Liu Yixuan heard the soldiers coming to report that a military horse of unknown origin was found in the dense forest ahead. He looked like the army of the Song Dynasty, but he didn't know which part of the army it was.

King Kang Zhao Gou brought the generals around him to the front of the team to investigate, but saw Liu Hao, the governor of Xiangzhou, coming and saying, "Report to the prince, there is a group of people resting under the hills in front. Some of them are lying on the bluestone, some are fetching water by the river, and some are lying on the ground."

King Kang stood at a high place and saw many people scattered beside the stream below the hills. Judging from their condition, they looked like a group of defeated soldiers, but they didn't know where they retreated.

Kang Wang said: "I see this group of people as deserters who have suffered defeat. I guess they are from Jeju. Liu Yixuan, bring some people to capture their leaders. I want to ask about their situation."

Liu Yixuan received the order and asked Liu Hao to lead a team of troops and rushed down the hills. The group of soldiers heard the shouts of killing around him, thinking that it was Jin soldiers chasing him, and they were all so scared that they were shocked. When Liu Yixuan approached them, they realized that it was their friendly forces, so they packed up their teams and waited by the stream.

There were a total of four or five hundred people at the foot of the mountain. It was probably the local defenders dressed up, because some of them were not wearing armor, and the weapons in their hands were also varied. Liu Yixuan brought people to surround them and asked loudly: "Where did you come from the team? Which one is your leader, come out to speak!"

The group of men looked around and selected a leader to speak. He saw an old military leader in his fifties coming to pay homage. The military leader was wearing a military uniform full of mud, a rusty iron helmet on his head, and walked up with a long sword in his hand. He saw that the people who came were all dressed up by the generals and knew that they were generals of the Song Dynasty, so he said:

"I'm here to see you all the generals. I wonder where you sirs come from?"

Liu Yixuan said: "We are an army from the capital and are going to Jeju to rescue. Where are you teams? Why are you so embarrassed?"

When the army head heard that it was a military horse from the capital, he felt relieved and hurriedly replied: "The villain is the deputy envoy of the regiment training in Dongping County. Before dawn this morning, a group of Jin people sneaked into our county town. The county magistrate took the young men to the city to defend the city, but there were 10,000 or 20,000 Jin people. The young men could not defend for a while, so the county magistrate took us to abandon the city and fled."

When Liu Yixuan heard that this man was the deputy envoy of the regiment training in Dongping County and an eighth-rank minor official, he heard that the Dongping County Magistrate abandoned the city and fled, and knew that Dongping County had been occupied by the Jin people, he continued to ask: "How many people do you Dongping Prefecture have? Why did you lose the city so quickly? Where did your county magistrate run to?"

The military leader heard the blame and replied tremblingly: "Report to our county, there were five thousand infantry troops, but the Jin people came suddenly and killed them at dawn. The little people hurried to defend the city, but they did not expect that the Jin people came quickly and the cavalry was good at shooting. Before we could react, they rushed into the north gate. When the county magistrate saw that the Jin people entered the city, he took his family to trot. The young men fought with the Jin people for a while, but most of the people lost, so they had to escape!"

After hearing this, Liu Yixuan looked at the situation clearly and thought to himself: "Why is the speed of the Jin people so fast? Yesterday I heard from the envoys from Jeju that the Jin soldiers surrounded Jeju, why did the troops went south and east to pacify today? Could it be that Jeju has been captured? It won't be so fast."

While thinking, the governor of Xiangzhou, Liu Hao asked: "Young Master Liu, how should this group of deserters be dealt with? Should they be punished according to military law?"

Liu Yixuan said: "Their county magistrates have all run away, and it is meaningless to punish them. We are going to march towards Dongping. It is better to incorporate them and let them lead the way. It is not too late to punish them when they are taken back."

After the two discussed, Liu Yixuan said to Dongping's defeated army: "You are not strong enough to defend the city, and you are abandoning the city and fleeing. You should have dealt with according to military law, but considering that it is time to use people, I will not pursue your sins for the time being. Now King Kang Qiansui is about to march to Dongping, so you can go with us."

Liu Yixuan arranged the group of defeated soldiers and hurriedly returned to the forest to reply to King Kang, explaining the situation of the defeated army to King Kang one by one. King Kang learned that Dongping was defeated, and was frightened and asked: "Did they ever say how many Jin soldiers there were in Dongping?"

Liu Yixuan replied: "The military leader said there were 10,000 or 20,000 Jin soldiers siege the city."

"What? Ten or 20,000? Then..." King Kang was hesitant when he heard that there were 10,000 or 20,000 Jin soldiers and a city guarding him.

"Qiansui, how can the military leader believe all the words? He lied that the Jin people had 10,000 or 20,000 yuan, but he just wanted to excuse himself for losing the city. As the generals estimate, there are definitely not so many Jin soldiers coming!"

"How do you know that there are not so many Jin soldiers? Maybe there are really 20,000 to 30,000 troops stationed in Dongping!" King Kang knew that the combat ability of the Song army was not on the same level as that of the Jin soldiers, and there were many Jin soldiers, and the combat effectiveness of the cavalry was several times that of the Song army's infantry. If there were really 10,000 or 20,000 Jin cavalry guarding Dongping, the 30,000 infantry he led would definitely not be their opponents, so he became afraid for a moment.

"Qiansui, think about it. The large army of the Jin soldiers is besieging Jeju. How could this small Dongping County allow them to dispatch so many troops? In the eyes of the last general, this group of Jin soldiers must have come to explore the way, because King Ji Qiansui has already asked for help from Yanzhou and Qingzhou. If Yanzhou soldiers come to rescue, they will definitely pass through the Dongping line. The Jin people seized Dongping to cut off the connection between Jeju and Yanzhou. Since we want to rescue Jiju, we must regain Dongping County. Only by defending the Dongping line can we join forces with reinforcements from Yanzhou and relieve the siege of Jiju together."

After hearing Liu Yixuan's words, Liu Hao felt that there was some reason for his analysis, and he also said to Wang Kang: "Yes, Qiansui, what Mr. Liu said is reasonable. The Jin soldiers now have more than 100,000 troops. Now that we want to rescue Jizhou, it is definitely not enough to rely on our troops alone. It is better to take back a place where we have a foothold in Dongping, and then order people to send a letter to Yanzhou, and let the Yanzhou prefect lead the troops north and unite with our army. In this way, we can cooperate with the troops and horses in Jeju City. Moreover, Dongping, which the Jin soldiers occupied this morning, has not yet gained a foothold. Now we suddenly enter the city, which will inevitably catch them off guard!"

Upon hearing this, King Kang could not think of a better plan for the moment, so he had to agree with Liu Yixuan and Liu Hao's proposal and ordered Liu Hao to lead Xiangzhou's troops to clear the way and kill Dongping all the way.

Under the guidance of the original group of defeated Dongping troops, the Song army headed straight to the south gate of Dongping County. At this time, the Jin soldiers were burning, killing and robbing the city, and not many soldiers stood guard on the city tower. The Song army took advantage of his unpreparedness to enter the city and fought with the Jin soldiers in the city for half a day. The only corpses killed were everywhere and blood flowed into a river.
Chapter completed!