The farthest horses sent out had already gone hundreds of miles deep, and they had sent back news one after another. They found that the progress of the Song army in Shandong was slowing down. The Song army besieged Jinan and the King of Jinan only fought several times inside and outside. Both sides won and lost each other, but in the end, the troops were at a disadvantage and their range of activities were constantly compressed. Now the Song army has advanced to Jinan Prefecture City ten miles away to set up a camp, digging trenches to block the access path, and surround the city.

The situation in Yidu was still stable. The invading Song army was strongly resisted by the local yamen and gentry. They were transferred from the sea and were unfamiliar with the combat areas and the supplies also came from the sea. Therefore, they had to make steady progress and sent considerable troops to protect the traffic line. The attack speed was slow and the encirclement of Yidu Prefecture Dongyang City has not yet been completed.

The horse exploration in the direction of Henan was not smooth, and they found Song army scouts appearing near Anyang. There were conflicts between the two sides, and the Song army was about to leave and did not entangle. After entering Weihui Road, the number of encounters with Song army scouts increased significantly, and they were very rampant. Meeting was a situation of endless death, resulting in several teams of horse exploration teams being annihilated.

When they arrived in Huizhou, they could see a brigade of Song troops, who had crossed the Yellow River on a large scale. They had more difficulty in their operations and did not dare to explore near the main road. The ones who fought against them were not only scouts sent by the Song army, but also surrounded and suppressed by the Song cavalry. The losses were heavy and the infiltration became even more difficult and unable to go south. Based on this, they judged that Zhengzhou had been lost, otherwise the brigade of Song troops would not have appeared north of the Yellow River.

The situation of the horse search to Daming Mansion was not optimistic. The Song army did not advance rashly after occupying Huazhou. Although Kaizhou was invaded by the Song army vanguard, no large-scale war had occurred. However, people were panic. The fleeing people, officials and gentry convoys retreating north were everywhere on the road, all of whom wanted to enter Daming Mansion to take refuge.

What made Zhang Gui uneasy was that the horses who went to Huaiqing Road had no response. According to the news brought back by other horses, the vanguard of the Song army entering Huaiqing Road broke out in Mengzhou. Yasidu concentrated the Zongwang army and the local town army under his command about 30,000 troops to annihilate the Song army vanguard. The fierce battle was still unable to break through the Song army's front, but instead lost a large amount of troops.

That night, the camp was attacked by the Song cavalry. The camp was broken and the troops were dispersed and fled south. The Song army then pursued and blocked. In a great defeat, Yasidu tried to escape back to Jiyuan and entered the city to defend, but the Song army, who was pursued when entering the city, attacked the city and lost the city. Some of the fleeing soldiers saw Yasidu leading the defeated army to flee to Weihuilu, but they lost their news and their whereabouts were unknown.

The news from all sides was a little confused, but Zhang Gui was more convinced of the information he sent to the horses brought back into the danger. It was not difficult for him to analyze from it that the Song army has fully controlled the lower reaches of the Yellow River, and Huaiqing Road and Weihui Road are likely to have fallen. Otherwise, the Song army scouts would not have taken great risks to go deep into Anyang, but this also shows that the Song army did not intend to continue the advance north, but was preparing for the next stage of war.

What made Zhang Gui depressed was that the court was constantly issuing unrealistic orders due to the unclear actual situation on the front line, which showed that the court had lost control of the army in Shandong and Henan. The Daming Mansion was clearly a pit, but the court was still urging him to go, but in fact he had no choice.

Now the fall of Huaiqing Road and Weihui Road has caused Zhang Gui to ask the Khan to send troops to protect his right wing to the plan of Xuanwei Mansion in Shanxi to send troops to protect his right wing. This is definitely not because he is too pessimistic, but because he made a judgment based on the current situation:

The Taihang Mountains start from Youzhou in the north, extend through Hebei to the northeastern border of Shanxi Province, and turn south to the southwest of Henan Province. It is about a thousand miles long in Shanxi, stretching and towering, with a towering and steep east and a gentle west. It is the natural dividing line between Shanxi, Hebei and Henan, blocking the connection between them.

However, due to the impact of rivers and mountain torrents for millions of years, a large and small broken valley is formed horizontally, which is called "Xing". The so-called Xi is just a winding path. These sheep intestine paths linger on the mountainside and winding in the clouds. The ancients dug rocks to build roads and paved roads on the cliffs, forming major transportation routes connecting Shanxi, Hebei and Henan provinces.

However, most of these passages that run through the mountains are more than ten meters wide, and only one horse can pass through the narrow part. It is difficult to walk, and it is even more difficult to pass through Taihang. It has always been a place that must be fought for by military strategists. The most famous ones are Taihang Eight Passes, the first is Zhuguan Xing, the second is Taihang Xing, the third is Baixing, the fourth is Fukou Xing, the fifth is Jingxing, the sixth is Feihu Xing, the seventh is Puyin Xing, the eighth is Jundu Xing, among which Zhuguan Xing, Taihang Xing and Baixing are called the "Nan Sanxing".

