However, in Wu Yingying's view, even if it is completely untidy, the safety of the royal camp, which carries many eunuchs, palace concubines, and royal things, should be as stable as the four characters of Mount Tai. According to the military newspaper, the famous general Pan Mei was the envoy to recruit and coordinate the various departments of the forbidden army that had advanced in advance to approach Taiyuan step by step, and the former army pioneer Cai Jilong's department had arrived at the city of Taiyuan in advance, monitoring the movement of the main force of the Northern Han Army. From this point of view, the front of the imperial camp that is most vulnerable to attack can be said to be heavily covered and foolproof.

What's more, the route from Kaifeng to Taiyuan, long before the arrival of the imperial camp, all enemy forces along the way have been cleared, and the Yunzhou observation made Guo Jin deploy for Shiling Pass, steadily blocking the route of the Liao people to the south to rescue. The Ma army Du Yu Hou Mi Xin and the infantry army Du Yu Hou Tian re-marched as the commander of the camp Ma Bu Army, respectively commanding tens of thousands of Ma Bu troops to march in front and back of the imperial camp, and Qian Shoujun, the deputy head of the Ma Bu Army, was in charge of the rear army and covered the rear of the imperial camp. All the way to the march, Zhao Jiong's imperial camp, front and back, left and right, all over the friendly army, so the maintenance of the marching column of the imperial camp also seems dispensable, along the way except pay attention to the neatness of the ranks, do not let the officials reprimand, there is nothing else.

At this time, there was nothing to do in the northwest, therefore, there was no shortage of horses in the forbidden army of the Great Song Dynasty, and there were many Uighurs, Tubo and Xiazhou to offer good horses, and the imperial camp led by Zhao Jiong was even more so.

The senior generals around Zhao Jiong were all riding horses, all the way to the north, all the way to the north, all the eyes were fierce cavalry, the horse's hooves were obtained, and the neighing sound was endless, which simply made Wu Yingying want to scold loudly, who said that the Great Song Dynasty lacked cavalry, at this time the forbidden army was just a means to kill the enemy with a large array of infantry troops, as if later generations attached importance to artillery.

When they reached one place, the imperial camp was blocked by a shallow river, and the generals crowded around Zhao Jiong in front of the bank of the Ma River, waiting for the bridge to be erected. At this time, it is the time when the sky is clear, the blue sky is like washing, Zhao Jiong immediately on a high slope, the view of this place is excellent, but within a radius of dozens of miles, a team of forbidden troops is continuously marching northward, full of crossbow arrows, swords and guns, under the cluster of the marching columns of the infantry army, slowly moving forward, like a crawling red dragon, on the side of the infantry ranks, countless cavalry columns surpassed the slow infantry army at a faster speed, the cavalry was anxious, and urged the horses to wade through the water, and went forward. Looking to the north, the marching column extends to the sky, and there is no end in sight, and when you look around, you can see the army of the imperial court, boundless, like a rushing river, but it seems that the shallow and clear river under your feet seems extraordinarily small.

Zhao Jiong took a deep breath of the air filled with the smell of horse manure and hay, in front of him was the vast northern wilderness, the melting snow had just melted, revealing the yellow and black mottled soil, which looked particularly desolate and magnificent, looking like the cavalry of the forbidden army wading forward without hesitation, many people carefully pulled up the brocade hanging on both sides of the horses to prevent the mud from being soaked by the river water, and more only urged the horses to move forward regardless of it, showing their eagerness to move forward and make meritorious contributions.

The generals gathered around the official family to watch the cavalry cross the river, and listened to Zhao Jiong groan: "There are bitter leaves, and there are deep involvements." Deep and strong," the tone was stunned, as if there was an unfinished meaning, and as if thoughtful, all the generals from Zhang Mei, Liu Yanrang, and Cao Han were not familiar with poetry and books, and most of the civil officials stayed in Bianliang and did not follow, even if they were in the baggage convoy, so the generals around Zhao Jiong all looked at each other, and even some did not understand the meaning of Zhao Jiong's three poems at all.

