At Taniguchi Fort, Li Rong personally went to the front line.

But in fact, there is no such thing as first line or second line here.

Because these forts had been almost completely demolished by the retreating Hedong Army, the only thing Li Rong could use might be a slope in front of the forts, making it impossible to defend in depth.

And even this slope is steeper from the outside and much gentler from the inside. This is inevitable. If it is steep both inside and outside, it will be too inconvenient to transport grain and grass.

More importantly, the fifteen hundred people under Li Rong were not real pro-army or forbidden troops. They were not even considered Yicong, but the tooth soldiers of Weizhou Yicheng Jiedu Envoy.

The Jiedushi of the Yi Cheng Army in the Later Jin Dynasty was originally Liang Hanzhang. He died in the battle against Khitan in the north and was posthumously named Lord Ying. At the same time, five hundred elites of the Yi Cheng Army died along with Liang Hanzhang. ride.

They died in this battle, and the elite of the Yicheng Army was wiped out. After Zhang Yan took control of Kaifeng Mansion in Tokyo, the entire territory of the Yicheng Army was occupied by the Khitans, and most of the Ya soldiers were scattered.

So Zhang Zhang appointed Li Rong, who had fought in the Zhou and Liao Yanshi battles, as the Yicheng army, horse, infantry and horse envoy to stabilize the situation in Weizhou. These 1,500 people were recruited by Li Rong after arriving in Weizhou. of.

Therefore, no matter whether it is combat effectiveness or morale, it cannot be compared with the pro-army and imperial guards of the direct line.

Although Shi Hongzhao was disliked by others, his personal force and troop commanding ability were still good. Therefore, the Hedong Army's first attack put great pressure on Li Rong.

Hedong Army soldiers holding huge wooden shields charged forward, followed by a large number of elites wearing iron armor.

At the end are the elite crossbowmen who wear two layers of cowhide armor. Their cowhide armor is only used as a breastplate, and their hands are unarmored, which makes it easier to shoot.

The stones, wood, etc. on the fort had long been taken away by the Hedong Army. Therefore, Li Rong could only resist for a while, then abandoned the other two forts that could be besieged from three sides, and retreated to the area where only one side was attacked. The last fortress.

After Shi Hongzhao easily captured the two fortresses, he stood still.

Because he did not come to eat these 1,500 people, but to cooperate with the 5,000 people outside to force Zhang Zhaojun's people to come forward and actively fight, and to ask the Zhou army in Yecheng to increase their troops.

Li Rong, who was under the mountain cover, directed people to build roadblocks with the few remaining materials, while holding a strong bow and shooting downwards himself.

Whenever a Hedong soldier gets too close without paying attention, he will shoot him to the ground with an arrow.

Of course, Li Rong would be shot by the skilled archers of the Hedong Army below if he was not careful. Once, the flying arrow almost broke the armor leaf on his chest, but Li Rong had to do this, because this was The best way to boost morale.

Sure enough, Li Rong's every shot was sure to hit, and the morale of the Yicheng army's tooth soldiers suddenly rose.

The tooth soldiers cheered and shouted loudly on the mountain and insulted the Hedong soldiers below. Even Zhang Quan, a hundred Hexi soldiers, admired Li Rong.

In a battle formation, especially in a duel involving thousands of people, the bravery of the general can often play a huge role.

"What a great shooter! Even at the Hexi Township Shooting Ceremony, he was the hero who won the title of Gui Yilang!" Zhang Quan praised loudly.

For a person like him who is always proud of his origins in Hexi, to be able to praise someone outside of Hexi for receiving the title of Gui Yilang is a sign of great agreement with this person.

"Commander, the Hedong thieves at the bottom of the mountain did not come up to attack. They were just making noise. Their intention is to let us raise a red flag for help and let the elite cavalry of the Duke of Guo come to attack fiercely.

Then we won’t raise the red flag and let them risk their lives to attack the fortress they built themselves!”

