Although Quduan was just average in his colleagues' strokes, even a bit bad, in the eyes of middle and lower-level officers and ordinary soldiers of the Western Army, Quduan has always had a high prestige. After hearing that he was re-generated and commanded the entire army, the morale of the entire army increased. In midsummer, the land of Hedong was consistent with Guanshan. Because it was developed too early, under the scorching sun, there were loess everywhere, mountains and hills everywhere, all of which were yellow. Near Chang'an, the imperial court also began to build water conservancy and plant

The trees didn't care about Hedong for a moment. When they put them down, they saw that the crops were dejected, the scorching sun was burning, and even the air seemed to be twisting and mutating. At first glance, the army of more than 100,000 was full of energy. The bright red uniforms were in high spirits under the sunshine and scorching sun, and on the loess high slopes, showing a special spirit and vitality. The sword and spear were like a forest, and the silver helmet was dazzling. On the side of the army, there were countless people pushing small carts, following and supporting the army to support the food and grass.

The mountain road is dangerous. Starting from Taiyuan, in just a few days, the army has entered the Taihang Mountains. The hills and slopes are all in the sight. Sometimes, it seems that the valley opposite seems to be within reach, but it will take more than half a day to actually walk over. Fortunately, this imperial guard is not heavily armed. Compared with the infantry army, even light infantry is not considered a light infantry. Most of the soldiers only wear small red fat jackets, and then some iron armor protects the body at the key points. Only a small number of infantry are ready to fight with the enemy cavalry, and they are wearing slightly thicker armor. As for the archers and crossbowmen, they simply wear cloth robes and no protective gear on their bodies.

It is this army. Although the armor and equipment are not as good as Yue Fei's troops, the weapons in their hands are not bad at all. A large number of newly produced elite knives and bows are now continuously equipped in various Western Army units, including Modao, horizontal knives, spears, ring-headed knives, shields, crossbows, and Huangtang bows. Each standard weapon is much stronger than the previous weapons in terms of accuracy, sharpness, and hand-jointness. A large number of storm gunpowder is carried by infantry on the shoulders or placed on small wheelbarrows to follow the army. Hundreds of thousands of rockets equipped with gunpowder are equipped for crossbowmen. There are also improved ten thousand enemies, small crossbows, all kinds of eyes.

The Western Army gave up the established cavalry unit and also gave up heavy armor equipment. It pursued the ability of long-range strikes. Everything was to cross mountains with light equipment. The Western Army, which had shortcomings and gains and weaknesses in protection, had extremely terrifying strength in long-range strike capabilities. Among the 200,000 troops that went on this expedition, more than half were crossbowmen or troops using other long-range weapons, and they fired at once. Hundreds of thousands of arrows were like locusts. Under this level of attack, even if the Jin cavalry had only the end of escaping.

After entering the Taihang Mountains, the entire army marched along the old road along the well path. After entering the mountains, the scenery was different from that of the near Taiyuan. The mountains were covered with green mountains, and birds were singing and roaring around the mountains. On both sides of the road, there were endless mountain people on the road, responsible for guiding the army, replenishing drinking water, rescuing the injured imperial guards, and even singing in the mountains to cheer up the imperial guards who were marching urgently.

Quduan was surrounded by soldiers from the Central Army camp and marched forward at the forefront of the army. Except for a small number of imperial guards, he could only stay and help the army to operate and guide the rebel soldiers. The mountain road was difficult, and Quduan's central army was one of the two established cavalry teams in the Western Army. His original strategy under his command brought all the cavalry out. In addition, the cavalry teams of more than a thousand people were mostly short-legged and inferior horses. They galloped on the plains and had poor feet. They were taller than the mountain road.

Ju was much stronger. In addition to Quduan's troops, there was also a cavalry unit with nearly 2,000 people under Yao Duan's troops. He was the elite force that Yao Duan had run for many years and the most capable cavalry team in the Western Army. The last time he added Yue Fei's troops, Yao Duan could not grab the captured war horses, but his cavalry was killed and refused to surrender the war horses. The generals and the Shuyuan of the Western Army also knew that he was a rare cavalry among the generals of the Song army, so he did not force him. When he went on this expedition, Yao Duan was the vanguard in the front and had a certain number of elite cavalry, which was just in line with him.

After several days of marching, Quduan led his troops to the expedition. It was early May. In less than ten days, the front of the army had reached the eastern part of the Deshan Mountains. It was only two or three days away from Zhaocheng, Jingzhi, Pingyang and other prefectures.

Qu Duan knew that the army was working hard and was about to arrive at the battlefield, but instead ordered the entire army to slow down, make more meat and vegetables along the way, and ask the soldiers to rest more to replenish their physical strength.

He himself led the Central Army cavalry and his own Central Army commander seeds, galloped all the way, and led by several Taihang righteous men, headed straight to Zhaocheng.

Yao Duan and Zhang Xian cooperated and entered Hebei more than ten days ago. They fought hard for several days and completely annihilated several elite troops who left the Jin soldiers near Taihang. They had captured Zhao Cheng and Pingyang Palace, and rested nearby to inquire about the enemy's situation.

