Chapter 921 3 directions

Chapter 921 3 directions

Chapter 921 Three Directions
A large army gathered by the Black Water.

The Di chieftain Shan Zhi climbed to the top of the city wall and overlooked the entire area.

On the distant horizon, a mass of black cavalry was coming like a dark cloud.

Behind the "dark cloud", there were large puddles of splashing water.

Countless cavalrymen shuttled through the water and attacked like ghosts, their shining swords and spears flashing a terrifying cold light in the sun.

"How many years have passed." Shan Zhi sighed and said, "Did the Tuoba clan abandon the 'Southern Map' and move westward instead?"

The two counties of Dingxiang and Wuyuan in the Han Dynasty were the "places where the dragon rose" after the Tuoba Xianbei migrated westward, but for decades they had always looked down on their poor brothers in Henan, and instead tried their best to operate in the direction of Pingcheng.

Now it seems that the strategy has been changed, which is not a good thing for the countless Xianbei, Xiongnu, Jie, Di, Qiang and even various tribes in Henan who cannot even figure out their own ethnicity and bloodline.

"Grandpa." Shan Liang, the son of Shan Zhi, quickly climbed up to the top of the city wall and said, "Isn't this Xianbei?"

"Why do you say that?" Shan Zhi asked.

"Even though the Xianbei had flags in the past, there were no words on them." Shan Liang said, "Their old custom was to carve wood as letters, just like the Wuhuan, and they had no words on them. Look at that flag in the distance, there's actually a huge 'Liu' written on it. Are they fake Xianbei people?"

Shan Zhi laughed and said, "After so many years, you should have made some progress."

"It's better to die than to make this progress." Shan Liang pointed at the Xianbei cavalrymen who were crossing the fields without hesitation in the distance and said, "The millet fields will be harvested in two months, but now they have been trampled clean by them."

"Don't be afraid, there is still some food in the city." Shan Zhi said, "If it really doesn't work, go to the mountains and ask your uncle to borrow some. We can always get through this."

The so-called "mountain" was uniformly marked as "horizontal mountain" according to Shao Xun's habit in the map distributed to the Xianbei tribes heading south. In fact, it was the east-west hills that stretched between the Guanzhong Plain and the Hetao Plain.

There are many plains in the mountains, with rivers, springs and lush vegetation, so many Di and Qiang people live there.

Shan Zhi and his son Shan Liang can no longer remember when their ancestors came here, because they were illiterate at that time and many things were passed down orally, which would become distorted over time.

The earliest time people began to hire someone to teach them how to read and write was no more than three generations ago.

According to the most credible theory, they came here during the Later Han Dynasty, and first farmed and grazed in the mountains. Over time, the population increased, and there was not enough land, so they moved down the mountain.

But it did not go to Guanzhong at the southern foot of the mountain, but to the southern edge of Henan at the northern foot of the mountain.

In fact, until now, the Di Qiang are mainly distributed in the southern edge of Henan and the mountains on the east side near the Yellow River.

These places are crisscrossed with rivers and have more rain, which is conducive to farming, so they are very popular among the Di and Qiang people.

As the most powerful family among the Di people in Shangjun, the Shan family once had its glorious moments.

Shan Zheng married her daughter to Liu Yuanhai, and after Empress Huyan passed away, she was canonized as Empress Shan.

At that time, the Di people were in high spirits, thinking that they had finally gained entry and their status had been improved - since the Jin people did not accept them, they would surrender to the Xiongnu.

At that time, Empress Shan was in the palace, Liu Yi, who had Di blood, was the crown prince, and Shan Zheng was the General Zhenxi. Not only were the Di and Qiang in Shangjun ecstatic, but the Di and Qiang in Fengyi to the south were also extremely happy.

Shan Zheng worked very hard. He fought for the Huns many times and even faced off against the brutal Shao bandits.

But unexpectedly, the Huns also tricked them!

Shan Zheng died of depression and kept saying that he regretted his decision before his death. Shan Zhi was present at the time and sighed for a long time.

They are all old maids!

They want us Di Qiang to fight for them, but they also despise and even suppress us, and they don't keep their words. Is there such a good thing in the world?
Some losses are enough to be suffered once.

"Swoosh!" Just as I was daydreaming, a feather arrow shot onto the top of the city wall.

The Di people were shocked at first, then became furious and started cursing.

Someone took out a bow and shot an arrow.

But he had no intention of hurting anyone, and the arrow landed in front of the horse, startling the knight.

After coming to his senses, he immediately started cursing in Xianbei language.

The people on the city wall cursed in Di language - a unique language that is a mixture of Qiang and Chinese, somewhat similar to the Qiang dialect.

Both sides spoke different languages, and after cursing at each other, they both felt better.

After a while, another man stepped forward and said loudly in Jin dialect: "I am a military officer of the Dugu tribe under the command of the Great Chanyu. I have been chasing the Xiongnu here. If you can offer us food and fodder, you can keep us safe. Otherwise, we will kill everyone."

"What Great Khan? The Great Khan of the Xiongnu? What Dugu tribe? I have only heard of the Tiele Xiongnu." Shan Liang responded loudly.

From what he said in reply, it can be seen that the young man knew everything and was just deliberately offending others.

As expected, the knight was a little furious and said, "I am the cavalry commander under the command of Liu Gonglu, the general of Dai State, who guards the east. Please send food and fodder to reward the troops as soon as possible. Otherwise, disaster will befall us."

"Why didn't you speak human language earlier?" Shan Liang laughed and said, "Do you want food?"

He was halfway through his words when he was stopped by Shan Zhi.

