After learning about Shangdang's situation, the troops continued to move north. Enter Shangdang through a narrow path under Danzhu Mountain. Hu Yang saw that there was a small town on the side of the road without a city, so he asked Gao Dushou, "What's the name of this town?"
Gaodu Shou seemed to be very familiar with it and replied: "The town of Gaodu is where Rong Di lives, so its name is Minran. This town is located on the flat land between mountains, so it is named Changping."
Hu Yang said casually: "If we build a fortress here and defend it, ten thousand people will not be able to break it!"
Gao Dushou said: "It's exactly what Zhong Geng said."
Not far from the troops entering Shangdang from Gaodu via Changping, there is a city built on the mountain, which is Changzi City. The Shangdang County Sheriff is stationed here. Shangdang Shou and Gaodu Shou are only a hundred miles apart. Once in a while, the two sides can support each other through the mountain road at the foot of Danzhu Mountain. They usually talk to each other and are very familiar with each other. Shangdang Shou has long been informed by Gao Dushou that the army will enter Shangdang today. Early in the morning, the Shangdang Shou, together with all the officials, led a thousand soldiers to wait in line outside the city. Seeing the army coming out of the canyon, he drove forward and shouted loudly: "The party will be on guard to welcome them!"
The chief general of Han's former army came up to pay homage, and was led by Shangdang officials to set up camp; then came out the leader of Qin's former army, General Wang Lu. He didn't understand the Jin pronunciation very well, but fortunately some of the Shangdang officials knew the Qin pronunciation and provided an interpreter. He was taken by officials to the lower camp. However, Wang Hao rejected the location indicated by Shangdang officials and chose a mountainous area to set up camp.
Mountains and valleys are a taboo for marching. They must be passed quickly and must not be camped in them. Therefore, after the front army came out of the valley, the middle army and the rear army only advanced a certain distance before stopping and camping in front of the canyon. Gao Dushou informed the Shangdang Shou of the situation of the central and rear troops, and asked the Shangdang Shou to prepare food for three days.
The next day, Shang Dangshou led the troops in front and led the way. The front armies of Han and Qin advanced one by one on the left and right. After going north along the river, one day later, we stopped at a wide plain. The Shangdang Shou told Wang Lu that this place was called Tunliu. Starting from tomorrow, we will walk on the mountain road.
Behind, Gongzi Jiu and Hu Yang led the central army, and the Qin army's central general Sima Jin entered the camp at the foot of Changzi City yesterday. The eldest son's left-behind officials diligently provided grain, fodder, and water. There were many streams passing by, and Hu Yang asked: "Where do these streams go as they rush out of the mountains?"
The official replied: "These waters are the source of the Zhang River. When they come out of the mountain, they will merge into the Zhang River. All the streams of the Zhang River flow out of the mountain. If there is a heavy rain in the mountains, the Zhang River below the mountain will always overflow. Everyone is a fish and a turtle."
Hu Yang said: "Where else can the source of the Zhang River be found besides the eldest son?"
The official replied: "The eldest son's streams are all fed into the Zhang River. ... When the general wanted to cut down the river, the rivers also flowed out and poured into the Zhang River, becoming the source of the Zhang River."
Hu Yang said: "The mountains and rivers of Han and Zhao are connected, and they come from the same source. Once they attack each other, will you be sad?"
The official didn't expect Hu Yang to suddenly ask such a question. He didn't know how to answer, so he had to use his words to distract him.
After the official left, Hu Yang called Zheng Anping and Chen Si and asked them to bring about ten people to explore downstream along the river to see if there was any place where the army could ambush, and to observe the terrain of the mountains and rivers along the way. At about midnight, the two reported back that the water flow passed a waterfall downstream, and it was generally unlikely that a large number of troops would come up from this side. Hu Yang nodded slowly.
On the third day, Hu Yang also walked up the mountain road from Tunliu. Although the road has not been easy to walk since entering Taihangxing, this road is more difficult than before. Finally, they stopped in front of a valley and entered the camp set up by the former army.
Hu Yang asked the eldest son's liaison officer as usual, what is the name of this place? The liaison officer replied: "This place is named Nirvana, and the water there is named Wuxiang, and it is also called Zhangshui. From here, we enter Yan and the mountains and canyons. It is difficult to walk, so we rest here for a day."
Hu Yang asked again: "If you go up the river in Wuxiang, where will you go?"
The official said: "Going up the river, you will come out of Taihang, which is Tu Shui; when you come out of the mountain, you will be Taiyuan."
Hu Yang said: "This nirvana leads to Taiyuan on the left and Handan on the right. It really strangles the throat of Zhao!"
The official said: "Taiyuan and Handan are connected by Shangdang. When Zhao destroyed Zhongshan, there were many changes in the road, so Zhongshan was used as the stem and Shangdang was the moor."
Hu Yang has a deep sense of conspiracy! He didn't know where this feeling came from, so he had to send sentries to the upper and lower reaches of Wuxiang River. While it was still early in the day, he led Sima Jin, Ye Xi, Zheng Anping, Chen Si and others to climb high and take a closer look. There are high mountains everywhere. If a heavy ambush is set up in the canyon, they will never survive. But in front of me was a scene of jackdaws returning to their nests, the sun setting in the west, and the canyon was quiet. Wang Hao of the former army sent an envoy to report back every hour, but the former army did not notice the situation.
Hu Yang set up his camp at the mouth of the canyon and controlled the high ground on one side. He was thinking, if he attacks Yanyu and Zhao Jun suddenly sends troops from Taiyuan to rescue him, how long will it take? Will he have time to withdraw, or will he set up an ambush in the canyon? What will happen if the Zhao army in Taiyuan controls the exit of the canyon and does not fight against itself?
