The next day, the 20,000 men and horses of the vanguard army had already arrived at the cage lake garrison of the original Xuzhou troops from the Qiling Mountain Pass, and in front of them was also the last pass to Xuzhou City -- the three-way road.

Of course, this is not the first time that Tang Zhan, Lu Jing and others have been here before, when Chang Yuchun led 100,000 troops to Xuzhou, Lao Jiu and others under the vanguard army had already figured out the terrain and roads in this area, and even the map had been drawn in advance. And when the 100,000 troops of Yuchun were still stationed at the three-way crossing for a short time, if it were not for the plan of Yan Jitai to change the day, Chang Yuchun's troops would have taken the lead in marching from the three-way crossing, directly approaching the city of Xuzhou......

"The whole army has an order, and the army is stationed at the Langhu Pass according to the military formation-" Tang Zhan, as the commander-in-chief, ordered loudly.

The 20,000 army is not much, but it was once the original station of the Xuzhou army, and the 70,000 army can still be arranged, not to mention the 20,000 vanguard army. But just as Lu Jing was worried before, although he had been here before, he had not personally fought in person, and he did not know how to use his troops. As soon as she simply set up camp, Lu Jing did not choose to rest, but hurriedly ordered the reconnaissance troops to explore the terrain in this area in depth for armament......

"Lao Jiu, bring me the map you drew with the other cousins last time-" In the camp, Lu Jing, who did not stop, said seriously.

"Okay, military advisor-" Lao Jiu took out the map drawn on the three-way road in the past few days from the package and handed it to Tang Zhan and Lu Jing.

"Is this map accurate?" Lu Jing asked subconsciously and vigilantly.

"Absolutely accurate!" Lao Jiu also affirmed solemnly, "Commander, you see, there are three crossings under the mountain road, and the middle one is very spacious, which should be an important artery for the main force of the Mengyuan army, the city and lake, and on both sides of the mountain road, the crossing on the west side is relatively narrow. The road section is not very flat, and it is difficult for the cavalry to play, for fear of an ambush by redundant infantry, and on the east side of the mountain road, it is completely a mountain road, not to mention the cavalry, even the infantry is also very difficult to march. It should be used mostly for reconnaissance purposes...... Of course, now that the troops of Yanjitai have withdrawn, if our army takes the initiative to march towards Xuzhou City, the reason is the same - the cavalry mostly marches from the middle road, and the mountain roads on both sides can at most be the narrow passes on the west side, which can march in infantry formation, while the east side can only be completely abandoned...... Of course it's true for us, and it's true for the enemy forces—"

"In other words, if we want to take the initiative, we can only march from the middle and west roads......" Lu Jing analyzed while comparing the map. "But the Mengyuan army is the same as us, the cavalry of the Middle Dao will naturally defend with cavalry, and the infantry of the Western Dao will be able to deal with it as well...... However, the host country is unable to use troops on a large scale, and in terms of offense and defense, it is natural that the defense is greater than the offense, which is extremely unfavorable to us. Therefore, if you want to consider the strategy of going to the army, you can only consider the Chinese and Western ......"

"But do we really want to take the initiative?" Tang Zhan suddenly asked. "We have only 20,000 men under our tent, but the enemy has 70,000 men. or according to the city pass. The reason why we marched here was only because of the execution of the marshal's order, the vanguard troops pressed forward, conceded the Qiling Pass in the rear, let the reinforcements arrive in time, and then attacked together...... So it seems. We just have to stay here, we don't need to take the initiative at all......"

"And ......" Lu Jing's eyes changed slightly, and he continued, "If Yan Jitai's troops took the initiative to attack our army in turn, now our army has its back to the cage lake. You can only fight against the water...... If they take the initiative to withdraw from the army, the purpose is to let us enter this cage place - Zhu Yuanzhang's military order in the rear is pressing, and the Mengyuan enemy army in front is forced to encircle and suppress, which is really worse......"

"If that's the case, we'll only have to fight against the water, and it's a real backwater battle......" Tang Zhan said with palpitations.

