Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

After returning to the camp outside Jinzhou City, Li Tai immediately learned about the military information on the retreat.

When he heard that Hu Luguang really led his troops from Heyang to Zhiguan for a sneak attack, Li Tai couldn't help but sigh that this guy really had deep resentment towards the Western Wei Dynasty or him.

Launching an attack from Zhiguan seems to be a small-minded choice, but it is by no means a mature decision with an overall view.

When making such a decision, Hu Luguang obviously did not consider, or did not want to think deeply about whether the current Northern Qi could withstand the risk of failure, and whether there were other better options.

They focused on how much harm they would cause to the Western Wei Dynasty, rather than how to prevent the Northern Qi Dynasty from causing greater losses in this war. This kind of thinking seems to be more positive, but in fact it is unrealistic. Accepting failure and bearing losses are also qualities that a general must have.

In this war, Northern Qi has been in a passive state since Sima Xiaonan took the city and rebelled, or even earlier.

In particular, the wrong judgments and arrangements made by the decision-makers at the beginning of the war further amplified this passive disadvantage. It would be no less difficult than Gao Huanhe to reverse the entire war with a surprise attack on a local battlefield. Yuwentai’s respective entrepreneurial experiences required not only their own efforts, but also the cooperation of their opponents.

After feeling a little emotional about Hu Luguang and his deeds, Li Tai began to think about Yang Zhong's idea of ​​attacking Jianzhou immediately. He also supported this. The current development of the situation has indeed reached the stage. It’s about to enter the next stage.

Although since the war between the two sides began, except for some local minor battles, the main forces of the two sides have never met and started fighting, and they have only dispatched their own troops. But this is also part of war, and this is even the main manifestation of war.

For example, the previous method of fighting in which the two sides gathered their troops and then went to a fixed battlefield to have a clear winner after a hard fight was somewhat contrary to the mainstream. At least for the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi, it was not enough to fully demonstrate their national power.

Li Tai's purpose this time was to keep the entire Northern Qi military deployment under his control. He had previously adopted a posture of advancing eastward, attracting the main force of the Northern Qi army towards Heyang. Then the main force of the Western Wei Dynasty immediately changed the direction of the attack, entered Hedong and advanced towards Jinzhou, directly aiming at Jinyang, forcing the Northern Qi Dynasty to concentrate its forces towards Jinyang.

Although it is not yet clear how many Northern Qi troops have been gathered in the direction of Jinyang, the number must be quite large. The Western Wei Dynasty's defense line construction in northern Jinzhou has also gradually taken shape. Under Wei Xiaokuan's garrison, it was difficult for the Northern Qi army in Jinyang to break through the defense line and move south in a large scale.

So the natural next step is to change the direction of the attack again, from north to east, from Jinyang to Yecheng, Hebei.

Originally, Li Tai's plan was to block the enemy's south passage from Jinyang and then march eastward. However, Yang Zhong's troops on the rear route got an excellent opportunity because they defeated Hu Luguang's brigade and marched towards Jianyan first. If we head towards Jinzhou, the main force here in Jinzhou will naturally follow.

The only obstacle at the moment is that Jinzhou City has not yet been captured, and a large and stable base has not been established here.

However, this situation also has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that Jinzhou can continue to be used as a bait to attract Jinyang's enemy forces to do useless work in the direction of Jiexiu in an attempt to rescue Jinzhou, thereby reducing the number of enemies in Jinyang and the enemy. The cooperation degree of the enemy troops on the East Road in the direction of Yecheng.

So Li Tai then adjusted the military layout here. Since Wei Xiaokuan took over the defense of the northern border, only 10,000 divisions and brigades were left to garrison there to guard the key roads. Gao Le, Ho Ruodun and other troops all retreated.

At present, there are about 120,000 troops stationed outside Jinzhou City, and in Fenqu downstream, Han Guo has led his troops to conquer Zhengping City in Dongyongzhou in the Northern Qi Dynasty, opening up the Fenshui route.

Although the Fen River has not entered the flood season this year due to drought and the water flow in the river is not abundant, materials can also be transported by using both water and land. In this way, in addition to the materials previously concentrated in the east of the river, the army can also transport materials along the river. The Fenshui directly received supplies from Guanzhong from Longmen, which greatly improved the safety of supplies on the back route and the endurance of subsequent operations.

After the Fen River became unblocked, the army's logistics dependence on Shu River in Hedong was reduced. Therefore, Li Tai sent an order to the 20,000 divisions and brigade stationed in the upper reaches of Su River in the back road to follow Yang Zhongdong to attack and capture Jianzhou.

As for the main force outside Jinzhou City, Li Taize did not plan to move the entire army immediately, and most of them stayed behind. On the one hand, he continued to besiege Jinzhou City, and at the same time, he could eat on the banks of the Fenshui River and control the logistical pressure. And he personally led three guardsmen and 20,000 elite troops as the front division and brigade to go east first to clear the way for the army.

After arranging the personnel here, Li Tai directly led his troops to march eastward.

