The Zhongling Qiang leader personally entered the battle and fought with the Zhao army for a whole day. The valley was filled with corpses, and blood gathered on the ground to form a stream.
But the Zhao army was as indestructible as a city wall. No matter how hard the Qiang people attacked, they could not break through the Zhao army's defense line.
The morale of the Qiang cavalry continued to decline. Even though the leader of Zhong Ling Qiang repeatedly increased his incentives, including other leaders, they all said that they would reward everyone after they rushed out. Even Shao He Qiang, who had always been at odds with Zhong Ling Qiang, was no exception, but he still changed.
Can't stand the status quo.
The Zhongling Qiang leader also thought about breaking out from the mountains on both sides, but the mountains were too steep, not to mention war horses, even people could not walk on the slopes.
It was not easy to find a relatively flat place that could allow people and horses to pass, and it had already been garrisoned by the Zhao army.
The next day, the leader of Shaohe Qiang proposed to divide his troops into two groups, and he would lead a part of the Qiang cavalry to the other end of the valley to see if they could break through.
The Zhongling Qiang leader agreed.
But the other side of the valley was narrower and steeper. Thousands of Zhao troops blocked the mountain pass. The leader of Shao He Qiang led his guards to charge, but he was still killed and came back with an arrow in his shoulder.
On the third day, tens of thousands of civilians, organized by the Longxi County Sheriff, rushed to the front line to participate in the encirclement and suppression of the Qiang people, and the defense line gradually became impregnable.
On the fifth day, the Qiang people's food and grass gradually ran out, and some tribal troops began to kill horses to satisfy their hunger. The stronger tribes could not help but rob, and although they were finally killed in public by the Zhongling Qiang leader and the Shaohe Qiang leader, the situation gradually became chaotic.
The situation is no longer within their control.
The leaders of Zhongling Qiang and Shaohe Qiang organized large armies to break out every day, but without exception, they all ended in failure. The Qiang knights' morale was extremely low, and they had lost the courage to fight against the Zhao army.
Some Qiang cavalry even knelt on the ground, begging Zhao Jun to let them go.
But Zhao Jun's face was cold, and there was no mercy in his eyes. Only arrows penetrated the Qiang people's chests one after another.
On the tenth day, the Qiang people began to kill each other, and the leaders of each tribe were unable to control the Qiang people under their command. The Zhongling Qiang leader and the Shaohe Qiang leader had no choice but to let them go crazy after killing dozens of people in succession to no avail.
"General, can we surrender?" Touman couldn't help but said as he looked at the dying Qiang cavalry in the valley.
"It's not time yet, the Qiang people haven't really collapsed yet." Meng Ao shook his head. The real reason was that he hadn't waited for the news from Meng Wu.
On the other hand, after accepting the order, Meng Wu and Qingshe led an army of 6,000 people from Zhangye County to Biandukou.
Biandukou is a valley in the Qilian Mountains. It has a relatively low altitude and a relatively wide valley, which can accommodate large armies. Although it is very dangerous, it is the safest place to cross the Qilian Mountains.
This ancient road became the Qinghai Road, the famous Silk Road in later generations.
After entering Biandukou, Qingshe immediately activated his talent and enveloped the army.
His talent can ignore the terrain to a certain extent and help the army march on complex terrain. Of course, this has its limits. If there is a cliff in front of him, Qingshe cannot ignore it no matter what.
With the help of Qingshe, Zhao Jun successfully crossed the Qilian Mountains, went south along the Baoku Valley, crossed the Daban Mountain, and entered the Hehuang Valley.
"Finally arrived." Meng Wu leaned on the stone and breathed a long sigh of relief. He had never walked such a difficult road before. The wind in the valley was like an ice knife slashing his face, even though he was wrapped tightly around his body.
It's really impossible to resist.
Fortunately, he finally led Zhao Jun over.
"The Huangshui Valley is ahead. Should we act separately or one by one?" Qingshe said with a smile.
"In order to save time, we should act separately. All Qiang people, regardless of gender, old or young, who do not surrender, resist, or run away will be killed without mercy." Meng Wu said in a deep voice. This is a war between countries.
There is no room for mercy.
Kindness to the enemy is like the tip of a knife piercing Zhao Jun's chest.
"No." Qingshe said solemnly.
"You guys, come with General Qing." Meng Wu said to the guides around him.
Zhao State bought a large number of Qiang people during this period, and each army had several Qiang people as guides. To the Qiang people, these people were spies and thieves, but to Zhao State, they were heroes.
Soon, Zhao Jun came to the first tribe.
The Qiang tribe never expected that the Zhao army would come here. All the young and strong people in the tribe were fighting with the Zhao army outside. The tribe was basically made up of old people, women and children, and there were only a very small number of young and strong people.
The Zhao army defeated them effortlessly and captured all the Qiang people.
