In the second year of Taiwu, on October 19, outside the original Pingyi, the Taishan army that went south was like a tide.

Since Liu Hong ran west, the border troops on the front line of the Outer Great Wall have gone south one after another, Yuan Pingyi has not been so lively for a long time.

At the height of the dynasty, there were about 50,000 professional border troops in the areas of the outer Great Wall such as Yanmen, Yunzhong, and Gaoliu. And the day-to-day remedies of these armies all relied on the Han family.

Among them, Taiyuan is one of the most important grain and straw transfer and supply areas.

Every crop depends on water, heat, and soil. Those who can become important grain producing areas have advantages in all three, and this is the case with Taiyuan County.

Taiyuan County covers the basin in the central part of Bingzhou, such as Yangqu, Taiyuan, Yuci, Taigu County, Qi County and other counties are connected by Qianmo, and there is Fenshui flowing through it, which is convenient for irrigation.

In addition, because it is located in the basin, the solar term is suitable. Plant two wheat in mid-spring, harvest in summer, plant millet and miscellaneous grass in April, and harvest after autumn, so that you can harvest twice a year.

Therefore, Taiyuan can not only be self-sufficient, but also bear part of the heavy responsibility of transporting grain and straw for the border army.

In addition to being a grain production area, Taiyuan is also a transportation hub.

Almost all of the grain distributed from Aokura is transported to Luokoukura in Kyoto, and then the corn from Luokoucang is transported along the river to Shaanxi County.

Because there is a natural danger in Sanmenxia in Shaanxi County, the corn and boats will be transported ashore at this time, re-enter the water after bypassing Sanmenxia, and then go retrograde along the Yellow River until Fenglingdu goes north, and wait for the grain ships to be transported to Pishi and can be transferred to Fenshui.

Pi's place is the mouth of the Fenshui, from here you can walk all the way along the Fenshui, through Linfen, Yong'an, Jiexiu, Zhongdu, Jingling, Qixian, Yuci, and finally arrive in Taiyuan.

After that, from Taiyuan, and then along the post road running from north to south, all the way to the north. Wear Yangqu, pass through Yuanping, Shangdai County, and then go to Yanmen.

Among them, on this grain road to the north, the Han family built a post station every fifty or sixty miles.

Starting from the Linfen post of Yangqu, since then there is Chengjin post in the north, Jiuyuan post, and then there is the original flat post after arriving in Yuanping, and then go 100 miles to Guangwu post in Daixian County, then 60 miles to Shanyin Station, and then to Yanmen Pass.

It can be said that every year in order to supply the northern frontier army, the Han family spends hundreds of millions of dollars and 100,000 manpower.

But it's the same thing.

With the chaos in the Kanto region, Okura was lost, Kyoto became chaotic, and the border army moved south. This boiling water and land post station can no longer see any transfer of the imperial court, and desolation has replaced prosperity.

But the road is here after all, and the Han army can't use it, so it's the turn of the Taishan army.

At this time, the Taishan army gathered in the original Pingyi had a total of 20,000 horses, and a total of ten captains were counted. The original 7,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry generals will sit in Pingcheng and continue to stabilize the Yanbei area.

And the Yu Ban Department, which entered the state from the Flying Fox, was still on the way, and did not have time to converge.

But even if only a part of the military strength is here, it has still become a sea of bright yellow, countless apricot yellow flags are waving, and all kinds of letter flags, order flags, and general flags are set off to the south in accordance with the original plan to go south.

In this process, there are constantly battalion leaders coming from the north, and there are constantly battalion leaders going south, from north to south, and the narrow valley is full.

At this time, on a walled slope, an apricot yellow dakh hung high, and countless officials went all the way south along the official road under the walled slope, and they knew that the king was bidding farewell to them there.

From time to time, some generals galloped down the slope and reported the situation of each battalion to Zhang Chong above. Zhang Chong listened very carefully, and then said goodbye to these camp owners one by one, and finally before leaving, he had to give another advice.

For example, he told Xu Huang to spare his life and not to always take risks. Chen Huan told him to observe the situation on the battlefield more and provide timely arrow assistance to friendly troops.

In short, everyone can see Zhang Chong's feelings of farewell to the generals under his command.

In fact, Zhang Chong had to tell him so, the original Taishan army had a mass base in battle, and the situation in Taiyuan County was already very clear through Wang Yi's description, that is, the family of Haoshi had been impregnated for hundreds of years, and the Dingkou of the whole county was either a side branch of these people or their disciples.

In other words, this time to the south, the Taishan army is about to fall into the sea of enemy troops.

When the time comes, the outcome is unpredictable.

At this time, he already knew that the person who was stationed in Taiyuan was Ding Yuan, who was quite famous in history. This person is only a few, but the Bingzhou Legion under his command is very dazzling in the troubled times in the future.

Zhang Chong thought that he was now facing off against the arrogant border troops such as Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, and Bajian Generals, so he naturally had to ask the generals to pay more attention.

