Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 676: Panghai Enters Qi
Zhuge Liang's troops won the battle at Laokou and pursued the victory to Wancheng, where they confronted Sima Yi across the Jianshui River.

At the same time, Huo Jun led his troops from Yishui to Shushui, advanced against the Shushui River, passed through Ju County, and arrived at Muling Pass.

Between April and May, Huo Jun led his troops to attack Muling Pass, while Sun Quan held his ground at Daxian Mountain. The Han army besieged the pass for a month without success, and seeing that many of his soldiers were killed or wounded, Huo Jun ordered a halt to the attack.

May, Daehyeon Mountain.

In order to pass the pass, Huo Jun led his men to leave the camp, go deep into Daxian Mountain, climb the mountain and slope, and observe the situation of the pass from a high place.

On Daxian Mountain, mountain people familiar with the terrain led the way, chopping vines and bushes on the trail with machetes. Huo Xiong and several of his followers used spears to beat the grass on both sides to prevent snakes and insects from coming.

Climbing the mountain is very strenuous. Huo Jun leaned on the wooden pole, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and asked, "How far is it?"

The guide looked around and said, "Sir, it should be a few hundred steps to the mountain platform."

"Didn't you say before that there were still a few hundred steps to go?" Ding Feng asked, eyes wide open.

The guide looked terrified and said, "The path is deserted. It has changed a lot after not seeing it for a few years. I took the wrong path before, so I found the old path now."

"Not urgent!"

Huo Jun looked calm and said jokingly, "Just don't take us to the Wei camp!"

"I dare not!"

The guide understood Huo Jun's joke and said, "I have lived in Daxian Mountain for more than 20 years, and I know all the roads. If you want to go around the pass and sneak across the Jumie River (now the Mi River), I can also lead the way."

The main road connecting Xuzhou and Qingzhou is the valley of Yi and Shu Rivers. Since the Yimeng Mountain area is the source of the Shu River, one can go north along the Shu River to Daxian Mountain. To the northwest of the Shu River, there is also a river that originates from the Meng Mountain area, and its name is Jumie River.

The Jumie River is located northwest of the Shu River, and the distance between the two rivers is only a few dozen miles. Going down the Jumie River, you can reach Linqu County. After reaching Linqu, it means entering Qi. Therefore, the road between the Jumie River and the Shu River is very important. In addition, the Yimeng Mountain area is full of gullies and peaks, and Muling Pass is located here.

Once they broke through Muling Pass and entered the Jumie River basin, there was no other pass in Qi that could hinder the Han army except for the city walls and rivers.

Hearing this, Ding Feng became interested and asked, "If there is a road from Shushui to Jumieshui, what is the terrain like?"

The guide hesitated for a moment and said, "The road is so narrow that only one person can pass through. Cars and horses cannot pass through. General, go to the mountain platform and you will know the terrain from a high position."

Ding Feng came up to Huo Jun and said, "Commander-in-chief, if there is a small road leading to Muling Pass, I am willing to lead the Hun Hu army to secretly cross the pass and launch a surprise attack on Linqu."

Huo Jun smiled and said, "Let's talk about it on the mountain platform. If the Wei army sets an ambush on the small road, Cheng Yuan will be in a dilemma!"

Without waiting for Ding Feng to reply, the guide pointed to the raised stone platform ahead and said happily, "The noble man has arrived!"

As soon as these words came out, Huo Jun and the others quickened their pace and moved forward. Ding Feng drew his sword and cut off the dense branches growing on the stone platform for Huo Jun.

Through the branches in front of him, Huo Jun looked down from a high place and had a panoramic view of the situation of more than ten miles around Muling Pass. However, he saw that Muling Pass stretched from east to west, with three layers of enclosures built against the mountain. Between the pass and the mountain was a narrow valley shaped like a bag, with a majestic pass blocking its entrance and high mountains behind it.

Moreover, because of the continuous mountains on the top of the mountain, there are several camps and beacon towers around Muling Pass, blocking many small paths, obviously to prevent the Han army from sneaking across through the small paths.

