At the same time when the Song army joined forces to seize Luojiao County, the 20,000 Song troops in Fushi County also launched a fire attack on the Jin army camp three miles away under the cover of wind and snow. The fire quickly swept through the entire camp with the help of the wind. The frightened war horses rushed out of the camp and fled in all directions. Eight thousand Jin soldiers were either burned to death by the fire or killed by the Song army ambushed around, and none of them survived.

Two days later, Li Yanqing led 20,000 troops to Fushi County, and joined Wu Jie and Liu Qi's army. Wu Jie and Liu Qi stepped forward and bowed, "See the commander-in-chief!"

"How is the enemy camp?"

"Report to the chief commander, the enemy camp has been destroyed by fire, all five thousand gold soldiers have been wiped out, and nearly eight thousand war horses have been seized!"

"How could there be three thousand more?" Li Yanqing asked with a puzzled smile.

"Half are war horses, half are pack horses. The opponent's war horses are kept in the northwest corner, far from the camp. After our brothers pulled the camp, most of the war horses ran out in time and were not affected by the fire."

"This harvest is good. Eight thousand war horses, the number of cavalry and scouts will increase greatly. I will remember your great achievements this time."

Wu Jie and Liu Qi were overjoyed, "Thank you for the praise of the commander!"

At this time, Liu Qi asked again: "Master, how is the situation of the Jin soldiers who went south?"

"The 10,000 Han troops entrenched in Luojiao County have been completely wiped out. The main army of Wanyan Loushi was trapped on the Luo River. The road was blocked with heavy snow, and we just waited for spring to collect their bodies."

"What if they break out?" Wu Jie said worriedly.

Li Yanqing smiled and said, "I have considered this. I have left three thousand troops stationed at the entrance of Luojiao Road, and there are also three thousand troops left in Fangzhou to defend. Even if it comes out, it is a group of ghosts. But I believe my judgment will not be wrong, and they can't come out."

"Master, then let's take the next step," Liu Qi and Wu Jie asked expectantly.

Li Yanqing smiled, "I wrote a letter to the official, ensuring that the situation in Shaanxi will use to restrain the Jin soldiers on the middle and eastern fronts. Since we have promised, we must do it. What do you think is the most advantageous way to restrain the Jin soldiers?"

"Attack Taiyuan!" Wu Jie blurted out.

Li Yanqing nodded, "That's right. Half of the 100,000 Jin troops on Hedong Road went to Luoyang and half entered Shaanxi Road. Now Hedong Road is full of people, why don't we do it?"

Liu Qi also said excitedly: "If you can attack Taiyuan, you will surely shock the world and severely defeat the Jin soldiers' strategy of going south. This is a trick to boost the morale of the Song army. The governor, please give an order!"

Li Yanqing glanced at everyone and said, "We cannot promote attack like the Jin soldiers. Before the troops move, food and grass will go first. At the same time, we cannot let the Jin soldiers cut off our Yan'an Prefecture's retreat. We must prepare before setting off. There is no rush to do this!"

Wang Gui next to him hurriedly said, "Although you need to prepare well, the soldiers are quick and afraid that the Jin soldiers will be troublesome if they react. It is better to lead 5,000 troops to lead first, and finally you can directly capture Taiyuan City, so as not to have too many dreams at night."

Li Yanqing thought about it and Wang Gui's suggestion made sense. Although Hedong was empty, the Jin soldiers still had 30,000 cavalry in Datong Prefecture. If 30,000 cavalry went south quickly, they would really occupy Taiyuan in front of the Song army, so he must be on guard.

"Since General Wang volunteered, I will give you 10,000 troops, 5,000 infantry and cavalry each, bring five days of dry food, and take me Taiyuan!"

Wang Gui was overjoyed and quickly clasped his fists and said, "I will never let down the expectations of the governor, and I will definitely win Taiyuan!"

Liu Qi and Wu Jie were both very regretful. They would have known that they would have spoken first. It seems that they have to be thick-skinned.

Wang Gui and Cao Meng immediately led 10,000 infantry cavalry to leave Fushi County and headed towards Hedong first.

Li Yanqing received an emergency eagle letter from Taiyuan five days ago. There were only 5,000 defenders in Taiyuan and there were no garrisons around Taiyuan Prefecture. It was this eagle letter that changed Li Yanqing's strategy. He had to attract Jin soldiers into the trap at the cost of sacrificing the people of Luojiao County, and eventually killed 50,000 Jin troops from Hedong Road on Shaanxi Road, so that Li Yanqing could free up his hands and attack Taiyuan and Hedong Road with all his strength, and use the strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao to restrain the main force of Jin soldiers who were attacking the Song Dynasty in large-scale attacks.

Wanyan Xie was also worried that the Western Army would assist the East, so the strategy he formulated was to seize Luoyang and position Hangu Pass, so that the Western Army could not reach the Central Plains. However, Wanyan Xie never expected that Wanyan Loushi army would fall into the Luo River, causing the empty Taiyuan Prefecture to present it to Li Yanqing without any warning.

