Lou Shi glanced at Balisu and nodded slightly: "I know, so Huo Nu will stay at the river mouth camp tomorrow and will not take any risks..."

Ba Lisu immediately shut up.

"Everyone!" Having said this, Lou Shi stood up suddenly, holding the knife at his waist and looking around. "If Qu Duan doesn't come to help tomorrow, it will be 50,000 against 80,000. If Qu Duan comes to help, it will be just a spent force. Except for a few cavalry, it will be useless... But no matter what, the opportunity for battle has appeared, don't hesitate... If any of you have anything to say, I will allow you to speak now!"

The generals looked at each other, of course speechless.

"Are you sure?" It was late at night. Han Shizhong, who had taken the initiative to lead his Beiwei Army to Siqian Town in the central part of Tongzhou because of his suspicion during the day, was awakened by his subordinates, and then received a piece of news that was not unexpected to him.

"It's absolutely true!" The subordinate who reported the news panted and repeated again. "Three thousand of us went north, and before we separated, we discovered the military situation. A large group of Jin troops passed by the north of Liangshan yesterday, and they kept going all day. The local mountain people saw it clearly and said that there were many more people than us... Commander Dong asked his subordinates to report this matter as soon as possible without any hesitation."

The troops that are much larger than 3,000 people are tens of thousands of troops, and from what we saw yesterday, they may have already arrived at Beiluoshui or even Baishui.

In response to this, Han Shizhong, who had made an instant judgment in his mind, remained silent. He could only remain silent... because he had no one to discuss with. His troops and his capable subordinates were now distributed in several cities and several riverside positions.

Moreover, he didn't need to think of any extra words. At this moment, there were only two choices: to help, or not to help.

Once the reinforcements were sent, the troops in the riverside positions and Puzhou Ferry could not move, and there was no time to move. As for some cities, such as Chengcheng in the northwest, which was used to guard against Loushi's invasion of Tongzhou, they would be detected by the Jin army immediately once they were deployed, and the situation would backfire because they were within the detection range of the Loushi camp's scouts.

Therefore, at this moment, the only troops Han Shizhong could dispatch and ensure would arrive at the Yaoshan battlefield within the next day were the Beiwei Army and the Changle Xu Shi'an troops, totaling only seven or eight thousand people.

Seven or eight thousand people rushing to the battlefield may not be able to make it in time for the decisive battle, and it is unknown how much combat power will remain even if they do make it. This is definitely not cost-effective.

But after only a few breaths of silence, Han Shizhong had already made a decision... After all, the emperor had been so kind to him, how could he not help Han Wu? In other words, during these few breaths, Han Shizhong had not considered the issue of whether to help or not, he was only thinking about the issue of military strength.

After all, the one who splashed water on Han Wu wasn’t a bastard like Qu Da!

It was early morning, and the delay of one day, which was destined to have a huge and unknown impact on the war situation, still followed Wushu and Han Chang to the south along the Beiluo River despite the huge pressure of non-combat casualties. However, it must be said that this time, because of the river, the speed of the Jin army was much faster than the previous two days.

At almost the same time, Han Shizhong of Tongzhou, after making some preparations, officially led his troops westward. At the same time, his messenger went to Changle Town, which was on the banks of the Beiluo River, early to inform Xu Shi'an who was stationed there.

Almost at the same time, extremely conspicuous smoke rose from the Jin army camp.

Immediately afterwards, Wanyan Loushi, the commander-in-chief of the Shanxi Military Command and the actual commander of this expedition to Guanxi, issued the first military order of the day - all the 30,000 soldiers, except for the two Hezhameng'ans, were required to receive a bag filled with mud before they could get their meals.

Just like that, after daybreak, the Jin army, which had had a full meal, led their war horses, protected the carts, and used almost every possible means to carry their own bag of soil, and then came out in full force.

The scouts reported hastily, and the Song army camp got the news and was shaken across the board, as if facing a powerful enemy.

But then, the scouts came again to report that although the Jin army consisted mostly of cavalry, they moved slowly. And judging from the direction of their movement, they were not heading straight for the Song army camp, but instead were heading towards Jinsulu Mountain, which was due east of the Song army camp and due south of the Jin army camp.

By this time, it was already broad daylight, and the commander of the Song army, Wu Jie, hesitated for a moment and sent out only a small force of two thousand people, who marched rapidly towards Jinsuluo Mountain in a symbolic gesture of seizing it.

No matter what, at this point, the Song and Jin armies have officially set out, and even Zhao Jiu has already started to put on armor and carry a bow with the assistance of Yang Yizhong.

This day was May 29th, the fourth year of Jianyan. The weather was a little dull, but there were no rain clouds. It was auspicious for sacrifices but not for breaking ground.

PS: I continue to offer my new book - a historical work disguised as Water Margin, "The New Order of Water Margin"!

Students who are interested can go and have a look.