"Report to the marshal, this place is still a hundred miles away from Liaoyang City! The vanguard of our army is less than seventy miles away from Liaoyang! ”

Chang Miao, who was riding on the horse, nodded slightly.

It was late spring, and the summer in Liaodong came later than the Central Plains, and it was the most pleasant time for the climate.

After a period of training, the combat quality of the 100,000 crusading army led by Chang Miao has achieved satisfactory results, especially Chen Yunhai's painstaking selection of a group of capable middle and low-level officers, and carried out intensive training, from which a group of talents worth looking forward to have emerged. The veteran He Ling used this time to improve the establishment of the army and prepared a large number of military supplies and grain and grass. All of this satisfied Chang Miao, and now the only problem is to let this army go through the necessary training in the next actual battle, and after accumulating experience, this army can grow into a powerful tiger and wolf army.

"Marshal, it's not early, can you rest in the village?" Chen Yunhai on the left-hand side suggested.

Chang Miao agreed, and also pointed out that he was close to the enemy's territory, and after camping, he should increase the number of guard posts. Chen Yunhai took the order and left, and after a while, the army stopped, and the soldiers hurriedly began to set up tents. After the armies set up camps, Chang Miao still did not forget to inspect the battalions as usual to see if there were any deficiencies. When these were done, the sky had already darkened, and Chang Miao stepped into the tent, and all the generals had already gathered here to wait.

He Ling, Chen Yunhai, Zhu Tianshun, Hua Meng, Gai Yanxiao, Zhong He, Wu Yuanlong, etc., the elite generals of Youji and Sanzhou and Liaodong gathered together. Discuss how to attack Liaoyang City together.

Chang Miao looked around at the generals and said: "Cheng Yun is also a veteran, he knows the truth of our army, and Liaoyang City is very strong, so a hard attack is not the best policy." What do you think? ”

The inquiry was met with a long silence. In the end, He Ling spoke: "Marshal, according to the report of Tanma, Chengyun has strengthened the defense of Liaoyang City these days, and now Liaoyang City has been fortified. With Chengyun's sophistication, he will not take the initiative to go out of the city to fight a decisive battle with our army, and ordinary strategies may not be effective. The plan for today is to trap Liaoyang City and take it for us with hunger. ”

Chang Miao heard this and said in a low voice: "In this way, the war will be protracted, and the sharpness of our army will be gradually worn out. And what Ben Shuai is worried about is that if Cheng Yun knew that he would be besieged to death by our army in the end, how could he be willing to sit back and wait to die? ”

"What does the marshal mean?" He Ling opened his originally lowered eyes and asked.

"I'm worried that Cheng Yun has Goryeo behind him. Liaoyang City is close to the border of Goryeo, Cheng Yunming knows that it is impossible to win, but he has always entrenched in Liaoyang City, and his purpose is not to be instructed by Goryeo to use the high walls of Liaoyang City to drag down our army, and then ・・・・・・"

"Does the marshal mean that Goryeo will declare war on our country?" The generals asked this sentence almost in unison.

"Not bad! According to a recent secret report from the imperial court, the Goryeo army moved frequently and seemed to have moved. Ben Shuai feared that they were preparing for the dispatch of troops. ”

Chen Yunhai gasped: "That means to capture Liaoyang City before the Goryeo army makes any moves?" ”

Chang Miao thoughtfully: "Before the Goryeo army makes a move, take Liaoyang City・・・・・・ before the Goryeo army acts・・・・・・

"Marshal, did you have something in mind?" Chen Yunhai asked eagerly.

The veteran He Ling stretched out his hand to stop Chen Yunhai from continuing to ask, he could see from Chang Miao's eyes that Chang Miao seemed to have something in mind, and it was better not to interrupt him as much as possible at the moment.

The generals held their breath and waited for Chang Miao to think silently. After a moment, a smile appeared on Chang Miao's face: "Although the plan is not perfect, it is worth trying." ”

After saying this, Chang Miao discussed with the generals.

At the same time, Chengyun in Liaoyang City is mixed. Fortunately, the 3,000 reinforcements sent by Goryeo had arrived in time, so that the defense was strengthened; The worry is that Chang Miao's 100,000-strong army is already close at hand.

Cheng Yun despised Chang Miao and Yang Lian, two unknown juniors, and suffered a big loss. During this time, Cheng Yun was busy reorganizing his armaments and strengthening his defenses, but he did not stop the deserters. The reason is simple: rather than leaving these soldiers at both ends of the army to become a hidden danger in the army, it is better to let them go, leaving the determined soldiers behind is better for the war effort. Therefore, although only 8,700 soldiers remained in Liaoyang City, the desire to fight was unprecedentedly high. Now with the addition of 3,000 elite Goryeo soldiers, Cheng Yun is full of confidence, and Chang Miao wants to capture Liaoyang City within a year and a half.

At present, although Chang Miao's troops are only a hundred miles away, Cheng Yun has made complete defensive preparations, just waiting for Chang Miao to arrive.

He Donghuan, a Goryeo military general who had recently arrived to support, proposed that he should not blindly wait for reinforcements, but should give the Chang Miao army who came from afar a head-on blow to the morale of the other side. Although Cheng Yun didn't approve of the practice of consuming troops too early, looking at the glowing eyes of He Donghuan, who was enthusiastic, Cheng Yun finally agreed. After all, through this outpost battle, it is also beneficial to understand how much Chang Miao's army has changed these days, which will also be beneficial to the formulation of future war plans.

So in the afternoon of the next day, Bi Wanchun, the general of Youzhou who served as the vanguard of Chang Miao's army, received a report from the scout that about 5,000 members of Chengyun's army had left the city and were advancing towards his vanguard unit.

Bi Wanchun knew that the enemy's move must be pouring its elite in, intending to give the crusading army a disadvantage. Therefore, he did not dare to slack off, and immediately ordered the formation. Bi Wanchun had an army of 20,000 under his command, and he had a four-to-one advantage in terms of strength, but he still did not dare to hold it up, and immediately ordered the herald to convey the news to Chang Miao, so that the troops on both wings could move closer as soon as possible, and at the same time mobilize the cavalry troops as mobile teams to outflank the enemy.

Soon the two armies encountered each other at a location called Old Crow Slope. In the face of Bi Wanchun's heavy infantry formation, Chengyun's troops also set up a formation.

Bi Wanchun, who was standing in the formation, was surprised to find that not all the enemies in the opposing enemy formation were wearing the uniforms and armor of the Liaodong Army, and nearly half of them were heavy infantry regiments from neighboring Goryeo!