The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 928
Zigui County is adjacent to the Yangtze River in the east and Wushan Mountain in the west. It is a hilly and gentle slope. It is difficult to walk around the Three Gorges cliff road.The two armies of the Sui and Tang Dynasties are currently at loggerheads here. The first military fort west of Zigui is led by Xu Xuanche and Li Guangdu with 1 Tang troops. The eastern section is controlled by Yang Daosheng and Chen Puhuan. The garrison is [-] people, stationed on the north and south sides of Tie Suo. The military village was used to defend the Tenth Army of the Sui Army, which was trying to advance westward. Gao Shilian, the governor of Badong, led more than [-] Tang troops to station in the east and west of the county, so as to support any danger at any time.

This afternoon, a group of [-] Liao people arrived in the mountainous area of ​​Zigui County. Each of them had bundles of hemp ropes hanging from their bodies, which were their tools for climbing mountains and ridges. It can be used for collecting herbs and collecting honey.

The leader of this Liaoren team is Shen Guang. Shen Guang is now the General of the Right Guard and Li Guogong. Unlike many generals in the battlefield, he used to lead troops in the country, responsible for monitoring the intelligence points of various forces, and followed the vines. Xin Xin took away intelligence points one by one, and in the Battle of Bingzhou and Guanzhong in Sui and Tang Dynasties, he outwitted Bingzhou Queshu Valley and Pujin Pass in Qin and Jin Dynasties for Sui and Tang Dynasties, so although he is not as good as Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin, Pei Xingyan, etc. He is dazzling, but his contribution to the Sui Dynasty is no worse than that of any other general.Since he burned Li Yuan's fleet into Shu last year, he has been stationed in Liaowangzhai, recruiting three Liao youths for intensive training, and before Li Jiancheng negotiated with the Liao people, he has been active in the Ba County and Fuling County area, many times Successfully robbed Li Tang's official warehouse and destroyed the fleet, causing heavy damage to Li Tang's economy and military.

His tactics were right, and he led the Liaoren to success again and again, which made him very famous in the Liaowangzhai, especially the young and strong Liaoren, who admired the Great Sui General very much. Even if Yuan Tiangang didn't talk about it, It can also convince Liao people from top to bottom, and using these two elite teams is even more like arm and finger.

This time, Shen Guang was secretly ordered to lead [-] Liao people to climb mountains and wades from Luchuan County to the Three Gorges Ancient Road. They are locals, and they are far less familiar with this terrain than the Liao people who have lived in the mountains for generations, and their focus is on the Sui army at the east and west ends, so this special army walking in the mountains is still kept secret. state.

"General Shen, can we arrive at the barracks tonight?" A robust young Liao man asked, this person is Qin Zhan, the eldest son of Liao Wang Qin Wang, and Yang Tong's brother-in-law.

Shen Guang looked at the emerald Wushan in the distance, and said with a smile: "We are not here to confront the Tang army. Why are we going to the barracks?"

Shen Guang has rich experience. When the two sides are at war, the Badong Tang army, which has fallen into a lone army, is attracted by the frontal enemy and is at a time when they are suspicious. If they appear in the Sui army camp at this time, they will lose the chance of surprise soldiers. It's miraculously effective, and once it reaches the frontal battlefield, it will have no effect at all.

The several generals understood what Shen Guang meant, so they didn't say any more. Since the chief general has a plan, they just need to implement it.

An hour later, the army arrived in the western area of ​​Zigui. Fifty soldiers led by Fan Qing were already waiting here. They were the vanguard and arrived three days ago. Together with Fan Qing, there were two local aborigines.

"Pass down the order and let the army rest in place!"

After Shen Guang gave an order, the soldiers sat down to rest one after another, and dozens of soldiers quickly set up a large tent. At this moment, Fan Qing stepped forward and saluted: "See General Shen!"

"Have you gained anything?" Shen Guangxiao asked.

"The harvest is not small, but I won't be able to tell for a while." Fan Qing, the head of the youth bureaucracy, is now extremely honest.

"Then take it easy and talk about it."

The three of them walked into the big tent one after another, and the soldiers had already set up a very simple table with wooden slats. Fan Qing took out a map and spread it on the table, and said: "The two brothers outside the tent are recommended by local acquaintances. My guide, who gathers medicines in Wushan all the year round, knows the topography of Zigui County like the back of his hand, this map is the path that their herb pickers walk all the year round, I have sent my brothers up to look, and all the routes are exactly the same as those on the map.”

