Chapter 238: Eastward Advance to Hangu Pass
Zhao Yulin said with a smile, "Why sigh and be pessimistic? Our Shenwei Army is the absolute backbone and will definitely be able to defend the country and revive the glory of the Han and Tang dynasties."
The two were still talking when Xiao Yan came in and whispered that Sister Ma Ling had prepared wine and food and invited the general to join the table for a drink.
The two of them got up and went to the small flower hall. Lao Cao saw Xiao Yan sitting down next to Wu Yuqi and looked at Zhao Yulin strangely.
Ma Linger introduced Xiao Yan to Cao Youwen with a smile, saying that they recognized Xiao Yan as their sister. The little girl had read more books than she did and liked it very much. Wu Yuqi also nodded with a smile.
Lao Cao was a little confused.
Zhao Yulin picked up the wine glass and said, "Please drink."
At night, Ma Ling'er asked him to take Xiao Yan with him, as she knew that Zhao Yulin was going to go to war again.
He said Xiao Yan was too thin and might not be able to make the journey, so it would be better for her to stay at home.
What's wrong with a woman teasing him? Is she afraid that her bones will hurt him?
Zhao Yulin was too lazy to argue with her, so he mobilized his entire body and taught her a lesson with practical actions. Half an hour later, the woman used up her last bit of strength and fell asleep sweetly.
At dawn, Zhao Yulin was already dressed. Wu Yuqi and Xiao Yan were standing at the door. They told him that her father was old and could not protect him. They asked Xiao Yan to be his supervisor and not to take any more risks.
Zhao Yulin saw Luo Mingqiu's eyes full of anticipation beside Xiao Yan, and said that they were going to war and anything could happen.
Luo Mingqiu stuttered as he said that Inspector Xiao had been practicing martial arts with him recently and had made considerable progress.
Seeing that he couldn't refuse, he told them to go.
The group rode out of the city.
At the gate, Ma Ling'er was still leaning on Wu Yuqi's shoulder, looking at him with tears in her eyes. Wu Yuqi asked her why she was so reserved. She was his old woman.
Ma Ling'er reached out and grabbed a handful of her waist, and the two women chased each other and rushed into the yard madly.
Zhao Yulin walked into the Lantian camp and mixed into a baggage train and moved forward.
On Queer Mountain, Changjinima adopted the special forces' advice, set up a camp on the mountainside, and then led his men straight to the pass.
There was a sudden snowstorm in the past few days, and the mountain tops were already covered with snow. The snow on the hills at the intersection was more than one meter high. The soldiers experienced the harsh weather that Zhao Yulin had described, and they climbed up breathlessly.
There were still three or four hundred meters to the pass when a whistling arrow flew over. It was a warning shot from the Tibetan soldiers on the pass. Changji Nima and his men immediately lay down and took out a copper trumpet to shout to the mountain, but the more they spoke, the more arrows were shot down from the mountain.
The special forces team had set up the mortar and immediately fired three shots at the reverse slope of the pass. Unexpectedly, due to the high mountain and low air pressure, the shells could not fly and actually fell on the snowy top of the mountain.
The strong explosion caused an avalanche, and the air was shaken to make a rumbling sound. Instead, the local soldiers lying on the reverse slope were buried under the snow, forming a large ball of thick snow fog. The remaining Tibetan soldiers thought that the gods were angry and punished them, and they were terrified.
They had no idea there was such a powerful weapon, and they ran down the mountain screaming.
The vanguard army immediately rushed forward and occupied the pass.
Changji Nima felt that this battle was extremely easy to fight, and they easily occupied the pass at the main peak of Queer Mountain. He immediately sent someone to report to Li Yunqing, and then he led a large group of troops and followed the local soldiers down the mountain.
Three days later, Zhao Yulin arrived at Xixia Town.
As the headquarters of the Shenwei Army South Group, the road transportation conditions have been greatly improved. He remembered that when he passed by two years ago, it was a small town with a hundred households. Now the market town that came into view has begun to take on the scale of a city.
Zhao Yulin came to the yard where he lived in the past to rest, and Yang Xingyun and Liu Qiangguang came in to report military intelligence to him.
Zhao Yulin said that according to the plan of the central army tent, Lai Chuanfang will dispatch 50,000 troops to attack Hangu Pass head-on tomorrow. He asked how the preparations were going?
Yang Xingyun reported that after receiving the military order from the central army headquarters, he had transferred the entire New Third Column to the north to Song County and Lu's County, and the main force of the Second Column was assembled in Neixiang to threaten Nanyang and defend Xixia.
He nodded and said that we cannot let the Mongolian army lead us by the nose, we must lead the Mongolian army by the nose.
Isn't Kuo Duan just showing off in Nanyang? We should directly attack the outer important areas of Luoyang, creating the situation of attacking Luoyang, and mobilize his troops to find opportunities to annihilate him. We don't rule out the possibility of taking the opportunity to capture Nanyang and Luoyang in this battle. Tell Jianghai's new 4th Column to immediately head north to Tangzhou and Dengzhou and transfer all the troops from Xiangyang.
Yang Xingyun was excited. The third young master was planning a big move.
Zhao Yulin told them not to be afraid of sacrifice, not to be afraid of running their legs off, and to annihilate all the enemies in the movement.
The express delivery of the Nan Group immediately took action and sent out the secret letters one after another.
The expansion of Nanyang City has been reported secretly, and Yang Xingyun's Southern Group has been frequently mobilized, but he has not yet figured out what the Shenwei Army is going to do?
Should we attack Nanyang where he lives, or create sabotage in the surrounding areas to tie down the Mongolian army in the east?
However, he was very satisfied with one thing, that is, his arrival successfully attracted the attention of the Divine Power Army.
