Chapter 679 Terrain

Chapter 679 Terrain
After Liu Sui's head was found, someone was asked to sew it up.

Shao Xun ordered the collection of the best coffins, murder weapons, and property in Yewang City, and gave them to Liu Runzhong, ordering him to transport his son back to Shangdang for burial.

In addition to this matter, the battle situation in Shangdang is particularly important.

On the seventh day of October, after the army had rested for a day, Shao Xun left Wang Que'er in charge of Yewang to wipe out the remaining enemies that might exist in the wilderness, and also supervised the war in the direction of Chenguan. He led the main forces of the Silver Spear Right Camp, the Black Sword Army, and the Yicong Army, with more than 10,000 people, as well as more than 10,000 miscellaneous soldiers from various routes, and marched north to Shangdang.

Even at this point in the fight, he still refused to stop.

The Xiongnu court was probably somewhat panicked and would inevitably react. The decisions that were difficult to make before might now have to be made.

Before Wang Que'er's pursuit was over, Quyang King Liu Xian had already arrived at Chenguan to supervise the battle, and he might have brought soldiers and food - probably not a lot, because to transport food from Hedong to Chenguan, one had to cross the entire Wangwu Mountain, and there were many dangerous passes on the road, so the loss was considerable.

As for Shangdang, we just received news this morning: Liu Yao personally arrived at Danzhuling, and his vanguard has reached Bazi's tomb.

Danzhu Ridge, also known as "Changping North Mountain", is the boundary mountain between Changzhi Basin and Jincheng Basin. It was named after Emperor Yao’s eldest son Danzhu.

The Dan River originates from it, flows southward, exits Taihang Pass, and runs through the entire Jincheng Basin. Its name is also related to Danzhu.

Of course, there are also rumors that the name of Danzhuling and Danshui originated from the Battle of Changping - "Qin buried Zhao soldiers and their blood flowed in Danchuan, hence the name Danshui."

Shao Xun asked many people where the place name Bazi Tomb (now Ba Gong Town) came from, but no one could tell.

Finally, it was the Jie people, an outsider from Shangdang, who told him this "history": Duke Xiang of Jin attacked Ba and moved the people of Ba here. At first there was a Ba City, but it was later abandoned and the people of Ba were buried here.

Shao Xun was somewhat surprised, and asked his staff again, "Did Duke Xiang of Jin really conquer Bashu?" No one had heard of it.

Maybe it's just a false rumor.

But this is not the point. The point is that Liu Zhao failed to go north, so he retreated to Xunshi County (now Gaoping), was defeated, fled all the way to Bazi Tomb, and was caught up by Liu Yao's vanguard.

Of course, this does not mean that Liu Zhao was not good at fighting. In fact, his father Liu Runzhong had already taken all the strong men south, and most of the people left for Liu Zhao were old and weak. It was normal that he could not defeat the enemy.

As for why he did not lead his troops north to firmly hold the Jincheng Basin and eye the Changzhi Basin behind the Danzhuling Mountains, to put it bluntly, Liu Runzhong wanted to go south to make great achievements and gain wealth and honor. After all, he had not achieved any merit if he stayed in Gaodu and Xunshi.

The situation in Shangdang was critical, so Shao Xun certainly would not delay.

Even if he couldn't take over the entire Shangdang, he wanted to firmly take over the Jincheng Basin and then plan to take over the Changzhi Basin.

The danger of Taihang Mountain is hard to experience without visiting it in person.

On the night of the seventh day, the army camped in the old city of the State of Yu.

This city is just outside the Taihang Xingkou. It was built by Bi Shu (Ji Dan), the son of King Wu of Zhou. Bi City still existed during the Northern Wei Dynasty.

There is Bi Terrace in the south of the city, Bi River (a tributary of Qin River, no longer exists) in the west of the city, and Bi Ting seven or eight miles to the southeast, which is probably the name of a place. Bi State was later destroyed by Zheng State, and the descendants of Bi Shu took "Yu" as their surname. Bi City is the birthplace of the Yu surname in later generations.

On the eighth day of October, a part of the vanguard troops went upstream along the Dan River and entered Taihang Xing.

Shao Xun asked Liu Runzhong and Liu Quan, father and son, to get on his carriage and travel together on the afternoon of the eighth day.

"The towering Taihang Mountains are so majestic that people are afraid of them. If it weren't for Gongji (Liu Runzhong), I really don't know when I could have entered Bingzhou. The mountains and rivers inside and outside have never deceived me." Shao Xun lifted the curtain of the carriage, looked at the towering mountains on both sides, and said with emotion.

