Liaoyang City, where the capital of Liaodong is located, has always been the center of Liaodong, the largest city outside the Guan, and the first important town on the nine sides! Liaoyang is divided into two cities in the north and south, presents the structure of "day", the circumference of the city is 22 miles, the city wall is as high as three zhang and three feet, there is an urn city, there is a moat.

In the face of such a Liaoyang city, Zhou Yuji, Cao Wenzhao and Liu Xingzuo all knew very well that with the 30,000 troops in the battalion, let alone attacking the city, they couldn't even surround the city!

There are not many Jiannu troops in Liaoyang City, but there are at least more than 100,000 Jiannu people in the entire city, and there is no problem in mobilizing tens of thousands of people to defend the city. Defending the city is not like fighting in the field, that is, women can also throw bricks and stones outside the city, and they can also defend the city.

Therefore, Zhou Yuji and the three of them have little confidence that they can capture Liaoyang.

In fact, there is no absolute superiority in troops, and no one wants to fight a siege war, which means too many casualties.

But the 30,000-strong army can't watch it here.

"Now Jiannu has mobilized a large army to besiege Cao Bianjiao. Cao Bianjiao had five or six thousand soldiers and horses, and he might not be able to hold out until Lu Jingluo attacked outside Shenyang. We can't just watch, I'm willing to take the cavalry of my headquarters to the Weining camp to rescue! Cao Wenzhao said.

Zhou Yuji and Liu Xingzuo glanced at each other, and they both understood Cao Wenzhao's thoughts, they were worried about the safety of their nephew Cao Bianjiao!

Cao Wenzhao is worried, why is Zhou Yuji not worried? They are all brothers from the Xiyuan Guard, and he has always had a good relationship with Cao Bianjiao.

Just when Zhou Yuji was about to agree to Cao Wenzhao's suggestion, Liu Xingzuo spoke.

"I thought it was wrong!" Liu Xingzuo said.

Cao Wenzhao Huo Ran turned his face and stared at Liu Xingzuo fiercely.

"General Cao, you should know Lu Jingluo's intention to let Xiao Cao lead the division." Liu Xingzuo said lightly.

"What's the point?" Cao Wenzhao asked fiercely.

Liu Xingzuo said: "Obviously, it is to let Xiao Cao's general army attract Jiannu to stay behind, and then give us and Lu Jingliu the opportunity to attack Liaoshen." Xiao Cao has five or six thousand guards in his hands, and General Cao, there are only 4,000 cavalry left in your headquarters, even if you have 10,000 troops in one place, can you guarantee to defeat the troops mobilized by Jiannu? ”

Cao Wenzhao snorted coldly: "What do you mean, we should storm Liaoyang now?" ”

Liu Xingzuo shook his head: "Liaoyang City is too strong, and the casualties in our city are too large, so it's not cost-effective." ”

Cao Wenzhao finally became angry: "Neither attack the city, nor let me lead troops to rescue Cao Bianjiao, our 30,000 troops will shrink in the camp as a turtle?" ”

Liu Xingzuo shook his head and said, "Of course you can't stay in the camp all the time. General Cao, your cavalry is strong in combat and extremely mobile, isn't it a waste to stay in the camp all the time? ”

"Cheer up, what the hell do you want me to do?" Cao Wenzhao said impatiently, he couldn't stand Liu Xingzuo's ink.

Liu Xingzuo smiled and said: "It's very simple, General Cao, you take the cavalry of your headquarters, bypass the Liaoyang city defense, and attack all the way to the north!" To the north of Liaoyang, there are plains, there are countless Jiannu villages, General Cao, your cavalry will attack Jiannu villages, burn their houses, rob their horses and mules, and kill their people! Just like the main force of Jiannu is now doing in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, General Cao, you will govern others with the way of others! ”

"Wonderful!" Zhou Yuji said excitedly, "Jiannu is already sparsely populated, and he will definitely not see his people killed in vain, and Jiannu will inevitably dispatch troops to surround and intercept you." But most of Jiannu's mobile forces are now used to encircle and suppress Cao Bianjiao's troops, so he can only choose to retreat, so that Bianjiao will be safe. ”

Cao Wenzhao was silent for a moment: "What if Jiannu doesn't retreat?" ”

Cao Wenzhao was very worried, Jiannu did not retreat, but chose to exterminate Cao Bianjiao's department first, and then chose to encircle and suppress himself, that is the nephew, I am afraid that it will be dangerous.

