Sent Shi Saburo away overnight, Zhang Yue found a map of Youzhou, Hebei Province and carefully calculated, if the troops were sent now is the right time, but considering the problem of continuous supply of logistics grain and grass, it can only wait until the beginning of spring next year. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Because of the use of troops in the spring, the summer tax and grain can keep up, and the early use of troops will be powerless, and the Liao army will also be on guard, and now even if some rumors are heard, at most it will only strengthen the border defense, and will not pay too much attention to it.

But the opportunity must not be lost, and it will not come again, Zhang Yue already has a plan in his heart and decides to act according to his own strategy, but this requires the cooperation of Yuan Yan, the marshal of Zhenzhou Chengde Festival. The two marshals act together, so there is a master-slave problem, and they must make up for the emperor to make decisions.

So early the next morning, Zhang Yue took Yang Xuanli and other three hundred guards, and went to Shenzhou Wuqiang by boat to meet Yuan Yan, and the two secretly negotiated for half an hour, and then wrote a chapter to seal it into a wooden box with a military secret, and Yuan Yan sent Liu Sanlang to Tokyo secretly, and handed it over to the privy envoy Wang Pu directly into the palace.

Originally, the condition was getting more and more serious, since July when Zhang Yue summoned Liang Zhi, a famous doctor in Jingzhou, to Beijing to give diagnosis and medicine, and acupuncture treatment, Wang Pu's illness has been almost better.

In the evening of that day, Wang Pu was on duty in the Privy Council and rode home in a carriage, and the only old servant in the family came out and said, "Ah Lang! There are guests in the house, claiming to be a Zhenzhou general, waiting to see Ah Lang before he is willing to leave, saying that there is something important to do! ”

"Zhenzhou?" Wang Pu was surprised when he heard the report, and the envoys sent by the marshals stationed abroad to Beijing would generally go to the Privy Council in official written form, and the private visit was not in accordance with the distance, but this was generally a matter of urgency, or it was inconvenient, and he immediately ordered: "Take people to the front hall and wait!" ”

As a cardinal minister, there are also rules for meeting guests, receiving low-level officials or envoys in the front hall, if they are of the same status but personal relations are generally in the main hall, only close dignitaries will be brought into the study.

The old servant was ordered to go quickly, Wang Pu entered the mansion and went back to the back hall to rest for a while before turning to the front hall, and saw that it was indeed an officer who was standing under the eaves of the front hall with a package on his back, so he greeted with a smile: "But Yuan Yuanjun has something to do?" ”

"The last general, Liu Sanlang, is the envoy of my family's marshal, and he has a military intelligence report!" As soon as Liu Sanlang turned around and saw that the master was coming, he hurriedly bowed down and bowed his hand.

"Come and talk to me!" Wang Pu nodded, entered the guest hall with his hands behind his back and sat down, Liu Sanlang quickly took off the package from his back and untied it, handed over a small wooden box and stood respectfully by the side and waited.

Wang Pu took the wooden box and shouted outward, the old servant came in at the right time and handed over the paper cutting knife commonly used by the knife and pen officials, Wang Pu took the open seal, which was a roll of thin silk with handwriting, took it out and quickly browsed it, and said after a while: "You wait in my house, and you will go to the palace for a while." ”

Wang Pu picked up the wooden box and turned around and went out, and the old servant accompanied Liu Sanlang to sit idle with tea for an hour, seeing that it was dark outside, and the courtyard was lit up with lanterns in the dim light, just when Liu Sanlang was impatiently waiting, Wang Pu finally came back.

"This is His Majesty's reply edict, you should carry it alive!" When Wang Pu entered the door, he was still holding a small wooden box, but the military red paint was replaced by a gold-edged black paint, and he took out an official note from his arms and said: "You take this, otherwise the internal and external inspection sergeants will not let you out of the city." ”

This is not a road guide, but a certificate issued by the inspection office inside and outside Tokyo, Liu Sanlang put it into his arms, immediately said goodbye to the entourage of more than 100 horses, and rushed out of the city overnight to rush back to Hebei, this back and forth took more than half a month, the speed can be regarded as very fast, but the time has come to the middle of October.

And Cangzhou is still training, Zhang Yue can't have been waiting in Shenzhou, this day got Le Pingyang's reply, Youzhou Zhuang Shao has promised to serve, with people rushed to Mozhou Renqiu, planning to follow Zhang Yue's instructions, persuade Mozhou Shilie Xiao Ximo to take his family and entourage to Dacheng County, close to Cangzhou Qianning Town, winter hunting, so that Dong Zunzhi will have a chance.

