In the blink of an eye, it is the second lunar month, the weather in the north is gradually warming, and the glaciers in the rivers are slowly disappearing and melting.

On this day, the morning light rises over the horizon, and under the shroud of the morning light, the world here is illuminated little by little.

In the distance, a dense army marched over the fields, and the procession behind them was about three or four miles long, and when looking down from the sky, it looked like a long dragon was moving.

I saw that in this long dragon, the flag leader officer held a fiery red flag, proudly walking in front, holding the Song character flag in their hands, waving in the wind, behind them were neatly straddling horses, and the sound of horses' hooves came out of the metallic sound.

The well-equipped soldiers walked with their heads held high, and Zhao Kuangyin in the queue also discussed the plan of the march with Cao Bin and Pan Meizhu generals while marching.

Now they are approaching the city of Yizhou, and are about to reach the border of Song and Liao.

In front of them was a river, and the ice on the river was moving with it.

In winter, the reeds are a little decayed, and the weeds are stacked on both sides of the river, giving people a desolate feeling.

It was early spring, and three or four rabbits could be seen faintly in the bushes on both sides of the river, and gray-black shadows were jumping.

Jing Si, Wei Kang, Cao Can, Li Jilong, Hu Yanzan, Shi Baoxing, He Lingtu, Gao Chugong, Gao Chujun, Pan Weide, Pan Weigu, Pan Weiqing and other young generals were riding on horses, and several of them saw that there was an abnormal movement in the bushes, and immediately pulled out arrows from the quiver and shot towards the gray-white moving point in the bushes.

"Shot!" Cao Can shouted happily.

"I shot too!" Huyan praised.

On the other side, Li Jilong also shot one, and the other youngsters moved a beat slower.

"Come on, everyone, wait until you enter Yizhou City and kill the Khitan dog!" Shi Baoxing shouted excitedly.

"Kill the Khitan dog!" The rest of the young generals also shouted happily, when they left the capital, they had sworn in Wuxue to serve the country and win glory for the Great Song Dynasty.

Zhao Kuangyin, who was sitting on the black horse, looked at the ice and snow melting, and the river was slowly rushing away, he heard the martial arts generals in the queue behind him shouting loudly, and he said to Cao Bin and Pan Meizhu: "My Great Song Dynasty has such a young talent, which is really my Great Song Dynasty blessing!" ”

Cao Bin, Pan Mei and others turned their heads to look at those young people, among these people there are also their sons and nephews, because they listened to Zhao Kuangyin's words, their hearts were also very happy, they said together: "This is the official family governing the country, now my Great Song Dynasty is thriving, and in the future, my Great Song Dynasty can dominate the world, far beyond the Han and Tang Dynasties!" ”

The Song army was still moving forward, and they had picked up their pace.

Zhao Kuangyin understands that now the imperial court is transferring troops to the north, time is faltering, if it drags on for a long time, the Liao people have gained a lot, and when the time comes, it will be a little difficult for the Song army to attack north, and it is they who will speed up.

It was almost noon, and Zhao Kuangyin ordered the Song army to stay five or six miles away from the river, and the Song army planned to rest for a while before rushing to Yizhou.

This river is the Yishui River, and there is a river on the plain on the other side of the Yishui River, called the Juma River, which is on the east side of Yizhou, and Dingzhou is Dingzhou in the south.

By noon, the sun had moved to the very top, and the temperature was getting warmer.

Zhao Kuangyin took off his battle robe, took a towel dipped in water and wiped his face, and then changed into a round-necked robe at will, like the outfit of an ordinary official, followed by Cao Bin, Pan Mei and others.

Cao Bin and Pan Mei also dressed up casually, and they were not dressed very decently.

The place they are going to now is on the banks of the Yizhou River to observe the topography here.

In Yizhou, seven-tenths of the territory is mountainous, and the Song army has to face the Khitan army that is cowering on the north side of Yizhou.

Zhao Kuangyin and the generals talked as they walked.

