Chapter 699: What I Saw on the Road

Chapter 699: What I Saw on the Road

Chapter 699: What I Saw on the Road (Part )

To enter Taiyuan from Hebei, the best route is Fukouxing, followed by Jingxing, both of which have post roads leading directly to Taiyuan.

Wen Qiao and others entered from Jingxing.

Jingxing has two roads, the south and the north. The south road has been the main road since the Qin and Han Dynasties, and is heavily guarded.

The northern road had not yet been opened up, and was mostly used by smugglers, bandits and robbers. It was almost impossible for large groups of people to pass through, so only a few rangers occasionally came to patrol.

From the north foot of Feilong Mountain to the west, walk straight for 60 miles to reach a vast swamp wetland. The wetland is full of reeds and is commonly known as "Wei Ze".

In the tenth year of Yongjia (316), the two counties of Changshan and Zhongshan mobilized more than men and women to march west to Wei Ze, where they built a city with rammed earth. However, they were defeated by Shi Le and stopped.

Turning west and heading south for forty miles from Wei Ze is Jingxing Pass, which was occupied by Shi Le.

When Wen Qiao and others arrived at Weize, it was already the tenth day of June.

Looking at the endless reeds, swamps and the endless mountains in the distance, he sighed, waded into the water first, and walked towards the west.

The road was not easy to walk on, and it took three days to walk thirty miles to reach the location of Niangzi Pass in later generations - originally named Weize Pass, named after Weize County established in the east during the Sui Dynasty. Chengtian Military City was established in the Tang Dynasty, where recruited soldiers were officially stationed, so it was named "Chengtian Army". During the Jin Dynasty, it was also named "Niangzi Pass".

This is the North Road.

The Southern Road was a more popular road during the Qin and Han Dynasties, and also during the Wei and Jin Dynasties. However, the Northern Road suddenly became popular during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Perhaps the geographical and climatic environment had changed, making the Northern Road passable.

But during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, strangely enough, people started taking the southern route again instead of the northern route, and no one knew why.

In modern times, the Zhengtai Railway passed through the Beidao route.

In short, Niangzi Pass blocks the northern road of Jingxing, and Jingxing Pass blocks the southern road of Jingxing. Which pass is more important in each dynasty depends entirely on which route people mainly take at that time.

At this time, the North Road almost did not exist, so the South Road was the most important.

According to Li Zuoche, on the southern road "cars cannot run on square tracks, and riders cannot form a line", which shows the terrain.

"Don't see me off, Mr. Feng. We're stopping here." Wen Qiao bowed and said on the steep hillside.

Feng Long hesitated for a moment and said, "Alright, we are in enemy territory now, be careful along the way."

Feng Long was the chief of Feilongshan Town. The commander of the town was Chen Wu, the begging general, who was leading his army northward and stationed in Changshan County.

It had been less than ten days since Shi Le's army had been driven out, and the situation in Changshan was extremely tense and needed a large army to suppress it.

Wen Qiao waved to Feng Long, then looked at Guo Rong and the others and said with a smile, "Let's go. We can rely on General Guo for food and lodging tonight."

"I am not a general. You must be joking, Mr. Wen." Guo Rong was not polite and led the way, saying, "There is a fort about ten miles ahead. The owner of the fort is an old friend of mine..."

The sound gradually faded away, and the figure slowly disappeared around the corner of the mountain path.

Feng Long stood there for a while, looking at the terrain carefully.

A few days later, General Li Chong of the front army sent a group of prisoners to repair the military city in Jingxing.

This city must be built, and Lord Liang even gave it a name: Tianchang Town.

Liu Ling, a subordinate of the Tianchang garrison, was temporarily appointed as the commander of Tianchang Town and led the Qingzhou soldiers to garrison here. This commander of the town was not hereditary, but only a garrison commander.

Once this city was built, no matter the main road or the small road, it could be blocked. The only disadvantage was that the terrain here was relatively open and not as strategic as the Jingxing Pass area in the south. But Jingxing Pass was in Shi Le's hands, so they had no choice but to settle for the next best thing.

******
Leping is located in the north of Changzhi Basin (now Yangquan City). The area is almost entirely mountainous and is not easy to travel.

The group walked and stopped many times, and it took them more than ten days to cross the entire Leping and arrive in Taiyuan.

