Zhuge Liang said that Qishan Road is a "smooth road", but that is only compared to other Shu roads.
The Qishan Road from Yangpingguan to Qishan is also the Longnan Mountains with high mountains and deep valleys, and dangerous roads in the Qinling Mountains, so Li Xia set up his ambush here.
After passing Qi Mountain to the west, the road will become wider.
"Qishan" refers to a mountain that is more than 300 miles west of Daya Mountain and is now east of Lidian, which is later known as Li County.
Qishan Mountain is known as "the famous barrier of Jiuzhou and the most amazing mountain in the world". It strangles the throat of Shu and Long and controls the offensive and defensive positions.
Its mountains stretch for more than fifty miles, and the top of the mountain in the middle is Qishan City, which is extremely strong.
Three miles south of the city, there is another hill facing Qishan Mountain. The mountain is tens of feet high and extremely steep. On the top of the mountain is Zhuge Liang's old fortress, which is called Qishan Fort.
On May 16, Li Xia was already standing in front of Qishan Fort.
He only ended the ambush of Wang Liangchen on May 11th. On May 13th, as soon as the road was cleared, he led only 3,000 infantry on horseback to march westward.
Not cavalry, but infantry on horseback, one person and two riders.
The remaining five thousand elites are temporarily staying in Qishan to drive prisoners and clean up the battlefield.
They had to wait for the baggage train at Yangpingguan and the militia from Hanzhong to arrive and take over before they could continue to follow up.
More than 23,000 people were captured. Can the 5,000 elite or militiamen who arrived later be able to hold them captive? Li Xia is not worried.
Generals are the courage of soldiers. When the captured generals are picked out and killed or taken into separate custody, the remaining soldiers are unarmed and tied up in a group to work. They have neither the intention nor the strength to rebel.
As for organizing the prisoners into troops... Li Xia is not in a hurry. He has neither time nor uneasiness at the moment.
When Longxi is captured, or if Longxi is captured, and the hometowns of these captives are classified as under his control, Li Xiafang can safely take them in.
In addition, there were more than 6,000 Mongolian captives, so more thought was needed.
For the time being, it is nothing more than driving for labor. There is Shi Jun in Hanzhong and Lu Xiufu on the Qishan Road, which is enough to handle it properly. At the moment, Li Xia has only selected a dozen Longxi prisoners as guides.
A surprise attack on Longxi is the top priority.
When dispatching troops, Li Xia thought more than once that Wang Liangchen was in the same mood as he was when he drove to Hanzhong - he learned that the enemy's defenses were empty and made a prompt decision.
Of course, it is impossible for Wang Liangchen to use his life and 40,000 troops as bait. The information this time is true.
Li Xia was caught off guard.
In his initial plan, he also considered the possibility of Wang Liangchen sending troops and made corresponding preparations to counterattack Longxi, but more of them were aimed at Liu Heima.
Of course Longxi is good, better than Guanzhong.
Longxi has the potential to overlook Guanzhong from a high position, so Zhuge Liang took Longxi first in his first northern expedition.
The problem is, some of them can't be swallowed.
There are four Shu roads in the attack, which are weak and real, forcing Liu Heima to divide his troops for defense. Longxi is different, there is only one important road that goes straight to Gongchang.
The key to this battle is that the troops must be extremely fast and not give the enemy time to react...
"Commander, the enemy troops in the fort have been wiped out!"
Li Xia nodded and strode into the gate of Qishan Castle.
Under his feet, there were pools of blood trampled on.
Along the twists and turns of the path, he climbed to the top of the mountain. He raised his lookout and saw dozens of Mongolian and Han troops galloping to the north, and behind him were two hundred Song troops and horsemen chasing them.
When the lookout tube was turned, one could still see Liu Jinsuo clumsily patting his horse.
After that, the distance between the two groups of people became wider and wider.
"Ming Jin, there's no need to chase after him."
Li Xia ordered: "Leave two hundred people to guard Qishan Fort. The rest will follow me and set off immediately!"
The surprise attack on Qishan Fort went smoothly, but inevitably, as soon as there were shouts of killing, some defenders on Qishan Mountain fled towards Qinzhou.
Qinzhou is Tianshui, the only place that leads from Qishan to Gongchang.
This is the first problem Li Xia encountered.
Most of his previous battles were in Shu, and when he arrived in Dali, he also had the cooperation of Gao Changshou. In the battle to regain Hanzhong, the Mongolian army originally intended to retreat.
For these battlefields, he at least had topography, maps, and the cooperation of local forces.
This time, it was truly an attack on the enemy.
…
As we rode away from Qishan, the scenery in front of us suddenly opened up.
