Chapter 182 Jieting
The reason why Jieting is important is that it is the confluence of several roads from Longxi and Guanzhong, but Jieting itself is actually not a strategic pass that is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

However, the Eastern Yan army, which had made a lot of preparations in advance, still built this place into a defense line that gave the opponent a headache.

In October, the Battle of Jieting began.

The two sides launched a fierce offensive and defensive battle on the road to Jieting.

The next day, at dawn, the sun rose, and a strong wind blew on the Longguan Road.

Inside the Western Army camp, the sound of war drums was like thunder, echoing continuously among the ravines of Longshan Mountain.

The various units of the Western Yan army marched out of the camp in unison. Tens of thousands of Yan soldiers lined up on the narrow mountain road, stretching for several miles.

The first two battalions of soldiers, with about three thousand men, were divided into four square formations. All of them wore double armor, held swords and shields, and rushed towards the Eastern Yan army camp with great momentum.

These elite soldiers were recruited by General Yuwen She with huge sums of money and titles. Their mission was to lay down the obstacles in front of the Eastern Yan army camp with their lives.

If these death warriors can clear all the roadblocks in front of the Eastern Yan army camp, regardless of whether they live or die, they will be rewarded with three levels of beheading, three thousand yuan, twenty pieces of silk, and twenty acres of land each.

However, if they return without success, they will be considered deserters and will be executed!

It is said that people die for money and birds die for food. When there is a big reward, there will always be brave men.

Being a soldier was originally about earning a fortune by hanging your head on your trousers. But now, as long as they can follow military orders and lay flat on the road, it is a huge fortune for them.

Such a desperate order made these Western Yan soldiers determined to fight to the death.

When the war drums sounded, the Yan army soldiers placed wooden shields across their necks and chests, roared and rushed forward, pulling up the caltrops with their bare hands, while their colleagues behind them pushed the carts to fill the pit with rocks.

At the same time, in the two phalanxes behind them, under the orders of the officers and soldiers of various departments, archers and crossbowmen fired thousands of arrows at once, throwing out countless arrows. The flying arrows were like locusts, covering the sky and the sun, and fell into the camp of the Eastern Yan army.

Two hundred years later, it was Jieting again, and a war that was destined to leave blood everywhere began.

As the defending side, the Eastern Yan army, relying on the city walls for protection, put up large shields to protect their soldiers from the sudden rain of arrows.

In contrast to the thousands of arrows fired by Western Yan, the crossbowmen of Eastern Yan took aim and shot at the front of the Western Army that was advancing in front of the formation.

On the watchtower in the East Yan camp, Commander Murong Abao and several officers stood tall, gazing into the distance at the battlefield situation.

Arrows from both sides were interlaced and continuously shot out from their respective arrays. In addition, the Western Yan army's death warriors were determined to move forward to clear the roadblocks, but were hit by the Eastern Yan army's arrows from time to time, and their wailing and screaming were endless.

Many people were shot dead instantly, or fell to the ground unable to get up, and were pushed directly into pits or ditches by their comrades.

Use the corpses to pave the way for the Western Yan army to attack.

For a moment, it seemed as if the thousands of ravines and gullies in the Longshan Road were filled with killing and wailing.

The drums beat like thunder, the arrows rained down like rain, and the army formations of both sides seemed endless and dark like a continuous cloud, covering the sky and the sun.

Both sides understood the importance of time, especially Yuwen She. If he could not enter the Longyou area as soon as possible, and wait until Li Yuan's army came in, it would be a situation where "it is still unknown who will win."

If Guanzhong wants to be stable, it must take over Longyou.

Otherwise, Li Yuan, who occupied Yizhou, could cut off the connection between Hexi and Guanzhong from Longyou, and could attack Guanzhong from the advantage of being high above.

This is undoubtedly a thorn in the side for Xiyan at the moment.

Therefore, Western Yan could capture Longyou at no cost.

With Longyou in hand, Hexi, Longyou and Guanzhong can be connected into one. These places are where elite soldiers are born and good horses are produced. In addition, the terrain of Bingzhou is obviously higher than that of Hebei and Sili.

In this way, Western Yan could take advantage of its elite troops and geographical advantages to offset Eastern Yan's advantage of having large and prosperous prefectures.

And this route of advancement is actually the route that the Li and Tang dynasties took to rule the world in history.

