Chapter 841 Take the initiative

Chapter 841 Take the initiative

Chapter 841 Take the initiative
Pu Gulu's avoidance of the question is actually an attitude.

That afternoon, after hearing that the Uluolan tribe had turned against their allies and surrendered to Tuoba Yihuai, defeating Tuoba Hena, Pugulu quickly left the city and surrendered.

By this point, among the ten Tuoba clans, Changsun (Baba) and Pu had already come to surrender. The latter's people also came down from the mountainous area north of Mayi and were temporarily settled near Mayi to graze.

The population that Shi Yijian can control has exceeded 100,000, which is not small.

But if we look closely at this regime, it would be more accurate to say it was the Wuhuan rather than the Xianbei, as they accounted for 60% of the more than 100,000 people.

Considering that we will have to recruit surrenders and rebellions in the vicinity of Xinping in the future, the proportion of Wuhuan will increase further.

Back then, Kuxian and Tuoba Liwei almost became brothers, and the status of the Wuhuan people seemed to be improving rapidly. This was a good thing for the Guangning royal family, and for Tuoba Shiyijian, it was a good thing temporarily, but in the long run, he would have to face the problem of integrating the Xianbei and Wuhuan, which would depend on his ability.

The most important thing is whether others give him a chance.

Wang Que'er fought very steadily and was very thoughtful. After receiving the news of Pugulü's surrender, he immediately ordered all the defenders to march out and line up in the east of the city. Then he put his weapons in another direction and entered the barracks vacated by the Huangtou Army empty-handed.

Five thousand yellow-headed soldiers were sent to Xinping to garrison. In this way, the surrendered soldiers were detained in the barracks with nothing, and their families were held as hostages in the city. After careful screening and interrogation, they would be disbanded and no longer be part of the army.

At the same time, the work of recruiting surrenders and traitors continued, and this matter was mainly handled by the increasingly large Shiyijian Group - no one else could do this job.

Wang Que'er did not continue to move north.

His first priority now was to stabilize Xinping as a forward base and wait for food, military supplies, equipment, cattle and sheep to arrive. When fighting deep into enemy territory, or as a mixed infantry and cavalry team, the rear route was more important than anything else.

After the military supervisor Yu Ze wrote the victory report and sent someone to send it back, he climbed the city wall with great interest and almost wrote a poem. However, he had been farming and practicing martial arts with his father in the mountains since he was a child, and his mother taught him about literature. His level was average, so he did not dare to make a fool of himself.

There was also a large army outside the city heading north overnight.

Needless to say, that was the poor "Liang Auxiliary Army" that went north to investigate the enemy situation.

Cavalry officer Yin Xi had just been surrounded by enemy forces south of Pingcheng and had lost a lot of men and horses. He had now headed south to Mayi for rest and recuperation - Mayi was closer to their starting point, and could also intimidate the local tyrants and tribal leaders who had just surrendered.

"Pingcheng is a hundred miles to the north. How does Governor Wang plan to fight?" asked Yu Ze.

Wang Que'er looked at the mountains, rivers and valleys and said only one sentence: "Face them with a magnificent formation."

This is to gather the main forces of infantry and cavalry, without concealment or covering up, and push forward all the way.

More than ten years ago, his Master Shao did just that, killing his way from Yiyang to Luoyang, treating the Huns as nothing.

Now he has the confidence to repeat Master Shao’s feat.

"I heard that Qi's mother and son are about to arrive in Pingcheng, and the vanguard has even returned and stationed at Baidengtai." Yu Ze said.

"How did the military inspector know?" Wang Que'er asked curiously.

His scouts had not yet sent back the news, but Yu Ze knew about it, which made him feel a little strange.

"I just met a powerful man who fled south from Pingcheng. He told me something, but I don't know whether it's true or not." Yu Ze finally got his revenge and felt secretly happy.

"It's probably true." Wang Que'er said after a moment of silence.

Nowadays, there is a lot of information going on. When you are in a situation, everyone can only see a tiny part of it, and the information you get may even be contradictory. This is when you need to be able to distinguish.

Baideng Terrace is seven miles east of Pingcheng, located on a plateau high above the ground with a wide view.

It appeared during the Later Han Dynasty and was repaired by the Xianbei people. There are dozens of buildings of different sizes, with a tower on the platform, from which one can climb up and overlook the surrounding mountains, rivers and valleys.

There is a mountain in Tainan called "Baideng Mountain", which is very famous.

Wang Que'er knew about Baideng Mountain climbing, and her originally calm heart gradually became hot.

Perhaps King Liang had the same idea as him?

