The Qin Empire had sixteen roads under its jurisdiction, sixty-six states in various sizes, and three roads in the northwest, with a total of nine states. Beishan Road was under its jurisdiction, Ganzhou, Xinzhou, Qingzhou, and Tianshan Road was under its jurisdiction, Shazhou and Suzhou. The largest area was Xiguan Road, which was under its jurisdiction, Jiazhou, Yuezhou, Hezhou and Jinzhou.

Qingzhou is north of Beishan Road and borders Xiguan Road Jiazhou. In the four prefectures of Xiguan Road, except for Jiazhou, the other three prefectures have been occupied by the Xiliang people and controlled by the Xiliang people.

Yanmen Pass in the northern part of Jinzhou is the border of the Great Qin and it is also the only way for the people of Xiliang to invade the Central Plains. Feng Hanxiao, the general who protected the country, led 50,000 Qin border troops to station on the front line of Jinzhou for many years, guarding Yanmen Pass and resisting the harassment of the people of Xiliang. When Feng Hanxiao was guarding the northwest border, although the people of Xiliang often sent small troops to harass him, they were often defeated without getting close to Yanmen Pass.

Yanmen Pass is located between Panlong Ridge, the last mountain in the northwest of the empire. Panlong Ridge stretches for hundreds of miles, winding and twisting, with many dangerous peaks and undulating. The high ones rise into the sky, but the low ones are enough to make people easily pass. Therefore, a long time ago, the largest gap in the Panlong Ridge line built Yanmen Pass, and other low ridges of Panlong Ridge also built small passes, which are small but very strong.

Yanmen Pass is the main pass. If you want to launch a large number of troops, you must pass Yanmen Pass and harass it small, but you can also avoid Yanmen Pass and invade from other small passes on the defense line. However, those small passes have built beacon towers. Once there is an enemy situation, the beacon will be lit immediately. The army guarding the pass can respond at any time. Therefore, reinforcements often arrive before the Xiliang people have broken through the pass. Even if there are really brave Xiliang people who have entered the pass, they often dare not go deeper, rob and burn and kill nearby, and rob some property. They will quickly evacuate before the Qin reinforcements arrive.

Without breaking Yanmen, it would not be able to pose a real military threat to the Qin Dynasty. The people of Xiliang also knew that there was a Fenghan smile to guard the northwest, and it was more difficult to break Yanmen Pass than to climb the sky.

However, after Feng Hanxiao was killed in Changtiangu outside the pass, the people of Xiliang actually rushed to the front with extremely rapid actions. The northwest defenders who lost Feng Hanxiao were in chaos. Moreover, the northwest defenders, whose morale was dispersed, faced Xiao Tianwen, a famous general from Xiliang. Xiao Tianwen was the king of the South Courtyard of Xiliang, commanded the troops of Xiliang, and was known as the number one general of Xiliang. When Feng Hanxiao died, Xiao Tianwen was invincible in the northwest. Soon he led his army to break through Yanmen Pass, and then drove straight in, conquering the city and territorial areas, invincible.

In less than half a year, dozens of cities in Jinzhou, Hezhou and Suzhou were all in the hands of the people of Xiliang. The Qin army retreated one after another, abandoned their armor. Fortunately, the governor of Tianshan Road Zhu Lingyue stepped forward and led his army to block the edge of the people of Xiliang. He led the Tianshan Road troops to assist Xiguan Road, and fought and retreated. He stood up until the arrival of the general Yu Buqu. After Yu Buqu arrived at the front line, he could not stop the spirit of the people of Xiliang for a while and retreated to the Ningshan line of Jiazhou. However, the people of Xiliang suddenly stopped their troops and did not continue to attack the Ningshan line.

In fact, given the situation at that time, even if the Qin army had Ningshan as a barrier, if they really wanted to fight, they would probably not be able to withstand the sharpness of the Xiliang people. The Xiliang people were in full swing and had a strong combat power. However, the Qin army had already had a great morale after losing Feng Hanxiao. Then it was defeated continuously within a few months, and its morale had dropped to freezing point. Moreover, a large number of materials were left behind when they retreated, and were obtained by the Xiliang people. The sluggish morale and the lack of materials were unable to confront the Xiliang people head-on.

However, the people of Xiliang suddenly stopped attacking, which gave the Qin army the opportunity to take a rest. Yu Buqu was a veteran on the battlefield. Of course, he knew that this opportunity was hard-won. During this period, he immediately set up a defense line on Ningshan. He knew that it would take a long time to mobilize supplies from the pass. The people of Xiliang didn't know when they would launch a new attack, so they recruited materials on the spot. In addition to ordering officials from all over the country to re-enlist food and grass for military use as much as possible, they also recruited a large number of civilian craftsmen to forge weapons and armor on the northwest. The resources that can be utilized in the northwest can be used as much as possible.

In addition, a large number of civilians were recruited to dig trenches and dig trenches on the Ningshan front line, and even built wood trays, nailed them into overturned wood thorns, and used all methods to destroy the empty areas in the northern part of Ningshan. The strongest of the people of Xiliang were the Western Liang cavalry. With these fortifications, if an important line of defense was built to prevent the reunion of the Western Liang cavalry.

Although the people of Xiliang only captured the three prefectures of Xiguan Road, the fear brought by them spread throughout the Qin Dynasty. The people in the northwest were even more frightened. Millions of victims who escaped from Xiguan Road flocked into the Tianshan Mountains and Beishan Road. The terrifying atmosphere brought by these refugees soon enveloped the entire northwest.

