Different from the tall and pointed peaks and ridges that are common in other places, Xishan is dominated by mountains, plateaus, ditches, valleys and other landforms, which is a typical Loess Plateau topography.
Those named after mounds usually refer to loess hills with gentle tops and steep slopes; while those named after plateaus refer to loess hills with steep surroundings and flat tops; mountains and mountains are crisscrossed between high plateaus. ravine.
The formation of this landform is related to the fact that for hundreds of millions of years, strong winds have continuously blown away sand from the northern desert and deposited it, and it has been continuously washed away and eroded by flowing water.
There were dozens of armored soldiers standing beside him. Xu Huai, wearing armor, stood on an unknown hill with Xu Wuqi and others. Looking around, he could see vertical and horizontal ravines extending under his feet.
Although it has entered late March, the vegetation in the Northland has not yet sprouted new green, and signs of life are still buried deep in this loess.
Under the gray-blue sky, everything is so desolate. Except for gray and yellow, there is no extra color between heaven and earth.
Xu Huai soon turned his solemn gaze to the plain opposite.
Coming from a long ditch in the east, the plateau with steep walls is about thirty feet high, and the flat top is about a hundred acres in diameter. Wuchi Village is perched on the top of the plateau, looking obliquely at everything around it.
From the bottom of the ditch to the plateau, there is only a dirt road that can accommodate three or four people walking side by side, winding and climbing between steep slopes. On one side of the dirt road is a cliff carved by wind and rain for thousands of years, and on the other side is a steep cliff covered with thorns. .
Wuchi Village is the clan base of the Wuchi tribe, one of the thirteen tribes of Shanhu. It is not large in scale. The walls of the village are made of rammed earth. Looking from a distance, you can still see the traces of rain erosion.
Although Wuchizhai is not big, it is located in the Western Mountains only more than 30 miles away from Shuozhou. It is backed by Bailuochong, one of the four major tributaries of the upper reaches of the Pianguan River. It goes north along Bailuochong and enters Pianguan. After the river valley and then heading westward along the river valley, it is a relatively convenient passage from Shuozhou City across the Western Mountains to the east bank of the Yellow River.
The Wuchi tribe had frequently come out of the Western Mountains to harass Shuozhou before, which meant that there was no possibility or necessity for negotiation. Even if it was to open a passage across the Western Mountains to the east bank of the Yellow River, Xu Huai would have to attack the Wuchi tribe. Use soldiers to pull out this nail.
However, although the Wuchi tribe only has six to seven hundred men, in terms of strength, it can be said to be quite insignificant in the vast Northland where thousands of tribes compete for supremacy. However, the Wuchi village is located in a land that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. On the top of the plateau, they are commanding, and the Wuchi tribe is brave and fierce. The soldiers of Tongbai Mountain, who was officially designated as the tenth general (chamber) of the Tianxiong Army at the end of February, really want to attack by force, even if they have to pay a heavy price, it may not be certain. It can be removed successfully.
The Xishan Mountains are criss-crossed with ravines and ravines, and dozens of paths criss-cross the valleys and climb beams. Along the way, there are Fanhuzhaiwu stuck on key passes.
The tenth wing of the Tianxiong Army only had 2,300 soldiers in total. How could Xu Huai be willing to use them to attack these villages?
That's not how wars are fought.
If it is difficult to control the casualties in a strong attack on Wuchi Village, then we should completely surround it, cut off its water source, and force it to surrender; if other Tibetan tribesmen in the Western Mountains send troops to help, they can just sit back and wait for work, and surround the place to fight for reinforcements.
Of course, what is more important is to take this opportunity to establish a stronghold in Xishan and take advantage of the siege of Wuchi Village to transfer limited supplies from Shuozhou City to Xishan. Only in this way can they be able to survive when the situation changes. He gave up Shuozhou City without hesitation and withdrew all his troops into the Western Mountains, instead of trapping Shuozhou City which had no source of food and was destined to have no reinforcements.
