Prancing Horse Xiliang

Chapter 81
After a long and harsh winter, the snow has finally melted away.

The afternoon sun shines on the body, making people feel warm from the heart.

Several envoys sent out also brought back the results one after another.

The team that went to the Lejie Qiang tribe and the Xiaoyue clan exchanged goods for thousands of grains and thousands of sheep.

Xun Yu grimaced and said: "General, a thousand stones of grain and thousands of cattle and sheep are just a drop in the bucket. At most, they can only feed 2 people for half a month. Our army's surplus grain and cattle, sheep and livestock can only last until early April at most. It will take at least three and a half months for the autumn grain to go to the ground. In addition, after many people in Lingju survived the winter, they don’t even have any spring crops. At least [-] shi of grain, or [-] sheep."

"[-] shi of grain, [-] sheep!"

Luo Zheng frowned unconsciously, and asked: "Sister Le Qiang and Xiao Yueshi can come up with [-] shi of grain?"

Li Meng is quite familiar with the Qiang people, so he quickly replied: "General, although the Qiang people also cultivate land, they still mainly herd herds. Moreover, these Qiang people are better at herding sheep and horses than us Han people, so people dare not cultivate land." Compliment. More importantly, most of these Qiang people occupy the mountains to support themselves. They are not registered with the government and cannot be allocated good land. They can only cultivate some mountain land on the mountain. A large tribe of Qiang people with a population of more than 2 like Sister Le can only plant more than 3 mu of mountain land at most. If the harvest is good, they can harvest [-] shi of grain a year, but it is estimated that there is no more than [-] shi of grain."

Xun Yu also nodded and said: "General Li Meng's words are not bad. Yu asked someone to inquire about it, and it is true that Sister Le does not have [-] shi of grain left."

Luo Zheng asked: "What about cattle and sheep, since these Qiang people mainly herd, there should be a lot of cattle, sheep and livestock?"

Xun Yu said: "There are a lot of cattle and sheep. These nomadic tribes have tens of thousands of cattle and sheep. There are still 10,000+ sheep like Sister Le. But Sister Le Qiang and Xiaoyuezhi Nian was often extorted by Liangzhou rebels and warlords, and life was not easy. Cattle, sheep and livestock are the main food of the Qiang people, and they have to breed. They cannot kill too many at a time, otherwise the number of cubs will be affected. With the reaction, life will become more and more difficult."

Luo Zheng said in a deep voice: "Then what should we do, can't we be hungry?"

Xun Yu murmured, "According to those who came back, Sister Le Qiang and Xiao Yueshi didn't want to fight against the general, so they forced out a thousand shi grains and three thousand sheep to trade with us. Why don't Ruoyu send people to go there again?" Let’s see if we can buy more cattle and sheep from Sister Le Qiang and Xiao Yuezhi. When the Qiangs meet for an alliance, we will discuss with the various tribes of the Qiang people to see if we can borrow some fodder.”

Luo Zheng made a 'hmm' sound, and said: "That's the only way, how is the arrangement of the alliance?"

Xun Yu replied: "The arrangement is almost done. The location is set at the White Grass Beach at the northern foot of Longwei Mountain. There is a flat river within a radius of tens of miles, and there will be no surprise attack. It is only [-] miles away from Lingju, which is just right. .”

Luo Zheng nodded, "Where are the Qiang tribes, how many tribes will participate in the alliance?"

Xun Yu said: "Sister Le, Xiaoyue, Qidong, and Dian have all agreed to participate in the alliance, and there are more than a dozen small tribes with populations ranging from hundreds to thousands. Only the largest tribes will come. The Shaodang, Zhongqiang, and Gongtang tribes were very aggressive, and the Zhongqiang tribe even beat out the people sent by Yu. It can be said that they were blatantly resisting the Huqiang Xiaowei's department.

Luo Zheng's eyes are fixed, "Ququ, a tribe of more than ten thousand people, dare to be so presumptuous."

Xun Yu thought for a while, then said: "If the three largest tribes, the Shaodang tribe, the Zhongqiangbe tribe, and the Gongtang tribe, don't come, this alliance will be meaningless. Those small tribes will come to participate in the alliance. Most of them don't want to be the first to be targeted by the Huqiang Captain, but most of them will still take a wait-and-see attitude. If the general has no choice but to burn the three major tribes, those small tribes will definitely not obediently obey the Huqiang Captain Therefore, Yu thought that it would be best for the general to wipe out the Zhongqiang Biezhi who openly provoked the Qiang Xiaowei's department before the alliance, otherwise Wuwei would not be enough to deter the Qiangs."

"That's right, the general, please send troops to conquer the other tribes of Zhong Qiang."

Xu Chu, Zhao Yun, Li Meng, Wang Fang and other generals were very excited and all agreed.

Since returning to Luoyang at the end of August, there has been no battle for half a year. These generals who are used to war have already panicked in their idle hearts. live.

