Yanmen Pass, as an important pass for the Han family in northern border defense, had different defenses in different periods.
Whenever the Hu people went south along the Sangqian River and entered Yanmen, once they could break through, they could directly follow the Fenshui River Valley into the heart of Taiyuan to plunder, or they could break into Hebei along the southeast along the Huchi River Valley and enter Hebei to plunder.
Because of its importance, the Han Dynasty has always regarded Yanmen Pass as the most important defensive zone on its northern border. In addition to the daily beacon soldiers guarding the pass, there are also General Du Liao, Huns and other troops stationed near Yanmen on the border wall.
outside.
But this is already in the past. As Liu Hong mobilized most of the Bingzhou frontier troops to go south when rushing west to Chang'an, the defenses in this section fell into emptiness. Fortunately, this period was also a time when the Xianbei people were in chaos, otherwise Bingzhou would have fallen early.
For Huxu.
At this time, about fifty miles northwest of Yanmen Pass, there was a rammed earth plateau that meandered hundreds of miles from east to west. This was the Zhao Great Wall built by the Zhao State in the past.
As time goes by, only the base of the majestic border wall remains, but the artistic conception of fighting and iron horses becomes stronger and stronger like fine wine.
Outside this section of the border wall, which is hundreds of miles away, although it is still Han territory in name, it is actually what the world often calls outside the Pass.
This is a vast expanse of mountainous grassland. It is October, and the ups and downs are dotted with frost.
This area is the pasture of the Tuoba Xianbei people.
On these hundreds of miles of grassland, there is a large lake in the middle, with vast mist. There are grasslands and lakes. This was originally a unique and high-quality pasture, but unfortunately, this lake is a rare brine lake and cannot support cattle and horses at all.
That's why this grassland was left to the Tuoba tribe, which was considered a weak tribe.
The Tuoba tribe, like other Xianbei tribes, originated from the northeastern region, and then collectively moved into the warm and humid grasslands with the decline of the Huns.
Then, between Huanling and Huanling, they gradually continued to migrate southwest along the Yinshan Mountains and entered the current grassland to inhabit.
Unlike some other tribes, the Tuoba Xianbei have a custom of shaving off part of the hair on the top of their heads and braiding the surrounding hair into small braids to hang down. In this way, they are also called "Suotou Xianbei" by the Han people.
Originally, the Tuoba tribe was weak, with a strength of more than a thousand accounts. But opportunities soon came, and I don’t know what methods the Han people used. Soon, in the Yanbei region, the Hu people in Daidi were fighting indiscriminately.
stand up.
The Tuoba tribe in the Salt Lake Grassland happened to be far away from the center of the most chaos, and instead continued to recruit those exiled barbarians.
These remnants of the Hu people joined the Tuoba tribe, and soon the Tuoba tribe's strength ushered in great development.
Before the Taishan Army entered this area, the Tuoba Tribe, led by its young chief Tuoba Liwei, had just annexed a larger Xiongnu tribe nearby, which steadily increased the clan's power to the strength of Three Thousand Tribes.
It can be said that the Tuoba tribe at this time was the strongest tribe in the nearby grassland.
If the Taishan Army hadn't entered Pingcheng and started recruiting Daidi and Hu people from the Yanbei region, the Tuoba Tribe might have really been able to become a large tribal alliance of Wan Zhang under the leadership of its young chief Tuoba Liwei.
But unfortunately, fortune was not with Tuoba tribe after all.
At this time, in the middle of the dotted tents, Tuoba Liwei, the chief of the Tuoba tribe, was entertaining a guest.
This person's name is Wang Yi, and he is the envoy of Pei Ye, the prefect of Taiyuan.
He came here to persuade Tuoba Liwei to attack Pingcheng from the flank.
The Daihai grassland where the Tuoba tribe is located is only separated from Pingcheng by a mountain. They can go directly to the back of Pingcheng through the gap between the mountains.
Originally, according to Tuoba Liwei's previous development, he only needed to sit here and watch the tiger fight. It didn't mean that no matter who won, he could bite a piece of meat from the fallen side.
But Wang Yi was from the North, proficient in the Xiongnu and Xianbei languages, and was a student of the great scholar Liu Kuan, so he was very eloquent. Relying on his persuasion, Tuoba Liwei gradually changed his previous views.
Not to mention whether to send troops, at least he was convinced by one thing. That was that the Taishan army that suddenly rushed over was their enemy.
In Wang Yi's narration, Tuoba Liwei gradually understood how harmful this so-called Taishan Army was.
They actually made the herdsmen of the grassland settle down, and even gave these tribes names to create households like the Han people. The handsome men and chiefs of those tribes were all deprived of their population and lost control of their tribes.
This makes Tuoba Liwei feel a little cold. You must know that there are a large number of scattered herdsmen in their tribe. These people only stay in Tuoba tribe because Tuoba tribe can protect them.
Now if the Taishan Army is really allowed to continue doing this in the Yanbei area, won't these people be able to escape completely?
Tuoba Li vaguely awakened his class consciousness and began to regard the Taishan Army as his class enemy.
But this matter was too important. When Taishan's army first entered the Yanbei area, he learned that the opponent's horse foot force was 30,000, and the cavalry alone was as many as 10,000 people.
