The majestic Western Pass blocks away the east and west.
The Shendu Plain is rich in products and has had good weather since ancient times.
Xiguan is close to the Luoshui River. After thousands of years of erosion, it has created a terrain with deep ravines, steep slopes and narrow roads, making it the most dangerous place in the region.
Since ancient times, Xiguan has been on the ridge of the sky, like black clouds in half the sky.
It is imprisoned on the top of thousands of mountains, and the bird's way stretches for more than ten miles. If one man stands on the road and ten thousand people can't open it, it is extremely dangerous.
The northern part of Xiguan is swept by the Luoshui River, and the southern part is full of mountains. Its structure is similar to that of Shenguan.
Furthermore, because the elevated Western Mountain blocks the high winds blowing from the northwest, it has become the choke point for entering the Shendu Plain.
Cao Su led 3,000 elite troops and arrived at Xiguan at the end of October.
It was two days ahead of schedule.
The current guard general of Xiguan is Yang Rui, the imperial general who suppresses the west. Yang Rui is also a clan enemy of the general Yang Ming. The Yang family is very prominent.
General Zhenxi is also an important general. Since the "Four Expeditions" generals are not often appointed during non-war times, General Zhenxi is ranked below the front, rear, left, and right, and is a third-rank official of the imperial court.
Xiguan has a total of 50,000 soldiers and horses. In addition to the 30,000 permanent soldiers and horses guarding the gate, the remaining 20,000 soldiers and horses are stationed in rotation with the Shendu Forbidden Army.
Along with Cao Su's 3,000 elite soldiers, there were also two other battalions that arrived, totaling about 10,000 people, who exchanged with the Xiguan garrison.
Afterwards, Cao Su led his army to Xiguan.
As soon as I entered Xiguan, I felt that the atmosphere in the whole pass was not very good and seemed a bit solemn.
The streets inside the pass were filled with sergeants coming and going, and various ordnance and equipment were being transported towards the western section of the city wall.
The sergeants looked intently and walked in a hurry.
Soon, the captain of the Xiguan garrison came to greet Cao Su and arranged Cao Su into the Xiguan garrison formation.
Because it has a fixed process, the defense change is very fast.
In half a day, Cao Su and his troops had been arranged.
"After noon tomorrow, we will be on guard."
The first garrison time will be tomorrow and last for three hours. At night, you can wait for the next battalion of soldiers to come to change the defense.
After the captain left, Zhang Ke hurried into Cao Su's camp after completing his investigation.
"Sir, something happened."
Zhang Ke's expression was solemn, exactly the same as the soldiers in the Pass he had seen before.
"What's the matter?"
Cao Su has been in the army these days and has not received any news.
Zhang Ke said calmly: "Sir, there is news from the army that Xizhou has encountered a Qiang rebellion, several cities have fallen, wars are breaking out, and Anzhou is in emergency."
Xizhou Rebellion!
When Cao Su was studying in the Imperial College, he also learned about the situation in Xizhou.
The Qiang people are different from the Qianyuan people.
The Qiang people are nomadic people, and they had invaded the Qianyuan frontier in the early days of the founding of the country.
Their race is fundamentally different from the Qianyuan people in terms of beliefs, living habits, language, customs, etc., so they have not been integrated before.
Until these hundreds of years, through the continuous use of troops against the west, Xizhou expanded to the current border of Anzhou.
The Qiang people were also driven further afield, and some Qiang people married Qianyuan people on the spot, which was equivalent to a mixed-race fusion, and then things gradually stabilized.
Unexpectedly, the Qiang people are now in chaos again.
"It is said that 100,000 Qiang cavalry are heading south. The soldiers in Anzhou are weak. The twelve towns of the frontier army have not yet reacted. The peak of the soldiers has been directed towards Liangzhou."
Zhang Ke sighed, there is really no stable life in this world.
The Wanping Rebellion had just begun to show signs of being extinguished, and chaos began again in the west.
Moreover, this rebellion was caused by the Qiang people, and the one hundred thousand cavalrymen were all capable of conquering and fighting. The threat was probably even more terrifying than the earlier Wanping Rebellion, which was all made up of peasants.
"Is this true? What does the court say?"
Cao Su asked in a deep voice.
Zhang Ke shook his head: "The news from the imperial court has not yet come, but this matter was said by the caravan that came from Xizhou in the past few days, and it should be absolutely true."
The imperial court will definitely respond, but the response will not be that fast.
Counterinsurgency requires serious discussion. What troops to send, how many troops to send, who will lead the troops, what route to take, how much food and fodder to prepare, these are all issues.
Without ten days and a half month, the imperial court would not be able to send a large army to quell the rebellion.
Zhang Ke became a little excited: "Now that Xizhou is in chaos, will we be sent out to quell the rebellion?"
