Autumn, July.
Jizhou, Gaoyang State, Yicheng.
Yicheng is located at the junction of Youzhou and Jizhou, and controls the Jindu of Yishui, Boshui and Juma Rivers. It is the best route from Jizhou to Youzhou and must pass through.
For this very important city, Zaosong naturally assigned thousands of elite soldiers to guard it. The guard was none other than Youlun, the younger brother of his beloved general You Tong.
Going east from Yicheng, after crossing the Hutuo River, is Wen'an County, Zhangwu County, occupied by Sun Wei and Wang Zan.
Liu Yu was currently in Wen'an City, Zhangwu County, less than sixty miles away from Yicheng.
A man in casual clothes, dressed as an ordinary scholar, pointed at a map and said to Liu Yu.
"Your Majesty, Zaosong has divided his troops into ten thousand troops, led by the villain's brother to go to Daijun!"
"Now, except for Zaosong personally leading his headquarters to be stationed in Fanyang, the rest of the troops are stationed in Beixin, Rongcheng and Yicheng. Yicheng is guarded by the last general, and the few wine bags and rice bags sent by Zaosong are not a concern."
"If you want to take Fan Yang directly, you need to beware of the thieves from Beixin and Rongcheng!"
This map seemed to Liu Yu to be very rough, and even the proportions in it were seriously imbalanced, but the roads, cities, and ferries in various places were clearly marked, making it clear at a glance.
As Youlun said, Fanyang, where Zaosong is stationed, is not an isolated city. There are soldiers and horses stationed in the three surrounding cities. The Youzhou Army has enough cavalry and can respond to each other for assistance at any time.
Now Liu Yu only has 6,000 men in his hands, of which there are only more than 1,000 cavalry. Even if you include the troops and horses that Youlun, Sun Wei and others can mobilize, if you attack Fan Yang, you will just reach 9,000.
"Although Fanyang City is small, it is strong. If the army rushes forward and makes a sneak attack and cannot win quickly, once the enemy troops in Rongcheng come to rescue, and the inside and outside are coordinated, it may be in danger."
Liu Yu looked at the map and couldn't help but feel grateful secretly.
Before, I always thought that a surprise attack on Fan Yang in Youzhou was a very simple matter, but after seeing this map, I realized that a lot of the information in it was very different from my previous knowledge.
"So, if you want to take Fan Yang, you must first take Rongcheng!"
"What your Majesty said is absolutely true. Zaosong stationed troops in Beixin to guard against Liu Yan in Zhongshan County. It is separated from Fanyang by the Yishui River. As long as the ferry on the Yishui River is cut off, now that the river has surged in summer, the enemy troops in Beixin will be at risk. No help can come.”
"Only the troops and horses from Rongcheng and Yicheng are not only prepared to attack Zhangwu County, but also to defend Fan Yang!"
Youlun then talked endlessly about the road traffic between Rongcheng and Fan Yang.
In short, in one sentence, if you don't want to be attacked by the Youzhou cavalry coming from Rongcheng when attacking Fanyang City, you must capture Rongcheng first.
Liu Yu felt a wave of regret in his heart when he saw Youlun, one of the "Guangping Four Tours", working very hard in front of him.
It's not that I regret anything else, but that I regretted that I didn't properly explore the 'sparkling points' of these powerful scholars before.
As for the 'sparkling point', it is of course 'abandoning the dark and turning to the bright' and 'knowing the current affairs'.
All they needed to do was to show off their powerful force and promise a little promotion, rank and salary, and "heroes" like brothers You Tong and You Lun could easily switch to Liu Yu's command.
"In this case, does General You have any good ideas?" Liu Yu asked.
"Your Majesty, don't worry. The general has already thought of a countermeasure for your Majesty." Youlun replied immediately.
"The guard general of Rongcheng is Zaosong's clan brother. He must not know that the last general has surrendered to His Majesty. He must have neglected to take precautions without seeing Yicheng's warning."
"The general is willing to use the soldiers and horses of Yicheng as the vanguard to capture this city for Your Majesty!"
