Looking at the map, Zhao Bing sighed lightly. This expedition was not only long and difficult, but also had to break through layers of obstacles from the enemy. As far as he knew, Sichuan Province was a relatively strong military color among the ten provinces of the Yuan Dynasty. The Wu army stationed in the territory included the Mongolian army, the Red Army of the Ma, the Han army and the New Army, and the number was huge, with a number of people remaining about 45,000, and at the maximum reached 75,000.

However, after conquering Jiangnan, Kublai Khan began to streamline the new army and adjust his garrison in the 20th year of Zhiyuan. This trend also affected Sichuan, merged the Xuanwei Division in the east, west and north of Xichuan and the three roads in Xichuan to guard Wanhu Prefecture, the 14th place of the New Army General Administration, Weizhou, Guanzhou, Maozhou and other departments. Military power in Sichuan gradually concentrated, institutions gradually streamlined, and administrative and military and political centers began to transfer to Chengdu.

Zhao Bing's strategic focus has always been in Jiangbei, but Sichuan and Shu live in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and he regarded it as a sharp knife behind him. Therefore, he did not relax the surveillance of the situation in Sichuan and Shu. The Bureau of Affairs established a Sichuan Intelligence Station to investigate this area and collect military and political information. As far as the information was heard back, the main towns and garrisons in Sichuan were:

Chengdu: Chengdu was an area occupied by the Mongolian and Yuan army earlier. During the period of Ogedei Khan, Prince Kuoduan entered Chengdu and occupied the western part of Sichuan. After plundering a large number of supplies, the Mongolian army abandoned Chengdu again. During the period of Mongge Khan, Liu Heima and Jiagu Longgu led their troops to re-occupate the abandoned Chengdu city. Mongge Khan attached great importance to Chengdu's defense and sent generals to hold heavy troops here.

When Kublai Khan seized the throne, he regarded him as a major concern and "issued to take the post office to punish him." However, after seizing the throne of Khan, Yuan Shizu appointed Yuan Zhen, the son of the black horse who made contributions to kill the mili fire, as the chief commander of Chengdu's General Manager Wanhu, and sent heavy troops to garrison. In the fourth year of Zhongtong, Li Pingyang's "all the winged troops in Qingju Mountain returned to Chengdu."

Before Kublai Khan launched the war to destroy the Song Dynasty in an all-out war, Chengdu was an important city that the Song and Yuan dynasties competed for. Zhongtong Nian asked, the Song army once attacked Chengdu, but it was preserved because the Sichuan Shangyuan Atuo and Zhang Wanjianu worked together to defend. In the tenth year of Zhiyuan, Song general Ju Wanshou attacked Chengdu. At that time, the Chengdu garrison army followed the general and quickly led the way to attack Jiandu, and the defense was empty for a while. The Yuan court had to sign a new army on Jingzhao and other roads as aid. After the destruction of the Song Dynasty, the Yuan court still attached importance to Chengdu's defense. In the 23rd year of Zhiyuan, 10,000 garrison troops in Sichuan were divided into Chengdu. In addition to completing Chengdu's defense mission, the Chengdu garrison troops also participated in the quelling of the southwest turmoil many times.

Chongqing: In the 14th year of Zhiyuan, Xichuan Xingyuan Buhua led his army to besiege Chongqing, and the Song Chongqing chief Zhao An surrendered. The Song garrison Zhang Jue fled eastward to Fuzhou and surrendered. The Yuan court also attached great importance to Chongqing's defense and successively established Xuanwei Office, Xingyuan, and the province. During the Zhiyuan period, the emperor's grandson Timuer Buhua once stationed troops in Chongqing. In the 24th year of Zhiyuan, General Huaiyuan and the Shimao Dogs guarding the army on Kui Road.

