Prancing Horse Xiliang

Chapter 344 Two years at most

Chapter 340

The first month of the sixth year of Jian'an.

While implementing reforms, Luo Zheng ordered the closure of thousands of households to govern Mobei, and gradually strengthened the control of Mobei grasslands.He also ordered to set up a large camp in Shuozhou to raise [-] soldiers.One is to guard the Hetao, and the other is to open up wasteland and cultivate fields.

In February, Luo Zheng wanted to assassinate, so Chang'an closed the door for three days to investigate suspicious persons.

In March, Xun Yu wanted to assassinate, but luckily the city guards patrolling nearby arrived in time to kill the assassin.

Luo Zheng was furious and ordered to close the four gates of Chang'an for strict investigation. Anyone with unknown origins and no way to lead them would be demoted as slaves and sent to the slave camp, and the family members would be demoted as slaves regardless of the reason.All the people who entered Chang'an had to go to the county government to issue a guide, and the counties under Chang'an were issued a guide by the county-level government. Whoever led the way to the assassin would be held accountable.

If the circumstances are serious, the nine generations will be demoted to slavery.

Those who cause the death of an important person will punish the nine clans, dig up their ancestral graves and flog their corpses.

After the decree was issued, all local counties and counties quickly tracked down the people whose origins were unknown.

Luo Zhengfu also ordered to select innocent, loyal and reliable soldiers from all over the army, and set up a thousand-man guard battalion, which was managed by Xu Chu, the commander of the wolf cavalry, and was responsible for the personal and family members of his confidant advisers such as Jia Xu, Xun Yu, and Fa Zheng. safety.

Then order the general in charge of the army to strengthen the defense, so as not to be taken advantage of by the assassins.

At the same time, Cao Cao and his confidants, civil and military, were also assassinated to varying degrees.

Cao Cao was assassinated three times within one month, and Xu Chang was also under investigation.

At the end of March, Tang Fa, Yan Qiang and other ministries invaded the Cizhiheshou area, and the eight hundred li Qiang Plain was in a hurry.

Yan Xing, the general of Luo Zhengjue, led three thousand fine cavalry to the west of the Qiang Plain, and more than three million cavalry from households crossed the south of the river, defeated the Tang Fa, Yan Qiang and other tribes at the Chala Pass, and took advantage of the situation to march into the southern Qiang area. Uninhabited, unable to supply and retreat.

In July, the Montenegrin Army went out to Taihang again to plunder.

Yuan Shaona's army division, Tian Feng, set up an ambush north of Fangshan, forcing the Black Mountain Army to Fangshan, and guarding the main road. The 30 Black Mountain Army only held on for less than half a month, and had to surrender to Yuan Shao due to lack of food.

Yuan Shao then collected all his troops and selected [-] strong men to form the Black Mountain Army. The old, weak, women and children were resettled on the spot, and their strength increased greatly for a while.

The Black Mountain army was about to fall, and there was no other force in Hebei to challenge Yuan Shao. Satisfied, Yuan Shao took a short break and immediately mobilized his army to enter Qingzhou. After receiving the news, Cao Cao hurriedly deployed.

At the end of July, after the autumn grain came to the ground, Cao Cao personally led an army of [-] to go south to Wancheng, and Jingzhou was in a hurry.

Sun Ce was still attacking the four counties in Jingnan. Liu Bei took away [-] soldiers and horses. Although he temporarily repelled Sun Ce, he failed to drive Sun Ce out of Jingzhou in one fell swoop. He was in a stalemate with Sun Ce in Baling. Now Cao Cao personally proposed an army to attack , is tantamount to making matters worse.

What's more terrible is that there are less than [-] soldiers left in Jingzhou to fight.

After Liu Biao, king of Chu, urgently summoned his confidantes for civil and military discussions, he personally raised an army of [-] to go north to Wancheng to meet the enemy.

In August, on his way back to his division, Yan Xing led [-] Xiliang cavalry to attack and capture Guangrou, an important town in the west of Shu County, from Mianhu Road. They bypassed Yulei Mountain and made a long-distance attack of more than [-] miles within two days, and suddenly killed Chengdu. , wanting to attack Chengdu in one fell swoop and seize Yizhou.

