Chapter 1227: Revisiting the old place

Chapter 1227: Revisiting the old place

Jiahubao is located between the mountains and fields on the northwest side of Queshu Valley. It is located in a narrow and scattered valley. The roads in its territory are also rugged and winding, but it is well connected.

Jiahubao got its name because it was a place where Hu merchants gathered. These Hu people traveled between various regions to trade goods for profit, so their gathering places also had certain requirements in terms of transportation.

The main passage connecting Pingyang and Jinyang is the Fenshui River Valley, and the narrowest and most dangerous part of the river valley is Queshu Valley. However, Queshu Valley is often not open to the public due to military or other reasons, and those Hu merchants have the need to transport goods continuously, so naturally they can only find another way. Jiahubao is a commercial gathering place that gradually formed in the process of doing business.

Going north from Jiahubao, passing through several valleys, you will enter the territory of Xihe County. There were originally Lingzhou and other places in the area, which were mainly used to accommodate the forces of Cao Ni, the governor of Lingzhou, and his son-in-law Liu Feng, who defected from Lingzhou to the Eastern Wei in the early years.

However, in the early years, the Tang King of the Western Wei led his army to attack Jinyang, and killed Liu Feng on the bank of the Fen River. He also broke through the Lingzhou City at that time and then crossed the Luliang Mountains and evacuated. After this, the overseas Chinese in Lingzhou never recovered. Finally, when the redundant prefectures and counties in the territory were abolished in the late Tianbao period, the state government of the overseas Chinese was abolished.

The actual Lingzhou is located at the foot of the Helan Mountains. It is also a very important place in the Silk Road trade. Many Western Hu merchants have settled there all year round. Therefore, there were many Western Hu people who followed Cao Ni to join the Eastern Wei, such as An, Shi, Kang and other Zhaowu Hu.

After Lingzhou was withdrawn, most of the Hu merchants under its jurisdiction also settled in Jiahu Fort, making this already prosperous gathering place of Hu merchants even more prosperous. In addition, the development of trade with the Western Wei also made the Jiahu Fort group of Hu people earn a lot of money.

However, with the development of the war between the Western Wei and the Northern Qi, the interests of these Hu merchants were also greatly affected. In the last war, as the victorious party, the Western Wei could still maintain a relatively tolerant and broad-minded attitude towards them, but the Northern Qi was much more harsh. Many people directly put part of the responsibility for the defeat on the heads of the Hu people in Jiahubao, believing that they were greedy for profit and colluded with foreign enemies, which made the Western Wei act swiftly as if assisted by God in the early stage of the war.

Such a statement cannot be said to be completely unfair to these Hu merchants. After all, these Hu merchants lack patriotism. Most of them have milk and mother, so they will naturally choose to move closer to the more advantageous party. It is inevitable that some people will leak some things to the Western Wei during the process of trade.

But if the responsibility for the defeat is put on them, it is more or less a bit of a false accusation. It is not that they don’t want to, but they just can’t do it. In the final analysis, it is just an excuse for the Jinyang dignitaries to exploit and plunder the wealth of the Hu merchants.

Taking advantage of this, Jinyang severely punished the Hu merchants in Jiahubao. Many Hu merchants had their wealth accumulated for generations extorted and barely saved their lives. As a result, these Hu merchants naturally resented the Northern Qi regime.

Although they also had some armed forces to protect the caravan, it was far from enough to confront a regime. Although they were unhappy, they could only hold it in, and even had to continue to work hard to make money and make contributions, so that the dignitaries in Jinyang City could show them mercy and let them go.

However, if there was a chance, these Hu merchants would definitely want to retaliate against the Northern Qi regime, and this time Wei Xiaokuan provided these Hu merchants with such an opportunity.

After receiving the order from the Bafu, Wei Xiaokuan quickly understood the intention of the King of Tang. Since he wanted to shock the tiger, he naturally had to point directly to the key points, so that the Northern Qi would be shocked and dare not act rashly again.

Although the Hu merchants were not strong enough, their position was very important. Moreover, they had not cut off their contacts in the past few years. Even though the Northern Qi Dynasty had managed the Queshu Valley as solid as a rock, it could not prevent people's hearts. The Hu merchants had their own means of crossing mountains and ridges. After a bribery, the garrison in Jiexiu was quickly opened up and began to turn a blind eye to the revived smuggling trade.

Wei Xiaokuan used these smuggling channels to transport two thousand elite soldiers and weapons directly to Jiahu Fort, bypassing the Queshu Valley, and quickly built a military fortress with the help of the local Hu people.

Jiahu Fort was only more than fifty miles away from Jiexiu City, where the Northern Qi Dynasty focused on operating and garrisoning in the north of the Queshu Valley, and more than thirty miles to the north was Liubi City, which the Northern Qi Dynasty used to defend against the Lishi Hu. After attacking Jinyang, the Tang King's troops withdrew from here to the Lishi area.

As the Western Wei army advanced to Jiahubao, they could threaten Jiexiu City to the east and Liubi City to the north. If the Western Wei attacked Northern Qi from Queshu Valley and the west side of Luliang Mountain, they could attack from both inside and outside, making the defense line that Northern Qi had been operating for several years precarious, and Jinyang could be directly exposed to the enemy's front at any time!

