Two days ago, on the eighth day of the fifth month, the day after Guan Yu killed Yan Liang.

The main battlefield of Heluo is to the border of Hedong County-Shangdang County, more than 20,000 miles northwest, with a soldier of 20,000 people and half of infantry and cavalry. Without declaring war, he quietly came from Yanga County on the side of Shangdang County.

Judging from the banner, the general in charge of the army along the way was Zhang Liao under Lu Bu. Last year, when the emperor was still alive, he was appointed as the General of the Central Army of the Huns. Zhang Liao's troops passed through the Wuze Valley of Wangwu Mountain, the branch of Taihang, entered Hedong, and then rushed to Shujia Valley, which bordered Wangwu Mountain and Zhongtiao Mountain.

The geographical environment of this area can be roughly summarized by two mountains and two rivers:

Wangwu Mountain, as a branch of the Taihang Mountains, runs northwest-southeast, forming the border between Shangdang and Hedong. The precipitation to the west and south of Wangwu Mountain is converged into two rivers, clear water and turquoise, which flow into the southward and into the Yellow River.

The reason why Qingshui and Guangshui are two rivers instead of one is obviously because there is a watershed between the source of these two rivers. This watershed is Zhongtiao Mountain on the north bank of the Yellow River. Zhongtiao Mountain and Wangwu Mountain are in a "enter" shape. That stroke is Zhongtiao Mountain, and that stroke is Wangwu Mountain. (Look clearly that it is entering or not, the stroke is longer than the stroke)

From this perspective, it can be said that Zhongtiao Mountain is also a branch of Wangwu Mountain. The two mountains merge with each other has a canyon formed by crust extrusion faults, called "Shujia Valley", which is suitable for large army or caravans to cross Wangwu Mountain and Zhongtiao Mountain.

The precipitation on the southern foot of Wangwu, west of Shujia Valley, all gathered into water to flow westward. The precipitation on the southern foot of Wangwu Mountain, east of Shujia Valley, all gathered into water to flow eastward.

When Guan Yu's army set out from Hedong, all the logistics and military supplies needed were all taken from Zhouyangyi Wharf, Wenxi County, Guangshuiyuan, and went westward to cross the valley by land, nearly a hundred miles acreage, and then went back to Dongyuan County, Qingshuiyuan to re-enter the river.

From this point of view, we can see that if the Shujia Valley is blocked, Guan Yu will no longer be able to obtain various supplies sent from the Hedong hinterland, including the county's Anyi. At that time, there is no need to fight, and just cutting off food and arrows can make Guan Yu's troops slowly collapse on their own.

However, although the location of Shujia Valley is very important, it is often not the most important defensive point for the warlords in Hedong when implementing the "prevent the rear of the Shangluo army from being cut off" - this is mainly because fighting Hedong does not necessarily require going to the Shangdang Party, but you can also go further south, Hanoi County, which is also close to the north bank of the Yellow River, just like Hedong.

Generally speaking, the two counties of Shangdang and Hanoi will historically belong to warlords who control Zhao. In this case, the warlords of Zhao will definitely consider the most efficient logistics cost plan.

The boundary between Hanoi County and Hedong County is mainly composed of the southernmost section of Wangwu Mountain. In the western border of Zhen County, the westernmost part of Hanoi County, there is a valley passing through Wangwu Mountain. The east entrance of the valley is called Zhuguan and the west entrance of the valley is called Jiguan.

After walking through Zhuangguan and Jiguan, try to pick a relatively gentle area along the north bank of the Yellow River to move westward. At the same time, you can also use part of the Yellow River water transportation to provide supplies to the army. It is not cheaper than the Shujia Valley at the intersection of Wangwu Mountain and Zhongtiao Mountain to the north?

After all, when you go to Shujia Valley, you can't take advantage of the logistical benefits of water transportation. You have to cross the mountains and attack. The supplies of the army must be transported by mules and donkeys. Even the cart is not easy to use. The slope of Wangwu Mountain in Shujia Valley is still relatively steep, and the terrain faults are serious. If you accidentally use a large cart, you will fall down the mountain.

