Zhang said that although he was born as a civilian official, he could also see that the terrain of Huangzhang Valley was difficult to defend and easy to attack, and if the Khitans really ambushed soldiers and horses in dangerous places, as long as the army entered, it would definitely be more auspicious.

He frowned and said, "Isn't there any other way to go except Huangzhang Valley?" ”

Xing Feng knew the situation in the valley well, and replied without thinking about it, "Huangzhang Valley is a shortcut to Yingzhou City, if you don't pass through this valley, but detour from the mountains, it will be delayed for at least ten days!" ”

Lu Xiaoxian snorted coldly and said: "The Khitans show weakness to the enemy, those arrogant generals must be in a hurry to fight for merit, they will go to Huangzhang Valley!" ”

Zhang Shuo became anxious when he heard Lu Xiaoxian's words, and hurriedly said: "Lu Gongzi, then let's hurry up and inform the army, so that they must not go to Huangzhang Valley, even if it is a long detour!" ”

"One soldier bears, one bear, one bear, do you think Zhang Xuanyu will listen to your persuasion?" Lu Xiaoxian said disdainfully, "Even if you say it, it's useless, you better save it!" ”

"Are we just watching the army step into the trap?" Zhang Shuo's face turned red and argued, "Even if you can't do it, you have to give it a try!" ”

"If you want to go yourself, I won't go!" Lu Xiaoxian waved his hand towards Xing Feng and said, "Let's go, let's go back!" ”

After that, Lu Xiaoxian ignored Zhang Shuo and left.

Seeing Zhang Shuo's black face, Yang Si persuaded: "Master Zhang, just listen to Lu Gongzi!" When I came, His Majesty specially explained that the two of us only need to follow Lu Gongzi throughout the whole process, and we can't act without permission! ”

Zhang said categorically: "No! I can't watch so many soldiers die here, I must stop them! ”

After that, Zhang Shuo didn't look back and went in the opposite direction to Lu Xiaoxian.

"Lord Zhang, Lord Zhang!" Yang Si shouted several times, but Zhang said that he didn't say anything at all.

Looking at Zhang Shuo's back, and then looking at Lu Xiaoxian in the distance, Yang Si hesitated for a moment, but still walked towards Lu Xiaoxian's side.

Seeing Yang Si coming over, Lu Xiaoxian stopped.

"Brother Yang, you better follow Master Zhang!" Lu Xiaoxian frowned and said, "Anyway, he is also a close confidant sent by His Majesty, if there is an accident, there are three long and two short, you and I are not easy to deal with!" ”

Lu Xiaoxian doesn't look down on Zhang Shuo's style, as long as he is a man, he will have hot blood, but what is the use of only hot blood and not knowing how to use his brain?

If you can win a battle with blood or loyalty alone, then what kind of troops will be arranged, and if your blood is more boiling than one by one, won't the winner be directly determined?

If others were like this, Lu Xiaoxian would definitely not hesitate to let him fend for himself. But Zhang said differently, he was the person sent to him by Wu Zetian, and it was an accident that Lu Xiaoxian was really hard to explain. From this point of view, Lu Xiaoxian must ensure his safety, with Yang Si by Zhang Shuo's side, Lu Xiaoxian is much more at ease!

"But ......" Yang Si hesitated a little, "Master Lu, it's not that I don't want to go, Lord Zhang is very stubborn, I'm afraid it won't make a difference if I go!" ”

Yang Si's concerns were not unreasonable, Lu Xiaoxian thought for a while and said: "That's it, Brother Yang, you don't have to worry about what he does, but there is one thing you must remember, you must not let him enter the Huangzhang Valley with Zhang Xuanyu and Cao Renshi." If you have to, you can take him with you to the rear army

Find me, I'll be waiting for you in the rear army after the war! ”

Hearing Lu Xiaoxian's words, Yang Si suddenly gained confidence and said happily: "Master Lu, I'll go!" ”

……

In order to conquer the Khitan, the Great Zhou Emperor Wu Zetian transferred tens of thousands of soldiers from the 12 guards and soldiers of the Yulin Army to Youzhou in the north.

Youzhou has congenitally become a gathering place for the army of thieves.

The distance between Youzhou and Luoyang is thousands of miles, and the army went north with baggage and ordnance, and it took more than ten days to reach Youzhou.

In addition to the elite of the Twelve Guards, there are also government soldiers and young men from all over the country, and more than 100,000 troops gather in Youzhou from all directions.

Before they could fight with the Khitans, a fight began between the generals.

Among the 28 generals set up by Wu Zetian, Zhang Jiujie of Danzhou, Yang Xuanji of Jizhou, and the envoy of the town army in western Liaoxi are in their own group, and the task of defending is greater than that of fighting thieves, and most of them are in their own jurisdiction. It seems that Zhang Jiujie, with weak troops, held on to the Danzhou Khitan and could not attack, and he had no choice but to retreat.

The ones who really participated in the dispute were the generals from the Shendu. They were divided into two factions, one faction was headed by Li Duozuo, the main was stable, and they wanted to wait for the soldiers and baggage to be ready, and everything was in order before marching; One faction is headed by Zhang Xuanyu and Cao Renshi, these people are the main attackers, and they seem to look down on the "rabble" of Khitan people, and they have the heart to underestimate the enemy.

In the end, it was the Rush faction that prevailed.

Zhang Xuanyu, the general of the right Jin Wuwei, Cao Renshi, the general of the left Yingyangwei, and Ma Renjie, the commander of Sinong Shaoqing, led the forbidden army and the recruiting army as the vanguard troops, and took the lead in marching to Yingzhou.

