Chapter 699: Traveling (Part 2)
From Hebei to Taiyuan, the best way to go is Fukouxing, followed by Jingxing, all of which have post roads leading directly to Taiyuan.
Wen Qiao and others entered from Jingxing.
Jingxing also has two roads, the north and the south. The south road has been the main road since the Qin and Han Dynasties, and there are heavy troops stationed there.
The North Road has not yet been opened, and is mostly used by smugglers, bandits and bandits. It is almost impossible to travel in large groups, so only a few rangers occasionally come to patrol.
Going straight west from the northern foot of Feilong Mountain for sixty miles, you will arrive at a vast stretch of swamp wetland. The wetland is covered with reeds and is commonly known as "Weize".
In the tenth year of Yongjia (316), Changshan and Zhongshan prefectures recruited more than 10,000 Dingzhuang people and marched westward to Weize, where they rammed earth and built a city. However, they were defeated by Shi Le and stopped.
Forty miles to the west and slightly south from Wei Ze is the Jingxing Pass, occupied by Shi Le.
When Wen Qiao and others arrived at Weize, it was already the tenth day of June.
Looking at the endless reeds, swamps, and the endless mountains beyond, he sighed, took the lead in wading into the water, and headed due west.
The road was not easy to walk, and it took us three days to walk thirty miles before we arrived at the location of Niangzi Pass - originally named Weize Pass. It was named after Weize County was established in the east during the Sui Dynasty, and Chengtian Military City was established in the Tang Dynasty, where it was officially stationed. After the system was established to recruit troops, it was named "Chengtian Army". During the Jin Dynasty, it was also named "Niangziguan".
This is the North Road.
The South Road was a more popular road in the Qin and Han Dynasties, and the same was true in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. However, the North Road suddenly became popular during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Maybe the geography and climate environment changed, so that the North Road became passable.
But in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was very strange that they took the south route again and stopped taking the north route. I don’t know why.
In modern times, the Zhengtai-Taiwan Railway passed through the North Road.
In short, Niangzi Pass blocks Jingxing North Road, and Jingxing Pass blocks Jingxing South Road. Which one is more important in the past dynasties depends entirely on which way the people at that time mainly took.
The North Road almost does not exist at this time, so the South Road is the most important.
According to Li Zuoche, "cars are not allowed to square track, and riders are not allowed to line up" on the South Road, which shows its topography.
"Feng Changshi, don't send me off, we're here." On the steep hillside, Wen Qiao bowed and said.
Feng Long hesitated for a moment and said: "That's fine, be careful all the way to enemy territory."
Feng Long is the long history of Feilongshan Town. The town general is Chen Wu, the beggar commander. He is leading his army northward and is stationed in Changshan County.
It had been less than ten days since Shile's army had been expelled. Changshan was in a state of turmoil and tension, and had to be suppressed by the army.
Wen Qiao waved to Feng Long, then looked at Guo Rong and others, and said with a smile: "Let's go, for food and lodging tonight, I can rely on General Guo."
"A servant is not a general. We warmed up the wine and joked." Guo Rong was not polite, and took the lead, saying: "There is a castle about ten miles ahead, and the owner of the castle is my old friend..."
The voice gradually faded away, and the figure also slowed down. He slowly disappeared around the corner of the mountain road.
Feng Long stood for a while longer, carefully looking at the terrain.
A few days later, former general Li Chong sent a group of prisoners over to build a second military city in Jingxing.
This city must be built, and Liang Gong even gave it a name: Tianchang Town.
Liu Ling, a foreign soldier, temporarily took over the Tianchang town general and led the Qingzhou soldiers to garrison here - this town general is not hereditary, he is just a guard general.
Once this city is established, all roads and alleys can be blocked. The only disadvantage is that the terrain here is relatively open and not as dangerous as the Jingxingguan area in the south. But Jingxing Pass was in Shi Le's hands, so they had no choice but to settle for the next best thing.
******
Leping is located in the north of the Changzhi Basin (today's Yangquan City). Almost all of the territory is mountainous and difficult to walk.
It took the group more than ten days to cross the entire Leping and reach Taiyuan.
