When Peng Zushan led the soldiers of the Anbei Battalion to fight the Khitan army outside the city of Boshan and forced it to retreat ten miles to temporarily avoid the edge, it was reported to Li Congjing that he was dispatching the coalition troops from Xijing to Zhengzhou, and the Battle of Zhengzhou broke out.

When Yelu Abaoji commanded 30,000 Khitan divisions to attack Bo Shan City, in order to choke the connection between the Youzhou army and Lu Long, and cut off the retreat of the Youzhou army, the main force of the Khitan army led by him went out of Changling Mansion and invaded the territory of Yalu Mansion with the momentum of fierce tigers fighting rabbits. As an important town in the west of Yalu Province, Zhengzhou is the gateway to Xijing, because of its geographical location, it has become a battleground for this battle, and a big war unfolds rapidly around Zhengzhou City.

Prior to this, Li Congjing led the coalition army of 60,000 soldiers, and Yelu Abaoji between Shuangtong, Yitai, and Jiuyang, when the strategic goal was to defeat the Khitan South Route Army in Xijing and Nanjing in the Bohai Sea. Now that the war is back in flames, it can be regarded as a return to the old business.

Due to the importance of the location of Zhengzhou, long before the start of the Battle of Zhengzhou, Li Congjing, who had just arrived in Xijing, ordered the coalition army to send 10,000 soldiers to the city of Zhengzhou to build a defense line to strengthen the city's defense force. The beginning of the Battle of Zhengzhou, on the third day after the arrival of these 10,000 soldiers in Zhengzhou, the beginning of the battle was the Khitan army storming the city of Zhengzhou.

The general who was sent by Li Congjing to reinforce Zhengzhou and lead the defense of Zhengzhou was none other than Da Ming Xing, a general of the Bohai State who had presided over the Battle of Fuzhou. Previously, Daming Xing and Daming An joined forces and were defeated in Fuzhou, this time Li Congjing still insisted on using Daming Xing, not only because in terms of attack and defense of the city, Daming Xing already had the experience of fighting head-on with the Khitan army, and he was familiar with dealing with it, and others could not reach it, but also hoped that Daming Xing would be ashamed and brave.

At the beginning of the Zhengzhou War, it was an extremely fierce offensive and defensive battle.

A few days after the Battle of Zhengzhou began, the Battle of Hengzhou broke out when the victory was not decided.

Hengzhou City is located on the bank of the Yalu River, in the lower reaches of Xijing, only one hundred and fifty miles away from Xijing, along the river, you can reach Xijing in three or four days, the importance of strategic location, compared with Zhengzhou. At the same time, Hengzhou, like Zhengzhou and Xijing, is also one of the three legs that supported the battle in Yalufu in Li Congjing's eyes.

Previously, Li Congjing led the coalition army to break through from Hezhou, all the way south to the Yalu River, and was picked up by the Xijing guard general Dayou Tong, not far from Hengzhou City. Yelu Abao's attack on Hengzhou is clearly the meaning of the army going up the river and smashing Xijing after saving Kecheng. The army that attacked Zhengzhou before could not only disperse and contain Li Congjing's forces, but also form a two-sided encirclement. In addition, because Hengzhou is located between Xijing and Bo Fan City, attacking Hengzhou has another advantage for Yelu Abaoji, that is, Li Congjing's hope of sending troops from Xijing to rescue Bo Fan City will be cut off.

After a period of tossing and turning, the Yalu Mansion, where the war was finally concentrated, burned everywhere. All of a sudden, the wolf smoke of Yalu Mansion was everywhere, and the beacon was in flames. And the ultimate target of this beacon fire is Xijing, where the main force of the coalition army is located.

Compared with the war in Bo Cheng, Zhengzhou, and Hengzhou, Xijing, which is located in the rear of the invincible army Koucheng, seems to be much calmer at the moment, but everyone knows that this calm is only superficial, and the situation in Xijing, since Li Congjing led the reinforcements to this point, is in a state of mountain rain and wind full of buildings, and now, this state is more intense, closer to the black clouds crushing the city to destroy.

In such a situation, Li Siping arrived in Xijing.

As an important role in the Ming Dynasty's dispatch to stabilize the situation in Xijing and assist Li Congjing in dealing with the war in front of him, Li Siping went to the military camp to meet Li Congjing at the beginning of his arrival in Xijing. However, to Li Siping's surprise, Li Congjing was not in the barracks, but took people to the front line to inspect the battlefield.

The place where Li Congjing went was called Chonglu.

When he heard the name Chonglu, Li Siping was stunned at first, and then his face became serious.

When he came out of the barracks with his head down, Li Siping's steps were extremely heavy, and he stopped at the gate, looked up at the gray sky, and felt a complete pressure, "Will the Khitan army actually hit Chonglu?" In the past 100 years, will Xijing not escape the fate of being destroyed by war? ”

On the bank of the Yalu River in the west, which is about forty miles away from Xijing, there is a military town that guards Kyoto, which is Chonglu. As the last line of defense in Xijing, Chonglu is as important as Qimen is to Weizhou and Wansheng Town is to Luoyang.

Outside Chonglu City, on the bank of the river, there is a large area of flat land on the riverbank, there are barren grasses beside it, the forest is still in accordance with it, an official road is crossed by the forest, on the official road, there are more than 100 horses riding slowly at this time, the first few people have different styles, but they are all looking around, and comment a few words from time to time. The river breeze was blowing, the withered grass was swaying, and several people's robes were flying.

