Chapter 1247: Conquering Xishan

Chapter 1247: Conquering Xishan

Compared to Li Tai's army advancing rapidly along the way, Yang Zhong's troops did not advance smoothly.

Although not long after Li Tai led his troops from Guanzhong, Yang Zhong also led his troops to the north to Hetao to gather the troops. This group of troops was led by Yang Zhong and Yuwen Gui, the two pillars of the country, as the front and rear commanders, and gathered troops from Lingzhou General Li Xian, Yanzhou General Li He and other troops, totaling 50,000 troops, and another 30,000 troops from the Turkic tribes led by the Turkic South Little Khan Shetu and the Chi Le tribes.

These troops were all under the control of the Western Wei Dynasty, and they gathered quickly in Hetao. When Li Tai's troops entered Shangdang, most of the troops had already gathered. Then Suizhou Governor Li Yantou led 5,000 troops to cross the river from Hequ and marched first, along the inner line of the Great Wall to contain the mobilization of the Qi army's border defense troops.

Next, Yang Zhong and others will take the south side of Wuchuan, pass through Yunzhong and then march to Pingcheng. After joining the Turkic army in Pingcheng, they will push south to Shuozhou, enter from Xingling, and go straight down to Sizhou to close Jinyang.

Xingling is the Yanmen Pass in later generations. This road is also the most commonly used road to Jinyang in the south. Of course, it is also the most strictly guarded place in the Northern Wei Dynasty. As early as the Gao Huan period of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, this section of the Great Wall connecting Guancen Mountain and Hengshan Mountain was built. After that, it was expanded and repaired. Now it has become the inner Great Wall in the north of Jinyang in the Northern Qi Dynasty.

Before, Qi Lord Gao Yan wanted to mobilize troops to recapture Jianzhou, so he transferred all the border defense forces in Shuozhou and other places back to Jinyang, but the garrison of the Beishan Great Wall on this line was still not withdrawn, and Pan Zihuang, the son of Hedong King Pan Le, replaced Hulugu as the governor of Sizhou to guard this line of border defense.

The Wei army moved quickly. Within the planned military period, the front brigade led by Yang Zhong successfully arrived at Pingcheng and removed the remaining Qi army defenses one by one. Yang Zhong personally led his troops to attack various parties. It took only a few days to capture more than a dozen Qi army cities and cleared this large base for the meeting.

However, the Wei army was well prepared, but the Turks were not well prepared. Originally, at the beginning of the communication, the Turkic Khan Wuzun said that he could send 100,000 troops, but later he said that the Hu tribe cities south of Yinshan should also be counted as the Turkic troops, because in recent years many Turkic tribes have gone south to Yinshan to submit, and the southern small Khan Shetu is also a member of the Turkic Khan.

Yang Zhong and others did not object to this, but sent a message hoping that Wuzun Khan would lead the rest of the troops to the south to meet as soon as possible. However, when Yang Zhong led his troops to Pingcheng, the Turkic army still had not arrived at Yinshan, and their attitude was negative and their actions were slow.

It was not until he learned that Yang Zhong had entered Pingcheng and had swept the surrounding Qi army strongholds that Wuzun Khan became more active and sent his brother Buli Khan to lead 20,000 troops to speed up the march. Finally, they joined the Wei army at the Jishang Pass of the former Northern Qi. At this time, the rear division led by Yuwen Gui had also arrived in Pingcheng.

"Wuzun Khan has a treacherous plot and is indecisive. If he continues to stay here and wait for his follow-up division to arrive, I don't know when he can go south to break through the Great Wall and arrive at Jinyang City."

After joining Yuwen Gui, Yang Zhong immediately expressed his dissatisfaction with the slow movement of the Turkic division.

Yuwen Gui nodded after hearing this. They all knew that the Turkic wanted to maintain a situation of playing both sides between the two countries and were not very keen on helping one side completely eliminate the other. In addition, due to the strength of the Western Wei in recent years, the interaction between the Turkic and Northern Qi has become closer.

