On the evening of March 21, Liangzhou, Jiaozhi State.

Zhang Lingcheng had just arrived at the border of Langzhou, and he felt very proud when he saw those people who came to greet him in costumes.

As the son of Zhang Boyu, the Privy Councilor of the Jiaozhi Kingdom, he naturally held great power.

Zhang Boyu sent him here with the intention of secretly pulling up a large army in the Langzhou area to prepare for later military operations.

"Welcome to you, Minister Zhang." Ding Zhuangjie, the commander-in-chief of the army, said loudly, with a flattering smile on his face.

"No need to be polite." Zhang Lingcheng rode on the horse and looked at Ding Zhuangjie with a disdainful smile on his face, "How many soldiers and horses are there, Mr. Ding?"

"Replying to Minister Zhang, we have three thousand soldiers at the moment, and a total of 20,000 soldiers and civilians."

"From today on, this place is all under my jurisdiction, and you are also under my jurisdiction. This is an order from the imperial court."

"yes!"

"In addition, we will recruit another 20,000 soldiers and civilians in Langzhou, and we will have to raise 40,000 people."

"Why is this?"

Zhang Lingcheng did not answer him, but said: "The imperial court will continue to send troops here."

"Does the imperial court have to..."

"That's right, the imperial court plans to send troops to the north to conquer the Song Dynasty and regain Guangdong and Guangxi." Zhang Lingcheng was quite grand, "This is your chance to make a contribution!"

Ding Zhuangjie was stunned, thinking he heard wrongly.

"What?" Zhang Lingcheng said, "You don't believe it?"

"No, no, it's not that I don't believe it, I just feel a little surprised. Now that the two countries have added gambling venues, why are they still fighting?"

"Don't ask too many questions that shouldn't be asked, just go and recruit!"

"I heard that a new manager has arrived at Guangnan West Road. Will it be difficult to fight?"

"Of course we have investigated it, and the Song army is nothing to worry about." Zhang Lingcheng was very confident.

Zhang Lingcheng continued: "At that time, I plan to send you as a vanguard to capture Siming Prefecture of Song Dynasty and march to Yong Prefecture. If you do well, it is not impossible to be promoted to Taiwei!"

When Ding Zhuangjie heard this, he was immediately overjoyed: "Yes! Thank you very much, Sir Zhang, for the promotion. I will go through fire and water without hesitation!"

"By the way, this is my first time coming to Langzhou. Are there any beautiful ladies here?" Zhang Lingcheng showed a look that all men understand.

"Yes! Yes!" Ding Zhuangjie also laughed, with the look that every man knows, "The general has already made arrangements for Zhang Shilang, please come here."

Zhang Lingcheng was very satisfied. He patted Ding Zhuangjie on the shoulder: "Ding Taiwei..."

"Hey, I can't help it. How can I dare to call myself Taiwei now?"

"Hey, I'll leave you the position of Lieutenant, so hurry up and train your troops!"

Ding Zhuangjie immediately puffed up his chest and patted his chest: "Don't worry, Minister Zhang, Langzhou has strong soldiers and horses. Even if the Song army comes early tomorrow morning, the general will be able to defeat them and annihilate them immediately!"

"Okay!" Zhang Lingcheng was also quite proud. Before coming, Thang Long City said that Langzhou was an important frontier fortress and the military affairs were complex, and he could not handle it well.

Now it seems, isn't this very simple?

There’s nothing that can’t be handled!

"I heard that the ladies from the Song Dynasty are more beautiful. When the time comes, I'll call them and grab a few more!" Zhang Lingcheng burst out laughing, "I'll give you a few more too!"

"Hahaha, Mr. Zhang is a sweetheart! Let's go!"

As night falls, Lang Son gradually disappears.

Yan Pei personally served as the forward officer of the Song Army.

The number of the forward battalion is 3,000. Except for the 500 elites Wu Lin brought from the northwest, the rest are all the strongest ones recruited locally from Guangnan West Road.

After several months of training, although he has never actually killed anyone on the battlefield, he is much stronger than ordinary people in a real fight.

The Song army marched very fast.

In the words of Zhao Ning in Jiangwu Hall: The victory of war lies in the speed of march.

This is naturally not Uncle Zhao’s military philosophy, but Napoleon’s consistent style.

The Military Lecture Hall of the Song Dynasty has formed a relatively complete military system.

For example, the tactics for attacking the northwest and the tactics for attacking Hebei are different from the tactics for attacking Liaodong, and the tactics for attacking the southwest will naturally be different.

The southwest is remote, and Cochin is extremely hot and humid.

Soldiers must be recruited from Guangnan West Road. The people here are very fierce, but they lack unified management.

And before the expedition, the Military and Political Council and the Privy Council conducted an analysis of all the military cases of the Central Plains dynasty's expeditions to the southwest.

Wu Lin herself also agreed with the court's suggestion: travel lightly!

The Song Dynasty conquered Jiaozhi twice.

The first time was during the Zhao Guangyi era. At that time, except for Yan Yun, basically everyone in the Song Dynasty took it back.

The imperial court then turned its attention to Annan, which originally belonged to China, that is, Jiaozhi.

So they sent troops to fight, and they lost, so the independence of Cochin was recognized internationally.

The second time was Song Shenzong.

Guo Kui gathered an army of 300,000 troops in the southwest and defeated Jiaozhi on the Fuliang River.

However, the Song army fell ill and was forced to withdraw. For this reason, Guo Kui was demoted by Song Shenzong after returning to the court.

However, whether it is Ma Yuan of the Eastern Han Dynasty or Yang Sixu of the Tang Dynasty, they all have one characteristic when fighting Jiaozhou: fast!

Surprisingly fast!

This is determined by the topography of Jiaozhi. Going out from Guangnan West Road and entering the boundary of Jiaozhi, there are rolling mountains.

Sending a large number of troops overwhelmingly will greatly reduce the marching speed. In this way, Jiaozhi will get the information very early and ambush in a strategic position in advance, making it difficult to fight.

However, Yan Pei now only leads 3,000 men, and his baggage is only a quarter of the same number of troops during the Shenzong period.

In this way, the marching speed can be doubled.

We set out on March 20th, and early in the morning on March 22nd, we were like a sharp sword piercing the hinterland of Langzhou.

It was still dark and bright, the soldiers were sleeping, and not even the shadow of the merchants could be seen on the roadside.

Langzhou City was silent.

The cities in the Jiaozhi Kingdom were different from those in the Song Dynasty.

Although it is a borderland, the city wall of Langzhou is short, and some parts have even been damaged due to disrepair over time.

This is very common in surrounding subordinate countries. In the Champa Kingdom, apart from the royal city, only Indrapura and Bintonglong have city walls, a total of three cities.

People in other places either build wooden walls or have nothing at all.

While Langzhou was still sleeping, Yan Pei struck decisively.

Led by local guides, they fought their way in through the collapsed city wall.

Suddenly, there were loud shouts of killing, and the tranquility was broken.

Ding Zhuangjie and his army were awakened from their slumber.

"No! The enemy is coming!"

Someone yelled, and all the confused people around him suddenly started to panic.

They didn't understand what was going on at all. They just heard loud shouts of killing, and everyone became confused.

This is normal. If you are sleeping at home and suddenly there are thousands of people outside shouting "kill" at the same time, you will be awakened and you will be at a loss.

And the closer the shouting of death gets, the more nervous you become.

That's how it is now with the military.
Chapter completed!