A man's heart is like iron, killing and fighting to scare ghosts and gods. The iron cone takes lives and the fire sways the demonic atmosphere.

It’s a pity that the battle this night failed to do its best.

It turned out that the nest of the Wuying of Nage Zuo was not in Huoqiu, but in the Dabie Mountains.

Zhao Yu originally thought that the middle of winter was approaching and the climate was harsh. The thief should abandon the mountains and forests and choose cities to guard it. The guess was not good, but it was not completely correct.

It was the turn of Lao Hui and Ma Shouying in Shouzhou, but Huoqiu had only two thieves. Ge Li was raised by He Yilong and Wang Lin in the battle. The rest were two, the King of Left Jin He Jin and the King of Reborn Liu Xiyao, who were in the nest in the mountains.

In other words, even if Huoqiu is defeated, there are still two thieves who rebel against the king, at least 20,000 bandit soldiers and horses, and they are still free.

When the fire was extinguished, Huoqiu was settled. It was already the morning hour. This fire almost burned all the troops under He Yilong and Lin Yangcheng!

Even Lin Yangcheng died in the fire!

Seeing that the opportunity was early, He Yilong walked through the west gate, but was blocked by the army arranged early outside. He could not escape and was captured alive. The rest of the thieves survived, and only seven or eight thousand were captured.

Zhao Yu killed He Yilong with one cone and couldn't help but sigh.

There is no need to keep He Yilong and kill the chicken to warn the monkey. The seven or eight thousand prisoners were already scared, and whether to kill the chicken or warn the monkey is unnecessary.

Seeing that the soldiers under his command took the thief, Zhao Yu beat him to death without saying a word.

What he sighed was Liu Xiyao and He Jin. The two thieves were the fire that burned the sky last night, and it was seen dozens of miles away. Moreover, in the morning, the scouts scattered around also found traces of thieves on the outside.

I guess the two thieves hiding in the mountains already knew the situation of the battle here at this time.

Zhao Yu's troops lost the convenience of the surprise attack.

Moreover, the terrain in the mountains is complex, which is not conducive to large-scale attacks. Once the bandits scatter, it is empty talk.

So sigh.

Yang He explained the time of captives and came to Zhao Yu. He heard this sigh and couldn't help but say, "Is the general regretful that he could not catch them all in one place?"

Zhao Yu nodded and looked at the mountains in the distance: "The Fifth Camp of Gezuo has only been to three companies, and there are two other thieves in this deep mountain forest."

"That's the general's opinion..." Yang He pondered: "After a night of fire in Huoqiu, the bandits in the mountains must have known it. They fled and walked away, but they couldn't catch up with it. But..."

He changed his voice and smiled, "I think that the thief leader He Jin and Liu Xiyao, if they want to escape, they will definitely go north!"

Zhao Yu couldn't help laughing and nodded, "The thief Xian went to Bozhou east, and I wonder if he had already captured Bozhou at this time. Bozhou is three or four hundred miles north. If He Jin and Liu Xiyao were terrified, they would definitely go to the thief Xian and seek a joint army."

He paused, but said, "But I would not let these two thieves go so easily to meet with the thief."

His eyes were bright: "He escaped quickly, and I will chase him faster."

Upon hearing this, Yang He couldn't help but shout, "General wants to chase him?"

But he said, "At this time, the army was exhausted after fighting all night. Moreover, the terrain in the mountains is complicated, which is not conducive to the army's combat. If we force our troops to chase us, we may be..."

Zhao Yu laughed: "I went to chase, but I never said I was going to chase."

Yang He suddenly realized.

Zhao Yu said, "Besides, my direct central army has been resting for a night. Although there are not many nine thousand soldiers, it is enough. However, I do plan to pursue it alone this time."

As he spoke, Zhao Yu squatted down, stretched out his finger, and drew a simple map on the frozen ground.

"Look, if He Jin and Liu Xiyao go to provoke the thief, bypass Huoqiu, and head north along the Dabie Mountains. There are only these two places that must pass."

Yang He looked at it: "Yingshang, Yingzhou?"