In this way, within one day, Zhao Jun occupied several tribes.
In order to prevent these Qiang people from escaping, the Zhao army disrupted them, reorganized them into a group of soldiers, and asked them to supervise each other. If one person escaped, all of them would be executed. Those who reported the situation would be exempted from slavery.
The Zhao army also recruited Qiang people to fight for them. As long as they promised to keep half of the loot, a large number of Qiang people would fight for Zhao. They knew their own people better, and the Qiang people could find places where the Zhao army could not find them.
.
Their home was destroyed by the Zhao army, but the Zhao army was powerful and they were no match. The incompetent Qiang people targeted their own tribe. They formed a coalition of tens of thousands and madly plundered the wealth of each tribe.
They were more ruthless to their own people than Zhao Jun. They burned, killed, looted and committed all kinds of crimes, but they treated Zhao Jun with respect.
With the help of these inner ghosts, Zhao Jun occupied the Hehuang Valley in just ten days and captured dozens of tribes, large and small. Even some tribes hiding in the mountains were found by the Qiang people.
They were not even satisfied, and told Zhao Jun that the Qiang people in the Hehuang Valley only accounted for a part, and there were still many Qiang people in the high mountains.
However, it was early winter now, and even the Hehuang Valley was extremely cold. Zhao Jun really had no idea of mountain climbing and fought, so he quickly ordered the Qiang people to come back.
On the fifteenth day, white snowflakes floated in the sky. The Qiang people in the valley huddled together, with endless despair in their eyes. The weak breath exhaled from their nostrils revealed that they were still alive, but... no one knew that they could still survive.
How long to live.
The food had been eaten, the war horses had been killed, and even the grass roots and tree bark had been gnawed away. There was nothing left except a sheepskin robe covered with tooth marks.
The leaders of Zhongling Qiang and Shaohe Qiang gathered together. You looked at me, I looked at you, and finally sighed deeply.
The leader of Shao He Qiang did not blame the leader of Zhong Ling Qiang for leading everyone into a dead end, because it was meaningless. After this battle, even if the two of them could return alive, they would be alone.
Moreover... the leader of Shao He Qiang looked at the war clouds shrouding the sky, which had never dispersed. It was obviously to prevent extraordinary generals like them from leaving the army behind and running away.
This kind of large formation that can maintain the war cloud for a long time is only found in the Central Plains, and absolutely not among the Hu Qiang and Nanman.
Da da da~
A burst of rapid horse hoofbeats came from a distance. The messenger quickly handed the seal to the guard. After entering the military camp, he took out the letter from his arms and handed it to Meng Ao.
"General, a letter from General Mengwu." the messenger said.
When Meng Ao heard this, he felt happy and quickly took the letter. After checking that there was no sign of opening, he quickly tore open the seal, took out the letter, and scanned it up and down. The smile on his face was like a blooming flower, and he could no longer contain it.
Can't live.
"Hehuang is a great victory, Hehuang is a great victory, hahahaha, this boy has lived up to my expectations." Meng Ao said loudly, not even paying attention to his beard being pulled off.
Seeing that his son has made great achievements, Meng Ao was even happier than he had won the battle.
"Congratulations, general." Lu Zhonglian and others said with smiles.
"Besides the letter, is there anything else?" Meng Ao looked at the messenger.
"General, I also have a bow and a jade pendant." The messenger took out the bow from the horse bag and the jade pendant from his arms, and handed them to Meng Ao.
"Beat the drum." Meng Ao said loudly, grabbed his sword and strode outside.
The Qiang people in the valley heard the drums and opened their eyes unwillingly. Are the Zhao people coming to kill them? They wanted to stand up and resist, but they didn't have any strength in their bodies.
Just let him go, just die, it will be considered a relief...
"Let the leader of your tribe come to see me." Meng Ao stood at the mouth of the valley and shouted loudly into the valley.
"I'm here, what do you have to say?" The leaders of Zhongling Qiang and Shaohe Qiang came out of the valley and looked at Meng Ao with hatred in their eyes.
It was the man in front of him who had ruined his life's efforts. If he could, he would have killed Meng Ao with a thousand knives.
"Don't look at me like that. If I lose, the outcome will not be any better than yours." Meng Ao said coldly, throwing the bow and jade pendant towards the Zhongling Qiang leader.
The leader of Shao He Qiang looked at the jade pendant in Zhong Ling Qiang's hand, quickly snatched it away, and asked anxiously: "Why is my son's jade pendant here with you? You... what have you done to my son? What have you done to my people?"
Already?"
The Zhongling Qiang leader looked at the long bow in his hand. He was stunned for a moment. After hearing the Shao He Qiang leader's words, he quickly looked at one corner of the long bow. Sure enough, there was a gap.
This longbow was given to his younger brother. Before going on the expedition, he left his younger brother to guard the tribe, just in case.
