At the same time that Cheng Fei led his 7,000 soldiers and horses to leave Changchun Prefecture and pursued Yelujing all the way, more than 10,000 men and horses of the vanguard of the Right Route Army led by Zou Zhenyuan, deputy commander of the Right Route Army of the Northern Expedition (deputy commander-in-chief of the Right Route Army), were also rushing to Liaoyang City day and night.

Since the boat is sailing against the current from the mouth of the Liao River, although the southeast wind helps, the speed of the boat will also be greatly affected. Therefore, in order to arrive in front of the Khitan monarchs and ministers and surround Liaoyang Mansion, in case the news of the Zhou army's attack on Liaoyang Mansion leaked out, Yelu Jing gave up retreating to Liaoyang City, and turned around and drilled into the deep mountains and old forests to fight a guerrilla war with the Zhou army, Huang Hai decided to divide the troops into two routes. Zou Zhenyuan, who had been in Liaoyang Prefecture for several years and was very familiar with the surrounding terrain, led the cavalry regiment of the Fifth Synthetic Infantry Division, the Third Independent Cavalry Regiment, and the two cavalry regiments of the "Security Army" by land, as well as the 15th Regiment of the Fifth Composite Infantry Division, the First Regiment of the Marine Corps, and the two infantry regiments of the "Security Army" on steam-powered transport ships, escorted by some steam-powered warships, advanced by land and water, and attacked Liaoyang City first. In this way, even if Liaoyang City could not be taken immediately because of the weak infantry strength, at least it could ensure that the city was surrounded, so that the defenders in the city could not inform Yelujing of the news that the Zhou army had entered Liaoyang Mansion, thus disrupting the Zhou army's plan to encircle and annihilate the remnants of the Khitan army under Liaoyang City. And the Yellow Sea himself led the rest of the soldiers and horses, and followed by sail-powered ships.

Although he once served in the Khitan army and served as the deputy commander of the personal battalion of the emperor's brother Yelu Dilie, he now leads nearly 20,000 soldiers and horses to fight alone, and he is advancing by land and water, which is the first time that Zou Zhenyuan, who has been assisting Wu Peng in the training of recruits since he joined the team, is definitely a huge challenge. Especially after getting the news that Wu Peng was besieged in Yuzhou City due to his lack of experience and improper handling of the battlefield, and he was seriously injured and almost lost his life, Zou Zhenyuan's pressure was even greater. You must know that although Wu Peng has also been in charge of recruit training for a long time, he has also participated in and commanded the Battle of Youyun at the beginning, and he has some experience in commanding an army of 10,000 people. And the soldiers and horses he directly commanded before were only the 500 people in the pro-military camp at most, which was not even a fraction of the others.

Therefore, since the division of troops at the mouth of the Liao River and the Yellow Sea, Zou Zhenyuan can be said to be cautious and extremely cautious all the way, and the cavalry troops on the shore have closely cooperated with the ships in the water, and would rather go slower than let the other party disappear from his sight. In addition, from the mouth of the sea to Liaoyang City, the Liao River bends and circles, and the roads on both sides of the river are difficult to navigate, which also greatly affects the speed of the troops' advance. So much so that it took Zou Zhenyuan's troops six days to walk two-thirds of the way and approach Heye City. According to the original plan, Zou Zhenyuan's department should complete the above 350 miles in seven days, and on the 26th day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar in the seventh year of Jianlong, that is, the day when the Northern Expedition Middle Route Army took Changchun City without a fight, the soldiers besieged Liaoyang Mansion - this is not to say that the Right Route Army of the Northern Expedition of the Great Zhou Dynasty should have arrived in Liaoyang City before Muttel was bragging and talking, but simply because the Right Route Army radio station acted with the rear army led by Huang Haisuo, There was a noticeable time lag when the news of the front army of the Right Route Army reached the Yellow Sea and then transferred to the Middle Route Army, and Muttel only speculated on the progress of Zou Zhenyuan's march according to the plan, so that there were some deviations from the actual situation.

