Chapter 960 0955 [Stepping through Helan Mountain and missing one]
Chapter 960 0955 [Breaking through the gap in Helan Mountain·1]
In the eyes of the Xixia people, the Khitans, Uighurs, and Tibetans were all barbarians.
The name "Keyimen" was originally meant to conquer the Khitan, and later it became to conquer the Mongols. Due to the repeated attacks by the Mongols, Xixia even built the Great Wall in the Keyimen area.
In the middle and early Northern Song Dynasty, people were very unfamiliar with the far-flung areas of Xixia.
Fan Zhongyan even believed that Helan Mountain ran east-west, and this view became a consensus in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Everyone then made up a picture in their minds. Helan Mountain lay across the north of the Xixia capital. There was a passage in the mountain where troops could march. The Keyi Gate was built as a gate at the entrance of the passage.
For hundreds of years, and even in the 1990s, historians believed that Keyi Gate was the gateway to Helan Mountain.
With the progress of archaeological work and field investigations by scholars from the northwest, it is gradually believed that Keyi Gate is located in Subaiyingou in Wuhai City.
Subaiyin ditch is about 20 miles long, with high mountains and cliffs on both sides. The ditch is winding and the terrain is dangerous. One hundred thousand troops can be hidden on the two mountains. The bottom of the ditch in the middle is unobstructed. As long as the enemy dares to enter, they can't even think of getting out.
A small number of light cavalry can circumvent it, but a large force cannot even think of circumventing it.
Beyond the mountains on the east side is the desert.
Beyond the mountains on the west side is the Yellow River, and beyond it is still desert.
This is the remaining ridge of Helan Mountain. If it connects many mountains near Keyimen, then Helan Mountain really runs east-west, and Keyimen is stuck between the remaining ridges of Helan Mountain.
It is estimated that the envoys sent by the Northern Song Dynasty made corresponding wrong judgments after inspecting here, and everyone including Fan Zhongyan believed it.
If Yue Fei were to conquer this place, it would be considered as "breaking through the Helan Mountain gap".
Genghis Khan reached here during his third expedition to Xia.
At that time, the Xixia garrison totaled 120,000, and Genghis Khan could not attack them, so he had to change the attack into a siege.
The two sides faced off for more than two months.
Due to the constant urging of the Xixia court, Xixia's food and grass gradually ran out. Wei Minglinggong could only risk a night attack, but he was captured by the Mongolian army. The Xixia army was in chaos, and Genghis Khan took the opportunity to capture Keyi Gate.
Mongolia took advantage of the trend and went south, besieged the capital of Xixia, and dug the Yellow River to flood the city.
The floods lasted for more than a month, but the capital of Xixia did not collapse. Instead, the temporary dam built by the Mongolian army collapsed, and the water of the Yellow River poured back into the Mongolian army...
Is this a slap in the face?
The two countries established a truce and became brothers. Genghis Khan also married the daughter of the Xixia leader.
At this moment, Yue Fei and Han Shizhong looked at the ravine, their heads suddenly felt heavy, and they had no idea how to start.
Cao Yu, the surrendered Xixia supervisor, said: "This valley is about twenty miles long, and the valley is winding. There are many forts on the mountains on both sides, and there is a strong city behind the valley. Even if the general has an army of 300,000, it will be difficult for him to conquer the valley."
capture."
Han Shizhong asked: "Since it is only twenty miles long, can we bypass it through the desert on the east side?"
Cao Yu explained:
"The narrowest valley is twenty miles away, but there is still a valley after Keyi Gate, but it is not that narrow. The locals call the valley to the north of Keyi Gate Qiangou, and the valley to the south called Hougou."
"If we want to make a detour, our army should retreat tens of miles, then go east through dozens of miles of desert, cross the desert, and then pass through the mountain passes. Then it will go south in the desert. I don't know how far exactly.
Because no one dares to go that way, we will probably have to walk another one or two hundred miles of desert."
After Han Shizhong listened, he remained silent.
