Although there is a large area of open land to the south of Minshan Mountain, and the terrain is not undulating much, unlike the mountains, which are full of mountains, the terrain to the south of Minshan Mountain is extremely high, and the thin air makes the people and horses who have just entered this area unable to stop themselves from moving even a little violently.
Panting; the animals were also extremely unfit, and a large number of animals died at the beginning.
At the same time, the vegetation south of Minshan Mountain is also very sparse, and there are wastelands with exposed soil everywhere. If you want to carry millions of livestock to feed so many Khitan people, you need to occupy a larger territory.
In fact, in addition to the Hehuang area with abundant water and grass, Minshan Mountain, Jishi Mountain, Xiqingshan Mountain and the plateau area in the south are the birthplace and earliest habitat of the Western Qiang tribes. Even if they were later occupied by the powerful Tubo people,
There was rarely a period when the population exceeded 100,000.
The remnants of the Khitan tribe, which now has a total population of 100,000, moved from the Tianshui area. It can be said that they squeezed in. How could they not have fierce and bloody conflicts with the Tubo tribes that previously inhabited this land?
Zhang Xiongshan, Sun Yanguan and other generals stood on the hillock in front of Wubao and saw a group of Khitan cavalry returning slowly under the sunset. Almost everyone in the Khitan cavalry
Their armor was stained with blood, and the dozens of horses at the end of the team carried the bodies of the war dead on their backs.
Looking at the heads hanging on the chests of the war horses, it can be seen that the number of heads killed in this battle far outnumbered the casualties. However, the Khitan warriors on the horses looked indifferent and showed no joy at all.
They knew in their hearts that after finally residing in Qinzhou for several years and regaining some of their vitality, they would once again embark on an uncertain journey. No matter how many victories they fought, they would only continue to consume their own vitality.
Even if you accidentally stumble one day, you will fall into a desperate situation that will never be recovered.
What's so exciting about this?
They just wanted to return to the camp early, have a hearty drink, and forget about the fatigue caused by fighting.
"Huh!" Sun Yan looked at everything in front of him and let out a long sigh of relief.
During this westward march to contact the remnants of the Khitan, among the hundreds of military trainees accompanying the warriors, a considerable number of them were generals recruited from the refugee army.
When Sun Yanguan was stationed at Laohuzhai as the former third master of Chishan Village, he detained Hu You, the son of Hu Danzhou, and led the defenders to surrender. He was awarded the title of Doctor of Military Virtue, and he was the highest-ranked among these trainee military officials.
Because Hu Danzhou led the remnants of Chishan Village and later surrendered to the Jingnan Production Department with Sun Yanzhou, the rebel army recruited troops and reorganized them into German troops to garrison in Guangzhou. According to the conditions negotiated at that time, the Jingxiang Production Department not only handed Hu You back, but also
The rebel generals who agreed to surrender to Nancai Zhaotou Division decided their own way out.
This is also the policy that Chushan has always pursued.
There is no sweetness to the melons that are forced, and there is no tradition of killing prisoners in Chushan. Except for a few extremely guilty ones or those sentenced to hard labor based on their crimes, there will be no special restrictions on whether the prisoners can stay or stay. If you want to stay, you can go.
.
Sun Yanguan and the several surrendered generals who surrendered in Laohuzhai were all direct descendants of Hu Danzhou for many years. When they surrendered, they could not find a sense of belonging in Chushan and wanted to go to Guangzhou and return to Hu Danzhou's command.
But he didn't want Hu You to hold a grudge against Sun Yanguan and others for leading the Laohuzhai garrison to surrender after they detained him. After arriving in Guangzhou, he sent people to Jingnan with the intention of harming Sun Yanguan and others' family in Tanzhou, Jingnan.
Fortunately, the Military Intelligence Department still had hidden lines that were not exposed. The rebel generals who had also surrendered before were integrated into the German army and the news was passed back in time.
After the Beijing-Xiang Production Department got the news, they sent people to secretly arrest the assassins sent by Hu You and brought Sun Yanguan and other children back to Biyang.
Sun Yanguan and the others finally stayed in Beijing and Xiangzhou, where they first practiced in a warrior's house for two months, and then followed the mules and horses of Zhufengtang on their journey westward to contact the remnants of the Khitan.
As a member of the Dongjing Alliance Army, Sun Yanguan had a humbler and more miserable background than Jiang Ang. However, after raising his troops to rebel and fighting for so many years, he could only watch helplessly as countless old, weak, women and children around him died of hunger and disease.
And died - the Khitan cavalry struggled for the survival of the tribe, and they were exhausted from fighting. Sun Yan watched in his eyes, and was especially filled with emotions.
At this time, a cavalryman came from Wubao and rushed to Pogang to report to Zhang Xiongshan:
"Shuai Xiao invites General Zhang and General Sun to come over. There seems to be a new situation..." ???????????????p Previously, Xu Huai and Xiao Yanhan could not be revealed in broad daylight.
It was said that they had a secret old relationship, and the two even had a son who was temporarily raised at Xiao Linshi's knees. Except for Zhang Xiongshan and Xu Guanshan who had secret talks with Xiao Linshi and others alone, Sun Yanguan was not qualified to attend the meeting.
However, Sun Yanguan is still the main leader of this trip.
Zhang Xiongshan and Sun Yanguan hurried back quickly. Xiao Linshi was in the tent, holding a sheepskin map with badly worn edges in his hand and looking at it.