It is no longer as steep and dangerous as the Qinling Mountains, where the mountains are much gentler.
However, there are mountains one after another, and there is only one marching road, which winds along the wide surface of the Western Han River and leads to Tianshui.
"There are precautions ahead." Li Xia whispered to himself.
Looking back and looking around, there is indeed only one road for mountains, rivers and rivers.
The surrounding fields are vast, and this place is completely unfamiliar to the three thousand soldiers of the Song Dynasty.
Hanzhong was lost for only more than 20 years, but Longxi was lost for nearly 130 years...
~~
Gongchang, Commander-in-Chief's Mansion.
On May 21, Wang Zhongchen sat in his study, spread out paper and ink, and prepared to write a reply to Lian Xixian.
Wang Liangchen's unauthorized dispatch of troops to Hanzhong could no longer be concealed.
Today, Lian Xixian's Pegasus message has arrived, bluntly stating that Li Xia has not sent troops to Jingzhao Mansion, Hanzhong is definitely not empty, and ordered Wang Zhongchen to immediately send someone to remind Wang Liangchen.
The letter was sternly worded, as if it was a wake-up call.
Wang Zhongchen felt deeply embarrassed.
Originally, according to Wang Liangchen's prediction, the siege of Jingzhao should not be solved so quickly, and they should wait for his troops to march straight into Hanzhong.
And the current situation may be, as Lian Xixian said, "it may have fallen into Li Xia's plan to lure the enemy"...
The elephant pen, which was stained with ink, was lifted up. Wang Zhongchen was thinking about it and was about to start writing.
"Report!"
A loud shout broke the tranquility in the handsome manor.
As if the pen flicked, ink fell on the letter paper that had just been spread out.
Wang Zhongchen turned around and had a very bad premonition in his heart.
"Urgent report from Qinzhou! Urgent report from Qinzhou!"
…
Half an hour later.
Wang Zhongchen had already written a reply and sent his horse to Jingzhao Mansion in a hurry.
The content of this reply was completely different from what he had thought at the beginning.
No longer a perfunctory excuse, he had to immediately ask Lian Xixian to send reinforcements to support Longxi and help him plead guilty to His Majesty.
We don’t know what happened to Wang Liangchen, but it is true that Li Xia’s three thousand troops have entered the country.
In addition, he has ordered his third brother Wang Zhichen to quickly lead a thousand troops to Tianshui for support and block the wooden gate road to guard against Li Xia; he has ordered Gongchang to clear the fields and seal the city as soon as possible.
After doing this, he strode into the lobby.
"Uncle!"
"Brother!"
After shouting one after another, Wang Weizheng asked: "Uncle, what's going on? Where did the Song Army come from?!"
"Where did the Song army come from? Where else could the Song army come except Hanzhong!"
Wang Hanchen couldn't believe it and said in surprise: "Fourth brother led an army into Qishan Road, how can we let the Song army enter?"
Wang Zhongchen's expression was extremely ugly. He glanced at Wang Weizheng first, knowing that this was not the time to care about the young Commander Gong Chang's face, so he took charge of the crisis without hesitation.
He walked to the map, glanced at it twice, and then spoke thoughtfully.
Wang Zhongchen spoke very slowly, everything was too sudden, and he had to think.
"There are two possibilities. One is that Li Xia had already planned to hide his troops on Yinping Road. When his fourth brother led his army to Qishan Road, he would turn out of Yinping Road..."
"Where is the Yinpingdao?!"
Wang Weizheng didn't believe it at all. He strode forward and pointed, "Since Deng Ai sneaked across the Yinping Road, no one has ever marched here again. The road is deserted, the Motianling Mountains are vast and vast, and there is no way to go!"
"Deng Ai can leave, why can't Li Xia?!"
Wang Zhongchen also suddenly became excited and roared.
However, after yelling, he closed his eyes and shook his head.
He really hoped that Li Xia came from Yinping Road.
This at least shows that Wang Liangchen did not meet Li Xia.
However, this is impossible. If Li Xia could calculate the time when Wang Liangchen's troops entered Qishan Road, why bother to go to Yinping Road? Can Hanzhong be abandoned?
If Li Xia could figure it out, the best way would be to ambush.
The question is... how come no one came back to report the ambush?
Totally wiped out?
Absolutely impossible!
How could an army of 40,000 be completely wiped out?!
Do not believe.
but……
There are no two possibilities. Wang Liangchen entered Qishan Road and Li Xia came out of Qishan Road. They met on a narrow road. There was only one possibility from beginning to end.
"Uncle!"
Wang Weizheng yelled again: "Uncle, stop treating people like fools! What happened?!"
Since returning to Gongchang, Wang Weizheng has been doing well.