On the east bank of Fen River north of Jinzhou City, there is a stream called Tongjunchuan. It goes upstream from Tongjunchuan to Heishui Ridge, the remaining branch of Taiyue Mountain. However, this is only the current name. Historically, after the Northern Zhou Dynasty unified the north, Heishui Ridge was renamed Wuling Mountain in order to avoid the taboo of Yu Wentai.

Although the mountainous terrain of Heishuiling is steep and rugged, after all, it is only the remnant of Taiyue Mountain, and there are many naturally formed channels such as valleys and rivers for walking. Compared with other steep places, it is relatively easy to walk, and some There is even a place where you can ride your horse slowly.

Since then, the vast mountainous areas in the west have greatly restricted the use of cavalry power. Therefore, Li Tai's more than 20,000 soldiers are mainly infantry, and only the Hundred Cavalry Battalion and the Scout Team of more than 2,000 cavalry are retained. . Because there is no need for a large number of war horses to accompany the army, the pressure on logistics is not great.

Tongjun Sichuan was originally the direction where the army would attack next, so in the past period of time, the Western Wei Dynasty scouts had been continuously conducting investigations to the east, and the scope of the investigation was even as far as hundreds of miles. Moreover, the team also included Zhang Baoluo, the Qi general who was transferred to Guanzhong from Nanchen, and others. Therefore, although Li Tai came to this area for the first time, he was no stranger to the geographical conditions.

Pi Jinghe himself was the leader of the Hundred Cavalry Battalion, and he was also a personnel officer in Taiyuan. Naturally, he also served as the leader of the scout team. In the past few days, he had clearly investigated the situation in the east. At this time, he was marching towards Li Taijin reported the latest enemy information: "There are six enemy garrison positions in Heishui Ridge, each with a different number of troops, ranging from more than a hundred to as few as a dozen. They all came out of Yining, which stands between Qinshui, with two soldiers on the left and right. The city is an important garrison town in the upper reaches of the Qinshui River. The prefect of Yining is the traitor general Han Zunian. There are more than 2,000 troops stationed in front of it. After the army entered Pingyang, the number of soldiers who defended the city gradually increased to more than 7,000..."

Yining County also fell under the jurisdiction of Jinzhou in the Northern Qi Dynasty and was located east of Pingyang. Its regional core was located in the mountains and river valleys of the upper reaches of the Qinshui River Basin. Qinshui River originates from Pingyao, Shanxi Province, and flows southward until it flows into the Yellow River. It is also an important part of the topography of mountains and rivers inside and outside Shanxi. Historically, during the Pre-Qin and Warring States periods, the Qin army occupied Pingyang and then entered Qinshui River, and launched the Changping Battle with Zhao State in the lower reaches of Qinshui River.

"Yining is located. In the old years, Shenwu and He Liuhun once placed six towns with 3,000 military households in the territory to fill the Qinyuan River Valley, sweep away bandits in the territory and guard the east-west passage. Because they set up Yining under the Guyuan City of the county Town. Yining Town is adjacent to Tunliu and Dawusu in the east. These places are also where the people of the town live. It is convenient to go eastward to deter Hebei. "

Zhang Baoluo, who was accompanying the army, also reported in detail what he knew: "Han Zunian is from the tribe of King Ande, and he is also a brave general of the Qi State. The Qi State actually has this man to control the important land of Qinyuan. It can be seen that everywhere on the east road They are all very defensive!”

The strategic value of Qinshui in the entire Shanxi region can be said to be second only to Fenshui. The Qinyuan area where its upstream is located is an important passage from Pingyang area to Shangdang area, and its downstream is connected to the Jincheng Basin where Jianzhou is located.

When the Hedong area was not controlled by the Northern Qi Dynasty, Qinshui was the hub connecting the entire western region of the Taihang Mountains.

Li Tai's attack on Qinyuan was also an important step in splitting up the territory of the Northern Qi Dynasty. Once Qinyuan was captured, the connection between the Changzhi Basin in the Shangdang area and the Jincheng Basin below and Jinyang would be destroyed. The great damage then affected the connection between Yecheng and Jinyang, making the Northern Qi territory more fragmented.

The journey eastward along the Tongjun River was relatively smooth, and there was no trace of the Qi army until they arrived at Heishui Ridge. After all, there are hundreds of thousands of troops stationed under the Jinzhou City, and their control and deterrence over the surrounding area are directly stretched. The Qi army does not dare to move forward easily.

There are two taller mountains in Heishui Ridge on the east and west, all connected by undulating valleys. Because this area was previously within the territory of the Northern Qi Dynasty, there was no need to waste time and money on building any strong fortress in the mountains. Some of the existing forts basically only serve as outposts, warnings and communications, and their real deterrent and defensive effects are not great.

After Li Tai arrived at Heishui Ridge, he did not rush to order the large group of troops to cross the mountains. Instead, he first asked the scouts to clear out the enemy scouts' eyes and ears between the ridges and valleys, and he first led a light division along the dry valleys. Go east through the passage to inspect Yining City.