Chapter 11 The sunset of the long river is late at night in the thirty-fourth section, and the atmosphere in the Qilin Hall is bright and tense.

Shi Chenwei, the governor of the Great Sima Mansion, was reporting the war situation to the ministers in various places. On the battlefield in the south, the war was in a stalemate.

Beginning at the end of May, the 60,000-strong army commanded by the general Zhong Xuan and the rebels of Cao Cao and Yuan Tan fought repeatedly in the vicinity of Xiangxian and Dangxian in Yuzhou, and the two sides won and lost each other.

After receiving support from Luoyang, Wurui general Zhang Xiu and Jianwu general Lu Mian launched several counteroffensives against the rebels of Yuan Xi and Kuailiang in the direction of Luyang, but because they did not have a clear advantage in troops, they had little success.

The westward advance army on the battlefield in Western Xinjiang, under the command of the Son of Heaven and the great general, has taken Hanyang and is currently advancing to the south bank of the Yellow River in Jincheng County.

General Koyi said in the report that they planned to adopt the strategy of luring the enemy, attracting the Qiang people to the Jincheng and Yuzhong lines, and then flanking the north and south with the Hexi iron cavalry of Yan Rou, the general of Zhenbei, so that the army could quickly recover the Hehuang area.

The southward army on the battlefield in Western Xinjiang was stubbornly resisted by the rebels on the front line of Dasanguan and Hechi. At the end of May, Yan Liang led his army to break through Zhang Fei's resistance and capture Huanghuachuan.

In early June, the southbound army once again broke through the joint attack of Zhang Fei and Huang Zhong and captured Fengting. On the seventh day of the sixth month, the army encountered the main force of the rebels in Gudaochuan, and Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong, Zhang Ren, Yang Ren, Li Jun and other rebels led their armies to resist desperately, and the battle was very fierce.

Yan Liang commanded the soldiers to fight hard for four days, broke through the old Daochuan with difficulty, and advanced to Malingzhai. According to the latest battle report, Yan Yan's army has withdrawn from Hanyang to Wudu and appeared on the battlefield of Malingzhai.

"The primary targets of the southbound army were Hechi, Xiafen, and Xianren Pass, southeast of Hechi. Taking these three places basically blocked the rebels' retreat from Chencang Road to Hanzhong and the retreat from Jinniu Road to Bashu. Chen Wei pointed to the map and focused three times.

"There are two dangerous obstacles in the south of Malingzhai and Guting. In the case of close forces, it is very difficult for us to kill the river pool in a short time, unless we increase our troops again. ”

"There is another way, which is to send troops to Hanzhong along the plank road, attack Wudu from the direction of the Han army, and carry out an east-west flank attack with Lord Yan Liang's army." Chen Wei's hand pointed to Hanzhong on the map again,

"At the beginning of the year, Yang Song, the Taishou of Hanzhong, sent people to Chang'an to secretly submit a letter of guilt, intending to return to the imperial court. We also sent people to Hanzhong to secretly meet with Yang Song and discuss with him about the appeasement. However, in the second half of May, there was a sudden change in Hanyang, rebellion and infighting, and Han Yi was accidentally killed, forcing us to send troops to the western frontier in advance. This incident disrupted our deployment to attack Longnan, and also made our dispatch of troops to Hanzhong come to naught. ”

"The last attack strategy agreed between Yang Song and us was that we would contain Liu Bei and Liu Zhang's forces all the way. All the way from the meridian road into Hanzhong, hold Yangping Pass, cut off the rebels back to Hanzhong, and at the same time take the Golden Bull to kill Chengdu. The gist of this strategy was that our army must first enter Hanzhong to help Yang Song stabilize Hanzhong, and then attack Wudu from the direction of Dasanguan. Otherwise, the rebels will do their best to block the southward Han army, while firmly controlling Yangping Pass and Jinniu Mountain to ensure that the retreat is not lost. ”