This time, the troops were forced to go out due to the strength of the Western Wei Dynasty. In addition, he was worried that the Western Wei Dynasty might take this opportunity to support his nephew Shetu to expand his power in the south of the desert and divide its strength. Therefore, Wuzun Khan had to lead his army here, but he still had an attitude of working but not working hard, which made people very annoyed.

However, the Western Wei Dynasty was well prepared to send troops this time. It did not need to rely on the help of the Turks to succeed. Therefore, facing the Turks' uncooperative attitude, Yang Zhong said again: "Even if the Turks are passive, they must have heard about their joint military action with our country in Jinyang. The king and ministers of Qi must be worried and uneasy. It is appropriate to take advantage of their panic response and the lack of good plans to attack quickly, so that their divisions and brigades will not dare to go south under fear, and the Lord's attack on Shangdang will be smoother."

At this time, Yang Zhong did not know that Li Tai's troops had already achieved extremely brilliant results. He was still following common sense and guessing that the troops might still be fighting with the enemy in Shangdang, thinking that he would send a surprise force to put pressure on Jinyang.

Yuwen Gui was mainly responsible for coordination during this expedition, and the actual combat mission relied more on Yang Zhong's planning and execution. Hearing Yang Zhong's words, he asked again: "What does Lord Anlu want to do?"

"Please ask Lord Huazheng to lead the army here to continue waiting for the Turks to join forces, and attract the enemy's eyes and ears here. I will lead 3,000 elite soldiers to go around now, bypass Shuozhou and join forces with Suizhou. If we can break the western border of the bandits, it will shock the bandit court. After hearing the news, Wuzun Khan will not hesitate to move forward, and will speed up the march and rush to join forces. By then, the army will march south with great momentum, and the enemy will be difficult to stop!"

After thinking about it, Yang Zhong said in a deep voice.

After arriving in Pingcheng, he sent scouts to patrol the south, and contacted the scouts of Li Yantou's troops who set out from Hequ in the west of Shuozhou, and learned that the troops had arrived near Sheping Garrison and were waiting for an opportunity to break through this line of defense.

Corresponding to the Beishan Great Wall, there is the Xishan Great Wall to the west of Jinyang. It is built from Huangluoling in Luliang Mountain all the way northward along the mountain to Sheping Garrison in Guancen Mountain, with a total length of more than 400 miles.

This section of the Great Wall was mainly used to defend against the Jihu tribes on the west side of Luliang Mountain, as well as the Western Wei people who fled from northern Shaanxi. It was built as early as when Li Tai launched an attack on Jinyang from Lishi and succeeded, and then went to Gaoyang Tianbao. There have been many additions and repairs over the years, and it can be considered a relatively complete section of the Great Wall defense line near Jinyang.

After breaking through the Sheping garrison, you can enter the upper reaches of the Fenshui River and reach Jinyang along the Fenshui River Valley. However, the route is more tortuous than the Yanmenguan line going south. Moreover, the Northern Qi Dynasty also set up a lot of defenses in this section. In addition to the Great Wall, there were thirty-six garrisons between Huangshuling and Sheping garrison. Later, heavy walls were added to the Great Wall, so this route is also very special. It is difficult to break through, but once it is broken through, it will have the effect of knocking the mountain and shaking the tiger.

Yang Zhong was unwilling to stay in Pingcheng and waste his time by the Turks, and he also knew that the Northern Qi Dynasty had already known about the joint invasion of the Wei army and the Turks. The front line of the Beishan Great Wall was bound to strengthen its defense forces, and the Wei army alone could break through. It was not easy, especially since there was a Turk with ulterior motives behind him, so he planned to use a small number of elites to bypass the frontal battlefield and break through from the side.

Moreover, war has always emphasized adaptability. Although his troops planned to attack south from the Great Wall at Beishan, the King of Tang also gave him great power to adapt to changes. If he could make a breakthrough in Xishan first, it would be a good idea. Don’t stick to one line.

In this direction, in addition to Li Yantou's troops, there were also General Han Guo's 10,000 divisions and a group of Lishihu tribes near Huangshu Ridge in the south. If Yang Zhong can break through the Xishan Great Wall, he can quickly integrate these troops and quickly form considerable combat effectiveness on the Xishan side, thus providing strong side support to the troops on the North Road, even if the Tang Dynasty troops cannot quickly By opening up the Shangdang and Wuxiang lines and entering the Jinyang area, the North Route Division and Brigade will not have to go deep alone and lose their footing.

