Jincheng County, located in the west, is full of desolation between heaven and earth.
The forests were all dyed yellow, the cool breeze was getting more and more urgent, and the wilderness with no greenery as far as the eye could see made Wei Ping, the chief general of the Golden City, standing under the banner of "Wei", vaguely feel the meaning of autumn in his heart.
Yes, unlike the complacency of Governor Jia Xu and other Hexi generals, he felt that the battle situation was murky and unclear.
Because the Han general Wei Yan led his army to Zhiyang, not only did he not attack the city, he even did nothing to trap the city.
However, it is said that at the beginning of the year, Cao Zhen's troops retreated to Guanzhong, and Wei Ping wrote to Luoyang Temple to defend Jincheng County with his death wish. After receiving approval, he began to actively prepare for war.
Having been in Yongliang for a long time, he knew that if the Han army took the Hexi Corridor, they would first attack Jincheng County.
In other words, when Han and Wei competed, the one who won Jincheng would win Liangzhou.
Therefore, in addition to emigrating people to accumulate valleys, building deep ditches, strengthening city walls and other fortifications, and cutting mountains and logging to reserve materials for city defense, Wei Ping also gave careful consideration to the places where troops should be stationed to guard the city.
Needless to say, the river valley (today's Lanzhou Basin) where Jincheng County is located is an excellent place to gather people due to its closed terrain of "two mountains sandwiching a river", as well as the easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack areas of Sangyuan Gorge at the east end and Anmen at the west end.
land.
Wei Ping forced the families of all the soldiers, the Haoyou and Qianghu tribe leaders in various counties and counties, and the Li Shu people in the villages outside the city to move to Jincheng County.
The euphemistic name is: when the Han army attacks, it is his duty to guard the territory and the people, and to protect them from the flames of war.
In fact, it is a disguised form of imprisonment.
Let the soldiers dare not not fight for the sake of their families, let the heroes and the Qiang and Hu tribe leaders dare not seek personal gain and instigate the Li people's morale in the army, and put an end to the heroes on both ends of the Han army when they approach the city, and secretly join forces to gather private soldiers to start
The city gate surrendered to the enemy!
As for whether these people will have different intentions due to dissatisfaction.
No need to worry.
Wei Ping not only forcibly recruited half of their private soldiers into the army, but also left five thousand soldiers to guard them.
None of these soldiers are from Liangzhou, and they will not be lenient in killing those who act inappropriately!
The Siwang Gorge, a dangerous pass that isolates Longxi County and Xiping County, has been guarded by 1,500 soldiers since Guo Huai was in office. The pass is not big and cannot accommodate too many soldiers, so he maintains the status quo and does not think about anything else.
Therefore, Zhiyang City, which is located on the bank of Wuting Nishui and can protect the Siwang Gorge and the Grand River Valley in the rear, became the best choice for Wei Ping to station his troops.
It took several months to heighten and strengthen the city wall, build watchtowers and arrow towers and other repairs. In addition, all the civilians in the city were moved away and 15,000 soldiers entered. The small Zhiyang City has become impregnable.
Wei Ping was confident that as long as he could not escape and there was no shortage of food in the city, the Han army would have no chance of defeating the city.
However, when the Han army arrived, he became less confident.
Because the behavior of the Han army was very strange.
First, the three thousand Xiliang iron cavalry of the Han army generals Wei Yan and Ma Dai came to the city. After observing the city's defense for several days, they returned.
Then he led the army to the former habitat of the Kowu tribe and settled down.
Moreover, many small garrisons were built by cutting down trees and taking stones.
In response to this, Wei Ping did not find it strange at first when the scouts came back to report.
In the habitat of the Kewu tribe, there is a small trail leading to Xiping County. It was the same trail that Guo Huai used to lure Li Yanqing into the battle and lose nearly 10,000 elite soldiers by pretending to surrender with Kewu.
Wei Ping felt that the Han army's move was due to food supply considerations.
After all, although the trail is narrow and can only accommodate three or five people walking side by side, it is more convenient to transfer grain from Xiping County than from the Fortress of Guanyin across the barren valley.