Huo Jun watched for a long time and said with a sigh: "Although Muling Pass is not as dangerous as the other passes in Shu, it is better in that it is heavily guarded and the fortifications protect each other. It is different from Jiange and Yangping. I am afraid it will be difficult to bypass it."

After a long siege of Muling Pass without any results, Huo Jun planned to attack from behind. That was why he took the trouble to let a guide lead the way so that he could explore the terrain of the Wei army.

Before, Huo Jun only knew the surface of Muling Pass, but didn't know its strength. Now, from a high vantage point, overlooking the layout of Muling Pass, Huo Jun finally realized the excellence of Muling Pass.

It is actually one-sided to regard Muling Pass as just one pass, or three passes. Muling Pass is actually a part of the defense system built based on the Yimeng Mountain area. There are other passes such as Daguan and Xiaoguan around it, and beacon towers are set up at high places on feasible paths.

Daguan and Xiaoguan are located to the north of Mulingguan. If the three passes of Mulingguan are lost, the Wei army can rely on the two passes to continue defending. If the three passes of Mulingguan are added together, the Wei army has five lines of defense. These five lines of defense are dotted with many castles, passes, beacon towers, etc., which can be said to be set up in dangerous places and are indestructible.

With such a defensive system, it would be very difficult for the Han army to encircle or attack the enemy from behind.

Ding Feng, who had been thinking of a sneak attack before, saw that Muling Pass was so well-defended, and said helplessly: "Commander-in-chief, there are Wei troops stationed on the small road, and it may be difficult to sneak across!"

The guide saw a beacon tower on the trail and explained, "My lord, Muling Pass was abandoned before, but since last year, the Wei army has recruited civilians to repair the pass. I have been living in seclusion in the mountains with my family for a long time to avoid labor service. There are Wei soldiers stationed on the trail, and I didn't know it!"

Although Huo Jun was somewhat disappointed, he could accept the reality and said, "Sun Quan knows the situation, and Liu Ye has military strategy. Muling is the gateway to Qingqi, and it is not surprising that they have stationed heavy troops to guard both inside and outside!"

"Commander-in-chief, the small path is now impassable. What should our army do?" Ding Feng asked.

Huo Jun glanced at the sky and said, "It's getting late, let's go back to the camp and talk later!"

Although Huo Jun was disappointed by the result of his personal exploration of Muling Pass, he also realized that it was highly unlikely that he could enter Qi from Muling Pass, and he had to find another way to enter Qi. It was already dusk when they returned to the camp from Daxian Mountain.

Upon hearing the news that Huo Jun had returned to the camp, Jiang Ji came out of the tent to greet him and asked, "Commander-in-chief, what are the results of the investigation?"

Huo Jun shook his head and said, "Muling Pass is not an ordinary pass. The path is narrow and difficult to pass. Only people can walk. There are fortifications built in dangerous places and beacon towers built on high places. Therefore, the plan of bypassing Daxian Mountain is not feasible!"

As he spoke, Huo Jun asked Ding Feng to hand over the rough map of Muling Pass to Jiang Ji and asked, "Has Shi Zai arrived at the big camp?"

"We have arrived at the military camp!"

Jiang Ji followed Huo Jun and said, "In the afternoon, the junior general had already transported food to the army, and is now handing over the food and grass to Yu Si."

"Let him come!"

"promise!"

Everyone surrounded Huo Jun and entered the tent, and sat down at the table.

Due to their long-term familiarity, Huo Jun washed and changed his sweat-soaked clothes with the help of his attendants. At this time, Jiang Ji and Zhuge Dan were asking Ding Feng about the details of Muling Pass, and then Huo Fan and Zhang Fen joined them.

After a while, seeing that everyone had almost finished their discussion, Huo Jun sat on the chair and asked, "What do you think?"

Everyone stopped discussing, and Jiang Ji spoke first: "Commander-in-chief, looking at the situation at Muling Pass, our army may have difficulty crossing the Jumie River. We need to find another way to enter Qi. If we hold Muling Pass for too long, our troops will become dull, which will be very disadvantageous to our army!"