"The front line of the Western Mountains is rugged and dangerous. An Lugong only led 3,000 divisions. Is this too few?"

Yu Wengui did not object to Yang Zhong's idea, but he still hesitated when he heard that he was only going to lead three thousand troops south.

After Yang Zhong heard this, he waved his hand and said: "It's quite a lot. The focus of the offensive on this road is to attack the unprepared ones. When we meet on a narrow road or in a rat's den, it's about bravery rather than strength. If the army you lead is too large and bloated, it will be difficult to advance or retreat. Master Kuang When we attacked Jinyang last year, we also led a small army, but we could use it skillfully and be invincible. I will use this old plan now, hoping that it will not disgrace the master's plan!"

Although he is not the kind of person who shows his emotions openly, Yang Zhong admires some of his master's classic and glorious achievements in the past year. Now that he has the opportunity, he hopes that he can imitate them. He doesn't have any comparable ideas, but In my heart, I have my own thoughts and conclusions about the execution of these tactics, and I naturally hope to replicate them.

He has always been very capable of action. Now that he has made a decision and obtained Yu Wengui's approval, he selected three thousand elite soldiers and carried the necessary supplies and ordnance, and left the camp in batches while the scouts were in and out. , and headed south first.

Thanks to the previous clearing of the Wei army and the lack of strength of the Qi army, the main border defense forces were concentrated on the Beishan Great Wall line, but no more troops were deployed on the periphery. Therefore, Yang Zhong and his party were able to successfully bypass Shuozhou. Joined Li Yantou's troops who were wandering near Sheping garrison.

Li Yantou was the first to lead his troops, crossing the river directly from Hequ, and arrived outside the Qi Army's Beishan Great Wall. Due to the rugged ravines and twists and turns, the actual advancement was not very large. However, his soldiers made full use of the widely distributed smuggling trade routes here and continued to invade different locations on the Xishan Great Wall, which also made At this time, the Qi army was exhausted and had to distribute its troops evenly among the garrison lines along the way.

Li Yantou was also quite surprised to learn that Yang Zhong had arrived in person and led his troops. He hurriedly came to greet him in person. After meeting, he quickly explained the situation to Yang Zhong.

Although Li Yantou's intrusion has alerted the troops stationed at the Xishan Great Wall, this line of defense is inherently very important, and it is not expected that the enemy troops here will be careless and unprepared. Li Yantou's previous harassment had greatly consumed the enemy's energy and confused their attention. It would undoubtedly be easier to launch a strong attack at this time.

Yang Zhong, led by Li Yantou and others, personally sneaked into Sheping garrison and several nearby city garrison, carefully observed the terrain and defense conditions of these city garrison, and finally decided to choose Sheping garrison and a nearby city garrison as the offensive place.

Next, Li Yantou first led the army to launch a feint attack towards another city garrison. Although the Great Wall along the Huangshu Ridge is not tall, it is also easy to defend and difficult to attack with the rugged and steep mountains. These are distributed within the Great Wall Once the garrison is attacked, it can organize a defensive counterattack in time, and notify friendly forces on the front line of the Great Wall through beacon smoke. Once the situation becomes overwhelming, they can receive assistance relatively smoothly, so it is extremely difficult to break through.

Li Yantou continued to launch attacks during this period, but most of them were in vain. When they saw that there were not many invading troops, the city garrison didn't even bother to warn with beacon smoke. They just organized the troops in the fortress to block and fight.

As the Wei army's offensive gradually intensified, the Qi army felt more and more pressure. Finally, they lit the beacon to inform the friendly forces along the line of the attack and asked them to prepare for reinforcement. However, the Wei army's offensive was not strong enough to capture the fortress, so they did not ask for reinforcement for the time being.

"Continue to strengthen the offensive and attract the enemy here!"

