On the official road more than 30 miles south of Songzhou, an army of 7,000 people was marching rapidly, the road was full of dust, and the swords and guns in the hands of the soldiers reflected the soul-stirring cold light of the Dao Dao in the sunlight.

The road was not wide, and only five or six men could walk side by side, and for those cavalry, they could only ride in pairs, which made the whole army stretch for miles like a long dragon.

This army was the Wu army that marched north from Bozhou, and after they left Bozhou, they marched more than 80 miles north on the first day, and arrived at a place 40 miles away from Songzhou before setting up camp.

And today is the second day after leaving Bozhou.

At the forefront of the whole team was the cavalry commander Chai Kehong, and as the commander, Li Chengding walked with the 5,000 infantry, staying with another general, Liu Renzhen.

"General Liu, your five thousand people are indeed well trained, and the general is deeply satisfied, no wonder the king values you so much, you really have real talent and real learning!" After looking back at the many soldiers behind him, Li Chengding couldn't help but admire.

The 5,000 soldiers under the command of Liu Renzhen, after the rapid march of the previous few days, experienced the rapid march of yesterday, and now it seems that the soldiers are still in good spirits and disciplined.

Although it was August, the weather was hot and dry, but the soldiers were all dressed and marched in a relatively orderly manner.

Although these 5,000 people were originally the most elite soldiers selected from the Youzhen National Army, it was impossible to train them to this level without extraordinary skills.

"The general praised it falsely, the last general only trained them according to the military order, and now they are far from a truly strong army, and they are not worthy of the general's praise." Liu Renzhen hurriedly said humbly.

Li Chengding smiled, noncommittal to his humble words.

At this time, a herald in front of him galloped on horseback, and shouted to Li Chengding and the others from a distance: "General, I just got the urgent report, I met the enemy ten miles ahead!" ”

Li Chengding was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly asked: "How many people are there in the enemy army, do you know which part it is?" ”

"General Qiyu, the number of enemy troops is not large, there are less than fifty people, all of them are infantry, after encountering the forward cavalry of our army, they scattered and fled, and after being killed by our army a dozen times, the rest surrendered. General Chai asked the general to come over in person. "The herald said.

"Good! Good job! Li Chengding praised repeatedly, and then said to Liu Renzhen: "General Liu, you are in command of the rear army, and you will go to the front to have a look." ”

"Yes."

Li Chengding galloped on his horse, and quickly rushed to the front under the escort of the guards, only to see that the vanguard cavalry was indeed escorting dozens of prisoners back.

"General Lee!" Chai Kehong and the others hurriedly saluted.

"Where did these captives come from, and did you give any information? Especially about Huo Yanwei, has the location of the enemy been found out now? Li Chengding waved his hand and asked repeatedly.

"General, our people just caught them, and they haven't had time to interrogate them yet!" Chai Kehong hurriedly replied.

"Hmm!" Li Chengding nodded and ordered: "Bring the leader of them over, I was going to ask him personally!" ”

After a while, a middle-aged man who looked like an officer was brought over, looked at Li Chengding with a pale face, and said, "The general spares his life, the little one has an old man and a small ......."

Before he finished speaking, Chai Kehong scolded: "This is our governor, he has something to ask you, you can answer how to ask, if there is half a word that is not true, you must look good!" ”

"Yes, yes, the little one must know everything, and the words are endless!" The officer was startled, but he didn't expect that the young general in front of him who was going to ask him turned out to be a governor of Wu State.

He also had some understanding of the military system of the State of Wu, and knew that in the State of Wu, the governor was the highest-ranking general in peacetime, and then the governor of the capital would only be appointed during the war.

It can be said that the official position of the governor is like that of the Liang State, and he belongs to a high-ranking and powerful person.

And he is just a low-level officer, with less than fifty soldiers in command, and it is difficult for even a commander to speak in normal times, but now he has met a governor to ask him personally, and he doesn't know whether to say that he is lucky or unlucky.

"Ben will ask you, which general does your subordinate belong to, and what mission is it carrying out now?" At this time, Li Chengding asked.

"General Hui, the younger one is under the command of the capital marshal Liu Bo, and now he is ordered to return to Songzhou."

"Dushuai Liu Bo?" Li Chengding frowned, for him, just one head was not enough for him to remember the name, so he naturally didn't know who Liu Bo was.

However, as soon as he heard that the Liang army of fifty people was ordered to return to Songzhou, he immediately understood a lot.

He shook his head and asked again, "You should be Huo Yanwei's subordinate, right?" Where is the main force of your army now? ”

"This ......" The officer hesitated for a moment, and finally decided to explain honestly: "The main force of our army is currently ten miles to the northwest......

