Three months have passed since the Battle of Zhongrenting, and the time has come to the end of the year.
In the past three months, the Taishan Army took advantage of the victory and pursued it from Zhongrenting.
Dong Fan was assigned as the left army, Yang Mao was the middle army, and Zhang Dan was the right army. Dong Fan and Yang Mao were responsible for marching north into Youzhou, while Zhang Dan was responsible for heading east along the Hutuo River in the Zhongshan area, and briefly settled on Zhongshan.
Hejian and Bohai counties.
Along the way, the three armies passed by, and the counties and counties along the road fell in the wind. They successively fell into Tangxian, Fanyang and other major northern cities.
After Dong Fang and Yang Mao's troops entered Youzhou, they encountered no resistance from the Han army until they reached Yishui.
There is a city named Gu'an by the Yishui River. It was the capital of the Yan Kingdom at that time. Although the city is small, it has the ambition to be a chariot.
Youzhou's Gu'an Order, with the support of some of the Northern Army from Beifou Town, set up camp on the bank of Yishui, preparing to resist Yang Mao's troops from entering Youzhou.
It cannot be said that this Gu'an order is really Yelang's arrogance. In fact, this Gu'an also has a reason. In the future, this place will be renamed Yijing by Gongsun Zan. After the Gongsun group was defeated in Jieqiao, it still survives tenaciously.
for three years.
You can see the benefits of this place.
The reason why Gu'an is easy to defend is all because of the Yishui River in the south of the city. This is the Yishui River where Prince Dan of Yan sent Jing Ke's envoy to Qin in the past.
It was on the banks of the Yishui River that the Jingke delegation followed the Yishui River via Puyinxing, crossed the Taihang Mountains, and entered the Bingzhou area, then crossed the river, forded the Weishui River, and finally arrived in Xianyang.
From here, we can see the importance of Yishui. It is an important waterway from Youzhou to Puyinxing in Bingzhou.
But more importantly, since the Spring and Autumn Period, whether the Yan State here resisted the Zhongshan State in the south or the later Zhao State, it had always used Yishui as its line of defense.
It can be said that this ancient Anling planned to rely on Yishui to resist Yang Mao's army from entering Youzhou, which cannot be said to be arrogant.
But this Gu Anling did not really understand the history of Yan State, at least not completely.
In fact, Yan State did not completely rely on Yishui in resisting Zhao State's invasion, because behind it was the vast Youzhou Plain, and the ancient capital Jicheng was only a hundred miles away, which was too dangerous.
Therefore, the Yan people actually established a defense line on Xushui, south of Yishui, so it is also called Nanyishui. On this river, the Yan people built a series of river great walls based on river defense, which still exist today.
However, Fanyuting and Beixincheng, the hubs of the Yan Great Wall, surrendered without resistance.
Therefore, even if Gu Anling had this awareness, he could only do nothing.
In fact, this is also the current difficulty in Youzhou after the Battle of Zhongrenting, that is, Youzhou is not without a defense line.
Yan and Zhao had been fighting each other for hundreds of years and had actually built a complete north-south defense line.
The western section of this plain is the two river defenses constructed by the Nanyishui and Beiyishui just mentioned. In the eastern section of the defense line, the lower reaches of the Juma River serve as the defense line.
It can be said that Youzhou still has this line of defense at this time.
But the problem is that at this time, Youzhou is fighting independently, lacking unified dispatch and command, and unable to coordinate at all.
Therefore, these lines of defense are actually only superficial.
as expected.
After learning that Gu'an ordered him to leave the city and refuse to defend Yishui, Dong's visiting department to the west of Yang Mao directly cooperated with Yang Mao.
Dong Fang used Lu Xiang as his light force, crossed the Yishui river at night, and then went straight into the rear of the Yixian soldiers.
The few Han soldiers were worried that their retreat would be cut off, so they abandoned the Yishui defense line and broke through to the north.
Their plan was to continue going north and seek refuge with the governor of Zhuo County, Shi Qizhou.