One of the white-robed scholars with a long sword at his waist said: "If the Khitan army really arrives here and breaks through Chonglu, there is actually no difference between Xijing defending and not defending. ”

"Why is that?" Someone asked.

"There is Zhengzhou in the west of Xijing, and there is Hengzhou in the south, all of which are important towns, and they are the fences of Xijing. Really hit the Khitan army to Chonglu, and the sound of the battle array spread to Xijing, how could these people flee without looking at the wind, why should the Khitan soldiers come to the city? The white-robed man laughed.

As the swordsman spoke, another white-robed warrior turned over and dismounted, walked down the official road, and walked onto a large flat area by the river, looking at it as he went, and finally squatted down in the middle of the flat ground, stretched out his hand and twisted a little dirt, staring and looking thoughtfully.

Seeing his appearance, a young man in a blue robe walked up and squatted down beside the white-robed scholar, "What did you find?" ”

The white-robed scholar stood up and pointed to the dirt ground in front of him with the folding fan in his hand, "This place is flat and has a wide field of vision, which is extremely suitable for battle at first glance, but it is not. Brother Li, you see, the soil from the official road to this is hard and can still withstand trampling, but from then on to the river, probably because the river is often soaked, the texture of the soil is soft, not to mention the horse's hooves, it is the boots of the foot soldiers, and they will fall into it under heavy stepping. He glanced around and continued, "If there is a battle here, there is something to be done about this difference alone. Now I am curious that this place is still a mile or two away from the river, and it stands to reason that the river does not often overflow this place, why is the soil so soft? ”

Li Congjing's eyes lit up, and he immediately beckoned to the official road. Several people who were talking on the official road saw Li Congjing and Mo Li walking to the middle of the flat ground, and they had already walked over, and when they saw Li Congjing waving, they immediately quickened their pace. Among these people, most of them were clerks of the General Staff Office, and there were also local officials from Xijing and Chonglu who served as guides, and some acted as interpreters.

Li Congjing said strange things to Mo Li, and after telling the Chonglu guard, the middle-aged military man said with a smile: "Because the Yalu River passes through here to the north, there is a big turn, and then flows east to Xijing, and at the bend, three tributaries are formed, so where we are now, the river rises and falls very much, and it is also very frequent. ”

"I see." Li Congjing and Mo Li looked at each other and nodded, and then asked, "The river rises and falls, is there a rule?" ”

"There is a general pattern." Chong Lu Shou said and called an accompanying scribe to explain the mystery to Li Congjing.

The crowd stayed in Chonglu for a day, and then returned to Xijing.

"Xijing is likely to be the last place to fight Yelu Abaoji, not only in a critical location such as Chonglu, but also in the geography of each place, and each place should be explored in detail in case it needs to be needed in the future. In the world, the difference between success and failure often lies in the subtleties, and the victory or defeat on the battlefield is even more so. I don't have time to visit all the other places, so I'll need your MI and scouts, and I'll have to spend a little more time these days. On the way back, Li Congjing said to Tao Xiaoyao beside him.

Tao Yaoyao nodded slightly, indicating that she understood.

The Bohai Sea War has gone through two decades, from the last winter into the Bohai Sea to now, the winter is coming to an end, and the spring is coming, but this extreme northern place is still very cold, and every time the cold wind blows, it makes people's ears hurt. Mo Li tightened his collar and said: "On the battlefield of Liaodong, Huang Fulin personally sits outside the city of Bo Shan and joins forces with Peng Zushan, even if the force is limited temporarily, in the face of 30,000 Khitan troops, it will not be defeated in a short time, and when the 10,000 new troops in Youzhou arrive, the number of victories and defeats in the battle of Bo Shan City is still promising." Liaodong can't be lost, Huang Fulin and Peng Zushan know the severity, and there is Du Qianshu who is sitting in Yingzhou as his backup, so there is no need to worry too much about the war in Liaodong for the time being. ”

"Huang Fulin has the talent of a general, and his heart is quite good, naturally there will be no mistakes, Peng Zushan can be regarded as my general, although he has been training for many years, and he has less enemies in battles, but he is trustworthy." Li Congjing nodded and said, he didn't mention Du Qianshu in his words, because Du Qianshu didn't need to mention it at all, and Li Congjing's trust in him didn't need to be expressed, "What I really have to worry about is the war in Zhengzhou and Hengzhou." ”

"Zhengzhou faced the Khitan onslaught head-on, although there were more than 10,000 soldiers led by Da Ming Xing before, if there was no backhand to invoke, I am afraid it would not last long; As for Hengzhou, even more so, on the way from the Yalu River to Xijing, although we left a military force stationed in Hengzhou, but like Zhengzhou, we can only resist for a while. "Don't leave the road, "Zhengzhou, Hengzhou, not to mention breaking the enemy, just defending the city, must send troops to rescue, and we must also beware of Yelu Abaoji besieging Zhengzhou, Hengzhou, inducing us to divide forces to rescue, and when Xijing is empty, send surprise troops to raid." ”

Li Congjing smiled helplessly, "In the end, there are many of them." ”

"Li Siping has arrived in Xijing, and the rear can be said to be stable for the time being, what are your plans next?" Mo Li asked Li Congjing.

"What can you do?" Li Congjing raised his head and looked at the gray sky, his face was not dark, "It's just a word." ”

"Which word?"

"Fight."