It’s not that I’m afraid of anything.
In fact, Liu Yao did station troops and horses in several important locations in Leping and sent officials to various counties, but Shao Xun did not have enough control over the countryside of Henan, let alone the Huns.
A few years ago, before Jinyang fell, Liu Kun sent his tribe back to Zhongshan to recruit troops, crossing the two counties of Shile, but he didn't know it.
In the era when imperial power did not go to the countryside, as long as the local wealthy families did not report it, you know what the hell!
Of course, if someone snitches, that's another matter.
When Wen Qiao crossed Shangai and Shouyang counties in the north of Leping, not only did no one report him, but on the contrary, there were people who received him. If they weren't afraid of being too public, local wealthy families who had good relations with the Guo family and the Wen family would even dare to hold a reception banquet.
From these details, Wen Qiao, Guo Rong and others felt a lot.
On June 24th, on the mountain path to Yangqu, Wen Qiao observed the nearby mountain villages and said: "I know the people of Bingzhou."
"I am a Leping person, too. Respond to Master Wang," Guo Rong said.
Wen Qiao smiled and originally wanted to ask narrowly, why did he marry his sister to Shi Hu since he loved Master Wang? And he gave advice to Shi Le many times?
But if you think about it carefully, this Guo Rong is not simple!
His home is in Yangqu, which is not far to the north of Jinyang. It fell into the hands of the Huns very late. They are obviously members of the gentry in the territory directly under Liu Bingzhou, but they actually defected to the Huns early. Do you think they are ambitious?
What is even more outrageous is that he did not vote for Liu Cong of Pingyang, but for Shile of Hebei Province. Should I say that he has good vision or poor vision? Wen Qiao thought for a long time and came to no conclusion.
Perhaps, if Liang Gong did not attack Hebei, Shi Le would have some luck.
In this way, Guo Rong can take the opportunity to rise up and form his own line in Hebei, and maybe turn the Taiyuan Guo family into the Yecheng Guo family - there are many gentry branch families, such as Qinghe Cui, Boling Cui, Yingchuan Yu and Xinye Yu are mostly like this. "The countryside in Leping is not bad." Wen Qiao reined in his horse and pointed to a small basin at the foot of the hillside, and said: "Hundreds of families cut down trees, rammed soil, built cities, and lived here. The farmland is well organized, and irrigation canals extend in all directions. On the hillside, There are also many cattle, sheep and horses, and there are also many orchards. In the past, Han Fujun came to Jinyang many times to send food. It is really shameful that there is no food in Taiyuan, which stretches for hundreds of miles. , squeezed out a large amount of supplies to supply Jinyang sergeant."
Guo Rong was silent when he heard this.
Leping actually fell before Jinyang. To be more precise, after the Huns came, they only fought two small battles, and the rural nobles collectively abandoned Lord Han and surrendered to the Huns.
Liu Kun didn't have much territory to begin with. Once Leping fell, Jinyang became increasingly difficult to control himself.
Now that Liang Gong is becoming more and more powerful and has the potential to devour the world, the Leping wealthy family may have to repeat their old tricks and play the game of changing the king's flag on the city wall again.
There are not many loyal people in this world, and they are all working for their own purposes, including him, Guo Rong.
Don’t laugh at them because their knees are weak and they surrender frequently. In fact, once a war starts, you don’t know when it will end. No one can guarantee what will happen during this period, and it is not surprising that the family will be ruined.
Behind Guo Rong were several descendants of the wealthy Taiyuan family, who felt sad when they saw this.
In peacetime, they were more prosperous and could despise mountainous counties like Leping at will. But once the war broke out, Taiyuan became the focus of all parties, and life was miserable.
Now they just hope that it will end soon and return to a peaceful world. They can take the opportunity to seize more land, recruit and even detain refugees, and enhance their own strength.
In this way, even if Liang Gong is defeated in the future and the Huns or other forces - such as Tuoba Daiguo - come again, their bargaining power will be stronger.
******
At the end of June, the group arrived in Yangqu secretly and stayed at Guo's Wubao.
Guo Rong and others ran around and actively contacted.
