Chapter 1000: Lingnan and Lingbei

Chapter 1000: Lingnan and Lingbei

Chapter 1000: Lingnan and Lingbei
Woganling, also known as "Aganling", means brother in the Donghu language.

Even in later generations, there are still many place names in Lanzhou with the prefix "Agan", such as Agan Valley, Agan Town, and Agan Water.

Agan River was later called Leitan River, which is one of the important water sources of Lanzhou.

From the perspective of transportation, the Agan River Valley is a relatively easy-to-travel road among the continuous mountains and rivers. Post roads have been opened since the Han and Wei dynasties to facilitate pedestrians and also facilitate military mobilization.

Dou Tao went south along the Agan River Valley, then to Wogan Ridge, where he confronted the Liang army.

As for whether to fight to the death or surrender after the confrontation, it depends on his own choice.

Jincheng was in chaos, and without the support of the Zhang family, he was a little overwhelmed and might be retaliated against and brought down.

Therefore, he still had a little extravagant hope: What if the Zhang family holds on?
He was the chieftain of the Di people and had always had conflicts with the local Han nobles. If it were not for Zhang Gui's strong support, he would not have been able to become a prefect and a general of light chariots.

But now that things have come to this, he will not really risk everything for the Zhang family, especially if he has to bet on his own tribe. It is not worth it.

He just wanted to wait and see. The situation shouldn't change that quickly. It would only be a few days, and he could afford to waste it.

Starting from Yuzhong, we walked for two days and finally saw the Wogan Mountains stretching ahead in the distance.

A camp was visible on the mountain, and large flags were flying, but Dou Tao quickly ordered the troops to stop advancing.

After receiving the order, the 500 vanguard riders reined in their horses and stopped for unknown reasons.

Dou Tao brought dozens of his followers forward and observed carefully.

It was April, the mountains were covered with lush vegetation and clear springs were gurgling.

When the wind blows strongly, the pine trees rustle and the wormwood sways in the wind.

The sky is clear and pure, and the white clouds complement each other beautifully.

It's a bright spring day no matter how you look at it, and everything is so beautiful.

But as Dou Tao watched, he seemed to see countless ambushes among the grass and trees of Wogan Ridge.

When he wiped his eyes again, he saw that they were real plants and trees, not soldiers.

Dou Tao was deeply worried. Could it be that he was already so terrified that he couldn't bear it any more, but he didn't even realize it?

He hesitated and had difficulty in making a decision.

The tribal nobles all looked at him in surprise.

The scouts have reported that everything is normal, there is no ambush, what is there to worry about? Now we should speed up and meet up with Xin Yan's troops before making the next move.

"Master?" someone urged.

"Wait." Dou Tao actually got off the horse, stood in the grass by the roadside, stroking his chin gently, and began to think.

The tribal nobles looked at each other, and could see fear in each other's eyes.

They were not afraid of the enemy, but they were afraid of Dou Tao's appearance.

To be honest, even if there are enemies ahead, they are not afraid. The worst that can happen is that they will just fight hard.

Or you could just order a retreat, and we'll go back to the Nishu River Valley (Zhuanglang River), and each tribe will form a stronghold to protect each other.

The most frightening thing is that you neither advance nor retreat, and you may really die without a burial place.

At this moment, perhaps because they saw that they had stopped halfway, several riders came down from the opposite Wogan Ridge.

The leader was the military supervisor of the shogunate, Niu Du. When he saw the army, he shouted, "Why is Lord Dou hesitating to move forward?"

"Awesome?" Dou Tao took a few steps forward and asked in surprise.

Niu Du was from Longxi, and the Niu family was a local tyrant in Didao County, Longxi. They had existed since the Han Dynasty, and their representative figure was Niu Fu, Dong Zhuo's son-in-law.

Niu Du's father, Niu Zong, once studied with Zhang Gui under Huangfu Mi. Because of this friendship, Niu Du was able to serve in the shogunate as a military supervisor.

"Lord Dou, I heard that You's troops have already sent out troops to attack the Nishu River Valley. Why are you still here? Do you not want to return home anymore?" Niu Du shouted again.

When Dou Tao's subordinates heard this, they were all in an uproar.

