Li Buqi came to the government office, and the prefect of Baozhou and the Guangxin Army of Baozhou were deployed on the three roads of Gaoyangguan, and Guo Kui was busy giving orders to let the people near the city move into the city, and the cities everywhere strengthened their defense. Li Buqi hurriedly walked into the lobby, Guo Kui hurriedly stood up, Li Buqi waved his hand: "The military situation is urgent, don't be polite." How many people were there in the Liao army? “

Guo Kui said: "Both Xiongzhou and Bazhou reported that the number of Liao troops was more than 50,000. There is no news from the Guangxin Army yet. ”

"Have the messengers sent out everywhere to warn them?"

Guo Kui replied: "The messengers who have sent warnings around have been dispatched. ”

Li Buqi asked again: "What's going on with the Guangxin Army?" ”

Guo Kui said: "I saw wolf smoke but the messenger has not arrived, and the lower officials have already sent detectives to the Guangxin army to investigate." ”

At this time, a flag officer ran in to report: "Liao detectives have been found outside the city!" ”

At this time, it was almost noon, and Li Buqi said: "The east is the Yellow Flood Area, and it is impossible for the Liao people to want to go south to Qingzhou through the Yellow Flood Area. From the Guangxin army in, the Liao people can attack the city, Wangdu, and Dingzhou as they did in the Xianping period, and march west to force Bianliang, which is the most threatening method, and the Liao people cannot use it. Moreover, the Liao people originally concentrated the main force in the direction of the Guangxin Army, so the Guangxin Army was the focus of the Liao attack. I guess it may be that something big happened to the Guangxin Army. Immediately send additional reconnaissance horses, and we must find out the situation in the direction of the Guangxin Army and Gaoyang Pass. ”

Guo Kui hurriedly said: "Xiaguan has already assembled his troops, do you want to set off to support the Guangxin Army?" ”

Li Buqi said: "Our cavalry is small and scattered, and the infantry moves slowly, and if the situation is not clear, it will be exhausted in front of the Liao cavalry, and will eventually be broken by each one." So let's get to the bottom of the current situation first. ”

Li Buqi was also very helpless, the civil officials in the court were full of paste in their heads, and they arranged 1,2000 cavalry at each critical place like sprinkling sesame salt. This kind of large plain in Hebei is the most suitable for cavalry conflicts, and one or two thousand cavalry is considered a hair in front of the Liao cavalry group, which is not enough to stuff the teeth. Without cavalry support, the victory of the infantry and the Liao cavalry in the field is less than fifty percent, and if the intelligence error traps the Liao people in the field, it will be even more impossible to return. Li Buqi will not take this risk.

Guo Kui saw that Li Bu had made up his mind, so he sent more horses out, but ordered more than 20,000 horsemen in the city to be ready at all times and not to relax a little. Li Buqi also ordered the Zhenwu Army and the cavalry of the Police Division to be ready to attack the enemy at any time.

After saying that, it didn't take long for Guo Kui to send out the first wave of scouts to come back with blood. They said that they were intercepted by a large number of Liao scouts more than 20 miles away from the Guangxin Army, and two squads were completely wiped out, and their squad was lucky to find a few soldiers who escaped. The soldiers said that they were originally stationed at the mouth of the Great Wall, but today they were attacked by the Liao people from all sides before dawn, and the 4,000 people collapsed after fighting for more than half an hour, and even the wolf smoke could not be transmitted, and it may be that the Liao people had already captured a few beacon towers. Then the Liao brigade rushed across the mouth of the Great Wall to the Guangxin army.

Guo Kui sighed: "If you haven't fought for decades, Hebei's military equipment is a little sluggish!" The border trade defense was lax, and the Liao people must have sent people to infiltrate the Great Wall Pass in advance and ambush behind it, so that they could take the Great Wall Pass so quickly. ”

Then more Tanma returned, saying that the Liao people surrounded the Guangxin Army, and two of the Tanma reported that they had encountered a large force of Liao cavalry in the northwest of Baozhou.

Li Buqi ordered the police division, cavalry, and the Zhenwu Army scout battalion to send men and horses to the north to investigate by force.

In this era, there was no telegraph, and I didn't know what the situation was in Xiongzhou and Bazhou, so Li Buqi could only wait for news anxiously.

In the afternoon, a team of bloodied scouts kidnapped back two Liao prisoners. Li Buqi and Guo Kui hurriedly interrogated the captives in person, and the captives confessed to them that they belonged to the leather room army, and the Liao heavy cavalry Tielin army was in the Guangxin army. ”

Waiting for the two captives to be escorted down, Guo Kui said: "What these two people said is consistent with the original information, it seems that the Liao people really still want to break through from the side of the Guangxin Army, and this matter needs to be reported to the remaining Xianggong as soon as possible." ”

Li Buqi waved his hand at this time and said, "There will definitely be more captives to capture in a while." It's better to wait, don't rush this time. The information is confirmed, lest the Privy Council listen to the wind and rain and command blindly. We divide our troops and fortify them everywhere, and the troops everywhere are thin, and if they deploy indiscriminately, it will be chaotic. ”

In fact, Li Buqi wanted to delay it, so that he could fight according to his plan, otherwise Xia Zhu and the Privy Council would be difficult to control.