When Liu Yu heard this, he thought that if this was the case, once the defenders attacked Rongcheng and some of the defenders escaped and went to Fan Yang to report the news, Fan Yang's defenders might be on guard.
The so-called sneak attack on Fan Yang was precisely because they knew that Fan Yang's Youzhou Army thought that there were three areas guarding the perimeter and neglected to take precautions.
If Zaosong in Fanyang City was on guard and a sneak attack turned into a strong attack, a quick victory might not be possible.
"Rongcheng can only be taken quickly, not fought for a long time!"
At this time, Xi Jian next to him said to Liu Yu.
Liu Yu nodded, "Yes, if we waste too much time in Rongcheng, we will definitely have to escape and let the soldiers know!"
"If you want to capture this city quickly, you must use the force of a tiger to fight a rabbit."
"And it's best to attack at night, otherwise there will be many Youzhou Rangers in the wild during the day, and they will be exposed once they are detected."
When Liu Yu said the word "night attack", the originally very confident general You Lun was startled.
"Night attack? Your Majesty, most of the general's men are suffering from blindness. I'm afraid they won't be able to walk at night."
What You Lun calls blindness is actually 'night blindness'.
People suffering from this disease cannot see clearly at night, and they cannot even find a way to walk, let alone a surprise attack in a night battle.
In addition to congenital night blindness, most are temporary night blindness caused by lack of vitamin A.
Except for a few vegetables such as carrots, most of the vitamin A comes from meat, eggs, fish, offal, etc.
For the soldiers under You Lun, it is already very impressive to be able to eat two meals of whole grain rice every day. Where can they get meat, eggs and fish for these lowly soldiers?
"Of course I know this, so instead of attacking Rongcheng with General You's troops, you can join forces with Generals Sun and Wang's troops to form the rear army."
"You just need to choose a guide for me!"
Regarding You Lun's worries, Liu Yu certainly knew that many of the Han army soldiers who lived better lives had "night blindness", not to mention the soldiers in Youzhou.
However, this time the people who came with Liu Yu were all elites of the Chinese army, so this matter had naturally been solved long ago.
Everything was quickly discussed.
Today's Zaosong simply cannot completely control the situation in Youzhou. Once the surprise attack on Fan Yang succeeds, the entire Youzhou will surrender without a fight.
Early the next morning, Liu Yu led Wu Xin and Zhao Kun as the front army, and Xi Jian led Sun Wei and Wang Zan as the rear army, heading towards Yicheng.
By the time Liu Yu led his army to Yicheng, it was already approaching dusk.
Yicheng guard Youlun's body was covered with blood spots, and several generals behind him were carrying two bloody heads.
"Your Majesty, these are the confidants of the Supervisory Army sent by Zaosong. The general has already killed them all!"
Liu Yu glanced lightly, "Has the news been blocked?"
"Don't worry, your majesty. Early this morning, the general sealed the city gate in the name of arresting thieves, and he didn't even say a word outside the city!"
"Okay, now that I'm done, I'll feel relieved!"
Liu Yu waved his hand, and Wu Xin and Zhao Kun, who had already been on standby, led the Chinese army to take over the defense of Yicheng.
After resting and eating in Yicheng, the Han soldiers immediately took the time to rest.
Because, when night comes, they will take advantage of the darkness to attack the Youzhou Army in Rongcheng, which is less than thirty miles away.
After the second watch in the evening, it was soon time for Liu Yu to prepare to set off.
However, a cold wind in early autumn hit, and the entire land was shrouded in heavy fog.
"Your Majesty, the fog is too heavy. Do you want to wait until the fog dissipates?"
Youlun said with some worry.
"The fog that forms at night will not dissipate until early morning, so you will miss a good opportunity." Liu Yu said.
"As long as the guide leads the way and is covered by heavy fog, the Youzhou soldiers in Rongcheng can be caught off guard!" said the cavalry general Wu Xin.
"That's right, the advantage of attacking Youzhou in the foggy night is mine!"