Liu Xingzuo sighed: "General Cao, with all due respect, Huang Taiji is taking the most elite main force of Jiannu to attack and plunder in Gyeonggi, and Beijing City is facing tens of thousands of main troops of Jiannu. At this time, His Majesty did not choose to send the most elite Praetorian Guards back to Beijing, but chose to let the Praetorian Guards attack the hinterland of Jiannu. ”

Cao Wenzhao was silent. It is already obvious what the emperor thinks, that is, the Praetorian Guard launched a counteroffensive, that is, to slaughter the women and children of the Jiannu people, and the children of Jiannu! Cao Wenzhao understood the meaning of Liu Xingzuo's words, the situation in Gyeonggi was so critical, and the emperor did not transfer back the Praetorian Guard. Compared with the city of Beijing and the safety of the emperor, what is the life of your nephew Cao Bianjiao?

Zhou Yuji nodded heavily: "What General Liu said makes sense!" In this time of national crisis, each of us must put national affairs first. As long as we can complete the task assigned to us by His Majesty, even if we all die in battle, we will not hesitate! ”

Then Zhou Yuji and Liu Xingzuo both looked at Cao Wenzhao.

Cao Wenzhao was annoyed: "It all depends on what Lao Tzu does, is Lao Tzu the one who doesn't know the importance and ignores the overall situation?" ”

"Grandma, Lao Tzu has been in the army for 20 years, which battle is not the first? When did you not listen to orders and ignore the overall situation? Although Cao Bianjiao's kid is my nephew, his life is his life, and the lives of other soldiers are also his life, so Lao Tzu will naturally not abolish his public for personal reasons! ”

"Haha, Uncle Cao has always been a role model for my generation." Zhou Yuji said with a smile.

"Yes, when I was in the Jiannu camp, I also heard of General Cao's prestige." Liu Xingzuo also agreed.

"Go, go, don't fucking pat me on the back, Lao Tzu will lead the troops to the battle!" Cao Wenzhao said impatiently.

"General Zhou, why don't I also go out with General Cao?" Liu Xingzuo said suddenly.

"You're going too?" Zhou Yuji was stunned.

Liu Xingzuo said: "With our troops, it is almost impossible to capture Liaoyang, so it is not much use to leave too many troops here." I came all the way from Zhenjiang Fort and Phoenix City, and I laid down a lot of villages, and I captured a lot of horses from Jiannu, so it was better to recruit all the soldiers who could ride horses from the army to form a cavalry, and I led them to follow General Cao on the expedition. ”

Before Zhou Yuji could answer, Cao Wenzhao sneered.

"Either you can ride a horse or a cavalry, can you hastily form a rabble that can beat Jiannu?"

Liu Xingzuo said with a smile: "Of course, General Cao is responsible for the task of fighting Jiannu, and I will only be responsible for burning, killing and looting." Although my people can't beat Jiannu, they should still be able to deal with Jiannu women and children. ”

"Let's fight with Lao Tzu, you follow Lao Tzu's ass to pick up the cheap?" Cao Wenzhao was dissatisfied, but he did not refuse.

And so it was settled. There are more than 4,000 horses in Liu Xingzuo's camp, a small number of which are war horses, and most of them can only be used to pull carts.

There were also some horses in Zhou Yuji's camp, which were captured from the attack on the four prefectures of southern Liaoning, and they were also taken out to Liu Xingzuo, so Liu Xingzuo formed a cavalry infantry of 5,000 people.

