After Liu Xie settled in Xindu, he had just found a place to stay when Xingtai received the report of Wang Ling's defeat on the front line.
When the failure report was handed over to Liu Xie, Liu Xie was looking at the geographical map around Yishui on his desk. After he got the battle report, he did not check it immediately. Instead, he asked the envoy to describe the details personally, then took a quick look at it and threw the silk letter aside. The attendants saw the emperor's brows furrowed and the corners of his mouth twitching slightly, but they remained silent and continued to use chess pieces to shape the current battle situation. But it is not difficult to see that the emperor was actually extremely angry. So everyone in the palace was trembling with fear, fearing that Liu Xie would make mistakes and in turn harm themselves.
But Liu Xie didn't say anything. After Wang Ling was defeated, he rode to the city alone to report. It was just early September, and for some reason, the snow this year turned out to be much earlier than in previous years. For a while, the snow fell like willow catkins. Wang Ling stood at the city gate for a whole day, but Liu Xie still couldn't summon him, so he had to return.
Afterwards, Liu Xie wrote a letter to Wang Ling and said: "As a vanguard, the general should boost morale and open the way for me, but he didn't know why he came back to see me? Now that the army has launched, it is determined to win. The three armies are united. It will be inconvenient for them not to enter Zhuoxian County. See you." There was a hint of blame and condescension in his words. However, he still supplied Wang Ling with another three thousand troops and horses, and ordered him to march north again and camp near Yishui to build a bridge.
After Wang Ling set off again, the number of troops gathered in Xindu had reached 110,000, but Liu Xie felt particularly inadequate. He planned to deal with the invading Liao army in one fell swoop and take advantage of the situation to annihilate Liaodong. Therefore, a letter was also issued to the southern Xiongnu in Bingzhou and the Changshi Mansion in Yunbei, ordering the two places to send 30,000 troops each. Counting the subsequent troops from Guanzhong, the imperial court expected to deploy as many as 200,000 troops in Hebei. . All the generals in the Northern Expedition lamented this, thinking that the emperor was so sure to win, and this battle would definitely destroy Mount Tai.
After all the generals gathered together, Liu Xie summoned the generals in the army to discuss further arrangements. On the way here, news from all over Hebei came one after another, which gave Liu Xie a clearer impression of the overall situation, but it also made him feel worse. When the generals came to the tent, although he spoke calmly, his eyes were like sharp knives, scanning the crowd unscrupulously, which made the generals feel like they were sitting on pins and needles. They couldn't help but look down at their mud-spotted shoes, etc. Speaking to the emperor.
After Liu Xie and others finished laying out the map, he said to everyone in an understated tone: "Now that Jingxing has been defeated, Juyong Gaolan has revolted, Lulong Wangji and Zhuo County Zhongyu are besieged, let's discuss what we should do!"
Most of the generals were silent, but Zhou Buji, who was accompanying him, spoke up and said: "Although bandits are everywhere in Hebei and rebels are rampant, it is just a temporary wave and can be gone with a wave of your hand. Since your Majesty is personally on the expedition, the first thing is to stabilize Youzhou. The war is to relieve the siege of Beifu in Zhuoxian County. As long as the soldiers and horses of Beifu break out of the siege, the Liao captives will naturally collapse and retreat to Liaodong in a hurry."
Liu Xie obviously understood this, and waved his hand slightly to interrupt him and said, "How long will the food and grass in Zhuo County be enough?"
Zhou Buqi replied: "I can probably hold on until the end of the year."
Liu Xie said "Yes", stood up, turned around and looked around the generals and said: "If we just push the Liao bandits back to the north of the Great Wall, why do I need to mobilize such a force? This time I will go on a personal expedition, aiming to annihilate all the bandits and conquer Liaodong!" If I don't succeed, I will never give up!" The emperor's words were so decisive that Zhao Yun and others were shocked when they heard it, and they were obviously shocked by the young emperor's courage.
Liu Xie then pointed at the map and explained the situation to everyone: "Although Zhuoxian is currently surrounded, the Liao captives have nothing to do. They can use them as bait to lure the Liao captives under the city. The reason why the Liao captives can advance and retreat freely is because Lulong is in danger. Now that our army is twice as large as the bandits, we can attack calmly without rushing. The most important thing is to recapture the dangerous fortress of Lulong first, trap the Liao bandits in the plain, and then break it in one fell swoop."
Speaking of this, Liu Xie looked at the generals and asked: "Now that Wang Wuwei has set off, and I can allocate another 10,000 troops, who is willing to perform this feat?"
All the generals looked at each other, feeling embarrassed. After all, Lulongsai is located at a key point between Liaodong and Youzhou. Once troops are sent out, Liao soldiers will inevitably come to rescue them. The task is not unimportant, but the risk is not unreasonable, so no one said anything for a long time.
Just when Liu Xie was about to get angry at him, Zhao Yun slowly stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty is at the forefront, how dare I fall behind?"
When Liu Xie saw Zhao Yun asking for a fight, he couldn't help but look at him carefully for the first time. Seeing that he was tall and thin, with a clear face and a slightly dark but calm face, he was soon given an indescribable spiritual strength. Before he knew it, his anger disappeared and he smiled instead. He encouraged the generals and said: "Old General Zhao took the initiative to ask for military service. The thieves must have become frightened! Don't fall behind, gentlemen!"
