Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

At the end of the 20th year of Jian'an, Liu Bei met Ma Chao in Hanzhong.

People have always despised Ma'er's behavior of abandoning his father. For example, Yang Fu said that he was "strong and unrighteous", Jiang Xu's mother said that he "betrayed his father and rebelled against his son, killed the emperor and rebelled against the thief", and Wang Shang said that he was "brave but not benevolent. Think meaning".

Even Zhang Lu's adviser Yan Pu despised Ma Chao as a man, saying that "if he doesn't love his relatives, how can he love others", which shows his poor reputation.

However, Liu Bei did not dislike Ma Chao's deeds of killing his father's family in order to establish himself as king.

He has been in exile for half his life, and he has already become a qualified politician. He knows that there are no eternal friends, only eternal national interests, so unless Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Shen Chen, Zhuge Liang and others are killed by the enemy, he will rarely act on his will.

After arriving in Hanzhong, Liu Bei personally met Ma Chao, praised him as "believing in the northern land, powerful and powerful, and brave as a tiger", and appointed him General Pingxi and the governor of Linju.

Where is Linju?
Jingzhou.

So this so-called Du Linju is naturally false.

Including General Pingxi is also false.

Because he was not given military power.

Liu Bei was full of praise for Ma Chao's boast, but apart from giving him a high position, he just didn't give him anything practical.

It's not that Liu Bei is stingy, but he knows that Ma Chao wants to become king on his own and separates one side, even his father and family are gone, which shows his ambition.

He had already stumbled against Lu Bu once back then, and Ma Chao's behavior was even worse than Lu Bu's. Lu Bu killed his adoptive father at most, and Ma Chao harmed his own father and brothers, so he dared not entrust Ma Chao with serious responsibilities.

For example, in history, Liu Bei only gave Ma Chao a high position and did not dare to reuse it because of this.

Therefore, we can only give high positions but not real power.

But Ma Chao's defeated general came to join him, so naturally he didn't dare to say anything. After living with Liu Bei in Hanzhong, at the beginning of the 21st year of Jian'an, he finally had a new mission.

Liu Bei sent Zhang Fei, Wu Lan, Lei Tong and others to station in Hechi County, and ordered Ma Chao Pang De to accompany the army, taking advantage of Ma Chao's prestige to win Wudu.

In fact, Liu Bei has already occupied half of Wudu County now, because at that time Chencang Road was in Wudu, connecting Chencang in the north and Hechi in the south, which is later Hui County in Longnan City, Gansu Province.

After that, you can take Lianyun Road to the east of Hechi and enter Baoxie Road to enter Hanzhong, or continue to take Chencang Road from the south of Hechi to enter Lueyang and reach Hanzhong Yangping Pass.

When Liu Bei got Hanzhong, Cao Cao's power had not yet entered Guanzhong, and Han Sui and Ma Chao didn't dare to fight, so he preempted the two strategic roads, Chencang Road and Baoxie Road, which are the best four routes from Hanzhong to Guanzhong. The Sanguan and Xieyuguan passes were strangled.

And from Hechi County to the west is the administrative office of Wudu County, which is also the famous Wu Street in history. Sending troops from Wu Street to the east can reach Hechi directly, control the main road of Chencang, and go south to invade Hanzhong Yangping Pass .

If Liu Bei chooses to send troops from Chencang Road to attack Guanzhong, and Xia Houyuan, who was in Xiliang to pacify the chaos at this time, suddenly goes south to Wudu, cooperates with the main force of Cao's army on the front line of Chencang, breaks out halfway from Xiabian, and cuts off Liu Bei's retreat, then Liu Bei will be in Chencang. The road is in danger of being attacked from both sides.

Although Liu Bei can also retreat from Lianyun Road in the middle of Chencang Road to Baoxie Road, this will undoubtedly be strategically passive, and his defense will be to guard Lianyun Road, Baoxie Road, and Yangping to the west of Hanzhong Close three places, seriously disperse the troops, and lose the exit of Chencang Road, and will be in a passive posture of being beaten.

So in history, when Zhuge Liang made the Northern Expedition for the third time, in order to change this defensive passivity, he sent troops to occupy this place, which greatly improved the defensive situation in Hanzhong.Not only regained the control of Chencang Road, but also sent troops from Wudu County to counterattack Xiliang and prepare for the fourth Northern Expedition.

