The city wall of Muling Pass is solid, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there is the risk of "one husband is the pass, and ten thousand people are not open".

At that time, the Qi State was still insufficient, and ten miles north of Muling Pass, a second Great Wall defense line was built.

The second line of defense goes north from the neck and leg on the east side of Taiboding, passes through Caoshan Pavilion, Taiping Mountain, Qingshi Hutong, Chengding Mountain, Jieyue Mountain, Woniucheng, turns a big bend in Linqu and Anqiu, and meets the first Great Wall at the border of Juxian and Yishui, and the two Great Walls enclose a "Great Wall City" with Mulingguan as the core within a radius of 50 miles.

The pass of the two Great Walls is called "Daguan", and not far north of Daguan is "Xiaoguan". Xiaoguan, Daguan and Muling Pass, the three passes of the triple defense line, constitute a complete set of in-depth defense system.

Li Quan's more than 30,000 men and horses were entrenched in Muling Pass, and his generals Zheng Yande, Yu Yang brothers, Liu Qingfu and others led troops to guard the three passes.

After the loss of Anqiu, Guoan led the remnants of the army to rendezvous, and Li Quan expected that the Jin soldiers might copy and encircle Muling Pass from the south and east.

Feeling that the situation was grim, he ordered all his troops to strengthen their defenses, and on the other hand, he consulted with the generals and made emergency arrangements. Once the Muling Pass was not secured, it broke through to the west and entered the Yimeng Mountains.

As for the Red Turban Army, Li Quan doesn't know much about it, and he is also vigilant. Although he accepted the stone thrower and expressed his gratitude, he never dared to let the Red Turban Army enter the customs to assist in the defense.

When the Red Turban Army sent another letter, informing that the Jin army that had copied the South Road had been defeated and was going to fight Yan with Li Quan, Li Quan and his generals were shocked, and it was unbelievable.

In the hall of the Guanlou, Li Quan, Li Fu, Liu Qingfu, Guo Anyong, Zheng Yande, Tian Si, Yu Yang, Yu Tan and others held military discussions to determine how to respond.

"Since the Jin army on the southern road has failed, with the easy defense and difficult attack of Muling Pass, it is much easier for us to resist the two Jin soldiers, and if we can defeat the other Jin army in a flank attack, the situation will be more optimistic." Liu Qingfu was more belligerent and advocated joint action with the Red Turban Army.

Zheng Yande was more calm and said: "The Red Turban Army defeated the Jin Army, whether this news is true, we don't know yet." Relying on the danger and sticking to it is still a bit successful, I'm afraid that the battle out of the customs wave is unstable, right? ”

Li Quan set his eyes on Guoanyong and wanted to hear his opinion, after all, he had fought with the Jin army in Anqiu, and he should know something about the reality of the Jin army.

Guoanyong is timid and belongs to the war-avoidance faction, seeing Li Quan's gaze, he thought about it and said, "I think General Zheng is reasonable. Besides, let's not go out of the customs and confront the Jin Army, and the Red Turban Army will cover up and kill from behind, which is not the same as a flanking attack! ”

Li Quan shook his head lightly and said, "This is different. If the Jin Army reflexively goes all out to deal with the Red Turban Army, we will not go out to respond. Well, the Red Turbans are worried about this too, right? ”

"Yes, if we can't say anything, just wait for the Red Turban Army to arrive, and then attack back and forth, I'm afraid the Red Turban Army can't easily believe it." Li Fu nodded, agreeing with his brother's statement, "The Red Turban Army and Yang Miaozhen have joined forces, so they must have greatly increased their strength to dare to fight against the Jin Army, right?" ”

"Yang Miao's remnants are defeated, I'm afraid it won't help the Red Turban Army much." Yu Yang shook his head and said, "We have been active in Qing, Wei and other states, and we really don't know much about the Red Turban Army. If it is said that the Red Turban Army can occupy the land of three states, this strength may not be underestimated. ”

