The Shu army marched south through Yuzhou, occupied the Wuchuan River Valley, and advanced its troops to the northern border of Shixian County on the western flank of Sizhou, and the impact was manifold.

Sizhou did not dare to abandon Shiqian County, which was located in the valley on both sides of the middle reaches of Qianyang.

On the one hand, regardless of whether the Shu army's dispatch this time was in secret collusion with Xuzhou, since the Shu army had entered the Wuchuan River Valley, it would definitely not miss the opportunity to occupy Shiqian County and open up the passage connecting the counties of Guizhou in the south.

For Sizhou, the truth is also the same.

Shiqian County, which occupies the valley on both sides of the middle reaches of the Qianjiang River, is the core place of Sizhou connecting central Guizhou in the south and Sichuan and Shu in the north.

For Sizhou, it is better to give up Jinhe in the east than to lose Shiqian in the west.

The geographical location of Shiqian is too important.

An Jixiang, Fu Gengwen, and others understood the topography of the mountains and rivers in the southwest and the complex relationship between the forces of Zhufan Prefecture, and they would never dare to assume the responsibility of sitting back and watching Shiqian County fall and not do their best to save it.

Especially at this time, they represented the imperial court and Hunan Province, and they were in Sizhou.

Although Great Chu's control over the Guizhou Prefectures is much weaker than that of the four Prefectures of Chenxuye Si, and it can be said that there is no benefit every year, the Guizhou Prefectures are also attached to the territory of Great Chu.

Once Shiqian fell into the hands of the Shu army, the Shu army opened a direct channel with Qianzhong, and with such a weak control of Qianzhong by Great Chu, these Fanzhou could fall to Shu every minute.

The rise and fall of this has an extremely huge impact on the control and influence of Chu and Shu in the southwest.

If An Jixiang and Fu Gengwen dare to do nothing, and when they return to Jinling, they will be torn up by the ministers of Yushitai as targets.

After learning that Shuzhong occupied the Wuchuan River Valley, and had the intention of continuing to advance southward, An Jixiang and Fu Gengwen rushed to Hujian Pass, and after meeting with Yang Xingfeng and Xijiao Peng, they couldn't speculate in detail whether this matter was related to Han Qian.

Even if the forward soldiers and horses of the strong Shu army cannot be repulsed in a short period of time and the Wuchuan River valley is recaptured, Shiqian must be held first.

The Xi clan itself wanted to use Chu Ting to suppress Xuzhou's ambitions, and Xi Shepeng had no choice at this time, so he could only take care of the overall situation first.

In the past three months, the rebel army was like a prairie fire, but Yang Xingfeng reacted very quickly, contacted Yezhou as soon as possible, gathered troops and horses to suppress, fought a few battles, and saw that it was difficult to suddenly capture the dangerous cottage, so he quickly adjusted his strategy, built a large number of walled cities and stationed elite soldiers in the key Jin Pass leading to the deep Panlong Ridge, and blocked the rebel army for backup.

The rebel army was very powerful, gathering more than 20,000 horses in just two or three months, but most of them were old and weak women and children who were powerless, and although there were as many as five or six thousand adult Ding Zhuang, they lacked armor and necessary training, and it was difficult to compete with the soldiers of the two states in an open area.

At present, according to the dangerous terrain, more than a dozen cottages in Panlong Ridge are defended, and within two or three months, there will be a shortage of materials, and several attempts to tear through the blockade of the soldiers in the two states have been in vain, and they have even suffered a lot of casualties.

In less than three months, the initial morale of the rebel army showed a tendency to retreat.

The news that the Shu army sent troops into the Wuchuan River Valley spread to Panlongling, and the vast majority of the generals of the rebel army did not have the concept of home and country, but they thought that the Yang family of Sizhou was stabbed in the ass by the Shu army, and the back road was unstable, and they must be in chaos, so that they could see the hope of victory, and their morale was also greatly boosted for a while.

Even though An Jixiang and Fu Gengwen sent people to Tanzhou to see the newly appointed Xuanwu envoy Huanghua, they strongly advocated the transfer of the elite of the Zuo Shenwu Army from Shaozhou to Sizhou for reinforcements, but the Sizhou generals did not dare to pin their hopes entirely on the reinforcements of the Zuo Shenwu Army.

If the Zuo Shenwu Army wants to enter Sizhou, it has to cross the Xuefeng Mountain Post Road, and then pass through Xuzhou to come over - even if Xuzhou does not use its hands and feet, the main responsibility of the Zuo Shenwu Army is also to guard against the two rebels who retreated to Yongzhou in the south, how many soldiers and horses can be transferred over?

It is not impossible for Xuanwei to weigh the pros and cons of Huanghua, and it is not impossible to compromise with Xuzhou and sacrifice the interests of Sizhou.

Huang Hua finally really wants to transfer the state soldiers to aid Sizhou, how should Sizhou deal with it?

Before, Emperor Yanyou and the princes of the imperial court were guarding against Xuzhou, ordering Xuzhou to stand still, and Chenzhou sent troops into Sizhou to help suppress, because what happened in Sizhou at that time was only a slave riot that was not very critical in the eyes of the princes of the court and was relatively easy to exterminate.

