Chapter 40: Intrigue (4)

On October 15th, Yang Wen led his troops to Shanhaiguan. Xiao Ma Wang had already left. The Dingliao Right Guard was appointed as the commander of Deng Tianhai. There were four troops in the city, including Ningyuan Guard, Guangning Guard, Fuzhou Guard, and Guangning Left Guard.

The two lower-level guards, the Guangning Guard and Fuzhou Guard, have been replenished, and both have reached the level of 5,000.

However, these two guards were originally newly built units, and now two thousand new recruits have joined, and their combat effectiveness is not very good. Although the 100 households of the teaching team that have completed the latest training are all classified as these two guards, because the time is too short, it will not be of much help to improve combat effectiveness.

Another group of cavalrymen of the Ding Liao Zhongwei were still stationed in the fugitive post, guarding the western front of Shanhaiguan.

But Yang Wen didn't care. The commander of Guangning Guard and Fuzhou Guard were both his confidants. Yang Wen had a banquet at Shanhaiguan for three days, but he had no intention of going to war.

He just sent an envoy to issue a transfer order to Ni Lei, the commander of the Dingliao Central Guard, and ordered him to lead his army back to Shanhaiguan to obey the orders.

Until three days later, the scout from Peiping brought a message that Zhu Di swore a oath in Peiping, almost all out, and ignited ten major guards to Baoding. Yang Wen was overjoyed and immediately ordered his subordinates to prepare for the expedition.

While waiting for the Liao Central Guard, more news about the Yan army was brought by the scouts. Tongzhou Guards and Zunhua Guards withdrew from Yongping and Changli respectively, gathered to Luanzhou, and worked together with Jizhou Guards to defend the dead.

These news confirmed the news that the main force of the Yan army went south before. Yang Wen judged that the Yan army's eastern front was weak and could not defend all the strongholds, so he could only concentrate on guarding. The three guards of the Yan army had a maximum of 15,000 people, while he had 40,000 people.

Yang Wen made a decision to use the Dingliao Right Guard to guard Shanhaiguan and the Guangning Left Guard as the vanguard, and he commanded Ningyuan Guard, Guangning Rear Guard and Fuzhou Guard as the central army. The Dingliao Central Guard, who had not yet arrived, was the rear team, and made a large move out of the pass and came to Luanzhou.

Before they arrived in Funing, the left guard of Guangning met the troops of Changli Tunnel. The Changli Tunnel was composed of a thousand, half farmer, half soldiers. They lacked weapons and armor, but they still bravely lined up in front of the Liaodong Army.

The Guangning Left Guard, who was the leader of the Yulin Right Guard, thought that a charge would destroy the farmers. But in the end, the battle lasted for an entire afternoon.

When the sun completely set below the horizon, more than a thousand farmers were killed, but it also caused more than 200 casualties to the Guangning Left Guard.

Outside Changli City, a Thousand Household Office in Tongzhou Guards once again attacked the advance of Guangning Zuowei. Although it did not cause much casualties to the Liaodong Army, Guangning Zuowei drank a night of northwest wind in the wilderness and did not enter Changli until the next day.

The result of these two battles reached Yang Wen's ears, which made the governor angry. Unexpectedly, the Yan army, who were at a disadvantage in numbers and equipment, dared to be a chariot with a mantis arm.

However, Yang Wen was not entirely a waste of money. For these two battles, he believed that the Yan army deliberately did it and sent these small troops to block and harass the Liaodong army on the way westward. The purpose was to gain time for the main force gathered in Luanzhou.

Yang Wen ordered Pang Jin, the commander of Guangning Left Guard, to drink the Luan River within three days. Pang Jin did not dare to neglect, and immediately advanced lightly and rushed towards Luanzhou with a quick horse.

After the Tongzhou Guards harassed, the Yan army did not have any decent blocking except for occasionally shooting a few cold arrows. Yang Wen urged Guangning Zuowei three times a day to increase his speed.

Pang Jin had to run all the way to the Luan River. Although the water level of the river in early winter has dropped a little, it is not so easy for the white river to block it.

Besides, the place opposite the shore is Luanzhou City. You can see the Yan army camp outside the city gate through the river. Several Yan army scouts patrol and whistle on the shore. They provoked the Liaodong army on the east coast in dirty words.

Pang Jin did not dare to cross the river without authorization, so he had to set up a camp and wait for the back team to follow.

Three days later, Yang Wen led the follow-up troops to arrive panting. When he walked up the river bank, he also received dirty greetings from Yan Jun. Yang Wen sneered twice and didn't care, and had an idea in his heart.

Back in the camp, Yang Wen opened the map and pointed his finger at the Cangting Ferry 120 miles upstream. Then he made an encirclement gesture: "Don't Yan Ni want to drag us forward? Now he wants to set up a half-cross to attack.

Will the Zhending Battle be repeated? Okay, then I will let them wait. Fuzhou Guards. Your troops are still stationed here, maintaining the banner of each guard. Others follow the governor to Cangting Ferry, cross the Luan River from here, and then go straight to the underworld of Kaiping.

After capturing Kaiping, the enemy in Luanzhou became a turtle in the jar. "A few confidant generals under his command raised their thumbs up and praised them, "The Governor's clever plan." Yang Wen seemed very proud of his plan, and was very comfortable when he was patted by the people below.