Setting up camp on the top of Baideng Mountain and defeating the Xianbei is what a real man should do.

******
It was the 23rd when Shao Xun arrived at the newly built earthen city on the south bank of the Sanggan River.

On the same evening, Zhang Bin placed a number of military reports on the desk, carefully examining and studying them.

Shao Xun also often does this kind of thing, but he feels that he is not as good as Wang Huifeng.

She is best at integrating various contradictory and unrelated intelligence, carefully considering them, eliminating fallacies, and then coming up with the most likely conclusion.

After more than twenty years of training, my business skills have reached perfection.

Zhang Bin was accompanied by several assistants who were also doing the work of collecting and organizing the materials. They did not move around at all except to go to the toilet the whole afternoon.

"Qi is indeed back." Shao Xun drew a line on the map.

Combining information from all aspects, the full picture has been pieced together.

After defeating Chen Yougen's troops several times, the mother and son of the Qi family left Da Xi to cover their retreat, while they led the main force of tens of thousands of cavalry back east, passing through the Sanggan River Valley.

After arriving near Pingcheng, they did not rush south to Xinping, but instead stabilized the hearts of the people in Pingcheng.

Yes, for them, the most important thing now is people's hearts.

The Hegu, Ulolan and other tribes defected to Tuoba Yihuai one after another. The Pu tribe and a large number of Wuhuan people welcomed Tuoba Shiyijian. Once the news spread, it would definitely affect the inclinations of a large number of people.

It is said that the Che Kun tribe, which had been wavering for a long time, has made up its mind and officially joined Tuoba Yihuai. This is a good example.

From a global perspective, Tuoba Hena had just suffered a great defeat on the grassland north of Yinshan Mountain, and Yanmen, Xinping and other places in the south fell one after another. Qi mother and son were faced with the dilemma of being attacked from both the north and the south. If people's hearts became unstable and turbulent, they would really admit defeat and be eliminated.

Shao Xun put himself in their shoes and felt that they only had two choices at this point.

One is to fight in Pingcheng, hoping for a miracle to happen and defeat the enemy forces from the north and south in one fell swoop, which may even include Chen Yougen's troops chasing from the east.

The second option is to go east again, return to the eastern region where its influence is stronger, abandon Pingcheng, and quietly wait for the opportunity.

But in the end they are unwilling to give up, so there is nothing to say.

"Your Majesty, you need to pay attention to Helan Aitou. He is also recruiting rebels and has achieved remarkable results." Zhang Bin reminded: "There are one of the ten Tuoba clans (Hegu), two major clans (Ulolan and Xubu), and more than ten small tribes. The power of the Qi family has been greatly weakened, and the people are in a panic, which is hard to describe."

At this point, Zhang Bin took out a military report and said, "Chang Sun Rui mentioned that a tribal leader had a quarrel with the Qi mother and son, and did not follow them to Pingcheng, but went directly to Dongmugen Mountain. Those who followed them to Pingcheng may not be of the same mind, and may just be obeying orders reluctantly. The chances of this victory are very high, but the king must not take it lightly. Now you should focus on Aitou and Yihuai uncle and nephew." Shao Xun tapped the table with his index finger, thinking silently.

After a moment, he waved his hand and said, "Ziliang, draft the military order immediately."

Secretary General Lu Chen picked up the brush and dipped it in ink.

"Tell Chen Yougen and Wang Feng to select soldiers and head north to Dongmugen Mountain." Shao Xun said, "It doesn't matter if we can't take it down, just show up there. At this time when people's hearts are turbulent, I don't believe they don't have any ideas. Using fighting to force surrender is the right way."

Lu Chen finished writing quickly, and after the ink had dried slightly, he sent it to Shao Xun's desk.

Shao Xun took a look and nodded, "Send immediately."

The clerk responded, took the order, sealed it carefully, put it in a wooden box, and handed it to the messenger.

Being a messenger is a very dangerous job.

Not to mention the hardships they endure, the most important thing is that they are extremely valuable and are often killed on the road. Even some fortress owners and manor owners would capture lone people as slaves, and messengers were one of them. They often traveled in groups of two or three, each with multiple horses, and were a walking treasure trove. Once they succeeded, they would become rich.

As for the risk? Bullshit risk! In the middle of nowhere, who knows who did it.

Shao Xun has been trying to find a way to rebuild the post station system in order to reduce the risks for messengers and give them a place to stay along the way so that they don't have to sleep in the wild.

As for the possibility that the documents carried by the messenger may leak secrets, there is currently only a crude solution, which is to centrally produce a batch of books with the same format and more words and distribute them, using numbers to correspond to certain pages, columns, and words. However, this method is too inefficient and difficult to promote, so it is rarely used.

