After receiving Wang Kunjun's instructions, Qian Yuanshan immediately went down to make arrangements. After the end of the night, the main force of the cavalry regiment of the "Flying Dragon Army" and the "Ranger Battalion" - only one company of the cavalry regiment was left in the pass in case of emergency - under the leadership of Muttle, the gate on the south side of the Yuguan Pass (Shanhaiguan) was opened, and the men and horses were wrapped in hooves, and the fish came out silently, and then the troops divided into two roads, and soon disappeared into the mountains on both sides of the city.

At the same time, at the north gate of Yuqian (Shanhaiguan), nearly 1,000 soldiers of the "Flying Dragon Army" and "Security Army" carrying shovels and pickaxes marched down the city under the leadership of Wang Feng, and began to dig earth and pit and erect piles to tie nets within 100 steps before the gate of the city by taking advantage of the relatively bright moonlight, and went all out to carry out earthwork work.

The next day, at the end of the fourteenth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar in the ninth year of the Ying calendar (the sixth year of Xiande), the sky was not yet dawn, and the armed forces of the crossing team stationed in Yuguan (Shanhaiguan) had already eaten breakfast, and the infantry of the "Flying Dragon Army" began to enter the combat position above the city under the leadership of commanders at all levels, and made preparations for Zuihou before the battle, while the artillery began to arrange firing positions in the pass and put up artillery.

Just when the crossing team was fully preparing for the upcoming attack, Wang Kunjun, Qian Yuanshan, Wang Feng and other people who were waiting in the combat command room for the Zuihou confirmation message sent by Muttel last night suddenly received a report from the defenders of the south gate of the gate, saying that the dust was rising about two or three miles outside the south gate, and it seemed that a group of cavalry was marching towards the gate. Although it is impossible to know the identity and exact number of the other party due to the distance, judging by the dust raised, the number of comers should be around twenty or thirty horsemen.

After getting the report of the defenders of the South Gate, Wang Kunjun and Qian Yuanshan's first reaction was the same - this should be Zhao Kuangyin's arrival. Although Wang and Qian were more confident in their judgment, the war was imminent, and any negligence and carelessness were not allowed. Therefore, after receiving the report, Wang Kunjun still ordered the only cavalry company left behind in the pass to go out of the south gate and go to check the identity of the other party.

The distance of two or three miles is a matter of time for the cavalry. Not long after the cavalry company left the customs, it sent someone to send back the news, confirming that the person who came was indeed Zhao Kuangyin, who was appointed by Chai Rong as the chief envoy of the labor army, and his 20 or so followers, as Wang Kunjun and Qian Yuanshan expected.

After confirming the identity of the visitor, Wang Kunjun asked Wang Feng to go out to greet him, and at the same time returned his attention to the tense preparations for the war. In Wang Kunjun's opinion, since he had already set a countermeasure with Qian Yuanshan the night before, he only needed to act according to the policy now, and there was no need to be distracted by Zhao Kuangyin's arrival - after all, the most important thing today was to attack the Khitan army, not to greet Zhao Kuangyin.

Wang Feng left the city for about half a cup of tea, and then returned to the city. However, unlike when he went down, at this time he was followed by two people dressed as military generals. The person in front of him was in his thirties, burly and dark-faced, and was the expected "guest" of Wang Kunjun and Qian Yuanshan - Zhao Kuangyin. And the person who followed behind Zhao Kuangyin, looking in his early twenties, was also born burly, and there were some similarities between his eyebrows and eyes, but he was younger, his complexion was whiter than Zhao Kuangyin, and he looked more handsome. After meeting each other with Wang Kunjun, Qian Yuanshan and others, Zhao Kuangyin pointed to the young man behind him and said: "This is Kuangyi, the younger brother of this official, and this time he was also ordered by the emperor to come to Yuguan with this official to work in the army." As he spoke, he introduced the identities of Wang Kunjun and Qian Yuanshan to his younger brother.

