Ji Han Liu Zhang

Tianshui, showing relatives.

When a small-scale battle was coming to an end, more than a thousand cavalrymen led by Ma Chao surrounded the remnants of a Qiang and Hu army, with three layers inside and three layers outside, plus Zhang Yi on the left and right, with the intention of not letting a single person escape.

"Don't let anyone get away." Ma Chao loudly announced to his cavalrymen. His voice was so loud that it could be heard over a hundred feet away, faintly drowning out the rumbling sounds of horses galloping on the ground on the battlefield.

After making a declaration, Ma Chao clenched the spear in his hand and rode out alone. He glanced sideways at the remnants of the Qiang and Hu army who were huddled together with their weapons blades pointing outward, like a hedgehog, and his expression revealed a strong sense of disdain.

"It's bitter." The Qiang and Hu remnants of the army that Ma Chao was looking at, and the Qiang and Hu leader Beigong Li, who was in the remnant army, cried out inwardly.

As a member of the Qiang and Hu tribe living in Longyou County, Beigong Li had always lived a prosperous life when the Han Dynasty was in decline. He lived happily in Longyou County, doing whatever he wanted without any restraint.

Recently, Beigong Li heard that Han Sui, a hero from Liangzhou, was recruiting Qiang and Hu people to help him, and was offering them generous rewards and ceding land. Beigong Li was tempted. Greedy for money, he took more than a thousand Qiang and Hu men under his command to Didao City. After all, he was free anyway, and it would be a good thing to get some benefits from Han Sui.

Then, Beigong Li, receiving the order from Han Sui, led his men to plunder the counties of Tianshui County. Beigong Li thought he had got a good job. Although Liangzhou was poor, the Han people were rich. After all, the Han people occupied the best locations in Liangzhou. The output of the land and the products of the craftsmen were hundreds of times more than that of the Hu people.

At the beginning, Beigong Li was indeed happy a few times. He led the Qiang people under his command to attack several Han villages and made considerable gains. He originally planned to plunder another fortress and then return to Longyou County to enjoy himself.

Something unexpected happened.

Beigong Li and his party ran into a group of Han cavalry, or to be more precise, a group of Shu cavalry flying a large flag with the word "horse" on it. Beigong Li knew that Tianshui County was under the jurisdiction of the Grand Marshal Lao Zi, and was therefore guarded by the Shu Army.

But Beigong Li did not take the Shu army seriously. After all, his men were all light cavalry who came and went like the wind. Tianshui County was like a toilet. He could come and go as he pleased. If he saw that the situation was not good, he could escape on his light cavalry, and the Shu army could do nothing to him.

In addition, Beigong Li did not take the Shu cavalry seriously. In his mind, the Han cavalry were not as skilled in archery and horsemanship as the Qiang and Hu men under his command. For this reason, Beigong Li carelessly called on the Qiang and Hu men under his command, intending to charge forward to break up the formation of the Shu cavalry, and then split the Shu cavalry and kill them one by one.

Only after a charge and collision did Beigong Li realize that he was extremely wrong. The Shu cavalry on the opposite side was very difficult to deal with. They were slightly better than the Qiang and Hu men under his command, especially the general who commanded the Shu cavalry. He was like a killing god and no one could defeat him.

So after the encounter, Beigong Li wanted to escape, but the Shu cavalry did not give him the chance. The Shu cavalry followed closely on his heels and caught up with him from time to time, killing some of his rear troops.

Logically speaking, since both sides had good horses, Beigong Li should not have been caught up by the Shu cavalry so many times. However, every Qiang and Hu man in Beigong Li's group carried looted treasures on their horses. Although the Shu cavalry was approaching, they were unwilling to abandon the treasures they had looted with great effort in order to reduce the weight so that they could escape better.

By the time Beigong Li realized that he had to choose between his life and property, most of the Qiang and Hu men in his army had been killed, and the remaining remnants were surrounded by the Shu cavalry, with little chance of survival.

Seeing the Shu cavalry coming out of the crowd, Beigong Li, who was surrounded, gritted his teeth. He pushed aside his men and also came out of the crowd. It seemed that he was going to have a manly romance with the Shu cavalry on the opposite side - a duel of generals.

Seeing this, Ma Chao guessed what the Qiang and Hu leader was planning. A cold look spread across his face. He squeezed his legs together, and rode his horse to charge towards the Qiang and Hu leader. As for Beigong Li on the opposite side, he shouted loudly to boost morale, and then charged towards Ma Chao.

"Boom."

As Ma Chao and Beigong Li crossed each other, a clanging sound was heard from the battlefield, and then Beigong Li's tall figure fell powerlessly to the ground from horseback. An incredible look appeared in his eyes, and soon, the light in his eyes disappeared, leaving only empty and lifeless pupils, and his long-time mount was circling around him helplessly, trying to wake up its master and get back on the horse, but that was no longer possible.