He discussed with Sima Jin, Ye Xi and others, and they also agreed. However, due to complete unfamiliarity with geography, these ideas can only be fantasy. There is no solution and cannot be given up. In the end, everyone reluctantly came to the conclusion: Even if there is such a risk, we can only bite the bullet and go in.
Sima Jin suggested: "You can ask the rear army to leave a part of Wang Ling at the mouth of the valley to spy on Taiyuan. If you find out what happened, report it immediately."
According to the scheduled itinerary, the rear army has just walked out of Danzhu Ridge and arrived at the eldest son. It is basically impossible to call him over for discussion. Moreover, there are not only Korean troops but also Wei troops around the royal tomb. The situation is the most complicated. It is basically impossible to leave a cover force covertly. What's more, Nirvana is remote and sparsely populated. If there are fewer troops, they are useless. If there are more, they will be noticed by friendly forces. Supply is also a problem. After thinking about it, there is no particularly good way.
The troops who patrolled upstream and downstream gradually returned and reported that they found no signs of enemy activity. The uneasiness in Hu Yang's heart could not be dispelled: going deep into the depths of Zhao State to build a small settlement, what did South Korea want to achieve?
After receiving the task of attacking Lanyu, Hu Yang did his homework, but the dungeon was probably remote and there was not much information. He only knew that Lanyu had a dangerous terrain but a small population, so it was estimated that its military strength would not be too strong. We can't even find much specific information about Yan Yu in Qin. This time Qin, Han, and Wei gathered an army of about 100,000 people, which may be more than the entire population of Yanyu. Why should we spend so much effort to fight such a small town? The eldest son of South Korea is at least three days away from here. He wants to go to Lianyu. I heard that it will take another five or six days to walk, and it is all mountainous. Overcoming so many difficulties and conquering an unimportant city, isn't it worth the gain?
After many days of marching in the mountains and the severe cold weather, soldiers continued to fall ill. Hu Yang's Chinese army continues to take in sick soldiers who have fallen behind from the front army. Some of them can go on the road with the Chinese army, while some may have to wait for the rear army to take them in, or even have to stay on their own until their health allows them to catch up with the army.
Zheng Anping, like other soldiers, carried a ten-pound bag of fried corn on his back when setting off. There were basically supplies along the way, and the dry food was basically not used. Unlike the military soldiers in Wei, the Qin army did not have heavy leather armor, which relieved a lot of burden, but it also felt a little lack of courage. In the past, he dared to face the edge, almost relying on the protection of leather armor. Now that he is only wearing regular clothes, I am afraid that a stray arrow can hurt him. The winter clothes prepared before departure were newly sewn and very warm. The bad thing was that I was sweating all over while trekking through mountains and rivers, and it was difficult to breathe. So I only wore it for one day, so I packed it in my luggage and never wore it again. I only used it as a quilt when sleeping in the open.
Since entering the mountains, Zheng Anping found that Chen Si seemed to have something wrong with his body. I asked him myself, but Chen Si refused to tell me and asked him not to make a fuss. Zheng Anping was afraid that Chen Si would be tired from walking on the mountain road, so he took his dry food bag and carried it himself. Chen Si repeatedly refused, so Zheng Anping almost snatched it away.
After barely reaching the campsite, Chen Si did not rest, but as usual, drew pictures of the mountains and rivers he saw along the way. In the past few days since he came out, he has drawn one every day, and he has already drawn more than a dozen. Zheng Anping saw that he was still drawing maps as usual and thought that it might be nothing serious. He didn't ask any more questions, and made him a handful of fried millet to eat. He left the dry food bag with him and continued to carry it for him tomorrow.
After sleeping on the mountain road for two days, at sunset on the third day, a plain finally appeared in front of us, with a clear mountain stream flowing through it. This is also a basin formed by alluvial river water. According to Shang Dangshou, this place is named after water and is called "轑". After climbing over the mountains in front, you will reach Yanyu. Wang Hao and the former commander-in-chief of the Han army assigned their respective defense directions and decided to send out warnings northward along the main river and set up their camps near the intersection of the two rivers. At the same time, a signal was sent to the Chinese army: it had arrived within 100 miles away and asked for further action plans.
It was already midnight when Hu Yang got the news. After receiving the report from the former army, he instructed the former army to occupy various key points around it and wait for the arrival of the Chinese army. At the same time, someone was sent to inform the rear army that the front army had arrived near Yanyu and they should be more vigilant. Then he invited the commander of the Han army, Prince Jiu, to come to the camp to discuss matters.
If Gongzi Jiu could persevere on the rugged mountain road, he had already tried his best. We stayed at the camp, had something to eat and then fell asleep. When he heard that Hu Yang had come to invite him, he only called one retainer to listen to the order in a daze. Hu Yang knew that all the things that the young master blamed were done to his retainers. Although he felt unhappy, he had nothing to do. He simply informed his retainers that the former army had arrived at Shi, less than a hundred miles away from Yanyu. He planned to go to Ji with the light army tomorrow to check the situation. The Chinese army should be more vigilant when advancing, be on alert and beware of sneak attacks. The retainers responded one by one.
Early the next morning, Hu Yang led his own camp of 600 people and moved forward quickly. The Chinese army, under the command of Gongzi Jiu and Sima Jin, moved forward in a vigilant manner and slowed down greatly. It was already dusk when we arrived at Shi, and the rear army had already entered the camp, strengthened the camp, and stepped up vigilance.