However, Cao Cao also expected this. He knew that Wudu was too far away, and the Wei soldiers were too late to rescue him, so he had already moved more than [-] fallen Qiang Han from Wudu, leaving only an empty county.Even if Zhuge Liang occupies this place, he can only change the national defense situation, but cannot be supplemented by population.

Today is very different.

Since Cao Cao hadn't touched Guanzhong when Liu Bei acquired Xichuan, he couldn't move the population of Wudu and Yinping counties, so there are now [-] to [-] Qiang and Di people living in the two counties.

Note that it is down, not household or mouth.

A family in the Han Dynasty was often based on households, with four to five people in each household.

However, ethnic minorities such as Qiang, Wuhuan, Xianbei, barbarians, Yi people, and Yue people use tribes as the unit, which is different from the households of the Han people. The population of a village is often more than five, and sometimes it can reach more than ten people.

For example, Cao Cao moved to the south of the Huns, with a total of more than 20 people and a population of nearly 20.More than 10 tribes moved to Wuhuan, with a population of [-].After that, tens of thousands of households and [-] people from Qiang, Di, Jian, and Ba were resettled in Luoyang, Guanzhong, Hedong and other places.

Although the instigator of the Wuhu Rebellion was the stupid royal family of the Western Jin Dynasty, as early as the early Wei Dynasty, Cao Cao planted the root of the disaster and moved the Hu people to the Great Wall one after another, so that the Hu people rebelled and began to establish political power.

However, at this time, because Cao Cao did not relocate Qiang and Di, the current population of Qiang and Di in Wudu County is 30 million. Agui and Fujian have a population of more than [-] to [-] and thousands of soldiers.

Liu Bei currently only occupies half of Wudu County, while Xiahouyuan occupies Hanyang County and Longxi County. He is currently attacking Han Sui in Jincheng County. The other half of Wudu County belongs to the land without an owner. hour?
So Liu Bei sent Zhang Fei to send troops, and Ma Chao Pang De went to Wudu in person to recruit the Qiang Di people into the army.

The title of "Shenweitian General" is very prestigious among the Qiang and Di people. For a time, the Qiang people and Di people in Wudu joined in one after another, and the Qiang kings and Di kings from all over the country came to defect, and tens of thousands of soldiers and horses were acquired overnight. , with great momentum.

At this time, Cao Cao came back.

At the end of last year, Cao Cao was going to return to Yecheng to quell the rebellion. Unexpectedly, the Jizhou rebellion and the siege of Hefei were lifted when he arrived in Luoyang, so he returned to Guanzhong, ordered Zhong Yao to sit in Chang'an, and personally conquered Xiliang.

Liu Bei sent troops from Hanzhong, led Zhang Fei's 3 elite cavalry, and ordered the leaders of the Jian people Li Hei and Wang Gui to be generals, leading [-] Jian people, and he brought Ma Chao Pang De led [-] elite cavalry, a total of [-] troops, sent out troops. In Dujun, dozens of Qiangdi tribes were gathered along the way, and they got [-] to [-] soldiers and horses. Nearly [-] troops rushed to Xixian County.

This Xixian County is located in the northwest of Longnan City, Gansu Province in later generations, and its other name is the famous Lucheng.When Zhuge Liang came out of Qishan for the second time, he cut wheat in Shangyu. Sima Yi chased him to the outside of Lucheng, and dug his camp to defend himself.

The current situation is basically the same as when Zhuge Liang made the first Northern Expedition in history.

Guan Yu occupied Baoxie Road, just like Zhao Yun occupied Jigu during the first Northern Expedition, and when Liu Bei left Qishan, it was Zhuge Liang who left Qishan.After getting Xixian County, they had to go north to Jieting, seize the Longguan Road, and cut off Xiahouyuan's retreat.

From the maps of later generations, there is a shortcut from Guanzhong to Xiliang, which is called Chencang Weishui Road or Chencang Narrow Road. From the west of Weihe River to the upper reaches, it is Tianshui City, Gansu.

However, there are high mountains and dense forests on both sides of this road, and the cliffs of Longshan Mountain are all along the way. The upper reaches of the Weishui River are turbulent and narrow, making it difficult for boats to sail.

Therefore, since the Qin, Han and Tang Dynasties, the best road to enter Liangzhou from Guanzhong is Longguan with wide roads and flat roads.The second is Xiaoguan Road, and the last is Chencang Narrow Road.

