Chapter 3649 Attack on the River Valley
Return from Luoyang, go upstream along the Luoshui River, and set foot on the "Ancient Shang Road". The return trip is always smoother. You have walked through it once before, and you know where you need to be careful and where you can speed up. You know all the geographical terrain well, and it is faster and easier.
The team galloped along the official road between the mountains. The mountains on both sides of the road were sandwiched between them, making the cries rumble and echo. Occasionally there were merchants and pedestrians on the road. When they saw this group of menacing soldiers, they were frightened and quickly moved aside to get out of the way. , to avoid getting into trouble.
Now, during the Chang'an War, the entire Guanzhong is in chaos. Soldiers and horses from all over the country seem to have no restraint and are acting arbitrarily. Tariffs, road taxes and other exorbitant taxes that have been banned have suddenly been reinstated, causing merchants' costs to skyrocket, several times forward.
It's just about collecting taxes. There are even many soldiers in remote places pretending to be bandits to block roads and rob the roads. It is not uncommon to kill people and steal goods.
Whether it is merchants or ordinary people, they hope that the military revolt in Chang'an will come to an end soon. Otherwise, without the restraint of the central government, each locality will do its own thing. It seems that all the local taxes lost over the years will be recovered. I don't know how many people will be forced to lose their families. , wives and children separated.
In troubled times, people's lives are like straw. No one could have imagined that what was originally a prosperous and peaceful age would suddenly turn into a pot of chaos like the end of the Sui Dynasty. With the popularity of merchants, the exchange of information from various places has greatly increased. Even ordinary people have gained some insight and understand that the chaos caused by the military remonstrance was completely initiated by the powerful families in various places in order to seize greater benefits. Therefore, for Guanlong and other places, The clan members were filled with hatred, but they dared not express their anger. They could only hope in their hearts that the kind-hearted Prince of the East Palace could defeat the rebels, bring order to the chaos, and bring the world back to normal...
……
The Shangyu Ancient Road connects Guanzhong with Nanyang, Luoyang and other places. The main section is composed of the Bashui River Valley on the Guanzhong side and the Danshui River Valley on the Shangluo side. The water and land are mixed and the terrain is steep, making it extremely difficult to travel. However, spring has not yet begun, and the valley area between the mountains is dark and cold, and it is difficult to see the sun in the middle age. Therefore, ice and snow are everywhere, and the shallow water is covered with hard ice. People and horses can walk freely without taking a boat, which saves a lot of money. Few things.
But if you wait until summer, the river will become wider and the water will flow quickly after the ice and snow melt, making it increasingly difficult to travel.
Fang Jun led 300 soldiers to spend the night on a night trip. They were cautious along the way. Every night when they set up camp, they had to explore dozens of miles ahead to confirm the safety of the surrounding area. After that, they set up open posts and secret posts and sent out scouts to ensure that everything was safe.
The expected sneak attack by the Guanlong army did not happen, and the journey was uneventful, but Fang Jun became more and more alarmed.
The death of Changsun Anye is definitely an unacceptable bad news for the Changsun family. Now that he died tragically and his head is missing, how could Changsun Wuji remain indifferent?
Just looking at the fact that he brazenly sent people to Fangfu at the beginning of the army, regardless of whether it would cause everyone in Chang'an to be in danger, and thus adopt a defensive attitude towards Guan Long, we know that although this person is deep-tempered and good at forbearing, he will retaliate and will definitely not Let it go for the sake of the greater good.
It has to be said that Changsun Wuji was so arrogant that he considered himself the leader of Zhenguan's ministers, and there was no one else in his eyes. Historically, this king had always rejected Li Chengqian, who was not close to him. The reason why Li Chengqian lost his position as crown prince was largely attributed to Changsun Wuji. He did not take His Majesty Li Er's will into consideration at all, and he did not care about the sacrifices given to him after he was abolished. Tang's serious hidden danger.
After supporting Li Zhi to ascend the throne, he continued to violate the bottom line of imperial power for the benefit of the Guanlong Group, and even interfered in Li Zhi's harem, forcing Li Zhi step by step into an intolerable situation.
Doesn't Changsun Wuji know that keeping a tightrope in everything and giving enough respect to the imperial power is the long-term solution? It's impossible for him not to understand this given his political abilities, but he doesn't care at all. He single-handedly manipulated Li Chengqian, who was deposed by His Majesty Li Er, which made his self-confidence seriously exploded. How could he put Li Zhi in his eyes?
Unexpectedly, Li Zhi was more tolerant and ruthless than him. He simply deposed Queen Wang, who was born in the Wang family of Taiyuan, and supported Wu Meiniang, who was a founding hero of the country. This made Wu Meiniang, who was highly talented in politics, and Changsun Wuji stand on opposite sides, and the two sides fought endlessly. Li Zhi watched the tiger fight from the other side and secretly supported Wu Meiniang.
