Lingshi County is located more than 20 miles north of Huoyi County. It is a relatively small county, but its geographical location is more dangerous than Huoyi County, especially the Lingshi Pass in front of Lingshi County, which cuts off the rats.
The south passage of Que Valley is in a dangerous terrain. One man can guard the pass, and no one can open it.
Just after the supporting troops of the Hexi Army arrived in Huoyi County, Ma Weijiang immediately led two thousand soldiers to the north quickly. At noon, the two thousand troops arrived in Lingshi County.
There are two thousand troops stationed in Lingshi County, and they have learned from the fleeing soldiers in Huoyi County that Huoyi County has been captured by the Hexi Army.
The entire Lingshi County was on standby, and two thousand soldiers were on top of the city, staring nervously at the south.
The general of Lingshi County was called Liu Can, who was also a Zhonglang General. He had already sent out spies to get news that an army of two thousand people was coming to Lingshi County, which really made him feel uneasy.
The red-bottomed black dragon flag of the Hexi Army finally appeared in the distance, and Liu Can nervously shouted: "Archers, prepare!"
Although the terrain of Lingshi County is dangerous in the north, it is relatively flat in the south and there is no moat. The two thousand Hexi Army has stopped advancing a mile away and captured Lingshi County. They have countermeasures.
Ma Weijiang waved his hand, "Iron Fire Thunder is ready!"
A dozen soldiers carried a wooden frame and a large iron fire mine. They ran 250 steps away from the city wall and installed the wooden table and iron fire mine. This was a shock tactic to force the enemy to
Leave the city and surrender.
One of the soldiers lit the match with a fire stick, and the soldiers ran away. They ran to the ground a hundred paces away and covered their ears tightly. All the soldiers of the Hexi Army blocked their ears.
The two thousand defenders on the top of the city didn't know why. They looked at the big black iron egg that was more than 200 steps away. The match rope finally burned into the iron fire thunder, and suddenly exploded with earth-shattering explosions.
‘Boom!’ The violent explosion shook the city, and tiles fell from the towers. The soldiers on the city walls became unsteady and fell to the ground, covering their ears in pain. The scene was filled with thick smoke.
After a while, a cavalryman rushed over and shouted loudly: "You must surrender within an hour, otherwise thousands of thunders will come down and destroy the city to pieces!"
The cavalry galloped back to the formation. The generals on top of the city all looked at Liu Can. Liu Can sighed, "We can't hold Lingshi County any longer. Instead of the soldiers being smashed to pieces, it's better to surrender and leave a way for our brothers to survive. Everyone feels that
how?"
A school captain said: "General Liu is right. If Lingshi County is lost, we won't survive either. We might as well surrender!"
Everyone shuddered. Li Huaiguang's military discipline was cruel and he killed many people. The army lost the city and all the captains and above were killed. Everyone was frightened and expressed their willingness to follow General Zhonglang and surrender.
Liu Can nodded and said: "Since we all agree, let's open the city and surrender with a white flag!"
The south city gate of Lingshi County was opened wide, and two thousand soldiers came out of the city one after another, taking off their armor, laying down their weapons and surrendering.
The Hexi Army accepted the surrender of the other party. According to the rules, those who were willing to join the Hexi Army were classified as third-class soldiers. Those who were unwilling to join the Hexi Army were given two buckets of rations and were allowed to return to their hometowns to farm.
Of the two thousand prisoners of war, 1,500 were willing to join the Hexi Army, and the other 500 were released and returned to their hometowns. Liu Can was demoted one level to General Lang, and the other surrendered generals were also demoted one level and would not command the army until the end of the war.
Arrange them together later.
Huoyi County and Lingshi County were successively occupied by the Hexi Army, cutting off the retreat route of the Jiexiu County defenders and cutting off their logistical supplies.
In the defense system of Shuqiao Valley, 15,000 troops guarded the bridgehead in Jiexiu County, and the second line of defense was Lingshi County. However, the logistics supply of the two lines of defense relied on the support of Huoyi County. Li Huaiguang was stationed in Huoyi County.
Two hundred thousand stones of grain.
Without the supplies of Huoyi County and the strategic depth of Lingshi County, the fifteen thousand soldiers of Jiexiu County became a turtle in a jar.
At this time, Guo and Song's 30,000-strong army had arrived ten miles north of Jiexiu County in Fenzhou and set up camp in a wide area. The Hexi Army was not in a hurry to attack Jiexiu County, but was waiting for news from Jiexiu County.
.
........
Jiexiu County has become a mess. In fact, Jiexiu County has been Li Huaiguang's bridgehead in preparing to attack Taiyuan Prefecture in recent years. It has gradually become militarized. The county itself is not big, and more than half of it has been converted into military camps, and up to two people can be stationed there.
