Near the end of September, Zhao Hongrun led the Shangshui Army and Yanling Army that arrived in Luocheng to formally attack the hinterland of Sanchuan.
Before commanding his army to march westward, he summoned his staff Jie Ziyu and entrusted Luocheng to the latter, allowing him to temporarily take charge of Luocheng.
In order to facilitate Jie Zigong's actions, Zhao Hongrun also left Zongwei Gao Kuo, Zhong Zhao, Mu Qing, He Miao, Zhu Gui and half of Su Wang's guards in Luocheng to protect Jie Zigong's safety.
It's not that Zhao Hongrun doesn't trust the entire Sichuan-Luo Alliance. In fact, Zhao Hongrun quite trusts the Yi tribes governed by tribesmen such as Lu Balong and Meng Liang, as well as the Northern Sichuan Tribe Alliance led by Gu Yigu.
What he didn't trust were the Shen tribes.
Although he has used intimidation and inducements to make the Shen tribes under the Sichuan-Luo Alliance temporarily surrender, there is no guarantee that there will not be a few hot-headed guys among them.
This time when marching westward, Luocheng is a vital rear defense, and Zhao Hongrun does not want his backyard to catch fire.
Of course, originally, Zhao Hongrun had a better way. For example, as the "Battlefield Commander of Western Wei", he transferred Gao Army General Zhu Hai to Luocheng and asked him to temporarily take over the city defense.
But in the end, Zhao Hongrun chose Jie Ziyu. He wanted to see whether this staff member, who was not inferior to Kou Zheng in talent and learning, could stabilize the entire Sichuan-Luo Alliance.
Of course, the "stability" mentioned here does not refer to whether there will be rebellion, but to the public opinion of the Sichuan people, as well as the Sichuan people's views and evaluations of the Wei State - Lian refuting this invincible man
With the distinguished guests here, who can cause trouble in Luocheng?
This is the first thing Zhao Hongrun entrusted to Jie Zizi. As for the second thing, it is to let Jie Ziu continue to eat well and cater to Lian Pi in every possible way. Zhao Hongrun wants Lian Pi to eat and drink for free until he feels happy in his heart.
ashamed.
After giving all these instructions, Zhao Hongrun led the Shangshui Army and the Yanling Army to set off.
Of course, the troops he sent out were not just the Shangshui Army and the Yanling Army, which totaled 100,000 troops. In addition to the Wei Army, he strictly ordered all tribes under the Sichuan-Luo Alliance to send troops to participate in the war.
In this matter, he brought up the regulations of "Advance and retreat together" in the "Luoshui Alliance" that year. As long as those tribes do not want to withdraw from the Sichuan-Luo Alliance and do not want to be regarded as enemies by the Wei State, then they will
It is necessary to coordinate with the Wei army to send troops to attack the Wuxu, Jie, Ling and other tribes.
However, what surprised Zhao Hongrun was that Halegoh, the leader of the Baiyang tribe of the Sheang tribe who had strongly opposed the war against the Wusu tribe a few days ago, actually did not do so after receiving Zhao Hongrun's order that he "must send troops to coordinate".
After resisting again, 5,000 Aries warriors gathered together, which surprised Zhao Hongrun.
Five thousand tribal warriors, as far as a single tribe is concerned, is already a quite impressive number, at least half of the young and middle-aged men of the Aries tribe.
Although the Lun clan of the Yi clan dispatched 6,000 warriors, in fact, half of these 6,000 warriors were slaves of other clans. After all, the Lun clan could not make up the army just by relying on the young men of the clan.
There are no more than 6,000 warriors.
Of course, these Lun warriors who were born as slaves are completely different from slaves. They were strong warriors who were selected from slaves by Lu Balong himself and underwent strict training. As the patriarch, Lu Balong personally awarded them the Lun clan.
The identity of the tribe's people - this is something that can't be helped. After all, the Lun tribe of the Yi tribe has grown rapidly with the support of Zhao Hongrun. This has only happened in the past five years. The Lun tribe cannot give birth to women alone.
In just five years, it has grown to its current scale, so it is necessary to absorb strong men from other tribes.
In addition to the Lun tribe, other Yi tribes have more or less adopted this approach. It can only be said that the Yi people are not like the Yi people who talk about "the glory of their ancestors" all the time.
Do you mind replenishing the tribe from slaves? After all, going back hundreds of years, the ancestors of the Yi people were slaves of the Yi people.
This is the reason why the Yi tribes under the Sichuan-Luo Alliance have grown rapidly and have gradually caught up with the Yi tribes.
