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

Chapter 307 Divine soldiers descend from heaven
Just as Yang Dao sent people to pick up his wife and children.

Deng Ai also led two thousand infantrymen and an equal number of laborers northward up the Dan River, approaching the vicinity of Huguan Pass.

It is worth mentioning that.

Huguan County and Huguan Pass are not in the same place.

The former is located in the central and northern hinterland of Shangdang County.

Compared to the narrower south, it has more flat land.

It makes it easier for farmers to cultivate the land.

Therefore, it is the economic and population center of Shangdang.

Huguan Pass is located among the mountains in the southern part of the county.

It is an important pass that prevents the enemy from the Sanhe direction from entering Hebei through Shangdang.

Back then, Yuan Shao's nephew Gao Gan once raised an army here to rebel against Cao Cao, successfully blocking several attacks by Cao Wei general Yue Jin.

Cao Cao was only able to subdue the general guarding Huguan Pass after Gao Gan withdrew on his own.

This clearly demonstrates that this pass is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Deng Ai's current manpower and resources are not as good as Cao Cao's back then, so he naturally has no intention of fighting to the death here.

Not to mention that Mi Wei's military order was for him to "advance to Hu Pass".

As long as he successfully led his troops to the pass and alerted the garrison, he would have fulfilled his military mission.

However, Deng Ai had served under Mi Wei for several years and knew that this General Wei liked his subordinates to have their own opinions.

So after stabilizing the camp, Deng Ai sent someone to Guannei with a letter urging Prefect Yang Dao to respond to the marriage proposal.

They also ordered laborers to cut down trees on a large scale to build cannons.

They even deliberately placed the artillery formations conspicuously in front of the defenders' line of sight.

It can be described as extremely provocative.

However, the garrison at Huguan Pass had clearly received orders to hold their ground and not venture out.

Even after Deng Ai had built a batch of cannons to capture the city, the defending general remained unmoved.

Since he had nothing better to do, Deng Ai simply ordered the cannons to fire.

The results were quite gratifying; within half a day, the fortifications such as the deer antlers and wooden fences surrounding Huguan were smashed to pieces.

The Wei army at Huguan was clearly seeing such a long-range stone cannon for the first time.

They were all too scared to show their faces.

Even the Wei army heading towards Changzi was so frightened that they retreated back into the county town.

Although there are passes over there, they are far less dangerous than Huguan Pass.

Deng Ai was able to occupy all the strategic locations in the south.

When Miwei received this news, it was already winter.

This year's winter was not as severe as last year's.

However, Shangdang is undoubtedly in the north, and its high altitude means that the rivers will inevitably freeze in winter.

Therefore, as soon as Mi Wei and his follow-up supplies arrived, they immediately set out and marched south along the Dan River.

They then swiftly captured Gaodu and soon arrived at Tianjing Pass.

Tianjing Pass, also known as Taihang Pass, is one of the Eight Passes of Taihang and an important pass in the Taihang Pass.

Since the pre-Qin period, it has been a strategic location fought over by military strategists in the Three Jin states.

Mi Wei dared to march south and attack the pass not because he had a powerful weapon like the city-destroying cannon.

In reality, the Taihang Pass is mostly a narrow, winding path.

One section of the slope is simply called "Sheep Intestine Slope".

This is the origin of the idiom "a narrow, winding path".

Therefore, there is not enough flat ground on this route to set up artillery formations.

There is also insufficient battlefield width to deploy troops.

The only option was for the soldiers to use piecemeal tactics, taking turns scaling the mountain and launching a hard assault.

However, even the most fortified pass only has meaning if someone is there to guard it.

Since Cao Cao unified the north, Shangdang Commandery, including the southern Hanoi Commandery, had not experienced large-scale warfare for two or three decades.

The main task of the garrison here is to guard against mountain bandits and keep the roads clear.

Military defenses will naturally be relaxed considerably.

By the time the defending troops realized that the Han army was making a move to move south...

Jiang Wei, the vanguard of Miwei, had already arrived at the city gate with a group of elite Imperial Guards and several groups of Shu Baifei Yi soldiers skilled in mountain warfare.

Two days later, after suffering four or five hundred casualties, Jiang Wei successfully captured this most dangerous strategic point in the Taihang Mountains.