Sure enough, soon the cavalry of the police division and the scout battalion of the Zhenwu army captured a few more prisoners, and their explanations to each other were consistent with the situation of the scouts' investigation, and what was even more noticeable was that some of the prisoners confessed that the cavalry of the Liao army had already gone south in the direction of Mancheng. Li Buqi asked Guo Kui to write an urgent report and send it out.

Guo Kui asked: "Patrol the border, what should I do next?" ”

Li Buqi said: "Judging from the current situation, the Liao people should also understand that if they want to capture a strong city like the Guangxin Army, they will definitely suffer heavy casualties. However, the smaller prefectures and counties are not as tall as the Guangxin Army, and they can be used as bases for the southward advance, so Mancheng, Dingzhou and other places are suitable targets. The Guangxin military city is tall and strong, there should be 20,000 forbidden troops and box troops, plus the people of the Bow and Arrow Society have no problem guarding the city, and there is enough food and equipment, and there is a water source, so it will not be captured soon, so there is no need to worry about it for the time being. The focus now is on delaying the advance of the Liao army, so that all localities can make preparations for clearing the wilderness and assembling troops. Therefore, we should send troops to attack the Liao army near the Guangxin army as planned, but we must not let the main force of the Liao army entangle and surround it. ”

Guo Kui suggested: "If it is just containment and cannot be surrounded by the Liao, then it is better to have more Ma troops, it is better to transfer the Ma army from Gaoyang Pass." The infantry army of Gaoyang Pass did not have to be dispatched. ”

Li Buqi had this intention, but he said: "The more than 2,000 horse troops in Gaoyang Pass do not have to be transferred all, and half of them should be left to clean up the Liao rangers around Gaoyang Pass, ensure communication with Yijin Pass and Waqiao Pass, and prevent traffic being cut off by Liao rangers." ”

Guo Kui agreed and passed down the order. The next morning, less than five watches, more than 20,000 cavalry under the command of Guo Kui in Baozhou and 5,000 people under the command of Li Buqi immediately feasted on the war meal, and the whole team went out of the city to the direction of the Guangxin army.

Not far from the city, I met the Liao scouts. The cavalry of the police division and the scout battalion of the Zhenwu Army immediately sent people out to drive them away and prevent the Liao people from approaching. Li Buqi ordered the troops to open up the distance, especially the Che Battalion stretched out the formation and slowly advanced, and from a distance, it was judged that 50,000 people were not much. This is a large corps, and Li does not believe that the Liao people will be indifferent if he does not give up.

The Liao scouts had already begun to wander under the city of Baozhou, and the news of the dispatch of the army was naturally sent to Yelu Yixian, who was still deploying the marching army of the Guangxin army.

Yelu Yixian, who was frowning and observing the city defense of the Guangxin Army under the rising sun, was immediately overjoyed: "But the sentinel is clear?" Are there really 50,000 people? ”

The leader of the spies replied confidently: "The little one dares to vouch for his head." There are thousands of carts alone. What is even more rare is that the cavalry of the Song people actually has one man and two horses. ”

Everyone knows that the Great Song Dynasty lacks horses, and the cavalry can't do one person and one horse, so the sudden appearance of a cavalry with one person and two horses must be the elite of the elite. The Liao scouts were impressed because they underestimated the sudden appearance of such an elite cavalry, and as a result, they suffered a lot of losses.

Yeluyi laughed first: "Good! Good! This must be the cavalry of the police division led by Li Buqi. It's really difficult for the Song people to shrink in the city, but as long as they come out to fight, that's the time for my Da Liao Iron Cavalry to show their skills. If you can catch Li Bu and give up, then we can make those strange things of the Song people by ourselves! ”

As soon as he said this, the eyes of the officers under him lit up. Xia Xingmei, the deputy commander of the marching army, immediately asked for battle: "Xuanhui, the last general, please bring an army to capture that Li Buqi." ”

Although Yelu Yixian looked down on the combat strength of the Song army, he was very careful: "I heard that this Li Buqi is scheming, you can't underestimate the enemy." I'll give you 80,000 horses, but you have to be careful not to lose too much. After all, we still have to go deep into the territory of the Southern Dynasties, and there are still many battles to be fought below. ”

Xia Xingmei's mouth was full of response, but she didn't care about it in her heart. In his opinion, the Song people were weak and could not even defeat the Western Xia, and it was impossible for the Great Liao Iron Cavalry to launch an attack with absolute superiority and not win, but it was just a matter of cost. And he has heard a lot about the tactics of the Song people, and he has long figured out how to deal with them, so in his opinion, the result of this battle is the difference in the size of the cost and the length of time. Therefore, he took the general's order, picked up the men and horses, and drove towards the Song army.