"Judging from the current situation on the battlefield, it is obviously not appropriate to implement this strategy again. We preemptively attacked Wudu, so that Yang Song lost his trust in us, and at the same time, the rebel troops will keep an eye on Hanzhong, as long as there is a slight disturbance in Hanzhong, our army that infiltrated Hanzhong will be completely annihilated. Therefore, we plan to send someone to secretly contact Yang Song again, first, to explain the reason for sending troops to Wudu in advance, to rebuild trust between the two sides, and second, to discuss the strategy of attack, so that the army can cross the plank road and enter Hanzhong, implement the strategy of east-west attack, and recover Wudu and Hanzhong counties as soon as possible. ”

"It will take at least a month for the envoy to return to Hanzhong, so in the coming period, we intend to order General Yan Liang to use the existing forces to continue the offensive and drag the rebels on the battlefield of Wudu as much as possible, so as to prepare for us to send troops into Hanzhong. However, the crisis that broke out in northern Xinjiang once again disrupted the deployment of the imperial court. If nothing else, this year's imperial army may have to fight on the three battlefields of western Xinjiang, northern Xinjiang and southern Xinjiang, and the imperial court is overstretched in terms of strength and wealth. Chen Wei looked at the ministers and said helplessly,

"The top priority at the moment is to ensure that the Western Expeditionary Army has enough food and grass to ensure that the Western Expeditionary Army can complete its attack objectives, and at the same time find ways to stabilize the situation in the south, so that the imperial court can concentrate on dealing with the crisis in the northern Xinjiang." On the issue of dealing with the crisis in northern Xinjiang, the great Sima Xu Rong suggested that Guangluxun Xian Yu should go to Youzhou as quickly as possible to take command.

"This year, the main force of the army is on the battlefield in western Xinjiang, and it is unable to take care of northern Xinjiang, so the key to dealing with the crisis in northern Xinjiang is not to mobilize the army to deter the Hu tribes in the desert, but to make every effort to take advantage of the contradictions between the Hu tribes, let them attack each other, further divide and weaken the strength of the Hu tribes, and prepare for the army to go north next year to quell the rebellion." Da Sima Xu Rong looked serious, walked in front of Xian Yufu with his hands behind his back, and said solemnly with Xian Yufu's anxious gaze: "The chaos in Northern Xinjiang is not terrible, what is terrible is that the Xianbei people in the desert may take advantage of this chaos to come together again and work together to fight against my big man." Therefore, the bottom line given to you by the imperial court is that you would rather lose control of the desert than let the Xianbei people rise again. "Xian Yu assists in the heart to comprehend, bows down to receive the order.

If the Xianbei tribes are allowed to rebuild the royal court of Danhan Mountain and dominate the desert, the Han will not only have to bear the endless scourge of war again, but also be more likely to lose the great cause of Zhongxing.

The Great Sima Xu Rong then suggested that the imperial court borrow money and grain on credit from the wealthy clans of the local gate lords to alleviate the sudden financial crisis.

The ministers were very divided on this, believing that the imperial court forcibly issued an order to borrow money and grain on credit from the wealthy people of the local clans, which would aggravate the contradictions between the two sides, and would not be conducive to the stability of the prefectures and counties, nor would it be conducive to the implementation of the new policy, and it would be better to increase taxes.

Now the taxes of the Great Han are based on

At present, the population of the prefectures and counties actually controlled by the imperial court is at least 18 million to 20 million, and if each mouth levies an extra 10 yuan, the state treasury can increase the tax by 200 million yuan.

This will neither hurt the people nor arouse public anger, and is obviously better than forcibly borrowing on credit. In addition, it is also possible to appropriately increase the taxation of merchants.

The new policy encouraged business, gave many preferential policies to businessmen from all over the country, and gave them a high status. They have made a lot of money over the years, and the government and the opposition are very beautiful, they should be grateful for the grace of the emperor, repay the court, don't heal the scars and forget the pain, and repeat the Xiaowu Emperor's dynasty

The scourge of "sue you". After a heated debate, the ministers finally decided on a way to alleviate the financial crisis.