At this time, at the foot of the Wuchi Village, several obstacles were formed by combining horses and fences. They were filled with armored soldiers behind the obstacles, and used hard bows, strong crossbows and large shields to block the passage down the mountain for the Wuchi tribesmen, but this was only the second step.
In the long ditch ranging from three to five hundred steps away from Wuchi Village, in less than a month, Tongbai Mountain Soldiers used sharpened logs to build three strong fences at selected locations, and surrounded Wuchi Village. The village was completely surrounded.
There are very few trees in the Western Mountains, and there may be only a dozen useful trees on a hilltop.
Xu Huai then mobilized two thousand strong Hu women in the city to cut down more trees to build villages; at the same time, he demolished the houses in Shuozhou and used mules and horses to drag the beams and pillars one by one. Enter the mountains.
At this time, two figures climbed out from the south wall of Wuchi Village, roped into the deep rock-strewn ditch from the steeper, almost vertical cliff south slope, and then climbed up to the south mountain ridge - - The soldiers of Tongbai Mountain have an absolute advantage over the troops of the Wuchi tribe, but it is impossible to completely encircle the Wuchi village. Many rugged and dangerous areas are not suitable for stationing soldiers and horses, so there is a gap for a small group of Wuchi troops to enter and exit.
Of course, there is no need to surround yourself with water.
Xu Wuqi frowned and looked at the two figures disappearing in the mountains in the distance, and said to Xu Huai: "In the past few days, the Wuchi Ministry has sent people more frequently to jump out of our blockade from the south cliff and sneak into the hinterland of the Western Mountains to ask for help; Occasionally, barbarian soldiers come out from the mountain road in front, and their lips are severely chapped. It seems that the water source on the plateau has almost been cut off!"
Xu Huai does not kill innocent people indiscriminately, but that does not mean he will not kill.
And war has always been cruel and ruthless.
Tongbai Mountain invaded the mountains in large numbers, but the Wutou tribe refused to surrender. In addition to 2,000 tribesmen, they also moved tens of thousands of livestock back to the fortress. They were not in danger of being short of food.
However, they thought that the soldiers from Tongbai Mountain were unsuccessful in attacking the stronghold and would be forced to withdraw within ten days. However, they did not expect that Xu Huai was determined to surround Wuchi stronghold, and the water source on the plateau was extremely limited.
Two thousand members of the Wuchi tribe and tens of thousands of livestock retreated to the plateau to hold on. Initially, the snow water melted for people and animals to drink. But after mid-March, as the weather warmed up, the snow water on the top of the plateau completely melted, and the snow on the top of the plateau completely melted. Several water storage ponds were excavated, but in a hurry, they did not think of using green mud lime for anti-seepage treatment. The loose soil could not store water at all.
And there was not a single rain in the Western Mountains throughout March.
Compared with the lack of food, what makes the Wuchi tribe more desperate is the lack of water.
"In the past two days, Motu troops and horses have been moving to the edge of the Western Mountain. It should be these two days. Let everyone cheer up!" Xu Huai rubbed his face and said to Xu Wuqi and others around him.
Among the thirteen vassals in Xishan, the Motu tribe is the most powerful. The three forts controlled by this tribe are located in the Hechong area where Bailuochong merges into the Pianguan River. There are relatively open areas to the west, south and north. If Xu Huai wanted to completely encircle the Motu tribe, not only would he need to use more troops, the more than 100-mile winding valley-liang road from Shuozhou to the Hechong area could easily be cut off by the Tibetan soldiers - if they encountered During heavy rains, when the rainwater in the Western Mountains flows through various gullies and flows towards the Pianguan River, it is even more taboo for military strategists.
However, as the leader of the Xishan Fanhu tribe, the Motu tribe is not only not weak in strength, but also extremely ambitious.
Whether it was the Shanhu rebellion more than ten years ago, or the frequent Shanhu attacks in Shuozhou this time, it was the Motu tribe that took the lead, and other tribes also followed the orders of the Motu tribe.