In fact, the use of a few troops to go out to Taihang to fight in Hebei was originally one of the plans of the Pub Academy. The enemy commander was not a fool. In the war in the Central Plains, the Song army near Tongguan had not many attacks and was not strong. Zong Bi and others thought for a little, and they might suspect that the Song army would plunder the Jin soldiers' retreat. However, a small number of troops entered Hebei in advance and captured several prefectures near Taihang, which made Zong Bi and others doubt whether the Song army used the suspicious plan to force the Jin soldiers to retreat.

Over the past few days, soldiers have been working hard along the way, and many military situations have not been too late to use the 500-mile black card to report. Instead, they use military pigeon stations in various places to quickly pass, and then use black card military cavalry to confirm.

As the commander of the first army, Qu Duan had endless military reports every day, and he was still clear about the wars thousands of miles away.

Yue Fei led the elite troops across the Yellow River and once again defeated the Jin soldiers stationed in Xiangzhou. This time, there was no need for military armor to take off. The cavalry of Yue Fei's troops gathered together was nearly 30,000. The army fought against the Jin cavalry of more than 40,000. At noon, the Jin soldiers had already begun to be defeated and fled. In the battle of Yingchang, Yue Fei not only annihilated the elite troops that had been fought for more than ten years, but also defeated the enemy's confidence. The only idea of ​​the Jin soldiers who were claiming to be invincible when they met Yue Fei's troops was to flee in panic.

Zong Bi recruited the remnants, and the entire army retreated to Daming, preparing to build a second line of defense in the Daming and Zhending areas. While defending the Song army northward, he could meet with the Jin soldiers and Khitan soldiers stationed in Yanjing areas at any time.

The Song army had such a fierce offensive and strong strength. From commanders to ordinary soldiers, it was clearly understood that even Yue Fei and his team could be directly inferior to Yanjing as long as the logistics supply was sufficient. However, none of the powerful Jurchen cavalry was willing to be sharp.

At the same time, Han Shizhong, Yang Yizhong, and Zhe Yanzhi had more than 100,000 troops, and had conquered Jinan and crossed the Yellow River from Shandong. The troops were aimed directly at Daming, Zong Bi and tens of thousands of Jurchen soldiers, and were shocked overnight.

After Liu Xi, Liu Zhu, Guan Shigu and other Western generals captured Shangzhou, they arrived at Henan Prefecture and left one to protect the flanks of Wang Gui's troops who besieged Kaifeng. The main force crossed the river from Henan Prefecture to conquer Zeyuan and Huaizhou, and the troops headed directly to Zezhou.

It can be said that any of the imperial guards with a total of more than 400,000 can completely eliminate all the Jin soldiers in the Hebei mirror within the range south of Yanjing.

The only soldiers in the Jin army stationed in Hebei were Zongbi brothers, with five thousand households and more than 40,000 remaining soldiers. In addition, the original Han army and a small number of Khitan cavalry in the local area seemed to have more than 100,000 people, but in fact, the only soldiers who could fight were beaten to escape from the news.

After Zhending, hundreds of miles of plains and dozens of important cities and lands were not stationed at all. At this time, it was difficult for a small number of Han troops to be determined to compete with the Song army, which had an absolute advantage. Once Zhending lost, the contact between Yanjing and Daming, Enzhou and other places was completely separated. With the garrison situation in Yanjing, self-protection was still very problematic. The garrison troops in Shangjing and the newly convened Jurchen soldiers could not form an army. Looking around, there was no army that could compete with the Song army.

Under such circumstances, it is unwise to stick to the original battle plan. Qu Duan has experienced many battles and knows that the infantry who have been on the road are too reluctant to enter the battle in a short period of time. Zhang Xian and Yao Duan arrived in Hebei in advance, and with more than 100,000 Hebei rebels helping each other, they are fully capable of relying on the strength of the two armies to conquer the Zhending.

In view of this, he left the generals to lead the troops and slowly advance, and he led the central army quickly across Taihang and headed straight for Zhaocheng.

When you pass through Taihang and fall on the Hebei Plain, even if you are as strong as a bell, your expression will change.

The commander was like this, and more than a thousand cavalrymen were also excited. Since the second year of Jingkang, the entire Hebei region has fallen, and there is no longer the footsteps of the Song Dynasty soldiers, so they can make up for it.

The military situation was urgent, but it didn't care about the long-lasting emotion. As it was almost evening, the hot white sun began to turn red and slowly turned toward the west. Qu Duan asked about the distance here two hours away from Zhaocheng. He immediately whipped the horse, and more than a thousand cavalry followed behind and galloped towards Zhaocheng. When it was dark, he did not stop his horse, but lit a torch and rushed toward Zhaocheng.

When they arrived near Zhaocheng, they happened to meet a team of Song cavalry patrolmen. When they learned that the new commander was coming with the central army, the Dutou officer who led the team did not dare to neglect them. They immediately turned their horses and gave up the patrol mission first, led Qu Duan and his party to the city.

Because someone had already returned to report the news in advance, when the brigade of cavalry arrived at the city, there were clearly many middle and lower-level officers stationed nearby who had arrived to welcome him.

Qu Duan looked around and couldn't see it in the darkness. However, in the city towers, it was vaguely estimated that the city was not big, with a circumference of more than ten miles, and there were only four gates. However, near the gate, blood was still visible. It was thought that the Hebei rebels attacked each other for years, and the Jin soldiers also stationed many elite troops in this small city. When they attacked, they were quite injured.
Chapter completed!