After the Song Dynasty recovered Jiangnan, Chongqing was once again valued by the Yuan army. It went up along the river and threatened Jiangnan. Retreat could prevent the Song army from tracing up the river and plundering Sichuan and Sichuan, threatening Yunnan and Shaanxi and Gansu areas. So it moved to Sichuan Province to Chongqing, and only established Xuanwei Office in Chengdu, and transferred the ruling center from Chengdu to Chongqing, and gradually stabilized. In addition, Xuanwei Office was set up on Kuizhou Road, Luzhou, Jiading and other roads around Chongqing to defend, and at the same time, it was military farms for military use.

The turmoil occurred in Yunnan and it was difficult to calm down for a long time. Zhenjin transferred 10,000 households from Sichuan Province to rescue Yunnan. However, the army and horses were ambushed by various barbarians as soon as they arrived in Yunnan, losing more than 10,000 troops. So the Yuan court felt that Chongqing could still be transferred, and this year, it transferred 2,500 troops to suppress the rebellion in Chongqing and Xuzhou. At the same time, 2,000 people were sent to guard Chongqing from the royal vassal tribes in Sichuan's neighboring kings.

As a result, the Yuan court's garrison in Sichuan was greatly reduced, and the Xuanwei Army had only more than 40,000 troops. After Zhao Bing combined the information from all parties, he thought that the time was rare, and Lingxiao City was still in the hands of the Song army, so he decided to launch a western expedition in the name of rescue and restore the defense system in Chongqing. In this way, he could relieve his worries and gain support points in the Sichuan and Sichuan region.

After Zhao Bing decided to fight the west, he took advantage of the opportunity of the future dynasty at the beginning of the year to discuss with them. All the generals thought that the fight in the west would not be easy to capture Sichuan and Shu in full under the current situation, but should focus on restoring Yu Jie's defense system in Chongqing. In this way, he can attack and retreat, and defend, and then he will be invincible first, and then adjust according to the changes in the situation. The generals' discussion coincided with Zhao Bing's idea, so they collected intelligence based on this and formulated combat plans.

Since Chongqing has been lost for more than ten years, the current status of a series of fortresses built by Yu Jie was unknown. Zhao Bing ordered people to investigate secretly, and inquire about the insiders and participants to find out the situation so that they can conduct targeted training and preparation. After some investigation, the situation was basically clear. Yu Jie built a series of fortresses from north to south, with the main fortresses:

Qingju is located in the north of Shunqing Prefecture, a large city in northern Sichuan, and is bounded by the middle of the Jialing River. It defends northeast of Sichuan and becomes the seat of Shunqing Prefecture. Dahuo, in the southeast of Cangxi City, Yu Jie moved to Langzhong Prefecture here. It was originally built by the famous general Wang Jian, and is the fortress in the northeast of Sichuan's hinterland. Kuzhu Pass is on the top of Xiaojian Mountain in the west of Jianmen Pass, and is the gateway to the northern part of Sichuan. Shenbing Mountain is located in the east of Luzhou, or Tielu Mountain, and Yu Jie moved to Luzhou Prefecture here.

Duong City is forty miles west of Chongqing. The purpose of building this fort is to defend the periphery of Chongqing. Genting is in Jintang County, northeast of Chengdu. Genting Fort is the closest fortress to the Chengdu Plain. It plays a role in peeping at Chengdu without any dangers. At the same time, it also plays a plan to block the waters of the Jialing River and joins fishing to prevent the Mongolian army from trying to use the convenience of the Jialing River boat troops to attack Chongqing along the current.

Hutou, Hutou Mountain Fort is located in the southwest of Fushun, southern Sichuan, and is the northern barrier of Luzhou. Xiliu Pass, northwest of Wanzhou, protects the Yangtze River Waterway and Kuimen in the lower reaches of Chongqing. Diaoyu, Diaoyu City is located in the suburbs of Hezhou City, more than 100 miles north of Chongqing. It is located in the Qu River, the intersection of the Fu River and the Jialing River, and the inner water of the Jialing River is the location of Hezhou Prefecture. It defends Chongqing's only land channel.

In addition, there are dozens of fortresses of all sizes, which are connected from head to end, from north, west to south, and south of the basin in eastern Sichuan. It leans against the main rivers of Sichuan, forming a side that blocks the Mongolian army from invading the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the east.

