The Chule River flows at the foot of the Yin Mountains.
The sky is like a dome, covering the vast wilderness.
The sky is vast and blue, the wilderness boundless and expansive.
The wind blows the grass low, revealing cattle and sheep.
The Wula Mountains, a section of the Yinshan Mountains, forcefully divide the Hetao Plain in Yunzhong and Shuofang into two parts.
This area in Yunzhong is called Qiantao, also known as the Tumochuan Plain.
The area around Shuofang was called Houtao, which is roughly equivalent to most of the present-day Bayannur City.
The Yellow River brings a hundred harms, but it enriches the Yi region.
This area stretches from Langshan Mountain in the west to Wuliangsuhai Lake in the east, and borders the Yellow River to the south.
With its dense network of waterways and fertile land, the Yellow River's water can be used for irrigation.
Liu Wei's fiefdom, Wuyuan City, is located west of Wuliangsuhai.
now.
Zhang Liao led 3,000 cavalry as the vanguard, and instead of attacking the city of Wuyuan, he went directly to Shuofang.
Together with Zhou Qing and Xue Xiantu, the captains of the cavalry battalion, they swept away the remnants of the Xiongnu forces left behind in Shuofang like a thunderbolt.
They also preemptively occupied Gaoque Pass and Jiming Pass, two key fortresses located between Langshan and Yinshan Mountains.
They cut off the retreat route of the Xianbei and Xiongnu people in Shuofang to the south of the Gobi Desert.
Shuofang County had already been attacked by Pugu Huaiyu with 2,000 men from the Duoyan Three Guards from the desert, and a wave of them had been killed. The county was already in a state of panic.
Upon learning that Qu Bei had been defeated in Yunzhong and fled to the Ordos Plateau, they even sent people to Shuofang to meet him.
The Xiongnu people from the north, in groups of three or five, fled across the Yellow River.
When Zhang Liao's cavalry arrived, the Xianbei and Xiongnu people everywhere became even more terrified and fled in panic.
When the Han people of ten counties including Sanfeng, Linhe, Woye, and Linrong in Shuofang Commandery heard that the Han army was coming, they opened the city gates and burned incense to welcome them.
Within three to five days, Zhang Liao, Pugu Huaiyu, Zhou Qing, and other troops had already taken control of the entire Shuofang Commandery.
The Han army captured Gaoque Pass in Langshan, leaving Dugu Xin with 3,000 troops to guard Shuofang.
A thousand people fled south across the Ulan Buh Desert to Beidi County at the foot of the Helan Mountains, which was controlled by the Qiang people.
The remaining two thousand men, who wanted to go to Wuyuan County to join Dugu Xin, were pursued and annihilated by Zhang Liao before they even crossed Wuliangsuhai.
at the same time.
After Xue Rengui led his 3,000 cavalrymen to join forces with Li Su's 5,000 archers at Manyi Valley, they attacked Linwo, Xi'anyang, Jiuyuan and other cities without stopping.
Dugu Xin was traumatized by Li Su's divine crossbow in Manyi Valley.
Upon seeing Xue Rengui's army arrive, they had already fled north.
He crossed the snow-covered Yinshan Pass, struggling and in a sorry state, and hurriedly returned to Darhan.
Of the 10,000 cavalrymen who entered Shuofang and Wuyuan from the southern desert via Jiming Pass, only 3,000 remain.
They initially believed Tuoba Gao's encouragement to spend the winter on the southern slopes of Yinshan Mountain and together they raised an army to cross Yinshan Mountain and invade the Hetao region.
Of all people to provoke, why did they have to provoke the Han people?
Among the various Xianbei tribes in the desert, Dugu Xin's tribe could only be considered a medium-sized tribe.
With a population of 50,000, they roamed the grasslands south of Yanran Mountain. Ten thousand cavalrymen were the limit of what the Dugu tribe could recruit.
Now that only a little over three thousand people remain, almost every household in the tribe is hanging white mourning clothes.
As the tribal leader, how will Dugu Xin face the elders and fellow villagers?
Now, Dugu Xin harbors resentment towards Tuoba Gao.
This time when we return to Darhan City, we must make amends to Tuoba Gao.
Liu Wei, however, recovered the two prefectures of Shuofang and Wuyuan without losing a single soldier.
When Liu Wei and Yao Guangxiao's main force crossed the Manyi Valley and entered the Houtao Plain, Zhang Liao and Li Su led their troops to take up their posts in Shuofang, and Liu Du and Pugu Huaiyu took up their posts in Wuyuan.
They appointed officials from the prefecture and various counties, including magistrates and county commandants, and stationed troops at various mountain passes in the Yinshan Mountains to the north and Langshan Mountains to the west.
The three counties of Hetao south of Yinshan have already been taken under Liu Wei's control.
In addition, Dingxiang Commandery was garrisoned by people sent by Dong Zhuo, the governor of Bingzhou.
Thus, in a sense, the four commanderies of Yunzhong, which had broken away from the control of the Han Dynasty, officially returned to the embrace of the Han Dynasty after being occupied by the Xiongnu for fifty or sixty years.
"My lord, this humble monk never imagined that such a poor and desolate place beyond the Great Wall could have such a water town. It is truly breathtaking!"
The main force marched across the vast Hetao Plain.
To the north lie the majestic Yin Mountains, to the south the crystal-clear Yellow River, and before you stretches an endless expanse of fertile plains.
This made Yao Guangxiao feel as if he had been transported to another world.
"The towering Yinshan Mountains block the cold waves from the northern plateau, and the Yellow River's water network nourishes this area."
"Such a fertile land, millions of people can live here without any pressure."
Liu Wei naturally also saw this fertile land in front of him.
He later traveled through this area.
Yinshan Mountain is still Yinshan Mountain, and the Yellow River is still the Yellow River.
But this plain has since become a landscape of crisscrossing fields and towering brick houses, with the Beijing-Xinjiang Expressway running along the Yellow River.
Along the way, there were also thermal power plants, coal mines, smelters, and so on, emitting thick smoke.
Two thousand years ago, the sky here was so blue.
Liu Wei took a deep breath of air, the freshness intoxicating.
"Yes, my lord, the small goal you set out for Shanwu that night—to recover the four prefectures and drive out the Xiongnu—has now been achieved."
"Next, we must put into practice the six-character policy of 'store up grain and build high walls'!"
As Liu Wei's strategist, Yao Guangxiao kept their overall strategic direction firmly in mind.
"That's right, the land from Langshan to Manyi Valley is an excellent farming area, and there is absolutely no problem in growing rice, wheat, sorghum and other grain crops!"
"My lord, this humble monk is eager to get to work!"
"I want to obtain the household registration and land maps of Shuofang and Wuyuan, and mobilize the people to reclaim wasteland and cultivate land."
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