Cao Yunfan, a native of Dengzhou, Shandong, was originally a Weiqianhu in Dengzhou, Shandong, and entered the martial arts school for training in the 26th year of Hongwu. With the transfer of the first level of commanders such as Guo Yue and Wu Sheng, Cao Yunfan was appointed as the commander of the right guard, and the commander was Zhang Lun.

Dengzhou is near the sea, Cao Yunfan has excellent water quality, water warfare, land warfare are fine, after entering the martial arts, he learned the method of firearms warfare, and actually commanded and practiced the latest arquebus, tiger squat artillery, so he is the most suitable candidate for the defense of the battalion. It's just that he is only twenty-six years old this year, and the veterans can't look down on him. In fact, not only he has this kind of treatment, but the veterans all jokingly call the Taisun Guards "Doll Army", because the officers of the Taisun Guards are very young, and their thirties are already considered "old"; In addition, the Taisun Guards are well-equipped and well-supplied, although they walk and sit neatly and train hard, but at first glance they are an army that has never seen blood, so the veterans don't look down on them. For example, Tang Yun once said to Fan Zhongxing, a thousand households in the right guard: "Gua Wazi, practice hard, don't go to the battlefield to diarrhea, then the emperor's grandson will be embarrassed." After speaking, he laughed and left, turning Fan Zhongxing's face blue, and he almost didn't fight with the old thing.

In the grassland in March, the climate is changeable, and it may have been warm just now, but when a gust of wind comes, it becomes cold and sweltering. In the evening, the temperature dropped quickly, so the soldiers on guard duty wore gloves, thanks to the invention of the new loom and the promotion of Jinzhouwei, so the equipment of Jinzhouwei and Taisun Guards was better, which was one of the reasons for the dissatisfaction of other troops.

After Cao Yunfan waited for the army to leave the camp, he immediately ordered to change the formation of the Wugang car, changing the Wugang car from a circle to a shape similar to the fortress of later generations, and fixing it with a large iron nail. A command post was set up in the center of the camp, the areas of the large camp were numbered, the defensive areas were reassigned, six thousand men defended, and four thousand people were in reserve.

After everything was arranged, Cao Yunfan looked at the time, an hour should have passed, the general should have gone far, and in the next time, the enemy will come every moment. Cao Yunfan ordered to rest in batches, and the lookout arranged a special person to be on duty, and all the soldiers were undressed and vigilant.

From Kaiping to the north to the fishing sea this route, the northeast direction is an endless mountain range, later called the Great Xing'an Mountains. The Great Khing'an Mountains themselves are produced by the movement of the earth's crust, so the Ming army can see the hills formed by the remaining veins of the Great Khing'an Mountains from time to time when they go north, generally speaking, there are mountains and water, which may be lakes and rivers, which provide a natural place for the Ming army to rest and replenish.

Fu Youde led the army north, and after walking for more than two hours, the scout in front reported: "General, there are some Mongolian troops stationed five miles ahead, and there is a river on the left, the water is turbulent, at least one zhang deep, and about five zhang wide. ”

Fu Youde thought for a while and said, "How many people are there in the Mongolian army?" Did they find you? ”

"We shouldn't have been found, judging by the number of tents, there are no less than five thousand people."

"Can you bypass the Mongol army and see if there are any ambushes behind?"

"This," the scout said, "the tents of the Mongol army have blocked the road, and it is difficult to get through. Unless you go around on the other side of the river, which is not wide, the current is very fast, and it is difficult to swim across. ”

Fu Youde said with a straight face: "No matter what the situation, you must swim over, go behind the Mongolian army, see if there are any ambushes, and find the whereabouts of the king of Gaoyang County." ”

"Yes, General."

The scout was just about to leave, Ye Dingyuan, who was beside Fu Youde, stepped forward quickly, bowed down, and said, "General, I'm familiar with the terrain here, let's go too, maybe I can find the king of Gaoyang County faster." ”

Fu Youde looked at Ye Dingyuan, his eyes were a little strange, and said: "This is not very good, you fought with the enemy army for half a day, rushed back to the camp to report the news, and then rushed here with the army, it should be very hard, you better have a good rest." ”

"No, it's not tiring to be humble," Ye Dingyuan knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly: "General, the prince has a generous kindness to me, and it is difficult to repay me for my humble position, please ask the general to agree to the request of the humble position." ”

Fu Youde thought for a while and said, "Okay, General Ben promised you." ”

"Thank you, General."

Fu Youde beckoned to the scout and said, "What's your name?" ”

"Humble Lansheng, Qizhou Wei scout 100 households."

"Hmm," Fu Youde looked back at Fang Changxian, the commander of Qizhou Wei, and said with a smile: "General Fang, your subordinate is good, it is worth cultivating." ”

"The general praised it." Although Fang Changxian was modest in his mouth, his face was very proud, and it could be seen that he was also very satisfied with Lan Sheng.