Sure enough, Zhang Quan immediately respected Li Rong, and his surname refers to Zhang Zhaojun, a horse-killing talent outside.

After the five of them were given the surname Zhang, and they could even use the character Zhao, the people in the Zhou Kingdom called them the surname Gong of the Five Kingdoms.

A satisfied smile appeared on Li Rong's face. He finally touched the door to enter the upper echelon of Wuren.

That is to show your strong force and make the Hexi warriors feel that you are qualified to be respected by them. Then these Hexi warriors will accept him and command them more easily.

"Zhangdutou is the same as what a certain family saw. We, fifteen hundred brave men, occupy a favorable location here. We still have two days of food and water for three days. We will never raise a red flag until we run out of water and food. "

If Li Rong did not raise the red flag, Zhang Zhaojun would not come to the rescue. Instead, he ordered his cavalry to set up camp more than a mile away.

Zhang Zhaojun's two thousand men could not move, and Li Chongjin and Bai Zairong's five thousand men dared not move.

Most of the 5,000 of them are infantry. If they camp and defend, Zhang Zhaojun won't have much chance. But if he takes the initiative to ask for a fight, the flaw will be huge.

Listening to the continuous insults outside, Zhang Zhaojun just smiled coldly and wanted to use this method to provoke him out. That was because he underestimated his Zuo Jinwu Guard.

You must know that when he was traveling across Anxi and other places, Zhang Zhaojun and Ma Zhaoyuan (Ma Yaozi) were the masters of scolding under Zhang Gao. They scolded the Persians several times and they became furious and came up to fight for their lives.

And the insults from the Hedong Army outside still focus on various organs and eighteen generations of ancestors, which is too childish.

Not only did Zhang Zhaojun feel unfazed, but the Zuo Jinwu guards below also didn't take it seriously.

Zhang Zhaojun was holding a writing brush and writing strokes on a piece of silk. He felt that Hedong Army was so abnormal, and there were only two possibilities.

First, Liu Zhiyuan's army had sneaked into the Fushan area, and Guo Wei made various moves to attract them from Yecheng in order to prepare to raid them here.

The second possibility, Zhang Zhaojun looked at the mouth of the valley, was that Guo Wei had really built a dam to block the Zhang River. He was afraid that they would discover the secret, so they could only block it again.

After writing down the actual situation and his speculations clearly, Zhang Zhaojun summoned the Tangma envoy of the Chinese Army and issued a death order.

"The letter must be delivered to the capital deployment within today."

According to the system of Zhang Zhou's army, Zhang Zhaojun knew that the surrounded Li Rong's troops only had food rations for two days at most and could last for three days at most, and then they had to be rescued.

As for refusing to save people in the face of death, the Zhou army has not had such a habit since the days of Fengtian Army.

....

A qualified army commander is not only good at finding clues from vast and complex information, but also good at making decisions.

Compared to Zhang Zhaojun, Yan Jin's judgment is undoubtedly better. The entire terrain characteristics from Hezhang to Yecheng and the movements of various armies are almost imprinted in Yan Jin's mind.

The most comprehensive handsome man under Zhang Zhi quickly made a judgment. First of all, Guo Wei was not a fool. On the contrary, his level was very high.

Then it is unlikely that he would make such an obviously flawed move. There must be something that Yan Jin did not guess.

Regarding Liu Zhiyuan's movements, Yan Jin knew the most clearly, because the Hedong Army only had a few thousand fine cavalry and lacked the roving cavalry to cover, search, and explore.

Therefore, in fact, since Liu Zhiyuan's brigade left Hengzhou, although Zhou Guo's Xiaoqi could not get close for investigation, their approximate location was determined.

The large force of the Hedong Army is moving towards Beizhou. At most, three to five thousand elite troops can escape the surveillance of Zhou Guoxiaoqi. It is impossible for the large force to disappear suddenly.

