The so-called "news from the 'Liangyuan'" is actually a kind of synonym for the telegram from the committee by the guards. On the one hand, this name can avoid attracting the attention of others to the word "telegram", and on the other hand, it also saves Xu Shaoan, Cheng Fei and others the trouble of explaining to the guards what the "telegram" is.

The content of the telegram was not long, except that he had received the telegram sent by Xu Shao'an before, and the most important one was to tell him that the main force of the Youyun Liao Army had reached more than 80,000 troops in the recent day after being supplemented by reinforcements from surrounding prefectures and counties, especially from Luanzhou, Pingzhou, Yingzhou, and other prefectures, of which there were about 60,000 Khitans. Moreover, it is estimated that the addition of "fresh blood" made Xiao Siwen more confident in the decisive battle with the Later Zhou army, so he only stopped in Liangxiang County for less than a day, and then led the army to pull out the camp this morning and slaughtered towards Gu'an City. In view of the fact that the main force of the Youyun Liao army was mainly cavalry, its speed was much faster than that of infantry. Accordingly, the Committee predicted that his arrival in Gu'an should be no later than noon on the third day. That is to say, from now on, there are less than two days left for Xu Shaoan and other vanguard soldiers to capture Gu'an City. In view of this situation, the Committee held that if the vanguard forces of the Later Zhou army were not sure to capture the city of Gu'an in less than two days, then it was necessary to remove the encirclement of the city of Gu'an by the evening of the next day at the latest, and move quickly southward to join up with the main forces of the Later Zhou army, which were already not far apart, so as not to be joined by the main force of the Youyun Liao Army, which had an absolute advantage in numbers, and the defenders inside the city, and to inflict unnecessary losses on the vanguard troops. The only time that could really supply the vanguard of the Later Zhou army to the city was five or six hours from the early morning to the evening of the next day.

Knowing that Xiao Siwen had led a large army south, and that his men had less than two days left—in fact, about ten hours—to capture Gu'an City, Xu Shao couldn't help but feel nervous. Although according to the committee's jihua, the longer the vanguard of the Later Zhou army delayed under the city of Gu'an, the more confident Xiao Siwen would be in the decisive battle with the main force of the Later Zhou army, and the more resolute and rapid his action to lead the army south would be. In this way, they can win enough time for Qian Yuanshan, Zeng Zhilin and others to lead their troops to carry out maneuvers, so as to launch an attack on Xiao Siwen and Youzhou City at the most ideal and suitable time and place, and lay the most solid foundation for the smooth development of the "Zhuji No. 1 Operation Jihua".

But there must be a degree to everything. Enhancing Xiao Siwen's confidence in the decisive battle is certainly the goal of the crossing team at this stage, but if the vanguard of the Later Zhou army is defeated under the city of Gu'an, not only does not capture the city, but suffers heavy losses and heavy losses under the attack of the Liao army inside and outside the city, it will definitely deal a heavy blow to the morale of the Later Zhou army, and then affect its combat effectiveness, so that it will be at a disadvantage when fighting against the Liao army, which is already stronger than it, and may even cause the defeat of the entire Northern Expedition, so that it has to retreat and retreat to the three passes.

If such a result occurs after the team's armed Liliang press jihua movement is in place, it will not have a big impact on the team. However, if such a result appears before the "Flying Dragon Army" and "Security Army" arrive at the intended attack location, then the Liao army, which has gained the initiative on the battlefield, will inevitably take the initiative to attack and pursue the retreating Hou Zhou army. In that case, the "Flying Dragon Army" and "Security Army", which are mainly infantry, will probably have to use their own two legs to chase the enemy's four legs -- perhaps the infantry, cavalry, and other arms can catch up, but the relatively heavy artillery may not be able to keep up with the rhythm in any case. Without the strong support of artillery, I am afraid that no one will dare to draw conclusions or pack up whether the thousands of "Flying Dragon Army" equipped with light weapons and the more than 10,000 "Security Army" equipped with cold weapons alone can defeat the 80,000 Liao Army, which is mainly cavalry. And if the troops crossing the team's south road can't solve Xiao Siwen's army, then the troops attacking Youzhou City on the north road will also be on guard against the main force of the Youyun Liao army that may appear on their flanks at all times, and they can't concentrate on attacking the city.

As a result, Xu Shaoan was faced with only two options, two options that were similar to the committee's recommendations. One was to take Gu'an City as quickly as possible before Xiao Siwen's army arrived, and hold on until the main force of the Later Zhou army arrived. The other was to retreat immediately without being sure that the city of Gu'an would be conquered in less than two days, five to six hours to be exact, and to join up with the main force of the Later Zhou army before being overtaken by Xiao Siwen's army, and then to a decisive battle with the main force of the Youyun Liao army. However, judging from the current situation, no matter which plan Xu Shaoan chooses, it will be quite difficult to implement. On the one hand, although all the generals of the vanguard army, including Xu Shao'an and Zhang Zangying, believed that it would be safe to attack Gu'an City according to the new tactics, they were afraid that no one would be able to guarantee that they would be able to take the city in ten hours when the morale of their soldiers was relatively low. On the other hand, Xu Shao'an was not sure that he would be able to persuade Zhang Zangying, who was angry because of the defeat in the siege in the morning and was about to be released during the attack the next day, to abandon Gu'an City and go south to join his main force -- for a general like Zhang Zangying, he would rather die in battle than make the kind of "cowardly behavior" of "retreating from the battle." ,

