From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

Chapter 1050

This torrential rain lasted for two days. It was rare for such a long period of rain in summer, so Wu Dingzhong was worried and lost his appetite.

Fortunately, on the morning of the third day, the sun peeked out from the east and the weather finally cleared up.

"Let's go! Go to Shenzhou!"

Wu Dingzhong and Liu Fang, two deputy commanders, issued orders, and the four vanguards Wang Xiong, Shi Yi, Ji Shan, and Min Tianrui led the four armies of Leiden, Jingying, Huguang, and Northwest to march respectively.

According to the original plan, the garrisons of Tianjin, Jizhou, and Shanhaiguan were to be dispatched with a total of 60,000 people, but Wu Dingzhong thought that now there was sufficient food and grass, and the war situation was severe, whether it was possible to increase the number and make up 100,000.

This was rejected by Zhou Yuan. No matter how hard it was, we couldn't use up all the foundation of Shanhaiguan, and we had to keep some.

"It's better to stand in the other side's perspective and think about what they will do after taking Shenzhou."

Zhou Yuan looked at the map and said slowly: "The other side currently has multiple options, and each option will affect the completely different war situation and direction in the future."

Liu Fang said: "At present, it seems that retreating north to the Mohe River Basin and heading east to Jianzhou are both possible."

"I prefer the latter. Going to Jianzhou can further destroy the foundation of the Jurchens, complete the material plunder again, and attack the Guhewei and Tuduhewei in the northeast to complete the reunion with Gumanyev's front-line troops."

"I guess they initially This is the plan. When they attack Shenzhou, Gumanyev will put the front-line troops in Tuduhewei, forcing Huang Taiji not to shrink the defense line. This will reduce the pressure on the troops that raid the enemy's rear and avoid being surrounded by us. "

Wu Dingzhong nodded and said, "Yes, if we go north, the withdrawal line will consume a lot of supplies and will also bear more risks. The key is... just taking Shenzhou cannot be considered to have achieved their strategic goal."

Zhou Yuan smiled and said, "In this case, in order to prevent the Tsarist raiding troops from attacking Huang Taiji from the front and back of Tuduhewei, we must arrive before they reach Tuduhewei. "We must go ahead and destroy this force!"

Liu Fang said bitterly: "This is difficult. Since it is a surprise attack on the rear, it must be an elite force. They are lightly equipped and have a large number of cavalry. It is difficult for us to catch up."

"Just send a few hundred light cavalry and spread them along the official road of Yizhouwei. With so many people marching, we will make a lot of noise and move slowly, and we will not be able to escape the enemy's eyes."

"That means that the enemy can know the news at least two days in advance, and we can't keep up."

Wu Dingzhong pondered for a moment before saying: "Then can we send out elite cavalry in advance to kill the enemy's spies first?"

Zhou Yuan said: " There are spies in the open and in the dark, far and near. Even if we take action, we can't keep all of them, and we will alert the enemy instead. "

Wu Dingzhong frowned and said, "In this case, we may only have hope on the Wurui Camp and the Elite Camp. There are no spies on their way north from Gaizhouwei, but after all, they are few in number and cannot play a decisive role. "

Zhou Yuan sighed and said softly, "General Wu, I still say that we are not the Great Jin of a few years ago."

"We have a lot of cards now."

...

Running, riding wildly, and soon arrived at a wooden house, which was a temporary sentry station next to the official road.

The cavalry dismounted and shouted, "Sir! Six hundred miles in an emergency!"

Guan Lu quickly walked out of the wooden house, picked up the letter and opened it, and frowned immediately.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, was silent for a moment, and then turned and went into the wooden house.

After just a few dozen breaths, he walked out and put the letter with the ink not yet dried in the sun.

At the same time, he said in a deep voice: "Send it to Lord Zhang in person as quickly as possible."

After the ink dried, the spy collected the letter and, after changing horses, galloped away.

On the sixth day of July, the letter was delivered to another secret sentry post.

