"Who knows?" Han Shizhong sneered. "Maybe he is just like you. Because of the loss of troops and generals before, he is worried about being scolded by the Jurchen King behind him, so he is worried that we can break through the mountain and cut off the pass of Chenguan Pass... He dare not retreat easily."
Li Yanxian wanted to bite his nails again, but he held back this time: "Prince Han, I have already confessed my guilt to the emperor. The emperor will decide on my punishment in the next two days..."
"With a powerful enemy in front of us and tens of thousands of Li's troops standing before us, how could the emperor possibly punish you on the battlefield?" Han Shizhong sneered. "Will you really let Prime Minister Lu come and kill you?"
Li Yanxian suppressed his anger and said, "Prince, who is guarding the road between Luotuo Ridge and Jishan in the west?"
"Xu Shi'an, the most reliable commander of the left army of the imperial camp, is stationed in Wanquan County with his troops." Han Shizhong answered proudly.
"North of Sanyi Mountain (later Gushan Mountain) and east of Fanjiayu..."
"Chen Ju led his men to set up camp there, forming a perfect antagonistic alliance with Xu Shian."
"There is a small path to the west where we can march..."
"Most of Dong Min's subordinates are in Hedong City, but he himself led a thousand people to block the Hubi Fort at the intersection." Han Shizhong was still appropriate. "I have been to that place when I was young. It is in a dangerous location. There is an old fort with more than a thousand people!"
Li Yanxian looked a little uneasy, but he still didn't give up: "Where is the mouth of the Fen River where it flows into the Yellow River?"
"Are you talking about Longmen (the north bank of Fenshui River)?" Han Shizhong asked with a frown.
"I mean Ronghe (the south bank of the Fen River, just north of Hedong City)." Li Yanxian said sternly. "Did the prince arrange a special garrison and a general to command Ronghe?"
Han Shizhong shook his head, but still said confidently: "Of course there are some garrisons, but I did not specifically arrange any generals, or leave any large organized troops."
"Why?" Li Yanxian was dumbfounded. "Hedong City hasn't been taken yet. What if the Jin army gathers 10,000 cavalrymen and goes there along the Fen River, and cooperates with Wen Dunsizhong from inside and outside?"
Han Shizhong's strength was obviously weakening, but he still shook his head and said, "Li Jiedu, you're overthinking it. I'm not careless or ignorant. I made an agreement with Wu Da before I came here... Although he wants to wait for the Tangut auxiliary troops and has no intention of advancing on a full scale, he will send a troop to cross Longmen as promised and block the Fenshui River for me... You're overthinking it."
Li Yanxian nodded, and then asked seriously: "So, the prince asked Wu Jiedu to send an army to cross Longmen and block the north bank of Fenshui? Didn't he personally send his own troops to block the south bank of Fenshui?"
"Li Jiedu is overthinking." Han Shizhong finally became a little uneasy. "If they see the Jin army coming from the south bank, will Wu Da's troops still stay on the north bank?"
Li Yanxian pointed at him again and said, "May I ask Prince Han, are Wu Da and his subordinates all human?"
Han Shizhong's expression suddenly changed.
After a moment, he wanted to turn around and call Wang Shixiong, but when the words came to his lips, he stood up himself, then held the jade belt around his waist and hurried downstairs.
"Prince..." Li Yanxian just sat upright on the chair from beginning to end. "Da Hu stays, and Wang Shixiong also stays, let him sit with me."
Han Shizhong nodded and left the city without saying a word.
On that day, the Prince of Yan'an hastily assembled 3,000 Beiwei troops from his own army and 3,000 Chuipian troops. He also gathered the war horses from Li Yanxian's army. A total of 6,000 people were on horseback. After a little preparation, they headed west along the Camel Road from south of the pass.
Arrive at Wanquan in the evening.
We arrived at Hu Bibao at noon the next day.
All is fine.
Another day passed, which was October 12th. When Prince Han bypassed the mountains on the south side of the Fen River and passed by the north of Hedong City and arrived at the Ronghe area on the south bank of the Fen River, he found that there was nothing wrong here, and there were still 500 subordinates left by Chen Ju in Ronghe... This made Han Shizhong greatly relieved, and he was almost ready to go back and scold Li Yanxian.
However, to be on the safe side, he still sent out scouts to investigate northwards and along the river.
Then, that night, I learned a somewhat strange news - about yesterday, a Song army crossed the Fen River from the north bank and hurriedly set up a camp on the road on the south bank.
To be honest, Han Shizhong was a little confused.
First of all, if the troops were sent here purely out of a defensive mentality, why did this army come here to set up fortification now?
Secondly, if the Jurchens really came from here as Li Yanxian judged, they should have arrived in the past few days. This would explain why this Song army crossed the river to set up a fort at this time... But why didn't this army send someone to Ronghe to notify the defenders after crossing the river, so that Wang Sheng, Chen Ju and others could be prepared?
But no matter what, Han Shizhong could not just ignore the matter at this point as he had expected the enemy to be lenient. Although he was extremely confused, he still mobilized the Beiwei Army and Cuipian Army at night. Without even having time to eat breakfast, he hurried north to provide support and arrived at the Song army camp in the morning.
At this time, Marshal Han, who had seen the leader of the Song army with his own eyes, learned two more pieces of information.
First of all, the Jin army is really coming, and will be here soon.
Secondly, this Song army with only 2,000 people and its leader was Zhang Heng was not Wu Jie's subordinate... but the Taihang Volunteer Army. Specifically, it was separated by Ma Kuo and sent to Guji Mountain (Luliang Mountain) many years ago, specifically to connect with Wu Jie. Even when the left army of the Imperial Camp had not crossed the river, it had come into contact with this person due to changes in defense zones.
"Zhang Heng, right? I've seen your name on the documents." The weather was cold, and Han Shizhong sat in the extremely simple camp with his hands clasped together. After looking around, he asked Zhang, the commander in front of him, who couldn't even tell where he belonged, with a solemn face and a confused heart. "You came here yesterday, but you only set up the fence and didn't even have time to set up the tent?"
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
