On the bank of the river in June in summer, the city is covered with light clouds and the grass is green all over the sky.
The sound of drums and horns that had not sounded for a long time on the gate tower of Jianyin City began to roar in an instant, conveying the news to the governor in the city fortification that an army was coming.
Although the army of about three thousand people came from the direction of the Zuli River, and the flags flying in the army were embroidered with the word "Han", the soldiers on duty did not relax their vigilance.
As the gateway to Hexi, Jiyin Stop was too important to the Han Dynasty.
There is no room for negligence.
The garrison commander Zhang Bao once established very strict military regulations: Regardless of whether we are the enemy or ours, if any troops approach the city for five miles without sounding drums to warn them, they will be punished!
Anyone who goes down the city wall or opens the city gate without his permission will be punished immediately without being reported!
And afterwards, the family members were held accountable for collaborating with the enemy or rebelling.
With such strict orders from the generals, not to mention the soldiers, even Liu Yin and Yan Yu, who took turns sitting at the top of the city, did not dare to slack off.
It is precisely for this reason that Zheng Pu and Zhuge Qiao, who had traveled hundreds of miles to escort the food and supplies under the scorching sun, were rejected under the city wall. Even Liu Yin, who was on duty at the top of the city today, had loudly argued with them.
The people said hello, but the city gate was still closed because Zhang Bao had not arrived.
"Hey, I didn't expect Wen Rong, who used to be informal in details, to be so rigorous after becoming the governor general!"
Zhuge Qiao, whose clothes were soaked with sweat, casually wiped his sweaty forehead and sighed, then turned his head and whispered to Zheng Pu, "We, the Han Dynasty, were only able to recapture Liangzhou today because of the unyielding efforts of our soldiers for many years.
The merits of Jia are a lot of hard work! I have never been in charge of an army, so I don’t know whether relaxation and relaxation, and the combination of rewards and punishments, are applicable in the army. But seeing that the military laws set by Wen Rong now have punishments but no rewards, I am afraid that the soldiers will be intolerable. I don’t know what Mr. Zheng thinks.
?”
Well.
Are you worried that Brother Wenrong will treat the soldiers too harshly, which will lead to the same mistake as his uncle?
After Zheng Pu heard this, he couldn't help but understand.
However, Zhuge Qiao's worries are not without reason.
Anyone who is familiar with Zhang Bao knows that although he is not as unsympathetic to soldiers as his father, he still has a clear distinction between scholar-bureaucrats and common people in his heart.
He is the son of Zhang Fei's wife. He has been wandering around with his father since he was a child. He is very impressed by the reason why the late emperor was not attached to the aristocratic family in the early stage of his business. He also felt that his father was insulted by Liu Ba as a "soldier", and the late emperor Liu Bei
He was very upset about being called "Lao Ge" by Peng Yi, so he was very concerned about his status and class.
Although the additional military regulations now enacted are very wise for the current situation, they are too harsh without rewards.
After all, for the soldiers, it is their duty to defend the city, but the military law is so delicate that even "loud noises" and "false talk about Yin and Yang" must be punished, and the general has added many additional military regulations, which will change
It must be suppressed. In this state for a long time, the emotions of the soldiers are like a suppressed volcano. Once there is an emergency, it may cause bad consequences.
"I know what Mr. Ge means."
Nodding slightly, Zheng Pu said with a smile, "When we enter the fortress, I will find an opportunity to have a few words with Brother Wenrong."
He didn't want to, Zhuge Qiao quickly shook his head when he heard this and said haha, "Haha, if Mr. Zheng wants to chat with Wen Rong about home affairs, he can go by himself. I didn't ask you to talk too much. Well, the weather is unbearably hot, so I'll go after that."
The army pacified the soldiers so that they would not be in trouble for a long time."
After saying this, he turned around and left without waiting for Zheng Pu to speak.
It also made Zheng Pu smile.
Zhuge Qiao rarely made any achievements in military strategy, but he was particularly thorough in human relations.