The Zhuguan Xing is in Jiyuan County, and the situation is steep. It has been a place for troops to enter and exit since ancient times. When the traitor Su Qin discussed the situation in the world, there was a saying that "the Qin Dynasty lowered the road and the Nanyang moved." The silence in the word "Zhiguan Xingxing". The silence refers to the end of the axle. Because the passage is only as wide as a car, the pass is called "Zhiguan Xing", which is only eleven miles away from the county seat.

Taihang Xing is 35 Huali, northwest of Qinyang, passing Jincheng, Gaoping can reach Huguan, Shangdang. The Xing is three steps wide and forty Hualien. Follow Xing north to Taihang, on Taihang Mountain south of Jincheng, Shanxi, the relevant name is "Taihang Pass". It was renamed Xiongding Pass during the Jingkang period of the Song Dynasty. The situation is steep and is known as natural danger. From then on, we go south to Taihang, directly to Huai, Meng, and Hulao, taking Luoyang, and competing for the Central Plains. This is the key pass to compete for the world.

Baixing starts from Huixian, Henan, passes through Bobi Town, Hengshui River, Pingdian, Lingchuan, and reaches Gaoping. After reaching Gaoping, Baixing meets Taihang Xing and finally reaches Shangdang. In order to break out of a deep valley from the Mo River flowing down from Taihang Mountain, the exit of the valley is behind Bobi Town, Huixian, Henan, and is called Mengmen Pass. The mountains and rocks at Mengmen Pass are unique in color, also known as Zixia Pass. According to this, you can cross the Yellow River south to attack Bian, Zheng, and go east to Heze, Daming, and glimpse Anyang and Handan in the north. It is a military gate that can advance and attack and retreat and defend.

Zhang Gui knew that the three southern passes were the key pass between Shanxi and the Central Plains since ancient times, and it was also a necessary way for Shanxi to send troops to the Central Plains. Now the Song army has controlled Jiyuan, Huixian and Qinyang, which is equivalent to cutting off the access to Henan from Shanxi. In this way, the plan of sending troops to protect his right wing was difficult to achieve, resulting in the emptiness of his wings on his way south and the danger of being surrounded and annihilated halfway.

However, after carefully analyzing the current situation, Zhang Gui thought he was not without a chance. The Song army on the Eastern Front was restrained in Yidu and Jinan, and it was probably impossible to escape in a short period of time; the main force of the Song army on the Western Front was on the southern edge of Weihui Road and Damingfu Road. Although the vanguard went forward to Anyang, it seemed to be testing military information.

In this way, a gap in force was formed between the east and west lines of the Song army. If he acted quickly enough, he could advance to Daming Prefecture before the enemy responded. Now it seems that it is an opportunity now, and this opportunity is fleeting, so Zhang Gui no longer hesitated and ordered the former army to set off immediately that night and head east to Daming...

…………

What Zhang Gui didn't know was that when he arrived in Cizhou, Yan Feng and Guan Hong had already entered Yi in two directions, just like a big mouth, surrounding Nanyang City. The order they received was that they had to break the city within five days.

At that time, King Hedai, who was in charge of defense in Nanyang City, has always focused his defense in the south. When he discovered that the Song army landed from the sea and the Song army in the south was victorious and he was in danger of being surrounded, he immediately retreated and concentrated his troops in the Nanyang City of the prefecture. In addition, local town troops, rural soldiers who fled into the city and young and strong people in the city who were forcibly expropriated, he claimed to have 80,000 troops.

Time is tight and the task is heavy. The two people discuss that they want to complete the task within the specified time, and according to the rules, it is definitely not possible. If they want to break the city as soon as possible, they can only use thunder to make a concerted effort, rather than siege the city first, then fill the trenches, build siege equipment, and then launch the siege step by step.

After reaching a consensus, Yan Feng and Guan Hong jointly surveyed the terrain and found that the north of the city was continuous mountains, stretching out to the outside of the city, forming a natural barrier. Therefore, the defense in the north was relatively loose. The terrain in the east and south of the city was relatively open, so it was also a key area for city defense. Similar to other cities, the city gate was the top priority in defense.

Since the two of them did not want to take the ordinary road, they discussed again and divided their troops to attack the city, with Yan Feng's troops stationed in the north of the city as the main attack, and Guan Hong's troops stationed in the south of the city as the assist. However, when the situation is beneficial to either side, their roles should also change to assist the other party in siege. Their main attack direction in the north city is not eager to break the city. The mountains outside the city are natural dangers to others, but for the Song army, they are natural turrets. They can shoot shells into the city from a high point and directly destroy the city defense.

Although Guan Hong and Yan Feng have been partners for many years, they have become the commanders of the new army at the same time. They did not feel anything when they were stationed in the two places in the past. Now they are ordered to participate in the Northern Expedition, but they are both secretly competing and wanting to make contributions in the war. Unfortunately, they run to the south of the city by chance and lose the opportunity to attack. They still feel a little uncomfortable if they don’t say it.

The next day, Guan Hong surveyed the terrain again and found that he was not without a chance. Nanyang City seemed to have a deep and wide moat outside the city, but now it is winter in the north and the river has entered a dry season. The water in the moat is not deep and has been frozen. You can cross the moat with a little landfill, which cannot be an obstacle.
Chapter completed!