Lingshi County is located more than 20 miles away in the north of Huoyi County, it is a relatively small county seat, but its geographical location is more dangerous than Huoyi County, especially the Lingshi Pass in front of Lingshi County, which is to cut off the southbound passage of the Mouse Bird Valley.

Just after the Hexi Army support army arrived in Huoyi County, Ma Weijiang immediately led 2,000 soldiers to the north quickly, and at noon, 2,000 troops arrived in Lingshi County.

There were 2,000 garrisons in Lingshi County, and they had already learned the news that Huoyi County had been captured by the Hexi Army from the fugitive soldiers in Huoyi County.

The entire Lingshi County was in full array, and the two thousand soldiers went up to the city, looking nervously at the south.

The general of Lingshi County is called Liu Can, and he is also a Zhonglang general, and the spies he has sent have received news from the news that an army of 2,000 people is coming towards Lingshi County, which really makes him uneasy.

The black dragon banner of the Hexi Army finally appeared in the distance, and Liu Can shouted nervously: "Archers prepare!" ”

Although the terrain in Lingshi County is dangerous in the north, it is relatively flat in the south, and there is no moat.

Ma Weijiang waved his hand, "Iron Fire Thunder Ready!" ”

A dozen soldiers, carrying a wooden frame and a large iron fire mine, ran to a distance of two hundred and fifty paces from the city wall, and installed the wooden table and iron fire mine, which was a deterrent tactic to force the enemy out of the city and surrender.

One lit the fire rope with a fire breaker, and the soldiers ran away, ran a hundred paces away and lay on the ground, covering their ears tightly, and all the soldiers of the Hexi Army plugged their ears one after another.

The two thousand defenders at the head of the city didn't know why, and looked at the big black iron egg of more than two hundred paces together, and the fire rope finally burned into the iron fire thunder, and suddenly exploded earth-shattering.

'Boom! The violent explosion shook the city, and the towers fell with tiles, and the soldiers on the city fell to the ground, covering their ears in pain, and the scene was filled with smoke.

After a while, a cavalryman galloped forward and shouted, "Surrender within an hour, or the city will be destroyed in all its might!" ”

The cavalry turned their horses and galloped back to the big array, and the generals at the head of the city all looked at Liu Can, Liu Can sighed, "Lingshi County can't hold it, instead of the soldiers being crushed, it's better to surrender and leave a way for the brothers to live, what do you think?" ”

A lieutenant said: "General Liu is right, if Lingshi County is lost, we won't be able to survive, so it's better to surrender!" ”

Everyone shuddered, Li Huaiguang's military discipline was cruel, killing people like hemp, the army lost the city, and the captain and above were beheaded, everyone was afraid in their hearts, and they expressed their willingness to follow Zhonglang General to surrender.

Liu Can nodded and said, "Since they all agree, then open the city, raise the white flag and surrender!" ”

The south gate of Lingshi County was wide open, and two thousand soldiers went out of the city one after another, took off their armor, put down their weapons and surrendered.

The Hexi Army accepted the surrender of the other party, and according to the rules, those who were willing to join the Hexi Army were classified as third-class soldiers, and those who were unwilling to join the Hexi Army were given two buckets of rations and let them return to their hometowns to farm.

Of the 2,000 prisoners of war, 1,500 were willing to join the Hexi Army, and the other 500 were released and returned to their hometowns.

Huoyi County and Lingshi County were occupied by the Hexi Army one after another, cutting off the retreat route of the defenders of Jiexiu County and their logistical supply.

In the defense system of the Mouse Bird Valley, 15,000 troops held the bridgehead Jiexiu County, and the second line of defense was Lingshi County, but the logistics supply of the two lines of defense was supported by Huoyi County, and Li Huaiguang put 200,000 stone of grain in Huoyi.

Losing the supply of Huoyi County and the strategic depth of Lingshi County, the 15,000 soldiers of Jiexiu County became turtles in the urn.

At this time, Guo Song's 30,000-strong army had arrived ten miles north of Jiexiu County, Fenzhou, and set up a large camp in a wide area, and the Hexi army was not in a hurry to attack Jiexiu County, but waited for news from Jiexiu County.

........

In fact, Jiexiu County has been a bridgehead for Li Huaiguang to attack Taiyuan Mansion in recent years, and it has gradually become militarized, the county itself is not large, and more than half of it has been converted into military camps, and at most 20,000 troops can be stationed, and the people have also been sharply reduced from tens of thousands of people in the past to less than 10,000, about seven or eight thousand, most of whom have moved to Huoyi County.

