Chapter 1256 The storm is coming and the city is full of wind
In the west of Jizhou, in the land of Zhongmou, between the high mountains and ridges of the Taihang Mountains, a group of people and horses were meandering between the mountain roads. The Taihang Mountains traverse the north and south, blocking traffic. Only the eight Taihang mountains are passable, but among these eight mountains, not
All of them can pass through the army, and the relatively convenient ones are Junduxing, Jingxing, Fukouxing, and the rest are like Feihuxing. Just by looking at the names, you can tell how difficult Shanxing is.
In the mountainous areas, the natural temperature has dropped a lot. It is still autumn in Jizhou. Once you enter the mountains, you will already see a scene of wind and frost. Even on some mountain tops, you can already see some white snow and biting mountain mist between the rock walls of the valleys.
Howling, I wish I could break all the stones.
Taihangxing is in Hanoi, and Junduxing is close to Youzhou. Although Fukouxing is okay, it is a little far from Yecheng, and for the sake of concealment, the senior officials did not go to Fukouxing with their troops.
Instead, take Baixing, also known as Mengmenxing, which is the section that passes through the Yangchang Slope Road.
Although this section is the most dangerous, it is the shortest from Yecheng. After exiting the Yangchang Slope Road, there is Huguan Changye. If it is conquered, it will open the door to Shangdang Taiyuan.
This team of people and horses was winding on the mountain road. There were only about four to five thousand people, but it was a long way out. There were still some civilians who were transporting grain and grass outside the mountain and did not follow them. Even so,
The length of the marching procession is breathtaking. If you are in the middle of it, you can only see more than a hundred people around you, but the head and tail of the group are invisible.
It is different from the ordinary march on peacetime, where the army moves forward without using food and fodder. This time, it is not mixed with the baggage and baggage, but the main soldiers advance into the mountain, while the civilians and auxiliary soldiers keep marching up the mountain from behind.
Transship food and grass. After all, the more people who enter the mountain, the greater the amount of food and grass needed, and those civilians and auxiliary soldiers are not strong in combat effectiveness. Even if they enter the mountain in advance, if they are blocked by the opponent, not only will they not be able to do anything,
On the contrary, it will ruin things.
Therefore, the regular soldiers entering the mountain not only need to carry their own weapons and armor, but also need to carry some dry meat, food and grass. The soldiers are pressed down like mules and horses, with their hands and feet on the ground.
Climbing up the mountain road, we moved forward step by step.
The war horses were also exhausted, exhaling long white breaths, and struggling to climb up the mountain road. The war horses were also exhausted, and even with the help of human power, their hooves would slip from time to time, and there were dangers everywhere.
The front of the team has already reached the halfway point of a steep mountain. This mountain road is cut out in mid-air according to the cliff. The width is only about the width of a carriage. Generally, they are small-scale traders who only seek wealth and no regard for life and death.
It was the road opened by those merchants who traveled to and from the border and sold tea and horses. But even merchants who were accustomed to taking dangerous roads were competing with God for their lives by taking such a mountain road. Needless to say, most of these merchants had spent half their lives on the plains.
Wandering up the mountain, the soldiers of Jizhou, who had never climbed such a mountain road, died.
I believe that the vast majority of people in the Han Dynasty did not know that some people have acrophobia. These people with acrophobia are no different from ordinary people when they are on the flat ground, jumping around, eating, drinking and diarrhea.
Same, but once they reach a certain height, these people who are afraid of heights will start to beat faster, their faces will turn pale, and their hands and feet will tremble...
The key is that these people who are afraid of heights do not have any uniform external characteristics. Tall, short, strong, and thin may all be afraid of heights, and these guys whose hands and feet tremble when they stand at high places are further delayed.
This slowed down the entire queue and made them jump to their feet in a hurry.
Even so, both people and war horses were moving forward cautiously, and dangers still occurred from time to time. As I walked, I heard several short exclamations from the middle of the team, accompanied by the hoofs of a war horse.
He slipped and fell from the mountain path with a scream and rolled down the mountain stream. A Jizhou soldier was also brought down and almost fell down the cliff. Fortunately, he grabbed a clump of grass and vines on the edge of the mountain path and was able to escape.
The fall was finally stopped, and after being pulled up by several other soldiers, their faces were paler than the pile of snow on the top of the mountain.
There was a muffled sound.
Then the screams stopped, leaving only a few echoes that collided back and forth between the mountain walls and gradually disappeared.
After a moment of silence, the shouts and orders of the middle and lower-level sergeants leading the team began again. The headless team slowly began to squirm forward step by step.
On a stone platform on the mountain road, senior officials and a group of generals, protected by personal guards, were wrapped in large cloaks and looked down at the long and rugged queue at their feet.