Under the sun, Zhao Kuangyin said to Cao Bin and Pan Mei beside him: "The wind is sluggish and the water is cold, and the strong man will never return once he is gone." Yizhou is named after Yishui, this full river was the place where Yan Prince Dan said goodbye to Jing Ke, and now I have waited for a few years, and now I have arrived here, but what is this Yizhou now? ”

Cao Bin's gaze was a little deep, he stayed on this river for a long time, Zhou Shizong's northern expedition was also through this place, and now he is revisiting the old place, but there is a trace of melancholy, he said: "Official, it is said that the Khitan army is brutal, plundering the people's food, pity the people." ”

A trace of worry appeared on Pan Mei's face, he pointed to a black spot on the horizon in the distance, and said, "Official, that Yizhou City is in the distance, but I heard from the scouts that Xiao Siwen and they did not have any trace of going north, but were hovering in a place about thirty miles north of Yizhou City, and they seemed to have moved. ”

"Now that Yizhou City is occupied by the Liao army, it seems that our first battle is a little difficult." Zhao Kuangyin raised his head violently, and then took out the clairvoyant mirror and looked at it, "No matter how cunning and difficult the Khitan is, my Great Song must defeat them." ”

"Guohua, bring your bow."

"What do you want?"

"Your hands are a little itchy, how about trying a bow and arrow?"

Cao Bin handed Zhao Kuangyin a hard bow, and when he was about to hand him an arrow, Zhao Kuangyin said no.

Zhao Kuangyin picked up the strong bow, he mustered up all his strength and tried the strength of the bowstring casually, the green tendons on the back of his hand were already raised when he was exerting strength, and the bowstring was as tight as it was, making a sound of "tense, tense ......", and there was a violent atmosphere.

"The Khitan people are really hateful, this time they didn't leave the grass valley, and they just wanted to fight with my Great Song Dynasty, they really had ill intentions and couldn't do anything."

Li Jixun said: "The official family, the last general plans to send the Crane Army Jing Hei to Yizhou. ”

"Jing Si, it is the grandson of Jing Hanru, I have also heard about it, this person is indeed brave and brave, and the fact that he saw through the secret letter of the wax pill back then is also his credit."

"The official family praised it."

……

The prefectures and counties near Yizhou were plundered by the Liao army that went south to fight the grass valley, and although the Khitans had withdrawn from Yizhou, they were still entrenched in the mountains north of the city, as if waiting for an opportunity.

On the city wall of Yizhou, a heavily armored and fully armed Jiedu made Sun Xingyou stand on the city wall with a pale face, and he listened to the official in the robe and round-necked official uniform on the side reporting the situation in the city: "The Khitan people burned, killed and plundered on our territory, and did all kinds of evil, and the people's grain was also taken away a lot, but they came and went freely, eyeing me Yizhou. As soon as the snow disaster has passed this winter, the food in the government is also a little stretched, and I don't know if it can be ......."

"Go on!"

The general's face was covered with dust, and he arched his hand and said: "This time, the Khitans entered the pass to loot and plunder the people at my border, but now they are not leaving, and it seems that they are waiting for my Great Song Dynasty to go north." ”

Sun Xingyou's eyes widened angrily, half of his face was already red, and he roared: "Hmph, that Xiao Siwen is a hard bone, he must have heard that His Majesty personally went north, and wanted to fight with my Great Song Forbidden Army, but unfortunately, even if the Liao army got the grain and grass, but my Great Song Dynasty is a soft persimmon that he handles?" ”

At this time, another general beside him said: "Judging from the days when the imperial court sent troops, it is estimated that the imperial army is about to arrive in Yizhou." ”

At this moment, I suddenly heard that there were several soldiers on horseback outside the urn in the south of the city, and suddenly came on horseback, and the fiery red military flag was coming towards the side of the urn, and the flag had the word "Song" written on it, which was very conspicuous in the empty place.

"It's Song Jun!" The sharp-eyed soldier clapped his hands and shouted.

And the pair of soldiers who came from afar, the heroic warrior who was riding a horse at the front suddenly raised his head, looked at the people on the city wall and shouted: "Sun Jie, the reinforcements of the imperial army have arrived outside the city, on the bank of the Yishui River. ”

Jiedu made Sun Xingyou and the rest of the generals immediately stand on tiptoe, and then said happily: "Really? ”

Jing Si held the talisman and other things that could prove himself, he shouted: "I am the heir of the Crane Control Army, this is my talisman, Your Majesty specially ordered us to tell the envoy of Gao Jie, the special order and others must stick to Yizhou, my army will arrive here tonight, and Your Majesty will give an explanation." ”

When Sun Xingyou heard this, he said, "The minister's decree." ”

Immediately, Sun Xingyou immediately ordered a few soldiers to dispatch the southeast, northwest, and northwest gates of Yizhou to defend the town, and dispatch troops, so as to strictly guard this place and beware of a sneak attack by the Khitans.

