Chapter 973: Newly Built Five Finger Mountain Pass

After hundreds of years of development, the Taihang Eight Paths are no longer what they were during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Today’s Fukou Pass to the west to Sheguo is no longer what it was a few hundred years ago, especially in Wu’an County. In the surrounding area, a large number of fields have been developed, enough to support tens of thousands of people. If Lu Bu sends troops to Fukou to occupy Wu'an, it will be a disaster for Wei County, which means that Wei County is always under the attack of Lu Bu's army.

Fortunately, Lu Bu's army now only controls Dongyang Pass on the Fukou Road to the east of Lu County, and has not gone further east. No, it should be said that Lu Bujun has actually left Dongyang Pass several times and entered the borders of the relevant countries. He just discovered that the eastern section of Fu Caliber has always been controlled by Huangfu Chaobo, and the relationship between the two families is not bad at present, so he came again. He retreated, stood firm at Dongyang Pass, and stopped taking any further steps eastward.

It's just that Huangfu Chaobo knew that the good relationship between his family and Lu Bujun might not last long. As a result, Fu Caliber's defense must be upgraded to the standards of Baijing and Taihangjing in the south.

During this inspection of the country, Huangfu Chaobo inspected the city for a while, then continued out of the city to the west, went west along the Fu Caliber for several miles, crossed the Qingzhang River, and entered the Taihang Wuzhishan area. After carefully observing the surrounding terrain, Huangfu Chaobo said to Zhu Hao and Zhao Yun: "Build a pass here and set up the first line of defense of Fu Caliber here."

Guo Jia also nodded repeatedly and said: "It is feasible. This place is backed by Sheguo County and is indeed a good defensive place. With the defense here, Sheguo and Wu'an in the east at least do not have to face the enemies coming from the west. "

"Yes, by placing the two thousand soldiers at Fukou Pass here, plus the five thousand guards from Sheguo, we can withstand Lu Bu's army for several months without worrying about the two cities of Wu and An being occupied." Pang Tong also nodded in agreement.

"Your Majesty, take your orders!"

"The last general takes command!"

Zhu Hao and Zhao Yun both bowed and accepted the order;

"My lord, please name this pass!" Zhu Hao said again;

"Let's call it Wuzhishan Pass!"

"No, please rest assured, my lord, the small pass will be completed before March next year, and it will be expanded into a medium-sized pass within a year!"

"I believe that you will live up to my trust!" Huangfu Chaobo patted Zhu Hao on the shoulder and said, "Okay, everyone, return to Yecheng!"

With that said, the group got on their horses and headed towards Fukou Pass. Two days later, the army escorted Huangfu Chaobo and his party back to Yecheng.

In Yecheng, 10,000 cavalrymen rushed into the city through the sky full of snowflakes, but the sky was still gloomy, as if black clouds were pressing down on them.

In the prefect's mansion in the city, Guo Jia looked at the sky and said to Huangfu Chaobo: "My lord, the heavy snow seems to be showing no signs of stopping, and it has a tendency to get heavier and heavier. According to certain calculations, it is estimated that this snow will continue to fall for two days. It seems that the lord's inspection must be suspended, and it is best to return to Luoyang immediately. If Jia's prediction is correct, the river will probably freeze after the heavy snow. "

Huangfu Chaobo also looked at the sky with some worry and said: "It's just that, the original plan to inspect the three counties in Hebei years ago has only been completed in Wei County."

"It doesn't matter. During this inspection of Hebei, the top priority is Wei County. If we can complete the inspection of Wei County before the year and arrange all the defenses, it will be very good." Pang Tong next to him was blue with cold. His nose was red, he kept rubbing his hands and shivering;

There were only Huangfu Chaobo, several military advisors, and Zhu Hao and Zhao Yun in the room. Everyone knew about the troop dispatch plan for next year, so Pang Tong did not hesitate to speak and said directly;

Everyone nodded in agreement. Huangfu Chaobo also knew that it was impossible to complete the inspection of Hanoi next. It was already mid-December. If the snow continued to fall for a few more days, it would probably be as Guo Jia said. The meeting will be frozen, and by then it will be difficult for anyone who wants to return to Luoyang.

Thinking of this, Huangfu Chaobo said: "Zilong, in your opinion, does the Longxiang camp have enough troops? Of course, if things go well, the Baotao camp can also be mobilized for support." After saying that, he turned to look at Pang Tong and others said: "You should also think about it.

How should the best arrangements be made for the arrangement of troops and horses in Wei County, Hanoi? "

After a long time, Pang Tong said: "Actually, Tong believes that the current military strength should be sufficient."

With that said, he walked to the map and talked about his arrangements.

According to Huangfu Chaobo's request, troops must be garrisoned at several passes on the Taihang Eight Trails, including Fukaku, Baijing and Taihang Trail, to prevent Lu Bu's army from sending troops from Shangdang. Therefore, there are a total of four passes that need to be garrisoned. Facing Lu Bu's In the tiger and wolf division, ordinary guards are definitely not enough.

Among them, the newly built Wuzhishan Pass is planned to station 2,000 soldiers. Fukou Pass is close to Handan. It is best to have war barracks stationed there. In Pang Tong’s view, although Handan has one school of war barracks and two garrison schools, a total of 15,000 troops. In fact, the defensive capabilities are not enough, so his plan is to station another 3,000 soldiers at Fukou Pass. There will be exactly one school of soldiers stationed at Fukou Pass and Handan to support each other. Mengmen Pass and Tianjing Pass already have a school of soldiers stationed there, so there is no need to make any adjustments.

What Huangfu Chaobo considered was that Longxiang Camp originally only had four schools of infantry. If this arrangement was made, there would be three schools stationed elsewhere, and the county would only have one school of infantry combat troops, which would lead to insufficient strength in the combat barracks in Yecheng.

Pang Tong felt that there were still three schools of infantry and one school of Xiliang cavalry in Henei, and it seemed too wasteful to station all these troops in Huai County. So he suggested that Huai County was in the hinterland, and if Tianjing Pass and Mengmen Pass were not lost, Huai County could be kept safe. In this way, the deputy general of Baotao Camp, Dong Fang, could lead a school of soldiers to Huai County to support the two passes, while the main general Hua Xiong could lead the Xiliang cavalry and two schools of infantry to Dangyin, and support Wei County in the east and return to Henei in the west, killing two birds with one stone.

Pang Tong's words made everyone's eyes light up, and Huangfu Chaobo also thought that this strategy was feasible, so he agreed to his plan and immediately decided to order it to be implemented after the New Year. As for the defense and supplies of Yecheng, he was completely confident in Zhao Yun and Zhu Hao. He only spent half a day inspecting the military camp, met with the soldiers, and then met with a group of officials from the county city at the prefectural governor's mansion. He set off for Liyang Port early the next morning and returned to Luoyang by water.

Three days later, Huangfu Chaobo's fleet finally arrived at the South Gate Wharf of Luoyang. As Guo Jia expected, the Sizhou section of the river had begun to freeze. Fortunately, although Huangfu Chaobo asked the county chiefs and camp commanders to arrange everything as soon as possible after receiving the message from Luoyang and return to Luoyang in advance.

After returning to Luoyang, Huangfu Chaobo decided to rest for a few days before gathering everyone to discuss matters.