Chapter 680: Shared Risk

Chapter 680: Shared Risk

Chapter 680: Shared Risk
Tang Jian's troops are waiting for food and fodder.

The mountain road was difficult, and the food and fodder for 15,000 infantry and cavalry was not a small amount, and the food and fodder they carried with them could not last long. Moreover, they also followed the order of Lord Liang and distributed part of the military rations to the Hu and Han people near the station to appease the people and stabilize the situation.

When the Mule Army crossed Gaodu and headed north, Tang Jian left a small number of troops to guard Gaodu, and the main force had already advanced more than 120 miles westward and arrived at the place where Yangcheng County was located in later generations.

He didn't care about Liu Zhao's life or death. He had already passed through the dangerous area and entered a relatively flat area. No matter how many Huns came, it didn't matter. He would be able to fight them back sooner or later.

The main reason he adjusted the direction of the battle was that he received accurate information that enemies were coming from the west, so he acted first and reported later, organized his troops to the west, and sent messengers to report the military situation.

Shangdang was deserted and many villages had been closed down. Only large and small Wuhuan and Xiongnu tribes remained in the mountains. Upon hearing that the army was coming, some surrendered on the spot - mainly Wuhuan people - and some fled westward in panic and escaped to the Xiongnu.

However, strictly speaking, this may have been the territory of Sizhou, because not far to the west was Huze County of Pingyang County of Sizhou (now west of Yangcheng County).

Juqu Chong led a small number of light cavalry and went straight to the outside of Fuze County. There he encountered a group of enemy cavalry. He did not want to fight and retreated directly.

After retreating, they sent out a large number of cavalry to explore the terrain and observe the location of enemy troops and logistical transportation routes.

"There is Duanshi County in the mountains a hundred miles to the north. A few dozen miles west of the county is the tail of Wuling Mountain, so Wuling Pass was built. I haven't heard any news that Liu Cong came here, so I'm afraid there is a mistake."

"It shouldn't be a mistake. Liu Cong may have come here to inspect and urge the defenders to repair the city defenses, and then left and went somewhere else."

"Fuze is far from Shangdang, but also far from Pingyang. Hedong, Pingyang, and Xihe are indeed not short of food, but it costs a lot to transport it here. The Xiongnu are not well-off and will not station a large army here."

"I think so too. The main force of the Xiongnu should be at Wuling Pass. This is where the three families held an alliance to divide Jin. The terrain is relatively flat, so a pass was built there. The Xiongnu should want to defend Wuling Pass to the death. Fu Ze and Duan clan will defend it if they can, and abandon it if they can't. Maybe the people have all evacuated, leaving only an empty city."

"I guess Liu Cong is in the north. There are two roads in Wuling, the south one is the Wuling Pass, which is very difficult to travel and not suitable for military operations. The north road is slightly less steep. Although it is called a large mountain range, it is actually the lowest point of the mountain range between Fen and Qin for hundreds of miles. It is the main road. Since the Han Dynasty, people have traveled along the north road. The south road is sparsely populated and has been in disrepair for many years. It is not suitable for a large army to pass through."

"The northern route leads directly to the pseudo-Han capital. Liu Congding is stationed there, personally supervising the battle and boosting morale."

“Can food be transported by water?”

"Now the water is shallow, I'm afraid it won't work. When Qin general Wang He took the southern route, it was also at the turn of spring and summer. He took advantage of the spring flood when the water was deep, and used both land and water transport to support it."

Tang Jian listened to his staff's discussions silently and nodded slightly.

They were scholars who had dug up a lot of information from old papers and were relatively familiar with the traffic conditions in Bingzhou. After he sent people to investigate on the spot, he found that there were some differences from what his staff had said, but not too big, and overall it was still reliable.

When marching and fighting, geography is really important.

He had been fighting in Henan and Hebei before, and when he first entered Bingzhou, he was stunned - it was normal for someone who had lived on the plains for half his life to be surprised when seeing such a broken and dangerous terrain, just like Hongnong he had visited before.