Gao Gan is from Chenliu, and his ancestors have produced many famous people with good reputations. Therefore, he is married to the Yuan family. In terms of seniority, Gao Gan is still Yuan Shao's nephew. This time, he plans to invade Shangdang
When Yuan Shao came from Taiyuan, before leaving, he also announced in public that Biao Gaogan would be the governor of Bingzhou. Of course, whether this Bingzhou governor can move from the official title to the actual situation depends on the Gaogan himself.
The battle between Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan was completely stolen by Ju Yi. If Yuan Shao had not deliberately balanced it, Ju Yi would not have been able to knock his nostrils to the sky. Under Ju Yi, there was a battle between Lu Bu and the Black Mountain Bandit.
The thought of a hundred cavalrymen defeating ten thousand people makes people excited. It's a pity that the people of Jizhou can't tolerate Lu Bu...
However, it is precisely because of these small tricks done by the Jizhou people behind the scenes that Yuan Shao is now unwilling to put all his bets on the Jizhou people, so he decided to lead an army on his own and move out to merge with the state.
The high-ranking cadres thought that although they could not reach the level of famous generals throughout the ages, they were at least different from those reckless men like Yan Liang Wen Chou. Now Yan Liang Wen Chou had gained a lot of meritorious deeds in the battle against Gongsun Zan in Youzhou in the north, which made
How can a high-ranking cadre feel open-minded?
After all, we want to let these guys know how powerful someone is!
Huguan is a city with a pass. Therefore, high officials did not hesitate to take this Yangchang Slope Road just to avoid the Huguan Pass! As long as Huguan County is taken, then the Huguan Pass to the south will become a tree without roots.
Source water!
Once we take Huguan, Shangdang, and Taiyuan, we will be within the range pointed by Bingfeng...
…………………………
Regardless of the size of the city, there will be more soldiers, which seems to be better for defense. However, in many cases, it is just the opposite. A big city is often easier to attack and harder to defend. Because the city is bigger, more soldiers need to be arranged for defense, and the number of soldiers is higher.
If it's slightly worse, it means there will be big holes in the city's defense.
Moreover, big cities are often not located in dangerous places. Instead, they are mostly located in places with convenient transportation. Otherwise, the population size of the city would not be able to form. There must be many surrounding villages and towns. Just like the satellite cities of later generations, they rely on the big cities to survive. Therefore.
Once the city is besieged and fought, the attackers can even choose to plunder these villages around the city, which can more or less support part of the army's consumption. Moreover, the surrounding villages will have relatively sufficient supplies, at least enough wood can be collected.
Let's build siege equipment and so on.
At the same time, the population consumption in the big city is also very large, and logistics and food supplies are a huge problem. Once it is completely besieged, the daily consumption in the city will be huge...
Therefore, from these aspects, a small but strong city fortress built on a difficult and contested terrain can better avoid the above weaknesses than a large city, and a small city does not need many soldiers to be enough.
Use. The terrain is steep and there is not much support around. It is difficult for the enemy's army to be trapped on the outside for a long time, and the siege equipment cannot be put away or used. Only a certain amount of food and military supplies need to be accumulated to be enough to support the small defenders for a long time.
Keep supporting it.
If Huguankou is a dangerous pass, then Anyi City can be regarded as a big city.
For so many years, Hedong has not suffered any large-scale military disasters. Even the Xiongnu and Baibo, for various reasons, have been operating in the periphery and have never been near Anyi. Therefore, Anyi is
The city, as its name suggests, was indeed quite comfortable during this period of time.
But it's different now. When General Zhengxi's troops left Pingyang and slowly headed south, the Wei family in Anyi got the news...
The old man of the Wei family stood on the Anyi city wall, silently looking to the north. After a long time, he exhaled a long and faint breath, which turned into a sheet of white air in the autumn cold, just like the current prospects of the Wei family, illusory and vague.
Wei Kai stood behind Mr. Wei and said after a while: "According to the itinerary, we should have arrived in Linfen..."
Pingyang goes down along the Fen River to Linfen. After passing Linfen, it is Wenxi County, and after passing Wenxi, it is Anyi...
"Linfen..." Wei Kai paused and said, "Guanqiu led the troops north and looted a lot, so it may be difficult to defend... When the troops from the west arrive, they will probably surrender soon..."
Previously, Yang Biao sent Guan Qiuxing and his troops to march north to Pingyang. Everyone thought that this time the Yang family would definitely win. However, unexpectedly, Fei Qian, the general who conquered the west, came to save the situation, which immediately embarrassed the Wei family.
