When more than 300 horsemen returned to the station by the same route, it was about a short time before the sun began to turn westward. Zhang Yue and Xue Chucun asked Feng Jiye to report the military situation, and after a few discussions, they quickly made a decision, taking advantage of the fact that it was still early, they pulled out the camp that afternoon, marched three soldiers and five miles, and rushed to the edge of the water to camp and cross the river.

Of course, the location is still Yatoukan, seventy or eighty miles south of here is the area of Killing Niuling, Douling, and Xiaoguan, and the Dang Qiang garrison is in the south of Killing Niuling, considering the importance of geographical location, Feng Jiye ordered the soldiers of the headquarters to build a military village on each side of the strait, leaving three commanders to garrison, in order to cover the early warning flank.

On the fifth day of the first month of October, Feng Jiye and Zhang Yue led a total of 13,800 cavalry, along the south bank of the Yellow River for about thirty or forty miles, and advanced horizontally to the west.

The south bank of the Yellow River in Huizhou has been flooded many times, so the terrain is quite gentle, and there are no people along the way, and even the exploration horses of the Yeci clan have not been seen. After three days of speeding march for nearly 150 miles, he set up camp at the western foot of the Weijing Mountain Range when it was dark. This is only a day and a half away from Wulan County, where the Yeci clan is stationed, and it is already a dangerous place for the enemy.

Anyway, the camp will be pulled out tomorrow morning, so the camp is a little sloppy, and only a large wooden fence is simply erected, and no village is erected. The large camp of more than 10,000 soldiers, including the barracks, stables, and grain and grass heavy storage sites, occupies a radius of two or three miles.

However, the light and dark sentinels, the distant and near horses, Feng Jiye arranged it well, and the soldiers were also very vigilant, Zhang Yue took a few personal soldiers and rode around the periphery of the camp to come back, and Feng Jilai sent his personal soldiers to discuss with him.

Walking into the big tent of the Chinese army, Feng Jiye was looking at the map with Xue Chucun and Li Shiwen, and when they saw Zhang Yue coming in, Xue Chucun said: "Zhang Ducun!" I just received the rear express report, there was a Dang Qiang sentinel outside the Yatoukan military village, it seems that Xiaoguan Dang Jinfu has not been withdrawn, and our rear is a little unsafe. ”

"If you calculate the distance, let's go back here is one hundred and fifty miles, Xiao Guan goes north to Douling forty miles is Shanghekou, also called Reward Transfer, and then to Yatoukan, which is almost more than 100 miles, but the road conditions are not as good as ours. I won't say much, Xue Keyan's five days is enough. Zhang Yue frowned, Xue Chucun is like this, it is not like a fateful posture, it is already very good to be able to count six or seven percent in marching and fighting, how can he be comprehensive.

Feng Jiye raised his head and waved his hand to stop it, and said with some hesitation: "Why not...... Let's hold our troops now, wait for the southern route army to attract the attention of the Qiang people, and then attack with all our might, otherwise when we reach Ulan, then we will be out of reach, and once the supply of the back road is cut off, we don't have many troops, and we can't stand it without fighting! ”

"Feng Dashuai should know our purpose of fighting, if we lose the fighter, we will be led back and forth, exhausted, and in the end, we may be beaten with chickens and eggs, only to move forward in one go, at least we must defeat Ulan and drive the Yeci clan to the west bank of the Yellow River, so that we have supplies, and the back road is not important!"

Zhang Yue was about to scold, Feng Jiye was worried that he had exhausted his capital, he wanted to preserve his strength, and he wanted to raise the bar with the Southern Route Army, so he didn't want to lose all his old capital when the time came. But he couldn't say this, so he immediately stepped forward and pointed to the map to explain in detail, and finally strengthened Feng Jiye's confidence, and still fought according to the original plan.

The next day, more than 10,000 troops marched west along the north of Weijing Mountain for more than ten miles, and there were small groups of Yeci clans along the way, and gradually increased along the way, but the Shuofang army explored the horses and wandered around the periphery of the army for several miles, and once they found it, they were immediately expelled and pursued, ensuring the speed of the main march.

