In the second year of Taiwu, August 3.

After many days of preparation, Zhang Chong left a group of civil and military personnel to stay in Yejing, and then personally appointed the commander of the Eastern Expedition, with 5,000 Zhonghu troops gathered in Yecheng, and 2,000 soldiers transferred from the southern region, and rushed to Jixian County, the transit place in the north.

Because he had to guard against the princes in the south, Zhang Chong did not draw too much military strength from the Heji region this time.

When the army set out towards Jixian in the north, as one of the accompanying troops, he pointed out that the biggest enemy of this campaign was not the strong and powerful of the four counties in Liaodong, but the roads there.

He traveled all over the world and knew the situation of the mountains and rivers in Hebei well, but he had never been to Liaodong, just because the road to Liaodong was too far away, and there was no supply in the middle, so it could be said that it was naturally blocked from the Central Plains.

And now the Taishan army is mobilizing tens of thousands, and its later supply is very troublesome.

In the supply route set now, it is roughly divided into two roads, the southern section and the northern section, with Jixian as the transit.

Among them, there is not much difficulty in transporting grain from Taicang in Yecheng and Handan to Jixian County, because there is a ready-made Guangyang Straight Road to use, but it is difficult to send it from Yecheng to Lulongsai. And then cross the border from Lulongsai to Liaodong, it will be even more difficult, because there is no road at all.

When Zhang Chong heard this, he laughed, and then pointed to the north and said:

"Have you forgotten the two canals that were just repaired this year?"

Hearing this, he was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly realized.

It turned out that when the river dredging in Hebei began last year, Du Man personally planned two canals, one starting from Hutuo Water and connecting the water. One starts from the Lu River and goes down into the Baoqiu water.

In this way, relying on these two canals, the Taishan army was able to pass through Hutuo water, Qingshui, and the white ditch that had been opened outside Yecheng before, forming a waterway that runs through the north and south.

Originally, the purpose of the canal was to irrigate the coast and to facilitate the movement of goods from north to south. But who would have thought that it would be used in this battle to conquer Liao.

Therefore, Zhang Chong specially named these two canals "Zhengliao Canal" and "Zhenhai Canal".

And after suddenly realizing it, the frustrated professor stopped talking.

On the surface, it seems that the subordinates, the privy councillors, Jiuqing, and the internal and external generals are all working hard for the major event of the Liao War. But in fact, the quarrel about this battle has actually not stopped.

In fact, just after Zhang Chong finished the meeting of the Taiji Palace, he received a list from Guan Yu, Heifu, Wang Han and other generals of the Central Plains.

They all said that Liaodong was nothing but ringworm scabies, and if Yuan Shao and Cao Cao of the Central Plains joined forces to attack Luzhongnan, Heji and even Hebei when the army was recruiting Liaodong, what should they do then?

But this time, Du Man continued to support Zhang Chong, and he directly said:

"Liaodong is far away, and it doesn't seem to be a threat to us? But tactically, they must not have guessed that we would let go of the Central Plains enemy in front of us and attack them, so surprise will win. Moreover, from a strategic point of view, now the Central Plains are all fighting against our army, and the pressure on our army in the Central Plains is too great. And once we abandon the south to the north, without our threat, they will inevitably annex each other, and this is the opportunity for our army. At that time, once our army occupies Liaodong, it can float to the sea and move towards Jiaolai, and can attack Cao Cao in Qingzhou from three sides. That's what it means to be high. ”

And Xun You, who was a praise painting at that time, also agreed with the expedition to Liao.

He said that Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were both male lords and had the ambition to devour the world. Once the threat of our army is gone, they will inevitably use this time to annex all sides. If Yuan Shao wants to solve the internal trouble first, Cao Cao will look south to Xuzhou.

It was the approval of a group of wise men in the army that made those foreign military academies gradually understand the deep meaning of the battle of Liao.

But when Fu Zhu suddenly mentioned the logistics and grain again during the march, although Zhang Chong took it with a smile on the ditch matter, he actually understood that what Fu Zhu was most worried about was the road situation after leaving the jam.

For these, Zhang Chong also has his own plans.

The plan for conquering Liao that Zhang Chong talked about in the Taiji Hall and Zhumen can be roughly divided into two stages.

The first stage is to go north from Lulongsai and go straight to Liucheng in western Liaoning, or make a forced landing or annihilate the Wuhuan tribal group entrenched here.

And the second stage is to use the cattle, sheep and horses of Wuhuan as a supply, directly to the east, that is, to bypass Liaoze from the north to attack Xuansu County, and then go all the way south to attack Liaodong.

This strategy is Zhang Chong's combination of the communication line of Cao Cao's northern expedition to Wuhuan and Tang Taizong's eastern expedition to Liaodong in history.

In the road from Hebei to Liaoxi, there are three main lines of communication.

They are the valley road from Lulong to Pinggang Road, the valley road from Bailangshui to Yushui, and the Panhai Road along the Liaoxi Corridor.

