Chapter 720 The defeat is hard to stop
In Sanchuigang in early May, the willows are green.
In the pouring rain, wealthy families and tribal chiefs from all walks of life came in droves.
No matter how heavy the rain is and no matter how difficult the road is, I will come here this time. Otherwise, they will be greeted by a hail of arrows.
Among the group of people, the most dazzling one is Guo Rong.
His credit may be great or small, it all depends on how you interpret it.
If you interpret it in a smaller way, it means that you just instigated rebellion in one county.
Looking at the bigger picture, this is the breakthrough point for overall victory.
If Wang Xiu is really allowed to go to Shangai County, the local wealthy families will probably recruit Ding Zhuang to go eastward out of habitual obedience or other reasons. Lu Ya may not be able to survive the journey, let alone Later, there was an attack on Jingxing Pass.
Jingxing Pass cannot be conquered, the morale of the Huns may not be affected, and Danzhu Ridge may not be conquered so quickly.
If you calculate it this way, Guo Rong's contribution is really not small.
"If you have made meritorious service in Leping, you can be appointed as the prefect of Leping." In the grass pavilion, Shao Xun held a riding whip and looked at the gloomy sky outside and said.
“Thank you, Duke Liang, for your kindness.” Guo Rong was overjoyed and knelt down on the ground.
Shao Xun glanced down at him and said: "Get up. The official seal will be issued later. Rush back to Leping as soon as possible. I don't want you to fight. Just recruit people to help transfer supplies."< br>
"Yes." Guo Rong stood up and responded.
Ninety thousand soldiers and horses entered the merged state, and the most difficult problem was the supply of grain, grass and military supplies.
Bingzhou has suffered from successive years of disasters and constant wars, and has long been extremely poor. Last year was a good year and we saved a little bit of food and grass, but this year when we started fighting, it was almost used up again. Expecting to raise food and grass on the spot in Bingzhou is like trying to catch a fish.
For now, two-thirds of the food and grass for the troops entering Bingzhou from Fukouxing will be shipped from Fangtou and then transferred by land, and the other third will be recruited from Hebei.
The grain and grass along the Jingxingguan Pass all come from Jizhou.
The transportation of Danzhu Ling Hou Feihu's tribe is also quite difficult. Generally, it is transported to Hanoi by ship and then transferred to land. The distance is long and the consumption is huge.
Food is only one aspect of consumption, and delivery is another huge burden. After all, food has to be transported by people.
Shao Xun’s intention was to let Guo Rong go back to serve and help transport grain, grass and equipment to reduce the burden on the people of Hebei.
In addition to transporting animals, they may also need to dedicate some of their manpower to help with the herding.
With the rapid advancement of the army, a large number of livestock have begun to enter Bingzhou.
These livestock will inevitably lose weight after long-distance "march", so Guo Rong needs to find hilly valleys with lush vegetation in Leping for grazing land.
There are still many things to do.
"Zhang——" Shao Xun looked at the Wuhuan chieftain who was following Guo Rong, and couldn't remember the complicated Hu name for a moment.
"How dare you insult the ears of a noble man with a humble name? Please give me a good name by Ming Gong." The chief knelt on the ground and said.
Shao Xun pondered for a moment and said: "I heard that my sister Zhang is the wife of Tao Bao. Tao An is very loyal and brave, and you can't lag behind him. He can be called 'Zhang Zhongzhi'. Get up." ."
"Thank you for the name," Zhang Zhongzhi immediately stood up and thanked him.
There were several scholars in the pavilion, and Shao Xun comforted them one by one.
On the edge of the grass pavilion, there are still some people with lower status standing. Half of their bodies are inside the pavilion and half of their bodies are outside in the rain, but they dare not move a little.
Shao Xun put his hands behind his back and looked at these people one by one.
Everyone he noticed prostrated themselves on the ground, not daring to do anything unruly.