They then advanced southwards at high altitudes, successively capturing several small strongholds downstream of the Dan River.

Before the river froze, Miwei's men successfully reached the confluence of the Qin and Dan rivers.

That is, below the city of Yewang County, Hanoi District.

Only then did the officials and people of Cao Wei in Hanoi realize that a Han army had descended from the sky and suddenly appeared on the southern slope of the Taihang Mountains.

It literally fell from the sky.

Limited by the information and transportation capabilities of the era, people living in the Central Plains region were not familiar with the Bashan and Longshan Mountains thousands of miles away, let alone the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

For a long time, they regarded the Taihang and Wangwu Mountains, which were right in front of them, as the highest and largest mountains in the world.

It is the place closest to the sky.

The so-called "partisanship with Heaven".

That's how the name Shangdang came about.

So when a Han army of no less than four thousand suddenly marched south from the Shangdang direction to the plains...

The Hanoi people's immediate impression was that this Han army had fallen from the sky.

For a time, everyone in every city and county felt insecure.

Various supernatural and bizarre tales spread like wildfire.

The most outrageous ones even drew parallels to the hundreds of thousands of innocent Zhao soldiers who were massacred in the Battle of Changping.

Miwei's surprise attack was intended to confuse the enemy's rear, so they were happy to see it happen.

Afterwards, they simply set up camp under the city of Yewang, prepared to attack the city, and sent people to spread proclamations, proclaiming the self-evident "Mandate of Heaven is with the Han".

……

"Bullshit! The Mandate of Heaven belongs to the Han!"

"What are Yang Dao good for? How can he hold such a strategic pass but fail to defend it?"

Sima Yi tore the paper proclamation in his hand to shreds while cursing loudly.

Wu Zhi, seeing his furious outburst, simply stood by with his hands behind his back and sneered.

After all, the people of Hanoi were only willing to cooperate with the large-scale conscription because of the Sima clan.

Even if there are losses, it is Sima Yi's face that is damaged.

Why is Wu Zhi in such a hurry?
"Don't think you can stay out of this!"

Sima Yi turned around and looked back, like a vicious wolf ready to devour its prey.

"If Mi Wei has already captured Shangdang, it will not be difficult for him to march east to Jizhou and attack Yecheng!"

Wu Zhi said leisurely:

“I know that Lord Yang better than you do.”

"Although this man lacks the qualities of a famous general, he is an honest and capable official, sufficient to pacify the local area and safeguard the region."

"I think that Miwei is clearly unable to go north to Huguan, so he simply changed course and went south to harass Hanoi and force us to withdraw from the battlefield in Hedong!"

Sima Yi certainly understood this principle.

But in doing so, wouldn't the responsibility for the defeat in Hedong and the resentment of his hometown in Hanoi fall entirely on his shoulders?
We can't give in!

Sima Yi: "Liang and Wei, what cunning barbarians!"

"However, their plan is also within my calculations. Ji Zhong need not boost the morale of others or diminish the prestige of our army!"

Wu Zhi sneered again:

Is it really just cunning?

"From Jiang County to Duanshi, that section of road has been abandoned for countless years. The plank roads have been in disrepair for many years and are difficult to use for marching."

"If they didn't have the spirit to stand shoulder to shoulder with the mountains and rivers, how could they possibly traverse this treacherous and narrow road?"

"If this road were not so difficult to travel, why would we have underestimated its challenges beforehand?"

"Why would Lord Yang be so careless in his precautions?"

"The enemy general is not only intelligent, but also brave. This is our biggest miscalculation!"

Sima Yi was even more annoyed upon hearing this, and hurriedly said:

"Don't rush! Let me finish!"

Then, without waiting for Wu Zhi to speak, he said:

"The Miwei came over mountains and valleys, but they couldn't carry much baggage. They could only harass the supply lines with light troops and couldn't capture the city."

"Although our troops rely on Hanoi for supplies, we still have enough savings in the camp to hold out for another half month."

"On the other hand, the Shu bandits have exhausted all their ingenuity, offering official positions and selling salt, and now they are almost out of food."

"My idea is to hold out for another half month, until the first snow falls and the Han army is completely exhausted. Then we can join forces with the troops in Henan to launch a counterattack against Zhuge Liang and Zhang Fei, thus relieving the siege of Anyi!"

(End of this chapter)