The spring was warm in late March, and the grass was luxuriant and wild flowers were blooming. More than a hundred horsemen came galloping over Xiaguan Road in Nanshan Mountain, Bingzhou, trampling on the grass and flowers that had covered the official road.
The leader of more than a hundred riders is about seventeen or eighteen years old, with sword-shaped eyebrows and starry eyes, a tough face, and is wearing cyan armor. The armor is like fish scales, shining brightly in the sunset.
A carriage suddenly appeared in front of the road, with a dozen followers guarding the carriage, blocking the way forward.
The young man leading the hundred riders focused their gazes and stopped with their horses. The warrior behind him held the handle of his sword and was secretly vigilant. It is too common these days to encounter strong men who block the road.
A young man in his thirties with deep eyes emerged from the carriage, walking towards him. Li Shimin saw the person clearly, dismounted quickly, and took the initiative to salute: "It turns out to be Brother Wuji, the people of the world are polite."
The young man blocking the road was Changsun Wuji. His sister Guanyin had married Li Shimin three years ago. Changsun Wuji and Li Shimin also hit it off and had always had a good relationship.
"Shimin, I've been waiting for you here for two hours!" Changsun Wuji bowed in return.
Li Shimin's eyes lit up and he said quickly: "Brother Wuji wants to go to Taiyuan with me..."
…
The two exchanged a few words and then set out on the road together. However, Changsun Wuji was a scholar after all. Although he could ride a horse, Li Shimin still considerately slowed down the speed.
"King Qin An led five thousand people to defeat 300,000 thieves in the Central Plains, and chopped the heads of fourteen thieves into pieces in front of hundreds of thousands of people. It was really satisfying!" While resting on the road, Li Shimin suddenly said with emotion,
His expression was full of longing, but when he said this, his peripheral vision noticed the change in Changsun Wuji's expression.
Changsun Wuji looked as usual, with a look of admiration in his eyes, but he shook his head and said: "King Qin An and I have a close friendship. He is a strange man of his generation. His magical powers are often unexpected. He can be a world-shaking hero, but he is vicious and acts unscrupulously.
, has now fundamentally touched the interests of all the powerful families and the great nobles, and has become the public enemy of all the powerful families. Under such circumstances, no matter how great one is, it is difficult to become an emperor."
When Li Shimin heard this, he let go of the last trace of doubt in his heart and said: "But I have to say that in troubled times, the world has become a deer hunter, and King Qin An is the most powerful deer hunter." Li Shimin clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the foothills of Nanshan Mountain.
, "If the counties in Hebei are in chaos, and it is difficult to destroy Wang Xuba when he comes to protect his children, King Qin An can send troops to quell the thieves, sit in the six counties of Hebei, and wait and see the situation in the world..."
Changsun Wuji secretly observed and found that Li Shimin did not have the slightest frivolity that an eighteen-year-old should have. He had a calm demeanor that was far beyond that of his peers. He considered the problem very carefully and had a long-term vision.
Changsun Wuji also sighed in his heart: "The world is about to be in chaos, the mountains and rivers are broken, and whoever is competing to become the hero of the world has been secretly making various arrangements in the past few years, and he has the natural advantage of being supported by a powerful family. His chances of winning are no better than that of Wang Junlin."
Bad!"
With a sigh in his heart and no expression on his face, Changsun Wuji said: "Shimin, I suggest you not to go to Taiyuan in a hurry, but to walk around the other three counties of Bingzhou for a few days to inspect the topography of each county in Bingzhou.
Li Shimin nodded, but then shook his head and said: "When my father planned Taiyuan County, he had already sent people to inspect the topography of Bingzhou very clearly. I plan to take a detour to Tongguan."
When Changsun Wuji heard this, his eyes lit up and he smiled and said: "Tongguan is located at the junction of the three counties, with Huashan Mountain to the south and the Yellow River to the north. The width between the rivers and mountains is only twenty or thirty miles, the Nanyuan Valley is deep and the slopes are steep, and the original lower valley is narrow, forming a
The natural danger is commonly known as Hangu Pass."
Li Shimin knew that Changsun Wuji had understood what he meant, his eyes flickered, and he said with a smile: "Tongguan is located at the west end of Hangu, close to Tongshui. There is a tributary to the east of Guancheng, called Forbidden ditch. The upper and lower parts of Forbidden ditch are divided into east and west directions.
Including Jindou Pass, there are also thirteen passes such as Tongguan and Mayu, from the foot of Nanshan Mountain to the bank of the Yellow River, they are set up layer by layer to protect Tongguan. This is the gateway from Bingzhou to Chang'an in Guanzhong."
Changsun Wuji also smiled and said: "If we can separate Guanzhong, use Tongguan as the gateway, and send out troops from Wuguan to seize Hanzhong, we can hope for the world..."
At the end of the conversation, the two looked at each other and smiled at the same time.
In Guanzhong, there are also many rogue bandits in Bingzhou, but Luo Yi was in charge of Bingzhou's army before, and he was ruthless. Wherever the army passed, the bandits were killed without leaving any prisoners, which frightened many bandits away. Even if there were a few bandits, they were harassed.
