The first year of the Republic, December 18th.

On the east bank of the Yellow River, the sky gradually became brighter. Wu Yixin rode his horse, but stood on a high place with Ma Kuo, Zhao Yi, Wu Jie and others. In front of them, eighty scouts and cavalrymen from the Third Division and the Fourth Division were walking everywhere on the east bank of the river, but looked at the opposite bank of the Yellow River, which was still floating in the morning mist.

The east bank of the Yellow River where they are located is of course a section where the Yellow River flows north through Tianjin Prefecture and the Qingzhou area of ​​the Song Dynasty. The east bank belongs to Tianjin Prefecture, and the west bank belongs to Qingzhou area. The specific locations where Wu Yixin and others are located are between the Qingzhou Prefecture City and Diaoyuzhai Castle in the Song Dynasty.

The river channel in this section is very wide, the water level is deep, and the water flow is not slow. Most of the year is an insurmountable natural barrier. Both the Song and Zhou dynasties deployed heavy troops on both sides of this section of the Yellow River and built many bastion fortresses.

Between the bastions, there is a beacon tower every ten miles. You can watch and quickly report the discovery of the beacon towers in the rear not only follow the Yellow River and the Zhou and Song borders, but also build all the way to the important towns in the rear, so that you can inform the news of the enemy's invasion or invasion at any time.

However, it is not easy to cross the Yellow River invasion for most of the year. If you need to concentrate a large number of ships in advance, it will be easily reconnaissed by the opponent's beacon tower and the fortress's watchtower.

Before the crossing of the river begins, the opponent's army will most likely be on the side of the river to be on the battlefield!

Therefore, the Yellow River defense line is relatively reliable for most of the year. Only in the frozen season can natural barriers become thoroughfares.

And the temperature has dropped sharply these days, and it is time for dripping water to turn into ice.

The third and fourth divisions of the Zhou State Army also headed south from Fort No. 1 on the south bank three days ago and drove to the bank of the Yellow River 25 miles away from Qingzhou City. They quickly occupied the river crossing position and began to build camps, waiting for the Yellow River to freeze.

The night before yesterday, a team of scout cavalry finally completed the reconnaissance of crossing the Yellow River from the ice at the risk of falling into an ice hole, and all returned safely.

This shows that the ice surface of the Yellow River has been frozen strong enough to withstand the passage of cavalry.

Since the ice layer on the river surface can withstand the passage of cavalry, the time for the Third and Fourth Divisions to cross the river and invade the Song Dynasty was almost ripe.

Therefore, Wu Yixin and Zhao Yi, the two division commanders, immediately asked their superiors, General Xue Ding, the governor of the Hebei West Road Corps, for instructions, to start the battle immediately.

Their request was immediately approved! Xue Ding ordered the third and fourth divisions to cross immediately, and then find a suitable location to build camps, waiting for the main force to arrive, the Hebei West Route Army had a total of six infantry divisions and a cavalry division, as well as some independent engineers, artillery and baggage units, with a total force of up to 100,000!

There is also a Hebei East Road Corps on the side of Zhou State at the junction of Tianjin Prefecture and Cangzhou. The total force is equal to that of the Hebian West Road Corps, with Army General Luo Gang as the governor.

The two armies, 200,000 Zhou army armed to the teeth, will launch an attack at the same time!

The 80 riders responsible for exploring the way dissipated a loose straight line, and after the morning mist slightly dissipated, they began to step onto the ice surface.

Unlike the light scouts who were dispatched the night before yesterday, today all those who cross the river are armoured riders, holding horses in their hands.

If they could cross the river safely in this way, then the infantry could drive over in groups.

When the weather gets colder tonight, it's the turn of artillery and baggage troops to cross the river.

The situation on the other side of the river has been reconnaissed in the past two days, and no Song army brigade was discovered. If nothing unexpected happens, they should have received a report from beacon after the two divisions of the Zhou army crossed the river in large numbers and then set off immediately. They should have arrived at the battlefield three to four days later. Because many Song army's amendments were rebellious, the Zhou army was well aware of the Song army's deployment and operation plans, so they also formulated targeted combat plans.

After crossing the river, the Hebei West Road Legion will not advance in depth immediately, but will spread on the west bank of the Yellow River, occupy the position, and approach Qingzhou City. It will act as an attack on Qingzhou City, attracting the Song army to come.

Ma Kuo immediately stood beside Wu Yixin and whispered: "Xinzhi, it's over, it seems that there is no problem."

Wu Yi Xin didn't look back, but just looked west and laughed in a low voice: "Zichong, I am the division commander, I should cross the river with the vanguard. If you are the commander of intelligence, the division commander will give it to you... Okay, let's take our place!"

Ma Kuo didn't go to fight with Wu Yixin. The Zhou army's actions were sometimes rigid and were bound by various regulations. So he bowed to Wu Yixin, waved his hand, and rushed down the hillside with a few of the military commanders. Below the hillside, the Zhou infantry and cavalry of the brigade were already in place.

These are all elites of the Third Division. They only fought Ao Luwo and Wanyan Zonghan not long ago. The entire army was covered with blood, with strong morale and murderous aura. They were all waiting for a decisive battle with the Song army after crossing the river!

I heard that the Song army all went to the battlefield with the rewarded property!

Isn’t this battle rich? Not only can I capture weapons, equipment and horses, catch prisoners, and pick up money... It’s really ridiculous! What’s the use of bringing money on the battlefield?

