In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 298 I have been waiting for six or seven years just for today.
The guard general of Wuguan is still Han Chinese and his surname is Chen.

The two sides chatted for a while, and Quanying sent a large amount of sugar and other goods and money.

When descending the mountain from the north, I found that the mountain roads in the north are more difficult to walk. Some roads can only pass one horse, and no more than two people can pass side by side.

Everyone was carrying rice and other things, which was quite dangerous.

At this time, even Jia Sidao, who did not understand military affairs, believed that Wuguan was easy to defend but difficult to attack.

The relationship between the Song Dynasty people and the Jin soldiers here is very good. If there is a sudden trouble in the future, hehe, the Jin soldiers will be in bad luck.

Halfway through the walk, he couldn't help but ask Quan Ying, when did I, the Great Song Dynasty, enter the Golden Realm so casually?

Quan Ying said that after His Majesty ascended the throne, he gradually improved relations with Jin and sold grain to Jin.

The Kingdom of Jin was very cautious at first. Three years after trading with us, it was not officially allowed to enter Henan from the Junshui River until the third year of Baoqing.

Therefore, the establishment of good relations with Wuguan and other places only happened in the past two or three years.

According to the private agreement between the Song and Jin Dynasties, the Song people sold (supported) the Jin Kingdom [-] stones and [-] stones twice a year, respectively in March (autumn grain) and October (summer grain).

The current domestic situation of the Jin Kingdom is not good and food is scarce. The 15 stones are mainly gathered in Tongguan for the military use of Tongguan.

The Jin Kingdom had 10,000+ garrison troops at Tongguan, which consumed a lot of food, so they were very grateful to the Song people for their support.

Of their [-] shi of grain this time, about [-] shi will be kept in Wuguan, and the rest will be transported to Tongguan.

While the two were talking, they finally arrived at Wuguan North.

There were already a large number of horse-drawn carriages at the foot of the mountain, as well as thousands of civilians, all of whom were called from the vicinity of Tongguan in the Kingdom of Jin to help transport grain.

The mission of the Song people here has been completed, and a large number of civilians will return to the ship and return to the Song Dynasty.

Only Quan Ying, Jia Sidao and a few other people could enter Tongguan.

According to the requirements of the Jin people, no more than 30 Song people could follow him into Tongguan.

It took nearly three days to get all these [-] stone grains, plus other supplies such as sugar and salt, through Wuguan.

In the middle, Jia Sidao and Quan Ying looked around and helped.

On the afternoon of the third day, a man from the Song Dynasty came down the mountain sweating profusely with two baskets of things.

Then he came to a large carriage.

"Come and help." Quan Ying happened to be walking by and immediately signaled Jia Sidao to help.

The two men bent down and lifted a basket.

When Jia Sidao saw the basket full of bags of sugar, he couldn't help but feel a little excited. This stuff is so popular now.

Unexpectedly, this guy was lazy and had no strength at all. As soon as he lifted it up, before he got on the carriage, his hand went weak and the basket hit the carriage board. With a crash, the whole basket fell to the ground.

"Hiss" Quanying's face turned green, staring at him in disbelief.

"I missed it..." Jia Sidao's face turned red, and he turned around to call to Jia An, who was not far away, to help pick it up.

"Quick." Quan Ying shouted to stop him, and quickly reached out to pick up bags of sugar and put them into the basket.

At this point, Jia Sidao's eyes suddenly widened. He saw something like a black iron or wooden bucket under the basket, and he didn't know what was in it.

Just when he took a look, Quan Ying had already thrown a few bags of white sugar in to cover the black bucket.

Plop, plop, Jia Sidao's heartbeat accelerated inexplicably, and he didn't dare to hum, so he quickly picked up the sugar on the ground and threw it on it.

When he got up, he felt the glint in the eyes of the civilian husband just now, and he looked at him as if he was despising him.

Only then did he realize that some of the civilian husbands brought over by Quanying were unique.

Those who pick white sugar seem to be relatively strong.

A few days later, Jia Sidao followed the brigade of horses, mules and carriages and finally arrived at Tongguan.

After seeing this place with his own eyes, he finally knew how dangerous Tongguan was.

