"At dawn yesterday, after the last general crossed the Shangdang City, he galloped straight south until he reached the Yangtou Mountain at the junction of Lu and Ze, and then stopped. After resting for half a day, I was about to continue to the south, when I found that the Khitan scouts had entered the realm of Sheep's Head Mountain! ”

In the hall, Zhang Yanwei and Guo Rong sat with him, and Liu Chengyou sat on the main seat, listening to Han Tong's report. As soon as the Khitan people were mentioned, the spirits of several people were immediately raised.

"That group of Khitan scouts only went north for a little reconnaissance and stopped at Sheep's Head Mountain. In order not to be noticed by him, the last general chose to avoid it, and then took a small group of capable brothers and went south carefully. In the evening, when I sneaked to Gaoping County, Zezhou, I found the Khitan army! Hantong continued.

"Gaoping ......" Liu Chengyou got up and stopped on a map hanging in the hall, and quickly found the county seat in the north of Zezhou, and asked, "Is it Geng Chong's American army?" ”

"It should be!" Han Tong nodded: "The last general chooses a high place to observe it, although it is far away, you can also see the banner of 'Geng' and 'Liao'!" ”

"How many are there?"

"As far as the last general's observation goes, when there are 4,000 people going up, but the specific number of troops on the other side, the last general will not dare to say." Hantong's answer was conservative, but no less practical.

Seeing Liu Chengyou's frowning, Han Tong immediately added: "However, in the last general Guanliao army, there are very few Khitans, most of them are Han!" ”

"Han Chinese?" Liu Chengyou's eyes lit up: "Is it for the Jin army?" ”

"I'm afraid not! According to the last general, it should be Yan Bing! Han Tong shook his head.

"Yan Bing!" Liu Chengyou muttered expressionlessly, and quickly reacted.

The Yan soldiers referred to here are the Khitan Han army in Youzhou. The Khitan has ruled the land of Youyan for ten years, and under the national policy of "governing the Han with Han", assisted by Han ministers such as Zhang Li and Zhao Yanshou, they have indeed formed some armies dominated by "Yan people".

In the process of Yelu Deguang's southward destruction of the Jin Dynasty last year, these Yan soldiers also made a lot of efforts under the command of Han generals such as Zhao Yanshou and Geng Chongmei.

When Han Tong mentioned that Geng Chong's US troops were mostly Han Chinese, Liu Chengyou's first reaction was to "surrender to the Jin State", and immediately had a plan to "rebel". However, if it was the "Yan Bing" from Youzhou, he quickly dispelled this idea.

Not to mention the difficulty of rebellion, only in terms of "Yan Bing", the cost of their betrayal is too high!

"However, this Liao army is mainly foot soldiers, and there are not many cavalry!" While Liu Chengyou was thinking, Han Tong said again.

This news made the people present breathe a sigh of relief, no matter what, the most feared by the Khitan army was the cavalry.

"In this way, Geng Chong's U.S. army is just a Yan soldier!" Liu Chengyou's solemn expression dissipated a lot.

"Yes!"

At Liu Chengyou's signal, Han Tong continued: "After discovering the Liao army, the last general did not dare to slack off and immediately withdrew. After leaving a small team of people to continue to do surveillance, I will quickly return north and report to you! ”

After Han Tong's report was over, he waited respectfully below, the hall was quiet for a while, Liu Chengyou also sorted out the situation of the Liao army, Fang raised his head and asked: "The situation is almost understood, what do you think?" ”

Zhang Yanwei spoke for the first time, looking a little excited, and the horizontal flesh on his face shook a few times: "Your Highness, Gaoping is not far from the party, according to what Han Tong said, maybe the Khitan army has already pulled out of camp and come north today." Between Ze and Lu, there is a sheepshead mountain across the road, and the enemy must not be allowed to enter Luzhou easily. Send troops immediately, occupy Sheep's Head Mountain, and stop the enemy army outside Luzhou! ”

After Zhang Yanwei finished speaking, Liu Chengyou reacted very flatly, and was noncommittal about his suggestion, thought about it, and asked Guo Rong: "What do you think?" ”

Guo Rong's face was serious, he hung his head slightly, pondered for a while, and then said: "General Zhang's idea is too conservative!" Sheep's Head Mountain is only forty miles away from Gaoping, if the Liao army has really pulled out the camp and headed north, and when His Royal Highness sends troops south to intercept it, I am afraid that the other party has already entered the territory of Luzhou! ”

After briefly refuting Zhang Yanwei, Guo Rong continued: "If Han Tong's investigation is correct, the Liao army does not have many troops, and after our army gets the help of the Luzhou army, the other party is even in a weak position, plus it is mainly an infantry army, and there is no threat from Hu cavalry......"

