Chapter 407: March

Get the deer!

This is a county under the jurisdiction of Zhending Prefecture. Although it has always been prosperous and has a large area, it is still just an ordinary county under the jurisdiction of Hebei West Road.

Now, when the Song and Jin leaders were keenly aware that the two sides were likely to meet hastily and a large-scale field battle would break out hastily based on their own advancing speed, they all noticed this area at the same time.

This coincidence, coupled with the name, makes people feel a sense of fate.

When Qin lost its deer, the whole world chased it together… Ever since Sima Qian wrote this sentence in "Biography of Huaiyin Marquis", the metaphor of the deer of the world has been deeply rooted in people's hearts. Even if we look into it carefully, we can find that Han Xin, the person this sentence was trying to persuade, had gained the basis for chasing the deer based on Hebei at that time.

Therefore, when this name was shouted out by the top leaders of both armies, it seemed to have a magical power that attracted the decision-makers of both sides. Both sides realized that the gains and losses in this area would determine the ownership of Hebei, the ultimate success or failure of the Song army's Northern Expedition, and the basic destiny of the two countries.

Of course, putting aside the name, some things, especially the application of geography in military, politics, and people's livelihood, are really clear and destined, and there is no coincidence in essence... Just like if someone told Emperor Zhao that the area they were eyeing was essentially the core urban area of ​​Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province in later generations, he would definitely suddenly realize it.

The so-called Huolu County was originally a large plain closest to the exit of Jingxing. It was only because the scope of human activities and urban development at that time had not yet reached the level of breaking through the level of rivers like the Hutuo River, the capital of Zhending Prefecture ended at the north of the Hutuo River, and Huolu south of the Hutuo River became a pure agricultural area.

And now, because the armies of both sides are too large and need a large plain nearby, Huolu naturally emerges.

There are countless similar geographical locations throughout history, both in China and abroad.

For example, Zhuolu in Zhangjiakou area in the north, the Stone City built in Nanjing area in later generations after Sun Quan's extensive development in the south, and Constantinople located at the mouth of the strait gradually replaced Lysimachia in ancient Greece to become the capital of Thrace and even the entire eastern Mediterranean after Rome unified the Mediterranean.

There are many coincidences in the world, but some are not really coincidences.

On the 24th day of the first lunar month, with permission from the rear, Yelu Ma Wu finally gave up his efforts in Jingxing and retreated... In fact, even if he did not retreat, he would not be able to hold on. There were too many Song troops, and the Jingxing Pass was not a natural barrier that could be blocked by one man. The Song army was able to deploy enough troops to maintain the successive attacks.

But no matter what the reason was, with the retreat of Yelu Ma Wu, the vanguard of the Song army suddenly became clear. Shao Yun, the general of the imperial camp, took the lead and led his troops to follow Yelu Ma Wu, and were the first to walk out of the Jingxing Passage and arrive in Jingxing County. This is the veritable territory of Hebei West Road.

Following closely behind were Niu Gao, Dong Xian, Zhang Qi, Zhai Chong, and Zhai Jin.

On the second day, which was the 25th day of the first lunar month, Jie Yuan, Hu Yantong, Dong Min, Chen Ju and other generals from the left army of the imperial camp crossed the passage.

By the evening of that day, the Tangut light cavalry led by Li Shifu could not wait to break the order and rushed out of Jingxing before the core force of the Song army to conduct necessary reconnaissance and assist in defense.

On the same day, the five vanguards swept through the villages of Ganquan, Xiaozuokou, Wangjiagu and Jiuxian, and controlled the Jingxing exit area west of the Mianman River and south of the Hutuo River.

After gaining the necessary safe area, on the 26th day of the first lunar month, countless Song army troops, led by countless flags, crossed Jingxing and arrived in Hebei.

The Jin army only lost its main stronghold on the west side of the Mianman River, but there were still scattered scouts who risked their lives to stay here to do necessary reconnaissance. They hid in the remnants of the Taihang Mountains, and used the terrain with many valleys and hills to spy from afar... At the beginning, they tried to calculate the specific number of the Song army and identify the main commanders of each unit, but soon they gave up this futile action.

There was no way, there were too many Song soldiers, not just soldiers, but also countless civilians and baggage, which were impossible to count. Moreover, with the outflow of these Song main forces, all the towns, valleys, plains and hills west of Mianman River were almost completely controlled by the Song army, and most of these scouts also lost their hiding places and could only choose to retreat.

However, even so, the Jin army scouts also got a glimpse of the most important information before evacuating - the dragon flag did appear on the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain and came to Hebei.

In fact, the dragon flag went all the way to Xiaozuokou Village on the west side of the Mianman River before stopping, which was only a dozen miles away from the Mianman River.

Without further ado, that evening, the top brass of the Song army hastily convened a military meeting in front of the emperor to discuss the next steps of the advance.

The person who presided over the military meeting was none other than Wu Jie, who had just caught up with the main army yesterday. There were not many participants, except for Emperor Zhao... except for Ma Kuo who was in the rear supervising the transportation of grain and grass, who was not present... The rest were Lu Yihao with a few scholars, Han Shizhong with a few generals, plus Yang Yizhong and Liu Yan, that was all. However, even so, the most junior people like Yu Yunwen and Mei Li could only stand at the narrow door of the hall to listen.

“It’s still a deer!”

As soon as the military meeting started, under the lights, Wu Jie pointed at the simple map hanging on the screen with his whip, and without hesitation gave the same answer as Han Shizhong had given him on the west side of Jingxing. "It can only be Huolu!"

"Why?!" The person asking the question was Lu Yihao, who was obviously a little depressed but trying hard to keep himself awake. After all, he was old and military life was extremely destructive to his health.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!