When Tian Zhong urged his troops to pounce on Daming Prefecture City, Zhang Gui led his army out of Wei County before dawn to advance to Daming Prefecture. However, he received a report from the front army thirty miles away from the city. They were attacked by the Song cavalry on the way.

At first, the former army was just a small group of enemy cavalry cruising far away. They dispatched cavalry to drive them away. The more they moved forward, the more frequent the disturbances of the Song army, and the more courage they became. They even broke through the obstacles of their own cavalry and broke into the marching brigade, forcing the team to stop fighting and slow down the marching speed.

By the time of Si, the Song army's cavalry gathered more and more. They followed and raided the marching brigade with hundreds of people. The cavalry on their side did not dare to stay away from the brigade and could only be on the side to watch. Yesuji had to tighten the formation, unsheathed the entire sabers, and formed a formation, but this reduced the speed of the marching.

In the afternoon, the former army Yuancheng was intercepted by a brigade of Song army cavalry, and they continued to plunder and shoot in turn with muskets. Their cavalry was difficult to deal with and were exhausted and unable to repel the Song army, which led to considerable casualties. Yesuge discovered that the Song army cavalry was lined up in front, with a force of less than ten thousand cavalry.

At present, each of the guards of the Yuan army is a 1,000-person team, with two 1,000-person teams of cavalry, five 1,000-person teams of infantry, one 1,000-person teams of artillery, and several directly affiliated troops. Yesu knew that under the same force, the marching team was difficult to resist the impact of the cavalry, and once the team was dispersed, it would be slaughtered. So he ordered to stop advancing and form a formation on the spot to aid.

Zhang Gui felt a little shocked when he heard the news. He immediately realized that the Song army had discovered his intention and tried to intercept them into the city. This enemy cavalry must be the vanguard, delaying their schedule to gain time for the subsequent army to come. Now that it has been exposed, we can only take advantage of the enemy's foothold and breaking down the enemy's defense line and entering the city as soon as possible.

Zhang Gui made a quick decision and immediately ordered the cavalry of the central and rear troops to immediately rush to rescue the front army and open the way to enter the city for the army. At the same time, he ordered the troops not to stop in the middle and advance at the speed of a rapid march and enter the city as soon as possible.

"How far is the rear army from us?" After more than half an hour of order was issued, Zhang Gui looked back and did not see the rear army catching up, and asked the personal guards who were sending the order beside him.

"The chief commander, the central army and the rear army are ten miles apart, and they are trying hard to catch up!" the personal guard replied.

"No!" Zhang Gui frowned and muttered in confusion. Because the Song army scout appeared on the left and right, he had already ordered the troops to be kept tight so as not to be taken by the enemy. The baggage was all following the central army, but the distance between the rear army and them was getting bigger and bigger, which was a bit abnormal.

"Du Shuai, when his subordinates sent an order, they found that officials and people were accompanying him, which might have delayed their trip!" The guard replied in a low voice.

"What? Where did the people come from!" Zhang Gui said in surprise.

"Master, listen to the explanation of the emperor!" He Tulu, who was riding alongside Zhang Gui, smiled and took the conversation, whispering, "Master, the magistrate of Wei County last night, and the Southern Army is invading the north. It is the time to serve the country. He begs to lead the army to reinforce the city. The officials consider that it is time to use people and need to replenish food and grass. Since he has the desire to serve the country, he promised him to lead the army to assist the city."

"How could the people accompany you?" Zhang Gui asked again.

"I think it is the young and strong man who recruited food and grass!" He Lutu said in a daze, "They have a lot of supplies, and the roads are muddy after the snow. They are slower, but they will not delay the army's marching."

"The army in the city has all gone out to help the city, so why don't there be no soldiers to defend the city at this point?" Zhang Gui was shocked when he heard this.

"The capital commander, the enemy is in the north, as long as the capital city is not lost, Wei County will be stable!" He Tulu said with a smile.

"This..." Zhang Gui was angry. He knew that if the Song army deviated from the rear and occupied Wei County at this time, his retreat would be cut off. However, his statement made it difficult for him to defend himself, and he couldn't help but speak out.

"Don't worry, everyone is handsome, the lower official is not a ignorant person..." He Tulu said with a low smile again.

"Since that's the case, let them speed up and don't drag down the army!" After hearing this, Zhang Gui didn't understand what was going on, he was a fool.

At this time, he knew that it was the officials and wealthy families in Wei County who learned that the Song army was attacking in large numbers, and they knew that they could not defend the city at all. The Daming Prefecture City was known as the "magnificent base, densely packed with battlements, and a garrison of the valleys, which could accommodate 100,000." In addition, the Zongwang Mansion was located in the city, with tens of thousands of soldiers and elite guards entering the defense, which was much safer than Wei County.

Therefore, the magistrate of Wei County and the wealthy families wanted to go to the prefecture city to take refuge, and the prefect and Tulu came to pick up the army. Zhang Gui could understand with his feet at this time that he took the opportunity to bribe He Tulu and fled in the name of reinforcement of the prefecture city. And they could also ensure safety on the way, and they were very careful in their plan!

