Chapter 402 Guanshan Barrier
In the first year of Wuding in the Eastern Dynasty, after the Battle of Mangshan, Bohai King Gao Huan felt that the Western Dynasty might not be able to solve the problem within a short time. In order to avoid falling into the dilemma of fighting on two fronts, he actively repaired with the surrounding forces and established a military alliance in Beishan, Sizhou. Build the Great Wall to strengthen border security in the northern part of Bingzhou.
Originally, although the northern part of Bingsi was also surrounded by mountains and rugged roads, it was still unobstructed and pedestrians and merchants could pass freely.
However, after the construction of this section of the Beishan Great Wall was completed, all traveling teams traveling along this route had to pass through the forts along the route before entering the Jinzhong Plain where Jinyang Bafu is located. Large groups of people carrying equipment are often refused entry to the Great Wall.
The Eastern Dynasty has not been used in northern Xinjiang for several years, and the local people rarely carry out large-scale circulation of people, so the most common travelers on this route are those barbarian business groups.
These business groups often have to travel thousands or even tens of thousands of miles to make money, and many of these areas are barbaric lands without royal law and order. Therefore, they must also maintain a considerable armed force to protect themselves. , to ensure the safety of people and goods.
When these barbarian merchant groups arrived outside the Beishan Great Wall, the merchant members might be able to enter by paying passes or bribing garrison officers themselves, along with people and goods, but their entourage, especially the armed guards, often It is isolated outside the Great Wall and difficult to enter easily.
Therefore, there are many settlements scattered among the mountains of Beishan outside the Great Wall. People gather or disperse periodically, mainly members of the armed forces of Hu merchants.
These people often need to live here temporarily for several months. The time is not long or short. Daily food consumption is essential, and the time is not enough for them to cultivate the land, so they can only buy it from the local soldiers and civilians nearby. Food has also formed a large market in recent years.
In a valley in the north mountain, there are numerous tents for camping on both sides of the valley. Down the slope are large groups of cattle, horses and camels. Guests of all races come and go, making it very lively.
There was a group of people fighting together in the valley. There were a lot of money, silk and goods piled up beside the arena, as well as some small flags and flags, and even Orchid slave girls.
These are all gambling funds used for betting. The people living here have nothing to do and do not dare to act arbitrarily so as not to implicate the owners who have entered the south of the Great Wall and be punished. So they can only engage in gambling with each other. Anything can be used as a bet. Those Flags and flags represent a camp. If you don't have this, you can still put yourself on it.
Accompanied by the crazy roars and cheers of the crowd, a tall horn warrior on the field broke off his opponent's arm, and then walked around the field waving around to show off his victory.
His companions had already taken away all the winnings from the area where gambling funds were stored. If they received gambling funds they didn't like, they would sell them on the spot.
"Don't be so showy next time. You must give people some hope of winning!"
Li Yunxin, who was wearing a fur coat and felt hat, saw that the gambling money collected was so small, and he became somewhat dissatisfied and taught his subordinates who had just shown off their power on the field. During the two or three days that they had been here, they had fought several duels, and gradually gained a reputation for being fierce, so much so that the guards of the Hu merchants around them no longer dared to challenge them casually.
The group of people returned to the sunny and shady camp with their gambling money. Li Yunxin went straight to see Liu Kuzhen outside the tent where he lived. After entering the tent, he saw that Liu Kuzhen was in a hurry and drove the women sitting nearby into the inner tent. He chose one He sat down at the leisure table, looked at Liu Kuzhen and said: "Clan Chief Liu, we have been here for a few days, but we have no idea how to pass through this barrier. If we delay the opportunity, it will be difficult to tell Master Lang Come back!"
Previously, Li Yunxin was ordered to lead a thousand troops to Yunyang Valley to accompany Liu Kuzhen on his wedding, but the Beihai King did nothing to make things difficult and entertained them warmly. He became even more enthusiastic when he learned that they were going to return to Lishi. He gave them a lot of financial support and helped them disguise themselves as a caravan coming from the south. They traveled day and night and arrived here smoothly.
Yunyang Valley is close to Monan, and it has close contacts with Hu merchant groups. In addition, Li Yunxin's subordinates are all Longyouerlangs, and their conversation habits are very different from those in northern Shaanxi. Therefore, even if they encounter some states and counties on the way, they can easily conduct interrogations. Cover up the past.
But when they arrived outside the Beishan Great Wall, they encountered a problem. After all, they were different from normal merchant groups. In addition, the defenders here prohibited large groups of people from passing through the pass, so they were immediately stuck here.
When the newlywed Liu Kuzhen heard this, his expression became serious, and he said: "The envoy sent by the King of the North Sea is negotiating with the garrison chief here. The result will probably come soon. General, please wait patiently. Lang." I dare not neglect the Lord's command. If we can't make it here, we will find another place to sneak in."
The Beishan Mountains stretch for thousands of miles and are connected to the Luliang Mountains from the southwest. No matter how tightly guarded the Eastern Dynasty is, it will be difficult to fill all the mountains and valleys with soldiers. As long as you search carefully, there will always be loopholes for sneaking in. In the past, when Li Shihu was pressed by a large army, tens of thousands of people could escape from the encirclement, not to mention the thousands of people they had now.