Zhang Fei took the letter, opened it, and saw that it was written on it: "The Divine Bird has detected the movement of the Tsarist raiding corps. The other side is marching towards Shenzhou at full speed, but hundreds of light cavalry have left the team and are heading towards Yizhouwei."

"I judge that this is the other side's intelligence soldier. The destination is the official road east of Yizhouwei. It is intended to investigate the route and progress of our army."

"Shenzhou is about to collapse. A day's difference will affect thousands of lives and the overall situation of the war."

"Now my intelligence camp cavalry has not yet officially gathered and has not formed a strict organization with layers of structure. You can only take action first."

"Whatever! Beat them!"

Zhang Fei threw the letter into the stove, stretched his waist, and said: "Brothers, gather everyone and get to work!"

This sentence shocked the spirits of several middle-aged warriors around.He immediately stood up and strode out.

Zhang Fei said: "Everyone must be here within two hours. We will act tonight."

"Yes!"

Several warriors went to contact the scattered martial artists, while Zhang Fei opened the map and looked at the route carefully.

There is no official road from Mohe to Yizhouwei, but horses always need water. It is safe to travel along the river or pass by water sources on the way.

Zhang Fei and his men have been exploring this place for a long time and are already somewhat familiar with it. He knows where to wait for this group of people.

So, on this clear night, when the stars are shining, more than 70 martial artists set off on horseback.

It rained for two days before, and after a day of exposure to the sun, the moisture in the air has completely disappeared.

They stood in a forest, eating and recuperating.

Five people were arranged to go to the front of the route, expanding it by five miles, and report the situation at any time.

"I didn't expect that we would be the first to fight the Tsarist Empire."

An old man in his sixties grinned, his hands were covered with thick calluses, and it was obvious that he had mastered the horizontal training kung fu and had very strong physical strength.

Another young man, holding a sword, laughed and said, "The first battle? Don't make a fuss. The two sides have a total of 600,000 or 700,000 people. With such a large scale, we are nothing. We are insignificant."

A middle-aged man shook his head and said, "Insignificant, but not useless. At least we can fight against the other intelligence cavalry."

Zhang Fei said in a deep voice, "Be quiet and stay focused. The four hundred cavalry are all elite. We only have more than 70 people. Even if we are good at martial arts, it is not easy to fight."

The middle-aged man laughed and said, "Master Zhang, don't say discouraging words. The other side is elite cavalry, but they are traveling day and night, and their physical strength is greatly consumed. We are also an unexpected surprise attack. It is difficult for them to deal with it."

"By the time they react and want to fight us seriously, I'm afraid half of them will be dead."

Zhang Fei said, "Anyway, everything must be obeyed by my orders. Fight in an orderly and routine manner, otherwise our casualties will be very large."

"Put on your breastplates now, check your weapons and equipment, and don't be negligent."

Everyone quieted down and prepared for battle.

About an hour later, two martial arts masters rode up quickly and growled, "Here we go, four miles to go!"

"Get ready!"

Zhang Fei immediately gave the order, and everyone quickly mounted their horses, extinguished the torches, and completed the final preparations.

Soon, the other three martial arts scouts came back, and they said in a low voice, "We're almost there!"

Zhang Fei looked to the northeast and saw seven or eight torches lit at the end of the undulating wilderness, coming quickly towards this side.

"Why are there only a few people!"

Someone exclaimed.

Zhang Fei said, "Be quiet! These seven or eight are just leading the way, don't worry about them!"

They huddled in the woods and watched seven or eight cavalrymen rushing over with torches in their hands.

"In pursuit of speed, they didn't even wear basic breastplates. Good news!"

"How could they have thought that someone would ambush them in this wilderness."

Zhang Fei said: "Here they come! Get ready!"

Seven or eight more torches lit up in front, but the dense sound of horse hooves on the ground made them judge that there must be hundreds of people.

Zhang Fei took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "Everyone! This earth-shaking first battle! Let us start!"

"Fight beautifully! Fight with style!"