"Horse City? The Khitans have passed through Macheng several times without entering, so how can they start the idea of Macheng now? ”

Li Duozuo was taken aback and hurriedly turned around to look at the map on the wall. This map is a relatively simple map drawn by him after consulting the local county magistrate, which can only indicate the general location of various cities and a few well-known mountains and rivers, and its military value is limited, so it can only enhance the impression more vividly.

Li Duozuo clicked on the small circle with the word Ma Cheng written on it, and pondered for a long time. Li Duozuo is now not only a small number of soldiers, but also a few generals, and there are only two generals and Ma Qiao he brought from Yulin Wei, and there are only Yang Fan, a total of four generals.

Among the four, Ma Qiao and Yang Fan are both halfway monks.

Ma Qiao has been in the army all the year round, and he has climbed up from the non-commissioned officer step by step, and his personal martial arts are outstanding, and the marching formation is okay, and this kind of ability to analyze the enemy situation and make decisions on strategy is far behind. Yang Fan is worse than he can play a role in the army, he can't lead troops, march, or set up formations, and he is mainly based on personal martial arts and courage in the war, and he is not very good at commanding the post to play a collective liliang.

As for this kind of strategic decision-making, it is not good for him, so the two of them stood aside very obediently and pretended to be Xu Shu.

Yu Linlang general Li Mulan said: "General, Macheng is not big, and the materials are also small, the Khitans have passed by this area in the past, and they have never had the idea of fighting it, and now the Khitans have plundered more materials, and there is no need to fight its idea, if it is forcibly attacked, it will be more than worth the loss for the Khitans, could it be that the Khitans passed through this place and took a short rest, causing panic in Macheng County?" ”

Li Duozuo's eyebrows tightened, shook his head slightly, and said, "The purpose of the Khitan people, we are not clear yet. How many troops they have is not clear now. From this information alone, it is difficult to judge their true purpose. ”

Another Yu Lin Lang general, Chu Yi, said: "The enemy's position is unknown, our army is weak, and it is not appropriate to act rashly." General, we should first send scouts to investigate the situation of the Khitans before we do anything. ”

Li Duozuo nodded and said: "The scouts are to be sent, you send people to find out the details of the Khitans, and ask the local county commander to arrange a local guide to accompany you." Our scouts are not familiar with the geography here. ”

Chu Yi agreed and hurriedly walked out. A few people discussed it again in the tent, and the attempts of the Khitans were still unruly, at this moment. The soldiers came to report, and the Macheng County Order sent people again.

Li Duozuo called for the messenger to be brought in. After reading the letter for help written by the Macheng County Commander. He asked, "You said those Khitans brought a large number of looted supplies?" ”

The messenger said, "Yes! The Khitans are now stationed at Pingjiaao, forty miles southwest of Macheng. A local woodcutter was shocked to see a large number of Khitans entering the mountains and fled in panic, he said that those Khitans had hundreds of large and small vehicles, and the trucks were full of grain, grass and all kinds of property. ”

Li Mulan showed a relaxed expression on her face and said, "In this way, the so-called attack on Macheng." It's just a false alarm. The Khitans have so much grain and grass that it is impossible for them to still want to fight the idea of a small pony city. Macheng is built against the mountain, easy to defend and difficult to attack, but the mountain city is barren. There is nothing to be captured, and the Khitans are not here. ”

The messenger sent by the county commander of Macheng said: "This general, we originally thought that the Khitans were not interested in Macheng, but their soldiers and horses had already arrived in Macheng. They first sent rangers to patrol the area around the city, and then the army arrived, stationed outside the city on both sides of the southwest side of the city, and was making siege equipment. ”

Li Duozuo also thought it was the Macheng County Order Cup, but when he heard the news, he couldn't help frowning again.

It is understandable that the Khitans let go of the northern city, they are not good at attacking the city, their purpose has always been to plunder, not to eliminate the whole city Liliang, so the siege has always been spared, I wish the defenders in the city fled without a fight, and then entered the city to loot, and now they put on this kind of jiashi, it is clearly the idea of fighting the horse city.

However, how many soldiers and horses did the Khitans have? If you want to go to help, then you have to fight a field battle, Li Duozuo is now not only a small number of soldiers, but also has a limited number of cavalry in his hands, if he rushes to send troops, he is afraid that he will not be able to relieve the siege of Macheng, but will bury all his army.

The Macheng messenger kept urging, but until he had more accurate information, Li Duozuo naturally would not act rashly. Li Duozuo ordered people to take the Macheng messenger down to rest first, while continuing to analyze the Khitans' battle intentions, while waiting for the news of the scouts.

In the middle of the night, the scout finally returned, and Li Duozuo hurriedly got up in his clothes when he heard the news, and raised his account to inquire about it. Yang Fan, Ma Qiao, Chu Yi and Li Mulan lived around the Shuai tent, and they hurried over when they heard the news.

Yang Fan did not tell Li Duozuo the news that his family had chased him to the north, so it was difficult for Anu and Gu Zhuting to show up, but fortunately, after the two returned to the city, they changed their disguises and pretended to be big businessmen who did righteous deeds, and they still lived in their original residence. The city and county order treated the two as if they were guests, and they were courteous to them.

This scout soldier is in his early thirties, looks capable, and speaks very methodically: "General, the Khitans are really attacking Macheng. When the lowly rank arrived near Macheng, they had already made some rudimentary siege equipment from the nearby trees in the mountains, and lit a fire to attack Macheng at night. ”

From Li Duozuo onwards, all the generals looked nervous. The scout continued: "The brothers climbed the high mountain, observed by the light of the fire under the mountain, the Khitan besieged the western city without fighting, and concentrated their forces to attack the southern city, with a total strength of about 10,000 people!" ”

The horse city is not big, especially built against the mountain, it is more difficult to attack from the west, only 10,000 soldiers and horses are enough to attack the southern city, and the number of people is too large to be arranged, and the actual number of people can only be put into battle is only five or six thousand.