It's just that although the Longguan Road is good, it has to go around a big circle, bypassing Longshan to enter Liangzhou.

Therefore, the situation is not good for Cao Cao.

When Cao Cao returned to Guanzhong from Luoyang, Liu Bei had already captured Xixian County, went north to Tianshui, and surrounded the city that was later called "Shangyu" by Cao Wei.

In the first month of the 20th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao went out of Longguan Road to rescue Tianshui, and the two sides confronted each other in Duangu.

There are about [-] soldiers and horses on both sides.

Guan Yu's 5 people restrained Xiahou Dun and Yu Jin's 6 people in Baoxie Road.

Cao Cao brought 12 in his own main force, plus the Southern Huns and some Wuhuan cavalry, as well as tens of thousands of local wealthy families such as Yang Fu and Jiang Yin attached to Liangzhou, for a total of about [-].

And Liu Bei's army has 9 main forces, and the Qiang people have [-] to [-] Di people, a total of [-] or [-] people. Cao's army has more troops than Liu Bei's army.

But the two sides only confronted for more than ten days, and it ended with Liu Beibing retreating to the next debate.

The logistical pressure is heavy.

Liu Bei is not short of food, what he lacks is how to effectively transport the food to the front line.

The fertile plains of Chengdu are thousands of miles away. Over the years, Zhuge Liangpang ruled Shu, dug canals, built dams, worked diligently on farming, and even promoted cash crops such as mulberry and hemp.

In addition, Jingzhou promoted retting technology and Champa rice. Since then, the rice has been double-ripened every year, and the productivity has been greatly improved. Jingzhou and Yizhou prefectures have countless grains in stock, which are almost moldy.

However, the lack of food in the rear does not mean that there is no shortage in the front.

Whether it is transporting grain from Chengdu, Jiangzhou or Jingzhou to the front line of Hanzhong, it has to pass through Qinling, Wushan, and Bashan. The road is full of mountains and mountains, and the road is extremely difficult.

Then take the Qishan Road from Hanzhong to the front line of Wudu where Liu Bei is located, and then pass through Longshan, Qishan, and Qinling Mountains, which are also large mountain ranges.

It can be said that more than 80.00% of the grain transportation roads from the rear Chengdu to the front line are steep mountains and forests.

And the distance is also very long, the straight-line distance from Chengdu to Tianshui is more than 500 kilometers, and then take Jinniu Road north to Qishan Road, more than 800 kilometers of winding and winding, which is nearly [-] kilometers in Hanli.

In history, Zhuge Liang built wood, cattle and horses to transport grain because of too much logistical pressure, which shows that the road is difficult.

Therefore, although Liu Bei had prepared in Hanzhong for many years and hoarded a large amount of food and grass, he suddenly had tens of thousands of troops, and the people ate horses and chewed horses, and the consumption was so huge that he was forced to withdraw his troops.

As soon as he withdrew, Cao Cao breathed a sigh of relief, and also gathered his troops to defend Tianshui and Ji County, and no longer sent troops to attack Han Sui.

Liu Bei's logistical pressure is great, and his logistical pressure is also great.

It's just that Liu Bei's difficulty lies in the fact that there are too many mountains along the way, and the road is rough and difficult. His difficulty is that the journey is too long.

Cao Jun transported grain from Yecheng to Chang'an, and then transported grain from Chang'an to Tianshui, which took [-] Hanli.

of course.

Even so, it is much better than Liu Bei.

Except for transporting grain from Yecheng through the Taihang Mountains, and transporting grain from Guanzhong to Tianshui through Longshan Mountains, almost all other places are plain areas with flat roads, and the speed and scale of grain transportation are much stronger than Liu Bei.

It's just that long-distance transportation of grain is not a long-term solution after all, so after Liu Bei withdrew his troops, Cao Cao stabilized the basic situation in Tianshui and began to clean up the rear.

Xiliang has a total of 98 cities in 20 counties. The population of Han people is more than 400 households, about one million Dingkou.

Now Liu Bei occupies Wudu County of Liangzhou, and Han Sui occupies Jincheng County. Apart from Dunhuang County, Jiuquan County, Zhangye County near the Western Regions, and Wuwei County too far north, Cao Cao also invaded Longxi County, Anding County and Beidi County. , began to migrate populations on a large scale.

