Jiangxi is surrounded by mountains on three sides and is bordered by a river in the north. The terrain goes from south to north, slowly descending from the two wings to the center, and has a slight basin shape.
Shangrao is the eastern gateway of Jiangxi. When Wu and Chu meet Fujian and Yue, it controls Fujian and Yue in the south and leads to Zhejiang in the east. It is an important defense area and transportation hub for Jiangxi. The water of Xinjiang River below meets the Gan River and enters Poyang Lake, and connects to the Quzhou Basin above.
(Guyuan in the middle of Zhejiang Province), and connects the two Zhejiang provinces; it leads to Fuzhou in the south, passes through Shanguan Pass, Tieniuguan Pass, and Fenshui Pass and leads to Shaowu in northern Fujian.
If Shangrao is lost, not only will the gateway to Jiangxi be opened, but the connection between northern Fujian and Jiangxi will also be cut off.
By early November, the She family had gathered more than 30,000 troops to the east of Shangrao, with Shangrao City as the center; while in Huaidong, with Quzhou as the center, the troops gathered to the west of Quzhou had increased to 50,000.
This number has exceeded the number of troops set by the Privy Council for the Chongcheng Army at the beginning of the year. In addition to the regular soldiers of the Chongcheng Army, it also includes the original Zhejiang Marching Army and new soldiers recruited from Quzhou and other places in the later period.
By this time, the battle at Shangrao was ready and inevitable.
The Chongcheng Army stationed in Jiangshan County divided its troops out of the city on the tenth day of November, avoiding the fortresses built by the Zhejiang and Fujian Army in Litang, and marched westward along the Fenglin River to attack the Fenghuo Pier on Guanxi Ridge by the Zhejiang and Fujian Army.
The prelude to the Shangrao War began.
Guanxiling is the dividing line between Jiangshan County and Hengshan County. It is also the watershed between Shangshan Creek, a branch of the Qujiang River, Fenglin Creek, and Shanxi Creek, a branch of the Xinjiang River. It is the remaining vein of the southern foothills of Huaiyu Mountain. The She family guards Shangrao, and along the north and south ridges of Guanshan Ridge
Three beacon towers were built to warn the enemy.
Li Baidao took off his sword from his waist, stood on the ground, raised his eyebrows and stared at the hundreds of soldiers coming up from the two wings of a steep slope about a hundred feet deep, holding shields to suppress the attack.
The place where Li Baidao stood was originally a valley with intertwined houses. It was a small village with about ten households. At this time, people in the village had already left Shekong. Both sides went to the border to increase their troops and went deep into the mountains.
The farmers here were either drafted to serve as laborers, or they had to leave their hometowns early. If they left this land of right and wrong, where could they find people?
The beacon fire pier was built on the gap in the ridge. Although after the beacon fire pier was built, the ridge roads on the left and right were cut off, but among the withered and green weeds and shrubs, we can still see the remains of the predecessors who crossed the ridge in Fanshan. At this time, the beacon fire pier
Sealing the entrance of the ridge has become a roadblock. From the pier, several pillars of black smoke rush straight into the night sky. The sound of horns is heard among the mountains and valleys, not only on the side of Guanxi Ridge, but also on the Qingyang Ridge in the north of Zhejiang and Fujian.
The beacon towers set up in Tuozi Mountain and other places also burned with smoke.
The scouts who had reached the ridge of the ridge had already observed the enemy's garrison at Shanxi Pass and had sent more than a thousand reinforcements here. Before the enemy's reinforcements arrived, they failed to capture a beacon fire pier.
Without a foothold on the spine, this attack can only be considered a failure.
The many attacks launched today were false elsewhere, but only Li Baidao knew in his heart that Guanxiling was real.
The mountains between Huaiyu Mountain and Wuyi Mountain in Shangrao, the southern foot of Huaiyu Mountain, and the northern foot of Wuyi Mountain are the watershed of Xinjiang River and Qujiang River. There is a long section of road in the middle that is not connected by waterways, so you need to take the land route instead. Go west directly from Quzhou.
The most spacious and easy-to-travel passage is the Xiangkou Valley Road at the southern foot of Huaiyu Mountain. It is also the main post road connecting Zhejiang and Jiangxi. Since ancient times, the Xiangkou Pass has stood along it. After Xiangkou Pass, there is Changshan County, an important town in the east of Shangrao.
