The Chu army advanced thousands of miles into Guizhou, and Sun Kewang was completely unprepared. He was stunned as if he had been hit in the head. A few days ago, the Chu army counterattacked thousands of miles away. Tan Xiao, Zhou Guodong and others led the army to invade Guangxi, and then quietly entered the Jiuwan Mountain in Liuzhou Prefecture. Although Liu Fangliang, Dang Shousu and He Zhen tried their best to cover it, the tens of thousands of troops suddenly disappeared. There were still various clues left, and the Western Army in Liuzhou Prefecture quickly determined that a large number of Western Army was missing. They reported it to Sun Kewang at all levels, and Sun Kewang attached great importance to it. Tens of thousands of troops will not disappear out of thin air. The whereabouts of this Chu army are so strange. There must be a major conspiracy. Sun Kewang repeatedly calculated on the map that this Chu army is likely to sneak attack Guilin and attack Quanzhou to cut off the Lingqu food channel. , or to attack Xiangzhou and attack the Western Army on the border between Guangdong and Guangxi, or to prepare to cross the Rongjiang River and outflank Liuzhou from behind, etc. He thought of all possibilities, but turned a blind eye to Guizhou to the north of Liuzhou Prefecture. Without him, the 90,000-strong mountain is like a high wall, blocking the gap between Guizhou and Guangxi. China's provinces are basically divided according to terrain. The provincial boundaries are often high mountains or large rivers. If each province is compared to a house, the mountains and rivers on the provincial boundaries are the walls between the houses. A large group of people want to start from a province. To go to another province, you must go through several fixed passes on the provincial border, which are like several gates on the wall. For example, there are two gates between Henan and Hubei. One is Yiyang Sanguan in Xinyang, and the other is Xiangyang-Xinye-Nanyang road. Several provinces in the southwest developed relatively late and have sparse populations. Since ancient times, there has been only one relatively large gate between Guizhou and Guangxi, which is the "Yelang Ancient Road" along Pu'an and Baise. Although Liuzhou Prefecture borders Liping Prefecture in Guizhou, Guangxi There are 90,000 mountains on one side, and there are endless Miao ridges on the Guizhou side. There is only a small road leading to Guilin, and the army cannot pass from Liuzhou side. After receiving the news of the fall of Wukaiwei, Tongguwei and Nandongsi, Sun Kewang learned that a Chu army had rushed into Guizhou, but he did not regard them as the main force of the Chu army at first. This was just like Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition during the Three Kingdoms period, when Wei Yan proposed Taking the Ziwu Valley to sneak attack Chang'an, sending thousands of troops to take small roads and surprise troops, there is no chance of success, but it is impossible for tens of thousands of troops to all take small roads, otherwise, there will be big problems with road conditions and food supplies along the way. A natural chasm will not turn into a thoroughfare on its own. Regardless of the Qin, Han, Tang, and Song dynasties, the southwest was a remote and wild land, with layers upon layers of high mountains and ridges that were rarely visited by humans. The mountains were full of poisonous insects and beasts, and there was also a miasma that made people laugh. Just hearing the name Jiuwandashan, it made people laugh. It feels mysterious and dangerous. In most people's minds, it is a restricted area that humans cannot enter. Tens of thousands of troops climbed over 90,000 mountains to enter Guizhou? This idea is too absurd. If the Chu army tried to do this, I am afraid that they would starve to death from exhaustion before they even got out of the mountains Sun Kewang's idea is still limited by the ancient way of thinking. What he didn¡¯t expect was that today was no longer what it used to be, and the natural chasm in the past was now passable. There have been constant wars in the north for thousands of years. In each turbulent time of dynasty changes, a large number of Han people went south to escape the war. At the same time, it also pushed the Miao, Dong, Lishui and other ethnic minorities to continue to go south and settle in the mountains. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the southwest The population in several provinces has become quite dense. The 90,000 Mountains, which were previously regarded as no-man¡¯s land, are home to many villages where native people live. Roads have appeared between the villages. On both sides of the roads are large areas of farmland. In the past, the native people who practiced slash-and-burn farming have since The Han people learned to grow rice, which could provide enough food for the passing army, even if they themselves were not willing to take it out. As for things like poisonous insects, ferocious beasts and miasma, after the population settled in the mountainous areas reached a certain scale, due to human activities such as burning forests, cutting down trees, and reclaiming wasteland for farmland, they have retreated deep into the mountains and no longer pose a threat. The roads in the mountains are indeed rugged and difficult, but compared with the Han and Tang Dynasties, they have been greatly improved. Jiuwanda Mountain is located at the junction of Guangxi, Hunan and Guizhou. It was the territory of the Longwu court in the past. The Chu army had great control over it. He was very familiar with the road conditions, and after several months of careful preparation and the necessary light travel, it was as easy as walking over the mountains and ridges. If it hadn't been for Tan Xiao's insistence, Qin Ganong might have been able to bring the cannon to Guizhou. All in all, the Chu army was well prepared. With the entire army lightly armed, it easily climbed over the 90,000-strong mountain that Sun Kewang regarded as a natural chasm. The number of stragglers and non-combat casualties along the way was much less than expected, and the combat effectiveness of the army was basically It was kept intact, so it was possible to launch a series of offensives immediately after entering Guizhou, giving the opponent almost no time to react. The Chu army defeated Zhenyuan, Kaili and Duyun. More information about the Western Expeditionary Army was sent to Changsha. Only then did Sun Kewang realize that this Western Expeditionary Army was the Chu army that disappeared in Liuzhou. With an army of more than 50,000 people, how did they cross the 90,000-strong mountain? Sun Kewang doesn¡¯t know the specificsituation, so I