Li Yantou knew that the terrain of Sheping Fort was even more rugged than here. Only by attracting part of the garrison there and then suddenly launching an attack, it would be possible to capture the city garrison, so he ordered to strengthen the offensive against the city garrison here.

As the offensive intensified, the enemy's counterattack became more and more fierce, and the casualties under the Great Wall were also increasing rapidly. The bodies of the dead soldiers were piled up outside the Great Wall, and the Wei army soldiers in the rear were still waving swords and guns, fearlessly climbing towards this section of the Great Wall.

"The Wei army's offensive is fierce, it doesn't seem like a feint, call for reinforcements quickly, be prepared!" Seeing the fierce attack of the Wei army outside the wall, the Qi army garrison commander couldn't help but feel nervous. Although there was no danger of the city being broken, he still had someone light a beacon for help for safety. Seeing the signs of sergeant dispatch inside the Great Wall, Li Yantou was also refreshed. Seeing that the offensive slowed down slightly due to the heavy casualties on the battlefield, he rushed forward with armor and spear, shouting: "Not enough, hurry up, attack the wall!" The Qi army mobilized inside the Great Wall, and naturally they had to allocate reinforcements from the nearest place. At this time, Yang Zhong had led the army to the vicinity of Sheping Garrison under the cover of mountains and trees. The mountains and trees outside the garrison had been harvested and cut down, making it difficult to continue to sneak in, so they could only stay here and wait for the Qi army in the city to be led away. After waiting for more than an hour, Yang Zhong and others hiding in the forest could even hear the fighting in the city garrison more than ten miles away. They could imagine how fierce the battle was. However, in order to capture the enemy city, no matter how fierce the battle was, they could only wait here and wait for the opportunity.

Finally, as the smoke of help rose in the distance, the soldiers in the city garrison began to put on armor and quickly assembled to the south. Yang Zhong looked out and found that there were about 500 soldiers transferred from here.

As the most important garrison in this section of the Great Wall, Sheping Garrison has the largest number of garrison troops, about 1,500 people. Although it doesn't seem like much, combined with the dangerous terrain, even if tens of thousands of divisions and brigades come to attack, it is probably difficult to shake it easily. In addition, the defenders in the Great Wall have flexible support, which makes it really easy to defend and difficult to attack.

There were still about a thousand garrisons in the city, and Yang Zhong was not absolutely sure that he could capture the city in one fell swoop, so he chose to continue waiting. As the battle progressed, small groups of soldiers were withdrawn one after another, but the sound of fighting on the battlefield in the south was already faintly audible. It must have been heavy casualties there, and it would take several times the casualties to attract some of the defenders here.

"No need to wait any longer, prepare to attack!"

After a while, although there were still hundreds of garrisons in the city, Yang Zhong did not wait any longer. If Li Yantou suffered too many casualties, even if Sheping Garrison was captured, it would affect the subsequent war.

In order to avoid being noticed by the defenders in the city, only dozens of elite soldiers followed Yang Zhong to lurk nearby, and the other soldiers were still waiting for support in the distance. With Yang Zhong's order, these elite soldiers who had been lurking for a long time went straight into the tiger's cage and ran straight to the Great Wall opposite, and the rope hooks around their waists were thrown straight to the several-meter-high Great Wall.

"Enemy attack, enemy attack, quickly respond to the enemy!"

The Qi soldiers on guard on the top of the city also discovered the change at the first time, and hurriedly shouted to warn. Soon, some Qi soldiers ran over, drawing their swords to chop and destroy the ropes that had been hooked on the top of the city. However, as soon as they approached the top of the wall, the elite soldiers of the Wei army threw sharp short spears at the top of the city, stabbing the Qi soldiers on the spot, and those who were not injured also retreated in a hurry.

"Climb up quickly!"

Yang Zhong took the lead in grabbing the ropes and stepping on the city wall, climbing up to the top of the city with his hands and feet. In just a few breaths, he had already climbed up to the top of the city. The divisions and brigades in the south had been feinting for a while, and I am afraid that they had paid the price of thousands of lives. What they were fighting for was these few breaths of time!

