There are many trees in the desert, and the wild grass on both sides of the path is very lush. The piles of sand dunes and occasionally exposed sand are very conspicuous under the vegetation.
For people in Guanzhong, these desert scenes are rarely seen.
On the sand dunes, sand mugwort grows most luxuriantly. On the undulating sand dunes, they crawl freely all over the deserted beaches. In the low-lying areas of some dunes, a patch of poplar trees and sand willows occasionally grow on the grassy beaches.
It is said to be a road, but in fact the wind and sand blowing make it difficult to see the road. Only with the guidance of a local guide can we determine the direction.
There are the same scenes everywhere: sand dunes, grassy beaches, clumps of weeds, patches of sand mugwort, poplar trees and sand willows.
Wu Huaiyu is leading an army marching in this desert. This is the edge of the desert, the edge of the Mu Us Desert.
However, the ecological environment at this time is still very good, at least it is not a long stretch of yellow sand without any green.
Led by a local guide, they started from Lingzhou and walked northeast for about three hundred miles and five days before finally arriving at the Wubai Salt Pond.
"Your Majesty, there is Wuchi ahead."
The salt produced in the four major salt ponds in Yanzhou, Wuchi, Baichi, Wachi, Xixiangchi and Wubaichi, has large grains, bluish white color and the best quality.
A large salt lake appeared in front of us, empty and dazzling in the afternoon sun. The snow-white salt formed a salt wall around the salt lake, almost surrounding the entire salt lake.
"Wuchi is the first of the four major salt ponds in Yanzhou. It covers an area of about 5,000 acres and the water depth is only three inches, but its salt production is large. It is said that when it was prosperous in the Sui Dynasty, it could produce hundreds of thousands of quintals of salt a year."
Huaiyu looked at the salt pond in front of him and felt it was very beautiful.
The water surface is as crystal clear as a mirror, and the whole pond is completely white.
The salt pond is surrounded by green grass and wild flowers. The pond is adjacent to dams and fields, and there are crisscrossing channels.
"Whenever it falls at night, the bright moon shines in the sky, and the light and water in the pool reflect from above and below. The scenery is bright and beautiful, and it is also one of the eight scenic spots in Yanzhou."
There are actually many salt ponds in Yanzhou, with more than a dozen in size. Wuchi and Baichi are the largest and produce the best salt.
"Where are the people?"
Next to Wuchi, Li Daozong once built Wucheng and stationed troops here. Last year, Liang Shidu also led Yu She and tens of thousands of cavalry to go south to besiege Wucheng, which indirectly triggered the Xuanwu Gate Incident.
But now they came to Wuchi, but they didn't see anyone.
There were only empty salt ponds, no salt workers, and no enemy troops.
Since the Han Dynasty, salt has been produced here. Since then, castles and forts have been built here to guard the salt pool, making it a battleground for military strategists.
But now, there is no one.
There is a county beside Baichi not far from Wuchi. It used to be called Xingning County, also called Baichi County, but now it is called Yanchi County.
There is a black city and a white city, guarding the two black and white pools, but there is no one there now.
There are no common people, no salt workers, no salt merchants, and no guards.
The fields around the Salt Lake are empty.
There are salt-alkali shoals on all sides, with salt wormwood growing on them. The whole salt marsh is covered with lumps. Salt-stained white crystals are everywhere. Only salt wormwood can grow on the humid salt-alkali shoals.
Beyond the salt-alkali beach, there are barren beaches covered with wormwood and undulating sand dunes.
A place abandoned by the world.
Looking from a distance, we can see the deserted beach in the distance, scattered in heights and levels, with Geliang connecting Geliang, extending to the sky.
Led by their guide, they found Wucheng not far from Chi.
A square castle in the desert is about 200 paces long from east to west and about 200 paces long from north to south. It covers an area of less than 150 acres, which is not as big as a city in Chang'an.
The city wall is rammed, with a gate on the east and west walls, and a dry trench outside the wall.
This is Wucheng that captured the hearts of both the government and the public last year.
There were many Wuchengs in the Tang Dynasty, and there were three in Shuofang alone. This is one of them.
It is said that Wucheng was also very prosperous when the salt production in Wuchi was prosperous, but now there are only empty salt ponds and Wucheng without people.
"There are traces of life everywhere here. It was just evacuated not long ago."
Scouts scout around.
Near Wucheng, around Baichi and Yan Road, there are many forts where Han border residents settled and farmed, as well as the migrated Dangxiang Qiang, Turks, Shanhu and other Hu tribes who were nomadic and farmed.