The carriage was guarded by personal soldiers on both sides.

On the tattered post road, the horse-drawn carriages occupied almost all the road surface. The royal army had walked into the rocks on both sides, swaying and unsteady, and they were in danger of falling into the Dan Shui if they were not careful.

There is nothing more to say about the road conditions.

Liu Runzhong and his son led more than 10,000 cavalrymen southward. They were a really light and fast troop movement, relying entirely on mules and horses. They didn't even bring food carts. They were determined to rob the rich.

"Your Excellency is a tiger in the Central Plains, and you are omnipotent. Your great talent and strategy are amazing." Liu Runzhong said, "How can a small Xiongnu country resist the army of a big country? They can only survive by relying on the terrain of mountains and rivers. I offer Shangdang to the Xiongnu, and the Xiongnu will lose the geographical advantage. Once the army is launched, it will be easy to destroy this country."

Shao Xun glanced at him.

The fake brother-in-law is in a much better mood now.

A few days ago, he found Liu Ya from his son and stabbed him dozens of times on the spot. Then he cut off his head and heard that he would make a skull wine vessel, and the torso and limbs would be distributed to the soldiers as food...

Damn, there are anthropomorphic creatures everywhere!
"The credit is yours, and no one can take it away from you." Shao Xun stopped the carriage and simply led the two of them out to walk. The carriage was too stuffy and there were no shock-absorbing springs, so their buttocks hurt.

A fortress appeared faintly in front of him. Shao Xun knew that it was called Tianjing Pass (also known as "Taihang Pass"), which was first built during the Yuanshuo period of the Western Han Dynasty and has been repaired in successive dynasties.

They were still several miles away from Tianjing Pass, and the paths they encountered were all dangerous and narrow passes.

Shao Xun stopped for a moment and turned his head to look back.

A few miles behind the carriage, Yangchangban (another name for Taihangxing) was crowded with people and flags flying.

At this time, if someone blocked Tianjing Pass in front and someone occupied the ancient city of Bi State in the back, with both ends blocked, the whole army would be wiped out.

The width of the pass was two or three steps, and even less than two steps in the narrowest places. Later, when Emperor Yang of Sui returned to Luoyang from Bingzhou, he spared no effort and ordered the excavation and widening of Taihang Pass, but the width of the road was only reduced to three steps (four or five meters).

With such a narrow passage, even if you have 100,000 soldiers, they can't move around.

There are always only a few people who come into direct contact, and the defenders are too easy to defend against.

This is the difficulty of attacking a pass, because they are built based on the terrain and are much more difficult than attacking a city.

"Gongji, this is your contribution." Shao Xun pointed to the winding mountain path and said, "We have been in the mountains for two days, and we have only walked less than forty miles. If we attack these forty miles by force, I don't know how many soldiers will be killed or injured. In fact, you don't have to go south. It is better for the whole army to go north to attack Danzhuling than to go south to Yewang."

Liu Runzhong remained silent. Lord Liang was indirectly criticizing him.

Shao Xun glanced at him again and thought to himself that he still had some temper, just like the undisciplined Liu Ye.

He then stopped talking.

When the sun was setting, we finally arrived at Tianjing Pass.

A large flag with the word "Hou" on it was flying high above the city wall, indicating that it had obviously been occupied by the Heiliang Army.

There are three wells in front of Tianjing Pass, named "Tianjing Spring", which are said to be "huge and unfathomable". At this time, the imperial soldiers were already drawing water here to wash their horses and cook.

Shao Xun went straight up to Tianjing Pass and overlooked the mountains.

This pass is located at the highest point of Taihang Pass. From the ancient city of Bi State to the north to the front of the pass, it is an uphill road forty miles; from Tianjing Pass to the north for more than thirty miles, it is a downhill road. After getting out of the mountain, walk another ten miles to reach Gaodu (now Jincheng), the old nest of Liu Runzhong.

It was really not easy to take over the dangerous pass of seventy or eighty miles without bloodshed. Ultimately, it was due to the good work done in united front.

On the 11th, the army continued to move north.

******
As the vanguard, the Mule Army entered the mountains half a day in advance.

There were more than 1,300 soldiers, each with a mule and a riding horse, carrying several days' worth of dry food, and marching quickly all the way.

Not long after Shao Xun entered the mountain, they passed Tianjing Pass.

On the afternoon of the ninth day, we left Taihang Pass and, under the guidance of a guide, rushed to Gaodu and camped outside the city.

The Jie people gave them some jerky - don't get me wrong, this was beef and mutton, made from large numbers of livestock slaughtered because of a locust plague that resulted in a shortage of fodder.