Whether through coercion, inducement or personal charm, the total number of troops Zhao Hongrun sent out this time has reached 170,000. Together with the vanguard army led by General Sima An of the Dangshan Army and Commander Bosile of the Northern Sichuan Cavalry, this time
At the time of the expedition, Zhao Hongrun's troops had exceeded 220,000.
This is not the ultimate number. As long as Zhao Hongrun is willing, he can gather at least 50,000 soldiers and as many as hundreds of thousands of slave soldiers to increase his strength to 400,000.
Of course, this is not necessary. After all, in Zhao Hongrun's eyes, "slave soldiers" cannot be regarded as combat power at all. They are just consumables on the battlefield. Rather than wasting these slaves on the battlefield, Zhao Hongrun would rather let them build roads.
What's more, the 220,000 troops are enough to sweep the entire Sanchuan.
The departure of the 170,000-strong army was undeniably spectacular. Because it did not affect the march, Zhao Hongrun divided the 170,000-strong army under his command into three parts, namely the Shangshui Army, the Yanling Army, and the Sichuan-Long Allied Army.
Among them, he personally led the Sichuan-Luoyang coalition forces, while Wu Ji and Qu Cheng led the Shangshui Army and Yanling Army respectively as Zhao Hongrun's deputy generals.
During the march, the Sichuan-Luoyang Allied Forces were also in the middle, with the Shangshui Army and the Yanling Army on both sides, maximizing their deterrence against the Sichuan-Luoyang Allied Forces.
In order to facilitate the command, Zhao Hongrun took with him all the clan chiefs who participated in the expedition. Among these clan chiefs or representatives of the clan chiefs, the ones he trusted the most were undoubtedly Lu Balong and other Sheang clan chiefs, as well as his brother-in-law.
Wuwu, the young chief of the Qingyang tribe, the old chief of the Qingyang tribe and Zhao Hongrun's father-in-law, Amutu chose to stay in the Sichuan-Luo Alliance and asked his son Wuwu to lead the soldiers of the Qingyang tribe to follow Zhao Hongrun in the crusade against the Wusu tribe.
Zhao Hongrun was really surprised when he saw the Sichuan-Luo coalition soldiers on horseback and carrying bows.
Even he did not expect that half of the 70,000-strong Sichuan-Luoyang coalition army were cavalry, and they were cavalry who were as skilled in bow and horse as the northern Sichuan cavalry.
Therefore, he was very lucky that he came up with the Weichuan trade proposal and won over these tribes. Otherwise, wouldn't he have lost the assistance of tens of thousands of cavalry?
You must know that, like the Yi people in the Chuanluo Alliance, they not only do not resist Wei culture, but are also very keen on learning. Therefore, in a sense, after a few years, the Yi people and the Wei people will actually no longer be
There is a difference, and by that time, the Yi cavalry will actually be equivalent to the local cavalry of Wei. This situation will greatly change the embarrassment of Wei's lack of cavalry.
The Yi people may feel uncomfortable merging the tribal people into the Wei people, but I believe the Yi people will not resist it too much, at least not Lu Balong, who was once a muscular warrior and is now a fat man.
, it is said that they are thinking about letting the clan members take a surname so that they can fully integrate into the aristocracy of Wei State.
Because for now, Lu Balong is very rich, but he cannot become a noble of the Wei State because he is of a foreign origin. But if he changes his surname to the Wei State, although it cannot be said that he can immediately integrate into the Wei State's nobles,
But at least it has reduced a lot of obstacles.
Of course, for things like this, changing Lu Balong himself won't have much effect. It's best to have the emperor of Wei give him a surname. Even if he doesn't give the surname "Zhao", even if he gives him a different name, Lu Balong can be greatly changed.
The image and status of these Sichuan people in the aristocratic circle of Wei State.
Zhao Hongrun was very supportive of this matter, so he hinted to Lu Balong that as long as they did a good job this time, he would not mind going to Chui Gong Hall to argue for them. This made Lu Balong, Meng Liang and other Sheang tribe chiefs greatly shocked.
Excited.
Just looking at their nouveau riche-like attire, we can tell that these Sichuan clan leaders are very yearning for the status of Wei nobles - after all, they are nobles of the host country.
"Report!"
A group of sentries from the Lun tribe returned from a distance, and one of the cavalry came to Lu Balon and whispered a few words in his ear.
Lu Balong frowned, moved his horse closer to Zhao Hongrun, and whispered a few words in Zhao Hongrun's ear, which made Zhao Hongrun frown slightly.