In fact, more than ten tribal chiefs knelt directly in the muddy water outside the pavilion, motionless.
"Everyone who came here today has been named." Shao Xun stood at the edge of the thatched pavilion, looking at the increasingly dense dark clouds, and said: "Go back and make a living, don't think about it. The imperial court is recruiting troops. When serving, you should obey the orders of the commander. If anyone refuses, he will be punished even if he goes to heaven or earth. "
"Obey the order," everyone said. The voice replied.
The rain became heavier and heavier, and the venue became silent for a while.
Shao Xun looked at the vast rain curtain and was silent.
The people stood or knelt, not daring to move.
On the post road outside the thatched pavilion, rows of soldiers marched in the rain, heading north.
Bingzhou ushered in a new conqueror.
Ninety thousand sons gave him the confidence to scold Fang Qiu. He didn’t need to say harsh words, just a look could make the powerful Hu and Han heroes who were used to burning, killing and looting tremble and even kneel in the rain to wait. Ask questions.
He doesn’t need to emphasize it repeatedly, every word will be carefully remembered in his heart, and he will not dare to violate it. This is the most intoxicating power for men.
“Let’s go.” Shao Xun asked Yang Qin to bring him his coir raincoat, and then said, “Go straight to Qi County.”
******
< br>Wen Qiao didn't go to Sanchuigang because he felt there was something big to do.
At the end of April, he gathered 4,000 troops from three counties and went south to Jiexiu. He joined forces with more than 1,000 people from the Guo family in Taiyuan who occupied the county seat, and withstood a fierce offensive launched by the Huns.
The Huns gathered tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry. After stealing the city to no avail, they looted everywhere and sent infantry to attack the city. In the end, more than a thousand corpses were left behind, and the offensive ended without any problem.
Today is the seventh day of May, and there are far fewer Huns in the wild.
Perhaps due to lack of food and grass, or perhaps due to continuous rain, the cavalry could not run. In short, except for a few men and horses left to monitor Jiexiu, most of them dispersed and disappeared.
Jiexiu is a county under Xihe.
During the Warring States Period, it was the border between Wei and Zhao, hence the name "Jiexiu".
In this dynasty, because there was a place where Jie Zitui lived in seclusion in Jiexiu, it was renamed "Jiexiu". It was the earliest birthplace of the Guo family in Taiyuan.
"A woodcutter came to report that the Huns and thieves were building a fortress in the cold spring area in the south." Guo Wuyuan of the Jiexiu Guo family pointed the direction and said.
Cold Spring Water is located 20 miles southwest of Jiexiu County. It is named after the cold spring water.
Ten miles southwest of Jiexiu, the flat and open terrain slowly converges into a small opening, becoming rugged and narrow. The post road leads out of it, with mountains on the left and rivers on the right, making it more difficult and dangerous.
This entrance is called "Guanjuejin North Entrance" - Guanjuejin is the famous Queshu Valley in the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
Lengquanshui is located ten miles away from the north entrance, and the terrain is relatively dangerous, so a fort was built as a defensive strategy.
Traveling southwest from the north entrance for a total of about 110 miles, you can reach the boundary of Yong'an County in Pingyang (today's Huozhou). This is the Queshu Valley Mountain Road. "Go up to Daishanfu" and "Go down to Juejian".
To put it simply, if you pass through Queshu Valley from north to south, you will see high mountains on the left side of the post road, the deep Fenshui River Valley on the right side, and high mountains on the other side of the river. Among the 110 miles of road, dozens of miles are particularly dangerous. There was no road originally, but a pavilion road was cut out of the mountain and stone. The pavilion road was five or six feet to one foot above the water, just like the Bashan in the Qinling Mountains. Same, it is an extremely rare wooden plank road in the north.
The Huns built a fortress in Lengquanshui for a self-evident purpose - in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Lengquan Pass and post were built here and troops were sent to guard it. In the Jin Dynasty, there was no fierce war and no Guancheng was built.
