When the Eastern Sea was in full swing, the Qin and Jin armies of the Han army did not seem to move at all. It's just "as if," though.

The Hedong Army led by Cao Guangbi was a powerful military force that once resisted the siege of Zong Han and Zong Bi without falling behind, and now there is only one Yanmen Pass defender left in the north of Taiyuan, which is full of suspicions, which is not enough to pose a threat to the Taiyuan region with more than 100,000 troops. As the Eastern Sea approached step by step, the Jin Army's Eastern Route Army turned from offensive to defensive on the eastern front of the Hedong Army, and the threat to Taihang Mountain was reduced to almost none. Today's Cao Guangbi has a surplus of troops to carry out the military operations he needs, and even after Guo Hao returned to Shaanxi, Qinchuan has an army of about 20,000 people into Hedong, but a few months have passed, the Hedong Army still has no movement, Zong Xian is strictly guarded at Yanmen Pass, and Cao Guangbi has never been seen to attack.

"Could it be that this Cao Guangbi is only good at defending and not attacking?"

Zong Xian even thought so. But he soon discovered how ridiculous this idea was! It's not that Cao Guangbi didn't take action, but that what he wanted to move was not Yanmen Pass at all. If the Hedong Army does not move, it will not be able to recover.

In the summer of 1682, almost at the same time as Yang Kaiyuan left Tanggu, the Hedong Army also moved.

At this time, the transmission of news from Donghai and Qin Jin was still very troublesome, not only was it not very timely, but also errors often occurred, so Cao Guangbi chose the timing of sending troops, in addition to referring to various news, more according to the art of war, reasonableness, and the right time and place!

"Use soldiers in midsummer to benefit my Han people!"

Zhi Yanchong and Yang Yingqi have a tacit understanding in their minds to collect the results of the battle in the summer, and the advance of Zhe Yanchong's Dadingfu army to the south was pushed by the favorable battle situation, while Cao Guangbi's attack was completely planned.

In late May 1682, Cao Guangbi ordered in Taigu: with 20,000 soldiers from Quduanjing as the deputy division of the North Road, take Zhaozhou, pass through Shenzhou and Jizhou, and try to get in touch with Tanggu; With Xu Wen leading 10,000 people as the middle route army, Xingzhou was taken, the north was supplemented by Quduan, and the south was aided by Wang Yan; With 35,000 troops led by Wang Yan as the main force of the South Road, Kaici Prefecture and Xiangzhou, enterprising the Daimyo Mansion; He himself led 30,000 troops as the main force on the North Road, and advanced Zhending - as long as Wang Yan could obtain the Daimyo's Mansion, then the Hedong Army was likely to be connected with the Shandong army, and as long as Cao Guangbi arrived in Zhending, echoing Yang Kaiyuan in Tanggu, the river between Cangzhou and Zhending and Baoding would never be able to resist.

These four road armies, except for the Jingyuan soldiers in Quduan, who mostly came from the west, the rest of the armies are veterans who have fought in the east and west of Taihang Mountain for several years, and the people on the road are very familiar. Even in Quduan's army, a large number of guides were arranged, and its vanguard of 2,000 people was the old brigade allocated to him by Liu Qi before leaving Shaanxi.

When the Hedong Army marched, it was the eve of the collapse of the Jin army's Tanggu encirclement, Qu Duan and Xu Wen encountered little resistance, but Wang Yan's main force on the south road encountered the resistance of Zongbi's main force, Wang Yan first lost in Cizhou, followed by another defeat in Xiangzhou, and finally had to regroup with his back to Taihang Mountain. Affected by Wang Yan's unfavorable battle situation, Cao Guangbi, who had only marched to Leping, became cautious and stood still, in case Wang Yan was defeated again, he immediately had to turn around and go south to help. Xu Wen was also cautious because of this, and after breaking Xingzhou, he stationed a giant deer and no longer went east.

Only Quduan marched all the way, after the Jingyuan soldiers took Zhaozhou, the encirclement of the Jin army in Tanggu had been dispersed, and a large number of Jin soldiers would go south to try to meet Zongbi. After Qu Duan learned the news, he heard that Cao Guangbi's departure from Taihang would be delayed, so he didn't go to Shenzhou and went straight to Zhending. It was precisely because of this turn of the curved end that it did not collide with the Jin army that had withdrawn from the Tanggu encirclement! This group of Jin troops passed through Hejian and Jizhou, and finally was able to join the main force of Zongbi in the Daimyo's Mansion. Zong Bi heard that the north was in an emergency, in a hurry, he made every effort to lead troops to the north, Cao Guangbi sent reinforcements to the southeast and Julu Xu Wen rendezvous, the two sides fought on the ground in Hebei from summer to early autumn, until Wang Xuan led troops into the Daimyo's mansion, Zong Bi was afraid that the back road would be cut off, so he retreated.