Linfen, when Guanqiu Xing went north, served as the supply base closest to the frontier. Whether it was soldiers or civilians, as well as grain and grass supplies, etc., they all either took the initiative to send them to Guanqiu Xing's army, or Guanqiu Xing ordered to mobilize them
Therefore, Guanqiu Xing was defeated, and Linfen also had not many county soldiers and supplies to defend.
Therefore, when the soldiers of the Western Expedition marched south, Linfen, which was the first to suffer the brunt, had no choice but to surrender if they did not want to suffer the same fate.
Mr. Wei half-turned his head, glanced at Wei Kai coldly, and said, "Kail, are you scared?"
"..." Wei Kai remained silent, not daring to say no, let alone yes.
Wei Kai spent far more time on the text of the classics than on other aspects. His calligraphy, classics, and essays were all top-notch, especially calligraphy, seal script, and cursive.
There are people in Hedong who are willing to travel long distances to come here just to ask for a word.
However, no matter how many achievements he made in literature, they could not be temporarily converted into experience in the art of war. When he heard that the army was coming to conquer the west, even though Wei Kai repeatedly encouraged himself and asked himself not to show any cowardice, Wei Kai felt somewhat uneasy.
Mr. Wei was old and mature, how could he not understand what Wei Kai was thinking? He sighed slightly, turned to the north again, and said slowly: "Kaier, the more critical the situation, the less likely it is to be chaotic.
Our own position... If we mess up, we will definitely be in doom for a long time..."
Although Mr. Wei said that he enjoys glory and wealth now, after all, he grew up with the Huns, Qiang, Xianbei and other barbarians who disturbed the Northland. At that time, the Northland was still heroic and loyal, and followed the Han Dynasty's army to fight in the bitter cold.
To fight against the barbarians, the battle formations I have seen are much stronger than those of Wei Kai, who basically grew up in a honey pot.
Old Mr. Wei was silent for a moment and then spoke, either to himself or to comfort Wei Kai: "There is no retreat now, only a battle! March southwest, pass Linfen, Wenxi, the battle line
It’s lengthy. If you keep your troops, they will scatter. If you don’t keep your troops, haha... so the outcome is not yet known!"
Mr. Wei knocked his cane on the city wall and said sternly: "When a young man went into battle, how could he conquer the west? This is the foundation of the ancestors of the Wei family, how can we give it away? The heroic spirits of our ancestors are above us, please protect us.
Win in one fell swoop!" Mr. Wei said passionately, and the surrounding Wei family's private soldiers were also inspired. They raised their arms and shouted loudly, and their momentum was not much different.
"The Grand Duke's lesson is right!" Wei Kai said, cupping his hands, "We should put the Wei family's foundation first and conquer the west under the city!"
Mr. Wei gave a signal and asked the soldiers guarding the surrounding area to move away a little. After leaving a distance, he whispered: "Kail has such an ambition, I feel very relieved... However, Kai'er has a strategy, so we might as well
Speaking of which..."
"This..." Wei Kai's eyes widened and he blinked a few times, unable to say anything.
"..." Mr. Wei glared at Wei Kai, sighed, and said directly without saying anything else, "...The first thing is to strengthen the walls and clear the country! Move all the people from Wubao, the manor in the north of Anyi, and put their belongings in the city, and then burn them
Of……"
"Ah?" Wei Kai was stunned for a moment and said, "Grandpa, it's almost the time of autumn harvest. Burn... burn it? Wouldn't it be a pity..."
"What a pity?" Mr. Wei wished he could use his crutch to hit Wei Kai, who had extraordinary attainments in literature but had some problems in military affairs. "If the expedition to the west comes to the city, will we harvest the crops outside the city or will it fall to the expedition?"
The hand of the West? Even if there is no harvest this autumn, it is better than using it to support the enemy!"
"..." Wei Kai was silent for a long time before nodding.
"Secondly, a certain person has sent someone to contact Mr. Yang. Kai'er should publicize this matter widely to reassure people..." Mr. Wei continued, if it weren't for his age, he would not be able to travel outside, and he would also need to erect
With the image of Wei Kai, he can do all these things by himself...
"Kai noted it down..." Wei Kai nodded and said.
"Third, when contacting the various tribes in Hedong, you need to know that if you don't have the skin, how can the general be attached?" Old Master Wei said through gritted teeth, "Give up the original Wei family's property in exchange for the help of the various tribes in Hedong! The cavalry in the expedition to the west is strong, but then
How can the cavalry attack the city? In the past, when thousands of barbarian cavalry invaded the border, didn't they all return in vain? When the Western troops are exhausted and exhausted below the city, this will be our chance to win!"
The strong wind howled and rolled over the city, pushing the dark clouds from the sky over one by one, like an army pressing down on the country.
It’s the time when the storm is about to come and the city is full of wind!
