knife

Chapter 826 Trip to Tongguan

In the drizzling rain, Yan Su rode his horse along the mountain road. The situation in the south had deteriorated to an unbearable degree, and its influence would spread to the north even faster, eventually shaping the entire world order.

Clearly, the neutral forces in the north who originally supported Linghu Ye will immediately change their stance upon hearing this news.

It is human nature to seek advantage and avoid harm. For them, it is simply to protect their own interests more effectively, but for the Linghu Group, it is a catastrophe.

Therefore, Yan Su must rush back immediately and use his overwhelming power to eliminate all these unstable factors, doing his utmost to stabilize the rear for Linghu Ye, so that he can focus on the final battle with Li Dachui without any distractions.

The only way to turn the tide and gain a chance to catch our breath is to win this battle in the north.

The cold raindrops hit his face, but a burning passion burned within him.

Although the situation is extremely bad, as long as we are still sitting at the gambling table and haven't left, we haven't lost.

The opponent's next move is almost entirely out in the open.

That is to head north and strike directly at Luoyang, the eastern capital, and then threaten Chang'an.

There are only three routes: one is to go through Huainan, attack Xuzhou, and then advance on Kaifeng; the central route is to go from Xiangyang to Nanyang and then attack Luoyang; and the western route is to go from Shu County through Hanzhong through the Qinling Mountains and directly approach Chang'an.

It's highly likely that the opponent is attacking from all three fronts simultaneously.

But this is just theory; in reality, it would be extremely difficult to implement.

The only route that could be taken immediately was the one from Shu County through Hanzhong and across the Qinling Mountains.

In recent years, Zhang Songlin and Wu De have made great strides in Shu County. After the Tang family and the Shu royal family were completely eliminated, the local forces in Shu County had long since submitted to them, making them dare not go east or west. They cleaned up the bureaucracy, reduced redundant land use, streamlined taxes, reformed the imperial examination system, and reorganized the army. A series of policies were thoroughly implemented from top to bottom.

As for the central or eastern front, it is probably unlikely that they can advance in the short term.

This time, in order to annihilate Na Wei and confront Chang Lei, Jiang Qian transferred almost all the troops from the eight towns of Jiangnan to the Liyang-Danyang line. The battle was won, but the entire Chu Kingdom was thrown into chaos. Without stabilizing the situation, it would be impossible to launch a large-scale northward advance.

Consider the three commanderies of Yuezhou, the stronghold of the Xiang clan, which surrendered only to rebel again, with frequent riots. Consider the southwestern regions, where tens of thousands of soldiers perished in Liyang. It is a blood feud that runs deep. Without a large army to suppress it, chaos is likely to break out.

Even in places like Danyang, do people really willingly submit to Jiang Qian?
Having won the battle, Jiang Qian now faces a chaotic situation. How can she launch a large-scale military campaign without first sorting out the mess?

So I still have time.

Go back and regroup your troops, and defend Tongguan to the death.

As for the areas outside Tongguan, we can only abandon them for now and let them fend for themselves.

By guarding Tongguan, we can protect Luoyang.

In Hanzhong, there had always been troops stationed there, specifically to defend against the Shu army. Even when Linghu Ye went north, the troops in Hanzhong did not move. Next, another batch of troops was mobilized to reinforce Hanzhong, and defenses were set up along the key roads in the Qinling Mountains, adding another layer of security.

Military strength is a major problem. After returning, we can only try to get back to those powerful and wealthy families. We must make them understand that only by working together can we overcome the difficulties. It is too late to try to change sides at this point.

If there are any who don't know what's good for them, then we might have to make an example of them. He quickly went through the families in Chang'an and the surrounding areas who could still be exploited, and soon determined his targets.

As for Dongdu, Cui Cheng still has enough power to suppress the local area. The eldest, third, and fifth branches of the Cui family can put together several thousand elite troops. They can use them as the backbone to train an army to serve as reinforcements for Tongguan and maintain local order.

My mind was constantly strategizing the next steps, and before I knew it, Tongguan was right in front of me.

Tongguan has been free from war for many years.

Even when Jiang Qian held great power and the state of Chu was thriving, the focus of the struggle between Qin and Chu was still on the Xiangfan region and the eight towns south of the Yangtze River.

In fact, before its defeat at Xiangyang, the Qin state had always maintained a high-pressure stance against the Chu state, and its national strength and military strength were far superior to those of the Chu state.

The defeat at Xiangyang completely exposed the internal contradictions that Kou Zhong and Wei Zhengdao had been desperately trying to cover up, and also completely ruined the plans of these two troublemakers. The fate of the Qin state was like a punctured bladder, leaking out with a whooshing sound.

It was only at that time that the Qin state began to re-examine important passes and defenses such as Tongguan, and allocated funds to repair them and redeploy troops.

However, with the collapse of the Qin central government, these tasks were abandoned halfway through, and were only restarted after Linghu Ye entered Chang'an and took control of the central government.

He reined in his horse before Tongguan Pass, but his serious expression didn't look very pleasant.

The checkpoint was still dilapidated, completely different from what he had imagined. In many places, the city bricks were gone, exposing the rammed earth underneath. Some places were even covered with grass. Even more outrageous was that a peach tree had grown on a corner wall, and it was currently in full bloom, with pink flowers covering the branches. It was beautiful, but if you imagined that this was a battlefield, you would be speechless.

Take a deep breath and suppress your anger. Now is the time to use people, everyone needs to be appeased and united, this is definitely not the time to lose your temper.

Fortunately, Tongguan is a natural stronghold, and with all efforts made to renovate it, it should be able to be transformed in a few months at most.

The important thing is that everyone thinks in the same direction and works together towards the same goal.

At least the soldiers standing guard on the city wall were still in high spirits, and the people at the city gate were conducting strict checks.

He rode past the long queue and, with a serious demeanor, led several of his subordinates straight to the city gate.

"Halt!" Several long spears emerged from behind the barricades, and someone raised a crossbow deep inside the city gate.

Serious and not angry but happy, that's the spirit we need! I remember the garrison commander of Tongguan was a rather unreliable scion of a noble family. Now it seems he really was looking down on people and underestimated them!
This is a usable resource.

Knowing his temperament, the stern guard didn't argue with him. Instead, he took out a waist token from his pocket and handed it to the soldier blocking his way.

The soldier glanced at the waist tag belonging to Wolfsburg, then looked up at the men on horseback and said, "Wait a minute, I don't recognize this tag. Go find someone who does!"

“Of course!” The guard nodded. In a place like Tongguan, Wolf Fortress naturally had its own men.

A moment later, a man rushed over, looking at Yan Su with a face full of joy: "General Yan, you're finally back!"

Yan Su looked at the newcomer with surprise: "Zhou Gang, what are you doing here?"

(End of this chapter)