After traveling through time, I became Han Zhang’s grandson?

On March 10, the third year of Zhiping in the Song Dynasty, the Western Army, known as the strongest army in the Song Dynasty, joined by the six northeastern military camps of the Hedong Army, totaling 70,000 troops, entered Pingxingguan.

The so-called Pingxing Pass refers to Pingxingling, which is located to the east of Yanmen Pass and is the dividing line between Lingqiu County, Datong City, Shanxi Province and Fanzhi County, Xinzhou City. It was called Pingxingzhai in ancient times and was named after the surrounding terrain which resembles a bottle.

It was a bottle-shaped town during the Jin Dynasty, Pingxingling Pass during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and later changed to its current name. It has been a garrison since very early in history.

During the Ming Dynasty, it was an important pass of the Inner Great Wall. In the sixth year of Zhengde (1511 AD), Lingkou Fort was built. In the th year of Jiajing and the ninth year of Wanli, it was expanded and renovated. This was the later castle.

What is now referred to as Pingxingguan is mostly a pass along the Inner Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty, which is one of the Ming Great Walls built during the Zhengde period mentioned above.

In the Song Dynasty, although it was occasionally called Pingxingguan, it actually referred to Pingxingling behind Pingxingzhai.

To the north, Mount Heng stands tall like a screen, and to the south, Mount Wutai towers majestically, both with an altitude of over 1500 meters.

There is a narrow graben-like lowland between the two mountains. Pingxingling is the uplifted part of this strip of lowland, so the situation is very dangerous.

Since Hengshan and Wutai are both block mountains and very steep, they have become huge transportation barriers in northern Shanxi. Therefore, this strip of lowland has become the most convenient channel connecting the northern part of Hebei Plain with Shanxi.

An ancient east-west road passes through Pingxingling, connecting Jinpo Pass in Hebei in the east and Yanmen Pass in Shanxi in the west. They are connected to each other, forming a solid defense line, which was an important barrier to the capital during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

This road also became one of the routes frequently planned by the Liao army when invading the south. Therefore, the Song Dynasty built a bottle-shaped fort dozens of miles to the south to block the cavalry from moving south.

On March 10th, the long-lost sun jumped out from the misty sky, illuminating the mountains around Pingxingguan and the bustling crowd.

On the afternoon of the tenth, Guo Kui set up the central army camp on a flat area of ​​Pingxingling and immediately issued an order to convene a pre-military meeting.

In addition to the generals who followed the Western Army, the other six were generals stationed in the Six Military Camps in the northeast of Daizhou.

During the Battle of Daizhou, they did not immediately support Daizhou City after Yanmen Pass was breached because they received advance orders from Wu Xun and Guo Kui.

Instead, during this period they had been strengthening their respective camps and continuously heading north to harass the Liao army border. This strange phenomenon has also been well explained today.

"You don't know how surprised I was when I received the order from the Wu Xuanfu Envoy. He actually told me to defend the military camp and not to worry about the situation inside Daizhou."

"Seven days later, Yanmen Pass was breached. I, Old Zhang, wanted to lead my army south to rescue them, but then I received an order from General Guo to march north to harass the Liao border troops."

"My goodness, these military orders are getting more and more outrageous. I thought the soldier who came to deliver the letter was a local spy. I almost dragged him out and beheaded him!"

Zhang Shixun of Magu Village, with a face full of flesh, was talking in the big tent in front of several generals of the military camp and the generals of the Western Army who had come.

"Actually, Lao Zhang and I have the same idea, but the first thing I thought of when I received the order was to make trouble."

"How can we allow the Liao army to freely roam in the heart of Daizhou without any care?"

"It seems that Lao Zhang and I still don't have a deep understanding of Lord Wu and General Guo's strategic plans!"

Yu Wenguang, the general of Meihui Village, could not help but shake his head and smile bitterly. All his complaints disappeared with the start of the Pingxingguan Battle.

"If we say that the root of this grand chess game is still in the hands of Han Hou, if it weren't for his big appetite, how could he have thought of luring Xiao Yi south and swallowing up these 80,000 troops?"

The chief of Pingxing Village, General Duan Cheng, pursed his lips and revealed the main planner of this battle.

"My Lord..."

When Han Ming was mentioned, there was a brief silence in the tent, and then laughter broke out one after another.

"Following the Marquis, we have no worries about food and drink, but we are fighting this battle completely blindly and have no idea what is going on!"

Zhe Jishi couldn't help but make a joke, and the next second everyone applauded and laughed, agreeing very much.

"I told you to study military books carefully, but you didn't. Now stop using the name 'Zhe Family General' to fool people."

Yao Si deliberately tilted his head back with a look of disgust.

This scene aroused laughter from the crowd, and the atmosphere in the tent was very good. This was also thanks to Han's reform of the military's quality culture and political ideology.

