Because of Hong Jixun's unintentional words, Deng She guessed that the 5,000 people of Polo Timur who went out of the west of the city may have entered Shaanxi, which was a bold speculation, but he guessed correctly.

However, he was slightly wrong in his guess about the route of Polo Timur's march. The Polo army did not go to Dongsheng, Yunnei, and Fengzhou, but traveled through the meanders of the river, crossed the Yellow River from the Liujiachuan ferry outside Fugu City, and then marched long distances and crossed the Wuding River, aiming directly at Yan'an, an important town in the northern part ,——of the Guanbei.

The meander, to the south of the three states of Dongsheng; Liujiachuan Ferry outside Fugu City has long been an important ferry port on the Yellow River in Shaanxi.

The land of Shaanxi, "blocking mountains and rivers". The Yellow River originates from Qinghai, passes through Gansu and Ningxia, and flows through Shaanxi, just protruding into a "several" shape, wrapping most of the places in Shaanxi, and then, along the junction of Shaanxi and the abdomen, it goes south, passes through Henan, and rolls eastward. Leaving aside other sections for the time being, we only say that the section where the Yellow River flows through the border between Shaanxi and the hinterland, with a total length of more than 1,000 li, overlapping mountains on both banks, a narrow valley road, many beaches and rapids, and difficult navigation. The most important ferry port along the coast and can be used as a military passage, the Liujiachuan ferry outside Fugu City can be said to be the first one from north to south. The strategic position is very important. From this ferry, you can go west into Shanxi, or you can go north to Inner Mongolia. In turn, whether it is an army from Inner Mongolia or an army from Shanxi, it can also enter Shaanxi through this ferry.

This place is not very far from Datong, hundreds of miles. Datong is in the northwest, while Jining is in the southeast of this place. At present, this place is under the control of Polo, so he can cross the Yellow River unconsciously and unknowingly and enter Shaanxi.

Shaanxi is the "land of four stops", if you enter from Tongguan, it is very sad. However, Polo occupies a geographical advantage, and he has Datong, so he can avoid Tongguan, and can detour through Liujiachuan, cross the Yellow River, and detour into Shaanxi. This may seem easy, but it's actually very difficult. If nothing else, let's just say that thousands or tens of thousands of people crossed the river, and they crossed the river quietly, just in terms of logistics supply, you can imagine how much effort Polo has put in. Moreover, the rivers in northern Shaanxi are criss-crossed, and there is more than the Yellow River.

After crossing the Yellow River, there are Quye River and Tumao River. "Poor and uncertain riverside bones, like a person in a spring boudoir dream." After the Quye River and the Rabbit Mao River, there is the famous Wuding River. After crossing the Wuding River again, there are Pulu River, Dali River, Qingjian River and so on, and there are no less than five or six large and small rivers. After crossing these many rivers, we were finally able to enter Yan'an. Although these rivers cannot be compared with the Yellow River, they are not so difficult to cross, and some of them can be crossed on foot from shallow waters, however, after all, there are so many rivers that the difficulty of marching is needless to say. Otherwise, it would not have been possible for Polo's army to enter Shaanxi for more than ten days in a row, and there would be no news. There is no news, what are they doing? Cross mountains and seas.

This is still Polo's geographical advantage.

Shaanxi's name of "the land of four stops" is not in vain, if it is changed to Chahan, if it is changed from Linfen, Jining Road and other places into Shaanxi, it is not only the trouble of crossing the river, but also the pain of crossing the mountains and mountains. There are three big mountains in northern Shaanxi, Hengshan in the north, Meridian Mountain in the west, and Huanglong Mountain in the east. These three mountains cover an extremely wide area, often with a radius of tens of thousands of miles. The largest Hengshan Mountain covers an area of more than 20,000 square miles, and the smallest Huanglong Mountain also covers an area of more than 10,000 square miles. These three mountain ranges alone account for almost one-third of the total area of northern Shaanxi. Moreover, it is divided into three sides, forming a horseshoe shape, which is a natural defensive structure. Coupled with the Yellow River, Wuding River and many other rivers, the mountains and rivers echo and are endless. For example, the Wuding River is just east of Hengshan; The Yellow River is also east of Huanglong Mountain. It has also formed a solid defense system. What are the "Four Solids of Guanshan"? This is the "Guanshan Four Solids".