Seeing Zhang Xiongshan, Sun Yanguan and others walking in, Xiao Linshi put down the Yangpikan map and said:
"There are about 30,000 Chihu people. Six days ago, they crossed the Wei River and went south, passing the Qishan Road to kill Wuzhou. I'm afraid you won't be able to return to Jingxiang via the Qishan Road in a short time!"
Taoyuan is seven or eight hundred miles away from Qinzhou Changdao County, which is located on the north side of Qishan Road. It is inconvenient to transmit information. They know that the main force of Chi Hu in Longxi crossed the Wei River from the west of Qinzhou and went south to attack Wuzhou.
, it’s old news from five or six days ago.
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"..." Zhang Xiongshan nodded, not surprised by this.
When they set out from Wuzhou a month ago and headed to Taozhou along the rugged mountain road at the northern foot of Minshan Mountain, the Chihu people's outpost cavalry had already entered the vicinity of Qishan Mountain. They had already foreseen that there would be a formal large-scale attack on Wuzhou on the way back.
The state's enemy troops blocked it.
However, except for the Qishan Road between the West Qinling Mountains and the Min Mountains, which can go to the Hanzhong area, everything from Taoyuan to the north and west has fallen into enemy territory. And in their southeast direction at this time, that is, the entire west side of the Sichuan-Shu Basin
, including Minshan Mountain, Qionglai Mountain, and the skyscraper mountains that are difficult for flying apes to cross——
If they want to return to Biyang, the relatively reliable route is to go south from Taoyuan, cross the snow-capped mountains and grasslands, and wind through the Ancient Tea Horse Road to the west of Dali, and then go east via Dali to go to the Guangnan West Road Supervisory Office.
Jingjiang Mansion (Guizhou).
Of course, this road is too difficult to walk, so they can choose to stay in Minshan temporarily.
The King of Lu was assassinated and died on the way to conquer the Dangxiang people. In the end, it gave Dayue, including the West Qin Road, a buffer time of nearly two years.
Although Xiao Linshi finally broke up with Gao Junyang, abandoned Qinzhou, and led his tribe to move to Taoyuan, Gao Junyang ultimately did not dispatch his direct line elite to defend Qinzhou, not even to the east of Qinzhou, which is also located in the northwest of Qinling Mountains.
Qizhou at the foot of the mountain is heavily armed, but Wuzhou, located in the southern section of Qishan Road, is the northwest gateway that must be defended on the entire West Qin Road, and some operations have been carried out.
Liu Xian, the magistrate of Wuzhou, learned the painful lesson from the early defeat of the Xuanwei Army on the north bank of the Huaihe River. With the support of Gao Junyang, he selected the dangerous terrain at the intersection of the Qinling Mountains and the Minshan Mountains and built more than a dozen rings. The interlocking forts and dangerous fortresses form two lines of defense, both inside and outside, that are comparable to natural chasms.
Zhang Xiongshan passed through these two defense lines this time when he marched westward. He saw with his own eyes that most of the forts were built next to cliffs and deep streams. He also knew that among the soldiers and horses stationed at the fortresses in Wuzhou, in addition to those recruited from the local area, In addition to the elite soldiers, there are also elites from the direct line dispatched by Gao Junyang. Their military preparations, fighting will, etc. are not too bad, at least better than the imperial army before the Chi Hu invaded the south.???????????? ???many.
No matter how strong the Chihu people were, Zhang Xiongshan still believed that Liu Xian and his troops on the West Qin Road could defend the two lines of defense guarding the southern section of Qishan Road and block the enemy out of Wuzhou.
In this case, they can choose to stay in Minshan temporarily. When the Chihu people are unable to attack Wuzhou and have to withdraw their troops from the depths of the mountains, they can return to Wuzhou via the same route, then pass through Hanzhong and Jinzhou, and then return to Wuzhou. Jingxiang.
Of course, Zhang Xiongshan could even leave the large army in Minshan and be led by Xu Guanshan and Sun Yanguan. Under the escort of a few guards, he could cross the high mountains and return to Biyang first.
Zhang Xiongshan heard Xiao Linshi talk about the movements of the Red Army soldiers and horses in Hezhou, Xizhou and other places. He thought about it again and again and said: "I don't know what decision Xiao Shuai will make in the end. Since we have no way to return to the original route for the time being, Returning to Biyang via Wuzhou, I plan to take the mules and horses south to Dali to see if this road can be passed, and to explore the road for Xiao Shuai..."
Although Xiao Linshi led his tribe to move to Taoyuan and sent many groups of troops to conduct reconnaissance and search for intelligence from all directions, the scope was still limited, only seven to eight hundred miles at most.
However, the journey from Taoyuan all the way south, through the snow-capped mountains and on the grassland, all the way to the bank of Lushui River, another source of the Yangtze River, then turned east and took the road from Dali to Jingjiang Prefecture, the journey was at least six to seven thousand miles.
And this road only exists in the legends of the Tubo people.
There is no record in the official history of anyone who has walked through it. Along the way, we will continue to encounter Tubo tribes who are either hostile or friendly. It can be said that it is difficult, long, and extra dangerous, and it may even be impossible to walk at all.
Even if Xiao Linshi finally decides to move his tribe, including so many old, weak, women and children, to the south, he will definitely need to send people to explore such a complicated, dangerous and long passage first.
Zhang Xiongshan could feel Xiao Linshi's hesitation, or fear. What he could do was take advantage of the Qishan Road being blocked by the Red Husbands, and lead four to five hundred Zhufengtang caravans and trainee military officials. Horse, go through this road first to see if it is possible to pass...
