Guo Shao received a military order from the Privy Council, said goodbye to his family, and led the army out of Beijing.

He was very considerate of his subordinates, and after letting everyone share the spoils, he arranged the positions of the generals in the name of the commander of the Xiangdu. Some of the higher positions are temporary, and they have been written into a report and sent to the Tokyo Pro-Army Guards Division and the Infantry Military Division; However, Ma Budu, the commander of the Guard Division, and Wei Renpu, the privy envoy of the Privy Council, were both in Huainan, so no one would approve it, so they had to copy another copy to Li Chongjin first after they arrived in Huainan.

The Ma Jun Division and the Infantry Army Division of the Guard Division are in charge of the Long Jie Army and the Tiger Jie Army respectively. However, the Ma Jun Division and the Infantry Army Division are just titles, because the Longjie Army and the Hujie Army all have cavalry and infantry troops, and the cavalry of the Longjie Army is more powerful.

The proposed book takes Li Chuyun as the commander of the first army, and Luo Yanhuan as the capital Yuhou; The former Second Army was Du Yu Hou Wang Zhang as the commander of the capital (helped Guo Shao win the key battle in Tangcang Town), Yang Biao was the capital Yu Hou, and Luo Mengzi was the commander of the personal soldiers. Because of the death and serious injury of some middle and low-level generals, other meritorious soldiers have been promoted; The commander of the following Guo Shao was directly appointed...... The right way is that everyone has money, but the key positions with military power, Guo Shao silently gave all of them to his cronies. Wang Zhang of the Second Army also said that there was no one above and was willing to surrender.

More than ten days later, the troops reached the north bank of the Huai River, and then Guo Shao arranged for the troops to cross the river from the pontoon bridge on the river in batches.

It's just July, and it's still so hot. Guo Shao stood on the edge of the Huai River and looked around, the endless wilderness, the field is verdant and green, the sky is blue and the river water is clear, the Huainan Plain is really a good place in this era, which is conducive to farming and convenient transportation. It is completely different from what I saw and heard in the ravine of the Qinling Mountains at the beginning of the year...... It is no wonder that the Great Zhou Emperor and the Southern Tang Emperor fought to the death, and the two sides did not hesitate to invest the whole country to compete for this land here.

The place where the pontoon bridge was built was no longer in Zhengyang, west of Shouzhou (present-day Shou County), but in Xiacai Town (today's Anwei Fengtai County) in the north of Shouzhou...... On the main road into this area, there is a very tall and spacious archway, on the book "Xia Cai", I really don't want to know the name of the place. I heard that the pontoon bridge of the Zhou army was in Zhengyang, and it is unknown how it was moved to Xia Cai, perhaps the emperor thought that the cities in the upper reaches of the Huai River had not been captured, and the terrain was too wide and easy to be attacked by **?

The place of these pontoon bridges in Xia Cai is a bit exquisite, and the curvature of Huaishui here is very large, forming a "convex" upper shape, and Xia Cai is at the top of the "convex word". The north side of the river is open, and after crossing the river, it is limited by the river and is relatively narrow and long.

Guo Shao led the army to cross the Huaishui safely and soundly, and both sides of the Huaishui in Xia Cai were all controlled and garrisoned by the Zhou army, which was very peaceful.

But just after Huaishui, Guo Shao's right eyelid jumped inexplicably...... Humanity's right eye jumped into the disaster, and when he thought about it, he felt uneasy in his heart, and he had a faint bad feeling. Since the Taoist priest's elixir cured the queen's illness, and in connection with Mai Taoist's words about fate, Rao is Guo Shao has received a lot of modern education, and he can't help but become more and more superstitious. He always felt that these mysterious things were indescribable.

With a faint feeling of unease, Guo Shao led his troops to the south along this Huaishui, walked along the main road, and arrived at the bank of a river in the afternoon, and there was a stone arch bridge on the river. This river flows from Chaohu Lake in the south to Huaishui, and it is called Huaishui, which seems to be the place of the battle of Huaishui. Nowadays, compared with Huaishui, the river surface is relatively narrow, and in some places the water is shallow, I am afraid that you can cross the river by wading on foot. However, it is convenient to cross the bridge with a bridge.

The men and horses are endless, and the soldiers in front march in order, and the sound of "Ka, Ka, Ka, Ka......" is very similar to the rhythm of a modern army walking in unison.

Guo Shao looked up, and the stone arch bridge in front of him was a little unsolid, and remembered the resonance phenomenon, so he ordered all the troops to disrupt the queue and walk across the bridge indiscriminately.

…… Unexpectedly, at this moment, Guo Shao just crossed the bridge, and saw a civil official with a few horses watching by the roadside, and the official saw that Guo Shao's army was in a mess and was sighing. Guo Shao smiled and stepped forward to greet him, greeting him, and when he asked, he realized that it was Dou Yi, a bachelor from Hanlin. Someone who doesn't know you at all. But when Dou Yi introduced others, there was a person named Zhao Pu with him, which made Guo Shao feel as if he had heard of it somewhere...... But Zhao Pu seemed to be an unknown person, and he didn't even introduce his official position, Guo Shao felt a little surprised in his heart, but suddenly he didn't remember what was going on.

Guo Shao saw Dou Yi sighing just now, so he explained: "Walking too neatly, it is possible to collapse the bridge and cause useless casualties." ”

Dou Yi was stunned. Guo Shao couldn't argue, and he didn't know how to tell this bachelor of Hanlin Academy, so he had to give up, but sighed secretly: It's too terrible for a bachelor to be uneducated.

Guo Shao then said goodbye to Dou Yi, at this time the noise in the south could already be heard, Guo Shao looked into the distance, and saw the smoky Shouzhou City Tower in the depths of the field. In addition to all kinds of noise, there are faint shouts of people.

