Only in winter will the small Longshan meadow in Longyou completely release its charm.
The deep blue sky clears after the snow, the gentle and bright sunshine, the green reflected in the vast snow, the birch forest on the mountain is like a white flower, guarding the tranquility. A maroon horse gallops, carrying a rider wearing a fire-like cloak,
Feel the freedom and freedom of the vastness of the world.
That's Zhang Yan.
She has been in Longyou for more than a month.
Since she accepted the bet to compete with her husband in swordsmanship, she will definitely come to the Xiaolongshan meadow for a gallop in the next three or five days.
Zheng Pu, who had just been promoted to general of Pingbei, had no choice but to ride his horse to accompany him.
However, he seemed to be quite cheerful.
Occasionally, I still play the fife on my lips and improvise a song for the beautiful scenery of the meadow.
Perhaps, this is the reason why there is nothing happening in Longyou now.
Even Prime Minister Zhuge Liang stayed in Hanzhong County to garrison.
The affairs of Longyou are under the charge of Shi Xianglang, the chief minister of the prime minister's office, assisted by Yang Yi, Fei Yi and Zhuge Qiao.
From the time when the troops marched out of Longyou in the sixth year of Jianxing to the failure of the massive counterattack against the Wei Dynasty, the first Northern Expedition of the Han Dynasty can be regarded as truly over.
In response to this, the Prime Minister returned to take charge not only to appease the 70,000 to 80,000 Li people who had moved into Hanzhong, but also to recharge his batteries for the next Northern Expedition.
Such as farming and cultivating crops, recruiting new soldiers to practice martial arts, etc.
There is still work to repair the valley plank roads in the Qinling Mountains, so that when they march into Liangzhou in the future, they can send troops to intimidate the three areas in Guanzhong, and restrain the forces of the rebel Wei from rushing to aid Liangzhou in large numbers.
After Zheng Pu led his army back to Hebei County, in addition to daily martial arts exercises, he also transported grain and fodder to Didao, Longxi once a month to stock up.
The Han Dynasty did not impose corvees to disturb the people when they were not at war.
For daily use by garrisons in various places, they either send their own soldiers back to collect them, or have other troops stationed in Hebei County transport them there.
In the future, when marching to Liangzhou, Siwang Gorge cannot be bypassed, so it is also a good idea to stock up on food and supplies first.
Anyway, the Xuanwu and Zhenliang armies have nothing to do now, so Quan should let the soldiers practice strict formations.
However, the people transported by the governor were two separate governors, Zhang Yi and Liu Yin.
Zheng Pu, on the other hand, has much more free time.
In addition to occasionally going to the military camp to supervise the soldiers' martial arts exercises, and going to the Prime Minister's Office to search for documents to learn about the military situation of the troops stationed in various places, I have been "idle" for several months. Today, I will hold a small banquet at Luomen to invite friends to discuss military affairs and have fun together.
The retinue went hunting on horseback, and later played the flute and fished by the river, etc.
Naturally, what consumes the most time is walking around with his wife Zhang Yan to see the scenery in Longyou.
In this regard, everyone was envious and regarded what he did as a joke after dinner.
Firstly, it means that he did not neglect his duties.
The Xuanwu and Zhenliu armies under his command did not slack off in their martial arts exercises.
The other is to seize the strategic significance of Xiaoguan.
Although the news that everyone learned was that a serious epidemic broke out in the Wei army, Zheng Pu took the opportunity to seize Xiao Pass.
But in the face of results, the process is not important.
Military strategists pay attention to the right time, place, and people in their expeditions. There is a saying that "people plan things, and heaven makes things happen."
An earthquake, a heavy rain, or a day of heavy fog may all become the decisive factor in the outcome of the war. Zheng Pu was lucky and seized the opportunity, and that was his record.
During the period of truce, who can destroy a little indulgence of leisure?
If Gao Xiang, who was stationed in Daxia County, Longxi County, had such luck and captured Siwang Gorge, he would have asked Xiu Mu to return to Shu to reunite with his family for a few months during the truce, and the prime minister would not have refused.
However, Zheng Pu's leisurely days are coming to an end.