He respected his uncle who gave up the position of commander-in-chief to his father, and also respected his fourth uncle who fought bravely.
He and his uncles and brothers worked together to defeat Hunduhai.
Only at this time, hearing that name again would make him lose his composure.
Li Xia.
Killed his father and seized Li Xia from Lizhou...
"Uncle, tell me! Where did Li Xia come from?!"
"Snapped!"
Wang Zhongchen slapped Wang Weizheng on the face.
"Where did it come from?! I have advised you long ago! Don't send troops! Don't send troops!"
Wang Weizheng turned his head and blood started to flow from the corner of his mouth.
He really wanted to say, "But uncle, you didn't expect it to be like this at the time."
I opened my mouth, but finally didn't dare to say it.
He knew very clearly in his heart that this slap was not unjust.
A month ago, it was here that he, in the name of commander-in-chief, asked Wang Zhongchen not to persuade him anymore and to regain Hanzhong and Lizhou.
High-spirited...
~~
a long time.
It was Wang Zhongchen who spoke first.
"Calm down, everyone. There is no battle report from the fourth brother at the moment. I don't know the news. The first thing we have to face is Li Xia's offensive..."
"Big brother." Wang Hanchen murmured: "Fourth brother..."
"Shut up! Don't speak until I finish speaking."
Wang Zhongchen said, picked up three war chess pieces, thought about it, and grabbed another handful.
He moved very slowly and seemed a little stiff.
He was only forty-one years old at the time. He used to have an easy-going temperament and a graceful manner, but today he seemed to have suddenly looked much older and his face was extremely ugly.
"Li Xia has taken Qishan Fort. The strength of his troops is unknown, but the soldiers who escaped claimed that there were at least 3,000 people in the vanguard."
Three war chess pieces were slowly placed on the map.
Wang Zhongchen continued: "Following up, he will have troops to follow up. According to the information sent by the Liu family, there will be at least 10,000 elites. However, if he had fought with his fourth brother, he would have suffered losses, and his troops...
…I don’t know.”
Several more troops were deployed.
Wang Zhongchen thought about it and finally placed ten of them.
"Li Xia goes up the wooden gate road and will arrive at Qinzhou first. There are 2,000 troops stationed in Qinzhou. I have sent my third brother to reinforce me. I hope to defeat Li Xia in this battle. And we must be prepared for the fall of Qinzhou...
…”
I don’t know how long I talked for.
As the sky darkened, someone brought candles.
Wang Zhongchen stopped narrating and laid out the war chess.
There are ten red ones and not many black ones.
In the decisive battle at Lintao, only 38,000 of the Wang family's 60,000-strong army were able to fight, leaving 4,000 people to guard the prisoners in Lintao, preparing to wait for His Majesty to send a clan to appease and surrender.
Only 4,000 people returned to Gongchang to rest, and 1,000 people have been transferred away.
Of course, there are still garrisons in various states and counties, but they could not be mobilized at the time of the decisive battle at Hunduhai, and they cannot be mobilized now.
"Li Xia doesn't have enough troops to attack the states and counties. He wants to take Longxi, so he can only attack Gongchang by surprise. Fortunately, we got the news early. The city of Qinzhou is strong and the wooden gate road is easy to defend but difficult to attack. He has to wait for the follow-up troops. I want to
Xiang Liu..."
“There are more than just wooden doorways.”
Wang Hanchen suddenly interrupted and walked to the map.
Wang Zhongchen turned to look at the map and squinted his eyes.
Wang Hanchen raised his hand and pointed, saying: "There is also Luomen Road."
"Luo Mendao?"
"Yes, you can go up the Shuoyanzi River along the valley to Yacheng, pass Mushuguan, climb over Jiepai Mountain, cross the watershed of the river, and reach Luomen. In this way, you will bypass Qinzhou."
Wang Zhongchen closed his eyes and sighed, murmuring: "Li Xia wants to attack Gongchang, so he must seize time. They have horses, one person and two riders, and the wooden door road is the fastest. It is impossible to dig the road slowly, otherwise once we find out, they will
You can surround him to death."
Everyone in the hall was sad when they heard "one person and two riders".
Wang Liangchen's eldest son Wang Weiqin finally cried.
Wang Zhongchen acted as if he hadn't heard anything and said again: "Qiluomen Road has not been marched for a hundred years, can we leave?"
"It's almost impossible to leave."
"That's it. Even I almost forgot about Luo Mendao, an enemy from afar..."
Before he finished speaking, a whistle sounded in the distance.
Everyone in the hall suddenly turned their heads.
Faintly, I seemed to hear some noise in the city.
Wang Hanchen strode out, passed through the huge commander-in-chief's mansion, and stood on the stone steps outside the door.