Yang Wen asked again: "Where is the Dingliao Central Guard now?" Someone next to him replied, just passing Funing.

Yang Wen shook his head and said, "What's going on? It's too slow. Come on. I'll send an order to Ni Lei, and order him to appear at Cangtingdu within three days to meet me."

That night, Yang Wen quietly set off and headed towards Cangting Ferry. After arriving at Cangting Ferry, Yang Wen stationed his camp in the forest three miles away from the ferry. Three days later, Ni Lei finally arrived with the troops of Dingliao Central Guard.

Although he was very dissatisfied with the speed of the advance of the Dingliaon Central Guard, when he saw that his troops reached 30,000, Yang Wen became much more confident. He immediately ordered the army to make dinner on the fourth day of the second day and set off for the fifth day.

The next morning, the Guangning Left Guard took the lead in marching. The water level in the Cangting Du River section was not high and it was not yet reached the belly of the horse. The Guangning Left Guard rode a horse and wade through it very smoothly.

When they established a bridgehead for protection positions on the west bank, the guards and supplies camps rushed up and built a floating bridge with the wood cut in the past two days.

Building various pontoon bridges is a compulsory course for auxiliary troops. They are trained many times a year. This time, the construction of the pontoon bridge shows the training level. In just one day, two pontoon bridges have been built.

The infantry troops were finally able to cross the river, and the baggage battalion immediately turned into the construction of a larger pontoon bridge, which allowed the cavalry, combat vans and baggage carriages to pass through.

When the sun set on October 29th, Yang Wen's commanding flag finally floated on the west bank with the troops behind the hall through the floating bridge. After resting for a night, Yang Wen, in addition to leaving a thousand households to guard the floating bridge, the whole army opened to smoothly.

The conversation was divided into two parts. On October 20, after Zhu Di built his momentum, he led the troops of eight guards to swagger out of the southern gate of Beiping. After fifty miles away from the city, he immediately turned around and headed eastward. Xingye rushed forward.

Zhu Di knew that the Yandong Plain was now full of Liaodong's reconnaissance cavalry. In order to keep the operation secret, he sent two thousand cavalry to set up a warning screen with a range of ten miles from front, back, left and right of the army. Anyone who approached this curtain, whether enemy soldiers or the people, was detained.

Sure enough, after three days of advancing, the army encountered three scouts from Liaodong. Because they did not expect the Yan army to advance eastward in such a large scale, all three scouts were eliminated.

On October 28, Zhu Di's troops arrived in Kaiping, where he was welcomed by Fang Sheng, the commander of Tongzhou Guard. From Fang Sheng, he learned about the situation on the front line.

Zhu Di was surprised by the speed of the Liaodong Army's advance, but at the same time he felt that the smell was wrong. Why did the Liaodong Army, which had been progressing rapidly before, set up camp on the east bank of the Luan River without any action in crossing the river?

Zhu Di rushed to Luanzhou overnight. The next morning, he observed the Liaodong military camp across the river through the morning light. The sky gradually became brighter. The Liaodong military camp was making breakfast, and smoke rose from the camp tent.

Suddenly he discovered a problem! Zhu Di didn't even want to think about it and said to Fang Sheng: "Get the map."

"Fang Sheng immediately took out the map, and Zhu Di looked at it immediately, his fingers swam back and forth along the Luan River, and suddenly landed in a place without moving, "That's right, that's it, Yang Wen, you old pigherd, play a trick of hiding the world with me! What a pity, why don't you order more stoves and raise more smoke from cooking! Fang Sheng, you immediately send a scout to reconnaissance the Cangting Ferry along the river to see if there is a Liaodong military pontoon bridge here.

If so, you don’t need my permission. You will immediately lead your troops and cross the Luan River from here, and encircle the Cangting Ferry before sunset tomorrow, seize and control the ferry. It depends on you whether you can catch this old pigherd. Remember, move quickly."

After assigning the mission, Zhu Di immediately rushed back to Kaiping. When he returned to the city, the scout had already brought him a reconnaissance report on Cangting Ferry. A large number of Liaodong troops had crossed Cangting Ferry and were coming to Kaiping.

Zhu Di sneered twice, "The old pigherd is indeed as expected." In addition to leaving two guards to guard Kaiping, he immediately led the three guards of Yanshan and the three guards of Duoyan turned around and went north to face Yang Wen.

Zhu Di set the battlefield on the east bank of the Sha River, a small river between Cangting and Kaiping. His generals did not understand why not repeat the battle of the Hutuo River? Zhu Di smiled and said nothing. He didn't say anything. No one dared to stick to his dissent.

The entire army took advantage of the night to step across the sand river, which was less than the horse's calves, and camped on the east bank.

On the first day of November of the first year of Jianwen, the fog in the early winter morning became thicker and thicker, and the crops in the Yandong Plain had been harvested completely, and the fields burned through the straw piles were flat.

A scout of the Yan army rode his horse and carefully searched and advanced in the fog. Last night, he saw lights flashing in this direction with his own eyes. This must be the camp of the Liaodong army.

The scout was carefully searching for what he wanted to see in the fog, and suddenly the sound of breaking through the air sounded, which was the sound of death for him. Before the scout could react, the feather arrow had already penetrated his chest.
Chapter completed!