Poor Family Chapter 587

  Chapter 587 Spy Yanqing

As night fell, a small boat transported five soldiers to the north bank of Baigoushui quietly. Except for Yan Qing, Yang Guang and a scout, the other two soldiers were from the local army. It is to investigate the enemy's situation within 30 miles to the north of Baigou. The north bank of the river is a bare hill and field, almost all the trees have been cut down, and there is no place to hide.

However, from the first glance at Bazhou City on the other side, there is no enemy situation within at least ten miles. This is also determined by the situation of the troops stationed on the other side. For this reason, the Eastern Route Army of the first Northern Expedition went deep into the enemy's territory for more than a hundred li before encountering Liao general Xiao Qian's army.

To a certain extent, this is also a strategy to lure the enemy to go deep. If there is no Song army to restrain the Xiongzhou in the west, the Liao army in the west will outflank it, cut off the food route of the Song army on the east road or even retreat, making it difficult for the Song army to retreat. The Song army was faced with the dilemma of being attacked from both sides.

  Although Li Yanqing also understands this point, he cannot rely on guesswork to make decisions. He must obtain solid facts to support his decisions.

After Yan Qing came ashore, he divided his troops into two groups. Yang Guang took a soldier from the Xiang army to investigate in the east, and Yan Qing led two people to explore on the center line and west. confluence.

Yan Qing and the three of them ran all the way under the cover of night, and there were no traces of people along the way. The few villages they happened to see were destroyed in the last Northern Expedition. Under the moonlight, they could clearly see the ruins and the smoke. There are pitch-black walls, and occasionally there are a few wild dogs haunting the grass.

After running for more than 20 miles, when they passed a destroyed village, Yan Qing wanted to enter the village to check, but was stopped by the soldiers of the Xiang army who accompanied him, "Marquis Yu can't go in, the body is rotten in the hot weather, Watch out for the disease."

  Yan Qing suddenly realized that he did not dare to enter the village, so he could only walk around outside. At this moment, another soldier suddenly pointed to the distant hill and said, "There is light over there!"

  Yan Qing hurriedly looked up the hill, and saw a faint fire flickering in a cave two miles away on the left, Yan Qing suddenly excitedly said: "Follow me!"

He took two of his men and ran towards the fire, and after a short while, they found the cave that was flickering with fire. This is a very small cave, and the entrance of the cave can only accommodate two people to enter side by side, and it doesn't look too deep. After observing for a long time behind the boulder thirty steps away, there was no movement at the entrance of the cave, so Yan Qing waved her hand lightly, "You guys wait here, I'll go and have a look!"

He rushed to the cave, Yan Qing was as light as a swallow, and his lightness kungfu was very good. Although he was thin and short in close combat ability, he possessed four special skills: short crossbow, lightness kung fu, water skills, and disguise. Known as the four unique young generals, a natural scout material.

Yan Qing did not run directly to the entrance of the cave, but made a detour and came to the top of the cave entrance. He hooked his feet on a large rock above the cave entrance, and slowly lowered his body like a golden hook hanging upside down, exposing half of his head to the top of the cave entrance. Looking in the hole.

The cave was only one zhang deep at most, and two men who looked like soldiers of the Liao army were roasting a deer in the cave. There were no spears, only two knives were thrown aside. to the situation outside the cave.

  These two people were obviously not patrolling guards. There could be only two patrolling guards, and it was impossible for them to be without horses and spears. Moreover, judging from their appearance, they looked like two Han Chinese rather than Khitans.

Yan Qing looked around again, saw that there were barren mountains and wild mountains all around, and there was no sign of cavalry patrolling, so she waved to the two men, and they rushed up, Yan Qing raised his crossbow and shot an arrow, The short arrow shot into the fire, startling the two soldiers of the Liao army. They jumped up and saw two black crossbow arrows aimed at themselves at the entrance of the cave.

  Yan Qing quickly stepped forward, took away the two's knives, and then asked coldly, "Who are you?"

  The two were stunned, and one of them tentatively asked, "Are you Song Jun?"

   "Who do you think we are?"

  The two of them kowtowed immediately, "We are also Han sons from Yandi, and we don't want to sacrifice our lives for the Liao Kingdom. We want to escape to the Song Dynasty and ask the military envoy for mercy!"

  Xiang Army soldiers whispered to Yan Qing: "Some time ago, there were many such deserters from the Liao Army who fled to Bazhou and were sent away by the commander."

Yan Qing ordered his subordinates to search the two men, and took away their daggers. Then he sat down by the fire, cut half of a roasted roe deer and threw it to his subordinates. You guys, I'll ask you guys after eating!"