Among them, the Panhai Road is the most convenient thoroughfare, so this road is the main communication line between Liaodi and Hebei.

However, the road is often affected by seasonal flooding and is difficult to navigate.

And what is not good is that now the Taishan army is sending troops in autumn and August, which is the time when the sea tide rises, and at this moment the sea road has been swallowed by the sea and can no longer be passed.

Therefore, Zhang Chong decided to take the road from Lulong to Pinggang.

After taking this road to Liucheng directly, you can directly follow the White Wolf Water Valley Road through Songling and directly enter the boundary of western Liaoning.

The most important geopolitical obstacle on this path is a huge swampy area called Liaoze.

This piece of water is 200 miles long, and there are more than 3 zhang of water, which has always been the most important protection for the forces in the Liaodong region in the west, and almost all the cities in these counties of Liaodong and Xuansu are built around this Liaoze.

Therefore, Zhang Chong chose to start from Liucheng and enter Liaoxi by taking the White Wolf Water Valley, also to facilitate bypassing this piece of water, so that he could directly attack Gongsun Du from the north.

Originally, Zhang Chong planned to build a bridge directly on Liaoze, but unfortunately, Zhang Chong had not seen the specific situation of Liaoze, and he did not know how sinister this famous Shangshuize was, so he gave up this plan.

Therefore, if you want to go from Lulong to Pinggang, Pinggang to Liucheng, and Liucheng to enter western Liaoning by taking the Yushui Valley, then Liucheng cannot be bypassed in any way.

And now it is the Wuhuan people who are in control of Liucheng, and who also control these two paths.

The Taishan army is no stranger to the Wuhuan people, as early as in the battle of Puyang, a group of about 200 Wuhuan people belonging to the Liyang battalion surrendered to the Taishan army, and then several Wuhuan people who served in the Han army were captured and surrendered into the Taishan army.

It is precisely because of the addition of these Wuhuan people who are quite sinicized that Zhang Chong and others have a deeper understanding of Wuhuan people.

Like many steppe peoples, the Wuhuan people are Wuhuan not because they have the same blood, but because they are just a group of miscellaneous slaves who have been excluded from the Huns.

In the heyday of the Huns, these Wuhuan people living in the east had to sacrifice cattle, horses, and sheep to the Huns every year.

Therefore, once the Xiongnu and Han began to fight in full arms, these oppressed Wuhuan people naturally went south to seek the support and protection of the Han Chinese.

After these Wuhuan people went south, they migrated to Shanggu, Yuyang, Youbeiping, Liaoxi, and Liaodong as the cityside tribes.

The Han people provided them with a safe place to spend the winter, and the Wuhuan people needed to reconnoiter the movements of the Xiongnu outside the Sai for the Han court.

It can be said that the Wuhuan people have a place under the protection of the Han people.

But the Han people soon discovered the martial courage of the Wuhuan people, these Wuhuan people who were still in the tribal era were brave and able to fight, and the heavy soldiers dared to die, so it can be said that plunder is the blood flowing in the body.

This power was controlled by the Han people, and naturally became a sharp weapon, but as the owner of the blade began to weaken, these Wuhuan people began to have their own ideas.

Especially the dogs of the Xiongnu, Xianbei killed each other, and they thought that the destiny of the Wuhuan people was coming.

As a result, over the years, the internal integration of the Wuhuan people has become faster and faster, and the Wuhuan leaders who have become the lords of the tribe have also begun to swallow each other.

Moreover, there is a practical reason for the annexation of these people.

That is, as the north became colder and colder, the Zahu tribes further north of them went south, which put a lot of pressure on these Wuhuan people.

In the past, loose tribes could not protect themselves in such an environment, so the formation of a large alliance had a realistic basis.

Until the current Zhang Chong's Northern Expedition, the Wuhuan people have formed four divisions one after another.

Among them is the ancient department composed of nine thousand falls of Wuhuan in the upper valley, which is ruled by the ministry lord Nanlou; The western part of Liao, which is composed of 5,000 Wuhuan villages, is ruled by Qiu Liju, a major minister; Then there is the eastern part of Liao, which is composed of a thousand settlements in the area of Liaodong, which is ruled by Su Muyan, the lord of the department; The last one is the right Beiping 800 to form the right Beiping, which is ruled by the lord Wuyan.

Each of these is a tent, and there are about more than ten of them, so there are more than 200,000 people in the four Wuhuan divisions, and the strongest of them is this western Liao.

Among these four departments, the Right Beiping Division surrendered to the Taishan Army very early, and when Zhang Dan's army was stationed in Lulongsai, the Right Beiping Division, which was set up in Pinggang, not far from here, presented Zhang Dan with white wolf fur as a tribute.

The reason why this is so is precisely because there is a great turmoil within the Wuhuan people today.

As the strongest of the four tribes, Western Liao, he has always regarded himself as the leader of the four alliances, and even gives orders in the name of Wuhuan Shan Yu every day.