"Ok!"

Huo Jun nodded slightly and said, "Zi Tong and I have the same opinion. Sun Quan has a large army guarding the mountain pass, and all the small roads are guarded. If we cross it, Sun Quan will lead his troops to attack us from both sides of the road, and our army will be defeated!"

As he spoke, Huo Jun thought of the Battle of Ai Ling and asked, "If our army goes to Lu and goes east along the Zi River, will it be feasible?"

"Go through Zishui and go around Taishan County?"

Jiang Ji frowned and thought, and said: "The governor entered Taishan County, but I am afraid that our army will go to Zishui. Sun Quan is guarding the dangerous front and Wang Ling will lead his troops to attack from behind. At that time, our army will be attacked from both sides and trapped. This road is too dangerous and it is not suitable to go, unless our army can defeat Wang Ling first to relieve the worries!"

Huo Jun looked at the map of Qi and Lu and fell into deep thought.

Seeing Huo Jun's worry, Huo Fan stood up and said, "Grand Marshal, when Fan was stationed in Qu County, the Wei army once sent cavalry out of the Panghai Road, down from Xihai and Langya, to harass our army's food supply route. If we take this road to the north, we can reach Buqi (now Qingdao)."

Huo Jun knew that Sun Quan was plotting a trick, and was confident that he would not let Sun Quan catch the flaw, so he left Huo Du, Gao Xiang, and Zhou Cang to station in dangerous places to prevent robbery. In order to prevent Sun Quan from disturbing his grain route, he also sent Huo Fan to Qu County to protect the grain.

At this point, Wang Ling did not move his troops because Zhang He's troops made a mistake. Only Sun Quan sent cavalry to the south through the sea route to try to harass the Han army's food supply route. Fortunately, Huo Fan was in charge. Although the Wei cavalry robbed a batch of food in the early stage, they were quickly defeated by Huo Fan's scheme and retreated back to Chengyang County.

Jiang Ji had some memory and asked, "Where is Buqi? How far is it from Linzi?"

"Here!"

Liu Zhong asked someone to change the map of Qingzhou and pointed out: "If we go north from Quxian (Lianyungang), follow the coast, pass Xihai (today's map), and pass Langya, we can reach Buqi."

"It was once under the jurisdiction of Donglai County. Now Wei has established Chengyang County and incorporated it into it. It is six or seven hundred miles away from Linyi, but it can go around Muling Pass to Qi."

"If I remember correctly, Gao Xin did not consider him as an enemy, and later surrendered to the governor together with Guan Cheng." Jiang Ji recalled, "There were many soldiers from Donglai and Chengyang counties in our army."

"Ok!"

Huo Jun nodded and said, "Twenty years ago, I stationed troops in Yuzhou, led boats to harass Qingxu, and gathered the people along the coast of Qingxu."

As he spoke, Huo Jun looked at Huo Fan and encouraged him, "Going north to Qi via the sea route is a good option. Shi Zai's thoughts should not be limited to this, so feel free to speak your mind."

"promise!"

Huo Fan walked to the Qingzhou map and said, "Commander-in-chief, there are two roads to enter Qingzhou from Xuzhou: Muling Road and Panghai Road. Muling is the main road and the shortcut to Qi. Now that Wei Bu has sent a large number of troops here, the Panghai Road will be lost."

"The Panghai Road is far from Qi, so there are not many soldiers guarding it. If we take this road to the north, we can take Chengyang and Donglai counties, and look at Qi across the Wei River. So if our army can capture Chengyang, we can march out of Ju County, take advantage of the empty Qi territory, cross the river and directly take Linzi."

Huo Fan said excitedly: "In the past, the Marquis of Huaiyin crossed the Wei River and killed Long Ju, and pacified the Three Qis. Our army will go north from the Panghai Road and attack the two eastern counties of Qi by surprise. Then we can force Sun Quan to the Wei River for a decisive battle and take over the Qingqi counties. Therefore, if we want to bypass the natural barrier of Muling, we can take the Panghai Road to enter Qi!"

(End of this chapter)