Fenghou

Chapter 419
Two days later, Chen Qing personally led [-] troops north to Deshun Prefecture.

Although the capture of Deshun Prefecture has both advantages and disadvantages, everyone unanimously supported the capture of Deshun Prefecture in the end, not because there were not many troops stationed in Deshun Prefecture and it was easy to win, but because Deshun Prefecture was of great significance to Qinzhou. The northern barrier of Qinzhou, in order to ensure the safety of Qinzhou, they must take Deshun Prefecture.

Deshun Prefecture is small, with an area only half that of Qinzhou. It is mainly composed of mountains and hills. It consists of six counties, Zhiping County and Shuiluo County in the south, Weirong County and Tongbian County in the middle, and the easternmost Longgan County in Pingliang Prefecture, and Longde County in the north.

Among the six counties, Longgan County in the east and Longde County in the north are of strategic significance. One of these two counties defends against the Jin Army and the Puppet Qi Army, and the other defends the Xixia Army. echo each other.

In the southeast of Deshun Prefecture is Longshan, which stretches for hundreds of miles, extending from the Weishui River in Qinzhou to Longgan County. It is like a natural barrier, preventing the enemy from entering Deshun Prefecture from the southeast.

After Chen Qing's army got supplies in Shuiluo County, they continued to go northward along the official road, which was full of undulating mountains and hills. The cavalry had to go northward along the official road, and there was no other way. Three days later, the army arrived in Longgan county.

The scouts who arrived in Longgan County first were [-] subordinates led by Dutou Wu Zhongnan, and they had already entered the county to lurk.

Twenty miles away from the county seat, a Song Army scout disguised as a commoner came on a donkey. He was led in front of Chen Qing, and the scout saluted, "Report to Dutong, the puppet Qi army in Longgan County There are still [-] people, and the commander is called He Zongshen."

"How's military discipline?"

"The military discipline is good, and there is no disturbance to the people. This He Zongshen is from Longgan County. This army was originally the Deshun Prefecture Army."

Chen Qing pondered for a moment, found a flat big stone, spread out paper, wrote a letter, and handed it to the scouts, "Let Wu Dutou find a way to hand over the letter to this He Zongshen within today!"

"Follow the order!"

The scout took the letter and went back.

Chen Qing did not rush to Longgan County, but let the soldiers rest on the spot,
Longgan County is a middle county with a city circumference of [-] miles. It is the prefecture of Deshun Prefecture, and it is also the county with the largest population and largest grain production in Deshun Prefecture. Like the Northwest states, Longgan County was not destroyed by the Jin soldiers. Controlled by several big families.

In fact, this is also a tradition since the Han and Tang Dynasties. There are not many officials at the county level. There are only four people, the magistrate, the county seat, the county lieutenant, and the master book. Generally, the county magistrate and the gentry jointly rule.

The He family is one of the three major families in Longgan County. He Zongshen is the He family. In the Song Dynasty, he was the commander of the Zhouxiang Army.

He Zongshen was about forty years old, tall, with a beard and black face, and a mighty appearance. He didn't want to surrender to the Jin people, but he didn't want to leave the state, so he finally surrendered to the Qi army. Although Qi was a vassal of Jin, at least he was Han. The government, with decent face, will not be sorry for the ancestors.

In the past two days, He Zongshen was quite distressed. He received the third urging order from Li Cheng, the envoy of Shaanxi Economic Strategy, asking him to send last year's money, food and taxes to Jingzhao.

This made it very difficult for He Zongshen. You must know that Deshun Prefecture was hit by a drought last year, and the grain production was reduced by [-]%. Now, the warehouse is empty, what should he escort to Jingzhao?

And their tax halving has not been approved by the Qi court, and it seems that it is too late to make up the formalities. Not only He Zongshen is distressed, but the government and gentry are even more distressed.

In the prefectural office, He Zongshen, several officials, and several wealthy patriarchs were discussing countermeasures.
He Zongshen sighed and said, "I heard that Gongzhou was captured by Chen Qing. Our Deshun Prefecture is too close to Ganquan Fort, and Chengji County is also close. I guess Li Cheng was worried that the Song Army would occupy Deshun Prefecture, so he urged Let's take the money and food away."

Zhizhou Wang Tao sneered and said, "Since he is afraid, why didn't he send more troops?"