He will rush to Hanzhong County to recruit troops and reorganize his own troops.
Because the ginseng wolf breeds Qiang in Wangqu Valley.
At the beginning, the hussar general Li Yan led Ma Dai, Jiang Wei and other troops to Wangqu Valley, hoping to suppress the situation with large troops and repel the power of the Wei Dynasty, forcing the Shenlang Zhongqiang to surrender to the Han Dynasty. He planned to imitate the story of Shaodang Zhongqiang, and the Han Dynasty
Confer titles to various powerful commanders and kings, and ask them to regularly pay tribute to cattle, sheep, war horses, and send tribesmen to accompany them on expeditions.
But when Li Yan sent Jiang Wei to surrender, they refused.
Even though Jiang Wei, who had friendship with them, analyzed the situation in detail and stated that their current situation was like a turtle in a urn and that if they did not surrender, they would be attacked and destroyed by the Han and the Shaodang Qiang, they remained unmoved.
There are three reasons.
First, they did not think that the big Han had the ability to kill them.
Perhaps it was the Qiang chaos during the Ling Emperor's period that caused Liangzhou to fall out of line. Over the past few decades, the Shenlang Qiang had become accustomed to being unrestrained and were no longer willing to submit to the Han Dynasty or the Wei Dynasty.
I also feel that now that Han and Wei are fighting, the Han Dynasty will not send large numbers of troops to fight them for a long time.
Because their habitat extends from Wangqu Valley to Xiqing Mountain, the source of the Tao River, it has long been outside the territory of the Han Dynasty. If the Han Dynasty sent troops to fight, they could withdraw from Wangqu Valley and avoid the battle through the steep mountains and rivers.
, so that the Han Dynasty could not withstand the exhaustion of a long period of war and retreated.
Secondly, they have allies.
And because the Han introduced the Shaodang Zhongqiang into the area at the head of the river, they felt threatened, so they formed an alliance with the Huawai Zhongcun Zhongqiang who gave the river meander. If the Han insisted on conquering them, they would be fighting two Qiang at the same time.
Large tribes fight.
At that time, Zhongcun Zhongqiang can help them resist the pincer attack from Shaodang Zhongqiang.
The Han Dynasty marched in a single line, and without an army of 40,000 to 50,000 troops, there was nothing they could do.
Even if they could really dispatch an army of forty or fifty thousand to attack, they could still hold on to the danger, and victory or defeat would still be in between.
Thirdly, they felt that the big man was very unfriendly to them.
Since the Shaodang Qiang entered the land at the head of the river, the Han Dynasty transferred Jiang Wei, who had friendship with them, and replaced him with Ma Dai, who favored the Shaodang Qiang, to take charge of Lintao. He repeatedly worked with Shaodang to squeeze their
Ranching and Silk Road trade interests.
Before they surrendered, they were suppressed overtly and covertly.
If they surrendered, wouldn't they be cannibalized and swallowed up by the Han Dynasty?
Honesty is not advisable!
Therefore, after consultation with the powerful commanders of the major tribes of the Shenlang Qiang tribe, they declined Jiang Wei's kind persuasion.
On the contrary, he actually tried to persuade Jiang Wei in return.
Instead, Jiang Wei was asked to go back and persuade the Prime Minister and Li Yan, saying that the Han Dynasty's attack on them was not worth the gain.
After all, they had never had any conflict with the big man.
At a time when the Wei Dynasty is watching from the side, the Han Dynasty should continue to maintain a peaceful situation with them, so as to avoid "the snipe and the clam quarrel, and the fisherman will benefit".
At that time, after Jiang Wei reported back, Li Yan immediately became furious and furious.
It is both public outrage and private anger.
The public is outraged. Of course, a mere Qiang of wolf stock dares to pretend to be a great man and talk to a big man on an equal footing?
Privately, he has always had a high opinion of himself.
What does it mean that today’s crusade is “more gain than loss”?
What does "the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman gets the benefit"?
As an important minister of the late emperor, with power and status second only to the prime minister, he was actually despised by Shenlang Zhongqiang for his ability to use troops, thinking that he could not defeat the war in one battle?
