Zhang Yue led the main force of 450,000 cavalry to follow the forward 15 miles after marching, halfway received a courier sent by Wang Jing of Lingzhou, Li Guangrui and Yelu Huge learned that the reinforcements of the Zhou army had arrived, and had led the troops back to Yanzhou Wuyuan the day before. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Zhang Yue received the news of great joy, and immediately found Hou Zhang, Xuan Chongwen, Shi Deyuan, Li Duofu and other generals to discuss, and sent someone to reply to Wang Jing, asking him to lead his troops to meet the division. Then they quickened their march and arrived at the bank of the Luluokou River at dark in the evening of the same day.

Shi Yanchao and Quan Dao personally greeted them when they heard the news and reported on the previous two skirmishes. Zhang Yue was not very interested in this, and went to the high place on the bank of the river to inspect it, and saw that the trestle bridge had been burned down, and Han Zhiping was supervising the rebuilding of the Xia Suijun prisoners.

"Did you send scouts across the river to spy on Li Guangyan's camp?" Seeing that the trestle bridge did not exist, Zhang Yue had already realized something, so he asked.

"Report ......" Shi Yanchao didn't answer, he heard a dozen scouts galloping over in the distance, the previous rider was Liu Guangye, he jumped off the horse, stepped forward and said: "After a long day of observation, Li Guangyan first ordered the soldiers to burn the trestle, and then returned to the camp to send a horse to guard, the lowly rank could not take a closer look, but it can be determined that Li Guangyan must be preparing to withdraw overnight!" ”

"Can Ma Jun wade?" The surface of the river is a mud and sand river, the water surface is only two zhang wide, I don't know what the depth of the water is, Zhang Yue has long thought that Li Guangyan may retreat, but if there is no bridge, it will be more troublesome to cross the river, and it is too late to launch a night attack in this hilly area.

"Yes, the water is deep enough to drown horses, but the night is too cold, and before it gets dark, the banks of the river begin to freeze......" Liu Guangye thought that Zhang Yue was going to rush to cross, and suddenly he didn't know whether to advise or not. In this early spring, the temperature difference between day and night on the Northwest Plateau is very large, and people and horses can't stand it if they wade through the water.

"Forget it, wait for the rear army to come and march tomorrow and take this place, the rear grain road will no longer have to go to Jingzhou, you can come from Gyeongju Baekma River and Maidao River, as long as there is no shortage of grain and grass, it is not a problem to recover Wuyuan!" As a last resort, Zhang Yue didn't want the soldiers to play with their lives, but even if the Xia and Liao coalition forces all retreated to Wuyuan, it might be more advantageous to fight a decisive battle in one fell swoop.

Sure enough, scouts reported one after another that night, and the main force of Li Guangyan's troops withdrew after dark, leaving Li Guangxin, who had escaped across the river, to lead 3,000 cavalry to garrison the camp. Zhang Yue ignored the report, camped here for one night, and the trestle was completed the next morning, and sent someone to order Wang Yanchao to lead his troops to take over the prisoners and take care of the logistics and transfer.

In the afternoon, Xue Chucun's 5,000 Shuofang army and Dong Chenguang's 5,000 Zhangwu army arrived one after another, and the total strength of each army had reached more than 70,000 people, and the whole army rested here for half a day.

At noon on the 30th day of the first month, the forwards Shi Yanchao and Quan Daojin arrived at Hongliugou, 20 miles southwest of Wuyuan, and met the Xia Sui army and the Liao army rangers.

Shi Yanchao and Quan Daojin stopped on a slope east of Hongliugou, and sent scouts to reconnoiter the battlefield terrain, and when it was early in the afternoon, Zhang Yue led the main force to arrive, carrying a large amount of baggage over the gentle slope to the east of Hongliugou, and lined up on the flat ground below.

The war is about to begin, but the camp has jurisdiction over a number of festival towns, and the establishment is different, and it is very troublesome for the horse step to mix and match the group, but fortunately, Zhang Yue has a belly case, with his own descendants of the town troops as the mainstay, and the rest of the towns as supplements, immediately directly sent the order.

With Hou Zhang, Xue Wenqian, Quan Daojin and other generals leading the 12,000 infantry of the Changyi Army as the front army; Xuan Chongwen and Liu Wenbai led seven infantry regiments of the Jianwei Army, 2,005 Zhangwu troops brought by Dong Chenguang, and 2,500 Xue Chucun's troops, a total of 12,000 infantry as the right army, which was arranged on the south side of the terrain slightly higher.

