Liu Tinghan asked the herald to bring Li Jilong and other generals to his big tent to discuss the battle plan. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 At this moment, he sat anxiously in the big tent of the Chinese army, waiting for the arrival of the generals.

Yang Xianmao was the first to come, he found that Liu Tinghan looked nervous, and thought that he was nervous because the war was about to start, and he was nervous because of his great responsibility as a commander, but he didn't expect that this time Liu Tinghan's main nervousness was not the imminent war, but how to give combat orders to these subordinates whose ranks were higher than him.

Needless to say, Yang Xianmao is a big celebrity in front of the emperor, and the official residence is the fourth grade, and Cui Yanjin is the envoy of the Heyang Festival, Meng Xuanzhe is the envoy of the Dingzhou Festival, Li Hanqiong is the envoy of the Zhengzhou Festival, the envoy of the Jiedu is from the second grade, Hou Cuihan is the commander of the front of the palace, and he is also from the second grade, and he Liu Tinghan is just an observation of the fifth grade, but he has to command several generals from the second grade, which is equivalent to the current colonel commanding several generals, so how can he not be worried.

The emperor gave him the unified command of their various armies, and let him have a low-level general to command the high-level generals to fight, which was very difficult for Liu Tinghan, so he made up his mind to discuss all the battle plans with these high-ranking subordinates, listen to their opinions, and then make deployments, so that they could obey the command, because it was their own opinion.

After a while, several other people also arrived, sitting on their respective chairs and looking at the commander Liu Tinghan.

Liu Tinghan took out the formation map granted by Song Taizong and put it on the table, and took out a local military map, which was relatively sketchy.

Liu Tinghan said: "Generals, I am appreciated by the emperor and appointed me as the commander-in-chief, but in terms of marching and fighting, I am not as good as the generals, how to fight this battle, how to deploy the emperor's eight formations, not to make a difference, in order to win the war." Therefore, I hope that all the generals will speak freely, and we will discuss and decide this battle plan together. ”

Li Hanqiong, Li Jilong and the others glanced at each other, Li Hanqiong hugged his fists and said: "Liu Dashuai is too polite, this expedition, the emperor has appointed you as the commander of the army, just give orders, we will definitely obey the command." ”

Li Longji and others also echoed it, expressing their resolute obedience to the unified command of the marshal Liu Tinghan.

Liu Tinghan was very moved, and Tuan Tuan made a gesture and said, "Thank you generals." After saying this, he turned his head to look at Yang Xianmao, who was sitting beside him, and said with a smile: "Lord Yang, please say what you think, and we will discuss it together." ”

Yang Xianmao said: "To be honest, although I read the military book for five days before I set out on the expedition, I was still confused. Before entering the big tent, I still had all kinds of tips on the art of war in my head, but when I really had to arrange the troops, I realized that I was talking on paper, and my head was empty at the moment, so I didn't dare to talk nonsense, and asked the five generals to discuss it on their own, and I just listened to it next to me, and by the way, I saw a long insight. ”

Seeing that Yang Xianmao was in a high position but was so modest, these people all felt a little more cordial with him, and hurriedly said that the lord was too modest.

After a few polite words, several people began to study the formation.

Because it is related to the outcome of the battle, and they all know that although Liu Tinghan is the commander, he actually does not have much experience in leading troops to fight, so Li Hanqiong and Li Jilong are not polite, and directly say what they think in their hearts for reference together.

As a result of the discussion, it was decided that Cui Yanjin would lead his troops north to Heilu Causeway, and go around to the rear of the Liao army to wait for an opportunity to attack, while Liu Tinghan led the army and Li Hanqiong, Cui Han and Chen soldiers in Xuhe, and laid down eight formations here according to Song Taizong's formation map, waiting for the Liao army to attack, and met the enemy with eight formations.

After the battle plan was formulated, Liu Tinghan said to Yang Xianmao with a smile: "Lord Yang, what do you think of this plan?"

During the whole process of their battle plan, although Yang Xianmao was also sitting at the table, he didn't say a word, just looked at this, looked at that, and looked at the map for a while, Liu Tinghan also asked his opinion many times, Yang Xianmao just smiled and motioned for them to continue.

After the battle plan was formulated, Liu Tinghan asked Yang Xianmao's opinion, and Yang Xianmao said: "I really can't fight, it's all up to you generals." I'll just join in the fun, the emperor asked me to come, in fact, it is more to back you up, if any general is injured in front of the battle, I can treat him. ”

Liu Tinghan and the others also knew that Yang Xianmao had excellent medical skills, and before leaving, they also heard that Yang Xianmao had cured Mrs. Chen Guo, the mother of the King of Qin, who was helpless for all the imperial doctors, and her reputation shocked the entire capital. After they learned that Yang Xianmao was going to participate in the expedition, they were actually very happy, and they thought that this was a backing given to them by the emperor, and they had no worries after they were injured. Because I heard that this Xiao Langzhong is very good at Jinchuang surgery, he can disembowel, and he can also open his stomach, and he can also perform craniotomy, which is very good.

However, when Yang Xianmao appointed him to go on the expedition, he did not let him participate as a member of the army, and appointed him as the supervisor of the army, that is, one of the supreme commanders of the expedition. At the same time, from beginning to end, Song Taizong never said that Yang Xianmao was in charge of battlefield treatment, so whether this overseer was treated or not was entirely up to him.

The reason why Song Taizong did not clarify the identity of Yang Xianmao's military doctor was because Yang Xianmao had previously made a clear agreement with Song Taizong, unless it was a royal expedition, he would accompany him to the expedition and take the responsibility of treatment, and this time it was not a royal expedition, so Song Taizong did not want to ask Yang Xianmao to do this. But he knew that even if he didn't say it, if he really encountered a general who was injured, Yang Xianmao would also come to the rescue, and would not stand idly by. If you don't say it, there will be such a result, so why bother to say that you have broken the contract in vain.