The morale among the army was low and the people were panicked. In addition, the three northwest roads have always been barren lands and lacked supplies. After this battle, the materials were in short supply. The three northwest roads and Yu Buqusui brought a total of 160,000 troops, which were divided into two lines by Yu Buqu. The first line was set up by Zhu Lingyue in the Tianmeng Mountain area, forming a horn with the Ningshan defenders. The daily food and grass expended by the 160,000 army was a huge amount. In addition, millions of people in the northwest, the food and grass in the northwest can be said to be rice and gold.

Yu Buqu is over 60 years old and is in charge of Northwest affairs. His health is already seriously overdrawn. Behind Ningshan is the Beiyuan County Town of Jiazhou. Yu Buqu is handling affairs in Beiyuan City. Beiyuan City can now be said to be the brain of the entire Northwest, and countless orders are issued from here.

After Chu Huan and his group came out of seclusion, they drove all the way. It was ten days later when they arrived in Beiyuan City. This not-so-large county town was built on Ningshan. Yu Buqu knew that the delegation had arrived in advance, but he did not have time to go out to greet him in person. Instead, he sent a deputy general under his command to greet him.

After the mission entered the city, the inn had already prepared the inn. This Beiyuan City was also the last city within the sphere of influence of the Great Qin Dynasty. Once it left Beiyuan City and crossed Ningshan, it would enter the control of the people of Xiliang.

The deputy general sent by Yu Buqu was called Dou Bo. At first glance, he was a powerful general who had been through a long battle formation. He was big and round, as thick as a steel needle, and stood upright. Chu Huan thought of the matter of entering the pass, and knew that the sooner the deal, the better, so he asked Dou Bo to pay homage to Yu Buqu. Dou Bo did not agree immediately, but just agreed to go and report to Yu Buqu.

After leaving the customs, the officials along the way tried their best to receive the mission and arrange food and accommodation, but the food was much simpler than the inside of the customs. The mission also knew that the situation in the northwest was special now, and it was not appropriate. The food in the Beiyuan City Guanshi was not much better than the previous places. There were three or four hundred people in the mission, but the inn had enough food. However, after using the meal, the officials in charge of the inn immediately came to clean up, but the leftovers did not order to be dumped, but were put away carefully. Xue Huaian saw it and was quite surprised and asked, "Is there a shortage of food in Beiyuan City?"

The official just sighed: "I don't know that not only Beiyuan City, but also the entire northwest is short of food. Although Beiyuan City is related to the food and grass transported from it, the general has ordered that everyone's food rations are subject to a prescribed quota for everyone in the city...!" He seemed unwilling to say more and did not continue.

Chu Huan looked at the official's expression and knew that the food and grass in the northwest were indeed very nervous.

I thought Yu Buqu was busy with military affairs and could not be seen in a short time, but Dou Bo came quickly and told Yu Buqu that he had taken time and was about to meet with the commander and deputy envoy of the mission. Chu Huan and Xue Huaian did not delay. They rode a horse and followed Dou Bo to Yu Buqu's residence. It was a very ordinary house with no soldiers guarding it. However, there were so many civil servants and generals coming in and out of the gate. Seeing this, Xue Huaian and Chu Huan both sighed in their hearts that the northwest was under great pressure and had a lot of affairs. Yu Buqu was old and had to deal with a lot of affairs every day. It is said that Yu Buqu was not in good health, and he dragged his sick body to the northwest and overdrawn like this, but he didn't know how long Yu Buqu could last.

Dou Bo took the two into the house and arrived at a house. He asked the two to wait a moment and report it. He soon saw a veteran out of the house wearing armor and bowed from afar, saying, "Mr. Xue, Lord Chu, work hard all the way!"

The man was tall, dark in skin, gray beard and hair made his dark skin even more conspicuous. His forehead was full of wrinkles, but his eyes were still shining brightly. Although he was old, his waist was still straight and looked very majestic. However, while walking, he was obviously no longer as brave as he was before and seemed very tired.

Chu Huan knew that this veteran who was still powerful was Yu Buqu, the general of Dingguo, one of the four generals of the Qin Dynasty.

Xue Huaian had already stepped forward and bowed, "Elder General, we have not worked hard. The old general has really worked hard. You... you have to take care of your health!" He could naturally see that although Yu Buqu was forced to cheer up, his fatigue was hard to hide. This veteran who had been on the battlefield for a lifetime, at his age, most of them had already raised flowers and funny birds, enjoying their old age, and enjoying the blessings of their children and grandchildren. However, he still had to drag his old body to the northwest. In the harsh environment of the northwest, he carried the burden of the rise and fall of the Qin Dynasty. Xue Huaian saw Yu Buqu’s hair white, but in addition to respect, he still felt a little moved.

Chu Huan also went forward and gave Yu Buqu a deep bow.

Yu Buqu stroked his white beard and smiled, "You are carrying a heavy burden when you go to Xiliang this time. The road behind is very difficult. I have not been able to leave the city to greet you. Don't be surprised." He took Xue Huaian's hand and said, "Go in and talk!"

After entering the house and sitting down, Xue Huaian knew that Yu Buqu was busy with affairs and could not delay too much. He looked at Chu Huan and finally said straight to the point: "Elder General, when we left Xigu Pass, we saw that Xigu Pass had been sealed and no one was allowed to enter. Is this the order issued by the old general?"
Chapter completed!