The snow was dazzling, the water had long been frozen, and dozens of infantry marched on the vast snowfield, and the column was short, and the road was very smooth. The soldiers came from Bazhou across the Juma River, and although the weather was cold, they could still sweat on foot.

Wang Zhang saw a large number of people coming from the north, and the black clouds on the snow were very conspicuous. He rode his horse and kept his pace still, just watching...... At this time, what appeared in the north should be 30,000 horseback infantry troops from Gu'an County.

Sure enough, after a while, scouts came to report: "Yuan Jiangjun has arrived with his men!" ”

Wang Zhang let out a long breath.

After a long time, the two armies of the north and south gradually moved closer. A squad of horsemen came over with a flag, and Wang Zhang also led his generals to meet them. When the two teams met, Wang Zhang had already recognized Yuan Yan's face.

The two of them are both generals in front of the palace, but they just know each other. I don't usually know each other very well, and my friendship is not good.

But at this moment, Wang Zhang suddenly had a sense of intimacy with Yuan Yan, and seeing that Yuan Yan's face was excited, I am afraid it was about the same. The two of them saluted on their horses and looked at each other, "General Wang!" "Meet General Yuan!"

Wang Zhang said: "At this meeting, we will have 45,000 people!" ”

Yuan Yan pretended to be calm, and pointed to the white land in the northwest: "General Yang (Yang Biao) still has more than 20,000 elite horsemen not far away, and there are nearly 70,000 people on our side!" ”

The two of them gave up again, everything was in plain sight, nearly 70,000 elite soldiers were together, and their confidence was much more sufficient.

The two armies converged into one large army, and Yuan Yanbu distributed some of the cavalry deployed mounts to Wang Zhang, but there were still not enough horses, but these horses did not have to fight, and some rode in pairs. The army turned around and marched north together.

Yuan Yan said: "Bazhou is only seventy-five miles away from Gu'an City, and now there are only a few dozen miles left, so let's rush to Gu'an non-stop and live in peace." ”

Wang Zhang pretended to be relaxed and said: "When we arrive in Gu'an, let's get a sheep to roast." ”

Yuan Yan smiled: "There must be wine!" ”

Wang Zhang looked around, the white plain was like the sea, just a few dozen miles away, and he was still a little uneasy in his heart.

The weather was fine, there was no more snow, and the horseshoe footprints left by Yuan Yanbu when he came on the snow were still there, as if it was a road in the vast sky.

That night, the main force of the infantry rode to Gu'an and entered the city. The mobilization was very smooth, and the infantry rode horses to a certain effect; Even if the Liao army knew about the movement of the Zhou army, everyone could only ride a few dozen miles on horseback, and the Liao army would not be able to catch up with the temporary dispatch.

But the next day, on the way west from Gu'an to Zhuozhou, the army encountered a situation. The main force of the Liao army is just north of Zhuozhou, and the threat to this road is too close!

Yuan Yan asked the cavalry generals who came to report the situation urgently: "Does Li Dianjian have a military order?" ”

The military general said: "The last general is the person sent by General Yang (Yang Biao) to warn Yuan Jiangjun, and he doesn't know Li Dian's military order!" ”

Wang Zhang, who was on the side, reminded: "If the cavalry infantry does not run away, it will be vulnerable against the Liao cavalry, General Yang suffered a big loss at the beginning of the year, and Luo Mengzi died in that battle." ”

Yuan Yan immediately said: "Order the whole army to display the phalanx smoothly according to the pre-arrangement!" ”

"Order!"

The drums in the army rang loudly, and the trumpets began to whimper. A group of heralds, scattered to the various departments, immediately shouted in a hurry: "There is an enemy! The Chinese military order, the whole army will form a formation according to the strategy! ”

A large number of people and horses moved to the middle, and there were many noisy people, but each was in order and very fast! After all, he is an elite soldier in a hundred battles, and everyone from generals to pawns is very familiar with the battle formation.

Not long after, another military official with the army found the banner of the Chinese army with a letter and sent a letter from Yang Biao: Yang Biao's cavalry is about to move to the east, and it is located on the right flank of the infantry army and is waiting for an opportunity; Yang Biao quickly sent a message to Zhuozhou, suggesting that Li Chuyun's troops leave Zhuozhou and protect the infantry army to fight the left flank.

After a long time, the sun was still in the eastern sky, and the black clouds formed by countless people and horses in the north gradually swallowed the white on the field, and the momentum was very huge!

The infantry of the Zhou army wore armor and was reshaped, and all units were lined up in a tight phalanx, waiting in place.

Although the large-scale confrontation was expected, it came very suddenly!

The Liao army stopped about a mile away, and could see the outlines of their banners and men and horses from a distance. The two armies looked at each other from a distance, and small groups of horsemen ran back and forth in the open space in the middle, and they could see clearly the movements of those on horseback pulling their bows, and there was already a clash of them.

At this time, a large group of horses in the center of the Liao army rushed out of the large array, and quickly dispersed and drove away the scouts of the Zhou army in front. The horsemen approached within two hundred paces, and the divine arm hands in front of the Zhou army's various formations had already drawn arrows from the quiver!

However, the Liao army did not come forward, but only wandered slowly not far away.

The tense and urgent situation suddenly became deadlocked...... It was like a galloping horse, and the wind howled like a sharp arrow, but it was suddenly strangled in place.

…… The Liao army dispatched a large number of main forces, and even the Liao Emperor Yelu Jing rode to the front of the army!