"That's not necessarily-" Lu Jing seemed to think of something, and said in a tone, "The three-way road is both disadvantageous and advantageous for us-although the enemy army is familiar with the terrain of this three-way road, the natural danger of the terrain gives this place a unique defensive advantage. If they take the initiative to attack, we can set up an ambush here, even if we can't completely defeat the Mengyuan enemies, but at least we can slow down their approaching speed, and the reinforcements dragged to the rear can arrive in time to meet and ......."

"First take the initiative to withdraw from the army and lead us into the urn, and then plan to encircle and suppress us in this three-way road, right......" Tang Zhan touched his chin and said without thinking.

"And there's ...... Yan Jitai should know better than us about the element of the three-way road, which is a dangerous terrain, so why did he deliberately let us in? If he really wanted to destroy our army in one fell swoop and take revenge, then he must have a backup move, a back move that we don't know...... The east road is full of mountain road crossings, and the cavalry and infantry can't enter, could he make a surprise move there? No, there must be something strange here in the east road, and I have to find a chance to figure out the terrain of that place......" Lu Jing looked at the map, and her mind kept changing the idea of the battle situation, after all, for her, Yan Jitai was a very tricky character, and she must not underestimate the enemy......

The General's Mansion in Xuzhou City......

"My lord, the spies from the front have reported that the Tang Zhan army has arrived at the three-way crossing of the cage lake station-" In the house, Yan Jitai was discussing the battle situation with Li Chengsheng and others, and news of the war came from the front.

"I didn't expect it to arrive so soon......" Yan Jitai Bazado replied softly, his tone thoughtful, as if he was thinking about something.

"My lord, do you want to lead your troops to attack the enemy camp now?" the general below suddenly stood up and said, "The enemy army is only 20,000 horses, and it is still stationed at the cage lake garrison, where there is no retreat. Our army's 70,000 cavalry cavalry in the middle of the road will definitely be able to capture the enemy formation!"

"Don't be in a hurry—" Yan Jitai said, gesturing to the map, "because the enemy army has only 20,000 horses, it is more flexible to change formations on the march...... Don't forget, the place where they are stationed is a three-way road with dangerous terrain and natural dangers, and if 20,000 horses take advantage of the mountain road to defend it, not only will they have enough physical strength to defend and wait for attack, but they will also be able to guerrilla attacks with our army in the mountain road in the chaotic battle array. If we don't think about attacking rashly, not to mention the total annihilation, our army will also suffer heavy losses-"

"Then my lord, why did you retreat to defend the city before, deliberately abandon the dangerous place of Cage Lake, and let the enemy army in? Now that they are stationed on the three-way road, won't it be difficult for us to attack?" asked the general below.

"It is precisely because General Ben wants to exterminate them personally that they let their troops enter this dangerous place where there is no way to retreat," Yan Jitai said with a hideous smile, "If our army does not retreat." They will not advance at the Qiling Pass, and in addition to the failure of the previous transfer of the tiger from the mountain, the chance of defeating them head-on is very rare; once Zhu Yuanzhang's reinforcements gather grain and grass to arrive, the two armies will reconcile, and sooner or later we will retreat to Xuzhou to defend to the death...... On the contrary, we took the initiative to withdraw our troops. Their vanguard troops will take the initiative to march in order to transfer reinforcements from the rear into the pass. We have to seize this vacuum opportunity, lure them into the urn, and then use tactics to eliminate them in one fell swoop, which can not only relieve the pressure on the defenders of Xuzhou, but also avenge the revenge of the last time-" It seems that Yan Jitai is still worried about the fact that he was calculated twice by Lu Jing.

"So what do we do now?" the general continued, "the enemy has been led into the urn, but they are in danger......

Yan Jitai said with a smile: "The three-way road, whether it is north or south, is easy to defend and difficult to attack, as long as they are forced to take the initiative to attack or set up an army." We'll be able to handle it. As for how to do it...... The last time they failed, they took the initiative to send a war letter, this time ......" said, a sly look at the door of the general's mansion.

Li Chengsheng seemed to know Yan Jitai Bazaduo's thoughts, and secretly smiled slightly......

The vanguard army was stationed......