Unexpectedly, when he was about to enter the city, he was stopped by Ma Chao who was going out to return to the city.

The defenders in Chengdu quickly closed the four doors, and then the shocking sound of war drums rose into the sky. Chengdu has not suffered from war disasters for more than ten years, and people have become accustomed to peaceful and prosperous times.

After Shu Wang Liu Zhang received the news, he fell back in shock.

Yan Xing and Ma Chao fought for more than [-] times, and gradually felt that they could not support, so they ordered the army to charge. Ma Chao had only a few hundred riders, and he did not dare to fight. Under the support of the Chengdu defenders, he killed the Xiliang cavalry and returned to the city.

Not long after, Liu Zhang, accompanied by his confidantes, civil and military, felt the West Gate of Chengdu. It happened that the Xiliang cavalry was shouting and shouting, clamoring for the defenders in the city to rush to surrender.

When Yoyo woke up, the three thousand Xiliang cavalry had retreated.

Yan Xing's army all marched lightly, without any food, fodder and supplies. Seeing that there was no hope of attacking Chengdu, they could only retreat decisively.

Otherwise, if they are trapped in Yizhou, it will be difficult to retreat smoothly after the Yizhou army arrives to encircle them.

The surprise attack of the Xiliang army was so sudden that no one expected it beforehand. It was purely Yan Xing's impromptu attack, and after defeating Guangrou, he rushed to Chengdu non-stop, which caught Liu Zhang by surprise.

If Ma Chao hadn't happened to be out hunting and returned to the city, Yizhou might have changed hands.

After Ma Chao took refuge with Liu Zhang, he was squeezed out by the Xichuan gentry.

Liu Zhang was grateful for his achievements, so he gave Ma Chao [-] soldiers and horses to guard Guangrou to prevent the Xiliang army from attacking again.

Ma Chao was overjoyed, and secretly thought that with soldiers and horses, he finally had a chance to take revenge.

Chang'an, General Pingdi's Mansion.

Luo Zhengzheng was discussing with Jia Xu and Xun Yu.

Cheng Ying hurried in, cupped his hands and said, "Master, General Yan Xing has arrived at Wudu."

Luo Zheng said 'Oh' and asked: "What was the result, has the southern Qiang area been wiped out?"

Cheng Yingdao: "Because the front line in the south of Qiang is too long, there are often hundreds of miles of uninhabited people, and our army has difficulty in supplying supplies. General Yan Xing has no choice but to retreat from the south of Qiang. However, Tang Fa, Yan Qiang and others have been defeated. We are no longer able to attack. Moreover, on the way back to the division, General Yan Xing led [-] cavalry to defeat Guangrou from Mianhu Road, and rushed hundreds of miles to surprise Chengdu, almost defeating Chengdu."

Luo Zheng's eyes narrowed, "Did Yan Xing lead his army to attack Chengdu?"

Jia Xu and Xun Yu were also surprised.

Cheng Ying said: "Exactly, Liu Zhang was unprepared. General Yan Xing suddenly led his troops to Chengdu. Now the city is about to be destroyed. Unexpectedly, Ma Chao just returned to the city when he was out hunting. He blocked General Yan Xing for a while, and the Chengdu defenders have already reacted. Listen. It is said that Liu Zhang was so frightened that he fainted when he climbed on the top of the city, if it wasn't for Ma Chao, the fertile fields of Xichuan thousands of miles would probably belong to the lord."

Luo Zhengjie said: "Unfortunately, Yan Xing still failed to defeat Chengdu in one fell swoop and capture Liu Zhang alive."

Jia Xu also said with regret: "Xichuan is thousands of miles away, rich in people and rich in people, and has never suffered from military disasters. In recent years, the Central Plains and Guanliang have been constantly fighting, and a large number of people have flooded into Xichuan. The population of Yizhou has The population under the lord's rule has doubled, but it's a pity that General Yan Xing failed to defeat Chengdu in one fell swoop, otherwise, if Xichuan is occupied, the lord will be second in five parts of the world, and great achievements can be expected!"

Luo Zhengdao: "How many people does Xichuan have?"