Yan'an is in the middle of these three mountains. "The east of the province brings the Yellow River, and the north controls Lingxia, which is a place of beauty." In the former Song Dynasty, due to the hostile relationship with the Western Xia, there were heavy troops stationed in Yan'an all the year round. At that time, it was called Yanzhou and was called "Five Roads Throat". The people of the Jin State peeped into Shaanxi, and whenever they used troops in Shaanxi, they often crossed the river from Shanxi and committed Yan'an.

This was not only the case for the Jin people, but even more so for the Western Xia. The former Song Dynasty and the Western Xia had many major battles in the Yan'an area. What is it that you do? It was because Western Xia wanted to compete for Yan'an. Once Yan'an was acquired by the Xia people, they could drive south and attack Guanzhong through the horseshoe gap formed by the three mountain ranges of Hengshan, Ziwu Mountain, and Huanglong Mountain. ——, these three mountains are distributed on the north, west and east sides of Yan'an, and the only gap left is directly opposite the Guanzhong Plain. If it is Yan'an, Guanzhong will be in danger.

In the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the Anshi Rebellion.

An Lushan rebelled against the Tang Dynasty from Fanyang (present-day Beijing), led his army south along the eastern foothills of Taihang Mountain, and captured Tongguan from the front. At that time, some people were worried that if An Lushan did not send an army from Yan'an, Chang'an would be very dangerous. Du Fu also wrote a poem for this reason: "Yanzhou Qinbei household, the defense is still dependable." 10,000 people rushed to drive the reeds. It's just that An Lushan didn't think of this trick at all, but these people were too worried. And Polo's route to the army this time used tricks that An Lushan did not use.

In short, Yan'an's status in northern Shaanxi is like Chang'an to Guanzhong and Hanzhong to southern Shaanxi.

Polo Timur repeatedly fought with Chakhan for Jining without success, and this time, he made a big bet. Simply don't Jining, enter Shaanxi through the Yellow River, occupy Yan'an first, think it as a stronghold, and then plot against Guanzhong. This step was not something that Dunshe did not think of at the beginning, nor was it something that Chahan failed to expect. "The bigger the stake, the greater the risk." If Polo's move can be successful, then Shaanxi will have a place for him; However, if he fails to succeed and suffers a miserable defeat, it will be easy for him to enter the army in Shaanxi.

At this time, the general situation in Shaanxi was similar to that of Shanxi and Hebei.

The "Shaanxi" of Shaanxi originally refers to Shaanxi Mo in the southwest of Shaanxi County, Henan. As early as the reign of King Zhou Cheng, the land of Wangji Qianli (from the Jingwei Plain in the west to the Yiluo River Basin in the east) was divided into two parts, east and west, with Shaanxi Mo as the boundary. The east of Shaanxi Mo is governed by the Duke of Zhou, and the west of Shaanxi Mo is governed by the Duke of Zhao. This is the famous historical "Zhou, Zhao two centimeters of Shaanxi and rule", descendants because of the name of Shaanxi Mo to the east of Shaanxi, Shaanxi to the west of Shaanxi.

The Tang Dynasty once set up the Shaanxi Festival Envoy after the Anshi Rebellion, which was the beginning of the administrative region name of "Shaanxi", but the period was very short and the scope was small.