The forward army he arranged this time had a strength of 5,000 people, the main commander was Xu Huang, the deputy general was Chen Huan, and he had jurisdiction over two captains and one cavalry department.

Before the war, thanks to Wang Yi's intelligence, Zhang Chong roughly understood that there were three important passes in Taiyuan this time.

They are Yikou Pass, Shiling Pass and Chitang Pass.

Yikou Pass is the closest to them, and it is also the only way to enter the Dingxiang Basin. After passing the Yikou Pass, the back entered the entrance of the Taiyuan Basin, Yangqu.

Yangqu has a special place, that is, it is located at the junction of Yiding Basin and Taiyuan Basin, its territory is adjacent to Xiaowutai Mountain in the east, Guanmao Mountain in the west, and the mountain is steep.

From north to south, there is a continuous slope lying across it. If you want to go south from the Yiding Basin to the Taiyuan Basin, there are only two slope mountain roads.

The Shiling Pass and the Chitang Pass guard these two passages, of which the Chitang Pass is in the west and belongs to the secondary road, and the Shiling Pass is in the east and belongs to the main road.

And the task that Zhang Chong gave to Xu Huang was to connect the three levels.

After that, Zhang Chong chatted with Xu Huang alone for a while, and asked him about his strategy for going south:

"Gongming, this time you go south to break the three levels, how are you going to fight?"

Xu Huang hesitated, but still said what he thought:

"Your Majesty, in the previous military discussion, the main force of our army will attack Yikou Pass. I've been thinking about this thing repeatedly, and I have a little thought, but I'm worried that I haven't thought deeply about it, and it's not appropriate, so I haven't talked about it. ”

Zhang Chong smiled:

"You are the main general who will attack, the lives of thousands of brothers are in your hands, you are right to be cautious, but you must not be too cautious, you must be responsible, this is what the commander must bear. So tell me what you think. ”

So Xu Huang didn't dare to hesitate, and hurriedly said:

"I have gone south with the Turquoise riders to scout before, and I have also looked at this pass. To be honest, we didn't need to attack this level at all, because we saw a hilly area on the west side of this level. We can completely bypass Yikou Pass and go directly south to Taiyuan. ”

Zhang Chong also agreed:

"I have also considered what you said, Wang Yi also said before, in fact, among so many passes in Bingzhou, Yikou is one of the very inconspicuous, because Yikou looks dangerous, but in fact, it is not necessary to fight, its west side is an open hilly land, in the past, after the Xianbei people broke the Yanmen Pass, they never attacked Yikou, it was around from that side. But Gongming, let me ask you, what is the difference between our army and Xianbei? ”

Xu Huang is a smart man and has a wealth of battlefield experience, but he has always commanded the cavalry before, and this time he is the first to lead the cavalry as the main general of the front, so his thinking has not changed.

At this moment, with Zhang Chong's click, he understood:

"The Xianbei people are good at riding, disperse quickly, supply conveniently, and go south to plunder. They abandon every city they break, and they do not stay long. Therefore, they can bypass Yikou and go straight to Taiyuan. And our army is different, tens of thousands of foot cavalry, every day need to get supplies from the rear, if this time abandon Yikou and go directly to Taiyuan. At that time, we still have to fight the last two levels first, and at this time, our supply lines will be threatened by Yikou. ”

Zhang Chong was pleased, and he said to Xu Huang:

"Our army is going south this time, and we want to annex all the states. If our army wants to play a tactical coordination and make an attack, then it can naturally give full play to the advantages of maneuver and intersperse with wild speeds. But now, if you want to spread the land and establish a base in the state, you must go all the way down, the army blocks the army, blocks the broken wall, and tilts down with the Milky Way water, which is magnificent. Only in this way can the thief's heart be broken and people's hearts can be fixed. ”

Finally, Zhang Chong patted Xu Huang:

"Komeito, I value you very much. Your future is not just a cavalry general, I hope that one day, you can raise 100,000 troops for me and sweep the mountains and rivers, so this time is your training ground. Bingzhou is a good pot of rice, we are not in a hurry. ”

Xu Huang couldn't help puffing up his chest and gave a military salute to Zhang Chong.

After that, Zhang Chong felt that he had finished sorting out the general, so he asked Xu Huang to retreat to chase his troops.

In this way, Xu Huang and a group of vanguard generals marched south with excitement. And Zhang Chong on the high slope kept watching them go away.

……

The 5,000-strong army continued to march south, which took almost an hour, and after the baggage officer of the Chinese army said that lunch had been prepared, Zhang Chong took a group of some hungry staff and officials back to the central tent to eat.

Back in the middle tent, Zhang Chong did not eat immediately, but continued to deal with the paperwork for a while.

As the lord of the Great Tai, he not only has to deal with the affairs of the Taishan Army, but also the government affairs of You, Hebei, Ping, Liao, and Yan have to come to him as president.