Wen Qiao was more courageous and even sent a member of his entourage to go out day and night to Qi County to contact the Wen clan members who stayed in the north and did not cross south.
On the third day of July, Guo Rong came back.
"The Taiyuan Wang family did not dare to contact." Guo Rong said: "They are too entangled with the Xiongnu. Although people's minds have changed now, I dare not bet."
"Nothing. , You did the right thing." Wen Qiao said: "To avoid leaking information, those small Tu tribes will react very quickly and will only follow the big tribes. "
< br>"The person guarding Jinyang is the newly arrived Liu Han clan, named 'Liu Yasheng', with thousands of people. He also gathered more than 3,000 families of refugees who were scattered in the mountains, divided the land and built houses, and settled outside the city. "Guo Rong said.
"Liu Ya?" Wen Qiao was startled.
"It's not Liu Ya, it's Liu Yasheng. He has nothing to do with Liu Ya. He can only be said to be of the same clan. This man is a member of the pseudo-prince Liu Can. He is vulgar and illiterate and is good at cavalry." Guo Rong said.
Wen Qiao was speechless, what a useless name.
"What else? Tell us all." Wen Qiao said.
"Liu Can brought another group of people to move westward this year." Guo Rong said: "Not only are the Hu people in the counties, but also the Han people in Hedong and Pingyang, many Wubao have lost money to eliminate disasters, and they have gone out. Some money, food, livestock, and people were taken away by Liu Can. Pingyang was still gathering the scattered Hu and Han people and sent them to Guanxi. The Huns were leaving a way out. "
" Liu Cong is still in Pingyang?"
"He has been patrolling various places, advising on farming and mulberry farming, and renovating the city."
“After all, he is in a hurry, of course.” Wen Qiao said with a smile.
"One more thing." Guo Rong continued: "There is a widespread rumor in Jinyang that Liu Can attacked Nan'an and Tianshui counties, broke Nan'an, and then surrounded Tianshui. Sima Bao was unable to support his strength, and Zhang Shi from Liangzhou sent troops Riding more than 15,000 men, the siege of Tianshui can be solved. Liu Can will confront the Liangzhou soldiers in Nan'an County. I don't know what the outcome will be."
"Liangzhou is internally unstable and needs to protect itself. They may be able to go to one place and fight with the outside world, but I don't think they are willing to rescue Qinzhou. Only Zhang Anxun's loyalty to Xu Guo can force them to do so," Wen Qiao sighed.
Guo Rong also had some regrets.
In fact, when Zhang Gui was still alive, there was civil strife in Liangzhou, which reached the point of fighting with each other. In the end, Zhang Gui relied on the name given by the court to stabilize the situation and eliminate those who challenged his authority one by one.
Zhang Shi does not have the prestige of his father, and there are many people who are eyeing him internally, so it is difficult for him.
"Don't worry about that, the matter in front of you is important." Wen Qiao came back to his senses and said seriously: "For the current plan, we should stock up on food, grass and military resources, and don't act rashly. Once the time is ripe, we can launch it. If If you can't hold it back, you may be self-defeating, but someone may not come to rescue you, understand?"
Guo Rong nodded and couldn't help but ask, "When can I move?"
"Me too? I don’t know, I’m waiting for Duke Liang’s order.” Wen Qiao said: “Whether the Taiyuan tribes will rise or fall depends on this. As long as you do it well, Duke Liang will see it and Taiwei Wang will ask for your credit. "
Guo Rong's heart moved.
This is no longer a hint, but a naked statement.
Wen Taizhen was Wang Yifu's person, and it was Wang Yifu's credit to contact all the clans in Taiyuan.
This is to wake them up and let them know which side they are on.
Guo Rong had a cold war for no reason.
This kind of thing is more terrifying and bloody than fighting the Huns. But do they have a choice? It seems not.
Especially the Taiyuan Guo family, others already regard them as Wang Yan's people, right? There is no use in defending, after all, the mistress of the Wang family is the daughter of the Guo family in Taiyuan.
No more tricks, go ahead, maybe you will be rich and powerful.
(End of this chapter)