During the Song Dynasty, Shaanxi Road was placed and Jingzhaofu (now Xi'an) was governed, and its jurisdiction included the south of the Great Wall of Shaanxi and Ningxia, the north of Qinling Mountains, the southwest of Shanxi, the northwest of Henan, and the southeast of Gansu. "Greater Shaanxi" has since appeared. Entering the Yuan Dynasty, Shaanxi Xingzhongshu Province was set up, and Fengyuan Road (now Xi'an) was governed, and the jurisdiction was about all of present-day Shaanxi, the southern part of the Hetao in Inner Mongolia, the east of the Yellow River in Gansu and the southern part of Ningxia. The most important area within its territory is the whole province, or part of the three provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningbo.

In this part of Shaanxi, some people commented: "The trend of the world is always in the northwest, the border is blocked, and the enemy side (referring to the east) is enough to protect oneself even if it is in the middle." "Honestly! It's just that if you want to borrow Shaanxi to make things happen, you should have all the northwest land. If the customs are divided and the two powers, or even several powers, confront each other, and "use a corner of the land to dominate each other and watch each other", it will not be said that it will be successful, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to even protect itself. That is to say, Shaanxi will be invincible in the world if it is united, and it will be unable to protect itself if it is divided and scattered.

Fang's current situation in Shaanxi is "divided and scattered".

If we want to explain the situation in Shaanxi clearly, we have to start from the 16th year of Zhizheng.

At that time, Liu Futong's Northern Red Turban Army was flourishing, and the three-way Northern Expedition, one of which was led by Li Wu and Cui De to break Tongguan, burn Huayin, and drive into Shaanxi. The people of Weinan and Weibei, the old and the young embraced, and the rich and the poor cried to shake the heavens and the earth, rushing to the mountains of Yan'an. Guanzhong was alarmed, and many Mengyuan officials in the city fled when they heard the wind and ran away. From time to time, the Yu king of Mengyuan, Aratena lost his life, the Privy Council of Tongzhi was settled, and the political affairs of Pingzhang of Henan Province Bojianu led the army to fight Tongguan with Li Wu and Cui De. Among the troops he cited, there were the elite of the Mongolian army Wanhu Mansion stationed in Fengxiang, which was one of the four major Mongolian army Wanhu Mansions stationed in the north by the Meng Yuan. Tongguan number changes hands. Li Wu and Cui De were finally defeated.

Soon, Henan's Red Turban Army captured Shaanzhou (now Sanmenxia) and Yuzhou (now Lingbao, Guhanguguan), cut off the road of Yan and Han, and wanted to re-enter Shaanxi, and at the same time threaten Shanxi.

At that time, the Privy Councillor's answer to Badulu, that is, the father of Polo, controlled the Henan army, and transferred Li Chahan and Li Siqi to attack it. Li Chahan received the order, even if the drum marched to the west, he used suspicious tactics and tactics to attack the east and west, and successively recovered Shaanxi and Yu Prefectures, and held the main force of this Red Turban Army in Xiayangjin for several months and won a big victory. "The thieves are poor, and they are all defeated." Because of this war, Chahan "promoted to the Privy Council of the North with merit".

In the spring of the seventeenth year of Zhizheng, Li Wu and Cui De captured Qipan and Lantian. Qipan Mountain and Lantian are in the west of Xi'an, not far from each other. Recently, Li Wu and Cui Dejun were only "a place to stay" from Xi'an, that is, thirty miles. King Yu and Dingzhu were ordered to attack, but they did not dare to move lightly because of fear. "The people are speechless in fear." A man named Wang Sicheng proposed: "Shaanxi is heavy on the land, and the world is heavy on the light." Chakhan Timur, a famous general in Henan, is afraid of thieves, and it is advisable to send an envoy for help, which is also the best policy. ”

Propose to ask for help from Chahan.

