The Jagged Cavalry of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 351 Chapter 350
For two days in a row, Zhang Yan's army under the city of Jinyang remained silent, showing no intention of attacking.

However, Cao Cao and others in the city were already very anxious. Seeing that Zhang Yan and others were only besieging but not attacking, they didn't know what they were going to do.

At the same time, Xu You led the tiger and leopard riders to Yanmen Pass, and after explaining their intentions to Xiahou Dun, Guo Jia and others, they will send out the gold, silver and jewelry.

After Xiahou Dun learned from Xu You that Jinyang City was in danger, he immediately sent people to negotiate with the Xianbei people.

The Xianbei people came in mighty force, but were blocked outside Yanmen Pass, and they paid a heavy price for attacking Yanmen Pass in the past few days, losing nearly ten thousand troops. The Xianbei people are also hesitating whether to retreat, but they don't want to welcome The envoy sent by Xiahou Dun.

The envoy told the Xianbei people that as long as they were willing to retreat, Cao Cao would use three carts of gold, silver and jewelry as a gift.The Xianbei people were here to grab property, and when they heard this, they agreed decisively.

So, the envoy led people to send all the three carts of gold, silver and jewelry to the Xianbei people. After the Xianbei people got the benefits, they took the initiative to retreat.

However, on the way back, the Xianbei people burned, killed and looted along the way. The people in the three counties of Wuyuan, Yunzhong, and Dingxiang were deeply persecuted, and most of the people became slaves of the Xianbei people.In addition, the Xianbei people said that they retreated back to the outside of the Great Wall, but in fact they stayed in Yunzhong County, and moved the Xianbei people to Yunzhong and Wuyuan counties wantonly, turning Yunzhong into Shanyuting, dominating Bingzhou In the north, Bingzhou is still eyeing.

Of course, these things are all later, Xiahou Dun didn't know that after seeing the Xianbei retreat, he left his generals to guard Yanmen Pass, and he secretly led the army down the Fenshui River with Guo Jia and Xu You. Return to Jinyang City.

It was also at this time that Man Chong brought Cao Cao's goddaughter to the Xiongnu, and told the Xiongnu Shanyu Dao about his intentions, and hoped that there would be peace with the Huns forever. After seeing Cao Cao's goddaughter, the Xiongnu Shanyu liked it very much and agreed immediately Always be in alliance with Cao Cao.

After Man Chong completed his mission, he left the Xiongnu and returned to Jinyang happily.

However, to Man Chong's surprise, Da Yan of the Huns happened to be a jealous shrew, and the envoy sent by Jia Kui was still in the Huns, fanning the flames, saying that the woman was very It may take away the position of Da Yanshi.

In a fit of rage, Da Yan broke into the camp of Cao Cao's goddaughter, killed the beauty with a sword, and then invited all the princes and nobles in the Xiongnu to meet the Great Chanyu and asked him to send troops to Taiyuan to assist him. The regent attacked the traitor Cao Cao.

Da Shanyu Hu Chuquan is a fearful person, and he can become Da Shanyu because of the members of the Da Yan clan, otherwise, his own Da Shanyu will be humiliated by his brave uncle .

When the Dayan family and the Xiongnu princes and nobles all gathered in the royal court of Da Shanyu, Hu Chuquan had to compromise and ordered the assembly of the army to prepare for the war against Cao, and sent King Youxian to lead [-] troops to Jinyang first. Chengxia assisted Zhang Yan in dealing with Cao Cao.

Qu Bei is not a few years older than Hu Chuquan, but his seniority is older than Hu Chuquan. He is the younger brother of Hu Chuquan's father, Qiang Qu.In addition, Qubei was also a little bit related to the royal family of the Han Dynasty, and part of Liu's blood flowed from his body.

Because his great-grandfather was the sixth grandson of Liu Fu, the son of Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, and Liu Jinbo, the general of the Liao Dynasty.Liu Jinbo was captured during the Northern Expedition to the Xiongnu. The Xiongnu Shanyu married his daughter to Liu Jinbo and gave birth to his son Shili, and Qubei is the grandson of Shili.

Therefore, Qubei is a pro-Han aristocrat, and his personal bravery far surpasses Huchuquan. After the death of his predecessor Shanyu and his nephew Yu Fuluo, Qubei became the most popular candidate to succeed Shanyu.

However, because Hu Chuquan married the daughter of Xu Pu, the most powerful of the Xiongnu nobles, and got the support of Xu Pu, Xu Pu contacted other nobles and supported Hu Chuquan as Shan Yu. For this reason, Hu Chuquan is very grateful to the Da Yan family, but also often has a fearful heart.