Luo Zhengsen said: "This general also has this meaning."

Xun Yu concentratingly said: "The Zhongqiang Bie tribe is farming and nomadic in the area between Diyuwei and Zhiyang at the northern foot of Gaolan Mountain. It is only two hundred miles away from Lingju, and the cavalry will arrive in one day. It is still half a month away from Huimeng. , should be in time!"

Luo Zheng said fiercely: "What Wen Ruo said is very suitable for me. There are only [-] people in Zhongqiang's other tribes, how many men can there be. Even if women who can ride horses are added, it will not exceed [-]. This general will destroy them Easy as pie."

"General, the last general is willing to be the vanguard."

Wang Fang was the first to jump out and hurriedly invited the baby.

Luo Zheng waved his hand and said: "Wu Xi led [-] Northern Army infantry to stay behind to defend the city. Xu Chu, Zhao Yun, Li Meng, and Wang Fang went out with this general. They all went to gather troops and horses, and asked the soldiers to bring three days of dry food , and leave early tomorrow morning."

"As ordered."

All the generals responded with a bang, all of them excited.

Luo Qi stood up and was about to leave the meeting hall.

Xun Yu hurriedly said again: "General, the Wu family has more than seven hundred people, this grain..."

Luo Zhengdao: "Didn't this general ask you to sell them food at twice the market price?"

Xun Yu smiled wryly and said, "The general doesn't know something. More than [-] people sit on the mountain and eat nothing. No matter how rich the family is, it will be eaten up."

Luo Zheng made a 'huh' sound, touched his chin, and said lightly: "Then there is no way, Liangzhou has been fighting for years, food is the lifeblood, no matter how much money you can buy food, this general is willing to sell food Give it to him, it's already benevolent."

Xun Yu said helplessly, "You can't let the Wu family's seven hundred or so people starve to death, can you?"

Luo Zheng smiled wickedly, and said: "There is a solution, it depends on whether Wu Yi is willing to accept it. If he refuses to contribute to this general, but also asks this general to give him seven hundred mouths, how can there be such a cheap thing in the world. Turn back Tell Wu Yi, you can either exchange five hundred private soldiers for the rations you need, or you can find a way by yourself, this general is not obligated to support so many people for him."

Xun Yu was even more helpless and had no choice but to obey his orders.

I began to wonder in my heart, how to tell Wu Yi about this later.

Zhong Qiang is also known as Zhong Cun Qiang. In the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, after the Han army defeated Xianling Qiang and Shaodang Qiang, some Qiang people were relocated to the Sanfu area. Qiang, thus strengthening the power of Zhong Qiang.

In the first year of Yongchu (107) of Emperor An, Xianling Qiang in Longxi united with tens of thousands of Zhong Qiang and participated in the Qiang people's uprising in Liangzhou. Attached, it can be said to be the most repetitive tribe among the Qiang people.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhong Qiang had become the strongest tribe among the Qiang people after Xianling and Shaodang, with no less than [-] people under their control, and became one of the main counter forces of the Eastern Han court. Qiang is among them.

However, the dominance of the Liangzhou rebels has changed frequently, and it has actually been split several times.

After Geng Bi, the governor of Liangzhou, was killed and Ma Teng joined forces with Han Sui, the rebel army in Liangzhou, which originally had a strength of [-], split again, and most of the Qiang people defected to Ma Teng. The source of the contradiction lies.

After Ma Teng was General Fubo Ma Yuan, Ma Yuan conquered all the tribes of the Western Qiang, and was called General Shenweitian by the Qiang people. Most of the Qiang people, such as Xian Ling and Zhong Qiang, defected to Ma Teng. This is also the main reason why Ma Teng rose rapidly and came from behind, surpassing Han Sui in strength.

The Zhongqiang nomadic in the northern part of Gaolan Mountain moved here from the southern foot of Gaolan Mountain due to the civil strife in the Yongjia period of Emperor Chong.

In the middle of the northern foothills of Gaolan Mountain, there is a hilly plain with a radius of one hundred miles and rich water and grass. The river passes through here, giving birth to this piece of fertile fertile soil. Every summer, the knee-high pastures make the cattle and sheep of the Qiang people want to eat. Burst belly.

Qiang people are used to living in places with higher terrain, and this tradition has not changed.

This village of Zhongqiang Biebu was built on a relatively flat mountainside. Standing ten miles away, you can see a group of rugs and earthen houses at a glance, but the house built by the earthen roof is really not called it. Beautiful and very ugly.

The felt bag is the symbol of the nomads, while the earthen house is the result of the Qiang people learning the farming culture of the Han people.

However, the Qiang people were not fully assimilated by the Han people, so there appeared tribal buildings mixed with felt bags and earthen houses.

After the sun went down, the Zhongqiang people drove their cattle and sheep back to the pen.

After nightfall, an hour later, a group of uninvited guests suddenly came from the dense forest thirty miles northwest of Qiang Village.

(End of this chapter)