Liu Shizhong and Cai Yuanyou, as chief and deputy officers of the Yan-defeating Army, personally led the main force of the East Route Army to gather in Daizhou to attack Yingzhou in the north. Ge Boyi, as the Hedong Economic and Strategic Envoy, personally led the West Route Army to gather in Lanzhou.
, these three people completely ignored the threat of the Red Husbands, and intended to carry out massacres in the North. It was no longer something that others could dissuade.
Even if Wang Zhen wanted to give some advice, he was silenced by Ge Boyi and almost got angry. If anyone else dared to talk, they might be labeled as having evil intentions and secretly collaborating with the enemy!
At this moment, Xu Huai also completely gave up some of his delusions, and was about to say goodbye when he heard the sound of horse hoofbeats. After a while, he saw Wang Fan and Zhu Hang, accompanied by a middle-aged man, in front of Zhu Zhi, Zheng Shou and others.
He walked into the courtyard surrounded by people.
The middle-aged man was wearing a Confucian shirt, with a long sword with a wooden handle favored by scribes hanging on his waist, but he exuded a brave and fierce aura. Xu Huai had previously accompanied Wang Zhen to the state government office to meet Ge Boyi and many generals, but he did not see them.
This person is here, but I don’t know where he comes from.
"Father! I heard that you felt unwell when you went to see Mr. Ge Jinglue?" Wang Fan asked.
"It's nothing serious..." Wang Zhen also looked at the middle-aged man with confusion.
Wang Fan did not introduce the middle-aged man directly, but looked at Xu Huai, Liu Qiong'er, Lu Xiong and others with hesitation.
Xu Huai and the others also resigned knowingly.
But when Xu Huai, Liu Qiong'er, Lu Xiong, Zhu Zhi, Zheng Shou and others were about to leave the courtyard, Wang Fan stopped Xu Huai and called out: "Xu Huai, please stay for a while."
Xu Huai stopped and looked over curiously. It was a secret matter that even Lu Xiong, Zheng Shou and Zhu Zhi had to avoid. Why did Wang Fan want to keep him here after hesitating for a while?
"Cao Shili has met Mr. Wang Zhen..." The middle-aged man saw everyone leaving the yard and then stepped forward to salute Wang Zhen.
At this moment, Xu Huai seemed to be struck by an electric current, and a memory emerged in his mind:
"In September of the sixth year of Tianxuan, Wang's army marched north, and Cao Shixiong and Cao Shili supported his eight thousand men to return to Shuozhou. At that time, Liu Shizhong and the main force of the Yan army fought in Yingzhou, and Ge Boyi sent all the generals and Cao Shili to follow Shuozhou.
Zhou Beidao attacked Datong and captured the Yaoyang Gate to enter, and ordered the Han people to kill the Khitans and miscellaneous captives. Xiao Linshi was in Yingzhou at that time, and led 3,000 cavalry to return reinforcements. They fought in the city, and Cao's army lost all its horses.
He was captured and finally defeated with hundreds of soldiers..."
"Xu Huai..."
Hearing Wang Fan calling him, Xu Huaicai suddenly woke up, looked up and asked, "What are your orders?"
Wang Fan asked: "The observation envoy from Xinzhou is returning from Shuozhou. The sixth general Zhu Guangwu will go north to take over Shuozhou at any time. The military envoy will send Zhu Langjun and the young prince Ge Yu to accompany General Cao to Shuozhou to supervise the army. We
I want to send you and two hundred troops to escort Zhu Langjun, are you willing?"
"Ah..." No matter how alert Ren Xuhuai was, at this moment his thoughts were confused by the memory that emerged in his mind.
Wang Fan called Cao Shixiong the "Observer Envoy of Xinzhou", which shows that Cao Shixiong's decision to lead his troops to the south was not a temporary move. He should have been in secret talks for a long time with the help of Yue Hailou.
The imperial court had even set a reward for Cao Shixiong, indicating that it would urge Cao Shixiong to officially change his banner and surrender when the Yan army was ready to march north at any time.
Cao Shili secretly sneaked into Lanzhou this time, and must have secretly discussed the specific details of the southern attachment with Ge Boyi. As long as it is confirmed that the Cao brothers are sincerely attached to each other and not a scam, the next step should be to take advantage of the main force of the Khitan Xijing Road garrison to be captured by the east route.
When the army was restrained in Yingzhou, the main force of the Eastern Route Army, together with Cao's surrendered army, set out from Shuozhou to raid Datong Prefecture...
Wang Fan did not make it clear at this time, mainly because this operation was extremely confidential. As a small general, he was not qualified to know the full plan.
Wang Fan didn't even reveal the full plan to Wang Zhen; before today, Wang Zhen had no idea about Cao Shixiong and Cao Shili's brothers going south.