Xu Huai sent troops to besiege the Wuchi tribe, and still wanted to attract the Motu tribe from the Hechong area.
Of course, the Motu tribe could just sit back and watch the Wuchi tribe be destroyed, but if the water source of the Wuchi tribe was cut off and two thousand tribesmen might be annihilated by Tongbai Mountain soldiers at any time, the Motu tribe would always stand by and watch. Stop trying to order other ministries to act.
Even if it is just a pretense, the Motu tribe must gather troops and horses to break the siege of the Wuchi tribe.
What is not certain now is whether the Motu tribe, after gathering Shanhu soldiers and horses, went directly to Wuchi stronghold, or whether they went out of Xishan to Shuozhou City to cover up the killings and try to siege Wei and rescue Zhao.
Of course Xu Huai hopes it will be the former.
They were ready near Wuchi Stronghold. They used hard bows and shields as well as long spears and spears in the narrow passages and river valleys to rely on the strong stronghold to kill the Shanhu cavalry. They should not be too efficient.
If it is the latter, it means that the Motu tribe has no determination to break the siege of the Wuchi tribe regardless of casualties.
Xu Huai never thought about the possibility of using Tongbai soldiers to encircle and annihilate thousands of Shanhu cavalry who still had an advantage in strength in the open wilderness outside Shuozhou City.
This also means that they will not be able to severely damage Shanhu's main force in the short term.
At this time, a dozen cavalrymen were slowly coming towards Xizhai from the narrow mountain road. Xu Huaichu didn't mean it right, but soon two people came to report: "General Jie Zhong is here!"
"Ah, I just wanted Jie Zhongneng to send two to three hundred reinforcements to strengthen the defense of Shuozhou City. Why did he come here in person?" Xu Huai asked with some confusion.
Xu Wuqi, Xu Wukun, Guo Junpan and others spread their hands and expressed that they did not know the purpose of Xie Zhong's visit, but they all followed Xu Huai to the foot of the mountain to greet him.
At the end of February, the Tianxiong Army was completely organized. Xie Zhong, Zhu Run, and Lei Teng were incorporated into the ninth general (chamber) of the Tianxiong Army. Xie Zhong had the most outstanding achievements, but in the end it was Lei Teng who deliberately sought to gain a relationship with Cao Shixiong. As for the capital commander's position, Xie Zhong and Zhu Run are the deputy generals.
At the same time, Xie Zhong served as the Marquis of Du Yu and also led the inspection envoy of Guangwu Village, and led his troops to guard Guangwu Village in the north of Lan Valley.
After entering March, Jie Zhong also led the 1,500 forbidden troops stationed in Guangwu Village to attack Xishan from the south, and cooperated with the soldiers of Tongbai Mountain to clear out the Hu and Fan soldiers in the mountain.
Xu Huai expected that the Motu tribe might try to siege Wei and rescue Zhao, and send troops to attack Shuozhou City. In that case, he would lead the main force to continue to besiege Wuchi Village, but Shuozhou only had 500 infantry and 300 cavalry, and the defenders The huge Shuozhou City was a little empty, so they hoped that Jie Zhong would send some reinforcements to strengthen their momentum, but they did not expect that Jie Zhong would personally lead his troops to come for reinforcements.
"General Xie, why did you come here in person?" Xu Huai went down the mountain to meet Xie Zhong, who was accompanied by Shen Zhene and Xu Xin, and asked with a smile.
"It's too difficult to break into the hinterland of Xishan Mountain from the south, so I just want to bring my brothers here to share some of my military exploits. Wouldn't envoy Xu not welcome them?" Xie Zhong said with a smile.
The Tianxiong Army was officially established at the end of February. In addition to Xu Huai commanding the soldiers of Tongbai Mountain as Du Yuhou, Hedong Road also officially established a new Shuozhou Inspection Department in Shuozhou, and Xu Huai was able to serve as Shuozhou Inspection Envoy.