"Lan Sheng, General Ben ordered you to protect Guard Ye, not to let him be hurt in the slightest, not to allow him to act alone, at least four or more people to protect him, do you understand?" Fu Youde looked at Lan Sheng and said sharply.

"Yes, General." After Lan Sheng agreed, he looked at Ye Dingyuan with some surprise.

Fu Youde waved his hand: "You guys go down." Lan Sheng and Ye Dingyuan took the order and left.

Looking at their backs, Fu Youde lowered his head and gave a few words to the other chief, and after Fang Chang listened to it first, his face was surprised, and then he nodded and took the order.

Fu Youde ordered the five hundred Wugang cars that he would bring to be lined up behind him, put up a defensive formation, and then summoned the generals to discuss the matter. After everyone sat down, Fu Youde asked people to light the candle and said, "Generals, we may be surrounded. ”

Yes? How so? Everyone couldn't help but stand up and look around, but unfortunately it was dark all around, and they couldn't see anything.

"Sit down and listen to General Ben." Fu Youde shook his sword and said sharply: "Just now, General Ben sent scouts in all directions, there is a Mongolian army camp tent five miles in front of our army, no less than five thousand people, and on the left is a river, although the water is not wide, but the river is turbulent; On the right is a mountain ridge, about three zhang high. Scouts on the other side of the river and in the mountains went up to see, and there were scattered Mongols. ”

"So General Ben arranged a Wugang car behind him to prevent the enemy from sneaking up from the rear."

That? Tang Yun reacted quickly and said, "General, in this way, our army should advance rapidly, break through the Mongols in front, and jump out of the encirclement like the king of Gaoyang County." ”

"Yes, please give the order of the general, our department is willing to be the vanguard." Huai Laiwei commanded Li Jun to jump up and urgently ask for his life.

Looking at Tang Yun and Li Jun's appearance, Fu Youde shook his head: "No, whether the King of Gaoyang County rushed past the Mongols in front of him and reached behind him, General Ben doesn't know, but going inside is a dead end." ”

Fu Youde made a few strokes on the ground with his saber and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, the scouts in front have come to report that the Mongolian army of about 5,000 people has blocked the road, but our army's 15,000 people are very spacious, what does this mean?" ”

"I understand," Li Jun patted his thigh, stood up and looked around the darkness, and said, "This shows that we are in a triangular valley, if our army breaks through the Mongols in front and the Mongols in the back press from behind, our army will be trapped in a small area and unable to maneuver, and our army is still less numerous than the Mongols, then it will inevitably be annihilated." ”

"Yes, that's why General Ben stopped here, set up a military formation, and waited for them to attack."

"It's still not right, General," Tang Yun arched his hand, "Since the General has discovered the enemy's conspiracy, we should withdraw immediately." ”

"What about the King of Gaoyang?" Fu Youde looked at Tang Yun and said with a smile.

"You mean," Tang Yun pointed to the front with his finger and said in horror, "General, the king of Gaoyang County, behind the Mongolian army?" ”

"Very likely," Fu Youde stood up, pointed to the river on the left, and said, "The source of this river is likely to be this mountain range, and the King of Gaoyang County may not have many troops now, and he may be relying on the mountain range to defend." The Mongols saw that it was getting late, so they only defended and did not attack, and waited until dawn to make a decision. ”

"In addition, a traitor was sent to lure our army to ......"

Traitor? Everyone thought of Ye Dingyuan, the guard of the King of Gaoyang County, and Tang Yun said first: "Impossible, this Ye Dingyuan is the personal guard of the King of the County, and the last general will recognize it, it is impossible to be a traitor." ”

"General Ben thinks he is a traitor for two reasons, first, he said that he was ordered by the king of the county to lead two guards to break through the siege to find the army, but the time is not right, he said that he killed the camp in the unitary time, but the time when he arrived at the camp was indeed the time of the day, he arrived at the camp alone for half an hour is enough, and what is he doing in the other half an hour?"

"Second, when talking about fighting by the side of the county king, he was very emotional when he talked about the casualties of his comrades, and he was even more emotional when he talked about the county king, which is not normal, people should be hateful and sad when recalling this kind of thing, and he was so excited that he wanted to hide something. So General Ben was suspicious at that time. ”

"But at that time, General Ben had to attack, but when I announced the attack of the army, Ye Dingyuan's performance was also very interesting, and he looked very happy, but there was a little excitement in his expression that the trick had succeeded."

General Ben observed him all the way and found that he was very familiar with the terrain in this area, he had lived in Beiping for a long time, and it was unlikely that he was so familiar with the terrain of the grassland, which showed that someone gave him directions when he returned to the camp, and who showed him the way? It must be the Mongols. ”

"When he arrived here, General Ben saw it and was sure that he must be a traitor, the terrain here is so unfavorable, why didn't he explain? And you look at this terrain, with rivers on one side and mountains on the other, and 30,000 troops surround 5,000 people, how can they escape, unless the Mongols do it on purpose. ”