These places are close to Guanzhong, such as Anding County and Beidi County, which are later known as Guyuan City in the south of Ningxia, Pingliang City and Qingyang City in Gansu Province, and Binzhou City in Shaanxi Province, which are very close to Chang'an.

Today's Guanzhong is vast and sparsely populated, with less than one million people, and no one is cultivating the land. The vast Guanzhong Basin is about to become the Saibei Prairie.

According to Cao Cao's vision, the Han people were moved to Guanzhong for farming, and the Hu people were moved to Guanzhong for herding. They were concentrated on the two large plains of Zuofengyi and Hedong in the north and northeast of Chang'an, and used them as sources of grain, grass and horses.

Youfufeng and Jingzhaoyin in the west and south of Chang'an are the front lines against Liu Bei in Hanzhong and Shenchen in Nanyang.

In this way, grain and grass do not need to be transported long distances from the Kanto.

On the other hand, although Liu Bei’s Hanzhong Basin can also grow grain and grass, Hanzhong is so big after all, and raising an army of 10 is the limit. If you want to support more than [-] people for long-term preparations, you still have to transport grain from Bashu, which consumes energy and energy.

At the end of January, Cao Cao ordered Xiahoudun, Xiahouyuan, Yu Jin, Xu Huang, Zhang Yun, Zhong Yao, Sima Yi, Liu Ye and others to guard the Guanzhong, mainly defending Liu Bei. After the population was moved, he went back to the Guandong.

In February, Cao Cao accepted Wei Guogong, opened Wei Guo, and sealed off all his officials.

Liu Bei sent a letter to condemn him.

Sun Quan sent a letter to celebrate.

Xun Yu was very dissatisfied, and wrote a letter to persuade and boycott, which made Cao Cao furious.

In April of the 21st year of Jian'an, Cao Cao, the Duke of Wei, set off from Yecheng again, preparing to go to Guanzhong to confront Liu Bei on the front line.

But this time he no longer chose to go through Fukouxing via Shangdang County to enter Guanzhong East, but took a long way around Luoyang via Qinling to Jingzhaoyin.

The last time he took this route back to Kanto was because Huainan was in an emergency at that time. He was afraid that Yecheng reinforcements would not be able to go to Huainan to support due to the Hejian rebellion, so he chose to support himself, so that it would be faster to go to Huainan if he went to Luoyang.

But under normal circumstances, it is obviously much faster to go to Bingzhou Shangdang from Yecheng to Guanzhong.

So Cao Cao's actions naturally had another purpose.

The army went from Hanoi County to Luoyang, and Cao Cao sent someone to recruit Xun Yu to work in the army.

After Xun Yu arrived, Cao Cao imprisoned him in the army, and then gave him a lunch box.

On April 22, Luoyang was in early summer, with a suitable climate and bright sunshine.

This ancient capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty has long been dilapidated.

But amidst this withering, some other creatures began to grow quietly and tenaciously.

The dilapidated city was covered with creepers, and after more than 20 years, there were no more weeds and basil outside the city.

The trees outside the city block out the sky, and the trees are towering.

In Luoyang City, in Xun Yu's residence, a Cao Cao's personal guard Tiger Guard Jie Cong led a team of guards to break in.

Xun Yu sat cross-legged in the courtyard, staring blankly at the plants all over the walls.

There is a towering tree in the courtyard, covered with vines.

But for some reason, the vines that were originally attached to the tree had withered at this time, but the tree still stood tall, with a canopy like an umbrella, covering half of the courtyard.

Huwei Jie came in from Dabu, holding a lunch box in his hand, and said in a low voice, "Xun Yu, Duke Wei ordered me to give you the lunch box."

Xun Yu seemed to have a premonition, so he turned his head and said to him, "Let it go."

Jie Cong put the lunch box in front of him.

Xun Yu opened it and saw that there was nothing inside, only a small porcelain bottle.

Jie Cong said, "Duke Wei wants me to watch you drink it."

Xun Yu smiled bitterly, picked up the porcelain vase, turned his head to look at the big tree, and said to Jie Cong, "Why do you think the tree and the vines are entangled? Why did the vines die in the end?"

Jie Cong said in a rough voice, "I don't know."

