"Lord Wang, the advance of the enemy army stopped outside the Yumen Pass, and there was no sign of attacking the fortified position outside the pass, as if waiting for the arrival of the army."

In late September, when Li Yuntian was in the living room to convene the senior generals of Qinglong City, a guard hurriedly came in to give a message, among which the army of the Timurid Empire was stationed outside the Yumen Pass, while the army of the Northern Yuan was outside the Yangguan Pass.

Yumen Pass and another important pass in the west of the Guanxi Yang Pass are located in the territory of Dunhuang County, the Han Dynasty are all the governors of the place, for the important garrison place, the Central Plains and the Western Regions traffic is indispensable to take the two passes, was an important military pass and the Silk Road traffic artery during the Han Dynasty, through the Western Regions, even Europe and Asia, famous at home and abroad, love ancient and modern.

Leaving Yumen Pass and Yangguan, you will enter the vast Gobi Desert, which is the most barren place in the eyes of the world, and the most famous poem is Wang Zhilian's "Liangzhou Ci": The Yellow River is far above the white clouds, a lonely city and ten thousand mountains. Why should Qiang Di complain about the willows, the spring breeze does not pass the jade gate.

It is worth mentioning that Yumen Pass and Yangguan are under the jurisdiction of Shazhou Wei because they are in Dunhuang, which is the symbol of the boundary between Shazhou Wei and Hamiwei.

As the relationship between the Seven Guards of the Kansai became closer and closer, especially after accepting the canonization of the Ming Dynasty, the situation in the Kansai region became stable, and the defense of the Shazhou Wei against the Yangguan Pass and the Yumen Pass became looser, and the Hamiwei became an important buffer zone between these two checkpoints and the Eastern Chagatai Khanate.

However, since the successive defeats of the Ming Western Expeditionary Army in the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, Yumen Pass and Yangguan have become two important defensive fortresses of the Ming Dynasty in Guanxi.

According to the military system of the Ming Dynasty, the seven guards of Guanxi were under the jurisdiction of the Shaanxi Xingdu Division, and the Shaanxi Xingdu Division therefore urgently mobilized 10,000 people to rush to the aid of Yumen Pass and Yangguan, and the Tahar of Shazhou Wei was powerless to stop and could not stop it, so he could only watch the Ming army stationed in Yumen Pass and Yangguan.

After Li Yuntian arrived in Qinglong City, he once again strengthened the defense of the two levels, so that the number of defenders at each level reached more than 10,000, which was enough to resist the attack of tens of thousands of enemy troops with the steepness of the level.

The garrison of Shazhou Wei was completely reduced to a supporting role in the supporting role, because the Shazhou Wei garrison of Yumen Pass and Yangguan was only a few hundred people, which was negligible compared with the Ming army.

As the saying goes, it's easy to invite the gods and it's hard to send the gods, and now that the Ming army has been stationed in Yumen Pass and Sunshine, how to let them leave in the future has become a nerve-wracking problem for Tahar.

Originally, Li Yuntian's establishment of Qinglong City in Dunhuang made Tahar feel extremely uneasy, but because Li Yuntian had already put forward this suggestion when he was in Beizhili at that time, he had to accept it, although he had received a lot of benefits from Qinglong City over the years, but the side of the couch did not allow others to sleep soundly, and secretly felt very depressed and helpless about the existence of Qinglong City.

Now the Ming army has been stationed in Yumen Pass and Yangguan, which forms a triangle area with Qinglong City in the Dunhuang area, and the ancient city of Dunhuang where Takhar is located is in this triangle area, which makes him feel depressed.

It was precisely because he felt the potential threat of the Ming army that Tahar secretly colluded with the Northern Yuan, not only wanting to maintain his rule in Shazhouwei, but also wanting to own Qinglong City and then dominate Kansai.

After hearing the information of the guard, the senior generals of the Ming army in the living room immediately became worried about the defenders of Yumen Pass, as far as they knew, there were 100,000 people in the vanguard of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan, and there were only more than 10,000 defenders in Yumen Pass, and once attacked, the defenders of Yumen Pass would not be able to resist at all.

