Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

In the first month of the second year of Xuanren (961 A.D.), 120,000 cavalry soldiers of the Tokyo Imperial Army went out of the city in four routes (the more concentrated the people, the slower the march and the easier it is to congest). Guo Shao led the army to walk through Chenqiao Gate, and each gate was connected with a post road, and the road from Chenqiao Gate led to Chenqiao Post.

Guo Shao's troops were all cavalry and mounted infantry, and they arrived at Chenqiaoyi that day.

The army passed by this station, just passing by, and the soldiers didn't feel anything special. Only Guo Shao came here to pay extra attention, Chenqiaoyi... In his memory, there are not many historical place names that are more famous than Chenqiaoyi (because of the Chenqiao mutiny).

However, the Chenqiao Mutiny did not exist in this world. Guo Shao proclaimed himself emperor in Songzhou, so Chenqiaoyi was just a post station.

All of Guo Shao's troops rode horses, and arrived in Huazhou only two days later, on the morning of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. The two-day journey was about 240 miles.

The army did not enter the city, and the festival has become an unimportant factor.

On the same day, the army crossed the Yellow River from the ferry near Huazhou... All the ministries spread out on the flat river beach, and raced directly across the Yellow River in batches. At this time, the Yellow River was still frozen, and there was no movement of cars and horses on the river.

Two days later, on the morning of the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, the army traveled 230 miles to Daming Mansion.

The armies of the four routes crossed the Yellow River from Weizhou, Huazhou and other places, and they all passed through Daming Mansion. But Guo Shao did not wait for follow-up troops at Daming Mansion, nor did he go to see his father-in-law Fu Yanqing, but continued to march.

At this point, the 120,000 troops will form an extremely long formation, so that the overall marching speed will be faster. The front part of the road is marching in the interior, unimpeded, and there is no need to send more scouts.

Then, according to the deployment of the Privy Council, the whole army will gradually move forward, middle and rear during the march. The front army had Shi Yanchao as the vanguard, with about 18,000 cavalry; the main force of the central army, Guo Shao, led more than 70,000 cavalry, including all the cavalry and the mounted infantry of the Huben Army;

The total strength of the imperial army on this expedition was about 120,000, and the number of cavalry and mounted infantry was close to 90,000.

Daming Mansion was already on the border of Hebei. The forwards of the Great Zhou Army and the main force of the Chinese Army marched quickly northward to Beizhou, and then crossed the frozen Yongji Canal (Grand Canal) on horseback. Hebei is full of famous cities and towns, and Beizhou is also a famous city. The (later) Jin Dynasty regrettably failed to stop the Liao army in Beizhou, so the capital was captured by the Liao army and the country fell.

Now, the people and horses in the same place have changed their country names, and a mighty herd of horses is passing by this ancient city and heading north.

Yizhou, Shenzhou, Xiongzhou... The marching route of the Zhou army is completely a straight line in the direction of true north on the map. Then approaching Yizhou, the marching distance was more than 1,200 li, and the main force of the horse army completed the journey in less than half a month. To the north of the Juma River is the territory controlled by the Liao Kingdom.

...

Guo Shao, Wang Pu and others took their bodyguards and galloped past the vanguard of the army. They first arrived at the south bank of the Juma River, but they saw nothing. The two banks were still frozen soil, and there were no people. They could only observe that the terrain on the opposite bank was slightly higher than the south bank.

At this moment, I suddenly saw a horse galloping towards Yizhou. First, Guo Shao's guards stopped him from asking, and after a short while, the man was brought to Guo Shao.

The man bowed on one knee and said, "I am the messenger of the Youzhou Division of the Cao Division of the Brigade, and I was ordered by Shangfeng to come forward and submit an urgent report."

"Bring it here." Guo Shao said directly.

He took a lacquered envelope, took out a stamped paper, browsed through it, and his expression changed slightly.

Wang Pu couldn't help asking: "Is it a secret report on the military situation in Youzhou?"

Guo Shao passed it to Wang Pu calmly.

After watching it, Wang Pu was surprised and said, "You Zhou still doesn't know about it?"

Guo Shao called Jingniang over and asked her to check the handwriting of the memorial. There was nothing wrong with the memorial. The main station of Bingcao Division's spies in Youzhou, Hebei is located in Yizhou, and the report was urgently reported from Yizhou... At least when the Youzhou spy sent back the news, the signs in Youzhou City showed that they still knew nothing about Zhou Jun!

Guo Shaoqiang suppressed his excitement and looked around and said: "It seems that the situation is better than we expected!"

Wang Pudao: "We have been out of Beijing for more than ten days now, more than 100,000 people have nothing to hide along the road, and the Liao people did not get any news. It is really an accident, God help me!"

A military commander said happily: "If they don't know until we rush to the city of Youzhou, it will save trouble! The cavalry just rush in from the gate of the city and we'll be fine!"

Wang Pu smiled and said, "That's impossible. There are so many eyes in Youzhou, not everyone is blind. But the people of Youzhou Liao knew too late, they would be insufficiently prepared, and the city defense would not be so perfect. This is an extremely favorable start for Da Zhou."

He turned his head to look at Guo Shao, waiting for Guo Shao's order. Wang Pu is in charge of the Qianying military mansion in Youzhou, but with the emperor around, he still has to wait for Guo Shao to make a decree.

Guo Shao sat on the horse, squinted his eyes and looked at the road ahead again. The Juma River in front of him lay on the ground like a white silk.

As Wang Pu said, the Northern Expedition got off to a very good start. Not only did the military plan not be leaked in advance, but the Liao army was able to hide the fact that the army had even reached Yizhou. The suddenness of the surprise attack was no better than the current situation! Great timing.

"Most of the troops guarding Zhuozhou and other places are Han troops, so you can ignore them. No matter whether they surrender or not, they will never come out of the city to fight our army." Guo Shao's voice was very steady.

Guo Shao looked up at the sky again. The sky is dark, as if the sky cover is very low. Although the dark clouds cannot be seen, the clouds are very thick. And there was a northerly wind blowing in the sky.

"This terrible weather!" Guo Shao cursed softly.

Everything was perfect, the weather was really the only downside. It is cloudy and windy, and I am afraid that the temperature will not rise for a long time; it will be more laborious to build fortifications on the permafrost in Youzhou.

Guo Shao took a deep breath and looked at Wang Pu: "So, at this time, can we order Shi Yanchao to lead the army to Youzhou?"

Wang Pu's voice was urgent, and he said very quickly: "Of course, the forward forces will force Youzhou first, and then the Chinese army will surrender to solve Zhuozhou and other places, and follow up."

Guo Shao's eyes closed, and he said in a tone without hesitation: "Order, Shi Yanchao's troops immediately cross the Juma River. Don't attack the city, go straight to Youzhou City; if you encounter resistance on the road, you can sweep it away, and you don't need to ask for it."

Wang Pu clasped his fists and said: "The old minister took the order and immediately issued the official military order of the Qianying Army Mansion to Shi Yanchao."

He immediately turned the horse's head and kicked the horse's belly: "Drive!" The horse screamed in pain, and galloped out.

Guo Shao sat on the horse with his sword in his hand, facing the north wind, and looked at the land to the north for a long time... The land in Hebei is now the enemy's border!

!!