Chapter 1409: Frontier

In the summer of the twelfth year of Yanxi, at the foot of Danhan Mountain, it was the most beautiful season for the grassland.

In the distance, the Yinshan Mountains stood tall, with snow on the top of the mountain still gleaming silver in the sun.

In the near distance, on the meadow at the foot of Danhan Mountain, golden lotus flowers bloomed, the petals were as bright as gold, swaying in the wind, emitting a faint fragrance.

A few rays of golden sunlight penetrated the clouds and sprinkled on the vast grassland.

Dewdrops hung on the grass leaves, crystal clear, like pearls scattered from the earth.

The mountains in the distance were looming in the morning mist, like an ink painting.

The golden lotus flowers bloomed quietly in the morning light, with night dew on the petals, looking particularly delicate.

They clustered together, as if a golden carpet was laid on the grassland. The breeze blew, and the sea of ​​flowers was covered with waves. The golden petals sparkled in the sun.

The morning sun shone on the vast grassland, and the golden light intertwined with the green grass waves, as if a huge splendid painting was spread between heaven and earth.

This is the unique beauty of the southern foot of Danhan Mountain, which is unique in the world.

In history, Danhan Mountain would become the Xianbei Khan Court, the place where the Xianbei people worshiped the sky, and also the base camp for the Xianbei people to go south to the Central Plains.

But at this time, the bronze wolf statue originally used by the Xianbei people to worship the sky had its head chopped off, leaving only a headless wolf body.

Next to the wolf body, there was a stone tablet with the words "Han Zhendong General Guan surrendered 300,000 Xianbei here".

The big characters were bloody red, as if the blood had not dried yet.

Since General Guan subdued the Moluhui Xianbei and annihilated the Tuoba Xianbei, the former Western Xianbei and Central Xianbei have completely disappeared in the long river of history.

The remaining tribes have already fled in all directions and it is difficult for them to make a difference.

If the Eastern Xianbei did not cross the White Wolf Mountain to the west, the northern part of Youzhou could have maintained stability for at least ten years.

The General Zhendong, who was the greatest contributor to this battle, was standing on a high place at this time, squinting slightly and looking to the south, to be precise, in the direction of Juyong Pass.

Her eyes seemed to want to see through Yanshan Mountain and see the battlefield in front of Juyong Pass clearly.

At the same time, Xianyu Fu, the general who defended the Wei State, also stood on the city wall and looked to the north. Although his face was calm, the faint flicker in his eyes revealed his inner uneasiness.

The towering city wall of Juyong Pass was built against the mountain, like a giant dragon entrenched in the mountains.

There were steep cliffs on both sides of the pass, and only a narrow mountain road led to the pass, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

A low horn sounded in the distance, followed by the sound of horse hooves like thunder and dust flying.

I saw a cavalry unit galloping from the end of the mountain road.

Their attire was completely different from that of the Central Plains army. They wore leather armor, woolen hats, and held scimitars. They were the Xianbei cavalry!

"Here they come!"

Xianyu Fu was startled and immediately ordered: "All troops on alert! Archers ready!"

The Wei army, which had been prepared for a long time, quickly guarded their positions. Archers put their arrows on the ground and were ready to aim at the Xianbei cavalry in the distance.

The vanguard of the Xianbei cavalry stopped at a distance of an arrow from the pass. The leading general raised his scimitar and shouted in stiff Chinese:

"Listen, Wei's defenders! We Xianbei warriors are here to take Juyong Pass today. If you know what's good for you, open the gate and surrender quickly, otherwise you will be killed without mercy!"

Xianyu Fu looked angry and gritted his teeth and said: "The Diyi are as rude as animals. They formed an alliance with our Great Wei before, and were exterminated by the Han army. Now they have abandoned the alliance, succumbed to their enemies, and come to our Great Wei territory? Shoot!"

With his order, arrows rained down on the city wall.

Just like the drill, the Xianbei cavalry retreated quickly before the rain of arrows fell.

Soon, after adjusting the formation, they rushed over again.

This time, they dispersed and used the mobility of horses to detour left and right in front of the pass, trying to disrupt the defense of the Wei army.

Xianyu Fu saw this and immediately ordered: "Ready the Thunderbolt Chariot, aim at the dense enemy troops, and fire!"

Huge stones flew out from the city wall and hit the Xianbei cavalry.

The Xianbei cavalry was good at riding and shooting, and had strong mobility, but siege ability was not their strong point, let alone in front of the Xiongguan Pass.

Xianyu Fu stood on the city wall, his face was neither sad nor happy.

If they wanted to attack by force, let alone these Hu cavalry, even if the master behind them, the Han army, came, it would be in vain.

Sure enough, the battle lasted for a whole hour, and the Xianbei cavalry could not break through the Wei army's defense line.

As the casualties increased, morale gradually declined.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the Xianbei generals had to order a retreat.

When they came, they were like waves, and when they left, they were like tides.

