As Changying's army set off from Caozhou, Guo Rong's thoughts had already drifted to Bianzhou City, which was three hundred miles away, and at the same time, he quickly recalled the memories of Bianzhou City in his mind, his own layout, and the current situation of Bianzhou City.

The origin of Bianzhou can be traced back to the Yin Shang dynasty at the earliest, and it was one of the several capital moves of the Yin merchants, and the reason for the prosperity of Bianzhou after the Sui and Tang dynasties originated from the Grand Canal.

In the pre-Sui era, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty opened the Grand Canal, a section from the Yellow River to the Huai River, known as the Bianhe River.

The Bianhe River is the main section of the Grand Canal, which leads to Heluo in the west and reaches the Jianghuai River in the south, and the materials and business travelers in the south pass through here from the waterway to Chang'an and Luoyang.

The Bianhe River passed through the city attached to the city of Bianzhou, and Bianzhou became the key place for Cao Yun, and it was already called the gateway to the eastern capital in the former Sui Dynasty.

In the Tang Dynasty, especially after Anshi, with the economic prosperity of Jianghuai and Jiangnan, the wealth of the imperial court mainly relied on the southeast, and Bianshui became the economic lifeline of the Tang Dynasty, and its status was very important.

Since the first year of Zhide (756), the Tang Dynasty successively set up envoys from Henan, Huaixi, Yongping, and Xuanwu Army, stationed in Bianzhou.

After the repair of successive festival envoys, the circumference of Bianzhou city is more than 20 miles, there are 10 city gates, and Bianzhou has become one of the most important military towns in the Central Plains.

After Han Hong took over, he worked hard, and the original three-zhang high city wall was raised to nearly four zhang high, and a large number of equipment, baggage, ordnance and other facilities were hoarded in Bianzhou City.

By the time the Hebei rebels besieged the city, Bianzhou had become a real military fortress.

The complete city defense and sufficient material conditions of Bianzhou City have become the basis for Guo Rong's plan, otherwise how dare Guo Rong easily put the economic lifeline of Datang into the hands of the Hebei rebels, after all, this is tantamount to betting on Li Tang's national fortune and hope.

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Recalling the plan he made to imitate Sun Bin to reduce the focus and lure the enemy, Guo Rong also smiled bitterly, it turned out that his plan was successful, but the success was a bit excessive, because he underestimated the weight of Bianzhou and the greed of the Hebei rebels.

After the Xuanwu army retreated according to his plan, Wei Bojun followed directly, not only that, Tian Ji'an frantically collected ferries, and sent 100,000 Wei Bojun to cross the river in less than ten days, and in the next less than a month, the entire 250,000 troops surrounded Bianzhou City.

To be honest, 250,000 is close to the upper limit of the number of rebels attracted in Guo Rong's plan.

The reason why there is an estimate of the number of rebels in Hebei is because from the beginning of the plan, Guo Rong did not think of a simple defeat battle, but a real war of annihilation.

However, the biggest headache for Guo Rong is that he has to fight against more than just 250,000 Wei Bojun and Cheng Dejun.

Guo Rong had heard a saying in his previous life that there would be no real victory without encirclement!

Originally, Guo Rong didn't understand, but after commanding tens of thousands of soldiers and horses and commanding more than one battle, Guo Rong gradually understood the meaning of the so-called no real victory without encirclement.

Although both the rout and the annihilation war are victories, in terms of actual effect, the rout war is far less effective than the one that can be achieved by the war of annihilation.

And to achieve a large-scale war of annihilation, a successful encirclement is the most important prerequisite.

In the past, Guo Rong also hoped to achieve such a result, but whether it was the Northwest Desert, the Gobi or the Mobei Grassland, it was simply unrealistic to encircle the steppe people or the Tubo people with strong mobility.

It's just that in the hinterland of the Central Plains, in the face of the rebels whose combat effectiveness was stronger than that of the Tubo and steppe people, but the mobility was weak, Guo Rong found an opportunity similar to the Battle of Changping or the Battle of Kiev.

And Guo Rong's opportunity is the mother river of Huaxia!

Therefore, Guo Rong spared no cost, and even used Bianzhou, an important town that can be called the economic lifeline of the Tang Dynasty, as a bait, the purpose of which was to lure a large number of rebels to the south of the river with the help of Bianzhou.

Thus, the great river was used to de facto divide the Hebei rebels into two parts, Henan and Hebei, so that they could not meet each other, after all, without boats, the rebels would not be able to cross the river no matter how many people there were.

In order to completely encircle and annihilate the rebels who crossed the river, Guo Rong mobilized not only the Xuanwu Army and the Changying Army, but also 30,000 soldiers and horses under the command of Zhang Su, the envoy of the Northern Lubei Jiedu, and Li Yuan, the defense envoy of the Eastern Capital who sat in Luoyang.