Therefore, Qiu Liju at that time was just like the Xianbei hero Tanshi Huai, and it was also a legend who could unify a group.

But when the hero finally had a twilight, Qiu Liju was old, and now he could not get on a horse, eat meat, and even get out of the tent.

But the problem now is that Qiu Liju's parent-child building class is young, so now it is Qiu Liju's subordinate who is always in charge of Wuhuan in the three counties of Liaoxi, Liaodong, and Youbeiping.

Since returning from the Han experience, Na Ta Dun has been born and knowledgeable, and has won the support of a number of Wuhuan warriors, especially he also used Han law to restrain the tribe, and formed the tribe into a centurion, a thousand commanders, and a system of ten thousand commanders, which greatly enhanced the organization of the Wuhuan people.

But it's good to die, Wu Yan, the lord of the Right Beiping Division, is Lou Ban's uncle, so after Tatun took power, he has been suppressing the Right Beiping Division.

First, he deprived some of the grassland, and then transferred some of his elite samurai to Liucheng, so it can be said that Tatun wanted to swallow the whole of the Youbei Ping.

Wuyan, whose strength was only eight hundred down, had no way to compete with Tatun at all, so he could only go south to find Zhang Dan's help.

It is also with Wuyan's refuge that Zhang Chong was able to see the passage and situation leading to Liucheng today.

It's not that Zhang Chong has to destroy Liaoxi Wuhuan.

But whoever let this Tatun and Gongsun Du, who was entrenched in Liaodong, form an in-law, and that Tatun guarded the only passage to Liaodong, then he could only move this stone away.

As the saying goes, what does it have to do with you to destroy you?

……

In Liucheng, two hundred miles from Luronse.

It is said that it is 200 miles, but in fact, to reach Liucheng from Lulong, it is a mountain road close to 600 miles.

Even on this road, there is often no water in the drought, so people and horses are not allowed to travel, and birds and beasts do not come.

That is, not long after Zhang Chong arrived in Jixian County, Liucheng was boiling again.

Because it's time for the annual mutual market again.

At this time, in the various tents set up outside Liucheng, tribes and Han people from all over the world gathered here and began to shout at each other and sell them.

These tribes include the Wuhuan people of the three counties, some from the grasslands, and even some Buyeo people from the further north have also appeared here.

At this time, in Liucheng, an earthen embryo city, a banquet was also starting.

Although the Wuhuan people are nomadic people, the Wuhuan royal court entrenched here in Liucheng lived in the city like the Han people.

The Liucheng where they were located was the county rule of Liaoxi in the former Han Dynasty, and later after it was abandoned in the north of the present dynasty, it was left to the Wuhuan people to live.

In this way, the tribal chieftains and adults, who had been freed from manual labor, moved into the city, and were provided for by the tribes outside the city, and no longer suffered from frost and cold.

The most significant change brought about by this shift is that people with adult heads have become more life-expectant.

And as long as you look at the place where the banquet is held in the center of the city, and the various white chieftains and wizards in it, you will know that it is still the city to raise people.

At this banquet, Shan Yu Qiu Liju still did not appear, and his nephew Tatun entertained the envoys from all sides.

At this time, in the dim hall, a pit of bonfires was roasting cattle and sheep.

Some precious spices are constantly sprinkling on the barbecue, ready to entertain the most distinguished guests of the Wuhuan people.

The messenger of the Gongsun family in Liaodong.

As the most important ally of the Wuhuan people, this time in the mutual market, Gongsun Du's people also came, and the messenger was a warrior named Han Zhong.

Han Zhong brought five hundred carts of iron and a large amount of salt to Tatton.

This made the standard of Tadun's hospitality to Han Zhong even higher.

In fact, these two years were the two years of the Wuhuan people's most intense cooking oil.

With the continuous fierce battles between the Taishan army and the Han army in northern Xinjiang, Lu Zhi continued to send the northern army to the south, which caused the emptiness of the northern Xinjiang defense.

During this period, Taedun and the Wuhuan tribe continued to go south into the Han land to plunder the population and wealth, adding up to about 100,000 households.

It was by virtue of the huge population and wealth that he had plundered, that he not only stabilized his position, but also developed agriculture and handicrafts based on these Han people, which greatly enhanced the power of the Wuhuan people.

And this time, his good neighbor and grandson, who is also a good father-in-law, sent another big gift.

With this batch of iron weapons, he was able to form a real assault cavalry, just like the assault cavalry of the Tarzan army.

Previously, the trip south of Tatun and his companions had become his most important asset.

No one knows the Tarzan Army better than him.

Just when the banquet was hot, Han Zhong, the envoy of Gongsun Du, suddenly took out a deerskin-wrapped thing from his pocket.

Then Han Chang respectfully handed it over and said:

"Shan Yu, this is a real gift from my lord to Shan Yu."

Taton, who was already a little dizzy from drinking, took the deerskin bag and opened it, and saw a seal falling into the bag.

At that time, the wine of the taton woke up.