According to the original plan, Zhao Junsheng's army was supposed to march south along the Hanbei River until it reached Jiangxia, but Zhao Junsheng temporarily changed the plan, and the army kept moving east in the direction of Zhuanshui.

After marching for a long time, the front scout team sent someone back to report the military situation.

"Your Majesty, the scout team has connected with the black-clothed guard's spies on the other side of the river, according to the black-clothed guard's spies, Shen Qingzhi's men and horses are still in Yunmeng, our army has enough time to cross the river, and then intercept them in Qilipu on the other side of the river!"

Zhao Junsheng nodded and said, "That's good, send someone to tell the scout team, let them tell the secret agents of the black-clothed guard, and closely monitor the movements of Shen Qingzhi's army!" ”

"No!"

Judging from the current situation, the itinerary of the cadres is one day faster than that of Shen Qingzhi's army, and if nothing happens, the cadres can rest for a day after crossing the water, and then wait for the arrival of Shen Qingzhi's army at ease.

The army marched for another day, and in the evening of that day, Zhao Junsheng led the army to the west bank of the river, but could not find a place to cross the river, so the army camped by the river on the spot, and then patted scouts to investigate, looking for a place to cross the river along the riverbank.

An hour after dinner, Zhao Junsheng was lighting the lamp in the handsome tent to review the important chapters.

A royal guard walked in and reported: "Your Majesty, General Hua asks to see you!" ”

"Let him in!"

Hua Xiong walked in and hugged his fists and said, "Your Majesty, the scouts have found a wooden bridge ten miles upstream of the river to cross the river!" ”

Zhao Junsheng just finished reviewing all the pieces and asked, "What time is it?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, it's the beginning of the year!"

Zhao Junsheng walked outside the tent and looked, the field was pitch black, the sky had neither moonlight nor starry sky, he turned to Hua Xiong and said: "Let the soldiers rest on the spot tonight, make a fire tomorrow, and set off to cross the river ten miles upstream at the time of the morning!" ”

"Yes!"

There was nothing to say all night, and in the early morning of the next day, Zhao Junsheng and the soldiers got up, but found that something was wrong with the situation, usually the sky should be about to light at this time, but at this time it was still dark outside, Zhao Junsheng walked outside to see, it turned out to be foggy.

The soldiers were ready to set off, and it was already the end of the hour after breakfast, and it should have been dark at this time, but at this time the camp was full of fog, and the sight could only reach five meters away, and nothing could be seen clearly from five meters away.

Niu Dali came over and hugged his fists and said: "Your Majesty, at this time, the fog is thick, which is not conducive to the march, you see ······"

Zhao Junsheng thought for a while and said, "In this way, let the soldiers stand by in the camp, and then depend on the situation after an hour!" ”

"Yes!"

After the order was issued, the officers and men of the cadres and soldiers who were ready to go all sat in a circle in the camp, chatting and chatting, and the prisoners and people also chatted together.

Zhao Junsheng did not gather all the generals to wait in the tent together, but sent all the generals out to let them each control their subordinates.

After an hour passed, Zhao Junsheng thought that the morning fog should dissipate, and he instructed the eunuch Kang Yide: "Go out and see if the morning fog dissipates!" ”

"No!"

Consort went out for a spin and came back to report: "Back to Your Majesty, the fog has not dissipated!" ”

Zhao Junsheng frowned, he suddenly made a decision, got up and said, "Tell all the armies to assemble and prepare to set off!" ”

"No!"

Soon, the generals and colonels of the various armies received the order to quickly gather their men, and Zhao Junsheng came to the front of the army under the escort of the imperial guards and some soldiers of the Dragon Guard.

Niu Dali stepped forward to report: "Your Majesty, all the armies have been assembled and can set off at any time!" ”

Zhao Junsheng said: "This morning fog will dissipate sooner or later, we can't delay any longer, and order all the armies to set off in turn!" ”

"No!"

The order was passed down, and the cavalry was the first to set out, followed by the dragon guards, and finally the infantry, with a baggage team consisting of 5,000 men and 1,000 prisoners in the middle.

The army marched more than ten miles to the bridgehead across the river, and at this time the morning fog had already shown signs of dissipating.

Under Zhao Junsheng's order, the armies crossed the river in turn, without crowding.

It took nearly half an hour for the army to reach the east bank of the river, and the fog had almost dissipated by this time, but the sight could still only see within fifty or sixty meters, and it could not be seen any further.

"Your Majesty, all the horses, including the baggage team composed of the people and the prisoners, have all crossed the bridge, and the minister has sent people to reconnoiter nearby, hoping to find the place where the Song army must pass as soon as possible!"

Zhao Junsheng nodded: "Okay, order all armies to stand by!" ”

A moment later, the sun finally came out, and the morning fog completely dissipated.

At this time, the scout came to report: "Your Majesty, three miles to the east is the official road, and it is the place where the Song army goes to Jiangxia City!" The brothers have found a place where it is convenient to hide, and there is a wooded area two miles east after the official road, which is just right for our army to hide, and as soon as the Song army arrives, our army can launch a surprise attack! ”

Zhao Junsheng said: "Very good! Someone, herald the army to set off! ”

The armies continued to advance, and when Zhao Junsheng and his team were walking through the official road to the woods two miles away, a scout rode quickly and galloped over.

"Newspaper—"

"Your Majesty, Shen Qingzhi's department of the Song army has arrived three miles ahead, and the other party's scouts have already fought with our scout brothers, and Shen Qingzhi must have known where our army is!"