"I heard that the Song army is attacking Ruzhou, and Li Cheng led an army of [-] to support it. Guanzhong has not many troops, so he must not care about this side."

Everyone was surprised at the same time, "Song army went to the north?"

He Zongshen nodded, "I heard that the Northern Expedition started from Xiangyang."

At this moment, there was a rush of running outside, and a soldier ran in with a letter, "Commander, your letter!"

"Who sent me the letter?"

He Zongshen frowned, snatched the letter away, looked at the cover, and was so frightened that he said, "Ah! ' With a sound, he stood up abruptly.

Seeing that his expression changed drastically, everyone was rarely so nervous, and they all asked, "Zongshen, who wrote you the letter?"

"It's Chen Qing!"

"Ah!" Everyone was also stunned.

Liu Kun, the magistrate, urged impatiently: "Look at what is written in the letter?"

He Zongshen couldn't help but glanced at the letter again. On the letter was the Duke Jing of the Great Song Dynasty, the Jiedu envoy of Xihe Road, and General He Zongshen, the military envoy of Chen Qingzhi Deshun Prefecture.

The writing is very face-saving, and he is actually called Deshun State Military Envoy. He is only a commander, and the military envoy must at least be a commander. He does not have the qualifications. State soldiers and horses?
He Zongshen opened the letter and read it carefully, and said to everyone: "He said that the Xixia army will invade the south soon, and he hopes that we will fight side by side with him to resist the Xixia army's invasion."

This is actually the dignified version of asking them to surrender, not to surrender, but to fight against foreigners side by side, how can we fight side by side without surrender?Ultimately, surrender.

He Zongshen's eldest brother, He Zongshun, was taken aback and asked anxiously, "Will the Xixia people invade?"

"Why not!"

Another patriarch was dissatisfied: "Didn't they capture Deshun Prefecture the year before last, and forced each of our thirteen big families to pay [-] shi for grain? You forgot, and then they were forced to leave by the Jin soldiers, and each family was forced to donate [-] shi. Gun money and two hundred shi of grain, how long is this!"

Everyone expressed their opinion that the Xixia people would not touch the ordinary people who had no oil and water, and only killed the big households. They wanted to eat and drink them up, and the Xixia people must not be allowed to invade again.

He Zongshen sighed, "Chen Qing has led an army of [-] people here, just outside the city. He said that he didn't want to kill the local soldiers, and asked us to surrender the city and return to the Song Dynasty. What do you think?"

"Do you still need to ask? How can you resist with [-] people? Hurry up and open the city gate!" He Zongshun glared at his brother and said.

Everyone also urged He Zongshen to surrender. In Gongzhou, Chen Qing used local gentry as officials, and they very much agreed with the idea of ​​rural people governing the countryside.

At this time, Zhizhou Wang Tao sighed and said: "Actually, I would also like to return to the Song Dynasty, but my family is in Bianliang. I can't care about their life and death. I hope that General He will tell Chen Dutong that I am willing to cooperate with him in handing over the state affairs." , please let me go."

He Zongshen nodded, "I'll go to see Chen Dutong and guarantee for Zhizhou!"

Wang Tao is from Bianliang. He was born as a Jinshi in the fourth year of Xuanhe. He has been an official in Deshun Prefecture.

He Zongshen got up and left the state office, ordered the city gate to be opened, and he personally led a thousand troops out of the city to surrender.

. . . . . .

Half an hour later, He Zongshen accompanied Chen Qing's army into Longgan County.

"Chen Dutong, although he is a vulgar person with a lowly position, he still respects those civil officials who are honest and honest and do practical things for the people. Wang Zhizhou has been an official in Deshun Prefecture for ten years, and all the people love him. Although he is a member of the puppet Qi court Officials, but I implore Chen Dutong to forgive him and let him return to Bianliang!"

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "Just now you said that last year's tax in Deshun Prefecture was cut in half without authorization, was it he who decided it?"

"Exactly. Originally, he meant that the drought was completely exempted, but if it were exempted, our army would have no supplies, so the tax would only be collected in half. Li Cheng is still forcing us to transport money and food to Jingzhao. How can we have money and food? "

Chen Qing nodded, "Let him come to see me!"

(End of this chapter)