The sky was overcast, there was no sun, and when I climbed halfway up the mountain, I felt that there was a fog. The low bushes on the hill were moistened by the weather, and the thick green seemed to be dripping at any moment.

Xu Ping walked with difficulty on the vine-covered ground, step by step to the top of the mountain.

Sang Yi walked aside, much more relaxed than Xu Ping, and had the leisure to look at the scenery, and said: "It's a pity that it's such a weather, the fog is filled, and you can't see it clearly from a distance." Listening to the natives here, when you reach the top of the mountain, you can see Menzhou not far away, and I don't know if you can see this kind of weather. ”

"This season, when can you wait until sunny days?"

Xu Ping stopped, looked up at the top of the mountain, and gasped heavily.

The mountain is not high, one or two hundred zhang, but the mountain is steep, and there is no road, the mountain is full of shrubs and vines, there is no place to put your feet, and it is extremely tiring to climb up.

After taking a breath, Xu Ping gritted his teeth, and finally climbed to the top of the mountain with Tan Hu and a group of personal soldiers with Sang Yi.

As soon as I reached the top of the mountain, my vision widened, and although there was fog blocking it, the general outline of the green mountains in the distance could still be seen, and the villages and towns not far away were full of shadows.

Sang Yi pointed to the south and said to Xu Ping: "The place where there are people is Menzhou, which is less than ten miles away from here, and this kind of weather can still be faintly seen." ”

Xu Ping nodded: "Yes, that's Menzhou." You see, from there there there is a valley that stretches out to the west, and that is the road to Guangyuan Prefecture. Walking along the river valley is similar to going from Siming to Upper Sizhou, and it is not very difficult to walk. Occupy Menzhou, Guangyuan Prefecture is like in hand. ”

Sang Yi put his hands on the pergola and looked at the valley that meandered among the mountains.

Xu Ping thinks differently. Stand here. For no reason, I remembered the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam in my previous life. I don't know much about the war. There are only some vague impressions.

The location where he and Sang Yi are now is also the important border town between China and Vietnam in his previous life, Zhennan Pass, or Friendship Pass. Of course, it is not called this name now, according to legend, Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty set up a pass here, the name Yongji Pass, the first important place to control the chokehold.

This pass is between the two mountains, and the left is the left Bi Mountain. The right is the right auxiliary mountain, all are steep like a cliff, like two gates in general, Zhennanguan just holds the road. There are only valleys between the mountains, and there are many passes, all of which are strategically important in the military.

The narrow part of the flat valley is set up as a pass, and the ridges opposite the two valleys are passes, although the passes have always been called together, but their status in ancient and modern wars is different. In the era of cold weapons, the key is to be closed. The so-called one husband is a pass, and ten thousand people are not open. It's time for guns and cannons. Then the status of the pass rises, and the guan is irrelevant. Because the pass can rely on the front out of the valley to arrange pocket positions, echelon defense, and resistance, and the pass is a commanding height, which is easy to observe and facilitate long-range firepower to exert its power.

But in this year, the pass was the first important frontier point, so the first thing Xu Ping did when he arrived at Pingxiangtong was to recruit manpower to rebuild this Xiongguan and renamed it Zhennan Pass according to the memory of his previous life.

Today, Xu Ping and Sang Yi came over to observe the terrain on the mountains on both sides, and by the way, compared with the war in their memory. The status of Zhennanguan in that war was not important, because neither the firepower of the army nor the athletic ability of the soldiers was far from being comparable to Xu Ping's era, and neither the enemy nor the enemy cared about Zhennanguan.

What really makes sense to Xu Ping now is that the main battlefield of that war did not take place between Pingxiang and Langzhou, but in the western Yunnan area, which was called Guangyuan Prefecture in this era.

A thousand years later, the Chinese army's operational direction was Guangyuan Prefecture, and it was outflanked along the road to Langzhou. Now Xu Ping's idea is just the opposite, go to Menzhou first, and set off from Menzhou to attack Guangyuan Prefecture.

Looking at the looming villages and towns not far away, Xu Ping frowned and said: "Menzhou is much smaller than Langzhou, no wonder Jiaozhi and Jiatong don't care much." ”

"Yes, after all, it can only be used as a road, and there is no army stationed there." Sang Yi also felt a little regretful.

On the border between the Great Song Dynasty and Jiaozhi, the mountains are continuous, the rivers are vertical and horizontal, and the land is vast and sparsely populated. Most of the settlements were located in river valleys and mountain basins, which served as a passage for the army and a source of supply for the army. The basin is the most important of these, because it connects the valleys, is the hub of transportation, and gathers the largest number of people, which can provide manpower and material resources for the war.

The key to the troops' actions in the mountains is to seize these mountain basins, and once they control the basins, they will have the freedom to move, and they can also gather troops, reserve materials, and raise grain and grass. Once an important basin is lost, the armies deployed in various places will be divided and can only be beaten passively, losing the initiative in the war.

The most important passage from Yongzhou to Jiaozhi, the two most important valleys at the junction of the two countries are Pingxiangtong and Langzhou. There are two small basins between the two, one is Zhennanguan and the other is Menzhou.

The Great Song Dynasty was condescending to Jiaozhi, but if it wanted to gain freedom of movement in this area, the least was to rely on Pingxiangtong to occupy the Menzhou Basin, to the west to attack Guangyuan Prefecture, and to the south to control the state.

