Regarding the route of Cao Cao's Northern Expedition to Wuhuan, there are many people who have examined it. According to the current electronic map, it is mutually corroborated with the records of the history books, and try to sort it out.
First of all, on a topographic map, Yanshan Mountain stretches from east to west in the northern part of the North China Plain, the east end is connected to the sea at Shanhaiguan, the west end is connected to the Yin Mountain, and the southwest is connected to the Taihang Mountain across the pass ditch. In the middle of this mountain system, there are multiple openings, which are the passageways for people to enter the Northeast Plain from the North China Plain, as well as the Inner Mongolia Plateau. These include Xifengkou (Lulongsai, Songting Pass), Lengkou, Gubeikou and so on. Historically, there have been merchants, Di, Rong, Xianbei, Khitans, Jins, and Mongols through these openings.
Figure 1
From the North China Plain into the Northeast Plain, how many roads are there, and how many routes are connected by these openings, we take a look at it from the map, (some maps come from the Network, thanks here, if copyright, please contact the author).
Figure 2
From this figure, we can see that there are four roads, from west to east: first, Gubeikou Road, because Naran Zhide once walked, left literary works, and is remembered by people, and is also the general route of today's Jingcheng Expressway; second, Songting Ancient Road , the oldest Shangzhou Ancient Road from Xifengkou to the north; third, the Lingzhi Ancient Road from Lengkou to the north; fourth, the Pinghai Road after the Song Dynasty - Shanhaiguan to Jinzhou Road, which is now the most well-known Western Liaoning Corridor.
Figure 3
The road marked above is the shortest distance and the most convenient road in the Western Liaoning Corridor. One horse flat river, no need to climb over the mountains.
Shanhaiguan - Xingcheng (Ningyuan) - Jinzhou, from southwest to northeast, this narrow passage facing the sea, about 185 kilometers long and about 8-15 kilometers wide. This line now takes the G1 high-speed, but also takes the national highway, ordinary railway, high-speed railway. This road was not fully penetrated before the Song and Liao Dynasties.
In some articles, it is said that the Pinghai Road that Cao Cao planned to take in Wuhuan is this road, and the author believes that with the current information, this statement cannot be proved. The Pinghai Road is actually a road from Jieshi (now the mountains that span Changli, Funing, and Lulong, not a stone, and it is even more unreliable in the sea in Suizhong) to Shanhaiguan, to today's Suizhong in Liaoning, and then from the mountains to Liucheng (today's Chaoyang). This is the route of Cao Cao's return to the army marked in the picture below.
Figure 4
We use today's electronic map navigation (see image below), from Changli (where Jieshi is located) to Chaoyang, along the G1 highway to Suizhong, from Suizhong along the G306 next to the Liugu River, over Jianchang, and then take the Zhu xiao line to Chaoyang.
Some people believe that Suizhong - Xingcheng - Jinzhou - Liucheng is the road to the sea that Cao Cao planned to take. Based on the remains and materials currently unearthed, I can't see that it was penetrated before the Song and Liao Dynasties.
At that time, why did Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han stop in Suizhong today? We need to know that entering Jinzhou along the Western Liaoning Corridor is the famous Beizhen Mountain - Youzhou Medical Witch Lu Mountain. With the habits of the Qin Emperor Han Wu, you must take a look. They did not look, according to the author's humble opinion, it proves that at that time, the end of this road was Suizhong, and the road to Xingcheng (Ningyuan) - Jinzhou had not yet been opened. Later, after passing through the river's sand rushing to create land, the sea retreated, the road was wider, the road was high, and only then could we go, which was a matter of song and Liao.
Even I felt that the Sui Emperor Yang Guang and Tang Taizong Li Shimin did not take the suizhong to Jinzhou in their conquest of Goryeo. Interested friends can go to check the route of the Sui and Tang Dynasties to conquer Goryeo.
Figure 5
In my opinion, the road in the picture above is closer to the Pinghai Road that Cao Cao planned to take. Jieshi - Suizhong - Jianchang - Chaoyang.
In that year, Cao Cao marched on Wuhuan. Tiangong did not do beauty, had to take an endless ancient road under the guidance of the local hermit Tian Domain, this endless ancient road, many people think it is the Shang Zhou Ancient Road, I do not approve.
There are several openings that can be passed through the Lulong belt, Xifengkou is the oldest, it is an ancient road in the Shang Zhou Dynasty, we use the map to navigate Yutian (where Cao Cao met Tian Domain in those years) - Chaoyang, do not take the highway, you will find that the map shows the road from Yutian to Qianxi Xifengkou, to Chengde Kuancheng, Chengde Pingquan, and then to Chaoyang. This is a road along the Luan River, China's roads, especially the ancient roads, often along the river, today we can see in many places the old road along the river, the national road winding the mountain, high-speed tunnel through the mountain.
Figure 6 – Shangzhou Ancient Road
Saying that this is the ultimate path, the author believes that it is debatable.
If you go north from Taolinkou, you can also reach Chaoyang. As can be seen from the map below, unlike the Xifengkou Near the Panjiakou Reservoir above, this road is a road that follows the Qinglong River, a tributary of the Luan River. We can clearly see from the satellite map that Xifengkou is very close to the Panjiakou Reservoir, and the road recommended by Tian Yu should be along the road traced up the Qinglong River, which is the road shown on the satellite map through the vicinity of today's Taolinkou Reservoir and continues to Lengkou - Kuancheng - Pingquan - Chaoyang.
