Chapter 958 Strategy

Chapter 958 Strategy

Chapter 958 Strategy
The envoy left Liangzhou that day. After leaving the city, with the introduction of Yan Ding, he came to a small fortress called Guojiawu located at the junction of Wuwei and Wuxing counties. Wuxing County was established by Zhang Gui after he settled in Liangzhou. It was used to settle the refugees from Qin and Yong. It was located northwest of Guzang.

The owner of the castle is named Yin Han, and he is the son-in-law of the previous owner of the castle.

His wife, Guo Fugui, looks really wealthy. She has arms strong enough to run a horse and a face full of fat, making her stronger than the average man.

He can wear armor, ride a horse, and shoot arrows, and he is extremely powerful.

Therefore, after discussing with the servants sent by Yan Ding, Yin Han decided to let Guo Fugui stay at home, and he would select a hundred riders to escort the envoy to Qinzhou.

They took the southern route, going south through the passage in Yanzhi Mountain to Jincheng County.

To the southwest of this county is Jinxing County, which was established by Zhang Gui after he settled in Liangzhou. It is roughly located in the area of ​​Minhe, Qinghai today. It is basically inhabited by Di, Qiang and Xianbei people, and is actually a vassal county.

Going south from Jincheng County can reach Longxi County.

As a messenger, Xun Xu was observing along the way.

Wuwei was fine, but after entering Jincheng (now Yuzhong), the Di and Qiang people suddenly increased in number, and there were even many Jie people and Western Dingling tribes who came from far away in the west and wanted to enter the Central Plains.

As local noble families, the influence of the Qu and You families is still quite strong. A local saying goes: "Qu and You have countless cattle and sheep. They open the red gate in the south and look towards the brothel in the north."

However, because they did not obey Zhang Gui's orders in their early years and had colluded with Sima Yong, the two families were severely hit by Zhang Gui. It was not until Zhang Gui sent troops to Qinzhou and surrendered Longxi Governor Han Zhi that Jincheng County was under control.

The means of control were also very simple. Zhang Gui used military intimidation and supported the Jincheng Di tribe to compete with the Jin nobles such as Qu and You.

Now the You family was suppressed politically, and the Qu family suffered heavy losses in the great war with the Xiongnu in Guanzhong. The Di people's power completely rose, and they received continuous support from the Shaofu (Liangzhou Governor's Office). Even the prefecture governor became theirs - the corresponding position of "Shaofu" is "Taifu", that is, the Xiping County Duke's Office.

When Xun Xu heard about this, the "killer instinct" of the aristocratic family was activated, and he keenly smelled the opportunity.

If the imperial court bypassed Zhang Jun and directly granted the position of prefect to the members of the You and Qu clans, could it be allowed to let them fight among themselves?
Xun Xu felt that there was something to be done.

You ask him to dispatch the army and formulate a strategy to conquer Liangzhou, but he doesn't understand.

But if you ask him to fan the flames and sow discord, he understands it very well.

Unfortunately, the schedule was very tight and there was no time to stay in Jincheng, but Xun Xu took note of this matter.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, a group of more than a hundred people entered Longxi and encountered the cavalry from Sangcheng Town.

After some negotiations, they entered the town in the evening of the same day.

******
Sangcheng Town is located on the west bank of Taoshui River and west of Didao County (now Lintao).

The so-called town city was nothing more than a wooden fortress, and it wasn't even covered with soil, which showed that it was built in a hurry.

The garrison had a strength of 5,000 soldiers, but the actual number was 4,000.

Corresponding to the 4,000 Xiongnu townspeople in Sangcheng Town, it seems that every household has one male citizen.

However, for this military garrison system where soldiers and civilians are integrated, it does not make much sense to distinguish between soldiers and civilians.

When there is no war, everyone has to be busy with farm work, and the military town cannot afford to support many full-time professional soldiers.

When a war breaks out, able-bodied men go to fight, while healthy women, the elderly and young people defend the city. All of them have to go into battle.