Xun Yu took off the seal on the porcelain bottle, took out the pill, and said softly, "The vine needs the tree to grow and absorb the sunlight. The tree also needs the vine to linger on the body to repel insects and prevent foreign objects from invading. But when the branches of the tree one day The trunk is very strong, and when the branches and leaves cover the courtyard, the tree does not need vines, so it blocks the sunlight for the vines, and the vines die."

"Can't understand."

Ji Cong shook his head, he was a rough man who fought with Duke Wei, and he couldn't understand a word of what the educated man was saying.

Xun Yu smiled miserably, put the pill in his mouth and swallowed it, then turned his head and said to Jie Cong, "If you don't understand it, you don't understand it. You can tell Cao Gong these words, and he will naturally know."

"it is good."

Jie never hesitated to agree.

Cao Cao had told him when he came that if Xun Yu had anything to tell him, he had to remember to go back and report it to him verbatim.

Xun Yu pointed to a wooden ladder in the corner of the yard again, and said to the concubine, "There is a ladder over there, can you hang it up for me, and then help me up to the roof?"

"What are you doing on the roof?"

Section from the question.

Xun Yu raised his head and looked at the dilapidated courtyard walls, his old face was full of sadness: "I have seen the prosperity of Luoyang in the early years, but now it is deserted, and I won't have the chance to see it in the future. Let's take another look."

Seeing that he had swallowed the pill and his task was completed, Jie Cong asked his soldiers to help move the ladder, and half helped and half pushed Xun Yu up to the roof.

In history, Cao Pi moved his capital to Luoyang and brought [-] households from Hebei to enrich the population of Luoyang.

Just because Luoyang was almost completely deserted at this time, the people in the city were less than a few thousand, the palaces collapsed, the houses were destroyed, and the whole city was turned into ruins.

Xun Yu climbed up to the roof, the medicine didn't take effect at first, and there was no abnormality, so he just sat quietly on the roof overlooking the ancient city.

Most of the once vast Luoyang South Palace and North Palace in the north collapsed due to Dong Zhuo’s arson. The only few remaining palaces were repaired with the help of Liu Biao. A village, plowing fields beside the Luoshui River outside the city.

More than 20 years ago, Dong Zhuo hijacked the emperor and fled to Chang'an in the face of the offensive of the Guandong princes. Not only did he take away countless people, but before he left, he set a big fire and burned this prosperous city.

Although the city is still vast, and you can still see the magnificent scenery of the Royal Forest Garden from a distance, Luoyang is overgrown with thorns, weeds, trees, and green moss covers the entire city.Looking north, it is dilapidated and vast.Looking south, it is deserted.

Xun Yu looked around, pointing to the broken walls and ruins in all directions from time to time and muttering to himself: "There is the White Horse Temple, there is the Grand General's Garden, there is Taixue, there is Lingtai, there is Nangong, and there is Golden Palace." City, there is."

The festival below just watched quietly like this.

The soldiers sent by Cao Cao surrounded the courtyard and looked at it like this.

Soon, Xun Yu's stomach began to hurt, his consciousness gradually became blurred, and blood came out from the corner of his mouth. He just sat on the roof and looked up at the sky.

The turbid eyes seem to be full of nostalgia and reluctance for the once vast imperial capital.

His gaze finally settled on the south.

That is the direction of Nanyang.

Shen Chen.

you are right.

Cao Cao will never be a Hanchen.

he thought to himself.

More and more blood flowed from the corner of the mouth, and the nose also began to bleed.

As the abdominal cramps intensified, under the setting sun, an old man in his fifties lay down quietly, looking at the dim sky, enjoying the last scene of his life.

The gorgeous fire cloud soaked half of the sky, burning with light, illuminating his pupils.

Immediately afterwards, Dusk Crow and Flying Bird hung back and landed into the forest.With the chirping of the birds, the sky and the earth gradually became dark.

Twilight has come.

There is only a little afterglow of the West left in the world.

Xun Yu tried his best to open his eyes wide, staring at Yu Hui from the corners of his yellow eyes, and stretched out his hand with difficulty to grab it.

But the sun finally went down.

The last sliver of the setting sun of the Han Empire was extinguished.

As there is no light between heaven and earth.

Xun Yu's outstretched hand fell limply, and the vitality in his eyes also dissipated.

he died.

Luoyang City, shrouded in darkness, was so quiet that only the humming of the autumn wind was left, as if someone was crying.