Zhenjun City, one of the ten military cities in Ningzhou, is an important border town built by Daliang for more than thirty years.
Because of the loss of the border defense line between Qingyou and Qingzhou, Ningzhou was directly exposed to the Darong Iron Cavalry.
The territory of Ningzhou is basically dominated by plains, and it is a testing ground for cavalry to plunder southward.
And Ningzhou cannot be given up casually. Once Ningzhou is given up, the door to the north of Da Liang will be opened, and the Da Rong cavalry will march straight in, approaching Kyoto.
In order to consolidate Kyoto, after the two states of Qingyou were ceded, the number of troops stationed in Ningzhou was maintained at 300,000 all year round.
At the same time, in order to better protect the local people, they were all moved into ten military cities and several acropolis located near the military cities.
It can be said that in Ningzhou, the so-called county system is of little use. There are only generals who control military cities.
The ten military cities and the thirty nearby acropolis were like nails, nailing the boundaries of Ningzhou.
These forty cities are fortified in a triangular form, assisting and cooperating with each other. No matter which military city is attacked, the nearby acropolis will provide timely reinforcements.
With this kind of mutual cooperation, Ningzhou, a vast territory, withstood Da Rong's two-hundred-year attack and protected the centuries-old foundation of the Suliang royal family.
This slightly clumsy method has its advantages and disadvantages. The good thing is that it can prevent the Da Rong cavalry from marching in, but the disadvantages are also obvious. The Daliang soldiers can only passively defend like a tortoise.
The people of Ningzhou have lived in the military city almost all their lives, and they never even think about leaving the city.
But then I thought about it, after all, the two states of Qingyou were lost, and there was no natural defense line. If one state could be sacrificed to protect the safety of northern Great Liang, this sacrifice would mean nothing.
Su Qi'an withdrew his eyes from this depressing environment, crossed his legs with his horse, and the group of people quickly crossed the desolation in front of them and headed towards Zhenjun City.
The location of Zhenjun City is not at the border of Da Rong, but the second city in the form of a triangle. The location is not too forward.
It was safe all the way there. The mountain-splitting army was like a torrent, rushing quickly on the desolate official road.
After running for almost an hour, there was some gray space ahead, and a huge black city that looked like a mountain appeared.
The size of this black city frightened Su Qi'an. Compared with Lingbei County, the two were not on the same scale.
After a cursory glance, it was at least dozens of times larger than Lingbei County, and the black city walls had an inexplicable sense of vicissitudes of life.
The wall is thick, and even black powder may only leave a small pit on the surface of the wall.
This is the military city that took thirty years of Great Liang to build!
Xie Cang stopped about a hundred meters away from Zhenjun City. Before Xie Cang could speak, a loud voice sounded from the top of the city shrouded in yellow mist.
"May I ask if the person coming below is the Marquis of Lingdong?"
"It's me, please open the door quickly."
Xie Cang's voice fell, and immediately after, the two huge iron doors in front made a heavy creak, and then slowly opened.
Xie Cang said hello, and the Splitting Mountain Army behind him quickly followed, and soon everyone entered the city.
After a brief period of darkness, light flashed by, and what appeared in front of Su Qi'an was an extremely lively scene.
There is no end in sight for the people coming and going, and there are at least a dozen main roads in the city.
The shops on both sides are densely packed, and there is a lot of noise.
It is possible to build so many main roads in the city, even in a county town, there may not necessarily be so many.
Moreover, the size of the military city is beyond Su Qi'an's imagination. A rough estimate is that the number of people in the military city is at least several hundred thousand, which is similar to that of the county town.
However, in the city, what I saw more were not so-called traders, but soldiers patrolling from time to time.
These soldiers may have been stationed at the border all year round, and their expressions were tense.
Su Qi'an believed that once there was any disturbance in the city, the swords in the hands of these soldiers would fall on the heads of the rioters immediately.
When Su Qi'an entered the city, he did not have time to appreciate the scale of Zhenjun City. After a while, a group of soldiers came forward and led Xie Cang and other Splitting Mountain Army away from this place.
Turned into a small road from one of the main roads, and after walking for a short time, Xie Cang dismounted and separated from the Splitting Mountain Army.
He just led Su Qi'an up a set of steps. The steps were not long, about twenty or thirty meters.
As soon as they finished walking, Su Qi'an and Xie Cang came to a large house and looked around. Groups of patrolling soldiers were walking back and forth with solemn expressions on their faces.
Even when passing by Su Qi'an and Xie Cang, they didn't make any move to look at them. They just walked straight away as if they didn't exist.
"This is..." Su Qian seemed to have discovered something, and whispered in her heart. Suddenly, a clear voice suddenly sounded.
"Haha, Brother Xie came so late. We were really anxious to wait. We thought Brother Xie wouldn't come this time."
Su Qi'an turned his eyes away. In the house, several young people came out with smiles.
They were young, about the same age as Xie Cang, and wore soft gold silk armor. Although they had smiles on their faces, there was always a feeling that made Su Qi'an disgusted.
