This section of the road from Youzhou to Liaodong is very distinctive, Youzhou is located in the North China Plain, the terrain is flat, and after crossing the Luanhe River, it begins to enter a long and narrow strip.

There are countless large and small river loops scattered along this stretch of the road. Looking down from the sky, the river loop is like the veins on the leaves, well-organized, varying in thickness, twisting and dense.

Riverbeds, sand, banks, weeds, wildflowers, floods, silt, floating wood, and so on are pretty much all there is to the road.

And this section of the road is not short, hundreds of miles long, because it is located in the west of the Liao River, the ancients called it "Liaoning West Corridor".

The West Liaoning Corridor is bordered by Liaodong Bay in the east, Songling Mountain in the west, and runs southwest to northeast, with a length of about 400 li and a width ranging from a few li to dozens of li.

This narrow strip of land is bordered by the sea to the south and mountains to the north.

The sea is the Bohai Sea, and all the way to the Bohai Sea.

But there are many mountains, from west to east all the way through the large and small mountain ranges, such as Qilaotu Mountain, Daqing Mountain, Black Mountain, Nuruer Tiger Mountain, Yiwulu Mountain and so on.

Mountain after mountain, mountain after mountain, all the way out of the pass, this mountain between the mountains from time to time is also mixed with rivers of different sizes.

Mountains and rivers are really nice to say, but it's not the same when you walk. Such a difficult road is of course nothing today, Beijing-Shenyang Expressway, Beijing-Harbin High-speed Railway, etc., it is a flash.

But in the Tang Dynasty, when there were no high-speed railways, no highways, and even ordinary roads, this road was not easy to walk.

After crossing the Luan River, Zhang Zhifang said to Zhang Wei: "After crossing the Luan River, you are about to enter the mountains, this section of the road is not easy to walk!" ”

Bad roads?

In Zhang Wei's opinion, since he came to Datang, he has never encountered a good road, not even an ordinary cement road, walking there is a dirt road, horses' hooves have been trodden, dust is flying, and his nose is full of the smell of dust.

In addition to the brick-paved pavement in Chang'an City, there is no easy road to walk in the entire Datang, is there a more difficult road?

Yes, there are harder paths.

After crossing the Luan River, the road to the east became more and more difficult, and it had already begun to enter the mountains.

Although Zhang Wei and others rode horses, the roads in the mountains were no better than the roads on the plains, not to mention people, even the war horses walked on them, and they walked like dancing, and their bodies were shaking.

As soon as he walked here, Zhang Wei still felt nothing, but after a long time, he felt that something was wrong, his waist began to hurt, his head shook for a long time, and he felt a little dizzy, even under his crotch, he felt uncomfortable, the horse's back kept bumping around, rubbing underneath, can it be comfortable?

Although the road is difficult to walk, it is still necessary to walk, otherwise you will not be able to reach Liaodong. As he walked, Zhang Wei actually heard the sound of the sea.

"And the sea?" Zhang Wei didn't just ask.

"Of course, we walked all the way by the sea." Zhang Zhifang pointed to the south and said to Zhang Wei.

I thought it was a guess, but I didn't expect that people really had the sea, Zhang Wei was happy, and said to Zhang Zhifang: "General Zhang, it's so big, I haven't really seen the sea yet, why don't we go over and take a look?" ”

Zhang Wei was born in Guanzhong, although he often went to Weihe to play. But a river is a river, and a sea is a sea, and the two are not the same.

The sea is actually right in front of the path they are going to take, and they can see it as long as they want, and it is not a thing.

"Let's go, you and I'll go over and have a look."

The two rode south, and soon came to the edge of the sea.

"This should be the Bohai Sea?"

"Yes, this is the Bohai Sea."

Zhang Wei looked around and said, "Here is facing the mountains in the north and the sea in the south, and there is no other way to go except this narrow road in the middle?" ”

Zhang Zhifang shook his head, "This is the only way, there is no other way." ”

From this, Zhang Wei thought of the terrain of Guanzhong, since ancient times, if the eastern powers wanted to enter Guanzhong, there was really no other way to go except for the Hangu Pass.

