Thousands of miles away from Jiankang, northwest, Tianshui.
Tianshui is not the most central location among the Han territories in the northwest. Logically speaking, it should not be the seat of the state government. However, it is connected to Hanzhong through the Qishan Road, but it is an out-and-out lifeline of the northwest.
According to the agreement reached by Li Xingchen and Yang Jian before, the Han Dynasty did not go northward from Yangping Pass and Sanguan Pass, but passed through Wudu County and Qiuchi County diagonally to the northwest to connect with Tianshui, so that materials and soldiers, horses, and food in central and northwest Sichuan could be transported.
It will become difficult for the Han Dynasty to form any sharp offensive in the northwest, at least it will not threaten the security of Guanzhong from the northwest.
Otherwise, with such a huge northwest force pressing behind him, Yang Jian might really have trouble sleeping at night.
Li Xingchen did not leave Yangping Pass or enter Xiaoguan Pass, and Yang Jian did not have any ideas about the northwest. This can be regarded as a tacit understanding between Li Xingchen and Yang Jian.
But now this tacit understanding seems to be in jeopardy.
Tianshui City has become lively in the past two days. Convoys of grain and grass from central Sichuan are constantly gathering, and the size of the military camp outside the city is also growing at a speed visible to the naked eye. Reinforced troops from central Sichuan are setting up camp one after another.
It's almost mid-November. It's already quite cold in the northwest, and it's even started to snow in Wuwei and other places farther north. Fortunately, winter clothes are enough - which is a bit helpless, as Shuzhong is a world-famous place.
With the weaving center as the backing, the Han army really did not lack winter clothes. What they lacked was the people who could wear so many winter clothes.
"Get out of the way!" Several cavalrymen galloped past on the street.
The originally compacted loess street has been renovated according to the style of Shuzhong, with blue bricks and bluestones paving the middle road. There is no shortage of stones and soil for making bricks in the northwest, but the previous several aristocratic families did their own thing, and there is no talk of it.
What about repairing the city and rectifying people's livelihood?
After Chang Sun Sheng took control of Tianshui, the first thing he did was to make Tianshui City look like a qualified state government. At least now Tianshui City really looks like a majestic city in the northwest and a fortress town.
Reining his horse in front of the Tianshui government office, Xu Deyan walked into the government office in three steps and two steps at a time. If the clothes on his body hadn't revealed a little bit of his identity, no one would have believed that he was a powerful governor.
.
Xu Deyan came from Hanzhong at high speed. He almost changed horses without changing people along the way, and he was almost exhausted to death. However, Xu Deyan, the governor himself, gritted his teeth and persisted, and the few followers had nothing to say.
"Xiuyuan!" Seeing Xu Deyan striding in, he was greeted by surprise when he saw Xu Deyan striding in, standing in the meeting hall and discussing something with several army commanders and chief clerks. It was the Han Dynasty's general who conquered the west - also privately mentioned by many people.
Became the most unworthy general of the Four Expeditions - Cao Zhong.
Xu Deyan came all the way across the Qishan Road, his face still a little muddy, not to mention his clothes, and even his legs were slightly spread apart and trembling. Anyone who has experienced it knows that this is the result of galloping on a horse for a long time.
Cao Zhong's appearance was actually no better than his. Both of them were originally in Hanzhong. Cao Zhong rushed to Tianshui first to take charge, while Xu Deyan was responsible for coordinating the food and grass, so he arrived late.
"Now there are 20,000 soldiers and horses gathered outside Tianshui City. In addition, there are 40,000 to 50,000 people in Anding, Wuwei and Jincheng." Cao Zhong said in a deep voice, "Can we keep up with the food and grass? This is what people eat every day.
Horse chews it, so nothing can cause trouble."
"Don't worry, Shuzhong has a bumper grain harvest this year, and there is a lot of surplus. Now it is being transferred. There is an endless stream of grain trucks on the Qishan Road." Xu Deyan was still very responsible for what he was doing, but he soon realized something, "Changsun
Woolen cloth?"
Looking around, he didn't see Chang Sun Sheng's figure, which made him feel a little strange.
"We went to Wuwei, and Secretary Hou went to Anding." Cao Zhong said with some helplessness, "When So-and-so came, these two guys threw everything they were doing to So-and-so and ran away."
"Why is he, a civil servant, on the front line?" Xu Deyan snorted dissatisfied, "What happened in Wuwei?"
"Turkish cavalry was discovered in the north." Cao Zhong said as he walked to the map, "Xiuyuan, look, we have now deployed defenses along the Great Wall, but the Great Wall has been in disrepair, and even many of the walls are in disrepair.
It has been stripped away, and we can only hold on to a few passes. The Turkic cavalry has already stabilized, and appears in the northeast of Wuwei counties, and the number of people is increasing, which shows that the imperial court's worries are not unreasonable."
"The Turks are trying to pinch the soft persimmon." Xu Deyan sneered.
"Wolves on the grassland will only prey on old and weak opponents." Cao Zhong was not surprised by this. "The Great Wall is unreliable. The remaining rivers and Gaopingchuan (today's Qingshui River in Ningxia) can shield the north side, but...
······”
"But this is equivalent to cutting Wuwei County out." Xu Deyan said lightly.
Tianshui County, Anding County and Jincheng County (today's Lanzhou) form a triangle extending to the northwest. The important thing is that it has Liupan Mountain and the river as its support. Even if the Great Wall cannot be relied on, it can still be defended according to danger. But Wuwei County is isolated outside.
, Wuwei County continues to the northwest, which is already the activity range of Tuyuhun. However, from Jincheng County to Wuwei County, you still have to pass through the long Hexi Corridor.
Now the Han Dynasty is able to control Wuwei County mainly because of the support of local aristocratic families and the fact that the main forces of Tuyuhun are still limited to the south and west of the Qilian Mountains, and do not extend to the southern section of the Hexi Corridor in the northeast of the Qilian Mountains. However, once the Turks move south, the Hexi Corridor will
No matter how slender the throat is, it is very likely to be severed.
"Wuwei cannot be lost." Cao Zhong said decisively, "Wuwei is adjacent to the Qilian Mountains and is the source of our war horses. If Wuwei is lost, we will only be left with the Liupanshan Racecourse, which obviously cannot meet the needs of the current court. Moreover,
Our hand extending to the west of the river has been cut off."
"Chang Sun was very accurate." Xu Deyan sighed. Chang Sun Sheng was in such a hurry to go to Wuwei that he obviously understood the importance of this place.
The Hexi Corridor has always been a battleground.
"Report!" A scout walked in quickly, "Report to the general and governor, we encountered a group of Tuyuhun people, and they claimed to be envoys!"
"Oh?" Cao Zhong and Xu Deyan were both startled.
Although Tuyuhun is a force that most Han people are not very familiar with, since they are in the northwest, they cannot be underestimated. The development of Tuyuhun can actually be called bumpy. Tuyuhun originated from Xianbei, Liaodong, and is a pure-blood Murong clan.
, moved westward to the Shanglong area, settled in Wuhan County (now Linxia), and submitted to the Northern Dynasty.
Tuyuhun is one of the few khanates that uses the name of its founder as its country name. It was driven out of Fuhan County by the Northern Zhou Dynasty because it was called Khan. It can only continue to go west along the Huangshui River upstream. Now it is basically active.
The area south and west of the Qilian Mountains is roughly the western Qinghai and eastern Xinjiang in later generations. (To be continued)