Before the onset of winter, there was a light rain on the Jinzhou side. The rain was dripping, but the ground was wet, and when people and horses stepped on it, it was all muddy.

On the main road, groups of people rushed to the construction site of Jinzhou City, all of them were men, carrying hats or straw hats, carrying hoes and other tools, and carrying packages.

Gao Yanyu rode up to the people and asked them to ask what the people were doing here.

Someone in the crowd shouted, "We have brought our own rations and come to repair the city!" The general left us alone. ”

"The imperial court has not forgotten Hebei, and it has marched north twice a year. The villagers are looking forward to the arrival of Master Wang, how can they not exert their strength......"

Gao Yanyu was greatly moved when he heard this, stepped forward, jumped off the horse and hugged his fists and bowed: "Yandi righteous people are well aware of righteousness, please accept the general's worship!" He said loudly, "The general is Gao Yanyu of Shu, and the soldiers are all Shu people, and when they hear that the people of Hebei are deeply harmed by the Liao people, they dare not expel the Hu people from the conquest?" I'm waiting for ...... from thousands of miles away."

At this moment, a military general stepped forward, bowed his head and whispered in Gao Yanyan's ear: "Your Majesty has come to Jinzhou to inspect." ”

Gao Yanyan immediately turned his head and asked, "Where are you?" ”

The military general said: "It's almost there." ”

Gao Yanyu immediately beckoned Hou Mao, the general of the department, to come over and said, "You come to appease the people who took the initiative to come, but you have to register when you enter the camp." These people usually do not come alone, but are in the same group of villagers, asking their fellow villagers to confirm their identities. ”

Hou Mao hugged his fists and said: "The last general understands." ”

Gao Yanyu immediately led people to greet the emperor.

…… Guo Shao met Gao Yanyu's men and horses on the post road, and a group of people dismounted one after another, bent down and clasped their fists and saluted: "Welcome Your Majesty!" ”

"No courtesy." Guo Shaodao.

Gao Yanyu said quietly: "It's raining and it's cold, and the last general will ask Your Majesty to rest the dragon body." ”

Guo Shao nodded and coped. He rode on a horse in armor and had no cover on his head. Although the rain was very light, it soaked through the armor and clothes for a long time, and the helmet and plate armor were covered with water droplets, and the water droplets condensed under the brim of the hat dripped down on the face from time to time, which was very cool.

Guo Shao's face was not very good, and he said very little, only said: "Take me to see the fortifications of the city." ”

His timbre is very low, but his words are thicker, and he sounds steady.

"Whoa." Gao Yanyan clenched his fists in agreement, turned around and got on the horse.

The group slowly rode towards a construction site on the riverbank, and the black horse under Guo Shao's seat shook its head and threw the water droplets into the air. The ground was muddy, and the horses seemed to be dissatisfied.

Gao Yanyu pointed to the people in front of him and explained the reason for their origins.

Guo Shao praised after hearing this, and said: "You also have to beware of spies getting mixed in." ”

Gao Yanyu said: "The last general has been on guard. ”

A group of people circled the city, the perimeter of the built city wall was not long, many people were carrying soil in the rain, and some people carried wooden rafts on the earthen wall and shouted to exert force.

Then the people came to a hillside with higher terrain. An official of the Ministry of Works dismounted and came to Guo Shaoma and presented a set of drawings: "Your Majesty saw that the city wall is very small, this is a temporary fortification, and it is all subject to the arrangement of the military government. ”

Guo Shao took the picture and looked at the construction site in front of him.

In fact, it is not a city wall that is being built now, but an earthen wall, and then a moat, which is only a temporary fortification. Because winter was approaching, it was more difficult and there was not enough time to build the walls...... The Liao army may take the initiative to attack in winter, and the current preparations are for winter defense; There was a place to stand and hoard grain, grass and soldiers.

When they have gained a firm foothold, they will rebuild the fortifications again. An administrative structure has been set up, and sooner or later the city of Jinju will be built.

Guo Shao looked back and said: "The earthen wall fortifications must be built quickly, and General Gao will definitely send more scouts to inspect the surroundings." You are the farthest away from Zhuozhou here, and if Yelu Xiuge comes to attack him, most of them will choose Jinzhou as the target. ”

Gao Yanyu and the others hurriedly bowed and said, "The ministers must obey the holy decree. ”

Guo Shaoyao pointed to the distance in the drizzle, and said: "When the main city fortifications are built, the township army will reinforce Jinzhou and build a fortress around the city in the northeast, with staggered two-layer deployment, as an early warning and peripheral offensive and defensive fulcrum; The main force of the Jiannan Army sits in the center to defend the granary. There is also the rear forbidden army with elite cavalry as support, which can protect the safety of Jinzhou. ”

Everyone echoed it, saying that the emperor was strategizing.

"Drive!" Guo Shao kicked the horse's belly lightly and rushed down the hillside, and everyone followed one after another when they saw this.

Guo Shao entered the fortification area to inspect it, and he looked very carefully, even asking about toilets and drains. There are also food, winter clothes, shelter for sergeants and people, and so on. He went to a straw shed kitchen, picked up a piece of wheat cake from a bamboo basket, tore a piece and tasted it.

Gao Yanyu hurriedly found a wooden bench and asked Guo Shao to sit down, so the emperor was in a grass hut, holding a wheat cake in one hand and a branch in the other, and painted on the mud floor while telling the tactics designed by the military government.

The generals gathered around and listened, and from time to time they talked a few words.

