The movements in the first few months of the Northern Expedition were obvious and could not be kept secret. Li Chongjin was ordered to lead the army back to Beijing from Yangzhou, and first received the emperor's commendation and banquet in Tokyo...... Li Chongjin is a veteran on the battlefield and has fought a lot of battles, but Chai Rong doesn't seem to care about anything else at this time, and still lets him command the guards and horses.

Xiang Xun then led the Zhen'an army to Beijing, and moved to Hedong to make peace with Li Chongjin's troops.

Gao Huaide's division on the right wing of the Hujie Army was transferred to Beizhou a year ago; Li Gu arrived with the army, and despite the freezing of the river, he mobilized Xingu from the summer and autumn by land to Hebei one after another.

The guard Long Jiejun Han Lingkun returned to Beijing from Xiacai Town, Shouzhou, and in the first month of the fourth year of Xiande, the left wing was deployed to Dingzhou, Hebei.

…… But the Liao people may not be able to eat exactly what Chai Rong wants to do, because Chai Rong is not going to go on a northern expedition once or twice, he not only intimidates the southern countries for a long time, but even the Liao State has to be intimidated by force; Before the battle of Huainan, a large number of troops and horses were mobilized in Hebei, and they were about to fight the Liao State in the early stage, but later the main force suddenly went to Huainan.

However, this time it was not only a threat, in 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 was basically completed. Li Chongjin, Xiang Xun, and Li Yun defended the Northern Han in Hedong and attacked as a countermeasure. Han Lingkun's division was on the left wing of Dingzhou (west of Hebei); Guo Shaobu and Gao Huaide are in the middle of Beizhou, Qizhou; Chai Rong led the army into Cangzhou from the waterway, which was the right road.

The elite soldiers of the Zhou army almost went out and began the Northern Expedition in three ways. Among them, the main force of the forbidden army led by Chai Rongqin was the main direction of attack.

Emperor Chai Rong's command is all elite soldiers, the front of the palace is full of elite cavalry, most of them are cavalry, most of the 30,000 iron cavalry are also elite cavalry, and the left and right sides of the crane army are mostly cavalry and archers. This group of people and horses are all elite soldiers and strong generals collected from all over the country, and they consume half of the income of the imperial court's finance and taxes.

Tens of thousands of horsemen plus Zhujie town soldiers advanced by land and water, just arrived in Cangzhou and had not yet started fighting, and suddenly Wang Hong, the assassin of Ningzhou in Liao, took the initiative to surrender the city.

Chai Rong sent someone to commend and appease Wang Hong, and let him continue to do the history of assassination; Then he led his army north along the waterway and attacked Yijin Pass.

At the same time, the emperor ordered the soldiers and horses of all roads to start attacking: the left wing of the Longjie army in the west and the Dingzhou Jiedu made Sun Xingyou's troops attack Yizhou; Guo Shaobu on the middle road directly approached Waqiaoguan (now Baoding City), and Gao Huaide's department then went north to monitor Ying and Mo Erzhou.

In a month's time, the offensive on all fronts went smoothly, and snowflakes flew everywhere.

Yijin Pass, Waqiao Pass, Yingzhou, and Mozhou surrendered one after another, and the guards were all Han Chinese. Only Yizhou fought a battle, and hundreds of Khitan cavalry were defeated by Han Lingkun's generals, and the defenders of Yizhou surrendered immediately.

The Han people everywhere welcomed them, and the Zhou army became the liberator of the military and the people everywhere, and successfully took over 17 counties in Sanguan and 4 prefectures. People were in tears, and people on the side of the road shouted words such as "I have waited for twenty years, and finally waited for the king", which made the soldiers feel more popular than on their own turf.

Guo Shaobu went to Waqiao Guanbei, and met a group of Han people who took advantage of the chaos to rob more than 100 Liao army horses to surrender, and immediately collected them as troops and distributed the captured military horses to them. Zuo You wrote an Min Bang, and publicized everywhere that Wang Shi Beiding and Qiu had no crimes, and the brothers of the same clan were treated equally.

Shi Chai Rong quickly rectified the place in his hands, and ordered Han Tong to summon Ding Zhuang to consolidate Waqiao Pass and Yijin Pass, and change them to Xiongzhou and Bazhou respectively.

In mid-April, Zhang Yongde and Zhao Kuangyin's troops crossed the Juma River and had a cavalry battle in Zhuozhou, repelling Xiao Siwen, the commander of the soldiers and horses of the Southern Courtyard of Liao, and capturing Zhuozhou. So the forbidden army divided its troops and marched together, and successively reached the bank of the Juma River; The emperor did not order the troops to cross the river, but only summoned all the generals to the palace in Zhuozhou to discuss the capture of Youzhou.

The emperor led all the Banzhi and the first part of the crane 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 hurriedly ordered the Northern Han to send troops to assist in 700 miles...... This news brought the momentum of victory to an abrupt end, since the Northern Han is assisting, the Khitan lord may send troops?

Sure enough, within two days, a small secret post discovered the movement of a large number of Liao army horsemen behind Yanshan.

When Zhang Yongde and Zhao Kuangyin heard the news, they entered the palace to face the saint, and saw Chai Rong sitting on the upper chair pondering something, and when the two bowed and spoke, they were quieter.

Chai Rong took away the hand that was on his chin and said without raising his head: "I just knew that you asked to see, so if you have anything to say, just say it." ”

Zhao Kuangyin didn't speak first, and Zhang Yongde said: "Your Majesty, now the captives are all gathered in the north of Youzhou, and it is not appropriate to venture deeper." ”

Chai Rong's face was suddenly displeased.

