Zhao Kuangyin led 3,000 cavalry troops to the battlefield in advance of Han Lingkun's 10,000 infantry troops. At this time, it is not an exaggeration to describe the battlefield as full of corpses and rivers of blood, coupled with the heavy vehicles that have been rescued but are still full of ashes and thick smoke, all show the tragedy of the battle just now. Although Zhao Kuangyin was a battle-hardened general and was accustomed to seeing the blood and cruelty on the battlefield, he was still moved by the scene in front of him, and at the same time he blamed himself a little, complaining about how he could be deceived by the illusion of the Liao army, ignoring the possibility that the Liao army would send a partial division to harass the rear of his army, complaining that he had just reminded the official family that he should immediately summon Xu Shao'an's messenger, and complaining that he couldn't come faster.

In fact, not only Zhao Kuangyin alone, the Zhou army from Chai Rong to the bottom of the ordinary soldiers, all of them were affected by the victory without a fight in the early days of the Northern Expedition, and the soldiers were not bloody again and again, thinking that the Zhou army was the strongest army in the world, and everywhere the enemy army fell in despair, and the people all ordered the pot pulp and the road to welcome, and the battle of the Northern Expedition was just a slightly longer marching exercise. Even if the defenders encountered fierce resistance from the defenders, mainly the local Han Chinese, they still failed to change the erroneous thinking of the Zhou army that the enemy was rash - the generals did not agree to continue northward during the Gu'an army meeting, and were more unwilling to engage in a war of attrition with the Liao army, which was superior in numbers and held the fortified city, and finally repeated the mistake of the Zhou army besieging Jinyang for several months under Youzhou City, rather than thinking that they would not be able to defeat the Liao army.

In addition, it is already very commendable that when Chai Rong has made it clear that he will be the messenger of Xu Shao'an later, and everyone is discussing the major affairs of the military aircraft at that time, he Zhao Kuangyin can come forward and suggest to the current son that the military discussion should be stopped and the messenger should be summoned immediately. This is far better than the other generals who were present at the time but did not react to Xu Shao'an's messenger in advance, or had some opinions in their hearts but did not dare to put forward them.

As for saying that he felt that he was too slow to rush to the battlefield, it was even more a manifestation of being too demanding of himself. In fact, when he came out of Chai Rong's imperial chariot, he could already see smoke rising from the distance—it was the arson team of the Liao army burning the baggage vehicles of the Zhou army. At that time, even if he had wings and flew to the battlefield where the rear army was, it would be impossible to save the fate of the rear army's crushing defeat.

However, Zhao Kuangyin knew very well that now was not the time to be emotional, so he ordered someone to find Liu Guangyi, the commander of the rear army and his brother-in-law, and at the same time sent a large number of scouts and cavalry to investigate, in case the Liao army pretended to retreat and killed another horse gun while he was unprepared.

It didn't take long for his soldiers to take Liu Guangyi to Zhao Kuangyin's horse. Facing his brother-in-law, Liu Guangyi, who suffered a fiasco, was ashamed, he jumped off the horse, knelt down in the mud with a "plop", and said: "Big brother, my brother is incompetent. This time it was attacked by the Liao army, not only lost its troops, but also destroyed a large amount of grain and grass by the Liao army. Ask the eldest brother to tell Bixia on his behalf, saying that Liu Guangyi has the trust of Bixia, and he really has no shame to go to see the driver again, so he can only apologize for his sins with death, and repay Bixia for his kindness in the next life. ”

With that, Liu Guangyi took out his sword from his waist and wiped it on his neck. Although Zhou Jun's defeat of Zhao Kuangyin was also very painful, he knew very well that although Liu Guangyi could not escape the blame for this defeat as the main general, firstly, this was by no means the responsibility of Liu Guangyi alone, and secondly, whether he was guilty of a crime and should be killed should be decided by the son of today, not by him, who could be replaced as a courtier. Therefore, without waiting for the sword in Liu Guangyi's hand to approach his own neck, the coiling dragon stick in Zhao Kuangyin's hand had already leaned forward and was knocking on Liu Guangyi's sword.

