In the early morning, heavy snow fell at the boundary of Yin in Henan, and three thousand riders went out of Chenggao Xuanmen Pass in the east of Wuchang Tian, gave up the line of Xingyang Zhongmu in the east, and went south to take the road along the mountain road at the foot of Songshan Mountain to Meishan.

At the foot of the mountain, the knights of the Northern Army finally stopped walking all night, and as the sun began to grow, the ice edges on the armor melted with the daylight. Ma Yue ordered that in addition to the scouts, the knights were given two hours to rest. The cold made them wrap themselves in big flags and hug them for warmth, and few people could really sleep. On the one hand, it was foreseeable that the impending bloody battle, and on the other hand, the cold weather and the general did not allow the bonfire to be lit...... Barren mountains and mountains, dripping into ice, how can they sleep?

Not only were the soldiers of the Second Battalion of the Northern Army cold, although the garrison was on the leeward slope, the cold wind still poured into the placket along the gap in the armor without mercy, Ma Yue and Yan Xing rubbed their leg bones with their mounts on their backs, although the cold wind made their teeth tremble, but no one thought that it was a wise choice to make a fire now.

This is Meishan, fifty miles to the northeast is Zhongmu County, that is, the city that the rebels broke through ten years ago, and thirty miles to the northwest is Xingyang City, which is the occupied area of the thief army.

Under the cover of night, they had buried their entire army deep on the enemy's flank.

The gallop along the way was non-stop, although they bypassed the Xingyang land, Ma Yue was still worried that their whereabouts had been discovered by the rebels, so they only rested for two hours, the scout army had removed the armor and light cavalry scattered around to inquire about the news of the thieves, what they had to do now was to rest for a while, wait for the horses to recover their strength, wait for the soldiers to recover their spirits, and wait for the scouts to bring back the news.

The more he sits, the colder it gets, the more the horse takes good care of the horse's legs, gets up and wraps his cloak and calls Zhao Rong to climb up the mountain road, Zhao Rong also feels that the weather is too cold, and would rather move more, so he followed up the mountain road.

As he walked, Ma Yue took out a sheepskin map from his arms and handed it to Zhao Rong, the cold wind made his face stiff and he couldn't laugh, "Captain Zhao, this is the reason why I dare to boast about Haikou." ”

Zhao Rong opened the map while walking, and said casually: "The general is ignorant, what is this forgiving...... Wait, General, Meishan, four hundred. As he spoke, Zhao Rong looked up, Meishan was almost at a height of more than four hundred steps, and asked Ma Yue eagerly: "General, this is the marching map, where did you get it?" ”

"I drew it myself." Ma Yue walked on the rugged mountain path with Changge, and after a short time, he had reached the halfway point of the mountain, glanced back, and said to Zhao Rong: "I have been here, and I have passed by here to fight against the Yellow Turban Rebellion, I have read a lot of military books, but the military strategy is not good, at that time, I just wrote down the scenery along the way on a whim, I wanted to use it one day, and now I really use it." ”

Ma Yue said lightly, in fact, he had already planned for the map, and now several routes in Jizhou Youzhou Division and Yanzhou Yangzhou have been drawn by him, and Peng Shi is still at home according to his appearance to complete the map of Shu and Yangzhou, and soon he will be able to make a set of Kyushu maps.

Zhao Rong held the sheepskin and looked at it, pointed to it and said: "General, look, if Meishan is here, then the second city of the thief army has become a corner, we can wait for Henan Yin to send troops, if the thief army is afraid of its sharpness, it will retreat eastward, but the checkpoint on the border of Yanzhou in the east is probably not so easy to attack, their only chance is to press the whole army to Xingyang in the west to defeat Henan Yin's army, as long as the rebels go out of the city, we can intercept ...... halfway"

When Zhao Rong said this, a pair of glowing copper bells looked at Ma Yue, with a surprise light hidden on them.

"Yes, I have the same idea, but there are a few difficulties. First, Henan Yin's offensive is only afraid that it will not be able to gather troops in a short time, and it will take a few days. The second is that the news that we are hiding here must not be exposed, otherwise the thieves will defend the city, abandon their horses and storm the city of thousands of defenders, but I am afraid that we will not be enough to see this little bit of people. ”

"Exactly!" Zhao Rong thought of these points in his heart, "The third is that the snow is falling at the beginning, and the snow melts to the bone in a few days, and the winter clothes of the soldiers have been removed, but I am afraid that it will not last in March!" ”

The smile in Ma Yue's eyes lit up, Zhao Rong coincided with him, he was a confidant, he said in a cheerful tone: "Fight quickly, put down the rebellion within ten years, and the soldiers will be able to return to Luoyang and enjoy their happiness." It's just that I don't know the situation of the thieves' defense in the second city, and we are still waiting for the scouts to come back, and then I will talk about how to lure the thieves into battle. ”

"No!"

When the two of them went down the mountain, there were already scouts who went to Xingyang back, and the generals and captains Sima Yi all gathered together to listen to the return of the scouts.

"General, there are more than 1,000 thieves in Xingyang City, and there is a big clan Zheng Wu Fort outside the city, which has withstood several attacks by the thieves, and the people mostly gather in Zheng Wu Fort to camp and defend themselves, it is rumored that it is because of the Zheng Clan's heroic soldiers that the thieves cannot escape the attack on Zhongmu."

Ma Yue nodded lightly, talked with the generals for a while, and the scouts who probed Zhongmu also returned, bringing back the news that the thief army recruited thieves in Zhongmu, the scouts could not probe at close range, but the thieves would not be less than five thousand, but one thing that can be known is that the thieves lack horses and weapons. Empty soldiers cannot be armed.

"Captain Tun Cavalry obeys orders." Ma Yue nodded, flicking his robe, he knew that it was time to go on the expedition, and the thief army would lure them out without leaving the city.

"Zhao Rong is here!"

"Order you to lead the Tun Cavalry Headquarters to pass the revolving gate, cover the armor, and play the banner of Henan Yin to enter Xingyang, and set up a siege formation outside Xingyang City. If the thief abandons the city to the east and flees, you will pursue him, and if the thief goes out of the city, he will join the great clan to fight against him! ”

"Zhao Rong takes the order!"

"Okay, Yan Xing, your department sent scouts to inspect the official road from Xingyang to Zhongmu, when the thieves send a message and what their movements are, they must report to me as soon as possible, and the rest of the men and horses are camped in Meishan, ready to ambush the rebels at any time!"

"No!"

With the order issued one by one, all the soldiers and horses of the second battalion began to act, and the first battalion of the Tun cavalry rode under the original road under the brings of Zhao Rong, galloped around the gate pass, prepared clothes and armor in the pass, and rested in the pass for half a day, and arrived at Xingyang City under the banner of the Henan Army that night, and Zheng's Wu Fort became a horn of each other.

Early the next morning, the thieves in the city were standing all over the city walls, not caring about the more than 1,000 enemy troops, and trying to hold the city. Ma Yue received the news of the scouts of the Changshui camp, the thief army sent a sentry to and from Zhongmu, and then the thief army defended the city wall, the thieves did not suspect fraud, and at noon sent a reinforcement of more than 3,000 from Zhongmu County to Xingyang.

Looking at the return, Ma Yue laughed out loud and the fish took the bait.

"Changshui Erlang, the horse is wearing human armor and goes on the expedition!"

I'm not afraid that there will be many thieves out of the city, but I'm afraid that he will stay in the city and be a turtle with a shrunken head, the thief will be the king, and the third master will come to take your head!