Waqiao Guancheng is located in the narrow river plain, the Fuhu River and the South Yishui, the fox lake are surrounded on all sides, forming a natural moat, but the Guancheng is not big, and the height of the city wall is only average. At this time www.biquge.info 50,000 forbidden troops of the front army with the guard division as the main force had been deployed in Yijin Pass, and Zhao Kuangyin led 50,000 troops from the front division of the palace to station, and there were barracks everywhere inside and outside the city, which seemed very cramped and crowded.

Although they were accompanied by chauffeurs, the important ministers and generals had to go to the emperor's palace as usual to meet them. Because he was worried that the emperor's illness would affect the smooth progress of the Northern Expedition, Wang Pu didn't sleep well this night, got up early, walked around in front of the barracks and went back to eat something hurriedly, and then went to the mansion on the right side of the Guancheng Military Office, which was Guo Rong's temporary living place.

The sky is not yet bright, there are rows of lanterns under the eaves of the front yard, Wei Renpu and the Zhongshu Sheren are standing under the eaves of the vestibule and talking quietly, and dozens of forbidden army generals such as Han Tong, Zhao Kuangyin, Han Lingkun, Gao Huaide, Murong Yanzhao, Shi Shouxin and so on are also waiting in piles in the courtyard, and there are many people and noisy.

Wang Pu stepped in with his hands behind his back, and with a casual sweep of his eyes left and right, he could see that most of these generals were around Zhao Kuangyin, and the guards Han Tong and the infantry army were all commanding Zhang Lingduo to stand in a corner, looking a little lonely.

"Silence! What a way to make such a noise! "The emperor revealed his illness yesterday, Wang Pu felt that these people were obviously talking about it in private, and now he stood in the courtyard and glared at each other, his voice was not loud, but it was very majestic. When the generals heard this, they all looked at him, and they all avoided his gaze, and each of them scattered in line and waited for the summons of the chamberlain.

After a while, finally a few chamberlains lined up with lanterns to lead the ministers in, through the front door through the atrium, the main hall inside was slightly narrow, and there were many low tables, dozens of civil and military officers lined up to enter, and the inside was crowded to the brim.

At this time, Guo Rong came out neatly dressed, and he didn't look very good, but his gait seemed to be fine, until he sat down behind the front of the screen, and he didn't use the inner attendant to support him. When he went out on the expedition, everything was simple, and naturally he was not accompanied by a salute official, Wang Pu looked at Wei Renpu and nodded.

"Your Majesty!" Wei Renpu took a step forward to tidy up his instrument a little, bowed his hand, and a group of civil and military officers followed in unison.

"All the ministers are flat!" Guo Rong waved his hand, waited for the ministers to return to their seats and sat down, coughed lightly and said: "According to the previous agreement, tomorrow, Liu Chongjin, the commander of the Pizhou Jiedu who rushed to Yijin Pass in advance, will be the commander of the forward, and Luo Yanhuan, the deputy commander of the guard infantry army, will lead Hujie to the right side of the 20,000 steps, ride north, take Yongqing and Gu'an first, and set up a pontoon bridge in Anyang Water to wait for the main force to meet. ”

After Guo Rong's edict was finished, no one answered for a long time, because he saw the emperor's illness yesterday, Han Lingkun hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Majesty! Now there are Liao army palace tents and cavalry are all assembled in the north of Youzhou, I am afraid it is not suitable to go deeper! ”

"Huh? What do you mean by that? Could it be that he is timid and does not want to fight? Guo Rong was very displeased when he heard this, and he knew in his heart that this was yesterday's incident that had made the generals start to worry, but now that the arrow is on the bow, there is no reason not to trigger it.

What's more, according to the prior military order, Li Chuyun, the deputy commander of the guard Sima Jun, had led 12,000 cavalry to Yizhou the day before yesterday, and today he must have sent troops together with Yuan Yan's 20,000 troops. Although there is no news from Cangzhou, it will not be delayed.

"The minister has no such intentions, but it is advisable to be cautious now." Han Lingkun really wanted to advise Guo Rong to stay and recuperate, but he felt that it was very difficult to speak.

In fact, although Ma Renyu made a secret measure yesterday evening, there were too many people present, and many high-level generals already knew about Guo Rong's physical discomfort, and everyone quietly cast a shadow in their hearts, but no one dared to talk about it publicly.