Listening to Zhao Kuangyin's introduction, the person behind him was Zhao Kuangyi, whether it was Wang Kunjun or Qian Yuanshan, he felt a little surprised and a little magical. said that it was an accident because Zhao Kuangyi had not yet emerged at this time, and everyone usually said "Lord Zhao's brother" when they mentioned him. This time, he was sent by Chai Rong to assist his brother, which was somewhat unexpected by Wang, Qian and others - in the history of the previous life, Zhao Kuangyi also arrived at the time of Zhao Kuangyin's "yellow robe", because of his great efforts, he became a meritorious minister in the founding of the Great Song Dynasty in one fell swoop, and gradually had his own shili in the Great Song court. …,

It is said to be miraculous because standing in front of him are the first two emperors of the Great Song Empire in the history of his previous life. Being able to meet two historical celebrities who may become emperors of the same dynasty in the future on the same occasion at the same time is really not something that ordinary people can encounter. After all, the emperor's profession is usually inherited by the son, and the age span between the two emperors is generally relatively large, and it is rare to have the opportunity to talk with the two emperors like now - unless the son is already an adult when the old emperor wins the world, or his reign is particularly long.

Of course, for Wang Kunjun and Qian Yuanshan, this excitement when they met historical celebrities was just a flash - first, the minds of the two of them are now focused on the upcoming battle, and second, it is not surprising that historical celebrities have seen more times. Therefore, after being stunned for a while, Wang and Qian returned to normalcy and stepped forward to greet each other with Zhao Kuangyi.

After introducing each other and everyone exchanged pleasantries, Zhao Kuangyin changed the topic and said to Wang Kunjun: "This official has a saying, I don't know whether to say it or not." ”

"Lord Zhao has something to say, but it doesn't hurt to speak." Wang Kunjun replied.

Zhao Kuangyin pondered the words for a while, and then said: "When this official just entered the customs, he saw that the soldiers under the command of the two generals were lining up and setting up equipment. ”

"Lord Zhao's expectation is good, our brothers have indeed decided to launch an attack on the Khitan army camp outside the Guanwai today." Wang Kunjun replied truthfully.

Although Zhao Kuangyin hesitated a little when he heard this, he still said: "It is said that this official came to Yuguan this time, just to reward the soldiers of the 'Qingyuan' private soldiers on the order of the emperor, and he should not have made irresponsible remarks about the generals' arranging troops and tactics. But after all, this battle is related to the results of the battle of Youyun, and whether the imperial court's Northern Expedition to Youyun can be fully meritorious. ”

Wang Kunjun, Qian Yuanshan, and even including Wang Feng, all the brothers felt a little surprised when they heard Zhao Kuangyin's words. On the one hand, they really couldn't think of any mistakes in their offensive tactics for many days, and they would be seen by Zhao Kuangyin, who had little understanding of the "Flying Dragon Army" and "Security Army", and knew nothing about the usual strategy and tactics of crossing the team's armament. On the other hand, the brothers were also surprised by Zhao Kuangyin's honest and undisguised attitude towards him - the other party's behavior was actually very rude. After all, in their opinion, the biggest purpose of Zhao Kuangyin's trip is to probe the reality of the crossing team's armament, and if his own side is frustrated because of strategic and tactical problems, it is actually beneficial to the other party, because this just exposes his own weaknesses and shortcomings. In the face of this situation, it is far more advantageous for Zhao Kuangyin to remain silent than to bring it up in person.

Perhaps Zhao Kuangyin was afraid that his side would lose Yuguan because of the so-called "improper tactics", which would adversely affect the Northern Expedition of the Later Zhou Dynasty, so he ignored etiquette and raised the strategic and tactical deficiencies of the crossing team in person? Wang Kunjun thought to himself, and replied very generously: "Lord Zhao is a famous general in a hundred battles, and he is far more proficient in the arrangement of battle formations and the application of tactics than our brothers. I also hope that Lord Zhao can give advice, and our brothers will listen to you. ”

Seeing that the other party did not have any objection to his actions, and Wang Kunjun, who was the most effective among the "Qingyuan" brothers, not only did not get angry, but appreciated his performance very much, and Zhao Kuangyin no longer had any scruples. He pointed to the crossing team that was busy preparing for the battle in Zuihou in the pass, and said: "As far as this official knows, the former Yuguan defenders are currently being sent to the camp and closely guarded. That is to say, the generals in this battle will only rely on their own soldiers, and according to the observation of this officer, the defenders of you and others in the pass do not exceed 5,000 people, and not all of them are equipped with firearms. If you want to use such a small number of defenders in the pass to deal with the 100,000 Khitan army outside the pass, and take the initiative to attack, with no more than 5,000 infantry troops to deal with the Khitan elite cavalry led by the Khitan emperor himself, this is tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg. What's more, the generals not only have to take the initiative to attack, but also want to inflict heavy damage on the other side. …,

