Li Qiong's sign was really useful. The camel team went all the way south. With this iron sign, they were allowed to pass through all the checkpoints without embarrassment.
Two days later, the team arrived in Zitong County and arrived at the warehouse by the river.
Chengji County has been renting two granaries here, and now it has rented almost all warehouses specifically for the transfer of supplies.
There are walls around the warehouse, and a thousand soldiers from Xihe Road are guarding here. This is an agreement reached by Chen Qing and Li Qiong. Wu Gao is too principled and does not allow Chen Qing's soldiers to enter Bashu.
Strict searches and registrations were carried out, and every caravan entering Bashu had to register the number of people and check the number of people when leaving Jianmen Pass, so that there was no chance of importing soldiers into Bashu.
But Li Qiong was completely different. He canceled all restrictions on Wu Gao, allowing Chen Qing to not only send a thousand troops to Zitong County to protect the warehouse, but also use caravans to import troops to Bashu on a large scale. In just half a month, he
After secretly importing 4,000 troops to Bashu, plus the 1,000 troops guarding the warehouse, Chen Qing has deployed 5,000 troops in Longqing Mansion.
Wang Qun asked his men to unload the goods from the camel team and deliver them directly to the warehouse.
At this time, Liu Qiong hurried over after hearing the news. As the commander of these five thousand soldiers, he was the first batch to arrive in Zitong County.
Wang Qun bowed and said: "See General Liu!"
Liu Qiong waved her hand, "You're welcome, where is Dutong's letter?"
Wang Qun took out a letter from Chen Qing and handed it to Liu Qiong. Liu Qiong quickly opened it and read it carefully. The attack time was set for October 15th, that is, five days later, when Chen Qing would personally lead an elite army of 50,000 to go south.
Liu Qiong read the letter and asked, "Have you brought the armor?"
Wang Qun nodded, "I brought them all!"
Liu Qiong immediately asked the soldiers to open the cargo packages one by one. The sheepskin in the cargo package was mixed with armor. The helmet was also sewn with double layers of cowhide and covered with iron plates. Its defensive capabilities were no worse than ordinary iron helmets.
There were six thousand pairs of armor in total. As for their weapons, they had already arrived, including spears, shields, swords and crossbows, as well as kerosene and gunpowder, and even a dozen small trebuchets, which were also transported into Bashu among a batch of furniture.
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"Ship immediately!"
Liu Qiong shouted to the five hundred waiters: "Everyone, go to the dock and board the boat!"
Five hundred men carried the armor onto the ship, and they also boarded the ship and sailed to a large manor more than ten miles away.
The manor Liu Qiong bought is called Qingshan Manor, covering an area of 3,000 acres, half of which is occupied by a hill. Currently, 4,000 elite soldiers are hiding in the manor.
Of course, it was impossible for the four thousand soldiers stationed in the manor not to be known by the locals. In order to prevent risks, Chen Qing used Li Jiong's connections to bribe all the officials in Zitong County, ensuring that the secrets of the four thousand soldiers would not be leaked.
This time the operation of the five thousand troops in Bashu was still coordinated by Liu Qiong and Tang Qian. The two had cooperated many times when dealing with the Xixia army and had a tacit understanding. However, in terms of military positions, Liu Qiong was the commander-in-chief and Tang Qian was the deputy.
Commander, there is another commander in the middle...
Liu Qiong rode into the manor. There was no cultivated land in the manor. It was almost all trees. It was surrounded by high walls. A deep trench about one foot and five feet wide was dug inside the forest. Sentries and patrolling cavalry were built around it. In the middle was
There was a large grassland, and then a hill. Five hundred tents were pitched at the foot of the hill, and tent fences were also built.
When Liu Qiong came to the main tent, Tang Qian rushed over immediately, "General Liu, is there any news from the capital?"
Liu Qiong nodded, "The operation will take place on October 15th. There are still five days left. We have to start preparations."
"But the armor hasn't arrived yet!"
"The armor has been transported, and it's by the river. Five hundred of your men are also here."
Tang Qian was overjoyed. If he wanted to become a pioneer, he must have capable men, but none of his men had arrived yet, which really made him anxious. He looked up to the stars and the moon, and finally they arrived.
"I'll go see them!"
Just as Tang Qian was about to leave, Liu Qiong stopped him with a smile, "I just got some important information, and I want to discuss it with you. I have arranged for your men to take them to eat and rest first."
Tang Qian sat down again, Liu Qiong spread out the map, pointed to a pass in the south of Jianmen Pass and said: "This is Jinniu Fort, which stores a large amount of kerosene and gunpowder. It was stored here when Wu Gao was guarding Jianmen Pass.
Jianmen Pass, all the remaining kerosene and gunpowder are stored here, I know what I am most worried about?"
"Burn the plank road!" Tang Qian blurted out.
After passing Jianmen Pass, there are still hundreds of miles of mountain roads, some of which are particularly difficult and dangerous. Plank roads have also been built. If the plank roads are burned down, even if Jianmen Pass is captured, they will not be able to walk through Dajian Mountain.
In addition, the mountain road is rugged and narrow. Wu Gao built five checkpoints at strategic points south of Jianmen Pass. Although there were not many troops stationed at each checkpoint, they were all guarded by one man and could not be opened by ten thousand people. If Chen Qing attacked by force, he would not be able to attack them.
It's not impossible, but it will definitely pay a heavy price in terms of casualties.
