Gao Huaiyuan's baggage battalion was also sent separately this time, with an officer named Shen Ning acting together, their army numbered about 1,000 people, of which Shen Ning led about 500 Song troops, and Gao Huaiyuan also had 500 township soldiers, and the remaining more than 200 township soldiers were assigned to the other three armies to take on some miscellaneous tasks such as transporting supplies.

Basically, the strength of the four soldiers and horses is relatively balanced, and Gao Huaiyuan is young after all, and he is also the commander of the township barracks, although he boasts that his skills are no worse than this Shen Ning, but he can only be a deputy under Shen Ning.

After receiving the order to divide the troops, Shen Ning immediately gathered his troops and horses, took Gao Huaiyuan's township barracks and left the main force, and walked in the direction west of Suizhou.

Shen Ning was a little dissatisfied with the distribution of Hu Zaixing this time, in his eyes, the township soldiers were the township soldiers, how could they be compared with the regular army? And he looked at Gao Huaiyuan a little unpleasantly, thinking that he was young, so he boasted in front of Hu Zaixing, although the idea was okay, but it was a little too conceited!

However, Shen Ning also saw that Hu Zaixing liked this Gao Huaiyuan more, so although he was dissatisfied, he didn't say anything, so he took Gao Huaiyuan and led an army out of the army.

This time, before they divided the troops, they had already agreed that the four soldiers and horses were each responsible for an area, and they were specially designed to pick up the stragglers of the Jin army, and they could not fight hard with the large army of the Jin army, and the area that Shen Ning was responsible for was in the area west of Suizhou.

Suizhou is the birthplace of Emperor Wen of Sui, it can be regarded as a famous city, and last year (Jiading ten years) when the Jin army invaded the south, the general of the Song army Liu Shiguang once defeated the Jin army here, and the Jin army plundered everywhere, the local people suffered a lot, so the local people hated the Jin army to the bone, so it also provided a good mass foundation for the Song army to fight guerrilla warfare in this area, as soon as they heard that the Song army came, many people spontaneously led the way for them, and also took the initiative to provide them with some Jin army movements.

Gao Huaiyuan paid great attention to collecting this information, asked Jia Qi to sort it out, and then through this information, sorted out the movements of the Jin army, since he was Shen Ning's deputy this time, he made up his mind to be a good staff officer for Shen Ning, and took the opportunity to experience the wonders of guerrilla warfare.

But what he didn't expect was that Gao Huaiyuan put his hot face on the cool ass this time, and when he excitedly told Shen Ning the information he had sorted out, he was coldly refuted by Shen Ning.

"Needless to say, tomorrow we will go to Lishan Town, attack the Jin army there, and let the Jin army also see how powerful Shen is! The High Commander just obeys my orders! Shen Ning interrupted Gao Huaiyuan's words with some impatience.

Gao Huaiyuan immediately saw that Shen Ning didn't treat him very well, and knew that he still looked down on himself, so he said to him patiently: "Vice General Shen, listen to the next word, Lishan Town can't fight, there is now the only way for the Jin army to Zaoyang, the Jin army comes and goes very frequently, and if you don't do it, you may meet the main force of the Jin army, and we only have more than a thousand people, once we encounter the main force of the Jin army, I'm afraid we will suffer!" It's better to listen to it, go to Gaojiagang first, where there will often be a small group of Jin Jun guerrilla troops in the past two days, with our strength, it is no problem to knock them, it is too risky to fight Lishan Town! ”

"Isn't the high commander a little scared? Since ancient times, there are clouds of wealth and danger in seeking, we are generals, serve the country, when the difficulty is up, Lishan Town is a place where the Jin army hoards grain and grass, as long as we succeed in the raid, burn the Jin army grain and grass in Lishan Town, where the Jin army is defeated without a fight, when it is a great achievement, Gaojiagang is just a small village, where can there be many gold soldiers for us to clean up? Brother Gao doesn't need to say any more, Shen has made up his mind, and he will leave for Lishan Town tomorrow, and after nightfall, we will start to raid Lishan Town! Shen Ning said to Gao Huaiyuan with a disdainful face, and waved his hand to let Gao Huaiyuan retreat.