On the tenth day, more than a thousand people walked northeast along the post road for dozens of miles and saw a flat basin in the distance. That was the legendary Bazi City and Bazi Tomb - to date, the city and tomb have disappeared, only the place name remains.

Jiang Ke rode his horse up a gentle slope and looked to the north.

Liu Zhao built a camp with large flags erected in the camp and soldiers moving around.

There was no Hun army to be seen on either side, only a few cavalrymen were moving around.

"Xu Yu!" Jiang Ke shouted.

"I'm here." Xu Yu replied.

"You take three hundred men north, pass the camp but don't enter, go towards Xunshi County, and come back if you encounter the enemy." Jiang Ke ordered.

Xu Yu took the order and left. A moment later, the three hundred men rode on mules, raising a large cloud of dust and heading north.

Jiang Ke led the remaining thousand people and quickly arrived outside the camp.

"But the royal army?" someone shouted from the high wall of the camp.

"Mule Army soldier Jiang Ke, following the order of Lord Liang, has come here to provide assistance. Is Sheren Liu here?" Jiang Ke asked.

Liu Zhao was a servant of the shogunate, which was his official position. As for his identity as the son of Liu Runzhong and a tribal leader, those were not official positions.

The camp gate was quickly opened, and Liu Zhao walked out under the escort of dozens of people.

Jiang Ke also got off the mule and walked forward.

A personal soldier opened the bundle, took out the official seal and the official letter for mobilizing troops, and the Jie guide stepped forward to negotiate.

Liu Zhao had never met Jiang Ke. After listening to the guide's words, he looked at the official seal and official letter, believed it, and immediately smiled and said, "General Jiang, please enter the camp. I have prepared food--"

"No hurry." Jiang Ke waved his hand and asked, "How is the situation in the north?"

Liu Zhao's face suddenly turned ugly, and he said with a stiff face: "Liu Yao has built a fort on Danzhu Mountain, and his vanguard commander Hu Yanshi is entrenched in Xunshi County. There are thousands of people, looting people, cattle and sheep everywhere. The people have fled, and I have asked people to relocate them to the mountains. They are in great difficulty and urgently need relief."

Jiang Ke understood what was going on after hearing this.

Liu Zhao was unable to drive away thousands of Hun soldiers because he did not have much strength at hand as most of them were elderly, weak, women and children, and there were very few strong men.

"How many people does Liu Yao have?" Jiang Ke asked again.

"I don't know." Liu Zhao answered honestly, "It should be no less than 10,000 people."

"I think at most 10,000 people." Jiang Ke thought for a moment and said, "If there were so many soldiers, how could they possibly build a camp on Danzhu Ridge?"

"The governor is right." Liu Zhao nodded repeatedly.

"Any news from Pingyang?"

"We captured two rangers yesterday, who said that a large number of Xiongnu soldiers were approaching on the Wuling Road. They also said that Pingyang was transporting grain and fodder to Jinyang regardless of losses." Liu Zhao replied.

"Who is leading the troops on Wuling Road? How many are there?"

"I don't know."

Jiang Ke sighed and knew nothing about anything.

The Wuling Road leads to Pingyang and is a dangerous mountain road that crosses the Wuling Mountains.

Simply put, the Wuling Mountains separate the Yuncheng Basin (Hedong and Pingyang counties, located in the west) from the Jincheng and Changzhi Basins (Shangdang County, located in the east). There are roads, but most of them are mountain roads that require crossing mountains and ridges, similar to Taihang Xing.

Danzhuling Mountains separate the Jincheng and Changzhi basins, which face each other from north to south across the mountains.

From the Changzhi Basin (where the Shangdang County capital is located) heading north, one has to cross endless mountains to reach the Taiyuan Basin (where Jinyang is located).

This is the terrain of Bingzhou, which is composed of basins of various sizes, with mountains between the basins, some of which are very dangerous.

The mountains and rivers inside and outside are not without reason. They have been very helpful for defense since ancient times.

Seeing that Jiang Ke didn't say anything, Liu Zhao thought for a moment and said, "There are rumors that Liu Cong went to Wuling personally."

"What?" Jiang Ke was a little surprised.

Is he going to go east from Wuling Road, straight into Gaodu, and cut off the return route of Liang Gong's army? Can he do it? Do they have enough food and grass?
Jiang Ke didn't quite believe it, but he immediately called a messenger to pass the message back.

At the same time, he looked at Liu Zhao and said, "Send someone to investigate westward immediately. There must be no mistakes."

(End of this chapter)