After inspecting the river for a few days, and seeing that Sun Xingyou was still conscientious in supervising the repair of the river, Zhang Yue also set off to the north by land, planning to inspect the front line of Yijin Pass and Sikou Pass before returning to Cangzhou to prepare for the war. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Five hundred cavalry soldiers escorted the official road from the east bank of the Fuhu River all the way slowly, and did not play any guard of honor, the villages and towns along the way were dilapidated, sparsely populated, and the peasants who occasionally went out to farm were basically old men, even village women, who were not afraid to see the officers and soldiers, but gathered on the roadside to point and point, with a happy look on their faces.

In the afternoon of this day, when I arrived at Shun'an Town on the border of Mozhou, an officer from a small wine shop on the side of the road suddenly rushed up and asked: "Dare to ask, but you are from Yingzhou in the south?" Can Sun Envoy Jun be in the state capital? ”

"What are you looking for Sun Yuanjun? If you have something, you might as well find my family envoy! Yang Xuanli was lagging behind, and replied with a smile when he heard the words.

"Huh...... Aren't you the commander of the Zhang Xianggong Mansion and the Yang Yang? The little one's name is Lu Zheng, who came from Waqiao Pass with the order of the Lord of my family, and was about to go to Cangzhou, and it was just right to meet here. ”

"Zhuang Shao? Where are the people? Yang Xuanli saw that this person was familiar, and finally recognized it, nodded and asked.

"In this tavern, is there Zhang Xianggong in front of that?" Lu Zheng saw that the cavalry team in front of him had already gone away, and couldn't help asking.

Yang Xuanli nodded noncommittally, and hit the horse to catch up with a report. Zhang Yue heard that Zhuang Shao was here, he couldn't help but be surprised, recalling that before he sent troops last year, Zhuang Shao had arrogantly begged for officials, saying that he wanted to be a general, and after the war, Zhang Yue also fulfilled his promise and gave him a guerrilla general from Wupin, Waqiaoguan Defense Envoy, but did not bring him back to Cangzhou, because he saw that he was born a half-businessman and half-thief, and wanted to observe for a period of time, so he sent him to arrange for Le Pingyang to go north to Youzhou to spy on the military situation.

When he turned around and went to the tavern, he saw that Zhuang Shao had heard the news and came out with his entourage, and he stepped forward and bowed and saluted: "The last general has seen the lord, and there is a military report!" ”

"Military intelligence? A few bowls at the First Tavern! Zhang Yue looked at the roadside country tavern, since he was in a high position, this kind of place has rarely been visited, so he turned over and got off the road with a smile. At this time, the bartender saw that business came to the door, and warmly greeted Zhang Luo and opened another seat for hundreds of soldiers in the greenhouse under the eaves outside.

Zhang Yue followed Zhuang Shao into the small room, the light was a little dim, there were a few dishes of pickles, salt-fried peanuts, fried soybeans, dried fruits or something on the table, and the black pottery bowl with a shallow bottom was filled with wine, no matter how you looked at it, it was a dim yellow, and the taste of wine was also very light.

The two bartenders followed up and quickly added dishes and chopsticks, brought a pot of Jizhou Hengshui Laobaigan and a few side dishes, poured a bowl for Zhang Yue, Zhuang Shao, and Li Duoshou, and happily withdrew.

"This can be had, the taste of hometown!" Zhang Yue looked at the sprinkler, Lao Baigan is a low-alcohol liquor based on corn, many wineries in Jizhou have produced it, but it is the most famous in Hengshui County, and he smiled and picked up a bowl and drank it up, seeing that Li Duoshou was accustomed to sitting down next to him, Zhuang Shao bowed down to accompany him, and couldn't help but pretend to be unhappy: "Sit and sit!" Don't see the outside! ”

"The last general also heard that Xianggong is from Jizhou, and this bartender is quite interesting." Zhuang Shao smiled, sat down a little restrainedly, and said: "The last general will go north with Le Pingyang at the end of last year, and after arriving in Fanyang, he will arrange for his subordinates over there to call Le Pingyang, and he will come back at the beginning of the first month." Recently, I have received news that the Liao State has frequently moved troops in Dadingfu, Bei'anzhou, and Fengsheng Prefecture, and it seems that they are gathering to prepare to go south, and our forbidden army has not yet gone north, which cannot help but make people worry. ”

"You don't have to worry about this, where did Le Pingyang go now?" Zhang Yue has not been in contact with Le Pingyang for a long time, and as for the military situation, there is only some information from the northern border garrison.