According to the practice of issuing orders from the Privy Council at that time, Xu Huai was completely sure at this time that before Wang Fan, Liu Shizhong, and Cai Yuanyou came to Hedong with their orders to supervise the war, the Privy Council had already formulated the overall battle plan.
And this time he escorted Zhu Hang and Ge Yu to Shuozhou to supervise the army. To put it bluntly, he was supervising the most critical part of it, so that brothers Cao Shixiong and Cao Shili could not make any mistakes.
But what's the use if this link doesn't go wrong.
This is a dead end!
And this dead end is not because the Cao brothers are cheating, nor is there some ambush hidden in Datong City, waiting for them to fall into this death trap.
This dead end was actually a result of the raiding troops and horses who entered Datong City and looted and killed fiercely, which aroused fierce resistance from the Khitans and Zalu in the city. As a result, Xiao Linshi led 3,000 cavalry to return reinforcements, but was killed and the entire army was destroyed.
Xu Huai saw Wang Zhen, Wang Fan, Cao Shili, Zhu Hang and others all looking towards him in surprise, and he was filled with bitterness.
Can he say not to go?
Wang Fan used Guo Junpan and Pan Chenghu to restrain him, but in the end he thought of sending him to escort Zhu Hang to Shuozhou.
To put it bluntly, Guo Junfan and Pan Chenghu were born as thieves and bandits. In such a crucial security mission, if they were not careful, they would end up in enemy territory. They were not worthy of Wang Fan's complete trust.
Of course he could be cool and say no.
However, in the end, whether Zheng Shou or Lu Xiong takes action, they will definitely select the most elite combatants from the existing five hundred prisoners to go north.
At this time, he had no way to extract Xu Xin'an, Tang Pan, and Zhufengtang guards from the Supervisory Army Envoy. How was doing this at this time different from fleeing the army? Do you really think that Wang Fan was a weakling?
The main force of the surprise attack must be the East Route Army. The 6,000 Tongbai Mountain bandits are all scattered among the East Route Army. If the East Route Army is completely destroyed in Datong, there will be more than a dozen of the 6,000 Tongbai Mountain bandits.
Did twenty people escape?
Or can he say at this time that the Eastern Route Army and the Cao family's surrender army raided Datong City, which was a dead end set by Xiao Linshi?
Will Wang Fan regard him as a Khitan spy and send him to Ge Boyi to deal with? Otherwise, how can he explain that he understands all this at this time?
Thinking of this, Xu Huai could only bite the bullet and asked: "I want to take time in the afternoon to cut off the heads of a few Khitan spies to use as urinals, but I don't know when Zhu Kang will set off?"
"Before nightfall, just order all the people and horses to serve. Don't ask about anything else, and don't let this matter leak out!" Wang Fan said.
"No matter how rude Xu Huai is, he understands this," Xu Huai said, "But if I really lead two hundred people there, will it be less? If his mother is cheating, there is no way for these people to escort her.
Mr. Zhu Kang breaks out of the siege? Can I go to Guo Zhongxiong and ask for some more thick armor?"
"Are you so meddlesome?" Seeing that Xu Huai didn't hide anything in front of Cao Shili, Wang Fan pretended to be angry and cursed, "You should prepare as much as you can, but the secret must not be revealed lightly, otherwise the military law will not spare you!"
When the matter was prepared to this point, Wang Fan also believed that he had a chance to win.
The main force of the Tianxiong Army rushed to Shuozhou to assemble at starry night, and then set off from Shuozhou to raid Datong. Even if the Khitan spies learned the secret in Lanzhou and wanted to pass through the blockades to send the news back to Datong or Yingzhou, why not
Three or four days, and by then there will be no time to dispatch troops or generals.
Orders for the deployment of the Tianxiong Army's various divisions will also be issued one after another. It is no longer possible to keep the entire plan secret and limit it to just three or five people.
Otherwise, Cao Shili would not have come to greet Wang Zhen after knowing that he was ill.
So at this time, Xu Huai was going to ask for more heavy armor and sharp weapons and good horses from Guo Zhongxiong, the envoy in charge of transporting weapons and supplies, so as to prepare the two hundred soldiers to be more elite, and Wang Fan had no intention of stopping him.
As the transport envoy, Guo Zhongxiong was aware of the overall plan. As long as Xu Huai went to ask for it, he would not be stingy with one or two hundred pairs of armor.
This time Yuehai Tower will also go north together.
It's just that the Supervisory Army Envoy has the right to supervise the army, so Zhu Hang has to lead the entire team of soldiers to go north. Ge Yu, as one of the vanguard generals, will lead an entire battalion of elite cavalry to go north, with Yue Hailou as the secret envoy.
But he can only bring three or five direct followers to participate in the plot...
