Poor Family Chapter 739

  Chapter 739 Sneak Attack on Xiangzhou (Part 1)

After the two wars, Xiangzhou was even more fragmented. There was no longer a complete house on either side of the official road. Even the newly built straw huts were burned by the Jin soldiers. Hovering above the house, it made a piercing rattling sound, and it seemed even more bleak in the cold winter.

In the early morning of this day, a 3,000-strong Song army cavalry appeared in Tangyin County. This cavalry was the outer cavalry led by Wang Gui. With Li Yanqing's approval, they led the army across the Yellow River into Weizhou. After getting supplies, he took the northeast official road and entered Xiangzhou.

The miserable scene along the way made Wang Gui's face sink like water. Looking at his broken hometown, his heart felt as if a knife had cut him. A lot of scattered bones were gnawed to pieces by wild dogs.

  At this time, Wang Gui stopped his horse in front of a small village, and looked at the village that was almost burned to the ground for a long time.

   "Old Wang, what's the matter?" Niu Gao stepped forward and asked puzzledly, he didn't know what was special about this small village.

   "Do you know whose home this village is?" Wang Gui was a little sad.

  Niu Gao was startled, but suddenly realized, "Could it be this."

  Wang Gui nodded lightly, "This is Lao Li's home, Li Wencun."

  Niu Gao opened his mouth wide in surprise, this is actually Li Yanqing's home, after looking at it for a while, Niu Gao asked curiously: "Where is Old Wang's home?"

   "My home is on the side of Yongji Canal, about 20 miles away from here. It's probably better if it's not next to the official road."

  Wang Gui shook his head, "Let's go! Let's go to Tangyin County first."

  The team continued to go north, and the army entered Yushan Town. Wang Gui's eyes burned with anger. Yushan Town has been completely destroyed, and all the good memories of the past have been turned into ruins. Even Lushan Academy was burned to nothing.

Wang Gui stared coldly at the town for a long time. He finally restrained the anger in his heart, and slowly said to his generals: "General Zhao asked me before, what should I do if I capture the enemy prisoners of war? I didn't give a definite answer. Now I tell you Everyone, when we go north this time, all the gold soldiers will be killed, and no one will be left alive."

   "Follow the order!" Several generals bowed and saluted together.

   "Go to Tangyin County!"

  Wang Gui gave an order, and three thousand cavalry rushed towards Tangyin County at high speed.

Tangyin County is also in a mess, but compared to the bleakness and desolation in the city, there are still some traces of people in the county. Wang Gui led the cavalry to the south gate of the county. Looking closely, there was no banner of the golden soldiers, and the soldiers on the city seemed not to be wearing armor. Niu Gao was impatient, and immediately urged his horse forward, raised his head and shouted: "Who is in the city?"

  No one answered him, and after a while someone asked timidly: "Is the Song army under the city?"

   "Nonsense, will we be golden soldiers?"

  Niu Gao said impatiently: "Since you are not golden soldiers, open the door quickly!"

  The soldiers above became nervous, and they raised their bows and arrows one after another, which surprised Niu Gao. What's going on?

  At this time, a man in his thirties, wearing armor, walked to the top of the city, looked at Niu Gao, and asked, "Where are you from the Song Army?"

  Wang Gui from behind suddenly shouted: "Is Jiang Tuanlian at the top?"

  The man was startled, staring at Wang Gui for a moment, he suddenly recognized him, "You are Wang Tuanlian!"

   "Exactly!"

  Wang Gui reminded him to go forward with a smile and said, "We are not golden soldiers, Kaesong let us in."

  Jiang Tuanlian's face sank, and he said coldly: "I'm sorry, there is no property in this county, you go elsewhere!"

  Wang Gui was stunned, "Jiang Tuanlian, what do you mean?"

   "What do you mean by me, you want to loot Tangyin County, dreaming!"

Wang Gui patted his forehead, he understood, quickly took out the command arrow, held it up high, and explained to the top of the city: "Jiang Tuanlian, we are going north from the capital under the order of Li Dutong. This is my command arrow. Soldiers of the city."

Jiang Tuanlian stared at the commanding arrow in Wang Gui's hand for a while, and saw that the cavalry behind him was brightly armored, and there was no sign of looting property. The more important thing was that Wang Gui was from Tangyin County, and rabbits should not eat grass beside their nests. Jiang Tuanlian Finally believing Wang Gui's words, he casually ordered, "Kaicheng!"

  The city gate creaked open, and Niu Gao asked Wang Gui in a low voice, "Who is this Jiang Tuanlian?"

   "I used to do Xiangzhou regiment training for a while. This person is called Jiang Hua, who is my predecessor and is also from Tangyin County."

   "I see, but why would he think that we are taking property?" Niu Gao became even more confused.

   "Just ask him right away!"

  At this time, the gate of the city opened, and Jiang Hua came out, clasped his fists and said, "I was rude just now, I'm sorry!"

   "Where! Where! Jiang Tuanlian is right to be vigilant, but I am a little curious, why Jiang Tuanlian thinks we are here to plunder money?"