As for Tuoba Liwei, even if all of them were old, young, young, and young, they would only be able to raise thirty thousand, and they would still have no horses.
Don't think that the nomads ride horses individually. In fact, war horses are precious to all ethnic groups. A large number of slaves in the Tuoba tribe almost don't have war horses. Even if they are gathered into an army, they are just miscellaneous soldiers.
In addition, the target of the Taishan Army's attack now is Yanmen Pass, which has little to do with him. He really doesn't need to take advantage of the fire for those Han people.
However, the threat from the Taishan Army is indeed real.
So Tuoba Liwei made a promise to Wang Yi that as long as the Yanmen Pass could defeat the Taishan Army, he would lead a hundred thousand string-controllers from his tribe to attack Pingcheng so that the Taishan Army and its horses would not be able to return.
Of course, the supplies, money and food for sending troops must still be in accordance with the original plan.
Wang Yi also knew that this was the best condition he could obtain, so he returned to Yanmen Pass again with this promise.
…
Two days later, Wang Yi's delegation followed the western foothills of Wuzhou Mountain and entered Mayi through Shanwu, Zhongling, and Wuzhou. Then, after resting in Mayi, it finally headed east and entered Yanmen Pass.
When the convoy traveled through the vast mountain plateau along a line of river valleys, we saw the green mountains facing each other in the distance, the solitary peaks rising into the sky, the formation of wild geese flying north from between the two peaks, and the birds and beasts in the valley corresponding with their calls.
Under the blue sky and white clouds, Yanmen Pass at this time is like a mountain gate that locks the world, majestic and majestic.
This was not the first time Wang Yi saw Yanmen closed, but he would still be infected if he saw it again. He couldn't help but sigh:
"With such natural dangers, even if we have millions of soldiers, we can only look back and sigh."
To be honest, he was quite confused about this mission. In his opinion, there was no need to find a Xianbei Hu tribe to bow down to.
This discomfort is not only due to the Han chauvinism in his heart, but also comes from his understanding of Yanmen Pass and Gai Xun.
The first is Yanmen Pass, which is located at a gap in Hengshan Mountain. Except for this place to enter the Linyi Basin, there is really only one person who can pass the pass and no one can open it.
Then there is Gai Xun.
Gai Xun was originally not familiar to the Central Plains aristocratic families, because his family came from Dunhuang, thousands of miles away from Kyoto. But Gai Xun soon rose to prominence during the Liangzhou Rebellion.
Wang Yi has never actually met Gai Xun, but he is from the North and is not far from Jincheng, where Gai Xun is famous. So he has naturally heard how this man repeatedly defeated Beigong with a force that was far weaker than the rebels.
Boyu's.
Therefore, with such a general and guarding Yanmen Pass, he is absolutely infallible, so why should he ask for reinforcements from a miscellaneous little chieftain? He is just short of our Han family.
The gloomy mood in my heart suddenly cleared up after seeing the crimson flag of the Han family on Guanling.
Suddenly, Wang Yi asked the driver beside him:
"Let's find a place to rest for a while. Let's get some water to clean up. After staying in that smelly place for a long time, I always feel like I smell something. After a while, we will enter the customs. Let's meet Mr. Gai for the first time. We need to be decent."
The driver nodded, and then drove to a nearby stream. The stream flowed from the mountains and merged into the Fen River. It was very clear.
But when Wang Yi and others took off their clothes, a group of warriors suddenly ran down from behind the slope and tied them up without saying a word.
Wang Yi was shivering due to the cold wind, but his mind was very clear that these people must be Taishan troops.
So he felt aggrieved and said to the bushi in charge:
"General, we are all business travelers from nearby, why do you want to arrest us?"
But the leading samurai didn't listen and just cursed:
"Hush Naigong? Where are your goods? Where's your money? You smell like sheep all over your body. Have you just come back from the Hu tribe?"
Wang Yi was choked by these words and remained silent.
Over there, the Taishan Army men searched the car and clothes, dug out some talismans and documents, and handed them over to the leading warrior.
The warrior looked at it once and snorted coldly:
"What else can you say?"
Wang Yi also knew that the matter could no longer be hidden, and said firmly:
"It is said that the two armies are fighting without killing the envoys. The Ertai Mountain Army is also the leader of one side. Isn't this impossible?"
Who would have thought that as soon as Wang Yi finished speaking, the leading warrior slapped him in the face.
Wang Yi was caught off guard, one of his teeth was knocked out, and he shouted in horror:
"Woo, non, ha, what..."
The leading warrior was confused and turned to the other majestic warrior and asked:
"Old Sun, why is he humming like this?"
The warrior who was asked also shrugged and said nonchalantly:
"Who might I be asking you? You are the same. This person is a member of a noble family at first glance. You are such a fool and you don't know how to be polite to others."
But those are the words, but hearing the gloating in this person's tone, I also know that this person is very happy.
The leading samurai suddenly understood. He rubbed his palm and formally introduced:
"Remember, our name is Xu Sheng. When I ask you later, you'd better tell the truth. Otherwise, after a few times, you will understand that the slap just now was Qingfeng Xu Mian."
Seeing the warrior named Xu Sheng staring at him with red eyes, Wang Yi couldn't help but tremble.
He had a premonition that he would not be able to enter the barrier this time.