Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

The movement in the months before the Northern Expedition was obvious and could not be kept secret. Li Chongjin led the army back to Beijing from Yangzhou by order, and received the emperor's reward and banquet in Tokyo first. Regardless of the approaching New Year's Eve, he received reinforcements in winter and deployed his troops to the north of Luzhou, Hedong... Li Chongjin was a veteran in the battlefield and had fought many battles.

Xiang Xun then led the Zhen'an army to Beijing, and mobilized to Hedong to join Li Chongjin's department.

Gao Huaide, the right wing of the Tiger Jie Army, was transferred to Beizhou years ago; Li Gu arrived with the army, and regardless of the freezing of the river, the new valleys in summer and autumn were mobilized by land to Hebei one after another.

The bodyguard Long Jiejun Han Lingkun returned to Beijing from Xiacai Town, Shouzhou. In the first month of Xiande's fourth year, the left wing was deployed to Dingzhou, Hebei.

... But the Liao people may not be able to understand what Chai Rong wants to do, because Chai Rong has not only threatened the Northern Expedition once or twice, but he has not only threatened the southern countries for a long time, but also threatened Liao with force;

But this time it was not just a threat. In the early March of the fourth year of Xiande, Chai Rong quickly issued an edict to start the Northern Expedition.

At this time, the deployment in the north has basically been completed. Li Chongjin, Xiang Xun, and Li Yun defended the Northern Han Dynasty in Hedong and acted as counterattacks. Han Lingkun's division was on the left in Dingzhou (west of Hebei); Guo Shao's and Gao Huaide's divisions were in the middle of Qizhou and Beizhou;

The Zhou army's elite soldiers were dispatched almost in full force, and started the Northern Expedition in three ways. Among them, Chai Rong personally led the main force of the Forbidden Army as the main attack direction.

Emperor Chai Rong's troops were all elite soldiers. The squadrons in front of the palace had tens of thousands of elite cavalry, most of them were cavalry, and most of the 30,000 iron cavalry were elite cavalry. This group of people is all elite soldiers and generals collected from all over the country, consuming half of the imperial court's fiscal and tax revenue.

Tens of thousands of cavalry and soldiers from various towns marched by land and water. Before the battle started when they arrived in Cangzhou, Wang Hong, the governor of Ningzhou in Liao Kingdom, took the initiative to surrender the city.

Chai Rong sent people to appease Wang Hong and let him continue to be the governor; then he led his army northward along the waterway and attacked Yijin Pass.

At the same time, the emperor ordered troops from all directions to attack: the left wing of the Longjie army in the west and Sun Xingyou's department of Dingzhou Jiedushi attacked Yizhou;

In a month's time, the offensive went smoothly across the board, and good news came from all over the place.

Yijinguan, Waqiaoguan, Yingzhou, and Mozhou surrendered one after another. The guards were all Han Chinese. When they heard that the Central Plains army was coming, they agreed to offer the pass as if they had agreed. Only Yizhou fought a battle. Hundreds of Khitan cavalry were defeated by Han Lingkun's generals, and the defenders of Yizhou surrendered immediately.

The Han people from all over the place lined the road to welcome, and the Zhou army transformed into a liberator of the soldiers and civilians in various places, and successfully took over 17 counties in three passes, four states, and seventeen counties. Tears welled up in people's eyes, and people on the side of the road yelled words such as "After waiting for twenty years, I finally waited for Master Wang", which made the soldiers feel more welcome than on their own territory.

When Guo Shao's troops went to the north of Waqiao Pass, they met a group of Han men who took advantage of the chaos and snatched more than 100 horses from the Liao army. Zuo You wrote the An Min Bang, and spread everywhere that Wang Shi Beiding and Qiu Wu committed no crimes, and that brothers of the same clan treat everyone equally.

Shi Chairong quickly rectified the places he got, and ordered Han Tong to summon Ding Zhuang to consolidate Waqiaoguan and Yijinguan, and changed them to Xiongzhou and Bazhou respectively.