Yumen Pass is also called the small square pan city, stands on a sand and stone hill in the northwest of the ancient city of Dunhuang nearly two hundred miles, the gate city is square for the yellow rubber soil rammed building, open the northwest two gates.

According to historical records, the city wall of Yumen Pass is as high as ten meters, three meters wide at the top, five meters wide at the bottom, and there is a horse road under the female wall, and people and horses can go straight to the top.

The swamps are all around, the ravines are vertical and horizontal, the Great Wall is winding, the beacons are standing tall, the poplars are upright, the spring water is green, and there is a wonderful scenery.

In the face of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan coalition army, which had absolute superiority, although Yumen Pass had a strong city defense, it was still difficult to resist the sharp offensive of the other party.

Li Yuntian knew why the vanguard troops of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan Dynasty did not attack the checkpoint, on the surface it seemed that they were waiting for the arrival of the follow-up troops, but in fact they were delaying time, so that more refugees in the Guanxi region would enter Qinglong City, and the more refugees in Qinglong City, the more unfavorable it would naturally be for the Ming army.

For the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan, Guanxi was already in their pockets, so it made no difference to capture Yumen Pass earlier or later.

"Pass on the king's order, the defenders of Yumen Pass immediately take advantage of the night to evacuate and enter Yangguan!" Since Li Yuntian guessed the intentions of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan, he naturally would not be indifferent, and after a deep groan, he opened his mouth and gave an order.

"Obedience!" The guard who came to report the news bowed his hand to Li Yuntian when he heard the words and left in a hurry.

The generals present couldn't help but look at each other, no one thought that Li Yuntian would be withdrawn to Yangguan by the defenders of Yumen Pass, instead of withdrawing to Qinglong City.

Yangguan is located in the southwest of Dunhuang City in the Hexi Corridor more than 140 miles on the "antique beach", is an important pass for the Han Dynasty to defend against the invasion of the northwest nomads, relying on the water as the pass, according to the Sichuan when the danger, and the north and south of the Yumen Pass echo, because of the danger and guard, so it has the reputation of "one husband when the pass, ten thousand people do not open".

Compared with Yumen Pass, Yangguan is undoubtedly more suitable for garrison, if the defenders of Yumen Pass enter Yangguan, it will make Yangguan's strength reach more than 20,000 people, and the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan will pay a heavy price if they want to capture Yangguan.

The reason why Li Yuntian put the 20,000 Ming troops in Yangguan was not to use them as cannon fodder to block the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan army, because once the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan controlled the Yumen Pass, then Yangguan would be a chicken rib for them, and they would definitely not spend their strength to capture it, so the soldiers in Yangguan were undoubtedly safe.

In this way, the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan Dynasty had to divide a part of their forces to guard against the Ming army in Yangguan, which relieved some pressure on Qinglong City and Jiayuguan.

"Lord Wang, now that the soldiers and civilians in Qinglong City have reached saturation, but there is still a steady stream of people coming, according to the humble duty, the city gate should be closed now, the people in the city are too crowded." After the guard who reported the news left, the commander of the Guanxi battalion of the Xiaowu Army, Yiwu Beru Minen, groaned and said to Li Yuntian in a deep voice.

Out of concern about the future situation in the Kansai war, many people in the Kansai region chose to take refuge in Qinglong City, knowing that with the style of the Xiaowu Army's Guanxi Qinglong Battalion, they would definitely not abandon them, and they also believed that the Ming Dynasty would achieve the final victory in the war.

This made the number of people in Qinglong City gradually reach the saturation value, although Li Yuntian was the highest official of the Ming Dynasty in the Western Regions, but the affairs of Qinglong City were still handled by Lu Minen, and Lu Minen felt very uneasy about the increasing number of people in the city, which could easily cause social security problems.

"Hold on for a few more days, and in a few days the enemy army will arrive in Qinglong City, and then we can close the city gates." Li Yuntian knew Lu Minen's worries, so he pondered for a while and said, "The people of Kansai are also the people of my Ming Dynasty, and we, as officials and soldiers, naturally want to save those people, only in this way can we gain a foothold in Kansai in the future." ”

"Humble duty understands." Lu Minen naturally knew Li Yuntian's layout in Guanxi, so he bowed to Li Yuntian and replied in a deep voice, it seems that he needs to strengthen the security management in the city to prevent trouble.