To be honest, it is somewhat similar to the Wei Suo of the later Ming Dynasty, but there are also differences.

Because the town commander had relatively great power, he could appoint lower-level officials, and the imperial court would generally not veto it after following the procedures and agreeing.

Moreover, the military town was centered around a powerful clan or tribal chief.

The clan leaders and tribal chiefs appointed their blood relatives as officers to form a core force, which was called "sons' soldiers". They then used the sons' soldiers to control more townspeople from other families and defend the border for the court.

Some of the more outrageous frontier nobles gave birth to sons crazily, and then all of them practiced martial arts and became skilled in archery and horse riding.

During the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, there were no less than 3,000 descendants of the Zhe clan in Fugu (they were really fertile...), most of whom could ride horses and shoot arrows, and were exposed to military training from an early age.

This kind of clan soldiers has strong cohesion and high organization. They can fight hard and difficult battles, and are willing to fight to the death for their family and property (their combat effectiveness will be significantly reduced when they leave home to fight). They are a very good low-cost, high-combat effectiveness border defense force, but -

Easy to rebel!

Although Shao Ze is not a human being most of the time, he is well aware of the situation of all the people under his command.

Sangcheng Town General Jin Kang must be won over.

These four thousand Xiongnu families were surrounded almost entirely by Di, Qiang and Jie people, who had different customs and cultures and were very conspicuous and looked like different species.

So he returned the old house in Jiexiu to the Jin family, and gave each of the three brothers houses in Luoyang, and rewarded them with a lot of money and property. In the future, he would recruit Jin's youngest brothers as officials.

After a series of measures, Jin Kang was still working hard in Sangcheng.

The cavalry went out in all directions, patrolling during the day and keeping watch at night, and they also warned several surrounding tribes to pay tribute on a regular basis to solve part of the food and salary problems of the military town.

If they encounter a more stubborn tribe, they will even send troops to attack and kill them to establish their authority.

When Xun Xu arrived at Sangcheng Town, he saw more than a thousand households in a mess not far from the town.

Upon inquiry, it was found that these people with disheveled hair were actually captured Qiang people.

Jin Kang asked them to reclaim the flat land along the river near the town and plant millet and wheat.

"He is a good manager." Xun Xu turned around and commented like a senior official: "However, the soldiers are of different heights, weights and body shapes, so the formation is not good. Their clothes and armor are not bright enough, and their faces are too fierce, like bandits. The town is too simple and cannot hide many people. If a large enemy force attacks, some of the cattle, sheep, horses, the elderly, the weak, women and children will have to be moved."

"Let's not talk about the soldiers. The commander doesn't even have a tiger in his house. He has to go out to relieve himself in the middle of the night." "I almost vomited the bowl of meat I ate at night. It was so fishy and there was no seasoning at all."

"The mountain wind is chilly and the white snow is dazzling."

"I have to live such a hard life. I don't know how the king tricked me into coming here."

The Yin Han who was guarding them looked at Xun Xu in surprise. Isn't it like this everywhere at the border?
If you want to live a good life, you must at least reach the level of the You family in Jincheng, so that you can build a tall building and open a luxurious door. However, the life of the You family is probably not as good as that of the gentry in Guanzhong, let alone the luxurious gentry in Guandong.

"Is Master Xun here to deliver a letter or to conduct an inspection?" Jin Kang's voice sounded from a distance.

Xun Xu smiled and said no more.

Jin Kang glanced at Yin Han and others.

Yin Han took his leave and went to camp far away with his guards.

Jin Kang looked at Xun Xu again and asked, "How is Wu Wei?"

After mentioning the serious matter, Xun Xu also became serious and said, "I'm afraid we still have to fight."

Jin Kang was silent.

He only had 4,000 Xiongnu at his disposal. He had previously incorporated more than 2,000 remnants of Shi Wu and recently captured more than 1,000 Qiang people. However, he had not had time to integrate them. Not only were they useless in the short term, he also had to send people to monitor them.

