The chief general of Jiexiu County is called Li Dan, who is the nephew of Li Huaiguang. He is about thirty years old, dark-skinned, powerful, and very tall and burly. He was named Huo Guogong by Li Huaiguang, a hussar general, and commanded an army of 20,000 to guard the Jin Dynasty.
Middle channel.
Li Dan paced back and forth restlessly in the tent with his hands behind his hands. The army's food supply could no longer last for five days, and the food in the official warehouse had long been gone. He knew in his heart that even if he went to the private sector to grab it, he wouldn't be able to get much.
What should he do?
What frightened him even more was that both Huoyi County and Lingshi County were captured by the Hexi Army. His retreat was cut off. What should he do?
As for surrender, he didn't even dare to consider it. Everyone could surrender, but he couldn't surrender. He was Li Huaiguang's nephew. Surrendering would only lead to death.
At this time, Xu Gui, an aide, whispered from the side: "If we can capture Lingshi County, maybe tens of thousands of shi of food can sustain us for a while. When the prince's army captures Huoyi County, we can get out of the crisis. At present, it looks like
Come on, this is the only way."
Li Dan sighed slightly, nodded and said: "You are right, it seems that this is the only way."
........
The search of the city ended at the third watch, and a total of only eighty-four shi of grain was found, plus some dogs and chickens, which was barely enough to feed the fifteen thousand troops for one day.
Forced by helplessness, Li Dan had no choice but to lead his army to leave Jiexiu County at five o'clock and evacuate south. His only hope was to capture Lingshi County and wait for the arrival of reinforcements.
Li Dan left Jiexiu County, and Guo Song received the report from the scouts. He ordered Pei Xin to lead a thousand soldiers into the city to investigate the situation. He found that the enemy troops had indeed evacuated, so the army broke camp and marched into Jiexiu in a mighty manner.
county.
The 6,000 people in Jiexiu County had no rice left, so Guo Song immediately ordered his soldiers to cook porridge on the streets to provide relief to the residents in the city.
At noon the next day, Guo Song personally led 20,000 cavalry and 2,000 Modao troops south to pursue the enemy. They were not in a hurry to catch up with the enemy, but kept a distance of thirty miles from the enemy.
At night, 15,000 Jin troops camped at Baihe Ridge at the junction of Fenzhou and Jinzhou. The road ahead was blocked, there were pursuits from behind, and food was about to be cut off. As a result, the morale of the army was very low and the mentality of the army changed.
There are about 5,000 people in the rear army, and the camp is about one mile away from the Chinese army. Once they are attacked by the Hexi Army, the Chinese army still has some time to prepare.
There is no general in the rear army, and there are three generals commanding an army of 5,000.
At the first watch, two generals were sitting under a big tree and discussing in a low voice. These two generals were brothers, one named Chen Feng and the other Chen Rui, both from Wenxi County, Jiangzhou.
"The Hexi Army is following us unhurriedly, and they are still cavalry. They don't even want to use tactics such as night attacks. This shows that the opponent is very confident. I am afraid that the destruction of the entire army will be inevitable this time."
Chen Rui sighed and said: "Brother is right, the key is that our food is going to run out. As long as the food is running out and Lingshi Pass cannot be taken, the army will inevitably collapse without a fight. The opponent is probably waiting for this step!"
"What I mean is that it is better to lead the army to surrender to Guo and Song now. This is called an attack on the battlefield. At least you can still get credit. Maybe you can continue to be a general and make a fortune."
"Brother and I thought of going together. Why don't we call Bao Qing together and let our five thousand troops surrender together."
"I'm afraid that Bao Qing won't surrender and betrays our brothers instead. Why don't we hold a Hongmen Banquet and invite him to discuss it. If he refuses, kill him on the spot."
The two brothers discussed it and immediately sent soldiers to invite another general, Bao Qing. Bao Qing was also from Wenxi County, Jiangzhou, and was from the same hometown as the Chen brothers. Basically, their subordinates were all Jiangzhou people, so they were also called
For the Jiangzhou Army.
There was no accident, and Bao Qing agreed and led his army to surrender to the Hexi Army together with them.
"I have had this idea for a long time. The Hexi Army has made steady progress step by step, regaining the Western Region, seizing Longyou, Shuofang, and Taiyuan Prefecture. Guo and Song Dynasties have become domineering in the world. Li Huaiguang is gone. Birds choose good trees to roost. We don't have to
Bury for him."
The three of them hit it off immediately and discussed the countermeasures carefully. The army set off at the fifth watch and they had to go north before the fourth watch.
Just after the third watch, the five thousand rear troops got up and rallied under the orders of three generals. They moved quickly and set off northward before the news reached the central army.
Chen Rui took the lead and went to inform the Hexi Army...
Guo Song was woken up by his soldiers while he was sleeping. He sat up and asked, "What happened?"
"I inform you that the enemy's five thousand troops have come to surrender."
