The Mongolian army's response was unusually fast, on the third day of Zhao Liangdong's main force stationed in Jing County, the Mongolian iron cavalry brigade immediately dispatched from the capital city of Daizhou, galloped along the official road in the northwest of Jing County, surrounded from several directions, and accompanied them to act, as well as the "new annexed army" in Daizhou and the local townsmen who had recently surrendered to them, the military discipline of this army was very corrupt, the army crossed the border like locusts, burning, killing and plundering everything, just secretly returned to their hometowns, and the people who tried to spring plough had to abandon their homes again under the drive of the army, Flee in the direction of the Han army.

Although the chief of staff of the Fifth Army, Cui Weiyaga, sent a lot of people to reconnoitre, and at the same time coerced and lured the local gentry to collect information for him, but in fact the effect was not very great, and what was even more troublesome was that the information itself was often contradictory and confusing.

It was in this situation that Major Ni Yicheng arrived in Jing County among the displaced people who fled all the way. He is a senior spy arranged in Shanxi by the Han Dynasty Ordnance and Grain Statistics Yamen, the official worships the governor Lang, and receives the rank of major, because he was born in a traditional Jin merchant family, so Wang Shirong instructed him to sneak into the northwest of Jin Dynasty at a very early age, and opened several small private kilns in Baode and Daizhou, and usually went out to activities under the cover of coal and coke merchants. However, this time, because of the sudden invasion of the Mongol army, many of his previous efforts were in vain due to the collapse of the puppet Qing rule, and the intelligence network that he had painstakingly established before also suffered huge losses, so he was severely reprimanded by Beijing.

His arrival made Zhao Liangdong and Cui Weiya very happy, because the Mongol army has always pursued scorched earth tactics, and it is an all-cavalry, and the troops are mobile and flexible, so the reconnaissance operations of the Han army have little effect, until now, Zhao Liangdong knows almost nothing about the specific situation except for the approximate strength of the Junggar East Route Army. Therefore, as soon as Ni Yicheng entered the city to report, Zhao Liangdong immediately met him in his Chinese army camp.

"Ni Yicheng, the commander of the lowly army, meet Zhao Junmen and Cui Juncheng!" Stepping into the warm barracks, Ni Yicheng looked very embarrassed, because he was mixed with the refugees, his hairpin was gray and covered with mud, he was wearing a tattered short coat, his straw sandals were frozen hard by muddy water, his skin was white and cracked, full of chilblains, and his body also faintly exuded a disgusting smell.

"Excuse me!" Zhao Liangdong put a piece of chopping wood into the fire, smashed it into the warm basin, rubbed his palms and stood up, "It's a donkey day, Major Ni is suffering, come on, come and roast, let's talk slowly!" As soon as he turned around, he instructed his own soldiers, "Go, get some soju, and then find a shirt for Lord Ni!" ”

Ni Yicheng is grateful, although Zhao Liangdong's military rank is only two levels higher than him, but he is the only general in the Han army, and he is a person who can be weighted in front of the lord, such a kind demeanor is indeed heartwarming.

"Lord Ni, don't be polite, our Zhao Junmen has never had a fight," Cui Weiya put down the brush, shook his frozen palm, and laughed self-deprecatingly, "If you push three or four times, then you don't look like our soldiers who eat food!" ”

Ni Yicheng threw a grateful glance at Cui Weiya, sat down sideways, and said to Zhao Liangdong, "The military gate, I am here to repay the military situation of the Tartars!" ”

"Well, this general also happens to have something to ask Master Ni," because he was not in the same system, Zhao Liangdong was very polite to Ni Yicheng, "Major Ni has just come from the north, do you know how the Tartar army is?!" ”

"It's a lot, General Hui, the Eastern Route Army of Junggar has a total of 15,000 or 6,000 cavalry, which is divided into two parts, one is the Hui Hui soldiers of the desert, the main general's surname is Sai, it seems to be called 'Said', with more than 8,000 people, and the other is the newly surrendered Zungar Mongolian Kalkha cavalry, the main general is called 'Smacking Murhara Thorn'......" He clumsily pronounced this syllable, shook his head and smiled, "...... However, we ordinary people call him 'Eight Thorns', he is the main general of the Eastern Route Army, and there are about seven or eight thousand cavalry under his command! ”

"Is there a cannon?!"

"Yes, not much," Ni Yicheng frowned, thought about it carefully, showed a trace of shame on his face, and hugged his fists, "Zhao Junmen forgives the sin, the Tartars see the cannons very closely, and they can't even see the 'new annexed army' that surrendered them, and the brothers of our military commanders can't get close, so they can't find out the specific number, but I haven't heard that there are many of them!" ”

"What about the traitors?! How many are you? How's the combat power?! Cui Weiya stepped down from the case, sat down by the fire, and asked with concern.