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After the She family abandoned Quzhou, they built several more military fortresses around Xiangkou Pass, completely blocking the Xiangkou Post Road.
In addition to Xiangkou Pass, in the northwest of Jiangshan County in the southwest of Quzhou, between Xianyan Mountain and D'ao Mountain, there is the Pingyi Valley Road, which can directly reach the western border of Changshan County and the bank of the Xinjiang River. There is a town named Litang in the middle, which is the link between Jiangshan County and Changshan.
, a large port connecting the counties of Hengshan and Shangrao, this post is also called Litang Post Road, which allows business travelers from Minjun County entering Jiangxi from Pucheng and Xianxia Ridge to avoid taking a short detour of hundreds of miles from Quzhou.
The She family built many forts between Xianyan Mountain and D'ao Mountain to close the Litang Post Road.
These forts and defenses, together with Changshan, Hengshan and Shangrao cities on the inner line, formed the She family's Shangrao defense line on the eastern front.
Qiankou Road and Litang Road are the only two main roads between Shangrao and Quzhou that do not require climbing over mountains and ridges.
Of course, there are countless dangerous trails between the southern foothills of Huaiyu Mountain and the northern foothills of Wuyi Mountain, leading to the two places. From Jiangshan County to the southwest along Fenglin Creek, before reaching Guanxi Ridge, there were also early medicinal farmers, mountain
The trails taken by the people lead to the southern border of Hengshan County.
The easy-to-travel gap in the ridge has long been blocked by the She family's beacon piers, creating many artificial obstacles.
However, although Guanxiling is dangerous, it is fortunate that the mountains are thin. After climbing over the steep slope across the valley road, it is only three or two miles deep and reaches the upper reaches of Shanxi. There is a valley passage that can directly attack the outskirts of Shangrao.
, the relatively weak Hengshan and Shanxi fortresses.
In order to spare the Zhejiang and Fujian troops from constructing key fortifications in Litang, Qiankou and other places and stationing heavy troops, crossing Guanxiling was one of the options for the Huaidong Army to advance westward.
No matter how dangerous the mountain is, there are steep and concave areas along the mountain. There are also Yuxi channels that are washed down by rainwater and heavily weathered. These are often shortcuts and gaps for crossing mountains. It is only the gap in the front of Guanxiling that the She family built a beacon pier.
Once the platform was blocked, it became extremely dangerous. The trees in front of the beacon pier were also set on fire, leaving only the bare steep slope and a small number of new shrubs and weeds.
The soldiers held shields to suppress the attack. A large number of large rocks and huge trees were suddenly thrown down from the beacon pier. The rocks and trees rolled down the Yuxi Road between the dangerous slopes, bringing with them the gravel accumulated in the Yuxi Road over the years. The sound was terrifying.
, many generals were unable to get out of the way, and their muscles and bones were broken when they were hit, and they rolled down. The rest could only hide in the bushes and trees on both sides.
Seeing that it was extremely difficult to climb up through the gap in the front of Fenghuo Pier, Li Baidao asked his soldiers to dig climbing holes in the more dangerous places on both sides with shovels, so that people could have a place to step on. After climbing over a section that was more than ten feet high, it would not be easy for rolling stones to fall.
A direct hit on the cliff...
The soldier's shovel can be used as a shovel, digging soil, breaking rocks, cutting branches and trees. In the blink of an eye, a steep plank path can be dug for the soldiers to climb with their hands and feet. Dozens of soldiers climb up one after another, avoiding the beacon fire pier.
Attack at an angle and climb towards the ridge.
You cannot use rolling stones and wood to attack directly. Even arrows shot from walking bows are not that big of a threat to the Huaidong soldiers who are wearing strong armor and equipped with shields.
Soon, about half the battalion of armored soldiers climbed up the ridge and stormed the beacon fire pier, which was about three feet high.
Although the She family invested a lot of resources in building defense lines in Shangrao in the later period, they were ultimately constrained by financial resources and could not build every beacon pier as a key pass.
The beacon fire pier at the entrance of Guanxiling Pass is more than three feet high, with only twenty steps around. The space inside the pier is very small, only equivalent to a small courtyard on a ridge, and is guarded by half the capital's armored soldiers.
