After all, the terrain of Liangzhou is no better than that of Qin and Liangzhou. The two states of Qin and Liang are mostly plains and gentle hills. The nearly 70,000 troops can march in a large cross-section, and the march is very smooth. However, from Juxian to Yangpingguan, they can only follow the thin line.

The long and winding mountain road passes, and the army stretches for dozens of miles. Fortunately, compared with the Qishan Road, this road is neither smooth nor wide at the same time.

If Jiange is said to be the north gate of the Chengdu Plain, then Yangping Pass is the west gate of the Hanzhong Basin. "Sui Shu" records: Yangping Pass controls Sichuan and Shu in the west, leads to Qinlong in the north, and is surrounded by Jingshan Mountain in the back and the army in front.

Zhuobi, with a white horse and a golden ox on the right, and clouds and mist on the left, Baizhang, Han, black, and embers of water are wrapped around it, which is the most dangerous place in the world.

If Shu gets the upper part, it can overthrow the enemies and honor the royal family; the middle part can encroach on Yong and Liang, and open up and expand the land; the lower part can hold on to key points for a long-term plan. Therefore, Yangping Pass has always been regarded as the throat of Shu and the gateway to Hanzhong.

Yangping Pass Guancheng is located on the north bank of the West Han River. The turbid water outside the pass passes around the city. It is extremely difficult for Bashu to send troops to attack Yangping Pass. When Liu Bei marched into Hanzhong, Zhang He relied on Guancheng to block him in the deep mountain canyon in the upper reaches of the West Han River outside Yangping Pass.

They have been fighting each other for more than a year, and Liu Bei's military group has not been able to enter Hanzhong.

In 219, the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an, Huang Zhong crossed the Han River south and attacked and captured Dingjun Mountain, a strategic military location along the mountain road at night. He captured Xiahou Yuan in this battle. After Zhang He heard the news, he retreated to Yangping Pass. After that, Cao Cao increased his troops to Yangping Pass and Liu Bei.

decide

battle, but Liu Bei refused to fight. Cao's army was eventually short of supplies and suffered too many casualties. Sun Quan from Jiangdong also cooperated with Liu Bei in pretending to attack Hefei, so he abandoned the pass and withdrew from Guanzhong. From this, we can see that Yangping Pass was not captured by Liu Bei's group by force.

However, Yunfeng could ignore the unfavorable terrain when attacking Yangping Pass. He was attacking from inside the pass to outside the pass, and the series of mountains and dangerous shoals outside the pass had no effect on him.

Yangping Pass is located about a hundred miles southwest of Ju County. On May 18th of the first year of Yongchang, which was the third day after Yunfeng’s army set off from Ju County, the forwards arrived inside Yangping Pass and quickly deployed their defenses, waiting for the rear troops to arrive.

Looking from a distance, the mountains ahead are continuous, and many peaks are wrapped with jade belts. They appear and disappear in the white clouds, just like a fairyland. There is a valley about three miles wide in the mountains. Yangpingguan stretches from east to west. The city is five feet high and the whole body.

Bluestones from the mountains were quarried to seal the gap tightly.

There is only one gate in Yangping Pass. According to Tianjimen's introduction before the expedition, there is a three-story urn city at the gate. An urn city is generally a semicircular or square gate-protecting town built outside the city gate. The two sides are connected to the city wall and are built together.

Defense facilities such as archery towers, gates, battlements, etc. Wengcheng gates are usually not in the same straight line as the gates they protect to prevent attacks by weapons such as battering rams.

However, for Yunfeng, although the gate closed and lost the protection of the urn city, it coincided with the design concept of the Nanjing Ming City Wall with the urn city hidden inside. If the army used it well, it would be more difficult to attack the city.

After the entire army arrived, they searched for an underground stronghold within ten miles of the pass. The old method was still the same. The infantry took action and the cavalry protected it. While Yunfeng was busy, there were also crowds of people on the pass, all observing the enemy's position below the city.

village

I saw order below and strict laws. The guard general of Yangping Pass, General Anton Li Qi and Li Xiong's concubine, worried: "The Jin army is attacking Guancheng from the inside out. Our army will lose all its geographical advantages and may not be able to sustain it for too long."

The Barbarian King Meng Gulu who was standing next to him said disdainfully: "Don't worry, general, since our two families are married, I can't sit back and ignore it. I will take advantage of the enemy's stronghold before it is stable, and lead his troops to challenge.

To improve the enemy's morale"

Li Qi muttered: "Such a hardworking king, it is best to be careful in everything."