Although this place is located in the Gobi desert, it is very prosperous if there is salt. Salt is easy to feed horses, and cattle and sheep can be grazed on the beach.
From Beidi County to Daxing County, from Xi'an Prefecture to Wuyuan County, from Yanchuan County to Yanzhou, this place is always inseparable from salt and war.
Every spring, when the warm south wind blows thousands of miles away, it comes to the edge of the Mu Us Desert and ruffles the spring water of the Salt Lake.
When the southerly wind blows, the wind stirs up waves, and the wind condenses the salt, making the jade clean and fresh. It is natural and inexhaustible when it is boiled and poured without labor.
Beat salt, carry salt, eat salt by salt.
The powerful built dams and built salt fields, while the poor dug out kilns outside the forts. As long as they had some strength, they could find a way to make a living here.
They would travel in groups carrying salt and sell it to Yeongju, Gyeongju, Yeonju and other places. They would eat and stay in hotels along the way, just carrying a handful of salt.
A handful of salt can be exchanged for two steamed cakes.
A load of salt can be exchanged for a load of grain.
Or sell salt outside the Great Wall, exchanging cattle for horses.
Born from salt, thrived from salt.
"This bastard Master Liang is quite ruthless. He knew he couldn't defeat us, so he immediately took the heat and moved everyone away."
Entering the empty Wucheng, there was really not a single ghost.
Liang Shidu played a scorched-earth strategy with Datang, voluntarily abandoning Yanzhou as a buffer zone and moving all humans and animals to Xiazhou. Wucheng was also set on fire and even the wells were filled in.
Su Lie and the others were very angry, but Wu Huaiyu thought it was nothing.
In war, isn't it just about using all possible means?
The Tang Dynasty wanted to use harassment to tire Liang Liang. Master Liang was not stupid if he could hold on until now. If he couldn't beat him, he would just give up.
In the past, the Turks could often be brought together, but last year the Tang Dynasty and the Turks reached an alliance on the Wei River. Now that the Turks are suffering from another disaster, they can no longer take care of the Liang division.
Liang Shidu couldn't defend Yanzhou on his own, so he simply gave up and contracted his strategy, no problem.
"Clean up Wucheng and Baicheng and garrison them with troops."
"But there are no people left and the salt ponds are deserted. What should we do?"
"The salt pond is still there, and the salt is there. If there is salt, there is no need to worry about it being abandoned. It is impossible for Master Liang to move everyone away to calm the people and recruit people to resume salt production."
Wu Huaiyu is not afraid of no one.
There are only a few thousand of them themselves, not to mention they have brought more than a thousand prisoners, so they can dry the salt here.
If you have salt, you can go to Gyeongju or Yeongju to exchange for food. If you have food and a city, what are you afraid of?
Without spending a single soldier, Wu Huaiyu announced the recovery of Yanchi County.
On the same day, troops were stationed in Wucheng and Baicheng.
Yanzhou Zhenbing, Wu Huaiyu was awarded the title of Dingbian Army. The state soldiers were stationed in Yanchi County and Wuyuan County that had not yet been recovered. The Dingbian Army was stationed in Wucheng and other fortresses.
Restore the beacon forts and the Great Wall defense line, take over the salt ponds, and restore the salt roads.
To appease the various tribes and barbarians.
There was a lot to do, but luckily we came prepared this time, including soldiers, horses, and officials from the state and county.
Seeing that Wu and the others were holding back their energy, Su Lieniu was so angry that he didn't see any enemy. He wanted to cross the Great Wall directly and take back Wuyuan City within the Great Wall immediately. Wu Huaiyu was not in a hurry and started step by step.
If the enemy takes a step back, they will take a step forward.
While restoring the territory, the production of salt ponds and salt horse and other trades were resumed.
Standing on the city wall, you can feel the simplicity and vigor of the city.
This is outside the Great Wall, so this is not a place suitable for farming.
Anyone familiar with history knows that the ancient Great Wall is not only a defense line in the military sense, but also a natural geographical dividing line between agriculture and animal husbandry, because the Great Wall is basically located on the 400 mm precipitation line.
This line is the true boundary between nomadism and farming.
It is the dividing line between semi-humid and semi-arid, and also the dividing line between forest vegetation and grassland vegetation.
The average annual rainfall is less than 400 millimeters. It is dry and windy, and is only suitable for grazing. This is why from the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, this place has always been on the border of the empire and has been experiencing constant wars.
The Han people, who are good at farming, are not very adaptable here.
Therefore, even when dynasties such as the Qin and Han Dynasties were prosperous and powerful, they only defeated and conquered the nomads, then placed them in the border areas and let them herd and guard the borders.
