The section of road between Tongguan and Luoyang was called the Cuihan Ancient Road in later generations. Han naturally refers to the Hangu Pass, and Kui is the Kuo Mountain, which belongs to the branch of the eastern section of the Qinling Mountains, and is also the western barrier of the entire Heluo Plain.

The road between Tongguan and Hengnong, the route has not changed much, it is nothing more than along the river. However, further east from Hengnong, after entering the range of the Kushan Mountain Range, it is divided into two roads in the north and south due to the change of the topography of the mountains and rivers, that is, the north and south Kun Road.

Among them, the Nankun Road exists for a longer time, mostly according to the topography of the mountains and rivers, the edge of the river valley to advance, after crossing the Kunling Mountains, all the way down the way, and finally arrive at the Luoshui River Valley between the east of the Kunshan Mountain and the Bear's Ear Mountain, along the Luoshui upward road to the northeast, and finally arrive at Luoyang.

Beikun Road is to take the mountain range at the northern foot of Kunshan Mountain, there is no river valley passage to follow in the western section, but directly climb the mountain, slash and axe to open up a road, in the most rugged section of this road is called Kip Shiguan in later generations, but there is a more impressive literary term, that is, Du Fu's "Stone Trench Officer", this section of the passage dug out between the mountains and rocks is also called the stone trench ancient road.

After passing the stone trench ancient road, you can go east along the valley passage and arrive at the pond, and after passing the pond, you can continue to the east along the valley water channel, and arrive at Luoyang out of the Hanhan valley pass.

Compared with the two roads, the northern road is shorter but the road condition is much worse, especially in the stone trench section, which is narrow and steep, and the passability is much worse than that of the southern section.

The southern road mostly follows the river valley and the road condition is better than that of the northern section, but it is only sometimes that if the summer rain increases, the mountain spring swells, and the river valley floods, it is difficult for people to walk. In addition, the southern road relies too much on natural terrain such as rivers and valleys, so the road is winding and long.

If it is the flow of people and goods from the people, in order to be safe, South Road is a good choice. However, from a military point of view, the shorter and straighter northern route is undoubtedly a better route. After all, if people are delayed on the way, a little more time will multiply the risk, and the consumption will also be doubled.

After the end of the Battle of Bishan, the area east of the Kuoshan Mountain was basically occupied by the Eastern Wei Dynasty, and the so-called Kuidong Righteous Person, Xian Huai had different hopes, and the strongholds set up around Heluo were almost swept away. Now if you want to set foot in Heluo again, of course, you have to reopen the channel.

In the past few years that Li Yuan has been in charge of Hengnong, he has also slightly recovered the stronghold in Kundong, such as a series of defenses such as the same rail defense of Wei Fabao, which is located in the upper reaches of Luoshui at the exit of Nanqu Road. Other generals are also mostly active in the eastern Kannan area.

Before Li Tai's arrival, Li Yuan's plan was to go east along the Nankun Road, gather the rebel forces in the south of the Guannan of Kundong to capture Yiyang, which is also located in the Luoshui Valley, and occupy Jiuqu City on the west bank of the Luoshui, so that the Nankun Road was completely opened.

Li Tai had two choices at the moment, one was to set off with the army of western Henan and go to Yiyang via Nankun Daodong. The other is to take the Beikun Road, cross the Kunshan Mountain and follow the valley water through the Hanguan to enter the Heluo area.

After being introduced by Li Yuan and others, and considering the situation of his own army, Li Tai still decided not to make peace with the south and directly chose to march to the north road.

It's not that he wants to be different and different, it's just that the South Road is winding and long, and it's midsummer, and there is often precipitation, which makes it more difficult to pass the South Road.

And most of his troops are cavalry, and he carries a large number of chariots and horses, once he stays on the road for a long time because of the weather and geography, not to mention whether he will delay the fighter plane, the consumption of eating horses alone is very serious. The material conditions of the rebels in western Henan were so bad that it was unrealistic to expect them to be supplied with supplies, so it was more realistic to arrive in the Heluo area as soon as possible to fight and feed the war.

Li Yuan was not surprised that Li Tai made this choice, judging from his actions of daring to directly attack Jinyang, it can be seen that his style of using troops to seek things is more radical, and his 5,000 elite men and horses are also a considerable force.

The division of labor between them was decided, and Li Yuan assigned Han Xiong's troops to Li Tai as a guide to cooperate with the battle. Han Xiong was originally a native of Henan, and now he is also serving as Henan Yin, who is the nominal military and political governor of the Heluo area, and has been active in the Heluo area since the establishment of the uprising, and he is also very familiar with the surrounding situation and is also brave and good at fighting.

Li Tai has no objection to this arrangement, and he is also looking forward to this cooperation, exchanging feelings in his spare time, and asking how the children in the family are doing.

When the matter was agreed, the generals dispersed to rest. Shortly after midnight, Li Tai got up early in the morning, inspected the camp, and ordered his troops to cook and eat, and set off early today.

He has just made arrangements here, Han Xiong also led his troops to obey orders, more than 500 elite soldiers, their uniforms and robes are not neat, and some are even wearing Eastern Wei Rong uniforms, which are probably captured directly on the battlefield, and these soldiers have some scars on their heads, faces, hands and necks, which can be seen in the hard work of the defense in this realm.