Meng Gulu laughed loudly and said: "It doesn't matter. Back then, Zhuge villagers used a trick to burn and kill 30,000 vine-armored elite soldiers of my ancestors, which greatly damaged the vitality of hundreds of tribes in our south. However, the fire plan can only be effective once. I, the king, fought with me on the ground.

When the Jin army fights, they will never go into the valley, but they will see how the Jin army will set fire to it?" After saying that, he waved his hand behind him and shouted: "Generals, listen to the order and follow me to lead the elite soldiers out of the pass."

"Follow your orders." All the generals behind him saluted.

Yunfeng was also observing the city head. Suddenly, there was a drum sound in the pass, the city gate opened, and a line of sergeants wearing green helmets and green armor, holding a green shield in one hand and a single sword in the other, poured out. He was startled and took the initiative.

Going to battle in Kaicheng, speaking of it, this was the first time he had encountered it since he attacked the city.

Jiang Fa next to him had a serious look on his face and explained to Yunfeng: "General, please be careful. These are rattan armored soldiers, which are unique to the Nanzhong barbarians. They are not afraid of swords, guns, or bows and crossbows. They can only be defeated by fire attacks."

Yunfeng nodded and said: "Thank you Mr. Jiang for the reminder." Then he turned his attention to the vine armor soldiers who were arranging their formation. Soon, these 10,000 green guys lined up in a loose and irregular square array, moving evenly in the direction.

Coming from the army

Although both Shi Shu and Jiang Fa boasted that the Vine Armor Soldiers were extremely powerful, Yunfeng still had reservations. However, without knowing why, he would not send troops forward to fight rashly, and immediately shouted: "General Li Li

Bai sent 5,000 crossbowmen and 3,000 spear and shield troops forward one mile. Yisheng's troops each sent 3,000 cavalry on both wings to help defend, followed closely by crossbows and trebuchets."

Following Yunfeng's order, horns and drums in the army sounded one after another. Eleven thousand troops formed a defensive formation in front of the team. However, the sergeants behind the formation still did what they should do. The upcoming first battle would not have any impact on them.

Influence

Not long after, the Tengjia army stopped two miles in front of the formation. Meng Gulu came out of the crowd and shouted loudly: "Do the Jin troops dare to come out to fight?"

Yunfeng cast his gaze over. This man had a short and thick body, his exposed skin was bronze, and his beards on his face were like needles, hard and thick. As Yunfeng, he would naturally not feel guilty.

I didn't want to talk to him, but I just asked Jiang Fa next to me: "Mr. Jiang, does he know who this person is?"

Jiang Fa saluted and said: "This man comes from the southwestern barbarians. Judging from his face, he is quite similar to Meng Huo, the imperial censor at that time. He may be his descendant. I would like to come forward and chat with him for a few words. Maybe he can see it in the face of his ancestors."

It’s not impossible to recruit someone to surrender.”

To be honest, Yunfeng is not optimistic about Jiang Fa's move. What does Yushi Zhongcheng do? He does supervision, which is an offending thing. Zhuge Liang asked a big boss like Meng Huo to do such a thing. His intentions are not evil.

Can the relationship be good? But he couldn't brush off Jiang Fa's kindness. He nodded, raised his hands and thanked him: "Thank you, Mr. Jiang."

Jiang Fa made humility repeatedly, rode his horse forward, and asked: "Is this general a descendant of Meng Zhongcheng?"

Meng Gulu replied: "Yes, who are you, this old man, my king, Meng Gulu?"

Jiang Fa was overjoyed, stroking his beard and saying with a smile: "Old man Jiang Fa, our ancestor, General Wei, has quite a relationship with your ancestor, and our Jin Dynasty has always been generous and kind to all the tribes in Nanzhong, so why are you resisting Master Wang today?"

, help the rebels? If you still don’t submit, my general should treat you favorably.”

However, Meng Gulu's face turned cold and he said angrily: "Shut up, our ancestors were imprisoned in Chengdu back then because of the cunning tricks of Zhuge villagers. What's more, your Shu land has invaded our Nanzhong tribes' countless property and killed many of my tribesmen."

There are hundreds of thousands of men and women, and all the tribes in our south are at odds with you, the remnants of the Shu Han."

"This...?" Jiang Fa was startled, and then he became angry and scolded: "I want to save your life, but you don't know what is good. It's not a pity to die." After saying that, he flicked his sleeves and robes, and rode his horse.

Return to the array

Yun Feng was secretly amused, and waved his hand towards Jiang Fa who looked embarrassed and said: "There is no need to be upset, Mr. Jiang. The southwestern barbarians do not accept the king's teachings and are barbaric and rude. This is expected. Let's see how powerful the vine armor soldiers are first."

Make a decision" (To be continued)
Chapter completed!