"Shut up." Dou Tao scolded them, saying, "You don't know whether it's true or not, but you are shaken by a word. With such a mindset, how dare I take you out to fight in the future?"

Everyone wanted to speak but stopped.

That's not what they said. If they were surrounded at this moment, they would dare to fight to the death. However, the elderly, the weak, the women and the children in the tribe were being held hostage and attacked, so they didn't have that kind of courage and were in a hurry to go back.

More importantly, what Niu Du said touched the heart of their hearts, and they had been anxious to withdraw their troops.

"Excuse me, where is General Xin?" Dou Tao asked.

"We are receiving the imperial envoys in the camp." Niu Du did not hide anything and said directly.

Dou Tao was speechless for a long time.

In that case, what else is there to say?

Just as he was about to give the order, he saw a messenger from the rear army running over and shouting, "My Lord, Qu Shi——"

"Snap!" Dou Tao whipped the messenger down with his horsewhip, stunning him.

Dou Tao looked at him quietly with a fierce look.

The messenger realized it, stepped forward a few steps, and reported in a low voice: "When the Qu clan's 2,000-plus cavalry saw the rear army, they attacked without asking for any reason. We were caught off guard and suffered heavy losses."

Although the voice was low, many people still heard it. Someone on the spot couldn't hold back and said angrily: "We didn't offend the Qu family, why did you attack? If anyone wants to attack, it's the You family."

It would have been better if this hadn't been said, because once it was said, more people fell into panic.

In the past, You Kai was the governor of Jincheng. He attached himself to Sima Yong and participated in the siege of Qinzhou Governor Huangfu Zhong, which resulted in heavy casualties. Zhang Gui took the opportunity to suppress him and supported Dou Tao as the governor. The Di people took the opportunity to expand their power and seized the Nishui River Valley controlled by You.

This is the most important farming area for the You family. Once it is lost, the loss will be huge. This is also the main reason why the Qu and You families, which were originally on par with each other, gradually widened the gap.

Don’t they hate?
Thinking of this, no one really wanted to work for the Zhang family anymore, and they all clamored to go home.

Dou Tao pondered for a long time and sighed, "Withdraw!"

Now that things have come to this, any speculation is meaningless. The most important thing now is to withdraw the troops and return to protect the family property.

With one order, the front team became the rear team, and the rear team became the front team. Thousands of people, with heavy hearts, retreated hastily along the way they came.

But as they walked, more and more soldiers were fleeing in front of them, and Dou Tao was shocked and angry.

Instead of keeping an eye on the You family, the Qu family has to come and attack them. They are simply crazy!
After they left, Xin Yan also led his troops northward and entered the Agan Valley.

There was a new group of soldiers from Longxi in their team, about 500 people, led by a young man named Huan Wen, who seemed to be about to experience the first serious war in his life.

******
On the other side, Xin Yan's eldest son Xin Xuan led 3,000 cavalrymen and traveled day and night.

When passing Zuonan County of Jinxing Commandery, he sent out proclamations to other counties and towns, gathering more than 2,000 men. On April 5th, the entire army crossed Zuonanjin and arrived at the north bank of the Yellow River.

Xin Xuan's troops did not go to Yuzhong as others had guessed, but instead passed through the western border of Jincheng. After obtaining some supplies and replacing some horses from familiar tribes, they headed north along the Nishu (Zhuanglang River) valley, galloping more than 200 miles in two days.

On the way, he picked out two small Diqiang tribes that were blocking the road, both of which were affiliated with the Dou family.

This gang of people was extremely brutal. They killed anyone they saw and robbed anything they saw. Wherever they passed, there was fire.

When Zhang still had prestige, they would not attack each other, but now that they have all rebelled, past grudges have come to their minds and naturally they have no taboos.

Fortunately, they still know what the main task is.

On the ninth day of April, the army arrived at Zhiyang, the city of Guangwu County.

Zhiyang County had no time to mobilize troops and was defeated in one fell swoop. It then headed north again and forced Yongdeng County to surrender at lightning speed, and then seized Lingju County.

Zhiyang, Yongdeng and Lingju were all counties under the jurisdiction of Guangwu County.

It was established on the basis of the old city of the Han Dynasty when Zhang Shi was in power, and its main function was to settle refugees from Yong and Qin.

