On the way back, Zhao Hongrun accidentally learned that the Jie people who were defeated by the Qin army on the battlefield of Huayang Plain were the "緷 tribe", one of the three major tribes of the Jie people.
Only then did Zhao Hongrun learn that most of the Jie people who originally lived in the western part of Sanchuan were from the Yi tribe.
Zhao Hongrun secretly sighed with emotion about this.
In fact, he had a pretty good impression of the Yi tribe. After all, when Zhao Hongrun led his army to attack the Jiejiao tribe, the Yi tribe was the first tribe among the Jie tribe to hope for peace talks with Wei. Moreover, the Yi tribe sent
The leader of the tribe, Erdem, is also a wise person among the Jie people.
But, is it true that the Yi tribe is so weak?
Zhao Hongrun asked Lu Balong.
Unexpectedly, Lu Balong asked in surprise: "His Royal Highness, King Su, doesn't know about the civil strife in the Yi tribe?"
"What kind of civil strife?" Zhao Hongrun really didn't know.
Therefore, Lu Balong told Zhao Hongrun about the civil strife that had happened to the Yi tribe in the past two years.
I remember that the leader of the Yi tribe, "Erdemo", used the reason that the tribal chief "Fei Yangtahui" was old and weak to attend the negotiations between Wei and Sanchuan on his behalf.
Zhao Hongrun was aware of this matter, and he also allowed it.
In fact, Erdemer lied at the time.
It was not that he was deceiving Zhao Hongrun. On the contrary, Erdemo concealed the fact that Feyangtahui, the leader of the Yi tribe, was terminally ill.
Later, after the Wei State and Sanchuan reached an agreement, the Sichuan-Luo Alliance was established. Fei Yangtahui, the leader of the Yi tribe, finally passed away with peace of mind after learning about this.
Before his death, Feyantahun elected Erdemo, who was equivalent to his right-hand man, as the chief of the Yi tribe.
This move aroused dissatisfaction among Feyantahun's sons, so that a few months later, Feyantahun's sons conspired to rebel and instigated warriors from the tribe to attack Erdem.
The fight lasted for several months and ended with Erdem's victory.
But Erdemo did not kill the sons of the old patriarch Feyantahun, but graciously allowed the latter to leave the Yi tribe.
So, some people left with the sons of the old patriarch Fei Yangtahun and headed to the far north.
But having said that, even though they were lucky enough to survive due to Erdemo's generosity, those rebels were equivalent to being exiled by Erdemo.
And because of this civil strife, the strength of the Yi tribe was greatly weakened.
"... Erdemo is already the patriarch of the Yi tribe?"
Zhao Hongrun was really surprised after listening to Lu Balong's story.
I still remember when the replies from the Lun warriors sent back to the Yi tribe a while ago, Zhao Hongrun felt a little puzzled at that time, wondering why the attitude of the Yi tribe was so good. He said that he wanted to watch the war between the Yi tribe and the Qin army.
, but the Yi tribe agreed without saying a word, and even asked someone to tell him that there would be a war in a few days.
It turned out that the person who asked the Lun warriors to send back the oral message was actually Erdemo, whom they had met once before. Erdemo was aware of the threat of Qin at that time and advocated forming an alliance with the Ubian tribe to jointly fight against Qin.
The wise leader of the country.
"I have to go and see him now."
Zhao Hongrun, who originally did not plan to stay here, immediately changed his mind after learning that Erdemo had become the patriarch of the Yi tribe.
Under his instruction, Lu Balong sent several Lun warriors to the Yi tribe's camp again to convey the matter to Erdemo.
The next day, Erdemo entrusted those Lun warriors to send a reply: His Royal Highness Prince Su is welcome to visit.
After receiving Erdemo's invitation, Zhao Hongrun took Lintao Lord Wei Ji, Lu Balong and other clan guards to the Yi tribe's camp.
When he learned that he was coming, Erdemo personally led more than a dozen people to wait outside the tribal camp. When he saw Zhao Hongrun, he was particularly enthusiastic.
"A few days ago, the little king didn't know that leader Erdemo had been promoted to the chief of the clan. I hope the chief of the clan will not pay attention to the rudeness."
When meeting Erdemo, Zhao Hongrun cupped his hands and took the lead in apologizing.
In response to this, Erdem waved his hand and laughed it off.
Of course he understood why Zhao Hongrun did not come to visit his Yi tribe a few days ago. He was simply worried about detaining him. After all, the relationship between the Yi tribe and the Wei State was not as trusted by the Wei State as the Sichuan-Luo Alliance.
Erdemo welcomed Zhao Hongrun into the tribal camp. On the way, Zhao Hongrun was surprised to see the He tribe people in the camp seemed to be packing their bags. He immediately understood what was going on.
However, due to the other party's face, Zhao Hongrun did not speak out.
Unexpectedly, Erdemer himself told the truth.
"We, the Yi tribe...are ready to move eastward."
When he said these words, Erdemo's face was very ugly, and his eyes were a little sad.
Zhao Hongrun was silent for a moment after hearing this. He carefully considered his words and asked, "Is the situation so bad?"
"Well." Erdemo nodded and said in a low tone: "Nearly 100,000 slaves died in the two defeats. The strength of the Qin army is beyond my expectation. Our tribe alone cannot defend Huayang.
There is no pasture, so we can only move eastward."
Because Erdemo spoke in Wei language, even Lintao Lord Wei Ji could roughly understand it. Therefore, Lintao Lord Wei Ji interjected incredulously: "This great patriarch, forgive me for speaking frankly, although you speak of your tribe
We suffered two defeats, but the elite of the valuable tribe are still there, so why do we retreat so easily?"
