Poor Family Chapter 626

Chapter 626 Set off again

The news of Ma Shan only arrived one day earlier. Early the next morning, officials from the Privy Council also rushed to the barracks and read out the handling plan for Yang Lin's case. Cut, Li Yanqing's army plan was approved by the Privy Council, and Cao He and Han Shizhong formally assumed the command positions, ordering Li Yanqing to immediately lead the army to the north to quell the Qiang riots in the north of Shaanxi Road.

Before dawn the next day, the drums of assembly were beating loudly, and soldiers rushed out from the barracks in all directions, and quickly assembled on the martial arts field. This was what Li Yanqing practiced every day. Twelve thousand soldiers had to The assembly is completed within 50 drums, and if you are late once, you can stick 30 army sticks.

After beating hundreds of soldiers with sticks for several days in a row, the soldiers will basically not be late. The 50 drums ended, and all the 12,000 soldiers had assembled. slap,.

Li Yanqing stood on the high platform, staring at the 12,000 soldiers standing in line. If nothing else, this army is his foundation. He must seize this opportunity well.

"Brothers!"

Li Yanqing's loud voice echoed above the soldiers' heads. He mercilessly killed Commander Yang and five partial generals, making all the soldiers fear him until he rewarded all the 50,000 taels of stolen silver to the soldiers. Only then did I gain a little more respect in the fear, and it turned into awe.

"In another hour, we will gather and go north. A new war is waiting for us. Some people will be worried, afraid, and afraid that they will die in other places, but there will definitely be casualties in the war. What I, Li Yanqing, will do , is to lead everyone to victory in the war. Brothers, show your courage and confidence. I, Li Yanqing, have never been defeated in the Southern and Northern Wars. We will not fail this time either. We will use our iron and blood to forge Let's have the strongest army in Song Dynasty!"

Li Yanqing's impassioned encouragement still echoed in the soldiers' ears, and the army had already set off in mighty strength. The Jingzhao Prefecture mobilized a thousand carts and five thousand Jingzhao Prefecture soldiers for this northern expedition. All kinds of food, grass and military resources were mixed in the army going north, and the role of the township soldiers was to move materials, and they were mainly responsible for logistics.

Although the expedition distance is only more than 700 miles, the northern expedition of the army still needs to mobilize the army. Not only the township soldiers are used, but also the counties along the way must contribute to assist the army's logistics supplies to go north.

To be precise, their army is a reinforcement army. It is not the first time that the Qiang people have rioted. In the past, they could be suppressed by using the local army. But this time the riot is different. The Qiang people actually formed a regular army. Weapons and solid armor, coupled with widespread horseback riding, killed tens of thousands of Xiang troops, and the government of the states had to ask the court for help.

Fortunately, the Qiang people's siege ability is extremely weak. They ravaged several states, but only captured two small county towns, which was caused by the county town's disrepair.

The army of Jingzhao Prefecture took Jingyuan Road and passed through the mountains in the north of Guanzhong. Four days later, the army arrived in the central county of Fangzhou. There are traces of repairs just now. Many damaged city walls have been repaired with large stones. The city gates are also newly replaced. Many civilians are dredging the moat.

"what happened?"

Li Yanqing pointed at the newly repaired city wall with his horsewhip, and asked Huang Wen, the magistrate who came out of the city to meet him, "Has the Qiang army reached Fangzhou yet?"

Zhizhou Huang Wen was a short man, only reaching Li Yanqing's neck, about fifty years old, with a wrinkled face like dried orange peel.

Huang Wen, riding on a donkey, sighed and said, "A few days ago, a group of several hundred Qiang cavalry rushed into Fangzhou, killed a circle in Fangzhou and then left, taking thousands of catties of grain. , ruined more than a dozen women, and killed some villagers. Fortunately, they did not come to the county seat, and there was still a gap in the city wall that had not been repaired at that time, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable."

"How many troops are currently in the Qiang Army, does Governor Huang know?"

"There are probably five or six thousand people! I heard the commander of the Xiangzhou Xiang Army mention it once."

"How many Xiang troops are there in Fangzhou?" Li Yanqing asked again.

Huang Wen smiled wryly, "After a disastrous defeat, there were only about three hundred of the original one thousand soldiers left. It's not that seven hundred soldiers were killed. At least half of them have fled back home."

Li Yanqing also heard that a month ago, the 20,000 Xiang army in eight states fought fiercely with the Qiang people, and they were defeated by the Qiang army in the first battle. If the Qiang people were not good at attacking the city, the entire middle of Shaanxi Road would have been devastated. .

In fact, there are still 40,000 to 50,000 forbidden troops in the northern border area. It is more convenient for them to send troops to exterminate the Qiang people. However, the imperial court finally decided to let the only 12,000 forbidden troops in the Guanzhong area go north. I am afraid that this riot by the Qiang people may not be able to get rid of Xixia. .