"If we hadn't caught the Zhou army here, they would have been able to gather heavy troops under our noses." Xiao Siwen said in a deep voice, "The forbidden infantry of the Zhou army marched on horseback!" ”

Yelu Hugo observed the deployment of the Zhou army and said: "It is not appropriate to attack at this time, and the infantry of the Zhou army is not soft persimmons after the formation. ”

Emperor Liao frowned and looked at the huge scene of people and horses, without saying a word.

Yelu Huge's previous strategy was to lure the Zhou infantry to come to the decisive battle, and then attack those reinforcements with maneuver in the middle of the road, but now that the Zhou army's nearly 100,000 foot cavalry have been mobilized to this area, the strategy seems to have failed. Yelu Hugo immediately said: "You can line up to confront each other without fighting, wait for their troops and horses to move, and the big formation will waver, and then use iron horses to find an opportunity to break the formation!" ”

"That can only wait." Although Yelujing's temper was dry, he was also calm at this time, after all, neither of the two warring countries could afford the consequences of a big defeat.

Yelu Huge said: "Whether to fight or not is our final say, we will fight if we have the opportunity, and if we don't have the opportunity, we will withdraw our troops from Zhuozhou and attack Jinzhou in the east." led the Zhou army to the east and re-searched for fighters. ”

Xiao Siwen said: "Zhuozhou is close to Youzhou, and Daliao can transfer siege weapons and infantry from Youzhou to attack the city; If you go to Jinzhou again, it will be far away, and it will take a lot of time to carry the baggage in the past. ”

Jerushuge said: "The fortress is low, and it can be taken without siege equipment; Give Xi Bing and the Jurchens some war horses and let them ride them to Jinzhou. Let's go around grabbing some men to fill in the ditch! ”

Xiao Siwen frowned and said: "If you fight like this, even if you hold Youzhou, it will be more difficult to govern Youzhou in the future......

Yelu Hugo said disapprerovingly: "Fear and awe can make Han'er obey even more!" ”

Anyway, this battle can't be fought right now. In the battle array, the Liao army and horses were slightly superior, and the same number of cavalry was also more powerful than the infantry; But the cost of cavalry and the consumption of peace are much greater than that of infantry, and the Liao army is willing to fight with the infantry of the Zhou army on a large scale only after it has been overwhelmed!

Moreover, the deployment of the Zhou army is difficult to attack at present, and there are large groups of elite cavalry on the left and right flanks to shelter it, making it difficult to outflank the infantry.

But the Zhou army did not dare to come up easily, its infantry could not catch up, and if they ran fast, the phalanx would be scattered; The cavalry was not enough to defeat the main force of the Liao army alone.

For a while, the battle situation was temporarily stalemate.

……

In the Bazhou Palace, there are only 5,000 infantry left in the forbidden army around Guo Shao, and all the strength is staked. The pressure after hearing about it can be imagined.

But Guo Shao didn't act rashly, no matter how anxious he was, he could only endure it. At this time, there was a senior general on the front line, Li Chuyun, who was able to mobilize and deploy various departments, and Li Chuyun was closer to presiding over the military orders, and he understood the actual situation more clearly and easily...... Now if you point fingers at the front line, it may be counterproductive!

Guo Shao repeatedly pondered and speculated about the situation, but only put it in his heart or wrote it on paper.

The deployment and arrangement of this battle have not yet reached perfect precision, and Guo Shao alone has not been able to fully consider it; Even if there are many officials and staff members of the former battalion military government to give advice, the ancients still seem to lack some systematic methods in terms of huge information computing and management, after all, Guo Shao cannot be satisfied with everything.

For example, there is a loophole, because the cavalry infantry is too poor in combat, this class was canceled in the early stage; This increased the cavalry's ability to run long distances. However, in the actual battlefield, the need for rapid movement of infantry has arisen.

Horses were temporarily transferred to an infantry, but the problem that arose in a hurry was that all the horses were in Gu'an...... This is a mistake in the early deployment arrangement.

If the Bazhou infantry has horses, they can immediately ride horses and quickly rush to Gu'an; There is no need to take the method of converging the two armies in order to prevent the attack in the middle of the road.

Where can Guo Shao hide and care about what he likes to do at this time? His face was bruised, and the veins above his temples bulged.

The soldiers who served him tea were nervous, and their hands trembled slightly, as if they were holding a plate of tofu.

Guo Shao walked back and forth several times on it and asked, "Is there any news from Dong Zunzhi?" ”

Wei Renpu said: "Not yet, but according to the established strategy, he went to Gu'an from Bazhou yesterday and took a day off to attack." It happens to be today......" Wei Renpu glanced at the scene outside, "At this time, it is estimated that it is time to send someone back." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, an official walked into the lobby from under the eaves outside, walked quickly to Wei Renpu and handed in a letter. Wei Renpu took a look at it and said, "Dong Zunzhi's news, he has led the army from Gu'an City this morning, and the direction has not changed. ”

Guo Shao turned to look at a large picture hanging on the wall, with colorful lines on it, which looked flowery, but it was also practical. He looked at the unmarked route on it quietly, as if he saw the herd of horses led by Dong Zunzhi running on the map! No one knows about this route except Guo Shao himself and Dong Zunzhi, this is the highest level of secrecy measures, of course, Dong Zunzhi can change the route at will according to his own judgment after he is dispatched...... There is nothing wrong in the early stage, it should still be where Guo Shao's eyes are.