In mid-September, Jinzhou was in the fourth year of Xiande (957 AD).

Hedong is "mountain and rivers" in the north and south, and the mountains and rivers are like gullies, like the word "chuan". Hedong is also the middle road area in the north on the chessboard of the Shenzhou. It has always been the core of the offensive and defense of the forces on the east and west sides of the north; it is also a corridor from the north to enter the Central Plains. The middle basin corridor between the mountains has always been a place of frequent wars...such as the place where the Battle of Changping (Gaoping), such as Jinzhou (Linfen).

Now Jinzhou is once again shrouded in the war.

It is the dry season. The Fen River flows slowly to the west. The towering city towers to the east of the river and the Luliang Mountains on the other side are facing each other. To the south of the city, dust covers the sky, and the war horses in the yellow dust, and soldiers are like flying clouds and fog.

The crossbows and stone bombs were flying in the air, the "gurgling" of wood rubbing, the "bang bang" sounds mixed with people's shouts, and the city walls were noisy and noisy.

Murong Yanzhao looked at the countless siege equipment and dust covering the sky under the city, stared at him and said, "Why didn't the rebels rushed up to attack the city this morning? Are they going to bomb the city?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a loud "clang" sound suddenly came, and a big stone fell on the wall outside the city tower. Suddenly, gravel bricks and soil splashed, and several soldiers around him hugged their heads to avoid it. "Ah..." A soldier hugged his thighs and screamed, "My legs!"

Xiang Gong looked over, turned to Murong Yanzhao and said, "If it explodes, just block the gap and call the strong men to repair it overnight."

Murong Yanzhao frowned and said, "The key is when will the reinforcements of the imperial court come? Li Chongjin is also heading towards Jinzhou. At that time, Jinzhou will be besieged by a 60,000 army. Can we defend this little man?"

Xiang Gong pondered without saying a word.

Murong Yanzhao said again: "It's nearly a thousand miles from Tokyo to Jinzhou, and Guo Shao is too late. It seems that you and I are really going to die here!"

Xiang Gong showed a strong smile on his face: "Death from the battlefield, the horse and the body are wrapped in a corpse, which has always been the ending I was looking forward to. As a warrior, is there any better way to die than this?"

"Xiang Jieshuai..." Murong Yanzhao's face in the middle of his beard showed a moving look on his face.

Xiang Gong patted Murong Yanzhao's shoulder and said, "If Guo Shao doesn't, I will lead two thousand iron cavalry of Zhen'an army out of the city to fight to the decisive battle; wherever Jinzhou goes, I will leave Murong Jieshuai's full control, and I will never force it."

At this moment, there was a sudden "boom" sound, and Xiang Gong and Murong Yanzhao's faces changed, and they felt that the city wall seemed to tremble. In an instant, soil and stones splashed not far from the east side of the city wall, and a large stream of white smoke rushed up quickly and flew straight to the sky.

Immediately afterwards, another white smoke surged up in front of the fence under the city. The smoke of gunpowder soared rapidly, and soon half of the city walls were shrouded in the smoke, and nothing could be seen.

The screams from afar soon came over and looked into the distance. The smoke of gunpowder ran around in the rebel fortifications about two hundred steps away. In the fog, many people ran away in a panic. The war horses were panicked, and a large number of horses ran around in a mess.

"The wall has not collapsed?" Xiang Gong shouted after a moment.

The surroundings were soon covered by smoke, and the sounds of "cough cough cough..." were everywhere. Murong Yanzhao's voice said, "Fuck! Nothing is going on, the city wall doesn't move, the smoke is too big..."

At this moment, Zhang Jianxiong, who was deployed on the main road in the north and south, shouted loudly, and the horse's hooves roared. Zhang Jianxiong led the cavalry to the smoke position regardless of the frightened war horses.

...

"The imperial reinforcements are coming!" A general entered Li Jixun's central army tent and hurriedly reported.

Li Jixun's troops had just failed to bomb the city, and the atmosphere was gloomy. The news made even worse, and the generals were in an uproar.

"Impossible!" Li Jixun said angrily, "A thousand miles away from Tokyo, did the imperial guards fly over with their wings!"

The general who came in said, "The last general did not know that the flag was 'Master of the World's Military and Horses, Guo Shao'. The brigade was full of elite soldiers and was equipped with war horses; except for the imperial guards, there were so many horses..."

Zhao Kuangyin's black face was very gloomy, and he was embarrassed to speak for a moment.

Li Jixun asked, "Where have the people been?"

The military general said, "The General of the Mo came from Jiangzhou, and the enemy troops arrived in Jiangzhou. The governor who surrendered half a month ago must be surrendered again... The General of the Mo was short and had to evacuate the place first."

"Jiangzhou is only a hundred miles away." The staff reminded.

Li Jixun asked: "How many people?"