Furious, Li Yan did not immediately order Ma Dai and Jiang Wei to lead the army to attack Wangqu Valley.
"The Lord cannot be angry and raise an army, and a general cannot be angry and go to war." Such a superficial taboo for military strategists, but he still has this bit of self-control.
But following the attitude of Shenlang Zangqiang, I thought of more.
In recent years, he has mainly been guarding local areas. Except for quelling local rebellions and defeating Gaoding, the king of Yuexi, he has no outstanding achievements.
That's why today, just the Qiang and Hu people dare to take a peek at him.
So will other senior generals in the army also privately question his reputation as a knowledgeable soldier?
More or less, a little bit, right?
Especially now that the Northern Expedition is going smoothly and all the generals and generals have made great achievements.
If he agrees to "live in peace" with the Shenlang Qiang, it will really prove that he is incompetent as a soldier, and others will laugh at him unscrupulously because he can't even defeat a mere Qiang and Hu!
Therefore, with this idea in mind, he first stood still and acted indecisively to confuse the Shenlang Qiang. In private, he wrote a letter and sent it to Hanzhong to ask Prime Minister Zhuge Liang to send more troops.
Well, his own troops and horses, plus Ma Dai and Jiang Wei's troops, are equivalent to fifteen thousand cavalry.
A sudden attack could defeat the Shenlang Zhongqiang, but it was impossible to pursue them to the West Qingshan Mountains to expand their victory.
The letter was quite indignant.
say:
"Since I was entrusted by the late emperor, I have never dared to slack off with troops to defend the country. I have not led the army for a long time, so that even a mere Qiang and Hu despised them. This is a shame for me! If I don't personally lead the army to defeat, I will not be able to stand up.
In the world! It also makes the world think that the late emperor has no reputation as a knowledgeable person! I also hope that Kong Ming will increase our troops, which is all I wish!"
Speaking of this, and involving the late emperor's reputation as a knower of people, the prime minister would not refuse.
Anyway, in order to avoid worries about the rear during the future expedition to Liangzhou, the Qiang of the ginseng and wolf species must be exterminated.
Today, Li Yan angrily called for troops, vowing to "never return Loulan until he destroys it". He just killed the chicken to scare the monkeys and set an example for other Qiang and Hu tribes in Liangzhou.
Furthermore, with Li Yan's ability, there is no need to worry about returning in defeat.
After the prime minister received the letter, he thought about it carefully and then replied to Li Yan's request.
It's just that it's hard to mobilize troops and horses.
The war against the counter-Wei attack had just ended, and all troops and horses were resting and recuperating.
For example, the cavalrymen such as Wei Yan, Wu Ban and Huo Yi who were on the front line were all performing their duties and could not move without permission.
After much thought, the prime minister ordered Wu Yi's tribe who stayed in Hanzhong County and Liao Hua's tribe who had not yet returned to Yinping County to be sent to Wangqu Valley to follow Li Yan's orders.
Zheng Pu's troops, who had not experienced the war and had returned to Ji County to station themselves, were inevitably dispatched.
Moreover, the prime minister also thought about the army previously commanded by Li Yan, which numbered about 30,000. But now because of the division of the post-general Yuan Wei's tribe, his son Li Feng was appointed governor of Jiangzhou, and Hu Zhong and others under Zheng Pu's command.
, so that even the Qiang and Hu tribes with his own troops could hardly bring peace. So he thought of transferring some special governors to Li Yan's command, which should be used to make up for his loyalty to the country.
Liu Yin's army and Yang Ji's 500 cavalry were thus brought under Li Yan's control.
This also left Zheng Pu with less than 2,500 troops under his direct command, so he had to wait until the spring of next year to return to Hanzhong to recruit new troops.
Zheng Pu had no complaints about this.
Yang Ji was originally Ma Dai's general, and Liu Yin's army was previously under the control of Wei Yan.
The Prime Minister did not mobilize his direct Xuanwu Army, so what is there to criticize?
Furthermore, in the transfer order, the prime minister also vaguely revealed the compensation given to him, which made him elated.
The armored cavalry led by his brother-in-law Zhang Bao will be transferred to his command after it is established!