With seven infantry regiments of the Huaixin army led by Shi Deyuan, 2,050 Zhangwu troops and 2,500 Shuofang troops with Shi Yunlei, and 12,000 as the left army, deployed in the north, it would be possible to face the Liao army.

The Chinese army used Li Duofu's Hexi Changsong Army and Wucheng Army's six infantry regiments, Lanzhou's expanded four regiments of Breaking Front Heavy Infantry and two regiments of the Turquoise Horse Army as the Chinese army, which was the field infantry formation of the whole army.

The horse army was drawn from various towns and concentrated, with Shi Yanchao leading 5,000 Si Tie cavalry troops in front of the palace, plus Su Nona's Hexi Baiting Army and Shenwu Army, a total of 12,000 cavalry as the right army, advancing along the outer slope of the large array. With Gao Changhai, Du Yanhui, Bian Ji, Yan Chengwang and other generals, six horse regiments of the Zhangyi Army, three horse regiments of the Jianwei Army, and three horse regiments of the Huaixin Army were also 12,000 horsemen marching forward on the flat ground in the north.

At the beginning of the Shen period, the whole army was organized and the whole team was completed, and the whole formation slowly moved forward five miles in a combat formation coordinated by horses and steps, and at this time it happened to the edge of Hongliuyuan, and the terrain was slightly unfavorable, because Hongyanagiyuan was not a real plain, and the ground here was gradually rising to the east, and there were many undulating places, until it reached the old Great Wall of Wuyuan County.

The Xia and Liao coalition armies were mainly cavalry, so they first seized the high gentle slope, and saw that the Zhou army did not advance when it reached the bottom of the gentle slope, obviously seeing the geographical disadvantage and unwilling to attack from the back. Yelu Xiuge and Yelu Xianzhen, Li Yiyin, Li Guangrui and his son immediately watched the battle on the slope, and saw that the Zhou army's large array was very strict, and it was impossible to see it at a glance, and there were more than 10,000 horsemen in each of the two Ji to cover it, and there was no advantage in the men and horses.

Xia Sui's army had lost 8,000 soldiers before, and Yelu Xiuge and Li Guangrui had suffered five or six thousand casualties since they attacked Lingzhou City last winter.

But the strength is almost equal, Li Yiyin has always been worried, he didn't expect Lingzhou City to be so difficult to fight, he didn't take it for a whole winter, and the Liao army is not credible, the 30,000 cavalry is concentrated in the north at this time, which is not necessarily reliable.

Last winter, Cui Xun's 20,000 cavalry on the Taiyuan side joined forces with the Northern Han Dynasty to go south, and the troops were in Luzhou City for more than a month. And Yang Gon in Youzhou is also stationed in Wating Pass, and Yuan Yan in Zhenzhou retreats until the winter snow falls, which is simply a show.

According to Li Guangrui's report, Yelu Xiuge has attacked the city a few times, but the city of Lingzhou is strong, and Wang Jing is tightly guarded by the city, so there is nothing he can do. Until now, the manpower and financial resources of Xia Sui Sizhou, plus the savings of several generations of the Li family, have bottomed out, and it is really impossible to drag it out.

But no matter how difficult it is, this battle must be fought, and it must be fought fiercely. Although he had heard Ge Zhi say more than once that the soldiers under the command of Captain Zhang were very powerful, Li Yiyin had never really seen it, and always thought that this person was fanning the flames for revenge, which was an exaggeration.

However, Li Yiyin in order to prevent accidents, or prepared a backhand, just last year, at the time of the New Year's Pass, sent his uncle Li Renxiu to Tokyo via Hedong to ask for surrender, it is good to win, if defeated, there are two states of silver and Sui, relying on the old Great Wall can always be defended. It's just that there may be twists and turns in the court, but since the end of the Tang Dynasty, the court has always preached morality.

"Is King Xiping ready? It's getting late! Yelu Hugo looked up at the gloomy sky, stretched out his hand to feel it, the northwest wind blowing in the air was getting colder and colder, which was beneficial to his side, so he turned his head to look at Li Yiyin, his eyes showed an inquiring look.

"That's it! Defeat their horse army first, success or failure in one fell swoop, and General Lai Yelu will contribute a lot, Li will have a good reward! Li Yiyin reluctantly said with a flattering smile.

"Very good! You and I each send 5,000 horsemen, try to fight first, and if it is profitable, we can continue to increase our troops! Jeruxiu didn't say a word after that, and if it wasn't good, he wouldn't fight hard. (To be continued.) )