The general replied: "It seems... there are 20,000."

Li Jixun paced back and forth in front, "It may be the left wing of the Hujie Army, which is Guo Shao's direct line. The horses should be mobilized and supplemented by the various armies. The Hujie Army is mainly infantry, and the horses do not have to worry about the horsepower consumption before the war; it is only so fast... But he should leave some people in the left wing to guard the situation in Tokyo, and these people may not be mainly those of the Hujie Army."

Everyone looked at Li Jixun making an idea. At this time, Li Jixun turned around and said, "There are only 20,000 people, and you can still fight! Taking advantage of the distance, we are exhausted, let's go forward and fight to the decisive battle!"

After hearing this, Zhao Kuangyin couldn't help but persuaded him: "Don't! The imperial guards are the best in the world. Brother Li doesn't have much advantage in numbers. He is a local military commander, so his chances of victory are not high. In addition, if you fight south, there are Jinzhou defenders behind him, so he is very likely to go out of the city to attack Brother Li from both sides."

Li Jixun said: "What should Brother Zhao do?"

Zhao Kuangyin said: "For the sake of the present, retreat northward and retreat into the Northern Han territory, and wait for Li Chong to advance and join forces to join forces, and then we can decide the outcome."

Li Jixun shook his head and said, "A few days ago, someone came from Tokyo to report that the imperial guards had no movement. In addition, the time spent on the road was only twelve days. In other words, Guo Shao's troops rushed from Tokyo to Jiangzhou at most twelve days. At this speed, only a hundred miles apart, so we can win? Unless everything is lost, what should I eat tens of thousands of dollars?

Besides, we fled north and there was a little chaos, Xiang Gong would go out of the city and take the blame!"

Zhao Kuangyin sighed, "Li Chongjin, Li Chongjin! This guy is not a big deal!"

Li Jixun also cursed: "Dogs walk more than 500 miles a day, but now it's less than 800 miles a day. Others have gone too late."

Zhao Kuangyin pondered for a long time and said seriously: "Immediately build a floating bridge on the Fen River, and the army retreated to the Luliang Mountains on the spot, confronted Guo Shao, Xianggong across the river, defended the defense line first, and waited for Li Chong's arrival."

Li Jixun frowned and said, "Li Chongjin knows that we are trapped in Luliang Mountain. Will we stop moving forward? Guo Shao may first go north to deal with Li Chongjin, and then withdraw from our troops. At that time, we can only retreat to the mountainous areas in northern Guanzhong. The terrain is complex and the land is barren. We will drag down tens of thousands of people."

Zhao Kuangyin said: "There is no other way now. If you go south to fight, you will definitely be defeated by the enemy from both sides! I hope Brother Li will make a decision early."

Li Jixun rubbed his hands: "Okay! Pass the order immediately and build a bridge on the river as soon as possible."

Zhao Kuangyin said: "Work overnight, the more bridges, the better; if the enemy soldiers come quickly, they will form a formation to defend themselves."

...The gate of Jiangzhou was wide open, and the governor led officials and civilians to kneel on the ground along the way. The governor looked up at the dragon-patterned yellow-crowed flag "Guo Shao, the Grand Marshal of the World", and another line of words "sent to fight against rebellion" and shouted: "The thief army is coming with great force, and the subordinates have few soldiers, so they can save the people of the whole city from being damaged. They have to surrender... Although the people surrender, they are looking forward to the Great Zhou..."

Guo Shao wore heavy armor and stepped forward, pointing at the round robe official on the ground and said, "I am sorry that you are not guilty. The official will be restored to his post and the people will be safe. There must be no mistakes!"

"The subordinate official thanked General Guo for his kindness!" The governor ignored his dignity and hurriedly kowtowed on the loess.

At this moment, several cavalry rolled up a loess and rushed from the post road. A knight turned over and dismounted, knelt down on one knee and said, "Report to Marshal Guo, Li Jixun's thief troops are building a bridge in the Fen River."

Guo Shao waved, and Qin Dashi hurriedly bent forward and opened a map. Guo Shao pointed at the horse whip: "The opposite bank of Fen River is the Luliang Mountains, and Li Jixun intends to delay time across the river." He turned to Shi Yanchao and said, "Shi Qianfeng, immediately lead the army to control the crane and the horse army to advance directly to Li Jixun's troops and march overnight." He turned around and said, "Ma Quanyi, immediately lead the control of the crane and the bow and arrows and then follow."

"Get orders!" "The last one will get orders!"

Guo Shao also reminded: "Shi Yanchao, you are tired of marching overnight tonight, so you must not fight lightly; after arriving in Jinzhou, you will camp and rest and wait for the main force. Your purpose is to threaten Li Jixun's army and force him to line up to fight, and dare not cross the river in a hurry."
Chapter completed!