After killing the leader of the Qiang and Hu tribes with one strike, Ma Chao glanced at the remaining Qiang and Hu troops. The remaining Qiang and Hu troops were already at a disadvantage, and now with the death of their leader, their mentality suddenly collapsed, and they looked at Ma Chao with extreme fear. As Ma Chao's eyes swept over them, the remaining Qiang and Hu troops were like ants being poured with boiling water, and they immediately scattered in all directions, hoping to escape from the hands of Ma Chao, the god of death.

Ma Chao looked at the collapsed remnants of the Qiang and Hu army indifferently. He no longer took action, but let his cavalry pursue and kill the fleeing remnants of the Qiang and Hu army. Having already achieved the merit of killing a general, he did not need to take any credit from these Qiang and Hu minions. Secondly, he intended to use these Qiang and Hu remnants to sharpen his cavalry. The more the swords were sharpened, the sharper they would become, and the more killings the soldiers suffered, the better they would fight.

It didn't take much time for the cavalry under Ma Chao to wipe out most of the fleeing Qiang and Hu remnants. One by one, the heads of the Qiang and Hu were thrown in front of Ma Chao, and slowly piled up layer by layer, finally forming the shape of a small hill.

This was a common practice of the Han army. After killing the barbarians, they would build a memorial pavilion with their heads to intimidate the disobedient Qiang and Hu barbarians. As for the proof of having captured the Qiang and Hu barbarians, they would cut off the ears from their heads as evidence.

When everything was settled, Ma Chao took a look at the sky, gave a call, and led his cavalry towards Ji County. After a great battle, he needed to rest for a day or two, and then decide which direction to go to to wipe out the Qiang and Hu based on the news about them sent by the scouts.

On the second day, when Ma Chao and his party arrived at the camp outside Ji County, they happened to run into Zhang Xiu who was also leading his troops back. He bowed slightly to Zhang Xiu in greeting, and Zhang Xiu returned the greeting on horseback, showing a warm and cordial scene of mutual courtesy.

Although Ma Chao's original county was Fufeng, his lineage had migrated to Longyou County since his grandfather's time. It is not an exaggeration to say that he and his son were from Liangzhou. Zhang Xiu was from Wuwei County, and he and Ma Chao were from the same state. People from the same state are naturally easy to get close to each other.

"What did Youwei gain on this trip?" Ma Chao squeezed his legs together and sat down on the horse, and asked after getting closer to Zhang Xiu.

Zhang Xiu smiled and answered with a bow, "We wiped out a group of Qiang and Hu soldiers, killed more than 300 of them in battle, and took over 150 captives." After that, Zhang Xiu pointed to the Qiang and Hu people who were tied up with ropes at the back of his team.

"What's the point of accepting the surrender of Qiang Hu people?" Ma Chao shook his head. He felt that Zhang Xiu's behavior of accepting the surrender of Qiang Hu people instead of cutting the grass and weeds was a little inappropriate: "Besides, the wives and children of Qiang Hu people are either in Longxi or Jincheng. Even if they surrender because they are afraid of death, they still miss their wives and children in Longxi and Jincheng. They will always look for opportunities to escape, which is difficult to control." "It's not that we want to recruit them as soldiers." Zhang Xiu smiled lightly and said, "Nowadays, there are not many households in Longyou, and the population is dwindling. For things like building roads, building cities, and clearing canals, there is often not enough manpower. After surrendering, these Qiang Hu people have to do these hard labors. After all, they are not Han people. When the time comes, there is no need to pity them. Qiang Hu people are not worth pity."

"Youwei is right. The Qiang and Hu people are not worth pitying." Ma Chao laughed out loud. Although his grandfather Ma Ping married a Qiang woman and gave birth to Ma Teng, so he has a quarter of Qiang and Hu blood in his body, but he believes that he is a pure man of gold, and not a barbarian at all.

After a few words, Ma Chao and Zhang Xiu went to meet Wu Yi hand in hand. As the governor of Liangzhou, all military and political affairs of Liangzhou were decided by Wu Yi alone. All matters, big or small, had to be reported to Wu Yi.

"General."

After entering the central military tent, Ma Chao and Zhang Xiu both saluted Wu Yi respectfully.

"Mengqi and Youwei are here." Wu Yi, who was reading the documents, looked up after hearing the voice and called out the courtesy names of Ma Chao and Zhang Xiu. His face was instantly filled with joy. During this trip to Tianshui, Ma Chao and Zhang Xiu, as deputy generals, made great efforts to eliminate the Qiang and Hu who harassed Tianshui County, making the territory of Tianshui County peaceful soon.