After thinking for a moment, Zhao Hongrun shook his head and said: "Don't go around, just keep moving forward!"
What is it that makes it so mysterious?
It turned out that according to the marching direction of Zhao Hongrun's army, about four miles further forward, there was a tribal garrison that was destroyed by the Wei vanguard army.
After being attacked by the Dangshan Army cavalry and the Sichuan North cavalry, the tribe, which belonged to the Yi or Jie tribe, was in ruins. Except for the charred corpses everywhere, there was no one alive.
A few years ago, Zhao Hongrun would have chosen to evade and try to prevent the Sichuan-Luoyang coalition forces from seeing the violent side of the Wei army. After all, massacring civilians was not really a martial art.
But today, Zhao Hongrun did not mind using this opportunity to make the clan chiefs under his command realize the reality and let them fully understand the consequences of being enemies of the Wei army and the Wei state.
The army passed by the ruins of the tribe silently.
It can be seen that the faces of the clan leaders such as Halegoch are not very good-looking.
In fact, these clan leaders already knew that when they gathered soldiers in Luocheng, the 50,000 northern Sichuan cavalry led by Bosile, following the butcher Sima An, had already gone to the hinterland of Sanchuan to attack the tribes who did not want to surrender to Wei.
The massacre began.
However, hearing about it and seeing it with your own eyes are obviously two different things.
The Sichuan-Luo coalition forces slowly passed by only twenty feet away from the ruins.
From this distance, one can clearly see the scorched corpses scattered all over the ruins of the tribe, as well as the almost skeleton human head that has been eaten by vultures and crows on the flag of the "Dangshan Army" in front of the tribe.
"Quack, quack——"
A few crows rested on the only preserved building in the tribal ruins, a wooden frame that looked like a gate archway.
This kind of building, which is like an archway in Wei culture, is mainly used to distinguish tribes in Sanchuan - each tribe will depict their own tribe's totem sketches on this kind of building, and hang some sheep bones.
Ornaments.
On the gate-like building in front of us, a whole sheep skull hangs in the center.
"The Yi tribe..."
Lu Balong muttered as if he was gloating, arousing Zhao Hongrun's curiosity.
Zhao Hongrun was very special, and Lu Balong could see through the tribe's ethnicity at a glance.
"It's very simple." After hearing Zhao Hongrun's inquiry, Lu Balong explained to Zhao Hongrun in a low voice.
It turns out that although both the Yi and Jie people use sheep skulls as totems, there is a slight difference between the two: the Yi people generally only use the whole sheep skull, while the Jie people will also add the horns of the sheep.
And make a fuss about the ram's horn.
After all, there are many types of sheep on the Sanchuan grassland, and the shapes of the horns of these sheep are different.
As for the sheep skull on the gate in front of us, only the skull can be seen but no horns, so it is obvious that this is a Sheo tribe.
"I see……"
Zhao Hongrun suddenly realized this, and then looked back behind him and looked at the expressions of Halegoh and other Shei tribe chiefs.
Sure enough, these tribal leaders also recognized the ownership of this tribal ruins. Each of them looked very ugly, and their eyes were full of complex expressions such as anger, sadness, and helplessness.
But in the end, these patriarchs either lowered their heads or turned away their eyes without saying a word.
"..."
After taking a deep look at these clan leaders, Zhao Hongrun continued to ride forward.
When he turned his head, Halegoh from the Aries tribe turned his attention to Zhao Hongrun.
Including Halegoh, several chiefs of the Sheng tribe knew very well: His Highness King Su in front of him could have ordered the army to change its route to avoid the ruins, but His Highness King Su did not.
The meaning is self-evident.
"After this war, I, Sanchuan, will become a vassal of Wei..."
Harlegoch held the horse's rein tightly with both hands and sighed sadly.
It is undeniable that the method used by His Royal Highness Prince Su in front of him to "recover" Sanchuan was relatively mild, but even so, Halegoch still felt a little unwilling.
But they have no choice but to give in. As Amutu, the leader of the Qingyang tribe, said, the only thing they can do now is to try to make the young people of their tribe remember the culture and traditions of their tribe during the period of being assimilated by Wei State.
, leave a legacy as much as possible.
Besides, what else can they do?
When they bit the "Weichuan Trade" bait thrown by the Wei State, they had already lost the confidence to resist the Wei State.
In a sense, after His Highness King Su defeated them with force, he used money and wealth to create a shackles, making them willing to be bound.
With a heavy heart, Halegoh and other chiefs of the Sheo tribe continued to follow Zhao Hongrun and the army towards the hinterland of Sanchuan.