Cao Wenzhao originally had 5,000 cavalry, but lost 700 people during the Battle of Haizhou, leaving only 4,300 left, but he had more than 8,000 war horses! Because his subordinates were all ridden by one man and two horses, heavy armored iron horses and even one man and three horses, one of which was specially used to carry armor.

However, Cao Wenzhao did not mean to give the war horse to Liu Xingzuo.

This time it is to fight deep into the hinterland of Jiannu, burning, killing and looting the people of Jiannu, the Jiannu army will inevitably not care, Cao Wenzhao's cavalry must always guard against the Jiannu army, and the war horse needs to change to ride to maintain physical strength.

Liu Xingzuo didn't complain about Cao Wenzhao, as long as he went deep into the hinterland of Jiannu, as long as he broke through Jiannu Village, he would be able to grab horses, donkeys and mules, and he was afraid that he would not have more war horses?

Jiannu and the people of the Ming Dynasty are different, the eight banners system of their soldiers and people are one, each banner will raise horses at home, the rich bannermen will raise several, the poor bannermen will also raise one or two, in addition to the war horses, there are also horses that pull plows and carts.

Liu Xingzuo has been in the Jiannu camp for more than ten years, so he naturally knows the situation of Jiannu very well. One of the reasons why the Eight Banners are so strong is that they have too many horses, after all, only with war horses can they have strong mobility, otherwise how could the Eight Banners soldiers suppress the Mongols on horseback?

During these days in Phi Island, Liu Xingzuo was very unhappy, it was really that the Dongjiang soldiers under his command were too poor, and there were not a few war horses in the entire Phi Island!

Now, Liu Xingzuo is full of yearning for robbing Jiannutun Village.

However, just as he was about to set off, snowflakes fell in the sky, and Zhou Yuji became a little worried.

"Don't worry, everyone in my subordinates has winter clothes, and they can't freeze." Cao Wenzhao said.

"Taking advantage of the fact that the snow is not thick, quickly bypass Liaoyang and enter the hinterland of the plain, the snow can block the sentinel to investigate, and it is even more difficult for Jiannu to find our traces." Liu Xingzuo also said.

"Okay, two generals, be careful!" Zhou Yujidao. Zhou Yuji did not understand the command of cavalry, especially the cavalry in the snow.

Zhou Yuji didn't understand, but Cao Wenzhao and Liu Xingzuo did.

Cao Wenzhao trained with cavalry in the heavy snow in winter, and Liu Xingzuo needless to say, Jiannu likes to send troops to attack in winter, and he has repeatedly gone to Mongolia, Korea, and Daming with the army on snowy days.

There is another advantage to fighting on a snowy day, that is, the people of Jiannutun Village are accurate one by one. I don't want to be in peacetime, when I see the army attacking, the people will escape from Tuncun and hide in the mountains, and there is nowhere to hide under the heavy snow, unless they want to freeze to death in the snow!

On that day, Cao Wenzhao and Liu Xingzuo led more than 9,000 cavalry, left the camp, and headed towards the east of Liaoyang City.

As soon as the army left the camp, it was detected by Jiannu's sentinels and quickly reported to the city of Liaoyang.

"The Ming army must be going to rescue Cao Bianjiao's department," Amin's eldest son Erli said categorically, "Amma, the child heard that Cao Bianjiao is Cao Wenzhao's son, and now that Cao Bianjiao is besieged by us, Cao Wenzhao will definitely not be able to sit still." ”

Jiannu had already found out that although there were 30,000 soldiers and horses in the Ming army camp south of the city, the cavalry was only Cao Wenzhao's department, and the other two roads were infantry. Now that the Ming army has dispatched so many cavalry, it must be the cavalry of the Ming army pouring out.

"Amma, you give me 5,000 cavalry, and I'll stop Cao Wenzhao!" Elle pleaded.