Zhao Kuangyin scolded: "Confused. Victory and defeat are common things in soldiers, and how can they lose their own way because of a defeat. ”

"Big brother, if it's not a brother, I'm willing to do this, it's just that since the Northern Expedition, my Great Zhou army has conquered cities all the way and is invincible. Even if there was a little trouble in Gu'an City, it was only a few more days of delay, with less than 2,000 losses, and finally successfully conquered the city. But my brother's defeat and casualties today are far more than several times under the city of Gu'an, not only failed to conquer any city, but also failed to annihilate the Liao army brigade, but also lost a large amount of grain and grass, which can be called the first and biggest defeat since the Northern Expedition of our army. This defeat is bound to deal a great blow to the morale of our army, and it will also have an extremely adverse impact on the future war situation. With Bixia's high hopes for the Northern Expedition, and the great determination to continue the Northern Expedition despite the opposition of the ministers, how could he forgive his brother. Instead of going to the palace to die, it is better to make a decision here, and it is also considered the name of the great husband. Liu Guangyi was a little disheartened and defended his suicide. …,

Zhao Kuangyin shook his head when he heard this, and saw that except for a few cronies and generals, everyone else was far away, so he said: "Today's son is a holy monarch and a Ming monarch, although his actions are impatient and stubborn, but he has always rewarded and punished his courtiers. Although you yourself are to blame for today's defeat, in the eyes of the foolish brother, it may not be the only way to die. First, it is Bixia's will for the front army and the Chinese army to speed up, and for the rear army to slow down, not your Liu Guangyi's own opinion, what is the crime of the virtuous brother to act according to the order. Second, the Liao army sent more than 10,000 elite horsemen to detour behind our army, but the scouts and scouts in front of them were unaware. By the time Lord Xu Xiang discovered the movements of the Liao army and reported to the imperial front, the Liao army had already begun to launch a sneak attack on the rear army of the virtuous brother. If it is said that it is guilty, it is also the sin of scouts and pioneers, what does it have to do with the virtuous brothers. Third, the virtuous brother was suddenly attacked by the enemy, but he was able to stay in danger and command his subordinates to set up these three car formations, which not only saved the lives of thousands of soldiers, but also killed and injured a large number of Liao troops. In a hurry, with 20,000 foot soldiers against more than 10,000 Liao cavalry, he was able to force the Liao army away, even if it was not a great achievement, but it was by no means a mistake.

The world will not say that you 'dare to be a true husband', but will only say that Bixia rewards and punishments are unclear and shirks responsibility. In this way, don't you put Bixia in the land of unkindness and injustice? ”

Zhao Kuangyin's words made Liu Guangyi speechless, especially Zuihou, saying that if he committed suicide, he would put Chai Rong in an unkind and unrighteous place, and it was unacceptable for a general like Liu Guangyi who was loyal to the court and loyal to the Son of Heaven. Therefore, Liu Guangyi hugged his fist to Zhao Kuangyin and said: "The lesson of the eldest brother is that it is the younger brother who thinks about this matter too simply. ”

Seeing that his brother-in-law had figured it out and no longer drilled the horns, Zhao Kuangyin was also relieved. He immediately jumped off the horse, helped Liu Guangyi up, and while listening to the other party tell him what happened before and after the attack, he and the other party walked to the car where Liu Guangyi was before.

Nearly half an hour after the cavalry led by Zhao Kuangyin arrived at the battlefield, the 10,000 infantry army led by Han Lingkun also arrived. Liu Guangyi took Han Lingkun into his car formation and gave him a brief introduction to the attack. Since this is a plain wilderness, the Liao army whose whereabouts are unknown may come back at any time, so the three of them commanded their subordinates to clean up the battlefield, rescue the grain and grass, and treat the wounded soldiers.

As it turned out, Zhao Kuangyin expected it well. Although Chai Rong was heartbroken by the fact that the rear army had more than 7,000 killed, more than 10,000 wounded, and less than half of the 20,000 soldiers left with the army, especially the "Shenji Army" that he had always been proud of, had lost more than half. But the Liao army killed by the rear army also had nearly 2,000 people, which can be regarded as a great achievement. Second, as Zhao Kuangyin said to Liu Guangyi, Chai Rong bears unshirkable responsibility for the defeat, and his will to disconnect the front, the middle and rear armies can be regarded as one of the main reasons for the rear army to suffer this fiasco. Therefore, Chai Rong was sad and regretful, neither cut off Liu Guangyi's head, nor deprived him of his military rights, but said kind words to help him, and ordered the remnants of the rear army to continue to advance north with the Chinese army, in case the Liao army repeats its old tricks.

On the evening of March 27 of the lunar calendar of the sixth year of Xiande, Chai Rong led the main force of the Northern Expedition of the Zhou army to the south of Baoxing Zhuang, and camped two miles away from the vanguard army of Xu Shao'an.