Tang Zhan and Lu Jing have already begun to work on the deployment of the army. Although it is not said that they want to take the initiative to attack, what they need to watch out for now is the attack of Yanjitai's army. After all, there is no retreat from the cage lake garrison here, and if you are unprepared, you will face the swarm of the enemy's 70,000 troops. Even if the vanguard army is broken, it will be difficult to resist......

"General. The enemy's envoy sent a letter of war - "While planning in the camp, soldiers outside rushed in to report. After Lao Jiu handed over the letter to Tang Zhan, Tang Zhan and Lu Jing opened the letter together.

"The defeat of the Japanese army has passed in a few days, and if you go to the place where your army is guarding the cage lake, within three days, you will take the head of the general of the Ru army -- Xuzhou Taishou will enter the upper ......" Tang Zhan read the contents of the letter word by word.

"It's too much. If such a provocative war letter is actually sent, our army will definitely let him die an ugly death!" The soldiers below were furious when they heard this, and it was obvious that Yan Jiji Taibaza's words were full of contempt and provocation.

However, Tang Zhan, who has always been straightforward, seems to be very calm, and he is usually stupid. At critical moments, he can surprisingly maintain his composure, which is rare for ordinary people. Tang Zhan's eyes changed from time to time, and then he put down the letter in his hand, and said to Lu Jing beside him: "Jing'er, isn't the content of this letter just ......?"

"It's the same as the war letter we sent to Yanji Taibazado last time-" Lu Jing hit the nail on the head, "It seems that this time, he took the initiative to provoke us......"

"Could it be that they are following us and want to shake the morale of our army?" Lao Jiu couldn't help but ask.

"It shouldn't be that simple—" Lu Jing said with a look in his eyes, "Yan Jitai is a scheming person, especially if the opponent is a young general with little experience like us, he will even play with it...... The last time he lost the battle, it was because he underestimated the enemy, and today he dares to follow our example and send a war letter, showing that he is the same as we were then -- he already has the countermeasures to defeat our army!"

As soon as these words came out, the people present were slightly shocked, because no one would have thought that before the battle was fought, the other side had already thought about the countermeasures and even the outcome of the battle between the two armies.

"Yan Jitai is so sure?" Tang Zhan muttered to himself softly, after all, with Yan Jitai Bazaduo's experience in using troops, it was impossible to talk big.

Lu Jing suddenly felt that the situation was a little serious, returned to the map on the table, looked at the intersection of the three forks, and speculated: "If you want to take the initiative to attack our army, it is nothing more than these three road intersections." According to common sense, the middle road is the most likely, after all, the Mengyuan army is good at cavalry warfare, and it is pressed into the plain charge, even if our army has the open land of the five unique formations, it cannot stop the enemy's 70,000 lion troops......;

"There must be no delay in arranging the military lineup, Jing'er, if the enemy really intends to attack, we must take a step ahead to deal with it!" Tang Zhan reminded Lu Jing and said.

Lu Jing nodded, and then said solemnly: "Pass the order, and order the generals of each department to be in my account in an hour - the armies of all departments should be arranged and should go out at any time!"

The urgent order was given, and it seemed that this time, Lu Jing had a premonition......

An hour later. The generals of the vanguard army have been concentrated in the main general's tent......

"At this critical juncture, Yan Zhijitai Bazar has sent more war letters, and he may send 70,000 troops at any time to surprise our army's main position-" Lu Jing said solemnly while drawing on the map with a teaching whip.

"Sister Jing, what should we do. Listen to you—" Zhao Zichuan said eagerly below.

Lu Jing continued to point to the map and said: "As drawn on the map, the position in the middle of the three-way road is open, suitable for the battle of the plains, and it is the enemy that the enemy is most likely to attack with the main cavalry, and this is a place for heavy defense - correspondingly, the main force of our army needs to strengthen the defense here, not only using all the cavalry troops, but also the main infantry to defend it with the five-way formation...... Generals Zhao Zichuan, Nangong Jun, Murong Fei, Li Xian, and Li Gong listened to the order-"

"In—" The five generals replied at the same time.

"You led the main force to ride 15,000 on foot and defend the plain with the Five Absolute Formations. Garrison the middle road crossing of the three-way road, and you must not take half a step back!" Lu Jing commanded in a rare commanding tone.

