From the starting place to the Jianmen Pass, the straight-line distance is only more than ten miles of mountainous land.

Such a short distance, it seems very close. In reality, however, the army circled the mountains for at least forty miles.

Wangshan ran a dead horse, definitely not a joke!

Liao Shanhe led 3,000 soldiers of the engineer battalion who had been trained in special mountain warfare for a long time, dragged several parts of the six-pounder cannon and the return gun, and began to cross the mountains.

The warriors climbed the mountain, and the speed was actually no slower than that of the old hunters in the mountains. The problem was that the large parts of the 6-pounder gun and the return gun dragged the whole team back.

6-pounder bronze field gun, the weight of the whole gun, up to more than five hundred kilograms. Climbing mountains and wading through rivers with such heavy artillery can be imagined to be not ordinary.

The officers and men of the artillery battalion, pushing, pulling, or dragging, carried a few artillery pieces, and every time they took a step forward, they had to paralyze a group of people.

Seeing the artillery team slowing down the progress of the entire team, Liao Shanhe was naturally anxious.

However, Liao Shanhe's heart was clearer that if he wanted to break through the extremely sinister Sword Gate, he had to rely on artillery and return artillery.

However, for the sake of generals, it is necessary to assess the situation and make flexible and mobile arrangements.

Since the movement speed of the artillery was slow, Liao Shanhe made up his mind decisively, leaving a thousand soldiers and letting them drag the artillery and return artillery, and slowly climb the mountains and mountains.

Liao Shanhe himself led 2,000 soldiers and horses as the vanguard, and rushed to the Jianmen Pass first to see if there was an opportunity to break through the pass?

After all, Liao Shanhe has a big killer in his hands: a simple bamboo trebuchet + cocktail.

The simple bamboo trebuchet is also a cocktail can, and the burning power is unparalleled.

The fly in the ointment is that the farthest throw distance of this simple trebuchet is only 30 zhang. That is, about 90 meters or so.

In other words, if you want to use a simple trebuchet to smash the cocktail into the Jianmen Pass, the launch position set up is actually under the tower of the Jianmen Pass.

This difficulty is definitely not ordinarily small!

Liao Shanhe knew very well in his heart that he was able to sit on the throne of the commander of the sixth chamber, mainly relying on Li Zhongyi's trust, and he has not had any special great feats so far.

According to Liao Shanhe's estimate, since the Shu army has demolished the plank road, and the time to repair the plank road is more than a month, the vigilance should not be enough.

As long as the 2,000 army can unknowingly touch the sword gate, they will have the opportunity to sneak attack at night and take advantage of the chaos to take this sinister pass that is the first in the world.

After crossing another mountain, Liao Shanhe received a report from the sentry camp that there were about 20,000 Shu troops in Jianmen Pass.

Liao Shanhe couldn't help frowning, with 3,000 enemies and 20,000, and the enemy army has Xiongguan natural danger as a battle, this is a bit of a headache.

According to the old rules of the Han army for drawing up battle plans, Liao Shanhe couldn't think of things for a while, so he summoned the senators of the Senate Department of the army to gather together to discuss things.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the enemy is outnumbered, and the enemy army is stationed in Xiongguan, how to break it?" Liao Shanhe learned from Li Zhongyi's style, grabbed the water bladder in his hand, and asked the senators lightly.

"The chief manager, I think that this battle must be carried out at night, otherwise, it will be difficult to cause too much confusion to the enemy army. If the enemy army is not chaotic, our army's chances of victory will not be great. Senator Qin Zhong took the lead in standing up and speaking, winning the praise of Liao Shanhe.

"Although the enemy army is numerous, it is a newly defeated army, and the morale and morale of the army are bound to be far inferior to that of my newly victorious army." Senator Yang Gang raised his hand and pointed to the Jianmen Pass on the military map, and said loudly, "Although this pass is dangerous, it is a pass between two mountains, which gives our army a terrain that can be used." ”

"Boss, look here, as long as we bring the gun back here, we can smash the cocktail into the sword gate. If the cocktail cannot be extinguished, the enemy army will be chaotic. At the same time, dragging the artillery, stealthily approaching the front of the Jianmen Pass, aiming at the city gate and firing a few cannons, the army can cover up and enter the city......" Senator Yang Gang's analysis made Liao Shanhe nod frequently.

