The Duke of Shu Han began guarding Jingzhou in place of Guan Yu.

Chapter 304 Opening a Road Through Mountains

Feng Xi was stunned for a long time, then squinted and said:

"Does the general intend to emulate the story of Longyou in the past?"

Miwei smiled.

"General, you are indeed a veteran, experienced and quick to understand."

"good."

“In the past, when we followed the late emperor north to Longyou, our original intention was to help the Di people move south, not to fight for Hexi.”

"It was only because Su Ze, Zhang Ji and others underestimated the late emperor's courage and the bravery of the soldiers in Shu that they were outmaneuvered by our army and swallowed up Hexi."

"Afterwards, when they were desperate and had no other options, and were unwilling to lose Liangzhou, they stayed in place and stubbornly resisted, and as a result, they could not even hold onto Longyou."

"And today."

"Sima Yi, Wu Zhi and others did indeed take us by surprise, cutting off the connection between my two armies in Hedong."

"But everything has two sides."

"Sima Yi has dispatched a large army from Wei Commandery and Hanoi, which will leave those two places vulnerable."

"And what he relied on was merely the imposing Taihang Mountains as cover."

At this point, Mi Wei looked around and said:
"There is no defense line without loopholes, nor is there an indestructible camp."

"Even the majestic Taihang Mountains, are they truly flawless?"

"It all depends on human effort!"

At this point, Mi Wei fell silent.

But Feng Xi had been in Hedong for several months, so how could he not be familiar with the terrain?
After a moment's thought, it dawned on me.

A look of excitement returned to his face:

"Back then, when the late emperor led us on a long expedition, it was the general who stayed behind to maneuver and hold off the enemy, thus securing the opportunity for victory."

"Now that Feng Xi lacks the late emperor's strategic vision, he can only emulate what the general did in the past and try to mediate for the general!"

Upon hearing this, Mi Wei stood up solemnly, clasped his hands in a fist and said:

"Then I'll have to trouble you, General!"

……

Within the Sili Commandery, Hedong Commandery and Hanoi Commandery were two rather unique entities.

Topographically, the two are separated from Luoyang, Henan by a large river, and are clearly not in the same geographical unit.

Especially in Hedong County, there is a narrow Zhongtiao Mountain on the north bank of the Yellow River, which separates it from Henan by mountains and water, making it seem like they can't be connected at all.

On the contrary, it is connected to the Guanzhong Plain to the west by a smooth road, and there are many good crossings of the Yellow River in between.

It is clearly more like a geographical whole.

It is said that fortunes change every thirty years, sometimes east of the river and sometimes west of the river.

Who has ever said that thirty years is north of the mountain and thirty years is south of the mountain?

It's really impossible to get enough people to sit at one table.

Since natural methods are not feasible, human intervention is the only option.

In order to strengthen the Luoyang court's control over the two major northern prefectures of Bing and Ji.

Since the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, a piece of land was carved out from the north bank of the Yellow River and the east and west sides of the Taihang Mountains and incorporated into the Sili Commandery.

These are Ha Dong County and Hanoi County.

This is the wisdom of the ancients in strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches.

This wisdom is reflected in far more than just the division of prefectures and counties.

Similar procedures apply down to the county and township levels.
For example, Duanshi County in Hedong Commandery.

Relying on mountains to eat mountains, relying on water to draft water.

The river on which the Duan family depended for their livelihood was the Qinshui River, located in the central part of the Taihang Mountains.

The Qinshui River flows through Shangdang County, which belongs to Bingzhou.

Only in the case of the Duan family, a section was suddenly carved out and assigned to Hedong Commandery, located west of the Taihang Mountains.

It's all the same.

Of course, this kind of selective cut-off is not without basis.

Because west of Duanshi, there is a road that can cross the Taihang Mountains and reach the source of the Hui River on the western foothills of the mountains.

If you continue eastward along the Hui River, you will reach Jiang County.

This is exactly where Miwei is right now.

This route, which traverses the Taihang Mountains, is precisely where Miwei's advance plan lies.

“In the Battle of Changping in the past, Qin general Wang He went to Shangdang via Duanshi and occupied Changping.”

"It is the road beneath our feet..."

On the mountain path, Deng Ai eloquently discussed ancient battles with Jiang Wei. Jiang Wei was intently observing the winding mountain path beneath his feet.