Yue Fei said: "We can only attack by force."
Han Shizhong said: "We must first capture the mountains on both sides."
Cao Yu listened to the conversation between the two and felt that they had gone crazy.
The mountains on the west side are lower, and the vertical height of the main peak is several hundred meters.
The main peak of the ridge on the east side has a vertical height of more than one thousand meters.
There are big mountains and small mountains, high ridges and low ridges. The mountain range stretches for more than 150 miles. Even if it only reaches Keyimen City, it is still more than 20 miles away in a straight line.
Moreover, the mountain is rocky, not to mention trees, and there are few grasses growing there. It is extremely steep due to weathering and erosion.
Artillery is useless here!
Yue Fei and Han Shizhong had more than 10,000 Ming cavalry and more than 5,000 Ming infantry under their command.
The rest were all Khitan, Dangxiang, Tanggu, Tubo, and Uighur soldiers. Some were brought by the two of them from the grassland, and some were recruited by the two of them outside Taowai.
Even the people who transported grain came from Tawai Grassland.
Shanxi civilians only transported grain and grass to Dongsheng Prefecture. Many grassland tribes under Han Shizhong's jurisdiction used ships and livestock to transfer to Tiande Military City. Prairie civilians near Tiande Military City then transported grain and grass to Wulahai City. Wulahai
The grassland folk from Haicheng then transported grain and grass here to attack Keyimen.
There was no fear that surrendering tribes would burn their food and grass, because the tribal chiefs and nobles were all taken with them by Han Shizhong and Yue Fei. Their wives, children, and children had also been sent to Shanxi as hostages.
Yue Fei called Han Shizhong alone to discuss: "You, three thousand brave cavalry, and three hundred heavy cavalry, stay at the foot of the mountain to hold down the formation. I will personally lead the troops to attack the eastern mountains, and thousands of infantry will attack the western mountains. The cavalry of each tribe will be separated.
Some followed us up the mountain. After occupying a dangerous position, we left the cavalry units to stay behind while the Ming elite continued to attack."
"Your knights, as well as all the cavalry, have all dismounted to attack the mountain?" Han Shizhong asked.
Yue Fei smiled and said: "You can't ride up there."
"Ten thousand people went to attack the mountain. This place is twenty miles away from Keyi Gate. How can the soldiers on the mountain drink water? These mountains are bare and there may be no water source." Han Shizhong asked.
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Yue Fei said: "The enemy has a camp on the mountain. How do they drink water? There will always be a way."
Han Shizhong called Cao Yu over: "How many camps are there on the mountain? Which hill are they specifically on?"
Cao Yu shook his head: "I don't know."
Han Shizhong asked again: "What do they eat? What do they drink?"
Cao Yu shook his head: "I don't know."
Han Shizhong asked again: "How many people are there in each camp?"
Cao Yu shook his head: "I don't know."
Han Shizhong was furious: "You are a supervisor of the Xixia army, how come you don't know anything about it?"
Cao Yu panicked and explained: "The minister is the supervisor of the Weifu Army Division, not the supervisor of the Keyi Sect."
Han Shizhong was so angry that he wanted to cut him with a knife, but he suppressed his anger and said to Yue Fei: "You and I will take thirty people each and climb up first to observe the situation."
Famous generals from past dynasties would personally scout the battlefield when arriving in a strange area.
What you see on a map or what others say is always not as intuitive as what you see with your own eyes.
The extremely cautious general would even speed up the march with his own soldiers and personally select the camping site two hours in advance.
Yue Fei and Han Shizhong borrowed light armor from the prairie cavalry, and each led thirty men to climb the mountains on both sides. Each of them also carried dry food and several water bags.
The army at the foot of the mountain was temporarily put under the command of Li Shifu.
After struggling for several days and feeling sore all over from climbing in the mountains, Yue Fei and Han Shizhong figured out the location of the nearest enemy stronghold.
The living conditions on the mountains are too harsh. Unless a decisive battle is taking place in the valley, the enemy will not deploy too many people on the mountains - eating and drinking water are a big problem.
