Wu Zhiyuan is Yao Jin's confidant general, and he is also his right-hand man, and another general, Pei Xin, was also trained by Yao Jin, but Pei Xin was born in the Wenxi Pei clan after all, and now the upward momentum is very strong, and he has gradually become a family of his own, or he has chosen to be the leader of the Conglong faction, and it can be seen from his appointment as the leader of the rapid direct attack army that he is now the leader of the army directly under King Jin.

Yao Jin decided to go all out to cultivate Wu Zhiyuan, Wu Zhiyuan was not weaker than Pei Xin at all in terms of command, personal force and combat strategy, but he didn't get so many opportunities from Pei Xin.

So this time Yao Jin's order to Wu Zhiyuan was to seize Xingzhou, and then attack Zhaozhou according to the situation, after Wu Zhiyuan captured Xingzhou, the reinforcements of 5,000 cavalry immediately arrived, so that Wu Zhiyuan had 15,000 troops in his hands.

General Wu Zhiyuan transported the money, grain and treasures of the Longgang Palace back to the county seat and the state government warehouse, and gave the state government 2,000 stone of grain for relief of the victims, and the other 10,000 stone of grain as military food for the north to Zhaozhou.

In terms of money, Wu Zhiyuan gave Cao Linghui 20,000 yuan, and he issued three months' worth of money to the officials, while other gold, silver, and jewels and jade were sealed in the treasury.

This was a major principle of the Jin army, and all captured gold, silver, and jewelry, were to be transported back to the Chang'an treasury, and the generals understood that this wealth would become the foundation of the future new dynasty.

Three days later, Wu Zhiyuan left 2,000 logistics soldiers to garrison Longgang County, and he led 10,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry to the north.

There are still about 300 miles from Longgang County to Zhaozhou, and the official road is along the Zhangshui River to the north, and in the evening, the army is stationed next to Taiping Town, north of Ren County.

At this time, the scouts sent three days ago sent Wu Zhiyuan information about Zhaozhou, and Wu Zhiyuan summoned several of his generals to discuss combat countermeasures.

"Zhu Tao's 10,000 troops are currently in Xiangcheng County, the southernmost part of Zhaozhou."

Wu Zhiyuan used a few stones to represent the current situation, "Zhu Tao's main force is attacking Xindu County, and there are still 10,000 troops left in Laolai, and there are only 20,000 troops in the west at present, and our army in Jingcheng is currently holding back the other party, so there are only 10,000 troops in Zhaozhou." ”

Wu Zhiyuan pointed behind the enemy, "There are no troops stationed in Pingjian County, Zhaozhou Prefecture, if we make a surprise attack to capture Pingjian County, the enemy army in Zhaozhou will face the situation of attacking from the north and south, and it is very likely that the troops will be evacuated to the east, and go to Xindu County to join Zhu Tao's main force." ”

Adjutant General Gan Xin said excitedly: "General Wu is right, our biggest advantage is that the infantry also has war horses, and we can give full play to this advantage, seize the initiative, and defeat the other party at the minimum cost." ”

Wu Zhiyuan gave a thumbs up and praised: "Lao Gan has made great progress in the past few months!" ”

Gan Xin said triumphantly: "That is, I already know more than 3,000 words, and it is no longer a problem to read ordinary paperwork reports." ”

Guo Song's evaluation of Gan Xin is that the details are very coarse, the pattern is very large, the details are coarse because he has a low culture, illiterate, he himself fully realizes this, this year he desperately read and read, after his wife died of illness the year before last, he married the daughter of Xingzhou Confucian Zhan Tong as his wife at the beginning of the year, and let his wife teach him to read and read, and he has indeed made great progress in the past few months.

Yao Jin saw his progress in his eyes, this time Wu Zhiyuan was the main general of the Northern Expedition, and Gan Xin got the opportunity to serve as a deputy general.

Wu Zhiyuan said to the generals again: "I now have 15,000 troops, and I think I can take a risk and use suspicious tactics to defeat the other party." ”

The generals immediately boiled with enthusiasm and shouted together: "General, do it!" ”

Yang Meng hesitated for a moment and said, "General, it's not wise to divide too many troops!" ”

Wu Zhiyuan waved his hand, "The division of troops is only known internally, how can the enemy know about it?" Don't be too suspicious, delay the fighter. ”

Although Yang Meng felt inappropriate in his heart, he didn't have much to say, after all, he was not a descendant of King Jin, he was Li Huaien's general, and he did not have a high voice in the army.

Wu Zhiyuan immediately divided his troops and ordered, the deputy general Gan Xin led 5,000 infantry to make a detour to kill Pingjian County, Zhaozhou Prefecture, and ordered the cavalry to lead Yang Meng and 5,000 cavalry to make a detour and ambush near the official road to the east, and he himself led 5,000 troops, and disguised the 2,000 people who transported military rations for him as infantry, mixed in the ranks, and continued to go north pretending to be more than 10,000 troops.

Three days later, Wu Zhiyuan's army had reached the border between Xingzhou and Zhaozhou, about forty miles from Xiangcheng County, and Wu Zhiyuan ordered a large camp.

..........