Although the first battle of Baoxingzhuang, your army won a complete victory, and basically annihilated the main force of the Youyun Khitan army. But in that battle, your army should have used nearly 20,000 horses to deal with the 70,000 army of the Khitan army, and the comparison of the two sides in terms of strength was not very different. Second, the reason why the Gui army was able to complete the encirclement and annihilation of the main force of the Youyun Khitan Army in the First Battle of Baoxingzhuang was that in addition to the proper command of the soldiers and the lives of the soldiers, the terrain there was also very favorable to the encirclement and annihilation battle. At that time, the main camp of the Youyun Khitan army was the main force of the Gui army to the north, the mountains and the partial division of the Gui army to the west, the Baigou River that could not be crossed by swimming to the east, and the camp of the imperial army to the south. For the Khitans, who had already collapsed, no matter which direction he fled, there was only one way to die.

However, the Khitan reinforcements outside the pass were different from the main force of the Youyun Khitan army. First, you and the others are now dealing with an army of less than 100,000 Khitans with less than 5,000 men, and the ratio of the two sides is much higher than that of the first battle of Baoxingzhuang. Second, your subordinates are all infantry, even if you can gain the upper hand, in the face of the opponent's tens of thousands of cavalry, you and others just want to expand the results of the battle and destroy the opponent's life in large quantities, they can only sigh, and there is no chance to catch up with the other party. Therefore, this official thinks that instead of taking the risk of launching an active attack on the Khitan army, it is better to hold on to the pass on the one hand, and on the other hand mobilize the main force of your army, especially the cavalry, to come to the aid of the battle, and then fight to the death with the Khitan army, or the exciting scene of Baoxingzhuang's victory can be reproduced in Yuguan. ”

Hearing Zhao Kuangyin's worries, Wang Kunjun, Qian Yuanshan, Wang Feng and others were speechless for a while, and they didn't know how to remind themselves either out of kindness and kindness, or for the sake of the Later Zhou Dynasty to be able to successfully recover Youyun, and did not want the "Qingyuan" private army to be defeated at the hands of the Khitans, or just wanted to use such rhetoric to induce Wang Kunjun and others to explain to him and Zhao Boss, who showed the true strength of the "Qingyuan" private soldiers, that the reason why he chose such tactics was that on the one hand, he had absolute trust in the combat effectiveness of his own soldiers and horses. On the other hand, it is also because of the current situation between the enemy and us.

In the end, after thinking about it, Wang Kunjun gave Zhao Kuangyin a detailed introduction to Zhao Kuangyin in combination with the real strength of the part of the team stationed in Yuguan - at least let him know that he had cavalry troops and the battlefield situation that the crossing team was currently facing - the need to defend the entire Great Wall defense line, as well as the strategy of the Khitans to attack the east and west, etc., and showed the other party that his side has always been cautious in combat and never fought uncertain battles.

After listening to Wang Kunjun's introduction, Zhao Kuangyin nodded again and again, while praising the "Qingyuan" private soldiers as a strong army with one enemy and one hundred, but on the other hand, he secretly smacked his tongue at the other party's strong self-confidence and strong strength in his heart, and deeply agreed with the behavior of the official family to send himself to Yuguan to explore the bottom of the "Qingyuan" private soldiers with the strategy of cutting first and then playing the prelude - if it were not for this, he would not have had the opportunity to raise his worries about his tactics to the other party, and therefore learned a lot of information from the other party that he did not know before.

For Zhao Kuangyin's praise, Wang Kunjun and others are naturally humble. After a few more polite words between the two sides, Wang Kunjun saw that the time agreed with Muttel was approaching, and the combat preparations of his own soldiers were almost done, so he stopped talking and asked Zhao Kuangyin to watch the battle. In this regard, Zhao Kuangyin, who was bent on exploring the true strength of the "Qingyuan" private soldiers, naturally had no objection.