If they really want to attack Liangzhou, Longxi, Anding, Tianshui, Nangan, Lueyang and other counties will form the Southern Army and join forces to attack the three counties of Jincheng, Jinxing and Xiping south of Yanzhi Mountain.

Sangcheng Town will definitely mobilize in large numbers.

"How is Yang Nandi?" Xun Xu asked.

"In the middle of winter, they are still harassing Yinping. Many tribes have rebelled. Yinping may be in danger." Jin Kang said.

Xun Xu frowned.

It's not that he didn't know anything. Places like Yinping and Wudu have complex terrain and are full of Di and Qiang people. You can win the battle, but you can't keep troops there for a long time. As soon as you withdraw your troops, the enemy will come back to attack you.

It is not realistic to say that all the locals will be slaughtered. Once you do not use both suppression and appeasement, but go for killing, the intensity of the battle will be different. If you are not careful, you may be ambushed by the enemy using the terrain and suffer a great defeat, instead of just giving it a try and not fighting to the death like when you use both suppression and appeasement.

Furthermore, they might have run away before you arrived, and you might mobilize a large number of people with great momentum, but end up gaining nothing and wasting countless money and food.

This is the most troublesome part.

In the end, I'm afraid we have to appease them. Even if it's not Yang Nandi, we have to appease his subordinates.

If we forcefully drive other tribes and garrison troops to suppress the rebellion without regard to their will, it is not impossible that the suppressing army might turn into a rebel army on the spot.

The area west of Chang'an has been heavily influenced by the Hu people. This is its character.

"General Jin, do you think we should attack Liangzhou?" Xun Xu frowned.

"In my opinion, we should appease them," said Jin Kang.

"Why do you say that?"

"Zhang's troops are actually the imperial court's troops. Who will benefit if they are wiped out?" Jin Kang said, "Although Zhang Jun governs eleven counties, how far can his orders be implemented? Xianbei, Diqiang, Jiezhong, and Xiongnu are everywhere. If Zhang's troops are wiped out, the imperial court will have to send troops over. What I mean by pacifying is not to pacify Zhang, but to pacify other Liangzhou generals and chieftains. After the matter is accomplished, everything will be the same as before. The imperial court cannot reach that far. Let Liangzhou be like the vassal of Tuoba and Tuge, and maintain a general obedience. Don't take everything too seriously."

Xun Xu was amused by his words and asked, "How dare you say this in front of King Liang?"

Jin Kang said, "I am also thinking about the court. It is not so easy to swallow it all at once. It is not so easy to lead an army to a long expedition. I think the king is quite flexible. If you don't measure the land in Jiangnan, won't you fool around?"

Xun Xu's face suddenly turned ugly.

Jin Kang laughed out loud.

"Forget it, I was just joking." Jin Kang's smile faded and he said, "Bring the letter here, I'll send someone to deliver it to Chang'an."

"How to send it?"

"My family will be leaving for Luoyang tomorrow, so the letter can go with them."

"No." Xun Xu said, "This matter is urgent. We need to send strong men who are good at riding, five horses each, to Luoyang as soon as possible."

"So anxious?" Jin Kang was puzzled: "Isn't the king waiting to abdicate? How can he have the heart to fight a war?"

"Not necessarily." Xun Xu didn't want to explain further, and only said: "This is the order of Honglu Cheng Yu Gong."

When Jin Kang heard Yu Mie's name, he stopped refusing and said, "Okay, I will select the athletes and set off overnight."

Xun Xu nodded, asked someone to bring the wooden box containing the letter, and handed it to Jin Kang.

Jin Kang immediately selected more than ten riders, each with five horses, took the wooden box, and hurriedly disappeared into the night, heading straight for Chang'an.

By the time the letter relay arrived in Luoyang, it was already the end of the first lunar month.

At this time, the emperor of the Jin Dynasty had already changed.

There are some people who are very "venomous" and say that this is the "Emperor Gong of Jin"...

(End of this chapter)