"General, Hou City is ten miles ahead."
It was only a little over two hundred miles from the Liao River ferry to Houcheng. Because the Liaodong Army had fortified the walls and cleared the country, all the villages along the way were deserted. Zhao Yun's troops were all cavalry, so the marching speed was incredibly fast. After setting off at Shenshi yesterday, we arrived at the outskirts of Houcheng before Mao hour. A local guide who led the way quickly informed us of this.
"All troops stop and get torches."
Hearing what the guide said, Zhao Yun immediately remembered the little tip Pang Tong had given him before setting off, and he didn't dare to take it lightly. He immediately issued the general's order, and there was a close relative who followed him. After Wei Hongran agreed, he quickly rushed to Zhao Yun's side with a torch in hand.
"Give the order, each person in the army will light a torch, widen the distance between each horse to two horses, pass by the east of Hou City at a medium speed, and continue northward along Shenshui!"
Zhao Yun used a dagger to pick apart the lacquer and stitches on the brocade bag, took out a folded piece of paper, spread it out, and looked over it carefully in the light of the torch, frowning slightly. He got up, but after pondering for a moment, he finally decided to act according to the plan stated on the paper.
"Enemy attack, enemy attack..."
Eight thousand cavalry was not a small number to begin with. After widening the distance between the cavalry and the cavalry, in the dark night, at first glance, it was obvious that the number of troops and horses had more than doubled. When such a large-scale cavalry appeared, the momentum was natural. It was so huge that the garrison sentries who were sleeping on the top of Houcheng City were immediately alerted. In an instant, urgent shouts and horns sounded frantically.
"What's going on? Come on, come on, hurry up and check what's going on!"
It was early in the morning, and Xu Fei, the guard of Hou City, was sleeping soundly with his concubine in his arms. Suddenly, he heard the screams of the horns, and he was immediately woken up. He didn't even bother to put on his armor. Pushing the frightened concubine away from her arms, she jumped out of the main room in three steps and two at a time. She raised her voice and shouted. After several servants agreed in a hurry, they hurried out of the city. Guarding the mansion, he rushed to the east city.
"Report, General, what's wrong, the Youzhou bandits are coming in large numbers and they are passing by the east gate and heading north."
The servants who rushed to inquire about the situation had not yet returned. A military commander on duty had already rushed to the city guard's mansion and passed the enemy information he found to Xu Fei.
"What? How many thieves are there? Who leads the army?"
Hearing that the Youzhou Army was attacking in large numbers, Xu Fei's calves couldn't help but feel weak. There was nothing else to do. Houcheng was just a small city, located on a plain, with no danger to rely on. There were only three thousand defenders in the city. , seeing that Yang Yi could not stop the Youzhou Army's offensive with more than ten thousand troops, and was defeated and killed in just one day, Xu Fei obviously did not think that he could be stronger than Yang Yi.
"Reporting to the general, it was too dark at night to see clearly the exact size of the bandit army. However, based on the torches in the army, there were at least 20,000 horsemen."
Hearing Xu Fei's question, the military commander on duty did not dare to delay for a moment and hurriedly reported the estimated size of Youzhou's cavalry army.
"Twenty thousand? This, this..."
When Xu Fei heard that the Youzhou cavalry heading north had a strength of 20,000, he was so frightened that he was stunned for a long time without being able to say a complete sentence.
"General Xu, the bandit army must be attacking General Zhao Chu's troops here. You see..."
The military lord on duty who came to report the matter was a little timid. Seeing his general in panic, he obviously couldn't bear to see it anymore, so he tried to test out some words.
"It's too late. Hurry, pass on the order. The whole army will assemble immediately and go to the top of the city to prepare for battle. No one is allowed to leave the city without the general's order. Anyone who disobeys the order will be killed!"
Xu Fei was obviously not optimistic about the prospects of Zhao Chu's 25,000 miscellaneous troops. He had no intention of leaving the city for rescue. He didn't even want to notify Zhao Chu. He just wanted to protect himself first and wait until the surrounding area was explored. He would make a decision after the enemy's situation. If it really didn't work, he had no intention of dying for Gongsun Du. The worst he could do was surrender the Youzhou Army to Kaicheng.
"promise!"
There is a lesson learned from the Youzhou Army's attack on Xiandu City in one day. Not to mention that Xu Fei is not optimistic about Gongsun Du's victory. Most of the soldiers below actually have the same idea. Because of this, Xu Fei's self-protection strategy is not as good as before. The military prince who came to report the matter would not have any objections, so he bowed and agreed and left. After a while, the sound of trumpets in the city was heard, and a large number of soldiers rushed out of the military camp in panic. , and quickly rushed to the west of the city...
"Enemy attack, enemy attack..."
At three o'clock in the morning, the sun had already risen to three poles high. At the Liaodong Army camp ten miles west of Hou City, Zhao Chu's troops had a quick breakfast and were busy dismantling tents, fences and other items, preparing to take advantage of the opportunity. They rushed towards Houcheng at the good hour when the sun was just rising. Unexpectedly, in the midst of the hustle and bustle, a large plume of smoke and dust suddenly rose from behind a low hill in the distance. At first, the sentries on duty were still He didn't pay much attention, thinking that this might be Hou Cheng's soldiers and horses coming to greet them, but when they saw a large number of cavalry rushing out from behind the mountain, under the banner of the Youzhou Army, all the sentries on duty suddenly panicked. The hands and feet, and the urgent roar suddenly sounded.
"Damn it, hurry up, all the ministries must assemble immediately, prepare for war, and prepare for war!"
At a time when the entire army was busy packing, as the commander-in-chief of an army, Zhao Chu did not need to do such cumbersome tasks, and was still enjoying his sumptuous breakfast in a leisurely manner. Unexpectedly, before the basket of steamed buns was used up, I heard a loud cry of distress in the front camp. I panicked, quickly dropped the half-eaten steamed buns, jumped up, climbed on the back of my horse, and headed south. As soon as he looked at the smoke and dust, his face instantly turned pale. He didn't dare to hesitate at all, and then he roared wildly.
Gather? It's easy to say, it's just two words, it's just a matter of words, but it's not that simple to assemble the scattered army, not to mention the complex composition of Zhao Chu's troops. Not only are there The garrison troops of Xuantu, Xincheng and other cities in the northeastern Liaoning Province, as well as many tribal troops from the Mohe, Khitan and other tribes who accompanied the expedition, were nominally under the unified command of Zhao Chu, but in fact the entire army was just a piece of scattered sand. In normal times, with Zhao Chu's strict orders, all the ministries could still reluctantly act in accordance with the orders. However, when the Youzhou Army came to kill them in large numbers, the whole army was already panicked. It can be said that there are very few people who can really act upon the orders. And little.
"The whole army attacks. Anyone who refuses to surrender will be killed without mercy!"
Zhao Yun's troops were all cavalry. Even if they traveled a long distance, their physical strength and horsepower would be affected, but the charging speed was still astonishing. Before the Liaodong Army could recover from the shock of the sudden attack, Zhao Yunji led his troops to the front like a whirlwind...
