The Yinshan Mountains, which spanned the Sui Dynasty and Turkic trade, consisted of Langshan Mountain, Wula Mountain, Selten Mountain, Daqing Mountain and Dama Mountains from west to east. It stretched for more than 2,500 miles from east to west and was always guarded by the Central Plains dynasties. It is an important barrier for the nomadic people in the north. Later generations said, "When China reaches the Yinshan Mountains, if you take a high look, you will see traces of the bandits. They must have crossed the Great Moraine and settled in the north. It is far to go to China, so the Yinshan Mountains are an important border area. To the south is Monan. If they capture the Yin Mountains, they will easily be able to use up their strength and invade from within. In the Qin, Han, and Sui Passes, they will have to cross the river and defend the Yin Mountains to the north."
During the confrontation between the Northern Qi Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the Turkic Khanate rose up in Mobei and occupied the Baidaochuan River, which was thousands of miles long from east to west, south of the Yinshan Mountains and north of the Yellow River. The Turkic cavalry is poisonous. In order to avoid attacks and intrusions from the Turks, the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the Northern Qi Dynasty scrambled to make peace with them or bribe the Turks with generous gifts of property. It wasn't until Yang Shuang led the Eighth Army to attack the Turks in the north and beat Shabolue Khan in Baidao that he abandoned his armor and fled. Only then did he take advantage of the situation to regain Baidaochuan and push the barrier between the north and the south back to the Yinshan Mountains.
Baidaochuan is the ancient Chile River. The reason why it was renamed Baidaochuan is because the Daqing Mountain in the early Sui Dynasty was called Baidaoling, and the most dangerous pass of Daqing Mountain, where the soil is as white as lime, was called "Baidao" This pass is the only way to go south and north, and it is also a battleground for the Central Plains dynasties and nomadic military strategists. The famous Wuchuan Town is located southeast of Baidao.
After Yang Shuang defeated Shabolu Khan in Baidao, he led his army to rebuild the military fortress and moved the ancient military fortress from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the valley, to the banks of the Qianpan River flowing along Baidao from northwest to southeast. Later, he personally carved the four characters "turn danger into safety" on the stone bank. Yang Shuang's "turning danger into safety" has two meanings: one is that he won the Battle of Baidao and the Sui Dynasty turned danger into safety; the other is that after regaining Baidaochuan and pushing the border to the Yinshan Mountains, the danger that originally belonged to the Sui Dynasty was transferred to the Sui Dynasty. The Turks are the "barbarians".
In order to control the barbarians, the Sui Dynasty settled the Qimin Khan and his tribe in the Baidaochuan and Hetao Plains, and built a large city like a state government - Baicheng - at the northern pass of Baidao and on the bank of the Qianpan River.
As for the imperial court's move to hand over the Baidaochuan and Monan lands to the Turks for grazing, Duan Wenzhen believed as early as the end of the founding of the Emperor that placing them within the territory would sooner or later become a major hidden danger to the country. He should "order them to leave the fortress and then set up beacons. "Strengthening the borders and guarding the border areas with serious orders" is the strategy for long-term peace and stability in the country. In view of the fact that the Turkic Khanate had not yet been successfully annihilated, Yang Jian did not adopt Duan Wenzhen's suggestion. However, he also built Dali, Jinhe, Dingxiang and other cities in Baidaochuan and its south to prevent the Turks from moving south.
Baicheng used to be the place where Qimin Khan was placed, and it was also a military fortress at the northwest entrance of Baidao. Baidaochuan, where the herders were located, was the rear area of the Turks. However, after Qimin Khan unified the Eastern Turks, Yang Jian realized Duan Wenzhen's original concerns. It's getting closer and closer, and they are ready to expel Qimin Khan's herdsmen, but there is no better reason. Now, the Turks' massive attack on the Great Lakes area and their defeat by Yang Ji gave Yang Guang a good opportunity.
Qimin Khan entered the court to apologize this time. On the one hand, his second son was defeated so miserably in the west, and on the other hand, the Lingzhou Army, Fengzhou Army, Shengzhou Army, Yunzhou Army, and Shuozhou Army in the eastern Sui Dynasty also They were all ready to make a move, ready to fight if they disagreed. Considering the current situation of the Eastern Turks and the mentality of the Turks who fear the Sui Dynasty like a tiger, as long as the Eastern Sui army goes north, many tribal chiefs will surrender to the Sui Dynasty to protect themselves and turn against them.
Although Yang Guang did not blame him, he took the opportunity to order him to move the herdsmen out of Baidaochuan in order to avoid another "misunderstanding" between the two parties.
Qimin Khan had a guilty conscience and was not as strong as the Sui Dynasty. How could he dare not comply with Yang Guang's request?
However, the delivery took time, and he also had to participate in the ceremony of moving the capital, so he sent someone to convey the order to the eldest son who stayed at the southern Turk court.
On this day, a large Sui cavalry came out of Baidao and marched towards Baicheng in the northwest. The leader was Yang Ji.
After Yang Ji's army entered Baidaochuan, it did not advance very fast. Although it was one man and two riders, the auxiliary horses carried expendable weapons such as arrows, and he did not ask the army to speed up.
The army passed the Baidao and officially entered the territory of the Eastern Turks.
This boundless grassland is as fertile and rich as the Baidaochuan in the south of the country due to the melted water from the Yinshan Mountains and the irrigation from the mountain springs. Groups of fat and strong horses gallop on the grassland, and a group of A herd of cattle and sheep grazed peacefully by the river. The Turkic herdsmen were busy gathering their animals and preparing to herd them home.