Qubei is the virtuous king of the right, who is equal to Shan Yuting. The Huns sit north and face south, and the left hand side happens to be where the sun rises, so they respect the left.Due to the large number of Huns and the vast territory, Shan Yu could not manage it at all, so he divided the Xiongnu into three parts, namely Zuoxian King's Department, Youxian King's Department, and Shan Yuting.

Zuoxian King and Youxian King are Shanyu's right-hand men, and they are generally held by Shanyu's clan. Among them, basically every Shanyu will be selected from Zuoxian King, so Zuoxian King is also considered to be the next Shan Yu's successor.

However, these were all positions held during the powerful period of the Xiongnu. When the Xiongnu split into two branches, the Northern Xiongnu moved westward, and the Southern Xiongnu was attached to the Han Dynasty. To live in the unique territory divided by the great Han, and to face the harassment of another nomadic Xianbei people on the grassland, wars broke out from time to time. By the time of Huchuquan, the power of the Southern Huns was already pitifully small. The total population of the Huns was less than 10.

Therefore, at this time, Zuo Xianwang basically did not set up much, only Shan Yuting and Youxian King's Department, of which Youxian King's Department ruled a population of 10, in Meiji County, Xihe County, where Shanyuting was located. To the west, there is a small place called Guluo City, which belongs to Pingding County.

Youxian King Qubei and his people live in the area of ​​Guluo City.

Today's Huns have already changed their nomadic life, and learned planting and farming with the Han people. Guluo City is a permanent residence gradually developed by the Youxian King's Department.

Shan Yuting's envoy came to Guluo City, and Qubei took the initiative to greet him. He learned of Shan Yuting's order from the envoy, and Qubei ordered [-] Hun cavalry, carrying dry food and kumiss, and set foot on the mountain. On the journey, head all the way to the southeast, towards Jinyang City.

……

Under Jinyang City, in the camp of the Han army, Zhang Liao, Xu Chu, Gan Ning and others transported baskets of saltpeter, sulfur, charcoal and other things they found into the barracks of the rear army.

Zhang Yan was directing his confidants to mix the explosives in the barracks. After seeing the things brought back by Zhang Liao, Xu Chu, Gan Ning and others, he frowned and asked, "Why is it so small?"

Zhang Liao, Xu Chu, and Gan Ning all had embarrassment on their faces, Xu Chu hesitated and said: "Regent, we have tried our best to find these things, but these things are really hard to find, especially sulfur. I have searched almost all within a hundred miles, and there are only so many I can find."

After Zhang Yan heard this, he fell into deep thought. He ignored the issue of mineral distribution. There is a lot of saltpeter in the northwest, and charcoal can be seen everywhere, but there is very little sulfur.

When he was in Puyang before, Zhang Yan also bought sulfur from merchants, but now that the two armies are fighting, where do you tell him to find merchants?If you send people to Puyang to purchase, it will take many days to go back and forth, and you may not be able to buy it.

This time, Zhang Yan also encountered a difficulty, saltpeter and charcoal were everywhere, but sulfur was pitifully small, he was really a little lamented that a clever woman can't cook without rice.

Zhang Yandao: "I'll give you two more days. If you can't find sulfur within a hundred miles, you should look for it in a wider area, or look for merchants to see if they have such goods for sale. In short, you must find sulfur at all costs." , the more the better!"

"Here!" Zhang Liao, Xu Chu, and Gan Ning responded, and each left their tents. After discussing with each other, the three decided to split up and search for sulfur, while the saltpeter and charcoal were handed over to their subordinates.

Zhang Liao is from Bingzhou. He knows that there are often businessmen from the Western Regions in Mayi, Yanmen. The merchants from the Western Regions always bring some strange things to sell in Mayi. He wants to try his luck and try it in Mayi. Well, let's just treat a dead horse as a living horse doctor. If you come across someone who sells this kind of thing, you will buy them all and bring them back.

For this reason, Zhang Liao expressed his thoughts to Jia Xu, and borrowed a thousand gold from Jia Xu from the treasury. With this thousand gold and five hundred cavalry, he left the three passes of Taiyuan and headed towards Mayi. .

But Xu Chu and Gan Ning stayed in the vicinity of Taiyuan County to search, not letting go of any clues. Whenever they met, they took the sulfur and asked the locals to see if anyone had seen this sulfur and knew where it was sold.

After the three of them split up to act, Zhang Liao went out of the three passes of Taiyuan, which was the avenue of Yimapingchuan, and galloped on his horse, heading straight for Mayi.