As the saying goes, soldiers are impermanent, water is impermanent, and local conditions must be adapted!

Liao Shanhe also wanted to continue to test Yang Gang's depth, so he took the initiative to throw out a big problem, frowned and said: "The return cannon can be disassembled, and it can be taken on the road with parts, but the 6-pound gun is too heavy, and the mountain road is rugged and difficult, I'm afraid it will slow down the time to get in place?" ”

Yang Gang laughed loudly: "The chief manager, a certain family has already thought about it: people rest, cannons will not stop." The soldiers who dragged those pieces of artillery could be divided into eight to ten teams, and as long as they ran out of physical strength, they would change them to rest, and another team would continue to drag. ”

"Good, good, good!" Liao Shanhe couldn't help laughing, but the question was still not completely eliminated, and he then asked, "In order to avoid alarming the enemy army, I'm afraid it won't be possible to raise fire at night?" ”

Yang Gang sighed and said: "As the saying goes, if Ci is not in charge of the army, he will drag the cannon at night, and he will not be able to raise fire for lighting, so it is inevitable that there will be casualties." However, there is a plan that can greatly reduce casualties. ”

"Oh, please hurry up?" Liao Shanhe's spirit perked up, and he urged Yang Gang to say the plan.

Yang Gang narrowed his eyes and said calmly: "You only need to tie a thick hemp rope around the waist of each towing soldier, and the other end is tied to a big tree, although it is impossible to completely avoid injury, it can reduce the risk of falling from the mountain and dying." ”

"Okay." Liao Shanhe's eyes lit up suddenly, and he sighed, "This plan is very good. ”

If Li Zhongyi was on the scene, he would definitely blurt out: assembly line operation in three shifts!

A thousand soldiers and a few artillery pieces can be towed in ten shifts. Anyway, the team of soldiers who are dragged down can turn to the state of resting in place at any time, and then replace the next team of soldiers to come up and continue to drag.

The advantage of this is naturally that the speed of carrying artillery over mountains and mountains is greatly improved.

Taking advantage of the fact that the main army repaired the plank road and attracted the attention of the Shu army, Liao Shanhe could play a drama of secretly crossing Chen Cang, and took the opportunity to catch the Shu army at Jianmen Pass off guard.

Liao Shanhe is a quick temper, since he has discussed it properly, he will do what he says, and he will never drag mud and water.

When camping in the mountains, the first is to prevent fire, and the second is to prevent dew. Tens of thousands of troops gathered in one place, and if they do not pay attention to fire prevention work, they can easily be taken advantage of by the enemy, thus causing a catastrophe.

There is a lot of dew in the mountains, and if the soldiers do not pay attention to keeping warm and sleep in the open air, they can easily suffer from rheumatism.

As usual, after Li Zhongyi hurriedly finished dinner, he planned to take a look around and check the camping situation of the army.

Just when the account was about to be issued, the new battle plan formulated by Liao Shanhe was handed over to the Chinese army battalion.

Li Zhongyi looked at it carefully, couldn't help but smile slightly, raised his eyes to look at Yang Wushuang, and said, "Well, this is Liao Xiaoda's battle plan, you can also take a look." ”

Yang Wushuang took over the battle plan, read it several times, and said with a smile: "Congratulations to the emperor, congratulations to the emperor, your hard work has not been in vain at all." ”

Li Zhongyi nodded and said, "As the saying goes, a thousand troops are easy to get, but a general is hard to find." In the future, our army is bound to go north to the Khitan, and when the time comes, let Liao Xiaoda lead the army alone. ”

Yang Wushuang arched his hand and said: "The soldiers of our army are the best soldiers, and with the command of good generals, they will definitely be able to attack the Tartars in the north and conquer Shangjing." ”

In the General Staff Department, the person responsible for formulating the Northern Expedition plan was none other than Yang Wushuang.

To tell the truth, after so many years, the battle plan of the Northern Expedition has been tirelessly drafted in the hands of Yang Wushuang.

The Shu army is just occupying the danger of mountains and rivers, and its combat effectiveness is very limited, so there is nothing to worry about.

The real henchmen of the Central Plains have always been the Khitan in the north. After the destruction of Shu, the next step is to prepare for the Northern Expedition.

