With the surrender of the Liaoyang defenders, the large-scale battle in the direction of the Northern Expedition of the Later Zhou Dynasty in the direction of Tokyo Road was basically over. On the seventh day of the sixth lunar month of the seventh year of Jianlong, Zeng Zhilin led the main force of the Middle Route Army of the Northern Expedition to Liaoyang City, and joined forces with Cheng Fei's pursuit troops and the Right Route Army of the Northern Expedition of Huanghai and Zou Zhenyuan.

The main forces of the two armies met, and the Zhou army gathered inside and outside Liaoyang City had more than 80,000 horses. However, this mass of armies did not last long. After reporting to Kaifeng via radio the details of a series of recent operations, and receiving a reply from the other side for a general order and commendation and a reply to continue to carry out the next step according to the original plan, the armies of the Central and Right Routes of the Northern Expedition immediately began to move under the command of Huang Hai, Zeng Zhilin, Cheng Fei, and Zou Zhenyuan.

First, with a small number of "Flying Dragon Army" infantry and cavalry and some "Security Army" infantry and cavalry as the backbone, he commanded the provisional "regimental training" troops composed of local Han Chinese and Bohai people who returned to Shun, and cooperated with the civil officials at all levels who had just arrived in Liaoyang City from Tanggu Port to the Liao River and had just arrived in Liaoyang City after being sent by the Later Zhou Imperial Court.

Second, the 12th Regiment of the 4th Composite Infantry Division of the "Flying Dragon Army," the cavalry regiment under the division, the artillery regiment under the division, and the infantry and cavalry regiments of the "Security Army" each formed a "northern strike cluster" with a scale of about 17,000 people.

Third, the 15th Regiment of the Fifth Composite Infantry Division of the "Flying Dragon Army," the cavalry regiment under the division, the first artillery regiment under the division, the first regiment of the Marine Corps, and two cavalry regiments and two infantry regiments of the "Security Army" formed a "southern strike and border patrol protection cluster" of about 20,000 horses. On the one hand, they cooperated with the civilian officials to take over the prefectures and counties south of Liaoyang City to Fuzhou and Suzhou (Liaodong Peninsula), and on the other hand, after completing the takeover, they marched eastward to inspect the customary border between the Liao and Goryeo kingdoms, so as to prevent the Goryeo people from taking advantage of the northern expedition of the Zhou army and the chaos of the Liao state to fish in troubled waters and encroach on and occupy the land that originally belonged to the Liao State.

Fourth, some of the cavalry of the "Flying Dragon Army" and the "Security Army" formed a number of reinforced battalions (about 1,500 to 2,000 people) to escort several Xuanfu groups composed of the "messengers of the decree" sent by Yeluxian and the Xuanfu envoys sent by the Later Zhou court, and announced the news of the change of regime and the change of power to the Jurchen tribes who only nominally accepted the rule of the Liao court but actually had strong independence, and asked them to pay allegiance to the Later Zhou court. For those Jurchen tribes who were willing to submit to the Great Zhou court, the Later Zhou court naturally did not hesitate to reward. And for those Jurchen tribes who were unwilling to submit to the Great Zhou, and even those who had bad intentions towards the Xuanfu Regiment, the Zhou army would not be merciful, and the accompanying protection troops would attack decisively and destroy them.

Fifth, set up an emergency mobile force of about 10,000 people, led by Cheng Fei to Huanglong Mansion. On the one hand, it deterred the Jurchen and Murwei tribes in the Tongjiang (Songhua River and Heilongjiang) basins, and cooperated with the actions of the Xuanfu Mission in the region. On the other hand, they paid close attention to the actions of Wang Feng and Mutel in subduing the grassland tribes in the northern part of the former Shangjing Province, and were ready to advance westward to support if needed.

Sixth, the rest of the soldiers and horses were led by Huang Hai to sit in Liaoyang City to ensure the safety of the rear roads of the various armies.

Everything was properly arranged, and on the tenth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar in the seventh year of Jianlong, soldiers and horses from all walks of life left Liaoyang City one after another and began to act as planned.

Compared with Zeng Zhilin and Yang Kefu's northern strike cluster, the southern strike and border patrol protection cluster led by Zou Zhenyuan and Xing Zhengnan faced more difficulties. Although there are a large number of prefectures and counties north of Liaoyang City, most of them have already been swept away when Zeng Zhilin led his troops south, and it is much easier to take over and take over than south of Liaoyang City. Not to mention, since the defeat of Yelu Abaoji and the destruction of the Bohai State, the border between the Liao State and Goryeo has been in a state of ambiguity, and many places are where you have me, I have you, Khitan, Jurchen, Bohai, Goryeo and Han people and other ethnic groups live together. If we want to clarify the relationship, I am afraid it will not be possible to do it overnight. Therefore, before leaving Liaoyang City, Zou Zhenyuan, Xing Zhengnan, and other commanders of the "Southern Strike and Border Patrol and Protection Cluster" on the one hand inquired and inquired as much as possible about the former Tokyo Provincial officials and local "Dark Feather" agents who knew about the situation in the southern prefectures and counties and the surrounding area of the Yalu River (Yalu River), and on the other hand, they also carried sufficient combat materials and formulated a number of countermeasures in case of emergency.