However, the slow pace of the advance, while avoiding the rash advance of the enemy, also greatly reduced the secrecy of the march of the front army of the right army. Although the front army of the Right Route Army sent a large number of scouts and scouts to cut off the places where the army passed, as the saying goes, "there is no impermeable wall", not to mention the densely populated banks of the Liao River, no matter how densely woven the search curtain of the Right Route Army is, there is no guarantee that the scouts of the Khitan Army have not slipped through the net. Therefore, at the same time that Zou Zhenyuan's troops arrived in Heye City, 5,000 reinforcements from Liaoyang City also went down the river and entered the city before the Zhou army surrounded it—fortunately, because Yelu Jing deliberately hid his whereabouts all the way south, he cut off any contact with the outside world. As a result, after receiving the news that tens of thousands of troops of the Zhou army had traced up the river, the Tokyo Provincial officials in Liaoyang City were unable to report this important change because they could not find the location of their own emperor, and missed the last opportunity to prevent the latter from falling into the net.

Since it was already evening when he arrived at the city of Tsuruno, Zou Zhenyuan was not busy attacking the city, but ordered a large camp to be set up, surround the castle, and attack after dawn on the second day.

The cavalry on the shore and the infantry and marines who landed nearby were busy setting up camp, while the Zhou warships on the Liao River shuttled back and forth, monitoring the riverside walls and water gates of Heye Castle in case anyone escaped from here. Zou Zhenyuan, on the other hand, besieged the city to observe the situation in the city and prepared for the next day's attack.

Just when Zou Zhenyuan was holding a telescope and observing the enemy situation around Heye City, he didn't know that there was also a Han man in a general's uniform on the city wall who was carefully observing him. Although due to the distance and the dark sky, the people on the head of the city could only see a general outline of Zou Zhenyuan by looking at it purely with their own eyes, but they still vaguely saw the shadow of the person he was familiar with from Zou Zhenyuan's body shape and gestures. Thinking that he had been separated from Zou Zhenyuan under the city for more than ten years, and now that he was close at hand, not only could he not immediately recognize each other and recount the old feelings, but he wanted to meet each other with swords and soldiers and fight to the death, for a while, the people in the city couldn't help but sigh secretly, and walked down the city with a lonely expression.

Returning to the Heye County Ya, where the temporary Chinese army was located, the county commander Wu Deming greeted him attentively and let the Han general into the back hall, while carefully listening: "How is the enemy situation outside the city?" Does General Han have a good strategy to retreat from the enemy? ”

The Han general, surnamed Han, sighed lightly when he heard this, and said, "Retreat from the enemy? At the beginning, the 300,000 troops of Daliao were defeated by 30,000 so-called 'Youzhou Righteous Army', and they were killed and wounded; After that, there were many confrontations between Zhou and Liao, and my Da Liao did not taste a victory; This time, the Zhou army invaded the north, and our army was defeated in successive battles, losing cities and losing troops all the way. At present, there are nearly 20,000 Zhou troops outside the city, and there are warships and artillery to help, and the 8,000 old and weak remnants in our city are fighting against each other, which is tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg and seeking a dead end. If we really want to fight, we will talk about retreating from the enemy, but I'm afraid we won't be able to hold out for even an hour. ”

Originally, he didn't have any confidence to compete with the Zhou army, if it weren't for the fact that the Tokyo Left-behind Mansion suddenly sent such an official from Liaoyang City to worship the commander of the "villagers" of Liaoyang Mansion, General Han Shouzhong, who had already had the intention to take the initiative to open the city and surrender, listened to the order of Wu County, and immediately changed color, showed a panicked expression, and asked anxiously: "This, how can this be good?" As an official of the imperial court, it is natural for Xia Guan to be loyal to Daliao. But the people in this city are innocent, how can the lower officials bear to watch them be ravaged by the war and their lives destroyed! ”

