"Yesterday at dawn, after the general crossed Shangdang City, he galloped straight south until he reached the Yangtou Mountain at the junction of Lu and Ze, and then stopped. After resting for half a day, he was about to continue heading south when he found that the Khitan scouts had already arrived. Enter the realm of Sheep Head Mountain!"
In the palace hall, Zhang Yanwei and Guo Rong sat with him, and Liu Chengyou sat at the head of the table, listening to Han Tong's report. As soon as the Khitan people were mentioned, several people's spirits suddenly rose.
"That group of Khitan scouts only went north for a brief reconnaissance and stopped at Sheep Head Mountain. In order not to be noticed by them, the general chose to avoid it. Afterwards, he led a small group of capable brothers and carefully headed south. In the evening, he sneaked to Ze When they arrived in Gaoping County, the Khitan army was discovered!" Han Tong continued.
"Gaoping..." Liu Chengyou stood up and stopped on a map hanging in the hall. He quickly found the county in northern Zezhou and asked, "Is it Geng Chong's American army?"
"It should be!" Han Tong nodded: "The general will choose a high place to observe it. Although it is far away, he can still see the 'Geng' and 'Liao' flags!"
"how many people?"
"Based on the general's observation, there should be as many as 4,000 troops, but the general does not dare to say anything about the specific number of troops the opponent has." Han Tong's answer was very conservative, but equally practical.
Seeing Liu Chengyou's frown, Han Tong immediately added: "However, there are very few Khitans in the Liao army, and most of them are Han!"
"Han people?" Liu Chengyou's eyes lit up: "Are you surrendering your troops to the Jin army?"
"I'm afraid not! According to General Yi Mo, it should be Yan Bing!" Han Tong shook his head.
"Yan Bing!" Liu Chengyou murmured expressionlessly and quickly reacted.
The Yan soldiers referred to here are the Khitan Han troops in Youzhou. The Khitan has ruled the land of Youyan for ten years. Under the national policy of "ruling the Han with the Han", and assisted by Han officials such as Zhang Li and Zhao Yanshou, it has indeed formed some "Yan people". army.
When Yelu Deguang went south to destroy the Jin Dynasty last year, these Yan soldiers, led by Han generals such as Zhao Yanshou and Geng Chongmei, also contributed a lot.
When Han Tong mentioned that most of Geng Chong's American troops were Han Chinese, Liu Chengyou's first reaction was "Jin surrendered its soldiers" and he immediately planned to "incite rebellion". However, he quickly gave up this idea when he heard that it was the "Yan soldiers" from Youzhou.
Not to mention the difficulty of instigating rebellion, as far as the "Yan soldiers" are concerned, the cost of their rebellion is too high!
"However, this Liao army is mainly infantry, and there are not many cavalry!" Han Tong added while Liu Chengyou was thinking.
This news made everyone present feel relieved. No matter what, the most feared thing in the Khitan army was the cavalry.
"So, Geng Chong's American army is just a Yan army!" The seriousness in Liu Chengyou's expression disappeared a lot.
"Yes!"
At Liu Chengyou's signal, Han Tong continued: "After discovering the Liao army, the general did not dare to neglect and immediately withdrew. After leaving a small team to continue surveillance, he quickly returned north and reported to you!"
After Han Tong finished his report, he waited respectfully below. The hall was quiet for a while. Liu Chengyou also sorted out the situation of the Liao army. Fang raised his head and asked: "The situation is almost understood. What do you think?"
Zhang Yanwei spoke immediately, looking a little excited, and the flesh on his face trembled a few times: "Your Highness, Gaoping is not far from Shangdang. According to what Han Tong said, the Khitan army may have broken camp and came north today. There is a Yangtou Mountain between Ze and Lu. The enemy must not be allowed to enter Luzhou easily. Send troops immediately to occupy Yangtou Mountain and block the enemy from Luzhou!"
After Zhang Yanwei finished speaking, Liu Chengyou's reaction was very dull. He did not comment on his suggestion. After thinking about it, he asked Guo Rong: "What do you think?"
