Chapter 116 The Only Person Prepared

Chapter 116 The Only Person Prepared

Chapter 116 The Only Person Prepared

When Shao Xun arrived at the camp, he happened to catch the slaughter of pigs and sheep, so he happily enjoyed a meal of wine and meat. The boys in the teaching team also got some treat and ate to their heart's content.

After eating and drinking, the army marched westward.

Brothers Du Dan, Du Yin and a group of generals from Yiyangwu Fort were "reluctant to leave" and accompanied them for several miles, and then returned home briskly.

On the way west from Yiquanwu, Shao Xun also met the second group of Bingzhou refugees heading to Yunzhongwu. There seemed to be about 300 households, carrying the elderly and children, staggering and struggling forward.

Also sent with them were some military equipment, livestock, and farm tools purchased in Luoyang.

Shao Xun restrained the soldiers and strictly prohibited harassment.

Are you kidding? If the soldiers take away their property, won’t they all be killed?

At noon that day, they passed Nuji Mountain and the refugees crossed the river in batches to the south bank of Luo River, while the army marched along the north bank and arrived at Sanxiangyi (now Sanxiang Town) that evening.

From Sanxiang Post Station to the north, there is a narrow mountain valley road, one section of which is opened up halfway up the mountain. On one side of the road is the mountain, and on the other side is a deep ravine. It is called Huixiban - Ban means hillside road.

The name Huixi was recorded in history because of Feng Yi and Deng Yu.

The two led their troops to fight against the Red Eyebrows in the west of Mianchi County and were badly defeated. Deng Yu fled to Yiyang, and Feng Yijing returned to Xiban with only a few people to return to the camp.

After passing this mountain valley road of more than 30 miles, you will reach the West Slope of the East and West Slopes of Mount Xiao. Mount Xiao is divided into the East and West Xiao Mountains, and West Slope is the mountain road of West Mount Xiao.

From here going east, passing Dongxiao Mountain, and passing Xin'an and other places, you can also reach Luoyang, which is the northern road opened up by Cao Cao.

The north road is more dangerous and not as easy to travel as the south road.

Even the emperor of the Tang Dynasty liked to take the long route south to Yiyang Road when he went to Luoyang for dinner. For this purpose, he built a series of palaces in the Luo River Valley so that he could rest along the way.

The army stayed here for three days.

During this period, Shao Xun selected more than 2,000 people from the upper, middle and lower armies, and attacked Tanshan directly, broke through the bandit camp, and captured more than 300 households.

He also sent people to Yunzhongwu to find Mao Er who had delivered the cattle, and ordered him to lead the seventh to tenth teams of the first building of the Silver Spear Army to Tanshan Village to clean up the mess.

Mi Huang just let it go and basically ignored it.

Mi Zhize followed the army and observed the situation. He was slightly disappointed when he saw more than 2,000 people crossing the river, trekking along the dangerous mountain road, and then attacking the bandit camp one after another.

The intensity of this war is indeed not comparable to the fighting in rural fortresses.

The scene where blood and flesh fly everywhere is particularly breathtaking.

At this point, he finally understood that Shao Xun controlled the three villages of Yunzhong, Jinmen and Tanshan, and put a lot of effort into managing them. Once they became successful, his influence in the Luoshui River Valley would greatly increase.

Sooner or later, this natural river valley surrounded by mountains will be completely under his control, right?
His vision was quite sharp. There were the East and West Xiao Mountains in the north and the Xiong'er Mountain in the south. The only opening on the east side faced Luoyang. As long as a city was built in this opening - or the Yiyang County city was simply rebuilt and used as a screen - the invading enemy forces could be blocked.

If the enemy does not capture Yiyang, their retreat will always be threatened, their food supply may be cut off, and they will not be able to advance into the Luoshui River Valley with peace of mind.

Then the big battle will take place near this opening.

This person has a lot of strategies in mind.

On the 15th, the army entered Huixiban in batches.