Gao Huaiyuan was very unhappy in his heart, this Shen Ning was obviously a little happy, since Lishan Town was a transit place for the Jin army's grain, it would definitely garrison a large number of soldiers and horses, and among their thousand people, Shen Ning's five hundred Song troops may be better, after all, they have undergone formal training, but the five hundred township soldiers under their own command have only undergone a short period of training, and have not carried out formal night combat training at all, and Shen Ning wants to raid Lishan Town at night, and he has not even made prior preparations, how to contact at night, There is no detailed arrangement for how to allocate manpower, so just hitting it headlong is like sending it to death?

Thinking of this, Gao Huaiyuan still said patiently: "Vice General Shen, I also know your eagerness, but at the moment it is really not easy for us to do anything to Lishan Town, our army has limited manpower, and the rural soldiers below have not been trained in night battles, and it is inevitable that chaos will occur at night, and since Lishan Town is a place where the Jin army's grain and straw are transferred, there will be a lot of soldiers and horses of the Jin army stationed there, and the surrounding mountains of Lishan Town are relatively flat, and it is difficult for us to hide our whereabouts, once the attack fails, When retreating, it is easy to be pursued by the Jin army, and it is really unwise to fight Lishan Town! ”

"Shut up! General Shen has made up his mind, you are still rambling here, do you want to disobey the order and disrespect? Since you are General Shen's deputy, you should obey General Shen's arrangement, but you are pushing back to stop General Shen, do you still want to shake the army's heart? A voice suddenly sounded on the side, and he reprimanded Gao Huaiyuan loudly.

Shen Ning raised his hand and stopped the person who spoke with an unhappy face, and said to Gao Huaiyuan: "Although what the high commander said is reasonable, but Shen has taken a fancy to these points, since even the high commander has thought of these, it is expected that the Dingjin army will also think of these things, so Shen expected that the Dingjin army would not have thought that we would surprise the army to attack Lishan Town, as long as we wait for the same heart in this battle, we may not be able to defeat Lishan Town!" Don't talk about this matter, Shen has already said that his mind cannot be changed, so the senior commander should go down and prepare! ”

Gao Huaiyuan glanced at the low-level officer standing behind Shen Ning, who seemed to be a little familiar, but he didn't think of seeing this person somewhere for a while, why was this person so unkind to him? After all, he is also a commander now, and he is also an officer who has hung up his products, and this guy dares to scold himself like this, it is really too shameless to give himself face.

But at this time, he didn't want to have a head-on conflict with Shen Ning, since Shen Ning had made up his mind, it was useless for him to say more, unless he broke with Shen Ning now and each led his troops to act alone, otherwise it seemed that he couldn't change Shen Ning's decision.

But if he turns his face, it is obviously unwise behavior, after all, he is now Shen Ning's deputy, once he turns his face, there will be chaos in the army, which will inevitably cause unnecessary conflicts, so he took a breath of relief, glared at the person standing behind Shen Ning, and then arched his hand and said: "Vice General Shen underestimated Gao too much, although he is only a commander of the township soldiers, but he is not greedy for life and afraid of death, since Vice General Shen has made up his mind, then he will obey it below, take his leave, and prepare here below, Start early tomorrow morning! ”

After saying that, Gao Huaiyuan turned around and left Shen Ning's military tent and returned to the camp of his township barracks.

Looking at the back of Gao Huaiyuan leaving, the person standing behind Shen Ning stepped forward and sneered: "What! Isn't he just a broken commander of the village soldiers? He still dares to point fingers in front of General Shen, this guy is too self-conscious! ”

Shen Ning glanced at him, waved his hand and said: "Okay, after all, he is a person valued by General Hu, and he really did a good job, Du Hu, don't say anything more, although Gao Huaiyuan is not very old, but his mind is still meticulous, Lishan Town is not necessarily easy to fight, we have to be careful in this battle, and we have to think of a way out when necessary!" ”

It turned out that this person was the rout officer Du Hu that Gao Huaiyuan met outside the city of Xiangyang Mansion, this time he happened to be included in the army by Hu Zaixing, and when he went to work under Shen Ning, he had long been resentful of Gao Huaiyuan, this time he saw that Shen Ning didn't treat Gao Huaiyuan very well, so he decided to seize the opportunity to take revenge on Gao Huaiyuan, this guy is a standard villain, belongs to the kind of thing that must be repaid, there is no good and evil in his heart, he doesn't care about the success or failure of the war, as long as he can retaliate against Gao Huaiyuan.