After that, Wu County's face was already full of sadness. It's just that although Wu Xianling said it sincerely, his flickering eyes and his expression of wanting to speak and stopping at all could not see the meaning of "loyal to the king and dead society". If it weren't for the important mission he was shouldering, this Han Shouzhong Han Du commanded the envoy at this time, I was afraid that he would have ordered someone to pull the other party out and behead the public, so as to boost the morale of the army. But he knew that he couldn't do this yet, so he had to sigh lightly in his heart, "The people's hearts have been lost", and then he also pretended to have a compassionate expression, and echoed: "Wu Xianling is really a good parent official who is loyal to the monarch and loves the people. In fact, the general did not know that the people would suffer calamity when the war was raging. It's just that ......, Ben will be entrusted by Yelu and Prime Minister Han to come to guard this Heye City. The earnest advice of the two adults when they left is still in their ears, if the general does not fight to the death and let the Zhou army easily occupy Heye City, how can he be worthy of the trust and love of the two adults. ”

Seeing that Han Shouzhong's attitude on the other side had loosened, Wu Xianling knew that the opportunity could not be lost, and hurriedly hit the railway while it was hot: "It is naturally not possible to give up Heli City or even surrender the city without a battle." In that case, it will not only degrade the prestige of our Daliao civil and military officials, but also damage your reputation, General Han. However, if you are 'invincible in battle' and are forced to surrender to Zhou in order to protect the people in the city, you will not only have an explanation to the imperial court and the two adults in Liaoyang City, but will not damage the prestige of the general, and will be able to save thousands of Li people from the suffering of hanging upside down, which can be called immeasurable merit. ”

"Since it is a hard battle, it is bound to cause the whole city to be in flames and the people to suffer, how can it be said that it is to protect the people in the city and save the people from fire and water, isn't it a contradiction?" Han Shouzhong asked with a puzzled face.

"General Han's words are wrong." Wu Xian Ling waved his hand, and he was very anxious about the fact that the Han general in front of him, who was said to be the champion of the three armies, was so unenlightened. He looked left and right, and saw that there was no one in the house, and the soldiers outside the house were relatively far away, so he stepped forward and explained in a mysterious whisper: "As long as the two warring sides have a tacit understanding, it is not impossible to fight for a day without any damage. ”

"Got a tacit understanding?" Han Shouzhong thought for a moment, and then put on an expression of sudden realization, "The meaning of the Wu County Order is that General Ben and the Zhou army outside the city will have a blapped fake fight, and then open the city and surrender. In this way, he not only gave an explanation to the adults of Liaoyang Mansion, but also maintained his own face, and also saved the lives of the officials, guards, gentry and people in the city. ”

"General Han is wise." Seeing that the other party finally understood what he meant, Wu Xianling secretly breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly sent a sycophant.

"Just, is this really possible? What if the Zhou army outside the city is unwilling to cooperate? Han Shouzhong continued to ask.

"Of course it works. After all, it is to capture the city, and if you can take Heye without losses and without blood, why not do it if the main general of the Zhou army is happy. Wu Xian Ling continued to cheer General Han up.

"Wu County's order is reasonable. It's just that this matter of communication with the Zhou army probably still needs to be contacted by Wu Xianling, and after the matter is clear, it will be finalized by the general and the commander of the Zhou army in person. In this way, it will not make Zhou Jun look down on us, but also leave us with enough way to retreat, lest once the negotiation fails, and the relevant news spreads to Liaoyang Mansion, so that we are not human inside. Han Shouzhong affirmed Wu County's statement on the one hand, and put forward his own construction on the other.

Wu Deming waited for this sentence, and when he heard this, he hurriedly nodded and said, "What General Han said is extremely true. The general can rest assured that the subordinate will arrange for someone to contact the Zhou army in this matter, and after the results are available, the general will come forward and finalize it with the commander of the Zhou army. ”

"In this way, there will be a Laowu County Order." Han Shouzhong arched his hand slightly.

"This is a matter within the duties of the lower officials, and it is an unshirkable responsibility." Wu Deming returned the salute and made an incumbent statement. After speaking, he said goodbye to Han Shouzhong, and hurriedly turned around to make arrangements.

Looking at Wu Deming's figure in a hurry, Han Shouzhong couldn't help but have an urge to stop him and explain his plan and discuss. In the end, however, he only opened his mouth, but did not make any sound, and only after a while did he sigh softly, turn and sit down in his chair.