One is to increase the endowment, but only ten dollars per mouth, and only one year; the second is to increase taxes and levy taxes on merchants; The third is to collect donations from local government offices, gate valve families and wealthy tycoons.

Those who donate a certain amount of money can choose to send a man to study in Taixue in Chang'an or Luoyang, and those with excellent grades can get the opportunity to become a leader.

The next day, the great Sima Xu Rong, the Taifu Yang Biao, and the prime minister Li Wei rushed to Liyang to perform. On the same day, the eldest princess issued an order to worship Xian Yufu as a hussar general, holding a knot, supervising the military affairs of northern Xinjiang, handling the crisis in northern Xinjiang, and guarding the security of northern Xinjiang.

Worship the right guard general Zhao Yun as Guangluxun. Although it is still in the period of mourning, the state affairs are important, and it is immediate

"Seize the affection" to take office. The edicts of the ministers on alleviating the financial crisis were promulgated and implemented.

In the second half of June, Yuzhou. The general of the Left Guard, Lü Bu, was ordered to lead his army to Suiyang and meet with Zhong Xuan, the general of Zhengnan, who had arrived here in advance.

The imperial court's decree was clear, calling for an immediate end to the war in the south. But now, even if Lü Bu arrives in Suiyang, the strength of the army has increased, and he can defeat the rebels in the area of Dangxian and Xiangxian, but it may not be able to stop the rebels from continuing to counterattack, and they must find a way to negotiate with Cao Cao and divide the relationship between Cao Cao, Yuan Tan and Liu Biao, so as to destroy the alliance of the rebels.

Zhong Xuan said to Lu Bu, you lead the army to attack, and I will go back to Xuchang to convene the famous scholars and Confucians to discuss the plan to persuade the divisive.

On June 24, Lü Bu ordered Wei Xu to lead an army of 10,000 to quietly cross the Bishui River, waiting for an opportunity to attack Xiao County and cut off Cao Cao's grain and grass transportation; Ordered Peng Lie to take 40,000 troops to stand by in Dangxian and wait for his attack order.

On June 25, Lü Bu gathered an army of 30,000 and took the initiative to attack. Yuan Tan, Cao Hong, Liu Xun, Man Chong and others waved their troops to meet the enemy, and the two sides fought bloodily by the Suishui River.

On June 26, Cao Cao personally went to the front line and commanded an army of 50,000 to attack. Lu Bu was not afraid, and Lei Chong, Song Xian, Sun Luan and others took the lead, and led the soldiers to fight to the death, and the Northern Xinjiang Army suffered extremely heavy losses.

Cao Cao was very happy, he thought that the attack in the direction of Jingzhou had worked, and Zhong Miao took some of his men and horses to support Luyang.

And Lu Bu is a barbarian, who doesn't know the art of war, only knows how to fight to the death, so that the small number of troops has been severely damaged, and it is already in danger.

He ordered all the thousands of defenders in Xiangcheng and Xiao County to be transferred to the battlefield overnight, preparing to deal a fatal blow to Lu Bu the next day.

In the early morning of June 27, Peng Lie led his army to the front line, and under the command of Lü Bu, an army of 40,000 launched an attack on the exhausted rebel camp.

Cao Cao, Yuan Tan and others were caught off guard, and the soldiers who had been fighting for two days in a row were already exhausted.

The rebels were defeated. The Han army covered up and killed all the way, cutting off countless heads. Cao Cao fled to Xiao County, crossing the river while reorganizing his army.

Suddenly, Wei Xu led the army to kill. Wei Xu found that Xiao County's army crossed the river south overnight, so he decided to attack Xiao County, but he didn't expect that when he attacked the city, it was the moment when Cao's army fled back in embarrassment.

Cao Jun was horrified and fled in all directions, drowning in countless people. Wei Xu was also panicked, he thought that Cao Cao had withdrawn his army, and the main force was behind, so he hurriedly retreated with the army.