Without sudden reinforcements from Liu Zhiyuan, Guo Wei would not have lost his mind and issued orders randomly. Then there is only one possibility, that is, Guo Wei is really blocking the water of the Zhang River.

Moreover, Yan Jin saw another possibility from Zhang Zhaojun's analysis, and he said to Murong Nobunaga beside him.

"It seems that Liu Zhiyuan really wants to attack Fu Yanqing in Beizhou first. Guo Wei wants to drag our army along the Zhangshui River."

Murong Nobunaga raised his eyebrows, "Everyone thinks that Guo Wei is really building a dam to block the Zhang River? And it's not to destroy Yecheng, but to turn the west of Yecheng into a vast country?"

Yan Jin had a look of surprise on his face. There was indeed a reason why Murong Nobunaga became the saint's most beloved adopted son, and his wife's title of Princess Yongle was still retained in the Zhou Dynasty.

This military acumen surpasses all kinship relationships, and it is simply the extent of his ability.

"That's right! I personally asked the old fishermen in Yecheng that even if there are flash floods in the Zhangshui River in summer, it is impossible for Yecheng to be destroyed.

On the contrary, after leaving Hezhang, in the area near Yecheng, the rivers are shallow and wide, and they often flood in summer.

The area around Yecheng is different from Hezhang and Fuyang. It is a large plain. If the Zhang River slopes down from Hezhang at this moment, it will easily flood the surrounding areas. It will definitely not be possible to form a marsh country. However, the soil is soft and is not conducive to the movement of troops and horses.

of."

Yan Jin and Murong Nobunaga basically guessed Guo Wei's plan, which was to let the Zhang River pour eastward and soften the land from He Zhang to Yecheng, making it difficult for the cavalry to walk and causing Zhou Guo's Hexi cavalry to lose their speed advantage.

Murong Nobunaga nodded, "Everything is planned, let's submit a letter together and ask the saint to make a decision!"

Judging from the current situation, Liu Zhiyuan wanted to capture Beizhou first, defeat and even capture Fu Yanqing and others, and then turn around and fight the Zhou army in a bloody battle.

Because at this time, there are only two ways to go north from Henan, if you want to pay attention to convenience.

The first is to take the Zhangshui River in Yecheng and go north, which is roughly the road from Anyang in Henan to Handan in Hebei to Xingtai to Jixian in later generations.

The other is to take the Yongji Canal from Weizhou to the north, and the general route is the later Daiming-Guantao-Qinghe-Dezhou-Nanpi road.

Yecheng occupied the favorable geographical location of Zhangshui River, and Beizhou was located in Qinghe in later generations, blocking the north passage of Yongji Canal. Liu Zhiyuan occupied these two places, so he could arrange his work calmly and wait for his work.

If the Zhou army wants to fight, they must first defeat Guo Wei in Yecheng, but this will put great pressure on Fu Yanqing in Beizhou.

Either abandon the more than 1,000 Li Rong men who were besieged at the mouth of the Zhang Valley, and move the entire army north to relieve the siege of Beizhou.

Whether it is to put pressure on Fu Yanqing or to give up Li Rong and more than a thousand people, if Zhang Yan did not come, Yan Jin could naturally make a choice, but Zhang Yan had already arrived in Xiangzhou, so this decision had to be made by the emperor.

Just when the two were about to jointly submit a letter, someone suddenly came to report that General Zuo Shenwuwei He Fujin had arrived from Xiangzhou. Yan Jin quickly sent the junior high school around him to greet He Fujin.

He Fujin hurried in and saw Yan Jin and only said a few words.

"The saint has ordered Huang Yingda to lead 1,500 Uighurs to reinforce Zhang Zhaojun.

The saint has set out from Xiangzhou, bringing only more than a thousand soldiers from the capital of Hanshan with him, and he will arrive at Yecheng later today."
Chapter completed!