Upon hearing this, his eyes flashed, and he replied:
"Indeed, it was through this route that Wang He marched east out of the Shangdang highlands, successively breaking through Lian Po's Erzhang City and Guanglang City, forcing the veteran general to retreat to the east bank of the Dan River and hold his ground."

"Although this road is dangerous, it is a shortcut to connect Hedong and Shangdang. The Wei army thought that they could isolate our army in Hedong by relying on the Taihang Mountains as a natural barrier, but little did they know that General Wei was familiar with ancient and modern geography and had long ago obtained the path to break through this barrier from the sages."

Deng Ai nodded slightly at first, but quickly shook his head and said:

"General Wei's insight is indeed astonishing."

"But I don't think Sima Yi is a careless general either."

"The reason why we did not set up defenses on this route is that we had anticipated that our army would run out of food. Rather than dividing our forces and weakening the defenses of the pass and Jiangxian, it was better to concentrate our forces and hold the key strongholds for a longer period of time."

"Secondly, although this place is a shortcut to Shangdang, its road is dangerous and narrow, even more so than the Zhiguan Pass that the Wei army came from Henan."

"If our army is truly short of soldiers and supplies, even if we knew of this shortcut, how would we dare to risk going east?"

"It's not that they were unaware or unprepared; it's simply that they underestimated the situation!"

Jiang Wei thought about it and realized that was indeed the reason.

It can only be said that General Wei not only often had brilliant ideas in military campaigns.

Even in logistics and scheduling, there are unexpected methods.

These two are superimposed.

It's truly difficult to calculate and impossible to guard against.

While they were pondering, the troops in front suddenly slowed down.

The two exchanged a glance and quickly spurred their horses forward to investigate.

It turned out that the mountain suddenly became steep in front of the army.

A plank road, barely wide enough for three people to walk side by side, winds its way out of the cliff like a scar carved into the precipice, until it disappears into the vast clouds and mist.

Its appearance inspires awe and makes one want to retreat.

That's fine.

The key issue is that the plank road has been in disrepair for many years, and a large section in the middle has collapsed.

It is extremely dangerous for people to climb over it with their bare hands.

Not to mention they also had to bring warhorses and supplies.

Jiang Wei couldn't help but smile wryly:
"Sima Yi underestimated this, but there's some truth to it."

Deng Ai was also somewhat caught off guard.

His analysis just now was indeed very logical and reasonable.

But deep down, I still harbored some wishful thinking.

Or rather, because of the Han army's successive great victories, a blind confidence naturally arose that the Mandate of Heaven was with the Han.

However, neither he nor Jiang Wei were the type to back down when faced with difficulties.

After observing the mountain terrain for a moment, he turned to Jiang Wei and said sternly:

"Since we are the vanguard of the army, we should clear the way through the mountains."

"If the Wei generals have overlooked one route because it was cut off, then we must hurry to seize Duanshi and catch them off guard, thus opening the gateway to Shangdang for General Wei!"

Jiang Wei's expression also hardened. He pointed to the cliff that the broken path had originally relied on and said:
"Although the wooden planks of the plank road are rotten and damaged, fortunately the holes carved into the cliff are still intact and usable, and there is no shortage of wood here."

"Judging from the sky, there should be no heavy rain within the next ten days."

"If the trees are felled and repaired immediately, they should be able to reach Duanshi around the beginning of winter."

Deng Ai looked in the direction he pointed and indeed saw a large number of holes left on the mountain wall, which had been carved by his predecessors.

These holes extend forward in a straight line, and are roughly the same thickness, just enough to fit a whole log.

Simply insert wooden stakes, fill in gravel, and drive in wooden wedges to form the foundation of the plank road.

The most difficult part of building the plank road was drilling holes and laying timber along the mountainside.

Once this basic part is completed, laying the wooden planks and adding the railings will be much easier.

It can even be laid out while marching, improving marching efficiency.

but.

Deng Ai stared intently at the bottom of the cliff, remaining silent for a long time.

Jiang Wei initially thought he was mentally calculating the amount of work and the time it would take.

Until Deng Ai suddenly looked up and focused his gaze on the other side of the broken road.

There was a distance of about half a mile between there and where we were standing.

It's not far; you can see it at a glance.

But it's not exactly close; after all, it requires building timber along the mountainside and advancing step by step.

Deng Ai suddenly turned around and said:
"If we cultivate the path from both ends towards the middle at the same time, we should be able to reach the Duan clan before winter even arrives, right?"

(End of this chapter)