"Your Majesty, is there something unusual?" Pei Xingyan and Pei Shuying were of the same generation, but he had never been to the battlefield. This time he was following Yang Ji in the name of his personal guard.
He found that Yang Ji seemed to be a little silent after reading the inscription "Reducing Danger to Safety" carved by King Wei Zhao, which made him feel a little uneasy. Today, Yang Ji almost didn't speak. He thought there was something abnormal. After taking a break this time, I couldn't help but ask.
"It's nothing unusual. I just remembered some past events." Yang Ji pointed to the forest in the distance and said to Pei Xingyan: "A few years ago, the saint was the king of Jin, and I was his personal commander. At that time, I was just like you. , is also a young bird that has never killed anyone. I heard that there are many goats in that forest, so I led a team of soldiers to hunt some yellow sheep, and also met a Turkic scout."
"What happened next? Did they start fighting?"
"There must have been a fight!" Yang Ji said with a smile: "I was scared to death at the time, but I also knew that I could only survive if I killed the Turkic scouts, so I tried my best. When I came back after killing the Turkic scouts, I thought I had established an alliance. I was very proud of my success. Unexpectedly, after I came back, without saying a word, the saint had me tied up, pushed out, and beheaded!"
Pei Xingyan was speechless, and the bearded version of Yang Jian next to him was also shocked and couldn't help asking: "Why?"
"Military regulations! I violated military regulations. As long as a soldier violates military regulations first, no matter how great his achievements are later, it will not change the fact that he violated military regulations." Yang Ji said: "Until I lead the troops myself Only then can I understand the difficulties and painstaking efforts of the saint."
"What's the difficulty?" Yang Jian asked.
Yang Ji glanced at everyone and said: "I was the leader of the Saint's bodyguard at that time, and my duty was to protect the Saint, not to hunt or kill Turkic scouts. During my absence from duty, if the Turkic army invaded in large numbers, the Saint's There will be a vacancy in the defensive strength and defense range. Maybe even his commander will die because of this vacancy. Once he is gone, the army will be finished, which will then affect the military morale and people's morale of the entire Sui Dynasty... This is one of the reasons. one."
"Secondly, we in the Sui Dynasty put military merit first. The officers and soldiers of the frontier army were full of confidence and high in fighting spirit. No one was afraid of the Turks and other foreign armies. If a small group of troops went south, they would regard it as a meritorious service. The frontier army Everyone at the top and bottom shared this sentiment, so they were somewhat disgusted, even repelled and opposed to the unfamiliar commander suddenly appointed by the court. When the war came, what could the sudden arrival of the commander rely on to intimidate the border troops? It relied on laws and military regulations. "
"The Duke of Yue established his prestige by punishing law-abiding officers in order to reward them for their trust and virtue. The same is true for other generals. As for me, a soldier, who violated military regulations at that time, I was just beating up a saint. He didn't want to chop me to death, but there were so many people watching below, so what could he do? So in order to take the overall situation into consideration, he had no choice but to push me out and behead me in public."
Smiling, Yang Ji added: "Fortunately, some people knew that I was the only son of King Wei Zhao and asked for mercy. Otherwise, I would have died here long ago. But despite this, I was still beaten and eaten Months of raw wild lamb.”
After everyone listened, they realized that Yang Ji had such a thrilling past.
"This is a lesson I almost paid for with my life. Don't do it. Otherwise, I can only be like a saint and strictly manage the army." Yang Ji warned.
"Here!" everyone shouted in response.
This simple conversation made them very intuitively aware of the importance and severity of military discipline, and they also understood that many coaches' actions of "killing soldiers before the war" were not motivated by a desire to kill, but were done for the sake of the overall situation and as a last resort.
In the face of military regulations and the overall situation, we cannot talk about human feelings or personal relationships.
Pei Xingyan asked: "Not long ago, your Majesty killed more than 100,000 Turkic soldiers and herdsmen. I wonder if there is a conflict with the Turkic prince Ashina Duji this time?"
"I don't think so!" Seeing Yang Ji laughing but not answering, Xue Wanche next to him expressed his thoughts: "Qimin Khan has already said it was a 'misunderstanding', so what can Ashina Duji do? Besides, he He is the great Turkic prince. If he didn't even have this kind of sense and face, he wouldn't have the strength second only to Qimin Khan. Of course, the most important thing is that the king killed the soldiers who were the most threatening to him. Schnauzer set up his own troops, so I think he would be secretly grateful and even receive him with a warm fist."
"That's a good point!" Yang Ji laughed: "Whether they are Turks or Khitans, they believe in the way of the wolf, and they are all cunning and ruthless. They are not the heroic and straightforward people that some people say. . The more benevolent and kind we are to them, the more they think we are weak and easy to bully. The only way to deal with wolves is to scare them, and then they will be convinced and fear them like a tiger."
Pei Xingyan nodded silently. Yang Ji had powerful abilities. He was convinced by what he said. At this moment, a group of scouts galloped from the front and reported: "Your Majesty, there is a Turkic cavalry running towards our army. General Daxi Already on standby."
"Go and have a look!" Yang Ji led everyone on horseback to the cavalry formation. Only a few miles away, they saw a group of Turkic cavalry rushing towards them. They were as fast as lightning and as fast as lightning.
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