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, they have to come here this time. Otherwise, they will be greeted by a rain of arrows.
Among the group of people, the most dazzling one is Guo Rong.
Whether his contribution is great or small depends entirely on how you interpret it.
If you interpret it in a small way, it means that you just instigated rebellion in one county.
Looking at it more broadly, 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 the attack on Jingxing Pass later.
.
Jingxing Pass cannot be conquered, the morale of the Xiongnu 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.
"You have made meritorious service in Leping, so 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. Come back to Leping as soon as possible. I don't want you to fight. Just recruit people to help transfer supplies."
"As ordered." Guo Rong stood up and responded.
With 90,000 soldiers and horses entering the annexed state, the most difficult problem was the supply of food, grass and military supplies.
Bingzhou has been suffering from disasters and wars for many years, and has been very poor for a long time. Last year, the weather was good, and some food and grass were accumulated, but this year, when the war started, almost all was consumed. Expecting to raise food and grass on the spot in Bingzhou is a waste of time.
At present, for the troops entering Bingzhou from Fukouxing, two-thirds of their food and grass are shipped from Fangtou and then transferred by land, and the other third is recruited from Hebei.
All the grain and grass along the Jingxingguan Pass came 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, which is a long distance and consumes a lot of money.
Food is only one aspect of consumption, and transportation is another huge burden. After all, if you have food, you have to rely on people to transport it.
Shao Xun's intention was to let Guo Rong go back to serve, help transport grain, grass, equipment, and reduce the burden on the people of Hebei.
In addition to the transportation, they may also need to dedicate some of their manpower to help with the herding.
As the army advanced rapidly, a large number of livestock began 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.
"Zhang——" Shao Xun looked at the Wuhuan chieftain who was following Guo Rong, and couldn't remember the complicated 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 is called 'Zhang Zhongzhi'. Get up."
"Thank you, Mr. Minggong, 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 thatched pavilion, there were still some people with lower social status standing. Half of their bodies were inside the pavilion, and the other half of their bodies were outside in the rain, but they did not dare to move.
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 live your own lives, don't think about it. When the imperial court recruits troops, you must obey them.
If there is an order from the commander-in-chief, if anyone refuses, he will be pursued and punished even if he goes to heaven or on earth."
"As ordered." Guo Rong took the lead, and everyone replied in unison.
The rain became heavier and heavier, and the place 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 welcomed 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 for questioning.
There is no need for him to emphasize it repeatedly. Every word he says 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."
****
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 Xiongnu gathered tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry, and after trying to steal 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 in vain.
Today is the seventh day of May, and there are far fewer Huns in the wild.
Perhaps there was a lack of food and grass, or perhaps it was raining for days, and 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 Xiongnu thieves were building a fortress near Lengquanshui in the south." Guo Wuyuan of the Jiexiu Guo family pointed the way and said.
Cold Spring 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 converged into a small opening and became rugged and narrow. The post road came 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.
Lengquan is located ten miles away from the north entrance, and the terrain is relatively dangerous, so a fortress was built as a defensive plan.
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. The whole road is "two mountains facing each other", "Fen River flows", and "
"Go up to Daishanfu" and "Go down to Juejian".
To put it simply, if you pass through the 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, and high mountains on the other side of the river. Among the 110 miles long section, dozens of miles are particularly dangerous.
The road is a pavilion road cut out of the mountain and cut out of stone. The pavilion road is five to six feet to ten feet above the water. Just like Bashan in the Qinling Mountains, it is an extremely rare wooden plank road in the north.
The Huns built a fort at 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 go and fight? If the Huns are allowed to build an earthen city on the cold spring water, it will be difficult." Guo Wu said.
"You, you are too utilitarian." Wen Qiao glanced at him and said with a smile: "I have always been a gambler, but in this matter, I dare not bet. The four counties of Jingling, Zhongdu, Wu, and Jiexiu are in
Hand, the credit is not small, you still want to gamble?"
Guo Wu smiled sheepishly and said, "Forget it then."
"To attack Pingyang, this road is too difficult." Wen Qiao looked at the rainy and misty south, shook his head, and said: "It is better to take a circuitous route, take Xihe first, and then use the power of Mount Tai to go south."
"The mountains of Xihe (Lüliang Mountain) are continuous and sparsely populated, so it may be difficult to supply supplies." 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, causing heavy losses. Liang Gongruo made a detour from then on.
It may lead to a big 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 I have achieved this feat. It is enough. Among all the native tribes in Taiyuan, the Guo family's achievements should be the first.
, Duke Liang will definitely reward you, don’t worry.”
Guo Wu was overjoyed when he heard this, and then said: "Over in Taiyuan, Liu Yasheng may have to run away. But in this heavy rain weather, it is not that easy to run away. But if you don't run, there is nothing you can do. There is no food and no weapons.
How many days can you last?"
"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 sent the old, weak, women and children
Withdrawing to Pingyang shows no intention of holding on. It will only take a few days to see if Liu Ling can catch it."
The biggest problem in Jinyang or Taiyuan as a whole is food and grass.
Liu Kun, how much food can we get in a place where the Huns have been fighting for more than ten years? When Liu Yasheng first came, he directly brought tens of thousands of herdsmen from various tribes to graze at will, which shows how sparsely populated the land was.
The only food cultivation is in the hands of Taiyuan's wealthy families, 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 due to short fashion, he could not provide enough food and grass.
After fighting for several years, the Xiongnu were short of food and had never 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 find a way to raise them in Bingzhou, even if
We can only raise 10,000 dendrobium, which can also reduce Henan's expenditure by 50,000 dendrobium."
There is no grain in Taiyuan, so it all depends on transportation from Henan and Hebei. Every time a handful of grain is transported, four or five grains are consumed on the way - and after days of rain, there may be more. This shows how critical it is to raise 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 be without food?"
Just when Wen Qiao was actively deploying defense and raising food and grass, on the tenth day of the fifth month, 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 of the defeat of the Shangdang, so he fled at night and ran to 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 in tandem.
The Huns' defeat seemed 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.
(I will try my best to update three times today. If you have votes, please vote. Thanks.)
Chapter completed!