"Marshal, I'm joining the army!"

Following a loud shout, everyone immediately adjusted their expressions, stood up with a serious look, straightened their appearance, and waited with their heads held high for Guo Kui's inspection.

As a result, when the tent door was opened, Guo Kui and Zhong Zhen were there holding a letter, discussing in low voices as they walked.

"Looking at it this way, this battle is much easier to fight..."

"Xiao Yi's situation is really not good right now. In this battle, the Marquis's general strategic direction is correct..."

"We must also be wary of the Liao army in the Lingqiu area heading west to rescue us. We must cut off Xiao Yi's last reinforcements..."

"I think it's okay. Let's do this. I'll personally prepare a document and submit it to the Marquis later..."

"..."

The generals opened their eyes wide, pricked up their ears, and listened quietly to the whispered discussion between Guo Kui and Zhong Zhen.

When the noise gradually died down, the two realized that everyone was still waiting for them. They couldn't help but smile awkwardly and waved for them to sit down.

"Everyone, sit down. Generals, you have come from far and wide. There is no need to be restrained."

Upon hearing Guo Kui's speech, the generals immediately smiled knowingly and saluted: "Yes! We thank you, General!"

After all the generals took their seats, Guo Kui cleared his throat and began to preside over the military meeting.

"It's not easy for everyone to follow me on this journey, especially those from Daizhou. I'm afraid you're ready to curse."

Guo Kui's joke ignited the quiet tent, and everyone burst into laughter.

"But by now, I believe everyone knows the strategic intentions of the court and the marquis."

Everyone nodded without interrupting Guo Kui.

"The next battle will be both easy and difficult."

Guo Kui's repetitive speech made the generals smile at each other. They found that as long as they had been with Han for a period of time, their speeches would begin to sound a bit Korean.

"It's easy to fight because the Liao army led by Xiao Yi has suffered heavy losses after a series of battles. It is estimated that only about 50,000 people are still able to fully mobilize and participate in the battle."

"For this, we must all thank our brothers from the Central Imperial Guards. This was the first battle of the Sun-Bonding Tianwu Army after the reform, and they fought well indeed."

Guo Kui raised the military newspaper in his hand, and then handed it to the deputy clinician. The clinician didn't even look at it and handed it directly to Yao Si and Zhe Jishi who were looking out.

After the military report was circulated, everyone gasped and gave a thumbs up to the brothers Di Liang and Di Zi for their excellent ambush.

"The Liaoxi Route Army lost nearly 30,000 men in the Hulu Valley battle. Captives included Yelü Yaliguo, the deputy governor of Datong Prefecture in the Western Capital, and two Liao generals, Xiwandan Yuluo and Yuling Yila."

"Xiao Yi and his men fled in panic, first camping near Daizhou City to rest and then moving northeast."

"We should cross Fanzhi and head towards Taixi Mountain."

Guo Kui quickly sorted out the enemy situation, and then felt inexplicably moved.

"The Liao army is now on edge. Furthermore, the 'assassins' of the Border Pacification Office have intercepted several intelligence reports from the Eastern Route Army."

"Basically, they asked Xiao Yi to cross the Taixi Mountain area and enter Weizhou, where there are Lingqiu's garrison to provide support."

Zhongzhen began to analyze the subsequent movements and situations of the Liao army.

"Walking up Mount Taixi? That's a pretty good idea."

Yao Si rubbed his chin and began to recall the topographic map of the northeast of Daizhou.

"Unfortunately, it seems that Xiao Yi has been poisoned by our Marquis's magic incense and has turned eastward, heading straight for Pingxing Village."

Zhongzhen couldn't help laughing, and didn't understand why Xiao Yi suddenly had a brain short circuit.

"I guess Taixi Mountain is difficult to cross. Let's prepare to open a road from Pingxing Village and then break through and return home."

Zhe Jishi's casual remark expressed the thoughts of Xiao Yi and others.

Because Xiao Yi also felt from the beginning to the end that in such an urgent breakout situation, Yelu Hongji and Xiao Boyu would not give the order to cross Taixi Mountain. This would be completely putting the lives of the Liao army in the hands of God.

However, taking the bottle-shaped fort would allow the Liao army to take advantage of their cavalry and easily open up the road back to the north.

Little did they know that Yelu Hongji and others chose the uninhabited Taixi Mountain because they speculated that Han might set an ambush in the Pingxingguan area.

This way, the Song army could be caught off guard, and maybe 80,000... oh no, now it's 50,000 Liao troops could be brought back to the country.

At the same time, they were also afraid that the Song army would notice and pursue them, so they stationed the troops in Lingqiu, Weizhou, at the eastern foot of Taixi Mountain, ready to provide support at any time.

Unfortunately, Xiao Yi's ideas were completely different from theirs, so now he was faced with being surrounded by the Song army.