In October of the third year of Xingping, the Xianbei people roared from the vast northern grassland, and the felt houses they built on the grassland were like mushrooms growing in the field after the rain, dotted around, from south to north, stretching for dozens of miles.

However, to Liu He's surprise, Kebineng did not choose Youzhou as the target of the first round of attacks when he went south this time, and after he stationed 70,000 troops near the surrendered city, he did not continue to advance eastward, but instead commanded the army to attack Wuyuan County in the south and Zhou, and successively conquered Xi'anyang, Chengyi, Yiliang, Jiuyuan, Linwo, Heyin and other places, occupying the entire Wuyuan County.

He ordered the leader and the company to lead the left army and horses to march west along the south bank of the Yellow River, attacking Shuofang County occupied by the Qiang people in Hexi, Lianke Shuofang, Guangmu, Gaoque, Woye, Jilusai and Linrong and other large and small cities, killing more than 35,000 local Qiang and Han people, burning down more than 100,000 houses, and robbing countless wealth and grain.

When He Lian led his troops west to Shuofang, Yu Zhuyu led 20,000 cavalry to march eastward along the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain, and in less than half a month, he successively captured the six cities of Xianyang, Yunzhong, Beiyu, Wuquan, Yuanyang and Chengle in Yunzhong County, and swallowed eighty percent of the territory of Yunzhong County.

It was only at this time that Yuan Shao, who was in Yecheng, received an urgent report from the Governor's Mansion on the North Road of Bingzhou, and learned that Kebineng did not directly attack Youzhou as he envisioned, but instead targeted a large area in the northern part of Bingzhou.

Yuan Shao was like thunder, but he could only be angry at the strategists around him, and Kebineng, who was thousands of miles away, didn't take him seriously at all. At this time, he may still laugh at Yuan Shao in his heart for being a fool, and he would believe the promise to join forces with him to attack Youzhou.

Yuan Shao really failed to steal chickens this time, and he lost several handfuls of rice! When the Xianbei people began to assemble in the northern part of the state. Not only did he not remind the Northern Road Governor's Office to strengthen its defenses, but instead ordered Feng Ji to mobilize all the northern forces to the Pingcheng and Baideng lines, and prepare to jointly attack the western front of Youzhou with Kebineng in the north and south. In this way, the defensive forces of Yunzhong County were exhausted, so that Yu Zhuyu could easily enter and occupy most of Yunzhong County in just half a month.

Feng Ji, the governor of the Northern Road appointed by Yuan Shao, sent people to Wuyuan City to ask Kebineng why he reneged on the covenant and invaded the state. Kebineng replied very scoundrelly: "Where the sons of the northern grasslands need to stay, we will only take the north of the Yellow River and temporarily set up camps, and wait for the next day to attack Youzhou." These places will be returned to the Che Cavalry General. ”

Will a hungry wolf spit out the fat that he swallows in his belly? The answer is, absolutely not!

When Liu He learned the news that Kebi could attack the three northern counties of Bingzhou, he said to Zhao Yun and Guo Jia with some anger: "I know that Yuan Shao's subordinates are incompetent, and they will definitely not be able to hold the great rivers and mountains of Bingzhou!" Kobi can do so. Apparently ready for a long-term confrontation with us. He saw Yuan Shao's nature that he would rather fight with us and die than fight with him to the end, so he forcibly tore off a large piece of meat from Yuan Shao's body! ”

Zhao Yun frowned and said: "Dingxiang City in Yunzhong County is only three hundred miles away from Daqingshan, and now it has been built by Yu, with the advance speed of the Xianbei cavalry, you can reach the line from Daqingshan to Gaoliu within two days. The last general was worried that Yuan Shao would let Feng Ji lead his army to retreat to the southwest, and handed over the three cities of Qiangyin, Pingcheng and Baideng in the north of Yanmen to Yu Kebineng, and instead ordered Feng Ji's troops and horses to hold the northern part of Dingxiang County and Xihe County. In order to lead the troubled water east to Youzhou. ”