Xu Wen and Wang Yan fought hard and in vain in the south of Hebei West Road, but the Quduan side was like a bamboo. What especially surprised him was that when he arrived at Zhentime, this "famous city" with a very special status in the minds of the Han army actually showed an extremely tired atmosphere! In that year, Zong Ying of the Northern Expedition died in this Zhending city, and the situation in the entire Central Plains also changed because of this city. However, after that war, due to various reasons, the city defense of Zhending City was not further repaired, and when Quduan arrived at Zhending City, there were no famous generals such as Yinshu and the like, and the external situation was even worse - the rear call for help that Zhending had during Zongying's Northern Expedition no longer existed!

"Prepare for the siege!"

After reaching the city of Zhending, the number of soldiers and horses reached 10,000, and Qu Duan tried to attack the city. His little strength was not enough to besiege Zhending, so all the attacks were concentrated at the south gate. Zhending Castle reacted very negatively to the attack of Quduan, and it seemed that the soldiers and generals in the city regarded defense as a matter of coping. Qu Duan besieged the city in the morning, and in the afternoon a Jin army fled from the north gate, Qu Duan ordered the siege to be stopped, and shot the surrender document into the city, and there was a response the next day.

The retainer Liu Cao sent people out of the city to negotiate surrender, and said: "Our Lord Liu has obtained the permission of Han, if you surrender, the official is still the same, and I hope the general will keep the contract." As he spoke, he showed Han Fang's letter. It turned out that Han Fang and Liu Cao's father had an old relationship, and the Han army only arrived in Dading Mansion last year, so Han Fang sent someone to secretly go south and wrote to Liu Cao's brothers to persuade them to surrender. Liu Cao's first rat at both ends, after receiving the letter, did not agree, nor decisive, at this time Yanjing Road was in danger, Qu Duan's soldiers came to the city, Liu Cao saw the wind and turned the rudder, and immediately took out the letter to ask Qu Duan to surrender.

Qu Duan thought that the troops were not enough to attack, so he agreed, but asked Liu Cao to hand over the military power, Liu Cao did not dare to resist, and the next day he led the crowd to prostrate outside the south city gate to welcome the soldiers into the city. Qu Duan seized the Zhending army's defense troops and horses, but still let Liu Cao deal with civil affairs. At this time, Qu Duan heard that Wang Yan, Xu Wen and others in the south were not in a good position to advance, and intended to go south to help.

Liu Cao told Qu Duan all the information he knew about Yanjing and Tanggu, and persuaded: "If the general goes south, then he is just attached to Cao and Wang Jiwei, no matter whether he wins or loses, what is the merit?" I heard that now the general has arrived in Tanggu, why not lead the elite to the north, the Han army East China Sea, Qin and Jin have been isolated for a long time, if the general is the first to arrive at Yanjing or Tanggu with the vanguard of Qin and Jin, it is the atmosphere of the convergence of the two major armies, this kind of merit, I am afraid that it is greater than the capture of ten Zhending cities and the Daimyo Mansion! Even if Wang Yan was defeated in the south, he would not be able to rely on the general at that time. ”

Quduan was overjoyed, so he left 3,000 people to defend the city, with Liu Cao as a guide, led the troops to the north, and surrendered Xinle, Anxi, and Wangdu counties. Every time he passed through the city, officials were appointed by Liu Cao. Although Liu Cao has a wide range of faces, his temperament is greedy. For each person, the plan is re-reported. The officials of the border states and counties of Hebei, most of the upright died in the war against Jin, the war has been raging in recent years, and most of the people who can survive on this ground until now are the bold and slippery, Liu Cao's style is facing their thinking, so Liu Cao tried to repay, but they were relieved, thinking that the money was spent, and most of them could save their lives in the Han court.

Over there, Li Shifu will flow north along the Yellow River and fight down from Hebei East Road, but this side of the curved end enters Zhongshan from Zhending, and hits all the way up, and finally enters Yixian and Zhuozhou, which belong to Yanjing Road. At this time, Yang Kaiyuan was stationed in Anci in the southeast of Yanjing, Xiao Tienu was stationed in Xianghe in the east of Yanjing, and Zheyanchong had already occupied Huairou in the north of Yanjing. Yang Yingqi was also pleasantly surprised in Tanggu, and sighed: "The second brother's movements are so fast!" ”

Qu Duan's entry into Yanjing Dao was an extremely important event for the Han army—even more important than the meeting of Meng Wuer and Li Shifu! As Liu Cao expected, the four giants of the Han Dynasty paid a great contribution to the executor of this matter, Qu Duan, because they attached importance to this matter, and Zhi Yanchong awarded a reward, Xiao Tienu sent encouragement, Yang Kaiyuan gained soldiers and horses, and Yang Yingqi allocated a lot of money and food for fear that he would not be able to continue his support. In a few days, Quduan's troops increased from 8,000 to 25,000 in the early days of Yanjing Road, with sufficient money and food, and no worries about the future.

In early July 1682, the hot atmosphere of Yanjing had not yet dissipated, and the Han army surrounded nearly 200,000 horses from all directions and surrounded this ancient city.

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