Peng Lie and others led the army to kill until dawn before stopping. In this battle, nearly 10,000 enemies were killed, and not a single prisoner was captured.

Cao Cao was defeated and returned to Pengcheng, panicked and worried that the Northern Frontier Army would take advantage of the situation to attack Xuzhou. Yuan Tan fled to Qicheng and survived.

When Zhong Xuan heard of the victory in Dangcheng, he was very excited, and while he hurriedly played the imperial court, he hurriedly sent a messenger to Pengcheng to persuade Cao Cao and tell him to immediately present a plea form, otherwise he would immediately wave his army to attack Xuzhou.

Zhong Xuan said in the letter, do you think Liu Biao will help you fight Yuzhou? He would have sent someone to contact us secretly a long time ago, if it weren't for him

"Tacit understanding", can I transfer all the main forces of Yuzhou to the Dangcheng battlefield? Liu Biao is the minister of the clan, and if he surrenders, at least he can be a free prince.

But what about you? If you don't wake up again, you will wipe out the scourge of the Nine Clans. Zhong Miao sent Han Ji to Xiangyang to persuade Liu Biao.

Zhong Xuan said in the letter, brother, you don't know who Cao Cao is? A few years ago, in order to win respite, he did not hesitate to marry his daughter to Hu Ren.

Now that he is defeated again, do you think he will surrender or not? He surrendered, was appeased, and whether he was sincere or not, he would not hesitate to sacrifice your interests.

It is even possible to give us food and grass to secretly help us fight Jingzhou in exchange for time for him to regain his strength.

So, brother, you better be sober, see the situation clearly before fighting, don't fall for other people's tricks in a daze, fall into someone else's ** plan, and don't even know how you died.

It was Yuan Ba who went to Qicheng to appease Yuan Tan. Yuan Tan now only has half of Peiguo left, and his strength is almost lost, but Yuan Ba persuaded him to take advantage of Cao Cao's defeat and not yet recover his vitality, and immediately sent people to Jiangdong to contact Sun Quan and Zhou Yu to seize Jiujiang and Lujiang, so as to find a new foothold for himself.

Yuan Ba said, if you are in difficulty, just mention it, I will use the power of Yuan Valve in Yuzhou to help you secretly.

Yuan Tan was grateful, although he knew that Yuan Ba might not really help him, but he really needed to cheer up and survive, otherwise he would be completely finished.

July, Western Xinjiang. At the beginning of July, under the unremitting efforts of Pang De and Ma Chao, and under the frequent attacks of the Han army's iron cavalry, the vigilance and timidity in the hearts of the Qiang people were gradually replaced by burning hatred and anger, and they gradually gathered on the front line of Jincheng and Yuzhong, preparing for a decisive battle with the Han army.

However, Hongri, the commander of Burning Dangqiang, repeatedly warned them not to leave the banks of the Huangshui River, not to cross the Yellow River and fight a decisive battle with the Han Chinese.

The iron cavalry of Hongri, Tietou and Storm has been fighting with the Han army on the north bank of the Huangshui River, and they noticed that the Han cavalry had signs of crossing the river, and immediately suspected that the Han army was going to encircle and annihilate the Qiang cavalry on the front line of Jincheng and Yuzhong, so they prevented Tang Xiao from leading the army to cross the river several times.

However, the arrogant Tang Xiao turned a deaf ear, and on the seventh day of the seventh month, he led 12,000 iron horsemen to attack Yuzhong.

The Han army was defeated, retreated again and again, and was defeated into the Kwaiyuan Gorge. The Qiang roared in. Suddenly, the war drums were like thunder, the ambush soldiers were exhausted, and tens of thousands of Han troops surrounded the Qiang people and attacked and killed bravely.

The Qiang people were defeated and desperately broke through, leaving thousands of corpses behind and fleeing in disarray, but they encountered the Xiliang army lurking from the Camel Ridge Trail near Jincheng.