The two of them went down the mountain nearby and returned to the valley to exchange news.
Han Shizhong said: "I found a pier, which is not a fortress at all. There can be two to three hundred people inside. With such a terrain and such a size, there are usually only five or six people stationed there."
"My side is similar. A small number of elite soldiers can quickly capture it," Yue Fei said.
They were lucky, Xixia didn't have time to build the Great Wall.
Historically, Xixia was severely beaten by the Mongols. After the Mongols retreated, they built large sections of the Great Wall on both sides of the mountains. They could not only transport troops and food up the mountains quickly, but also garrison the Great Wall to prevent the Mongols from attacking the mountains.
If there was a Great Wall on the mountain at this time, Yue Fei and Han Shizhong would not be able to attack at all and would have to garrison and confront them like Genghis Khan did.
After the discussion, Yue Fei and Han Shizhong stayed to rest and asked their generals to attack the mountain with 800 elite troops each.
There is no need to climb from the beginning. At the marked position in the valley, first send climbers who are good at climbing up without wearing armor. Then they smash down the wooden stakes, tie the ropes and throw them down. Then the armored elites pull the ropes to climb, and finally tie a plane
Set up a wooden ladder and drag it up.
The wooden ladder was brought from Wulahai City and is an ordinary wooden ladder used by the people.
Cao Yu, as a guide, said that it was difficult to find trees here.
Yue Fei and Han Shizhong expected it to be true. The two piers they discovered would only be manned by six people in normal times. During wartime, the number of troops would be increased according to the situation.
Because Keyi Gate is in the rear and has not fought for nearly a hundred years, there is not even a single soldier stationed on the pier. After all, even if there are only six soldiers stationed, it is very troublesome to transport food to them. Gradually, everyone is trying to save trouble and is too lazy to send troops.
At this moment, there are two hundred soldiers guarding it.
When the Ming Dynasty elites were killed, the pier immediately lit up the smoke, and then the smoke also rose further south.
The Ming army lookouts responsible for the observation had already climbed up to the higher mountain peaks and judged the positions of other forts or piers through the smoke.
Yue Fei and Han Shizhong also sent a large number of light cavalry to go deeper into the valley to inquire about the situation.
Qingqi went to the grassland for a while, and soon fled back in embarrassment.
"Two generals, seven or eight miles ahead, the valley is winding and winding, and the enemy is ambushed at the bend. As soon as we ran over, we were shot hard, and another enemy cavalry rushed towards us..."
The tribal noble who was responsible for inquiring into the situation came back with a very aggrieved report that dozens of his cavalry had just been killed and injured.
Han Shizhong nodded and said, "I'll give you a credit."
The elite troops responsible for attacking the mountain continued to climb over the mountains and ridges after the smoke rose from the Xixia pier.
They descended from one mountain ridge and then climbed another. After approaching the target, they found a suitable position to attack.
Extremely difficult!
The mountain is mostly composed of gneiss, limestone and shale. Years of weathering and erosion have caused some mountain walls to be 90 degrees. Even the gentlest slopes are above 45 degrees. However, there are some layers where the rocks are layered.
The protruding rock mass can be stepped on.
Wang Gui looked up at the pier in front of him. The mountain in front was several feet high, and the rammed earth wall of the pier was also more than ten feet high.
The simple stairs they brought were useless for attacking the pier.
Normally, it takes a lot of effort to climb up. If the enemy defends it, it will never be attacked unless the Ming army can grow wings and fly up.
Wang Gui went around to the back of the pier to check, and suddenly cursed: "Damn it, it's very steep here. The enemy soldiers above had to climb up with difficulty, and their food and drink were also hung up with ropes! It's not like that!
It's impossible to capture it. Li Zhen, take a few people back to report the news. Just say that I will hold here for now and ask the governor to send some grassland soldiers. There is no need to attack, but the enemy will be surrounded to death. Starve them to death! Thirst them to death.