He took two steps forward and said in a loud voice: "There are only 10,000 hu of millet, and this is given because of your fight against the Huns. Is there any more? If you are not satisfied, then let's fight." Behind the city gate, thousands of Di people with disheveled hair were leading their horses, ready to advance at any time.

They really intend to fight to the death.

Upon hearing this, the knight turned his horse and left.

The Xianbei were still marching. While they were talking, two or three thousand cavalrymen had already bypassed the city and crossed the Black Water Shoal. The Black Water is now the Nalin River (the river course is different in ancient and modern times, and it was biased to the west in ancient times). It was called Black Water at that time, and was renamed Wushui in the Northern Zhou Dynasty to avoid the taboo of "Black Otter".

The place where Shan father and son lived was Sheyan County, which was located north of Sheyan River and southwest of Heishui River.

At that time, Sheyan City was unknown, but when Helian Bobo rose to power, he took a fancy to this piece of land: "This land is beautiful, facing the vast lake and surrounded by clear streams. I have traveled to many places, but none as beautiful as this one."

So Tongwan City was built here.

The environment of Tongwan City is very advantageous. It is surrounded by mountains and rivers, with abundant water and grass nearby and large lakes and wetlands. Hu Xia reclaimed fertile fields and built orchards here, and it flourished for a time.

The Black Water itself originated from the Mu Us Desert in later generations, but there was no desert at that time. Instead, there were large tracts of forests, grasslands, rivers and lakes.

The drastic changes between ancient and modern times are really shocking and make people sigh.

Shan and his son actually liked this land very much and did not want it to be taken away by outsiders, but the large-scale southward advance of the Xianbei cavalry made them extremely anxious.

The most important question now is: Why did the Xianbei go south to fight the Xiongnu?

The father and son looked at each other, still puzzled.

It was at this time that the knight came back. This time he was a little bolder, and he came closer and spoke louder: "Liu Can has been defeated in Hedong, and his life or death is unknown. Chang'an is leaderless, and the Xiongnu may not last long. Lord Liu orders you to hand over 30,000 hu of grain, 50,000 cattle and sheep, and send several guides to lead the way through Wuyankou."

Shan Zhi and his son Shan Liang were shocked. Is this true?

It sounds fake, but looking at the other party's confident look, it seems to be true.

Moreover, they requested to send a guide to lead the way through Wuyankou, which obviously showed that they wanted to enter the heart of Guanzhong. If Liu Can had not been defeated, would it have been so necessary?
As for Wuyankou, it is a pass on the Qin Great Wall, through which one can easily go south to Beidi County, which is more than a hundred miles away from Sheyan City.

Two days ago, some Xianbei cavalry marched south. The number was not large, probably around a thousand or so.

If nothing unexpected happened, they were the vanguard, and they were not very familiar with the geography. After wandering around in the mountains for a long time, they still couldn't find the correct way to the south.

When the news reached Liu Lugu, he came to Sheyan County specifically in search of a guide.

After reasoning like this, Shan Zhi understood a little bit. Thinking of the Hun cavalry who fled in a panic through the west of the city some time ago, he felt heavy in his heart.

The world is about to change!
Shan Liang looked at his father, silently waiting for his decision.

Shan Zhi didn't let his son wait too long.

He quickly made a decision: "There are many Xianbei cavalry. If they spread out, they will find pastures in a few days, and the cattle and sheep will not be able to hide. In this case, it is better to do them a favor to prevent them from looting and taking away all the livestock."

Shan Liang did not refute.

Is it easy to find cattle and sheep? Not easy, but not that difficult either.

As long as you calm down, carefully observe the direction of the surrounding rivers and the growth of aquatic plants, and spend some time, you can always find it almost right. It just depends on whether others are willing to spend the effort.

"We can afford 30,000 hu of grain." Shan Zhi continued, "We don't have many horses or livestock, so just give them to him. As for the guide, let Shan Xiang go. He often travels between Chang'an and Sheyan, so he is very familiar with the route."

Shan Liang was stunned for a moment, then said, "Okay."

"What are you standing there for?" Shan Zhi saw that his son didn't move, so he urged him, "Hang a few people down and talk to the Xianbei people. The city should be on guard as before, and no one should slack off."

"Grandpa, you are going to rebel..." Shan Liang said subconsciously.

Shan Zhi was amused by his son's words and said, "Rebellion is fine, so what? I have long wanted to seek revenge on the Xiongnu. Liu Cong is dead, and Liu Can is still alive, so I will kill all his family members to vent my hatred."

……

Liu Lugu's troops soon received food and cattle and sheep replenishment, but they did not leave. Instead, they stopped in the area of ​​Sheyan River and Heishui River.

Two days later, another group of people came from the north. There were about three to four thousand of them. They were covered in dust and looked exhausted.

If there is anyone here who knows him, they will know that this person is Liu Wuhuan, the cousin of Liu Lugu and the son of Liu Hu, the leader of the Tiele Huns who once fled far to the north of Yinshan Mountain.

For some reason, Liu Wuhuan loved this land very much and wanted to persuade his father to lead the people south to develop based on Sheyan County.

However, he did not stay here for too long. Just one day later, Liu Wuhuan led more than 5,000 cavalrymen - including 2,000 Xianbei cavalrymen assigned to him by his uncle - westward.

Not south, but west.

The purpose was very clear, to find a breakthrough from the west, cross Hengshan, and break into Anding County.

To their east, more than 10,000 cavalry led by Qiu Dun were also moving south along the mountains, rivers and valleys towards Fengyi.

Anding, Beidi, Fengyi, three directions of advancement at the same time, if Liu Han was the real Han, this would be a large-scale Hun invasion.

(End of this chapter)