On the dangerous mountain road, everyone was very careful, especially the auxiliary soldiers of the baggage train, who had to be very careful with the loaded vehicles, mules and horses to prevent them from falling into the ditch.

"This road was dug during the Qin Dynasty and is still in use today." Shao Xun dismounted and walked to Mi Zhi who was following him, saying, "If the enemy attacks from the north, they must take this road."

"Why can't we take the mountain path and advance quickly with light troops?" Mi Zhi asked.

Knowing that the enemy would come from this road, I temporarily built a city and set up fences at dangerous places to block them head-on, but I didn't know when the battle would end. It would be better for the enemy to take the detour through the mountain paths.

"We can take a detour, but the mountain paths are unopened, making it difficult for both people and horses to walk, let alone a baggage train. This kind of light troops advancing quickly can only catch the enemy by surprise. Once discovered, they will surely die without a burial place," said Shao Xun.

If you march lightly and fast without a baggage train, you will most likely be without armor, have incomplete weapons, have only a few days' worth of dry food, and be seriously short of consumables such as arrows. When crossing mountain roads, your physical strength will be greatly depleted, and many people will even get injured.

In a situation like this, you really can only rely on surprise attacks, and you also have to hope that the opponent's morale is low and they will collapse at the first touch.

If the opponent is in high spirits, well-equipped, fully-staminaed, and willing to fight, then in your current state you are simply giving away your life.

"It seems... yes." Mi Zhi nodded and said, "In the past, when Cao Wei attacked Shu, Deng Shizai attacked Yinping by surprise. The journey was dangerous and 700 miles of high mountains and valleys. When he arrived at Jiangyou, the soldiers were poorly dressed and had few weapons. Their hair was unkempt and their faces were dirty. If the Shu army had well-trained elite troops ready to fight, Deng Shizai would have been wiped out."

"Haha." Shao Xun smiled and said, "This is how you can leave your name in history. It's actually a gamble, betting that your rear is empty and you don't set up defenses. If you set up defenses, he will die and he won't even have a way to retreat."

One can imagine the state of Deng Ai's army when they crossed the 700-mile uninhabited area, cutting through mountains and carving roads along the way, and arrived in Jiangyou.

Their armor and weapons were certainly incomplete, and they probably didn't eat well along the way, so their physical strength and energy were depleted to the extreme.

When entering the enemy's hinterland, people will be very frightened and their morale will not be very high.

As a result, the Shu army surrendered directly, allowing them to obtain key supplies. There is nothing to say about it.

"Who are you referring to when you say the northern troops are attacking the south?" Mi Zhi asked.

"If I say it's the Huns, would you believe me?" Shao Xun asked. Mi Zhi was a little stunned.

He admitted that Liu Yuan was in a good momentum now, but if they went south to attack Hongnong, it would mean that they had already invaded the vicinity of Luoyang. How was that possible?

"Don't believe it? If you don't believe it, just wait." Shao Xun smiled and said, "Don't worry, Hongnong County is divided by mountains and is roughly divided into two parts. The north of the mountain is located on the bank of a big river, facing the east of the river from a distance. If the Xiongnu cross the river and go south, it will be difficult to defend. The south of the mountain is sandwiched between mountains, with river valleys, abundant water and grass, and thousands of acres of fertile land, suitable for grazing and farming. Can we stop the Xiongnu with this?"

He just didn't believe it. From the Qin Dynasty to the Tang and Song Dynasties, there have only been these two routes. Could the Huns come up with any new tricks?

One route goes eastward from Mount Xiao, passes Xin'an, and heads towards Luoyang, where the terrain is difficult and dangerous.

One route goes south from Mount Xiao, then turns northeast along the Luo River Valley to Luoyang.

If the Huns were to come, they would most likely go west from Luoyang and attack Yiyang.

But it's not undefendable.