As Yang Zhong jumped onto the top of the city, the surrounding Qi soldiers also surrounded and killed him with anger, using swords and guns. In order to ensure flexibility when climbing, Yang Zhong did not wear heavy armor. He was still fearless even though he was surrounded. He grabbed his sword and slashed at the nearest Qi army soldier. When he retreated, he snatched the long spear from his hand. Then he swung his sword with one hand and the spear with the other, and fought on the top of the city surrounded by enemies.

Of the elite soldiers who had been lurking with Yang Zhong for a long time, only about twenty of them successfully climbed to the top of the city. As a result, several people were sacrificed by the enemy. In the end, only a dozen people gathered on the top of the city, but they had to face the siege of hundreds of enemy soldiers. Despite this, they still firmly occupied a corner of the city wall, as if a solid rock was bearing the surging waves again and again!

At this time, the Wei army soldiers who were waiting in the distance also quickly rushed over. Due to the presence of Yang Zhong and others on the top of the city wall, the Qi army soldiers could no longer defend the city wall calmly and strictly. The Wei army soldiers below formed a human wall, erected ladders, and used various means to climb to the top of the city wall and then joined the battle. As more and more people climbed to the top of the city wall, the initiative on the battlefield was gradually seized by the Wei army.

On the battlefield of the city garrison more than a dozen miles away, the bodies of the sacrificed Wei army soldiers had piled up to half the height of the outer wall of the Great Wall. There were hundreds of bodies in just one pile, but there were several such piles outside the wall. Together with the wood and stone objects thrown away by the Qi army's defense, a gentle slope composed of flesh, wood and stone was directly piled up outside the Great Wall.

"Continue to attack, don't stop!"

Li Yantou was still waving his sword, leading his personal soldiers to step on the bodies of his comrades again and again to charge towards the top of the city. He knew that once he slowed down the offensive, the previous sacrifices would be in vain. Only by firmly attracting the Qi army here could he win the opportunity for the soldiers in the north.

After repeated attacks, fewer and fewer soldiers were able to continue fighting. Even Li Yantou had been wounded several times. Finally, he saw the smoke of war in the north. His numb mind suddenly lifted up, and he shouted again: "Yang Zhuguo is fierce and will succeed! Follow me to fight for a while and stop the enemy from coming back for help!"

Of the 5,000 divisions that followed him here, only less than 2,000 people still maintained their combat effectiveness. After hearing his roar, they all rushed to the top of the city with their remaining strength.

Perhaps the news that Sheping Garrison was attacked was too shocking, and the defenders on the top of the city were in some confusion. Li Yantou and others rushed to the top of the city, and then the two sides started a close-range hand-to-hand fight. Although some Qi troops returned to support Sheping Garrison, reinforcements came from the south, and Li Yantou and others were still in a bitter battle.

The battle lasted for an unknown period of time, and the pressure on the rear suddenly decreased. Li Yantou looked back and saw Yang Zhong, who was covered in blood plasma, leading his troops to march forward. He immediately showed a bitter smile on his face and said in a hoarse voice: "Fortunately, you have fulfilled your mission..."

"Can you still fight? Keep killing the enemy!"

Yang Zhong's throat was not much better, but his eyes were still full of fighting spirit. Li Yantou and others nodded after hearing this, and then joined forces to continue chasing the Qi army southward along the Great Wall.

In this battle, the Wei army took advantage of the situation to capture several cities in a row, and only stopped temporarily after attacking Sandui Shu in the upper reaches of the Fen River. Nearly half of the 400-mile Xishan Great Wall was directly captured. Even if the Qi army in Jinyang reacted and reinforced and blocked it, it was no longer possible. The Fen River Valley was directly breached.

After this battle, Yang Zhong and other participating soldiers were also very pleased. Although the losses were relatively heavy, the results were really brilliant. If the master knew that they had made such a breakthrough, he would definitely smile, right?

But soon their excitement cooled down, because after interrogating the surrendered captives, they learned that the master had actually conquered Yecheng!

"Master, you are worthy of being the master!"

After learning this news, Yang Zhong was sullen for a long time. He finally had some heroic spirit in his heart, but it was chilled by this news. In the end, he could only admit that the master was the master after all, and he was not comparable to ordinary people like them.