In October, Hou Junji, the general of Pingxi, sent back the good news from Hexi through carrier pigeons. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Because the residents of Xiliang were too small to support too many troops, although after the Northern Xinjiang Army recovered Guanzhong last year, Li Yi still did not send too many troops to Xiliang, only Cao Xing's 6,000 cavalry who had stayed there.

After the beginning of spring this year, the Northern Xinjiang Army led by Cao Xing was attacked by the Qiang people in the front and rear of Guzang, Xiutu, and Luanniao in Wuwei County, and the situation was once very critical.

In the summer, the situation in Xiliang improved to a certain extent, and Li Yicai once again sent Xu Rong to lead the 6,000 cavalry of his headquarters to the Hexi battlefield to help Cao Xing hold Guzang, but because the Qiang cavalry army of Zhangye and Jiuquan stubbornly attacked from the first line of weak water, forcing Cao Xing and Xu Rong and others to fight on two fronts, and the battle situation immediately appeared in a stalemate.

At the beginning of September, Hou Junji, the general of Pingxi, joined the Hexi battlefield with 6,000 cavalry from his headquarters, and went west along the Great Wall, connecting the two cities of Fanhe and Rile in Zhangye County, and killed 2,000 Qiang cavalry in the area of weak water, and successfully captured the two cities of Cutan and Yalan, which were close to the county of Zhangye County.

At this time, because the battle line was too long and the supply of livestock and ordnance could not be supplied, Hou Junji had to order the army to retreat to the small city of Wulan to hold on.

In mid-September, Murong Han and Sun Li led 12,000 horsemen into Wuwei, along the Great Wall in the southern part of the Tianqiong Desert, quietly rushed to the front line of Cangsong and Luanniao, and launched a swift attack on the Qiang cavalry. The Qiang cavalry was caught off guard, losing more than 1,800 cavalry, and retreated to the front line of Lingju in Jincheng County in a panic.

Soon, the Qiang regrouped their army and launched another attack on Wuwei.

At the end of September, Hou Junji rushed to Guzang, gathered all the northern cavalry of Wuwei County, and ordered Xu Rong to take them to secretly ambush near the Great Wall thirty miles east of Guzang City, and he took 5,000 cavalry to lure the enemy, intending to ambush the Qiang people, but the leader of the Qiang people was extremely cautious, and retreated every time he chased to the foot of the Great Wall.

Hou Junji decided to give up Guzang, pretending that the food and grass were insufficient and withdrawing his troops. Xu Rong led his army to retreat first, crossed the Yibula Mountain, and after Hutu Ze replenished food and water, he quickly entered the Tianqiong Desert and lurked at the foot of the Great Wall near Guzang City again.

The Qiang people were very excited to recapture Guzang, and then pursued, and rushed to Yibula Mountain before the Han army, cutting off the retreat of the Han army. Hou Junji panicked and led the army to retreat towards the Tianqiong Desert. The Qiang people were surrounded by the Han army and broke through with great difficulty. The two sides fought to the death until sunset. The leader of the Qiang people led his army to break through the siege and fled back to Jincheng County. The Han army beheaded 4,300 ranks and occupied Wuwei County.

Hou Junji said in his letter that although the army recovered the four cities of Wuwei County and Zhangye County and severely damaged the Qiang people in Hexi, it had to temporarily stop fighting due to the lack of food, grass and ordnance.

………………

In October, Liangzhou Assassin Shi Jia Xu went to the imperial court to report on the latest situation in Western Xinjiang.

Jia Xu and the rebel general of Xiliang have always kept in touch, and Han Yi and Yang Fu often write to him to inform him of the latest situation, and sometimes ask for a little food and ordnance.

In the imperial court's western Xinjiang strategy, it still has the meaning of maintaining the Xiliang rebels. Since the tiger is driven to devour the wolf first, the tiger must be fattened, and the tiger must not be allowed to swallow the wolf, but be eaten by the wolf. Once the "wolf swallowing" is successful, the two tigers will have to fight, and it is even more necessary to fatten the tiger of the Xiliang rebels, otherwise Xiliang will be occupied by Liu Bei, and it will be a big trouble.