can¡¯t figure it out even if I think about it. If you can't figure it out, don't think about it. At this point, Sun Kewang didn't bother to delve into the reason. After the Chu army successively captured Shi Bing, Zhenyuan, Kaili, and Duyun, the situation in Guizhou deteriorated rapidly, and It has a huge impact on the overall situation and has reached a serious stage concerning the life and death of the Western Army. As early as the Tang and Song Dynasties, the Qingshui River was an important trade route for transporting timber from Yunnan and Guizhou provinces. Now it is a very important supply line for the Western Army. The Chu army occupied a series of prefectures and counties along the coast such as Duyun, Kaili, and Shibing. Controlling this section of the Qingshui River waterway in Guizhou not only cut off the supply line of the Western Army, but also greatly enhanced its own mobility, allowing it to move freely back and forth on both sides of the Miao Mountains, almost unaffected by the mountains of Guizhou. The fall of Zhenyuan, Kaili and Duyun meant that southeastern Guizhou had fallen into the hands of the Chu army. Among these prefectures and counties, Duyun was the most important. Duyun is located in the middle of Guizhou. It can be called the hub of waterways and the north-south hub. In addition to the Qingshui River waterway, Duyun is also the intersection of the two most important land official roads in Guizhou. These two official roads are both roads that can be used for driving and horse racing. One is The "East Yunnan Road" connects Hunan and Yunnan, and the "Yelang Ancient Road" connects Sichuan, Guizhou and Guangxi. If the Chu army captures Duyun, they can continue to march to western Guizhou via land, and even go north to Sichuan and south to Guangxi. Heading westward to Yunnan When one child falls, everyone is alive. The Chu army advanced thousands of miles into Guizhou and opened up the situation with three punches and two kicks. First of all, it posed a direct threat to the main force of the Western Army in Huguang. Not only did they cut off the supply line of Qingshui River, they could also return troops to invade Hunan at any time and attack Changsha and Hengyang. This area forms a two-sided attack. If the Chu army captures the provincial capital Guiyang again, several supply lines passing through Guizhou will either be cut off or their transportation capacity will be greatly affected. For example, the supply line Lingqu can also bypass Guiyang and pass through Guangxi. However, this will require thousands of miles of extra land routes, and the consumption on the road will increase significantly. The Yangtze River is a golden waterway. Unfortunately, the Western Army does not have a navy and cannot use the Yangtze River to transport grain from Sichuan. The reason why Li Dingguo's troops are making slow progress is because they only rely on men's backs and shoulders to transport military grain. The land supply line in Hubei has been stretched to the limit. . In addition, Guizhou happens to be in a central position among the southwestern provinces. The Chu army occupied it, and the territory of the Western army was divided into several separate fighting areas. Thirty thousand Western troops gathered in Huguang, and Yunnan, Sichuan and Guangxi The military strength of each province is very empty and they are seriously threatened by the Western Expeditionary Army. No one can guess where Tan Xiao and Zhou Guodong are going to go next, and it seems that they can go anywhere. They can attack anywhere they want, whether it is Yunnan, Sichuan or Guangxi will cause irreparable heavy losses to the Western Army. "It's a pity that our army doesn't have a navy on the Yangtze River. Otherwise, it wouldn't be so passive." Sun Kewang murmured to himself: "I used to think that Wang Kefan used his troops to take a sideways approach, doing small things but ignoring the general trend. But now it seems that he They underestimated him. He marched into Guizhou with tens of thousands of people and horses, and immediately reversed the trend. He thought that his predecessors could not think of it, and his courage and courage made him a hero among people. Although outsiders knew his own affairs. It seems that Sun Kewang is the supreme commander of the Western Army, far more dazzling than Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu, but Sun Kewang is still self-aware. In terms of military ability alone, he is more than one level behind Li Dingguo, and even slightly better than Liu Wenxiu. Not as good as that, so he was often suspicious of Li Dingguo, fearing that his prestige would be too high and threaten his own status. The only thing he is proud of is that Sun Kewang thinks that his strategic vision is better than that of Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu. In other words, he is a handsome man with the overall situation in mind. Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu are just generals, but the Chu army advanced thousands of miles into Guizhou and took it back in one fell swoop. The strategic initiative made Sun Kewang hit hard and extremely depressed. After a long quarrel, Wang Kefan was the real strategist. If he didn't take action, he would go straight to Sun Kewang's waist. Sun Kewang, a second-rate strategist, was unprepared. He was captured by the Western Expeditionary Army and captured half of Guizhou before returning. From the taste, it can be seen that the gap between the two is not just a little bit. "For the current plan, we can only suspend the Huguang offensive, divide our troops to return to Guizhou, and kill Tan Xiao, Zhou Guodong, Yuan Zongdi and Liu Tichun first. Otherwise, our army will be like a thorn in the back and unable to move." Sun Kewang discussed with his close friends: "I intend to transfer the King of Shu back to Guizhou. What do you think?" After being caused by the Chu army, the Western Army's logistical supplies have already encountered a big problem. According to the most optimistic estimates, the Huguang front will definitely not be able to launch another attack before next summer's harvest. In a large-scale offensive, Sun Kewang planned to use this time difference to first eliminate the Chu Army's Western Expeditionary Army and restore stability in the rear. Although he was unable to attack, he could not spit out the meat in his mouth. Sun Kewang weighed the pros and cons and felt that although the current situation was dangerous, it was not time to retreat across the board. Changsha and Hengda had important political and strategic significance. Not to be too lightYi gave up, and he finally made the decision to stay in Changsha and send Shu King Liu Wenxiu back to Guizhou to aid.