On June 30, Xu Wei rushed to Meiyuan County in Yaozhou with more than 10,000 Ma Bujun troops who had gathered quickly, and joined Wu Jue, who was one step ahead. Previously, Yang Zaixing personally led hundreds of light cavalry to cross the Huazhou border to reconnoitre, and it was found that the Jin army was in Pucheng, Huazhou, less than forty miles away. I saw that the camps were all over the place, and the flags covered the sun, which can be said to be menacing.

Before Xu Wei's arrival, there had already been skirmishes between the Song and Jin armies. On the morning of June 29, the Jin army crossed the Huazhou border with thousands of horsemen, trying to find fighters, and was colliding with the Song army rangers, but because of the disparity in strength, the Song army and horse army did not engage them. Encouraged by this, in the afternoon of the same day, a large number of Jin cavalry once approached Mihara County. At this time, Wu Jue had less than 1,000 horse troops in his hands and less than 10,000 infantry troops, and he did not dare to confront the enemy head-on, so he ordered to shrink the defense. According to Wu Jue's judgment, the Jin army may not have completely completed the assembly, and constantly sent cavalry to attack and disturb, just to put pressure on the Song army, waiting for the troops to arrive one after another.

After Xu Wei listened to the report, he immediately summoned the generals to discuss tactics. In the past, when the Xu family army fought, the opinions of the upper and lower levels were highly unified. This time, however, there were some exceptions, with some generals suggesting "avoiding war". Of course, it was not "fear of war", they believed that the Jin army's wheat harvest was destroyed by our army, and its supply must be a problem.

Now the Jin army is anxious to fight, which also reflects the "anxious" mentality of the other side caused by the lack of food. In this case, our army should avoid its edge, hold the city, and let it work in vain. In this way, the Jin army has to guard against our army's attack at any time, whether it is farming or harvesting. In the long run, can the Jurchens stay in Shaanxi? The plains are not as good as the mountains, and both the enemy and us come and go freely, and the Jin army relies on the geographical advantages of the plains to make rapid progress, and our army can also take advantage of this to contain the other party to the greatest extent. If it goes on for a long time, it must be a gold thief who loses!

But Xu Wei disagreed, he admitted that the Song army could completely avoid the battle this time, relying on strong city defenses to make the "restless" Jin army helpless. He also admitted that what Lou Su hopes most now is probably for him to fight. But why insist on fighting this battle? The reason is that if the Song army does not fight in this battle, then the situation in Shaanxi will still be the same as before, and the two sides will face each other. If it continues, the Jin army can only hope to get supplies from Hedong, and as time goes by, its strength will disappear.

But what will happen if the Song army fights? There are two theories, one is defeat. If the Song army is defeated, then our remaining forces will still have no problem holding Chang'an. The balance of strength of the Song army in Shaanxi will not be fundamentally changed because of this defeat.

In the event of victory, then the situation will immediately turn one-sided. Everyone knows that the Jin army invaded Shaanxi, especially when Muhan personally went out to fight, the Jurchen soldiers were strong and strong, and it was difficult to say that there were more than 100,000 or 200,000 troops. After experiencing the offensive and defensive battles of Chang'an, the sneak attack war, and the battle of Yaozhou in ten thousand years, now, how many Jin troops are left in Shaanxi? I assume that he has about 100,000 soldiers, and most of these 100,000 soldiers and horses are deployed in the security army and Yanzhou, as well as the Guanzhong Plain. Now that Lou Su wants to fight with me, he will definitely have to draw troops and horses from the security guards or Yanzhou. If our army wins this battle, its significance is to beat the war drums to recover the whole of Shaanxi!

Opinions were quickly unified, and Xu Dashuai insisted on fighting, although there was some risky meaning, but it was worth it. If this battle can defeat the Jin army, it is not an extravagant hope to recover the whole of Shaanxi. Although the Western Army was not united, it was under the premise of a strong enemy. Lou Su gathered a large army to attack this time, if he was defeated, would the other marshals from all walks of life see this situation, will they come to grab the soft pestle? At least the first one at the end of the curve will send troops to take the security guards! If the current situation in Shaanxi is compared to a game of chess, then this one, this stalemate chess game can be regarded as completely alive! Of course, the premise is that you have to guarantee victory!

The Xu family army does have this confidence, and now they have excellent soldiers, sharp equipment, and high morale. On the Guanzhong Plain, there are about 50,000 troops that can be pulled out to fight. Didn't the Jurchens boast that "the Jurchens are not satisfied with 10,000, and they can't fight if they are full of 10,000", we are not so high-profile, but if there are 50,000 horse infantry troops, even in the face of the superior Jin army, we dare to collide with him!

Since the beginning of July, the follow-up troops have arrived in Meiyuan one after another, and Xu Wei even considered taking root in Fangzhou, and the troops who originally planned to enter Yanzhou were also transferred, and the odds of victory were higher. But after thinking about it again, Jin Jun is not a fool, in case he receives the news and fights down from Dunzhou, it will be troublesome.

The cavalry of the Jin army was still dispatched from time to time, and in one day, the number of rangers reached five or six groups. And it's all false tricks, just shake a shot and leave. Xu Wei ordered all troops to enter a high level of alert, and this time the Jin army could have a "Tiefu Tu". Back then, in Xiaoxi Mountain, although we had a draw with each other, the power of the "Tiefutu" heavy cavalry was obvious to everyone, and we must not be careless.

