Chapter 220: Decisive Battle with Youyun (11)

Waqiao Pass is a hundred miles away from Gu'an Ferry. After Yuan Yan, the commander of Longjie's capital, received the order, hurriedly led 10,000 troops from Longjie's left-wing army and rushed towards Gu'an Ferry without stopping.

The Gu'an Ferry will be the main ferry for the main force of the Great Zhou Dynasty to cross the Juma River.

Zhao Chao, the commander of the right wing commander of Longjie, followed closely with thousands of people who were temporarily recruited. Zhao Chao was almost killed during the Battle of Gaoping because of dissuading Chai Rong. After winning the Battle of Gaoping, Chai Rong was angry for a moment. He knew that Zhao Chao was also loyal, so he released Zhao Chao. However, Zhao Huang was demoted from the imperial guards because of this matter and was depressed in the border town for several years. Zhao Chao himself did not expect that His Majesty did not forget him and appointed himself as the commander of the right wing commander of Longjie.

After Zhao Chao came to the new imperial guards, he worked very hard to train his army. He was originally an imperial guard general, so he was naturally familiar with these things. Longjie's right wing army soon became decent.

At this time, ten thousand soldiers and five thousand people were mixed together, and the troops were moving as fast as snails. Zhao Chao rode on the horse, constantly calling around.

These people were temporarily recruited by Waqiao Pass and Yijin Pass. Although they were Han people, they were ruled by the Khitans for more than 20 years and had a prejudice against the Great Zhou army. Before Zhao Chao set out, Hou Dayong went to the army to explain and strictly ordered them to act harshly against these people. Therefore, although Zhao Chao was anxious, he only cursed and did not use a whip.

After walking for more than thirty miles, many people were clamoring to rest, which made Zhao Chao angry. He threw a whip and beat a young and strong lazy man like a dog with his tail. He jumped up suddenly. Zhao Chao cursed: "The soldiers are marching with heavy loads and still keep resting. Who dares to sit underground again? Don't blame me for turning against others." When Zhao Chao was appointed as a border general, he had many contacts with the people of Shu, so the words "I'm a singular" were also used very smoothly.

When the people saw that Zhou General was in a turmoil, they did not dare to make trouble again.

In the third year of Qingtai, that is, in 936 AD, the deposed emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty, Li Congke, transferred Shi Jingtang as the governor of Tianping. Liu Zhiyuan, the general of Shi Jingtang, advised him not to follow. Shi Jingtang was not enough to fight against Li Congke, so Sang Weihan proposed to borrow troops from the Khitan. Shi Jingtang was eager to borrow troops, so he took the initiative to ced the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun. From 936 to 959, the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun had been occupied by the Khitan for twenty-three years. Among the thousands of people recruited, most of them were under the age of thirty. The court in their hearts had always been the Khitan court. At this time, the sudden appearance of Zhou and the Great Zhou court made them feel deeply frightened. Fortunately, the Zhou army was not very rude. Although they kept urging forward, although some officers were attacking people, it was much better than the Khitan soldiers.

When Liu Chongjin and Zhao Chao met at the Gu'an Ferry Crossing, they immediately began to build a floating bridge. From time to time, a small group of Khitan cavalry appeared on the other side of the bridge. Liu Chongjin, who was responsible for the protection and construction, ignored these cavalry and arranged a hundred crossbowmen on the South River bank. He controlled the road entrance, and the powerful crossbows were the natural enemies of the cavalry. These cavalry tried to approach the ferry crossing, but were shot randomly by the powerful crossbows, and had to retreat in disappointment.

According to the order of Xiao Siwen, the commander of Youzhou, the main forces of the Liao army on the north bank of the Juma River had been concentrated in Youzhou, and only a few cavalry were left on the north bank of the Juma River, and their number was too small. They could only watch the Zhou army set up camp on the south bank of the Juma River.

Chai Rong was a person who was meticulous and had to do everything himself. Therefore, after he issued an edict to destroy the Buddha, he would personally chop the Buddha's elephant and plan the expansion of Kaifeng's city. At this time, the Northern Expedition Army advanced into Youzhou and the Gu'an Ferry was a quick passage. After Chai Rong waited until the commander Yuan Yan of Longjiedu, he always cared about this matter.

On May 3rd, Chai Rong took Hou Dayong and others to inspect the Gu'an Ferry a hundred miles away.

The Gu'an Ferry is more than 100 miles away from Waqiao Pass. Even if the strong horses are galloping, it will take several hours. After Hou Dayong returned to Daliang from Lingzhou, he followed Chai Rong for a long time and knew Chai Rong's temper. When Chai Rong made up his mind, he stopped dissuading him and actively took measures to deal with it. Hou Dayong brought Liu Heiyan and Liu Jiangjie and ten best archers, prepared their war horses and followed closely to prevent accidents on the road. After all, the south bank of the Jima River was recently occupied, and many situations were still inaccurate.