Bingzhou, Guanzhong, Longyou, Hexi, and then turned eastward to fight for the world.

But it is obvious that Li Tang's route may not work if it is replaced by Xi Yan. On the contrary, sometimes people are the key to success.

No matter how well the script is written, it still needs a good director and good actors to have a good show.

At this moment, a wonderful show is taking place between Didao and Jincheng, east of Tao River.

Xiao Juan led his army from Wuwei, crossed the Wushaoling Mountains, and joined the border troops of Xiping and Jincheng counties along the way. He had 30,000 infantry and cavalry, and wanted to cross the river and drive straight to Longxi to join forces with Yuwen She's army to attack the Eastern Yan army from both sides.

In this way, the kingdom can be accomplished and Western Dayan can prosper.

Xiao Juan was about forty years old. He was from the Xiao family of Lanling. He had a handsome appearance, a neat beard, and a long beard, which made him look very dignified.

In order to maintain his long beard, he even carried a beard bag when marching in the wild.

Although Mr. Xiao liked to put on airs, one had to admit that he was extremely methodical whether he was commanding the army or being an official.

After succeeding the late King of Zhao as the governor of Liangzhou, he resisted the Turks in the north and reached Tuyuhun in the south. Although he did not win a great victory in all his military campaigns, he never suffered any losses.

He was also good at commanding and training the army and was deeply loved by the soldiers.

Among the Liangzhou troops, the best fighters were Mu Changling, the governor of Xiping, and Xue Renmei, the general of Yingyang. Mu Changling was from a prominent Xianbei family, and Xue Renmei was from the Xue family of Fenyin. Both were fierce generals known for their bravery.

There was also the Eagle General Da Xi Chang Ru, who was strict in military discipline and had outstanding military strategies. He often consulted with Xiao Juan on military affairs.

In addition, Liangzhou is a place where Hu and Han people live together, and the people are tough and brave. They all practice riding and shooting, and they guard the border all year round. Therefore, the cavalry of Liangzhou is an elite force known throughout the world.

Therefore, from Xiao Juan and his generals to the soldiers from various departments, everyone is very optimistic about the outcome of this battle.

After all, the Liangzhou Army only serves as a detachment, and the Longyou Army will definitely use most of its forces to fight against the main force in Guanzhong.

As for the Yizhou army in Shuzhong, regardless of their combat effectiveness, the Qishan Road alone would take them one or two months to travel.

The Liangzhou army was only facing the troops of Longxi County, which was not enough to rely on.

This kind of mentality is shared not only by Xiao Juan, but by all the generals.

After 30,000 infantry and cavalry rushed all the way to Sanjiangkou along the Huangshui River, they prepared to go upstream along the Yellow River to the confluence of the Taoshui River and the Yellow River, and then go south along the Taoshui River to attack Guguan and Didao.

At this time, there were more than 30,000 infantry and cavalry in Liangzhou, including about 20,000 border troops of Zhenrong, and the remaining more than 10,000 were from the Qiang and Hu tribes who followed in the expedition.

Including tens of thousands of civilians, the total number is about 60,000.

Sanjiangkou is the confluence of the Huangshui River and the Yellow River. Standing on the south bank of the Huangshui River, you can see the steep and rugged terrain on the east bank of the Yellow River.

You can also see the sudden rise of dust on the north bank of the Yellow River after it turns at the confluence.

Although they were separated by a river and could not accurately feel the sound of the earth's hooves stampeding by the large-scale cavalry, they could see the clouds above the dust.

Gradually, I could hear the thunderous sound of horse hooves echoing in my ears as they passed by the cliffs along the banks of the Yellow River.

As the obvious groups of Qiang and Hu cavalry came into view, they moved up the river along the north bank from the mouth of the Huangshui River.

Xiao Juan and his generals were all stunned and furious. This 30,000-man troop dispatch almost exhausted all the elite troops from the Liangzhou counties, Wuwei, Zhangye, Xiping, Jincheng, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang, leaving the defense empty.

The soldiers below were all excited when they saw this scene, and the knights on the opposite side began to howl deliberately, and the sound lasted for a long time.

The two sides passed each other across a large river.

You go to Longyou, and I go to Liangzhou.

You hit yours, I'll hit mine.

(End of this chapter)