It’s not that I’m afraid of anything.

In fact, Liu Yao did station troops at several important locations in Leping and sent officials to various counties, but Shao Xun had little control over the countryside of Henan, let alone the Xiongnu.

A few years ago, when Jinyang had not yet fallen, Liu Kun sent his clansmen back to Zhongshan to recruit soldiers and crossed two counties of Shi Le, but he didn't know about it.

In the era when imperial power did not extend to the countryside, as long as the local gentry did not report it, you would know nothing!

Of course, if someone tells on you, that’s another matter.

When Wen Qiao traveled through Shangai and Shouyang counties in the north of Leping, not only did no one report him, but on the contrary, someone even received him. If they were not afraid of being too conspicuous, the local nobles who were on good terms with the Guo and Wen families would even dare to hold a welcoming banquet.

Wen Qiao, Guo Rong and others felt a lot from these details.

On June 24, on the mountain path to Yangqu, Wen Qiao observed the nearby mountain villages and said, "I know the hearts of the people in Bingzhou."

"If I were from Leping, I would also respond to the king's army," said Guo Rong.

Wen Qiao smiled and wanted to ask in a joking way, if you are loyal to the king's teacher, why did you marry your sister to Shi Hu? And why did you repeatedly give advice to Shi Le?

But if you think about it carefully, Guo Rong is not simple either!
His family lived in Yangqu, which was not far north of Jinyang, and fell into the hands of the Xiongnu only very late. He was a noble family in the territory directly under Liu Bingzhou, but he actually defected to the Xiongnu so early. Do you think he had ambition?
What's even more outrageous is that he did not surrender to Liu Cong of Pingyang, but to Shi Le of Hebei. Should we say that he had good or bad vision? Wen Qiao thought about it for a long time, but could not come to a conclusion.

Perhaps, if Duke Liang had not attacked Hebei, Shi Le would have had better luck.

In this way, Guo Rong could take the opportunity to rise up and become a branch of his own in Hebei, and it is possible that the Taiyuan Guo family would become the Yecheng Guo family - many branches of the aristocratic families, such as the Qinghe Cui, Boling Cui, Yingchuan Yu, and Xinye Yu, are mostly like this. "The countryside of Leping is not bad." Wen Qiao reined in his horse and pointed to a small basin at the foot of the hillside, saying: "Hundreds of families cut down trees and rammed earth, built a fortress, and lived here. The farmland is well organized, and the irrigation canals are connected in all directions. There are many cattle, sheep, and horses grazing on the hillside, and there are also orchards. In the past in Jinyang, Han Fujun sent food many times, which was really shameful. Taiyuan's fertile soil is poor and there is no food, but these hundreds of miles of mountains and rivers have squeezed out a large amount of food to supply the Jinyang soldiers."

Guo Rong remained silent after hearing this.

Leping actually fell before Jinyang. To be more precise, after the Xiongnu arrived, they fought only two small battles, and then the rural nobles collectively abandoned Han Fujun and surrendered to the Xiongnu.

Liu Kun did not have much territory to begin with, and once Leping surrendered, Jinyang became increasingly difficult to maintain.

Now that Lord Liang's power is growing, and he seems to be able to swallow up the world, the Leping nobles are probably going to repeat their old tricks and play the game of changing the flag on the city wall once again.

There are few loyal people in this world. They are all selfish and scheming, including him, Guo Rong.

Don't laugh at them for being weak-kneed and surrendering easily. Once a war breaks out, no one knows when it will end. No one can guarantee what will happen during the war, and it is not surprising that the family will be destroyed.

Behind Guo Rong were several sciones of wealthy families in Taiyuan, and they felt sad when they saw this.

In peacetime, they were richer and could look down on mountainous counties like Leping at will. But once war broke out, Taiyuan became the focus of all parties and life became miserable.

Now they just hope it will end quickly and return to peace. They can take the opportunity to seize more land, recruit refugees or even detain them to strengthen their own strength.

In this way, even if Duke Liang is defeated in the future, and the Xiongnu or some other forces - such as the Tuoba Dai Kingdom - come again, their bargaining power will be stronger.

******
At the end of June, the group secretly arrived in Yangqu and stayed in Guo's Fortress.

Guo Rong and others ran around and made active contacts.

