Chapter 1086: Divided Into Strategic Locations

Guyuan City is located dozens of miles north of Yining City, also in the Qinshui River Valley. The city is slightly more open than Yining City in the south downstream. There are many cultivated farmlands and pastures on the hillsides on both sides of the river valley.

From the scenery around Guyuan City, it can be seen that there must have been many people living and working here before the war. After the Wei army conquered Guyuan City, except for some people who fled east along the mountain road, most of the people in this area were forced to migrate south.

Because most of these people are the families of the garrison soldiers, Gao Huan settled them here when he built the Bafu in Jinyang in the old days. Now that the Western Wei has taken control of this place, it is naturally not suitable to place these garrison soldiers and their families on such an important river valley channel, so they migrated these people to the vicinity of Fenjiang in Hedong, which is more controlled by the Western Wei.

Previously, the troops led by Li Yantou conquered Guyuan City, and many of the Three Guards participated in the attack. Now that Li Tai finally arrived at Guyuan City, when the generals greeted him in front of the city, the Three Guards couldn't help but talk about their first formal siege experience.

Although the garrison in Guyuan City was relatively empty before, it was inhabited by families of garrison soldiers, and most of these garrison soldiers had experience in the army, and their military literacy was also relatively high. Both men and women could fight, and there were still two to three thousand people defending the city, so this battle was not easy.

The Three Guards who fought in this battle performed well, and several brave soldiers such as Wang Gui emerged and won the first place.

Li Tai also praised them. To be honest, seeing these young people gradually emerging, he was also very happy. Looking at the meritorious young men, he said with a smile: "The war is not over yet, your merits will be recorded first. When the division returns victorious, you will be rewarded!"

When the young men heard this, they were all excited, but it seemed that they had already discussed it. They bowed in front of Tang Gong and said loudly: "I have been raised by the master for a long time, and I will serve you in the battle. It is my duty. I dare not expect a big reward for my meritorious service. I only hope that the Lord will appreciate me and know that I am brave and capable and can be used more!"

After hearing this, Li Tai laughed and pointed at Li Yantou and other generals and said with a smile: "Looking at the momentum of these young men, you should also know that the young are formidable and should work harder, otherwise you will inevitably be defeated by the young men!"

After hearing this, the generals nodded and smiled, and immediately surrounded Li Tai and entered the city together.

Guyuan City, as a mid-way base for the army's transfer, is more competent than Yining City. The terrain here is relatively open, and it is also close to Qinshui, a stable water source. There is also a relatively large-scale agricultural and animal husbandry base in the area, which has a certain hematopoietic ability.

From Guyuan City to the east, there are several mountain roads that can lead to Wusu and other places. Since the Jinyang army of the Northern Qi Dynasty passed through here to Hebei before, the roads were well repaired and easy to pass, which saved the Western Wei army a lot of time to cut mountains and dig roads for the advance and retreat of the divisions.

After entering the city and sitting down, Li Tai began to listen to Li Yantou and others report on the traffic conditions between Guyuan City and Wusu City.

There are quite a few roads from Guyuan City to Wusu, mainly formed by the dry and dry tributaries of the two major water systems of Qinshui and Zhangshui, and then based on these naturally formed valleys, they can be passed after a little repair. Because it is not a large-scale artificial road, the road is also winding.

At present, there are two roads with better conditions in and out of Qinyuan, one of which is Jiashiling in the north. "Zuo Zhuan" records that the Jin people destroyed the Red Di Jiashi, which was the Di tribe living here. Jiashiling is more winding, but the road conditions are better. Han Guo's advance and Li Yantou's divisions and brigades often followed this road.

Another road is the Tongdi River line slightly to the south. Although the distance is shorter, it is steeper. It is necessary to cross the mountains thousands of meters high before entering the southern area of ​​Wusu City due to the Tongdi River. It is difficult for a large group of troops to travel along this road.

The Western Wei army also needs to consider various aspects when entering Wusu. The road conditions, water supply, and defense of the pass are all the most basic elements to ensure that the army can advance smoothly and fight.

Before Li Tai arrived, most of these tasks had been completed by the front-line divisions and brigades. The fog of war was gradually illuminated, and some places that needed to be focused on were also marked out.

But if we say that we have completely mastered the geographical key points of this area, that is not necessarily the case, because this area is located at the junction of the two major mountain ranges of Taiyue Mountain and Taihang Mountain. The changes in geographical terrain are too complicated. Even with satellite maps as a reference, it is probably difficult to mark all the dangerous places for cold weapon combat.

When Li Tai arrived at Guyuan City, Wusu City also received further news of the enemy's movements. In the mountains and fields north of Wusu City, traces of Qi people's small teams' activities appeared in different places, obviously preparing for the next battle.

The Wei army occupied Wusu City, an important stronghold on the opposite side, which is a very important advantage. Of course, if there was no such advantage, Li Tai might not choose to march out of Qinyuan and crash into the hundreds of thousands of sharp-edged troops of Northern Qi.