Tens of thousands of troops and the population dropped sharply from the previous tens of thousands to less than 10,000 to around 7,000 to 8,000, and most of them moved to Huoyi County.
During this period, various gossips spread in the county, and many county residents were so frightened that they hid in the countryside. After the city was closed, the city became extremely deserted. There was not a single pedestrian on the street, and every household closed its doors and windows.
At noon that day, a middle-aged man carried a medicine box and a flag for visiting patients. He hurried to a corner in the south of the city, walked into an alley, and came to the innermost door. He knocked rhythmically.
After a few clicks, the door creaked open, and the man ducked in.
The person who opened the door was a middle-aged man who looked sick. He took a cautious look outside and closed the door.
The investigation in Jiexiu County was very strict, and the Hexi Army scouts could not get in. Guo Song only deployed two spies. One was a doctor who treated people and inquired about various information. The other was the middle-aged man who pretended to be ill.
A young man, a local, secretly raised a pigeon to send messages.
The two walked into the back room, and doctor Zhou Houmin said: "Jin County Lieutenant just told me to find a way to escape from Jiexiu County. The army's food cannot last for five days, and the next step is to harvest the people's food!"
The middle-aged man's name was Yang Wanbao. He was actually a civil official, not a real spy. He sneered and said: "How can they collect it? All the livestock have been requisitioned and probably slaughtered and eaten. There are a total of
How much food will there be for thousands of people?"
Zhou Houmin smiled and said: "I saw some people making vegetable dumplings with elm money, specifically to deal with the search. I think it is a good idea. The search soldiers will see that you are eating elm money, so they probably won't be interested in searching."
Yang Wanbao nodded and said: "I will find a way to deal with it. You just said that the army's food cannot last for five days. Is the news accurate?"
"The news is very accurate, including the county magistrate's father and other officials. I heard that 10,000 shi of grain transported by the military was stuck in Lingshi Pass. Now that Lingshi Pass has been captured by the Hexi Army, these 10,000 shi of grain are
If we can’t get through, I guess there aren’t many livestock in the military camp, so they have all gone to transport food.”
"I will send this news out immediately."
An hour later, a homing pigeon flew up, circled twice over the county town, and flew out of the city.
.........
In the main tent of the Hexi Army, the scouts presented the pigeon message from Jiexiu County to Guo Song. At this time, Guo Song was discussing the next move with the generals. There was a huge wooden map placed in the middle of the tent. Guo Song
I am becoming more and more satisfied with this wooden map. I can accurately find where the Fenshui River can dock in Huoyi County on the wooden map. It is exactly the same as where the boat stops on the ground.
After reading the information, Guo Song smiled at the generals and said: "As we expected, the food supply for the defenders in Jiexiu City can only last for five days at most."
"Will the defenders collect food from the people?" Commander Yao Jin asked.
Guo Song said calmly: "They will definitely do this, but they will never gain anything. I infer that they will abandon the city and go south soon!"
Guo Song pointed at the Lingshi County Road on the map with a wooden pole: "The news came from Lingshi County that the grain transportation team of the Jiexiu defenders was intercepted just in front of Lingshi Pass. There were a total of thirteen thousand stones of grain, seven thousand
There are still a few mules and donkeys left to carry the goods, so if the Jiexiu defenders want to survive, they must seize Lingshi County as soon as possible."
Kang Bao immediately bowed and said: "As a humble request, I will lead a thousand Modao army to take a step forward and intercept the Jiexiu defenders in front."
Guo Song shook his head and said: "There is no need for the Modao Army to take action this time. Lingshi Pass is very dangerous and the enemy can't even fly over with their wings. However, it would be good for the Modao Army to follow behind and cut off their retreat."
.........
In Jiexiu County, groups of soldiers were searching houses from house to house and looting residents' food. Even the dogs kept in people's homes were taken away by the soldiers. The whole city was harassed and it was chaos.
The door of Yang Debao's house was kicked open, and a dozen soldiers rushed in. Without saying a word, they began to rummage through the cabinets. They were not only looking for food, but also for gold, silver, copper coins and fine silks. Yang Debao put more than a dozen of them in the cabinet.
They found two pieces of silver. The captain was overjoyed and asked, "See how much food he has?"
A soldier shouted in the kitchen: "Captain, there are a few liters of wheat that haven't been ground yet, and then there's a basket of elm coins, and the pot is full of elm coins!"
"Just take the wheat, leave it alone, let's go!"
A group of soldiers found a little harvest and left happily, ignoring the owner sitting in the yard from beginning to end.
Not long after, another group of soldiers rushed in and rummaged around, but found nothing this time. However, they were unwilling to leave empty-handed, and finally snatched two kilograms of salt from the kitchen.