The sound of horse hooves rumbled, and a cavalry team of about fifty people galloped out from the slightly dilapidated Wuguan city gate. Among them were Han Chinese and Qiang people with hair tied, all of whom were long in stature and short in bottom.
With a bow on his back and a sword across his back, he has superb riding skills.
The leader is riding a white horse. He is eight feet long, tall and tall, and has extraordinary weapons. He is Liu Jing's general Han Guang.
In mid-September, he led five thousand infantry and cavalry to escort Zhao Jian, the prefect of Nanyang, to the north. Of course, Nanyang County has now been renamed Nanxiang County.
After that, it took less than two months to clear out the bandits, suppress the unruly ones, help Zhao Jian secure his position as prefect, and then march into Wuguan.
Wuguan has changed hands several times since the death of Dong Zhuo. With the collapse of Guanzhong, Wuguan lost its strategic position and was gradually abandoned. Today, it has been stolen by a group of Guanzhong thieves.
This group of thieves seized the pass and became king, extorting merchants traveling between Qin and Chu, and even the refugees in Sanfu who were eager to return home, and their lives were quite comfortable.
When Han Guang led 5,000 cavalry and arrived at Wuguan, the bandit leaders were so frightened that they started to fight. There were only more than a thousand of them in total, and their armor was incomplete and their weapons were not refined. How could they have the courage to fight at the pass?
He asked Han Guang to surrender, fearing that it would be too late and would bring disaster to himself.
Han Guang occupied Wuguan without any bloodshed, and while recruiting the bandits, he repaired the pass's defenses.
Liu Jing sent him north this time. In addition to suppressing Funan Township and garrisoning Wuguan, he also had another important task, which was to use his identity as a Liangzhou native to contact Ma Teng, Han Sui and other Kansai generals to purchase war horses from them.
.
Whether he entrusted this matter to merchants or sent his close associates, it showed a lack of sincerity. Han Guang had to go there in person.
When Wuguan was initially stabilized, Han Guang asked his servant to command his troops on his behalf and garrison Wuguan. He immediately set off for Guanzhong, taking only fifty personal guards with him and traveling lightly.
The stretch from Wuguan to Lantian stretches for 800 miles, almost all of which are mountain roads. It is true that every mountain is not completely exhausted, and there is not even half a mile in a hundred miles. This shows how difficult and dangerous the road is.
In peacetime, pavilions and posthouses were set up every ten or dozens of miles along Wuguan Road for travelers to rest. In the current troubled times, many pavilions and posthouses are abandoned, except for Shangxian, Shangluo and other counties and their surrounding areas.
The countryside can be used as a resting place.
Han Guang and his party traveled all the way through mountains and rivers, eating and sleeping in the open air. Even with good horses, it took them more than ten days to get out of the vast mountains.
As soon as we passed Lantian, we entered the Guanzhong Plain. The road became smooth and easy to travel, but the interrogation was also different from before. Basically, you would be questioned in various ways every time you passed through.
Fortunately, Han Guang was a general appointed by the imperial court. With his silver seal and green ribbon shining, and the strong temperament of his group, it looked like they were Qin and Hu soldiers from Xiliang, so no one dared to make things difficult for them.
Han Guang and his party crossed Jingzhaoyin and arrived at Fufenghuaili on the right.
"Congratulations to the general, Gao Gan. Guo Yuan led tens of thousands of troops south to join forces with the Huns. Zhong Si supervised the troops to rush to Pingyang. They could not win after several battles. Fen and the north of Hui were in danger. At this critical juncture, Meng Qi led
The army rushed to cross the Fen River and attacked Pingyang. In one battle, Guo Huai was beheaded. Gao Qian ran away and the Xiongnu asked for surrender. Heshuo was shaken. After this battle, the name of the general will be displayed in the court, and he will be the emperor. Cao Cao
The government is responsible for entrusting the affairs of the West." A handsome young man nearly eight feet tall and wearing a large armband stood in the hall and congratulated Ma Teng.
The young man is already extremely tall, but still not as tall as Ma Teng. Ma Teng is more than eight feet long, has a majestic face and nose, and is born with strange appearance, but he does not appear ferocious, but rather honest.
