How important is Taiyuan?

If you look at the topography of Taiyuan, you will know that it is a long and narrow basin surrounded by mountains on three sides.

The Taihang Mountains, which stretch six hundred miles from north to south, are in the east, Luliang Mountains are towering in the west, Yunzhong, and the two mountains of Tiezhou are hugging each other in the north.

Fenhe River, the second largest branch of the Yellow River, flows through Taiyuan from north to south.

There is an old saying: Control the mountains and rivers, stand on the back of the world, control the fortresses of the four fortresses, control the capitals of the five plains.

To the north of Taiyuan is Shuozhou and Yanmen Pass. Beyond there is the Great Wall.

Taiyuan cannot be regarded strictly as a place in the Central Plains. It is a strategic buffer town between the Central Plains and outside the Great Wall.

Once the nomads occupy the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun, Hebei will be in danger.

Hebei was a large granary before the Song Dynasty.

If nomads occupy Taiyuan, the Central Plains will be in danger.

Because the enemy army can go south from Taiyuan, along the valley between Taihang Mountain and Luliang Mountain, all the way south, pass Longde Prefecture, cross the Yellow River, and reach Luoyang.

This was also Wanyan Zonghan’s march route.

Based on Luoyang, control Guanzhong in the west, look at the Central Plains in the east, go south to Ruzhou and enter Nanyang, divide the troops out of Xuchang and enter Xiangyang, and control the Central Plains and Jingzhou.

What was the status of Jingzhou in ancient times?

Yunmeng Guze is a land of plenty, from Yichang to Wuchang, all in the hinterland of the plains.

If this place is lost, Shu and the southeast will be blocked, and half of the country will be ruined.

This is also the reason why Yue Fei's Northern Expedition wanted to recover Ezhou and Xiangyang first.

At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, Taizu set his sights on the south and then planned the Northern Expedition.

During the Northern Expedition, he encountered obstacles in Taiyuan.

Later, Taizong continued to attack the Northern Han Dynasty and besieged the city for five months. The Northern Han Dynasty surrendered and recovered Taiyuan.

If Taiyuan does not accept it, Yanyun will not be able to return.

Zhao Guangyi also attacked Taiyuan first, and then used all the strength of the country to launch Yongxi's Northern Expedition in an attempt to capture Yanyun. However, he lost 90% of the elite troops of the Song Dynasty in one battle, and all the famous founding generals of the country were lost.

In the end, we could only build three towns to resist the Liao Dynasty.

If Taiyuan was recaptured by the Song army this time and Wanyan Zonghan's return northward was blocked, he would have to go through Xuchang, pass Bianjing, and go up to Hebei.

The strength of the Song Army in Hebei is well preserved.

Moreover, Wanyan Loushi might be blocked in Shaanxi, so he could only set off to Tongguan, follow the Yellow River to Bianliang, and then return north.

Imagine if his remnant general retreats and takes this route, what kind of luxurious package will Zhao Ning entertain him?

Wanyan Gao fell into the most serious anxiety since the founding of the People's Republic of China.

If Wanyan Lou's army were completely wiped out in Shaanxi, the main faction in the court would immediately take advantage of the situation and rise up.

Especially the forces represented by Wanyan Zongpan.

This involves the future battle for the throne.

Wanyan Gao is the crown prince and has been designated as the future emperor.

But after all, he was the younger brother of Wanyan Wu Qimai (Jin Emperor), and Wanyan Wu Qimai's son Wanyan Zongpan coveted the position of crown prince.

Zong Wang and other powerful factions are also the main peace faction.

War is never as simple as victory and defeat.

In the final analysis, it is a political competition.

Wanyan Gao immediately sent an urgent military report to Zong Han, Wu Shu and Zong Fu.

What to do?

He quickly mobilized the forces on the eastern and central fronts, gathered heavy troops and marched westward, attacking Shaanxi with all his strength, and wiped out all the important towns in Shaanxi during the Song Dynasty.

Wanyan Gao only now began to regret it.

By seizing Shaanxi, we can completely cut off the elite of the Song Dynasty, and we can also go south to seize Shu.

The most important thing is that by defeating Shaanxi, Xixia will definitely agree to abandon the Song Dynasty and form an alliance with the Jin Dynasty.

It's a pity that I made a wrong move, and now I have to spend a huge amount of resources to make up for it.

But having said that, we cannot simply say that Wanyan Gao made the wrong move.