The chief general of the Jin soldiers in Taiyuan City was Wanyan Hulu. He was about fifty years old and was a commander of the scepter. He was the half-brother of Wanyan Loushi. This time, the Jin soldiers all joined the Hedong Road army to attack Luoyang Prefecture and Yan'an Prefecture, leaving Taiyuan City empty. Currently, there are only one thousand Jurchen soldiers and four thousand surrendered Han troops.

Wanyan Xieye and Wanyan Loushi never thought that the Song army could counterattack Hedong Road at this time, otherwise there would be so few troops in Taiyuan.

At night, Wanyan Hulu patrolled the city as usual, and then slipped back to the mansion to drink. Wanyan Hulu was addicted to alcohol as he was his life. This was his biggest weakness. For this weakness, Jin Taizu Wanyan Aguda scolded him hard more than once, but Wanyan Hulu always struggled to change his habit of alcoholism, which also led to him not being reused. His brother Wanyan Loushi had many military achievements and became a famous general of the Jin Kingdom. He served as the deputy commander of the Song Dynasty and the general manager of Hedong Road of the Jin Kingdom. In comparison, Wanyan Hulu was just a mere commander of the thousand men.

After coming to the Song Dynasty, Wanyan Hulu became obsessed with the good wine of the Song Dynasty, which made him intoxicated by the wine all day long. Wanyan Loushi could not persuade his brother, so this time the Jin army in Hedong did not take Wanyan Hulu, because he was afraid that he would miss the major affairs in the army, but kept him in Taiyuan.

In addition to Wanyan Hulu, Taiyuan City also has a famous Han army deputy general named Yang Ke. He was originally a general of Yao Gu and served as the garrison of Jingxing Pass. After Taiyuan fell, Yang Ke led 4,000 defenders to surrender to the Jin Kingdom and was appointed as the Han army. He led 4,000 Han troops to assist Wanyan Hulu in maintaining order in Taiyuan City.

Taiyuan City also experienced heavy snowfall. Compared with the blizzard in northern Shaanxi, the heavy snow in Taiyuan City was a little gentler. The deepest part of the snow was only one with its calves. However, the cold weather made people easily tired. The soldiers hid back to the barracks to rest early, and few people were willing to patrol the cold streets. Yang Ke politely cared for the soldiers, reduced the number of patrols by half, and reduced the ten patrols to five each night, which was also because there were almost no pedestrians at night.

When Yang Ke came to the city, he saw a group of soldiers roasting fire on the city wall to keep warm. He did not stop drinking. As long as he did not hide and sleep, it was also within the allowable range of burning fire on the city wall to keep warm.

"But what's wrong?"

A soldier stood up and saluted, "All right, nothing suspicious?"

There were only four hundred soldiers stationed at the city wall, basically there were one hundred soldiers on each side. The 5,000 left behind were not to defend the city, but to maintain order. It was just that the army sent people to guard the city through a habit.

Yang Ke nodded and asked again, "Have General Hulu come?"

The soldiers all had strange smiles in their eyes, "He has come and left in a hurry!"

Yang Ke shook his head. He had never seen such a drunken general in the Jin Kingdom. Wanyan Loushi asked him to partner with him. I really don’t know if it was a good or a bad thing?

"Don't just beg for the fire, or patrol, have you heard?"

"Abide by the orders!"

Yang Ke was just talking, and he didn't want to stay on the top of the city. After a little checking, he turned around and went down to the city. The soldiers continued to chat with fire. No one really got up to patrol. He was just talking, and no one would take it seriously.

At this time, a few miles away from Taiyuan West City, Wang Gui had already arrived at his destination. This time, the Song army advanced very quickly. It was 800 miles apart from Yan'an Prefecture to Taiyuan Prefecture. The Song army took only three days to kill Taiyuan.

The soldiers were resting in the woods, and Wang Guize looked at Taiyuan City from afar. Cao Meng whispered: "There is no defenders found on the top of the city, so it is better to climb the city directly!"

Wang Gui shook his head, "Not seeing the defenders does not mean there are no defenders. They are likely to gather together to cook fire and drink. Climbing the city is easily discovered, or the thunder blew open the city gate!"

"But the bombing city can easily wake up the sleeping Jin soldiers. If it is a sneak attack, they may be dealt with in their sleep."

Wang Gui curled his lips, "Only a thousand Jurchen soldiers and four thousand Han troops, are our ten thousand elite troops still afraid of them? Or is your Cao Meng's hammerhead softened?"

Cao Meng's face was flushed and said angrily: "When did I have ever been afraid of the Jin people? If you don't believe it, let's compare it. Let's see who killed more Jin soldiers this time?"

Wang Gui smiled and patted his shoulder, "If you win, I will give you my first contribution."
Chapter completed!