Hanbo

Chapter 216 Two Strategies ([-])
After Huo Shan asked the reason, he asked again:
"Report your position in the army, as well as your biography and bamboo knots?"

The soldier immediately took out a wooden sign and a piece of bamboo from his pocket and handed them to Sun Shang, and then said:
"The post station at the Huqiang station rides on Zongquan, and I have seen the champion."

After Huo Shan saw that Sun Shang indicated that there was no problem, Huo Shan nodded and continued to ask:
"Raising horses in the post office? Why are you here this time?"

Zongquan scratched his head, then said:
"Back to the champion, I am raising horses in the post office. This time the urgent report is more important, because I am familiar with horses and riding skills, so this time it is me."

Huo Shan raised his hand and beckoned:

"Where's the battle report?"

Zongquan's face showed embarrassment:

"The postal order ordered me to send it to Dahonglu..."

Huo Shan raised his eyebrows and said with a smile:

"Stupid, isn't that right? I'm Da Sima, in charge of the national military, and the war information Da Honglu received and handed it to me.

And I am fully responsible for this battle, the postman who issued the edict should have arrived at Lingju, you must have missed it on the way, give it to me quickly! "

In fact, sometimes the rules are like this, his urgent report is sent to Da Honglu's office, and then Da Honglu passes it to Liu Che.

If Huo Shan was an ordinary general with ordinary rights in his hands, he would not be qualified to read the battle report, which would be a serious crime.

But Huo Shan has this right, but Zong Quan doesn't know it!

The urgent report was opened halfway, and he was going to be beheaded.

Even if Huo Shan took out the Snake Slaying Sword and the imperial edict, Zong Quan would not recognize it!
However, Zongquan hesitated for a while, and finally gritted his teeth, opened the box in front of his chest, took out a bamboo tube and handed it to Sun Shang, and then said:
"I wonder if Champion Hou can write a letter and let me take it to Chang'an after reading it?"

As for why Zongquan believed in Huo Shan's identity...

This is the hinterland of the Han Dynasty, and that is the soldiers and horses of the Northern Army.

Huo Shan took the bamboo tube that Sun Shang handed over, and glanced at Zongquan. He had a good impression of this person, so he said with a smile:
"You don't need to make another trip. I am fully responsible for this matter and everything in the fourteen counties in the northwest. I have a letter from Feiying, and I can arrive in Chang'an in an hour. Follow me back to the Huqiang Station!"

Zongquan still hesitated when he heard it. In fact, if he was not in front of the champion, he would not hesitate at all. He would definitely choose to go to Chang'an, because this is his duty.

But Huo Shan had already ignored him. He observed the bamboo tube with the torch, and after finding that there was no problem, he picked up the bamboo tube and knocked it on the scabbard at his waist, turning it around while knocking.

Without a handy tool, the seal mud can only be knocked.

After the knocking was almost loose, Huo Shan unscrewed the bamboo tube vigorously, shook off the sealing mud residue on his hands, took out a roll of bamboo slips from inside, held it in his hand, and handed the bamboo tube to Xiao Li.

Then he scattered the bamboo slips and looked at them in front of the torches held by the soldiers.

It didn't take long for Huo Shan to finish watching. During the whole process, Huo Shan's face was expressionless, but he was slightly relieved in his heart.

Because the situation is currently under control, the Qiang people have not launched a large-scale offensive.

The urgent report said that the small group of Xianling Qiang soldiers entered the Huangzhong area, contrary to the norm at this time of year in previous years, and had a small-scale conflict with Huangzhong Yicong.

It seems that the Zhong Qiang and the various tribes of the Zhu Qiang also dispatched to the Hehuang area.

This seems to be due to time constraints, and there is only a little news over there, and there is no time to investigate when the urgent report is sent.

And they weren't sure what the situation was, so they used the word seems.

It stands to reason that such a critical thing as urgent reporting cannot be plausible, but it is not the case.

In this case, it is impossible to send only one urgent report, basically one every five or three days, and one every day for urgent cases.

After the news came out from the Huqiang side, they would increase their vigilance and focus on defense.

Although there is no backbone, it does not mean that everything is paralyzed.

In Chang'an, it was basically two or three days after they got the urgent report. After they got the urgent report, their first priority was to repay.

Tell Chang'an's attitude, whether to fight or to fight, and whether to fight is to attack or defend, so that Hu Qiang has a clear route to take.

And then the big Han's court will be in operation, discussing how to deal with the matter, whether to send the general over or let the general lead the reinforcements there.

Or if there is a war in other places, the soldiers from the surrounding counties will be sent to support.

A judgment needs to be made in a short period of time, and then the generals in Chang'an or the generals will lead the army to set off.

Liu Che gave him the right to stop emergency reports on the road, and then according to the information he received one after another, the supporting generals could use eight hundred miles to expedite remote control commands on the road.

This is the situation where the chief general has an accident, but the enemy is coming, and the situation of the chief general is similar to this.

It's just that there is one missing process for sending troops from Chang'an. Generally, Liu Che will give orders to the generals, and the surrounding counties will send troops to support them.

This is the case with small-scale wars or rebellions, but in large-scale wars, the whole big man will move.

It's not just a matter of Chang'an sending some soldiers and horses.

Over the past few decades, there have been wars and rebellions in various places. The big man is very familiar with this set of procedures.