In mid-April, Zhang Yongde and Zhao Kuangyin's troops crossed the Juma River, and a cavalry battle broke out in Zhuozhou. So the imperial army divided up and marched together, and arrived at the bank of Juma River one after another. The emperor did not order all the troops to cross the river, but only summoned the generals from all walks of life to go to the palace in Zhuozhou to discuss the acquisition of Youzhou.

The emperor led all the squadrons and a part of the Crane Control Army to the Zhuozhou Palace.

Suddenly Li Yun sent an envoy to report that Xizuo had found a military plane in Jinyang, and the Khitan Lord rushed to order the Northern Han to send troops to assist... This news brought an abrupt end to the victorious atmosphere. Since the Northern Han was assisting, might the Khitan Lord send troops?

Sure enough, within two days, a secret sentry behind Yanshan discovered the movement of a large number of Liao army cavalry soldiers.

After Zhang Yongde and Zhao Kuangyin heard the news, they entered the palace to face the saint. Seeing that Chai Rong was sitting on the upper chair thinking about something, they bowed down and spoke in a low voice.

Chai Rong took away the hand that was rubbing against his chin, and said without raising his head, "I just knew you were asking to see me, so just speak up if you have anything to say."

Zhao Kuangyin didn't open his mouth first, Zhang Yongde said: "Your Majesty, all the captives and cavalry are gathered in the north of Youzhou now, so it's not appropriate to venture deep."

Chai Rong's expression suddenly became displeased.

Zhao Kuangyin took a look and raised his eyes, and then said: "I think that the key to attacking the land of Youyun is not to conquer the city, but to defeat the Khitan and send reinforcements from Liao's 'Shangjing'. If the Khitan reinforcements can be defeated in one battle, then they can encircle Youzhou and enter the land of Youyun.

The army is eager to besiege the heavy city and gather troops under the city. If it fails to break through the city and loses outside the city, it will be attacked from both inside and outside, and it is a tendency to be gathered_and wiped out. Therefore, Zhang Du's intention is not to hesitate, but to deploy carefully and premeditate the way to advance and retreat. "

It was still Zhao Kuangyin's words that sounded more pleasant, Chai Rong nodded slightly.

Zhao Kuangyin continued: "The Lord of Khitan is cruel and heartless, and the government of the Liao Kingdom is in turmoil. The arrival of reinforcements may not necessarily be the elite opponents of our Zhou army."

Chai Rong said: "Continue talking."

Zhao Kuangyin worshiped: "In my opinion, the attack should be defended first, and it should be deployed in a deep and deep formation. From Yizhou, Zhuozhou to Youzhou, multiple camps were set up, with the infantry behind and the cavalry in front; the horsemen marched to the north of Youzhou City, waiting for the reinforcements from the Liao Kingdom to arrive for the first time. Taking advantage of the fatigue from the long distance, you can use the cavalry to fight. If it is unfavorable, the cavalry will have nothing to do with me."

Chai Rong was noncommittal, seeing an eunuch coming in, he asked, "Is the guard Sima Budu Yuhou Guo Shao here?"

The eunuch said: "Here we come, but all the generals have not yet arrived...... Do the officials want to summon General Guo first?"

Chai Rong thought for a while but said: "I'm going to change clothes, you two will come to the palace to discuss matters with the generals later."

Zhang Yongde and Zhao Kuangyin kowtowed and retreated together.

The two of them went out of the palace all the way, Zhang Yongde said: "Brother Zhao discussed with me for so long before, and I persuaded you when you went in to face the saint, why don't you help persuade the officials?"

Zhao Kuangyin said: "The officials are determined to win Youzhou, but I just found out that I can't persuade you."

After hearing this, Zhang Yongde had no choice but to say flatly: "Then we have to try a battle... Brother Zhao, what do you think of the outcome?"