Suddenly, a person answered: "If it is shallow, it will be revealed." ”

Zhao Jiong turned around and saw that it was the Anxi Army who made Wu Yingying, Wu Yingying arched his hand to Zhao Jiong, smiled, and Zhao Jiong smiled: "General Wu is an interesting person." "Urging the horses to descend slowly, without waiting for the soldiers to build bridges, they waded through the knee-deep river like the rest of the cavalry. Wu Yingying took the lead, and the generals followed closely behind Zhao Jiong, and actually left the infantry brigade and went to the preset camp with the imperial cavalry. On this day, Zhao Jiong was in a very good mood, and held a banquet in the evening to entertain the generals, and gave Anxi Festival to make Wu Yingying two liters of wine.

Along the way, the Song army repeatedly succeeded in attacking Hanlongzhou, Mengxian, Qinzhou, and Fenzhou in the north.

That night, Wu Yingying had not yet gone to bed, and was gathering three hundred tooth soldiers to lecture on political affairs and military strategies, and suddenly heard the earth-shattering shouts outside, and all the troops felt strange, Wu Yingying casually picked up the horizontal knife placed next to the table, his face remained unchanged, and he ordered Zhang Zhongyao in a deep voice: "Go out and ask what happened, but the soldiers mutinied? But the enemy attacked secretly?" Zhang Zhongyao took the order to go, Wu Yingying took the tooth military camp to put on armor in the camp, and stood quietly, if it was in the Anxi army, camped at night, no matter what happened, it would never be allowed to make such a noise, according to the observation on weekdays, the military discipline of the imperial camp was also very strict, I don't know why?

After a while, Zhang Zhongyao returned, with a look of ecstasy on his face, and said loudly: "Shiling Pass is a great victory." The pioneer of the Khitan reinforcements Ji King Yelu Enemy Lie father and son, Yelu Mo, Yelu Sha led the Chinese army, Yelu oblique for the rear army, a total of 60,000 horsemen, defeated by Guo Jin at Shiling Pass, the enemy chief Yelu enemy Lie father and son, Yelu Sha were all killed, General Guo has advanced the head to the emperor. Although there are contradictions between Anxi and the imperial court, after all, they are both Han armies, and they have defeated foreign races, and even Zhang Zhongyao can't help but be overjoyed, after all, since the late Tang Dynasty, the Han people in the Central Plains have been bullied by foreign races, which is too much.

In the early morning of the next day of the victory of Shiling Pass, the imperial camp set up camp and went to Taiyuan from Zhenzhou.

After the victory of Shiling Pass, the imperial court set off from Zhenzhou, doubled the road and traveled at the same time, and arrived in Taiyuan on April 22. At this time, there are more than 200,000 forbidden troops gathered around Taiyuan, on April 23, Zhao Jiong personally rode a horse to inspect the forbidden army camps on all sides of Taiyuan City, to check whether the siege equipment is complete, where he passed, the forbidden soldiers saw Zhao Jiong wearing a bright yellow brocade robe from afar, cheered in unison, heard dozens of miles away, and the morale of the defenders on Taiyuan City was depressed. Zhao Jiong ordered hundreds of warriors who were domesticated on weekdays to dance with their hands, stabbing and throwing each other with sharp blades under the city of Taiyuan, showing military might, and sent a letter to recruit Liu Jiyuan, the lord of the Northern Han Dynasty, and then, the tragic and long fourth Taiyuan siege officially began.

On April 24, Zhao Jiong personally led the imperial squad to the west of the city to help in the battle, and Pan Mei, Cui Han, Cao Han and other generals supervised the battle and attacked the west wall closest to the Northern Han Palace. Wu Yingying was also wearing heavy armor, and followed behind Zhao Jiong with all the generals, watching the forbidden army attacking the city, only to see that a crossbow array of forty or fifty thousand people had already been discharged under the city, and the array was densely covered with stone throwers, bed crossbows and other siege weapons. The crossbow array soldiers are divided into five teams, after winding, they will half-squat on the ground, waiting for each order, stand up, ten thousand crossbows in unison, continue to stop, the sky is densely covered with continuous arrow rain, shoot so that the defenders of Taiyuan City can not raise their heads.