The Xianbei cavalry retreated like a tide, leaving behind hundreds of corpses in front of the pass, and hurriedly disappeared on the mountain road in the distance.

The morale of the Wei army at the pass was like a rainbow, and they cheered loudly.

They couldn't remember how many times they had defeated the Xianbei's attack in the past three months.

But the dozens of consecutive defeats of the invasion of the Hu dogs gave them great confidence, as if no matter how powerful the enemy was, it was no more than this.

"Congratulations to General Xianyu, you have defeated the enemy's invasion again."

Wang Xiong, the governor of Youzhou, who had not dared to say a word for fear of disturbing Xianyu Fu's command of the battle, stood up at this time, as if relieved, and said to Xianyu Fu with a smile on his face as he watched the Xianbei cavalry flee in panic.

As the governor of Youzhou, he should have been stationed in Ji County and supported various places in Youzhou.

But Wang Xiong had a background, a reputation, and good means, otherwise he would not have forced Tian Yu away.

It can even be said that he was qualified in this aspect of the shepherd.

Otherwise, how could he have advocated pacifying the Hu people in the north of Youzhou so that Wei could focus its main efforts on Guanzhong?

The only thing he was not good at was leading the army.

After Sima Yi took control of Hebei, a letter made him fall to his knees at the speed of light.

In addition to the serious shortage of troops in Youzhou, which was not enough to fight against Sima Yi's army.

On the other hand, he himself had no ability to lead troops.

In this battle in Hebei, if Sima Yi did not send reinforcements, let alone General Guan, I am afraid that the Xianbei people alone would be enough to break through the Youzhou pass.

Wang Xiong, who knew his own ability, did not resist the fact that the people sent by Sima Yi had control of the Youzhou military power. Instead, he took the initiative to actively raise food and grass for the army.

Juyongguan is the most important pass in Youzhou and also the closest pass to Jixian, the capital of Youzhou. Wang Xiong even personally escorted food and grass from time to time.

This time, he happened to encounter the Xianbei people attacking the city.

However, Xianyu Fu did not show a trace of happiness in response to Wang Xiong's slightly flattering words.

He turned around and whispered to Wang Xiong:

"Envoy, the Xianbei Hu people were exterminated and their courage was completely lost. According to the Hu people who fled into the frontier, the number of Han troops on the grassland ranged from hundreds of thousands to several hundred thousand."

"In my opinion, hundreds of thousands are too exaggerated, and hundreds of thousands are hard to say, but there must be tens of thousands, otherwise how could hundreds of thousands of tribes be destroyed?"

"Moreover, in the past few months, these Hu people who should have been discouraged have been able to come to attack the city repeatedly, and they have been defeated repeatedly without fleeing. This can only mean that someone has reorganized them."

Wang Xiong understood immediately after hearing this: "Han army?"

Xianyu Fu nodded with a heavy face:

"The fact that the Hu people were so discouraged just shows that the number of Han troops on the grassland is not small."

When Wang Xiong heard this, his face became ugly.

Xianyu Fu continued to say:

"And such a large number of Han troops have only allowed the frightened Hu people to forcefully attack the city for several months, and they have been hiding behind and not showing up. I am afraid they have big plans."

As he said this, his voice subconsciously became a little low, "So Fu thinks that these Xianbei Hu people are just a feint used by the Han army to attract our attention."

He looked towards the north again.

General Fuguo, who had always maintained a calm image in front of the generals, finally showed a rare look of worry in front of Wang Xiong:

"There must be a bigger conspiracy behind this, but I can't be sure what their real intention is..."

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Wang Xiong also looked outside Juyong Pass and asked softly:

"Can't we send scouts out of the pass to investigate?"

Xian Yufu shook his head and smiled bitterly:

"Don't be afraid of being laughed at by the envoy. The scouts of our Great Wei are far inferior to the scouts of the Han army in terms of horses and equipment. Therefore, when the two meet, the scouts of the Great Wei often end up defeated."

"If we are closer to the army, it's okay. But if we are far away, we will never come back."

He pointed to the outside of the pass, "I don't know how many enemy troops are hiding outside this pass. If we go out rashly, we will just give our lives away."

Although there are nearly 200,000 troops in Hebei now, Xian Yufu knows that nearly half of them are actually hastily conscripted civilians, just to make up the numbers.

No matter how fierce the people in Yan are, the people who are temporarily summoned cannot compare with the well-trained elite soldiers.

Luoyang has been lost, and Henei is facing enemies on both sides, so it needs to be heavily guarded.

The enemy chieftain Feng Ze personally led the army to attack Jingxing. Although the Taihang Pass was dangerous, the reputation of this thief was enough to make half of the Hebei army guard against him.

Now the defenders of the various passes on the Yanshan defense line are mostly a small number of old soldiers with a large number of new soldiers.

It's okay to defend the pass, but it's absolutely impossible to take the initiative to attack.

Hearing this, Wang Xiong sighed:

"What should we do? Can we let them come and go as they please, and we can only sit and wait?"