However, this will inevitably waste some time. If you really get lost in Beishan while searching for a way out, it will be even more fun.
Li Yunxin was already thinking about whether to attack by force. He had a thousand Longyou soldiers, plus hundreds of clan members accompanying Liu Kuzhen. King Jihu Beihai of Yunyang Valley also sent more than a thousand soldiers. They escorted Liu Kuzhen back to Lishi. As a result, they had nearly 3,000 men. It was not enough to completely capture the Great Wall, but they had to choose a weak point to attack. The chance of success was not small. .
However, they don't know what is going on inside the Great Wall. Once they break through with force, they will definitely alert the defenders on the entire Great Wall defense line. If they encounter some obstacles inside, even if they attack here, they will soon be defeated. to containment. Moreover, the information about the people under Master Lang's command is not the same at the moment. If the execution of Master Lang's plan is affected by any rash actions at this time, it will be a disservice.
Therefore, Li Yun was also very conflicted and confused about what to do next.
At this time, the envoy from Yunyang Valley who was sent to contact the garrison leader returned, but the news he brought back was not very optimistic. The garrison commanders who had some interaction with Yunyang Gu Jihu before all accompanied the army southward. Now the people guarding this place are troops transferred from Jizhou, Dingzhou and other places.
Although these people are willing to collect money to let them pass, the price is high and the number of places is very limited. At most, only twenty or thirty people are allowed to pass. If there are more than a hundred people, there is no room for negotiation.
If the three thousand of them wanted to sneak across in batches this way, they would need enough money to bury the Great Wall, so it was simply not feasible.
There is another news, that is, the Jinyang Bafu will recruit some Hu merchant armed forces to Jinyang to coordinate the defense. Merchant group armed forces with this intention need to go to the nearby Maling garrison city to accept recruitment within the next few days. If you are selected, you will receive Bafu treasure rewards after completing the defense mission.
When Li Yunxin heard the news, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he decided to sneak into it through this method.
So he immediately mixed and divided the Yunyang Valley envoys of his troops into three to five hundred people, which was in line with the size of the general Hu merchants' armed forces, and then set off one after another in the direction of Maling garrison. .
Maling garrison is the western starting point of the Beishan Great Wall. It is located in Xiurong County. It is also the largest garrison in this area in the Eastern Dynasty.
As the recruitment order was issued, many armed Hu merchants who were blocked outside the Beishan Great Wall came here. These armed forces are meant to use people's money to eliminate disasters. If they can serve such a big guest as Jinyang Bafu and be accepted as official officers and soldiers, it will undoubtedly be a carp jumping over the dragon's gate. Why bother to travel to Monan Business Road to drink in the wind? Eat dirt.
Although there were many people here, Li Yunxin was also worried that his subordinates would be frightened and reveal their identity, so he first sent a small team to ask for directions.
The so-called recruitment here naturally depends first on whether they are strong or not, and secondly on whether they have bows and armors. As for their origins and ownership, they are just simple inquiries. After all, they are originally used as consumables. After several rounds of inspections, the men Li Yunxin sent as testers quickly passed the test and were successfully recruited.
Seeing this scene, Li Yunxin also breathed a sigh of relief, and secretly guessed in his heart that the recruitment of troops here was so sloppy, and there was no way that the Hu merchants' armed forces would be stationed in Jinyang.
The reason why Jinyang Bafu wanted to recruit Hu people was to deal with some unexpected changes. This also shows that the remaining troops in Jinyang should not be sufficient. And this unexpected change is most likely due to the fact that Li Tai's troops have caused great disturbances after entering the country.
After realizing this, Li Yunxin became even more excited, and successively sent small teams to the front for review, and all of them were successfully selected.
But at this moment, wooden fences were put down on the road leading to the school grounds, and an officer announced that the selection was over, and the other unselected candidates could disperse.
Li Yunxin was dumbfounded when he saw this scene. Most of the others had already sneaked in, but he didn't expect that when it was his turn, he would be excluded. In desperation, he ignored the danger and went out directly from the crowd, shouting to the Eastern Army soldiers inside the gate: "A certain class of men are very brave and willing to serve the King Gao and kill thieves. Why did the general send so many brave men to kill them?" Excluded from the camp?”
The general Hu who was in charge of the recruitment was naturally too lazy to explain. After hearing this, he impatiently waved his hand and ordered the soldiers to drive him away.
But at this moment, a middle-aged general galloped over from the other side of the school grounds. He looked Li Yunxin up and down and then said with great interest: "From the strong man's accent, it sounds like he is Long Youerlang? Do you recognize me?"
Li Yunxin heard that this person had a strong voice, and his voice was also in the Longyou dialect, but no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't figure out who the other person was, so he could only shake his head helplessly.
When the middle-aged man saw this, he sighed, and then said: "A certain Luo Chao, who is also from Qinlong, has been away from his hometown for a long time. When he saw the young people in the village, he didn't recognize him... It's just that we always meet people from this far away country. It's a fate. Since you are so eager to repay your kindness, you can lead me under my command."