According to Yang Wushuang's plan, the Han army of the Northern Expedition needed at least 300,000 people. Among them, the cavalry must be at least between 8 and 100,000, otherwise, even if the Khitan army is defeated head-on, it will be difficult to maximize the results of the battle.

Today's strategic situation is no longer the era when Chai Rong was in power, and the most important difference is that the sixteen states of Youyun have returned to the embrace of the Han Dynasty.

In this way, the northern expedition of the Han army can rely on Yanshan and the Great Wall as a starting position. The advance can be attacked, the retreat can be defended, and the strategic situation is very good.

As for the cavalry troops, it is not difficult to gather 80,000 to 100,000 men.

After all, Li Zhongyi first started from the northwest. After the brutal suppression of the Tuoba family of the party clan, the party departments in Lingxia Prefecture have been subservient for more than ten years.

According to the Han army's habit of sending troops, it is certainly impossible to keep the strong men of all ethnic groups in the party and give them the opportunity to make trouble.

In the great northwest, as long as the Han army attacked, all departments of the party and the Xiang clan must follow the old rule of drawing one ding out of ten, or even one ding out of five, and follow the Han army to attack together.

Of course, Song Yunxiang has been stationed in Lingzhou for so many years, in addition to deterring the various departments of the party and Xiang clan with his powerful military might, what he often does is to sow discord between the various ethnic groups, and even secretly instigate them to fight for fertile pasture.

As the saying goes, if you are not of my race, your heart will be different.

Before following Li Zhongyi, Song Yunxiang was a minor official in the Lingzhou Prefecture Government, and he had witnessed countless times how the various departments of the party and the clan did evil.

Therefore, Li Zhongyi consciously arranged for Song Yunxiang and his son to sit in Lingxia, the purpose was to let him find ways to weaken the strength of the party departments.

Reducing the male population of the Dangxiang clan as much as possible, and continuously migrating the Han people from the Central Plains to the Northwest Tuntian Shibian, this has always been the highest frontier policy implemented by the Han Dynasty for a long time!

In layman's terms, the more Han people who fight in the sword, the more stable the border area will be!

When the Han army launched a large-scale northern expedition, a large number of barbarian cavalry were drawn from various party departments and sent to the battlefield, taking the opportunity to consume some of the strong party barbarians. Isn't it beautiful that both the Khitan and the party members have been weakened?

In the mountains and forests, Liao Shanhe held a small tree with one hand, wiped the hot sweat on his face, and secretly sighed in his heart, climbing the mountain is indeed very physically demanding.

After a whole night of trekking in the mountains, the entire forward of 3,000 people, except for 1,000 people who were responsible for towing artillery, the remaining 2,000 people had infiltrated the mountain ridge less than five miles away from Jianmen Pass.

Liao Shanhe rested for a while, continued to climb to the top of the mountain, holding a telescope, and carefully observed the terrain near Jianmen Pass.

Although Liao Shanhe has been studied countless times on the sand table and on the map, the field investigation of the terrain is still irreplaceable.

After a while, Liao Shanhe slowly put down the monoculars, and secretly staggered, what a majestic danger!

Due to the unique terrain of two mountains and one pass, Liao Shanhe can see very clearly, and it is obviously impossible for the entire vanguard army to go over the mountains and mountains to bypass the Jianmen Pass.

The two high mountains that hold the Jianmen Pass are towering into the clouds, almost perpendicular to the ground. Moreover, according to preliminary observations, the garrison on the two hills will not be less than two thousand people.

Obviously, the Shu army had learned the lesson of the failure of the fall of Yangping Pass, and took the control of the two peaks of Jiaguan as the focus of defense.

Liao Shanhe pondered in his heart for a long time, and finally came to the conclusion that no matter how difficult it was, he must send a death squad to capture the two peaks in Jiaguan. At the very least, a mountain peak needs to be captured.

As long as there is a mountain peak in hand, even if there is no need to return cannons and artillery, the cocktail thrown by a simple trebuchet alone is enough to burn the sword gate into a sea of fire.

The problem now is how to climb the mountain to a peak of several hundred feet, which is indeed a headache!

Finding a senator if there is a problem has become one of the most basic operational principles in the entire Han army.