"General Shen don't have to worry, the small one has a way, this time the raid on Lishan Town, there is indeed some risk, once it is done, of course, the credit is huge, but if the raid fails, it will also be a little dangerous, the small one thinks, isn't this surnamed Gao unwilling to raid Lishan Town? Anyway, his subordinates are a group of village warriors, it's useless, it's better to let them be the queen, once our surprise attack fails, let him block the enemy's pursuit, and we can take the opportunity to get out! I don't know what the general wants? Du Hu said to Shen Ning with a sinister face.

Shen Ning listened to his heart moved, he was indeed a little uninterested in Gao Huaiyuan, and he saw that Gao Huaiyuan was young, and with only a few combat exploits, he won the title of Bao Yilang, and he followed Hu Zaixing to live and die, and he was just a small unqualified officer, which was really unfair, and this time he attacked Lishan Town, in fact, he also knew that it was a huge risky operation, and if he succeeded, he would have made great contributions, and it would be easy to get promoted and make a fortune, but once the raid did not go well, if he did not burn the grain and grass of the Jin army, Then the Jin soldiers will definitely pursue them, and whether they can escape when the time comes is a question!

And Du Hu is right, if Gao Huaiyuan's township barracks are involved in this battle, Gao Huaiyuan will naturally have merit if he succeeds, and he will share a lot of his merits, but if he fails, Gao Huaiyuan will not bear any responsibility, it is better to follow Du Hu's method, let Gao Huaiyuan Palace, once the army is defeated, he will leave them to block the enemy and retreat by himself!

After making up his mind, Shen Ning didn't answer Du Hu's words, waved his hand and said: "You go down and make arrangements, I have my own measure in this matter, call our brothers, you must obey my orders in tomorrow's battle, don't mess around!" ”

Du Hu looked at Shen Ning's expression, and felt a little happy in his heart, he had already seen that Shen Ning had made up his mind, and this time Gao Huaiyuan was going to have good fruits to eat, so he hurriedly bowed down to receive the order, turned around and went down to make arrangements.

After Gao Huaiyuan returned to the camp, he felt a little uneasy, so he summoned Jia Qi to discuss this matter, and when Jia Qi heard that Shen Ning was going to fight Lishan Town, he became anxious: "How can this work?" Lishan Town is heavily guarded by the Jin Army, and if we rush over like this, it is tantamount to throwing ourselves into a net, which is almost like sending us to death, absolutely not! ”

Gao Huaiyuan smiled bitterly: "This is not a matter for you and me to have the final say, now that Vice General Shen has the final say in the army, we can only follow his orders, the key now is that we have to plan, if the surprise attack fails, how can we retreat!" Otherwise, we may have to fold in Lishan Town with Vice General Shen this time! ”

After thinking for a while, Jia Qi shook his head and said: "This matter is not easy to do, after all, we are new to the city, and we don't know anything about the terrain of Lishan Town, and it is useless to think about it here, only after checking the terrain near Lishan Town on the spot, can we come up with a way!" Little ones aren't a good idea! ”

Gao Huaiyuan thought about it for a while and said: "That's right, Sun Tzu Youyun: the way of the earth, take it to your appointment, you must not ignore it!" Since Shen Ning has made up his mind, then we can only act according to orders, but we can't just take such risks, you immediately pack up, set off with Huang Yan overnight and rush to Lishan Town, tomorrow we must find out the terrain around Lishan Town, find a way out for us, and ensure that when the raid fails, we can retreat with our whole body! We'll be near Alexandra tomorrow afternoon, and you'll be able to meet me then!" ”

Jia Qi immediately received the order, Gao Huaiyuan called Huang Yan again, and after giving some instructions, he drew a few shrewd subordinates for them, and took two local guides from Suizhou to Lishan Town overnight.

After sending them off, there was no word for a night, and after dawn, Shen Ning gave the order to set off, and the two battalions of soldiers immediately packed up and headed in the direction of Lishan Town.