Zhaozhou currently has 10,000 troops, led by Zhu Tao's henchman Lu Jinsuo, and 10,000 troops are stationed in Xiangcheng County, south of Zhaozhou, which is located in the southernmost part of Zhaozhou, which also shows that Zhu Tao's army is preparing to go south to capture Xingzhou.

At this time, Lu Jinsuo also got the news that the Jin army had sent troops to Xingzhou, and he was a little uneasy in his heart, so he didn't dare to continue south, stopping in Xiangcheng County, and he also sent spies south to Longgang County to inquire about the news of the Jin army.

Lu Jinsuo is about forty years old, and he is also a veteran of the Youzhou army, following Zhu Tao for many years, and has won Zhu Tao's trust, this time Zhu Tao ordered him to occupy Zhaozhou and Xingzhou is also a temptation, so the troops invested are not much, only 10,000 troops were released, if the Jin army attacked Xingzhou and Zhaozhou on a large scale, then they would abandon these two states and concentrate their forces to protect Jizhou.

But the Jin army only sent out 10,000 troops this time, no more, no less, so that Zhu Tao and Lu Jinsuo couldn't figure it out, did the Jin army just want to keep Xingzhou, or did it want to counterattack comprehensively and recapture Xingzhou and Zhaozhou?

"General Lu, I'm biased towards the latter!"

Jia Shu, a strategist with the army, said to Lu Jinsuo: "It seems that the Jin army still wants to concentrate its forces to fight for Jizhou, so they only sent Wu Zhiyuan to lead 10,000 troops north, they obviously want to control Xingzhou and make Xingzhou the outer defense area of Zhaozhou, and if the Jin army wants to seize Xingzhou and Zhao with all its might, it should be Yao Jin who personally leads the army, rather than a subordinate general who will take the main beam." ”

"What about the gentleman's suggestion? What do I do next? ”

Jia Shu groaned and said: "The general's 10,000 troops are a little thin, and it is difficult to divide the troops, so it is better for the general to apply to the prince for another 5,000 reinforcements, and then 10,000 troops will be placed in Xiangcheng and 5,000 troops will be placed in Pingjian, so that there will be depth, otherwise once the general is defeated and retreated, there is no support behind it, and Zhaozhou will definitely not be able to hold it." ”

Lu Jinsuo thought about it, and also felt that it made sense, Pingjian County was empty, and there was no support behind him, which was indeed more dangerous, but his own troops were not enough, and he could no longer divide his troops to defend Pingjian County, so asking the lord for help was the best way.

"Sir is right, I'll send a pigeon letter to my lord!"

.........

The 5,000 infantry led by Gan Xin rode all the way, and the Jin army had a huge number of war horses, which has always been the advantage of the Jin army, and this advantage allows ordinary infantry to get a war horse to travel.

They marched north from the official road in the west, and three days later, the 5,000 troops arrived in Zhipingjian County, Zhaozhou Prefecture.

Generally speaking, the county where the state is located plays an important role in a state, not only where the state's money and food are concentrated, but also as the state's political, military, economic, and commercial center, and the population is often the largest.

Once the state is lost, it basically means that the entire state has fallen, and the state is controlled, and other counties in the state only need a few hundred soldiers to occupy.

The army came to the city, and the assassin Shi Bai Xiu and the long Shi Tao Yeqiu immediately surrendered the city, they were all from the county wang family, Bai Xiu was from the Xingzhou Bai family, and Tao Yeqiu himself was also a wealthy family in Zhaozhou.

Although these county families and wealthy families may not be prominent in the imperial court, they often control the local prefectures and counties, and no matter which feudal town comes to power, they do not dare to act rashly against them, and they have to rely on the family power behind them to rule the locality.

When martial arts flourished more than 20 years ago and literature declined, these families still insisted on running schools and recruited students all over Hebei.

The family did not begin to decline until the Song Dynasty, and the fundamental reason was that the official school flourished, and generations of official students entered the local officialdom, gradually replacing the family's control over the locality.

Chang'an admits 500 people to the Ming Jingke every year, which is also to break the family's control over the bottom of the local officialdom and strengthen the imperial court's control over the local government.

The arrival of the Jin army also made the city of Pingjian County celebrate, especially the hundreds of thousands of people wept with joy, and the Jin army's occupation of Zhaozhou also meant that they could also buy 140 Wen of salt, which meant that they could also be exempted from all kinds of taxes and remove the heavy shackles on their bodies like the people of Zhaozhou.

More than 100,000 people spontaneously went to the streets to sing and dance, celebrating the rebirth of Zhaozhou, and the soldiers of the Jin army also got great glory.

The dozen or so officials who remained in the city were terrified and fled from the city, and several of Lu Jinsuo's henchmen rode to Xiangcheng to report the news.

Lu Jinsuo also received a reply from Zhu Tao two days later, Zhu Tao could not divide his troops to support him, but ordered him to temporarily give up the attack on Xingzhou and hold Zhaozhou, once Zhaozhou was lost, the east gate of Jingcheng would be exposed to the Jin army.

Lu Jinsuo was disappointed in his heart, but he was helpless, Xiangxian County was small and could not hold it, so he could only withdraw to Pingjian County to hold on, just when Lu Jinsuo was about to withdraw his troops and return to Pingjian County, the news that Pingjian County was attacked and lost by the Jin army reached Xiangcheng.