Zhao Kuangyin looked up and said: "The minister thinks that attacking the land of clouds is not about attacking the city, but about defeating the Khitan and coming to Beijing from the Liao State." If you can break the Khitan reinforcements in a battle, you will surround Youzhou and enter the land where you can recover the clouds; If it is defeated by the captive cavalry, even if it captures Youzhou, it is a lonely city, there is no evidence around, and the reinforcements and grain roads are all under the threat of the captive cavalry, and Youzhou has no effect.

The army is eager to besiege the heavy city and gather troops under the city, and if the city is not broken and loses outside the city, it will suffer from internal and external attacks, and it will be gathered and annihilated. Therefore, Zhang Du's intention to check is not to hesitate, but to make careful arrangements and plan the way to advance and retreat. ”

Or Zhao Kuangyin's words are more agreeable, Chai Rong nodded slightly.

Zhao Kuangyin continued: "The Khitan lord is brutal and unkind, the Liao dynasty is in turmoil, and the arrival of reinforcements is not necessarily the elite opponent of our Zhou army. ”

Chai Rong said: "Go on." ”

Zhao Kuangyin bowed and said: "If according to the minister's opinion, the attack should be fortified first, and it should be deployed in a deep formation. From Yizhou, Zhuozhou to Youzhou, multiple camps and defenses, with the infantry in the rear and the cavalry in front; The cavalry tended to the north of Youzhou City, waiting for the Liao reinforcements to arrive for the first time, taking advantage of its fatigue from a long distance, and the cavalry could maneuver to fight. If it is unfavorable, then the captives will have nothing to do with me. ”

Chai Rong was noncommittal, and when he saw a eunuch coming in, he asked, "Is the guard Sima Budu waiting for Guo Shao to come?" ”

The eunuch said: "It's here, but the generals haven't arrived yet...... Does the official family want to summon General Guo first? ”

Chai Rong thought for a while but said, "I'm going to change my clothes, and the two of you will go back to the palace with the generals to discuss matters." ”

Zhang Yongde and Zhao Kuangyin bowed down together.

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

Zhao Kuangyin said: "The official family is determined to win Youzhou, but I found that I couldn't persuade it just now." ”

Zhang Yongde had no choice but to say simply: "Then I can only try to fight...... Brother Zhao thinks the winner will be lost? ”

"Originally, we didn't expect the Khitan Lord to send reinforcements so quickly, it was a sleeping emperor, his own throne was not stable, and Youzhou was not originally the place of the Liao State, and it was expected that the Khitan Lord would simply give up the land of Youyun; Even if you have to send troops, it's not easy, and I don't know when I'm going. Zhao Kuangyin said, "But now there has been movement for more than a month, it can be seen that it is not the intention of the Khitan lord, it is the ministers of the Liao State who begged him together; Otherwise, the Khitan lord would not be able to convince his ministers in a short time, nor would he be willing to go his own way despite public opinion. If all the Liao tribes want to protect Youzhou and there is no disagreement, the Liao army cavalry is powerful, and it will be difficult for us to win. ”

Zhang Yongde said: "I haven't played yet." I've never seen you fight like this! ”

Zhao Kuangyin said: "Do you remember the Battle of Jinyang? The Liao State sent thousands of horsemen to Xinkou for reinforcements, and Fu Yanqing, the king of Wei, held 20,000 men, and almost lost the striker Shi Yanchao and was defeated. ”

"At that time, Fu Yanqing didn't have any elite soldiers, only Xiang Xun and Shi Yanchao's horsemen were still able to fight."

Zhao Kuangyin said: "Even so, Shi Yanchao and Xiang Xun have thousands of horses combined. Anyway, I don't think we can be anxious to fight Liao, let alone underestimate the enemy. ”

In the afternoon of the same day, the Privy Council ministers and the generals of Zhulu held deliberations in the Zhuozhou Palace.

Wei Renpu stayed in Tokyo at this time, Wang Pu presided over the proceedings, and it was still a rough picture, and Wang Pu first narrated the military situation on the lower side of the upper position. Guo Shao, as a senior general, was also in the queue, and he listened silently. The scene of this deliberation made him slightly disappointed, Wang Pu's talent should be higher than Wei Renpu's, but because he is older, he lacks that kind of confident and calm iron-blooded temperament...... Guo Shao couldn't help but think of the battle of Huainan and the scene in the palace in Yangzhou, and made a comparison.

When the generals heard that the Liao army had arrived behind Yanshan, they had conflicting opinions for a while, and the dispute lasted until the evening. Guo Shao did not participate in the dispute, and listened attentively to what the boss wanted to do and what he should do.

Later, Chai Rong finally made some arrangements against public opinion. The Iron Cavalry and the Crane Army horsemen will move to the north of Youzhou City to wait for an opportunity, and the left wing of the Long Jie Army and Zhuban will be stationed under the city to monitor the movement of Youzhou City.

The left wing of the Hujie army crossed the Juma River and stationed in Zhuozhou, and the military power was commanded by the left wing to make Qi Tingxun on the generation; The right wing of the Hujie army, Gao Huaide's department, was stationed south of the Juma River; The Hantong Department is in Xiong and Ba Erzhou.

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

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

The main force of the siege force under his command is the army of the local festival town, can he still besiege the heavy city? He felt like he was a complete feint of siege pressure; The main force of the Zhou Dynasty seems to be placed on the Liao reinforcements that are far from appearing.

However, the emperor did not explicitly say that he should only be allowed to respond, and the holy decree was to attack the city. So Guo Shao immediately remembered a large number of ** placed in Qizhou.

When Huainan, the emperor personally gave him the nickname "Guo Pocheng", in fact, Guo Shao was not proficient in siege at all, and the only skill he was proficient in was to take the ** fried. There was no way to do it this time, he was ready to repeat his old tricks at any time.