Because the road is full of golden soldiers who are pulling out in the direction of Zaoyang, they can only choose some inaccessible paths to act, so they walk very hard, fortunately there are guides to guide them, otherwise, maybe their troops and horses will get lost in the mountains, and in some places even Gao Huaiyuan is a little dizzy, and he can't tell the east and west, north and south!

"High commander, I thought about it last night, and I think what you said makes sense, but in order to solve the Jin army as soon as possible, it is worth it for me to take risks, after all, as generals, we must think about the Great Song Dynasty everywhere, and it is a matter of course for the soldiers to be loyal to the country, but what you said is also reasonable, the township soldiers have not gone through any decent night combat drills, and once they start at night, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no chaos, so I think this time we will raid Lishan Town, and I will personally lead the soldiers of my battalion to do it, The high commander might as well lead your township barracks to the queen of Shen's palace, once the matter is completed, we will quickly withdraw from Lishan Town, and hope that the high commander can stop the pursuing soldiers for us? On the way to Lishan Town, Shen Ning looked for Gao Huaiyuan and said to Gao Huaiyuan with a pleasant face.

Gao Huaiyuan naturally didn't immediately understand what Shen Ning's idea was, and he was quite moved in his heart, so he said: "Since Vice General Shen said so, then Gao is not a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death, Vice General Shen said well, those who serve the soldiers should be loyal to the country, Gao is willing to lead the township barracks and Vice General Shen to attack the Jin Army Grain Camp in Lishan Town at night!" ”

"There's no need for this, the high commander still brings your people and waits for the queen for me! This matter is settled, I will be responsible for leading the troops to raid at night, and the high commander will be responsible for covering me and retreating after I have succeeded! Shen Ning immediately waved his hand and said.

Gao Huaiyuan saw that Shen Ning was resolute, so he no longer insisted on raiding Lishan Town with him, in his opinion, this is a good thing, after all, Shen Ning has already considered the way to retreat, it is much stronger than the whole army crashing into Lishan Town to die, where did you think that Shen Ning was going to yin him and his township barracks!

After a long day of rapid travel, they finally sneaked to about five miles southeast of Lishan Town, because there were traces of Jin soldiers in front of them, so they found a forest to hide temporarily.

Not long after, there was a burst of birdsong in the distance, Gao Huaiyuan immediately heard that this was the sound of blowing with a bamboo whistle, so he immediately felt out a bamboo whistle, and blew a few times, and soon several people followed the sound to the woods where they were hidden, and found Gao Huaiyuan's location.

"Boss, we're back!" After Huang Yan wiped the fine sweat on his forehead, he ran to Gao Huaiyuan and whispered.

"Hmmm! Yes, let's talk about what you guys are doing here! Gao Huaiyuan was most worried about this now, so as soon as he saw Huang Yan and Jia Qi coming back, he immediately asked them.

At this time, Jia Qi also arrived in front of Gao Huaiyuan, and took out a blank piece of paper from his arms, on which a flat map was outlined with charcoal, and displayed it in front of Gao Huaiyuan's eyes.

"Young master, please see, after we arrived here in the morning, we found a few local people, they helped us, and we quickly figured out the surrounding terrain!

Lishan Town is the only way to Zaoyang, here has long been controlled by the Jin army, it is said that there are 2,000 Jin troops, and every day there are Jin soldiers from the direction of Suizhou, here for a short rest, so the number of Jin troops here is really a lot, I am afraid that this time Vice General Shen's action is difficult to succeed!

And there is a river on both sides of Lishan Town, the river in the north is relatively deep and the river is very wide, the north side of the river is a flat land, we can't do it there at all, otherwise, once the Jin army pursues, we can't escape at all!

The south side of the river is narrower, the water is not deep, the south side of the river is mountainous, more suitable as a retreat, once we miss, we can quickly cross the river, escape into the mountains on the south bank of the river, relatively safer than the north side of the town.

Here, about two miles away, there is a ravine, after entering is a large area of mountains and forests, as long as we retreat into this ravine, we will basically be out of danger, even if the Jin army pursues here, it is difficult to send a large army to pursue, maybe we will bite back! Judge pointed to the map and explained to Gao Huaiyuan.