What the Wei army needs to do now is to ensure the safety of the Qinshui River Valley and the strongholds such as Yining and Guyuan City along the valley. This is the main route for the army to advance and retreat with supplies. Once it is cut off, the entire army will become an isolated army.

At present, most of the Qinshui River Valley, from Qinyuan to Jianzhou in the south, has been controlled by the Western Wei.

After Li Tai entered Guyuan City in the north, he arranged Xue Shan to lead 5,000 troops to guard Yining City, and Yun Bao to lead 2,000 troops to guard the Fajiu Valley connecting the southeast side of Yining City and Tunliu in Shangdang area to ensure that the middle part of Qinshui will not be attacked by the enemy from Shangdang area.

Going further north from Guyuan City is the Mianshang area of ​​Jieshan, which also belongs to the Taiyue Mountains, which is the place where Jie Zitui is said to have lived in seclusion.

Although this area is also relatively rugged and difficult to travel, because there is a ready-made river valley in the upper reaches of Qinshui as a way to advance and retreat, it is also necessary to guard against the enemy's use of the previous tactics of the Wei army to bypass this place to attack Guyuan City.

Therefore, Li Tai ordered to build a garrison city in Mianshang and sent 300 troops to garrison there. After discovering the enemy situation, they defended and blocked the enemy while quickly reporting to Guyuan City.

After Gao Le advanced eastward and defeated the enemy's troops who returned to Wusu City, the situation in Wusu City was further consolidated. Therefore, the efforts to transport supplies from Guyuan City to Wusu City were also strengthened, and Wusu City was used as a supply center for the next army.

The troops of Guo Yan, who had withdrawn from Wusu City before, were now distributed along the Jiashiling line to guard the safety of this road. As the Qi army approached Wusu City, they also collided with each other many times.

In addition to reaching Wusu City from the east of Jiashiling, there is also a road diagonally heading northeast, connecting to the Nieshui River Valley north of Wusu City, and Nieshui can directly lead to Wuxiang City where the Northern Qi Jinyang Army is now located.

Therefore, if the Northern Qi Army in Wuxiang City wants to go south to besiege Wusu City, Jiashiling is also a relatively important passage. On this passage, there is a fortress called Duanliang City. Duanliang City is surrounded by deep ravines and three sides of steep ravines. The city is two miles wide. It is the most dangerous place in the Jiashiling Passage. If a large group of troops want to go east and west through this, they must take Duanliang City.

Before Han Guo captured Wusu City, he had already noticed the danger of Duanliang City when he inspected the surrounding terrain. So after conquering Wusu City, he immediately sent troops to occupy this city to block the passage from Wuxiang South.

The Qi army explored water sources and opened up passages nearby, and naturally soon noticed Duanliang City, a relatively dangerous stronghold in Jiashiling. After reporting to Wuxiang City, Qi Lord Gao Yang immediately dispatched divisions to attack.

Duanliang City is easy to defend and difficult to attack, but it also has its own disadvantages, because it is located on a raised high plateau, and there is no stable water source on the plateau. Even if you dig dozens of feet deep, there will be no springs. To get drinking water, you either rely on rain from the sky or use tools to draw water from the streams outside the city.

However, there was a severe drought this summer, and there has been no rain for a long time. The streams outside the city have also become dry, making it particularly difficult to replenish water in Duanliang City, and it must be transported from outside to the city. It is precisely because of this that, although the terrain of Duanliang City is very prominent, considering the difficulty of water supply, Han Guo only arranged 500 guards.

Thousands of soldiers from the Northern Qi Dynasty came to Duanliang City with great momentum and attacked it repeatedly. However, due to the steep terrain of the city and the stubborn resistance of the defenders in the city, the Qi army suffered heavy casualties but still failed to capture the city. Some soldiers also proposed to use fire attack, but Duanliang City was originally a bald mountain, and even if rockets were fired, it would be difficult for the fire to spread in the city.

Although the defenders of Duanliang City resisted the enemy's offensive, the situation was not optimistic. As the enemy continued to siege the city, the drinking water stored in the city was also rapidly consumed, and it was about to run out. Therefore, they could only light beacons to warn the divisions and brigades west of Jiashiling and ask for help, hoping that they would supply water here.

After receiving this message, Guo Yan immediately summoned 2,000 soldiers, led by himself, and escorted water carts to Duanliang City for reinforcement.

Duanliang City was originally a fortress of the Qi army, and the disadvantage of its lack of water in the city naturally could not be concealed from the Qi army. Therefore, after several unsuccessful attacks, they adjusted their tactics and stopped attacking the castle. Instead, they patrolled nearby to prepare to attack the reinforcements.

Soon, the reinforcements led by Guo Yan entered the sight of the Qi army scouts, and they were quickly reported to Xue Guyan, the general supervising the battle.

Xue Guyan was overjoyed when he learned that the Wei army had indeed reinforced them. After a moment of hesitation, he ordered the troops under the city to retreat temporarily. When Guo Yan led his troops to Duanliang City, he led his troops back to fight back, wanting to swallow up the reinforcements and the strong city on the plateau!