The emperor would rather have a

Chapter 25 Rescue Shi Yanchao

The next morning.

Li Yi was awakened by the rapid sound of drumming.

He quickly got up and dressed, but just as he was done, someone came to tell him that King Wei had summoned all the generals to the yamen to discuss matters.

Li Yi asked someone to help him put on his armor, and then took Wang Shenqi to the government office in the state capital.

Fu Yanqing sat high up in the hall. After everyone had gathered, he slowly spoke, "According to the scouts, the Khitan vanguard has already left Xinkou and is preparing to cross the river and head south."

"If you have any opinions, please share them."

Shi Yanchao, who was standing in the second position on the left, stepped forward first and said, "I am willing to lead the vanguard cavalry to Xinkou to stop the Liao army."

Shi Yanchao is tall and mighty, not much shorter than Li Yi. He speaks in a loud voice with a strong fighting spirit in his tone.

He was privately known as the most powerful general of the Zhou army, and was a warrior as famous as Zhang Yuanhui of the Northern Han Dynasty.

This is also why Chai Rong appointed him as the vanguard commander when he went to Gaoping. Now that he followed Prince Wei to Xinzhou to deploy defenses, he is still the vanguard commander.

However, Zhang Yuanhui was killed by Li Yi, so there was no chance for these two top generals to fight one-on-one to see who was the real number one.

Speaking of which, Zhang Yuanhui, the most powerful general of the Northern Han Dynasty, died miserably, and the most powerful general of the Later Zhou Dynasty also died unpleasantly.

Historically, Shi Yanchao died in an ambush by the Khitan during the pursuit.

However, after Shi Yanchao finished speaking, Guo Congyi, the governor of Tianping Army standing next to him, had a different opinion.

"In my opinion, our army should strictly guard Xinzhou City and wait until the Liao army is exhausted after their long journey, and then we can take advantage of their rest to defeat them..."

Before Guo Congyi could finish his words, Shi Yanchao shouted, "Can the Liao army just wait for you to defeat them? Their cavalry outnumbers ours by several times. If they don't attack Xinzhou City and go straight to Jinyang City, what will you do?"

Guo Congyi immediately retorted, "If that's the case, our army will cut off their retreat and split up to harass and intercept them. The Liao army will be attacked from both sides, so how can they not be defeated?"

"Haha, what a joke!"

Shi Yanchao looked disdainful. "If you're afraid of the Liao army, just say so. If you keep your plan, the Khitan cavalry would have reached Jinyang City long ago, and the emperor would be the one under attack from both sides!"

"you!"

Guo Congyi was from the Shatuo tribe and was so angry that he cursed in Turkic.

"Damn it, you're cursing at me in that bird language, and you think I don't understand?"

Shi Yanchao looked like he was ready to roll up his sleeves and start a fight. Li Yi had heard that this guy had a hot temper and many generals in the army disliked him.

Seeing it today, I found it is indeed worthy of its reputation.

Li Yi glanced at Xiang Xun and Bai Chongzan in front of him. Apart from Guo Congyi, Shi Yanchao, and Fu Yanqing who was sitting above, they had the highest status here.

However, the two of them acted as if it had nothing to do with them and had no intention of speaking at all.

"enough!"

Fu Yanqing finally spoke. Although his voice was not loud, his prestige and status were there.

Guo and Shi immediately stopped their activities and returned to their respective ranks.

At this time, Fu Yanqing said, "Envoys Guo and Shi both have their reasons. Let's do this: Envoy Shi will lead his two thousand cavalry to Xinkou immediately, and Envoy Xiang will lead ten thousand infantry to follow."

"promise!"

Seeing that Prince Wei had made the decision, Shi Yanchao and Guo Congyi had nothing to say.

Then, Fu Yanqing looked at Li Yi again and said, "Envoy Li Du will lead his 900 cavalrymen to march with the infantry and support Envoy Shi Jie's cavalry at any time."

"I will obey your orders!"