Xun Yu replied, "No less than 600 million."

"so much!"

Luo Zheng was taken aback, which is indeed a bit surprising.

You must know that today's princes in the world, in terms of the vastness of their territory, he is the number one. Guanzhong, Liangzhou, plus the eight hundred miles of Qiangyuan and Mobei Prairie, the territory is no longer as wide as when the Han Dynasty was strong.

The only shortcoming is the lack of population.

Don't forget Mobei and Qiangyuan, even in Guanzhong and Liangzhou, there are many places that are deserted.

In the past few years, apart from plundering foreign races, Luo Zheng has basically not expanded externally, and his rule has never suffered from military disasters. He has been sparing no effort to plunder the population, or trying to attract people from all over the world to settle in Guanzhong.

Although the population has doubled, the population under the rule is still less than 300 million.

Xichuan is only a state, but there are no less than 600 million people, which is more than twice that of Luo Zheng's rule.

Insufficient population, the size of the army will be limited.

Luo Zheng is not short of food now, even if he raises hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, he can't afford it.But so far, all the soldiers and horses under his command add up to no more than [-] to [-], which has reached the limit and can no longer expand the army.

The main reason is that after a large number of young adults join the army, agricultural production and handicraft production will inevitably be affected.

In addition, when the army went out to fight, civilians had to be recruited to transport food and supplies, repair road defenses after the heavy rain, etc. If a large number of slaves of foreign races were not captured to serve as labor servitude, the people under the rule would suffer unbearably if they only served labor servitude every year.

The Xiliang army has secret operations in various places. Judging from the news sent back one by one, after Yuan Shao pacified Youzhou, there was also a population of 800 to [-] under his rule. If Bingzhou and Qingzhou were added, the population of Hebei would be more than [-] million.

Under Cao Cao's rule, there are Yan, Yu, and Xu prefectures, plus Huainan and Lujiang counties in Yangzhou. However, the Central Plains has been in constant war and chaos over the years, and the population loss has been serious. The maximum population under Cao Cao's rule is 700 million, which is not as large as that under Yuan Shao's rule.

If it weren't for the Yellow Turban Uprising in the first year of Zhongping, the Central Plains has been in constant war for more than ten years, but the population of Yanzhou and Henan prefectures is more than 1000 million, plus Xuzhou, Huainan, and Lujiang counties, the population may be nearly 2000 million .

Except for Sun Jian, Sun Ce and his sons invading the four counties in southern Jingzhou in recent years, Jingzhou has not had any major wars, and its population is also quite large, but at most it is only five or six million, which will not be more than Yizhou. No wonder Liu Bei can occupy Yizhou and become king , with a mere state, has contended with Cao Wei who unified most of China for decades, and his feelings are supported by a huge population base.

Thinking deeper, Yizhou has become a piece of fat now.

Whoever can eat this piece of fat will immediately increase in strength and become the most powerful prince in the world.

Jingzhou didn't give in too much, but Nanyang has a population of one million. It's no wonder that Sun Jian, Sun Ce and his son wanted to take advantage of the chaos in the north to plot Jingzhou, and Cao Cao couldn't help but attack Nanyang.

Luo Zheng turned his thoughts for a while, and asked in a deep voice: "Can you take Xichuan before Yuan Shao goes south?"

Jia Xu pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "It's difficult. Xichuan is easy to defend and difficult to attack. There are no less than a hundred thousand soldiers. Although the new army has been reorganized for a year, it has not yet formed an army. If you want to attack by force, it is basically impossible to take down Xichuan."

Xun Yu also said: "Yuan Shao has already rushed to Qingzhou. Within two years at most, he will unify Hebei and send troops south to the Central Plains. There is not much time left for our army. If we use troops against Qingzhou at this time, we can no longer take into account The battle in the Central Plains. At that time, no matter whether Yuan Shao defeated Cao Cao and took control of the Central Plains, or Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao and took control of Hebei, our army will never even think about going east to the Central Plains.”

Luo Zheng sighed and said: "Forget it, let's let it go!"

At this moment, Fazheng suddenly rushed in with a happy face.

(End of this chapter)