Liu Xie then continued to talk about military arrangements. He clicked on the Jingxing and Juyong passes on the map and said slowly: "On the way here, I have already sent a letter to my cousin, asking him to lead the Xiongnu Qingqi to recapture Jingxing. At the same time, I also sent a letter to King Heng to order him Lead the Xianbei cavalry to attack Juyong quickly, but these two places are dangerous after all. It may not be safe to attack from one side, and we will have to send troops to respond. Is any of you willing to do it? "
With Zhao Yun responding at the front, there were naturally more people asking for orders from behind, such as Ma Dai, Yang Qiu, Pei Qian and others. But Liu Xie was not in a hurry to order generals. He smiled and said: "The one who attacked Jingxing was Xia Houyuan. He used his troops fiercely and was famous for his ability to attack on horseback. It is said that he has hundreds of minions and trusted followers around him. In every battle, he is invincible with his heavily armored horses. . This man is comparable to General Zhang in our army, so we must not underestimate the enemy."
When Liu Xie said this, he turned to Wei Yan and said, "Since he is a brave general, naturally our army must have a brave general. I wonder if General Wei is willing to take this trip?"
Wei Yan said in a deep voice: "Why should I be afraid of Xiahou Yuan? The elite of our army have gathered here. Even if Cao Cao is resurrected and brings Cao Ren and Xun Yu back, I will capture him and come to see your majesty!"
Hearing these words, Liu Xie couldn't help being stunned, and then laughed loudly. He held Wei Yan's hand and said: "Before the death of the late emperor, he said that Wen Chang was as courageous as a tiger and could inspire the three armies. When I saw him today, he was really good. Man!" He suddenly wanted to give Wei Yan something. In a blink of an eye, he saw that Wei Yan's sword was simple, so he took off the sword from his waist and handed it to him. Wei Yan took it and felt that the knife was heavy. He lowered his head and saw that the scabbard was inlaid with gold ornaments. It must be a valuable and fine knife! When I was overjoyed, I heard Liu Xie say: "The general is the one who goes into battle to kill the enemy. Keep the good knife to cut off the enemy general's head!"
When the generals saw the new emperor's arrogance, their morale was greatly boosted. Liu Xie added: "But this Zhang He who occupies Juyong is famous for his clever tricks. Now that we are going to attack Juyong, we have to go deep into the enemy." I'm afraid I have to send a thoughtful person to deal with it." He then said to Zhou Buji: "Wenzhi, you and I have been talking about the strategy of Wang Ba for many years, and today is the time to verify your general talent!"
This appointment greatly surprised everyone. Although Zhou Buyi was quite talented in the court, he had never had the experience of leading an independent army before. It would be too risky for him to go against Zhang He, a veteran general, but Liu Xie Having made up his mind, he named Zhang Heng and asked him to be Zhou Buji's lieutenant, and the matter was settled.
As for the army stationed in Xindu, Liu Xie planned to order them to suppress the rebellion in Jizhou and Cangzhou first, and then lead the main force to encircle and suppress the Liao captives after the rear areas were cleared and the fortresses were recaptured.
So armies from all sides were dispatched one after another. Wang Ling learned the lesson from the last ambush for Cao Zhen and turned to a side road. Since it was known that Cao Zhen was guarding Yijing, he took the Bohai Sea to Youzhou and built bridges on both sides of Yishui and Juma Rivers. By the time Zhao Yun arrived, Wang Ling had already found out the specific arrangements of the Liao army in Youzhou. He said to Zhao Yun: "If you want to march into Lulong, you have to go deep into the city alone for hundreds of miles. But if there is no city stronghold for assistance, even if you break the siege and wait for most of the enemy troops to arrive, you will just continue to defend the isolated city. You will have to find another place." A good strategy."
Zhao Yun heard that Wang Ling had a plan, so he asked him to continue. Wang Ling continued: "Lulong is under siege, and there will not be many troops to guard the city. What's more, most of the troops are surrounding Zhuoxian. How about I attack Quanzhou?" , the general will be able to attack Tuyin, and he will definitely be successful. When we are in line with Lulong and cut off the Liaodong access road, we will definitely be able to relieve the siege. Even if the Liao captive army comes to attack in the future, we will have to worry about one and lose the other. There is nothing to worry about."
Zhao Yun thought about the map for a moment and felt that this plan was very good. He couldn't help but lower his head and thought: Although Wang Ling was reluctant to adapt, he was a good planner. No wonder the emperor trusted him. Then he nodded in agreement and said: "In that case, without further delay, let the whole army prepare food and rest. We will divide our troops and set off early tomorrow morning!"
The next day it was still bright and there was no wind between heaven and earth. The Han army gathered silently. After counting the number of people, they did not blow the trumpet as usual, but divided into two teams and set off on the spot. The horse's hooves seemed to sound out of thin air, swaying the yellow leaves on the poplar branches, and then caused the rustling sound of falling leaves.
Not far away, there was a group of Liao army scouts, about dozens of them, who had been monitoring the Han army in a pine forest. At this time, they saw the knights galloping across the plain like a stream of ash. They quickly got up and mounted their horses, whipping their whips to their superiors. Report to prepare for the enemy.
But these people reacted too late. As soon as they came out of the forest, a group of knights from the Han army caught up with them and kept firing arrows behind them. Several Liao scouts were shot down, and they realized that they would become targets if they ran on the road, so they had no choice but to drive their horses into the forest to use the trees to avoid the sharp attack. However, the Han army did not pursue them deeply. They just forced the scouts to stay outside the forest and not go to the official road, in order to delay their reporting time.
When Cao Zhen received the intelligence from the scouts in Yijing, within a day, he immediately got the news of the fall of Quanzhou and Tuyin. This made him even more nervous, but he also knew that he could not easily withdraw from the siege at this time. Once Zhuoxian was captured, If Beifu let go, his previous efforts would be in vain, so he instead ordered all ministries to shrink their forces and step up the construction of the city siege. After the fortifications were completed, he would try to return to Quanzhou to aid.
