the wine jar together.
Got him.
The family named Fang also had a lot of silver cakes, silk cloth, jewelry, and jade in his house, but unfortunately none of them were in his turn. After all the commanders, Du Yuhou and several commanders selected and distributed them according to their grades.
, all that fell into the hands of Cui Dutou was a smashed silver pot.
The silver pot looks quite big, but it actually weighs less than two taels. And in order to make the bottle stronger, a lot of white copper was mixed into it during the smelting. Therefore, if I take it back to Youzhou to sell it in the future, I might even need three stones of millet in exchange for it.
Less than.
However, Cui Huaisheng, the leader of the signing army, was very content.
One person has one life. Those real pure silver and pure gold utensils are only suitable for noble men. Even if Cui Huaisheng gets it, he will not use it for a long time. What if after returning to Youzhou, he is killed by some Khitan neighbor?
If he takes a liking to it, he might even get himself into trouble.
What's more, compared to the wealthy family named Fang in the city, he still had a silver pot left. But the entire family of the wealthy family named Fang couldn't even save their lives.
The old man of the Fang family, until the last moment when his throat was cut, continued to cry out for injustice. He thought that those who surrendered to the Liao Kingdom were the subjects of the Liao Emperor and should not suffer such unreasonable disasters.
Little did they know that no matter how submissive their attitude was, in the eyes of the Liao Emperor, they were still "grass valleys" and were "cut" by the soldiers, as it was only natural!
"Dutou, let's have some food and drinks on the hour!" Sun Xiaobao, the captain of the signature army from his hometown, stepped forward with a smile and took out a chicken with the smell of sweat from his arms. Along the way, he put a copper bowl in the wind
Next to the chicken.
"Du Tou, try this!" Another subordinate came over with a smile, put down the wooden bowl, and took out two pieces of mutton jerky with no visible color from his arms.
"Du Tou, I got this today!" A piece of bacon was put down, followed closely by a cyan porcelain cup.
"Dutou..."
"Dutou..."
The shouts continued one after another, and in the blink of an eye, seven or eight soldiers on duty entered the watchtower. Each of them took out different food from his arms and put down a container for wine.
"You grandsons are not good at what you do, but your noses are sharper than a dog's!" Cui Huaisheng frowned and reprimanded in a low voice, "We don't need the city gate anymore. If there is a rebellion, be careful of your heads being moved!"
"Rebellion? Dutou, aren't you here? Who dares to rebel in front of you after taking the courage of a leopard?" Sun Xiaobao responded with a sweet mouth and smiled immediately.
"That's right, if you have a head, you are a dragon, so you have to be coiled up!" Zhang Feng, a team leader, added with a smile beside him.
"Isn't that right? When did the people of the Song Dynasty have the courage to rebel?"
…
The other soldiers also laughed and flattered Cui Huaisheng, as if this man was the reincarnation of Zhao Zilong and Ran Min was reborn.
Although they were brothers from several different villages, they were considered fellow villagers. Everyone was so flattering that Cui Huaisheng could no longer use the excuse of being wary of people's rebellion to drive everyone out to watch at night.
Therefore, he took out the silver pot with pain, ordered one to two coins of rice wine for each wine-holding utensil in front of him, and cursed angrily, "Drink, I'll give it to you. After drinking, your feet will feel weak, so be careful when you step on the city wall."
If you fall down, your head will turn out like a dog's head!"
"How can it be possible? How can it be impossible? The city wall is only six feet high. If you jump off the battlements with one hand, you won't even be able to stand."
"A little more, a little more, it's all good. You said before we set off that we share the blessings and the hardships together!"
…
The soldiers laughed and laughed, picked up their drinking utensils, and drank slowly and carefully, as if they were drinking nectar.
The Liao Dynasty is the richest in the world, but the families of ordinary people are extremely poor. Especially the farmers like them, who come from the Han and Xi ethnic groups, every household is extremely poor.
The little grain that we usually get, after paying taxes, is not even enough to feed a family. Where is the extra grain to make wine?
Therefore, even the low-quality rice wine sold for two cents a scoop in the Song Dynasty was a rare luxury for them. It was enough to make many people feel ecstatic after taking the first sip.
Just as he was feeling calm, he saw Cui Huaisheng, his boss, pricked up his ears, and then raised his finger to his mouth, "Hey, shut up. There seems to be a sound outside the city! Who is watching outside? Xiao Xiao
