"What's the matter?" Gao Lie asked with a frown.

"The spies found that a cavalry team of more than 10,000 people had passed through Jingcheng and was speeding westward."

Gao Lie was taken aback, Jingcheng is located about eighty miles east of Hejian County, and the team is heading west, isn't it killing Hejian County? ”

At this time, Gao Lie's heart was in a mess, and he walked quickly down the stands, got on his horse and ran towards the big tent.

Later, Gao Qin sighed secretly, the master was too obsessed with annihilating Dou Jiande, but ignored Zhang Xuan's movements, it was indeed a bit of putting the cart before the horse, when the Wagang army turned in the Central Plains, the master should have realized the problem of Zhang Xuan going north.

The major events that should have been prevented long ago were not caught off guard until a crisis occurred, and in the final analysis, they were still inferior in the overall situation and strategy.

In the big tent, Gao Lie stood in front of the map and pondered for a long time, and the main general Mu Suixin said in a low voice: "Master, the spies we deployed in Qinghe County should have been pulled out by the Sui army, so we didn't get any news about the Sui army going north, but we have secret posts in Zhangnan County and Gonggao County, if the Sui cavalry goes north along the Yongji Canal, we will inevitably find that the cavalry is going north in a roundabout way." ”

Gao Lie sighed, "I'm not worried about the cavalry, but about Zhang Xuan's main army, where will they be now?" If they didn't take the Yongji Canal, but went north directly through Gaojibo, they would probably have approached Raoyang. ”

At this time, Gao Qin said on the side: "Zhang Xuan's main force is at least 30,000 or more, if they go north in a straight line, they can't guarantee the supply of food, this is a taboo for soldiers, I think Zhang Xuan's army should still go north along the Yongji Canal, there are grain ships to follow, our spies should also find them, but the intelligence has not been sent yet." ”

Gao Lie nodded, and he walked to the tent again, watching the army attack the city. After a while, he ordered: "General Zuo Guo Yang led 20,000 troops to continue to attack Raoyang City, and the rest of the army immediately returned to the barracks to rest and prepare to meet the main force of the Qingzhou Army." ”

In the afternoon, Gao Lie finally got the news sent by the spies from Zhangnan County, and this morning he found that the main force of the Sui army was heading north, with about 40,000 or 50,000 people. There are also a large number of grain carriers.

This news made Gao Lie breathe a sigh of relief, if he only discovered the Sui army in the morning, then now the Sui army is at least one hundred and fifty miles away from him, and he can still deal with it calmly.

"Don't forget to kill the 10,000 cavalry in Hejian County!" Gao Qin reminded on the side.

Gao Lie pondered for a moment and asked General Mu Suixin, "What does General Mu think?" ”

Mu Suixin bowed and said: "If the cavalry and infantry are sent at the same time, since the cavalry has already passed Jingcheng County yesterday, then the infantry will never pass Zhangnan County until this morning, such a march is too slow, unless the infantry is sent a day later than the cavalry." But it doesn't conform to common sense, so I feel that Zhang Xuan doesn't seem to be in a hurry to enter the army, if I guess correctly, he is waiting for us to kill Dou Jiande for him. ”

Mu Suixin's analysis was reasonable and very thorough, and everyone nodded secretly, but there was an indescribable bitterness in Gao Lie's heart, which was obvious. Zhang Xuan set up a big game, from Gao Shida to Dou Jiande. Every step is carefully designed, and his actions always fall into Zhang Xuan's layout, in comparison, his strategic layout is not half a point different from Zhang Xuan.

Gao Lie even suspected that the Wagang army's abandonment of Qingzhou and its turn to Luokoucang was also caused by Zhang Xuan's strategy, if this was the case. He's going to face an extremely tough opponent.

Thinking of this, Gao Lie turned around and ordered: "Quickly send an eagle letter to Hejian County, and order Hu Lusheng to strictly guard the city and not be allowed to go out of the city to fight!" ”

Gao Lie was not very worried about the cavalry, after all, it was unrealistic for the cavalry to attack the city. The cavalry was mainly used to cut off the grain route, and the grain and grass they brought were sufficient, enough to support twenty days, and the key was the impact of the main infantry.

Gao Lie looked at the city again, no matter whether Zhang Xuan was using himself or not, he still had to capture Raoyang County, and he couldn't give Dou Jiande any more chance.

At this time, he remembered an army again. Then he ordered: "Inform Jiang Liming to garrison the place and wait for my order to attack at any time!" ”

．．．．．．．

Gao Lie obviously underestimated Dou Jiande's determination to hold on to Raoyang County, and after the news of the arrival of Zhang Xuan's army, the morale of the besieging army weakened, while the morale of the soldiers and civilians defending the city rose sharply.