"Obey!" The five of them also responded in unison with the heart of seeing death as home. This battle could not be defeated, and if the main force of the Middle Way was defeated, the position of the cage lake would collapse, and the vanguard army would be destroyed.

Lu Jing closed her eyes and thought for a while, then lowered her voice and said, "The middle way is the most difficult, and you may be facing the enemy's 70,000 main force. Quite possibly...... There is a good chance that the whole army will be wiped out, if that is the case......"

However, he didn't wait for Lu Jing to finish speaking. Zhao Zichuan put the two swords of Qiankun to the middle of the land, and said firmly: "Since we are resuming our lives, we are never afraid of dying in battle! Don't worry, Sister Jing, we will definitely defend the middle way and wait until the marshal's reinforcements arrive!"

"We, too—" Nangong Jun and Murong Fei also said with the determination to die.

Lu Jing looked at Nangong Murong and the others. Thinking about the prejudice I once had against them, I now feel guilty in my heart. But now that the war is imminent, more than the guilt of the past, now it is more worrying about their deaths.

Lu Jing paused for a long time. It seems that she was suffocated by the cruelty of war, and now the lives of the 20,000 people of the vanguard army are all on her own, which is too heavy for a seventeen-year-old girl who should have been a daughter in everyone's wealth, to face the cruelty of war and the threat of death......

After the silence, Lu Jing was ruthless, and continued to gesture at the intersection of the West Road and said, "Next, the garrison of the West Road infantry...... Generals Xiao Tian, Su Jia, and Hu Yidi, you led 3,000 infantry to set up a formation at the narrow pass of the West Road to prevent the enemy troops from infiltrating. Although the terrain of the West Road is difficult and dangerous, after all, it is also a land of strange soldiers, and the enemy army must not be allowed to go half a step deeper!"

"Order-" Xiao Tian, Su Jia, and Hu Yidi also replied in unison, especially Hu Yidi, who was born warlike, and he may also face the most cruel battle in his life. Thinking of this, the knife in Hu Yidi's hand trembled slightly.

And Xiao Tian and Su Jia didn't have any smiles on their faces, they knew better than anyone that leading the troops to go on the expedition, every battle could be the end of their lives. For Xiao Su and the others, who have experienced countless lives and deaths, this time is no exception......

"The last host—" Lu Jing hadn't finished speaking, gesturing at the crossing of the host road on the map, which was also the important place he was most worried about before, and then ordered, "General Tang and I will lead five hundred troops to lurk and explore!"

This time, no one responded to the order, because Tang Zhan, who was the commander of the army, and Lu Jing, the military advisor, had the greatest authority.

However, as soon as this order came out, Lao Jiu was not very relieved on the side, and then said: "General, military advisor, you personally go to the host to investigate, and only send five hundred men and horses, which is too risky——"

"Even if it's an adventure, I'm going to go—" Lu Jing said firmly, "The two roads of the middle and west roads must not be put down, so they must be heavily guarded, and what I am most worried about is the east crossing where it is difficult for the army to travel...... There are few people there, and our army must find out clearly -- don't worry, I and General Tang together, 500 men and horses are enough, even if there is an enemy ambush, this natural danger is not difficult to retreat, once there is an enemy movement, General Tang and I will rush back as soon as possible to take countermeasures!"

Lao Jiu still wanted to say something, but looking at Lu Jing's extremely determined appearance, he simply didn't mention it again.

Tang Zhan looked at Lu Jing's determined eyes, he knew that this battle would be very likely to be the most difficult battle since joining the army.

"The generals have been ordered, and the rest of the generals will lead the troops to guard the camp and wait for the order-now return to the camp and set up their positions, and after noon, the three armies will go their separate ways!" Lu Jing finally threw the whip in his hand on the table and ordered loudly. This is also the most courageous general since Lu Jing was born, and no one would have thought that the daughter of everyone who used to be in a rich family in Bianliang has now become the head of the army that commands thousands of troops.

"Yes—" all the soldiers replied in unison, all of them knowing very well that the difficult battle that might come next...... (To be continued......)