Fu Song

Chapter 138
Li Hao was awakened by the sudden knock on the door.

It's freezing cold all the way, and with thousands of people escorting so many supplies, he needs to worry about everything. He really hasn't had a good night's sleep.Arrived at the destination today, and it is a place where he can definitely relax. After drinking a good meal, even the two girls that Zuo Qiuming gave him to warm the bed were kicked out, and they fell down and screamed loudly. to sleep.

"Jing'an, Jing'an!" The voice from outside turned out to be Zuo Qiuming's voice. Li Hao lost all sleepiness and jumped away. If it wasn't something urgent, how could Zuo Qiuming come to call himself? get up.

Jumping out of bed, he grabbed his clothes and put them on while running barefoot to the door, opened the door, he saw Zuo Qiuming standing outside with a full body.

"Uncle, what happened?" Seeing Zuo Qiuming's appearance, Li Hao suddenly broke out in sweat.

"Xiao Ding is here!" Zuo Qiu said concisely.

"How is it possible?" Li Hao's eyes widened. "In this weather, how could he have crossed Hengshan Mountain and quietly appeared under the city of Yanzhou?"

Zuo Qiuming shook his head, "He hasn't arrived at Yanzhou City yet, but I'm sure he's already left Hengshan and will be coming soon."

Li Hao breathed a sigh of relief immediately, "Uncle, talk in the room!"

"Since it was confirmed that Hengshan had invested in the imperial court as a whole, I set up checkpoints on the main road from Hengshan to our Yanzhou, extending all the way. After I concluded that Xiao Ding would definitely attack Yanzhou soon, I organized a scout team. Start patrolling along the way, and at the same time link up with the garrisons in various places, and if there is an accident, you can quickly pass on the news." Zuoqiu Ming said.

"They sent back news?" Li Hao shook his head.

Zuo Qiuming shook his head: "All news, completely cut off."

"Is it because of the weather?"

"Impossible!" Zuo Qiuming said: "There are more than ten patrol teams like this, and the departure time is calculated. Every day, a patrol team will return to Yanzhou City, but it has been two consecutive days without patrolling. The patrol team is back. The soldiers of the patrol team are all elite, no matter how bad the weather is, it is impossible for none of them to come back, so there is only one possibility, they have encountered the enemy and will never come back.”

"What is Uncle's judgment?"

"I've sent people out to make sure." Zuo Qiuming's voice was a little low: "Xiao Ding's people must have gone to attack the garrisons in Huamachi, Hui'an Fort and other places. There are only three people in each of these places. There are four hundred people, under Xiao Ding's attack, it is bound to be difficult to survive."

"Aren't you going to organize rescue immediately?" Li Hao whispered.

Zuo Qiuming shook his head: "I don't know the situation of the enemy, and I don't even know how many enemies there are. How can I go out of the city without authorization? Once ambushed by the enemy, wouldn't it be a small loss! How did the Liao people lose their home a few months ago?" People from Yicheng, Jing’an, you should know about it, right?”

Li Hao nodded, Liao army general Wu Luben was so angry that the army store was attacked by the Song army, he led his troops out of the city to retaliate, and thus fell into the encirclement of Song army general Tao Dayong. He was defeated and only escaped.

"If Xiao Dingzhen dispatched an army, what about the troops stationed in these places?" Li Hao asked.

Zuo Qiuming took a deep breath: "If they are smart enough to abandon these places as soon as they find the enemy's tracks and retreat to Yanzhou City with all their strength, they should be able to run back a little bit. If they hesitate a little, I'm afraid they won't be able to come back. .”

"Xiao Ding doesn't have many soldiers and horses. Besides, this is our place, and he is not familiar with the terrain!" Li Hao said.

"Jing'an, you forgot the Dangxiang people!" Zuo Qiuming shook his head: "I don't know how many people from Hengshan Dangxiang came this time, but what is certain is that Xiao Ding's understanding of our Yanzhou is definitely not the same now. Less than us!"

"If you give up the two thousand soldiers outside, the strength of Yanzhou City will be insufficient!" Li Hao was a little anxious, "What if not only Xiao Ding but also the troops from Shaanxi Road come?"

Zuo Qiuming said: "It is impossible to have other troops from Shaanxi Road. You must know that the commander-in-chief has put in a lot of effort on Shaanxi Road and planted many spies over the years. If Shaanxi Road makes a big move to mobilize troops, we will not Maybe they don't know, but now they came here without making a sound, the only possibility is Xiao Ding's team."

"There are also people in our Shaanxi pacification envoy's mansion, so why didn't we call the police this time?" Speaking of this, Li Hao suddenly remembered something.

"It's also possible that Xiao Ding also reported this military operation to the appeasement envoy at all!" Zuo Qiuming said.

"How dare he be so bold, not afraid that Ma Xing will peel his skin?"

"Another general wouldn't dare to do this, but Xiao Ding is different. This person's background is very strong, and the emperor of the Song Dynasty personally sent him here. It's not that he dared to kill first and then play What a surprise!" Zuo Qiuming said: "Jing'an, you should leave Yanzhou City right now."