Guo Jia said: "This possibility is very big, with Yuan Shao's temperament. It is better to give up the four northern counties of Bingzhou to the Xianbei people, but also to see the situation that Kebi can fight with us. ”

Liu He slammed his fist on the bookcase, gritted his teeth and said, "These two straight thieves!" Ben Gongzi kindly made a big dish on the table, and waited for Kebi to serve it, but he went to someone else's house, and it was obvious that he didn't give face! Since the Xianbei people don't give face, let's send troops to Bingzhou to beat them, so that this group of barbarians knows the etiquette of being a guest! ”

Guo Jia looked at Liu He, who was a little angry, and said comfortingly: "Gongzi doesn't need to worry, after Kebi Neng occupies the land north of the Yellow River in Bingzhou, he will not invade south again for the time being, otherwise Yuan Shao will mobilize troops and horses to completely turn his face with him." With the jackal mentality of the Xianbei people, they will inevitably invade Youzhou to the east in the next step, and they are only afraid that they will be prepared to fight against it for a long time in the future. ”

"Then can we only wait for the Xianbei people to stabilize their position before attacking us?" Liu He asked a little unwillingly.

Zhao Yun said loudly: "The last general is willing to lead the cavalry guards to attack the surrendered city and disturb the rear of the Xianbei people. ”

Guo Jia was a little disapproving, and said in opposition: "Now that it is the middle of winter, the north is prone to heavy snowstorms, and if the cavalry guards go deep behind enemy lines, there will be unpredictable dangers. Moreover, once the cavalry guards left, the troops on the western front of Youzhou were not enough to undertake the defensive task. ”

Zhao Yun understood that Guo Jia's worries were not unreasonable, and explained: "It doesn't take too many troops to attack the surrendered city, I only bring 3,000 elite cavalry, and it won't put too much pressure on the defense of the Western Front." This move is intended to provoke the Xianbei people and disrupt their established steps, and it only takes half a month to come and go, and the danger will not be too great. ”

Liu He was a little moved by what Zhao Yun said, and he also felt that it was a bit passive to wait for the strong enemy to attack, so it was better to take the initiative to attack and grasp the initiative, so he said: "In this way, I will let Zhang He lead the Youyan army to withdraw to Youzhou and come to the western front to help in the battle, Zilong will lead five thousand fine horsemen, one person and three horses, enter the grassland from the northeast of Daqingshan, detour to the north of Yinshan, and attack the surrendered city!" In addition, in order to prevent getting lost in the northern grasslands, I also brought Yan Rou over this time, and Zilong could let him be his guide. ”

Guo Jia no longer objected, and immediately began to draft an order for the mobilization of troops. As the supreme military commander, Liu He only grasped the direction, and the specific troop movements were operated by Guo Jiahe, Tian Chou and other directors, and when a formal military order was formed, he would stamp his seal after he passed it, and then the military intelligence department would quickly pass it out.

While Macheng's side urgently adjusted its operational deployment, Kebineng, who was far away in Wuyuan City, was not idle, and he was full of ambition to go south this time, not just to occupy the three northern counties of the state. In his opinion, as long as the war horse can set foot, it should be owned by the Xianbei people. The timid and thin Han people are only worthy of being the two-legged lambs of the Xianbei people.

Because the eastern Xianbei, the northern Xianbei and the western Xianbei have not yet established a unified and united country, so this time Kebineng led his troops south, still in the form of a tribal alliance, and there were nearly 100 tribes of all sizes that followed him south, among which eight tribes such as Tuoba clan, Qifu clan, Yuwen clan, Yiluo clan, Qiudun clan, Sugu clan, Helai clan, and Pusharu clan were strong.

On this day, Kebineng received the news from Qiangyin that Yu Zhuqian had sent back and learned that the army of the East Road had approached a hundred miles away from Gaoliu City. So he summoned the leaders of the tribes, large and small, to discuss the important matters together.