Li Yi felt a little strange. There were almost 20,000 people in Xinzhou City, including the troops he brought with him.

King Wei only sent half of his troops to fight, what was he going to do with the rest?
Fortunately, Fu Yanqing quickly answered his doubts: "The king, Envoy Guo, and Envoy Bai will lead the remaining troops to garrison Xinzhou City as a precaution."

After hearing this, Li Yi was even more confused. He could either attack with all his strength or defend the city.

You want both, do you want to make money on both ends?
Our troops have no advantage over the Liao army to begin with, and now we have to split our forces again. The risk is a bit too great.

But he only dared to think about this in his heart.

Hmm... Fu Yanqing is a veteran after all, having fought in more battles than I've ever seen, so perhaps he has his reasons for making this arrangement. As a young man just starting out, I need to see and learn more.

Li Yi just thought that he was inexperienced and could not understand Fu Yanqing's deeper meaning.

Everything is arranged properly.

Shi Yanchao led the cavalry out of the city first, and Li Yi followed Xiang Xun's infantry.

……

Xinkou.

This place is a natural pass, but unfortunately the terrain on both sides is complex and it is impossible to build a city for defense.

It is said that when Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, led his army to fight, he broke out from Pingcheng and came here. He was happy after escaping death, and seeing the strange environment around him, he named this place Xinkou.

As for the authenticity, it is unknown.

However, this is indeed the northernmost pass of Xinzhou City.

It was originally guarded by troops from the Northern Han Dynasty.

However, during the Battle of Gaoping, Yelu Dilu was angry at Liu Chong's arrogance. After withdrawing from the battlefield, he took his cavalry to garrison Daizhou and occupied this place along the way.

Otherwise, if Fu Yanqing ordered people to defend this place, it would be much easier to stop the Liao army.

When Li Yi and Xiang Xun led their men to about ten miles south of Xinkou, they learned that Shi Yanchao had already engaged in battle with the Liao army's vanguard that had crossed the river.

The two men hurriedly sped up their march.

Not long after, battle reports came back from the front, saying that Shi Yanchao had defeated the Liao army's vanguard and was pursuing the defeated soldiers towards Xinkou.

"Oh no! If this is the Liao army feigning defeat to lure the enemy, then General Shi's troops are in danger!"

Shi Yanchao's progress was too fast and too smooth, and Xiang Xun had a bad feeling from the first moment.

Upon hearing this, Li Yi couldn't help but look at him a few more times. As expected of an experienced general, his guess was indeed very accurate.

Considering the current situation, it is very likely that as Xiang Xun said, Shi Yanchao fell into the trap set by the Liao army.

Xiang Xun turned to look at Li Yi and said, "The infantry is too slow to catch up. I hope Li Dushi will lead his men ahead and stop General Shi as soon as possible."

"promise!"

Li Yi didn't waste any words. He immediately took the order and set off quickly with his cavalry.

But when he arrived, it was too late. Shi Yanchao and two thousand cavalrymen had already been surrounded by the main force of the Liao army.

No one knew how this guy rushed so fast, just like racing a car, he crashed into the encirclement of the Liao army.

Wang Shenqi asked, "Envoy Li, should we go and rescue General Shi immediately?"

"hold on……"

Afterwards, Li Yi led his men up a small slope on the side.

Although he was only a lieutenant colonel before and had never led an army in battle alone, he was very good at learning and summarizing experience.

In recent years, he has often consulted many veterans in the Imperial Guard about their battlefield experiences.

They have all survived many battles and have encountered all kinds of situations.

In addition, in his previous life, Li Yi was quite interested in ancient wars and had read and studied various historical materials and books.

It also covers various military books and battle formations.

Even if it is just talk, it may not be completely useless.

Li Yi remembers a very good saying: The most important test in war is one's judgment of the situation.

Especially in ancient cold weapon wars, victory or defeat often happened in a flash, and only by seizing the opportunity could one reverse the desperate situation.

He had a deep understanding of this from the previous Gaoping battle.

(End of this chapter)