Farmer of Shu Han

In the last month of the ninth year of Yanxi, the Han Dynasty from south to north, Jiang Wei and Liu Yin of Luoyang, Jiang Bin and Wang Han of Hedong, and Shi Bao and Hu Zun of Shangdang were all dispatching troops intensively, and they might attack Hanoi at any time. Initiate an encirclement.

Feng Dashima, who was based in Jinyang, sent forward troops, pointing directly at Jingxing, without concealing his intentions at all.

For a time, the Han army pressed across the border from Luoyang in the south to Jinyang in the north, greatly increasing the pressure on Hebei.

Although it was about to enter the coldest mid-winter season, heavy snow completely closed the mountains, causing great difficulties for the Han army to pass through the Taihang Mountains.

At the same time, it also gave great help and convenience to the Wei army on the defensive side.

However, the shadow cast by the Han army on Wei over the years still makes people in Hebei panic.

However, relatively speaking, the Han army, as the attacking party, seemed to have bad luck.

In fact, there is an unexpected benefit.

That is, after heavy snow seals the mountains, the Han army can completely cover the battlefield and block news, so that Hebei, east of the Taihang Mountains, has no way of knowing the Han army's next move.

If Xizuo wanted to send the message, he would have to take a detour to Luoyang.

In this way, not to mention the many hurdles, even if the trip went smoothly, the news sent to Yecheng would have been out of date.

In other words, Sima Yi got the news that someone Feng had arrived in Jinyang, which was most likely the last news before next spring.

Sima Yi even had some doubts that his opponent's decision to send troops at this time, contrary to common sense, might not be without this factor.

So, does Mr. Feng still want to take advantage of this time difference to engage in some conspiracy?

Master Sima was a little worried.

Of course, the good news is that because of the heavy snowfall, it is also difficult to get news from Hebei from the Han side.

The Taihang Mountains are like a huge fog of war, blocking the vision of both sides.

Next, it depends on how the commanders of both sides arrange their troops.

It has to be said that as Wei's last hope, Taifu Sima is still a competent opponent.

Not only did he make arrangements at every pass where the Han army might break through Hebei.

You can even guess some of Feng Da Sima's thoughts.

Just when the forward sent by Feng Da Sima arrived at Jingxing and was about to try to find a way to pass through Jingxing, attracting the attention of most people, General Ji Han Zhendong had quietly arrived in Pingcheng.

Accompanying him, in addition to Zhao Guang who led the Tiger Cavalry, were Liu Hun, Tufa Kheli, Bu Dugen, Liu Bao and other leaders of the Hu Cavalry.

The person who came to greet him was Zhang Yuan, the chief of the Pingcheng Hu Xianbei School and the chief senior brother of the academy.

"The general will pay homage to General Zhendong."

"No need to be polite, get up!"

General Zhendong's face was cold, and he just replied lightly. He did not stop, but continued to walk towards the mansion of the Colonel Hu Xianbei.

Zhang Yuan quickly stood up and followed General Zhendong.

After entering the Hu Xianbei Xiaowei Mansion and asking the irrelevant personnel to leave, General Zhendong asked again:

"How are you preparing?"

Following General Zhendong into the hall of the Hu Xianbei School Lieutenant's Mansion, Zhang Yuan heard the question and quickly answered:

"General, please don't worry, everything has been prepared."

General Zhendong sat down on the main seat unceremoniously, glanced at the generals who followed him, motioned for them all to sit down, and then looked at Zhang Yuan:

"What's the situation outside the wall?"

Since Emperor Gaozu was besieged by Baideng, Pingcheng has been repeatedly destroyed and built over hundreds of years. It has always been the dividing line and contested area between Han and Hu.

Even not far to the north of Pingcheng, there are still remains of the Guansai ruins built by the former Han Dynasty.

Starting from Pingcheng and crossing the mountain pass, you don't have to go far to reach the grassland.

"Before winter came this year, the captain's office sent people to conduct a sweep again. At the same time, our people in the Wuluhui Department sent back the news that everything is normal there."

Zhang Yuan replied and glanced at Liu Hun, Bald-faced Khotan and others.

It was these two people who were responsible for the sweep.

