Namuhan and Antong were sitting in the camp talking, and both of them became more energetic as the night went on.
An Tong used to be Kublai Khan's coward and often guarded the palace at night; Na Muhan liked to be active at night because he sang and drank every night.
There were two bonfires burning in the tent, lighting up like daylight. Na Muhan suddenly hugged the injured An Tong.
"Don't worry, I will never doubt you, we are brothers."
This is true, their mothers are sisters, and they grew up together, so their relationship is closer than that of brothers.
At this time, a detective horse came back. As soon as he entered the tent, he was about to speak, but he glanced at An Tong first.
Many people could have imagined that there were traitors among the prisoners who were released. In the presence of other sect kings, Namuhan did not allow Tan Ma to tell any news, obviously because he doubted them.
But An Tong certainly trusted him, and Na Muhan still held his arm around his shoulders. "Say."
"Your Majesty, I figured it out. There is a group of water bandits hiding deep in Baiyangdian Lake. There is also a water village deep in the lake with hundreds of boats."
"What?" Na Muhan was furious and cursed: "Why didn't you tell me before?" "I didn't find out before. Tan Ma went into the depths of Baiyangdian and never came back."
An Tong, who was listening in the audience, suddenly asked: "Is there a map?" "Yes."
A map was spread out, and there were only a few lines drawn on it, marking Baozhou, Xiongzhou, Zhuzhou and some small cities. It was almost the same as without a map. "Where is Baiyangdian?"
"Probably here."
"So big? How far is it from the north to the south of Baiyangdian?" "Maybe close to fifty miles."
An Tong was a little surprised, and asked Na Muhan about his troop deployment. After pondering for a while, he slowly said: "Your Majesty, our troops are currently searching for the Tang Army in the north, but what if the Tang Army crossed to the south of the lake overnight?"
"To the south?" Namuhan threw away the wine bag in his hand, stood up, and said, "Give me the order, all soldiers and horses should stop searching north of Baiyangdian, and go to the south to block them!"
In fact, the Yuan army had just set up camp and settled in the stronghold not long ago. As a result, they had to break camp and move south overnight.
It was difficult to travel in the dark, and it was not until dawn that we saw a horse approaching from the south.
"Your Majesty! We found traces of the Tang army!" "Did Zhang Hongdao escape?"
"No, there are traces of a large number of infantry in the south of Baiyangdian." Namuhan was stunned and asked, "What do you mean?"
It was An Tong who was the first to react and drove his horse forward, saying: "Zhang Hongdao did not dare to ambush his troops north of Baiyangdian, so as not to alert the king. So he only led 2,000 men in exchange for prisoners. He had planned it from the beginning.
Turning into Baiyangdian, a large number of infantry were arranged to meet him from the south."
"Uh-huh, the Han people don't want to negotiate peace. That's too despicable."
An Tong said: "At this point, despicable or not, we can only fight."
Na Muhan smiled instead and said: "Yes, I came here just to let my father know that when dealing with the Han people, the Mongolian cavalry should kill them, not defend them, let alone try to practice Chinese methods."
~~
At dawn, a team of two thousand people left Baozhou City and headed east.
By noon, the team marched more than fifty miles east of Baozhou City. They saw a camp in front of them. In the camp, a Tang flag was flying high, and the soldiers were busy building watchtowers and small fortresses to station troops.
The general responsible for garrisoning here is a tall man with a full beard. He is nearly fifty years old and his beard and hair are already a little gray.
This is Zhang Yanxiong, the general of the Zhang family who defected to Li Xia with Zhang Hongdao in his early years. Zhang Yanxiong fought less in Chengdu in these years because he had the experience of rebuilding Baozhou City with Zhang Rou, and he spent most of his time repairing the city and building houses.
.
After a few years of living a stable life, he now seems to have lost a lot of his murderous aura, but fortunately, that aura of authority is still there.
"Be smart, the food will be put on the table soon, and everything that needs to be put up has been put up!"
With Zhang Yanxiong’s constant urging, the sound of “boom”
There was a sound, and something heavy was set up on the small fortress.
"Okay! Let's go eat." "General, look over there."
Zhang Yanxiong turned around, saw the team coming from the west and the dragon flag, and quickly went down from the watchtower to greet them.
He left the camp, dismounted, and stood by the official road for a while. When the cavalry who had arrived earlier were lined up on both sides, he saw Li Xia and Zhang Wenjing walking side by side and slowly approaching.
"What a match."
Zhang Yanxiong couldn't help but said something in his mind, thinking of the time when he promised Li Xia to be the son-in-law of the Zhang family on the high tower in Luyi.
More than ten years later, Li Xia has truly become the son-in-law of the Zhang family, but at that time no one expected that he would have such an achievement now.
So when Zhang Yanxiong followed Li Xia around the camp, he couldn't help but say something.
"It would be great if the commander-in-chief is here. He will be very happy to see your majesty and concubine like this."