Xizhou is in chaos, why are you happy?
Cao Su glanced at Zhang Ke.
The group of people under his command had been locked up in the Northern Army camp for too long.
Before that, I had been traveling with him all the time, and I was not used to living like this at all.
In particular, he also introduced a points system and a reward system to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of his warriors.
To put it bluntly, the people below are more warlike.
"I haven't received the notice yet, but if the Forbidden Army goes to war, I feel that these Forbidden Army masters who have been recuperating in the city of God for a long time will be reluctant to go out, so the chance of our turn will be greater."
Cao Su also had a premonition that he would be sent out to fight.
The only question is who is the leading general in this battle. If the general is unwilling to take him out, there is no other way.
........
Noon the next day.
Cao Su walked up to the west wall.
The city wall of Xiguan is extremely majestic and is not inferior to Shenguan.
The city wall and the height of the mountains make it difficult for ordinary warriors to climb up the wall through light skills.
Only masters at the middle level of the force realm should be able to climb over the city wall with the help of some equipment.
But on the city wall, there are monks in the Tao Palace who are in the alchemy stage.
The monks have set up a large Lingtian formation. Anyone who stows away from the sky will inevitably trigger the formation warning.
This also isolates the strength of the warrior from Xiguan to a certain extent.
But if the warrior does not go through Xiguan, but flies south through the high mountains, then there is nothing he can do.
Cao Su, dressed in military uniform and holding a big moon sword in his hand, walked up to the city wall.
The entire city wall was guarded by them, with sergeants standing in every battlement.
In addition to the sergeants, there are also city gate generals below who specialize in caravans entering and exiting the customs, and pedestrians can check documents.
With the turmoil in Xizhou, the inspection of Xiguan has become much stricter.
There were long queues inside and outside the pass.
Cao Su sat on the tower in the middle of the city and practiced here when he was guarding the gate.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! I don’t know how long it took, but suddenly there was a noisy sound under the door.
The city gate generals hurried upstairs to report to Cao Su.
"General Zhaowu, there is a quarrel between two caravans downstairs. Please go downstairs to deal with it."
Cao Su opened his eyes and took in the general who was the highest general in the entire Xiguan City Wall section.
In the past, some minor matters were handled as long as the city gate order could handle them.
To actually disturb him now is obviously not a trivial matter.
Cao Su frowned and walked out of the tower.
When the city gate general saw Cao Su's face, he couldn't help but be secretly surprised by his youth.
The generals of the first battalion who came here to guard were all captains of the Forbidden Army, ranking from the fifth rank.
And Cao Su himself also had the miscellaneous title of Zhaowu, so he was at the fifth-grade level, which was one level higher than the average imperial captain.
"lead the way."
Cao Su put the Dayue Dao beside him.
Zhao Xi quickly came over to take the knife.
Cao Su himself only had a horizontal sword on his waist and followed the city gate orders to go down the pass.
After closing the huge city gate, two caravans blocked the inside and outside.
One goes east and one goes west.
There are many caravans heading west, including camels and pack horses. The people in the caravans have high noses and big eyes, which is a typical appearance of Xizhou merchants.
The caravan heading east was dressed in coarse linen and linen, with several strong men in the lead, waiting for the other caravan very angrily.
In the tense atmosphere, Cao Su came with a group of soldiers and stood in the middle.
Cao Su was secretly surprised. Both caravans were not simple, and both were commanded by fifth-grade masters.
Feeling the fourth-grade aura on Cao Su's body, the fifth-grade masters in the two caravans couldn't sit still. They rushed out of the caravan and walked to the side of their respective family heads, showing a trace of dignity.
"What's wrong?"
The family heads on both sides were very strange.
There was a slight sweat on the forehead of the fifth-grade master. He felt Cao Su's oppression and whispered: "Master, be careful, the general guarding the gate is a fourth-grade master."
Cao Su walked into the circle and asked in a low voice: "What's the fuss and fuss about here?"
"My lord, please make the decision for us. It is obviously the city gate where we are advanced, but this caravan insists on letting us withdraw and let them advance. It is too arrogant!"
The merchants from Xizhou came to complain to Cao Su, and the merchant from Shendu was not to be outdone: "Sir, my caravan only has a little cargo, unlike this caravan that brought so much cargo, they gave us a little time to drink tea."
, we all entered the customs, and we let them go through first, which delayed us even longer."
"And we have already entered the city gate, why should we get out of the way?"
Both caravans passed the inspection and entered the city gate passage.
The city gate passage used to be quite spacious, but two teams of merchants leading camels and horses with so many goods were blocked.
Cao Su glanced slightly and saw that several people had fallen to the ground during the fight.
Groaning in pain.
Do you still need to trouble me with this little thing?
Cao Su was a little dissatisfied and glared coldly at the city gate general.