At this moment, I heard someone outside say, "Your Majesty is inside the house." ”

The veteran Qin Shi walked in with a herald, and the herald presented a report with both hands. Guo Shao put the wheat cake on the board, picked up the newspaper and looked at it, and said: "Youzhou got the news that the Southern Court of Liaoguo has been replaced, and Xiao Siwen has been reinstated and took over as the king of the Southern Courtyard. ”

All the generals shouted: "Xiao Siwen is a defeated general under His Majesty!" "This guy is not His Majesty's opponent......"

Guo Shao was noncommittal. In the Northern Expedition of the first emperor that year, Guo Shao did defeat Xiao Siwen in Zhuozhou; But when he attacked Youzhou at the beginning of this year, he found that Xiao Siwen was very good at collecting information, deploying city defenses in a targeted manner, and it was effective.

Guo Shao did not discourage everyone's confidence, so they despised Xiao Siwen; But I don't despise this person in my heart. Guo Shao has never met Xiao Siwen, but from the two contacts on the battle array, it seems that Xiao Siwen is not as good as the famous generals of the Liao State, and he lacks the sense of smell and experience in specific battlefields, but his grasp of the overall situation is not comparable to that of ordinary generals, and he is more open-minded, and can learn to change strategies very quickly...... I heard that the Liao royal family only married the Xiao family, and the Xiao family was the designated prime minister's family, so it is no wonder that the strategy is better than that of other Khitans.

After receiving the report, Guo Shao continued to inspect the place as if nothing had happened.

In a few days, he led the cavalry to walk back and forth along the line of the Juma River, focusing on the construction of the fortifications of the two cities. At the beginning of October, he returned to Zhuozhou City, where the forbidden army was stationed.

After entering Zhuozhou City, by chance, Guo Shao recognized the house of the "Lu Shen Doctor" back then, and the small courtyard actually survived and is still there. When Guo Shao was still a military general, he was in this courtyard for all countries.

He looked sideways and saw that there were clothes drying in the courtyard wall, which should be inhabited...... But it's definitely not from the Lu family, Doctor Lu is deceased, and Lu Lan is now in Tokyo.

Things are not people, Guo Shao suddenly had a sense of emotion for a while, and passed by this place silently. He remembered what Lu Lan begged him for, and sure enough, Xiao Siwen came to Youzhou, but he didn't know if he had brought his family.

After running around on the muddy and difficult road in the wind and rain for several days, Guo Shao went straight back to the palace.

Zhuozhou is far away from the cities of the Central Plains and Jiangnan, but you can always find a better house as a palace. Guo Shao bathed and changed clothes, and stopped when he arrived in the bedroom.

It was still raining lightly outside, Guo Shao thought of those construction sites, and couldn't help but curse in a low voice: "Ghost weather!" ”

The inner house was very quiet, and from a distance, some guards in armor and swords could be seen walking slowly under the eaves, and they worked in pairs, silently observing the movements around them.

Near the bedroom, there were only eunuch Wang Zhong and veteran Qin Shishi.

Guo Shao didn't take Jingniang on the expedition and had been abstinent for a long time, but he was still calm at the moment, he couldn't do anything else, and he paced back and forth for a while or walked to the map to ponder military affairs.

"Compared with Yelu Hugh, Xiao Siwen tends to be more conservative." Guo Shao said as if talking to himself.

Wang Zhong duly chimed in: "What Your Majesty said is extremely true. ”

Guo Shao glanced at him, lowered his head and pondered for a long time, and an intuition came to his heart: the Liao army will launch a large-scale counterattack in winter!

Many times, Guo Shao relies on intuition, just as the accuracy of archery relies on feeling. It is a delicate thing, and judgment has little reason to believe in its reliability...... But his mood has not been good lately, and he has caught this intuition from the darkness, but he can't be confident.

Perhaps, it can be inferred that if the Liao army wants to attack and harass with light cavalry, Yelu Hugo is better to use troops than Xiao Siwen; And at this time, Xiao Siwen was suddenly replaced, maybe he was accumulating some big moves!

Guo Shao raised his head and looked out the window, and the extremely low sound of drizzle made the surroundings seem more peaceful...... It's like dead silence.

Yes, the Great Zhou Army on the northern line of the Juma River has been moving very much for a while, but the Liao Army is really quiet! It was so quiet that people didn't believe that the Liao people would sit idly by.

The calm before the storm.

Guo Shao looked at Qin Shishi: "The people of Bing Cao Si are contacted by you, and you have to let me know immediately if you have any news." ”

Qin Shi hurriedly said: "The last general obeyed the order and put a few brothers in the Yizhou branch of the Bingcao Division, and I will soon know what is going on." ”

Guo Shao said again: "There may be news from Shangjing recently. ”

Qin Shi didn't know why, and looked at Guo Shao with some awe...... Several times Guo Shao foresaw small things, and Qin Shi found that he was very accurate, but Qin Shi couldn't figure out how the emperor knew.

If the Liao State wants to mobilize a large army to the south in winter, it may now start to gather troops in various places, and this kind of mobilization is very large, as long as people in Beijing can see some signs with their eyes.

Guo Shao was thinking about everything in his mind, tired and tired for a few days but sleepy, and his spirit was always in a state of tension and excitement. He was a little worried, worried that something would go wrong; I look forward to it, every time I have a fight, I can make the whole layout take a step forward! So he seemed a little impatient, hoping to see the upcoming results soon.

He took a long breath and came back to his senses, his surroundings were calm and quiet, and time was still passing slowly bit by bit, calmly, which was destined to be a long process.