Shu Chen

Chapter 211 The Broker
From the Datong River Valley in Huawai to Wuting Nishui (Zhuanglang River) in Jincheng County, there are not many mountain trails to choose from.The most ideal is the one where Zhi Wudai, the leader of the Xiongnu branch in the past, and Bai Huwen took Lingju County directly.

But it can't be done again.

It is impossible for Guo Huai, who has been praised as a good general for a while, to fall twice in the same place.

Therefore, Jiang Wei, the captain of the Huqiang School, wanted to sneak into the Wei realm, so he could only choose the trail where the Qilian Mountains branch off Wushaoling and the source of Wuting's reverse water.

This caused more than ten thousand people to complain.

Although the Qilian Mountains stretched so far, they were no longer very steep and high, but it still took them nearly [-] days to reach the east side of the foothills.

Nothing else, because strictly speaking, this trail cannot be called a road at all.

Half of it is cutting bushes and climbing the mountain, the other half is going down the mountain with the help of steep rocks, and we have to be wary of the worms that wake up in the spring, how can it be called a road!

Especially, in this season, the ice and snow on the mountains are still melting intermittently.

Spreading down along the mountain, the place where the handrails are wet is also a nightmare for the soldiers.More than three hundred soldiers lost their legs and hands because of accidental slips and falls, and had no choice but to retreat to the Datong River Valley.

Such a loss, for the soldiers and horses of more than ten thousand people, seems to have no injuries.

However, it is inevitable that morale will be low.

The [-] soldiers of Jiang Wei's headquarters guarding the Qiang battalion were alright, they had long been accustomed to calmly face the journey of death with the heroic atmosphere of the Qin and Han Dynasties.

The tribe members of Zhi Wudai and Baihuwen are also okay, supported by the belief in revenge and the hope of the continuation of the tribe.

Revenge, naturally the two of them were exterminated by Wei Jun in the past.

And hope is an agreement reached with the big man.

If you want to get the support of the big man and prevent the tribe that has been injured by the vitality from being annexed by the Shaodang Qiang in the West Sea, you have to come up with a bargaining chip that the big man is willing to generously donate.If you want to get something for nothing, the big man who has frequent wars and is in short supply is happy to share a share with Shaodang Qiang.

Those who complained a little were Baima, Dangjian, Laojie and other Qiang people.

They are all hired by the big man with materials, and the centripetal force is not high.

In particular, Ma Dai, the former general who conquered the North, and Mangzhong, the king of Shaodang Qiang, who had returned with a full load of treasures from the Zhangye County army horse farm, made them have a huge psychological gap in their dismounting.

Why choose such a difficult path?

It was clear that Zhi Wudai and Bai Huwen chose the road to enter Lingju County, Wei Jun was not prepared.

They all thought this way in their hearts, and they also floated their emotions on their faces.

Indeed, Wei Jun didn't fortify the trail that went straight into Lingju County.

To be precise, it was Kewu who was lax in defense.

The leader of the Qiang people who pretended to surrender to lure Li Yan to go deep is now General Guiyi of Wei State.

The tribe's habitat has also been transferred from Zhiyang County to Lingju County.

The reason is that the fortress of Lingju County was once attacked by Bai Huwen and others, and it was razed to ruins after looting. The people of Li and Shu were all moved into the Dahe River Basin by Guo Huai and became wasteland.And with Wei Ping leading the army into the four counties of Hexi, Guo Huai didn't need to worry that the Han army would come to Zhiyang, Jincheng and other counties from Lingju.

Therefore, when Guo Huai presented Luoyang to Kewu and asked Ke Wu to be appointed an official, he also transferred Lingju County to him as a pasture.

At the time when the Han and Wei dynasties were fighting for the top, treating Ke Wu who was willing to serve the Wei State favorably also set an example for other Haoyou and Qianghu tribes.

Ke Wu, who suddenly got a lot of pastures, is now thinking about how to win other small tribes to join him; how to connect with the leaders of the Haoyou and Qianghu tribes in the four counties of Hexi, so as to consolidate his foundation as the leader of a county. Naturally, he didn't have much thought to be on strict guard.

Anyway, the military newspaper claims that the main force of the Han army is in Anding County, so how can there be extra troops to order Lingju?
Even if there are, how many soldiers and horses can there be?
Put it in and attack it, maybe you can get some armor and supplies!
So he just sent more than a hundred Luo people to graze outside the tributary trail, and it was right to warn the enemy.

Jiang Wei had already sent people to find out these military situations.

Although he was sure that he could wipe out all the hundreds of Luoqiang people without revealing the slightest word, he still chose another path.

He knew the significance of this surprise attack.

I don't want to leave a little bit of grass snake gray line, but Wei Jun finds out that he is following the vine.

For example, what if the other tribes of Kewu come to this trail to find friends suddenly on a whim.

Or, the accidental passage of Wei Jun's messenger.

It is also very simple to suppress the dissatisfaction of Baima and Dangjian.

"If you don't obey my general order, you can immediately go back the same way!"

With a cold face, he summoned the leaders of the Qiang species, such as Baima, and went to reorganize the army after leaving this sentence.

Let the leaders of the Qiang people look at each other speechlessly.

It's not that they don't want to go back the same way, but they don't dare.

The leader of the army is the captain of the big Han Qiang guard who put his life and death on the line and ran for nearly a thousand miles to destroy the Qiang species of the wolf species!His style is just like that of Duan Jiong who killed the Qiang people in the past!

Furthermore, before the soldiers sent out, they had already collected the wealth of the big man.

