In the middle of June of the second lunar calendar, the weather was hot, and Du Xian completed the elite assembly of the three towns and governors' mansions, totaling more than 25,000 people, and marched to Pingzhou, the governor's mansion of Andong, divided into five armies. The Mingguang army was divided into two armies, the left and right, and the first army had more than 5,000 horses; more than 5,000 Hedong troops; more than 5,000 Anton troops; There are more than 3,000 Youzhou troops (8,000 in the original establishment). All the elites were arranged on the southern front, and he ordered Shi Xuene, the temporary governor of Youzhou, to control the cities, forts, and outposts under the governor of Youzhou to guard the towns, forts, and outposts to prevent Xi soldiers from going south.

At this time, the details had already found out the movements of the Khitan and Xi tribes, and the two tribes were like great enemies, and it was too late to negotiate with the Jin court. The Khitan Li Lost Tribes led the armed forces from the Mosong Duhufu and the grasslands in the east of Monan to the vicinity of Yingzhou, and at the same time came to converge with the Xi leader Li Dayu, and the other tribes of the Xi tribe were still active in the territory of Rao Le Du Hufu.

Du Xian prepared for the pre-war affairs, and finally ordered the front and rear five armies to set off from Pingzhou to the north. The weather has been sunny for the past few days, and there is no sea breeze coming from the Bohai Sea. The Jin army brought its own grain and grass, and carried armor and weapons to march in the scorching summer, which was indeed more difficult. Because the five military horses came from the Guanzhong Central Army and the newly established Governor's Office, the same place is that the military department directly under the military department is regarded as the regular army of the imperial court, so the armor equipment rate is very high, the cavalry is almost all equipped with armor, the infantry also wears chain mail, and has a complete range of long and short weapons and bows and crossbows. This increases the weight of the soldier while increasing the protection against the attack.

The sun is in the sky, the people and horses in the dust are all sweating, and there is a tired color on the back. Fortunately, the information before the march was collected properly, and the army's marching route was mainly along the Xuanshui to the north, and the water source was not a problem, otherwise the weather would be miserable. Du Xian issued an order for the soldiers to put salt in their drinking water to avoid heat stroke. Naturally, these were the lessons he had learned from his long march and war, but the reasons for doing so were not clear.

General Jianyi of the Mingguang Military Department said: "The soldiers are tired due to heavy exposure to the sun every day, so it is better to change the march to day and night, and the march will not be so hot after the cold at night." ”

The general of the Youzhou army advised: "If you don't distinguish the banner when you march in the dark, you are afraid that people and horses will be chaotic and people and animals will be lost." ”

However, Du Xian believed that the Mingguang Army and the Governor's Mansion soldiers trained frequently on a daily basis, and belonged to elite soldiers with strict military discipline, and there was no such thing as chaos in the establishment at night. He then adopted the advice of his subordinates and ordered them to camp and rest during the day, wait for the sun to go down before marching, and continue to rest the next day when the temperature rises, and so on.

Sure enough, nothing happened during the night march, because the light was not good, it was difficult for the various departments to identify the team from the flag, but the military discipline queue was good, and the rear army followed the front army without any mistakes, and the direction occasionally deviated from the next morning, and it was also adjusted by the guide officer early the next morning, and it was relatively smooth.

The army walked for a few days, and one morning Du Xian suddenly received a report that someone from the Xi tribe came to see him, saying that he wanted to surrender. Du Xian led a team of men and horses to the front, and sure enough, dozens of people were surrounded by some Jin officers and soldiers on the side of the road, and their weapons had been confiscated. I saw that some of those people were randomly piling a piece of animal skin, some were wrapped in sackcloth around their waists, and there were very few people wearing leather armor. When the army formed a line of people from the avenue, they looked sideways, and they all showed contempt.

A man who could speak Chinese and wore dirty pigtails came up and bowed and saluted: "We are from the Kumo tribe, and the leader heard the news of the arrival of the army of the Great Jin Dynasty, and did not dare to fight each other with soldiers. The other tribes are also unbearable to be enslaved by the Khitan nobles, and they have long had the intention of submitting to the Great Jin, so they are waiting for your army to come. If the general captures Yingzhou, the Xi people are unwilling to surrender. ”

At this time, a general from Youzhou said: "The chief manager is cautious, there is something strange. First, these people called themselves the Kumo tribe, and as far as the last general knew, this tribe was located in the southern part of Raole Du Hufu, and most of the people no longer relied on hunting and gathering for a living, but began farming and production, and even some of them had migrated Han people with farming and weaving techniques, how could such a tribe wear animal skins? Moreover, they were men sent by the chiefs of the tribes. Second, the people of all ethnic groups in Dongyi are fierce and cunning, don't believe the honest and honest words of the Hu people, there may be fraud in it, we have to guard against it. ”

The general of Youzhou is indeed reasonable, from the main road to the distance you can see some green crops, this side is relatively sparsely populated, but there is already agricultural production. Tribes that can farm generally weave, and people on hot days are obviously more comfortable wearing linen. After being reminded by the generals, Du Xian also felt that they didn't feel like they were telling the truth.

But the Nahu people explained: "The Khitans are insatiable, and most of our harvest income has been plundered by them, but they themselves have no food and clothing, so that they are so poor. ”

Du Xian said: "Since we are here to surrender, where is the reason why we don't accept it?" Go back and spread the word, let the leader lead his troops to greet you, and when the time comes, you can hand over your weapons before the battle. So he ordered the horses to be released again.