However, the situation in western Xinjiang has not been as smooth as expected. To drive the tiger and devour the wolf, the tiger was released, but the wolf did not eat it, on the contrary, the two tigers were in danger of being eaten by the wolves.

When Liu Bei led his army to Longxi to meet Zhang Ren, Zhang Ren and Pang Yi's army had already conquered Yan County and was attacking Lintao.

Lintao is the only way to Minshan, and it is the main road for Wolf Qiang and Baima Qiang to go home, so the two Qiang people have heavy troops stationed here. Zhang Ren's attack on this city meant to cut off the Qiang people's retreat and force the Qiang people to retreat along the Taoshui Cang, so as to create an opportunity for himself to ambush the enemy.

The Qiang people are all cavalry, good at cavalry and archery, and have fought with the Northern Xinjiang Army for so many years, Zhang Ren knows that he will definitely not be able to fight hard, and he can only win by chance. The Qiang people have no experience in defending the city, but Zhang Ren does not have the equipment to attack the city, so he can only make it from local materials, but it takes time to manufacture, and the Qiang people obviously will not give him time, so his attack on Lintao is fake, luring the enemy to retreat, and the ambush halfway is true.

The Qiang people really hit the plan, and after hearing the news, they led their troops to retreat. Zhang Ren and Pang Yi led the main force to set up an ambush in Longsang City in the middle of the Lintao River. The vanguard army of the Qiang people was wiped out by 1,000 people, and the remaining Qiang people turned their horses and ran away.

Liu Bei and Zhang Ren joined forces and attacked Lintao. The Qiang people in Lintao guarded for more than ten days, but they did not see reinforcements and panicked. At this time, Zhang Ren ordered his subordinates to raise the heads of a thousand Qiang people with spears and cheer along the horses around the city. The Qiang people were frightened and abandoned the city and fled.

Lintao was taken, and the army continued to march westward, conquering the ancient city of An, and then marching under the city of Zhididao in Longxi County.

Pang Tong offered advice, pretended to build an embankment on the Lintao River, made the appearance of pouring the city, and then sent people to plant flags all over the mountains outside the city, and burned more bonfires to make the illusion of an army of 100,000.

The Qiang people were horrified and abandoned the city and fled.

Several main forces of the Qiang people converged in Great Xia City. The Han people entered Longxi so quickly, which surprised the Qiang people, but the Qiang people were not afraid. As long as they retreated to the Hehuang region, it would be difficult for the Han Chinese to defeat them with the advantage of terrain and the speed of the iron cavalry.

Liu Bei took advantage of the victory to march, but he soon found that there were a large number of Qiang cavalry in the vicinity of Daxia and Caohan, and then Zhang Ren's vanguard army fought with the Qiang. Zhang Ren was defeated, losing more than 1,000 people, and retreated in embarrassment.

Liu Bei was not well prepared, the food and grass were insufficient, and the ordnance was also insufficient, and the soldiers were exhausted because of the continuous march and battle, coupled with the lack of adaptation to the water and soil, and the re-battle would definitely fail. Liu Bei immediately retreated to Di Dao, and urged Wei Kang and Jian Yong of Wudu County to ask for grain and grass.

The county administration of Wudu County is more than 1,500 miles away from the county governance of Longxi County, and there are mostly plank roads and mountain roads along the way, which is inconvenient for carriages and horses to walk, and the transportation of grain, grass and ordnance is extremely difficult. Grain, grass and ordnance could not be delivered in time, and even if they did, it would be difficult to meet the continuous operation of the 30,000 army, so Liu Bei's army stopped at Di Dao, and it was difficult to do anything.

The Han army stopped, the Qiang people lived, and the Qiang cavalry haunted the mountains, forests and ravines, frequently attacking the Han army's grain routes, and Liu Bei had a headache. Liu Beishu had already rushed to Zhoucang in Wudu County, stayed in Wudu, and didn't go to Longxi to rendezvous, this place is too poor, there are too many people, and everyone will starve to death.

In August, Wei Duan, the Taishou of Wudu County, sent grain and grass to Han Yi. Han Yi deployed a small number of troops on the front line of Yicheng and Shangqi, and then, together with Yan Yan and Yang Ren, marched west to attack Jincheng.