Chai Rong, silver helmet and white armor, and with five hundred elite cavalry, ran towards the Gu'an Ferry in full spirit. After three hours, he arrived at a narrow river and everyone dismounted and rested.

According to general common sense, after entering the enemy's territory, the water in the well should not be drunk easily because it is very likely to be poisoned by the enemy. However, the water in the flowing river is not bad but there is no problem. After the soldiers dismounted, they drank water by the river and wiped their faces. Chai Rong, the 95th Lord, had a special water bag. He had some sweat on his head. He sat by the river, drinking the water in the water bag.

The envoy Zhao Kuangyi, with fifty riders, scattered around the river, serving as a warning to the brigade of people. After patrolling around, there was no abnormality. Zhao Kuangyi was a little anxious and dismounted and released the water. Zhao Kuangyi was different from Zhao Kuangyin and loved studying since he was a child. Therefore, among the many worship officials who were not familiar with literature, he seemed outstanding but not crowded. He turned his back and started to release water in front of a bunch of grass.

While thinking about his thoughts, Zhao Kuangyi was comfortably resting water. His eyes moved along the waterway. Suddenly, he saw a pair of eyes in the grass. Zhao Kuangyi reacted very quickly and immediately jumped back and said, "Who?" Turn off the faucet and pulled out his waist knife.

Two people stood up in the grass, their beards were chirping, and they couldn't see clearly their real age. One of them had a large piece of wet body.

Zhao Kuangyi's imperial guards surrounded the two men after hearing the sound.

Zhao Kuangyi was in the middle of the water, but was accidentally interrupted and his clothes were dirty, which made him very angry, "Who are you? Why are you secretly hiding in the grass?"

The two of them looked ordinary and stood there tremblingly. A man with a beard said, "We are from Chenjia Village. We hooked fish by the river. When we saw the army coming, we were scared, so we hid in the grass." The soldiers did not find anything from the two of them, only some black food.

Zhao Kuangyi shouted, which had already alarmed Chai Rong and Hou Dayong. Hou Dayong put down his bag, looked at the two people who were escorting over, and reported, "Your Majesty, let me go and interrogate him."

Hou Dayong interrogated the two of them a few times. Still no flaws, he said to a surrendered general Wang Hong beside him: "General Wang, what do you think these two people are?"

Wang Hong's imperial guards' clothing was mixed with many imperial guards. At this time, he heard the name of Hou Xiang, and walked up. The bearded man saw Wang Hong's eyes suddenly became flustered, but he quickly calmed down. Wang Hong walked to the two of them. He touched their right palms with great experience and said, "The calluses on their fingers are not thin." The bearded man hurriedly said, "I am from Chenjia Village, and the village chief is Chen Shaojin. My nephew and I like to go up the mountain to hunt, and we often use bows and arrows, so we naturally have calluses."

After the Khitans occupied the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, the Khitans were in the Chinese state, and the Han people were in the Khitan at the same time. The villagers worked as farmers and also followed the Khitans to hunt the mountains. What the bearded man said was true. Wang Hong said to Hou Dayong: "The villagers here are like this, either farming or hunting, nothing unusual."

Just as he was talking about this, Wang Hong suddenly saw the sergeant holding the ground food, so he took it over and took a closer look. Wang Hong used his hand to separate the messy food, and his eyes lit up. He took a black strip of food, put it on his nose and smelled it, and said, "The Khitans like to eat rat raccoons. This is the dried rat raccoon meat. The Han people never eat this meat, and they will not hold the dried rat raccoon meat in the food. These two people are undoubtedly Khitans."

Hou Dayong nodded and asked the bearded man, saying, "Who sent you?"

The bearded man was discovered and kept silent. Hou Dayong had no more time to waste his time on the interrogation. He said to the quiet Zhao Kuangyi: "Civil Zhao is here to interrogate?"

Zhao Kuangyi walked over and repeated, "Who sent you to the ground?" The bearded man closed his eyes tightly and said nothing. Zhao Kuangyi waved the knife in his hand suddenly, and the bearded man screamed. His arm had fallen to the ground. Zhao Kuangyi looked at the bearded man who was howling in pain in pain and said to his subordinates: "Take him aside. Don't make people upset." Zhao Kuangyi originally wanted to say, "Don't make your Majesty upset." As soon as he spoke, he thought of the instructions of the Hou Prime Minister, so he quickly changed his words.

