After the fierce resistance of the governor of Zuzhou and the surrender of the Zuling Mausoleum without a fight, Wang Feng, who led his army north on the 15th day of the fourth lunar calendar of the seventh year of Jianlong, was no longer as sure of what the next battle of Huaizhou and the battle of Gyeongju would be like before. However, facts have proved that today, when their own decline is obvious and their defeat has appeared, Khitan officials and guards are more of those so-called "practitioners who know how to practice", and there are very few "hard bones" like Yerusha. In the face of the surging Zhou army, the officials and guards of Huaizhou and Gyeongju made what they thought was the wisest, most suitable and safest choice - Kaesong surrendered. The only difference between the two was the time from the end of the Zhou army's deterrent artillery bombardment to the opening of the city gates - the Huaizhou garrison held out for an hour, and the Gyeongju garrison held out for an hour and a half. As a result, from leading the army to leave Linhuang City, to taking Gyeongju and sending multiple scouts to cross the Daxing'an Mountains to inquire about the news and survey the terrain, Wang Feng's full battle took only five days. Even if you add the time that the messenger was on the road, when Yang Xin received the document to report the victory, it was only seven days before Wang Feng's department went north.

Wang Feng's side took Huai and Qing Prefectures without much effort, and Zhao Chen, who left Linhuang City and went south on the same day, also made a smooth progress. On the same day that Wang Feng's report was delivered to Linhuang City, Zhao Chen also captured Rao Governor Lecheng, during which he encountered only slight resistance from the defenders. At the same time, Wu Peng also sent a message to report that Ningzhou City, which was far away from the main battlefield of Linhuang Mansion and the news transmission was not smooth, had lax defense, and that he had led his troops and horses to the city without a fight, and after a short rest, he would kill Yuzhou, which was not far away, two days later. Although there are more herdsmen in Yuzhou than in Ningzhou, there are only a thousand in number, and there are Han herdsmen in Ningzhou who volunteered to go to Yuzhou City and secretly contact the Han people who are familiar with them there to assist the Zhou army in attacking the city. It is estimated that he will be able to return to Linhuang City in ten days at most, and he will never miss the action of the grassland assault cluster under Wang Feng's department.

After receiving the report of the three-way "sweeping army" and learning that everyone's actions were very smooth, Yang Xin was naturally very happy in his heart, and on the one hand, he wrote to encourage him, and on the other hand, he stepped up the sorting and inventory of the household registration and treasury of Linhuangcheng and Zuzhou, and stepped up the elimination and reorganization of the Han and Bohai villagers, so as to prepare for the acceptance and governance of civil officials in the future.

Ten days later, on the first day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar in the seventh year of Jianlong, Zhao Chen's messenger from the South Road entered Linhuang City again, reporting that after a short fierce battle, the department smashed the resistance of the 3,000 defenders of Guangyi City, and took the birthplace of the wife of Yelu Abaoji, the Khitan Taizu Yelu Abaoji, who was honored as the "Queen of Yingtian Damingdi", and who had been in the dynasty and dominated the Khitan court, and won the second victory of the sweeping battle.

Although the South Road Division won successive battles, Yang Xin was far from being as happy as when he received the first good news from the department. Of course, this is not to say that Yang Xin is not satisfied with Zhao Chen's appearance, in fact, the former both values and appreciates the latter from the "Reserve Force Training Class" of the crossing team, and the reason why he is in a bad mood is because it is estimated that Wu Peng's department, which should have appeared under Linhuang City, still has no news.

It stands to reason that the shape of the battlefield is changing rapidly and the march of troops may also be fast and slow, and the estimated time is often skewed, and it is normal to not arrive at the expected time, and Yang Xin, who knew this, did not pay much attention to it at first. However, when the detectives who were conducting general investigations in the direction of Ningzhou reported that they had traveled nearly eighty miles, but still did not find the shadow of Wu Peng and his more than 1,000 generals, Yang Xin could not help but be worried. After all, Linhuang City is only two hundred and forty miles away from Ningzhou, and even if Wu Peng's troops walk slowly, the scouts should encounter them; Even if the trip was really delayed because of something, a messenger should come to report and explain the situation - although Wu Peng is ranked 31 among the "Qingyuan" brothers, he is already 38 years old this year, and he is not confused. He may actively strive for various opportunities to make more contributions, but he is not a person who does things hastily and does not care about others, and he will not even send a messenger to report safety when he knows that Brother Twenty-five has been thinking about himself and he has delayed his trip. Now that there are neither men nor messengers, the only thing that can explain it is that the former has an accident, which not only delays the trip, but also makes it too late or even impossible to send the messenger. As a result, Yang Xin, who was becoming more and more uneasy in his heart, immediately made arrangements, increased the original reconnaissance team to dozens of roads, and expanded the scope of investigation from the farthest eighty miles around Linhuang City to more than one hundred and fifty miles at most.

Eventually, on the third day after the large-scale search, that is, thirteen days after Wu Peng's last report of taking Ningzhou without a fight, the scouts who had already traveled all the way to the banks of the Dafu River (Haihar River), nearly 180 miles northeast of Linhuang City, found two unconscious messengers with arrows on their bodies.