The county town of Yiyang needs a major overhaul. It would be best to build a warehouse city, store a large amount of supplies, and station more than 10,000 soldiers and horses there so that the Huns cannot get around.

Their cavalry needed to eat, and horses were particularly hungry. In times of war, it was impossible to feed horses with grass, so you would have nothing to do all day and would just be herding horses.

In war, what matters is logistics and what matters is concentration.

"What if the Huns lay siege for a long time and attack repeatedly?" Mi Zhi asked.

Shao Xun laughed loudly and said, "Don't worry, they are poorer than anyone else. If there is no food in Luoyang, most of the food will be consumed on the road during the long-distance transportation, which is not worth the loss. By then, Liu Yuanhai might even try to persuade me to surrender and appoint me to an official position. If I don't surrender, he will have nothing to plunder and will have to withdraw until he is able to occupy Luoyang."

"My lord, your plan is far-sighted. I admire you." Mi Zhi bowed and said sincerely.

He was one year older than Shao Xun, but had never thought about such profound strategic and tactical issues.

However, he still found it hard to believe that the Huns would go south to Luoyang.

They can’t even take Taiyuan now, how can they go south?

Of course, it's not surprising that he thought so.

No one realized it—or perhaps they realized it but were unwilling to think about it—the central army in Luoyang was gone!

Given the terrible condition of Sima Teng, the governor of Bingzhou, could he contain the main force of the Xiongnu?

If we can't contain them, and they march south in large numbers, how can we resist them?
It can be said that up to now, not many people have actively prepared to resist the Huns. Shao Xun is the one who has put in the most effort. For this, he even asked for a part of Concubine Pei's dowry, and owed a favor that he would never be able to repay in this lifetime.

Facts will educate everyone, and I just need to focus on my work.

On February 17, the army came out of the mountain road and arrived at the intersection of the East and West Xiao Mountains. The magistrate of Mianchi County sent food, fodder, wine and meat to reward the troops.

After a day of rest, we headed west across the stone road of Xixiao Mountain and entered the Yitiantian official road with towering earthen plateaus on both sides. On the afternoon of the 20th, we passed the ancient city of Anyang and arrived at Shan County.

There is no county magistrate in Shan County.

When the county officials saw the Luoyang governor's army approaching, they immediately opened the gates to welcome them.

Mi Huang and his son and others entered the city to stay temporarily, while Shao Xun stayed outside the city to command the army.

"Chen Yougen." Shao Xun sat on a baggage cart with a big horse and a golden sword, took out a letter from his arms and shouted.

"Yes." Chen Yougen responded immediately.

Because he drives the emperor, he is now a deputy general of the ninth rank, and is considered the second highest official in the Shaw Group.

Old Chen was not very surprised by this. He was probably even more rebellious than Shao Xun.

"Come closer and listen." Shao Xun hooked his finger and said.

Chen Yougen came closer.

"You take this letter, cross the river from Maojin and go to Hedong..." Shao Xun said in a low voice.

"Yes." Chen Yougen seemed to understand something and couldn't help asking, "For such an important matter, why doesn't the general go there in person?"

"I'm going to walk the lieutenant around here."

"There are nothing but mountains and plateaus along the way. I don't think there is anything to go around. Why should I be so devoted to the affairs of the court?" Chen Yougen muttered.

"You don't understand." Shao Xun waved his hand pretentiously and said, "I went to Anyang, talked about the city of Shaanxi, walked through the mouth of Manhuang, and rested in the ruins of Caoyang. How beautiful and remote it is!"

"What the hell..." Chen Yougen carefully put the letter away and left quietly.

He looked rough, but he was actually a man of great talent. He knew that visiting the Pei family was a big deal. Therefore, that afternoon, he led more than 20 riders, crossed the river from Maojin, stepped onto the land of Hedong, and galloped all the way.

Shao Xun took the time to draw a simple map for future use.

For him, this was both a trip to show off his military power and a trip for advisory purposes, which was very important.

(End of this chapter)