Figure 7
The navigation also shows a road that can face directly northeast, from Jianchang directly to Chaoyang, instead of first northwest, over Kuancheng, to Pingquan, and then to Chaoyang. Let's go back to the picture at the beginning of the article (Figure 8), which I marked with a red line closer to the recorded Endless Ancient Road. Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Wei, And Emperor Wu: Summer and May, to the end. In autumn and July, the big water, the sea road is not passable, and the field domain please be the township guide, and the public obeys it. Lead the army out of Lulongsai, the saiwai road is never passable, it is more than 500 miles of the valley of the Mountain, through Bai Tan, Li Pinggang, wading XianBeiting East refers to Liucheng ...
Figure 8
There's a key place in this – white sandalwood. In the "Records of Emperor Wu", it is clearly recorded that "jing bai tan", this white sandalwood is said to be the white sandalwood mountain of today's Dense Cloud, and some people say that it is the south bank of the Xingzhou River in the northeast of Luanping today. However, looking at the above maps, I think they are not right, and the correct one should be the "Yaowangmiao Village in Kuancheng County", which is the place I marked (1) in the middle of Pingquan and Pinggang.
If you only look at "The Legend of Tian Domain", it may also be the ancient road that I marked with blue lines. Now that we navigate with electronic maps, this path can still be followed.
"Biography of Tian Domain": Taizu ordered the domain to make his people as a village guide, go up Xu Wushan, out of Lulong, Li Pinggang, climb the White Wolf Pile (that is, the White Wolf Mountain), go to Liucheng for more than two hundred miles, and Yu Nai was shocked. Shan Yu was in the midst of a battle between Himself and Chen (古同"Jin"), Taizu and the Warring Forces, so they were greatly captured and chased north to Liucheng.
Figure 9 – Navigation of the Qian'an to Chaoyang route
Figure 10 - Taolinkou to Chaoyang navigation
Continuing with the electronic navigation, the two maps above are shown.
Qian'an ancient called Lingzhi, we will navigate the chaoyang from Qian'an, we will find that the electronic map recommends the road to the left through Kuancheng, Pingquan and then to the northeast. It corresponds almost exactly to the red line map I drew (the endless ancient road).
Navigation display total 328.3 km, 5 hours and 24 minutes. Navigation doesn't recommend the path I drew on the Blue Line at all, why?
Think differently, segmented navigation. Navigation from Taolinkou to Chaoyang, a total of 325 kilometers, 5 hours and 12 minutes. From Qian'an to Taolinkou a total of 35.4 kilometers, 1 hour and 3 minutes. Taolinkou to Kuancheng total 101.7 km, 1 hour and 52 minutes. Kuancheng to Chaoyang total 237.6 km, 3 hours and 23 minutes.
From this, it can be inferred that the road from the early stage of taking the Lingzhi opening and later merging into the Shangzhou Ancient Road, that is, the road that still passes through Kuancheng and Pingquan along the Daling River (White Wolf Water) to Chaoyang is the shortest and best to walk. This is also in line with what the book says: "Lead the army out of Lulongsai, the saiwai road will never pass, but the valley of the mountain is more than 500 miles." The most difficult road is the Section of Taolinkou - Lengkou - Kuancheng, perhaps the section of the "Valley of the Mountains".
Navigate today
According to today's navigation and the records of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I think that the ancient road of no end in history should start from today's Qian'an Jianchangying, enter the Yaowangmiao Village (Bai tan) of Kuancheng through Lengkou, then go to Pingquan, and then follow the Daling River east to Chaoyang (Liucheng).
When people reach the southern foothills of Yanshan Mountain, in the Qian'an (Lulong) Basin, where the Luan River and Qinglong River meet, this relatively large flat land, they will look for a way through the mountain at Jianchangying (Lengkou to the north and Taolinkou to the east) in Qian'an. In fact, there are many such roads, roughly speaking, the eastern line can be from Jianchangying to Qinglong through Jianchang to Chaoyang City (ancient Yingzhou), the central line can be taken from Qinglong to S321 to Chaoyang, and the western line is from Jianchangying to The Cold Mouth, first to Kuancheng, and then to Pingquan Road.
In addition, there are some similar sayings inside and outside the Great Wall: Pull the undefeated Jianchang camp, fill the dissatisfied Kaiping City; pull the undefeated Tazigou (Lingyuan), fill the dissatisfied Jianchang camp; pull the undefeated Hada, fill the dissatisfied eight ditches; "pull the undefeated dry ditch, fill the dissatisfied Tai camp." These places are marked on the map, and it can be seen that there were many roads and nodes that crossed yanshan in ancient times. It is always said that along the tributaries of the Luan River and the Qinglong River system, through the Yanshan Mountains. There are many roads.
Therefore, Lulongse, I don't think I mean an opening in the Xifeng Pass, but a series of openings in the mountains of Lulong (Lulong's former jurisdiction was very wide), which later became important passes on the Ming Great Wall.
Why don't I say that the endless path is the Shang Zhou Ancient Road? I think that the ancient road through Xifengkou should be known to many people, Cao Cao knows it, his adviser Guo Jia also knows it, and even the Wuhuan people know it. If you want to attack it unprepared and create the illusion of being blocked by heavy rain to withdraw your troops, you can only choose a path that the Wuhuan people can't think of. At this time, Tian Yu offered the Endless Ancient Path. Why not the road through Jianchang, because the last section of the Pinghai Road is from Jianchang to Chaoyang, if you pass through Qinglong to Jianchang to take the mountain road, it is very steep, before Cao Cao and after Cao Cao never had a large army to walk like this, therefore, I judge that Cao Cao's northern expedition to Wuhuan is the most likely to take the road I speculated in the text.