If you are familiar with officialdom, you will know that this sentence is a bit taboo, and it seems that you care more about your old master in front of the emperor.
Li Xia patted Zhang Yanxiong's shoulder and said, "Don't worry." He dared to say this because he had confidence in Zhang Hongdao's plan this time.
Two thousand cavalry plus the people arranged among the prisoners can ensure that Zhang Hongdao can safely lead Zhang Rou and others into Baiyangdian.
At the same time, Shen Kai quietly led five thousand elite infantry deep into the water, which was enough to wipe out the small group of water bandits entrenched in Baiyangdian.
With the water stronghold and ships, Zhang Hongdao would not be defeated by the Yuan army in that terrain. At most, he would be besieged in Baiyangdian.
Therefore, there is a need for soldiers and horses to respond.
That's why it was necessary to set up a garrison here. Some cavalry rushed back to the camp from the east.
"coming!"
The guests of the Zhang family who were waiting to greet Zhang Rou on the watchtower became excited. Looking at the cavalry running closer and closer, they all said, "Are you here? Is the old marshal back?"
Under the attention of everyone, Xinma quickly ran to Li Xia.
"Report to Your Majesty! The commander-in-chief sent his last general to ask for help. He was intercepted by the Yuan army at Yangjiaodian in the east."
~~It was almost dusk.
Looking east from the watchtower, one could already see several groups of cavalry chasing each other on the ground.
The ground where the winter snow had just melted did not raise much dust and smoke, and one could clearly see a troop of more than 10,000 cavalry and infantry troops coming from the east towards the Laohetou camp.
To the northeast and southeast, there are 30,000 and 20,000 Mongolian cavalry respectively, who are rapidly attacking it.
Li Xia raised the lookout tube and could see their flags.
"Namuhan was quite smart. He led his troops to catch up with Zhang Hongdao from the north overnight. The troops to the south were Oruchi's troops. They wanted to bypass Baiyangdian and intercept them before the prisoner exchange."
At this time, Zhang Hongqing was also standing behind the crowd. Seeing such momentum, he couldn't help thinking that the Yuan army obviously paid more attention to the Zhang family and sent 50,000 cavalry, but Li Xia was too stingy and was reluctant to mobilize the same size of troops.
Ma Lai rescues the Zhang family.
Jingxuan, who was standing further forward, had gradually become accustomed to consulting for Li Xia. He stroked his long beard and said, "It seems that the Yuan army is eager to win a battle, even a small victory."
"This is something deeper than prisoner exchange. Now that Kublai Khan is shrinking his defenses and retreating to Yanjing, there will inevitably be some Mongolian conservatives who are dissatisfied and think that they should use the old Mongolian methods to beat us."
"If Your Majesty wants to farm in Hebei, you must give these Mongolian cavalry a head-on attack. Let them know the tactics of the Ranger blitz, which the Tang soldiers are not afraid of. Otherwise, if these Mongolian conservatives get a taste of the sweetness, they will always want to harass
Hebei. Although Your Majesty will be able to win in the end and conquer the world, by then, the Central Plains will probably be even more dilapidated."
Jingxuan's words can be said to have spoken to Li Xia's heart. This is an experienced Suru.
This prisoner exchange was just an introduction. Kublai Khan wanted to use this to see if the old tactics of the Mongolian cavalry could still work, and Li Xia planned to take this opportunity to lead these Mongolian cavalry to the preset
The battlefield, teach them a lesson.
~~"Catch up
Got it!"
Namuhan in the Yuan army formation has received the message.
And more good news is constantly being sent to him.
"Your Majesty, Marshal Oruchi has arrived from the south and is encircling Zhang Hongdao."
"Okay!" Namuhan said, "Most of Zhang Hongdao's army are infantry, and they can't move fast. Today we will surround them first."
An Tong raised his eyes and looked around, but he became worried.
"Your Majesty, Tan Ma just said that there is a Tang Army camp a few miles ahead, and Tang Army cavalry has come to meet Zhang Hongdao."
"Yes, how do you think I should fight?" An Tong said, "Retreat."
"What?" Namuhan said, "I finally found an opportunity to defeat the enemy in the field, why should I retreat?"
He drove his horse to An Tong's side and said, "Father Khan no longer believes in our Mongolian cavalry. I want to win against him."
"Your Majesty, if we follow the tactics of the Mongolian cavalry, we should not attack the Tang army now, because they are obviously prepared. We should detour south and sneak attack where they are unprepared."
"What credit can that get? Father Khan asked me to kill Zhang Rou's whole family." Na Muhan looked at the battlefield in the distance, his eyes full of ambition.
He must fight this battle
The horn was blown, and the Mongolian cavalry still rushed towards the Tang army like a tide.
They completely forgot that the Han ministers in Yanjing were working hard to promote peace.
In other words, they saw the great khan's humiliation towards the Han officials. If the warriors could defeat the enemy, why would the great khan need to negotiate for peace?