Shen Guang ordered the soldiers to arrange for two guides to rest. At this time, Fan Qing had spread out the map and said to Shen Guang: "General Shen, as you inferred in advance, the Tang army is very strict in monitoring the Sui army camp. When the soldiers entered and left the barracks, they were discovered by the sentries of the Tang army. The Tang army was the same. Both sides were monitoring each other. It is almost impossible for us to occupy the enemy’s camp from Zigui County. The only way is to cross Wushan, go around to Zigui County, and sneak attack from the west. Enemy camp."

Shen Guang said with a smile: "It seems that you have found your way."

Fan Qing nodded, "The guide told us that there is indeed a small road to Zigui County, but it is very steep to cross Wushan Mountain. The army must be fully prepared before they can walk, and there is not much time to walk in a year. "

"When?"

"In about ten days, Wushan will enter autumn, and the vegetation on the mountain will start to wither. If it is a little later, it will snow again in Wushan, and the road will be blocked by heavy snow, so the smooth travel time is only a short month. , and the mountain is steep, and there are many dangers."

Shen Guang pondered for a moment, then said to Qin Zhan: "Let's divide our troops into two groups. Patriarch Fan Qing and I lead a thousand soldiers up the mountain, and you take the rest of the soldiers to stay here and wait."

Qin Zhan said quickly: "General Shen, let me go up the mountain!"

Shen Guang patted him on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "This time I will take the lead, and you will be the main attacker in the army village!"

"Here." Qin Zhan had no choice but to agree.

The Liaoren team immediately began to prepare. It would take at least ten days to cross Wushan Mountain. The mountain road was difficult and dangerous, and very strong fighters were required to withstand it. Shen Guang selected a thousand strongest and elite fighters from among the five thousand Liaoren soldiers. , and then carry ten days of dry food, ropes, swords and short spears.

After sufficient preparations, a thousand special mountaineering teams set off under the leadership of the guide and the Liaoren forward headed by Fan Qing.

At the foot of Wushan Mountain is a large forest, the climate is hot, all kinds of animals live in the forest with lush water, and even large beasts such as leopards and tigers can be seen.

When they reached the mountain, the trees slowly turned into coniferous forest, and then went up to the meadow terrain. More than 1000 soldiers walked for two full days from entering the forest to the middle of the mountain. During this period, they tried not to eat dry food, but relied on wild game Fill your hunger with mushrooms and wild fruits.

"General, try to let the brothers eat as much meat as possible, so that you will have strength when you have plenty of oil and water!" A guide who spoke Chinese suggested to Shen Guang.

Shen Guang thought for a while, and asked, "Can we get wild game from above?"

"Yes, but it will disappear once you cross the meadow. Also, let everyone rest as much as possible to maintain their strength!"

"Okay, pass the order down and let everyone rest." Seeing that it was afternoon, Shen Guang ordered everyone to rest in place. They have now arrived at the coniferous forest belt, which is dominated by pine and fir trees. The thick pine needles and fir leaves are almost barren, and they are soft to step on, but the bottom is also full of murderous intent. Yesterday, several soldiers stepped on the leaves and fell to the bottom of the cliff, leaving no bones.

Soldiers now have experience, they must first use a branch to test whether the ground under the pine needles is solid before they can walk

The guide took some outstanding hunters to hunt. In a short time, they hunted more than ten wild boars and a large number of hares and squirrels. They stripped and washed them by the stream, set up pine branches directly for barbecue, sprinkled salt and spices, and the soldiers fell down after a full meal. fell asleep.

Such days will soon be over. When they left the meadow area, they entered the weathered high mountain area. Not only did the temperature drop, but the ground was covered with weathered rocks of all sizes. If the ice and snow hadn't melted, in another month, this place would be covered with heavy snow again, and it would be unrealistic to cross Wushan Mountain.

A thousand Liao warriors trekked with their guides on a nearly seventy-degree mountain. In front of them were rocky cliffs. The cliffs stood tall, which brought enormous pressure to the tiny humans. The soldiers didn't speak. Without their trekking poles, the cracks on the mountain became their climbing channels. The rare vines between the rock walls had little effect on climbing.Fortunately, the Liaoren warriors are all masters of climbing, although the road is difficult, they can still climb up.

The cliff area is about ten miles long, and it is also the most difficult part of the road for this army. It took them a full day and a half for this ten-mile mountain road, and there is still a distance of two or three miles from the top. At this time, no one dared to look back, the sky and the earth were open, and human beings were obviously very small. Walking on the weathered mountain tops, everyone was like a group of insignificant ants, as if a gust of wind could blow them off the cliff.

