Under the urging of Li Ye, the full cooperation of the Manchu Dynasty civil and military, coupled with the initial preparations for Zhang Jun, Wei Zhaodu and others' first Northern Expedition, only a month in a week, thousands of mortars, and millions of arrows were sent to the front line, and all the preparations were completed. The structure of these 230,000 horses is very complicated, the most important thing is the Shence army, the original left and right two roads Shence army has 60,000, Li Ye made a special trip from Luoyang and accompanied the capital Chang'an to transfer 50,000 Shence army, a total of 110,000, as the capital of Luoyang is already an empty city at this moment, followed by 80,000 soldiers and horses in Hedong, by the Hedong Jiedu, the commander of the Xiaojin King Li Cunqing, Li Maozhen, Luo Hou, Fang Wenchong's local feudal army Although the first Northern Expedition suffered nearly 100,000 casualties in Zhenzhou, the rest is only 30,000 people, But it is also a considerable combat power, and in the end, there are 30,000 soldiers and horses in Jingnan, although the combat effectiveness is not high, but it can also make a lot of effort in logistics support.

As soon as the entire war machine of the Tang Dynasty was put into operation, it was like spending money like flowing water, and the idea of the three armies was established, so they summoned the ministers to discuss it properly, the geography of the sixteen states of Youyun, Youyun, Ji, Ying, Mo, Zhuo, Chu, and Shun were located in the southeast of the northern branch of Taihang, and the rest of the nine states were in the northwest of the mountain. Duan Mingyu's idea is to wave his army north, take Youzhou directly, and capture this point, so that he can expand to the two wings, connect with the Jurchens in the east, and then connect with the Jurchens and other ethnic minorities to form a jaw that swallows the Khitan.

When the Khitan Dynasty Wenchen learned that the Tang State had raised a large army to the Northern Expedition, he couldn't help but be shocked, and the news was rushed to the palace. Yelu Abaoji couldn't help but be furious when he heard the news.

Emperor Yelu Abaoji, the younger brother of the Khitan Emperor, immediately convened the civil and military forces to discuss countermeasures, and the civil and military officials discussed in the palace for half a day. One after another, the edicts of requisitioning and cutting grain, soldiers and horses flew out of the capital. Shangjing is the Kyoto of the Khitan Kingdom, but Youzhou is also another administrative center, which is the same existence as the capital, because Youzhou City is located in the center of Yandi and is the core of the entire Yandi, so the Khitan State attaches great importance to it, so the Khitan State also calls Youzhou Yanjing, and Shangjing is called Khitan Erjing.

Khitan Emperor Yelu Abaoji ordered the whole country to quickly gather troops to guard against the Northern Expedition of the Tang Dynasty, a heavy army to consolidate An, Zhuozhou, and ordered the king of the North Courtyard Yelu Asong and others to lead troops to defend Yandi, and the Khitan Han soldiers stationed in Youzhou had Shenwu, Control Crane, Yulin, Xiaowu and other armies to be transferred to the command of the King of the North Courtyard; There are also Khitan, Nine Women, Xi, and the clan tent armies of the North and South Leather Rooms, all of which are used. At the same time, troops and horses were mobilized from Shangjing non-stop, and the total number of troops was expected to reach 250,000.

In such a military arrangement, the war of mouths is also to be fought, and Yandi Han'er, who served the Khitan State, also issued a crusade against the text, which is nothing more than the Tang State invading the territory of the Khitan State for no reason and raising an unrighteous army......

At the end of August, the scorching sun was like fire, Duan Mingyu, the king of Zhao of the Tang Dynasty, led the elite Shence army forbidden army from Zhenzhou, arrived at Jinrutun six days later, recruited hundreds of people who were familiar with the Khitan terrain as guides, and arrived in Dongyi Prefecture for the second time, crossed the Juma River, and brazenly entered the Khitan territory, because the late Tang Dynasty after the defeat of several generations of monarchs, the strength was not as good as the early Tang Dynasty and the middle Tang Dynasty, the foundation was thin, after the first Northern Expedition defeat, 100,000 troops were burned, so it was not enough to support a long-term war, in fact, the Northern Expedition in August was already a strategic mistakeBecause soon, the weather will turn cold, the river will freeze, the transportation of military funds is inconvenient, and the Han people are not tolerant of severe cold, the weather factor is relatively large, it is precisely because of this, this war can not withstand consumption, there is only a chance to buy and sell a hammer, once the Tang Dynasty is mired in the quagmire of war, then the consequences will be self-evident, but fortunately, because the Tang Dynasty has a thin foundation, it cannot withstand consumption, so the generals are not ready to fight a long-term war, in general, it is four words: quick victory.

In terms of individual soldiers, the Tang State, whether it is the Shence Army, the Forbidden Army or the local feudal army, is well-equipped and well-trained, while the Khitan is a strong man and a natural warrior, and both sides have their own advantages.

The Khitan army is dominated by cavalry, with strong mobility, but the initiative of this war is not in their hands, the Khitan state has gradually learned to transition from a nomadic civilization society to a feudal civilization society for several years, in fact, in the Wu Zetian period, the Khitan people gradually began to reflect on the feasibility and long-term adaptability of the nomadic society.

Since Wu Zetian's time, the Khitan State began to try to break away from the high-pressure rule of the Tang Dynasty, and made unremitting efforts to achieve this, and also achieved a series of large victories, but they gradually discovered that although the nomads have relatively high combat effectiveness, they are basically all soldiers, and it is easier to achieve victory, but in the early Tang Dynasty and the middle Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty was extremely prosperous, and the foundation was thick, and it could come again after a defeat, but the nomads were not good, once they failed once, it was a devastating blow.

Therefore, in the late period of Wu Zetian, the Khitans began to build their own cities, and they continued to invade southward, and captured the city by plundering, after the death of Liu Rengong by Lu Longjiedu, his sons Liu Shouwen and Liu Shouguang fought for the position of King Yan, and gave the Khitan an opportunity, and later the Emperor Zhu Wen of Liang State offered the land, so that the Khitans obtained the sixteen states of Youyun at a very small price, and had a large number of cities and settled city people, and the city had to be defended, and the Tang Army's northern expedition was to force it to abandon the long and short, In terms of city attack and defense and positional attack and defense, the power of cavalry cannot be waved at all, and in terms of infantry combat power, who can plunder the Tang people's soldiers in the whole world?

It is Duan Mingyu to enter the territory of the Khitan country, all the way to attack the city and pull out the village, the momentum is like a bamboo, the Khitan Yizhou assassin Liu Fang, Zhuozhou judge Fan Weiqi saw that the Song army was strong, and suddenly had no will to fight, and successively offered Yizhou and Zhuozhou to Tang, which boosted the morale of the Tang army, Duan Mingyu surrendered the Khitan army on the one hand, incorporated it into his own team, and continued to march north, without stopping, ten days later, he arrived at Youzhou City, stationed in the ** temple in the south of Youzhou City......

The Tang army had a full army of 300,000 troops, and it took only ten days to arrive at the city of Youzhou, and two large cities were conquered in the middle. Such a march was simply appalling in that era, and when the news reached the Tang Kingdom, everyone in the streets and alleys cheered, as if victory was within reach. No one expected that the ten-strong Khitan people would be such a paper tiger.