During this time, all kinds of gossip spread in the county, and many county residents were so frightened that they hid in the countryside, and after the lockdown, the city became extremely deserted, not a single pedestrian could be seen on the street, and every household closed its doors and windows.

At noon that day, a middle-aged man hurriedly came to a corner in the south of the city with a medicine box and a banner for the clinic, walked into an alley, and came to the innermost door.

The door was opened by a middle-aged man who looked sick, who glanced out vigilantly and closed the door.

Jiexiu County investigated very strictly, the Hexi army scouts could not get in, Guo Song only installed two spies, one was a doctor, he inquired about all kinds of news by treating people, and the other was this middle-aged man who pretended to be sick, he was a local, and he secretly raised a pigeon, so he could send the news out.

The two walked into the back room, and the doctor Zhou Houmin said: "Just now the county lieutenant Jin told me to let me find a way to escape from Jiexiu County, the army's food can't support five days, and the next thing is to harvest the people's grain!" ”

The middle-aged man's name is Yang Wanbao, he is actually a civilian official, not a spy in the real sense, he sneered and said: "How can they harvest and scrape, all the livestock have been requisitioned, it is estimated that they have been slaughtered and eaten, there are a total of thousands of people in the city, how much food will there be?" ”

Zhou Houmin said with a smile: "I saw someone using elm money to pinch vegetable dumplings, specially used to deal with the search, I think it is a good way, the search soldiers see that you eat elm money, I guess there is no interest in searching." ”

Yang Wanbao nodded and said: "I will find a way to deal with it, you just said that the army's food can't last for five days, is the news accurate?" ”

"The news is very accurate, including the father of the county order and other officials also said so, I heard that the 10,000 stone grain transported by the military was stuck in Lingshi Pass, and now Lingshi Pass has been captured by the Hexi Army, this 10,000 stone grain will not be able to pass, I estimate that there are not a few livestock in the barracks, and they are all going to transport grain."

"I'll send this out right away."

An hour later, a carrier pigeon fluttered up, circled twice over the county seat, and flew out of the city.

.........

In the big tent of the Hexi Army, the scout sent a pigeon letter from Jiexiu County to Guo Song, at this time Guo Song was discussing the next move with the generals, and a huge wood carving map was placed in the middle of the big tent, Guo Song was more and more satisfied with this wood carving map, and the wood carving map could accurately find the place where Fenshui could dock in Huoyi County, which was completely consistent with the on-site docking.

After reading the information, Guo Song smiled at the generals and said, "As we expected, the food of the defenders in Jiexiu City can only last for five days at most. ”

"Will the defenders collect grain from the people?" Commander Yao Jin asked.

Guo Song said lightly: "They will definitely do this, but they will never gain anything, I deduce that they will soon abandon the city and go south!" ”

Guo Song pointed to Lingshi County on the map with a wooden pole and said: "The news from Lingshi County that the grain transport team of the Jiexiu defenders was intercepted in front of Lingshi Pass, with a total of 13,000 stone of grain and more than 7,000 mules and donkeys to transport, if the Jiexiu defenders want to survive, they must seize Lingshi County as soon as possible." ”

Kang Bao immediately bowed down and said: "Humble duty, please order, lead a thousand Mo sword troops to take the first step, and intercept the Jiexiu defenders in front." ”

Guo Song shook his head and said: "This time, there is no need for the Mo Dao Army to make a move, the Lingshi Pass is very dangerous, and the enemy army will not want to fly over with their wings, but it is not bad for the Mo Dao Army to follow behind and cut off their retreat." ”

.........

In Jiexiu County, groups of soldiers were searching from house to house, looting the residents' food, and even the dogs raised by the people were taken away by the soldiers, and the whole city was harassed and chaotic.

Yang Debao's door was kicked open, more than a dozen soldiers rushed in, without saying a word, they began to rummage through the cabinets, they were not only looking for food, but also rummaging for gold, silver, copper coins and fine silk, Yang Debao put in the cabinet of a dozen taels of silver was turned over by them, the captain was overjoyed, and asked: "Look how much grain he has?" ”

A soldier shouted in the kitchen: "Captain, there are several liters of wheat, which have not yet been milled, and then there is a basket of elm money, and the pot is full of elm money!" ”

"Just take the wheat, don't worry about it, let's go!"

When a group of soldiers found a little catch, they went away in a hurry, ignoring their master who was sitting in the courtyard all the while.

After a while, a group of soldiers rushed in to rummage, but this time they found nothing, but they were unwilling to leave empty-handed, and finally snatched the two catties of salt from the kitchen.