As they went deeper and deeper into the hinterland of Sanchuan, the traces of massacre left by the Wei army were exposed to them one by one.
Even Zhao Hongrun was startled. Only then did he realize that the scene of scorched corpses in the ruins of the tribe was nothing at all.
For example, when they were passing through a forest, the branches of the forest were filled with corpses of Jie tribe cavalry hanging from ropes.
A group of croaking crows pecked these corpses until they were almost bone-white.
"Fortunately, I passed by it during the day. If I passed by it at night, I would be scared to death..."
Looking at the corpses that looked like hanging chrysalises in the forest from a distance, Zhao Hongrun frowned secretly.
But when he secretly looked at the leaders of the Sheang tribe in his team, he found that these people were not at all annoyed.
"What is going on? Is it because the other party is not a member of the Sheang tribe?"
A trace of confusion flashed in Zhao Hongrun's eyes.
It wasn't until he asked Lu Balong that he suddenly realized that there was a custom called "sky burial" on the grassland, which is to place the dead in a high place, such as the top of a mountain, and deliberately let the birds peck at it.
Eat corpses.
Prairie people believe that in this case, those flying birds will carry the soul of the deceased person and return the latter to the embrace of the plateau gods.
Because of this, this kind of intimidation method that seemed to make Wei people feel uncomfortable actually failed to scare Sichuan people.
"It seems that General Sima An didn't do his homework well..."
Zhao Hongrun secretly shook his head.
He originally thought that this was the only way Sima An could use it, but it turned out that he had misjudged Sima An's cruelty.
No, that afternoon, Zhao Hongrun saw a "Jingguan" along the way, which was a high tomb made of corpses and heads piled up and sealed with earth.
Looking at the densely packed corpses from a distance, especially those heads with dead eyes and expressions of despair, even Zhao Hongrun felt his stomach churn, but due to the majesty, he could only endure it forcefully.
The chiefs of the Sheang tribe, such as Halegohe, almost stared out of their eyes - they were also violent corpses. The cultural differences made them not mind birds pecking the corpses of corpse soldiers, but they could not bear the corpses of Sichuan warriors being killed.
Build a palace to show off your martial arts.
"It's a bit much, General Sima An..."
Zhao Hongrun thought secretly in his heart as he looked at the infiltrating Beijing Palace.
He had known for a long time that Sima An, the general of the Dangshan Army, was a man of massacre who was not inferior to the famous Qi general Tian Dan in terms of commanding troops and cruelty, but he did not expect that Sima An would build the corpses of Sichuan people into a Jingguan.
After all, "Jingguan", a thing that shows off martial arts, whether it should be called a building or something, has long since disappeared in the Central Plains, because it is so cruel that the people of the Central Plains can accept massacres of cities, but cannot accept Jingguan.
"Your Highness Prince Su, please allow me to bury him."
Halegoh, the leader of the Aries tribe, rode his horse and came to Zhao Hongrun, pleading with a complicated expression.
Although Zhao Hongrun also had some objections to the Jingguan built by Sima An, looking at the overall situation, he did not object to Sima An's violence. After all, there were indeed many people in Sanchuan who would not shed tears even if they saw the coffin. Sometimes
, cruelty is necessary, it can minimize casualties.
Thinking of this, Zhao Hongrun said lightly: "These people are rebels, Halegoh."
"Yes..." Listening to Zhao Hongrun's cold tone, Halegoh hesitated for a while and said sincerely: "Even so, these brave warriors should not be treated so cruelly. I beg you, Your Highness King Su."
Zhao Hongrun pretended to think for a moment, and finally nodded in agreement.
After all, in the final analysis, he didn't have a good feeling about this Beijing. It was so weird that it made his hair stand on end.
"For the sake of your sincere plea..."
"Thank you, His Highness King Su!" Halegoh said with a face of joy.
The army continued to move forward.
After marching like this for three to five days, they encountered many signs of deterrence deliberately left by the Wei army along the way, such as a forest full of hanging corpses, a "forest of spears" formed by poking corpses with spears, and even Zhao Hongrun felt creepy.
of Jingguan.
With Zhao Hongrun's approval, Halegoh would send people to bury the corpses every time.
But in the following days, the traces of Wei Jun's massacre of Sichuan tribes gradually became less and less. In fact, the army led by Zhao Hongrun even encountered a migrating tribe, and the tribesmen were protected like treasures.
Holding those two flags: a flag with the word "Wei" and a flag of the Sichuan-Long League.
"I heard that this tribe is planning to migrate to Chuanluo."