At noon, we arrived at a wasteland more than 20 miles east of Wulan County, fifteen miles ahead, the terrain began to gradually increase, and there was a hill and beam slope in the distance, and it was a downhill plain when it was over. At this time, the Shuofang army reported that the soldiers of the Yeci clan had already poured out of the nest and had reached ten miles away.

"What are you doing here? Want to fight with us? Where did this wild slave come from? ”

Feng Jiye was surprised for a while, and hurriedly ordered the army to stop on the spot, rest for a while, and at the same time order the sentry cavalry to probe again. He took out the map and spread it on the ground, and found that it was between Wulan County and Weijing Mountain, and the surrounding terrain was open and flat, which was very suitable for the Ma army to fight, and there should be no ambushes.

After a while, Tanma reported again: The Yeci clan soldiers are fully equipped, about 20,000 horsemen, and their combat power is very considerable, and they are lining up to climb over the slopes, as if they are planning to intercept our army here!

"What's the name of this place?" Zhang Yue trotted over, happened to hear the report of the sentry horseman, and realized that an unequal vicious battle of waiting for work and hunger was about to begin, and asked with a very cold face.

"This is called Niupi Plain, and the hill beam is called Niupi Ridge, which extends to the south and goes high, connecting with Lingbo Mountain, which is the natural barrier of Wulan County. Yeqi Nura had also competed with the Tuoba clan in the south for Huizhou, and now Tuoba Bogu was too busy to take care of himself, it was unlikely that they would be reinforced......" Feng Jiye said with a gloomy face.

"Needless to say! It has dragged on for too long since the accident in August, that is, Li Yiyin sent reinforcements from Xiazhou and made a detour from the west of Helan Mountain, and your Shuofang army didn't hear a single rumor......"

"To the west of Helan Mountain is the Gobi Desert, where water sources are rare, and that road can only be walked by party members. And our Shuofang army only has garrisons in the mountain pass of Helan Mountain, so it is impossible to completely monitor Li Yiyin's movements. ”

"Judging from the current situation, Li Yiyin will send at least 12,000 additional troops, and the Yeci clan can only send seven or eight thousand young and strong people when they are full, and our army is weak, people are sleepy and lacking, and the big war is imminent, I hope that Marshal Feng will arrange it as soon as possible!"

Fifteen miles is a very dangerous distance for cavalry, if it is not for the early detection of the sentinel, the main army marches to the bottom of the slope, then it happens to be ambushed. And now, there is only a buffer time of a quarter or two.

"What else is there to arrange, they took the initiative to show up, saving us from looking everywhere, although we have a slightly smaller force, but it is not completely without a chance of winning!"

When he was really facing the enemy, Feng Jiye was still quite calm, although the situation was not optimistic, he still immediately shouted: "The whole army obeys the order!" Stand in place! Get ready for battle! ”

Zhang Yue had discussed with Feng Jiye in advance, and immediately rushed back to the headquarters on horseback, commanding the horse army with three commands of the headquarters of Xuan Chongwen, plus one commanding the Shuofang horse army, a total of 2,000 cavalry to protect the right Ji, and 2,500 infantry troops, mixed and matched with the 5,000 infantry army of Feng Jiye's department, according to the military branch, the left, center, and right three armies, arranged in a zigzag shape, and another 2,000 Shuofang horse army for the left Ji, 1,500 fine cavalry to cover the back road, and the last command horse army for the ranger scout.

This is a typical field formation in which the infantry and cavalry are mixed, and can be attacked and defended, the Chinese army is two commanders in the front, the three commanders are in the rear, and the left and right armies are in a phalanx, and the front row protrudes from the Chinese army for 30 steps, sandwiching the Chinese army in between, and the two sides can cross to block the attack, forming the greatest protection for the Chinese army.

In this way, the whole large formation looks like a concave shape that is not very obvious, and the gap in the middle looks like a good direction for attacking, but in fact, there are only five horizontal rows of empty space, which is just a dead place for the attacking side. (To be continued.) )