Tongguan is a strategic link connecting Guanzhong and the Central Plains.

During the Warring States Period, the most important thing at that time was Hangu Pass. However, as time passed, and after the Han Dynasty, the water level of the Yellow River began to drop, and carriages and horses could pass directly through the exposed Yellow River beach, bypassing Hangu Pass. Therefore, the Han Dynasty A new line of defense, Tongguan, was set up on the Weihan Channel.

Tongguan has changed three times in history, all of which had to be changed because of rain erosion and the emergence of new roads.

In the Han Dynasty, Linzhi was originally located in Tongguan. Linzhi was surrounded by the Yellow River to the north and the Qinling Mountains to the south.

The terrain of Linzhiyuan is complex and easy to defend but difficult to attack.

When Jia Sidao came in with the carriage team, he came along the Qinling Trail. The trail was called Huangxiangban and was about four or five steps wide. On the left was the towering and rugged Qinling Mountains and on the right was the Yellow River. People and horses could only walk in the middle, which was four steps. Five paces wide.Just looking at the width of the road and the terrain, you know that it is difficult for the army to move, and the number of defenders should not be too large. If you stand in front of the road, there are mountains on your left and the Yellow River on your right. It depends on how you cross.

This was the only way to go to Tongguan from the Han Dynasty.

But that's not the hardest part.

Even if you go to Linjiyuan via Huangxiangsaka, you still have to pass through the Wuli secret door.

The Wuli Anmen Valley is deep and steep, and the road is extremely dangerous. At the narrowest point, only one person or one horse can pass.

Think about it, if you send dozens of people to take turns guarding a place like this, thousands of troops will not be able to get through.

And the carriage you are transporting grain cannot get on at all.

At that time, this was the first place for ambushes. Whoever defended Tongguan would definitely have ambushes here.

As long as you pass through the Wuli secret gate and climb up the slope, you will arrive at Linzhiyuan.

This is where Han Tong Pass is located. If you must gather troops and horses to break through Tong Pass, you can go down into the Forbidden ditch and go north along the Forbidden ditch. Then you will come to the wide Guanzhong plain. Nothing can stop you in front of it. Your cavalry is in trouble.

This was the main route from Tongguan to Guanzhong in the Han Dynasty. Of course, conversely, the same route was taken from Guanzhong to the Han Dynasty.

But in the Sui Dynasty, a new ditch was formed on Linzhiyuan due to rain erosion.

Now the army does not need to go through the five-mile secret gate, nor does it need to pass through Hantong Pass. It can directly pass through Linzhiyuan, enter the Forbidden Valley, and then head north into the Guanzhong Plain.In turn, soldiers and horses outside the pass can enter the Central Plains without passing through Tongguan.

But this matter was easy to handle. The Sui Dynasty immediately moved Tongguan and built a new Tongguan on the new ditch.

Not long after Xintongguan was completed, after entering the Tang Dynasty, the Yellow River cut downwards and the water level continued to drop.

The original Yellow River bed on the north side of Tongguan in the Han Dynasty was completely naked and exposed.

It's easier this time. As long as you pass the Huangxiang Slope and go straight forward without going around Linzhiyuan, you can enter Guanzhong through the Yellow River bed.The first two Tongguans can be bypassed.

In order to block this east-west road, the Tang Dynasty first built Jindou Pass at the junction of Huangxiang Ban and the Yellow River bed. Then, thinking it was still unsafe, they moved forward and built a new Tong Pass on the Yellow River bed. That is now Tongguan.

The people of the Tang Dynasty were very ruthless. In order to ensure that Tongguan was safe, they built a large number of small passes at the foot of the Qinling Mountains south of Tongguan, including Mayuguan, Shangguan, Wuzhuangguan, Tongyuguan, Shuimenguan, etc. Twelve beacons were built on the west side of the ditch, known as the Twelve Connected Cities. The twelve gates were defended layer by layer, making it airtight.

As for the dangers of Tongguan, one is in Jinggou, the second is in Linzhiyuan, the third is in Jindou Pass, the fourth is in the Yellow River, and the fifth is in the Qinling Mountains. They are connected together to form an impregnable Tongguan defense line.