There, Qi Zhou was gathering the last strength of Youzhou's powerful people to continue their stubborn resistance.
Everyone can see the thinking of these powerful warriors in the underworld, which is to defend constantly and trade space for time. When the food and fodder of the Titai Mountain army are exhausted, can they still leave?
But by the end of September, the situation in Youzhou had undergone tremendous changes.
Because two consecutive years of war have depleted the people's food reserves, even the middle-class families have used up the food left as seeds.
In September of this year, the autumn harvest in Youzhou was once again delayed due to the defeat of the Zhenbei Army. The rebel soldiers who retreated to Youzhou stole and plundered the countryside.
This time, the people of Youzhou could no longer survive, so hunger and cold arose inside and outside the city. Countless Guizhou leaders who had no livelihood, and even bankrupt small country tycoons, raised flags to rebel and echoed the Taishan Army.
The war situation in Youzhou suddenly accelerated.
After Dong Fan of the Left Route Army had a local as his guide, his marching speed suddenly accelerated. After cooperating with Yang Mao to capture Gu'an, Dong Fan continued to divide his troops to directly attack Zhuoxian County.
After that, Yang Mao turned his army eastward and went to Baji County.
Don't ask why Dong Fang cooperated with Yang Mao to capture Gu'an, and then gave Yang Mao the task of attacking Ji County, the city of Youzhou Prefecture. It's just a matter of human nature.
As for this division of the army, Dong Fan actually reached a tacit consensus with Yang Mao. That is, the area along the Taihang Mountains to the east of Zhuo County was allocated to Dong Fan, while Ji County, Yuyang County, and Youbeiping County in Guangyang were allocated to Dong Fan.
To Yang Mao.
After making such a division, everyone was happy to fight this battle.
Subsequently, Dong Fang led his army along the eastern foothills of the Taihang Mountains and began to attack cities and villages all the way, and rarely failed.
By the end of September, Dong sent troops to besiege Zhuo County.
At that time, Shi Qi, the governor of Zhuo County in the city, was besieged internally and externally, and wanted to abandon Zhuo County, but the outside of the city was already besieged by Dong Fang.
It was very difficult to collect wood and use water in the city, and the soldiers and the people were not united.
Even the aristocratic families on the same boat as Ben and Qi Zhou tried their best. First, the Sun family in the city and the Xu family fled one after another. However, they were captured by the Taishan army outside the city.
Then the top knights in the city, such as Zhao Du, Huo Nu, etc., all had different intentions and were ready to fight back at any time to gain great wealth.
This man's heart is always buying up and not buying down. Seeing that the Han Dynasty has no way out, no one wants to be buried with him. And those who are willing to be buried with him have already died in Zhongren Pavilion.
And why didn't the Xu family in the city die? You must know that the Xu Zhi who died heroically in Dingting came from this family.
But their reasons are also very reasonable, that is:
We have all shed our blood and been loyal to the Han Dynasty, and we have already deserved the kindness of the Han Dynasty. Can’t the remaining tribesmen seek a way out for themselves and their family?
Okay, that's great.
It was precisely this statement that made so much sense that those who sacrificed their lives in the Zhongren Pavilion were all worthy of their loyalty to the Han Dynasty. There was no pressure on them whether they ran away or surrendered.
So in the last few days of September, the powerful people in Zhuoxian County lured the rangers Zhao Du and Huo Nu to kill Qi Zhou from behind and surrendered from the city.
In this way, Zhuoxian City was defeated.
After entering Zhuo County, Dong visited Andu and the four people, but everything was as before. It seemed that he did not intend to follow the Taishan Army's past policy of entering the city to clean up the stubborn and lawless powerful.
Did Dong Fang commit the same old habit he had during the Heji period and start to appease?
No, Dong Fan, who had made a mistake once, was more radical than the other four commanders. If he could prove his loyalty, Dong Fan would not regret the knife in his hand being stained with blood.
And this time it was the king's arrangement.