It turned out that after Huo Yanwei decided to lead the army back to aid Songzhou, after half a day of forced march, he soon arrived at a place thirty miles away from Songzhou.

After arriving here, Huo Yanwei ordered the army to start camping and preparing to rest, and sent people to Songzhou to inquire about the news.

However, what he didn't expect was that Huo Yanwei's army returned to Songzhou from the southwest, while Wu's army entered Songzhou from the south; In addition, the two official roads gradually approached Songzhou, making the distance between the two armies closer and closer, and now it is only ten miles away.

And this Liang army team captured by the Wu army was sent to collect forage nearby, but they did not expect to meet the Wu army here, and they were captured.

"Is it only ten miles away?" Li Chengding's spirits perked up and he began to groan.

After a while, he suddenly said: "Suppress this person, find a few more captives, you ask separately, and make sure that the news is true and accurate!" ”

"Yes!" All the generals knew that the accuracy of the information was extremely important, and they did not dare to slack off and went to interrogate the prisoners separately.

Soon after, many of the captives officially confirmed the accuracy of the information, and the Liang army was indeed camped ten miles to the northwest.

According to the size of their army and the efficiency of their operations, if they were to be killed at once, the enemy's camp would certainly not be able to be built; However, if you wait until the enemy army builds a camp, it will be much more difficult to attack.

Chai Kehong immediately said: "General, the last general asked for the order to lead his troops to immediately assault the Liang army, and now the Liang army has just stopped preparing to camp, at this time they must be defenseless, this is a good time to raid them, the general must not let go!" ”

The other generals also said: "General, give the order!" Raid the Liang Army camp now! ”

Li Chengding was silent, in the current situation, he had to make up his mind to attack, this order was not so easy to make, if the Wu army had already built the camp when the Wu army killed the past, then the Wu army was likely to fail in the surprise attack, and it also exposed its own situation, so that the Liang army had a defense.

Of course, if they didn't give an order, after missing this opportunity, the Liang army would build the camp, then the distance between them and Songzhou would only be thirty miles, and this distance would be half a day.

Li Chengding pondered for a moment and asked, "General Chai, if the enemy army is defenseless and the camp has not been built, how confident do you have to break through the enemy camp?" ”

Chai Kehong replied solemnly: "Attack the unsuspecting enemy infantry with 2,000 cavalry, and you will have ten layers of certainty to defeat the enemy army!" ”

Li Chengding then asked: "What if the enemy army is prepared and the camp has been built?" ”

"Then the last general has only one layer at most to defeat the enemy army, but if there is infantry support, then the last general feels that the possibility of breaking through the enemy camp is at least five layers." Chai Kehong said.

Li Chengding nodded, the biggest advantage of the cavalry infantry was its strong mobility, which allowed them to launch a surprise attack on the infantry.

But if the infantry is prepared, forming a formation to defend, or building a camp to hold on, then it will be difficult for the cavalry to gain advantage.

However, if there is infantry support, the combat efficiency will be much greater.

So the key question is not only the cavalry, but also whether the infantry can press up in time.

Li Chengding naturally understood this truth, so after asking a few questions, he solemnly ordered: "Then, the general will lead the cavalry to attack, and the general will lead the infantry to support the general!" Remember, if the enemy is ready, don't attack rashly and wait for the infantry to arrive. How to fight, you are the commander of the cavalry, and you must know better than this general. ”

"The last general obeys the order and guarantees to complete the mission!" Chai Kehong replied loudly.

After saying that, Chai Kehong turned to his generals and ordered: "Turn around and march to the northwest!" "Two thousand cavalry immediately left the pipe and began to advance in a northwesterly direction.

On both sides of the official road are farmland, and now the wheat has just been harvested, and the wheat stalks in the fields have not been removed, which is not suitable for cavalry to move quickly, but now that the military situation is urgent, there is no need to take care of this.

"Give an order to Liu Renzhen and let him lead the infantry to catch up later! Tell him that the key to the success of today's battle is whether he can arrive in time, and Ben will be waiting for him in front. Li Chengding hurriedly ordered, and then under the escort of the guards, he also turned around and rushed away in the northwest direction.

The current situation is obvious, the Wu army has fewer troops, but there are 2,000 cavalry among them, and the mobility and assault power are very strong, and the subsequent 5,000 infantry is also the most elite army.

On the side of the Liang army, although there are 20,000 soldiers, the soldiers of the Liang army are uneven in old and strong, mixed with good and bad, and the generals are hesitant in their hearts, and their morale is low, and they are really inferior to the Wu army compared to their combat strength.

The most important thing is that now Wu Jun already knows the location of Liang Jun, but Liang Jun may not know Wu Jun's location at present, which is also the biggest advantage of Wu Jun at present.