Of course, Tongguan has been breached in history, but some of it was because the defenders were fighting outside, and some of it was due to the late dynasty, when the soldiers had no intention of resisting, and most of the great passes in the world were breached, basically because of the late dynasty, when there were no soldiers. Fighting spirit.

During the Three Kingdoms period, Ma Chao first attacked Tongguan, scolded three generations of Cao Cao's family, and greeted the maternal relatives of Cao's family every day.

Cao Hong was furious and wanted to go down and kill Ma Chao. Xu Huang tried his best to persuade him, but Ma Chao scolded him for nine days. Cao Hong finally couldn't stand it anymore and led his troops to fight out. As a result, he was defeated by Ma Chao. Ma Chao's army followed the defeated army into Tongguan. Cao Cao's Tongguan was lost.

Not long after, Cao Cao came to attack Tongguan again.

At that time, Ma Chao had an allied force with stronger soldiers and horses than Cao Cao. He became arrogant and led his troops directly to fight against Cao Cao. As a result, he was severely defeated. Cao Cao also followed the defeated troops into Tongguan.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Huang Chao sent troops to attack Tongguan from both sides of the Forbidden Valley. It was already the end of the Tang Dynasty, and the soldiers had no fighting spirit. The Tang army collapsed directly after the pass. From then on, Huang Chao opened the way into Chang'an.

Therefore, Emperor Zhao Yurui often said: "As the ancients said, the strength of a city lies in virtue rather than danger." No matter what the danger is, the key depends on who is guarding it and what era it is in.

Usually as long as you are at the peak of the dynasty, no great barrier can be broken.

And as long as it is at the end of the dynasty, any great pass can be easily broken.

At this time, the Jin Kingdom was already at the end of its dynasty, but Tongguan was still as strong as Mount Tai. After the Battle of the Three Peaks in the original history, the last 15 elite Jin army was wiped out in one battle, and Tongguan guard Li Ping directly surrendered to Mongolia. The impregnable Tongguan was of no use.

In early April, Jia Sidao, Quan Ying and others first passed through Jindou Pass. Zhaolie then sent a lot of supplies and money to the guard of Jindou Pass, and then entered Tongguan.

This is the location of Tongguan in the Tang Dynasty. After the Jin Kingdom acquired it, it was reinforced and built. It is now 12 meters high. After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, some places were reinforced to 16 meters high.

The top is about seven meters wide and more than ten miles in circumference. It is made of rammed earth.

It doesn't look very long, but it has the Yellow River to the north and dangerous mountains and ditches to the south. If you come from the Guanzhong Plain, you only need to defend the west side. If you come from the Central Plains, you only need to defend the east side.

At this time, most cities need to be defended from the four directions of southeast, northwest and southeast when the enemy is besieging them, so this is one of the reasons why Tongguan is difficult to capture.

The area enclosed by Tongguan City and the nearby dangerous mountains, including the Qinling Mountains and the Yellow River, is about 80 million acres. This area will have 17 acres of cultivated land in later generations, and there must be tens of thousands of acres.

When Tongguan City had the largest number of troops, it was Shu Han of the Tang Dynasty who gathered 20 elite troops in Tongguan. In the end, he was forced by the emperor to go out for a decisive battle and was defeated and died. The 20 elite Tang army also collapsed instantly.

The Jin soldiers had previously abandoned the west of Tongguan and moved the people from Guanzhong to the Central Plains. Currently, there are 10,000+ soldiers and horses plus 10,000+ people in Tongguan, with a population of about 30. The population is relatively large, and the food pressure is also relatively high.

Because the Jin State gave up a large area of ​​territory west of Tongguan, its food production also dropped significantly. The Song Dynasty was willing to support 15 shi per year. For the Jin State at this time, it was undoubtedly a timely help.

After Zhao and Rui ascended the throne, Song and Jin formed a secret alliance to facilitate trade. Zhao and Rui supported the Jin State regardless of past suspicions. It took them six to seven years to basically paralyze the Jin State.

No one in the Song court would have thought that Emperor Zhao Yurui would be willing to spend six, seven years, or even longer doing something patiently just to paralyze his opponent.

(End of this chapter)