"Now you will not untie your armor at night, inspect the gates of the city, and if you find a Khitan spy in the city, you will be punished immediately." Sun Xingyou understood that the Liao army's attack on the grass valley this time was a little different from the past, and this time the border pass was disturbed, but they did not leave in the north, I am afraid that they also wanted to fight with the Song army.

The generals immediately clenched their fists: "No, obey the order." ”

Jing Si and the others quickly returned the same way, and met the 50,000 troops of the Great Song Dynasty who came to Yizhou halfway through.

The Song army didn't light many torches in the dark night, and they were also hiding their tracks, and they planned to give Xiao Siwen a "surprise" to them.

When Sun Xingyou waited for the Song army, it was already the second half of the night, and Song soldiers appeared in the south of the city one after another.

Sun Xingyou immediately opened the city gate, Emperor Zhao Kuangyin and some important generals all entered the city of Yizhou, and some grain, grass and baggage have all been transported north to supply the city.

In the middle of the night, another army in the front battalion of Hebei deployed Fu Zhaoxu, the front battalion recruited Zhang Guanghan to lead the Xiangzhou soldiers and horses north to Yizhou, they were ordered by the emperor to coordinate the soldiers and horses of Yi, Xiong, Ba, Ding, and Mozhu towns to strengthen the defense of the north, and in this way, a total of more than 70,000 troops were gathered outside the city of Yizhou.

In Yizhou City, Emperor Zhao Kuangyin was tired and cheered up the guards of Yizhou City and some officials.

The lights and candles were lit in turn, and the officials mentioned that they were listening to the words of Emperor Zhao Kuangyin, and the atmosphere was obviously much better than a few days ago, after all, the emperor also went out in person and encouraged them. To their surprise, as soon as the reinforcements from the imperial court came, the pressure on defense was also reduced a lot, and the tiger-wolf-like Khitan army was like sugarcoating, which would be reduced to nothing in an instant.

Zhao Kuangyin immediately ordered more than a dozen soldiers under him to be busy carrying the sand table, and after being busy for a while, he spliced all the sand tables together.

The three-dimensional effect of the sand table has been presented in front of the generals and officials of Yizhou, some people are the first time to see such a delicate sand table, it is better to see it than to hear it, but now they can see it with their own eyes, and they also know the intentions of the imperial court.

The arrangement of the sand table is clear.

In the northwest of Yizhou City, a thoroughfare can be seen.

There are many passes on the west side, from Flying Fox to Ulzhou, there are two or three roads, one is Jinpi Pass; One is a small road, which cannot be opened to traffic, but can bypass Jinpi Pass and insert into the middle of Jinpi Pass and Yizhou; There is also a long road, south to Jinpi Pass, to Mancheng, and then to the north, this is the official road that has existed since the Sui and Tang dynasties.

Now Jinpiguan is under the hands of the Song army, but the flying fox has become a calm dividing line between the Song and Liao across the Wuhui Ridge.

"The Liao army has withdrawn the Jinpi Pass this time, if this pass has been in the hands of the Liao army, it will form a condescending encirclement of our Great Song Dynasty, and now we will seize this pass and control it in the hands of our Song army." Zhao Kuangyin's words cannot be ignored.

In the military tent, the soldiers were also full of emotion after hearing this, and Cao Bin and others also watched the area of "Jinpiguan" for a long time.

"Jinpi Pass, our army can control the two rivers, and then we can also go up the river to attack the flying fox, or go north to attack Zhuozhou."

Ps.

(1) Laishuiye Sanpo, Beijing Fangshan Shidu, in Fangshan Zhangfang is divided into South Juma River and North Juma River, North Juma River flows through Zhuozhou, joins Liuli River, enters Gaobeidian for Baigou River, South Juma River passes through Laishui and Dingxing, joins Yishui River, and joins Baigou River after confluence into Daqing River, Guihai River, to Bohai Sea.

(2) Bauhinia Pass is one of the passes of the Great Wall. It is located on the Bauhinia Ridge, 40 kilometers west of Yixian County, Hebei Province, China. It is one of the main roads for the Hebei Plain to enter the Taihang Mountains. There is the risk of "one husband is the pass, ten thousand people are not in advance". In the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was called Wuruan Pass, also known as Puyin, and in the Song and Jin Dynasty, it was called Jinpo Pass, and later changed its name to Bauhinia Pass because of many redbud trees on the mountain. The seventh of the eight Taihang Mountains.