Looking at the forts built by Yu Jie, we can find that they all have one common feature, that is, the mountain is steep but not too high. Generally, the height difference relative to the ground is tens of meters to hundreds of meters. The top of the mountain is mostly flat and is often close to the waterside, especially if you choose a small hill close to the river. Such fortresses often make it difficult for the enemy to simply climb the traditional siege ladder. The enemy must connect the ladder quite high, so climbing the ladder becomes very dangerous and is easily overturned or broken by the soldiers guarding the city. This situation happened when the Mengge army attacked Diaoyu City.

The fortress is mostly flat, suitable for garrisoning troops and ordinary people. Many fortresses have springs on the mountains. The springs on the Diaoyu Mountain can even be used to raise large fish. Close to the big river, making the fortresses easy to connect and logistically reconnect. Finally, the relative height difference is not large, and the difficulty of attacking and reconnecting is avoided. Diaoyu Mountain can be said to be the best location to choose. It is at the intersection of Sanjiang River, with a height of about a hundred meters, and there are nearly a hundred springs on the mountain, which are inexhaustible in winter and summer.

In Jiading Prefecture, nine forts, three turtles and purple clouds are also built to form a three-link fortress to defend Jiading. Jiading Prefecture was originally a place where the two rivers meet, with mountains and water, which is conducive to defense, and is convenient for land and water. It can reach Luzhou below and connect Chengdu above. In this way, in addition to the fortress, Yu Jie also connected the three major cities of Jiading, Luzhou and Chongqing together.

Later, with the change of the battle situation, Yu Jie implemented the strategy of tightening the front line, retracting the heavy troops stationed on the southern slope of the Qinling Mountains and defending Sichuan on the edge of the Hanzhong Basin to the outer circle of the defense of the Chongqing Luzhou Jiading arc. He used Qingju Fort and Dahuo Fort as the vanguard to peek at the Xingyuan Prefecture and Qinlong Mountain area that have now fallen in the hands of the Mongolian army, and made an attitude of attacking Xingyuan at any time; used Jintang's Yunding Mountain as the bridgehead of the former provincial capital Chengdu. Not far from the Yunding Mountain is the famous Jiantan Ferry on the Fu River, using this ferry to block the Mongolian cavalry's attack on Chengdu.

Finally, Yu Jie built a fortress from Zhaohua in northern Sichuan to Jianzhou, as the outermost periphery of defense. It can be seen that the strategy of Sichuan fortress group to defend the Mongolian cavalry is a whole. They are clearly divided into primary and secondary, and they are surrounded by mountains and rivers, with only one purpose, to defend the Yangtze River waterway, prevent the enemy from going east along the river and attacking the south of the Yangtze River. The role of such a meticulous and perfect plan is completely incomparable to the feudal castle group of Central and European formations.

If such site selection conditions are met, as a province, there are not many places in China. In fact, these fortresses were not captured by military means later. Most of the fortresses were lost due to the rebellion of the guard generals. In addition, these fortresses are both military fortresses and political centers. The most important key is the Diaoyu Fort on the outskirts of Hezhou. Without Diaoyu Forts, there would be no Chongqing. Without Chongqing, the Southern Song Dynasty's regime in Sichuan would be completely lost.

Not only that, in politics, Yu Jie also ordered Yu Xing's troops stationed in Jiading to farm in the Chengdu Plain. In the past, as soon as Chengdu was captured, the people on the Chengdu Plain lost the government's management. Now Chengdu can be remotely controlled by Jiading fortress and Genting Fortress. The military reclamation farms of the troops on the plain can also stabilize the people's hearts and strengthen the connection between local governments.

In addition, Yu Jie also implemented a policy of light taxes and low taxes on the people of Sichuan and promoted education. He punished officials who committed evil deeds, and replaced and suppressed the arrogant soldiers who ran away when they heard the enemy, and established discipline and prestige in the Sichuan garrison. During the eight years of governing Sichuan, Yu Jie was able to achieve great governance in Sichuan under the military situation of confrontation with Mongolia, which made "the enemy dare not approach the border, and the year will be full of success."