Even with the help of many of Yecheng's subordinates, the documents sent to Zhang Chong here are still full of cases.

Fortunately, Zhang Chong is a superman, and his infinite physical strength allows him to deal with these government affairs diligently.

But after he finished processing the last document, he raised his head and saw that all the civil and military officials had not moved their chopsticks.

Zhang Chongwaner didn't say anything, but told himself in his heart to try to eat first next time and then deal with it. After all, these staff members in the army are not him.

He glanced around and saw that Zhao Yun was not there, so he asked Xun Yu on the side:

"Where did Zilong go?"

Xun You and a group of staff and counselors all sat on Zhang Chong's right hand, and heard Zhang Chong ask:

"Wang, Captain Zhao has been busy dealing with the problems of the people near the post camp in the baggage camp. I have told him that he will come to the camp and eat in a moment. ”

Zhang Chong was puzzled:

"Is there a Qianshou near this post battle?"

Xun You told the truth:

"There aren't many, mostly people with disabilities, old and weak. These people were abandoned in the village community and left to fend for themselves. When Captain Zhao saw it, he asked them to cook some food and chop some firewood. Winter is coming, and if you don't do this, these old and weak will be difficult to live. ”

At this time, Li Damu also spoke, and the first sentence was to sigh, angry and angry:

"Those people are really, who is not hiding, actually hiding from us? As soon as those people heard that the soldiers were going south, they fled directly into the mountains. I'll have to find some guides, but everyone who can move around has run away. It's really stupid. Will our Taishan Army care about their few melons and dates? ”

Zhang Chong didn't speak, just lowered his head and sipped the corn, but his heart was very heavy.

For a long time, the Taishan army has been known for taking the mass line, and everywhere it goes, it is not said that it is to kill the official and uncover the rod to welcome the king, but it is also to carry the pot and carry the pulp to greet each other.

But what about now? Since breaking through the Yanmen Pass, the army has gone south, and there are hardly many Qianshou people, and they have all run into the mountains, just as Li Damu said.

Zhang Chong also has his own analysis, he feels that Taiyuan Haoshi's grasp of the local Dingkou is still very strong, whether it is from public opinion preaching or mobilization, it is different from the heroes encountered by the Taishan Army before.

This is also related to the environment of the state. Surrounded by mountains, there are only a few large basins that can be cultivated. The various wealthy families are intertwined in these basins, and the relationship between them is also very close.

Under the tacit understanding between these wealthy families, the leaders of the Yiding Basin were firmly locked in the land of each family, and even if they wanted to switch to other families, they would be killed.

For a long time, these leaders really regarded these heroes as their own masters and masters of everything.

So, when the masters told them that the Taishan army was a tiger wolf, then the Taishan army was a tiger wolf. When the masters told them that they were going to run into the mountains when they saw the tigers and wolves, they didn't want to run into the mountains.

Zhang Chong understands this, but he also knows that now is not the time to deal with this.

Only when the Taiyuan heroes are broken militarily will these people wake up and dare to look up with their eyes.

When the time comes, they will find out what kind of army the Taishan Army is.

So Zhang Chong just nodded, asked Cai Qu to prepare a little more food for those old and weak, and then picked up the corn rice and began to eat.

Zhang Chong picked up the bowl here, and the already hungry civil and military warriors below also began to roll up.

In fact, Zhang Chong's paragraph is very simple, a bowl of corny rice, a small plate of pickles and a piece of jerky. At this time, all the officers and soldiers of the army ate the same food as him.

If he had just come to this world, Zhang Chong would have eaten this meal with the same taste as chewing wax. In his previous life, he was a glutton, where he traveled and what he played, what he ate was the most important.

One of the things he often said to his friends was:

"When I remember the taste of this place, I remember this place."

But now such a crude meal tastes good in Zhang Chong's mouth.

People are really adaptable to the environment.

That is, now with the opening of the Flying Fox, the supply of the Taishan Army has recovered, and a few days ago, that meal of jerky could not be eaten.

Halfway through the meal, the curtain of the big tent suddenly opened, but it was Zhao Yun who came back, and he said to Zhang Chong happily:

"Your Majesty, the people of the neighborhood have returned."

Zhang Chong was stunned for a moment, hurriedly wiped his mouth, and handed the rest of the jerky to Zhao Yun:

"Let's go and see. You eat this meat as you walk on the road, and people can't go hungry. ”

Here Zhang Chong got up, and the civil and military officials who had finished eating early also got up one after another.

Zhang Chong waved his hand and said with a smile:

"What should you do, the middle guard army of Yu Ban will come later, and you must also step up the construction of the camp. Otherwise, where will the children of our middle army live when the time comes! ”

After speaking, Zhang Chong motioned for Xun You to follow.

As for Cai Qu and Guo Zu, needless to say, they followed closely again. As for Dian Wei and Li Damu, they scattered behind with a rampage, covering all the way.