Amin shook his head slowly: "Don't be careless, there are only more than 10,000 people left in Liaoyang City who have combat effectiveness." The combat strength of Cao Wenzhao's department is not bad, and the five thousand banners may not be his opponent, once defeated, it will be very troublesome. ”

The same number of troops led by Derge were defeated by Cao Wenzhao, and Amin was not at ease that Aierli would bring 5,000 banners to meet Cao Wenzhao. And he was very suspicious that this was Cao Wenzhao who wanted to transfer the garrison out of the city.

Erli hurriedly said: "Do we want to sit and watch Cao Wenzhao go to reinforce Cao Bianjiao?" ”

The total number of reinforcements sent from Liaoyang is 13,000, and the strength is more than twice that of Cao Bianjiao.

Amin did not answer, but stood at the head of the city, looked at the fluttering snowflakes, and then smiled:

"Erli, look at the weather, it will snow heavily tonight, from here to Fort Weining, a hundred miles, of which sixty or seventy miles are mountain roads, under the heavy snow the mountain roads are difficult to walk, then Cao Wenzhao's cavalry wants to rush to Fort Weining, it will take at least two or three days. In the past two or three days, the Derge class may have destroyed Cao Bianjiao.

Even if he can't destroy it, just send an army to block the mountain road, Cao Wenzhao's troops are all cavalry, how much grain and grass can he bring, as long as he is blocked for three or two days, just starvation and freezing can make him completely lose his combat effectiveness!

My Jurchen was born in a bitter cold land, and I am used to the cold, and I am used to fighting on ice and snow days, and the Ming people want to learn from us, isn't it a joke? ”

In Amin's opinion, the Ming people's physique is too much worse than the flag people, so every winter, the Ming people will only hide in the city walls, will only hide in the room to hibernat, and rarely send troops to fight in winter. The Eight Banners, on the other hand, are used to winter.

"Let Cao Wenzhao go to reinforce the Weining battalion, the Ming army will not move, how can we defeat them?" Amin laughed.

Elli's eyes lit up: "Ama wants to attack the Ming army camp outside the city?" ”

Amin nodded: "The Ming army has been cowering in the camp, and we have too much loss to attack their camp, and we also have to worry about the surprise attack of Cao Wenzhao's cavalry." Now Cao Wenzhao has left with the cavalry, and there are only more than 20,000 people left in the Ming army camp, most of whom are Dongjiang soldiers with low combat effectiveness. As long as we send troops to attack the camp where the Dongjiang army is located, there is no problem in breaking through its camp defense, if the Dongjiang army is defeated, what can the remaining thousands of Praetorian Guards do? ”

Zhou Yuji, Cao Wenzhao and others want to break the situation, why don't Amin want to? After all, Daikin is more passive now. The three-way Ming army must break through its first road, and then it can concentrate superior forces to deal with the second road and achieve each breakthrough.

At the beginning, Amin chose Cao Bianjiao, who had the least troops, and now Cao Wenzhao led all the cavalry to reinforce Cao Bianjiao, allowing him to see the opportunity to break through the Ming army camp in the city.

"Let Cao Wenzhao's cavalry go over first, and when he enters the mountains, send sentry cavalry to block the battlefield to prevent Cao Wenzhao from learning about the situation here, and then concentrate all the forces in Liaoyang to fight a decisive battle with the Ming army, and break through the Ming army camp in one fell swoop!" Amin said coldly!

This time, he will break through the camp of the Ming army regardless of losses!

"Yes, Amma!" Elley said excitedly.

In the imagination of the father and son, the Ming army bypassed the southeast corner of Liaoyang City, and then disappeared into the snow.

Suddenly, a war horse broke through the snow curtain and rushed towards the city wall, carrying a flag on its back, it was an eight-banner sentry horse!

"Lord Belle, the cavalry of the Ming army did not go east to the Weining camp, but went all the way to the north!" The sentinel shouted.

Amin was shocked!