In Zhao Bing's view, what Yu Jie did was like a textbook. Not only did he restore Sichuan's wealth through eight years of governance, he transferred a lot of financial resources to the central government, reducing the financial burden and military pressure in the downstream. He also waited for an opportunity to counterattack the enemy. In the winter of Chunyou's tenth year, when the situation in Sichuan improved, he led all the generals to patrol the border, attacked Xingyuan on the Hanzhong Plain, and fought with the Mongolian army.

After that, in the 12th year of Chunyou, Mongolian Wang Dechen led his army to loot Chengdu and attack Jiading. Yu Jie led the Jiading defenders to fight with the Mongolian army and drove him away. During the 36 battles between Sichuan and the Mongolian army, the enemy was defeated in several strongholds, and large areas of rural towns were still under the management of grassroots governments in the Southern Song Dynasty, which prevented the enemy from fully controlling Sichuan. It can be said that there was no Yu Jie's mountain city defense system, which lasted for decades for the Song Dynasty.

In order to gain a favorable situation, Zhao Bing ordered the Huguang Division to launch several small-scale operations, recovered Guizhou, seized two important Jiangnan towns, Zigui and Badong. Mianguan, one of the natural dangers, also obtained a base for the westward expedition. But his eyes were now on the Three Gorges upstream. Compared with the Three Gorges battles that he faced in the following three Gorges, it was just a drizzle. That was the key to determining the outcome. If you win, you would enter Sichuan, and if you lose, you could only retreat to Jiangnan.

The Three Gorges are known as the most spectacular and spectacular scenery in the Yangtze River. The magical craftsmanship of nature and the creation of the world for hundreds of millions of years have made this natural landscape gallery unique. However, the people who sailed in the boat do not have the poetic and picturesque scenery in people's eyes, but are truly the gates of hell. They sail in such a canyon, with towering cliffs and towering rivers swaying on the shore, which makes people thrilling.

The traffic in the Three Gorges relies mostly on boats and boats. The water of the Three Gorges River is dangerous and impermanent, with dense reefs, dangerous shoals and bright rocks all hinder the ships passing by the Gorge. The water in the Three Gorges is fast, and thousands of water runs through Kuimen, and the waves in the Gorges are stormy. The river water drops a large difference, and the reefs in the river are dense, making it difficult to sail. The water level soars more than ten feet in one day, and the water level changes greatly within a year.

Moreover, the river surface is different in width, and the wide areas are full. When the water is dry, the narrow areas are only ten feet long. The depths of each section of the river are different. The deepest part is close to seven or eighty feet, and the shallow part is less than six or seven feet long. There are even undercurrents in the river. The small vortex is like a bucket, and the large one is nearly ten feet in diameter, which is more than 10 feet deep. Once the ship is involved, it is difficult to escape the misfortune of ship destruction and death. In the past, merchants from Sichuan and Sichuan often came to Jiangnan to do business in the east, often followed the river with ships loaded with goods, but after arriving in Jiangnan, they sold the ships with goods together, and people chose to return to Sichuan and Sichuan by land. The reason was that they were afraid of the dangers of the Three Gorges.

The Three Gorges are located in the Yangtze River, at the intersection of the upper reaches, and there is a Yangtze River waterway from the east. You can go to the Jingzhou Plain, the Jianghan Plain and the Jiangnan Land, which can reach the Central Plains and enter Guanzhong. At the same time, the Three Gorges have the conditions to block and close Sichuan and Shu, which will inevitably be a place that warfares in all dynasties to defend and break through the dangers. An offensive battle is carried out in this area, that is, destroying the military fortifications of the Three Gorges and breaking through the natural dangers of the Three Gorges. Its natural geographical location also determines that the combat mode usually adopts the war model of water and mountain warfare. The strategic pattern of the defenders can only be mainly defense.

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