But soon, it became difficult for Wei Ping to understand.
The Han army had been in Zhiyang for more than a month, but they did not attack the city or besiege it!
The only movement was from the cavalry of the Madai tribe, who often sent troops to explore the surrounding mountains and valleys, and brought back some Qiang, Hu or Li Shu who had not been forced to move into Jincheng County by Wei Ping.
However, it is so ridiculous!
The Han army traveled thousands of miles to come, but Linrong formed a camp and wasted a lot of food and fodder.
Could it be that Ni Shu's intention of sending troops this time was just to plunder the population and return?!
Wei Ping didn't know why.
Even the soldiers under his command had difficulty understanding his meaning.
When the Han army arrived, Wei Ping had already boosted their morale several times, and they had been stimulated by the post-war rewards for many days, but the Han army did not come to attack the city.
"He Nishu saw that the city was impregnable and our soldiers were heavily arrayed. They were all determined, so they did not attack the ears! Don't be suspicious, just be careful and alert. When the governor of Hexi leads his troops to force him behind, the governor of Yongliang will
Lead the army from Guanzhong to force Longyou, and the Han army will retreat!"
Faced with the doubts of the soldiers, Wei Ping explained this.
But privately, there is hidden worry.
After many years of military service, he felt that there were only two possible explanations for the Han army's behavior.
One is to prevent chaos in the city without fighting.
Because the livelihoods of the Qiang and Hu tribes in Jincheng County and the Han people are a combination of agriculture and animal husbandry.
Livestock production accounts for half of daily food.
It is now late autumn, and the common people have already collected fodder for their cattle and sheep to survive the winter, but the reserves will only last until next spring.
If the Han army keeps deploying troops outside the city, cutting off the connection between Jincheng County and Hexi, and then deploys troops when spring comes next year so that the common people in the county cannot go out to graze, there will be chaos in the city!
No matter how hard Wei Ping used his military force to suppress him, he could not force the entire army to kill all the cattle and sheep.
That destroyed the basis for their survival and forced them to open the city gate to welcome the Han army. Many of his soldiers were recruited from Jincheng County. If they saw that their family members' livelihoods were unsustainable, they would no longer serve for Wei.
Fighting with the national flag. No matter how Wei Ping promised to make compensation after the war.
However, if the Han army adopts this strategy, the time for dispatching troops should be next spring.
Why bother to come when winter is approaching, only to waste food and fodder and make the soldiers suffer?
On the other hand, the Han army saw that Hexi had formed a coalition army. In order to avoid being attacked from both sides, it wanted to attack Hexi first.
Now we are holding back our troops, but are waiting for Jia Xu to lead his troops spontaneously.
Wei Ping thought that if he were the general of the Han army, he would definitely choose the second option.
But in fact, it was the most difficult for the Han army to attack Hexi.
Jia Xu is not a reckless general.
Even if Jia Xu, as the Han army wanted, supervises the troops and comes to harass the enemy, he will still be cautious and will not allow the Han army to find an opportunity for a decisive battle.
Moreover, the Hexi Allied Forces had more cavalry.
The tactics chosen by Jia Xu must be based on attacking and invading.
When approaching the battle, if the Han army is facing a large number of soldiers, they will avoid them; if they are few, they will attack them. If the battle is unfavorable, it will not be difficult to retreat. There is absolutely no saying that the whole battle will be lost.
Furthermore, the Hexi Allied Forces had 30,000 troops, which was larger than the Han army.
If the Han army, which is mainly infantry, wants to be lured into an ambush, Wei Yan's troops camped here must go back to attack together, otherwise they will be outnumbered and self-defeating.
However, Jusai and Zhiyang County were separated by more than two hundred miles. When Wei Yan led his troops back, how could they hide their whereabouts?
Alas, that’s all, it’s useless to think too much.
He Nishu will not attack the city, I will just wait and see what happens.
Wei Ping, who was puzzled, gave up further investigation and urged his soldiers to be on strict alert.