Kagukou, Sichuan Valley, and Basin are the basic principles of mountain warfare. Xu Ping didn't know these military theories, but he carefully studied the terrain, carefully did the war deduction, and understood the general idea through self-study.

It's just June, it's the rainy season, and it's not appropriate for Yongzhou to do anything in this season. Xu Ping had to build Zhennanguan for the rest of the rainy season and control Menzhou, so that he could take action when the dry season came.

Menzhou and Langzhou are located between Jiaozhi and the Great Song Dynasty, and their attitudes are also swaying from side to side. If the grass grows on the wall, it can't help it not fall with the wind, otherwise it won't be able to survive, Xu Ping understands their difficulties, and he doesn't force each other too much. It's been a few days since he arrived in Xiangping, and he hasn't contacted Menzhou at all, Xu Ping is just making his own preparations.

No matter how many sweet words and promises there are, the effect cannot be compared to the deterrence of the soldiers coming to the city, Xu Ping and his two lives are human, so he naturally understands this truth. When the time comes, they themselves will turn upside down.

Langzhou is under the nose of Jiatong, relatively speaking, Menzhou is more leaning towards the Great Song Dynasty, and will send people to Qianlongtong to secretly communicate with the song. But no matter what, these two places are still nominally under the Great Song Dynasty, and Jiatong and Jiaozhi don't dare to swallow it in one bite, and they don't dare to tear their faces at this time.

The fog became thicker and thicker, slowly turning into fine rain, Tan Hu whispered to Xu Ping: "Official, it's raining, the mountain road is difficult, let's go back." ”

The raindrops hung on the weeds and vines, which were more slippery, and it was easy to go up the mountain and difficult to go down, so everyone walked carefully.

Tan Hu cut down a bamboo branch in the nearby bamboo forest, made a bamboo cane for Xu Ping, and followed carefully and slowly walked down the mountain.

The troops who built the pass also stopped working in the rain and fog, lit piles of bonfires, and sat around.

Xu Ping looked at it, didn't say anything, took Tan Hu and Sang Yi on the horse, and returned directly to Pingxiangtong.

The Pingxiangtong official hall has been requisitioned by Xu Ping as his station here. Zhitong Li Xiang'an's family has already moved out, this ghost place is poor and bad, after seeing the prosperity outside, Li Xiangan is considering asking Xu Ping to make amends, and simply go to Taiping County to settle down.

When they arrived at the official hall, a group of officials who were busy inside saluted Xu parallelly. Xu Ping asked if there was anything wrong, so he went back to the back office with Sang Yi to change his clothes, and then turned out again.

Here in Zuojiang Dao, Xu Ping is the biggest official, and he doesn't even have a person to restrain him, and even the sugar business was built by him, so he can act according to his own temperament. Therefore, this official hall is different from other official halls of this era, combining many habits of Xu Ping's previous life.

As soon as I entered, I was facing the wall, and instead of auspicious paintings, there was a huge map of the neighborhood. On the left and right of the map are two huge tables, and on the left are the cultural conditions of each force, including politics, economy, household registration, military, transportation, history and social overview, all inclusive, Jiaozhi is ranked first, and the second place is Jiatong. On the right is the geographical overview of the vicinity, mountains, valleys, basins, climate, hydrology, and even soil and endemic beasts.

In essence, war is not a battle of knives and guns on the battlefield, but a contest between two power groups that fully mobilize their own manpower and material resources.

Xu Ping's professional background and habits make him not sit in the handsome tent and meditate on some tricks, but put them out like this, list them clearly, and calculate clearly what to do and what not to do. It is his habit to maximize his power and fully limit the use of the enemy's power.

Most of the clerks in the official hall are from the sugar business, and a few are from the Xiang army. That is to say, with the cane sugar business, Xu Ping can do this in the name of the township soldiers, otherwise it is really not easy.

People who can sit in the official hall must be literate and read, although there are no serious people, but there are really a few who are ready to participate in the next Yongzhou Liberation Test, and they are full of confidence. They are all from Fujian, where there are too many students, and some states are no less difficult than the provincial exams, while Yongzhou is much simpler.

Due to the large disparity in education levels, the imperial court did not allow candidates to change their nationality for the exam, although there are always people who have a way, but for most people there is no way at all. The cane sugar business has been in place for several years, and Xu Ping has been playing a chapter every year, requiring the immigrants of the cane sugar business to be relieved in Yongzhou, and this year it was finally approved, and the number of people in Yongzhou has been doubled, and the personnel of the cane sugar business are allowed to refer to it.

Scholars always think very highly of themselves, and when they come to Xu Ping to do things, they are unwilling to be officials, and the identity of the Xiang army is even more impossible, so they avoid this embarrassing problem in the name of serving in the township soldiers.

Being a soldier requires a tattoo, which is also an insult in this era, so unless there is no way, few people will take the initiative to enlist in the army. The scholars of the Great Song Dynasty are willing to join the army to fight for fame, but there are almost no people who can accept the tattoo, and the forbidden army is specially and effectively used this name, neither an officer, but also no tattoo, there are many scholars in it, that is, there are many Jinshi who fall behind, and it is impossible to have it in the army.

Xu Ping sat down on the chair, and a man in a long robe came over with a few pieces of paper, and said to Xu Ping with a strange expression: "Official, we have polished this notice a few times, can you see if there are any changes?" (To be continued.) )