Entering the battlefield so quickly, the battle line of the Zhou army is really long, I heard that the vanguard has captured Chuzhou City, not far from the Yangtze River, and the Huai River is still fighting.

At this moment, Guo Shao met another official, a man in his fifties. Like Dou Yi, he was wearing an official uniform and standing on the side of the road looking at the marching army. This person has long and narrow eyes, not plump inks, full cheeks, a beard, and a tall figure.

Guo Shao rode his horse to the side of the road, and the man looked at him with a smile. Guo Shao looked at it, slapped his forehead, and said with a smile: "Prime Minister Li!" ”

It turned out to be Li Gu, and Guo Shao felt familiar...... Before that, he had only seen Li Gu once in his life, and it was on the way from Gaoping to Jinyang last year that Li Gu also rewarded Guo Shao with more than 20 horses.

"Haha!" Li Gu laughed, "Guo Du has a good memory, one side of the relationship, after more than a year, you still remember the old man." But the old man is not the prime minister now. ”

Guo Shao thought that when he arrived in Huainan, the first acquaintance he was most likely to meet was Wang Pu, but it was this unfamiliar Li Gu, who didn't expect it at all. Suddenly met someone he knew, Guo Shao was also more happy, and blurted out: "Haha, I'm a person, it's easy to forget who treats me badly; Who has been kind to me, but always remembers it clearly! Last year, Gong Li rewarded me with more than 20 military horses, which was a lot for me at that time, how can I not remember? ”

"Good! Good! Li Gu smiled, and looked at Guo Shao's eyes a little more interesting. Probably because he blurted out the crooked reasoning of good and bad.

Li Gu sighed again: "I have really risen quickly through military merits, and I haven't seen you for more than a year, so I really want to be impressed by the soldiers for three days." ”

"Where, where." Guo Shao pretended to be modest and said, "What important position does Gong Li occupy now?" ”

Li Gu said: "Judge the affairs of Shouzhou Prefecture." Now I mainly supply military rations and prepare ordnance for the Shouzhou departments; They will also send people to the nearby places to pacify the people, so that the people can do their jobs. I don't lead troops anymore, but these things are also very tricky, the soldiers are arrogant, and sometimes they kill innocents indiscriminately, and they are repeatedly prohibited. ”

Guo Shao hurriedly said: "I will definitely restrain my subordinates and prohibit them from burning, killing and looting, so as not to cause chaos to Duke Li." He said in his heart: If the money can be divided among the robbers, what else do you have to do to rob?

Li Gu suddenly looked very relieved to Guo Shao, and said in a deep voice: "The official family blamed me for delaying the fighter plane and almost being convicted. ”

Guo Shao didn't think much about it, and said directly: "I have also heard about Zhengyang, Li Gong is a steady and cautious person, so he takes every step of the way; And the officials are eager to win...... It's just a different idea, I don't think Li Gong did anything wrong. ”

"That's it." Li Gu touched his beard and agreed.

Li Gu said again: "By the way, the garrison barracks for the new soldiers and horses are also arranged by me, so I am waiting for Guo Du's envoy here." I am now with you, the barracks have been fenced, and the camp includes a small requisitioned village, in which the Chinese army can be located, and there are many houses to live in, which is much better than living in tents. ”

Guo Shao hurriedly thanked: "That's really a good place, thank you for taking care of it." ”

"Haha, it should be." Li Gu said with a smile.

The group followed the army closer to Shouzhou City and came to the west of the city. Guo Shao observed all the way, the terrain of this Shouzhou city is actually not so treacherous: although it is claimed to hold the Huai River, it is not on the edge of the Huai River, and there is still a very vast flat area from the Huai River in the northwest, and there are even many rice fields in the middle. The north of the city is close to the river of Chaohu Lake flowing to Huaishui, and there is a water gate in the north, and the three sides are relatively flat places; The terrain is not dangerous to be attacked on three sides and threatened by water on the other.

However, the walls of Shouzhou look very tall and have a very wide moat, so it should have taken a lot of effort to build the city.

Getting closer, Guo Shao saw countless siege equipment set up outside the city wall, the moats in several places were filled, some cloud ladders were erected on the city wall, and people with fire on their bodies continued to fall, black smoke billowed outside the city, stones and arrows flew in the air, and countless people were surrounded on three sides. The noise and shouting make people's ears "buzz". On the road far from the city wall of Shouzhou, a succession of people carried the miserable wounded soldiers to this side, and the flow of people on the road was like a tide.

At this moment, Guo Shao's scalp suddenly felt numb, and he said in his heart: I hope you don't let me go to attack the city, this is a bad fact, it's too miserable.

Thinking about it, the first army and the second army of the left wing of the Hujie army are the two field elite soldiers who can fight in the left wing, and they should not be driven up to climb the wall, otherwise it will be too wasteful. Thinking of this, Guo Shao's heart was a little relieved.

Guo Shao invited Li Gu to the barracks again. Unexpectedly, Li Gu said: "I will send food and prepare ordnance for you in the future, and there are many opportunities to come and go." Now Guo Du made it better to hurry to the camp of the Chinese army to meet the official's house,......" Li Gu said in a low voice, "I just heard that there is a secret report, and there is no garrison in the Eastern Capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty (Yangzhou). It is estimated that the official family will personally rush to Chuzhou to deploy a new campaign in the near future, and if you don't go to meet again, you won't even be able to see the official family when you come to Huainan. ”

"Thank you Gong Li for reminding me." Guo Shao didn't stay, quickly asked for the place he understood, and went to the Chinese army camp.

When I entered the camp gate, I met Wang Pu and was gently reminded: The official family wants you to attack Shouzhou City.

Guo Shao's face suddenly darkened, and he said in his heart: I'll go!