Zhao Yu nodded: "Of course, the Ying River flows northwest to southeast, and passes diagonally from the western part of Fengyang. If you want to go north to Bozhou, you must cross the Ying River. If you want to cross the Ying River, only Yingshang and Yingzhou are the most convenient."

Then he said, "I want to go into the mountains alone and pursue the traces of bandits. And the nine thousand soldiers in the central army are planned to hand them over to the commander Zhang, the chief guard of the personal guard, and immediately set off the camp and marched to Yingshang to wait for the rabbit."

Zhao Yu's meaning is very obvious.

The central army rushed to Yingshang just to prevent accidents.

Zhao Yu was confident that he would catch up with the thief alone. Of course, if the two thief heads reacted half a beat and had not left their lair in the mountains, it would be the best.

If he leaves, he cannot escape Zhao Yu's pursuit. Once he catches up, how can Zhao Yu take it seriously if he only catches up with 20,000 thieves?

One person and one rider can break these two thieves and take their heads.

As for sending troops to Yingshang, it was to prevent Zhao Yu from pursuing it or pursuing a security in the wrong direction. That is to say, Zhao Yu's final destination is the certain Yingzhou.

If you chase after Yingzhou, there are still no traces of bandits, you will immediately go down the Ying River and run to Yingshang.

The thief would leave Yingshang without leaving Yingzhou, and he could never escape Zhao Yu's palm.

"You stay here and keep your hands full." Zhao Yu instructed Yang He: "Ask the people from the business bank to send someone to take over Huoqiu. The hands should be collected quickly, and must not exceed two days. Then immediately send troops to Yingshang and meet with me."

After a pause, Zhao Yu thought about it and said, "For this matter, we must let the people from the business bank pass the news to the prince as soon as possible. Let the prince be prepared so that he can set up his pockets in Henan and not get rid of the thieves who besieged Kaifeng. I am worried that the thieves will know that our army will destroy Ge Zuo and defeat Xian thieves, and they will roar and escape."

Yang He Yingnuo said yes and said, "General is going to set off now?"

Zhao Yu nodded: "It is better to be fast and fast, and soldiers are more important than speed."

...

The five camps of the Left, with five thieves from the top and bottom, and the most powerful Ma Shouying had 30,000 to 40,000 people under his command. Among them, the real old thieves were only seven or eight thousand, and the rest were ordinary mobs. The other four had similar powers, with only more than ten thousand people, and the few were only ten thousand.

Ma Shouying died in Shouzhou, and his troops were killed or surrendered, and basically they were lost. Huoqiu was also the same. He was burned to death by a fire, and there were more than 10,000 people and 70,000 to 8,000 talismans.

After interrogation, the old nest in the mountains was only nearly 20,000 bandits.

Speaking of the fifth camp of the G Zuo, there were 70,000 to 80,000 people, and 20,000 to 30,000 to 30,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 to

Three of the five thieves died directly, and the other two were as Zhao Yu expected. After receiving the news, they pulled out the camp and fled.

This battle report was soon conveyed to Fengqiu, Kaifeng through the business in Zhao Gongming.

Crown Prince Zhu Cihao went south to supervise the battle, and his place was Fengqiu.

Fengqiu and Kaifeng are less than a hundred miles away. But there is a natural chasm between the Yellow River, one north and one south, facing each other. The army and tens of thousands of soldiers and horses from all over Hebei have successively joined this line, and Fengqiu is the location of the governor's camp.

After the prince arrived in Fengqiu, he remained silent. When Zhao Yu was in a move, Li Yu had already sent a message to the prince. The prince was waiting for Zhao Yu.

Although the prince was the commander of the army and the soldiers and horses in various places were supervised to suppress the bandits, he had to count the number of troops under his control, at least 100,000 or 200,000 troops were controlled by him. But these local troops were so decayed that they could get the prince’s eyes?

If these troops cross the river to suppress the thieves and fight with the thieves at Kaifeng City, regardless of victory or defeat, it would be a luxury to defeat them all in one place.