Now this long bow falls into the hands of Zhao Jun...
The Zhonglingqiang leader's face was as dark as black, and his whole body was trembling slightly. He did not dare to think about it anymore.
Before, he had always thought that even if he lost the battle, he would just withdraw and Zhao Guo would have nothing to do with them. Only now did he realize how naive his previous thoughts were.
Zhao Guo had no intention of letting them go from beginning to end.
They were still thinking about seizing Longyou and the Hexi Corridor from Zhao State, but Zhao State's goal was the entire Qiang people.
"Don't worry, they are still alive and well now, but in the future... that may not be the case." Meng Ao said with a smile.
His smile is more terrifying than the devil in the eyes of the Qiang people.
"What do you want us to do?" the Zhongling Qiang leader asked in a deep voice.
"Submit yourself to our Zhao Kingdom unconditionally." Meng Ao said.
"..." Zhongling Qiang leader was silent. There was nothing wrong with surrendering to the Zhao State, but unconditionally surrendering to the Zhao State meant that he would no longer have a chance to be the leader of the Qiang people from now on, and could only be at the mercy of the Zhao State.
The State of Zhao will never allow him to return to the Qiang people and continue to dominate.
But...what can he do if he doesn't surrender to Zhao?
You can't escape by running away. Fight to death? But you won't give in.
"As long as you let my family go, I will surrender immediately and submit to Zhao." The leader of the Burning He Qiang said loudly.
The Zhonglingqiang leader looked at the other party in disbelief, and then surrendered?
"No problem." Meng Ao said with a smile, a strong man in the extraordinary realm is worth this price.
Even the weakest person in the extraordinary realm is enough to become the guest of the king in any country.
"I also surrendered." The leader of the Zhongling Qiang slumped on the ground helplessly, as if his muscles and bones had been beaten.
"Immediately bring food and cotton-padded clothes and distribute them to these Qiang cavalry. Don't let them freeze to death or starve to death. Military advisor, you immediately take people to prepare a place for the Qiang cavalry to live, and then prepare to register them. Among them, the most skilled ones will be left.
, were given household registration, and the rest were demoted to slaves." Meng Ao waved his hand and said.
The leaders of Zhongling Qiang and Shaohe Qiang opened their mouths, but finally closed them helplessly and did not speak.
Now that they themselves have become prisoners of Zhao, how can they save more than 100,000 tribesmen?
From the moment they launched the war against Zhao, everything was doomed. No matter what, they would have to bear the price.
Even if the price is so heavy that even the entire Qiang people cannot afford it.
Soon, pots of cooked rice porridge were brought up and distributed to the Qiang riders.
The Qiang people did not care that the two sides were enemies. They picked up the rice porridge and poured it into their mouths. However, the rice porridge given by Zhao Jun was not enough to fill their stomachs.
The Qiang people, who had recovered some strength, gradually turned their attention to their compatriots.
"It is forbidden to fight and fight. Anyone who robs others of food will be put to death." Touman beheaded a Qiang man who tried to rob someone else's rice porridge with one knife, and his cold eyes slowly passed over everyone's heads.
Qiang Qi, who was about to make a move, suddenly calmed down.
"It's not that we won't feed you, but that if you haven't eaten for a long time and suddenly eat a lot of food, you will die suddenly. Now, all Qiang people who have received rice porridge come to register, receive cotton-padded clothes, and then go to the designated tent to rest.
No quarreling, no fighting, no running away, and those who violate the rules will be killed without mercy," Lu Zhonglian said.
Touman and Feng Quji led the Zhao army to maintain order. The Qiang people lined up obediently and did not dare to compete for other people's food.
Five days later, Meng Ao escorted more than 100,000 prisoners back.
Soon, the good news came back to Handan. Zhao Kuo held a court meeting and granted Meng Ao the title of County Marquis, Lu Zhonglian, Feng Wuze as the Township Marquis, Meng Wu and Qingshe as the Lun Marquis, and the other generals were all rewarded.
The State of Zhao split Zhangye County, also known as the Hexi Corridor, into four counties, namely Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang, and assigned county governors to manage them. Hehuang County was also established in the Hehuang Valley, and Mao Sui served as the county governor.
The governor of Liangzhou was established, with Meng Ao as the governor and Gongsun Long as the deputy governor. The six counties of Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, Dunhuang, Hehuang and Longxi were under his jurisdiction.
Release all criminals in Zhao who have no serious crimes, release some prisoners who have performed well in the past few years, and move to Liangzhou.
Six counties in Liangzhou will be exempted from taxation for three years.
It’s not that Zhao State doesn’t want to move more people there. On the one hand, Zhao State doesn’t have that many people to move there. On the other hand, although Liangzhou has many oases that can be used for farming, the carrying capacity of the land is actually limited and cannot support too many people.
There are so many people, far from being able to compare with the Central Plains.