...

"I didn't expect that although Shujia Valley was difficult to leave, Xu Huang's defense was relatively relaxed. We came at night and they let us pass without any warning. Although dozens of people were killed, the army could advance to this point, and it was acceptable."

On the morning of the eighth day of the fifth month, as Zhang Liao climbed over the highest point along the Shujia Valley, the Zhongtiao Mountain Pass, he breathed a little relieved, and his disgust towards the despicable and dirty military strategist sent to him by Lu Bu.

After all, as long as you pass the highest point, you will be downhill in the future, which is easy to walk, and the enemy will not be able to set up ambush on both sides of the valley.

A sensational confidence arose in Zhang Liao's heart. He felt that the current situation was exactly the same as when he was hiding out of the Yanmen Pingxingkou at night last winter and attacking the Xianbei Budougen three hundred miles away. Since he had won a great victory last winter, he encountered such a situation again this year, his troops were naturally full of morale and were confident.

From the heart, it cannot be blamed for Xu Huang, opposite him, for being careless, but part of the location of Shujia Valley was originally controlled by Lu Bu from Yuan Shao's camp.

When Xu Huang did not receive diplomatic news that Liu Bei's camp went to war with Yuan Shao's camp, he was not willing to risk damaging diplomatic relations and rashly went deep into the mountains to deploy defenses. He could only occasionally send scouts to post to the imaginary enemy's troops without being discovered by Lu Bu's army.

On the other hand, Xu Huang was not strong enough, so Guan Yu left him 10,000 mobile troops. He had to guard against the county's Anyi, and also guard against the starting point of the water and land transfer, Dongyuan, the end point of the transportation, and the supply route from Dongyuan to the downstream. Especially Dongyuan to the downstream, he had to guard against the direction of the enemy coming to Hanoi.

Xu Huang's defense is also a key defense for a border risk area of ​​two or three hundred miles. There are main and secondary defenses. If they are all spread equally, they will become pepper noodles and will not be used anywhere.

At this moment, Zhang Liao infiltrated for the first time, and he was successful in marching at night. He was in a good mood and was inevitably more open-minded and took the initiative to ask the evil-looking counselor beside him:

"Sir, how did you predict that Guan Yu and Xu Huang would focus on the route from Zhuguan to Jiguan, and would rather ignore the Zhongtiao Mountain Shujia Valley further north? Now that you have passed the mountain pass, should you go west and attack Wenxi County? Or go south and attack Dongyuan?"

The sinister counselor beside him is over 50 years old, with wrinkles and drooping on his face and a dry beard. If there is a judge who is familiar with the senior officials of the Western Liang Army, when he sees this face, he will definitely exclaim: Damn it! Isn’t this Jia Xu, who has been in exile in the south of the Hexi Desert for almost two years!

At the end of 195, on the eve of Guo Si's destruction, this guy pretended to be destroyed and burned himself in Jiuquan City! At that time, Ma Chao's army rushed into Jiuquan City and found only some burnt corpses in the prefect's mansion. One of them was similar in figure to Jia Xu, and he also had Jia Xu's official seal on his body.

In the official report files of Liu Bei's camp, he clearly counted all the credits for forcing Jia Xu to death on Ma Chao. The official conclusion also admitted that Jia Xu was dead. Only Li Su, who was equally timid and cautious, always had doubts in his heart, and felt that it would not be counted if he could die without seeing the corpse, so he should be careful at all times.

Now, it is May 197, and it has been twenty months since Jia Xu pretended to die.

Outsiders don’t know how he came through these twenty months.

...

In fact, when Guo Si was destroyed, Jia Xu hid a piece of property, carefully selected and bought some loyalty of his trusted guards, and lived in the Qiang in Hexi.

This kind of situation is actually very risky, because a considerable number of senior Western Liang generals, including Niu Fu, have experienced the experience of "taking away the wealth and abandoning the army and fleeing, trying to rely on money to continue to maintain the loyal ministers of the guards' personal soldiers. As a result, the personal guards' intention to kill the master and seize the treasure due to their loss of power."