In the past few years, the use of big sticks and jujubes from Pingcheng has turned the area from Pingcheng to Juyongguan, close to the border fortress, into a no-man's land.

As for the Wuluhui tribe mentioned by General Zhendong, it is the in-law tribe of Suotou, the core tribe of Tuoba Xianbei.

Now the leader of the Luhui tribe is Dou Bin.

Dou Bin, the Dou family, is said to have a very close connection with the Fufeng Dou family, a political family spanning the two Han dynasties.

Because Dou Bin's father is said to be the son of Dou Tong, the prefect of Yanmen in the Later Han Dynasty.

And Dou Tong is also said to be the son of Dou Zhang.

Who is Dou Zhang?

A direct descendant of the Dou family in Fufeng and a great-great-grandson of Dou Rong. (Note: Dou Rong was the founding hero of the Eastern Han Dynasty and one of the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai)

As for why Dou Bin's lord Dou Tong left the good prefect of Yanmen behind and went to the grassland to become the leader of the Hu tribe, I heard that it was to avoid Dou Wu's troubles.

Dou Wu, the general during the reign of Emperor Ling, was known as the "Three Monarchs" together with Liu Shu and Chen Fan during the "Party Disaster". He wanted to get rid of the eunuchs, but failed and committed suicide. He was beheaded in Duting, Luoyang.

After Dou Wu's defeat that year, his clan members, guests, and relatives by marriage were all executed.

Even Dou Miao (the eldest daughter of Dou Wu), who was the Queen Mother at the time, was placed under house arrest in Yuntai.

Therefore, it makes sense that Dou Tong went north to the grasslands to seek refuge.

If all this is true, then Dou Bin's status as the son of Dou Tong may indeed be extraordinary.

Of course, rumors are just rumors after all, and no one knows whether they are true or not.

The Fufeng Dou family had already declined due to Dou Wu's incident. In addition, the government at that time continued to be in chaos and the eunuchs were taking power.

Then came the Yellow Turban Rebellion, which caused chaos in the world, and Guanzhong was naturally unavoidable. Warlords were fighting everywhere.

Under such circumstances, it is rare for Mr. Fufeng Dou to be able to breathe a sigh of relief.

If you want to regain the grandeur of the past, just dream, there is everything in your dream.

Therefore, regarding the fact that Hu Yi claimed to be the Dou clan in the northern grasslands, the Fufeng Dou clan said, "I don't know, I haven't heard of it:"

As long as you don't go to Fufeng to forcefully identify yourself, it doesn't matter if you say you are Liu Han.

When Emperor Xiaomin (i.e. Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Xiaomin was the posthumous title given by Liu Bei) returned to Luoyang from Chang'an, Liu Qubei, the leader of the Hu people, escorted him with merit.

This Liu Qubei, after he said that he was Emperor Guangwu in front of Emperor Xiaomin, Emperor Xiaomin did not do anything to him.

(Note: The ancestor of Liu Qubei was Liu Jinbo, the general who conquered the Liao Dynasty. He was captured during the expedition against the Xiongnu. His son was dead. The Xiongnu Chanyu regarded him as King Guli and named him Dugu tribe.)

Of course, it is not impossible for Dou Bin to want to cling to the famous Dou family and use the name of the Dou family to strengthen his tribe.

After all, after Tan Shihuai's death, Xianbei was divided and civil strife continued. Large tribes annexed small tribes, and small tribes relied on large tribes. These were things that happened every day on the grassland.

At that time, Suotou, who had almost no foothold, was attached to the Wuluhui tribe and fought against the Xianbei in the west.

Later, Dou Bin was defeated in a battle with Xianbei in the west. Fortunately, he was rescued by Tuoba Liwei and was able to escape back to his tribe.

In order to repay Tuoba Liwei, Dou Bin not only married his daughter to him, but also assigned the land of Changchuan to Suotou.

After years of hard work, Tuoba Liwei not only strengthened Suotou, but also led Tuoba Xianbei, becoming the largest force on the grassland today.

At the same time, he is most likely to become the third hero in the history of the Xianbei people - the first two are Tan Shihuai and Ke Bineng.

Logically speaking, given the relationship between the deer's back part and the rope's head, the two should be very harmonious.

It's a pity that Dou Bin may have a good relationship with Tuoba Liwei, but he is already old.

