In the evening, Xu Huai, surrounded by guards such as Wang Zhang, Shi Hu, Wu Qihai and Niu, arrived at Tianmen Mountain with Wang Ju, Xu Wuqi and others first, and met with Zhou Jing, Xu Xin'an and Yang Qiye.
Tianmen Mountain is a top on the edge of the eastern foot of Luliang Mountain. Behind the hump is the 30-mile-long Lingjinggou Canyon, sandwiched between the cliffs of the two mountains. It is shaped like a Tianmen and further to the west is the thousand-mile Luliang Mountains.
main body.
Whenever a flash flood breaks out, the water pours from the main vein of Luliang Mountain and pours into the Lingjinggou Grand Canyon. The water and rocks roll with terrifying force. After the flood, the bluestones at the bottom of the valley are washed away, making them as clear as a mirror.
The plank road built on the cliffs of the east wall of the canyon was built with mountain frame wood. It first started when Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was granted the title of King of Jin. At that time, Guancheng was also built on the north side of Tianmen Mountain at the location of Lingjingou Canyon, which is called Tianmen.
close.
Hundreds of years have passed, and the old Guancheng has long since become ruins, but the mountains and gorges still stand between heaven and earth.
Due to the limitations of contemporary conditions, although the Lingjinggou Plank Road has been repaired in the past dynasties, it is still dangerous and narrow. After winter, it is cold and there is ice and snow, making it wet and slippery for people and horses to walk on.
During this rapid journey, countless people suffered bruises and bruises along the way, and many generals were dragged into deep ditches by their fallen horses. Their bones were broken and limbs were broken, and they even lay in the cold stone ditch forever.
At the western edge of Tianmen Mountain, people built a narrow stone pass that winds up to the top of the mountain, and built a Guanyin Pavilion on a prominent stone cliff halfway up the mountain.
Guanyin Pavilion is a courtyard with only three small palaces, covering an area of less than half an acre. Xu Huai stood in front of the stone fence on the west side of Guanyin Pavilion. He could see two people and one horse falling in the deep ditch below.
in.
The bay-red horse failed to stand up and lay whining on the snow at the bottom of the valley. The two generals could not tell the severity of the injury. At this time, they were arranging people to lower the rope from the plank road to the bottom of the ditch to rescue him.
Tianmen Mountain is a camel-shaped stone peak. There is almost no soil and no vegetation on the mountain. Except for the sloping path like a stone staircase dug manually on the west peak, the walls are steep and slippery, making it difficult for monkeys to cross.
Xu Huai and the others climbed to the top of the mountain from Shixing. They were also bare of vegetation, but they could overlook the surrounding peaks and hills, and also have a panoramic view of the terrain on the easternmost side of the Lingjinggou Grand Canyon.
At noon, scouts from the Yunzhou Han Army camp came to patrol the Lingjingou Canyon as usual. Xu Xin'an led more than a hundred generals, pretending to be Luliang Mountain rebels, and rushed out of Tianmen Pass to ambush the scout team, and then robbed another team.
The passing grain transport team dragged more than 50 mules and horses, along with the livestock and more than 200 stones of grain, back to Tianmen Pass.
Xu Xin'an and the others poked into the "hornet's nest" and successfully attracted hundreds of enemy troops to Tianmen Pass in the afternoon.
In addition to pulling the seemingly "important" grain and the forty or fifty mules and horses pulling the carts into the canyon inside Tianmen Pass, Xu Xin'an and the others either dismantled or pushed over fifty carts directly outside Tianmen Pass.
Create a barrier to stop enemy troops.
The east, south, and north sides of Lingjinggou Canyon are full of slippery and steep rock peaks and high cliffs, which also block the enemy's view of the situation inside the canyon from climbing up.
Xu Xin'an only arranged for more than a hundred soldiers pretending to be rebels to confront the enemy behind the barrier with short bows, swords and shields, while the other soldiers and horses who arrived at Tianmen Pass rested on the spot in the inner canyon.
"When tomorrow dawns, gather the elites and fight out in one go. You can take advantage of the defeat and attack the enemy camp directly!" Xu Xin'an told Xu Huai, Wang Ju and Xu Wuqi who hurriedly arrived at the battle plan they had discussed before.
"..." Xu Huai frowned and looked up at the sky that had become gloomy in the afternoon. The place where they stood was blocked by a huge rock, but the wind was howling, and the snow might come again at any time.
"What is the current alert situation in the Han army camp in Yunzhou?" Xu Wuqi asked, "Is it possible that tomorrow we will send three to four hundred elites from Tianmen Pass to chase and kill them, but Li Chulin will not close the camp gate.
, instead of sending more soldiers and horses out to surround and kill our three to four hundred elites?"
Xu Xin'an knew Xu Wuqi's intention.
The enemy troops besieged Taiyuan City for a year. Although they did not capture Taiyuan City, they forced tens of thousands of hard laborers to build forts in the past year.
The northernmost Yunzhou Han Army Camp served as the command post and transport camp of Li Chulin's Yunzhou Han Army. At this time, its scale and strength were worse than ordinary city fortresses.