In the end, with the help of the Shandong family, the Guanlong clan headed by Changsun Wuji was completely overthrown in one fell swoop, and then all the blame was placed on Wu Meiniang, allowing him to escape the infamy of "slaughtering meritorious deeds" and "killing donkeys in an effort to kill people." Instead, he won a The reputation of "kindness and kindness" seems to be that the collapse of the Guanlong clan was entirely caused by Wu Meiniang and had nothing to do with him...
In terms of forbearing treachery and ruthlessness, few emperors throughout the ages could match Li Zhi.
……
After a few days of traveling quickly, Fang Jun and his party arrived at Xian'e Station, which is more than 20 miles outside Shangluo City. This place is located outside Shangluo City and under Xian'e Peak. It is an important post station on the ancient Shangyu Road. It has mountains on one side and rivers on the other, and the terrain is dangerous.
At ten o'clock in the evening, Fang Jun led his soldiers to Xian'e Post. He stationed his tent outside the post house and asked his soldiers to buy food from the post house and prepare to stay here overnight.
From here to the west, not far away is Lantian Pass. There must be heavy troops stationed at this moment. We need to gather our strength and conquer it in one fell swoop...
After dinner, the weak light in the valley had completely dimmed. Fang Jun ordered his soldiers to dig out the ice and snow ground near the official road outside the camp, bury gunpowder in six or seven small pits, and dig out a shallow ditch to lay the ground. The leads are all covered with ice and snow.
This place was already close to Lantian Pass, very close to the forces of Guanlong's army. There was no enemy situation along the way, which made him nervous. Maybe Changsun Wuji's plan was to trick him into being careless, and then he was caught off guard and struck a fatal blow.
Fang Jun asked the scouts to be careful about possible situations around them, and also asked the soldiers to be more alert at night so that they could respond in time if there was an emergency, and then he got into the tent and slept.
It turned out that his worries were justified. Around 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, the scouts who were out rushed back, woke Fang Jun up, and reported that more than a thousand soldiers were sneaking in from the direction of Lantian Pass. The enemies were all cavalry, lightly armed and simple, running quickly with their weapons in hand, and had already arrived more than ten miles west of the camp.
Sure enough, it came!
Fang Jun climbed up and got out of the tent. He saw that all the soldiers had been awakened by the scouts and were quickly tidying up their equipment.
Fang Jun raised his eyes and took a look at the sky. It was already the end of the Yin period and the beginning of the Mao period. There was no starlight in the river valley. It was the time when the human body was most sleepy. If he had not been careful along the way, if he had been careless in the slightest, he might have died. They will be attacked by enemy troops.
There was no need to panic. He had already conducted countless drills with his soldiers along the way. He had foreseen the current situation and had a plan for how to react. Immediately, the entire military camp was in action. The soldiers gathered their equipment and hung it on their saddles. They took out their weapons, crossbows, and firearms, jumped on their horses, and formed a formation.
Fang Jun wore his helmet and armor and sat upright on the horse's back.
Wave after wave of scouts continued to return from the front, bringing precise information about the enemy. A thousand enemy cavalry came to cover and kill them. They all seemed to be elites. They might be the private soldiers of the Changsun family. Although it was not known who led the troops, they must be the children of the Changsun family.
At first, the enemy cavalry was still hiding, fearing to alert Fang Jun. However, five miles away, Xu discovered Fang Jun's scouts. Knowing that their whereabouts had been exposed, they could not carry out a sneak attack, so they simply let go of their horses' hooves and galloped along the ancient road. Rush.
A roar like rolling thunder sounded in the river valley.
Xian'e Posthouse not far away was also alarmed. The merchants and travelers staying there screamed in panic. The horses in the stables neighed and fled one after another. There was a cavalry raid in the middle of the night. Whether it was soldiers or bandits, it was definitely not a good thing. Especially since the mutiny broke out in Chang'an, the government offices around the world have almost come to a standstill, and various clans are in charge. In many cases, it is impossible to tell the difference between soldiers and bandits...
Fang Jun glanced at the side of Xian'e Post, only to see silhouettes of people fleeing in the darkness. He turned around, breathed a sigh of relief, and calmly ordered: "Arrange yourself in formation to resist the enemy, prepare your muskets, and detonate gunpowder at any time according to my orders!"< br>
"Here!"
Three hundred cavalrymen agreed in unison, and it was like a muffled thunder in the dark valley. The cavalrymen on horseback loaded their projectiles one after another, while others were hiding in secret places on the roadside, ready to detonate gunpowder at any time.
Stand ready.
In a moment, the roaring cry was getting closer and closer, and the sound of rolling thunder echoed in the river valley. The moment the enemy rider appeared in the darkness, Fang Jun decisively ordered: "Fire with the musket!"
"Bang!"
In the darkness, orange flames shot out from the muzzles of more than a hundred muskets, and as the smoke rose, projectiles flew out of their barrels. (End of chapter)