  Jiang Hua sighed, "Some troops are incapable of fighting against the gold, but they plunder ordinary people like wolves and tigers. What you saw all the way north, do you think it was the gold soldiers who did it?"

  Wang Gui and Niu Gao looked at each other, both of them had surprise in their eyes, "Could it be that the Song army also has a share?" Niu Gao blurted out.

Jiang Hua nodded, "The remnants of the Song army who surrendered to the Kingdom of Jin, and of course the Jurchens, looted everywhere, robbed property and women. As far as I know, more than 20 counties in Hebei have been The Song army rushed into the city to loot, it is very tragic!"

   "Could it be that the troops stationed all over Hebei are Song troops who surrendered to the Kingdom of Jin?" Wang Gui asked suddenly.

   "This is a bit complicated, let's talk about it in the city!"

Wang Gui immediately asked several generals to take the soldiers into the city to rest. Jiang Hua said with a smile: "In the past, there was a little fodder and grain left in the army warehouse. You can use it as a supply, but don't move the grain in the county warehouse. Leave it to us." us."

   "Hehe! We're not welcome."

  Although Wang Gui's army brought dry rations with them, they were limited after all, and he didn't want to let go of the chance to get supplies.

  The army entered the city, and Tangyin County was not as dilapidated and depressed as Wang Gui thought.

   "Although Tangyin County was looted once by the Jin army, it has not been looted by the Song army. This is also a blessing in misfortune, but everyone is living a difficult life. Thanks to the tax and food not being handed over, everyone can barely make ends meet."

   "How many people are there in the county?" Wang Gui asked again.

   "Probably tens of thousands of people! People in Tangyin County either died in the war or fled south. The rest are people who don't want to leave their hometowns. Everyone gathers in the county town."

   "Is the government office still there?"

  Jiang Hua shook his head, "The government has withdrawn a long time ago, and now a dozen or so elders have formed a council of elders, elected me as the leader of the city defense, and recruited hundreds of disciples, as you can see, in fact, we cannot withstand a single attack by the golden soldiers."

Not long after, everyone came to the original county government office, which is now a temporary military government office set up by Jiang Hua. He invited Wang Gui and Niu Gao to sit down, and served tea. Jiang Hua sat down and said with a smile: "I guessed correctly , you are going north this time to harass Jin Bing!"

  Wang Gui smiled slightly and said, "That's right, I wonder if Jiang Tuanlian has any information to provide?"

   "You can go to Anyang County."

   "Are there gold soldiers in Anyang County?" Wang Gui and Niu Gao asked in unison.

Jiang Hua nodded, "After all, Xiangzhou is also a strategically important place. Of course, there are also Jin soldiers stationed there. There are 3,000 Jin soldiers in Anyang County, but there are only 500 Jurchens, and the other 2,500 are Song soldiers who surrendered. They are also considered Jin soldiers now." Bar!"

  At this time, Niu Gao next to him asked again: "Is there any news about Yue Fei?"

This is also the news that Wang Gui wanted to know. He lifted his spirits and stared at Jiang Hua. Jiang Hua took a letter from the nearby bookshelf and threw it to Wang Gui, "This is a letter that Yue Fei wrote to me a few days ago." letter, asking me to jointly attack the Jinbing in Anyang County, frankly speaking, I do not intend to agree."

"Why?"

   "Is there any need to ask? We only have a few hundred township soldiers under our command. To attack Anyang County is undoubtedly to hit a stone with an egg. I will not do such a stupid thing."

  Wang Gui was silent for a moment and asked again: "Where is Yue Fei now?"

   "It should be in the Cizhou area, and there are probably only a few hundred of them."

  Speaking of this, Jiang Hua got up and said: "You guys rest first! I'll go and arrange the warehouse, excuse me."

  Jiang Hua clasped his fists in salute, and left in a hurry.

  Wang Gui opened Yue Fei's letter and read it carefully. At this moment, Niu Gao asked in a low voice: "Old Wang, do you think the surname Jiang is credible?"

   "You also found out?" Wang Gui stopped talking.

  Niu Gao nodded, "I do feel that something is wrong, but I can't think of what is wrong all of a sudden?"

  Wang Gui sneered and said, "He has hundreds of soldiers in Tangyin. If there is no problem, do you think the Jin soldiers in Anyang County will let him go?"

  Niu Gao slapped his thigh heavily, "Yes! That's the problem. How could he have an army under Jin Bing's nose, even if he hid on the mountain, but stayed in Tangyin County, it's too unreasonable."

   After a pause, Niu Gao whispered again: "Could he have already surrendered to the Jin soldiers?"

   "Probably not, otherwise Fifth Brother wouldn't be looking for him. I feel that he just has a tacit understanding with Jin Bing. He doesn't resist Jin, and Jin Bing doesn't bother him. That's all."

  Niu Gao pondered for a moment, then slowly said: "You are right, but I don't think we can stay for long, we must go north as soon as possible."

  Wang Gui nodded, "We won't stay here overnight, we will leave in an hour!"

  (end of this chapter)

Chapter end