Wen Qiao was quite courageous and even sent one of his trusted followers to go to Qi County, hiding during the day and traveling at night, to contact the Wen family members who stayed in the north and did not move south.

On the third day of July, Guo Rong came back once.

"The Wang family of Taiyuan didn't dare to contact them." Guo Rong said, "They have too deep a entanglement with the Xiongnu. Although people's minds have changed now, I dare not gamble."

"Nothing, you did the right thing." Wen Qiao said, "To avoid leaks, don't contact those small tribes. Once there is a change, they will react very quickly and will only follow the actions of the big tribes. Any other news?"

"The one guarding Jinyang is a newly arrived member of the Liu Han clan, named 'Liu Yasheng'. He has several thousand tribes and has gathered more than 3,000 refugees who fled to the mountains. He has divided the land among them and built houses for them, and stationed them outside the city." Guo Rong said.

"Liu Ya?" Wen Qiao was stunned.

"It's not Liu Ya, it's Liu Yasheng. He has nothing to do with Liu Ya, we can only say they are from the same clan. This man is a man of the pseudo-crown prince Liu Can. He is rough and uncultured, but good at cavalry." Guo Rong said.

Wen Qiao was speechless. What a crappy name.

"Anything else? Tell me all at once." Wen Qiao said.

"Liu Can has brought another group of people to migrate west this year," Guo Rong said. "Not only the Hu people from various counties, but also the Han people from Hedong and Pingyang. Many fortresses have donated money, food, livestock, and people to Liu Can. Pingyang is also gathering the Hu and Han people who had fled before and sending them to Guanxi. The Xiongnu is leaving a way out for themselves."

"Liu Cong is still in Pingyang?"

"Still there. For many days, he has been touring various places, encouraging people to engage in farming. During the slack season, he trains soldiers and horses and repairs the city walls. He is anxious."

"The fight has come to this point, of course he's anxious." Wen Qiao said with a smile.

"There is one more thing." Guo Rong continued, "It is widely rumored in Jinyang that Liu Can attacked Nan'an and Tianshui counties. He has already broken Nan'an and is now besieging Tianshui. Sima Bao is unable to hold out, so Zhang Shi of Liangzhou sent over 15,000 infantry and cavalry to rescue, and the siege of Tianshui was lifted. Liu Can is currently confronting the Liangzhou troops in Nan'an County, and I don't know what the outcome will be."

"Liangzhou is internally unstable. When it comes to self-preservation, they may be able to work together and unite against the outside world. But if we want to rescue Qinzhou, I don't think they are willing to do so. Only Zhang Anxun is loyal to the country and can try to drive them along." Wen Qiao sighed.

Guo Rong also felt a little regretful.

In fact, when Zhang Gui was still alive, there was an internal strife in Liangzhou, which even reached the point of fighting. In the end, Zhang Gui relied on the name given by the court to stabilize the situation and wiped out those who challenged his authority one by one.

Zhang Shi did not have his father's prestige, and there were many people inside who were eyeing him covetously, so it was difficult for him.

"Don't worry about that. The most important thing is what's happening right now." Wen Qiao came back to his senses and said with a serious face, "For now, we should store up food and military supplies and not act rashly. Once the time is right, we can launch the attack. If we can't hold back and end up making things worse, there may not be anyone to rescue us, do you understand?"

Guo Rong nodded and couldn't help asking, "When can we move?"

"I don't know either. I'm waiting for Lord Liang's order." Wen Qiao said, "Whether the Taiyuan tribes will rise or fall in the future depends on this. As long as you do well, Lord Liang will see it, and General Wang will also recommend you for credit."

Guo Rong's heart moved.

This is no longer a hint, but a blatant statement.

Wen Taizhen was Wang Yifu's man, and it was also Wang Yifu's credit that he united the various tribes in Taiyuan to rebel.

This is to wake them up and let them know which side they are on.

Guo Rong felt a chill for no reason.

This is more horrible and bloody than fighting the Huns. But do they have a choice? It seems that they don't have one.

Especially the Taiyuan Guo family, others already regarded them as Wang Yan's people, right? There was no point in making excuses, after all, the mistress of the Wang family was the daughter of the Taiyuan Guo family.

There is no other way, just go for it, maybe you will become extremely rich.

(End of this chapter)