Although they attacked, they could not shake the more than 100 elite soldiers in Li Shimin's retinue.
However, due to the rampant bandits and the continuous severe drought, Li Shimin and Changsun Wuji passed by, and the roadside was full of devastated and miserable refugees.
Li Shimin followed Changsun Wuji's advice and selected Jian Rui from the refugees along the way. When he arrived at Tongguan, there were already more than a thousand Jian Yong, plus their family members, a team of nearly 2,500 people, walking between the bandits and the areas controlled by the government.
Li Shimin also adopted Changsun Wuji's method. He organized one group of family members and another group of more than a thousand warriors, and dispersed more than a hundred elites under his command.
We suppressed some small groups of bandits, obtained some supplies of soldiers and armor, and also trained our troops.
When they reached the territory of Chang'an in Guanzhong, Li Shimin intended to lead the army of more than a thousand refugees to participate in the suppression of bandits, regardless of casualties. After being tempered in actual combat, he already had a thousand elite soldiers in his hands.
…
…
"Wang Xuba should not be underestimated. Lai Huer wanted to take advantage of the defeated mob to disrupt Wang Xuba's troops. Unexpectedly, Wang Xuba had expected it. Although Lai Huer led his army and sealed him in his lair, he killed the elite and ordinary bandits.
Separate camps and no contact with each other, Lai Hu'er just didn't capture it." In the meeting hall of the Far East March Administrator's Office in Fanyang County, Shen Guoer reported the latest information to Wang Junlin.
Wang Junlin nodded and said: "There are now more than 100,000 Wang Xuba rebels, and they are all trapped on the mountain.
Although Mingshan County has been occupied among the hills and valleys in the south of Gu County, if it continues like this, it will only be a fish in a rut and a trapped beast in a cage. But the wonderful thing is that Wang Xupai sent Wei Daoer in advance to lead one hundred thousand new bandits away.
The mountain road captured Nanshan County, but it restricted the energy and troops to protect the children from behind..." Wang Junlin put his hands on the desk, looked at the most accurate map in the world, and pointed at Nanshan County in Shanggu County,
He said, "Send an order to Yuchi Jingde and Luo Shixin to put the Tiger Camp and the Tornado Battalion into a first-level combat readiness state and be prepared for a rapid march of 500 miles at any time."
After the counselor from the marching general manager's office wrote down the order and went down to deliver it, Wang Junlin said to Zhang Tiangang: "The members of your special team can sneak in in advance. I don't need to say more about how to do it!"
Zhang Tiangang grinned and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I know what to do in my humble position."
Wei Daoer captured Nanshan County, so that Wang Xuba's rebels who were previously trapped in Mingshan County were no longer isolated. Instead, the 50,000 elite troops who came to protect him were in danger of being surrounded.
Because Wang Xubo and Wei Daoer had as many as 150,000 bandits, and Wei Daoer had 100,000 bandits who had just joined the army. Many of them had not been trained and were actually just civilians. They did not even have enough weapons.
The threat is really limited, but the 50,000 elite rebels in Mingshan County, where Wang Xuba is based, are quite different.
Wang Xuba himself was a general in Bingzhou. When Yang Guang ascended the throne, he followed Yang Liang and Gao Ying in Bingzhou to rebel and failed miserably. Wang Xuba led more than 200 of his own soldiers and confidants to flee to Shanggu County, where they settled incognito and became citizens.
They secretly operated in Shanggu County for nine years, and then took advantage of Yang Guang to send troops to Goguryeo to raise troops in Shanggu County.
At the beginning of the army, they robbed the grain and grass sent by the government to Goguryeo and obtained a large amount of supplies. The army quickly expanded to 50,000 people. They took Mingshan County as their base, wiped out all the county soldiers sent by Shanggu County to suppress the bandits, and obtained a large number of soldiers.
supply.
However, Wang Xuba was extremely afraid of King Qin An of Fanyang County, which was only five or six hundred miles away from Shanggu County. After the number of soldiers reached 50,000, he no longer expanded his power, but secretly trained his troops, and rarely slaughtered people at will. Compared with other thieves,
, not very famous.
In fact, most of the rogue rebels were driven away by the officers and soldiers and blindly expanded their troops. If they stayed in one place for too long, it would be very difficult to supply food and grass. They were forced to choose to disperse the supply pressure by turning the rogues into battles. Instead,
Without a base, it will be difficult to achieve anything in the end. It will either be destroyed or annexed by other bandits.
Wang Xuba has been operating in Mingshan County for more than two years. He has used the terrain to build many military forts and passes. The people in the county have also recognized Wang Xuba as the leader, and Wang Xuba knows very well that rabbits do not eat grass near their nests.
, he treated the people of Mingshan County quite kindly. In the eyes of the people, he was much better than the government, and he was quite popular among the people.
Therefore, if Lai Hu'er is surrounded by 150,000 rebels led by Wang Xu Bo and Wei Dao'er, and Wang Xu Bo takes advantage of the people's hatred of the officers and soldiers in Mingshan County, if Lai Hu'er falls into the vast ocean of people in Mingshan County,