   Seeing that the other side was not hostile, the two deserters squatted down and wolfed down half of the deer. They hadn't eaten all day, and they were already very hungry.

   After the two of them finished eating, Yan Qing asked: "Your family members are all in Youzhou, and you fled to the Song Dynasty, aren't you afraid of hurting your family?"

One of them sighed and said: "The Jurchens are too cruel. They never brought food and grass to fight. When they entered the Liao territory, they looted everywhere. Their cattle and sheep were slaughtered, their property was robbed, and their women and children were also taken to Huanglong Mansion as slaves. Our family has already been destroyed, and we just want to escape to the Song Dynasty to seek a way out."

   "Where did you escape from?"

   "Come from Yongqing County, just thirty miles to the north."

   "How many troops are there in Yongqing County?"

   "The" two soldiers hesitated.

  Yan Qing said coldly: "If you don't tell me, I can only investigate by myself. You are a burden."

  The two heard the threat in the words, and hurriedly said: "There are only five hundred troops in Yongqing County, and the main force is in Fanyang County. There are at least four to five thousand people there."

   "Is the commander Guo Yaoshi?"

   "It's him, our ever-victorious army is dominated by Han children."

   "How come I haven't seen soldiers, not even patrolling?"

A soldier smiled wryly, "It's been like this here for several months. The army doesn't guard the border, and at most there are some patrols. Maybe it's because of insufficient troops! We have 8,000 Ever Victorious Army to guard Zhuozhou and Yizhou. We have no choice but to If you can guard the main cities, you can guard Fanyang County on the Zhuozhou side, and Yi County on the Yizhou side.”

Yan Qing pondered for a while and said: "I'm going to Yongqing County to have a look. You two will be my guides. After the matter is completed, I will reward each of you with ten guan coins. I will ask the general to let you go south. go now!"

   Seeing that the other side was holding a crossbow in their hands, the two deserters dared to leave, even if they were not paid, they had to bite the bullet and be guides, "We are willing to be guides for military envoys!"

   "Let me warn you first, if I find out that you have concealed anything, I will kill both of you immediately!"

   "Don't dare, the villain doesn't dare!"

Yan Qing immediately put out the fire, and ordered the two to lead the way to Yongqing County, which is located sixty miles north of Baigou. They can rush to Yongqing County at dawn, and after two hours of investigation, they can also rush back to Bazhou City that night. More importantly, the situation of the garrison in Yongqing County is very important. Although the deserters told him that there are only 500 people, if Without personal confirmation, such information is still worthless.

  At midnight, Yan Qing and his team arrived at Ping'an Ridge first, where they joined Yang Guang who had arrived earlier.

   "Who are these two?" Yang Guang asked, pointing to the two deserters.

  Yan Qing recounted the discovery of deserters, and then asked: "Did you find anything there?"

  Yang Guang nodded, "I met a Liao cavalry patrolling. There were 30 people on the other side, and we only had two people. We couldn't beat them, so we had to hide."

  Yan Qing frowned, "Where did you meet?"

   "About 20 miles away from Baigou, there are all iron helmets and armor, with bows and arrows on their backs. They look very brave, and it is unclear whether they are Han or Khitan."

  One of the deserters interjected: "They are not patrols, they are here to hunt down our hunting team. The Liao soldiers are very clear about your situation, so there is no need for patrols."

  Yan Qing was furious, stepped forward and kicked him over, drew out his sword against his throat and said viciously: "Why didn't you say it in the cave just now?"

  The deserter was trembling with fear, "The envoy didn't ask me just now."

   "You bastard!"

  Yan Qing punched him hard, and asked, "Quickly, how did the Liao Army know about our intelligence?"

   "The Liao army deployed a lot of spies in the border states, constantly using eagles to send news. It has been like this for so many years. You should know."

   "I don't know!"

  Yan Qing cursed and asked again: "If there is anything else important, tell me quickly"

"There is also the beacon. There is a beacon on Dayangling a few miles to the north. It is close to the official road. Once the Song army is found, the beacon will be lit, and then the beacon in Yongqing County, and the beacon in Fanyang County. , burned all the way to Xijin City."

  Jianjin City is the Yanjing City of Youzhou in the Song Dynasty, the only remaining capital of the Liao Kingdom.

   "Do you want to kill this beacon?" Yang Guang whispered.

  Yan Qing hesitated for a moment, then asked the deserter: "How many soldiers are there in the beacon?"

  (end of this chapter)

Chapter end