These people are none other than Xie Cang. They all have the status of marquis and have a noble status. However, unlike Xie Cang, Xie Cang's marquis was defeated bit by bit on the battlefield by himself.
And they relied on their family background and influence to earn some military honors in the army, and their promotion was, to put it bluntly, gold-plated.
Who makes these people's families powerful? If you pick one at random, their grandfather and grandfather are both the Duke of the country.
As long as they pick up the pieces on the battlefield and earn a few military exploits, it is normal for them to be awarded the title of Marquis.
Xie Cang didn't feel cold at all to these dandy princes who took the initiative to say hello, and said calmly, "Even if you don't come, I won't be late. I don't have time to chat with you here. I have important things to do with you." Let’s discuss what you should do and take your leave.”
After saying this, Xie Cang and Su Qi'an walked directly into the mansion without even looking at these dandy princes.
Xie Cang walked away, and the expressions of the young princes with smiles on their faces suddenly changed.
One of them said coldly, "Humph, didn't you just win a few battles? Why are you pretending? You really think you are a person."
"That's right, Brother Liang, I just said it, this Xie Cang is the master who can't get in the oil and salt. Isn't it because he has the support behind him that he is so arrogant? Who doesn't have a prince or something like that?"
"Brother Zheng Liang, just watch. Let him show off in this war. It's best to bring in all his Mountain Splitting Army. Without the Mountain Splitting Army, Xie Cang won't let us manipulate him."
The leader, Zheng Liang, had a hint of gloom in his smiling eyes, but he quickly recovered. He nodded and said softly.
"Well, you are right. Although we have conflicts, the war is imminent. We originally thought of resolving the issue by focusing on the war. Alas, it seems that Xie Cang is still the same as before."
"Harm, brother Liang is too kind-hearted. This kind of person is like a stone in a latrine, smelly and hard. Brother Liang, don't argue with him. Come on, let's go and see what Xie Cang is so stubborn about."
The dandy prince next to him was flattering Zheng Liang while walking towards the mansion.
There is only one lobby in this mansion. The lobby is large and can accommodate hundreds of people without any problem.
In the middle of the lobby, there is a huge sand table, occupying one-fifth of the area.
There were countless people surrounding the sand table, led by an old man with gray hair who looked to be at least seventy years old.
The old man was wearing armor. Even though he was old, he was still in good spirits. His eyes were not cloudy at all, and there were flashes of light from time to time.
This man is the lord of Zhenjun City, Fan Wenzhong!
He was also the commander in charge of the Ningzhou war. Although Fan Wenzhong was just a general, everyone present, even those dandy princes, had to restrain their arrogant temper and show respect and kindness when they saw him.
If nothing else, this Fan Wenzhong was very familiar with their grandfather and grandfather, and they were comrades-in-arms. If Ningzhou hadn't needed a prestigious general to take charge.
With Fan Wenzhong's military and political achievements over the years, it is more than enough to become the Duke of the country.
Fan Wenzhong stayed in Ningzhou for thirty years.
And his old brothers have now become high-ranking princes in Daliang, while he has only been a general for so many years.
In the past thirty years, it was actually very simple to leave Ningzhou as long as Fan Wenzhong opened his mouth.
But this veteran, in order to ensure the safety of the northern border of Daliang, never asked for transfer.
Dedicate yourself to Da Liang with all your heart.
That is to say, Fan Wenzhong's great righteousness for the country and the people, even if he is only a general, but his quality, anyone in the Daliang Army who sees him will call him "Old General".
It is precisely because of his loyalty that Fan Wenzhong was also the first person to control the military power of an army of 300,000 people.
"No matter who rebels, Fan Wenzhong will not rebel!"
This is the evaluation of Fan Wenzhong by the former emperor. This is a supreme honor.
After so many years, Ningzhou, under the governance of Fan Wenzhong, has made irreplaceable contributions to the stability of northern Daliang.
In this war, Fan Wenzhong is the well-deserved number one coach.
Whether it was Xie Cang or those dudes who wanted to gain military glory, they had to obey Fan Wenzhong and not dare to make mistakes.
Fan Wenzhong focused his eyes with a sharp expression, looked at the sand table in front of him, and then said loudly.
"This time Da Rong went south and invaded Ningzhou again. Just like before, he first used cavalry to harass and test the strength of our military city. But what is their intention? I can't tell."
For this battle-hardened veteran to say these words, one can imagine the troubles this war will bring.
Through Fan Wenzhong's introduction, Su Qi'an also had a rough understanding of the enemy's and our own military strength.
There are indeed 300,000 troops in Ningzhou Military City, but they are not gathered together, but scattered among ten military cities.
After all, Ningzhou has such a large territory. If you want to keep Ningzhou intact, you must disperse your troops in various military cities and cooperate with each other to maximize the military's combat power at the minimum cost.
The army is scattered, and the ten military cities have basically only 20,000 troops. The Zhenjun City is not bad, because of its special geography, there are 30,000 troops.