Guo Rong's face was serious and he lowered his head slightly. He thought about it for a while and then said: "General Zhang's idea is too conservative! Sheep Head Mountain is only forty miles away from Gaoping. If the Liao army has really broken camp and marched north, wait for His Highness to send troops. If we go south to intercept, I'm afraid the opponent has already entered Luzhou territory!"
After briefly refuting Zhang Yanwei, Guo Rong continued: "If Han Tong's investigation is correct, the Liao army does not have many troops. After our army got the help of the Luzhou army, the other party will even be in a weak position, plus the infantry." For the Lord, there is no threat from Hu Qi..."
As Guo Rong spoke, a confident color bloomed on his face. Liu Chengyou kept observing and noticed his "radiant" eyes. He felt something in his heart and felt that he had guessed his thoughts.
Sure enough, Guo Rong clenched his fist hard and said excitedly: "Your Highness, Mo Ruo, gathered all the troops and went south to engage the enemy. Our army went south overnight and occupied Shangdang very quickly. Since yesterday morning, it has been tightly blocking the news. The Liao army is attacking Lu I'm afraid the situation in the state is still unclear. If we go south to fight at this time, it will definitely have an unexpected effect."
"To meet the enemy head-on and defeat it head-on will definitely boost the power of our army in Hedong, and it will also have an motivating effect on the soldiers and civilians in the Central Plains and Hebei who fight back against the Khitan tyranny!"
Compared with Zhang Yanwei's conservative approach, Guo Rong's suggestion is much more radical and can even be described as risky. If Geng Chong's US military is still unclear about the situation in Luzhou, taking the initiative to attack can have an unexpected effect.
But similarly, Liu Chengyou didn't know the specific situation of the other party at this time. The enemy's military situation cannot be understood clearly with Han Tong's naked eyes. After all, war is not a child's play, it is a matter of life and death, so Liu Chengyou cannot be careless.
At present, Liu Chengyou has controlled the Shangdang, has the support of Luzhou military and civilians, and has Hedong as his back, which can be said to have an active advantage. As long as Geng Chong holds on to the Shangdang, he will be confident in rejecting it even if the U.S. military is twice as powerful.
However, taking the initiative to go south and fight would be very risky. There is no absolute superiority in military strength, and the combat effectiveness of Yan Bing is not clear. If he chooses to face him head-on, if something unexpected happens and he fails to win, or is even defeated, then his good situation of taking over Luzhou will be gone forever. It even affected Liu Zhiyuan's plan to march into the Central Plains and seize the country in the future...
Of course, if you win a battle, as Guo Rong said, the harvest will be huge. Not to mention anything else, as far as Liu Chengyou is concerned, if he leads the army into battle for the first time and wins, he will definitely become famous.
The problem is, this is his first time leading an army, and he really doesn’t know how to fight!
Guo Rong's suggestion made Liu Chengyou hesitate, and his frown explained his tangled psychology.
Seeing Liu Chengyou's hesitation, probably because he was disrespected by Guo Rong, a junior, Zhang Yanwei couldn't help but said: "Your Highness, if you listen to Guo Rong's words, is it too risky?"
Even Zhang Yanwei saw the risks involved.
Zhang Yanwei's words seemed to aggravate Liu Chengyou's hesitation. He took a breath and asked Xiang Xun, the guard beside him: "Xingmin, you have a strategy, what do you think?"
In this regard, Xiang Xun also acted very evenly. After thinking for a while, Fang said: "Based on the current situation, as long as His Highness leads the army to guard Shangdang and Huguan, the situation in Luzhou will be under control. The strategy of marching south to Luzhou That’s it, it’s a safe choice!”
Hearing what Xiang Xun meant, he seemed to agree with stability. Liu Chengyou was about to answer when he heard a "but". Xiang Xun said softly: "War is inherently risky. If you are afraid of Geng Chongmei's thousands of soldiers, how can you face the Khitan's hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses..."
Hearing this, Liu Chengyou fell into deep thought. Seeing his hesitant look, Guo Rong, who was sitting next to him, couldn't help but have a hint of disappointment in his eyes.
Liu Chengyou did hesitate. Why take risks when there are safer options?
But at this time, the word "Gaoping" suddenly crossed his mind, and he suddenly raised his eyes to look at the expressionless Guo Rong, and muttered: "Gaoping!"