Ma Teng stroked his beard and said with a smile, "In the past, Guo Yuan, a senior official, sent an envoy to form an alliance with us to fight against Duke Cao. Fortunately, Yan Cai came out to dissuade him. Otherwise, let alone such a miraculous achievement, would his family and life be saved?"
, are all unknown.”
The young man's surname was Fu Mingqian, whose courtesy name was Yancai. He was a native of Beidi County, Liangzhou. He was the son of the late Zhuangjie Marquis and the prefect of Hanyang, Fu Xie. When Fu Xie died in the battle of Hanyang, Fu Qian was only thirteen years old. He was also in the city and was escorted by the chief registrar Yang Hui.
Returning to his hometown, Fu Qian has grown up now and is taking care of Ma Teng.
Fu Qian said calmly: "The ancients have a saying: 'Those who follow the way will prosper, and those who go against morality will perish." Duke Cao served the emperor to punish the rioters, which can be said to be following the way; the Yuan family disobeyed the king's order and drove the barbarians to mausoleum China, which can be said to be against morality.
How can we be invincible if we act with obedience and eliminate violence? Fame is so easy to gain."
Ma Teng nodded frequently after hearing this.
At this time, someone outside the gate reported that dozens of cavalry were coming from outside Huaili City. The leader said he was a fellow general and asked to see him.
"Old friends from the same hometown?" Ma Teng looked puzzled. He took the wooden card and looked at it. He couldn't help but said "Hey", "General Pi, the Marquis of Longxi Han Guang in Guan Nei, courtesy name Gongfu."
Han Guang was born in the tribe of Dong Zhuo's general Yang Ding, while Ma Teng was a frontier soldier first and then rebelled. Although the two were from the same hometown in Longxi, they had little contact and even met each other on the battlefield more than once. Ma Teng also experienced battles in previous wars.
After realizing how powerful this fellow countryman was, he was not only a brave champion, but also had a heart and a plan. Ma Teng often lamented that he did not have such a general under his command.
A few years ago, Ma Teng heard that Yang Ding went south to plunder and was killed by Liu Biao. He thought that Han Guang was also in trouble, which was a pity. Now it seems that Han Guang should have surrendered to Liu Biao. Recently, it is rumored that Liu Biao was defeated by Liu Biao.
Liu Jingzhi, could it be that Han Guang came to defect to him?
Thinking of this, Ma Teng was overjoyed and ordered people to invite Han Guang into the city. After thinking about it, he felt that he didn't pay enough attention to it, so he immediately left the house to welcome him.
Within a moment, Han Guang came riding alone. When he saw the horse coming out to greet him, he dismounted to greet him.
Ma Teng stepped forward and took Han Guang's hand, looked at it carefully, and laughed and said: "Gongfu, I haven't seen you for many years, and your demeanor has become more and more serious. It seems that you have been well used in the south these years."
"Thanks to General Annan for taking this seriously..." Han Guang briefly told Ma Teng his experiences in the past few years.
When Ma Teng learned that Han Guang was serving Liu Jing, he immediately knew that he had misunderstood. Liu Jing now worships General Annan, dominates Jing, pays two states, has 100,000 armor, strong soldiers and horses. Regardless of official position, territory or military strength, he is inferior to him.
How could Liu Jing and Han Guang defect to him?
Ma Teng suppressed his disappointment and asked, "I wonder why the minister came here this time?"
Han Guangdao: "The general also knows that we are on the border of Liangzhou and the land is barren. There are few men who can cultivate crops and women who have no opportunities. Xiang lives on saddle horses and hunts as a profession. I and my subordinates are fighting against the Chu people in the south.
Lack of war horses and lack of access to ships often make us feel powerless and many of our athletes die in vain. Now that Jingchu has been established and we can pass directly to Guanzhong, I want to buy good horses from the general to use in battle. General Annan also wants to form a cavalry army, so he sent me to go there.
Come……"
"It turned out to be to buy good horses..." Ma Teng nodded, not surprised at all.
It is not difficult for Ma Teng to obtain good horses. Not to mention the big horses in Liangzhou, which are the best in the world, there are hundreds of thousands of people who are good at raising horses living in the territory of Sanfu Youfufeng and Zuofengyi.