However, for different races and cultures, this policy of submission and restraint can often truly control them. Once the central dynasty weakens or there is civil strife, the nomads in the border areas will often rebel.
Therefore, the northern boundary of the Central Plains dynasties was actually this rainfall line, and the Great Wall of all dynasties was basically on this line.
Although there are still prosperous Hetao areas along this line, they cannot be controlled as long as their strength is slightly weaker.
The two sides have completely different lifestyles, but it is difficult to live in peace. The nomadic peoples on the grassland have always been stronger, but relatively backward, and their ability to resist disasters is also weaker. Therefore, when severe droughts, heavy snowfalls and other major disasters occur in the grasslands, it is easy to
The weak preyed on the strong, triggering wars. In the end, these tribal wars often easily evolved into invasions and plunders of the Central Plains.
The Great Wall was built in the Sui Dynasty to isolate people from harassment by nomads.
Wuyuan City is an important fortress on the Great Wall. Su Lie and others do not care about salt or trade, they only care about fighting.
A group of generals gathered together and sent out a large number of light cavalry to conduct reconnaissance, studying how to capture Wuyuan City.
Wuyuan is sixty miles away from Wucheng and serves as the strategic point of Shuofang Great Wall.
Along the Great Wall, there were many ancient castles and beacon towers. They considered how to capture and recover them one by one.
However, Wu Huaiyu felt that they were worrying too much.
Judging from the fact that Liang Shidu gave up Wubaichi and Wubaicheng directly, they would not defend Wuyuan. Although this was the strategic point of the Great Wall, they obviously did not have the courage to confront the Tang army in Yanzhou.
There is a high probability that there will be no war in Wuyuan.
What Wu Huaiyu faced now was not actually a military confrontation. Master Liang was obviously intimidated and directly played with him to clear the country and move all the people away, leaving him an open space.
Wu Huaiyu regained Yanzhou and had to face the problem of no one.
This is a bad thing, but not entirely a bad thing.
The disadvantage is that it takes time to recover and there is a shortage of people. The advantage is that he is left with a blank piece of paper, allowing him to write and paint. He can redistribute the entire Yanzhou structure and interests more easily and conveniently.
A few days later.
Wu Huaiyu stood on the tower of Wuyuan City, the fortress of the Great Wall. Everything was as he expected. Division Liang did not want to fight with him at all, so he withdrew directly, withdrew his troops and relocated the people, strengthened the walls and cleared the fields, and directly withdrew from Yanzhou.
They retreated all the way to the north of the Xia Great Wall and the Hongliu River area.
Wu Huaiyu reported victory to the emperor of Chang'an and successfully regained Yanzhou without spending a single soldier, taking back four salt ponds and thirty-six forts in two counties.
Su Lie successfully joined forces with Duan Decao, the governor of Xiazhou.
Duan Decao led Liu Lancheng and Liu Min and led the Xiazhou Army to recover the lands north of Baiyu Mountain and south of the Great Wall. They also restored the land on the west bank of the Hongliu River and now control Ningshuo County within the Great Wall and the Hongliu River outside the Great Wall.
Changze County to the west.
The Liang divisions were all guarding Shuofang City on the lower reaches of the Hongliu River, and still controlled the Yinsui land east of the Hengshan Mountains.
But with the advance of Wu Huaiyu and Duan Decao's armies, the Baiyu Mountain and the first-line defense of the Great Wall that they originally controlled were completely torn apart.
Now he has the Yellow River to the east, the desert to the north, and the Great Wall controlled by the Tang Army to the southwest, and the Baiyushan defense line. He is completely trapped in a dead end, especially after losing the defense of the Yanxia Great Wall, he has been completely exposed to the Tang Army.
Taking the initiative to retreat, although he avoided fighting with the Tang army on the outside, it also made him unable to retreat and lost his strategic buffer space.
Datang easily achieved the strategic victory in the first stage and had a huge advantage.
Xue Wanche, the governor of Lingzhou, led his army northward and took control of Youzhou. This made Wu Huaiyu particularly safe now. There was Youzhou in the north, blocking Yu Sheshe from the Loop, and Duan Decao in the east, blocking Shuofang from Liangshi.
Du, with the Prince Consort Duan of Gyeongju behind him.
Wu Huaiyu's Yanzhou is now out of reach of the enemy.
An accompanying soldier from the Lingzhou Dudu's Mansion suggested to Huaiyu that the soldiers were idle and it was better to send them out to encircle and suppress the rebellious Qiang and Hu rebels.