Just when Xu Shao'an was in a dilemma and Cheng Fei was thinking hard about countermeasures and couldn't understand it, the guards outside the tent reported again, saying that the soldiers patrolling the camp had caught two suspicious characters who intended to get close to the camp of the "Shenji Army". Xu Shao'an, who was worried about how to be good next, was naturally not angry when he heard this, and yelled at the guards outside the tent: "Master is discussing big things with the twenty-ninth brother, and I don't have time to care about these trivial things." Since it is a suspicious person, it is enough to hand it over to the priest for strict interrogation. Otherwise, he will directly push out the camp gate and cut it, why bother to come here to be boring. ”

Although the guards outside the tent were panicked by Xu Shaoan's roar, because there were still hidden secrets, they naturally couldn't be sent to Yousi for interrogation according to Xu Shaoan's instructions, let alone pushed out of the camp gate and cut down. Therefore, the guards outside the tent hesitated, but still opened the tent door and walked into the big tent. Seeing that the guards not only did not do what they were told, but were so rude and did not summon in, Xu Shaoan was even more angry, and immediately stood up, wanting to rush over to teach the other party a lesson. The personal guard has followed Xu Shaoan for many years, and naturally knows that this Xu Baye is not only good at firearms, but also quite good at kung fu. If he really gave himself a few blows in his anger, he was afraid that he would have to lie in bed for a month even if he didn't die. Therefore, as soon as Xu Shao'an stood up, he knelt on the ground with a "thump", and explained again and again: "The eighth master is angry, the eighth master is angry." subordinates, subordinates did not deliberately bother the eighth master, let alone violate the rules of the army. It's just that some of the words are true, and it's really inconvenient to say them outside the tent, so I have to break into the tent, and I hope that the eighth master will forgive his sins. ”

Although Xu Shaoan was a little angry at this moment, he was not carried away by anger. He saw that although the guard was so frightened by himself that he was a little trembling when he spoke, from the expression on his face, it seemed that he really wanted to return something. So Xu Shaoan stopped, suppressed the anger in his heart, and said in a deep voice: "You get up and talk, what is the matter?" ”

Seeing that Xu Shao'an's face softened, the guard secretly breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and calmed down slightly, and then bowed to Xu Shaoan and replied: "Eighth master, after the patrol soldiers caught those two suspicious characters, the head of the person in charge of leading the team reported directly to his subordinates. Because the subordinates knew that the eighth master was discussing a major matter with the twenty-ninth master, they originally wanted to let the head of the camp patrol send it to Yousi for strict interrogation, as the eighth master ordered. But according to the head of the patrol camp, the two people who were arrested repeatedly claimed that they knew the eighth master, said that they were the entourage of the eighth master's brother, and also said that they were here to deliver a message for the eighth master's brother. ”

Hearing that his brother sent him a message, Xu Shaoan's first reaction was that these two people were sent by the committee to deliver the news to him. But after thinking about it, he denied this possibility. For it would not have been possible for the Commission to send a letter to itself under any circumstances when the radio communications between the two sides were unimpeded - that would have been slow and unsafe. Therefore, after listening to the narration of the guard, Xu Shaoan subconsciously asked: "The master's brother sent a letter to the master?" How is this possible? ”

When the guard heard this, he hurriedly echoed: "What the eighth master said is that his subordinates also thought so at that time. But Nadutou said that the two people who were arrested were very sure, and they didn't seem to be lying, so they made an exception and reported to their subordinates. The subordinates also felt a little strange when they heard it, so they decided to go with Nadu to see it first. As a result, what the subordinates didn't expect was that although one of the two people had never met his subordinates, the other knew each other. Not only did I know him, but I was also very familiar with him. ”

"Who's that man?" Xu Shaoan asked.

"That person is the captain of the guard, Zhou Lang, who often goes out with the twenty-seventh master." The guard replied, but his face was full of incredulity, and it was clear that he still found it unbelievable.

Hearing that Zhou Lang, who was originally thought to have died with the Khitans, was still alive, and came to his camp to find himself, Xu Shaoan couldn't believe it for a while, and he asked again: "Is it really Zhou Lang?" Is he still alive? You can't be the wrong person, right? ”

Although the guard still had an expression of disbelief on his face, he replied with great certainty: "Eighth Master, my subordinates will never admit their mistakes." Although his subordinates have been following the eighth master in Kaifeng for the past few years, his subordinates and that Wednesday Lang were both personal guards of the 'Jingyuan' guard class, and they got along with each other for a long time. said that he met him face to face, even if he just listened to his voice, his subordinates could hear whether it was him or not. ”

Seeing that his personal guard said it so categorically, Xu Shaoan no longer doubted it, thinking that the thing he promised his brother Wang Feng would be done immediately, and that it was a lively Wednesday Lang who was handed over to Wang Feng, and he was somewhat happy in his heart. So, he didn't think much about it, so he instructed the guard: "You go and bring that Wednesday Lang to see the master, the master has something to ask him." ”

Hearing this, the guards nodded and promised, and turned around to leave the account. At this time, Cheng Fei, who had not spoken, raised his hand to stop him, and then turned his head to Xu Shaoan and said, "Starling brother is slow, brother thinks that this matter needs to be carefully considered." ”