This is the main reason why Chen Qing had to send an army to cooperate with the main force in the south. He wanted to control the Baili Mountain Road, especially the plank road, to prevent Li Qiong's army from burning down the plank road when they retreated.
Liu Qiong tapped the map lightly, "So I thought that we must send a team to the Taurus Fort first to capture the warehouse of the Taurus Fort."
"Let me go!"
Liu Qiong shook her head, "Golden Bull Fort is only the first checkpoint. There are four more checkpoints behind it. That is your mission."
Tang Qian thought for a while and said, "Then let Yang Rui go. He is bold and careful, has strong martial arts skills, especially his outstanding archery skills, and he will definitely be able to get things done!"
Liu Qiong was silent for a moment and then agreed, "Then invite him over and I'll explain it to you!"
At this time, Chen Qing personally led 50,000 elite troops into the Jinniu Road. Currently, the 1,000 soldiers stationed by Wu Gao in Nanzheng County have withdrawn to Bashu. This is the condition that Chen Qing and Wu Gao had previously agreed upon. Once Wu Gao is transferred,
, these thousand troops must be withdrawn.
Li Qiong did not care about garrisoning troops in Hanzhong, so that Hanzhong no longer had any soldiers from the imperial army, so Chen Qing did not have to worry about his retreat being cut off.
There is still a long way from Hanzhong to Jianmenguan. In fact, this section is the most difficult road on the Jinniu Road. More than 70% of the plank roads are distributed on hundreds of miles of mountain roads.
At present, everything north of Jianmen Pass is controlled by Chen Qing's army. This is where Wu Gao is very dissatisfied with Chen Qing. Wu Gao repeatedly asked both sides to use Xicheng County as the boundary and return Jinniu Road to him, but Chen Qing refused.
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The only reason is that Liu Guangshi retreated in such an embarrassing manner that he lost all the dangerous passes in front of him, while Chen Qing completely inherited the fruits of Jin Bing's victory.
In fact, Chen Qing still has two thousand troops stationed in Miangu County on the Jinniu Road, guarding the dangerous Niutoushan and Jiameng Pass. How could Chen Qing give up these dangerous areas to Wu Gao?
Not long after entering the Jinniu Road is the Wuding Gorge, which is considered a relatively difficult and dangerous section of the entire Jinniu Road. You have to pass through the extremely narrow Tianti Mountain Road, which only allows one person to pass, then climb up the mountain, and then dive down from the top of the mountain.
Li Bai wrote here, "The earth collapses and the mountains kill the strong men, and then the stone stacks of the ladder to heaven are connected. On the top there is the high mark of the six dragons returning to the sun, and on the bottom there is the rushing wave and reverse return to Sichuan."
Although Wuding Gorge is a shortcut, this road cannot be used for carrying luggage. Neither the army nor the caravans will go here. Instead, they will take the Jialing Road to the west.
After crossing the Jialing River and passing through Yangping Pass, the road will be much smoother, and you can go all the way south to Miangu County. Although the road is a long detour, Chen Qing had no choice, and his army could only take the Jialing Road.
Eight days later, 50,000 troops arrived in Miangu County. Miangu County is a central county. Wanyan Wushu and Wanyan Helisad both arranged the logistics for the attack on Jianmen Pass here. When Liu Cui captured Hanzhong, he Tens of thousands of stones of food and a large number of tents and other materials were seized here.
Food and supplies were not transported away, and it still became a midway supply place for Chen Qing's army. Two thousand troops were stationed in Miangu County.
Fifty thousand troops were stationed outside Miangu County. On the river beach dozens of miles south of Miangu County was the famous Jiameng Pass, where a battlefield could be set up. However, Jiameng Pass was seriously damaged by Wanyan Wushu and needed to be repaired.
Continuing to go south is Eagle Rock. The mountain where Eagle Rock is located is called Niutoushan. The pass under Eagle Rock is actually the famous Tianxiong Pass, which was also destroyed by Wanyan Wushu when he attacked Bashu.
Later, Wanyan and Liza rebuilt a reverse pass on the same site and renamed it Yingying Pass, also called Yingyan Pass. However, it was also demolished on the order of Chen Qing.
Not far from Yingyan Pass is Jianmen Pass. Today is October 14th, and there is still one day left before the time agreed upon by both parties.
October 15th is the day agreed by both parties to attack Jianmen Pass, so Liu Qiong's army must of course take action in advance.
At dusk, a caravan arrived at Jinniu Fort. The caravan was led by Yang Rui and had 500 camels and 60 of the most elite scouts as companions.
Jinniu Fort is the first checkpoint going south from Jianmen Pass. The terrain here is relatively open. It is actually composed of two parts. One is the Jinniu Fort checkpoint. To the north of the checkpoint is a long slope. The checkpoint is condescending, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. , as long as a large number of rolling logs and rocks are prepared, it will be almost impossible for the army on the slope to attack.
The other place is the Jinniubao Station, which is about a few hundred steps away from the checkpoint. Travelers were originally allowed to rest here, otherwise it would be dangerous to walk on the mountain road at night.
However, Wu Lao transformed the post station into a warehouse of kerosene and gunpowder, and stationed hundreds of troops here. Therefore, merchants were strictly prohibited from resting here to ensure the safety of the important warehouse.
If Wu Gao was still in Bashu, there would be no chance of capturing Jinniu Castle and Jianmen Pass. But now that Wu Gao is gone, the commercial value of Jinniu Castle has been valued again. As long as you have money, everything will be easy.