Although from the appearance of their clothes, these sergeants are not beautiful enough, but they are filled with a fierce stubbornness that many people do not have, so people dare not get close to them rashly, and just want to stay away, which is probably the so-called murderous aura.

Since it was a coincidence, Li Tai waved his hand to Han Xiong and the other soldiers and entered the camp to eat first, and when they saw the neatly stacked grain cakes on the grain cart in the camp, these soldiers couldn't help but whisper, and Han Xiong couldn't help but widen his eyes and asked, "How can the food in the Xihe public camp be so magnanimous?" ”

Li Tai smiled and told the origin of this grain cake, and said that he has a complete industrial chain, as long as the raw materials are sufficient, it can be produced continuously, and it is not a trophy snatched from Jinyang in the Eastern Wei Dynasty.

When Han Xiong heard this, he suddenly realized, but soon looked at Li Tai's eyes and sparkled again, and he couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "Such refined grain is really suitable for the soldiers in western Henan." In the rugged area of the mountain road, it is not easy to carry goods and goods, and the soldiers often suffer from food and drink whenever they go in and out, and it is difficult to get out of a hundred miles away from what they plan to attack. ”

Not only in the mountainous area of western Henan, as long as there is a combat environment that relies on logistics materials, this refined grain cake can greatly improve the food and supply of the soldiers and increase their combat ability and combat methods.

When the soldiers finished their meal and finished packing up, there was still a period of time before dawn, with the faint moonlight of the sky hanging westward, the group went out of the camp on the road, taking advantage of the slightly cool night, rushed to the western foot of the mountain in one breath, as the road ahead gradually became rough, the sky gradually brightened, just because there was the peak of the mountain in front of the block, and the sun could not rise.

"The mountain road ahead is narrow, and it is difficult to accommodate chariots and horses in parallel, and it takes a lot of time for the whole army to cross over. If you can't avoid the noonday sun, there is no water to drink, no shade to cover, the strength of the people and horses is seriously depleted, and if you stay on the peak, it will be even more dangerous......"

Listening to Han Xiong's words, Li Tai simply asked him to arrange for the men and horses to cross the sequence and rhythm of the peaks and ridges here, and he first led a group of lightly armed foot soldiers to patrol and guard on the opposite side of the mountains.

Although Han Xiong, who was familiar with the terrain, commanded, due to the heavy weight of the carriages and horses, and the need to avoid too hot noon, it was not until dawn the next day that all the horses and horses completely passed this section of the stone trench road, and at this time, the people and horses in front had already traveled more than twenty miles along the mountain road.

At this time, in front of the people and horses in front of them was a fusiform valley between two mountains, the widest part of the valley was more than a mile long, and the mountain walls on both sides were steep and densely vegetated. The light was already faint at dawn, making the valley look like a huge black mouth ready to be devoured at any time.

In line with the principle of caution, Li Tai did not immediately lead people into the valley, but stopped at the mouth of the valley on the west side of it, rested for about half an hour, and Han Xiong also led a team of personal soldiers to catch up from the back.

"Go out of the valley and pass the pass in front to reach the valley of the valley in the territory of the pond, where there is the military town of Yan Han City set up by the East Thief, and its city is the main road of the river valley, which is the only way to go west and go east. At the end of the previous period, he sent people to investigate the truth of the city, and saw that there were more than 3,000 people in the city. ”

Han Xiong was well aware of the enemy situation in this area, and after introducing it to Li Tai, he put forward his own combat ideas: "The terrain of Yan Han City is easy to defend and difficult to attack, but the last general knows that there is another way to detour here and enter the east of the city, and if he sends a team of elite soldiers to plug his east road, he can attack left and right." However, if we can't conquer the city in a short time, and wait until the defenders of the city in the lower reaches of the valley are reinforced, we will be in danger of breaking my forearm. ”

Li Tai has traveled to all sides this year, and he has also had a lot of experience with such a river valley terrain, and he knows that this kind of stronghold is the most troublesome, and if it cannot be conquered in a short time, it will be difficult to pull it out even if it is encircled several times, and it will often become a war of attrition.

This combat method proposed by Han Xiong can greatly shake the hearts of the defenders of the city, but if they can't fight quickly, then the men and horses who go deep behind the enemy city will inevitably suffer from both sides and be in a dangerous situation.

After a little muttering, he summoned He Ruodun, told him a little about the situation, and then asked, "Do you dare to go east to stop the enemy?" ”

"Don't worry, Lord Lang, as long as these Yuxi pawns are not afraid of leading the wrong way, the servants will go straight to the east road and kill the thief city!"

When He Ruodun heard this, he laughed and said, ignoring Han Xiong's raised eyebrows and glaring eyes.

Li Tai couldn't help but feel funny when he saw this scene, and then asked He Ruodun to select three hundred elite warriors and a team of elite soldiers from Han Xiong's department to form a team of five hundred people, and gave He Ruodun thirty pairs of long swords and heavy armor. It's not that I'm reluctant to give more, it's just that carrying more heavy weapons will inevitably affect mobility.