But Jia Xu is such a cunning person. His manipulation and control of people's hearts has reached a point of perfection, and his vision of looking at people is also very vicious.

So in order to implement this plan, he adjusted his guard staff composition, rather than being incompetent than being indiscriminate, and removed some guards who he thought, "I have the power to use it, but I may betray me after losing my power, and I can't buy loyalty even if I give it money." In advance, he brainwashed the remaining people and unified their thoughts, and maintained it hard.

After surviving the winter at the end of 195 in the Hexi Qiang tribe, Jia Xu also realized the general trend of the world more and knew that there was no way out to stay in the northwest. Liu Bei's camp unified western China, and his ironclad momentum could not be stopped. The only wild and unlawful places left in the northwest were sooner or later transformed by Liu Bei.

In addition, at that time, Ma Chao began to enter Yinchuan County's military farming, and gradually expanded to erode Hetao. Even in the Hexi Qiang tribe alliance that Jia Xu had attached anonymously, several chiefs were killed by Ma Chao when he left Helan Mountain to harass Yinchuan.

Jia Xu felt decisively that this place should not be kept for a long time. He continued to flee east along the northernmost section of the Yellow River, experiencing countless hardships and dangers, passing through Shuofang County and Jiuyuan County, and always approaching Yunzhong County.

During the six months of Jia Xu's journey, he hid and hid along the way, it happened to correspond to the period when Ma Chao, Hu Chuquan and Zhang Fei went north to clear the entire Hetao.

Jia Xu took advantage of the situation where the main force of the local barbarian tribe went south to fight the Han army. He occasionally pretended to be herders and occasionally acted as businessmen, and moved eastward with chances, and occasionally had to use money to open the way. At the end of the year, he arrived in Yunzhong County, and happened to catch up with Lu Bu and Zhang Liao and Wei Yue attack Bu Dugen and sneak attacked Shengle Wangting.

Of course, Jia Xu was too familiar with Lu Bu. When he was still under Dong Zhuo, the captains of the Western Liang Army did not know Lu Bu. Jia Xu also knew how much hatred Lu Bu had with the Western Liang Army as a general of the Bingzhou clan. In the end, when Li Ju and Guo Si counterattacked, Jia Xu was even more in charge. From this perspective, Jia Xu was also the culprit for the destruction of the Lu Bu-Wang Yun alliance.

However, because of the crime of rebelling against the Han Dynasty, Jia Xu knew that he had nowhere else to go. He keenly judged that after Lu Bu defeated the Xianbei, Yuan Shao's camp also faced the problem of no territory to expand, and he would definitely have a conflict with Liu Bei. At that time, the enemy's enemy would be friends.

In order to ease his relationship with Lu Bu, he concealed his identity at that time and did not show up in person. Instead, he wrote his own experience and strategy after observing Sheng Le and the situation of Hu Han's troops around Yunzhong into a secret letter without signing, and sent a confidant to Lu Bu to provide Lu Bu with some combat advisers and let Lu Bu make his own judgment.

Of course, Lu Bu was also very cautious, but considering that the Hu people were not good at using tricks, how could a person like Tuoba Liwei offer false advice to the secret letter? Moreover, judging from the content of the letter, it made sense, so he selectively borrowed several of the most secure ones, and in the end it played a considerable role in his victory in burning the Shengle Royal Court and restoring the entire Yunzhong County.

Even so, Jia Xu still lived in seclusion in Mayi City (Datong) in Yunzhong County. He stayed in seclusion for several months. After a winter, he received news from the south that Yuan Shu had killed the monarch. Then he further heard that Yuan Shu had become emperor in the Han Dynasty and the Han Dynasty was overthrown, so Jia Xu completely let go.

He appeared in Taiyuan County to ask for a meeting with Lu Bu, and first sent a secret letter, saying that he was the adviser who helped Lu Bu provide advice to help break through the Xianbei royal court last winter and asked General Zhengbei to receive him.