40,000 Changying Army, 30,000 Lubei Army, 30,000 Luoyang Army, 30,000 Bianzhou Defenders, plus 70,000 Xuanwu-Huaixi Army reorganized after being incorporated into some Huaixi elites, this made the actual strength in Guo Rong's hands reach a full 200,000.

The real main force of this battle was the Changying Army directly under his own command and the 30,000 defenders guarding Bianzhou under the leadership of Han Hong.

Although the Lubei Army, the Luoyang Army, and the Xuanwu-Huaixi Army were also in the plan, in order to prevent the traces from being discovered by the detailed work, they would not assemble in advance to prepare for battle.

This made their main task in this battle to seal the road that was besieged south of the Great River and the Hebei rebels near Bianzhou to the east, south and west, and to participate in the pursuit and annihilation of the remnants of the enemy after the Changying army defeated the rebels head-on.

After the Hebei rebels who crossed the river were completely annihilated, the Lubei Army, the Luoyang Army, and the Xuanwu-Huaixi Army would follow the Changying Army to cross the river, and hold the power of victory hostage to fight a decisive battle with the Hebei rebels who had suffered serious losses in strength.

Guo Rong's plan is like this, but the premise is that the number of rebels does not exceed 250,000, and once the number of rebels is too large, everything is difficult to say.

After all, what the Changying Army needs to fight is not the islanders who landed in Jiaodong, as the opponent of the Changying Army, the soldiers of the Fan Town who were raised by the Hebei Domain are still in essence the professional Tang soldiers who are out of production under the conscription system.

Compared with the Changying Army, these feudal soldiers are slightly deficient in military discipline, desire to fight, and will to fight, and they are also slightly inferior in terms of establishment and logistical supply, but they are not much different from the well-equipped, well-trained, and experienced Changying Army soldiers.

From the battles between the Changying Army and the Huaixi Army in Yingzhou and Caizhou more than a month ago, it can be seen that in the absence of equipment, gunpowder and other auxiliary troops to participate in the battle, the combat effectiveness of the Changying Army is indeed superior to that of the Fanzhen soldiers, but it is not enough to form an overwhelming advantage in a short period of time.

Even with the assistance of auxiliary soldiers, there are catapults and eight-bull crossbows to participate in the battle, and it is already the limit to confront the Hebei rebels who are four to five times as strong as the Hebei rebels.

Therefore, for Guo Rong, a limited head-on battle with some of the rebels and victory is the most beneficial idea for him.

It's just that before he arrived in Caozhou, Guo Rong had already received accurate information from Weizhou, to be precise, from the old man of Qingxuzi.

Compared with other scouts of the Changying Army, who need to sneak in or make up to hide, the old man who entered the base camp of Wei Bojun, the old man of Weizhou Qingxuzi, relied on his identity, and broke directly into Tian Ji'an's mansion with a big grin and unscrupulousness, and then was respectfully invited in by Tian Ji'an.

After all, Qing Xuzi is not only a gunpowder master, but also a Taoist master with good medical skills, and no one will refuse such an elder to renew his life.

coincided with Princess Jiacheng's serious illness, and after the two pills of Qingxuzi, Princess Jiacheng's physical condition improved significantly.

Then under Tian Ji'an's repeated retention, Qingxuzi reluctantly stayed, and when he helped Princess Jiacheng to regulate her body, she openly searched for information in Tianfu.

With the assistance of Qing Xuzi, a top spy, Tian Ji'an, as one of the cores of the rebels, was completely transparent in front of Guo Rong.

Although Qing Xuzi didn't know the content of the secret meeting of Tian Ji'an, Wang Chengzong, and Liu Zong, the secret meeting itself could already prove too many things.

More importantly, Qing Xuzi prepared to accurately convey the deployment of Wei Bo's army and the specific situation of Lu Longjun's southward movement to Guo Rong's hands.

If he hadn't accurately known that he was facing not 250,000, but a full 400,000 main force of the Hebei rebels, Guo Rong would never have let the Changying Army retain a full 40,000 people who were twice the normal number.

Guo Rong is no longer the stunned young man he was at the beginning, although this is only a temporary expansion, although the Changying Army named by Li Yu himself is special, but Guo Rong still needs to consider the feelings of the two emperors, Li Yu and Li Chun, after all, he still has to eat under these two emperors.

It's just that Guo Rong understands the weight of the 400,000 rebels, which means that the battle under the city of Bianzhou will really become a decisive battle, which makes Guo Rong have to be more cautious and careful.

As always, before the departure of the Changying Army Brigade, the scouts who had regained their full strength had already attacked in advance, and the situation on the Bianzhou front had been clearly presented in front of Guo Rong when Guo Rong led his troops to the expedition.