A few days later, Zhang Yue finally waited for the emperor's edict sent by Yuan Yan: the edict was deployed with Zhang Yue as the former army, and Yuan Yan was the deputy, so he could find an opportunity to choose a day to enter the army and grant him a cheap act.

With this cheap authorization, Zhang Yue no longer had any worries, and began to prepare for the expedition, first selected 13,500 people from the Jing'an Army, the Qianning Army, the Ande Army, and the Ya Army, which were relatively strong in Cangzhou Henghai, and ordered Gongsun Qi of the Yuan Army to lead more than half of the remaining six armies to stay in the town and drive to Cangzhou along the Yellow River to deploy defenses.

After arranging the strength of the town, Zhang Yue led his entourage to Wuqiang in Shenzhou and then discussed the deployment with Yuan Yan, because once the war started, the entire Hebei front line was in a state of combat readiness, and these meticulous defense work must be arranged in place first.

As soon as the two discussed, it was decided that the 15,000 soldiers of the Chengde army on the west road would first take the Flying Fox, block the road of the Liao army in Datong Prefecture to aid the east, and then take Yi and Ding, and advance the troops to the Juma River and then deploy defenses along the river; In the middle of the road, 15,000 troops from the two states of Shen and Hebei were stationed along the Hutuo River and Zhangshui, and 10,000 troops of the Northwest Army led by Xue Wenqian were the main force.

After the distribution of all things was completed in mid-November, Zhang Yue returned to the town to gather troops and set up camp on the east bank of the Yellow River in Qianning Town, and mobilized 500 warships to anchor in the river bay south of the town to hide, ready to cross the river at any time to attack.

Zhang Yue is not in a hurry, the later the time to send troops, the more fully prepared for the mobilization of the Tokyo Forbidden Army, and the troops of Jiezhen are stationed on the front line, and the cost of grain and grass consumption is not large, but as soon as the forbidden army is mobilized, the cost of money and food must be doubled, so it is best to give them a little more time, and use it when they contribute.

But Dong Zunzhi was so anxious that he came to ask for instructions every day, and wanted to cross the river first to rush to Dacheng County to inquire about the news, of course Zhang Yue would not lose a big thing because of a small loss, and led the troops to camp every day to practice, waiting for a suitable opportunity.

Mozhou, set in the early Tang Dynasty, the state was originally in the middle reaches of the Hutuo River and the east bank of the Fox Lake swamp in Mo County, the fox is later Baiyangdian, and the Waqiao Pass is on the north bank of the Fox Lake in the north of the county. And more than 30 miles north of Waqiao Pass is Yishui, this piece of terrain is complex, since ancient times it is the important place of Hebei Sanguan.

Due to the war in the Later Liang period, coupled with the repeated floods of the city, the state later moved to Renqiu, fifty miles to the south, and the city of Moxian was abandoned, and after being taken over by the Liao State, only one small town was set up here in Mo County, called "Zheng Town".

Zheng Town is in the Hutuo River and the Fox Lake between the confrontation, the waterway extends in all directions, the fertile land of the fishing and rice township, this is a very rich place, but since the Liao State took over, not only the fishery tax, salt and animal husbandry tax, mountain hunting tax, grain rent and other miscellaneous taxes are heavy, there are occasional water robbers in the fox lake, the small people can not survive and become thieves, or have fled south, still living in the town are some of the big clans that cling to the local garrison.

Fox Lake is six or seven hundred miles in radius, there were originally five or six groups of water thieves inhabited, but from Youzhou Dakou Zhuang Shao's forces to the south, the water thieves have taken refuge, so that Zhuang Shao has considerable strength in this place.

There is a small island in the fox lake with a water village, Le Pingyang has been here for two months, and finally met Zhuang Shaoqiren, a square big white face with a great figure, very elegant and popular. If you don't see it with your own eyes, it's hard to believe that this is a big leader, but don't underestimate it, this guy is very skilled, and he is good at using the long-handled and bladeless broken dragon pattern ghost head knife.

After Zhuang Shao decided to serve Zhang Yue, he went to Renqiu and didn't come back for half a month, seeing that Le Pingyang was also anxious at the end of winter, and he didn't know if he could succeed in moving Xiao Ximo to go to Dacheng County for winter hunting.