At this time, the sun was shining, and he could see a far away place at a glance, surrounded by a good sky, all of which were grass seedlings, and there were no tall trees blocking it, Zhao Junsheng raised his eyes and saw flags waving in the distance, smoke and dust rising, and it was obvious that there was a large army marching.

The generals were a little panicked, this can be said to be a sudden encounter with the enemy army, if it were not for this morning's morning fog that has not dissipated for a long time, there would definitely not be a situation where the two armies of each other met unexpectedly.

Niu Dali was taken aback and said: "This is impossible, didn't you say yesterday morning that Song Jun and Shen Qingzhi's men and horses are still in Yunmeng?" Why did you get here after only one day? Could it be that they marched day and night without rest? ”

Zhao Junsheng said in a deep voice: "Now is not the time to worry about this!" ”

Hua Xiong hugged his fists and said: "Your Majesty, this is not suitable for our cavalry to deploy, is it not for the time being to retreat and find a suitable place for our army to line up and then engage the enemy army?" ”

Zhao Junsheng looked into the distance, at this time the Song army was already very close to here, he estimated that it was only about three miles, he even saw that the other party had stopped advancing, this matter was too late to withdraw, if the Song army took advantage of the situation to press, his own army would inevitably be unstable.

Zhao Junsheng shook his head and said: "It's too late to withdraw at this time, the terrain here is not conducive to the withdrawal of troops, the fields are full of muddy water, just such an official road, how to withdraw?" Before they could withdraw, the Song army would already be pressed, and then the rear of our army would inevitably collapse, and once the rear army was defeated, it would be a one-sided ending at that time! ”

Hua Xiong was a little anxious, "What should I do then?" Our army has only 4,000 people, and the cavalry has 2,000, and this terrain is not suitable for cavalry deployment at all, and these two thousand cavalry are useless! Close to 2,000 infantry, I am afraid that the strength is too thin, according to reliable information, Shen Qingzhi's army still has eight or nine thousand people! ”

The surrounding terrain is really unfavorable to the cadre army, and this terrain is equivalent to tying the hands and feet of these 2,000 cadre cavalry!

Now what? Once the cadres and troops set up a position to press up, it will be too late to think of a way when the time comes! The cavalry can still run, how can these two thousand infantry run? What should I do if there is still a large amount of grain and grass?

Zhao Junsheng looked left and right, and quickly ordered: "Hua Xiong, you take two thousand infantry to take the official road as the central axis, and line up along the ridge on both sides, with 1,000 men and horses on the left and 1,000 men and horses on the right. ”

Hua Xiong exclaimed, "Your Majesty, if the infantry is not defended by armor and shields, how can they resist the attack of the enemy's blades and arrows?" I'm afraid that the casualties will increase exponentially, and our army is only 2,000 infantry······"

Zhao Junsheng turned his head and glared: "I asked you to carry out the military order, do you want to disobey?" ”

Hua Xiong had to hold his fists and agree: "The minister doesn't dare, the minister obeys!" ”

Hua Xiong immediately began to deploy, and the two thousand men and horses quickly spread out, forming a total of eight rows from east to west.

Zhao Junsheng gave another order to the cow: "A thousand dragon guards stay, you take a thousand cavalry, this thousand cavalry is divided into two parts, the right and left, five hundred cavalry along the river bank to the north to flank the enemy's right flank, five hundred cavalry from the right side to attack the enemy's left flank, you must not go to the field when attacking, here are all paddy fields, a piece of muddy water, the war horse field is simply difficult to move an inch!" ”

"No!"

At this time, the Song army is also arranging troops, the terrain here can be said to have a natural advantage for the Song army, in addition to the messenger of the order, the alert troops, and the scout battalion are cavalry, the other soldiers and horses are infantry, in such a terrain, the cavalry can not play any role at all.

However, in order to take advantage of the terrain, the Song army had to take the initiative to attack, and only by entering the field area could the cavalry of the dry army be restricted.

"General, how will this battle be fought?" Liu Yuanjing rode forward and asked with his fists clenched.

Shen Qingzhi pointed to the official and said: "Transfer all the heavy infantry of each army over, and fill the official road to the full, and the formation should be dense!" The other armies are divided into left and right flanks, centered on the official road, and are lined up in turn, and this time the general is going to eat this cadre army and horses! ”

With Shen Qingzhi's order, the Song army also moved quickly, and more than 2,000 heavy armored infantry of the whole army lined up in ten columns on the official road, with 100 people in front and behind each column, and each soldier was wearing heavy armor and carrying large shields, knives or spears.

The infantry of the Song army spread left and right on the shore near the paddy field, which was a wasteland overgrown with weeds, and if the cavalry of the Qianjun army was allowed to kill here, the Song army could not resist it at all, so the battlefield must be set up in the paddy field, and the cavalry of the Qianjun army was blocked by the paddy field.

The flags of both sides were unfurled, the war horses neighed, and at this time, the camps of both sides were roaring and neighing, and there was a noise.

Cadre camp.

Kang Yide trembled, he stepped forward and said to Zhao Junsheng: "Your Majesty, those captives and soldiers and people ······"

"Don't worry about them, among the prisoners of surrender, there are our generals and officers under the control of each other, and they are wary of each other, they don't dare to mess around, as for those people, they can't control so much at this time, you go and convey my will to Liu Zhengyi, let him bring the prisoners to me to take care of the people and baggage, nothing can go wrong!"

"No!" Conif took the order and left.

Zhao Junsheng ordered Xue Daobiao, the commander of the imperial guards: "You take the imperial guards to suppress the formation, and act cheaply!" ”

"No!"