Liao Shanhe gathered the senators together again, and everyone sat in a circle around the grass.

"Ladies and gentlemen, everyone must have seen that the Sword Gate Pass is worthy of being called the most dangerous pass in the world. In front of you, the terrain between two mountains and one pass is indeed very tricky. I think that at least one of the two peaks must be taken, I wonder what you think? Liao Shanhe is a quick temper, and he can't learn Li Zhongyi's weightlifting at all, so he simply shakes out the difficulties straight to the point.

In fact, in the backup plan drawn up by the Senate Department, there is a plan to secretly send people to climb the two peaks. It's just that Liao Shanhe doesn't know much about the real combat effectiveness of the mountaineering officers and soldiers, which needs to be explained by knowledgeable senators.

Liao Shanhe saw that the senators were all looking at Yang Gang, who had always been as steady as Mount Tai, and he couldn't help but turn his head and stare at Yang Gang's face extremely seriously.

Yang Gang said with a smile: "Don't hide it from the general manager, when the emperor chose the officers and soldiers of the special operations battalion, he was one of the first batch of officers to be trained. The chief manager probably didn't know that as early as ten years ago, the emperor had specially trained a large number of warriors who were more elite than the old hunters in the mountains, waiting for the day of the slaughter of Shu. ”

"The difficulty of Shu Road is difficult to go to the blue sky. If, relying only on manpower, we attack the various passes of the Shu army, even if we finally take Chengdu Mansion, the casualties of our army will inevitably not be too small. Yang Gang looked at Liao Shanhe with a smile and explained in detail, "The three thousand soldiers of the engineer battalion that the emperor gave to the general manager are all experts in mountaineering. From a certain point of view, let them climb the two peaks of Jianmen Pass, and dare not say that they are walking on the ground, at least it cannot be regarded as a particularly big difficulty. ”

Liao Shanhe suddenly realized, patted his head, and said with a smile: "I said, the emperor insisted on sending these 3,000 people to me, and he had already made preparations for daring." ”

Yang Gang smiled slightly, the emperor ordered him to secretly assist Liao Shanhe in making contributions, waiting for a good time now.

The emperor once said that the times are different, the weapons of war are also different, and the generals must learn a new mode of warfare, and not rest on their laurels.

In this regard, Yang Gang deeply agreed. Specifically, what kind of weapons you have, what kind of battles you fight.

For example, since the Han army had artillery, any city in the Central Plains has become an earthen enclosure that can be attacked anytime and anywhere.

For another example, since the Han army has a return cannon + cocktail, in a large-scale positional battle, it will take advantage of the enemy army and be invincible.

Li Zhongyi knew Liao Shanhe's loyalty very well, so he entrusted him with the exclusive command of the army.

However, Liao Shanhe's temper is relatively impatient, his cultural level is relatively low, and his ability to accept new affairs is relatively slow, which requires someone to assist him.

Yang Gang, the former deputy commander of the special operations battalion, was the suitable candidate selected by Li Zhongyi from the General Staff Department.

"Boss, don't look at the fact that we only have 3,000 people, all of whom are officers above the head, but they are all Shu people." Yang Gang smiled and woke up Liao Shanhe.

Liao Shanhe thought for a moment, then burst into ecstasy, and laughed: "Good, good, great, I know!" ”

In the forward camp, there are many old Shu people. This means that after climbing the mountain, they can take advantage of the chaos of the Shu army to walk the rumors that the Shu army has been defeated, so as to shake the fighting spirit of the Shu army to the death.

"Commander, every day of delay, our army is exposed to more danger. Without further ado, tonight we will arrange for the soldiers to climb the mountain and sneak attack the Shu army on the mountain. Yang Gang struck while the iron was hot and gave reasonable suggestions.

Liao Shanhe nodded heavily, and discussed the next attack plan with the senators.

After discussion, Yang Gang and another senator each led 500 people, carrying ample cocktails, and each was responsible for attacking a mountain peak.

Liao Shanhe led the main army, carrying a few artillery pieces at night, looking for an opportunity to touch the gate of Jianmen Pass.

Just waiting for the shouts of killing from the mountain, Liao Shanhe commanded the soldiers of the artillery battalion to take the opportunity to blast open the city gate and enter the first dangerous pass in the world.

