After crossing several rivers, the Xuanwei army was exhausted, and originally thought that it would be able to reach Anyuan County in three hours, but when it was dark, they only walked half the way.

There are many rivers in the south, and there is no road from Anyuan County to Haikou, and there are no bridges in many places. The whole army was carrying rations, and it was inconvenient to go into the water, so they could only keep making detours, and the distance of forty-five miles was hundreds of miles.

After dark, the whole army had to spend the night in the wilderness, but fortunately the south was not as cold as the north at this time, and it was able to endure mosquitoes even if there were mosquitoes.

The next day, before dawn, the whole army began to march, and finally arrived outside Anyuan County at about noon.

Yang Congyi and Zhao An took the Xuanwei army to the south city gate, only to see that the city gate was wide open, and there was not a single defender above and below the city, so they were immediately suspicious.

"Li Yueren has broken through the county seat?" Zhao An was puzzled.

"There is no sign of a fight under the city, it is not like a breach. Send someone into the city to find out the situation first. Yang Congyi looked at the city wall no more than two feet high, and there were several damages, which should be in disrepair and naturally damaged.

Zhao An gave an order, and immediately several soldiers quickly entered the city to investigate.

After a stick of incense, the soldier came back to report: "General, there are no defenders in the city, many people are fleeing to the north of the city, and there is no one in the county office. ”

"Overseer, what do you think?" Zhao An's face was ugly.

Yang Congyi looked at Anyuan County in front of him, and replied firmly: "Enter the city and organize defense." ”

Now that he has arrived in the city, Zhao An has no choice but to pass the order: "Order the whole army to immediately transfer the defense of Anyuan County!" ”

Then he ordered: "Order, Yuan Hua took a battalion of men and horses to take over the south gate, Zhang Yuan took a battalion of men and horses to take over the west gate, Liu Shi took a battalion of men and horses to take over the north gate, and Su Zhong took a battalion of men and horses to take over the east gate." After entering the city, the city gate was closed, no one was allowed to enter or exit, and the rest of the battalion commanders chose a place to settle their subordinates, and after a quarter of an hour, they all discussed in the county office! ”

After the military order was issued, Zhao An and Yang Congyi entered the city first under the escort of the guards.

After entering the city, they found that there were few people in the west of the city, and the houses facing the street were either wide open or closed.

All the way to the vicinity of the county government in the city, I saw that there were many people on the road dragging their families with their mouths, or carrying them, or holding them, or pulling things with cars, running along the street to the north of the city, panicking, all fleeing.

"Go to the north of the city and tell the people that the Xuanwei Army of the Great Song Dynasty has taken over the defense of Anyuan County, and staying in the city can ensure their safety, and they will be allowed to leave." Yang Congyi suddenly ordered the guards beside him.

The guards received the order and immediately ran to the north of the city to convey the order.

There is no one in sight at the gate of the county office, and it is estimated that they have all run away.

The two of them, under the escort of their own soldiers, walked directly into the county hall.

"Yang Jianjun, what do you think? Didn't Zhizhou say that there were a thousand state soldiers and native soldiers here, and the enemy ran away before he saw it? Is there a mistake in the enemy's situation, more than 4,000 enemy troops? Zhao An was worried.

"The general was too worried, I think the county officials here are timid and afraid of death, so they fled for their lives in advance, and as soon as the county officials fled, the morale of the army immediately dispersed. As for the enemy's situation, it is better for us to send people out of the city to investigate, because the information we hear from the city may not be accurate. Yang Congyi was not worried.

The city wall of Anyuan County is not low, what kind of battle Li Yue people can fight, he has seen it before, besides, this place is mountainous and watery, and the ordnance is difficult to carry, so it can only be lightly armed, and the two-zhang high city wall, as long as the city gate is guarded, they will not be able to attack it in a short time.

"The prison army has fought with Li Yueren, how strong are they?" Zhao An'an is unsettled, and it is estimated that there will be a fierce battle soon.

"He is not good at fighting, but he is brave and moves quickly in the mountains and forests, and it is difficult to defeat. But their siege force is average, and they can't take the slightly stronger cities. Like this city, if it is repaired again, it will not be a problem to hold on for a month. Yang Congyi said with a smile.

"If they don't attack the city, then we have a good idea." When Zhao An heard the news, his heart lightened slightly.

The Great Song army didn't dare to say how strong it was, but if it was said that the ability to defend the city, the Liao State could not be compared, the Xia State could not be compared, and the Jin State could not be compared.

"General, I've checked inside and out, and there is no one in the county office." The sergeant who was ordered to investigate the county office came to report.

"Where's the warehouse, is there any food?" Zhao An said urgently.

"No, there is not a single load of grain in the warehouse, only a pile of chaff and a pile of straw." The sergeant replied.

"Pass the order down and station in the county office!"

At the sound of an order, the guards took action and hurried to clean up the general's station.

"General Zhao, it's not appropriate." Yang Congyi reminded that officers can always enter the local military and political yamen, which is against the law.

"The county officials have all run away, what's wrong." Zhao An replied indifferently.

Yang Congyi can't control this kind of thing, let him go, it's a big deal if he doesn't live there.

Not long after, seven battalion commanders came to the county government one after another.

"How's the situation with the four gates?" After everyone arrived, Zhao An immediately asked.

"The south gate has been successfully taken over, the city gate has been closed, and there is no one outside the city."