Without this effective set of procedures, the big man might have been beaten in long ago, and the newly acquired territory might have been snatched back long ago.

Not to mention that Huo Shan is on the way now, if he spares no effort to run wildly, he will be able to reach Huangzhong within six to seven days.

The enemy's small-scale attack is not afraid at all, but for a large-scale attack, although you are a nomad faster, you will not be able to reach the border of our Han in ten days.

If you know the situation, you will not be afraid. What you are afraid of is that you don't know what the situation is, and suddenly appear from nowhere to burn, kill, and loot.

That's the importance of intelligence.

Therefore, on the next march, he planned not to take shortcuts and take small paths, otherwise it would be bad if he missed the subsequent post ride.

After reading the battle report, Huo Shan almost guessed the general situation.

It should be the news of Li Xi's death that the Qiang people somehow got a little bit of news, and Huo Shan can guarantee that what they got was definite news, but they didn't dare to believe it all, so this was a tentative attack.

Huo Shan felt that what they got was definite news because of several things.

One is because Li Xi had almost arranged everything before his death, including the problems after his death, concealing the news, and leaving the time difference for Chang'an to prepare.

But more than a month has passed, and the Qiang people did not change at first, which means that there is no problem with this arrangement.

As for how the news got out now, Huo Shan didn't know, maybe there was a loophole in the plan, maybe there was a traitor.

The Qiang people generally attack in June and July, because in August and September, they will harvest grass for winter.

Although there are also cases of attacks in March, April, August, September, and even October, and there are many such cases, they are all special circumstances.

Such as natural disasters, such as beating a big man by surprise and so on.

However, the Qiang people and the great Han have been living in peace for some years, and they must have received certain news when they came to attack at this time.

And the news they heard was true, but they were not sure, it was because of Li Xi's strategy for the past ten years.

Li Xi has always wanted to push forward and occupy the Hehuang Valley in one fell swoop, but the Qiang people are really afraid of being killed by him, so they dare not come!
And Li Xi didn't dare to attack. One is that the terrain is complex, and it is easy to cause too many casualties.

The two are that the Qiang people have a retreat at any time, and if they cannot beat them, they will directly retreat to the plateau.

After entering the plateau, the big man had nothing to do with them. Hehuang was fine, the altitude was not very high, and the weather was not very bad.

But on the plateau, except for a few soldiers, most soldiers can't hold it, so they can't pursue it, and they can't go around to stop it.

Basically, when the time and place are right and the people and the family have taken over, this battle cannot be fought.

Logically speaking, when they ran away, wouldn't the big man control the Hehuang area?
This is not true, because the most important reason for not being able to defend is that there are not enough soldiers. If you want to survive the period of building fortifications, you must have enough soldiers.

There are [-] infantry in Lingju, [-] cavalry in Jincheng, and [-] cavalry in Huqiang Station.

There are only 10,000 soldiers and horses in total, and only 20 to [-] in Huangzhong. How can you resist the attack of the [-]+[-] Qiang army?
It's right for a Han to be a five Hu, but people don't fight with you, they only harass you, and the three of them are not in the big Han.

So Li Xi wanted to lure them out and catch them all.

So there are many stories circulating in the Hehuang area, such as Li Xi died, you come to fight quickly; Li Xi returned to Chang'an, the new general has not yet arrived, it happened to be empty.

But they are not stupid, it is impossible for them to send out all the troops after hearing a piece of news.

So usually a small group of soldiers and horses are sent to see if they can rush into the big man. If they rush in, it is naturally true, it is simple and rude.

It is also impossible for Li Xi to let this army rush into the big man to burn, kill and loot, so the Qiang people only suffered a small loss and could not fall into a big fall.

This is why the Qiang people dare not really believe in it, they have a criminal record!

As for how Huo Shan could tell it was a tentative attack...

Small stocks are written above, and combined with the actual situation, it is easy to draw conclusions.

First of all, it is the time issue mentioned above.

The second is the geographical issue. First, Lingqiang is in the north of the West Sea. There is a small basin where they are nomadic.

Huangzhong is on the east side of the West Sea, and the distance between the two is only three or four hundred miles. If the news is really believed, it will take two or three days for the Qiang people to travel together.

A small group of troops is naturally a test.

Combining various situations, Huo Shan came to such a conclusion.

But now, Huo Shan had two strategies against the enemy in mind.

One is attacking, and the other is defending.

To attack means to send a message first, and the army will come out to attack the Qiang people, first to scare the Qiang people away, so that they dare not act rashly, and everything will be fine when Huo Shan passes by.

And the resulting situation is that the previous situation will be restored, and then Huo Shan will start peace talks.

As for guarding, the army could not shrink back, and Huangzhong retreated to the big Han, so that the Qiang people could confirm the news of Li Xi's death.

The big man turned a blind eye to their attack, resisted desperately, and retreated to the end.

Use the necessary sacrifices to make them feel that this is a hard-won good opportunity to attract more of their troops to come and go through a series of preparations and means to wipe them all out.

If the situation of Hou Xu fails, there will be a great loss. With Huo Shan, they can't get out, so they won't be hurt.

If it is done, there will be a big harvest, and they will be driven out of Hehuang completely.

The peace talks will continue, but the peace talks of the first strategy are equal transactions, and the second strategy is charity.

The gap between the two will be very different, and the benefits obtained will also be two extremes.

So, which of the two strategies should you choose?

(End of this chapter)