But even though he understood, Zhang Gui also knew that although he was a high position and powerful, he was a foreign army after all, and he was not easy to interfere in local affairs. He also needed many aspects to rely on the assistance of local government agencies, so he could only turn a blind eye. But in addition to worrying about the local corruption, he was even more worried that these people would leave their homes and leave, not only their families, but also their private details would inevitably drag down the speed of the army.

However, Zhang Gui was not afraid of the intercepting Song army. This was not only because he had the advantage of his military strength, but just over 10,000 cavalry could not stop their advance. Moreover, as personal guards, they also equipped artillery and muskets, and after several years of training, the number of firearms and equipment may not be as good as that of the Song army, but he thought that the combat effectiveness was not inferior to that of the Song army.

"Advance in one way and speed up the marching speed. You must not stay on the road!" Zhang Gui regretted staying in Wei County for one more day, otherwise he would be able to enter the capital first. After all, the enemy situation was unknown at this time, and once he encountered the Song army in a marching state, they would be at a disadvantage.

With Zhang Gui's order, the troops readjusted the marching sequence. They left the marching road and scattered into the fields on the roadside. The cavalry protected their wings. Tens of thousands of soldiers lined up several miles wide. The teams stretched for ten miles in unstoppable torrents heading towards the city.

"Report to the commander of the capital, there is a brigade of Song troops following about five miles behind the brigade!" After a few miles of time, there were reports of the Massacre.

"After discovering the Song army in the rear, Wei County must have been lost, and our army's retreat has been cut off!" Jia Mao, the commander of the central army, couldn't help but feel trembling and sighed.

"Can you find out the military number of your troops?" Zhang Gui asked.

"Report to the Du Shu, he was tying the flag of Tian, ​​and it should be the first army of the Southern Army." The scout replied.

"Don't worry, the commander-in-chief, I had to report that the First Army of the Southern Army was still in Jinan, nearly a thousand miles away from here, and it was snowing heavily. How could I arrive so quickly? If it weren't for the bluff, it would be just a small group of Song troops coming lightly." Jia Mao said indifferently.

"Wei County is like bowing down and trying to let the enemy go, it's too late to say anything." Although things were expected, Zhang Gui did not expect the Song army to come so quickly and chased after him. He pondered for a moment, "I ordered the commander of the rear army, Tang Gu, to strengthen the vigilance and monitor closely, and send cavalry to take turns to cut off the rear, but don't get entangled with the enemy."

"Yes!" A personal guard immediately slapped his horse and sent an order to the rear army.

"Master, we have crossed the old path of the Yellow River. There is a flat horse in front of us, with no dangerous land to rely on, and there is no place to use troops. If we want to surround us, we must have several times our strength. And it is not a matter of time for the Song army to mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops. As long as we move forward bravely, if the Daming King sends troops to respond, we will be able to enter the city safely!" Jia Maoyan said.

"Well, I hope so!" Although Zhang Gui felt that his words were reasonable, it was still difficult to eliminate the hidden worries in his heart and sighed.

Although Zhang Gui repeatedly ordered the speed of the marching, the baggage and artillery carried with the army still dragged down the speed of the marching. In the afternoon, the snow melted, and the road was trampled into slurry by the team in front, making it extremely difficult to move. The chariots and artillery chariots were occasionally trapped in the mud. Although the soldiers tried their best to drive away the horses, it was difficult to get out of the trap.

The team that "out of assistance" from Wei County was at the end of the team, but when they found that the Song army was following, they became frightened and squeezed into the marching team to rush. These people took their families and wanted to move the entire family away, causing the car to block the road and disrupt the marching order, forcing the brigade to detour or wait for the passage.

However, the team followed by the Song army continued to grow, and there were also Song army brigades on their left wing that appeared several miles away from them. Although neither side launched an attack, they all formed a formation and were on full alert. However, Zhang Gui had a very bad premonition, and he felt like he was driven into the cliff and was about to be slaughtered.

What made Zhang Gui even more worried was that the Song army had more and more military numbers. Not only were the Second Army and the Fifth Army fighting in Shandong, but also the military numbers of two cavalry divisions appeared. Although he could not imagine how the Song army moved here thousands of miles in a very short time, he had to believe that the Song army was not bluffing, but formed an encirclement force on him.

When Zhang Gui led a large group of troops to finally meet the front army, the situation in front of him was shocked again. He saw countless Song troops digging trenches. In just a few hours, they had dug up a ten-mile arc trench in front of them, built a three-foot-high low wall, arranged a foot corner, and resisted the horse. Although it was not completed, it had already taken shape, cutting off their road to Daming Mansion City.

At the same time, the Song army, who were accompanying the left wing and the rear, formed a square formation and pressed towards them, but stopped three miles away from them, arranged artillery positions to suppress the positions, and sent cavalry to cruising on their left and right. The other Song army also began to dig trenches on the spot.

After the Song army acted like this, Zhang Gui had already seen that he was not only trying to stop him from entering the city, but also to encircle him here. How could he sit and wait for death? He immediately ordered the front army to attack forward, trying to open the gap and enter the city as soon as possible. However, the Song army was only defending with trenches and bombarded with artillery and muskets. He could not break through until dark, so he could only order camping...
Chapter completed!