Although they were all very familiar with Zhang Bao, they still wanted to avoid suspicion.
Perhaps this is the reason why the Prime Minister asked him to come to Yanyinsai to handle Hexi affairs as his deputy.
For example, I want to prevent myself from having too much trouble with those right-wing people because I have a very strong temperament.
Thinking of this, Zheng Pu suddenly felt a chill in his heart.
Only then did he really wake up. Zhuge Qiao had taken Zhang Bao's advice and tried to persuade him in a subtle way.
Because regarding the situation in Hexi, the Prime Minister only took half of his plan.
As early as when he was planning to send troops out of Jincheng County, the Prime Minister asked You Chu, who was originally serving as the governor of Shu County, to be promoted to Da Hongxu and commanded the Wuji School Lieutenant in the Western Regions. He regarded him as a model for the Han Dynasty to treat the people of Hexi well, and gave it to all counties in Hexi.
All the powerful people wrote letters.
persuade to surrender.
The Prime Minister did not want to waste too much time and energy on the Hexi Corridor.
It's not that Hexi is not taken seriously, but that the continuous wars for several years have caused too serious losses to the people's livelihood of the Han Dynasty.
Jiang Wan, Ma Su, and others in Shu wrote private letters to the Prime Minister to inform the Prime Minister that the people's power in Shu was on the verge of being unsustainable. Even if the army recovered the entire Liangzhou in just one year, Shu would not be able to survive.
The material and manpower can no longer support post-war reconstruction.
This was the result of all his efforts - in order to prepare troops for Wei Yan, the Prime Minister had already promised rewards to those Bashu nobles in advance, in exchange for a lot of supplies.
Under such circumstances, Zheng Pu's plan was naturally an alternative.
The heritage of a state will eventually have its limits.
If we continue to push for war, the Han Dynasty will fall into militarism and lose the hearts of the people.
Of course, if the powerful people in the Hexi Corridor are unwilling to accept the surrender of the Han Dynasty, then the Prime Minister will not miss the opportunity to counter Wei's inability to use its troops, and will adopt Zheng Pu's plan to make Hexi full of bloodshed.
Zhuge Qiao's words of "relaxation and restraint, kindness and power at the same time" were to advise Zheng Pu, who was in charge, not to be too harsh on the powerful rightists in Hexi.
War is the continuation of power, and the way to make power last is to make a balanced compromise with the current situation.
When there is no absolute strength to break through and then stand up, it is better to stick to a bottom line first, work step by step, and leave it to the successors to gradually improve.
Zheng Pu, who had realized something, looked at Zhuge Qiao's thin back, put his hand on his beard and began to reconsider how to deal with those Hexi heroes.
It's just that the scorching sun makes it impossible to calm down and think.
For some unknown reason, a quarter of an hour has passed and the city gate is still closed.
One is the brother-in-law of the emperor, and the other is the son of the prime minister. It is impossible for him to have any evil intentions towards the big man, but he was turned away.
This made Liu Yin a little embarrassed standing on the top of the city, but the soldiers sent to ask for General Zhang Bao's orders still did not return. In desperation, he had no choice but to ask the soldiers to use hanging baskets to hang water down to relieve the heat of Zheng Pu's soldiers.
.
Although it is difficult to understand how inhumane it is to let the soldiers of Pao Ze be exposed to the scorching sun, it is better than nothing.
About another quarter of an hour passed.
Under the city fortress, Zhuge Qiao had already circled back from the rear. He glanced at the towering city wall, and then looked back at the Chinese flag hanging on the flagpole because of the lack of wind. He suddenly felt that today's sun was particularly poisonous.
"Zheng Jun, isn't the Fortress of Jianyin very small?"
After hesitating for a moment, he couldn't help but ask.
The Fortress of Guanyin is really not big and can be crossed within a quarter of an hour without riding a horse.
Therefore Zheng Pu was speechless for a moment.
After a while, he raised his eyebrows and said, "Well, it's very small. Maybe it's because Brother Wenrong is not in the fortress?"
