Early in the morning of the second day, Cao Ergou led the army to Chengdu City, fifty miles away. It was a hot July, and he was ready to take advantage of the cool weather to hurry away, and at noon he took the shade of the bamboo forest and trees next to the road to avoid the scorching midday sun. In order to reduce the adverse effects of the scorching heat, the field division brought a lot of heat-reducing equipment and a large amount of cool water on this trip, and at the same time reduced the marching speed to save physical strength. Cao Ergou was not in a hurry, on the one hand, he was sympathetic to the soldiers. Although most of the Perak soldiers are locals, and their horses are all Tibetan horses, which are more resistant to heat and heat than the Mongolian army and Mongolian horses from the bitter cold region of the north, the activities under the scorching sun are extremely physically exhausting, which will make the soldiers suffer from heat stroke and even heat stroke. On the other hand, he judged that the decisive battle with the main force of the Mongolian army would not be under the city of Chengdu, but on the way to Chengdu by the field division. The same is true of the pre-war war games of the General Staff.

About 20 miles after leaving Wenjiang City, sporadic Mongolian cavalry continued to appear around the marching army. These rangers were the elite of the Mongols, not only with excellent riding skills but also rich combat experience, and even evaded the siege and interception of the Perak cavalry, and bullied the marching army within a mile or two, and many cavalry retreated. On the contrary, only a few of the dozen or so scout cavalry squads sent to the front by the Thunderbolts were able to return in one group, and many of them lost more than half of their squads, and many of the people who came back were wounded by arrows, or even carried several feathered arrows. Judging from the casualty ratio of the cavalry on both sides, it is about one to two, that is, one Mongolian cavalry can replace two Thunderbolt cavalry. It's just that the scout cavalry is still the eye of the field division, and the intelligence it brings back determines the commander's perception of the battlefield situation, so Cao Ergou had to endure the pain and send a large number of scout cavalry to reconnoiter again.

After paying the price of dozens of casualties, the Thunderbolt scouts finally found out the general situation of the enemy. The Mongol army that came to stop it this time was similar to the Thunderbolt army, with about 2,000 cavalry, about 3,000 infantry troops, and about 5,000 people who transported baggage. Judging from the banner, it should be Liu Heima who personally led the army, and there were also generals such as Kudu and Yelumaizhu. According to Cao Ergou's analysis, in addition to guarding Chengdu and the troops of various counties, the main force of the Sichuan West Mongolian Army is all here. The 2,000 cavalry should include the 1,000 Mongol cavalry in Kudu and the 1,000 Mongol Han cavalry under Liu Heima, and the elite Mongol Han army under Liu Heima should also be among the 3,000 infantry troops. It seems that the victory or defeat of the two sides in this battle will largely determine the success or failure of the battle of Chengdu, and even determine the ownership of the anointed land in the western Sichuan Plain.

In fact, Cao Ergou's judgment was not wrong. Because of the great stakes of this battle, Liu Heima decided to personally lead the army to come, and let his sons Liu Yuanzhen and Liu Yuanli lead 3,000 people to stay in Chengdu City. The city of Chengdu is large and wide, and the firepower of the warships can only cover the area of the south gate, and the Mongolian army can still rely on the north gate to engage in street battles with the Thunderbolt army. Although the Thunderbolt army attacked by water, although the firepower was fierce, it was blocked by the sunken ship, and even after the channel was cleared, it was difficult to take the northern city for a while. He had already seen that although the number of Thunderbolt troops on the waterway was three or four thousand, there were many ships and sailors, and there were obviously not too many troops who could fight on land. And judging from the banner, on the contrary, the Jiading army is the majority, so there is nothing to be afraid of.