"The west gate of the city has been successfully taken over, the city gate has been closed, and there are hundreds of people outside the city, waiting to enter the city, saying that they have fled from the city, and they can't distinguish the real from the fake, and they are still blocking the city."

"The east city gate has been successfully taken over, the city gate has been closed, and more than ten people in the city are going to leave the city and have been persuaded to leave."

"The north city gate has been successfully taken over, the city gate has been closed, there are thousands of people in the city who want to leave the city, most of them have been persuaded to leave, and the few who insist on leaving the city have already let them go."

"Good. Ladies and gentlemen, you must have a lot of questions in your minds, why is this an empty city, why are we here, what are we doing here? These questions will be answered by the prison guards. Zhao An turned his head and threw the question out.

Everyone was indeed full of questions, and their eyes brushed to look at Yang Congyi.

"The Xuanwei army was originally transferred to Qinzhou, but unfortunately Li Yue people suddenly invaded the Great Song Dynasty, and had occupied many cities and towns in a row, and were dividing their troops to approach this Anyuan county in two ways, because Anyuan County was very close to Qinzhou City, if Anyuan County was not protected, Qinzhou City would also have to be lost. The county order and the defenders here are timid, they have fled in advance, as soon as they leave, the opportunity for the Xuanwei army to make meritorious service has come, as long as we stick to Anyuan County for a month, the war merits can be obtained, a month later, as soon as the reinforcements of the imperial court arrive, we can repel Li Yueren, we can make another meritorious service. There has been no war in the Great Song Dynasty for a long time, this is a God-given opportunity for the Xuanwei Army to establish military exploits, and you need to grasp it well. "Yang Congyi didn't say the reason for the matter so clearly, if it was said that Li Yueren had attacked and had captured the entire Yulin Prefecture and forced Yongzhou, I am afraid that they would also flee in fright, so they must be tempted to defend this city.

Everyone looked at each other, this was indeed a good opportunity to establish their military exploits, they were all awarded official positions not long ago because of their meritorious service in guarding Hui Yi, and now they are also eating the court's money, not the people who take the money. They couldn't be clearer about what their exploits mean to an officer, but they still have to think about whether they have a chance to take it.

So someone asked: "I don't know, how many Li Yue people want to attack the county seat?" Can we keep it? ”

Yang Congyi said with a smile: "According to the intelligence of Lord Mao of Qinzhou, there are only 4,000 of them, all the way from the north and all the way from the south. Li Yueren's ability to attack the city is not strong, and Qinzhou is a place with many mountains and rivers, so he can only travel lightly and simply, and there should be no siege equipment. You have also seen this city, it is more than two zhang high, the city wall is not too thin, and without powerful siege equipment, Li Yue people will not be able to break this city in a short time. Besides, as far as the strength of the army is concerned, 4,000 against 4,000, one defends and one attacks, you know who has the advantage, as long as you work together, there is absolutely no reason to lose this battle. Here, Li Yueren's military exploits to you should not be in vain. ”

When everyone heard this, the enemy was only 4,000 people, and the originally slightly tense atmosphere suddenly collapsed, and the atmosphere in the hall was much more relaxed.

"The prison army is right, Li Yueren only came to this point, that is, to send war merits, we don't want it, God doesn't agree, you say yes, brothers." Yuan Hua laughed.

"I haven't fought for a long time, and my hands are itching terribly, so this Li Yue people came to the door and transferred from Mingzhou to Qinzhou, and they really came to the right place." Su Zhong smiled with a grinding fist.

"Second Su, you still said that you haven't fought for a long time, didn't you fight when you went back to the Three Buddhas? It's been a long time since we've been at war, almost two years. This time it's going to have to be a big deal. Liu Shi said with a smile.

"Those little pirates, they are all petty fights, and they ran away without two hits, which is boring. It depends on whether Li Yueren is beaten or not this time. ”

"Don't brag, if you have nothing else to do, go back to your respective city gates to patrol, and the others organize manpower to repair the city walls and prepare to meet the enemy army!" Zhao An gave an order.

Everyone was about to leave, Yang Congyi added: "Li Yue is fierce and cunning, everyone be careful, if you can't determine your identity, whether you want to go out of the city or enter the city, don't open the city gate at will." ”

The four battalion commanders who patrolled the city gate clasped their fists and said yes, and everyone immediately left the county office to go about their own business.

Yang Congyi didn't want to stay in the county office, so he took Zhang Liu and several guards to inspect the city.

Due to the arrival of the Xuanwei army, the people in the city calmed down a little, no longer running around in such a panic, and even some merchants and vendors reopened the door of the store to do business, although there were no customers, but it can be seen that they are really unwilling to leave this small city that has lived all their lives, and they are unwilling to lose the familiar life of opening the door of the store every day to do business.

There are not many people in the city, how many people there are, Yang Congyi doesn't know, but after walking around the city, it is speculated from the results that there will be no more than 3,000 people, and most of them are old and weak who are difficult to move, and it is estimated that the young and middle-aged people can walk are gone, and there are not many left.

Thousands of Xuanwei troops who did not guard the city gate were resting on the damaged parts of the city wall, and the city did not know when it was built, it was in disrepair, and there were many places that needed to be repaired, and it was impossible to complete it in three or five days.

I don't know what the county officials and the state soldiers and native soldiers stationed there before are doing every day, the city wall that should be repaired has not been repaired, Yang Congyi is annoyed, the Xuanwei army is not coming, and the county seat can be defended for three days before it is strange.