Zuchun led five thousand Turkic elite cavalry across the starry night and rushed into the hinterland of Hebei. Wanyan Aguda also sent general Huang Taiji to lead three thousand Jurchen cavalry to help out.
More than 8,000 cavalrymen came and went in units of 100 people, attacking sporadically, killing people and setting fires. They made people in the northern part of Hebei panic and uneasy, and made the local officials very busy.
Hebei has gone through wars, and Ye County is still under the control of Zhu Yuanzhang's remnants. If Zu Lun and Huang Taiji are allowed to burn, kill and loot in Hebei at this time, it will definitely cause chaos in the rear.
Yang Gao made a prompt decision and strengthened the protection of grain roads. He ordered the prefectures and counties in Hebei to recruit rural soldiers to strengthen the protection. With Fu Youde as the leader and five generals Zhang He, Zhang Liao, Lu Xiangsheng, Qin Huaiyu and Luo Tong as assistants, he led 30,000 troops back to Hebei to annihilate them. Zulun and Huang Taiji are subordinate.
However, the cavalry came and went like the wind, and it was impossible for Yang Gao to send the main force of cavalry to pursue and intercept the emperor Taiji for the sake of his ancestors. Therefore, Fu Youde only had 4,000 cavalry commanded by Zhang Liao, and the rest were infantry. He wanted to attack Hebei How easy is it to catch up with the Hu cavalry on the plains?
"Hey, I reported yesterday that the barbarians plundered two villages outside Gaoyang County. Most of the people in the village were killed and all the food and money were looted!"
Luo Tong threw the helmet in his hand bitterly and cursed: "What kind of skill do these damn Hulu have to attack those unarmed people? If you have the ability to come out and fight with me with real swords and guns, let's see what I do." Why did you poke 17 or 18 holes in them?"
"General Fu, this is not the way to go!"
Lu Xiangsheng persuaded Fu Youde with some worry: "The barbarians are all cavalry and cannot capture the prefectures and counties protected by city walls. In order to obtain supplementary supplies of food and grass, more and more villages are looted day by day, and the people are in great trouble!"
Fu Youde nodded and said: "Your Majesty has just recovered Hebei. If you let these barbarians continue to cause such trouble, the people of Hebei will lose their support!"
"But it's not easy to intercept this group of barbarians! Why don't we ask your majesty to send thousands more cavalry to help!" Qin Huaiyu suggested.
Fu Youde immediately shook his head and objected: "Temujin and Wanyan Agu are fighting more than 100,000 cavalry in Youzhou, and Luo Yi has made excuses not to put the army into Zhuojun City. The cavalry strength in the hands of His Majesty is already stretched when setting up camp in the wilderness. !”
Zhang He said: "We must find a way to lure these thieves out. If we chase them like this, the soldiers will hardly be able to keep up with their physical strength!"
Lu Xiangsheng said: "General Fu, I think that if we want to lure these thieves to show up, we have to show our flaws first." General Fu has a plan that may be able to lure the thieves to show up. "
"General Lu, come and listen!"
"General Fu can first divide the army into five groups, take care of each other, and march together. After marching like this for more than ten days, the last general will lead an army to make a greedy advance and keep distance from the left and right wings. Seeing this, the thieves will definitely I thought I could take advantage of the opportunity."
Qin Huaiyu immediately asked after hearing this: "This plan is indeed good, but how can General Lu be sure that the gang of thieves will definitely show up? You know, they were ordered to attack the hinterland of Hebei, so they should find a way to avoid our army!" "Pictures spread all over the world
"Since the Turks and Jurchens entered Youzhou, Luo Yi lost consecutive battles. Marshal Zhang was forced by the foreign troops and did not dare to fight head-on. Half of Youzhou fell into the hands of the thieves. The Hulu have long been arrogant and regarded our Sui army as nothing. .”
Lu Xiangsheng said in a deep voice: "When our army first entered Hebei, we were attacked twice by barbarians. However, General Fu was well defended and did not allow these barbarians to invade the camp. From this, it seems that this group of barbarians are also fighting in their hearts. Following our idea, after all, if we can severely damage our army in the hinterland of Hebei, it will not only be a fatal blow to the newly settled Hebei, but also a fatal blow to the morale of the frontline troops."
"General Lu is right!"
Fu Youde nodded slowly and said: "But General Lu, the Hulu cavalry comes and goes like the wind. If you want to hide it from the Hulu, all the departments of our army will distance themselves from you. Once your troops return to the reinforcements of our army, We were defeated before, so we will be self-defeating this time!”
"General Fu, don't worry. Although the barbarians have repeatedly defeated the Youzhou army, the general thought that the Youzhou army had been out of battle for a long time, and Luo Yi was a violent man and had Shi Jingtang, An Lushan, and Wu Sangui among his subordinates. Greedy for life and afraid of death, once the Hu people come to surrender, they are no longer the Youzhou Army they were back then."
Lu Xiangsheng said with confidence: "For many years, our army has fought from the south of the Yangtze River to the Central Plains and then to Youzhou, Hebei. It has fought against rebels such as Wagang, Li Tang, and Zhu Yuanzhang, and has rich battlefield experience. The general believes that our soldiers can Hold on until the moment the army comes back for reinforcements.”
Out of trust in his own army, Fu Youde thought for a long time and finally nodded and adopted Lu Xiangsheng's suggestion.
. . . . . . . . . .
Sure enough, Zulun and Huang Taiji had been sending secret sentries to closely observe the movements of Fu Youde's troops. More than ten days later, when the two men discovered that Lu Xiangsheng's troops were too far away from the main force, they felt that they had a rare opportunity to fight. They immediately ordered all the troops to mobilize troops and horses, preparing to eat Lu Xiangsheng's troops in one bite.
Let’s talk about Lu Xiangsheng. He was full of confidence in presenting time to Fu Youde, but he did not dare to be careless in executing it. The three thousand troops and horses under his command were all his old troops who had followed him in the Central Plains and fought against the Tang army. They were all strong, well-organized and disciplined. strict.
They were also marching cautiously along the way, for fear of accidentally walking into a foreign ambush, so they kept sending scouts around.
After learning that 8,000 Hu cavalry had already killed him, Lu Xiangsheng was relieved and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly sent an eagle message to inform other generals, and then pretended to march forward for a few miles before pretending that he had just After discovering Hu Qi's movements, he fled north in panic.
"I want to run, but it's too late now!"
After detecting the movements of Lu Xiangsheng's troops, Zulun and Huang Taiji were indeed caught in the trap. They secretly thought that this must be some Sui general who was greedy for power. The troops were advancing too fast and were out of touch with the main force. They immediately ordered all the troops to pursue them at full speed and try to eat them in one bite. The Sui army was left alone.
The two troops were chasing and fleeing on the Hebei Plain. Most of Lu Xiangsheng's troops were infantry, so it was naturally impossible for them to outrun the four-legged cavalry.
Seeing that Hu Qi was getting closer and closer to him, Lu Xiangsheng made a prompt decision and ordered his troops to choose a nearby location to defend and wait for reinforcements. As it happened, the location Lu Xiangsheng chose turned out to be Jiazhuang in Julu County.