At the moment, it is the Shu army that moves without permission, and the situation is completely different.

If it is only because he suspects that Han Qian has the ambition to annex Sizhou, and fundamentally changes the military defense deployment of the entire southwest, and may even make the military defense situation in the entire southwest region become confused, then it is not directly merging Sizhou into Xuzhou.

It's still easy to weigh the gains and losses.

The best result is that before the consolation envoy made a decision, Sizhou had already exterminated the rebel army, and he had enough soldiers and horses to defend the gateway of Shiqian and refuse the Shu army abroad, so naturally he didn't have to worry about attracting wolves into the house in the future.

Therefore, at the same time that Yang Hu led 800 Zhai slave soldiers and Xishu Peng's troops to quickly march west to reinforce Shiqian, Yang Xingfeng, Yang Shouyi and other Sizhou generals also immediately adjusted their deployment at the foot of Panlongling Mountain and concentrated their forces to storm Nanhuang, Shihezi and other villages.

The battle between the Sizhou soldiers and the rebel army in Panlongling suddenly became fierce.

Shihezi Village is located at the west foot of Panlong Mountain, less than 30 miles away from the state city of Renshan, and the state city built on the bank of the Baiyan River can be seen in the distance when the weather is clear.

Shihezi was built on a dangerous site, and the village was naturally extremely narrow, and even if a small half of the houses were demolished, only three simple whirlwind cannons could be erected.

There is a shallow stream in the valley, and in October, the weather is not very cold, but it is also winter, and the rain in the mountains has decreased, the stream bed is exposed, and the rocks are piled up, and only a very shallow stream flows.

In the past, there was a deep stream to block it, and three whirlwind cannons took turns throwing stone bombs to block the mountain pass, so that the state soldiers could be suppressed outside the mountain pass, and they did not dare to approach easily.

Tan Yuliang stood on the stone wall today, and saw more than 200 Sizhou soldiers and soldiers, surrounded by six or seven shield carts, rushing towards the mountain pass along the open valley, and his wrinkled brows became deeper and deeper.

In the past, the Sizhou soldiers blocked the periphery, the supplies in the mountains were in short supply, and the blockade could not be torn apart, and the morale of the Tianping army was inevitably low, but Tan Yuliang actually had nothing to worry about.

The Sizhou soldiers retained their strength and did not dare to bear too many casualties and losses to rush to attack, which shows that the situation is under the control of Xuzhou.

At present, the Shu army sent troops to occupy Wuchuan, even if Tan Yuliang couldn't guess how Han Qian persuaded the Shu army, he could guess that all this was arranged by Han Qian, but the more it came to the last moment, the more dangerous the situation would become, and unexpected changes could occur at any time.

Because for Sizhou Yang, forced by the situation, it is also time to give it a go.

The Sizhou soldiers themselves are good at mountain warfare, and they have also accumulated experience in uprooting dangerous villages in the past year or so by attacking the cottages of the Wu bureaucrats.

They did not have a proper cast iron shield car, but mainly spliced together thick wooden door panels and erected them on the wheels to create a shield car, which looked heavy and clumsy, but it was very durable.

Hundreds of pounds of stone bullets were thrown over, and the giant shield spliced with the door panel naturally couldn't resist it.

However, large stone projectiles are currently fired slowly, and the three Whirlwind cannons can fire up to three large cobblestone projectiles during the attacker's charge as they approach the walled city.

This kind of cobblestone bullet weighing hundreds of pounds was mainly used to attack fixed large weapons in the past, and the generals approaching the city only needed to pay attention to avoidance and pay attention to disperse the charging formation, and the casualties would be quite limited.

Tan Yuliang could see that the Sizhou soldiers used chariots to erect this kind of giant shield spliced with thick wooden door panels, and the purpose was to prevent them from throwing scattered stone bullets on their side, so as to reduce their casualties through the mountain pass.

And let the Sizhou soldiers easily pass through the narrow mountain pass, they can stand in the valley in front of the stockade, and then organize an attack on the Shihezi village.

After several tentative attacks, Tan Yuliang realized that the Sizhou soldiers were willing to attack very resolutely this time, and they did not dare to let the Sizhou soldiers enter the front of the village so comfortably, and immediately ordered the gate of the village to be opened, and the deputy general Lang Sandao and his son Tan Lang and others took turns to take the men and horses to kill them, and expelled the Sizhou soldiers who entered the front of the village from the mountain pass, not daring to suffer casualties, but also to suppress the Sizhou soldiers outside the narrow mountain pass.

After several bloody battles, the attacking soldiers and horses were delayed at the mountain pass seven or eight zhang wide, forcing their formation to be dense, and then using the whirlwind cannon behind them to exert more lethality.

Of course, the rebel army was poorly trained and poorly armoured, relying on blood to bravely stand in front, fighting with well-equipped brave soldiers, suffering great casualties, several times back and forth, the blood will stain the shallow stream flowing through the mountain pass red, and the corpses are scattered all over the narrow valley in front of the mountain pass.