When Lu Bu saw Jia Xu, he was still shocked and angry, and almost wanted to tie Jia Xu up. However, Jia Xu was very surrendered and exclaimed with Lu Bu, pointing out that both sides were just their own leaders at that time, and Jia Xu was just asking for self-protection and was forced into that situation step by step.

Now that the emperor has been killed, it doesn’t matter whether Han or Han is. He has joined Lu Bu in private and gives advice to Lu Bu. Doesn’t Lu Bu need it?

Faced with Jia Xu's persuasion, Lu Bu was still very arrogant at the beginning, saying that "Han ministers do not associate with the Han thieves", and also saying that his adaptability strategy is strong without needing to follow the military staff, and other civilian staff are enough.

But Jia Xu pointed out keenly: "Chen Gong once planned to be the leader of Fengxian, but now? Chen Gong was transferred by Yuan Shao to the prefect of Chenliu and has never given you a chance to join forces again. With Yuan Shao's suspicion of you, Lu Bu, will he sit back and see that the wise man with great talent are used by you, Lu Bu?

Your only chance is to find top strategists who are too shameful for various reasons and can only encircle the princes in hiding their names. But because Liu Bei was designated as a traitor in the Han Dynasty, he had already made a fool of himself and wanted to have a place to settle down. He had a good life and had a wealth of food and clothing in his later years, and he could also give advice to others. Apart from me, you can't find any other better choice."

When Lu Bu heard this, he felt that it was reasonable. Indeed, it was easy to find a counselor who was more famous than Jia Xu in this world, but he was also easily transferred by Yuan Shao. A person like Jia Xu was tragic in his identity, but he just took the handle of him and did not dare to betray him. If he did anything, he could silence him at any time and choose to capture him and behead him and presented him to Yuan Shao. It was so useful.

Lu Bu accepted Jia Xu's effectiveness, which was exactly what happened last month.

Then, Jia Xu quickly got into the state, helping Lu Bu give advice, and indirectly helping him take revenge against Liu Bei, who once defeated him, and also destroyed his family and colleagues.

Jia Xu pointed out to Lu Bu that he could show that he could be wide outside and tight inside to show that the enemy was weak. He pretended to be sick and pretended that Tuoba Liwei in the Northern Expedition last winter caused heavy losses to the Bingzhou Army, and it took a long time to recover and recuperate. In short, it was Guan Yu who was paralyzed next door.

At the same time, Jia Xu told Lu Bu that Yuan Shao and Liu Bei had officially broken up, and the opportunity to transform from a thief-fighting allies into an enemy was right in front of him, so that Lu Bu could prepare his troops to attack at any time. Later, when he heard that Guan Yu's troops were going to enter the Heluo area along the Yellow River, Jia Xu decisively advised Lu Bu to send troops immediately!

When Jia Xu advised Lu Bu to send troops around the back and cross the border, Guan Yu had not yet killed Yan Liang! He did not formally clash with Yuan Shao's army. Lu Bu was still a little afraid of taking responsibility for the war in the future.

But Jia Xu said with great confidence that he was sure that Guan Yu had advanced east from Xiaopingjin and Yan Liang and Wenchou advanced west from Hulaoguan, and the two armies would definitely officially break out. Now he had to steal a time difference to take action, which would make it easier to sneak attack Xu Huang, who was guarding Guan Yu's back road, caught him off guard.

Lu Bu was also a greedy person who was greedy for profit and forgiving righteousness. After being encouraged by Jia Xu, he realized the benefits of sneak attacks, and his fear of diplomatic destruction became weak. He half-spokenly listened to Jia Xu's deployment, and then divided his troops with Zhang Liao to attack.

At the same time, Lu Bu was very confident in his resistance to Guan Yu head-on, and there was no room for such a tough battle to use conspiracy and tricks. Instead, he had no confidence in Zhang Liao's sneak attack along the way, and there was also a lot of room for using tricks along the way, so he sent Jia Xu to Zhang Liao temporarily as a staff officer.
Chapter completed!