"The enemy is in front of me, how can I abandon the city and flee, is Uncle Shi humiliating me?" Li Hao was furious. "It's a good time to meet the famous Xiao Ding who is?"

"Jing'an, are you trying to show the bravery of a common man?" Zuo Qiuming said coldly: "Although I don't know the enemy's situation, since Xiao Ding dared to come, he must be confident enough to eat our Yanzhou City because of the number of troops. Guess, the Guangrui Army and the Dingnan Army must be mobilized with all their members, plus the Dangxiang Fan soldiers, I am afraid there are tens of thousands of people. But now I have less than [-] people in Yanzhou City, and I need reinforcements."

Listening to Zuo Qiuming's analysis, Li Hao slowly calmed down.

"It's cold and cold, since Xiao Ding pursues speed and suddenness, he must not have much logistics equipment, and he has the intention of making a quick decision." Zuo Qiuming continued: "As long as I can be in Yanzhou If you hold him in the city, then you will have a chance to wipe out this person. And this requires the surrounding troops to rush over quickly. But without the command of the commander, no one dares to move and leave the garrison within a hundred miles of the garrison at will. ? So, only if you go, you can call in reinforcements within a few days."

"I understand!" Li Hao suddenly realized. "Uncle Shi, I will set off now. Within five days, I will lead the reinforcements to arrive. This time, I will also leave the thousand people who accompanied me to escort the luggage to Uncle Shi. Although their combat power is limited, they are still physically strong. strong."

Zuo Qiuming nodded: "Go ahead, I've already sent the urgent letter to the commander in chief. As long as you can come back within five days, even if we can't keep Xiao Ding under the city of Yanzhou, we can still let you go." He lost his army and fled in embarrassment. He was unable to attack us in a short period of time. What's more, even Xiao Ding was defeated. The other Song generals on the Shaanxi Road are afraid of us even more, hahaha..."

The city gate opened a crack, and Li Hao swept out of Yanzhou city with dozens of guards like the wind. At the same time, the warning bronze bell sounded in Yanzhou city.

Zuo Qiuming's guess was correct. At this moment, Xin Jian, who was the first to step out of Hengshan Mountain, led two thousand iron kites, divided into several groups, and suddenly attacked Huamachi, Huimin Fort, Gaoshawo, and Wanglejing. The main station of the Dingnan Army.

Just as Zuo Qiuming did not expect Xiao Ding to send troops at this time and under such weather conditions, the troops stationed in these places were even less prepared.It coincides with the eve of Chu, and these people are busily preparing for the new year!

When the iron kite rushed in, these places didn't even have the most basic security guards.The iron kite captured these places almost effortlessly, and there were only a handful of soldiers who could escape.

When the main force led by Xiao Ding appeared in Huamachi, the mopping up battle outside was all over.

"Commander!" Xin Jian appeared in front of Xiao Ding beamingly, cupped his hands and said, "We have won a complete victory and captured more than [-] people from the Dingnan Army, while our army only lost more than [-] people. , and some of them in their early fifties were injured because their horses stumbled. Now that these captives are brought here, what should we do with them?"

"It's useful when attacking the city!" Sitting on the horse, Xiao Ding stared coldly at the chains of bound captives on the large open space in front of him.

When compassion does not command soldiers and can reduce the casualties of his subordinates, Xiao Ding doesn't care about these people.

"Commander, the city of Yanzhou is three feet high and well-defended. Zuo Qiuming is also a very experienced general under Li Ni's command. These people are still a little short!" Xiao Ding flashed a man who cupped his hands. "We need to capture Yanzhou City in a short time, so we need a lot of people."

"Ji Hua, you mean?" Xiao Ding's eyes fell on this person.

"Commander, there are a large number of salt workers here, and there are ready-made straw bags and other materials. Is there any reason not to use them?" Zheng Jihua said.

"Those salt workers are ordinary people." Xin Jian said in astonishment, but he only said one sentence. Seeing that Xiao Ding didn't say anything, he immediately stopped talking.

"You can do this matter!" Xiao Ding said to Zheng Jihua.

"Yes!" Zheng Jihua turned and left immediately.

"Xin Jian, there's nothing we can do about it!" Xiao Ding got off his horse, looked at Xin Jian, and said, "Our scouts have already intercepted and killed several groups of scouts from Yanzhou City. Judging from the interrogation statement, Zuo Qiu Ming is indeed a difficult opponent. Presumably by now, he already knows that we are coming. We must capture Yanzhou City within three to five days, otherwise, as soon as the enemy reinforcements arrive, we will be in a dilemma, and I am afraid it will be a disastrous defeat Well, this time is not the time to pity these people, if we don't kill them, we have to die!"

"Understood!" Xin Jian nodded, although he still felt a little uncomfortable, but Xiao Ding's explanation was reasonable.He came from Bianliang, and he has not experienced a war seriously. The previous battles with Wei Mingbu are completely insignificant compared with the scale of the war in front of him.

He knew that he still needed to adapt to the cruelty on the battlefield bit by bit.

And now, it's just the beginning.

(End of this chapter)