If they couldn't rely on strategy to seize the gate by surprise, they would march lightly into Taiyuan with three to four thousand men and horses without any siege weapons. It would be extremely difficult to capture the Han army camp in Yunzhou before enemy reinforcements arrived.
Even if the soldiers and horses in the Han army camp in Yunzhou are not very powerful, their combat effectiveness will not be very strong.
Xu Xin'an shook his head thoughtfully and said:
"We pretended to be rebels and went out to Tianmen Pass to rob food. The enemy camp sent a limited number of pursuing soldiers, so it did not arouse any suspicion at the moment. However, the Han army camp in Yunzhou in the far north has still strengthened its vigilance. And Li Chulin is extremely cautious.
, even if he is just to prevent the rebels in the mountains from attacking, he rarely evacuates carelessly. If we want to take advantage of the defeat tomorrow, the possibility is not high."
"At the same time that Tianxiong's army raided Datong, Li Chulin's Datong Han army was mainly deployed in the outer city. However, he did not hesitate to suggest that Xiao Qian and others abandon the outer city and hide in the inner city, and finally defended until the end," Zhou
Jing said, "In addition to Li Chulin Xiaoyi's temperament, there is another point we need to pay attention to. The Chi Hu people in the Zhennan Zong Palace in Datong (Yunzhou) may have learned about our raid on Taiyuan today. That Yan Muchi is still
General Chi Hu, he is staying in Datong and has three thousand elite cavalry in his hands. If he goes south with all his strength, he will reach Taiyuan in two days at the earliest!"
The Prince of Zhennan Zong was the commander-in-chief of the Red Army who invaded Hedong and commanded the main force of the West Route Army to go south to invade Hehuai. The second prince of Chihu personally led the main force of the West Route Army southward, but he still retained the deputy marshal Na Yan Muchi.
The veteran general is based in Yunzhou.
In addition, although the second prince Chi Hu mobilized almost all the active cavalry from Yunshuo, Xinlan and other places to go south, he still left three thousand cavalry for Na Yan Muchi.
Even if these three thousand cavalry are not the elite of the Red Hu people, they are still elites who have followed the Red Hu people in their expeditions east and west for many years.
When necessary, in addition to using the three thousand cavalry left behind in Yunzhou (Datong), Nayan Muchi could also recruit a large number of cavalry from the Tibetan tribes who moved south to the Huihe River Valley to enter Taiyuan and Lanzhou.
Now they cannot tell what kind of judgment and reaction Nayan Muchi will make after receiving the message from Cao Shixiong from Lanzhou, but they must make the worst plan and organize troops on the north side of Taiyuan in two days.
Intercept enemy reinforcements that may move south from Daixin.
The time left for them is too limited.
"Then let's fight at night with fire!"
Xu Huai calmly decided,
"After dark, the soldiers and horses assembled in advance defeated the enemy troops east of Tianmen Mountain. They pursued the defeated troops and attacked the Han army camp in Yunzhou. If they had the opportunity, they would seize the camp. If there was no chance, they would pin the Han army camp in Yunzhou.
, all the other troops gathered to the east of Tianmen Mountain, and went south at night, bypassing the Han army camp in Yunzhou, and attacking the enemy company camps in the north and west of Taiyuan City. No matter what the cost tonight, they must at least open a gap into Taiyuan City.
!”
"Then let's fight at night with fire!"
The sky was hazy, the wind was blowing, and it was not known whether there would be heavy snowfall again at night. The night battle with fire was much more difficult than imagined, but in order to gain one more night's buffer time, everyone did not think that the night battle was too difficult to overcome.
In fact, they had previously confronted the enemy in front of the old site of Tianmen Pass, which could be said to be a cover for dragging the stolen food and livestock back into the mountains. If one night passed and they did not withdraw from Tianmen Pass, it would be difficult for the enemy
Don't be suspicious.
If we really hope that the enemy will be unprepared, the only time may be to launch a surprise attack tonight...
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"What? Cao Shixiong was raised like shit by his mother. He suffered so many losses at the hands of this fool, but he didn't make any progress at all? Also, he is blind and deaf, and there are so many Chushan riders sneaking in.
Fuzhou was preparing for war, how could he not be aware of it beforehand?"
Although Xu Huai led his troops to sneak into Lanzhou and ambush Cao Shili in the gorge on the west side of Huanglongpo, it was the day before yesterday. However, Xu Huai sent scouts to sneak into Ningwu in advance and intercept the messenger sent by Lanzhou in the Yangkou area. In the end, Nayan Muchi was
It took two days for the Marshal's Mansion of the West Route Army to learn about this incident and the news that the Lanzhou defenders had been completely annihilated by the Fenshui River yesterday.
No matter how mature and prudent the general Yan Muchi was, at this moment he was so shocked that he cursed his mother.
He could not imagine that Xu Huai was not participating in the war in Hehuai at this moment, but actually led his troops north to Fuzhou and Lanzhou. According to Cao Shixiong's judgment, Xu Huai came to attack Taiyuan this time. It was even harder to imagine that he had thought that there was nothing
Lanzhou, which is a big problem, had a big hole dug out in less than two days!