In September, Han Yi conquered Yuzhong and Jincheng successively, and made contact with Liu Bei of Longxi Didao. Hearing that Liu Bei had occupied Longxi, Han Yi was a little anxious, and hurriedly ordered Yang Qiu to lead the forward army to approach Jincheng County Zhiyunwu.

At this time, it was the end of September, the weather was getting cooler, and Han Yi considered that this place was already more than a thousand miles away from Yicheng, and it was difficult to transport grain and grass, and the grain route could be cut off by the Qiang people at any time, so the overseers attacked Yunwu.

Originally, everyone thought that Hexi Qiang was pinned down by the Northern Xinjiang Army in the Tianqiong Desert and could not come back for the time being, but who knew that Hexi Qiang was defeated in the Tianqiong Desert and came back with the army.

Hexi is lost, they always have to find a place to live, and the Hehuang area is of course the first choice.

Han Yi was attacked by the Qiang people in front and back, was defeated, and hastily withdrew to Pingxiang City in Hanyang County. Because of the lack of grain and grass, Yan Yan and Yang Ren led the army to withdraw to Wudu County, and planned to return to Hanzhong and Bashu.

………………

After Li Yi got Jia Xu's recital, he felt very heavy.

Driving the tiger and devouring the wolf was unsuccessful, the tiger was too weak, and there were too many wolves. In addition, Hanzhong and Bashu, who provided food to the tiger, also seemed to have the meaning of retreating in the face of difficulties, if Liu Bei and Han Yi lost the support of grain and grass, it is estimated that the situation in Western Xinjiang will immediately fall to one side, and at that time it will not be the tiger swallowing the wolf, but the wolf swallowing the tiger.

It can be seen from the current situation in western Xinjiang that the large army does not have the conditions to go on an expedition to western Xinjiang, and this is not a question of whether there are many troops, but whether there is enough food and grass.

The problem of Xiliang is very serious, the problem of the invasion of the Qiang people cannot be cured, and the living problems of the people in Xijiang cannot be solved. How many people are still willing to go to the remote, desolate and dangerous Hexi and Hehuang areas to garrison the frontiers?

Li Yi discussed for a long time with his advisers and generals, and felt that the only way to completely conquer the Qiang people was to use the garrison methods in northern Xinjiang to completely conquer the Qiang people, move the Qiang people to the western Xinjiang, and turn the Qiang people around the western Xinjiang into Qiang people, and then slowly turn them into Han people through various policies.

Although this process is very long, full of hardships and dangers, the war in Western Xinjiang for more than 100 years can not continue, and we must find a way to completely solve it, otherwise the heavy burden of Western Xinjiang will not be able to be shaken off at all. The nightmare of Western Xinjiang cannot be cured, and the Zhongxing of the Han Dynasty will always be an unrealistic dream.

At Li Yi's request, Li Yi's advisors began to plan an expedition to the western frontier.

………………

In October, the envoys of Cao Cao of Xuzhou and Sun Quan of Jiangdong arrived in Luoyang.

Two people present a table of guilt. Li Yi was still the same, with kind words to appease him, and did not make further requests. Cao Cao and Sun Quan were overjoyed, knowing that Hebei had suffered a great injury in the Battle of Luoyang, and they were unable to go south in the short term, and their courage was strong again.

This time, Cao Cao's envoy was Cheng Yu, and Jiangdong's envoy was Zhang Zhao, both of whom were quite influential members of the two places. After the two arrived in Luoyang, they were immediately arranged to go to the pavilion post to discuss with the general Li Yi about being appeased.

This arrangement in Northern Xinjiang showed sufficient sincerity, and Cao Cao and Sun Quan also made careful preparations. When the two sides met for the first time, Xun Yu and Zhang Zhao's intention was obvious, that is, to carry out the fact of secession under the banner of respecting the Son of Heaven and the imperial court.

Li Yi laughed and said, "You go back and tell Cao Cao and Sun Quan, don't think about such a good thing." If they are sincere in pleading, then everything will be stopped, otherwise let them wash their necks and wait for me! ”