The people who are now in charge of the daily affairs of the Wuluhui tribe are Dou Bin's two sons, Dou Suhou and Dou Huiti.

Contrary to Dou Bin, Dou Suhou and Dou Huiti were quite critical of their brother-in-law Tuoba Liwei, and could even be said to be hostile.

In their opinion, Suo Tou's success today is all because he did not have the support of Lu Hui Department back then.

If we really want to investigate, Suotou is still not a subordinate tribe of the Luhui tribe!

Now that Suotou is rising, not only has he not repaid the Wuluhui tribe, but Tuoba Liwei has also never favored the Wuluhui tribe in disputes between tribes in order to show his impartiality.

No favoritism at all!

As a result, the Luhui tribe not only did not get any benefits from its status as an in-law tribe, but also lost face several times in front of other tribes.

Forget it, as the Han Dynasty's forces continued to penetrate into the grassland, Suotou, who felt threatened, actually wanted Wu Luhui to join Tuoba Xianbei.

In other words, Suotou wanted to make the Wuluhui tribe a subordinate tribe.

Sure enough, the Han people's words are reasonable: increasing rice cultivates kindness, fighting rice cultivates hatred.

You were so blind back then that you raised a white-eyed wolf to ride on your head.

At that time, the master even thought of giving half of the land to Tuoba Liwei, but he didn't know what he wanted.

So it was only natural that Tuoba Desert Khan came to Pingcheng for the first time a few years ago and was made difficult by the Moluhui tribe at the mountain pass. (Chapter 1169)

Since Dou Suhou and Dou Huiti took over the tribe, the distance between Wu Luhui and Suo Tou has become increasingly distant.

Especially after Tuoba Liwei formed an alliance with Sima Yi and received Sima Yi's promise to send away the land in Liaodong, Tuoba Xianbei began to consciously move eastwards.

The Wu Luhui tribe was attracted by Pingcheng's market. Instead of following Suo Tou's move eastward, they kept moving closer to Pingcheng.

As the chief senior brother of the academy, Zhang Yuan stayed in Pingcheng and served as the director of the Hu Xianbei School. In addition to his own job, he also had a secret identity.

Then monitor the grassland and collect intelligence on the Hu tribe.

Tuoba Xianbei was a thorn in the mountain chief's side, and Zhang Yuan had long known that.

This thorn in the side is not because Tuoba Xianbei colluded with the thieves, but it goes back more than ten years ago.

When the mountain leader was in Longyou, this Hu tribe sent people to ambush the mountain leader regardless of life and death, hoping to snatch the "Wu'an Jun's Art of War" from the mountain leader's hand.

Zhang Yuan was still with the mountain leader at the time and experienced the entire incident. (Chapter 0711, when history meets fiction)

Others don't know, so don't the students who are the headmasters know what it means to be ruthless?

I don’t know if Tuoba Xianbei regretted what he did in the face of today’s world-famous Han Dynasty Sima?

This is probably one of the reasons why they would rather ally with the Wei thieves than be on good terms with the Han, right?

Therefore, Zhang Yuan would not let go of any information collected on Suo Toutou.

The grudge between Lu Huibu and Suo Tou naturally gradually surfaced during the investigation.

As a student who was personally led by King Feng Gui, even if he couldn't learn the essence of his master's foresight, he could still get a glimpse of it through the influence of his ears and eyes.

The plan to plant nails directly in Tuoba Xianbei through Tuoba Desert Khan has failed.

But using Wuluhuibu as a springboard soon became the second option.

The last time Zhang Yuan cleared the Hu people from Pingcheng to Juyongguan, blocked the battlefield, blocked the news, and prepared supplies. This is what Zhang Yuan did for the past six months.

After listening to Zhang Yuan's report, General Zhendong's face was slightly relieved and he nodded:

"Well done."

Then he turned his eyes to others and ordered without question:

"We will only rest for three days in Pingcheng. Within three days, you must make all preparations for the departure."

When the generals heard this, they all stood up: "Yes!"

Three days later, Liu Hun and Tufa Tianli led the army as the vanguard.

As the main general, General Zhendong stood outside the camp and watched the auxiliary soldiers tying all kinds of supplies to the sled.