Liu Heima's wishful thinking was that after he led his army to defeat the Thunderbolt army, he immediately returned to Chengdu City, and then fought a decisive battle with the Thunderbolt army attacking the city from the waterway. If the opponent's gunboat firepower is strong, he will hold the northern city. In order to prevent the shelling of the Thunderbolt army, he has urgently transferred food and grass supplies to the northern city in preparation for a long-term war of attrition with the Thunderbolt army. Even if the Thunderbolt army can continue to supply food and ammunition from the waterway, it only takes a few months to reverse the tide of battle in the autumn and winter dry season. The Perak gunboats were large and bulky, and the Jinjiang River and water level were not as wide as the wide Minjiang River. If the Thunderbolts do not retreat before the water level subsides significantly, the Mongols will have the opportunity to burn or even capture the gunboats in night combat.

The core of this battle plan was to defeat the Thunderbolts on land in a short period of time. Therefore, Liu Heima did his best this time, and even transferred the 500 cavalry stationed in Genting City, preparing to complete the battle. In the two or three years of fighting with the Perak Army, Liu Heima knew that the Thunderbolt Army's chief was nothing more than firearms. In terms of naval forces, the Mongolian army is a shortcoming, but it has an advantage in land warfare. In addition to the invincible cavalry and archery in the world, the Mongol Han army under Liu Heima also had strong combat power, and there were few opponents in hand-to-hand combat. He was ready to take advantage of the mobility of the cavalry and break the formation of the Thunderbolts in one fell swoop at the cost of casualties. As long as the infantry formation is out of order, there is only the fate of being harvested by the cavalry. Of course, before rushing into battle, the cavalry of the Thunderbolt army had to be dealt with. However, in his opinion, the cavalry of the Thunderbolt Army, but where will it be the opponent of the proud son of the North? The situation of the scout cavalry on both sides just now also confirmed his judgment.

Of course, Cao Ergou also knows the strengths and weaknesses of the party. At present, the shortcomings of the Thunderbolt infantry lie in poor mobility, the strength lies in the strong firepower, and the Achilles' heel lies in being attacked by surprise during the march. With cavalry, the field division not only greatly expanded the scope of vigilance and prevented it from being raided, but also avoided the fate of being "punished for standing", and also allowed the infantry to calmly form a formation. Once the formation is complete, you can hide behind the chariots and spears, and calmly use artillery to kill and wound the enemy from a distance. If time permits, the field division can even erect a breast wall framed by steel and filled with burlap pockets filled with dirt. The impact resistance of this kind of chest wall is much stronger than that of the car array and the earth wall.

Liu Heima, who was proficient in battle formation, was also very good at grasping the fighter plane, and when the armies of the two sides were three or four miles apart, he immediately launched an attack. From a strategic point of view, the Mongolian army had to quickly defeat the current opponent and return to Chengdu, in order to achieve this goal, Liu Heima did not even bring siege weapons and grain and grass, and ordered to bring only three days of food and water, so as to travel lightly. On a tactical level, it was the third day of the day, and the sun was a little scorching but not too hot, which was very conducive to the charging of horses. What's more, at this moment, the Thunderbolt army is still in a marching column, and has not yet transformed into a defensive formation, which is the best time for a cavalry raid.

The terrain of the battlefield at this moment is also extremely favorable for cavalry. The western plains of Sichuan were originally as open as a ditch, and it happened that there were no bamboo forests and groves within a radius of ten miles, and even the artemisia grass grew extremely low due to the long-term silting of the ditches. If it were under the territory of the Perak Army, this anointed land would have been reclaimed and planted into rice fields. At present, this kind of terrain is simply a battlefield tailored for the Mongolian cavalry, which makes Liu Heima and a group of Mongolian generals very happy, they seem to see the goddess of victory beckoning to them, and even imagine that after defeating the Thunderbolt army in this battle, they will take advantage of the victory to attack Chongqing Mansion and capture Ouyang Xuan alive, and take the firearms craftsmen and skills into their pockets. With such a contribution, Kublai Khan's Great Khan will inevitably be happy, and the wealth of the sky will naturally not be less.

Inspired by Liu Heima and other generals, the Mongolian cavalry was naturally also highly motivated, and immediately screamed and rushed towards the Thunderbolt army. Attacking the left and right flanks of the Thunderbolt army were the Mongol cavalry of the Kudu Division, with 500 cavalry on each flank, and the main attack was 1,000 Mongol Han cavalry led by Yelumaizhu.