And promised to allocate him five hundred sets of heavy infantry armor!
Due to limited financial and material resources, the infantry in the Han army mainly wore leather armor. They only had more than a dozen large iron pieces on the chest and back and an iron helmet.
As for the heavily armed heavy infantry armor, there are hundreds of them in the army of the veteran generals.
Only the Wei Yan tribe, which has been guarding the front line all year round, has a force of 800 infantry.
Now that the Prime Minister can grant Zheng Pu five hundred pieces of armor at once, it can be said to be a great favor.
However, it will take several months to receive these heavy armors.
Because the raw materials for forging the armor were the incomplete armor collected by Zheng Pu after he recaptured Xiaoguan and set fire to the corpses of Wei soldiers. Some of them needed to be returned to the furnace for re-forging, and some of them were repaired and added to the pieces.
As for why Zheng Pu did not rush back to Hanzhong immediately to recruit troops, it was because he cooperated with Li Yan's arrangements.
In order to paralyze the Shenlang Zhongqiang, Li Yan is still standing still.
The letter also asked Liu Yin, Wu Yi and others to continue to be stationed in Ji County for the time being, and not to send more troops to watch the Qu Valley to arouse the grass and scare the snakes.
Because he had already sent Ma Dai to lead the Xiliang cavalry and the Shaodang Qiang at the head of the river, and the troops left Tumen Pass and headed for the Zhongcun Qiang habitat in Huawai.
Once Ma Dai found an opportunity to attack, he suddenly led his troops into Wangqu Valley!
The two-line attack tactic prevented the two Qiang species Shenlang and Zhongcun from fighting together, reducing the pressure of pursuit. It also made some powerful Shenlang commanders lose the courage to become enemies of the Han and chose to lead their tribesmen to surrender.
.
As for Wu Yi and others, they can serve as the rear army, transporting grain and baggage as backup, and collecting prisoners along the way.
It is said that this plan was decided upon after discussion between Li Yan and Jiang Wei.
And after deciding on the strategy, Jiang Wei is still working hard every day, riding into the Wangqu Valley to find those handsome men who breed Qiang and persuade them to surrender!
Not only to make the surrender smoother in the future, but also to conceal the true intention of the big man.
"Warrior is a deceitful way. Jiang Boyue is very familiar with it!"
For this reason, when Li Yan wrote a letter to the Prime Minister, he specially added a word of appreciation.
The ninth year of Jianxing, 231 AD.
In the first month of spring, Li Yan led his headquarters and escorted the Qiang Colonel Jiang Wei to attack Wangqu Valley.
After being paralyzed for several months, the unprepared Shenlang Qiang were suddenly attacked. Unable to gather their tribesmen to fight, they were defeated at a stroke. More than 2,000 people were killed before the battle, and more than 10,000 were captured, including tens of thousands of cattle, sheep, and horses.
The powerful commanders of all the major tribes fled in a hurry, completely exited Wangqu Valley, and headed west towards the mountains.
Along the way, messengers were sent to Huawai Zhongcuzhong Qiang in Zizhihe meander to ask for help.
But I heard that Huawai Zhongcun Zhong Qiang was also defeated by the combined soldiers of Ma Dai and Shaodang Zhong Qiang. They suffered heavy casualties and had no time to take care of themselves.
As a result, the military morale of the Shenlang Zhongqiang tribes collapsed.
Because the retreat was too slow due to the burden of old, weak, women and children, some small tribes deliberately delayed and sent people to surrender to the pursuing Li Yan tribe.
Wu Yi, Liao Hua and other troops who were rushed later surrendered, and were all sent back to Hanzhong County and registered as Han household registrations.
The power of the Shenlang Qiang, which used to have tens of thousands of households and nearly 100,000 people, was greatly reduced.
Li Yan won the battle, his morale was like a rainbow, and he gave chase.
Plan to meet up with Madai tribe at Xiqing Mountain.
Zheng Pu, on the other hand, asked Zhang Yi to lead the Xuanwu Army in front, while he leisurely led his retainers and his wife Zhang Yan to Hanzhong County.