Two days later, Zhang Xuan's army appeared about twenty miles away from Raoyang County, and the army set up a large camp in the wilderness, assuming a posture of protracted battle.

When the army arrived, Gao Lie was forced to give up the attack on Raoyang County, leaving 5,000 troops to monitor Dou Jiande, and he also led 60,000 or 70,000 troops to meet the main force of the Sui army, and set up camp five miles away from the Sui army camp, and the two sides entered a state of confrontation.

Zhang Xuan has experienced a hundred battles, he controls the overall situation strategically, but he does not dare to underestimate the enemy at all in tactics, especially this battle is related to his control of Hebei, once he fails, his overall strategic goal will be delayed, and even he will lose the qualification to compete for the world.

Therefore, even if Zhang Xuan's Qingzhou army had an all-round advantage, Zhang Xuan did not dare to slack off and underestimate the enemy, on the contrary, he became very cautious.

Inside the big tent, Zhang Xuan repeatedly read the information of the scouts several times, and from a tiny detail of the Bohai Navy, he found something strange.

Zhang Xuan picked up the wooden pole and pointed to the sand table and said to everyone: "According to the scout's observation, the grain of the Bohai Navy can probably supply the army for about twenty days, so Gao Lie is not worried that his grain route will be cut off by our cavalry, but there is one thing that is strange, when Gao Lie's army moved eastward, the scout did not find out how many cavalry the enemy army had, and the scout estimated that there were no more than a thousand war horses, but there was an unusually large amount of forage in his army, at least three or four thousand war horses, what is the reason for this?" ”

Luo Shi was confident and straightforward, and hurriedly said: "Two possibilities, either he has more animal power, not only war horses, but also many other livestock, which naturally requires a lot of forage, or they are too well prepared, in fact, not so much." ”

Zhang Xuan glanced at Li Jing, Li Jing understood Zhang Xuan's concern, and said slowly: "In addition to the two possibilities mentioned by General Luo, there should be another possibility, that is, there is another cavalry in the Bohai Navy, which is only operating on the periphery, and our scouts have not found it." ”

Fang Xuanling nodded and smiled: "Li Sima's guess is very bold, but I also have reason to support this speculation, Dou Jiande originally had five thousand war horses, in the first battle of Raoyang, 80,000 troops were wiped out, 5,000 cavalry directly surrendered to the Bohai Society, and the war horses became the spoils of the Bohai Society, so the Bohai Society should have at least 5,000 cavalry, and now there are less than 1,000 war horses in the camp, so where are the other 4,000 war horses?" ”

Li Jing's bold guess and Fang Xuanling's careful confirmation convinced everyone that there was basically a cavalry active in the Bohai Navy on the periphery, which was unknown to them.

At this time, Zhang Xuan pointed to the distance between the camp and Yongji Canal with a wooden pole and said: "We are about eighty miles away from the grain ship, this distance is our weakness, if we are defeated, the biggest possibility is to lose in the logistics supply, the Bohai Navy should also see this, so this cavalry will either attack our grain convoy or attack our grain ship." ”

Wei Chigong said in a deep voice: "Since this is the case, then we will plan and annihilate this cavalry in one fell swoop." ”

Zhang Xuan looked at everyone one by one, and everyone agreed with Wei Chigong's suggestion, and Zhang Xuan said to Li Jing: "Li Sima and General Wei Chi are in charge of this annihilation battle, if you need cavalry cooperation, I will let Yuanqing actively cooperate." ”

………

The speculation of the generals of the Qingzhou army is indeed not wrong, Gao Lie has a secret cavalry, about 4,000 people, under the direct command of Gao Lie, this cavalry is very hidden, only a few high-level generals know about it, and ordinary generals and soldiers do not know about its existence.

This cavalry was commanded by Gao Lie's henchman Jiang Liming, and usually operated on the periphery, and once Gao Lie's order was received, it would strike with thunderbolts.

At the second watch, 4,000 cavalry galloped in the dark night, and Jiang Liming took the lead, he had received an order from Gao Lie, who ordered him to attack the grain fleet of the Sui army, and be sure to sink or burn the grain ships.

Jiang Liming had already received detailed information from the spies, and the grain ships were moored in the Yongji Canal near Gonggao County, and there were about 500 of them, densely moored together.

Jiang Liming was well aware of his chances, under normal circumstances, the grain ships would be anchored on the west bank of the Yongji Canal, and could supply grain to the Sui army at any time, but if there was an enemy situation, the grain ships would quickly sail to the middle of the river, so that the enemy could not attack.

Then his opportunity is at night, taking advantage of the slight weakness of the outer defense of the Sui army's warships, to attack and burn the grain ships in one fell swoop, although the opportunity will not be very large, but Jiang Liming still has to try, of course, the real reason is that the military order is difficult to disobey. (To be continued.) )