"The last general recommended three Youzhou Han generals who could be rebelled against him, Dai Zongqi, the assassin of Weizhou, Song Mingli, the assassin of Fanyang Xuanzhou, and the military Wu Hongying of Zhilutai. The former two states are in the northeast of Yizhou, which is the west gate of the army into Youzhou, and it is also the southwest barrier of Youzhou. Fangzhou was established by the Liao State, and the governance office was in the Lutai Military City, that is, twenty miles north of the Jishui estuary, and these three places are very important. Zhuang Shaoyu said.

"Get the map!" Of course, Zhang Yue understands the topography of Youzhou, but the Liao State adopted Han Yanhui's strategy of "using Han to control Han" and set up many military states, and he didn't know where they were without referring to the map.

Li Duoshou got up and went out when he heard this, and when he hit the map, he spread it out on the table, Zhuang Shaoyi pointed out the location one by one, Weizhou and Xuanzhou are in the northeast of Taihang Mountain, and the mountainous areas in the north and south of Dafang Mountain, there can only be used as a partial division to advance the route, and it is difficult to transport the grain and grass of the main force, and it is more appropriate to go out of Yijin Pass and Sikou Pass. But Zhuang Shao's fingers moved to the Lutai Army in Fangzhou, and Zhang Yue's eyes lit up, and he immediately paid attention to it.

The straight-line distance between the mouth of the Jishui estuary and the Tanggu mouth of the Nigu River in Cangzhou is only 100 miles, and the sailors can land in no more than one day by marching from the coastline, and from there they can go north to directly attack Jizhou, Pingzhou and other places, which is really a shortcut.

However, this is also a partial division marching route, but Zhang Yue's available troops are only more than 10,000 people in Henghai Town, plus some on the front line, Xue Wenqian's department from the northwest, which needs to avoid suspicion, and the emperor may not transfer him to command. In this way, if you go out with the main force, more than 10,000 troops are of no use at all, and this kind of second-line troops will still be used as cannon fodder, at most, I will be by the side of the emperor to give advice.

And Youzhou this geographical location, there is Taihang in the west, there is the Great Wall in the north, Dayan Mountain in the north, there are more Longmen Pass, Juyong Pass, Beikou Pass, Xifeng Pass, Yuguan and other passes between the barriers surrounded by mountains.

Li Duoshou listened and said thoughtfully: "Lutai Army? I remember that during the Guangshun period, Zhang Zangying led tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians to flee south to Cangzhou, and Li Hui, the marshal at that time, took him in. ”

"There is such a thing, send someone to inquire, if you can, please ask the DPRK to transfer this person, it will be of great use!" When Zhang Yue saw this, his mind suddenly became lively, and he turned his head to Zhuang Shao and said: "You don't have to go to Waqiao Pass again, go back now to hand over your duties, and go to the Lutai Army in person, if you can succeed, I will remember your great merit." There is also a map of Youzhou city defense, which helps Pingyang to be inserted, which is the top priority, understand? ”

"The last general commands!" Zhuang Shao hugged his fists.

Zhang Yue no longer had the intention of inspecting the river, and immediately wrote a few official documents in the tavern, ordering his soldiers to send orders to all parts of the country to urge the completion as soon as possible, and after sending Zhuang Shaohou away, he led the horse to turn around and go south, intending to return to Cangzhou by Shucheng and Jingcheng.

Four days later, Zhang Yue quickly returned to Qingchi, and ordered Shi Yanliang to assassinate Shi Yanliang, Sun Qi, the prisoner of the soldiers and horses of the Dingyuan Army who stayed in the town to garrison the town, and others to collect warships, concentrate the naval division on the Fuyang River in the east of the city, and hand them over to Dong Zunzhi to strengthen training.

However, it is not enough to have ships and soldiers, but also need to have a good harbor suitable for large-scale medium and small fleets to anchor and the location is hidden, and the Tanggu port at the mouth of the Nigu River in the north of the state is suitable, but it is too close to the Liao border, and it is easy to be discovered by sentinels, so it will not achieve a surprising winning effect.

The Fuyang Shuikou is a little smaller, almost two hundred miles to the Lutai army, if you gather troops from there, you need to rest in Tanggukou halfway, so these two places are very important, Zhang Yue decided to personally inspect and urgently expand the port.