"General Shen, there is a crack in the mountains of Zigui County in front of you, and you will go down to the southwest of Zigui County." The guide pointed to a cracked mountain in front of him.

Shen Guang looked towards the prestige, only to see a crack in the mountain with a width of several feet lying in front of him. The rocks were jet-black, like a monster with its mouth wide open, and there were cliffs on both sides.

The snow in the cracks has melted. Although there are still some white snow and solid ice, it is barely possible to climb. The stones on the ground have been eroded by ice and snow for thousands of years and corroded by strong winds. They have become broken and softened. Fist-sized stones can be seen everywhere. piece.

Climbing up to the cracks in Wushan Mountain, the soldiers began to enter the real serious consideration. This is a snow-covered world of ice and snow. Walking, falling asleep together, eating food together, and talking together after waking up in the middle of the night, only in this way can soldiers be prevented from falling behind and freezing to death.

The road to the top of the mountain is only about 30 to [-] miles, but they walked for five full days, daring not to sleep all night, for fear of falling off the mountain if they were not paying attention. It can be said that everyone was fighting with death every step of the way. , and finally took this extremely painful journey at the expense of more than [-] soldiers. When they turned over the top of the mountain and walked a long way to the northeast, the air began to be normal. The soldiers rested for a whole day before recovering. physical strength.

It was much easier to go down the mountain from the northeast. When they had eaten their last bite of dry food and took off their heavy leather jackets, they finally went down to the foot of the mountain and went around behind the Tang army's military stronghold on the south bank.

In the ancient Three Gorges Road in Zigui County, which is more than 60 miles long, the Tang Army controlled more than [-] miles in the west. In addition to the Tang Army’s army camp at the forefront, a strong fortress was also built in a relatively open hole as the second road. The defense line, but there are not many people in the stronghold, only more than [-] people stay behind, and most of the Tang army still live in the military camp.

The Three Gorges Ancient Road is not a narrow valley road. On the contrary, it is quite wide in some places. There is even a small village in the widest place. It became the Tang army's garrison.

The place where the Liao soldiers landed was in the cave controlled by the Tang army. It was about [-] miles away from the military stronghold in the east and about [-] miles away from Zigui County. They used ropes to slide down quietly through a gap. This area is also an open area of ​​the valley. , about one mile wide, the jagged boulder has become a hiding place for everyone.

"General Shen, this military fort that has become a barracks is very small. There are less than a thousand Tang soldiers. It is a place for the wounded soldiers in the military camp to recuperate. We have completely succeeded in the surprise attack. As long as we capture this military camp, it will cut off the retreat route of the Tang army in the military camp. .” Several Lieutenant warriors who were promoted to school lieutenants suggested one after another.

But in the end, Shen Guang didn't plan to occupy the barracks, but directly attacked the barracks. He knew that as long as the soldiers in the barracks were defeated, the wounded soldiers in the barracks would also flee without fighting, and their purpose was not to wipe out how many Tang troops. Instead, it is necessary to open up a strategic channel to enter Bashu.

Restricted by the conditions of the valley, the Tang Junzhai occupies an area of ​​only about 60 mu. This [-] mu of land is also the largest piece of flat land in the Junzhai. It is surrounded by camp fences and more than [-] large tents. Tang Jun soldiers stationed in the Inside this slightly crowded military village.

However, the camp of the Tenth Army of the Sui Army was relatively scattered, which was also limited by the terrain. There were as many as four or five camps, which were only ten miles away from the camp of the Tang Army. The Tang Army built one with stones about three miles east of the camp. A stone wall more than two feet high blocked the entire ancient road in the gorge, monitoring the Sui army on the opposite side day and night, and at the same time built a tall sentry tower to observe all the movements of the Sui army camp.

Coincidentally, the Sui army also built a sentry tower two miles opposite the stone wall, also monitoring the Tang army here.

The valley between the stone walls was sprinkled with a lot of caltrops and covered with all kinds of fire starters. If the Sui army wants to attack from the front, I am afraid that they will have to pay a very heavy price. This is also the main reason why Shen Guang decided to surprise the Tang army from the rear. , with the combat power of the Liaoren fighters, of course he can force a breakthrough from the front, but he doesn't want too many casualties.

The night on the ancient road was extremely deep, and the moonlight could not shine into it, making the valley completely dark. Only the torches burning to the east of the stone wall were particularly eye-catching in the dark night.

At three o'clock, the Liaoren soldiers led by Shen Guang appeared in a forest hundreds of steps away from the army camp.

(End of this chapter)