At that time, Chahan was ordered to guard Shaanzhou. The generals of Mengyuan in Shaanxi have always heard of Chahan's prestige for a long time, but they are worried about this, if Chahan is invited to enter the customs, will they be squeezed out by Chahan, and whether Shaanxi's territory will be taken away by Chahan. "Envy of the guest soldier and self-defeating, and indecisive for a long time." Wang Sicheng was dedicated to helping Chahan, and said: "My soldiers are weak, and if we lose our defense, we will return safely!" "Nai sent the book to Chahan and asked him to enter the customs. Chahan was overjoyed. Who wouldn't want to enter Shaanxi? Immediately replied: "Mr. really has the heart of serving the country and the people, and I would rather bear the crime of crossing the border without permission." So he raised 5,000 light soldiers and doubled the way to help.

Li Chahan really lived up to his reputation, and 5,000 men arrived, broke Li Wu and Cui De, and saved Xi'an.

However, because he entered Shaanxi, he did not act according to orders, and when he heard the news, he really sent someone to ask Li Chahan about the crime of unauthorized investigation. Wang Sicheng saddled the horse and spared no effort for Chahan, "urgently please Yu Chao". It is said that "it is advisable to order Chakhan Timur to guard Guanshaan, and still make it cheap." The edict obeyed. ”

Since then, Richard's influence has expanded from Henan and Shanxi to Shaanxi.

Because of his military exploits, and not long after, he was awarded the title of Zuo Cheng of Shaanxi Province. Li Siqi, who entered the customs with him, was also awarded the title of Zuo Cheng of Sichuan Province because of his outstanding military achievements. Li Siqi originally raised troops with Li Chahan, and the two of them were one party. So far, Er Li has gained a firm foothold in the Guanzhong area.

In June of that year, Liu Futong sent another support army, led by Bai Buxin, Dadaoao, and Li Xixi, to attack southern Shaanxi from the Hanjiang River valley and join Li Wu and Cui De, who had withdrawn from Guanzhong.

In October, the Red Turban Army that entered the customs joined forces in one place, regained momentum, trapped Xingyuan, and besieged Fengxiang. The besieging fortifications were "thick and heavy". However, because he fell for Richard's plan, he was defeated by Richardan and Li Siqi, killed tens of thousands, and ambushed more than 100 miles. After breaking through, one red scarf attacked Guanzhong for the third time, and the other continued to advance westward under the leadership of Li Xixi, penetrating deep into Ningxia and capturing Gongchang.

Li Xixi can be called a member of the imperial Song regime, and at that time, Fu Youde was under his command. In Ningxia, Li Xixi stayed for more than half a year.

Later, in April of the eighteenth year of Zhizheng, after eliminating the red scarf that attacked Guanzhong, Li Chahan and Li Siqi joined the Xuanwei envoy Zhang Liangbi, Langzhong Guo Zeshan, Xuanwei Tongzhi Bai Timur, Pingzhang Zhengshi Dingzhu, and the commander-in-chief Wang Changshengnu and other Mengyuan generals in Shaanxi, "each with his troops to please Li Xixi in Gongchang." Li Xixi was defeated by the crowd, and in desperation, he had to retreat to southern Shaanxi.

The Yuan army pursued continuously, and the Red Turban Army had to abandon southern Shaanxi.

The Red Turban Army entered Shaanxi, originally Li Wu and Cui De, and then Li Xixi and Bai Buxin, and they joined forces in one place when attacking Fengxiang. Feng Xiang was defeated and divided into a third attack on Guanzhong. In addition, the main force is still relatively concentrated. But now under the successive defeats, after giving up southern Shaanxi, it was divided into two armies, Li Wu and Cui Debu, Li Xixi and Bai Buxin, and retreated into Shu respectively.

The chaotic war in Shaanxi ended this year, with the defeat of the Red Turban and the defeat and retreat into Shu. However, although the Red Turban Army lost, it did not mean that Shaanxi had no soldiers from now on. Li Chahan and Li Siqi have been in Shaanxi for a long time, and their roots have gradually solidified. Just when they were surrounding Gongchang, something happened.