Mayi is located outside Yanmen Pass. When Xianbei people came to attack Yanmen Pass, the people in Mayi retreated into Yanmen Pass, and many foreign merchants stayed there.

However, when the Xianbei people came to Yanmen Pass, those merchants were afraid of being implicated by the war, so they led caravans southward one after another, temporarily avoiding chaos in Guangwu County.

And Guangwu County, because of the arrival of these foreign merchants, suddenly became a temporary trading station. The foreign merchants sold rare treasures from the Western Regions to the people in the interior, and purchased pottery, tea, and silk, and prepared to transport them back to the Western Regions. sell.

After a day's long journey, Zhang Liao heard that merchants from the Western Regions had arrived in Guangwu County, so he changed his way to Guangwu County.

However, at this time, Zhang Liao and the others were all dressed in strong attire in order not to attract others' attention. From the outsiders' point of view, they were an unidentified team, but very few people cared about their business.

Zhang Liao came to Guangwu County with five hundred cavalry, but Zhang Liao did not let the five hundred cavalry enter the city, but entered the city alone. In this way, the target was much smaller, and he could fully integrate into the market and concentrate on in search of brimstone.

After he entered the city, he wandered around the market for a long time, seeing that none of the rare treasures peddled by merchants in the Western Regions was what he wanted, but he did not see anyone selling sulfur, so he took the initiative to find a merchant from the Western Regions. The merchant asked, "Do you know where this is sold?"

The merchant from the Western Regions glanced at the sulfur in Zhang Liao's hand and asked, "What do you want this for?"

"It's useful. If you know where it's sold, please tell me, please?" Zhang Liao said politely.

The businessman from the Western Regions said in unproficient Chinese: "How much do you want? How about the price?"

"The price is negotiable. I want as much as you have!" Zhang Liao said straightforwardly.

Seeing that Zhang Liao was very straightforward, the businessman from the Western Regions took out a heavy bag from under the car, opened the bag, put it directly in front of Zhang Liao, and asked, "Are these enough?"

Zhang Liao glanced at it and thought it wasn't too much, so he asked, "Is there any more?"

The merchant from the Western Regions suddenly brightened his eyes and asked, "Let's talk about the price first!"

"Tell me, why sell it?"

The merchant from the Western Regions tentatively asked Zhang Liao, "How about this bag and one piece of gold?"

"Deal!" Zhang Liao did not counter-offer, and directly agreed to the Western Region merchant's asking price, and then asked, "How much do you have?"

The merchant in the Western Regions couldn't restrain his joy. This bag was worth a gold, which was more than what he sold, and he still made a steady profit without losing money.Because these sulfur can be seen everywhere in the Western Regions, and they are simply worthless things.These businessmen basically carry this, because it is easier to ignite and used as a kindling.

Seeing that Zhang Liao's bid was very high, the businessman immediately asked, "Wait, I'll come back as soon as I go, help me look at these goods first!"

Afterwards, the businessman ran out and discussed with the rest of the Western Regions businessmen who came together, saying that they would buy all the sulfur they brought with them for a hundred dollars. He promised to hand over all the sulfur in his hand.

So, the businessman returned to Zhang Liao and said to Zhang Liao, "My name is Babababu, and I can almost bring you three carts of sulfur, and there are more than 500 bags, that is to say, you have to give me more than 500 gold. But this is not a place for trading, after a stick of incense, you wait for me in the grove outside the city, how about we pay with one hand and deliver with the other?"

Zhang Liao agreed to Bababa's request, turned around and left, and waited for Bababa outside the city.

After burning a stick of incense, Bababu took some people and pushed the cart to the grove, and then gave the money to those people, and after sending them away, Bababu made a deal with Zhang Liao. After paying the money and delivering the goods first-hand, Zhang Liao bought the three cars of sulfur smoothly.

Babarab got more than 500 gold, and he was very happy in his heart. He made more money after working for a few years for this purchase.At the same time, Babarab also saw business opportunities and asked, "If you still need these things, just ask me, I still have a lot."

Zhang Liao also considered the difficulty of finding sulfur, so he said to Babarab: "I am a merchant from Chang'an, and my name is Zhang Liao. If you still have these things in the future, you can bring them to Chang'an to find me. How many do you have?" , how much I want."

Babarab was very happy, and immediately said: "It's a deal."

After the two separated, Zhang Liao called his cavalry, and each of them took a bag of sulfur, and quickly returned to the city of Jinyang...

(End of this chapter)