Henan is flat, and once the thieves cannot fight, they can escape at any time.

So during this period, the prince waited for news from Zhao Yu, and the other was to make military deployments.

The first order was in Guanzhong, Sun Chuanting, the Minister of War, who was in charge of the army in Shanxi and Shaanxi, led his troops eastward to Hangu, and stopped the way to retreat into Guanzhong. The second order was in charge of the Minister of War Ding Qirui, who was in charge of the army in Huguang, and led his troops eastward to advance northward, and stopped the way to retreat southwest.

When Zhao Yu led his troops south, he and the prince were on the north bank of the Yellow River, Sun Chuanting was in Hangu, Luoyang, and Ding Qirui were in Xiangfan, and four groups attacked together, forming a tight pocket, surrounding Henan, and letting the thief have wings, there was no way to go to heaven and no way to enter the ground.

This strategic plan is good, but the prince still feels it is not safe. He supervised the troops on the front line of the north bank of the Yellow River, and he was in charge of himself, even if he was ineffective, he would not have failed.

He was not very worried about Sun Chuanting. The prince had known Sun Chuanting's character specifically, and he was capable and honest.

The prince from Zhao Yu was even more worried. If it weren't for the purpose of capturing all the thieves, and Zhao Yu would have been forced to rush to Kaifeng, the thief would have died.

What the prince was worried about was Ding Qirui from Huguang.

Ding Qirui basically had no military strategy and could not convince the public. Zuo Liangyu and others who served under his command did not take him seriously at all. Since he became the Minister of War and replaced Yang Sichang to suppress bandits, he has never won a victory.

Moreover, this man is closely related to several old people in the Pavilion Department. The prince and the Pavilion Department are born to be mortal enemies, so he has to be wary of the Pavilion Department's interference.

After thinking about it, Prince Zhu Cihao planned to divide Sun Chuanting into a group of troops and go south to Ruzhou, the border area between Nanyang and Kaifeng, and replace Ding Qirui's strategic role.

In this way, the effect of Ding Qirui is reduced and the possible harm caused by Ding Qirui is eliminated.

Just as the prince was making strict arrangements, the battle report from the business firm about Fengyang finally came to the prince.

After hearing that Ge broke the enemy's left, Zhao Yu was about to lead his troops north, and the prince couldn't help but feel energetic.

He said to the left and right: "General Zhao Shen is indeed a pillar of the country!"

Wang Yisheng, Li Geng couldn't help laughing in unison: "General Zhao Shen is invincible, and this battle will definitely be won!"

So the prince quickly wrote a letter of silk, and told Zhao Yu about the deployment of the pocket strategy one by one, so that Zhao Yu could understand and facilitate cooperation. The second was a commendation, which only said that it was a promise that he would never disappoint Zhao Yu.

This promise is the matter of Zhao Yu once proposing to pass on the family line and shine on his family.

He also reminded Zhao Yu to be cautious and not to be careless. Under the premise of rapid marching, he should not make any mistakes and avoid being wasted all previous efforts.

All of these.

Soldiers are of great speed, which is also something that the prince must entrust.

The thieves have been sieging Kaifeng for more than half a month. Now that the imperial court has been mobilized, they may not know all the thieves, but after all, there is a lot of noise. Once the thieves are trapped in a difficult situation and cannot defeat Kaifeng, they will run away. The prince's strategic deployment will be invalidated.

Must be fast.

When the thief was almost determined to retreat, he defeated him and finished his contributions in one battle.

However, the prince did not know that when he heard the letter and silk, Zhao Yu's army had already arrived in Bozhou.

...

Bozhou is broken.

There is no doubt.

Bozhou is the northern gate of Fengyang Prefecture, but there are only one or two thousand soldiers and horses garrisoned here. And they are all local troops that are invisible.

Zhang Xianzhong entered Sichuan before the New Year, but could not help but go out to Sichuan to attack Huguang this year, but was defeated by Zuo Liangyu. If Zhang Xianzhong had not sent someone to bribe Zuo Liangyu, he would have to surrender all the way.
To be continued...