In the first month of the second year of Xuanren (961 AD), 120,000 troops from the Tokyo Imperial Army were divided into four groups (the more concentrated the people, the slower the marching, the easier it is to congestion). Guo Shao led his army to Chenqiao Gate, and each gate was connected to an post road, and the road to Chenqiao Gate was to Chenqiao Inn.

Guo Shao's troops were all cavalry and horse-riding infantry, and they arrived at Chenqiao Post that day.

The army passed by this inn and just passed by, and the soldiers didn't think there was anything special. Only Guo Shao came here to pay extra attention to Chenqiaoyi... In his memory, there were few historical place names that were more famous than Chenqiaoyi (because of the Chenqiao Mutiny).

However, the Chenqiao Mutiny incident in this world does not exist. Guo Shao proclaimed himself emperor in Songzhou, so Chenqiao Post is just a post station.

Guo Shao's troops rode all horses. Only two days later, they arrived in Huazhou on the morning of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and the two-day trip was about 240 miles.

The army has not entered the city, and the holiday has become an unimportant factor.

On that day, the army crossed the Yellow River from the ferry near Huazhou... Each unit spread on the flat river beach and ran horses directly across the Yellow River. At this time, the Yellow River was still frozen, and there was no movement on the river surface.

Two days later, on the morning of the 17th day of the first lunar month, the army marched 230 miles to Daming Mansion.

The four armies crossed the Yellow River from Weizhou, Huazhou and other places respectively, and they passed through Daming Prefecture. However, Guo Shao did not wait for the follow-up personnel in Daming Prefecture, nor did he go to see his father-in-law Fu Yanqing, but continued to march.

At this point, the 120,000 army will form an extremely long formation that will be formed, so that the overall marching speed will be faster. The road ahead will be marching in the mainland without any obstacles, and even the scouts do not need to be sent too many times.

Then, according to the deployment of the Privy Council, the entire army will gradually move forward and the three armies in the front, middle and back during the march. The front army took Shi Yanchao as the vanguard, with about 18,000 cavalry; Guo Shao, the main force of the central army, personally led more than 70,000 cavalry, including all cavalry and the cavalry infantry of the Hu Ben Army; the rear army has more than 30,000 people, and the slowest walking, including the infantry of the left and right sides of the Long Jie Army and the left sides of the Hu Ge Army.

The total number of imperial troops set out on this expedition was about 120,000, and the cavalry and horse infantry were nearly 90,000.

Daming Prefecture is already the boundary of Hebei. The vanguard of the Great Zhou army and the main force of the central army marched quickly and quickly arrived north to Beizhou, and then rode a horse to cross the frozen Yongji Canal (Grand Canal). Hebei is a famous city and Beizhou is also a famous city. (Later) the Jin Dynasty was captured by the Liao army because it regretted not to block the Liao army in Beizhou, resulting in the destruction of the country.

Now, the people and horses in the same place have changed their country names, and a vast herd of horses are passing by the ancient city to head north.

Yizhou, Shenzhou, Xiongzhou... The marching route of the Great Zhou army was completely a straight line in the north on the map. Then approached Yizhou, and the marching distance was more than 1,200 miles, and the main force of the horse army completed the itinerary in less than half a month. The north of the Juma River was the territory controlled by the Liao Kingdom.

...

Guo Shao, Wang Pu and others led their guards to cross the army's vanguard and first arrived at the south bank of Juma River, but they saw nothing. The two sides were still frozen and there was no one figure. They could only observe that the terrain on the other side was slightly higher than the south bank.

At this moment, I suddenly saw a cavalry running towards Yizhou. First, he was blocked by Guo Shao's guards in the distance and asked. Soon the man was taken to Guo Shao.

The man bowed one knee and said, "I am the messenger of the Youzhou Division of the Military and Cao Si. He was ordered by the peak to come and report it urgently."

"Take it over." Guo Shao said directly.

He took a painted envelope, took out a piece of paper with the seal, browsed it, and his expression changed slightly.

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

Guo Shao handed it to Wang Pu quietly.

After seeing it, Wang Pu said in surprise: "Youzhou doesn't know yet?"

Guo Shao called Jingniang over and asked her to check the handwriting of the report. There was no problem with this report. The spy in the military and Caozhou Department was located in Yizhou, Hebei. The report was reported urgently from Yizhou... At least when Youzhou was sending the news back carefully, the signs of Youzhou City showed that they still knew nothing about the Zhou army!

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

Wang Pu said: "We have been out of Beijing for more than ten days now. More than 100,000 people have hidden themselves along the road. The Liao people did not receive any news. It was really an accident. God helped me!"

A general said happily: "If we only know when we rush to Youzhou City, it will be easier! The horse team rushed in from the city gate!"

Wang Pu smiled and said, "That's impossible. There are so many eyes in Youzhou, not everyone is blind. However, the Liao people in Youzhou know too late, so they will not be prepared enough, and the city defense cannot be so perfect. This is an extremely beneficial start for the Great Zhou."

He turned to look at Guo Shao and waited for Guo Shao to order. Wang Pu was in charge of the military palace of the Former Camp of Youzhou, but with the emperor there, he still had to wait for Guo Shao to issue an order.

Guo Shao sat on the horse, squinted his eyes and looked at the road ahead again. The Juma River in front of him was placed on the ground like a white silk, and the water flow had condensed and motionless, and the world was silent.

As Wang Pu said, the Northern Expedition started very well. Not only did it not reveal the military aircraft in advance, but even the army had arrived in Yizhou and could still hide it from the Liao army. The suddenness of the surprise attack was no better than the current situation! An excellent opportunity.

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

Guo Shao looked up at the sky again. The sky was dark, as if the sky was pressing very low. Although there was no dark clouds, the clouds were thick. There was also a north wind blew in the sky.

"This ghost weather!" Guo Shao cursed softly.

Everything is perfect, and this weather is indeed the only unsatisfactory factor. It is cloudy and windy, so I am afraid that the temperature will not rise for too long. Then it will be more laborious to build fortifications on the frozen soil of Youzhou.

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

Wang Pu's voice was very urgent and said with a very fast speech: "Of course, the vanguard will force Youzhou first, and the central army will surrender and solve Zhuozhou and other places, and follow up later."

Guo Shao's eyes closed, and then he said in a no-hesitation tone: "Issuing an order, Shi Yanchao's troops will immediately cross the Juma River. If you do not attack the city, you will drive straight to Youzhou City; if you encounter resistance, you can sweep it away, and there is no need to ask for a report."

Wang Pu clasped his fists and said, "The old minister received the order and immediately issued an official military order to Shi Yanchao in the former camp military office."

He immediately turned his head and kicked the horse in the belly: "Helping!" The horse screamed in pain, ran out.
Chapter completed!