On the fifth day of the seventh month, the Song army had completely completed its assembly, and the Mabu army exceeded 40,000 people. Moreover, all the situations on the battlefield were touched, and within a radius of fifty miles, even a small mountain bag was clearly marked on the map of the Song army. In order to deal with the "Iron Float", the terrain had to be reconnoitred extraordinarily. The generals have always grasped one of the shortcomings of the heavy cavalry, that is, it is inflexible, has extremely high requirements on the battlefield, and has a little less room for maneuver, so it may not be able to be used.

In the end, the generals set a basic tactical routine. If the "Iron Floating Massacre" comes to charge into battle, it still uses the "Divine Arm Bow" and "Stepping on the Crossbow" to inflict the greatest wound on the enemy first, and when the distance is close, use the "Running Thunder Arrow". When the hand-to-hand combat is engaged, it is blocked by a dense forest of guns to restrain its limited mobility to the greatest extent, and the heavy infantry on both sides outflanks it at this time. All in all, it is important to ensure that the formation is not scattered.

Moreover, we now have more than 4,000 horse troops in the United States. The cavalry can no longer be used as a tool to cover the formation, as in the past, this is a sharp spear, and it must be used in the right place. Regardless of whether the opponent's infantry army or the horse army is attacking, our cavalry has the ability to contain it!

Today's autumn is much cooler than the previous two months. Although the Jin army still showed no signs of attacking, Xu Wei did not dare to be careless, although he dared to take risks and was willing to take risks, but it was based on careful planning and consideration. In the past few days, he has constantly sent rangers to reconnoiter the movements of the enemy, and the reply he received was, without exception, that the Jin army had spread its camps extensively, and there was no movement for the time being.

"Xu Jingluo, Yao Pingzhong came by order." A majestic voice sounded outside the tent.

Xu Wei was fiddling with a bunch of objects on the table, which were various terrains made of clay. He didn't know when the "sand table" thing originated, but he knew that it was the most intuitive way to depict the terrain. The terrain within a radius of dozens of miles had been reconnoitred clearly, and he gathered the news, gathered the skilled craftsmen in the army, and made this "sand table" that was still too simple. Humble is simple, but with this thing, the terrain of the surrounding area, from the river to the hills, can be seen in full view. Moreover, he has circled four places that may become battlefields, and developed corresponding plans and tactics for each.

"Come in." Xu Wei called, his gaze still not leaving the sand table.

Yao Pingzhong, who was wearing armor, entered the tent, hugged his fist at Xu Weiyi, and shouted: "Handsome! ”

"Hey, Brother Ping Zhong is polite, sit down." Xu Wei raised his head and smiled. When defending Tokyo, Yao Pingzhong was in charge of the capital, and he was also his subordinate. Later, the two went to Shaanxi one after another, Yao Pingzhong had bad luck and was unlucky one after another, and now the distance between him and Xu Wei is getting farther and farther.

Yao Pingzhong sat down and said: "Even in the army, class distinctions are taken for granted. Moreover, the marshal helped his brother when he was in danger, and this affection was recorded by Ping Zhong. ”

"I can't talk about any help, to say a word, you and I are sent to Shaanxi by the government, and we have a heavy responsibility, so we should unite and take care of it. Besides, the name of 'Little Captain' is not blown out, and Ben Shuai believes that sooner or later you will be in charge all the way. Xu Wei said with relief.

Yao Pingzhong was not polite, sighed and said: "In the past few years, I have walked in shallow water, and I have nothing to do. Xu Jingluo, it's not a boast of Pingzhong, if there is an opportunity, it seems to be a generation of Quduan, I don't care about it. ”

Xu Wei nodded frequently: "That's that." Speaking of opportunities, there's one now. ”

When Yao Pingzhong heard this, he was slightly surprised, and hurriedly asked, "Oh, please make it clear." ”

Xu Wei pondered, and after a while, he leaned forward and said in a low voice: "Now that Xu Xuanfu is in charge of the military and political affairs of Shaanxi, he is my relationship, you know." ”

"Yes, Xu Xuanfu is the handsome Ji's father, and everyone knows it." Yao Pingzhong nodded.

"A few days ago, Ben Shuai was in Qinzhou, Xu Xuanfu once said. Lord Lingzun was reinstated, and now he is working in the Imperial Camp Division. This shows that the imperial court still trusts your Yao family. Right now, Xu Xuanfu is considering your placement. Xu Wei said.

When Yao Pingzhong was in Shaanzhou, he learned the news of his father Yao Gu being used through family letters. There are people in the court who are good officials, and he knows in his heart that he is afraid that he will move his position, but he didn't expect it to be so soon. After a moment of silence, he arched his hand and said, "Duo Cheng Xuan Fu Xiang Gong." ”

"Xuan Xiang's meaning, I want you to be reinstated, still know Huanzhou, and concurrently serve as the commander of the soldiers and horses. Of course, this is just what Xuan Xiang said casually when he was chatting with Ben Shuai about the situation in Shaanxi, and it is not yet known how it will be implemented. If so, what do you think? ”

Yao Pingzhong listened, and snorted coldly: "Qu Duan framed me for no reason, how can I not repay this revenge?" If you have to be promoted, Ping Zhong is willing to go to Huanqing! ”

Xu Wei glanced at him and said: "Ben Shuai heard that Xihe has been handsome every year for more than ten years, and only Lord Ling Zun has been re-elected for three consecutive years, is there such a thing?" ”

Speaking of this, Yao Pingzhong couldn't hide his pride: "Then there is still a fake? In Xihe, the Yao family has fought bloody battles with the party for many years! Now the size of Xihe Road is the general, and most of them are the old department of my father. ”