The sound of killing shook the sky in the mountains where Jiahubao was located. A small fortress stood on the hillside. On the slightly steep mountain wall below the fortress, many Northern Qi soldiers climbed up under the command of flags and drums and the commander, and continuously launched attacks on the fortress walls.

This battle has lasted for a long time. There are already a lot of stray arrows and damaged swords and guns scattered under the fortress, as well as a thick layer of shocking corpses. However, the Qi army's offensive is still surging up like a surging tide.

"Continue the attack, don't slack off! If you can capture the fortress and kill all the Wei troops in the city, the Supreme will reward you handsomely! If not, all of you will be severely punished!"

At the bottom of the hill, a middle-aged general in uniform was holding a sword and supervising the battle. Seeing that there was no effective breakthrough on the battlefield, his expression became more and more stern. He looked at the soldiers in front of him and said in a deep voice.

The middle-aged man was named Liu Honghui. He was also a member of the Jinyang nobles. He was the son-in-law of Emperor Gao Huan. His father Liu Gui could be regarded as one of Gao Huan's important nobles. Now that the Jinyang nobles were in charge of the military and political power of the Northern Qi Dynasty, Liu Honghui was also highly valued and sat in Jiexiu City as the governor of Jinzhou.

Since taking office, Liu Honghui has been paying close attention to the dynamics of the Wei army in the south of Queshu Valley, and he did not dare to neglect the military affairs of Jiexiu. However, he never expected that the Hu merchants in Jiahubao were so bold that they actually led the Western Wei army directly into the territory!

After learning about this, he was shocked. He immediately sent Jiexiu troops to Jiahubao, hoping to break through the fortress and expel the Wei people. Of course, he did not dare to conceal the military situation, and asked people to report the situation to Jinyang as soon as possible.

When Qi Lord Gao Yan learned about this, he was also furious. He even wanted to punish Liu Honghui for a crime, but fortunately, other nobles and relatives in the country pleaded and persuaded him, so Liu Honghui was allowed to make meritorious contributions. But if this crisis cannot be properly resolved, Liu Honghui knows that what awaits him will not be a good end.

Therefore, he personally led the crowd to Jiahubao to supervise the battle, vowing to recapture this place at all costs. However, after several days of continuous attacks, seeing the tenacious defense of the defenders in the fortress, his mood became heavier, and he could only urge and pressure the soldiers.

At this time, the situation in the castle was also not optimistic. This time, there were only two thousand elite soldiers as the vanguard, led by Mao Shijian. Even with the hundreds of soldiers from the Hu merchants, there were still less than three thousand people.

Because they sneaked in along the trade route, they did not carry much military equipment and supplies. Under the powerful offensive of the enemy, the arrows had been used up long ago, so that the city needed to cut bamboo into arrows.

Mao Shijian walked along the battle wall with a knife. Because the fortress was hastily built, all kinds of defenses were relatively simple, and even the city wall was not thick. The outer wall was made of rocks, and the inside was made of bamboo and wood. There was only a few feet high rammed earth wall in the middle.

As the arrows were used up, the enemies went straight to the bottom of the castle, ramming the outer stone wall, and even directly dismantling the small stones on the wall with their bare hands. Although the city still used boiling water, oil torches and other things to splash out to stop the enemy, there were also places where the outer wall had been demolished and there were large gaps, and enemy soldiers continued to pour in from the gaps.

"We must defend the fortress and kill the bandits! Now we have only a thousand divisions and brigades, and we are resisting tens of thousands of enemy troops. If we win the first battle, it will be a great achievement! Among the millions of heroes in the country, who can be so lucky? After this battle, it is not a problem to be granted a title of nobility and a son!"

Whenever there was a dangerous battle, Mao Shijian led his guards to rush forward with swords, and fought against the enemies who rushed in with the soldiers, and then loudly encouraged these elite soldiers who were tired but still in high spirits.

After hearing this, the soldiers all showed expectations in their eyes. They had no doubts about it. The military merit rewards of the Bafu have always been generous and straightforward. For their arrangement of going deep behind enemy lines and taking the lead in the first battle, even if they died in the battle, their wives, children and parents would receive comprehensive support rewards. If they were lucky enough not to die, they would be promoted to generals and colonels, and their status would be greatly improved.

There is no one in this world who is not afraid of death, but everyone will die one day. As long as they can die for a good cause, many people are not afraid of sacrificing their lives. The King of Tang is the benevolent and righteous ruler who makes people happy to sacrifice their lives. Anyone who works under him will share the glory and wealth in life, and his wife and children will be rich and noble in death. What is there to hesitate?

The men of Guanzhong are as brave as eagles and tigers. Even if they are weak, they are still fearless when facing enemies several times their number. Under the leadership of Mao Shijian, they defended the simple fortress of Jiahu Fort and resisted the strong attack of more than 10,000 enemy troops for several days.

And a few days later, they were no longer fighting alone, and reinforcements came! General Han Guo led 10,000 troops from Lishi over Huangluo Ridge and went straight to Liubi City, and immediately launched an attack on the city.

More than ten years ago, Han Guo and the King of Tang divided their troops into two groups and attacked Jinyang. At that time, they only launched a surprise attack on Eastern Wei. Now that they have come again and revisited the old place, it will be a real war to destroy the country!