In fact, Li Yanqing can also understand Xixia's worries. After all, Song and Jin still have a covenant. Once Jin soldiers go south to attack Xixia, Xixia will have to fight, then the southern Songxia border will be empty, so no matter what, Xixia must find a way to contain it. It is not surprising that the Qiang riots occurred at this critical moment to prevent the Song army from taking the opportunity to attack the north.

After resting in Fangzhou for a day, the army continued to go north, and the army entered Fuzhou two days later.

The army stopped shortly after entering Fuzhou. Li Yanqing ordered to build a camp on the spot. A month ago, Qingzhou was the most ravaged state by Qiang people. In addition, all other areas have been occupied, and the main battlefield has been transferred to Fuzhou. As soon as Li Dajun entered Fuzhou, he discovered the scouting cavalry of the Qiang army.

Li Yanqing immediately ordered Yanqing to send ten scout cavalry teams to investigate the enemy's situation.

The scout battalion in Jingzhao County only has 200 people. The main reason for the small number of troops is the lack of horses. Before Li Yanqing took office, there were only 300 horses in the 12,000 troops. Originally there were 2,000 horses, but the vast majority Some of them were requisitioned by the Northern Expeditionary Army, but never returned.

The Qiang people are different. The Qiang people originally lived on animal husbandry. Even if they don't raise horses in every family, at least half of them have horses. When it extends to the army, it is not surprising that there are 4,000 cavalry among the 6,000 Qiang soldiers.

Standing in front of the map, Li Yanqing was discussing the strategy of defeating the enemy with the two commanders. Han Shizhong beside him said, "Actually, it is not very difficult to deal with the Qiang people. We just need to use our strengths to avoid weaknesses, give full play to the advantages of firearms, avoid the disadvantage of short legs, and defeat the Qiang people. I still feel confident.”

Seeing Cao Xing shaking his head, Li Yanqing said, "What do you mean by shaking your head? If you have a different opinion, speak up."

Cao Xing scratched his head and said: "I just think General Han's words are too rough. It is good to avoid short legs, but how to avoid it? Is there any other way besides defending the city?"

Han Shizhong was a little unhappy and said: "I just mentioned a direction first, and then discuss how to do it in detail, you..."

Before Han Shizhong could say something ugly, Li Yanqing interrupted him, "It's too early to discuss the specific plan. Let's talk about the general direction first after the scouts' information is collected!"

He said to Cao Xing again: "Tell me what you think!"

Cao Xing glanced at Han Shizhong and said, "Actually, I also think firearms are good. We have Zhentian Lei, which is the sharpest firearm, and Iron Fire Thunder, which is also a sharp weapon against cavalry. If you encounter the enemy unfortunately, then You can only give full play to the advantages of the crossbow, and you can also compete with the enemy with the **** arm crossbow."

Li Yanqing saw that Han Shizhong's expression was a little cold, so he smiled at Cao Xing and said, "We are talking here, and we don't know how the barracks are going? Old Cao, you are familiar with building camps. Go and watch. I'm a little worried. I'll look for them later. You discuss military affairs."

Cao Xing promised and turned away, Li Yanqing smiled at Han Shizhong and asked: "I interrupted you just now, are you emotional?"

Han Shizhong shook his head hastily, "I don't dare to be in a humble position, but... General Cao is taking things for granted."

"I understand your feelings. Lao Cao is just such a person. He can say whatever he wants. He can't hide things in his stomach. If he is as insidious as Yang Lin, I'm afraid you will feel uncomfortable too."

"The humble staff understands that maybe the contact time is too short, and they will be able to adapt to each other after more running-in."

Li Yanqing said slowly again: "Old Han, I know that you came up step by step from the bottom and have rich practical experience, but you are not unaware of the corruption of the Song Dynasty army. Although Lao Cao is a child of a meritorious family, he is very Modesty, loyalty, not putting on the airs of the children of the aristocratic family, this alone is already very rare, but he does not have much experience, and he has a good face, sometimes he will pretend to understand, at this time you just laugh it off, Don't argue with him."

Han Shizhong nodded silently, "I will remember the words of control."

Li Yanqing smiled again: "The reason why I promoted him to be the commander instead of the high favor is not because he is a child of the Cao family, but because he has a very good advantage, he has a strong sense of responsibility, and he can proceed from the overall situation, even at the expense of others." Sacrificing your own interests, you will gradually understand in the future, and I believe you will like him, and he is good at defending the city, and you are good at attacking, and it will be easy to match one attack and one defense."

"The humble official understands, and the humble official also goes to see the camp."

Li Yanqing smiled and waved his hands, "Go! That kid doesn't have much experience in camping, I'm really afraid he'll screw up camping."

Han Shizhong smiled and walked away quickly. Li Yanqing brought his thoughts back to the map. This area is the Loess Plateau with ravines and ravines. How should he fight the first battle?

(end of this chapter)

Chapter end

Report