Zhang Chong understands very well that Youzhou is now in a vacuum period. If he cannot recover Diding as soon as possible, foreign tribes will enter and take over, and by then he may be stuck in the quagmire of border defense in northern Xinjiang.
So, this time we have to act quickly.
For this reason, Zhang Chong secretly discussed this operation with the three commanders. He would not torture the strong men, but would only hand over the food and weapons, and everything would be settled.
After Youzhou is pacified, you can take your time to cook.
This means first stir-frying over high heat and then simmering over slow heat. This meat is so rotten.
Therefore, with the support of Zhuo County, Dong visited the three thousand remaining troops to stabilize Zhuo County, and then continued to move north.
Judging from the map, north of Zhuojun are Daijun and Shanggujun, and it seems that they can be reached at any time.
But in fact, there are continuous mountains between Zhuo County, Guangyang County, Dai County and Shanggu County. On the west side is the Taihang Mountain, and on the north is the Yanshan Mountain running east-west.
In short, regardless of Dai County, Shanggu County is right next to Zhuo County, but it is actually far away.
But no matter how far it was, Dong Fang had to continue heading north, because his destination this time was Juyongguan.
This pass is located at the entrance of the Yanshan Mountains and the Taihang Mountains, and is the only passage leading to the upper valley. To guard Juyong Pass is to guard the vast plains of Youji.
At this time, the guard of Juyong Pass was Kou Wei, who came from the Kou family of the Shanggu wealthy family.
And what a coincidence, he was the younger brother of Sima Kouhuai, the frontman of Youzhou Tuqi who died outside Xingyang that year.
There is a big age difference between him and his brother, but he is deeply favored by his brother.
The Kou family had already declined in their generation, until Kou Huai was born in the family. He fought for his life in the northern Xinjiang with his youth and blood, not only won a fortune of more than two thousand stones, but also protected the family.
According to the system of the Han family, any person with two thousand stones can shield the descendants of the clan from entering the family.
Kou Huai gave this place to his younger brother Kou Wei.
Therefore, his resume is very beautiful. First, he was promoted to Chongyulang as a young man, and then moved to Zhonglang. After the great chaos, he was appointed as Nanfang Lieutenant, and then returned to his hometown to form a military unit with the ribbon of Military Guard Colonel.
Originally, Kou Wei was just the deputy general of Juyongguan, but after his commander revealed his intention to surrender to the Taishan Army, he and his ten guards were captured that night.
After proclaiming himself the governor of Shanggu, he vowed to make the Taishan army pay a bloody price.
Dong Fang took eight thousand officers and men from the Marshal's Department of the rear army and first arrived at Jundu Pass south of Jundu Mountain.
This pass and Juyong Pass are divided into north and south, sandwiched on both sides of Jundu Mountain.
When Dong Fang arrived, this pass had been abandoned by Kou Wei in order to let Taishan's army march north to Jundu Mountain, so that he could wait for work at Juyong Pass.
When Dong Fang crossed Jundu Mountain, he breathed out a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Jundu Mountain is really steep, with cascading mountains and steep terrain. It is truly the key to the northwest throat of Youzhou.
Fortunately, the enemy did not ambush them here.
In fact, Dong Fang didn't know that thousands of years later, this place was no longer called Jundu Mountain. It had a resounding name, Badaling Great Wall, and it was the most important gate of Beijing.
When they arrived at the city gate of Juyongguan, Dong Fang knew that it would be difficult to fight, so he tried to persuade Kou Wei to surrender.
Kou Wei was determined to defend the city, but he did not kill Dong Fan's envoy. Instead, he asked him to bring Dong Fan a message:
"I have a great pass here, do you dare to attack it?"
To be honest, Dong Fang didn't dare.
As soon as he walked in front of the formation, he saw the lofty mountain ridge that was difficult to attack. Not to mention he only had 8,000 people, even if he tried to attack with 80,000 people, he would suffer heavy casualties.
So Dong Fang turned to his military aide Tian Feng for his plan. He was good at military strategy and he quickly came up with a plan for Dong Fang.