The Lun clan warrior who was sent to investigate the situation said this when he returned.
Zhao Hongrun nodded and didn't say anything else. When Halegoh and the other chiefs of the Yi tribe looked at the tribe, their faces looked much better - the Wei army was not killing them pointlessly after all.
But when they thought of the Sichuan people who were massacred by the Wei people, Halegoh and other clan leaders still felt quite uncomfortable.
In this regard, Zhao Hongrun just said lightly: "It is a pity that the tribes were destroyed, but there are actually more Sichuan people who can survive..."
Hallegoh thought for a while and felt that Zhao Hongrun's words were not without purpose.
After all, the harder Sima An killed him at the beginning, the more fearful the Sichuan people became, and they did not dare to fight with them. They had no choice but to surrender, and surrendering would save their lives. Based on this calculation, the population loss of Sichuan was indeed higher than that of these tribes.
There are far fewer Wusu tribes.
Sure enough, in the following days, when the army continued to advance towards the hinterland of Sanchuan, there were gradually no more tribal garrison destroyed by the Wei army. Some of the tribes that survived the massacre by the Wei vanguard army chose to move to Luocheng, and some
Some decided to continue living on the original land, but no matter what, these tribes kept the two flags intact and hung them high on the highest point of the tribe.
At this time, Lu Balong looked at the surrounding environment and said to Zhao Hongrun: "Your Highness, further ahead is the "Lushi", and it is getting late. It is better to repair here first so that the soldiers can regain their energy.
...Although the Flame Horn Army of the Wusu Tribe is not as good as our warriors, they should not be underestimated."
Zhao Hongrun raised his head and glanced at the sky, nodded and said, "Well, let's rest here today."
After hearing this, Lu Balong clasped his fists, and then ordered the few soldiers behind him: "Go to that tribe and ask the tribe leader to prepare food to entertain His Highness King Su."
The Lun warriors were about to leave as ordered, but Zhao Hongrun stopped them and said, "No need, I will rest in the army."
"This..." Lu Balon was stunned, looking a little hesitant.
As if he had guessed what Lu Balong was thinking, Zhao Hongrun shook his head, pointed at the two flags hanging high by the tribe in the distance, and said seriously: "Since this tribe has chosen to submit to Chuanluo and to me, the Wei Dynasty, then
In my eyes, they are no different from my people in the Wei Dynasty, and I have no reason to disturb them... Pass the order, and the entire army must not disturb this tribe. Anyone who disobeys the order will be killed!"
His words made the expressions of Halegoh and other Shei clan chiefs become even weirder.
But no matter what, they must admit that His Royal Highness King Su is a very principled person.
That night, Zhao Hongrun, like others in the coalition army, warmed himself by a bonfire and fell asleep wrapped in a sheepskin blanket.
Waiting for the next day, the 170,000-strong army left the place and continued to advance towards the Lushi grassland controlled by Wu Xu Wangting.
From the beginning to the end, the Wei and Luo coalition forces did not harm the tribe, and not a single soldier came to disturb the tribe. As a result, the tribesmen looked very surprised when they saw the 170,000 troops coming and leaving.
.
That day, when Zhao Hongrun led his army to the Lu family, he was surprised to find that the Wuxu tribe who originally lived here had actually moved away.
At this time, Zhao Hongrun also received news about the Qin Army and learned that the Qin Army garrison and Hangu had not even entered the hinterland of Sanchuan.
"What's going on? I feel like the Qin army is a bit weak this time, or..."
"Go and find out who is the commander of the Qin army this time!" Zhao Hongrun ordered the accompanying Qingya people.
After the Green Crows left, Zhao Hongrun frowned and looked in the direction of Hangu.
He was not afraid of fighting the Qin Army in a field battle on the Sanchuan grassland. After all, according to the information he knew, the Qin Army only dispatched hundreds of thousands of troops this time. Although he did not know its combat strength, it was inferior to the Wei and Luo coalition forces in terms of strength.
—a total of 220,000 troops.
What's more, the 220,000 troops of Wei and Luo's coalition forces, and 78,000 to 80,000 cavalry, Zhao Hongrun never thought that they would lose to the Qin army in a field battle.
However, the Qin army stationed in Hangu, intending to fight the Wei army there.
Is it because you learned from the mistakes you made last time?
Or does the Qin army have other plans?
Zhao Hongrun couldn't think of a reason. He just felt that the Qin army, whose battlefield momentum was not weaker than that of the Wei army, should not be so timid.
"A delaying tactic...?"
Zhao Hongrun frowned, this was what he was most worried about.