As we shift from fighting on plains to fighting in mountainous areas, our previous thinking needs to change.

He is trying to make changes.

"Build a fortification here and leave soldiers to monitor the direction of Fu Ze and Duan Shi, and the army will return to Gaodu for food." After listening, Tang Jian made a decision.

Going west through the Wuling South Road was extremely risky and difficult to supply. It would require the mobilization of more than 200,000 able-bodied men from Henan and Hebei to help transport food and fodder. This was not a decision he could make, so he could only go back first.

To put it bluntly, if you decide to advance westward through Wuling Road, you need to be fully prepared. In terms of scale, you need to have the supplies and personnel for a war to annihilate a country, otherwise it won't work.

In the Battle of Changping between Qin and Zhao, most of Zhao's army of more than 400,000 were actually just logistical support personnel, and the actual combat soldiers were probably only tens of thousands.

If there were really 400,000 combatants, even all the able-bodied men and women of Zhao State would not be able to guarantee the logistics.

Terrain and food supplies are two things that place great restrictions on war.

******
Tang Jian's staff were right. Liu Cong is now in the North Road.

More precisely, it is east of Xiangling County, Pingyang County.

There is no shortage of food in the Yuncheng Basin, but the problem is that it cannot be transported to the east - in fact, it can be transported, but the loss will be great, it depends on whether you are willing to do so.

That's the problem with terrain.

Sometimes, when looking at the country as a whole, there is an abundance of food, but in a specific place, there may be a shortage of food because the cost of transporting food from other places is too high - even in later generations, the country still repaired granaries in various places because the transportation cost was too high.

Liu Ya fought fiercely with Shao Xun in Hanoi, and the support of the Pingyang court was very limited.

Elite soldiers, food, fodder and equipment were difficult to transport in large quantities and could only be stored locally because there were continuous mountain ranges in between. One had to go through Chenguan (one of the Eight Passes of Taihang) to reach Henei, which resulted in great losses along the way and extremely high costs.

Local soldiers, using local supplies, fighting locally, this was often the actual situation in ancient wars.

The monarch certainly knew that this might lead to local separatism, but everything in the world is nothing more than cost, so what can he do?

The wealth of Hedong, Pingyang and Fengyi is not inferior to that of Henan, but it will be in vain if you don't use Henei and Shangdang.

Liu Cong was not a fool, he understood this truth. Therefore, after spending a lot of money to transport 200,000 hu of grain to Jinyang, he stopped and began to build the Wuling defense line.

The focus is the North Road, which is the focus of contention between the two sides.

"Your Majesty." When Liu Jing, the King of Ruyin, saw Liu Cong's carriage, he immediately bowed. Liu Cong got off the carriage, his face was a little gloomy, and he only asked: "How is the pass?"

"We have already sent troops and stored food to wait for the Shao bandit." Liu Jing replied.

Liu Cong remained silent, just looking at the vast mountains. After a long while, he finally said, "If we let Shao pass through Wuling, he will suddenly enter the flat Fenshui Valley, and it will be difficult to stop him."

"Your Majesty, please relax." Liu Jing said, "Henei and Shangdang are in ruins, and the Shao bandits are short of food and soldiers, so it is difficult for them to cross Wuling."

This is true.

Fighting in the mountainous area of ​​Bingzhou, Shao Xun was at a disadvantage in terms of food and fodder, with the support of the relatively wealthy Pingyang, Hedong and Fengyi counties, unless he mobilized hundreds of thousands of people from Henan and Hebei to transport food and fodder at all costs, but he did not have the strength to do so now.

But Liu Cong was still a little depressed.

Before I knew it, the attack had reached my doorstep.

If the loss of Hebei was normal and out of reach, then the loss of Hanoi and Shangdang was more fatal, because it made Pingyang lose its outer barrier, and Chenguan, Wulingguan, Diaohuangling, Danzhuling and other places were directly exposed to Shao Xun's troops, and there was no outer buffer zone.