On the night when Dong's army arrived at Juyong Pass, Xue Zhen, a new brave general in the army, led a hundred people under the leadership of a local guide and quietly walked around the dense forest road of Jundu Mountain to the front of Juyong Pass.
This time he didn't use Lu Kuang. After all, no matter how useful it was, he still had to let people rest.
Kou Wei was conceited that he had a great power, so he calmly fell asleep. The following steps were not elite, nor did they have any vigilance.
So Xue Zhen and a hundred people quietly hid outside Juyongguan and waited until midnight.
In the middle of the night, Dong Fang suddenly set up torches and ordered the three armies to fire rockets at the Han army at the gate of the city.
The dense arrows almost lit up the sky east of the city gate.
But what effect does this have on Juyongguan?
The Han soldiers who were woken up in the middle of the night saw the stupid behavior of the Taishan army below, and they were just watching a show. When the show was over, they would fall asleep again.
As everyone knows, this rocket was not released to the Han army at all, but to Xue Zhen's Centurion.
After receiving the signal from our army, they quietly came to the foot of the hanging peak on the southwest side of Juyong Pass under the cover of night.
These warriors came from Taishan Mountain, Taihang Mountain, Songshan Mountain and other places. They used iron drills and ropes to quietly climb the peak on the side of Juyongguan.
Then they used ropes to pull up their armor and equipment. Even for concealment, the armor was painted black to prevent the armor from reflecting light and revealing their whereabouts.
Then they followed the same pattern, descended from the mountain wall to Juyongguan City, put on their armor, and went straight to kill the largest military tent in the pass.
Kou Wei, who was still sleeping at the time, was killed on the couch without any reaction.
After that, Xue Zhen held Kou Wei's head in his hand and shouted that the city gate was broken.
The sleeping Han army didn't know what happened, so they were swept into the city gate and killed.
In this way, Dong Fang captured Juyongguan, the throat of Youji.
Compared with Dong Fang's slightly tortuous journey, the Taishan Army in the other two routes went extremely smoothly.
Not long after Dong Fang captured Zhuoxian County, Yang Mao also captured Jixian County.
In this battle, Yang Mao's general Jin Xuan ascended and captured the city first and achieved the first success in this battle.
Once Jixian was defeated, Guangyang was shaken.
Relying on the seal and ribbon of the governor of Guangyang, Yang Mao captured the counties of Guangyang without any bloodshed. After that, Yang Mao led his army eastward to Yuyang.
First, they defeated the Xianyu clan soldiers in the Yongnu area, and then defeated the last powerful soldiers of the Youbei vassal state in Lu County.
This time Yang Mao also has his own end point.
It is Luronsai located in Youbeiping.
This pass is located on the Lulong Road, the key passage from the north of Saibei to the south of Youji.
In fact, Lulong Road, Pinggang Road to the west, and Wuzhu Road to the east are three valley passages in the Yanshan Mountains. They have been important places to defend against the Xiongnu's southward march since ancient times.
But since the Xiongnu no longer exist and Xianbei has been divided, these three important roads have fallen into disrepair and cannot be marched.
Of course, there is actually another passage, which is the Liaoxi Corridor, which is a long and narrow passage between Yanshan Mountain and the sea. The later Shanhaiguan Pass was located there.
But in this world, due to the humid climate, one branch of this channel was submerged by the periodic rise in sea levels and could only be passed seasonally. Therefore, it was also called the coastal channel and had no use.
But now, the weather is getting colder and colder, and this seaside road is getting wider and wider. A hundred years later, Murong Xianbei, who developed in Liaodong, continued to travel south to the Central Plains, and this is the road he took.
It can be said that they are the result of changes in the environment.
Now, from the situation in which Zhang Chong ordered Dong Fang to capture Juyong Pass and Yang Mao to capture Lulongsai, we can know the strategy of the Taishan Army at this stage.
That means closing the door, cleaning the house, and then inviting guests.