Left Wei Zhonglang followed Yan Bandit Shi and right leader Wei Zong Huaichang as the main and deputy commanders of the infantry army as reinforcements.

The left leopard Taowei general Li Duozuo, Chen Xuanli, Guo Zhen, Wei Qing and others were left in Youzhou City, and after the personnel were in order, they were escorted and followed up slowly.

Forwards Zhang Xuanyu, Cao Renshi and Ma Renjie all advocated a quick victory, Yan Bandit Shi and Zong Huaichang were once generals under Zhang Xuanyu, and they didn't dare to disobey Zhang Xuanyu at all, and they could be regarded as Zhang Xuanyu's faction.

And Li Duozuo, who advocated steady progress, was arranged in the rear army, obviously because he didn't want him to compete for merit. As for Chen Xuanli, Guo Zhen, Wei Qing and others, they were ordered by Wu Zetian to stay in the rear army before they set out on the expedition. The four generals were jointly responsible for escorting the baggage, and there had never been such a strange scene since the founding of the Tang Dynasty.

The clear distribution of personnel has cast a shadow over this expedition.

……

"Lord Feng, is this true?" Cao Renshi's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but ask again.

After Feng Qingshan left Yingzhou City, he and dozens of subordinate officials starved along the way, and they didn't know how many ways they walked, and finally met the imperial court's conquest army halfway.

When the sergeant led Feng Qingshan and the others to Cao Renshi, Cao Renshi couldn't believe that these hungry people in ragged clothes like Huazi in front of him were actually officials at all levels of the Yingzhou Governor's Mansion.

However, Cao Renshi was not very concerned about the situation of Feng Qingshan and the others, but was very interested in the information provided by Feng Qingshan about the Khitan.

After serving in the army for so many years, Cao Renshi has not fought any major battles, but he has mixed up to the point where he is today, and he is about to be disarmed and returned to the field, and now he suddenly has the opportunity to make meritorious contributions, he

How can you let it go so easily.

After listening to Feng Qingshan's detailed explanation, Cao Renshi's heart couldn't help but flutter.

After listening to Cao Renshi's inquiry, Feng Qingshan said with a straight face: "There is no joke in the army, Feng has half a lie, and he is willing to be engaged in military law." If General Cao doesn't believe me, you can ask the officials of Yingzhou who came with me, they have seen it with their own eyes! ”

After personally questioning the Yingzhou officials who were traveling with Feng Qingshan, Cao Renshi came to a conclusion: the Khitans could no longer even eat enough because of the burning of grain and grass, and they were ready to evacuate to Songmo.

The Khitans retreated, and the imperial army could recover Yingzhou without bloodshed, and if they took advantage of the situation to fight a decisive battle with the Khitan, they might destroy the main force of the other party in one fell swoop. If this is the case, Cao Renshi, as the vanguard leading general, will make immortal contributions and can even go down in history.

With Feng Qingshan's information, Cao Renshi was even more arrogant, and of course he would not give up the credit he had seen. On the one hand, he sent people to report the military situation to Zhang Xuanyu and Qian Lou, and on the other hand, he ordered the troops to march to Yingzhou in a hurry, and he didn't even bother to care about the chaos of the formation.

The vanguard of the conquest army was a true elite force, consisting of soldiers of the Yulin Army, twelve guards, and specially selected cavalry from the government soldiers.

Cao Renshi led the most 5,000 elite Yulin cavalry and marched at the front of the team. The military flag hunts like fire, the Yulin ironclad cavalry rides a majestic and incomparably tall horse, the armor is distinct, the saddle is neat, the saber hangs the shield, the high red tassel long lacquer spear, the silver steel spear sharp blade, the cold light flashes, very powerful and majestic.

Zhang Xuanyu led 25,000 12 elite horsemen to follow, and the fluttering handsome flag was written with the word "Zhang", although His Majesty did not specify who was the commander, but Zhang Xuanyu's style had clearly regarded himself as the commander in the army.

The twelve cavalrymen were uniformly dressed in iron armor, covered with half-arm battle robes, carrying a war bow on their shoulders, wearing a short sword at their waists, a cowhide quiver, and a black lacquered cowhide riding shield hung on the side of the saddle, painted with the pattern of a beast, and a red tasseled spear blood groove was like a hideous glow. Although their equipment is not as good as that of Yulin, their combat effectiveness should not be underestimated.

Compared with Cao Renshi and Zhang Xuanyu, the government soldiers led by Ma Renjie are far behind. Their horses are tall and short, fat and thin. On the horse's back, he carried his own food bags, stoves, felt clothes, and sleeping bags. Swords, bows and arrows, armor system is chaotic, not uniform, some people do not wear leather armor at all, although some people wear half-body armor, but the leather armor has not been oiled and maintained for a long time, the paint is worn away, the leather armor is cracked, and the shoulders are still open.

At this moment, Yingzhou didn't drive Feng Qingshan on horseback and Cao Renshi on the way to Yingzhou. He has long lost the embarrassment when he left Yingzhou City, and although the chain mail he temporarily changed into did not fit well, it also looked quite heroic.

Cao Renshi's armor was completely different from Feng Qingshan's, a full set of new Mingguang armor was tightly wrapped from head to toe, like a shining gold-armored god in the sun. The copper-colored scaly cheek and neck guards also blocked his face, and only a nose and a pair of sharp and majestic eyes could be seen.

Cao Renshi, the general of the left eagle Yangwei, and Zhang Xuanyu, the general of the right Jinwuwei, are all veterans who can fight well and have been on the battlefield for a long time. Looking at the endless stream of teams, there is no head in front of them, no end in the back, mighty and boundless, Feng Qingshan's confidence in recovering Yingzhou has greatly increased.

……