Erdemo glanced at Lintao Lord Wei Ji and said nothing.
As Lintao Lord Wei Ji said, although the Yi tribe has suffered two defeats so far, those who died on the battlefield were slaves with low status, and the warriors of the Yi tribe hardly suffered much losses. If the Yi tribe
He was willing to risk everything and fight against the Qin army regardless of the casualties of the soldiers in the tribe, and he might not be able to pull out a few tiger teeth from the Qin army's tiger's mouth.
But the problem is that Erdemo cannot do that, even if he is now the chief of the Yi tribe.
In fact, in the final analysis, the class structure of the Sanchuan tribe is very similar to that of the Central Plains countries. The patriarch is like the king, and the leaders under him are like the nobles and noble families under the rule of the king of the Central Plains countries.
If the latter supports the former, then the patriarch is of course supreme; but on the other hand, if the leaders in the tribe do not support the patriarch's decision, then the patriarch does not actually have much power.
This is the situation Erdemo is in now: the defeats in the first two battles have made the leaders of his tribe generally fear the Qin army, and they are not willing to let their own warriors fight the Qin army.
.
In the eyes of those people, Sanchuan does not only belong to their Yi tribe. In this land, there are also many powerful forces such as the Jie tribe, the Ling tribe, the Wusu Royal Court and the Sichuan-Luo Alliance. Why should they be allowed to belong to the Yi tribe?
Can the tribe resist the Qin army's attack alone?
After listening to Erdemo's story, Zhao Hongrun was not surprised at all. After all, he had seen too many such nonsense.
It is inevitable for people to be selfish. Looking at the whole world, how many people are righteous and selfless?
"What are the specific plans of the patriarch?" Zhao Hongrun asked seriously.
Erdemo knew what Zhao Hongrun wanted to ask, thought for a while and said: "Right now, I place my hope on the geographical advantages of our Sanchuan River. The Qin army may not understand the situation of our Sanchuan River. In addition, the cold winter is approaching, so they rashly led their army to march.
If we enter Sanchuan, we may not need to use troops. The weather in Sanchuan can kill most of the Qin army..."
Zhao Hongrun nodded slightly.
I have to say that the cold winter here in Sanchuan is indeed a disaster.
As far as he knew, in the past, the number of sheep that froze to death in the entire Sanchuan County every year in the cold winter was no less than the trading volume between Chuanluo and Wei; moreover, the number of slaves that froze to death in Sanchuan County every year was almost close to those who died due to war.
number of slaves.
The cold winter in the land of Sanchuan is far more threatening than the cold winter in Wei. If the Qin army had not made sufficient preparations in advance, then half of their people would freeze to death in this cold winter, and it would not be just Orde.
The tacit belief is open-minded.
But the problem is that since Qin State used a huge army against Sanchuan County, how could it not know the situation in Sanchuan in advance?
After thinking about it for a while, Zhao Hongrun felt that it was better not to expose Erdemo. After all, the leader of the Yi tribe had no choice.
He opened his mouth and said: "Although this plan is good, it may cause dissatisfaction with Jie, Ling, and the Wusu Royal Court..."
Erdemo smiled bitterly upon hearing this.
Well, the other tribes migrated eastward, or to put it mildly, fled eastward. Then the two large tribes, Jie and Ling, who were also members of the Jie tribe, as well as the Wusu Royal Court, would inevitably be exposed to the Qin army.
In this case, how can the latter three look good to the Yi tribe?
However, Ordmer had no other choice.
After letting out a long sigh, Erdemo asked Zhao Hongrun: "Your Highness King Su, I wonder if Sichuan Luo and your country will participate in this battle?"
"Of course." Zhao Hongrun nodded and said, "We made an agreement to advance together and retreat together. How could I, the Great Wei, break my promise?"
Hearing this, Erdemo breathed a sigh of relief. After all, the Sichuan-Luo Alliance's power in Sanchuan will never be inferior to that of the three major tribes of the Jie people, let alone the Wei State behind the Sichuan-Luo Alliance.
"However, I would like to make it clear in advance that Wei Wei is unlikely to send troops this year and will have to wait until the spring of next year." Zhao Hongrun added.
Erdem nodded and had no objection to this.
After all, it was already approaching November. By the time the Wei army arrived at Sanchuan County, it would have already been December, which was the coldest time in Sanchuan County.
Why did the Wei army come? It was just a waste of food.
On that day, Erdemo killed a sheep to entertain Zhao Hongrun and his party, and the two parties agreed on some things. Then the next day, Zhao Hongrun set off back to Huayin and prepared to evacuate eastward.
After all, the purpose of his trip was to evaluate the strength of the Qin army. Now that the purpose has been achieved, what is he still doing here?
When Zhao Hongrun returned to Huayin and took two thousand-man troops, Ran Teng and Xiang Li, to quickly evacuate eastward, the Yi tribe also moved the entire tribe.
The defeat of the Yi tribe made the Qin army's momentum become even more rapid.
A few days later, the Qin army that had occupied "Huayang" moved its army to conquer "Shangluo" in the southeast, and then continued to move its army forward and conquered a hill that the locals called "Wuqiu".
To the south of Wuqiu is the territory of the Jie Tribe, one of the three major tribes of the Jie people. Due to the defeat of the Yi tribe, the Jie tribe, which was at war with the Ba people, had its rear defense threatened by the Qin army.
Batulu, the leader of the Jie tribe, was so angry that he had to hastily end the war with Ba and transfer the main troops to Sanchuan.
At this point, the Jie tribe and the Yi tribe were at odds.