"Taizhen, do you want to fight? If the Huns are allowed to build an earthen city in the cold spring water, it will be difficult." Guo Wu said.
"You, you are too utilitarian." Wen Qiao glanced at him and smiled: "I have always been a gambler, but in this matter, I dare not bet. Jingling, Zhongdu, Wu , Jiexiu four counties are in hand, the credit is not small, you still want to gamble?"
Guo Wu smiled sheepishly and said: "Forget it."
" This road is too difficult to attack Pingyang." Wen Qiao looked at the misty south, shook his head, and said: "It is better to take a roundabout way, take Xihe first, and then go south with the power of Mount Tai."
" The mountains in Xihe (Luliang Mountain) are sparsely populated, so it may be difficult to supply. "Guo Wu sighed: "In the past, Tuoba Pugen came down from the Xihe River and was blocked by Liu Cong in the mountains. He ran out of food and retreated, and Liang Gongruo would have suffered heavy losses. It will lead to a great defeat."
"You and I don't need to worry about this matter. Liang Gong's troops are very stable," Wen Qiao said, "I have been in Taiyuan for more than half a year, and the achievements of the Taiyuan tribes are enough. Among them, Guo's contribution should be ranked first, and Liang Gong will be rewarded, don't worry."
Guo Wu was overjoyed when he heard this, and then said: "Over in Taiyuan, Liu Yasheng may have run away. . But it’s not that easy to run in this heavy rain, but there’s no other way. How long can we last without food and equipment?”
"He wanted to run away a long time ago." Wen Qiao said with a smile: "He sent 10,000 troops south to reinforce Liu Yao, but almost all of them were lost. It would be good to have four to five thousand men on hand. Before that, he had already sent the old, weak, women and children Withdrawing to Pingyang, it seems that there is no intention to stick to it. Let's see if Liu Ling can catch it. "
The biggest problem in Jinyang or the whole of Taiyuan is food and grass.
How much resources can there be in a place where Liu Kun and the Xiongnu have been at odds for more than ten years? When Liu Yasheng first came, he directly brought tens of thousands of herders from various tribes to graze their animals at will, which shows how sparsely populated the land was.
The only food cultivation is in the hands of Taiyuan wealthy people, and their attitude is self-evident.
Of course, Liu Yasheng also recruited 3,000 households of ordinary people - refugees from the Tuoba Dai Kingdom - to farm, but it was short-lived and could not provide enough food and grass.
After fighting for several years, the Xiongnu were short of food and had never been improved, or Liang Gong did not give them a chance to improve.
"In the past few days, you have inspected the counties and prepared provisions." Wen Qiao looked at Guo Wu and said, "If the rain continues, it will be extremely difficult to transport military provisions. Liang Gong will definitely think The method is to raise money in Bingzhou. Even if we can only raise 10,000 hu of dendrobium, we can reduce Henan's expenditure by 50,000 hu of dendrobium." Four or five hu of dendrobium will be consumed on the way - and maybe even more after days of rain. This shows how crucial it is to collect food on the spot.
“We are really out of food.” Guo Wu said with a bitter smile.
"Try your best to raise money." Wen Qiao took Guo Wu's hand and said with a smile: "Yesterday you invited me to drink, how can I have no food?"
Just when Wen Qiao was actively deploying defense and raising food and grass, on the tenth day of May, as if he had made a return trip, Li Chong returned to Jinyang City.
As soon as they arrived here, they received news: Liu Yasheng learned about the defeat of the Shangdang, so he fled at night and ran towards the mountains to the west.
Liu Ling sent a group of men and horses to occupy the city, led more than 7,000 infantry and cavalry men westward, and pursued them one after another.
The Huns' defeat seems to be unstoppable.
Li Chong waited for three or four days of food and grass in Jinyang. On May 15th, he led his troops north to Yangqu and headed straight for Shile.
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(End of this chapter)