"At first we didn't expect Lord Khitan to send reinforcements so soon. He was a sleeping emperor, his own throne was not stable, and Youzhou was not a place in Liao Kingdom. We expected Lord Khitan to give up the land of Youyun altogether; even if he wanted to send troops, it would be very difficult. We don't know when we will go." Zhao Kuangyin said, "But there has been movement for more than a month now. It can be seen that it is not Lord Khitan's intention, but all the officials of Liao Kingdom are begging him; All right. If all the tribes of the Liao Kingdom want to protect Youzhou and there is no disagreement, and the Liao army has strong cavalry, it will be very difficult for us to win."

Zhang Yongde said: "I haven't fought yet. I've never seen you fight so hard!"

Zhao Kuangyin said: "Do you remember the Battle of Jinyang? The Liao Kingdom sent thousands of riders to Xinkou for reinforcements. King Fu Yanqing of Wei had 20,000 people in his hand. He almost lost the striker Shi Yanchao and was defeated."

"At that time, Fu Yanqing didn't have any elite soldiers, only the cavalry of Xiang Xun and Shi Yanchao could fight."

Zhao Kuangyin said: "Even so, Shi Yanchao and Xiang Xun together have thousands of riders. Anyway, I don't think we should be impatient to fight the Liao Kingdom, let alone underestimate the enemy."

In the afternoon of the same day, the ministers of the Privy Council and generals from all walks of life discussed matters in the Zhuozhou Palace.

Wei Renpu was staying in Tokyo at this time, and Wang Pu presided over the discussion. Guo Shao, as a senior general, was also in the queue, and he still listened silently. The discussion scene this time made him a little disappointed. Wang Pu's talent should be higher than Wei Renpu's, but because of his age, he lacked that kind of confident and calm iron-blooded demeanor... Guo Shao couldn't help but think of the battle in Huainan and the scene when he was in the palace in Yangzhou, and made a comparison.

When the generals heard that the Liao army had arrived behind Yanshan Mountain, they had conflicts of opinion for a while, and the dispute lasted until late. Guo Shao didn't get involved in the dispute, he just listened to what his superiors wanted to do and what he should do.

Later, Chai Rong finally made some arrangements against all opinions. The cavalry army and the horsemen of the Crane Control Army will move to the north of Youzhou City to wait for an opportunity. The left wing of the Long Jie Army and various squads are stationed directly under the city to monitor the movement of Youzhou City.

The left wing infantry of the Tiger Jie Army crossed the Juma River and stationed in Zhuozhou, and the military power was assigned to Qi Tingxun, the commander of the left wing;

As expected, Guo Shao was specifically named by the emperor to attack Youzhou City. But the emperor didn't seem to want to attack the city with all his strength, because the siege troops assigned to Guo Shao were not the left wing elite of the Hujie Army (in Zhuozhou), but the Sun Xingyou Department of the Dingzhou Army, the cavalry from Guo Shao's headquarters, and tens of thousands of town soldiers from various towns in Hebei.

Guo Shao found that there were only two kinds of troops under the city of Youzhou: one was cavalry, and the other was miscellaneous soldiers. It gave him the illusion that he was ready to run away at any time, and then left the cannon fodder to die.

The main force of his siege troops are all local Jiezhen troops, can they still besiege heavy cities? He felt that he was completely feigning the siege to put pressure on the city; the main force of the Zhou Dynasty seemed to be on the reinforcements from the Liao Kingdom who had not yet appeared.

However, the emperor did not explicitly say that he was only allowed to respond, and that the imperial decree was to attack the city. So Guo Shao immediately remembered the large amount of gunpowder placed in Qizhou.

In Huainan, the emperor personally bestowed the nickname "Guo Pocheng". In fact, Guo Shao was not proficient in siege at all, and the only skill he was proficient in was bombing with gunpowder. This time there is no way, he is ready to repeat the same trick at any time.