"The entire Fifth Infantry Brigade, spread across the river and set up a position!" Wu Yixin also made a loud order at this time, "The Division Command Department will then..."

At this moment, a fire suddenly flashed in the air across the Yellow River. It was obvious that someone was using a burst rocket to inform the situation of somewhere behind.

The Song army's beacon tower reaction was still timely, and it was discovered that the Zhou army brigade was coming on the ice!

...

Outside the Hejian Prefecture City, the Daying where the Song Xin Army is located is located, on the west side of Hejian City, next to the Hutuo River, with a hill. There are both sides and left and right. Behind is Hejian Prefecture City, and in front is an open land, surrounded by wooden fences and placed many horses.

There are 10 generals of the new army stationed outside Hejian Prefecture City, namely the fifth general of Kaifeng; the first and second general of Hejian; the first general of Xihe, the first and second general of Shuofang; the second general of Daming; the first general of Fuyan; the fourth general of Zhaoyi. Among them, the first general of Shuofang and the fourth general of Zhaoyi are still generals of pure cavalry.

The Song Dynasty is no longer particularly short of horses. It has provided the Liang Kingdom and Jin Kingdom in the northwest, and the Shuofang Horse Farm. It is enough for the Song army to organize a powerful cavalry army! Therefore, a cavalry general with a man and a double horse is not a strange thing.

Of course, the horses of the Song army were not rich. Because in addition to establishing cavalry, they also developed a carriage fort tactic. There were many four-wheeled carriages in the army, and they also needed to pull horses to drag them. Horses also needed to drag cannons. Moreover, because the level of caring for horses was not high, the loss rate of horses was also relatively high.

Therefore, the supply of horses was still relatively tight, so there was not enough horses to pull heavy artillery. Regarding the issue of using light guns to cooperate with the car fort or abandoning the car fort, the new army of the Song State and the Privy Council had a long debate. In the end, I don’t know why I took a combination of “light guns and car forts”.

However, even if there is a little trouble in the choice of cannons, the combat effectiveness of the Song army's new army cannot be underestimated.

Therefore, the army was very dissatisfied with the inexplicable defeat in August, and they were ready to avenge the shame. Only a group of opportunities were relatively calm and they dared not jump up and down again.

Because in August and mid-September, including Xuanfu Division, Hejian General Secretary and subordinate generals, they cleaned up military opportunities that they liked to speak nonsense. Many people were dismissed from office and dismissed, and some simply defected to the Zhou State. The frequent defections made the Xuan general Lu Yihao feel that military opportunities were unreliable, so he also submitted a memorial, suggesting that literati who knew the soldiers replace military forces.

The official Zhao Ji actually approved this memorial, not because he could not trust the military, but because the new army is expanding and there are shortage of officers everywhere. Since Lu Yihao thinks that military personnel are useless, then transfer them back to lead the troops.

While the military and military aircraft left the Hebei Xuanfu Office, the Hejian Jingliu Office and the Cangzhou Jingliu Office, some scholars who were familiar with military tactics and were good at strategizing also came.

Among them are Zhang Jun, a talented man from the Restoration Party, as well as Liu Ziyu, two sons of Liu Yu, Liu Ziyu, Liu Zihui and Zhang Jun, both of whom are from the Retro Party, and all of them are recommended by He Li to Lu Yihao's army.

By the way, retro party members such as He Li, Chen Dong, and Zhang Jun became very popular because of the "killing Li to speak of harmony" and were regarded as the nemesis of the Zhou Kingdom by the Shilins of the Song Dynasty.

He Li's official position was promoted to the Central Secretariat and the lecturer, Chen Dong took over as the chief officer of the Juntian Department, and Zhang Jun was appointed as the General Military Agent of the Hebei Xuanfu Department with the title of court.

Zhang Jun was also recognized as a "famous general against the Jin Dynasty" in his original history. He was a famous general who could defeat as many soldiers as he had... But that was not all his fault, and his soldiers and generals were indeed a little disappointed. If there were 300,000 troops like the Song Xinjun to fight the Battle of Fuping, he would not have lost.

"Yan Xiu, have you watched "A surprise attack on Tianjin Ce"? It was the strange story led by Yue Fei to Jianbai."

At this time, Zhang Jun was looking through the documents and countermeasures left by the military aircraft in the military room (plan) and he was a top student! Moreover, in order to better clean the fields over the years, he has also learned a lot of new learning (geometry knowledge is required to check the fields), so he can understand the countermeasures of new military studies. When he saw Yue Fei's "Surprise Attack on Tianjin Strategy", he couldn't help but scream.

"I have seen it, but it's not allowed to use it!" Liu Ziyu said.

Zhang Jun said: "The strategy cannot be used, but the general can be promoted. What is Yue Fei doing now?"

"Being a teammate."

"How can this general be the team?" Zhang Jun shook his head, "It should be given a battalion general."

"How is Lu Xuanshuai willing to use him?" Liu Ziyu said.

"Then I recommend him to train new recruits in Kaifeng Prefecture." Zhang Jun said, "There are many opportunities over there, and there are always a battalion general..."

While talking, a rushing footsteps came from outside the door, and then I saw Liu Zihui walking in quickly, "Deyuan, Yanxiu, the beacons are rising in the direction of Qingzhou!"

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Chapter completed!