Guo Wei bid farewell to the emperor and led the commander of the cavalry army in Yedu camp, Cao Wei, commander of the infantry army, and other generals, to command tens of thousands of troops to Yedu. The troops led by Guo Wei this time were all his old subordinates during the rebellion some time ago. Guo Wei had a high prestige in the army and commanded like a commander.

After Guo Wei arrived in Yedu, heavy rain suddenly fell in the northern part of the Later Han Dynasty, especially Zhengzhou, which set a record for the same period in history. After three days of resisting heavy rain, Zhengzhou broke the dike! However, Kaifeng Prefecture, downstream of Zhengzhou, benefited from the dike built by Dong Zunhui, Jie Hui and others the year before, although it was strongly washed away by the rain and river water, no major danger occurred. Despite this, the food and supplies transported to the front line were also greatly affected and had to delay the delivery.[]

In view of this, Guo Wei ordered the troops stationed near the border to be on close guard and not to launch a counterattack before hoarding good supplies. Besides, today's heavy rainy days are also a severe test for the cavalry of the Liao Kingdom. The bowstrings are loose and weak, and the art of riding and shooting is equivalent to giving up. The Liao army basically hurried in place and will not launch a large-scale attack in the rain.

However, now is the season when crops are about to mature, and it is also the best time for the Liao army to go south to capture grass valleys. The losses of implementing solid walls and clearing the fields are too great, even greater than those of the Liao army's invasion. In view of this, Guo Wei drew elite troops to form an independent army, with about 3,000 people, and handed them over to Dong Zunhui for command, and quietly moved to the Han-Liao border. At the same time, he actively hoarded the food, grass and materials needed for combat, and was ready to go north at any time.

Guo Wei's order to Dong Zunhui was to fight for the entire extermination of the Liao army's troops south to hunt Caogu, and to gain time for the Han army to go north. To this end, Dong Zunhui led his troops to march north in heavy rain and arrived at the border at the end of June.

On the fourth day of the seventh month, the sky was still foggy and the rain had not yet dissipated. The rain for several consecutive days completely destroyed the roads, and the farmland was filled with water. Many people were soaked in high fever, but they were still trying hard to drain water in the fields. This is the food for the family for a year! If the food in the fields cannot be preserved, the whole family will have to endure hunger and even starve to death!

Dong Zunhui has ordered the disbandment of the troops and dispersed them to nearby fields to help the people remove the accumulated water, or harvest the grain in low-lying areas in advance.

At first, the army was a little confused. We came to the front line to fight the Liao army, not to do farm work. No matter how good the farm work is, we cannot make military achievements. No matter how good the sickle is, it cannot replace the sword!

Dong Zunhui explained to them: We fought the Liao army to protect the border security of our Han Dynasty and to maintain the survival and development opportunities of the people on the border. If all the people starved to death, what's the point of winning any more battles we can win?

Fortunately, most of the soldiers in the army were from peasants and knew the importance of food to farmers. Under their leadership, the army did not object to them. Moreover, after the people found that the soldiers helped them do farm work, they brought tea and water, and even cooked eggs that they wouldn't want to eat on weekdays and stuffed them enthusiastically into the hands of the soldiers. Looking at the dependence and trust in the eyes of the people, the morale of the army suddenly rose.

However, the reason why soldiers were called soldiers was that their primary task was to fight. Dong Zunhui and his subordinates also analyzed the characteristics of the Liao army's Caogu, and prepared to attack the Liao army on the opposite side. To be on the safe side, Dong Zunhui specially brought about a hundred officers above the army squadron to the border, personally reconnaissed the Liao army's dynamics, and selected suitable ambush locations.

The sun slowly crawled out, sprinkled a little sunshine casually, and soon hid in the clouds again. Zhang Yi sighed: "It's been a long time since there was a weather to dry the bowstrings, and now it's gone again!"

Ma Dehai smiled and said, "The Liao army's archers are better than us, and their shooting skills are better than us! You should be glad that the weather is good. If the weather is good, they will definitely go south with their bows and arrows on their backs. We only have 500 cavalry, so it will be troublesome at that time!"

Liu Qingyi frowned and looked at the flat terrain and shook his head at Dong Zunhui: "Brother (Dong Zunhui is now the highest official position and is respected as the eldest brother). The terrain here is suitable for cavalry combat. There are no valleys, so it is difficult to set up ambush."

Dong Zunhui shook his head, "Although they are all flat, there are places where they can be ambushed. Isn't this sorghum field a ready-made barrier? We can completely ambush the sorghum field and catch the enemy off guard!"

Liu Qingyi shook his head, "That's right, but we only have five hundred cavalry, and the main force is infantry. The most important weapon for infantry to deal with cavalry is bows and crossbows. Now there are only three hundred crossbowmen and seven hundred bowmen in the entire army. I can't do anything to deal with a large number of enemy troops!"

Dong Zunhui smiled and patted Liu Qingyi on the shoulder, "Who said we were going to deal with large groups of enemy troops? What I mean was to deal with small groups of cavalry. The accumulated small groups of cavalry are large, and through the captured war horses, we can also shock the Liao army, so that small groups of Liao army dare not go south, and we can also protect the people from harvesting food smoothly. Anyway, the Liao army's Caogu troops generally have only five or six hundred people, so we can definitely eat them in one fell swoop.

You see, the food in the front area is about to mature, and the Liao army often sends scouts to the south to reconnaissance, and must have coveted it. We can ambush in the nearby green gauze tent and send soldiers to dress up as farmers to seize the food in this area. If the Liao army is indifferent, we can help the people to harvest safely; if the Liao army attacks, we can attack the Liao army head-on in this area! What do you think?"

Everyone carefully observed the nearby terrain and nodded in agreement. Even if the Liao army was cunning, they would not have thought that the Han army could still shoot ambushing in plains. However, as the air is hot today, we must pay attention to preventing heat and cooling when lying in ambush. However, it has been raining continuously recently, and the ground is generally wet, so there should be no big problem.

Everyone discussed for a while and confirmed the ambush plan. To be on the safe side, the entire army mobilized three thousand people to fight together. Among them, thousands of crossbowmen were ambushing near the fields and launched a first attack on the enemy; five hundred cavalrymen quietly ambushed three miles away, attacking at any time to cut off the enemy's retreat. As for the remaining 1,500 infantrymen, in order to prevent the enemy from discovering in advance, they were ambushed five miles away and reinforcements were carried out after the battle began.

On the eighth day of the seventh month, the second sunny day in July, the Liao army could not contain its desire as the gradually matured food in the fields. After a series of dispatches of several troops to collect grains. On the nineth day of the seventh month, Dong Zunhui's troops successfully ambushed one of the Liao army's Caogu troops and wiped them out. On the 11th of July, Dong Zunhui's troops once again surrounded and annihilated a group of Liao troops entering the Liao army. On the 12th of July, the Liao army brought revenge and was repelled by Dong Zunhui's troops. On the 15th of July, Dong Zunhui personally led his soldiers to raid the Liao army camp, forcing the Liao army to retreat thirty miles.
Chapter completed!