Xianyu Fu was silent for a long time, and finally shook his head:

"There are not enough troops, and there is no other way except to sit and wait."

Paused, then pretended to be relaxed and said:

"Besides, sitting and waiting may not necessarily get beaten. In the past three months, the thieves have attacked so many times, which one has been good? It's not us who are beaten."

Wang Xiong heard this and also forced a smile:

"The Han army has been slow to show , according to General Fuguo, what are they most likely to do? "

"Hu'er feinted to paralyze us, and finally wait for an opportunity to move."

"Wait for an opportunity to move?"

"Yes."

"Where to move?"

Xianyu Fu shook his head again: "You are making it difficult for me, sir. If I knew where they would move, why would I sit here and guard here? How could I say that I didn't know their true intentions just now?"

Although Yanshan is a natural barrier in the north of Hebei, it stretches for hundreds of miles and has countless mountain streams and valleys. Not to mention the current defenders, even if they come several times more, it is impossible to block all the loopholes.

It can only be said that it is to block the big and look at the small, mainly to block the three Xings on Taihang:

Jundu, Feihu, and Puyin.

With these three Xings as the core, send more people to watch the mouths of various mountain streams.

Once the enemy is found, immediately dispatch troops to guard.

However, these mountain stream estuaries are all hidden in the Yanshan Mountains, making it difficult for the army to pass through. If the army wants to forcibly cross the river, once it is blocked inside, it will be in danger of death and will not be able to retreat easily.

So as long as we send troops to patrol frequently and find the thieves as soon as possible, we don't have to worry too much.

Wang Xiong seemed to understand that he asked a stupid question, and couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed:

"I asked in a hurry. Well, I won't bother General Fuguo anymore. Yuyangguancheng is still waiting for me to allocate manpower and food. I'll take my leave."

Hearing Wang Xiong mention Yuyangguancheng, Xianyu Fu's heart moved, and he finally understood where his worries came from:

"Wait a minute, envoy!"

"Oh? What else does General Fuguo want?"

Xianyu Fu hesitated for a while, and finally asked:

"Although it's a bit presumptuous, I still want to ask one more question: Can those Xianbei Hu people in the east be trusted? How sure are you?"

If it's anything else, Wang Xiong may not be sure, but when it comes to the Hu people on the border of Youzhou, he is much more confident and calm.

After all, after he pushed out Tian Yu, who advocated a tough stance against the Hu people, he had been using a conciliatory policy towards the Hu people in Youzhou for so many years.

In fact, Wang Xiong played an indispensable role in Sima Yi's quick connection with Tuoba Liwei - the only thing he didn't expect was that Tuoba Hu'er would be so useless.

After Kebi Neng, the border of Youzhou has been stable and war-free for so many years, and Wang Xiong's conciliatory policy is obviously effective.

"A month ago, I sent some Tuoba Xianbei who had fled into the Great Wall to the Buyao tribe. Their leader, Mohuba, personally sent a batch of cattle and sheep to the Yuyang Pass to express his gratitude."

"This tribe is loyal to our Great Wei and is happy to learn the Han etiquette of the Central Plains. Now, in the tribe, people are proud to wear the Buyao crown of Yan. With their help in guarding the border from Yuyang to Liaoxi and the land east of Bailang Mountain, there is no need to worry."

Xianyu Fu reminded: "The Hu children are like beasts. Although the Buyao tribe is accustomed to the Han etiquette, they are still different species. It is better to be careful."

Wang Xiong nodded: "General, please rest assured. Last time, Mohuba I personally drove the cattle and sheep to thank you. I didn't let them enter Yuyang Pass. How could I not be careful? "

As he said this, there was a trace of fear and regret in his tone:

"Thinking of how powerful the Tuoba tribe was, they were all destroyed by the Han army in one blow. I only hope that when the Han army really dares to cross Bailang Mountain, the Buyao tribe can issue a warning to the pass as soon as possible, which will be a great achievement. "

Xianyu Fu was relieved when he heard that Wang Xiong had such a plan:

"So, the envoy had a plan long ago, and I was too worried. "

He looked outside the pass again, but this time, he didn't look to the north, but to the northeast.

Under Bailang Mountain, the swamp is hundreds of miles in radius. No matter whether it is a man or a horse, if they are trapped in it, if they cannot be rescued in time, they will be swallowed by the mud and water in a short time.

It has always been a forbidden area on the grassland.

It is also a natural barrier to prevent the Han army from continuing to advance eastward, bypassing the three passes on Taihang Mountain and attacking the northeast of Youzhou.

However, Xianyu Fu had fought with General Zhendong during the Battle of Guanzhong, and he knew how difficult Guan Yihu in Hedong was.

If Guan Yihu was really determined to go east, it would be a dream to expect that the hundreds of miles of swamps in Baihua Mountain could stop him.

Of course, Xianyu Fu hoped that Guan Yihu would dare to continue to go east at this time, and go deep into the northeast of Youzhou alone.

If that was the case, he would have to admire his courage.