For the attacking Sizhou soldiers, the casualties of the soldiers on the forward line were not large, but in the rear queue, more than 100 people were killed and wounded by scattered stone bullets, and some of them could not support it, so they had to retreat to the camp outside the valley for rest.

The Sizhou troops on the periphery were gathered, and the rebel army was also mobilized through the treacherous trails inside Panlong Ridge.

Zhao Zhixian and Pei Pu arrived at Shihezi Village before dusk, and they were secretly frightened when they saw the corpses all over the ground and the blood flowing like a river in front of the mountain pass.

Tan Yuliang saw that the enemy army did not show signs of attacking at night, and instructed his son Tan Qiu and Diao Blind to keep an eye on the movement of the enemy army in front of the mountain on the wall, and was just about to talk to Zhao Zhixian and Pei Pu into the village, when he saw his cousin Tan Xiuqun with forty or fifty men and horses, coming around from behind the mountain in the north.

Tan Yuliang waited for a while, and when Tan Xiuqun and they walked to the wall, they saw that Tan Xiuqun's shoulders and waist were wrapped in wounds, and at this time, blood was seeping out. ”

"I heard that Shihezizhai was in a hurry, and more than 50 people were coming to support this side, but I didn't want to have more than 100 soldiers ambushed in Shipangou waiting for me to bite the hook - fortunately, Wenlin saw that the situation was not right, and led people out to rescue, and finally killed this group of people. We have more than 40 dead and wounded this time, how is the situation on your side? Tan Xiuqun didn't care about the injury on his body, or was he worried about the sudden ruthless offensive of the Sizhou soldiers, and asked with a frown.

The walled wall was slightly inclined inward, and the stone wall was also rugged and easy to climb, Tan Yuliang directly pulled Tan Xiuqun up to the wall, and let him see the deaths and injuries at the mountain pass with his own eyes.

", Yang Xingfeng took the wrong medicine?" Tan Xiuqun scolded.

On the left and right sides of the walled wall are the rebel army generals, it is inconvenient to speak, Tan Yuliang and Tan Xiuqun, Zhao Zhixian, Pei Pujin into the village to talk.

"Xuzhou won't pile us here, will it?"

There was no one else in the hall except for Zhao Zhixian's youngest son Zhao Fangcheng, who was examining Tan Lang's arrow wound on his shoulder, and Tan Xiuqun couldn't wait to say the worries in his heart.

Although Tan Yuliang was elected as General Tianping after the uprising, when he actually led the rebel army to fight against the Sizhou soldiers, their differences and contradictions with Dong Tai, Dong Ping, Zhang Guangdeng, and other rebel generals in the tactical arrangements for managing the army and commanding the troops became more and more prominent.

After a series of internal adjustments and compromises, in the end, Tan Yuliang and Tan Xiuqun led the children of the Tan family, and Diao Blind and others led 15,600 men and horses, responsible for guarding several villages located at the western foot of Panlong Ridge, such as Shihezi and Songfenggang.

Shihezi is still nominally the headquarters of the Tianping Army, but in fact, the rebel soldiers directly led by Dong Tai and Dong Ping are two or three of them.

Due to the lack of suitable medical officers in the rebel army, Zhao Zhixian and Pei Pu still took their disciples to stay in Nanhuang, Quanshi and other villages at the eastern foot of Panlong Ridge to treat the wounded.

The fighting on the western foothills has only suddenly become fierce today, and several stockades at the eastern foot of Panlongling have been fighting vicious battles for several days in a row, and the casualties have been even heavier.

Although the rebel army has more than 5,000 or nearly 6,000 soldiers, there are three or four hundred casualties every day, so it is no wonder that Tan Xiuqun can't hold his breath.

As long as it is a human being, no one will really be willing to become a pawn in the hands of others.

At this time, I can't see any movement in Xuzhou, and Tan Xiuqun has no resentment and worry, which is abnormal.

Pei Puxian reported the news that Huang Hua was transferred to Hunan Xuanhui and Xi Shepeng and Yang Hu led the Chenzhou camp and 800 slave soldiers to Shiqian to resist the Shu army: "Your Excellency also expects that Yang Xingfeng may be worried that Xuanhui Huanghua will make a decision that is unfavorable to Sizhou, so he will fight to the death before the last moment, and your Excellency wants you to hold on for another half a month." ”

"What if the situation doesn't change by then?" Tan Xiuqun felt less awe of Han Qian in his heart, and asked directly.

"Repair the group." Tan Yuliang asked Tan Xiuqun to pay attention to the tone of his speech.

Although Pei Pu studied medicine under Zhao Zhixian in his early years, he was speaking on behalf of Xuzhou at this time, not their juniors - and when the situation reached this point, they could only rely on Xuzhou, and even if they had doubts in their hearts, they could not show it.

Pei Pu said: "I also asked the messenger about this, and the messenger asked me in turn, when did the adults disappoint Tan Ye and Zhao Shi?" ”

Tan Yuliang and Zhao Zhixian glanced at each other, and they both showed a wry smile, they didn't make them hopeful, but they once made them desperate.