The sled is like a car without wheels, like a couch without feet, with a mat like a niche, a rope like a chariot, and a flat bottom like a plow, which is good for traveling in ice and snow.

The sled was originally a toy of Miss Feng of the Feng family.

When Feng Da Sima was still the governor of Liangzhou, he accepted many Hu tribes that moved south from the grassland.

Among them, there was a small tribe called Suohui, which was forced to wander from the Great Xianbei Mountain (i.e., the Xing'an Mountains) to Liangzhou because of the internal strife of the Xianbei. (Chapter 949)

The reason why this small tribe attracted the attention of the busy governor Feng was that they had deer in their tribe.

Deer used to pull carts.

This kind of deer was brought out from the Great Xianbei Mountain.

They are resistant to severe cold, strong enough to pull carts, and can see things at night as bright as day.

During the Little Ice Age, even the big rivers could freeze, not to mention the climate in the north.

So the deer that originally lived in the Great Xianbei Mountain area could live normally in this era if they went further south.

Because this kind of deer is large and strong, and can pull carts like horses, everyone calls it red deer.

The Han Dynasty re-recovered Henan (i.e., Hetao) and the artificially bred red deer in Liangzhou could also be moved to Jiuyuan for cultivation.

As for going from Jiuyuan to Pingcheng, it was even simpler.

In the north in the dead of winter, thick snow covered every inch of bare land.

The deer cart, originally used by the young lady of the Feng family to play in the winter, has now become the main tool for the army to transport supplies.

A heavy sled can even be as big as two sedan chairs, and it is no problem to carry thousands of pounds (Han jin) of supplies.

Don't worry about the deer not being able to pull it. If one is not enough, use two, and if two are not enough, use three.

The people of the Suohui tribe were born to be with deer and are good at training deer.

The deer cart that General Zhendong rides is also equipped with a sleeping shed, which is made of deer skin, with a small window on each side and a brazier inside.

It can be used to stay overnight and withstand wind and snow on long journeys.

Of course, not every general has this treatment, such as Zhao Sanqian, whose sleeping shed is made of dog skin...

Seeing that the auxiliary soldiers have tied up the supplies tightly, the leader shouted again:

"Have you applied oil? If you haven't applied it, apply it quickly! Otherwise, you will be frozen to death after going out of the border, and no one will care about you!"

The so-called oil is of course not cooking oil, and the Han Dynasty is not so extravagant.

Most of them are made of tung oil produced in Nanzhong and castor beans that Feng Da Sima's wife Hua had people find back in the early years. These two things are extracted from oil.

Especially castor oil, in addition to being applied to the skin in winter to prevent freezing and cracking, it can also be used as antifreeze.

In the cold winter, most oils have long been frozen, but castor oil will not.

It can be said to be a must-have in winter.

Today, after years of promoting planting, castor beans are planted from Nanzhong to Guanzhong in the Han Dynasty.

Because the oil extracted from castor beans is not only a strategic material, but the plant itself can also be used to make hemp.

For this reason alone, Hua Xiaowu can be said to have made great contributions, and it is not excessive to give her son a title of marquis.

As for the frozen tung oil, it is also very good for burning fires for heating.

The booming textile industry in the Han Dynasty in recent years has provided enough warm clothing for the army.

Some of them are even made of cotton produced in Liangzhou.

"Put on your hats and gloves, let's go!"

"Bang!"

The whip made an empty sound in the air, and the sika deer, which was much taller than ordinary deer, began to take steps, pulling the sled, and headed towards the mountain pass north of Pingcheng.

The sled left a deep mark on the snow.

But the snow was very slippery, and the sika deer could pull it a long way with a little effort.

This was much easier than a carriage.

There were dogs following the sled, each of them was very fat, especially the head dog, which was almost as big as a calf.

This was the second echelon pulling the sled.

These dogs were breeds cultivated by Duanmu Zhe, the dog manager of the Han Dynasty, after many years of hard work.

The third echelon was horses, which were not used unless necessary.

It can be said that the General Zhendong's trip to the border this time was supported by the powerful system that the Han Dynasty had painstakingly built over the years.

If there was a slight lack of logistical support, even if Feng Da Sima was replaced, he would not have the courage to lead the army out of the border in the middle of winter.