The Mongolian army's current stationing method is somewhat similar to the Japanese invasion in later generations. They are almost all stationed in larger cities. They almost never go to small places with poor living conditions. At most, they send a few people out to occupy the place, and the majority of them are traitors.
However, the expansion was a serious misjudgment, including by his father, the Khan of the Prairie.
So, Lai Chuanfang attacked eastwards out of Tongguan as planned, and in one day he reached Chousangyuan in Guolue County.
The ancient road in this place is only a narrow valley, which is dozens of miles long and is known as the throat of the Xiaohan Ancient Road. Although the Yellow River's riverbed has lost its function of being a single man blocking a thousand men, soldiers can still cross the deforested plains and pass through, so it is still a battleground for military strategists.
In this Eastern Expedition, Lai Chuanfang learned from the last lesson. Cao Youwen also knew the dangers ahead, so he pushed all the main forces of the Third Column and the First Column forward, concentrating all the mortars of the army on the vanguard, which really showed a miraculous effect, and the attack speed was significantly faster.
At night, Liu Qiangguang and his team were about to set off.
Zhao Yulin said that the Southern Group had the convenience of water transportation and was equipped with the new red cannons from Cuiping Mountain, but they still could not capture Hangu Pass. He was embarrassed to say that he had been to Xixia.
Liu Qiangguang immediately stood at attention, solemnly saluted him with a standard military salute and said: I guarantee to complete the mission.
After Zhao Yulin returned the greeting, he urged the soldiers to be flexible and take care of themselves. Liu Qiangguang took the horse and jumped on it. The horse immediately shot out and chased after the team.
Yang Xingyun told him: Qiguang took away 150 mortars and three new red cannons, so he will definitely win the battle.
The Red Coat Cannon is actually an improved version of the Red Cannon. Zhao Yulin combined the use of the Iron Barrel Cannon and asked Cuipingshan to produce a batch of thickened rear-loading Iron Barrel Cannons. Such cannons are loaded with bullets and powder from the back, the barrel is lengthened, the wall thickness is increased several times, and the weight is greatly increased, so they must be transported by mules and horses.
However, the range of the iron barrel cannon was greatly increased, and its power was extremely great, making it a powerful weapon for attacking cities and fortresses.
Zhao Yulin said that once the new 3rd Column showed up, Kuoduan would panic and prepare to attack the reinforcements from Nanyang.
Yang Xingyun immediately went back to deploy his troops.
Xiao Yan came over and said: Young Master, you'd better go inside, it's cold outside.
Zhao Yulin reached out and touched Xiao Yan's hand, which felt much warmer than the first time they touched it. He said, "That's very good. A great man once said that the body is the capital of revolution. This is absolutely true. If the body is broken, how can you fight the enemy?"
Xiao Yan's hand was pinched by Zhao Yulin, and her face immediately turned red. She quickly broke free and went to pour him some water.
He was stunned for a moment when he brought it to his mouth. The girl immediately said that it was Sister Ma Ling who told her to drink less tea at night, otherwise she would not be able to sleep well.
Zhao Yulin took a sip of boiled water and said he needed to read for a while and went on with his own business.
However, Xiao Yan insisted on staying by his side, and she even argued that Madam Yuqi told her to stay by his side, as Shunfeng's people were everywhere, and she dared not be careless.
Oh my, this actually makes sense! Zhao Yulin was speechless.
As soon as Liu Qiguang led the 30,000 troops of the new Third Column to move out, Kuoduan of Nanyang could no longer sit still. He cursed in his heart, where did the Shenwei Army get so many troops, was Zhao Qier really coming?
Where did Zhao Qier get so many troops?
What he didn't know was that most of the righteous Han people still wanted to join the Song army. After Zhao Yulin took Xiangyang, the refugees from Jingzhou and the children of the Beggars' Gang who couldn't get enough food rushed into Yang Xingyun's camp. Therefore, the Southern Group had a large number of troops and expanded the fastest. Each column was full, and a lot of troops were sent to the northwest.
We have no choice but to expand, and we must consider going north to assist Luoyang.
He originally came to Nanyang to make a cameo appearance, and the commander-in-chief was still Tachaer. His purpose was just to make him here, and the focus of the Mongolian army's southward advance was here, just to confuse the Song army.
Unexpectedly, the Shenwei Army just wouldn't fall for the grassland Khan's tricks.
Tachaer told him that Nanyang was far from Luoyang, and the route was too long to defend, and it was easy to be ambushed by the Shenwei Army. At present, the troops were insufficient, so we should just retreat back to Luoyang.
Tachaer found that the Shenwei Army's deployment of troops this time was quite similar to Zhao Yulin's style last time, and suspected that Zhao Yulin went to Xixia to command the battle. He believed that he was no match for Zhao Yulin, so to be safe, he adopted the Thirty-Six Stratagems and decided to retreat.
Kuoduan's face also changed when he talked about Zhao Yulin, saying that he was just here to accompany the prince, and let the prince deal with it himself.
The city immediately became a mess, and the troops and camps began to prepare to withdraw.
But the military order from the Khan of the grassland arrived: the Shenwei Army advanced eastward along the ancient road of Qiaohan, aiming at Luoyang, and Hubili's advance to the south was about to begin. The Khan ordered Tacaer to hold Nanyang to provide protection for the Eastern Army, and to move south to Xiangyang to contain the Song Army.
This made Tachaer depressed and unhappy. He only learned about Hubili's southward march to Lin'an at this time, which showed that the Mongolian Empire was still worried about the military information being exposed and kept him in the dark.
Hetachaer was also a king of the empire.
It seems that the Khan trusts Hubli far more than he does.