But for Liu Tinghan and others, Yang Xianmao, the supervising army, is one of the supreme commanders, and now, he is willing to play the role of the military attendant, which makes these generals extremely grateful and express their gratitude repeatedly.

Liu Tinghan had already made up his mind that unless a senior general was injured and suffered an injury that could not be treated by other military attendants, he could not be treated by him, because there were also many military attendants in the army, and ordinary Jin Chuang, they could also be treated.

After making a battle plan, they went back to their tents to rest.

Early the next morning, the army set off and continued to rush to the Xu River outside the city.

At noon, the army came to Xuhe and began to arrange eight formations according to the battle plan discussed the night before. Several commanders led their officers to the assembly points of the eight corps.

Yang Xianmao was already waiting in the temporary big tent arranged for him by Liu Tinghan, the big tent of the Chinese army. Once the fight starts, a general is injured, and he will have surgery here, he forbids others to come in, and the medicines and equipment are put in the storage bag, and he will not take them out before, because who knows if it will be like last time when the Liao army iron cavalry suddenly entered the Song army's formation, and at that time these equipment and medical supplies were too late to be cleaned up, and the loss would be great. He would rather take a risk and wait for the wounded general to arrive before taking it out for surgery.

He was waiting for the war drums to beat and began to charge and fight, when he suddenly heard someone open the tent and walked in, but it was the commander Liu Tinghan, followed by a general wearing armor, and after the introduction, he learned that this person was Zhao Yanjin, the general of the right dragon martial arts.

Liu Tinghan said to Yang Xianmao with a smile: "Sir, there is something to discuss with you, you have to help the humble post get an idea." ”

Yang Xianmao said: "What's the matter? ”

Liu Tinghan glanced back at Zhao Yanjin, the right dragon martial general who followed behind, and said, "You come to report to Lord Yang!"

Zhao Yanjin looked a little nervous, swallowed his saliva, clasped his fists and arched his hands and said: "Back to Lord Yang, just now the last general climbed high and looked far away to check the enemy's situation, and found that the situation was wrong. ”

Yang Xianmao sighed and asked, "What's wrong?"

"The strength of the Liao army is larger than the number reported by Tanma, and I am afraid that it will exceed 100,000 in the mountains and fields, and the number is more than ours. At the same time, they lined up in front of the formation, divided into several columns, and prepared to surprise and divide our army and surround it, which was the usual tactic of the Liao army using cavalry. ”

Yang Xianmao nodded, he had suffered this hardship, the last time he followed Song Taizong to Youzhou, he was killed by the iron cavalry of the Liao army into the Song army, and the Song army was divided into several pieces to encircle and annihilate. The Song army is mainly infantry, once it falls into the encirclement of the enemy's cavalry, it will be very panicked, and it will quickly break and flee, and the Liao army's iron cavalry will take the opportunity to chase and kill, and the infantry will not be able to outrun the cavalry, and the defeat will be like a mountain, so that there will be heavy casualties.

Zhao Yanjin went on to say: "Our army is now dividing its forces into eight places, and each place is separated by more than 100 paces, isn't that exactly what the Liao army wants? They will not be able to surround us without blowing their strength, and they will not even need to intersperse and divide, and they will directly rush through the gap in the middle of our eight corps, and then they will be able to form an encirclement situation, and at that time our army will inevitably be in great confusion, and the whole line will be defeated, and then it will be over." ”

Yang Xianmao nodded frequently, thinking that this was true, why didn't he think of this? It showed that he had too little experience in facing the enemy, and he had not personally visited the front line to inspect the enemy's situation like this General Zhao Yanjin, so he did not make such a discovery.

Yang Xianmao asked, "Then what should we do?"

Immediately divide the eight formations into two formations, echo the front and back, rush and kill in the front, support in the back, and use fist to fist to fist to have a hard fight with the Liao army to see who is powerful. ”

Yang Xianmao nodded and said, "I think it's okay, I don't know the art of war, you'd better gather General Li Hanqiong and General Li Jilong to discuss together." ”

Liu Tinghan smiled bitterly and said: "Lord Yang, several of them have already led their troops to their assembly points, and the people have already left, who should I discuss with you?" Sir, you are a prisoner, what do you say about this matter?"

Yang Xianmao glanced at this Liu Tinghan, thinking that this person was not stupid, he knew how many catties and taels he had. All the subordinates under his leadership are much higher than his officials, and he does not dare to give orders in vain, so he must seek the opinions of his subordinates who are higher in rank than him, and he really knows how to be an official.

Yang Xianmao said: "The usual tactical trick of the Liao army is to use iron cavalry to tear open a few openings, forcibly intersperse, and divide and surround our army. We suffered this big loss in the last battle of Youzhou, and we can't repeat the mistakes of the past. And now the enemy's iron cavalry has not torn us apart, but we ourselves have taken the initiative to divide into eight pieces, and it is easy for others to surround us. Once the eight camps of our army are cut off from each other, and each camp fights its own battle, and the infantry fights the cavalry, the army will inevitably be in great confusion, and once it is defeated, it will be miserable. So, I personally think that General Zhao's suggestion just now is very good. Turning the eight camps into two camps, echoing the front and rear, the Liao army's iron cavalry could not cut and surround our army from a frontal impact, because we had two camps in front and rear. It avoided the interspersed division that the Liao army was good at. That's a good idea. It should change formations right away. ”

Zhao Yanjin was very excited when he heard the lord's appreciation, and said to Yang Xianmao: "The lord is familiar with military books and knows the tactics of war, and he is really a battle-hardened general. The last general is very impressed. ”