On the evening of May 20, the 25th year of Chongzhen, Huang Degong summoned all the generals to Gule Village to discuss matters.

He had already learned about the terrain of Hetuala through the words of captives and nearby mountain people.

Hetuala, also known as Heituala, is a transliteration of Manchu and means Henggang (flat-topped hill) in Chinese.

Hetuala City was built in the 31st year of Wanli (1603) and is divided into two cities, the inner and outer cities.

The circumference of the inner city wall is more than 600 feet, and the circumference of the outer city wall is 1,360 feet.

Although the city of Hetuala was built on the mountain, the mountain is not high and the city itself is not steep.

The road to Hetuala is treacherous.

The mountain roads there are winding, rugged, narrow and difficult to navigate.

After finally crossing dozens of miles of mountain roads and arriving outside the city of Hetuala to deploy troops, they discovered that the terrain here was not wide enough.

Huang Degong first said: "Everyone, there is an open area near Hetuala, but it is not very open."

"What do you mean?" Li Xianzhong asked.

Huang Degong replied: "We can reach Hetuala by going upstream along the Suzi River. There is open land on both sides of the river that can be used to deploy troops. This open land is more than ten miles long from east to west, but only two to three miles wide from north to south!"

"So narrow?" Everyone was stunned.

"Yes," Huang Degong said solemnly, "In order to stop us from advancing, the Jiannu will certainly set up an ambush on the mountain roads along the way. No matter who is the vanguard, you must be careful and cautious, and don't fall into the enemy's ambush."

"Thank you, Governor, for the reminder." Everyone saluted with their fists.

Next, everyone began to compete to be the pioneer.

As neither side would give in, the only way to decide was by drawing lots.

Li Dingguo was lucky and was drawn to be a pioneer.

When returning to the camp to prepare food and fodder, Prince Ding Zhu Cijiong suddenly found Li Dingguo.

Li Dingguo asked, "What can I do for you, Your Highness?"

Zhu Cijiong asked mysteriously, "Do you want to rush to the city of Hetuala as soon as possible?"

Li Dingguo was stunned for a moment, then said, "Yes, of course I did!"

Zhu Cijiong smiled and said, "A group of Jinyiwei have recently arrived from the capital. You can take them with you when you go to war."

Li Dingguo was a little skeptical: "Do they... have this ability?"

"I don't know if I have the ability or not. I need to try it to find out."

"Since His Highness has spoken, I will give it a try!"

"Haha," Zhu Cijiong laughed, "Thank you, General Li."

"Your Highness is too polite!"

At noon on May 21, the army to pacify Liao led by Li Dingguo.

Huang Degong was the central army.

The rest of the troops followed in sequence.

Leaving Gulezhai and marching towards Hetuala.