In the dead of night, Yang Gang changed his outfit and appeared in front of Liao Shanhe.

Because he was worried that he would alarm the Shu army and could not raise fire for lighting, Liao Shanhe took advantage of the starlight, his eyes widened, and he looked hard, only to vaguely find that Yang Gang was not wearing armor, carrying an arrow bag on his back, and carrying a war knife on his waist.

In addition, in Yang Gang's waist, there was also a handful of strange-shaped things diagonally inserted, Liao Shanhe looked at it carefully for a long time, but he didn't recognize it, what is it?

Yang Gang saw Liao Shanhe's doubts, and couldn't help but introduce softly: "The name of this thing is called a mountaineering hoe, climbing the mountain with bare hands, and it all depends on this thing to provide assistance." ”

In front of Yang Gang's feet, a large bundle of hemp rope was thrown, Liao Shanhe looked left and right, and always felt that this bundle of hemp rope was very different from the hemp rope he usually saw.

Without waiting for Liao Shanhe to ask, Yang Gang explained: "This is a special hemp rope, even if it is cut with a knife, it will take a long time to cut it." ”

"Oh, I see." Liao Shanhe opened his eyes and couldn't help but sigh, "The emperor is right, what the old man said, he really lives to old age and learns from old wow." ”

"Boss, it's getting late, it's time for us to hit the road." Yang Gang said this, clenched his fists, turned around and led hundreds of soldiers in the same outfit as him, and quietly touched the foot of the mountain.

As early as ten years ago, Li Zhongyi began to secretly train special mountain troops and set up the so-called special operations battalion.

This time, because of the need to cross mountains and mountains, the soldiers of the special operations battalion happened to come in handy.

Before setting out for the battle, Li Zhongyi transferred all the officers and soldiers of the 3,000 special operations battalion to his side, waiting for this day.

Different from ordinary old hunters who climb mountains alone, the basic operational needs of the special operations battalion are: hundreds, or even thousands, must climb to the top of the steep mountain in order to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy.

Therefore, in the mountain special warfare camp, Li Zhongyi gradually selected about 300 warriors who were best at mountaineering with bare hands.

Yang Gang, as the former deputy commander of the mountain special operations battalion, is the best among these warriors.

In fact, Liao Shanhe didn't completely see Yang Gang's full body equipment, at least he missed the shoes on Yang Gang's feet.

Today, the shoes Yang Gang wears are neither cloth shoes nor hemp shoes, but special mountaineering leather boots.

These hiking boots are not suitable for brisk walking on flat roads, because the soles of the boots are equipped with small sharp barbs. When mountaineering, this small barb plays a vital role in gripping and borrowing.

Yang Gang's equipment not only includes special leather boots, but also carries steel hooks that can be thrown out to hook tree forks on the shoulders of his entourage.

In addition, Yang Gang was carrying special leather gloves in his arms. All in all, these pieces of equipment, which have not been available since ancient times, are all special equipment that Li Zhongyi continued to add when he was training the mountain special operations battalion and when his brain was open.

After touching the foot of the mountain, Yang Gang squinted his eyes and observed the almost straight mountain with the help of the starry sky.

About a quarter of an hour later, Yang Gang used his hands together, kicked his legs violently, and began a difficult mountaineering journey in full view of everyone.

On the steep mountain wall, there are almost no trees that can be borrowed, Yang Gang relied on the advantage of good physical strength and dexterity of hands and feet, borrowed a sharp mountaineering hoe, and quickly climbed upward.

Because it was late at night and they couldn't raise the fire, the soldiers at the foot of the mountain could only choose to wait silently. At this juncture, no one can help Yang Gang, only relying on Yang Gang's own efforts.

According to the plan made before the war, after losing sight of Yang Gang, ten warriors with bamboo tubes in their mouths each chose a direction and began to climb upwards one after another.

Careful verification, cautious use of troops, and preferring not to win rather than defeat have always been the basic criteria for the Han army.

Putting all the apples in one basket is obviously the wrong way to do not conform to this code of use.

The situation in front of us, as the so-called, brothers climb the mountain and work hard separately.

Whoever can make a contribution in the end will be the uncle, and he will receive all kinds of honors and rewards!