"If you can sit on an equal footing with Liu Erzu, Peng Yibin and other rebels and fight together, how can the Red Turban Army be easy to match?" Yu Tan agreed with his brother's judgment very much, and said: "It's not clear in people's letters, Liu Erzu and other righteous soldiers have also taken action to contain the Jin army and respond to our army. ”

"yes!" Liu Qingfu thought of this incident, and immediately became bold and strong, and said: "If you don't even dare to come out, won't it make people laugh?" ”

"What is said in the epistle is not necessarily true." Guoan pursed his lips and said, "They said that they were pinning down the Jin army and responding to us." Could it be that we have attracted the main force of the Jin army at Mulingguan, isn't it also beneficial to them? If Mulingguan is not guaranteed, the main force of the Jin army will go south to attack the Red Turban Army, they are naturally anxious, and naturally hope that we will fight the old book and fight to the death with the Jin army! ”

"You can't say that." Li Quan waved his hand and said: "The Jin Army is our enemy, and it is also our territory that is robbed, and it is already very benevolent for the Red Turban Army to lend a helping hand." Of course, if we lose, they won't be comfortable. It's called, it's called ......"

"Dead lips and cold teeth." Li Fu picked up and said, "The marshal is right, the Jin army is the great enemy. Even if we are defeated and have no way to join the Red Turban Army, presumably they will give us a bowl of rice to eat as they did when they took in Yang Miaozhen's department. ”

"Meng Jiucheng is not famous, but I have never heard of any bad deeds from him." Li Quan touched his chin and said, "As for the attachment, that is a matter for the future." Now, let's still focus on stability and hold Muling Pass, which is also beneficial to the Red Turban Army. When we go out to fight, we should explain our difficulties to the Red Turban Army, and don't take risks for the time being. ”

"The marshal is right, steady, must be steady." Guoan nodded again and again, and echoed: "We have guarded Mu Ling tightly, but we have the greatest effect on containing the two Jin armies. ”

When Liu Qingfu and others saw that Li Quan had made a decision, they no longer insisted on it, and they all said that they would obey the order.

"That trebuchet is a good thing, comparable to the bows and arrows of the Jin army." Li Quan opened his mouth again and said: "There are still craftsmen in our army, so we will copy them as such." I wrote a letter and borrowed some from the Red Turbans. In this way, it is more certain to defend Sekijo. By the way, send some gold and silver to express your gratitude to the Red Turban Army. ”

Li Fu nodded in agreement, this is indeed the best way not to offend the Red Turban Army, but also to hold the city and maintain an independent status.

These discussions and countermeasures were naturally a few days ago, and Meng Jiucheng had already completed discussions with the generals and made corresponding adjustments at this time according to Li Quan's movements.

Although Li Quan was reluctant to send troops out of the pass, the Red Turban Army annihilated the Jin Army on the South Road and supported the stone throwers, which did give them the confidence to hold on to Muling Pass.

With the danger of Muling Pass, as long as the army's morale is not chaotic, it will be difficult for the Jin army to break through the pass easily even if it is attacked from two sides.

Therefore, the Red Turban Army can dispatch men, but try not to engage Wanyan head-on, but to contain and harass it, so that it cannot go all out to tackle the problem.

As long as the Jin army is delayed, they will not be able to hold out for too long with the grain and grass materials they carry. Suddenly under the fortified city, Anqiu lost again, and the department became a lone army, and the defeat was decided.

According to the plan formulated, the Red Turban Army will dispatch two battalions of men and horses to set up a camp in Kushan to pose a threat to the flank of the Yanyan Theory.

At the same time, the Red Turban Army in Mizhou (now Zhucheng) will be led by Wang Zhongfeng, and will advance westward to copy the Yan theory; Han Shouzhong, who was in high density, led his 4,000 men and horses to attack Anqiu and cut off the enemy's retreat.