Some of the men and horses of Lu Long's army had crossed the river and arrived at the city of Bianzhou, and the rest of the men and horses were also crossing the river and heading south day and night.

Although the siege of Bianzhou has not yet begun, the Hebei rebels have prepared a large number of siege equipment, including rushing vehicles, ladders, crossing equipment, and catapults, and with the arrival of Lu Longjun, the beginning of the siege is only a matter of time.

At the same time, the rebels under the city of Bianzhou sent more than 10,000 soldiers and horses to the east, west, and south to guard and defend, which was a normal reaction and was also within the expected possibility, and even Guo Rong was initially eyeing this part of the people.

With the training, quality, logistics, and supply of the Changying Army, the speed of marching is quite astonishing, and it is still possible to travel 40 miles a day in the mountainous areas of northern Shaanxi, but if it is placed in the Central Plains region with flat terrain, it is not impossible to travel 50 miles a day under the condition of ensuring a certain combat effectiveness.

Guo Rong's initial plan was to take advantage of the flat terrain of the Central Plains and the quality and configuration of the Changying army to advance at high speed in the direction of Bianzhou at a speed of 40 to 50 miles a day.

On the way to Bianzhou, first take this part of the Hebei rebels on alert to the east to run in the team, sacrifice the flag by the way, and advance to the city of Bianzhou with the help of victory.

At that time, regardless of whether the rebels have begun to attack the city or not, the Changying army will disrupt the rhythm of the rebels when it approaches the vicinity of Bianzhou!

After all, he had already mobilized his troops, put up a good posture, and was attacking Bianzhou, when his rear was suddenly attacked by someone, and the losses were incalculable.

In this case, the rebels had to take into account the two directions of Bianzhou City and the Changying Army, which made the rebels' forces dispersed again, so that the rebels fighting the Changying Army head-on were controlled within a limited range.

This limited scope, in Guo Rong's definition, is not to be surrounded.

After all, as long as the frontal face of the enemy is ensured, the frontal heavy infantry of the Changying Army resists, the short-range bow and crossbow support, the long-range eight-ox crossbow, the catapult covers the shooting, and the cavalry and light infantry guard the wings and wait for the opportunity to outflank the family heirloom tactics can be fully played, as long as this can be achieved, Guo Rong can at least be invincible.

Of course, in addition to these, there is another important step, that is, after arriving in Bianzhou and attracting the attention of the rebels, Guo Rong will send messengers in the direction of Luoyang, Lubei, and Songzhou to complete the final mission.

The original plan Guo Rong thought it was relatively complete and executable, but the addition of a full 150,000 Lu Longjun forced Guo Rong to revise the original plan.

Sun Tzu's art of war has clouds, the law of using soldiers, ten to surround it, five to attack it, and to fight it if it is doubled, the enemy can divide it, if it is less, it can be defended, and if it is not, it can be avoided.

Only when Wei Bojun and Cheng De's army were forced to divide their troops to achieve Guo Rong's goal, but when Lu Longjun joined and the number of rebels reached 400,000, even if they divided their troops, the other party could still surround the Changying army, which was only 40,000 people, and then march directly to Bianzhou at that time.

The 40,000 Changying army shook the 400,000 Hebei Domain Army, and even if Guo Rong could win in the end, it would probably be a disastrous victory like Xingqing Palace or Jingzhou, and this kind of crushing victory was meaningless to Guo Rong and Datang.

Therefore, Guo Rong made a major adjustment to the original plan.

Compared with the original high-speed advance, under the command of Guo Rong, which has undergone large-scale reorganization and integration, the Changying Army chose the slowest attack, search and advance.

While marching, while running-in, the speed of the march was forcibly suppressed to no more than 30 miles per day, so that Caozhou to Bianzhou 300 miles, the original time of five to six days, forcibly stretched to more than ten days.

Compared with the slow attack and search for the advancing brigade, the cavalry regiment after large-scale replenishment and rest was the first to attack under the command of Mo Lingjun.

Mo Lingjun selected the most elite 2,000 cavalry from all the cavalry and scouts, and formed three provisional battalions, with 2,000 cavalry members and one man and three horses.

According to Guo Rong's order, Mo Lingjun led three battalions of elite cavalry to the south, bypassing Kaocheng and Chen Liu's roundabout advance.

In three days, they marched 350 miles to break through the gap in the rebels' outer defenses southeast of Bianzhou City to the city of Bianzhou.

When Mo Lingjun led his troops to break through to the city of Bianzhou, the moat outside the city had been filled, and the rebels who had arrived in full force had already set up a posture and began to attack the city, and the battle was quite fierce, and a whole layer of corpses had been piled up under the walls of Bianzhou.

The appearance of Mo Lingjun's 2,000 cavalry without any warning was obviously beyond the expectations of everyone inside and outside the city.