Once these dangerous passes were broken, Shao Xun could go straight into the flat river valley, and the imperial court would no longer have any geographical advantage.

"Shao the traitor is personally leading the army, so how can I not lead the army myself?" Liu Cong sighed, "Tell the Crown Prince not to come back and continue to pacify the situation in Chang'an. I will personally take care of Hedong, Pingyang, and Xihe."

Liu Jingyi looked at the endless mountains.

In fact, if Shao the thief couldn't get through, they couldn't get through either.

The dangers of Taihang are shared by both sides.

What does this mean? It means that if the imperial court sent troops to attack the Shao bandits, the first thing they would have to face is the dangers of Wuling and Taihang, which would be very difficult.

This also means that the Han people have lost the ability to harass the core area of ​​Shao bandits.

From now on, the Han Dynasty might become a purely Guanxi regime, with Hongnong, Hedong, Pingyang, Xihe, Jinyang and other places as outer barriers to protect Chang'an.

Maybe that's not bad.

This kind of terrain consumes a lot of energy for the attacking side and less energy for the defending side, which is suitable for the changes in national strength of both sides after the capital is moved.

"Confer the title of King of Qi on Liu Ya posthumously." Liu Cong said to the courtiers following him, "Admit one of his sons to the side of the Crown Prince to serve."

******
On October 13, Shao Xun arrived in Gaodu and listened to Tang Jian's report face to face.

"I have sent Juqu Chong to lead light cavalry to the north." Tang Jian said cautiously.

"No need to be so careful." Shao Xun said gently, "You just entered Shangdang and you wanted to make progress. It's good to have this intention. No one has been to the south road of Wuling, and it doesn't count just from reading books. Now that you know how dangerous it is, forget it and see if you can take the north road."

The southern road leads to Gaodu County in the Jincheng Basin, and the northern road leads to Changzi County (now Changzi) in the Changzhi Basin. The former is a small and dangerous road that has been in disrepair for many years, while the latter is also a dangerous road, but it is well maintained as it is a main road after all.

But there is a prerequisite for taking the northern route, which is to first capture the natural barrier of Danzhuling and enter the Changzhi Basin.

"Now that we have taken Shangdang, we are looking forward to Pingyang. Isn't this the same as taking Long and looking forward to Shu?" Shao Xun patted Tang Jian on the shoulder and said with a smile: "I am not greedy. The goal of this battle is to share the danger of Taihang with the Xiongnu. Now that we have achieved it, the rest is profit."

"I am willing to lead the troops north to attack Xunshi and Danzhuling." Tang Jian immediately requested.

Shao Xun shook his head slightly and said, "I have ordered Jin Zheng to lead his troops north. At this time, his brave and advanced fighting style is needed."

Tang Jian bowed and responded.

Mr. Liang’s meaning was very clear. Jin Zheng’s aggressive fighting style could shorten the battle time, and what was most lacking now was time.

Hanoi and Shangdang were devastated, and food had to be transported from Henan and then reach Gaodu via the 80-li Taihang Pass.

It’s still a long way to the north from Gaodu. Is the cost too high?
To put it bluntly, the cost of transporting grain is higher than that of the Xiongnu. Now transporting grain at any cost is really using national strength to suppress others and hurting others with one's own capital.

It is already mid-October. Looking at the weather in recent years, heavy snow may fall at any time, making it almost impossible to transport food and grass. You really don't have much time.

The most ideal situation would actually be to restore agriculture and animal husbandry in Shangdang and provide food and fodder locally, but this would require disaster relief, which would greatly squeeze out military rations.

It’s really difficult to decide how to choose.

People need to eat, and you can't just ignore everything else when you get excited.

"After some time..." Shao Xun looked at Tang Jian and said, "There will be a commission from the country. You will be the governor of Henei and stationed in Gaodu. Keep an eye on it for me."

"Sir, are you leaving?" Tang Jian was a little surprised.

"Let's wait and see." Shao Xun said with a smile, "If there is an advantage, take it. If there is no advantage, leave."

(Continued in the evening)
(End of this chapter)