"The famous Qiang people.
Most of these Qiang people were captured during the "Three Ming Dynasties of Liangzhou" by Huangfu Gui, Zhang Huan, and Duan Ji when they suppressed the Qiang rebellion in Liangzhou during the Huan Ling period.
for the purpose of supervision.
After that, nothing happened in the west, which can be regarded as a cessation for more than ten or twenty years. However, with the decline of the Han Dynasty, these Qiang people began to become restless again. When Han Sui and Ma Teng entered the pass, many Qiang people from Youfufeng joined them. Li Jue,
When Guo Si was in charge of the government, the Yiqiang people of Zuo Feng also launched a rebellion.
Ma Teng is a Han-Qiang mixed race, and his mother is a Qiang girl, so he is naturally close to the Qiang people. Ma Teng is also kind and fair, and has won the trust of the three auxiliary Qiang people. The good horses of the Qiang people are not easy to obtain for ordinary people.
It's much simpler.
Fu Qian frowned unconsciously. Liu Jingcai got rid of Liu Biao and captured Jingzhou. At this time, he did not want to stop the war and rest with the people. Instead, he immediately entered Guanzhong to buy good horses. People with such lofty ideals may not be the country.
blessing.
Seeing that Fu Qian looked wrong, Han Guang asked Ma Teng, "I wonder who this is?"
Ma Teng introduced him: "He is Zhuangjie Hou, Fu Yancai, the son of Fu Hanyang. He is now serving in my house. He is very scheming in nature and has a fatherly style. I rely on him as my confidant."
"Oh? It turned out to be the queen of Zhongliang." Han Guang learned that the other party was the son of Fu Xie, and he was immediately in awe. Fu Xie severely rejected Zhao Zhong and scolded Cui Lie, which was deeply respected by the world. When he died in battle, from the emperor down,
Don't sigh with regret.
"I've met General Han..." Fu Qian also greeted Han Guang.
"This is not the place to talk, Gongfu, please." Ma Teng led Han Guang into the house, and the two walked side by side. Ma Teng turned and asked, "How many horses do Gongfu plan to buy this time?"
Han Guang replied with a smile: "Jingzhou has always had few horses, so naturally the more the better."
"Oh?" Ma Teng couldn't help but remind him: "The auxiliary was once a general of Dong Zhuo. You should know that Dong Zhuo broke five baht coins and cast them into small coins. From then on, money was cheap and things were expensive. Dendrobium rice reached hundreds of thousands. Now Guanzhong coins are not good.
Using cloth and millet as goods..."
Han Guang naturally knew that due to Dong Zhuo's wanton behavior, Guanzhong's economy had completely collapsed and it had returned to the era of barter.
Han Guang said calmly: "General, don't worry. Iron from Nanyang, rice from Jingnan, cloth from Jianghan, even gold, silver, copper, lacquer, salt, wine... Jingzhou has everything you need in Guanzhong. If General
If you are interested in the rare treasures of the South China Sea, you can also exchange them with Ma Yi."
Ma Teng's heart skipped a beat when he heard this. He was not interested in the so-called rare treasures of the South China Sea. What he valued most was Jingchu's iron, rice, and cloth.
At the beginning of Jian'an, with the deaths of Guo Si and Li Jue, Guanzhong gradually restored stability, and Guanzhong people who had been exiled in all directions began to return one after another. In Nanyang alone, there were more than 10,000 returnees.
However, their lands were either annexed by the big surnames or occupied by generals, and those who returned had no way to make a living. At this time, Ma Teng and other generals competed for recruits and considered them as tribes. The counties were poor and weak, and it was difficult to compete with them. The generals were powerful.
Ma Teng sent more than 10,000 people to the east of Hedong at one time to prove it.
Although the number of subordinates under his command increased sharply, Ma Teng was happy, but he was also worried. There were suddenly so many more mouths, and it was not easy to feed them. The farming in Guanzhong had been abandoned for a long time, and it would be difficult to be self-sufficient in the short term.
By exchanging the Qiang's fine horses for Jingchu's materials, Ma Teng not only made money from both ends, but also met his own needs. It couldn't be better.