Yang Qiu, Cheng Yi and others commanded the army to stubbornly resist and block the Qiang people on the bank of the Yellow River. Lu Yi, Pang De, Wei Jun, Ma Chao, Sai Feng, Nie Xiao and others led the iron cavalry to catch up quickly, and once again killed with the Qiang people.

At this time, Jiang Wu and Mustafa led 10,000 iron horsemen across the river, and tens of thousands of troops surrounded the Qiang people and slashed at them.

Koji Yi ordered, kill, no one left. The war intensified. Tang Xiao, the commander of the Qiang Qu, was killed by Ma Chao, and thousands of Qiang people fell off their horses under the stormy attack of the Han army.

At dusk, when Xiao Tianzi, Li Hong, Yushi and others arrived at the battlefield with the Tiger Feather Forest Battalion, the Northern Army Yue Cavalry Battalion and the Infantry Battalion, the battle was over.

The battlefield was littered with corpses and rivers of blood, which was unbearable. Li Hong ordered to cross the river and kill Hehuang directly.

In mid-July, the news that the emperor of the Han Dynasty and the great general Li Hong led his army to advance into Hehuang reached Longxi, and everyone was shocked.

Liu Bei urgently summoned Guan Yu, Pang Yi and others to discuss. Zhuge Liang, who had been following Liu Bei, suggested that Liu Bei immediately withdraw from Longxi and quickly seize Hanzhong, otherwise the army would most likely be wiped out in Longxi and Wudu counties.

At this moment, Liu Bei was completely in trouble. Since the Northern Xinjiang Army came out of the Dasan Pass, the food supply to Longxi has been completely cut off.

Although Liu Bei is in Tuntian, Longxi, the climate is not suitable, the output is very low, and the grain is like a drop in the bucket, and he can't support himself.

Transporting grain from Bashu and Hanzhong to Longxi, more than half of the consumption on the road will be removed. Therefore, Liu Bei's army has been struggling to survive, which is also one of the important reasons why Liu Bei was stranded in Longxi and could not conquer Hehuang.

Now there is no food to ensure the survival of the army, and it is not only the Qiang people who threaten the safety of the army, but also the strong northern iron cavalry.

In this case, the withdrawal of Wudu became the only way out. Thinking about his indomitable courage three years ago, Liu Bei felt very desolate and painful.

It is true that Western Xinjiang is not a place for people, even if you have great ambitions, but in the face of hunger and cold, you can only tie your hands.

Now I don't even have the heart to fight the trapped beast, and I wish I could leave early. But where is the way out for you when you leave Longxi?

"For more than a month, the Northern Xinjiang Army has been attacking continuously and has approached Hechi, if Hechi falls, we will be in a desperate situation, and there will be no chance of survival." Zhuge Liang analyzed the situation in detail, and believed that now Liu Zhang and Yang Song are afraid of Li Hong and want to preserve their strength as much as possible, and they may not do their best to protect Wudu, so the army should quickly withdraw to Hechi and the first line to avoid the fate of the entire army.

"After withdrawing to Wudu, we will use the Northern Xinjiang Army to suppress the border, and Liu Zhang and Yang Song both need the opportunity for us to help by force, first take Hanzhong, and then take Chengdu, so as to ensure the safety of Yizhou and block the pace of the Northern Xinjiang Army going south." Liu Bei had no choice.

If he wants to live, he needs a place to live, and he has to grab it.

"Withdraw ......" Liu Bei no longer hesitated and gave a categorical order. In July, Youzhou, Jicheng. After the hussar general Xian Yufu arrived in northern Xinjiang, it played a role in deterring the Saiwaihu people to a certain extent.

Lou Lu and Neng Chendi each quit their troops, and Shelong and Sheyingtong also temporarily stopped the fierce fighting, but then a bad news came, Micah of Xianbei in the east died of illness, Que Ji, Huaitou, Suli and others immediately enshrined Micah's son Jiamo as the king of Xianbei in the east, and Kirby Bear stabbed two sections.