The middle line of Jingji Road, Jingdong Road, Jingxi Road, and Lianghuai Road were all places where the Song Dynasty was extremely wealthy.

Looting these places can further enrich the Jin Kingdom's national power, and also further weaken the Song Dynasty's national power.

Therefore, it is also a good idea to attack the center and east lines yourself.

Moreover, when the Jin Kingdom was planning the strategy for the third Song-Jin War, they also took into account the discord between the towns in Shaanxi during the Song Dynasty, and Wanyan Loushi could defeat them one by one.

But I never expected that Zhang Jun, relying on his fearlessness of death and fear of being an enemy of the entire Western Army, would assemble the entire Shaanxi army and bury it.

You know you can't win, but you still dare to fight!

Even though they lost the battle, they still dared to stay in Shaanxi and continue to gather troops.

Although such a person is not proficient in the art of war, he is definitely a ruthless person who can hold up half the sky.

You must know that the number of people killed in the war in Shaanxi exceeded 300,000, and various strategic envoys were writing impeachment memorials overnight.

If this news spreads to the city of Tokyo, all the officials and admonishers in the court, all the officials and profiteers who want to take advantage of the situation, will drown Zhang Jun in their saliva?

This is to risk the world's disapproval and dare to use a century-old elite land to fill this strategic gap.

From then on, Wanyan Gao remembered the young man named Zhang Jun.

But he didn't know that this situation was actually set up by the Zhao Guan family in Tokyo.

After issuing orders to the eastern and central lines, Wanyan Gao immediately transferred a group of troops from Yanjing to support Taiyuan.

To attack Wu Jie, he was confident that Wu Jie would not be able to capture Taiyuan City for a while, and a field battle with the Song Army would definitely defeat the Song Army.

In fact, Wu Jie definitely did not have an army of 100,000, and ended up with 40,000.

Marching east from Shaanxi, crossing the Luliang Mountains in the winter months and entering Taiyuan, the difficulty of leading an army of 100,000 was more than twice as difficult as that of an army of 40,000.

And more than half of it is mainly used for logistics.

Leading an army of tens of thousands across the mountains seemed simple, but most Song generals were unable to do it.

Although there were not many soldiers, when the counties in Taiyuan Prefecture heard that Wang Shi was coming, the rebels from all walks of life responded to the call.

Wu Jie stirred up a storm in Taiyuan Prefecture and launched an attack on Taiyuan City overnight.

When the residents in the city heard that Wang Shi was coming from the north, they were all very excited.

Wanyan Zonghan did not know that in the first month of the year, the Song and Han people in Taiyuan City had jointly launched an uprising in response to Wu Jie.

On the 25th of the first lunar month, Wanyan Zonghan launched a siege on Xiangyang.

Xiangyang defends the dangerous key point, which is the key point for the southward movement from the central part of the country.

However, in the Northern Song Dynasty, Xiangyang was not considered a majestic city. After all, the Northern Song Dynasty's border troubles were not here.

Therefore, in orthodox history, the third time the Jin army went south on a large scale and captured Xiangyang without any pressure.

Similarly, at this time, Wanyan Zonghan captured Xiangyang without any pressure.

At this time, he was very motivated and wanted to seize Jing Lake with all his troops.

Early in the morning on the 26th of the first lunar month, Wanyan Zonghan's army had already grabbed a lot of money.

"Report! Marshal, there is an urgent report from Taiyuan 800 miles away!"

At this time, Taiyuan sent an urgent report from eight hundred miles away?

Could it be that the Song army went north to attack Taiyuan?

This is a good thing. The Song army from Hedong dared to go out of the city to attack Taiyuan?

It seems that General Song has become stupid again. He no longer has the defense line he worked so hard to build and dares to take the initiative to attack.

You know, the biggest weakness of the Song Army is field combat.

The biggest advantage of the Jin Army is its mobility in field operations.

If the Shangdang Song Army dared to go north to fight in the field, Wanyan Zonghan could immediately send a large army all the way north to easily defeat the Song Army, and then multiple armies would surround Shangdang and completely remove this nail.

When I opened the military newspaper, a smile suddenly appeared on my face: "Hahaha, the Song Army has left the city!"

Shi Liai also said: "Congratulations, Marshal, I will send out a group of troops to return immediately!"

"Well! Song Jun really didn't calm down!"

"Report! Marshal, an urgent report from Yanjing is eight hundred miles away!"

"Yanjing?" Wanyan Zonghan was shocked.
Chapter completed!