"There are a lot of 'new annexed troops' who surrendered to the Tartars, with a total of about 30,000 or 50,000 people," he smiled and waved his hand, "but they are either the original Qing army or the bandits in the mountains, and some are scattered rebels, and the soldiers are either displaced people who are forced to go up the mountains or strong men who have been coerced, and they can't fight!" ”

"There are 350,000 people who can't fight!" Cui Weiya shook his head and said, he didn't quite agree with Ni Yicheng's opinion, "There are too many ants and they bite the elephant to death, so many people are in a bunch of formations, even if you stretch your neck and let us cut it, it's enough to choke!" ”

"Cui Juncheng doesn't know, how long have the Mongols been here? How many traitor soldiers are willing to work for them, the reason why these locks take refuge in them is nothing more than to respond to the scene, relying on their fox and fake tiger power, and a lot of people are just looking for money and food," Ni Yicheng said with a smile, "In the troubled times, soldiers are the capital to settle down, you look at it, if the Tartars really want to force them to fight hard, I don't think we need to go over to fight, this guy will mutiny!" ”

Zhao Liangdong nodded, and muttered, "If I am the main general of the Tartars, I don't dare to call them into battle, these people can only be used to guard the walled city, and they are just to charge food and salary, not the backbone of the main force, without going through the battle, I am afraid that as soon as the cannon sounds, they will flee as soon as the ten stops of people and horses die, and they will run away, and they will not have to mess up their own formation!" ”

Cui Weiya shook his head and said, "My lord doesn't know, I recently tried to read the history books of Yuan and Mongolia, this Mongolian Tartar likes to appoint troops to attack the city, anyway, it's not their capital, and it doesn't hurt to use the arrows and stone cannons to consume the enemy, and it doesn't hurt to die, I'm afraid they will still use this trick?!" ”

"Old Cui Mo wants to be left, this soldier is not a wooden man, is he desperate?" Zhao Liangdong snorted from his nose, "If they are extremely powerful and deterrent their troops, it will be possible, but what kind of thing is this Geerdan?!" Hehe, if he really dares to use this method of warfare, Lao Tzu will set up cannons, and the cavalry will rush for a while, and an edict will be able to pull them over," he sneered, "If the enemy army master will be such a fool, then this battle will be easy and tight, and the Tartars will just wait for death!" ”

Cui Weiya didn't dare to argue, he hung his head silently, Ni Yicheng said with a smile, "The military gate is clear, and the lowly position is also conceived in this way, my Han is in full swing at this time, and he has not tasted a defeat since the founding of the country, and the Jurchen Tartar and Horqin are not opponents, and he Geerdan is actually nothing," he paused, and opened the topic, "The lowly post has been from Dezhou to Jing County these days, and it can be regarded as some gains from many investigations along the way. Since our Han captured Jing County, the Tartars were greatly frightened, at present, the brigade has been assembled from Baode, Daizhou generation, ready to besiege Jing County, according to our military brothers inquired, this time the Tartars in addition to staying in the Daizhou capital city of more than 1,000 people, almost poured out, the horse infantry army is about 46,000 people, including about 15,000 elite iron cavalry, the rest are traitor army, according to our mixed in the new annex army of the internal report, the Tartars seem to be ready to divide the army into three ways: all the way to Jinping, all the way to Tieling, all the way to Ziluo, and then gather in the areas of Dou Village, Dongye, and Taihuai, and then it should be because it is time to besiege Jing County! ”

Zhao Liangdong glanced at Ni Yicheng unexpectedly, he really didn't expect that this person would get such detailed information, and said in disbelief, "Is the news reliable?!" ”

Ni Yicheng shook his head and said honestly, "I don't know - our meticulous work is all small soldiers, and most of what we hear are rumors in the army, I really don't know if it's true or not," he hesitated a little and continued, "But Xizuo said that although they marched all the way, the official road was full of traitor infantry troops, and I never saw the cavalry of the Tartars, and I didn't know where the main force of the Tartars was hiding!" ”

"Tartars are cunning, too!" Cui Weiya sneered, and then arched his hand to Zhao Liangdong, "General, according to the opinion of our subordinates, we should not change to meet all changes, although we strengthen the city, gather food and salary, and then Pegasus will report to the lord, please speed up the march of the follow-up army, as long as our army comes, when Mount Tai is overwhelming, what tricks can the Tartars have?!" ”

Zhao Liangdong pursed his lips, ignored his chief of staff, and said to Ni Yicheng, "Lord Ni, where have those traitor troops gone now, and how long will it take to reach the front line of Dou Village, Dongye, and Taihuai?!" ”

"The lowly post was received yesterday, when they were still more than 100 miles west of Tieling," Ni Yicheng pinched his fingers and pondered for a while, "If they want to get to the Dou Village, it should take two more days!" ……”

Before he finished speaking, there was a sudden sound of footsteps outside the barracks, and a personal soldier knocked lightly on the door of the room and said loudly, "The military gate, the cavalry brigade has an urgent military situation to report!" ”

Zhao Liangdong's face changed, and he hurriedly got up and went out, Cui Weiya and Ni Yicheng looked at each other in amazement, and immediately followed.

"General Qiyu, the Tartars have been killed! ......" The cavalryman looked anxious, his beautiful military uniform was full of dirt and mud, a few rags were wrapped around his head, blood kept seeping down, and half of his face was as if he had been hit by something, and the bruises were swollen like an eggplant, and then he saw Zhao Liangdong's eyes glaring, and his expression was murderous, he hurriedly knelt down and said in a trembling voice, "...... Humble...... The lowly position is the personal soldier of the commander of the third battalion of the cavalry brigade......"

"What's wrong with the cavalry brigade?!" Zhao Liangdong stared at the top of his head and said coldly,

The cavalryman calmed down slightly, and then hugged his fists and said, "General Hui, half an hour ago, the Tartar cavalry suddenly arrived and washed the camp of our third and fourth battalions...... There are many enemy soldiers, and our brigade commander asked me to come to the Chinese army for help! ……”

Zhao Liangdong frowned, gritted his teeth, and ordered loudly, "Blow the trumpet, prepare the horse!" He turned around and sneered at Ni Yicheng, "Lord Ni, you have been fooled!" ”