Kebineng held the good news in his hand, and said to everyone with a confident face: "I just received the news from the East Road army that Yu Zhuqian has occupied Qiangyin City. It is only more than ten miles away from Yanze, and in the future, my sons and daughters will no longer have to worry about eating salt! ”

After hearing this, the leaders were very satisfied and expressed their support for Kebineng's command. Tatsumaru, the leader of the Sugu clan, asked, "Now that the northern part of the state is in our hands. Dare to ask when the big boss will lead the army to attack Youzhou? I've heard people say that Youzhou is more than ten times richer than Bingzhou. The grain there is piled up into a mountain, the cattle and sheep are running all over the mountain, and the Han women have a thin waist, I really can't wait! ”

The leader of the Yuwen clan, Hudang, came from the north of Rao Leshui, and his tribe took in tens of thousands of people who had fled from the north of Baishan, so he knew the strength of the Youzhou cavalry, so he was a little frightened about attacking Youzhou, so he objected and said: "Youzhou Liu He is very powerful. We now have hundreds of thousands of troops under our command, and we are not fully prepared for them. Or don't rush to the east. ”

"Hudang, has your courage been frightened by the cavalry of the Han people?" Tatsumaru asked, a little dissatisfied.

"Tatsumaru, do you want to test my guts?" The fox stood up and drew his waist knife and pointed it directly at Tatsumaru.

The atmosphere in the tent suddenly became a little tense.

"Don't quarrel between the two leaders, listen to me first." Kebi Neng interrupted the quarrel between the two, and then said: "We are going south this time, and we are plotting the entire Bingzhou, Youzhou and Jizhou, so sooner or later we will definitely attack Youzhou!" However, the leader of the fox also reminded that although we made rapid progress in Bingzhou, and rarely encountered strong resistance from the Han people, Youzhou was completely different from Bingzhou, and I had fought with Liu He at the beginning, and I knew that this person was powerful. Liu He's generals are all fierce and cunning, and the soldiers of Youzhou are even more fearless of death and are good at battle, before the official attack on Youzhou, we must make all kinds of preparations, and conduct targeted training for the cavalry and infantry combat habits in Youzhou, otherwise we will let the sons and daughters go to death! ”

The leaders saw that the big boss Kebi could speak very seriously, so they made a straight look and listened carefully.

Kebineng continued: "The Youzhou cavalry used a complete set of harnesses, and any of their riders could spread the reins of their horses with both hands to start work, and the secret was in the saddle and stirrups. Now that we have occupied some of the cities inhabited by the Han people, we can gather the craftsmen among the Han people, imitate them according to the harness of the Youzhou cavalry, and then assemble the tribes on a large scale to organize the sons and daughters to practice and adapt. In addition, the Youzhou cavalry is also good at using a shameless tactic of pretending to retreat and fleeing, and then firing arrows behind you while fleeing, and we must also learn and imitate it! ”

"The Youzhou infantry is especially good at defending with the help of the cover of the car array and the city wall, equipped with powerful large-scale long-range weapons such as bed crossbows and catapults, as well as individual hard crossbows, hook-inlaid shields, thistles, poisonous smoke and other powerful weapons. To this end, we must now begin to make all kinds of large equipment necessary for the siege, such as well fences, catapults, bed crossbows, carts, and door-striking rams, and we must also train our sons to dismount and fight on foot, and climb the ladder to the top of the city to attack......"

Kebineng is indeed worthy of being a powerful figure among the Xianbei people after Tanshi Huai, he has been lying in the northern desert for five years, never forgetting the shame of the defeat of the enemy, these years are really the Youzhou cavalry and infantry are good at using various tactics have been thoroughly pondered.

After listening to Kebineng's analysis, the leader of the Tuoba clan made a very cruel suggestion, he said: "Since the Han people in Youzhou are good at hiding behind the city wall and the chariot array to shoot cold arrows, why don't we drive all the captured Han slaves to the front of the battle, let them each carry a bag of dirt in their arms, and pile up a slope in front of the Han city wall, so that our sons can ride their war horses and rush directly to the city!" ”

"What if the soldiers of Youzhou shoot arrows at these Han slaves and don't let them get close?" The leader of the Horai clan asked.

"Then fill in a path with the corpses of these Han slaves!" (To be continued......)