Of course, Kirby Xiong could not tolerate the betrayal of Que Ji and others, and immediately raised troops to attack the eastern Xianbei tribes. Kirby Bear ignites a second puff of wolf smoke in the desert.

Before Xian Yufu could stop Kirby Bear, a third stream of wolf smoke rose up in the desert, and Fu Luohan and Shelong teamed up to raid Shooting Yingtong and Shooting Tiger.

The two were caught off guard and their strength was not good, so they had to abandon the tribe and flee to Juyong Pass with thousands of men and horses, seeking help from Xian Yufu.

With the support of Fu Luohan, Shelong became the king of Xianbei in the south, and the two joined forces and slaughtered Xianbei in the middle with great momentum.

Kirby Bear was attacked by the enemy on his back and was difficult to parry, so he quickly sent someone to Xian Yufu for help. But Xian Yufu has fallen into the battle situation in Liaodong at the moment, and he is powerless to take care of it.

Liaodong Karasuma Dadan Yu was stabbed to death by Bundun, and his son Dunjie succeeded Dadan Yu. Lou Ban was furious, and united with Wuyan and Su Fuyan to attack and kill.

Dunjie asked Li Su, the protector of Liaodong, and Gongsun Xu, the captured general, for help, and the two immediately sent troops to help Dunjie quell the rebellion.

Liaodong suddenly wolf smoke billowed and the horn sounded. In August, Kirby Xiong, Que Kun and others led their troops to fight fiercely with Jiamo and Que Ji, and the army of Xianbei in the east retreated again and again, gradually luring Kirby Xiong's army to the vicinity of Wuhou Qinshui.

At this time, the armies of Fu Luohan and Shelong crossed the Lightning River and killed Huoyunyuan directly. Xiong Ba led his army to block the attack and was killed by an arrow.

In desperation, he had to flee to Daxianbei Mountain with tens of thousands of tribesmen day and night.

After hearing the news, Kirby Bear knew that he had fallen for the opportunity and hurriedly withdrew his troops. But what he never expected was that the Buyeo army suddenly appeared and blocked Kirby Xiong's retreat to Daxianbei Mountain.

Kirby Bear fought hard, turned around with his army and headed south, breaking through in the direction of Dayan Mountain. Fu Luohan, Shelong, Jiamo, Que Ji, Su Li and others chased and intercepted, vowing to kill Kirby Bear.

If Kirby Bear is allowed to escape from Dayan Mountain, with his relationship with the general Li Hong, the Han army's iron cavalry will soon be killed in the desert, and everyone's life will be sad at that time.

On the contrary, if you kill Kirby Bear, find a scapegoat, and perfunctory the general, things may be big and small.

When the desert is stabilized and the Xianbei tribes are unified, the Xianbei people will not be afraid of Li Hong and his iron horse, and they will recapture the desert.

Kirby Bear obviously knew better than his enemies what it meant to escape Dayan Mountain, so he led the Black Eagle Iron Cavalry to fight all the way, invincible, and led all the enemies to the northern foot of Dayan Mountain.

Just when Fu Luohan and the others laid a heavy net, he suddenly turned around again, ran east with his army, successfully broke through from the direction of White Wolf Mountain, fled to Liaoxi, and quickly rushed to Lulongsai.

On the end of August, the western Xinjiang, Hehuang. The Qiang fled when they heard the news, and the Han army could not find its main force, so they had to station their troops on the banks of the Weishui River, patiently looking for opportunities.

Yan Rou, the general of Zhenbei, led his army to cross the Yellow River and join the Western Expeditionary Army. Jia Xu suggested that the troops should be divided to lure the enemy.

The main force pretended to attack Longxi, lurking in the area of Heguan and Caohan, leaving an iron cavalry to lure the main force of the Qiang people.

Li Hong followed his plan and led his army to the south, crossed the Yellow River from the direction of Heguan, and began to attack Longxi. Jump to