Because Hangu Pass is adjacent to the Qinling Mountains in the south, the cliffs are steep, except for animals such as apes, people cannot pass through; It is adjacent to the big river to the north, the river is fast, and a whirlpool comes, and no matter how many people you have, they will die.

Therefore, it has formed a saying that there is a road in the pass since ancient times, and there is a saying that Hangu Pass is a man who is a man and a man is not open.

"I see that the terrain here is similar to Guanzhong, if the enemy cuts off this corridor, our Youzhou and Liaodong will be completely cut off." Although Zhang Wei is not a military strategist, he will know the importance of this corridor to Datang if he thinks about it simply.

"Yes, what Zhang Gongzi said is so right, this western Liaoning corridor is really important to our Youzhou, it is the lifeline of tens of thousands of soldiers in our eastern Liaoning, and it is also the supply line of military supplies." Then Zhang Zhifang said with a slightly depressed expression: "Zhang Gongzi doesn't know, at present, Shanxi has already sent troops to this Liaoxi corridor, and if we don't get it right, we will encounter the enemy on the road." ”

Shan Xi dared to attack Youzhou, of course, he would know where Youzhou's throat was, as long as he was not an idiot or something like him leading the troops to fight, he would know the importance of the Liaoxi Corridor to Youzhou and even the entire Tang Dynasty.

Zhang Wei can see through the things at a glance, of course, people are not stupid, and they know very well that controlling the Western Liaoning Corridor is equivalent to cutting off the Youzhou of the Tang Dynasty and dividing it into two sections.

"The enemy is so arrogant, why don't we send troops to control the Liaoxi Corridor early?" Zhang Wei asked indignantly.

Zhang Zhifang listened and smiled awkwardly, "Zhang Gongzi, you think too simply, of course we know the importance of this Liaoxi Corridor, but we have no way to control it at the moment." ”

Then Zhang Zhifang took Zhang Wei up to a rock, waved his horsewhip and pointed to the opposite mountain and said to him: "Do you see the mountain on the other side?" ”

Zhang Wei nodded.

"Behind these mountains is the place where the mountains are tucked." Zhang Zhifang was a little helpless when he said this.

Yes?

Shanxi is behind this mountain?

Zhang Wei was stunned, how could Shanxi be so close to us?

"This mountain is called Qilaotu Mountain, and there are many mountains to the east, such as Daqing Mountain, Nurul Tiger Mountain, and so on. Shanxi's base camp is north of Nurul Tiger Mountain, and as Shanxi's strength has increased over the years, the entire place north of the Liaoxi Corridor has been occupied by them, and as long as they want, they can send troops here at any time. ”

Zhang Wei wondered, "Since Shan Xi can bring troops here, why can't our army go north of Nurul Tiger Mountain?" ”

Zhang Zhifang smiled and shook his head, "It's not that we don't want to go, it's that we can't go." You must know that the mountains and twins are all cavalry, living in the mountains and rivers all the year round, their cavalry walks in the mountains as if they are flat, but after our infantry enters the mountains, it is like entering a labyrinth, and they may not even see the face of the enemy in the past day, they are surrounded or eliminated by the enemy. ”

"In addition, our supply is also insufficient, over the years, with the southern invasion of Shanxi, the grain route has been blocked, how many times our military food in Youzhou will be robbed by Shanxi's cavalry before it can be transported to Liaodong. Without the supply of food and grass for the army, what combat effectiveness can they have? ”

The ideal is very plump, and the reality is very skinny.

The ideas are abundant, but the reality is cruel.

Zhang Wei knew that fighting a war not only relied on the courage and perseverance of the soldiers, but also wisdom and strategy were also very important aspects, and if the food was robbed and the advance was blocked, the combat effectiveness of the army would definitely decline.

When reality was in front of him, he knew that his thoughts in the past were still too simple.