If they dare to give up halfway, they worry that their tribe will become the second wolf species.

Regardless of whether Jiang Wei won or lost this battle.

If they are defeated, they will be punished on the charge of retreating from the battle.

When he won, he took the sharpness of his troops and other Qianghu tribes to conquer the disobedient ministers.

Alas, that's all.

All the leaders thought about the joy of their own women and children when they received the materials from the big man, and they all turned around to restrain the clansmen in unison, making a gesture of willingness to die under the banner of the Han Dynasty.

Suppressing the dissatisfaction in my heart, when I looked at Jiang Wei's dispatch again, I felt that this route was very good.

This place is the southern foot of Wushao Ridge.

After crossing Wuting against the water, it is the territory of Wuwei County.

Moreover, continuing to the east until reaching Yuyinsai, it is a desolate and uninhabited area.

Because this area is sandwiched between Wuting Nishui and Dahe, there is no river in the middle.

The Wushao Ridge in the north is not closed to the Quwu Mountains, allowing the wind and sand from the Tengger Desert to pour in unscrupulously, turning hundreds of miles around into a dry wasteland full of yellow sand.

There are no human settlements and no herdsmen.

Even Ruowei County, one of the measures taken by Emperor Wu of the former Han Dynasty to guard the gates of the four counties in Hexi, was abandoned after entering the Wei Dynasty because of the excessive supply pressure of the garrison sergeants.

Walking through the semi-desert where even weeds are difficult to grow for hundreds of miles, there is only the rainy season from the end of April to the beginning of autumn and July.

During this season, rainwater will form a seasonal river of sand on the sand for drinking by caravan guards, cattle and horses.

As a result, an industry was born: Shake.

They can accurately find the floating sand rivers in this area, and are often hired by caravans as guides for this journey.

Therefore, Jiang Wei led the army across Wuting against the water, and found a shady valley along Wushao Ridge to place his soldiers. Then he, Zhi Wudai and Bai Huwen took more than a dozen followers to find a Shake for the army. Be a guide.

Candidates have already been scouted.

It was Zhi Wudai and Bai Huwen's old acquaintance, called Shi Puli.

Now they live in peace at the southern foot of Wushaoling, beside the tributary of Wuting Nishui.

This guy has been a Shaker for more than 20 years and has rich experience. It is said that he can find Shahe with his eyes closed. Even horse thieves will consciously avoid killing him by mistake when they rob caravans.

Because he is also a well-known broker in the four counties of Hexi.

According to the established rules, merchants entering the Hexi Corridor from Shuyinsai, in addition to paying customs duties, must leave some goods for the defenders of the city.

Whether it is a wealthy businessman in the Central Plains or a caravan of Luoyang dignitaries, they must abide by it.

Otherwise, the soldiers of Yuyinsai would turn into horse thieves in the desert, waiting for the caravan on the only way after passing the pass.

At that time, instead of keeping part of the goods, they will kill people and get more goods.

This is a semi-public bad habit, and every governor of Hexi and governor of Liangzhou knows it.

It is also very tacit to listen but not to hear, to turn a blind eye.

They need to give sweetness to these soldiers who are guarding in the yellow sand all day long, so that the soldiers have something to look forward to and sustenance.

After all, this is a borderland far away from the temple.

Even Hexi Haoyou often played horse thieves as a cameo, and there is no soil for the Shibing System to take root.If the profits are not evenly distributed to the soldiers, then wait for them to be bewitched by Haoyou to rebel.

And Shi Puli was the middleman, the only broker, who sold those goods for the Shuyin Sai soldiers.

As for why the horse thieves were reluctant to kill him, it was because Shuyinsai occasionally released some "damaged" scrapped ordnance, which were sold to needy horse thieves or Qianghu tribes through Shipuli.

Zhi Wudai and Bai Huwen, who lived in the land beyond Hua, used him in exchange for armaments and other supplies.

The trust accumulated in long-term trading and the advantages of being familiar with the defense of Shuyinsai are the reasons why Zhi Wudai and Bai Huwen suggested that Jiang Wei find him as a guide.

But when Jiang Wei saw Shi Puli for the first time, he knew that there was another reason why Zhi Wudai and Bai Huwen trusted him.

He has a high nose and deep eyes, his face is full of ravines, and his thin chin has a stiff gray-white beard; he wears a felt hat that has been covered with dirt and cannot see its original color, revealing greasy strands and shoulder-length cut hair. hair.This appearance and attire prove that his ancestors belonged to the other tribe of the Huns.It was the servants of the Huns who were called "Jia people" after they were brought to live in Bingzhou by the Huns.

Shi Puli is now in his fifties, his stooped body is a little thin, less than seven feet thick, and even his eyes have become cloudy.

But no one will take him lightly.

In other words, the guard soldiers in Shuyinsai changed wave after wave, but he was able to be the only broker for more than 20 consecutive years, relying not only on his eloquence.

In fact it is.

"Hey~~~ The two leaders are here?"

Hearing the sound, he came out to greet him, and laughed brightly, "What do you want to buy this time? I heard that you lost a lot last time. I happen to have some military crossbows here."

While chattering, he also caught a glimpse of Jiang Wei beside him out of the corner of his eye, and the words stopped abruptly.

His eyes suddenly looked like falcons.

After a while, he angrily cursed at Zhi Wudai and Bai Huwen, "In the past, I tried my best to deal with the goods you asked for, and I never treated them badly! Now you have brought Shu cough! Cough! Bring the Han army to find me? !"

(End of this chapter)