Most of the generals and staff of the Chinese army think that there is fraud in this, and some think that the barbarians' petty tricks are not to be worried, in short, they can only look at the situation. Du Xian then ordered a rest for the night, and the next morning a daytime march in order to deal with the tribe that was about to surrender.

For several days, all the soldiers slept during the day and marched at night, and at night they stopped to rest, and many could not sleep. The Chinese army did not enforce the curfew of all departments, so bonfires were lit everywhere in the camp, and there were voices of people all night long.

By the dawn of the day, the Jin army reorganized its ranks and continued to march, but did not see a large number of Hu people coming to surrender. Along the way, some discarded cattle and horses, equipment, most of the livestock are old and weak, and the weapons are crude and old, the soldiers picked up the weapons and laughed and said "no different from bamboo poles", especially the knights of the Mingguang Army who were quite arrogant from Guanzhong sneered at the enemy this time, thinking that the enemy's equipment and combat effectiveness were not up to the level.

The rangers captured some Hu people and came to interrogate, and got the news that there was originally a group of Xi people here in the morning, but later they were driven away by Li Yanhuo's troops, some were captured, and some scattered and fled. Sure enough, there were all kinds of discarded debris and traces of people and horses passing along the way.

The Jin army was soon also reported by the scouts, and a large number of traces of the Hu army were found in the north. The Chinese army believed that what the previous prisoners said was true, and that perhaps the main force of Li Shenghuo was in front. Several fierce generals of the Mingguang Army made meritorious contributions and earnestly asked for orders to lead the cavalry to pursue along the way and win a battle first. However, Du Xian's staff dissuaded: "It is similar to the strategy of the Hu people to lure the enemy, and our army must not go out to chase after it, so as not to fall into the scheme." ”

Du Xian accepted the admonition of his staff, believing that the Hu people's design was very likely and that the enemy should not advance lightly, so he ordered the army to march slowly, and at the same time continued to send scouts to find out the situation. In the evening, the lieutenant of the scout battalion went to the Chinese army to ask for an audience with the chief manager, and reported to the account: "There is a place in front that is shaped like a valley, surrounded by mountains and dense woods, and the road in the middle is flat and unsafe. ”

At this time, the news obtained one after another had already made the Chinese shogunate come to the possibility that Hu Bing wanted to ambush the Jin army with leisure. Some people set up a detour to avoid the unfavorable terrain, and then choose a suitable battlefield to start a battle when they entered Yingzhou. But to change the established route of the march means to leave the Xuanshui Valley and take another path. Although this area is not a desert Gobi, it is difficult to find a large amount of water on the road at any time due to the recent drought, and tens of thousands of troops march in the hot summer, if they do not find enough water in a day, it will be more strict, making the tired people and horses worse.

After discussing with the others, Du Xian decided not to change the route, and continued to go north along the Xuanshui, and when he reached the valley south of Dushan, he would be vigilant, and if the enemy attacked, he would line up and fight hard.

The Jin army then marched to the southern part of Dushan on June 25, only to see the road undulating, with high mountains on both sides. Scouts went up the mountain to search to no avail, and it was difficult to obtain any useful information in a short period of time due to the high mountains and dense forests. At this time, it was suddenly reported that a group of men and horses came from the north, and Fan Shuhu, the general of the Mingguang Army, immediately stepped forward to ask for orders: "The last general is willing to lead an army to meet the enemy, and if the enemy resists, he will be defeated and reported to the general manager." ”

This general, Fan Shuhu, fought bravely and was really a good general. However, Du Xian remembered his cousin during the Turkic War, and asked him to cover the flanks and block the attacks of the Turkic soldiers, but he disobeyed the order to pursue for a whole day before returning, so he was almost beheaded...... After thinking about it for a while, Du Xian categorically rejected Fan Shuhu's request, and chose another general, a person who was born in the Flying Tiger Regiment and had worked under Zhang Wulang, named Gong Yecheng. This person is thin and timid, not very brave in battle, participated in several battles and has not made any commendable military exploits, but his strength is that he is cautious and cautious, and rarely goes wrong.

This arrangement made Fan Shuhu very unconvinced, and the first merit of the war was given to a kid who usually despised him, which was naturally not a pleasant thing. But Du Xian's staff all understood the meaning when they saw this: before entering the valley, it did not matter whether they won the battle or not, and the most important thing to avoid was to lightly attack the enemy. Everyone saw Du Xian's cautious attitude, and they were slightly relieved.

Gongye Cheng received the order and led the eight regiments of the Mingguang Army to leave the Chinese army with about 1,600 cavalry, and met the invading enemy along the main road. After crossing a hill, the forward cavalry entered a valley flanked on either side by a forested valley that was not steep, but the roads were so rugged that it was difficult for the cavalry to spread out laterally. So Gongyecheng had to let the headquarters take the regiment as the formation, and divide it into eight units to follow forward and move forward.

After a short hike up the mountain, you come across a downhill road with a relatively flat terrain with only a few small hills in between, but there are still mountains and forests in the distance on the east and west sides. Gong Yecheng walked among the people and horses, and he heard someone shouting: "Hu people are down there!" ”G