After some rescue, a seriously injured messenger died, while another rescued messenger reported a shocking news to the cavalry platoon commander in charge of the reconnaissance cavalry - the founding man of the Great Zhou, the general of the Right Weiwei, the deputy capital of the Sibu Army in front of the palace, and the Marquis of Yu of the Left Route Army of the Northern Expedition Wu Peng encountered more than 10,000 Khitan troops in Yuzhou City and was besieged in the city, and now it is in danger.

When the news reached Linhuang City, Yang Xin's first reaction was that the messenger was lying about the military situation. In fact, it was Yang Xin, and even the cavalry platoon commander who found the messenger thought that the other party was talking nonsense when he first heard the news. Because, since the siege and annihilation of the 50,000 Khitan army left behind in Shangjing by Han Kuangsi in Changningcheng, Yongzhou, and the elimination of 10,000 Khitan defenders in Linhuang City, the Left Route Army of the Northern Expedition, from Yang Xin, Wang Feng, Wu Peng to every ordinary soldier, believed that there was no Khitan army heavy army group in Linhuang Mansion and even the entire Shangjing Province - and this was the fundamental reason why Yang Xin dared to agree that Wu Peng would attack Ningzhou and Yuzhou with only a thousand men. Therefore, when he first heard that Wu Peng was besieged in Yuzhou by tens of thousands of Khitan soldiers and horses, Yang Xin naturally would not believe it.

It's just that facts are facts, and no matter whether Yang Xin wants to believe it or not, he can't change it. As the cavalry platoon commander who came to report the news handed Yang Xin the secret letter and personal token of Wu Peng that he had received from the messenger, the last bit of hope in the latter's heart was shattered, replaced by chagrin, worry and guilt.

However, Yang Xin is really resentful of such a situation. First, Wu Peng's attack on Ningzhou and Yuzhou this time was strongly requested by himself, not arranged by Yang Xin on his own initiative. Second, tens of thousands of Khitan soldiers and horses suddenly appeared in Yuzhou without being discovered in advance, for many reasons, and the responsibility cannot be all on Yang Xin's head.

Speaking of which, the reasons why Wu Peng was trapped in Yuzhou are very complicated, including not only the light enemy after a series of victories, but also the underestimation of the ability of the soldiers and horses of the Wugu Enemy Lie Command Army Division and the Northwest Road Recruitment Division to rescue Linhuang Mansion, and there are also certain accidental factors in it.

The idea of underestimating the enemy made Yang Xin and others' investigation of the movements of the Khitans in the grassland relatively weak and lax, and they focused their reconnaissance in this aspect in the direction of Huaizhou and Qingzhou, so that they failed to discover the Khitan army that entered Linhuang Mansion from Ningzhou and Yuzhou in advance; The underestimation of the ability of the Wugu Enemy Lie Command Army Division and the Northwest Road Recruitment Division to send troops to rescue Linhuang Mansion made Yang Xin and others make an erroneous judgment, believing that there were no Khitan soldiers and horses in the vicinity of Linhuang Mansion and the surrounding areas, so that they would agree that Wu Peng would only lead more than 1,000 people and only one company of the "Ranger Battalion" to fight away from the main force of the Left Route Army of the Northern Expedition; In the end, what played a direct role in the siege of Wu Peng's troops was the fate of the messengers who were responsible for delivering the holy decree of Yelujing of Liaomu Sect.

After learning the news of the Zhou army's large-scale northern expedition, Yelu Jing, who was in the "Spring Bowl", issued several holy decrees one after another, ordering Han Kuangsi to stay in Beijing to hold on to Linhuang Mansion, ordering the Northwest Road Recruitment Division and the Wugu Enemy Lie Unified Army Division to send troops to support Linhuang Mansion, and emphasized the need to defend Taizu's mausoleum, and ordered Tokyo to stay in Yelu Heli to mobilize soldiers and horses from this province, on the one hand, to reinforce the "Spring Bowl", and on the other hand, to strengthen the defense of Liaoyang Mansion. As a result, the messenger who was in charge of delivering the order to the Northwest Road Recruitment Division and the Ugu Enemy Lie Commander Division, and to the Tokyo Left-behind Prefecture was able to complete the task smoothly by bypassing the battlefield area of the Ringu Prefecture, and handed over the holy decree to the person who received the decree. However, the messenger who was responsible for delivering the decree to Han Kuangsi happened to pass near Yongzhou, and unfortunately became the target of the Zhou army's reconnaissance cavalry team cruising around Yongzhou.

As a result, after arguing for many days, Han Kuangsi and his military officials made a decision that was contrary to the holy decree, and was led outside Yongzhou by the anti-water Xiao Daxiang, and the whole army was annihilated. However, the Northwest Road Recruitment Division and the Wugu Enemy Lie Commander Military Division, who received the holy order, decided to follow the order, risking the opportunity of rebellion among the grassland tribes, and once again gathered an army of 15,000 troops under the condition that more than 20,000 soldiers and horses had been sent to Linhuang Mansion to reinforce the Zuzhou guarded by Yelusha, who had just sent a letter to rescue before receiving the order, so as to protect the mausoleum of the Great Liao Taizu from being harassed. More importantly, in order to avoid the possible interception of the Zhou army, the reinforced Khitan army did not choose the Qingzhou and Huaizhou routes, which were close and easy to take, but made a detour to Yuzhou and Ningzhou routes, in order to appear behind the Zhou army by surprise and catch the other side by surprise.