Guo Song was refreshed and no longer sleepy. He put on his golden helmet and quickly walked out of the tent. Several soldiers brought Chen Rui up. Chen Rui knelt down on one knee and saluted: "The last general, Jiangzhou Deputy Lieutenant Chen Rui
See Guo Shijun!"
Guo Song nodded and asked: "How many generals and troops do you have in total? Why do you want to surrender?"
"Replying to Ambassador Guo, we have three generals in total. One is my brother Chen Feng and the other is Bao Qing. They are both from Wenxi in Jiangzhou. The five thousand troops are basically descendants of Jiangzhou. Our rear army is also called
Li Huaiguang has always been brutal for the Jiangzhou Army, and we are not willing to die for him. We are willing to serve the envoy and find a future."
Seeing his frankness and sincerity, Guo Song immediately felt good about him and said: "I can accept your surrender. If you put down your armor and weapons, a general will come to receive it. He should be a fellow countryman of yours."
Guo Song immediately found Pei Xin and said to him: "The Jiangzhou army has come to surrender. I have approved the surrender. It is up to you to take over this army!"
"I humbly obey orders!"
Pei Xin stepped forward to greet Chen Rui. Everyone knew each other. Pei Xin was a descendant of the Wenxi Pei family, and Chen Rui and others were trained by the Pei family martial arts school. How could they not be familiar with each other?
Pei Xin immediately followed Chen Rui with hundreds of cavalry to receive the Jiangzhou Army's surrender...
News of the sudden movement of the rear army soon reached Li Dan's ears. He was immediately taken aback and immediately sent someone to inquire about the news. Soon he got the exact news. The Chen brothers and Bao Qing led the 5,000 rear army to the north.
Needless to say, this must be the surrender of the Hexi Army. Li Dan was shocked and angry, but did not dare to say anything. He immediately ordered the news to be blocked, and ordered the troops to assemble and continue to capture.
But there is no airtight wall in the world. The news that the rear army of 5,000 people surrendered to the Hexi Army spread throughout the entire army. Suddenly, people's hearts were agitated, and many people had ideas.
At this time, it was still dark. When the army was gathering, many soldiers who were close to the mountains and forests took the opportunity to flee into the mountains and forests. When the army set off, there were only about 8,300 people left in the 10,000-strong army. In just half an hour,
When they arrived, 1,700 people escaped, which really made Li Dan extremely angry. He immediately ordered the army to speed up their march and kill at Lingshi Pass, thirty miles away...
At noon, eight thousand troops arrived at Lingshi Pass. Lingshi Pass is located three miles north of Lingshi County. It is the narrowest point in the entire Shuqiao Valley. It is surrounded by cliffs on one side and deep rapids on the other. It is only a hundred feet wide. It was built
A tall and solid Guancheng was built, with walls at the front and back. The distance inside the city was only 500 steps, and could only accommodate a thousand troops to guard the Guancheng.
However, Guancheng in the north is at a high place and has the advantage of being at a commanding height. It is quite difficult for one man to control the pass and ten thousand people cannot break it, and the terrain is very dangerous.
There are six hundred soldiers guarding the city head, and they are full of them. In addition to arrows, the sharp guard weapons are rolling logs and stones, which are thrown down from high places. However, the Hexi Army installed three cyclone cannons. , is a small trebuchet, which can throw a small iron fire thunder weighing fifty kilograms more than a hundred steps.
The commander, Ma Weijiang, personally led the troops to guard Lingshi Pass. He shouted loudly: "Prepare the trebuchet, follow my orders!"
The three trebuchets creaked open, and three small iron mines were placed on the trebuchets, waiting for the order to ignite.
The Jin army who came from Jiexiu County brought twenty siege ladders. They counted on these twenty siege ladders to capture Lingshiguan and Lingshi County. However, the mountain road could not accommodate the entire army's attack, and could only accommodate thousands of siege ladders. People launch an offensive.
Li Dan ordered: "The first battalion attacks, the fourth and fifth battalions cover with crossbows!"
Two thousand crossbowmen stepped forward to a distance of two hundred steps from the city gate, raised their crossbows, and fired dense crossbow arrows at Guancheng. The soldiers on Guancheng squatted down to avoid the arrows.
At this time, a thousand soldiers shouted and rushed towards Guancheng. They carried ten siege ladders and, under the cover of crossbows, accurately forcibly attacked the city.
Seeing that the enemy troops had rushed within a hundred steps, Ma Weijiang immediately ordered: "Light the fire and launch!"
Three iron fire mines were ignited at the same time. When they burned to the red line, three trebuchets were launched at the same time, and three iron fire mines weighing 50 kilograms hit the enemy soldiers' heads.
Guo Song made a rule on the use of iron fire thunder. Iron fire thunder containing poisonous nails should not be used in civil war. The poisonous nails are too poisonous and will be disabled for life even if they do not die. They are generally only used against foreign races, while iron fire thunder In civil war it was only used to siege and defend cities.
Three iron fire thunders rolled into the crowd and exploded violently in the crowd.