Although since entering the Beiping military system and taking the road of martial arts, Xing Zhengnan has also participated in many battles, including some large-scale battles to destroy the country. But most of the time, he followed the actions of the Chinese army and served as a staff officer, and rarely had the opportunity to lead the troops to the front line to fight - the only time he was on the front line and personally commanded the operation was when he was in the Southern Tang Dynasty, when the eighth uncle Xu Shao'an lightly attacked the enemy and rushed into the ambush, as the deputy chief of staff, he organized and commanded the men and horses to rescue.

Of course, the fact that he has never had the opportunity to lead the troops to fight alone does not mean that Xing Zhengnan is not capable enough, but mainly because the commander of the routine operation is afraid that he will rush to the front line of the battle, in case of a mistake, he will not be able to explain to the fifth brother and fifth sister-in-law - although Xing Zhengnan is not Wang Kunjun's biological son, but for this righteous son who lost his father at the age of ten and his mother at the age of fifteen, Wang Kunjun and Zhang Xiaofei treat them as their own and care for them, no worse than Wang Huan, Wang Di, and even Wang Kai, who is just three years old. In fact, this time he was able to lead the "Southern Strike and Border Patrol Protection Cluster" with Zou Zhenyuan to the south, instead of being left in Liaoyang City to accompany the Twelfth Uncle Huang Hai to "sit" in the center, or Xing Zhengnan and several uncles were soft and hard, plus Wang Kunjun could not withstand his repeated requests to send electricity, and sent a special telegram to Huang Hai, Zeng Zhilin and others to express their consent, and it was not easy to get it - although as a deputy commander, he probably did not get the opportunity to personally command on the front line. But at best, he can be regarded as a direct commander of combat operations rather than a staff officer.

Zou Zhenyuan and Xing Zhengnan's troops went south from Liaoyang City, and the initial period was relatively smooth. When the officials and guards of the prefectures and counties along the route saw the nearly 20,000 troops approaching the city, they basically did not hesitate, and went down the steps of the "holy decree of dedication to the city" read out by the "messenger" sent by Yeluxian, who was moving with the army, and simply surrendered the city. Therefore, in the early period of going south, Zou Zhenyuan and Xing Zhengnan and other commanders lived a very leisurely life, which seemed to be easier than their daily training.

This kind of situation is naturally not what Xing Zhengnan, who is bent on standing alone and commanding in person, is willing to see. Therefore, after the soldiers took Yaozhou without blood, he kept nagging in the ear of the main general Zou Zhenyuan, hoping that the other party would allow him to lead a partial division to break away from the main force and rush to the Yalu River (Yalu River) first, so as to prevent those "hateful" Koreans from taking advantage of the opportunity of the Zhou army's northern expedition and the Liao army's lack of time to look south, and step up the encroachment and encroachment of the land of the former Liao State. It's just that Xing Zhengnan listed a bunch of reasons for himself to lead the army to the Yalu River (Yalu River) in advance, Zou Zhenyuan's answer was always the sentence "The first task of going south this time is to accept the states and counties of the former Liao State, and the border between Goryeo and the former Liao State has always been blurred, and it may not be an overnight thing to solve it, so I am not in a hurry at this time", so he sent his nephew away.

Seeing that no matter how "mushroom" Uncle Zou was, he would not give in at all, although Xing Zhengnan was very depressed in his heart, he had no choice but to follow Zou Zhenyuan patiently and continue this combat operation, which in his opinion was no different from daily marching and training. So much so that when the "Southern Strike and Border Patrol Protection Cluster" arrived at the foot of Xin'an City, Ningzhou, 350 miles southwest of Liaoyang, Xing Zhengnan was somewhat distracted, and did not run to the front of the queue to watch the surrender ceremony of the defenders as he had accepted the previous cities, but lazily stayed in the Chinese army, chatting with several middle-level officers who knew each other without saying a word.

Xing Zhengnan couldn't fight much in the Chinese army, and the four cavalrymen of the "security army" who were responsible for "escorting" the "messengers" sent by Ye Luxian were also lacking in interest. After the novelty of the first two "Sending the Decree to Present the City", the four cavalrymen entered the state of coping with the errand, accompanying the Khitan envoy in charge of the delivery of the decree through the motions under each planned city, repeating the reception process that had been repeated many times before. Therefore, when the four of them accompanied the "messenger" to the north gate of Xin'an City, and listened to the latter read the "holy decree of dedication to the city" that they had heard countless times and could almost memorize, the cavalry company commander of the "security army" on the left side of the messenger habitually took out a signal gun from his arms, preparing the officials and guards in the city to follow the order, open the city gate, and send a signal to the army not far away, so that the relevant civil and military officials could receive the city according to the procedure.

Just when the commander of the cavalry company of the "Security Army" had already pulled off the hammer of the signal gun in his hand and was about to raise his hand to fire, a noisy sound suddenly came from the north gate of Xin'an City, which had been silent before, and then someone was heard shouting in a rather stiff Chinese: "Ningzhou is the homeland of the Bohai Sea, and it was forcibly occupied by the Khitan 40 years ago. Now that the Khitan is dead, the Bohai Sea is about to be restored, and this place should be returned to the Bohai State. It is really ridiculous that you are qualified to give orders to other countries by the envoys of the dead country. Someone came, and Yu Ben would shoot a flurry of arrows and shoot these shameless and arrogant people. With these few words, more than 100 archers poked their heads out from behind the city wall, bent their bows and arrows and aimed at the five people under the city.