"Your Majesty! The edict has been issued, and the armies should follow it, and later they can go to Yijin Pass to sit in the town, and Your Majesty should deal with the affairs of the rear before marching into the army. Seeing this, Wang Pu hurriedly came out of the queue, and said: "Last winter, after Sun Xingyou arrived, he has been busy repairing the river, and the territory of Win and Mo Zhuzhou has not yet been sorted out. ”

"Let's go! Then the edict was drafted. Changed Waqiaoguan to Xiongzhou, governed Rongcheng and Guiyi counties, and knew the state affairs with Yao Neibin. With Yijin Pass as the overstate, Wen'an in Mozhou, the two counties of Dacheng were subordinated to it, and Wang Hongquan was the governor of the state; The Xin'an army was placed at the mouth of the silt, and the former Yijin guard was transferred to the commander of the soldiers and horses. ”

Guo Rong bowed slightly, and immediately understood what Wang Pu meant, because of this edict, if the official who gave the order came to meet him, he would have to delay it at Waqiao Pass, and by the way, it would be good to rest for a few days.

At that moment, he ordered the chamberlain to take out the map, and set up the Guangxin Army, the Ansu Army, and the Baosai Army in the inconvenient place of the border of Dingzhou and the south of Yizhou, each leading a county, and dividing the 2,500 troops of the first army, which were divided into the rule of Sun Xingyou, the Yiwu Festival. Then let the generals refer to the map to discuss, select the logistics grain and grass transportation route according to the border river, and order the waterway to deploy Zhao Kuangyin to take care of the affairs and support the front line of the army.

At the end of the military discussion, Han Tong and Murong Yanzhao led their troops to Yijin Pass, while Guo Rong led his ministers to stay in Guancheng and deal with rear affairs nearby. On the same day, the Yizhou West Route Army officially sent troops, with Li Chuyun leading 10,000 troops to cross Laishui, and captured Qigou Pass in the morning.

Fanyang is the state of Zhuozhou, the Tang Dynasty has jurisdiction over Fanyang, Guiyi, Gu'an, Xinchang four counties, the Liao State got Youzhou and then divided the jurisdiction, only the jurisdiction of Fanyang, Xincheng, Xinchang three counties, changed to the military state, the rated soldiers for Fan, Han army 5,000. The soldiers here do not refer to the Tibetan people in the northwest, but the small tribes other than the Khitans under the rule of the Liao army.

Because the war was about to start, the Liao army along the border had a certain amount of defense, and the Han army was transferred to the two counties in the south of the prefecture and the area of Qigou Pass, and 2,500 soldiers were stationed in Fanyang. Therefore, it was easy for Li Chuyun to take Qigou Pass, and only sent troops to surrender to the other two counties, and at the same time sent scouts to reconnoiter north to Liangxiang and east to Gu'an to spy on the military situation.

Because of the capture of Yizhou last year, the Liao army in Datong Mansion in Xijing could not enter from Ulzhou, and the reinforcements from Fengshengzhou and Shanbei had not yet moved south, Xiao Siwen had to shrink the defensive circle in order to hold Youzhou City, and transferred the peripheral forces back to the suburbs of Youzhou to hold on, so there were not many troops in the border area.

The city wall of Fanyang is about three zhang high, it is not easy to storm strongly, Li Chuyun first set up a large camp on the south bank of Zhuoshui in the northeast of the city, and sent troops to collect and cut wood, build a pontoon bridge on the river, to the afternoon, Yuan Yan led the foot, 22,000 cavalry arrived, the whole army rested for a while, and then arranged troops to start the siege.

Li Chuyun led the horse army to line up outside the north gate, while continuing to build the camp and pontoon bridge, and at the same time put pressure on the Liao army defending the city, Yuan Yan led his troops to attack the west and south gates, and deployed 10,000 troops in each direction, leaving the east gate alone, and carrying out the siege of three queyi.

The Chengde army of Zhenzhou came prepared this time, and fifty light trebuchets were launched at the same time at two hundred paces outside the west gate, so that the defenders of the city were hiding in all directions, and there was no human figure on the wall after ten rounds. At this time, the Chinese army Yuan Yan gave an order, 2,000 archers stepped forward to shoot alternately to cover, 4,000 infantry surrounded by 20 ladder carts approached from both sides of the city gate, the big ladder on the roof of the car flipped to the head of the city, and the soldiers hiding in the car quickly ran out and climbed desperately up along the ladder.

The defenders are too few, and need to defend the four walls, and are not good at defensive operations, to the end of the battle at dusk, Yuan Yan led the Chinese army into the city when the scouts returned, Liu Chongjin in the east, Luo Yanhuan led the forward 20,000 has conquered Gu'an. Yuan Yan reported the good news and planned to continue north the next day.