The bearded man was taken to the other side. He howled a few times, and soon there was no sound. Another man was pale and covered in sieve. Zhao Kuangyi walked up to him and whispered: "I broke my arm and don't know how I live in the future. You have to think about it carefully." The remaining man's nerves quickly collapsed. He squatted on the ground, cried a few times, and completely explained his identity.

These two men were indeed spies sent by the Khitan Army in Youzhou.

Zhou Bing suddenly sent troops, and the Youzhou garrison Xiao Siwen did not receive any warning in advance. When the Zhou army captured Yijin Pass, he learned that the Zhou army was in a state of fear. In his heart, he sent a large number of scouts across the Juma River to find out the truth of the Zhou army. These two men were both low-level scouts and could not grasp any core secrets. Hou Dayong was very interested, just like the first time he met his son-in-law in his face, and found out the foundation of the two men clearly.

"What this Khitan said is not much different from the situation we have in control. Xiao Siwen is as timid as a mouse and dares not fight with our army. He concentrated all the 40,000 Khitan troops in Youzhou City and defended the reinforcements. At present, there are only one reinforcements. The 4,000 cavalry who came from Fengshengzhou. These 4,000 cavalry did not enter the city. It is probably swimming in the Qingsha River area."

Chai Rong's face was quite serious and said, "The reinforcements came so quickly. If nothing unexpected happens, the troops of Yelu Daguang from Xijing, Xiao Tienu from Zhongjing, or the personal troops of the imperial tent led by Yelu Shu Law Firm, may all arrive in Youzhou within ten days. At that time, there will be 70,000 to 80,000 people inside and outside the Khitan City, and their strength is not weak. We must cross the Juma River as soon as possible as planned. Only by taking advantage of the Khitan reinforcements before they arrived, can we capture Gubeikou, Deshengkou and other dangerous passes, and then we can hold the reinforcements outside Youzhou City and isolate the Youzhou Army."

Two spies were killed, and five hundred cavalrymen were back on their horses and continued to fly toward the Gu'an Ferry. When they arrived in Gu'an, the five hundred cavalry led by Chai Rong were already sweating profusely, and the war horses were also exhausted.

At this time, 20,000 Longjie Army camped on the side of the Juma River, and all the soldiers were resting in the camp and were not allowed to leave the camp at will. Five thousand ordinary people built floating bridges on the Juma River under the command of a middle-aged man. The middle-aged man was named Yao Chenglin, who was the chief of military weapons and was good at building bridges. When the army was in the northern expedition, he took Yao Chenglin to the army to consider building bridges on the Juma River.

After Youzhou was occupied by the Khitans, because the Khitans did not focus on reclaiming the fields, for more than 20 years, many trees were stored along the Juma River. Yao Chenglin took people to collect materials on the spot and cut down trees to build a floating bridge. At this time, all kinds of materials were prepared and the floating bridge had already begun to be built.

Yuan Yan, Liu Chongjin, and Zhao Chao were both veterans of the Imperial Army. It was not surprising that Chai Rong suddenly brought five hundred cavalry to Gu'an. Several people welcomed Chai Rong into the tent. Chai Rong looked at the generals with a serious expression and said, "Let Yao Chenglin enter the tent."

"When can I build the floating bridge?" Chai Rong asked without waiting for Yao Chenglin to finish his greeting. Yao Chenglin is the chief of military weapons and has no chance to talk to His Majesty at all. His face was flushed and he was quite excited, saying, "In five days, you can build the floating bridge." Chai Rong shook his head and said, "I have to build the floating bridge. If there is not enough manpower, a soldier can participate in the construction of the bridge." Chai Rong stretched out his two fingers and said, "In two days, I will see the floating bridge."

Yao Chenglin's head was running rapidly. Although two days were tense, if it was not stopped day and night, it would be feasible. He said, "I will definitely urge the people to build a floating bridge within two days." Chai Rong reminded him: "These people have recently returned to our dynasty. We must try our best to comfort and cherish the people's strength. Thousands of people can be divided into several batches and take turns to rest, so that they will not be too tired." Yao Chenglin did not expect Chai Rong to think so carefully. He was excited. When he left the tent, tears were already flowing out of his eyes.

Chai Rong looked around the generals again and asked, "Has Khitan cavalry ever appeared on the other side of the river?" Yuan Yan was short and covered with deep wrinkles on his face. He said respectfully: "The enemy cavalry often peeked on the other side of the river. They were not many and had never approached, but just looked from a distance."

From Chen Dong's intelligence, Chai Rong knew the deployment of the Liao army and local governments. Today, he confirmed what the Liao army said in detail, and proved that Chen Dong's intelligence was completely accurate.

Chai Rong sighed: "It would be great if the Iron Cavalry Army is here."
Chapter completed!