Among them, Zhiyang is located in the area of ​​Ku Shui Town, Nanku Shui Town, Yongdeng County is near the current county, and Lingju is located in the west of Gulan.

The three counties of Jinxing, Jinchang and Wuxing were similarly used by the Zhang family to resettle refugees, and their functions were similar to those of the overseas Chinese counties in the Southern Dynasties.

When Xin Xuan was dispatched to his residence, Wuwei County was already within sight.

But they could not go any further because Dong Guang's troops were stationed near Hongchi. When they heard that Xin Yan had rebelled, they were terrified and immediately guarded the camp and sent a mounted guard to report to Guzang.

At this time, several military cities in the Nishu River Valley also reacted.

These cities were not big, such as Yunjie City, Yangfeiting, Qingsai City, etc., each of them had only hundreds to thousands of soldiers, most of whom were Hu and Han garrison soldiers from Guangwu and Jincheng counties.

Xin Xuan's army was led by two men on two horses, and they were running so fast that they had no time to react. They didn't know whether these 3,000 cavalrymen were being mobilized according to orders or were simply rebelling.

After receiving the news from various counties and hearing the cries of the elderly and weak in the tribes who were slaughtered, they finally realized that this was a rebellion!
They were furious, but only for a moment, because on the tenth day, more than 3,000 cavalrymen came from the direction of Yunjie City (formerly Yunwu County, now abolished), holding large flags with the word "Liang" on them, and also a flag with the word "Hezhou Governor Xin", which was shocking.

At this time, everyone knew that Xin Yan had rebelled and was bringing troops from the three Lingnan counties (Jincheng, Jinxing, and Xiping) to attack.

Naturally, this news quickly spread to Wuwei.

This was the first time in several years that Guzang closed its city gates during the day, causing great shock throughout Wuwei County.

Zhang Jun immediately summoned his staff to discuss the matter.

Almost on the same day, Jin Zhun, the General of the Central Army who protected the Xiongnu in Daliang, led his troops across the river from Queyin and arrived at the west bank.

After a short and fierce battle, they defeated a part of the Lushui Hu who came to block them.

That evening, Juqu Zha, the leader of the Juqu tribe of the Lushui Hu, led his sons and nephews into Jin Zhun's camp and surrendered.

Judging from the entire battle situation, it can be roughly divided into two major regions: Lingnan and Lingbei.

The situation in Lingnan (south of Yanzhi Mountain) had almost completely changed. Dou Tao of Jincheng had received too many favors from the Zhang family and had too many enemies, so he failed to surrender in time. He was ambushed by the Qu clan's rear army, and then his own tribe was ravaged by Xin Xuan who was passing by. The You clan's troops followed closely behind and entered the Nishu River Valley, trying to defeat the Dou clan's Di Qiang and restore their former farm.

If nothing unexpected happens, the Di chieftain Dou Tao will most likely be killed by the You and Qu families. Although this was not the original intention of the Daliang court, they had no choice but to fight among themselves because of the intense internal strife.

Simply put, Lingnan has nothing to do with Zhang Jun anymore. Even if there are still generals who are loyal to them, they are forced to do nothing under the general trend and can only follow Xin, You, and Qu to rebel.

Wen Qiao, the governor of Qinzhou in Liang, ordered Huan Wen to lead 500 cavalry to Jincheng, and he himself led 5,000 Hu soldiers to follow.

Jin Zheng rushed to Didao on horseback, frequently dispatched troops and generals, and the main force marched day and night, pressing towards the Yellow River like an overwhelming force.

Lingbei is slightly better.

However, Xin had already contacted Dunhuang and ordered the governor Xin Ping to find the right opportunity to return to Daliang.

After Jin Zhun, the general who protected the Xiongnu, crossed the river in large numbers, the Lushui Huns were no longer an obstacle. Next, they would travel westward along the oasis farmland and grassland area at the northern foot of Yanzhi Mountain, heading straight to Guzang, to cooperate with Xin Yan and Xin Xuan, father and son, who were heading north from the Nishui River Valley.

As a result, Zhang Jun was facing enemy forces from both the south and east, and the situation was extremely bad.

And if the military situation was already very dangerous, the turmoil among the people in the Liangzhou Shogunate might be even more terrifying.

(End of this chapter)