Li Duozuo said in a deep voice: "How many of them stayed in Pingjiaao? ”

These scouts went to Macheng and some went to Pingjiaao, and all the news was summarized at this scout leader before it was reported, so this scout was all clear, and immediately replied: "The brothers are watching Pingjiaao in the dark, and they can't see it very clearly." It is estimated that the defenders will not exceed three thousand at most. ”

He paused for a moment, and then added: "The two sides of Pingjiaao are steep and dangerous, only the medicine farmer woodcutter can climb with ropes, the army can neither pass through nor garrison, the Khitans only need to hold the valley mouth, three thousand people are enough." The brothers judged that the garrison of Taniguchi was less than 3,000, also because there were no more soldiers and horses there. ”

Li Duozuo nodded slightly. Li Mulan said angrily: "The Khitan is not arrogant now, they don't take us in their eyes at all, knowing that we are stationed here, they actually divided their troops to attack Macheng all the way, leaving only 3,000 people to guard the baggage, and the big ones don't take us in their eyes at all!" ”

The scout was slightly embarrassed, and said: "General, the humble duty has not been finished yet, the lowly rank has been investigated clearly, and he is on the way back to Qianjinye." The wind smelled the smell of horses, and it was impossible for one or two horses to emit such a big smell, so he gave up his horses and went on foot to investigate. It was found that on the bank of the Sunset River, there was an ambush of Khitan soldiers and horses.

The horse did not howl. Everyone is silent. It is very secretive, it seems that the Khitans are prepared and do not let the horses make the slightest sound. Because of the darkness of the sky, the lowly officials could not accurately judge their number, but estimated only according to the terrain, and the maximum number should be eight thousand horsemen. I dare not delay for a long time. For fear of being detected by them, he hurriedly returned quietly. ”

Li Duozuo suddenly changed color, and hurriedly looked at the map again. Since this map was drawn according to the local people's mouth, the closer you go, the clearer it is. The farther away the grass, the sparse grass. Macheng is the closest city to Qianjinye, and the two have the most frequent exchanges in the past, so the middle road of the mountains and rivers is the most clearly described.

Li Duozuo took a closer look, and the Sunset River was the confluence of two large rivers, and there was a delta here, which was the place where the Khitan soldiers were ambushed by the scouts. Li Duozuo carefully recalled the geography and area of the place he knew, if it was all cavalry, it should only be 5,000 cavalry at most, and if there were more, although the men and horses could be arranged, in fact, once they were rushed and killed, they could not be arranged, but it would affect the play of combat power.

This estuary is the key road for Qianjinye City to go to aid Macheng, Qianjinye City is in the north of Macheng, it is early winter at this time, and the north wind is blowing, so it is impossible for the soldiers and horses to go to the aid to smell the smell of many war horses gathering. If it weren't for the discovery of the scouts, when Li Duozuo led the army to rush to help, this Khitan ambush suddenly came out......

Thinking of the insidiousness of the Khitans, Li Duozuo couldn't help but gasp.

He had a total of 20,000 soldiers and horses, including nearly half of the baggage soldiers, and his combat strength was limited. And once he goes to help, it is impossible for him not to set aside a part of his troops to guard Qianjinye, and the number of troops who can go to aid Macheng is limited, and if this limited number of soldiers and horses are attacked by the Khitan ambush again, the whole army will be wiped out in an instant.

Li Mulan's face was ugly and said: "What a cunning Khitan, in this way, we can't divide our troops to help." ”

Chu Yi also said with a solemn face: "I don't know how many soldiers and horses the Khitans have, maybe they still have a soldier and horse in ambush in the dark, just wait for us to send troops, we will take the opportunity to sneak attack Qianjinye, although there is not much grain and grass in this city, but there are a large number of iron weapons, the Khitans have fought repeatedly, and the damage to arrows and weapons must be serious, I am afraid that this is their real goal." ”

Li Duozuo shook his head and said, "No!" If this is how their troops and horses are arranged, then their target should be Horse City. Or, they want to eat the soldiers and horses we went to help, and then wave their troops to win the gold, and it is unlikely that there will be another ambush. ”

Li Duozuo pointed to the map and said: "You see, according to the latest battle report we received, the Khitan one is in the area of Kipla Mountain to resist the soldiers and horses of General Lou Shi De Lou, and the other is in the area of the Kunyang River, confronting the Wu Youyi Department who was ordered to fight.

Although the Khitan won one after another, causing some small Khitan tribes that did not rebel with them to defect one after another, their defection only supplemented the losses of the Khitans due to repeated battles, and their total strength was still only 60,000 or 70,000. In this way, the Khitans who appeared in the Macheng area were only 20,000 at most, and the people who attacked Macheng, those who stayed behind to defend the baggage, plus the ambush soldiers on this road, totaled about 20,000 people, and they had used up all their troops, and they had no spare strength to send another ambush. ”

Yang Fan, who knew that he was not good at military accidents and was clumsy, watched Li Duoclumsy compare and draw on the map, and suddenly chuckled in his heart, and thought of a terrible possibility. "Mr. Xu Shu" coughed and was about to speak......

P: It's the middle of the month, and I sincerely ask you for monthly passes and recommended ticket support!! (To be continued......)