Zhang Bin withdrew his gaze from the messenger's back and looked at the pile of official letters in front of him.

The things to deal with after a war are no less than the war itself.

He looked at the three words "Shi Yi Jian" on the official letter, as if thinking about something.

******
On the banks of the Sanggan River, Shi Yijian was surrounded by dozens of young men.

At the age of five, he knew very little, but he already vaguely knew that these new "little friends" were all children of tribal nobles.

They came to play with him and were also responsible for protecting him.

When they grow up, they will be his “right-hand men and left-hand men” - these are the mother’s exact words.

Shi Yijian still couldn't quite understand the deep meaning of this sentence. He just vaguely realized that with this group of peers around, he would not suffer any loss even if he fought with others.

It was indeed a great gift from his mother!
In a military tent by the river, Shao Xun opened the curtain and stared at the group of children quietly.

Ho! Riding sheep in the morning and wrestling in the afternoon, are you trying to go to heaven?
Can't I, the bravest warrior in Dajin, defeat you bunch of wrestling teenagers?
"I underestimated you." Shao Xun lowered the curtain and sat back behind the desk.

Wang's hand, which was holding the snack, trembled.

This sentence has been heard more and more frequently recently, and Wang keenly smelled a hint of danger.

"But I can't bear to leave you." Shao Xun stroked Wang's face and gently moved his hand down to her chest, saying, "I can't bear to leave these..."

Wang cried out softly, her cheeks flushed and she looked a little frightened.

"If I capture Pingcheng, what do you think I should do?" Shao Xun's hand moved behind Wang's back, reached into her skirt, and moved slowly.

"Your Majesty is a man of great talent and vision, and you must have the ambition to swallow up the universe." Wang did not dare to hide, and said with a slight tremor: "There are many Wuhuan and Xianbei in the north of Xing. Their customs are very different, and their hearts are hesitant. They are like unruly wild horses. If they are suddenly reined in, it may cause chaos. It is better... um..."

"In the past half month, you have become more and more confident." Shao Xun said with a smile.

This is how people are. Once they have strength and value, their self-confidence will gradually grow.

Wang was no longer the woman with fear in her eyes during the first month of the year.

She did make a contribution in this battle, and it was a considerable one. After all, the political battle was mainly fought by them, mother and son.

Shao Xun carefully observed Wang's expression.

According to common sense, with this merit, this confidence, and this united front value, Wang should pursue a higher status and will become increasingly unable to tolerate the current relatively humiliating situation.

But Shao Xun didn't see it from her expression, and he didn't know whether she really didn't have it or she was hiding it.

"I...I am also here to assist the king in his great cause." Wang lowered her head, revealing the round curve of her skirt which trembled slightly.

Shao Xun withdrew his gaze and his hand. After a long while, he said, "Follow me north to Pingcheng in three days to fight Tuoba Yihuai for the man."

"Kidnap someone?" Wang raised her head and was about to ask who they were robbing, when she suddenly understood.

"What a smart woman." Shao Xun praised, stood up and lifted the curtain.

Shi Yijian was watching a wrestling performance not far away. When he saw Shao Xun, he did not greet him but kept staring at him.

Wang's face turned pale, she stumbled to her feet, and scolded, "Shi Yijian, why don't you come over to pay your respects? You are in this situation all thanks to your father. From now on, you must come to visit me every morning and evening, and don't miss it."

Shi Yijian had never seen his mother so stern before. After a moment of silence, he walked over, bowed and said, "Father."

Shao Xun put his hands behind his back and said, "I built Jianye by gathering young people. Shi Yijian has mastered the essence of it. Not bad."

After saying that, he left with a smile.

Wang sighed softly, and after standing in silence for a moment, she asked someone to call Wang Chang over and said, "I want to appoint Su Zhongyi as the assistant prime minister. What do you think?"

"Su Zhongyi?" Wang Chang was stunned.

"I heard King Liang mention him before. He is also a Wuhuan, the son of Su Shuyan, the chief of Liang's Protectorate of Barbarians." Wang briefly explained, "He has few followers. Perhaps we can give him some captives to increase his population, and then invite him to serve as an official in the court."

"This is rather troublesome and seems unnecessary," said Wang Chang.

Wang shook her head and insisted, "I can't say why, but I just think it's better to take the initiative if you want to do this. Go pick the people, and be quick."

"Yes." Wang Chang agreed.

When he was leaving, he felt a little heavy in his heart.

(End of this chapter)