The Huaidong Army surrounded it and threw dozens of fire oil cans one after another. The entire outer stone pier was plunged into a sea of flames, and there was no hiding place inside.
The soldiers of the Zhejiang and Fujian Army who were covered with fire rolled out of the piers and escaped. It was the help of the Huaidong Army that put out the remaining fire. At this time, the Zhejiang and Fujian Army soldiers who came from Shanxi Village had just arrived at the foot of the western slope of Guanxi Ridge.
When the Fenghuo Pier was lost, they swarmed up to suppress the attack and tried to recapture the pass.
Although the mountainous terrain on the west slope of Guanxiling is gentler, the armored soldiers of the Huaidong Army had the advantage of being in a commanding position at this time, which was enough. They fired their rifles and rifles, and the armored soldiers formed a formation to attack. They were about to suppress the attacking reinforcements from Zhejiang and Fujian in three to five times.
Collapse.
Li Baidao was surrounded by his followers and climbed up to the ridge. Seeing that his battalion was about to organize soldiers to rush down the west slope to chase the defeated troops, he shouted: "You son of a bitch, get back here..." while organizing troops to stand guard on the ridge.
, felling wood and burying fences in civilian areas, and at the same time organized troops and horses to widen the steep and steep path at the west foot as much as possible. Farther away, the post horses were galloping towards Jiangshan City to report the capture of Guanxi Ridge.
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The Huaidong Army became conservative in their tactics. They captured Guanxiling and then ignored the defeated troops without pursuing them. This made the ambush deployed by She Feixiong between the Xiaxi Col on the back and side of Guanxiling ineffective.
In Shanxi Village, when he received the news that Guanxiling had been lost and the Huaidong Army was standing still and could not leave Guanxiling, Shefei Xiong frowned and looked heavy for a long time.
The chief general of Shangrao was originally Diannong Sima Deng Yu. After She Feixiong led his troops to aid Shangrao, Deng Yu was appointed deputy commander. There were also generals such as Shi Hejin and Wang Hui who guarded key passes and organized logistics and supplies.
"Is it possible that the Huaidong Army wants to attack Guanxiling and turn Guanxiling into the main channel for attacking Shangrao from the west?" She Feixiong stared at the map on the long desk and asked with a frown.
She Fei Xiong seemed to be murmuring to himself. All the generals looked at each other in confusion. Why did the Huaidong Army give up its grip and chose to take the Guanxiling trail instead of the easy valley road in Litang? It's not that the Huaidong Army occupied Guan.
From Xiling, one can directly attack Shangrao City along the Shanxi River. Along the Shanxi River, Shanxi Village is at the corner of Hengshan City, and it is also an important place for the Zhejiang and Fujian troops to garrison.
Even if Huaidong soldiers and horses can climb over Guanxiling and go down Shanxi, how can tens of thousands of grains pass through Guanxiling?
"The terrain around Shanxi Village is wide. Although it is at an angle with Hengshan City, more troops need to be sent here to defend it," Deng Yu said. "The Huaidong Army may not be in a hurry to conquer it."
Shangrao, but continue to lengthen the defense line for confrontation and drag us down!"
She Feixiong took a charcoal pen and marked a mark on Guanxiling on the map.
Indeed, although the passage between Jiankou and Litang is much wider than the Yuling Pass, it is still a valley sandwiched between Huaiyu Mountain and Wuyi Mountain. There are high mountains on both sides. The She family filled in these two valleys.
With tens of thousands of elite troops, even if Huaidong gathered hundreds of thousands of troops, it would be difficult to deploy its superior force.
A sudden and fierce attack is likely to repeat the mistakes of She Fei Xiong who suffered repeated setbacks in front of Yuling Pass. By opening new channels and lengthening the defense line, the Huaidong Army's strength and material advantages will be brought into play, and Zhejiang and Fujian will be defeated.
The defenders were overwhelmed.
The Shanxi Passage is located on the innermost side, and the terrain is more open. Moreover, once Huaidong captures Shanxi Fortress and Hengshan City, it will be able to cut off Changshan City, Jiankou Pass and Litang fortifications from Hengshan City. However, the Huaidong Army
In order to gather troops and horses to attack Shanxi Sai and Hengshan City, we must first solve the bottleneck restriction of grain and fodder supply in Guanxiling.
Could it be that while the two armies were confronting each other, Huaidong still had time to carve out mountains and mountains?