Wu Yi put down the document in his hand and said enthusiastically, "Thanks to Mengqi and Youwei's expedition, the Qiang and Hu who were harassing Tianshui County have either fled back to Longxi County and Jincheng County or died by the sword. This is all due to the efforts of the two of you. I have written a letter to commend you for your achievements to Mingsong."

"Thank you, General." Upon hearing this, Ma Chao and Zhang Xiu both showed joy on their faces and bowed to express their gratitude to Wu Yi.

Wu Yi waved his hand and said, "There is no need for courtesy in the army. Besides, I am just accepting the documents, so I don't deserve a word of thanks."

"Oh, right." Wu Yi slapped his head, as if he remembered something: "The four surnames of Tianshui invited us to a banquet in Ji County to celebrate today's success. You two can finish your work and then follow me into the city."

"Yes." Ma Chao and Zhang Xiu bowed and accepted the order.

into the night.

Wu Yi was wearing a military uniform and a crested crown on his head, with Ma Chao and Zhang Xiu standing on his left and right. The three of them walked into the county temple of Ji County and attended the banquet held for them by the four surnames of Tianshui: Jiang, Yan, Ren, and Zhao.

Unlike previous banquets, people did not drink heavily, but only had three or five drinks. After all, they were still in wartime, and drinking until drunk was indeed inappropriate, so people tended to talk more and rarely drank.

The four surnames of Tianshui, Jiang, Yan, Ren and Zhao, expressed their gratitude to the Shu army for suppressing the Qiang and Hu people who harassed Tianshui County, and thanked them many times. However, Wu Yi, Ma Chao and Zhang Xiu just avoided the table and accepted the thanks. Both sides were very friendly in their conversation.

Therefore, although there was no wine to liven up the party, the atmosphere of the banquet was still very warm, and both the guests and the hosts were having a great time.

While everyone in Tianshui County was rejoicing, Han Sui, a hero from Liangzhou, stood on the city wall of Didao, looking at the mountains and fields in the distance shrouded in moonlight. He had a thoughtful look on his face, and occasionally a sigh came out of his mouth.

Not long ago, his trusted adviser Cheng Gongying proposed the strategy of clearing the countryside and dispatching the Qiang and Hu people who had gathered in Didao to send troops to Tianshui County to harass and plunder the fortresses and villages from Ji County to Didao, making these places a dead end. In the future, when Liu Zhang sent troops to Longxi County, he would have to travel hundreds of miles through uninhabited roads.

In addition, many Qiang and Hu gathered in Didao City, which put a lot of pressure on food and grass. Sending Qiang and Hu to plunder Tianshui County can also reduce the Qiang and Hu's consumption of food and grass in Han Sui's army. It is known that food and grass are more important than soldiers. Without food, there are no soldiers. Without food and grass, even the most elite and skilled soldiers will be blown away by the wind like quicksand.

However, Cheng Gongying's strategy of killing two birds with one stone became ineffective after a Shu army arrived in Tianshui County. Ma Chao and Zhang Xiu, two generals in this Shu army, were well versed in the way of controlling cavalry and were good at cavalry warfare. As a result, the several Qiang and Hu troops that Han Sui had sent to harass Tianshui County were cut off from contact one by one, and those who were lucky enough to escape were far away from Didao City and dared not even mention the word "help".

Therefore, the original intention was to destroy the war potential of Tianshui County through harassment, but now it has failed, and instead a group of Qiang and Hu troops were killed. Such a result made Han Sui depressed and sighed.

"General, it's cold at night, please go to bed early." A caring voice came from behind Han Sui.

"Sir, I always feel that the battle with Liu Jiyu of Guanzhong is like walking on thin ice. Do you think I can make it to the other side?" Han Sui expressed his inner thoughts to Cheng Gongying. He tilted his head slightly and looked up at the bright moon in the sky. The hook-like moon fell into his eyes, making his eyes shine slightly, and his face was filled with hesitation and fear.

"The outcome of a victory or defeat is not something that Ying can predict. He can only try his best and leave the rest to fate." Cheng Gongying's voice was vague and he gave an ambiguous answer.

"Do your best and leave the rest to fate?" Han Sui softly repeated Cheng Gongying's words, and then he sighed: "Sir, you are not sure, so you put your trust in fate."

"No." Cheng Gongying rejected it with an attitude of certainty: "Without a battle, who can know the outcome? Although the general is weak now, there is still a chance of victory. As the saying goes, do your best and leave the rest to fate, which means to make full preparations and use all your wisdom, and then it depends on whether fate favors the general or Liu Jiyu."

"I understand what you mean, sir." Han Sui turned around. The hesitation and fear on his face had disappeared. Only a look of resoluteness remained on his face, and his spirit was as hard as steel.

"No matter what the outcome of the war is, we will fight with all our might. If we win, we will dominate Longyou alone. If we lose, we will still be remembered as a hero. If a man can live and die like this, I am satisfied." (End of this chapter)