Li Siqi and Zhang Liangbi joined forces to attack and kill Xuanwei Tongzhi Bai Timur, and in an internal strife held by the open fire, the two divided the army led by Bai Timur. A month later, Li Siqi killed Guo Zeshan, a member of the Privy Council, and seized his army,—— Guo Zeshan was originally a Langzhong, and he had just been promoted to a member of the Privy Council because of his merits.

In less than two months, two firefights. Li Siqi became the biggest beneficiary.

As the saying goes: "Only when the external enemy goes, the internal fighting will arise." "Shaanxi has a unique geographical environment, who doesn't want to occupy it? Because of the Red Turban Army, because of Li Wu, Cui De, Li Xixi, Bai Buxin, etc., the Yuan army in Shaanxi can be said to be withered, and all the real power is local armed forces, which are like separatism, and they are ambitious, and the imperial court of the capital is powerless to control it, how can there be no civil strife?

Of course, although Li Chahan, Li Siqi, Zhang Liangbi and other places have strong separatist forces, the Mengyuan court in most of them is not dry. After all, the Mengyuan Imperial Court has a name and righteousness in hand, although it is said that it does not have much strength, but it is enough to exert checks and balances through the appointment of officials and generals.

In fact, this method of the Mengyuan court began to be implemented as early as not long after Li Chahan and Li Siqi entered Shaanxi. knew that Li Chahan and Li Siqi were one party, but at the same time as appointing Li Chahan as the Zuo Cheng of Shaanxi Province, he appointed Li Siqi as the Zuo Cheng of Sichuan Province. In this way, in terms of official positions alone, Li Chahan and Li Siqi have become a party and become a division of courts.

Then, in the eighteenth year of Zhizheng, before and after Li Chahan, Li Siqi, Zhang Liangbi and others defeated Li Xixi, they passed down an edict, ordering Li Siqi to Tun Fengxiang and Li Chahan to Shaanxi. This is equivalent to acquiescing that Fengxiang is Li Siqi's territory. In other words, it separated Li Siqi's army from Richard Han's command.

However, although the Mengyuan court used all kinds of dividing methods, Li Chahan shocked the north in the end, Li Siqi was still more convinced of him, and knew that peace is both beneficial, and division is two defeats, so the two are still very united on the big picture.

After joining forces with Zhang Liangbi to attack and kill Bai Timur, the two Li joined forces and often had friction with Zhang Liangbi. Needless to say, Li Siqi's idea must be the same as attacking and killing Timur, and he planned to annex Zhang Liangbi's troops. However, Zhang Liangbi is a hard bone, it can be seen from the fact that he dared to join forces with Li Siqi to kill Bai Timur, this person is also a ruthless person. Therefore, the two Li fought with Zhang Liangbi many times, and although they firmly gained the upper hand, they were never able to completely annex him.

However, in the process of long-term internal strife and fierce fighting, Shaanxi's separatist power gradually decreased. Small-scale secession was either eliminated and annexed, or they all turned to the strong.

So far, the whole Shaanxi is generally divided into three parts of the world.

Li Chahan is one, Li Siqi is one, and Zhang Liangbi is one. Li Siqi occupies Fengxiang. Feng Xiang is adjacent to Sichuan, and his influence can also spread as far as Shuzhong.

Zhang Liangbi's sphere of influence is now in Lantian and Xi'an. Nominally, Zhang Liangbi was restrained by Chahan. However, he fought with Li Chahan and Li Siqi for many years, and was not willing to be controlled by Li Chahan. Richard was very dissatisfied with this, and "heard about it". Just a few days ago, about because of the recommendation of Dingzhu and Tiemur, Zhang Liangbi was awarded the official position of governor of Shaanxi Province by the Mengyuan Imperial Court, which was only slightly lower than Li Chahan's Shaanxi Zuocheng.

And Polo Timur, it was in such a situation that he sent the elite to secretly enter Shaanxi.