"Ladies and gentlemen, once the enemy army is under the city, then Qinglong City will implement martial law and rationing, and this king hopes that you can perform your duties and act according to orders!" Li Yuntian bowed slightly to Lu Minen, glanced around at the generals on the scene, and then said in a deep voice, "Remember, restrain your subordinates, you must not violate military discipline, let alone bully the Kansai Army, otherwise you will be severely punished!" ”

"Don't worry, I will fulfill our duties and live up to the prince's trust." Hearing this, all the generals got up one after another, and bowed to Li Yuntian in unison.

Li Yuntian bowed slightly when he saw this, he calculated that if according to the grain reserves in Qinglong City, it was enough for the people in the city to support the Ming counterattack next year, as long as the Ming army in Mobei joined the Guanxi battlefield next year, then the disadvantage of the Ming Dynasty in Guanxi would be reversed immediately, and it would be the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan that would fall into passivity.

After the discussion, Li Yuntian returned to the study, stood in front of the map hanging on the wall, frowned and fell into deep thought.

"Lord Wang, this is the secret report I received just now." Not long after, Lin Xin walked in quickly and handed a small sealed bamboo tube to Li Yuntian.

Li Yuntian came back to his senses, hurriedly removed the seal on the small bamboo tube, poured out a small note rolled together from it, and couldn't help but be happy after reading it, and then came to the map to check it carefully.

"Sure enough!" After checking the map, Li Yuntian couldn't help but reach out and pat it on the map, with a relaxed look on his face.

"Lord Wang, what happened?" Seeing this, Lin Xin couldn't help but be curious, because the level of this secret report was beyond her authority, so she didn't know what was written in it.

"Their goal is the Hetao, they want to bypass the Jiayuguan and take the grassland into the Hetao area, and then cross the Great Wall to invade Datong after obtaining grain and grass in the Hetao area." Li Yuntian handed the small note in his hand to Lin Xin, and a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth, "They want to have a salary from the bottom of the kettle, is this king so easy to deal with?" ”

Indeed, this move of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan Dynasty really surprised the outside world, and they even sought the near and far, taking the Hetao as the target of the next attack, rather than attacking Jiayuguan with all their might.

Although the Hetao area was thousands of miles away from Guanxi, and it had to compete with the Mongols in Hetao, the Xiaowu Army of the Shanbei Military Region, and the troops of the local guards, because the troops of the Hetao and Shanbei Military Regions had been withdrawn one after another, it was the best strategy for the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan to attack the Ming Dynasty, and to avoid storming the heavily guarded Jiayu Pass.

"Lord Wang, they are really going to attack the Hetao as you expected before!" After reading the contents of the small note, Lin Xin's face suddenly showed an excited look.

Li Yuntian had already guessed that the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan would come to this end, so he had already made arrangements in advance, except for a very few high-ranking generals in Qinglong City, no one knew that the 70,000 troops of the Liaodong Military Region had already secretly left Qinglong City.

Now, those soldiers wearing the uniforms of the Liaodong Military Region are from Jiayuguan, and Li Yuntian has gradually replaced the 70,000 troops of the Liaodong Military Region with the defenders of Jiayuguan by using the daily troop movements, while the real troops of the Liaodong Military Region have quietly sneaked out of the city.

The reason why Li Yuntian made such a judgment was because the troops of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan Dynasty marched slowly to Guanxi, and if it were him, they must have arrived in Guanxi a month ago, which means that they probably had a safe way to march into the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, bypassing Jiayuguan and walking the grassland is also an excellent way to attack the Ming Dynasty, if it is replaced by Li Yuntian, he will definitely choose to divide his troops to occupy the Hetao, and then attack Datong, which is a common route for the Northern Yuan to invade the Ming Dynasty, and it can be said that the Northern Yuan is familiar with it.

Therefore, under the current situation of empty troops in the Hetao area and the Shanbei Military Region, Li Yuntian had to make plans to transfer troops from Qinglong City in advance to prevent the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan from choosing this path to invade the Ming Dynasty.