As Guo Rong spoke, a touch of confidence bloomed on his face, and Liu Chengyou kept observing, noticing his "shining" eyes, and felt that he had guessed his thoughts.

Sure enough, Guo Rong clenched his fists hard and said excitedly: "Your Highness Mo Ruo gathered the whole army to go south and engage the enemy. Our army moved south overnight, occupying Shangdang very quickly, and since yesterday morning, the news has been tightly sealed, and the Liao army is probably not clear about the situation in Luzhou. If you go south to fight at this time, it will definitely have the effect of surprise. ”

"Facing the enemy head-on and breaking it head-on will greatly boost the prestige of our Hedong army, and it can also have an incentive effect on the military and civilians in the Central Plains and Hebei who counterattack the Khitan tyranny!"

Compared with Zhang Yanwei's conservatism, Guo Rong's suggestion is really much more radical, and can even be described as risky. If Geng Chong's US military is not clear about the situation in Luzhou, taking the initiative to attack can have the effect of surprise.

But in the same way, Liu Chengyou is not clear about the specific situation of the other party at this time. The enemy's military situation cannot be understood clearly by relying on Han Tong's naked eyes. War, after all, is not a child's play, it is a matter of survival, and Liu Chengyou must not be cautious.

At present, Liu Chengyou has taken control of the party, has the support of the military and people in Luzhou, and is also backed by Hedong, which can be said to have an active advantage. As long as he firmly guards the party, even if Geng Chong's military strength is doubled, he has the confidence to refuse.

However, if you take the initiative to go south and fight, the risk will be great. There is no absolute superiority in troops, and the combat effectiveness of the Yan soldiers is not clear, so they choose to fight head-on with them, if there is any accident, they fail to win the battle, or even defeat, then the good situation that he won all of Luzhou will be gone, and even affect Liu Zhiyuan's plan to march into the Central Plains and seize the country......

Of course, if you win a battle, as Guo Rong said, the harvest will be huge. Not to mention anything else, as far as he Liu Chengyou is concerned, when he first leads the army into battle, he will win the result, and he will inevitably become famous.

The problem is, this is the first time he has led the army, and when it comes to fighting, he really can't!

Guo Rong's suggestion made Liu Chengyou hesitate, frowning, interpreting his tangled psychology.

Seeing Liu Chengyou's hesitation, probably because he was swept away by Guo Rong, a junior, Zhang Yanwei couldn't help but mutter: "Your Highness, if you listen to Guo Rong's words, is it too risky?" ”

Even Zhang Yanwei saw the risks.

Zhang Yanwei's words seemed to aggravate Liu Chengyou's hesitation, took a breath, and asked Xiang Xun, who was next to the guard: "Xingmin, you have a strategy, what do you think?" ”

In this regard, Xiang Xun also behaved very evenly, and after thinking about it for a while, Fang said: "With the current situation, as long as His Royal Highness leads the army to garrison Shangdang and Huguan, the situation in Luzhou will be under control, and the strategy of entering Luzhou in the south will be achieved, which is a safe choice!" ”

Listening to Xiang Xun's meaning, it seemed that he also agreed with stability, Liu Chengyou was about to open his mouth to answer, and he heard a "but". I saw Xiang Xun say softly: "Fighting a war is a risky thing, if even Geng Chongmei's thousands of soldiers are afraid, then how to face hundreds of thousands of Khitan soldiers and horses......

Hearing this, Liu Chengyou fell into deep thought. Seeing his hesitant look, Guo Rong, who was sitting next to him, couldn't help but show a touch of disappointment in his eyes.

Liu Chengyou is indeed hesitant. Why take the risk when there is a more secure option?

But at this time, the place of "Gao Ping" was in a trance, and he suddenly raised his eyes to look at Guo Rong, who was already expressionless, and muttered a sentence in his mouth: "Gao Ping!" ”